witesoxfan

QUOTE (Andy the Clown @ Apr 27, 2014 -> 04:59 PM) He won't be worth the money, though. His power is his only tool. Sincerely, ESPN and Fangraphs ESPN largely ignored it. FanGraphs liked the move with caution because he wasn't an athletic player and it's hard to know exactly how stats will translate. Abreu's have translated well thus far. The scary thing to me is that I think he's a better hitter than he's shown thus far. Maybe not power wise, but he looks like a .300+ hitter at the plate.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 11:23 PM) Can you imagine once it warms up and Abreu figures out the pitchers? Dear lord. I don't want to be the rain on the parade, but the pitchers will "figure out" Abreu first. To be the sunshine, I don't think you can figure him out. This motherf***er has 9 jacks, and 3 multi-homer games. Dude's just dialed. Anyone unhappy about that one?

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 02:59 PM) Crede was a two time MVP in the minors, so I wouldn't give Walker the credit there either. Eh, I would. Crede was a dog lost in the woods in his first couple years, and he worked a lot with Walker after 2005 to hone in swing in, and he had an absolutely phenomenal year until his back went out.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 02:08 PM) Silence from our resident critic? Golden. Now. Who do we want to attribute this new Viciedo to? Steverson? Abreu's calming presence? The fact he can "relax" with the Garcia injury and not have to worry about losing at-bats on a daily basis? Paul Konero working with him? Would be curious to see Dayan's answer as to what has changed in his approach. He's already said it's primarily been Steverson.

Some or most of those are very good, but Cooper was Keith Foulke's pitching coach for 3 months. Given, he was the minor league pitching coordinator from 1993 through 2002, but that's Nardi Contreras if it's anyone.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 02:21 PM) Do you really like Nate Jones as a prospect? If so, I defer, but what makes you think he will be adequate to special? I know you guys love stats but Nate truly truly does not pass the eye test. I can't remember too many guys I've deemed eye test failures who ended up good. Hopefully I'm wrong. You don't have to be special to be a closer. Joe Borowski made $14 million in his playing career with pretty pedestrian numbers and stuff.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 02:01 PM) I don't know what you guys see in Nate Jones that encourages you. If he's a successful closer I'll be stunned. He's way too wild. He was at 3 BB/9 last year. He's really not that wild. There are times it gets away from him, but guys that throw 97 have that happen to them now and then.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 01:04 PM) 34% O-Swing! If he keeps that up, I'll fly in to Chicago and have a session on the upper concourse where you guys can all stone me for hating on him so hard. Still waiting for the other shoe to fall, though. Hope he proves me wrong. I was hoping to see your face in here This was the Viciedo that I've always held out hope in seeing. We saw glimpses of this guy last year, but he was still a free swinging mess at that point. If he can remain this patient hitter, he's going to be good for the Sox.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 01:38 PM) He also was good with the Tigers, but he was a lot better with the Sox than most realize. I think most people watch Edwin Jackson pitch and, just by looking at his stuff, wonder why he isn't a top of the rotation starter, and then they see a pitcher who doesn't have great command of his stuff, which is inherently frustrating as a fan. The numbers obviously do not lie, but I recall watching Edwin Jackson and thinking he walked a hell of a lot more batters than he actually did. I've said it before, but he's a guy I wouldn't mind the Sox getting from the Cubs if they ate about 1/3 to 1/2 of his remaining deal. His stuff has deteriorated just a small amount, so the results could certainly still be there. He's due $22 in '15 and '16, and so if the Cubs ate $8-10 million of that deal, he could be a really nice buy low target for the Sox. Not advocating it per se, but I wouldn't be upset if they did make a move like that.

QUOTE (Charlie Haeger's Knuckles @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 01:26 PM) How many pitchers has Cooper actually "fixed"?? Like... 2? The rest were guys who were already pretty good. I remember when the Sox traded for Edwin Jackson, the Sox were saying Cooper could tell he was tipping his pitches and knew how to fix him. He was good for a half season and went back to total suck. I hope Noesi can be at least decent. But the odds of that are nearly zero. Edwin Jackson with the White Sox - 30 GS, 196.2 IP, 3.66 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 8 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 He was really good with the Sox.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 10:31 AM) me, rockraines, and chw42 have been working on softball-reference.com night and day. Be patient Pffft, who even uses sWAR? Amateurs and ESPN follows, that's how. Everyone knows that the only numbers that matter are found at SoftballFanGraphs.com.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 10:11 AM) I love his upside. He has size, speed and power. Has only been playing defense for two years. It seems to me that a lot of times, guys get recruited as offensive players and they end up transitioning to defense for any number of reasons. Jon Beason was a fullback at one point for Miami but he's been a great linebacker in the NFL, and Richard Sherman was recruited as a WR and now he's a shutdown corner. Barr is still a bit raw, but there is definitely some incredible upside there. There have been concerns about his technique, given how little he's played, but the upside is huge. Frankly, he seems like a boom/bust prospect. I could definitely see him either going the route of Merriman or Maybin.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 10:17 AM) I have the brand new one, 26 oz. I wish I would have gotten the 27 since it's more end-loaded. A couple of the guys on my teams have J3s at 27 and I hit with so much more power with that bat. All of the home runs I've hit this year (currently at 8) have been with either the J3 or 2014 Juggernaut. Yeah, well what's your wRC+? That's all I care about.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 10:04 AM) To me, it's the same fascination some have with Sox minor league relievers who post spectacular numbers at 26 in AA ball (Remenowsky, Kussmaul, etc.). They are non-prospects and have very little chance of becoming Major League contributors. There's generally a reason they are in the mid-20s and in High-A or AA. He went to a small school and got released right away because he struggled to make the initial adjustment as an UDFA (it's easy to see a guy like that struggle and say "OK, we gave you a shot, but you gotta go"), but once comfortable and better in the Frontier League and since signed by the Sox, he's turned it on. He's not a guy that's at the top of the prospect list, but if he keeps on hitting, it's going to be hard to deny him a shot at some point.

Use 30 years old or something like that then. There are plenty of guys who do come up at 26 or 27 and they're really good regulars. Frankly, if we want to talk about guys who played in a "major league," that would have been Viciedo ineligible his rookie year then too. He obviously wasn't worthy of the award, but that hardly seems fair.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/prospect-wa...-power-numbers/ There's a lot more at the link, but you should read all of Stoltz's article anyways. Really promising to hear those kinds of things, and you do wonder what the Sox think of Curley. Really, if he could be a Ryan Raburn type player, he could turn into an incredibly valuable player for the Sox down the road.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 09:35 AM) While I generally agree, either Hahn or Towers could have thought they were selling high on their respective player. I know I wanted to move Reed since last July because he had made some value out of himself. I don't disagree with that and I'm glad Hahn moved Reed like he did.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 08:53 AM) Yes, but the D Backs were supposedly desperate for power. They gave up a lot to get Trumbo. If they thought Davidson could provide that, I don't think they make that trade. Trumbo can hit homers, but other than that, is pretty awful. To me it's like the Sox trading Addison Reed when they are looking for a closer. They also have Martin Prado signed for another 3 years too so Towers felt that Davidson was a trade chip he could use to acquire that closer. Look, slice it any way you want to, but saying that the Diamondbacks didn't want Davidson is the exact same thing as saying the Sox didn't want Reed, and both of them are completely wrong.

QUOTE (Charlie Haeger's Knuckles @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 09:21 AM) I feel bad (not really) for the Charlotte bullpen guys. Lastnight they had 2 guys throw 3 innings to mimic a starter. Who the hell else can the Sox sign off the scrap heap to eat innings for Charlotte? Jamie Moyer

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 09:15 AM) On the bright side, you have also never crashed a boat, so you should be awesome at it. God you're right. I'm going right now /crashes, dies

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 08:53 AM) Well in his career Jones has never had a save. He has had 8 blown saves in his career. But you think in 48 chances he gets 40???? I'll stick w 20 at best. By this logic, I will never be able to drive a boat. I have never done it in my life, but I also have had 0 opportunities to do so. You are also suggesting that if he got 48 save opportunities, he'd only get 20 saves. That implies that he'd have a save percentage of roughly 40%. By the averages of baseball, that would not happen. Saves are a result of getting opportunities. I can pretty safely guarantee that if Nate Jones were given 48 opportunities, he'd have right around 40 saves. Possibly more, possibly less, but it'd be right around 40.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 10:42 PM) It is. How about all college cops are pricks? When I was in college, I was walking home from a party and saw a campus cop eyeing me. So I decided I'd walk through campus and force him to drive around campus to find me, at which point I'd be off campus and he really wouldn't be able to do much. NOPE. He drove on the sidewalk through campus to try and find me. I just kept my head down, kept my pace at a brisk walk, and kept on moving, giving him no reason to get out. There was nothing he could do.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 07:23 AM) Jon, I thought I was the only one on the board who didn't like the trade when it happened. Glad I'm not alone here. It's very easy for us to second guess the trade now, however. One of the reasons I didn't like it then was because Arizona had such a good look at him in 2013, and they didn't want him. I always thought they could have gotten more for Reed, or just have kept him. Just like the Sox didn't want Addison Reed, right? Of course that's not true, because the Sox did like Addison Reed, but they felt that Davidson was a better fit for them and the DBacks felt that Reed was a better fit for them.

QUOTE (oneofthemikes @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 07:19 AM) This. 100%. Guys like Turner and Gatewood that the Sox were linked to as potential first round targets a couple months ago are now being talked about as fringe first rounders or borderline second rounders and I'm starting to think there is a real shot that the Sox could wind up with Hoffman or Rodon AND Turner or Gatewood. That would be a slam dunk draft IMO. The thing about Turner and Gatewood that make them less likely to be picked by the Sox are their abilities to go (back) to school. Turner is a junior while Gatewood is committed to USC and if they don't receive enough money, they could easily make their way back to school.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 06:08 AM) The Expos just scored again If the Expos and White Sox combine for 31 runs, and no one is there to see it, did it really happen?