witesoxfan

Ketchup on a hot dog is disgusting, but I tolerate people that do that. People who put ketchup on a brat on the other hand, well, they scare me.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Jun 20, 2017 -> 07:55 AM) Adding a good fielding, left handed hitting first baseman like Hosmer and moving Abreu to DH improves the defense, improves the offense, and helps keep Abreu healthy. Improving the defense at 1B also improves the defense of the SS and third baseman, as many of their potential throwing errors are eliminated and even converted to outs. Given what he will likely get in free agency and the actual value he would add, Hosmer might be the worst player they could sign. The only thing that's changed from this year compared to last is a little better luck on batted balls. Also, Hosmer is not very good defensively, as in, just as bad if not worse than Abreu.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 17, 2017 -> 02:04 PM) Honestly, trade everyone, as long as we get good value. For me, Avi, Kahnle, Swarzak and Rodon are the guys that have some upside left in them that I would be concerned about giving away. Abreu I think brings a lot of veteran leadership to a ballclub heavy on latin american assets, so I suppose he is the guy that I would keep around for reasons chalked up to "chemistry" or "intangibles." I think Abreu is among the least likely players to be traded in the entire league.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 17, 2017 -> 01:06 PM) This is pretty clear, but at the same time, I want good value out of these guys. I would rather get nothing for Kahnle and keep him than trade him in a month for 50 cents on the dollar because he doesn't have a long enough history of success. At some point, you have to cash in on your assets, but not at the expense of a well-reasoned, patiently negotiated rebuild. As I said before, this is a rebuild, but it doesn't need to be American Pickers. I like Hahn overseeing things for that very reason. I don't disagree with this for Kahnle. Robertson I think you can fudge things one way or another, whether it's eating some money to get a better prospect or taking a lesser package to get him moved. Swarzak absolutely needs to be moved for whatever the Sox can get.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 17, 2017 -> 12:31 PM) Yeah, you don't hold onto relievers during a rebuild. First, they're too fickle performance-wise year to year and they almost always bring back a premium at the deadline. Second, if you're a pitching rich organization, you'll probably have plenty of arms to field a quality bullpen. In addition to Burdi, I feel pretty strongly that Fulmer & Stephens will end up in the pen along with a few other failed starters. Therefore, trade Robertson, Kahnle, & Swarzak this deadline if you can get quality returns. Jones potentially becomes a big trade piece in 2018. Cashing in on relievers is rebuilding 101 and I'm glad to see we're set up to do just that. The Sox under Ken Williams did a very poor job of getting proper value out of relievers, trading Foulke, Marte, and Thornton when their values plummeted and paying a premium for Linebrink and Robertson. If they reverse that under Hahn and trade these guys while their value is at its peak, they will be doing business the right way. Yeah, Kahnle has probably figured something out with regards to his mechanics, and he could be very good for 3-4 years, but a rebuilding team especially should not be counting on that. The more I think about it, the more I think that Robertson, Kahnle, and Swarzak being on this team beyond July 31st would be a failure.

QUOTE (PolishPrince34 @ Jun 17, 2017 -> 11:24 AM) http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-making-of-tommy-kahnle/ http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-white-s...-on-the-planet/ You are so off on Kahnle At the same time, here's what Jeff Sullivan said in his FanGraphs chat yesterday: which, yeah, I also completely agree with.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 16, 2017 -> 12:36 PM) Yeah, I was thinking the same thing...even without slotting Moncada in at 2b yet, if you believe in Yolmer at all, what good does adding a piece like Albies do for you? As far as the Braves go, I would be more interested in Acuna and Maitan, but pretty certain those are two guys they would be leery trading away for Q right now. I don't know that I even do believe in Sanchez yet, but that profile is so dependent upon average that there's a lot of bust potential there. That's what scares me most.

Yolmer Sanchez: 2013 (20 years): .241/.293/.296, 6.1% BB, 15.9% K 2014 (21 years): .293/.349/.412, 7.3% BB, 17% K Ozzie Albies: 2016 (19 years): .248/.307/.351, 7.7% BB, 15.8% K 2017 (20 years): .276/.324/.423, 6.1% BB, 20.2% K Maybe not a perfect comparison, but if someone offered you a slightly better version of Sanchez for Quintana, are you jumping on it?

QUOTE (StrykerSox @ Jun 16, 2017 -> 12:04 PM) Could be any of the hitters, but I went with Avi. If he keeps this up, or even close, we retroactively win the Peavy trade and that would be huge. Kahnle and Swarzak are nice, but it's hard to be too excited about bullpen pieces. Polite went from dominant in 2005 to out of baseball in 2007. Also, Swarzak has a 6.75 ERA since giving up his first run a month ago. I think I got a little off from "most surprising", but whatever. I dunno, the Red Sox won the World Series with Peavy that year, kind of hard for me to say that they didn't win that one.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jun 14, 2017 -> 02:13 PM) That's a good point. How many "but the Sox seem to believe he can stick at _______" can you have before the defensive unit becomes unplayable as a unit? I sort of think they are going to be counting on a lot of defensive contributions from SS, 2B, and CF, and then kind of filling in as they go. If they end up with too many guys who are mediocre to poor defenders but can hit the ball, you can trade those guys. Frankly, guys with big hit tools that actually transfer to the game have way more value than a guy who is a phenomenal defender but can't hit a lick. Cleuluis Rondon was/is reportedly a defensive wizard at SS, but do you think the Sox can actually get value for that? Of course not. But a guy who hits .300/.380/.450 in the minors? He has to be absolutely Lastings Milledge clueless in the field to not have trade value. I don't mind this philosophy at all in the short term. Get guys to the majors, give them a shot. A more balanced approach moving forward would be better.

QUOTE (Tony @ Jun 14, 2017 -> 10:33 PM) They'll have no problem releasing him once they feel someone has earned that spot. They have next to nothing invested in Gonzalez, let him get shelled until someone is ready to stick around up here. Agreed. You may get someone who claims him on waivers to eat the rest of his 2018 salary, but the most you are getting for him is a 40 FV guy with tools. Really, I don't see any harm in keeping him in the rotation until September 1st or even the end of the season, but there's no need for him in 2018. If they cut him prior to that point, so be it.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 14, 2017 -> 06:22 PM) The bonus can, the tax can't. At the very least the Sox are writing a $33ish million check (tax ~ $25 million, payment 8.333m give) give or take a million for tax purposes. My guess from the way they are doing this in the Dominican is that they are going to pay it all up front to save the kid on the taxes as that is something like a difference of a $4 million because of various tax rates, if my math holds up. If you divide into 3 payments, you lose 2/3 of the tax benefits. Not that Rick Hahn is bad at identifying talent, but it's not his strong point. The reason he was such a sought after GM is due to how contract savvy he is. Chris Sale was always going to bring a haul, but it was Hahn's shrewd negotiations that probably netted the Sox both Moncada and Kopech. Without the contract they had in place for Eaton, there's no way Washington is giving up all 3 of Giolito, Lopez, and Dunning. If they got Luis Robert simply because they are paying everything upfront instead of pushing this off, thus making Robert more money as a result, the dude is amazing. People give him s*** because the Sox have not put a good team on the field under his regime thus far, but that's been more s***ty depth and less about what he's actually done. He's worked some very impressive trades and not actually given up much, if anything, in actual talent.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 14, 2017 -> 11:28 AM) Well that is perhaps the entire argument...what IS selling high on Tommy Kahnle? I mean this is not smoke and mirrors...the guy has dominant stuff and has always been thought of that way. The question is, would he ever be able to harness it. He seems to be doing that now. If the Sox believe he can sustain it, they should hold him, absent a critical piece coming back for him. If they believe he's lucky to be sustaining this level for as long as he has, I agree - they should move him for the first reasonable offer they receive. It's all about command/control with Kahnle. If he is keeping the ball in the strike zone, no one is really touching him. I think he's legit. I'd offer him at probably just under the Giles price and if no one bites, no one bites.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 13, 2017 -> 04:55 PM) There ya go. Have to go back 6 years to find an example, and that was like 2 different draft systems ago. It just so rarely happens now. Not that I have the pertinent info with regards to how much the Sox were offering versus what they signed for, but considering Gardeck went from an 8th rounder to a 16th rounder with the Giants, and O'Shea went from a 10th rounder to a 35th rounder with St. Louis, probably safe to say those guys screwed themselves out of more money.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 13, 2017 -> 04:39 PM) Abbott will sign. The Sox aren't going to draft someone in the 8th round who won't sign. Find the last time the Sox failed to sign a Top 10 pick. Ian Gardeck and Ben O'Shea, 2011.

QUOTE (Buehrlesque @ Jun 9, 2017 -> 03:56 PM) I don't see the Astros being a factor for Quintana at all. I do see the Yankees continuing to make more and more sense. With how competitive they've been, plus how unreliable Tanaka's been, plus their plethora of OFs — Judge has cemented his role enough to make Frazier, Rutherford and Fowler available — they match up well with the Sox. I see the same. Severino threw ~150 innings last year of live ball. Pineda is sort of normalizing, but also isn't normalizing - his HR/FB is at a career high, but his BABIP is low, and his xFIP is lining up with this ERA, but for so many other reasons. Jordan Montgomery has been great, and I think will continue to the be the #2 to Severino moving forward, but he also only threw ~150 innings of live ball. Tanaka has been s***, but Sabathia has been just fine as the #4 (guessing he's actually like 3 in the technical rotation chart, but he's now #4 but should be #5), and would be the #3 in most rotations across the league. He's a free agent after this year, and if you think they are going to resign him for anything more than a year, you're crazy. If you don't think a team that's close (say, maybe the Brewers??) wouldn't offer him a 2/$30 deal to be a #3 starter for that team next year, you'd also be crazy. They have room in that rotation to run some sort of hybrid 6-man rotation where guys take days off and start on other days and Quintana, a steady, strong #2, takes the ball every 5th day. The Yankees are an ideal candidate, because he replaces Sabathia moving forward. People think Cashman is looking for Cole. I think the Astros are looking at Cole. They need a guy like that, because they may be able to re-sign him too. The Yankees feel a bit more cost-conscious at this point. Trade for Gerritt Cole for oodles of prospects, or trade a very similar package for 3.5 years of Jose Quintana? It's an easy answer. Best comparison I ever heard for Quintana was Jon Lester. Lester went 4.1, 5.3, and 4.8 WAR per year his first 3 seasons. He then went 2.5 and 2.7. Since, he's gone 3.5, 5.6, 5.0, and 4.3 for full seasons. Quintana went 3.5, 5.1, 4.8, and 4.8. There are some stats out of whack here, and I want to investigate them further at a future time, but has enough really changed to think that Quintana is a different pitcher? QUOTE (ecupittfan @ Jun 10, 2017 -> 10:53 PM) Unfortunately the Rockies could not be a partner, their rookies are tearing it up. I was hoping we would have pulled the trigger in the offseason with them and landed Jeff Hoffman and another stud but I guess the Rocks knew what they had. I saw Hoffman in college many times and he would have been the #1 pick if he didnt need tommy john during his senior year. Right now he is 4-0 with some of the best stuff I have seen from a young pitcher. He has the highest spin rate on his curve in the majors. During the game the announcers said that he had not let up a hit off his curve or slider all year. That is 27 innings. He has some ridiculous stuff. The Rockies are loaded with pitchers right now so maybe someone like a Riley Pint could be had. I tell my Rockies bud every day how much I love Hoffman. And then Hoffman goes out, pitches a gem, and he says, "Blake, that's Hoffman, buddy."

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 10, 2017 -> 04:32 PM) Josh Harrison, Newman, Ngoepe....numbers game. http://www.pittsburghsports.net/search.php http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1403369...one-knows-about Another reason is lacks the arm for SS. But a Top 50-75 milb prospect coming into 2013. We're collecting those guys. Garcia's. Rymer Liriano. This is exactly what they should be doing. The Reds acquired Brandon Phillips for Jeff Stevens, who was traded to the Cubs for Mark DeRosa, who was later traded for Chris Perez (Mark DeRose, not Jeff Stevens). This is essentially useless trivia, because Brandon Phillips, the dude who averaged almost 3.5 WAR per season for his first 7 seasons with the Reds, was traded for a nothing prospect. Alen Hanson was acquired for NOTHING*. Willy Garcia was acquired for NOTHING*. Rymer Liriano was acquired for NOTHING*. Cody Asche was acquired for NOTHING*. This is what rebuilding organizations do. You take chances on players, and if they suck, you discard them, and if a s***ty team discards a player, chances are no one else is going to be like "oh, well he was a top 100 prospect 3 years ago." Literally, the Sox are not giving up a "nothing" prospect, because sometimes a "nothing" prospect turns into Chris Devenski, a prospect the White Sox traded to the Astros for Brett Myers. That "nothing" prospect turns into one of the most unique bullpen weapons in the game. They aren't giving up nothing. This is not an attack on you caulfield, this is just an open rant because I have the day off tomorrow and I am HAPPY that the White Sox won a game today. *no players, but I'm sure there are waiver fees applied. Also, Cody Asche is GOD, all hail Cody Asche

I haven't listened yet, but it already sounds incredibly. Glad you got the interview and can't wait to listen. Brian was always one of my favorite players, and his contributions to that 2008 team were incredible, if understated. QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 10, 2017 -> 02:39 PM) If anything, Brian Anderson had too many chances...including as a pitcher. I strongly disagree.

QUOTE (ChiliIrishHammock24 @ Jun 10, 2017 -> 01:17 AM) Still 4th. 2 GB of Giants for 3rd. 2.5 GB of Padres for 2nd. 4 GB of Phillies for 1st. By current BaseRuns, the White Sox are 9th worst. That does not account for how badly the team has played over the last 3 weeks, but this team is perfectly on track. Trade Swarzak, Robertson, Holland, Frazier, Cabrera, and possibly Shields and Quintana, and go from there.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Jun 9, 2017 -> 01:33 PM) I think Rodon and Fulmer will be there but I think some combination of Q , Holland and Shields will still be there. I don't see Hahn rushing young pitchers to the majors to take their licks. Some young pitchers never recover from that. I think he will judge who he can rush to the majors and who it may have an adverse effect. Giolito is probably the one out of that group who wouldn't get the call, as I think they want him continuing to refine his mechanics at the minor league level. All the same, young pitchers struggle, and bad pitchers struggle too. Some of those guys will be up against their inning limits, so it might be best to run with AAAA pitchers like Pelfrey and Parnell to eat innings too.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 9, 2017 -> 10:24 AM) The other issue is there is little pressure on the Astros to make a deal on June 9th. They have all the time in the world at this point to explore the marketplace. Exactly. I don't think anyone in Houston anticipated their record to be this good at this point, but they were absolutely justified in not breaking the bank for anybody this offseason. Quintana is still a fit both in Houston and probably New York, plus a few other destinations as well. If he continues to pitch better, there will be suitors for him.

QUOTE (Lemon_44 @ Jun 9, 2017 -> 07:34 AM) The stat geeks have ruined this site for me. Why not just sit back, relax, and enjoy the fact that he's having a tremendous season. Instead there's adjusted contact rate stats, ground ball average and peripherals. Why even play the games? Just use fangraphs, war, and any other made up stat to determine the winner through a computer. It seems like every thread deteriorates into a discussion about WAR, peripherals, fip, xfip, or some other random stat. Because to get those numbers, you have to play the games. And with those numbers... QUOTE (Dam8610 @ Jun 9, 2017 -> 08:36 AM) Looking at the batted ball and swing data, I found the following: BABIP is well above career norms and likely unsustainable. Unless K rate comes down, average is likely to regress, but Hard contact% increase paired with Soft contact% decrease totaling about 5-6% support sustainability of some increase in BABIP, maybe to .320-.340 range, which would make him a .260-.290 hitter, though that could be higher if he can sustain his well above career norms IFH%. LD% is slightly above career norms, but not significantly so. FB% is near career norms, and while IFFB% is above career norms fairly significantly (?????), even more significantly above career norms is his HR/FB%. I believe this to be supported (and therefore hopefully sustainable) by the large increases in Pull% and Hard contact%, both of which are significantly above career norms. I think these increases combined explain the .213 ISO, and if he can sustain them, point to an improved power hitter. Contact% is significantly above career norms, likely as a result of significantly above career norms O-Contact%, Z-Contact%, and Z-Swing%. His Swing% is also significantly above career norms as a result of the significant increase in Z-Swing%. This seems to explain why his walk rate is well below career norms despite his SwStr% being significantly below career norms. All in all the data suggests that Avi has gotten a tick quicker both as a runner and with the bat which has turned him into a pull power hitter who makes lots of hard contact but still has the speed to force the defense to make a play on him even when he makes soft contact, and has made him overall better as a defender. Does this seem right to people who have watched more of the games than I have this year? ...we can see that there is some sustainability to Avisail's game, as he has improved as a hitter. We're still looking at a fairly small sample size. Michael Saunders of the Blue Jays looked like he'd figured out his game last year, as through July 31st of last year, he was hitting .281/.366/.536/.902. Pitcher's made an adjustment, and he hit .186/.267/.338/.605 from August first through the end of that year, and that has continued into this year for him. You'd be fooling yourself if you didn't think the same thing could happen to Garcia. Still, there are more positive developments with regard to Garcia that I think he can be classified as an above average hitter and a slightly below average fielder, making him a 2-3 WAR player moving foward, meaning he's a good regular and a player the Sox can be apart of the rebuilding process.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 9, 2017 -> 08:10 AM) We've been through this. Cheer for the team to win, but accept the fact they're going to lose plenty of games regardless. The only time we should cheer against them IMO is those last few weeks when draft position is much more apparent. Otherwise, enjoy the team however you can. Like if they get to the point where they need Cody Asche's to be playing every day simply because they don't have bodies, yeah, that's fine, I don't care. When the rotation is something like Rodon, Fulmer, Lopez, Giolito, and Holmberg on August 1st, yeah, I want those guys to take their licks because they need to figure out how to pitch at the MLB level and how to adjust. That's part of growing as a pitcher. Those could be a really ugly two months but still a very important two months developmentally. If they are already at the point where they're putting up sustainable 3.50 ERAs, then great, but I doubt that is going to be the case. Frankly, I'm hoping for something around 12-15 games under around the deadline. It would mean they've played well enough in the month and a half leading up to the deadline that there were positive performances, but it's still pushing the team towards a higher draft position. Also, I think this is where some of it gets lost. I'm sitting here openly saying "I hope they lose more games than they win leading up to the deadline," yet at the same time I'm hoping they win each individual game. It's looking at the immediate results versus the big picture. You can hope they win on a daily basis yet still see the forest for the trees.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jun 8, 2017 -> 10:22 AM) Pitch-to-pitch, I want whatever is good for the rebuild. If Anderson is up in a big game situation, I want him to succeed. If a Leury Garcia or Omar Narvaez are in the same situation, not so much. Losses are going to pile up the next couple years regardless of rooting interests. Consume the product any way you want, but for me, I want to see the next few years have a beginning, middle, and end...suck, get better and see improvement, then make the postseason back-to-back years for the first time. This is pretty much exactly the way I feel.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Jun 8, 2017 -> 10:12 AM) I don't think it's really about getting enjoyment out of their losses. Just accepting that it may be better in the long run. Fortunately for us, this is year 1 of a rebuild and whether we want them or not, the losses will pile up regardless. See, that's where I think you're wrong. I understand and appreciate the rebuild. The losses don't both me. It's openly rooting for losing that is ridiculous. This team isn't very good, and they are going to lose a lot, and that is fine, but turning on the game and hoping that someone like Miguel Gonzalez gets lit up so the Sox gain a game in the draft is crazy.