witesoxfan

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jun 3, 2014 -> 06:39 PM) I think Hawkins had Wite at the back flip. I think you lost Hawkins at "he strikes out a lot" when so do a lot of other prospects.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 07:00 AM) I'm sensitive towards other peoples beliefs and feelings, but I don't get why it's an issue now when the Redskins name has been around for over 50 years. I could care less either way in the Redskins debate (I think that, while less derogatory, the Indians and Braves are just as bad), but the bolded is a terrible reason to keep a name. There are a lot of things that have stuck around throughout history just because they haven't "offended" someone in the last 50 years (even though they likely did), but that doesn't mean things shouldn't change when times change.

QUOTE (Charlie Haeger's Knuckles @ Jun 3, 2014 -> 06:01 PM) Did Buehrle and Quintana have any roster overlap? Would be interested to see what Jose could have gleaned from Buehrle in regards to TWTW and all that non-statistical bulls***. Jose Quintana gained strength through Quetzalcoatl. Now, he must learn TWTW through the Hawk.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jun 3, 2014 -> 09:09 PM) How the AL looks different after 54 compared to last year: Bold teams played more than 162 games. 2013 Wins-- 2014 Wins Tex 34 - Oak 32 Bos 32 - Tor 32 NY 31 - Det 31 Oak 31 - LAA 30 Bal 30 - NY 29 TB 30 - Tex 28 Det 30 - Bal 27 Cle 29 - Chi 27 LAA 25 - KC 26 Min 25 - Sea 26 Chi 24 - Min 26 KC 23 - Bos 25 Sea 23 - Cle 24 Tor 23 - TB 23 Hou 17 - Hou 22 Rays and Rangers tied for the 2nd wildcard at 91-71 last year. Look for that number to be 4 or 5 games lower this year. I don't see how you can make that judgment with this.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Jun 3, 2014 -> 05:29 PM) He didn't get enough for Peavey, Rios and Reed, that's for sure. The best trade he made was Soptic for Gillaspie. This is ridiculous. If he didn't get enough, what would you have gotten for them instead? He got plenty in all 3 of those deals. He's done a phenomenal job.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 4, 2014 -> 07:51 AM) He is saying the failed in the playoffs because of the 5th and 6th spot in the order? Or is he saying the line up is too weak? Just looking at the stats from the ALCS where the Tigers were eliminated last year, Victor Martinez and Jhonny Peralta were batting in those spots. Victor put up an .841 OPS in the series, Peralta around .750. And this is why I love statistics. I'm not trying to bring anything up, but this guy is probably going to say that they failed in "clutch" spots, but the fact of the matter is, those guys did well, period. What does he want them to do, get base hits in every at bat? That's simply not plausible. The Tigers lost in the playoffs because Leyland managed the bullpen like horses***. There's really no other reason.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jun 3, 2014 -> 02:50 PM) Haren is a magician. It doesnt make sense for him to remain successful with the amount of velocity he has lost He was filthy over his final 15 starts last year (and 1 relief appearance) - .228/.271/.355/.626, 3.29 ERA, 8.6 K/9, 1.8 BB/9, 0.9 HR/9, 1.05 WHIP. Not quite the same as this year, but it's been close. He is command is still phenomenal and he mixes his fastball, cutter, and splitter well enough that he can get away with the few mistakes he makes, except to guys like Abreu.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 3, 2014 -> 04:25 PM) If Buehrle was here, there is a pretty distinct chance that Quintana doesn't make his MLB debut for a much longer period of time. Remember he was an emergency call up because of injuries and none of the other people who were in that spot in the rotation were guys the Sox wanted to callup. He was pitching in Birmingham, and had only made 9 starts down there, after having no starts above A before that season. The plan was for an emergency start and to send him back to Birmingham. When you factor in how few innings he had in a season under his belt (102 was his previous season high), plus his complete lack of experience in the minors, there is a real argument to be made that he might not have made his major league debut until something like middle to late 2013 if another starter was in the rotation to block Quintana's move to the majors. Even given the fact that the Sox organization as a whole liked Quintana's arm, they have gotten incredibly lucky with him. What a coup.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 3, 2014 -> 04:19 PM) I think I'd be content if we drafted this kid out of high school and got 10 years in the bigs like what Verlander has given th em. I'm obviously in absolute full agreement there.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jun 3, 2014 -> 03:13 PM) Yeah.. only differences being Justin Upton was the first pick in the draft and was one of the most decorated high school baseball players ever. Hawkins/Adolfo are largely unknown commodities. Courtney Hawkins was the 13th overall draft pick and Micker Adolfo was the #9 prospect who signed for a $1.6 million signing bonus. They're incredibly talented players and both are incredibly young still too. I mean, if you want the Sox to stop bringing in guys with LTP, projectable bodies, incredible bat speed, and off the charts athleticism, that's your prerogative, but maybe we should at least halt the criticism of Adolfo until he has a professional at bat just because he has a similar scouting report to Courtney Hawkins (who, even with a dropping average, has shown the ability to walk and very good power).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 3, 2014 -> 04:10 PM) Think about the way Verlander has learned how to pitch if you need an example of where it works. He still has the big fastball but doesn't break it out unless he's in trouble. Take a look at that 2013 velocity chart; he's got games where he has >10 mph spread in his fastball. That's ridiculous. There's also legitimate concern that Verlander is breaking/has broken down.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jun 3, 2014 -> 02:51 PM) I wasn't speaking towards their rawness, rather when scouts saw Hawkins they said basically the exact same things. I am not trying to draw any parallels or imply that Adolfo will have a career path similar to Hawkins. Check this May of 2012 scouting report on Hawkins. Their tools are profiled the exact same way. http://baseballprospectnation.com/2012/05/...ney-hawkins-of/ Great pro bodies likely will lose speed after maturation, power is biggest tool, swing needs a little help, arm strength is legit, could start in CF likely destined for RF, etc. Sounds like Justin Upton too. That turned out OK.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Jun 3, 2014 -> 02:46 PM) Laws new mock is up: 1. Aiken 2. Rodon 3. Kolek - They have been connected to Kolek for a while. The Sox also have interest in Brady Aiken, maybe Carlos Rodon and Aaron Nola 4. Michael Conforto 5. Nick Gordon http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/draft/mock/...-Law-Mock-Draft If those are Law's words, well, I have backed Law a lot, but holy s***, way to go out on a limb.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jun 3, 2014 -> 02:25 PM) Some rumors on twitter about a predraft agreement between Marlins and Alex Jackson. Fingers crossed, but that would be incredible news for the Sox.

Jon Bois has always been one of my favorite comedic writers. I don't think there's anything he's ever done that I haven't liked.

7-8 or 8-9, something like that, mostly doubles and triples. I was just hitting frozen ropes out to LF all night. We lost the 1st game 17-16 in extras and then 10-runned them in 5 27-17 in the 2nd. I pitched both games and while I liked pitching to the guys at the top of their order, it was an incredibly frustrating night because probably 6 out of the 10 guys that showed up for them went up to bat looking to walk. I'm sorry, I don't care if it's the last out of a state tournament and there are 2 outs and it's 3-1 and the bases are loaded and we're tied up, I'm going up there looking to hit every single time. If it's close, swing the f'ing bat.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jun 2, 2014 -> 07:26 PM) The problem with this is that the theory is based on a player using the averages such as OBP to be succeesful. This works in the regular season where you get to face average or below average pitchers. This type of player has less of a chance in the playoffs against good to great pitchers which the playoff teams typically have. This is why they don't do as well in the playoffs. In a 7 game series the talent wins not playing the averages. Of course, going by the averages occasinally they do win. QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 3, 2014 -> 10:48 AM) That's interesting. The baseball playoffs can be such a crapshoot and I hate to make judgements off such small sample sizes. That being said, something has to give if Oakland consistently loses in the playoffs, it might be more than luck and randomness. Of course I would take the Sox WS title over the A's zero titles in recent years, but given that the Sox have only made the playoffs one other time in 13 seasons, I can't really say that the Sox way is better than Oakland's. It's not the craziest theory I've ever read. 2014 - 20-8 .500 2013 - 56-32 .500 2012 - 47-24 .500 2010 - 44-28 .500

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 3, 2014 -> 08:05 AM) Numbers were not picked at random. Those are pretty arbitrary numbers he uses and I don't know that I agree with his logic. He's also not using fWAR as he clearly indicates he is using B-R's Play Index tool, not that it matters a lot either way. The mean RA9-WAR (bWAR) for the top 30 pitchers in the majors last year was 5 (5.01667, to be exact). The mean fWAR for the top 30 pitchers last year was 4.62. How is that information any less useful or applicable than the information he provided? This is also when people misuse the WAR statistic. You see a guy put up a WAR of 4.8 and say "nope, he's not an ace," when there could be any number of different circumstances surrounding that. Jose Fernandez put up an ERA of 2.19 last year with great peripherals all around, but because he only threw 172 innings, as opposed to 200, his fWAR was 4.2. You are going to have a hell of a tough time convincing me that Jose Fernandez was not an ace. Maybe the best way to look at it is through some sort of lens of productivity where you find out WAR/9 to find out who is the most productive per inning pitched. Clayton Kershaw led all pitchers with a 6.5 WAR last year, but his WAR/9 was 0.2479. Matt Harvey, on the other hand, threw about 60 fewer innings but had a similarly good 6.1 fWAR, which equated to a 0.3079 WAR/9. I don't know exactly, we can mess with it any way we want to. I strongly believe that there are more than 6 aces in the game, which is why I will strongly disagree with Joe Aiello's reasoning and methodology.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jun 3, 2014 -> 08:45 AM) That'd be a really good career if he were as good as Zobrist. Zobrist has had two seasons as an 8 WAR player and has accumulated 32.9 WAR in his career. Zobrist is very good. I hope Semien could be close to that good. Right, and that's making a lot of assumptions, because Semien obviously has worse contact rates. Still, I don't think it's unreasonable to see Semien put up .250/.330/.420 with solid defense.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jun 3, 2014 -> 07:54 AM) Anderson has star player upside. He's the #1 prospect in the organization for a reason. He has very loud tools. Very raw and frustrating at times but he can be really special. Absolutely. The inevitable jump to AA is going to be an important one, but he's an incredibly exciting prospect at this point in time.

Increased versatility is a good thing for players to have, not bad. It's the eternal optimist in me, but I think a high end comparison for Semien could be Ben Zobrist. Zobrist has always shown better contact rates, but I don't think it's far fetched to assume that Semien could be very productive with the bat.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 2, 2014 -> 08:32 PM) An average #1 starter puts up about 6 fWAR per year. That's a reasonable definition of an ace to me. Just under 4 war was the average for a #2. Burgle pitched like an ace in 2005 and has otherwise generally been a solid #2 starter, often an above average number 2. It's really a point of semantics, but you will typically see fWARs of 5 while 6 is saved for the truly elite. In the majors last year, only 6 guys had an fWAR of 6 and 10 had an fWAR of 5. I also like to take ERA into account for all of those cases too, and guys like Javier Vazquez were putting up fWARs of 5 too simply because he had really good peripherals, but he was never an ace quality pitcher with the Sox.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Jun 2, 2014 -> 04:17 PM) Gotcha. I've just heard so many people quote the old "arm pits to knees" without really thinking about how ridiculous that would look in today's game. I'm game for about one ball above the belt. I think that's workable. So many hitters b**** about balls right at the belt called strikes, which is just ridiculous. I hate that, a belt high pitch is a meatball.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jun 2, 2014 -> 02:33 PM) Am I the only one here who thinks baseball is perfectly watchable as it is? Yes, needs more chainsaws and bicycle riding bears.

Tanaka 6th and ahead of Darvish LULZ