witesoxfan

The White Sox had a bullpen ERA of 3.75 last year. That includes Phil Humber (14 IP, 13 ER), Zach Stewart (30 IP, 20 ER), Will Ohman (26.2 IP, 19 ER), and Leyson Septimo (14.1 IP, 8 ER). That's 60 ER in 85 IP combined between those 4. That is an ERA of 6.35. Perhaps more relative is this - that is 4 terrible pitchers, 3 of whom will not throw a pitch for the White Sox this year, who were throwing in primarily mopup situations, that accounted for 18% of the innings thrown by White Sox pitches (1 of 5 IP) but accounted for 31% of the ER allowed (1 of 3 ER).** Meaning the relievers that mattered put up an ERA of 3.17 because they pitched 4 times as often and allowed only 2 times as many runs. If you want to complain about Reed, by all means, but he's the only one worthy of complaint, and I think he's going to be a lot better next year. You can bring up the lack of depth, and I might agree, but that doesn't mean you need to bring in 2 or 3 relievers...1 or 2 will suffice. The White Sox bullpen is the least of all my concerns right now. ** - Yes, I'm aware you can do this for virtually all teams - in this instance, it doesn't defeat the point. Mopup innings are for guys who suck because you don't want to waste someone important in an unimportant situation.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Dec 11, 2012 -> 03:27 PM) For what it might be worth, Boers on 670 has maintained that the Sox don't actually think super highly of Flowers. The last time I heard that said on-air, mind you, was last year mid-year. I can't imagine why that would be, as he has the minor league history and not-awful major league experience so far. Maybe the one issue is-- we just STILL don't know what to make of this guy. Is he the minor leaguer who piled up OBP and had some power? Or the major leaguer who doesn't get on base but has considerable power production? Defensively, we expected bad and actually got good-- but how big a sample have we? We're sort of backed into being win-now, but that still works with Tyler if we are reappropriating the would-be AJP money. Flowers against righties is still questionable enough to mean we should seek a veteran lefty C In limited ABs, Tyler Flowers actually has a higher OPS against RHP than LHP, and neither has ever created too much of a problem for him. I don't worry about that so much as just getting a good backup as an insurance policy.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Dec 11, 2012 -> 01:46 PM) Anderson was a mid 5th round draft pick. Who has been hit or miss in his career. The fact that the Bears got anything out of him was impressive. He has always been incredibly effective as a straight pass rusher and has lost all effectiveness when used for more than rushing the passer.

Conor Jackson signed a minor league deal with Baltimore

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 11, 2012 -> 01:26 PM) I could swear I remember another team having this exact same problem with this exact same player. I wonder who that was, my memory is just a little hazy. What other teams has he played for? The Patriots figured out how to use him, yet the Bills cant, and some other team never could either. The Patriots clearly know how to handle their players better than the Bills, who is that other team? It can't be nice for them to be lumped in with a poorly coached and poorly managed team like the Bills. The Texans. Duh.

Mario Williams was hurt. He's since gotten better and been a stud in the last 4 games, racking up 6 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and 2 pass deflections. And, while I understand there's more to football than merely counting statistics, Williams is very likely to end the season with better counting statistics than Peppers has ever put up with the Bears. The Mark Anderson signing was the weird one in that the Bills seemed to believe he was a 3 down player when he is nothing more than a pass rush specialist. So long as he is used solely as a pass rusher, he's a very valuable player.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 11, 2012 -> 11:03 AM) Kids are pretty good drinking deterrants. I hate it when people get all frowny at me when i am s***hammered around my kids and want to drive places. whats that all about seriously though, if I ever have anything to drink, it is usually within an hour before my kids go to bed. I just do not like drinking when my kids are around. I am the same around my nephew. We hang out on Sundays and drink beer pretty much all day, but we simply don't drink to the point of inebriation. In 8 hours, I might put down a 6 pack. Being even buzzed around him just isn't fun.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Dec 11, 2012 -> 10:55 AM) Half our pot goes to 1st and 2nd overall regular season, the other half goes to 1st/2nd/3rd in the playoffs. $5 weekly high scorer, $15 to 1st regular season, $15 to most points, then like $300/$150/$75 Stupid, stupid. Going to have a new commissioner next year, and we are going to work on these payouts and the setup.

Less of a problem for others, but trying to quit smoking while still drinking is damn near impossible, so I'm gonna try and ween myself off a little bit too. WHAT IS HAPPENING AND WHY ARE WE ALL GROWING UP?

This is like signing Michael Garciaparra or Taylor Griffin. Cool for trivia, irrelevant long-term.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 11, 2012 -> 10:43 AM) That's how my yahoo league works. I had a bye this week, and I'm re-seeded against the lowest seed next week. Championship is only one week, though. If you put together a team that wins (aka consistent performance) and scores the most points in the league (aka a very good team), you should be given some sort of advantage. I'm only guaranteed $40 in this bulls*** league.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Dec 11, 2012 -> 07:45 AM) How do you run those? Can you do it through ESPN or Yahoo or is it off-line? ESPN, and, not sure if you are aware, but it's 2 week playoff rounds, 2 each. I hate them. I am the #1 team in my league, scored the most points and tied for the best record, and because I had one bad week and my opponent had one good week, I'm screwed and I have to hope for 2 more good weeks to end the season just for 3rd place and make my money back In fantasy, the top 6 should make it. #1 and #2 should get a bye, #3 and #6 should play, #4 and #5 should play; quarters are 1 week, semis are 1 week, championship is 2 weeks.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Dec 11, 2012 -> 08:49 AM) Try that out...send your girl a YouTube link of a years old video for her Christmas present...let me know how that works out. She wants to get married tomorrow!

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Dec 11, 2012 -> 12:22 AM) soxtalk.com offers benefits? After a few favors. I am not legally obligated to state whether or not they were sexual in nature, but they were.

QUOTE (VAfan @ Dec 11, 2012 -> 12:03 AM) I disagree. I posted something awhile back arguing that the bullpen is likely the place where the Sox could make the biggest difference between 2012 and 2013. I think our bullpen lost 23 games, 10 by Thornton alone. The Tigers were almost as bad, but Oakland, Baltimore, NY, and Texas were all far better. You could argue that the difference between the Oakland and Baltimore pens and the Los Angeles and Tampa pens put the former in the playoffs and kept the latter two teams out. Most of the rest of the team is set at this point. If you added a veteran arm who might close, you could jettison Thornton and use the young guys to set up, especially now that they have a year under their belts. If you have those 10 games, or if it isn't too much trouble, I'd like to see the games you believe Thornton lost. I was at a game in Minnesota in which Thornton induced a double play with the bases loaded and no outs that one could argue won the Sox the game.

QUOTE (VAfan @ Dec 10, 2012 -> 11:57 PM) How are the Sox going to compete offensively in 2013 if they deal Rios for a prospect or two? Rios was their most consistent hitter, by far. Prospects, by definition, are not ready to produce right now. By using said prospects and freed money to acquire other talents. Or by putting together a team that, if everything falls together, can compete in 2013 with an eye towards 2014 and beyond. If I'd have said that the Sox could trade Rios for a prospect at all after last season, there would have been any number of people saying to jump at it before the other team changed their mind. He is maddeningly inconsistent and could just as easily put up a sub-.700 OPS as he could to repeat last year's season.

The idea of Ellsbury would be a lot more attractive if he weren't a free agent after this year and he could be re-signed at a relatively decent price. With Boras as his agent, I don't think either of those are possible. Granderson makes more sense than Ellsbury.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 10, 2012 -> 09:27 PM) The guy who had the longest fingers relative to his size that I ever met was Jack McDowell. This was why he had that great splitter. He was just an anatomic freak. I've seen other pitchers have surgery to cut the web space between their fingers to have more "split" but no one matched his. Learn something new everyday.

BTW, as of today I am *officially* a full-time employee with benefits and all that jazz.

Well, down 46 going into week two of the playoffs next week. I'm boned. Hopefully I can get 3rd place and at least make $40.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Dec 10, 2012 -> 10:02 PM) 1. I don't think Viciedo is as valuable as Sox fans think. 2. I would like to see Dunn gone - but you still have to replace him. 3. Rios is probably your most valuable OF. Only trade him if a deal is too good to be true. Tell me what so impressive with De Aza and Wise that you would get rid of Rios? I think trying to compare the value of the outfielders the Sox currently have is comparing an apple to an orange to a banana. Viciedo has value as a young player with promise, De Aza has value as a player in his prime locked up for a few years who will be a solid starting player, and Rios has the highest ceiling but also the highest salary and a has dealt with maddening bouts of inconsistency. If you're looking to package players together, you trade Viciedo; if you're looking to acquire a player in a straight one for one swap, you deal De Aza; if you are looking for a prospect or two, you deal Rios.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Dec 10, 2012 -> 07:43 PM) Keppinger: I haven't talked to anybody about where I'm going to play. to me, it doesn't matter. Translation: Mr. Hahn told me he's trying to trade Gordon Beckham and to shut up until I'm told to talk. They could have also just as easily guaranteed him both the most money and/or playing time out of any of his destinations. Beckham doesn't have a lot of value right now and I don't think there's any real point in deal him. Hell, if nothing else, Keppinger might be a guy that Beckham picks up a few things from with regards to making good, solid contact.

QUOTE (Jake @ Dec 10, 2012 -> 10:30 PM) It's certainly a possibility, but the generic "corresponding move" could just as easily be salary related. That would be my guess. If I had to make an educated guess, I would say the Sox have a pretty good idea of what they want to do. And I don't think moving Viciedo elsewhere is necessarily going to be a problem because he's an easily movable piece with value, so if some team acquiring him in a package wants to flip him for a pitcher or something along those lines, they can easily do that. I think you are looking at Floyd and/or Thornton in this instance, just to free up some money by trading a couple players the Sox, though they like, feel are movable and are making too much. In said deal or deals, you want to make sure you are getting the right value for a player as opposed to just selling them off for spare parts because there are still quite a few teams who would take a shot on Gavin Floyd and/or Matt Thornton at full cost monetarily if cost personnel wise was dirt cheap. Also, there may be a few other pieces on the free agent market that need to fall still too.

QUOTE (DrunkBomber @ Dec 10, 2012 -> 06:56 PM) dgaf l;kgfd;ljg;fljfadg;'kjgfad'kljgd'k, Im going against him Bummer. I have him and Welker in a PPR. Opponent has Brady and Foster going. I'm down 99-64 but its a two-week playoff. Hoping and praying I get like 50 out of those two tonight to bring me some life.

QUOTE (DrunkBomber @ Dec 10, 2012 -> 06:53 PM) Just waiting on Hernandez's status...sigh Active. No reason not to play him.