witesoxfan

I have a play to read and a poem to write, and I don't want to do either of them.

White Sox, second half, under Guillen, against Twins 2004 - 2-7 2005 - 7-6 2006 - 4-8 2007 - 4-2 2008 - 2-6 2009 - 1-8 2010 - 3-10 TOTAL - 23-47, .329 PCT Whatever Ozzie has said or done to motivate the White Sox to beat the Twins late in the year obviously has not worked (except for 1 game in his entire career, and Kansas City deserves more credit for that than the White Sox). They're generally fine against everyone else, but they can't beat the Twins. If they continually fail to beat the Twins, they will continually finish in 2nd place and will continually miss the playoffs.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 19, 2010 -> 10:39 PM) Who posted in: 9/19 ESPN Sunday Night Baseball- Tigers @ Sox Poster Posts greg775 49 fathom 21 Quinarvy 12 CaliSoxFanViaSWside 9 JoeCoolMan24 9 hahahaha

QUOTE (scenario @ Sep 18, 2010 -> 10:21 PM) He didn't want them to lose. He just wanted them to hurry up and come to Birmingham Chicago. And there's nothing wrong with that.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 17, 2010 -> 09:45 PM) Troy Tulowitzki needs to f***ing stop it. He's only 25 too. There is just a ton of amazing young talent in the majors today. That Rockies team is going to be really fun to watch for a while.

QUOTE (T R U @ Sep 19, 2010 -> 07:03 PM) just please make them beat the Jets and Patriots for me friend You know that's not going to happen. I don't think the Bills are going to win 3 games...1 or 2 seems about right with the direction of the offense.

Remind me: why did the Bills take CJ Spiller in the first this year? It's because they needed to use a first round pick on a player that they were going to give 1 carry too, right? And that's why they won't trade Marshawn Lynch, because they need 3 running backs who could start on teams but can't do s*** with this team because the offensive line is garbage and no sane defensive coordinator is going to respect the Bills vertical attack. What a joke of an organization.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 13, 2010 -> 01:58 AM) I would agree 100 percent. You described the Twins. Thome may help them not fear NY. I don't think it's a matter of fear, it's simply a matter of the Yankees being a superior team to the Twins.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 12:05 AM) '94 > '06 I didn't see the '94 team, but even then, I think it's arguable either way. They both had a ton of talent, and s***ty circumstances ended their seasons prematurely.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 12:16 AM) Then why is average considered one of the five primary "tools"? I know the basic thought is that getting base hits is a primary tool, but I think it has more to do with making contact in general, which is a symptom of bat control. There are several guys who make great contact that aren't great hitters.

And on the contrary, the 2006 team was easily the most talented White Sox team I've ever seen and, even with the pitching staff falling apart from Buehrle's blow up against the Cubs and onward, they still won 90 games. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened with that team had they not traded for Vazquez, even as much as I liked him, because the depth Vizcaino and El Duque would have given the Sox pitching staff would have been very nice in the second half of that year.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 8, 2010 -> 11:19 PM) Believe me, I've gone full blown sabemetrics in the last year or so. wOBA is my favorite stat for hitters. FIP and xFIP are my favorite stats for pitchers. I just don't see how hits divided by at bats is not a good indicator of that particular skillset. If I'm wrong (Kalapse, qwerty, chw42) please tell me. The only reason it's "misleading" is because of how limited it is. There is nothing you can really learn about a hitter from average other than that he either gets a lot of base hits or he doesn't. That's very important information to know, but there's no real depth to it.

QUOTE (kjshoe04 @ Sep 8, 2010 -> 06:05 PM) I did love Shaun King. Also, I can't believe two people named Dingle were drafted in the same year and it doesn't appear that they are related. You mean like two guys named Beckham going in the top 10 of the same draft?

Suck it Felix! Seriously though, even though Minnesota football isn't the greatest, that's a huge, huge win for USD. Going into TCF Stadium and winning that game was a monumental win for a program that just 3 years ago went D1.

And it's not as if the Cardinals are suddenly chopped liver. Bradford looked like a pretty damn good QB, even if it was just pre-season work. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Seahawks finish last and win only 4 games.

And it's even higher after he hits a home run too. It would have been nice to have that all year.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 26, 2010 -> 08:57 PM) I'm glad this didn't happen. Hoffman's been really bad this year. He's been pretty good in his last 25 games though. 2.63 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, good K rate and control, but, as you mentioned, he's been terrible this year, and I'm not sure that I'd want to trust him in the AL.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 26, 2010 -> 08:57 PM) Not really. Jones has been awful against RHP. Ideally (given our roster) he'd be part of a nice platoon at DH and RF with Quentin and a healthy Teahen. Pretty much spot on. Kotsay has been mildly effective against RHP this year, but not to the extent that he should be a full time DH. Jones vs RHP - .199/.304/.434/.738 Kotsay vs RHP - .254/.326/.415/.742 Kotsay naturally hasn't hit for as much power as Jones has, but that is to be expected. He has gotten on base more often, and he has a higher average, and thus has been a superior candidate to Jones as the DH against RHP. It doesn't mean you want it. Interestingly enough, Jones has 33 hits against RHP this year, and 10 of them have been home runs.

AL Manager - Washington AL Rookie - Jackson AL MVP - Hamilton AL Cy Young - Sabathia (Felix should get it though) NL Manager - Black NL Rookie - Heyward (though Garcia and Sanchez deserve consideration) NL MVP - Votto NL Cy Young - Wainwright, though I think Halladay has been a more valuable pitcher. This is going to be the closest race of them all.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Aug 26, 2010 -> 05:34 PM) He would be a good option if Manny doesn't come our way, but we have to work quickly on one of the other Not really. If Abreu passes through waivers (which seems likely that he did, considering the financial commitment to him next season), the Sox can make a deal with Anaheim any time between now and August 31st.

QUOTE (MattZakrowski @ Aug 26, 2010 -> 07:03 AM) Ryan Zimmerman leads NL batters in WAR, FWIW. He's an incredible player, but the Nats are bad, and there are two other great candidates for winning teams. It sucks, but it does come to that. They are both very much in contention for the Triple Crown too. A lot of it will depend on if Omar Infante can keep his average up as he reaches the plate appearance mark, but as of right now, Votto is leading at .326 with Pujols in 3rd at .319, and Pujols is leading in homers and RBI at 33 and 92 respectively, with Votto 2nd in both of those at 31 and 90.

In the NL, you have the Padres, Giants, RockiesReds, Cardinals, Phillies, and Braves who are legitimate contenders. These are the only teams in the NL that would have any desire to claim Ramirez (because, really, the only way you are going to make any type of money on an investment like this is if you make the postseason). As has been mentioned, the Giants outfield is full. The Cardinals are running out Holliday, Rasmus, and Jon Jay (.353/.405/.503/.908 in 210 PAs) and you have to figure that they are going to try and save any money they can to give to Pujols in the next 16 months. The Phillies are running out Ibanez (.306/.394/.493/.886 in the second half), Victorino, and Werth, and also have Dominic Brown in the minors. The Reds have Gomes, Bruce, Edmonds, Nix, and Stubbs as outfielders, so there probably isn't room there either unless they feel that they can get away with 6 outfielders or they designate one of those players (and that won't happen). The Padres have had financial problems as recently as a year ago, and I doubt they are looking to add $4.3 mill in the final month of the season when they are already in a great position to make it to the postseason. They also have Chase Headley (.744 OPS, which translates to a 111 OPS+), Will Venable (.754, 114 OPS+), and Chris Denorfia (.829, 134 OPS+) as options in the corners. The Braves could be a possibility, but they have Eric Hinske (.771 OPS against RHP) and Matt Diaz (.860 OPS against LHP) along with Heyward, Ankiel, McClouth, and Cabrera too. I'm not sure they have room either. The Rockies are interesting because they are close enough to the top of the Wild Card that they could make a surprise move, but they released Brad Hawpe to seemingly open up more playing time for the outfielders already on their roster, as Smith, Gonzalez, Fowler, and Spilborghs are all very solid offensive pieces. I think he's going to clear the NL with relative ease. In the AL, the Rangers are running away with the West and even if the Athletics or Angels think they have a miraculous run in them, they aren't going to claim Manny Ramirez to spark that run. The Tigers and Blue Jays seem too far out of the race to put a claim in on him. That leaves the Sox. I'd say, just based on all of that, that the Sox have Manny if they want him.

QUOTE (C_LEE45 @ Aug 25, 2010 -> 02:30 PM) what team should we worry about claiming manny? You're just looking at NL teams, unless one of the Angels or Athletics thinks they are close enough to justify adding him. You have to figure that a team not in the race will not claim him, the Padres won't as they are built around their pitching and defense and the other 5 NL teams really have their outfields full, though I could see the Braves considering it. Other than that, no one, unless Detroit really doesn't want the Sox to get him (and even they probably don't have room for him).

QUOTE (Cali @ Aug 23, 2010 -> 07:33 PM) I try and get excited about it, but I was excited about this years rotation last off-season too. Buehrle has been so inconsistent since 2006 really, you don't know which Floyd is going to show up, the one from June-Mid-Aug or the one from April-May? Peavy's health and Apr-May performance is a concern, Jackson is still a ?, and Danks, as great as he's been at points this season seems to suffer from lack of run support and has for all his years here and still can't seem to be economical with this pitch count, He can't keep being at 75-80 pitches in the 5th... If they are all on their game next year and the stars align it will be something to marvel... Over the past 3 3/4 seasons, Mark Buehrle has averaged a 3.78 ERA, 211.2 IP, and a 1.29 WHIP, and none of those have deviated more than a few points. His strikeout rate has begun to dwindle, but he's been very consistent since 2006. Floyd has been inconsistent within seasons, but he will typically give 10-12 great outings, 10-12 good outings, and 10-12 mediocre to bad outings. He's a perfectly acceptable #2-3 starter. Peavy's health has been a question, but he was beginning to turn his season around before he went out. Hopefully he can be healthy and ready to go by opening day, but so long as he's healthy, he should be good. Jackson is only a question mark because you don't know if you'll get a great starter or a mediocre starter. Assuming no one is traded, he'll end up acting as the Javier Vazquez of the 2006 season, in that you acquire him to be the #5 starter, but he has the potential to be one of the two best starters. Danks averaged 6 inning a start in 08 and 09, but has averaged 6.2 IP per start this year, which is a 215.2 IP pace over 32 starts (or almost 223 innings if he makes a 33rd). He isn't at fault for a lack of run support, the offense is. The rotation is going to be fine next year. Putting together an offense that will score a few runs will be the more important task.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 24, 2010 -> 05:44 PM) Abreu would be a decent fit for this season, but his contract is a lot next year considering the other contracts we'll have. If he cleared and LAA took on some of his contract, he would be a nice addition to the club. But before you even consider that, you have to explore every possibility in regards to Manny.