witesoxfan

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 04:15 PM) I would just roll with Semian everyday at this point and trade Gordon for a bag of balls. No team is going to look at Gordon Beckham's 2400+ PA in MLB with a OPS+ of 85 and think a month or two hot streak is who he really is. What, we're going to inflate his value from a C- prospect to a C+ one? This echoes my statement almost verbatim from earlier in the thread, and I approve.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 03:26 PM) So when I was younger, I collected cards, lots of them. I sold most of them when I went off to college in '91, though I kept 3 (Fisk signed rookie, a '57 Mantle card I found in an alley, and one of the Billy Ripken f***Face cards). Well, apparently I missed some, found them in my parents' attic. A few hundred of them. Among them are a Topps '90 Frank Thomas (rookie I believe), some sort of hologram card of Thomas from 1991, rookie cards for people like Bobby Thigpen, and a whole bunch of other cards mostly in the '87-'92 range. I know NOTHING about how the baseball card market is nowadays. Anyone have any advice on where I can look these sorts of things up, and find a way to sell them? Or if anyone even buys cards anymore, other than extreme rarities? I also have two unopened Desert Storm trading card packs from '90. The Frank Card has a lot of value if there's no name on it (and even that doesn't look like it's worth as much as it used to be), but it's otherwise pretty cheap. The valuable Thomas rookie was the Leaf. Most others will hold little to no value anymore, maybe a few bucks. The sports cards market has really taken a turn for the worst over the past decade or so. Here's a '90 Topps Thomas rated 10 Gem Mint by All-Star Grading (which is no PSA or BSG, but it's still graded and in great shape) going for $3.26. There is a PSA 10 GM Leaf '90 auto'd by Thomas going for $150 right now, but that's the extent. Not sure about the desert storm stuff. eBay is as good a good place as any to check fair and expected value for stuff.

QUOTE (shakes @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 03:13 PM) If you can get the best talent in the draft at 3 you have to make it work. Hahn is a creative guy and I trust the Sox pitching development if they needed to fast track a pitcher. He could take the same route Sale did. He simply might not be ready for that. The ball in the minors and majors is far different than it is in college with recessed seams. Here's where I'm at: if you view Rodon as a 65 but he will only sign for $8 mill, and Hoffman as a 60, but Hoffman is willing to sign for $5 mill, you take Hoffman because that additional $3 mill will allow you draft others later in the draft who fall rather than taking signability guys or below slot guys because you have to without being penalized.

QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 02:58 PM) Lineups https://twitter.com/whitesox/status/4572455...5250944/photo/1 If nothing else, I feel better about the depth of the bench this year. Seems like they can put out a semi-respectable lineup against either a RHP or a LHP.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 03:23 PM) I thought it was an embarrassing mistake for a manager. When you trot a position player out there you are basically conceding a game and we were in first place at the time. Instead of talking about how embarrassing it was, tell us how you would have managed that game differently so that the Sox wouldn't have run out of pitchers and we will tell you how it would be perceived on this site. Otherwise, it's empty criticism and you're not going to be taken seriously.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 02:42 PM) Bobby Jenks...Shingo? We might be able to use them now too! Dustin.Hermanson.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 01:50 PM) What scout(s) thought it would be a good idea to acquire Paulino? Yes I want heads to roll over that acquisition. A common fan could tell you that was a bad idea. Heads aren't going to roll so what you say in this means nothing in that matter. It was and still is a low risk, high reward signing and if nothing comes of it, they spent less half the amount this year than they did on Manny Ramirez for all of September 2010. Using your powers of hindsight doesn't mean anything yet. I really liked the signing, and most of Soxtalk did too. http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=90722 QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 02:01 PM) Has Jon Garland retired yet? I'd rather find him and let him eat 150 innings than watch Paulino again. Jon Garland pitched last year and he was absolutely dreadful, and he'd only get worse from there. But while we're naming people from the 2005 team, they may as well see what Damaso Marte and Cliff Politte are up to. Neal Cotts is unavailable.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 01:48 PM) The point of the thread is he ran out of pitchers which is flat out embarrassing if he didn't have a starter willing to help out in a pinch. I still would like to know if Robin EVER played in a game in which his manager ran out of fricking pitchers. Sad to just flat out forfeit a home game as the Sox did. But no games matter this year anyway I guess is management's mantra. Danks pitched that night and was not eligible to pitch again because of baseball rules. Johnson pitched the night before and was entirely unavailable. So... -Sale was going to start the next day - do you want him throwing 4 innings in a rushed warm up session in a game that can end at any second, thus making him unavailable to start last nights game? -Do you want to throw Paulino in there, in a rushed warm up session, which then makes him unavailable for Friday night and forces someone like Dylan Axelrod to start? -Do you want to throw Jose Quintana, in a rushed warm up session, and then take him out of commission for Saturday's game with Axelrod or Rienzo pitching that game, or a young arm in Erik Johnson throwing on short rest? C'mon greg. Put some blame on the players. If this were your boy Ozzie, you'd have put this all on the pitchers like you should be because they walked 15 batters.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 01:47 PM) Isn't it more important what his teammates think of him? Do we think the fans would be easier on him if he was making, say, 2/$12 rather than the 4/$60 or whatever his contract currently is? I imagine they would be easier on him if he were on a smaller contract, but fans can be quite fair-weathered. If he can be brought back cheaply, I wouldn't mind, but your average Joe could very well get up in arms about it. QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 02:15 PM) Who cares what fans think? The front office, hopefully. I'm not saying the front office listens to everything the fans say - that'd be the worst possible thing - but if you absolutely do not care what the fans think of you, then you begin bringing in people that the fans do not want to see. This is all dependent upon Dunn actually wanting to come back. He may not want to.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 01:34 PM) Understood. And I fully agree. I think that things that leave a bad taste in certain GMs mouths are the kinds of things that Billy Beane exploited and then they began writing books about his ability to do these things. Couple mil for a 800 OPS kind of guy is absolutely something i would swoop in and grab (obviously though it would remain to be seen if Dunn would even want to do it) I would get all past issues i have out of the way. would consult a team of psychologists to soothe me and get me all fixed up, and then sign Dunn. I agree 100% with this. QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 01:35 PM) I think he might retire. He's made his money and he doesn't seem like a guy that wants to push his body well into his mid and late 30s. Not that he doesn't take care of himself but he has had some injuries in the past that could turn into chronic problems in middle age if he continues to push himself. He's maintained throughout his tenuous stay with the Sox that if the game ever stopped being fun for him, he'd hang it up. Maybe that's after this year, maybe it's 4 years from now.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 12:38 PM) Meh, Alexei and Dunns .400+ OBP probably isn't sustainable either but that doesn't mean they haven't been good so far. Dunn's is, to some extent, but Ramirez's is absolutely not. The Sox lack of pitching success will even out too, but there are legitimate concerns in the bullpen. Teams WILL start hitting more line drives against Cleto. There's no probably about that. The lowest you'll really ever see is 10-11%, and those numbers are from guys who have either lucked into it over 50-70 innings or are truly dominant pitchers. I don't know that it's at the 24.2% clip he's had for his career because that's only 22 MLB innings, but it will surely be higher than 5.9%. More than likely, it will hover in the 15-20% range like roughly 90% of the pitchers in the majors put up.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 01:25 PM) Here's where some people are not being .........logically consistent. A major gripe people had with Ozzie is that he chose Kotsay over a $3M Jim Thome, who was going to be a bat-only 39 year old. His 2009 season in total was an .847 OPS Adam Dunn right now is 34, and if you look at this season and the past two, he has a .790 OPS. So if you wanted to sign a 39 year old Thome for 1 yr/3M, then how does that modest amount of OPS difference translate to not wanting to keep Dunn for 1.5M, or as one poster put it "wouldnt give him cabfare to the airport" Aside from perfectly rational comments like "not a fit on this team" or "wouldnt want a thome type right now to begin with".........the only reason I can think of for these inconsistencies is obssessive irrational fandom, and the use of sports as an anger depot. To actually be serious, I think that Dunn has left a bad taste in the mouth of Sox fans and wiping themselves clean from him would be best for both parties. If they brought him back at $2-3 mill on a 1 year deal to be one half of a RHP DH platoon, I wouldn't complain, but I don't know if Dunn wants that at this point in his career.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 12:03 PM) Wait, people think Nix is a 2/3 round pick?? I'm a Notre Dame hater and still think he's a 1R pick. I wouldn't mind drafting him in the first 1 bit, esp. if Donald is gone. Matter a fact, again saying this as a ND hater, I wouldn't absolutely hate to see them go with Tuitt in the 2nd. Something like.... 1- Nix 2- Tuitt 3- Terrance Brooks S 4- Rashaad Reynolds CB The Bears have brought Mundy and MD Jennings at safety, and there are two safeties who warrant 1st round consideration. If they reach for Nix while either Clinton-Dix or Pryor are on the board, the fans should mutiny. They need developmental guys upfront, but they have added enough this offseason to suffice for this season.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 12:08 PM) As is the whole "BABIP" stat. I'm just saying it's not like hitters are hitting line drives right at people, if he were then yes, I'd say he's getting lucky. For pitchers, BABIP has almost always been a constant mainstay in the .290-.300 range with some guys who are outliers putting up BABIPs in the .260s or the .330s. BABIPs of .118 or whatever do not exist over the course of a full season. Chris Sale's career BABIP is .284, and while the BABIP he currently has of .227 will certainly rise, it won't rise an incredible amount. His career opponent's AVG is .222, and that number can range anywhere from about .180 to .280 and pitchers can still find success. Feeky is stating that because Cleto's BABIP is at an untraditional and unprecedented level outside normal expectations, it IS going to rise. There are no "it might" or "it should" but only that it "IS" going to rise. It's the same thing as a guy hitting .100 after April - pretty much anything he does beyond that point, his average is going to rise.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 09:18 AM) I saw Draft Day. The NFL Draft is my favorite event of the year. The movie was pretty bad but I love that they actually made a movie about the NFL Draft. I don't want to give too much away but some unrealistic things happen obviously and it was kind of thrown together. It was cool seeing the actual team facilities though in the movie and if you like the NFL Draft it is worth seeing. Just know what you are seeing ahead of time. It was ridiculous and over the top and way too dramatic, even for the NFL Draft, but the gf asked if the Draft itself was that crazy and my response was, "Well, yeah, it kinda is crazy and nuts like that."

QUOTE (scs787 @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 11:48 AM) I know it was ST, but Cleto only had 3 walks in 10.2 inning through ST.....That has to account for something. Perhaps showing a little more confidence in him will do him some good. Actually going to his fangraphs page, I see he's given up 1 line drive to the 27 batters he's faced. So it's not like he's getting hit hard. Sample size, sample size, sample size.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 11:42 AM)

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 11:29 AM) Even if he does, there's no way he gets through more than 7 innings. That's a lot of bullpen runs. Complete game, 92 pitches

QUOTE (bmags @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 11:30 AM) That was why people were screaming. I hope your dreams are not prophetic. I think Pryor is the best safety in the draft, but with TE, OT, and DE as much bigger needs for the Bills, drafting anything other than one of those 3 at 9 would be a colossal mistake.

QUOTE (bmags @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 11:12 AM) It was wild, I can tell you guys about the whole thing. Ha-Ha Clinton Dix went 9th. The rest was blurry but a LOT of people were screaming. I am going to burst into flames if the Bills take Clinton-Dix

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 10:27 AM) So where he is good, he is lucky, and where he is bad, it is permanent? I get you have it in for Cleto, but again this pen is soooo bad right now. If a starter goes 6/7 innings, this team WILL have a bad pitcher throwing in a high leverage situation. It is a statistical certainty. The only question is which bad pitcher. Lindstrom has sucked this year. So have Downs, and Bellisario, and Veal. That is five of your seven relievers who have been flat out bad. Then you come to Petricka who has been meh. His peripherials have been scary, and almost 6 walks/9IP. That leaves you Webb. That's it. Seeing as he can't go in every situation, in every game, he only has so many uses. Then add to that he is a rookie with a total of 15 major league games, and remember that the Sox usually ease rookies into the big jobs in the pen. Even Bobby Jenks spent time in middle relief before closing. Centering an argument on just walks from the previous season, and a guess at the managers state of mind when picking a reliever is just silly. Pretty much when Cooper/Ventura go to the pen right now they are picking if they want to get kicked in the right testicle or left one, because they know it is coming. Cleto can be good, and I don't think Feeky is suggesting he can't be. All he's saying is that, thus far, Cleto is lucky to only be allowing 2 hits per 9 and he's lucky his ERA is as low as it is. The idea that you can continue to walk guys and not strike them out consistently while still preventing runs is, frankly, preposterous. No one in the bullpen has been good, and Cleto starting the 9th versus Lindstrom is picking your own poison, so I won't argue that. Just that, despite the good ERA, Cleto has also not been very good this season like pretty much everyone else in the pen.

So back in February, when given 3:1 odds, I bet $20 that Blake Bortles would be the #1 pick. That is looking less likely now. The challenge has been upped. If Blake Bortles falls to Tampa Bay at #7, I have to shotgun a 24 oz beer.

Pfft, you guys are haters. Paulino is going to throw a 2 hitter tonight.

QUOTE (shakes @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 09:33 AM) Agreed. I think the concerns about Rodon all year have been really overstated. It's nice to see Hoffman really putting it together. He has to be the #2 target behind Rodon. His upside is just so huge that it would be hard to take the risk on a HS arm over him. Scott Boras as his agent and/or advisor simply cannot be overstated, and it is absolutely a concern. Unlike college seniors, Rodon has leverage still as a junior, and if he's requesting #1 overall money no matter what and he won't sign otherwise, and the Sox feel he'll need a year or two in the minors (so they can't do the fast track thing), then it becomes incredibly tricky to figure that out.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Apr 17, 2014 -> 05:31 PM) Kiley McDaniel ‏@kileymcd 41s ECU righty Jeff Hoffman has been 95-97 early on tonight w/heat in the building from both Chicago clubs, including Theo Epstein & Jed Hoyer. Expand Wasting their time and money. I think, all things considered, Hoffman is #1 on the Sox board and there's no way he'll get by them. QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Apr 17, 2014 -> 10:14 PM) A week ago no one wanted Hoffman and he was a fringe top-10 guy. Now everyone is cool with taking him #3. lol. I'm kind of excited not only for the draft, but just to get these yes-no-yes-maybe-yes-meh-no-yes conversations over with. I've been uneasy about some of the numbers overall, but I don't think I've ever disliked him. All of the top guys in the top 4 - Rodon, Kolek, Hoffman, and Aiken (don't even feel it's necessary to mention Beede anymore) - have had some concerns overall this season.