witesoxfan

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 01:45 PM) Oh no, it's definitely legal (I think, Soxbadger would be a far better judge of that than I am). You're also right that Gawker in general (and Deadspin specifically, mainly since AJ took over) is scummy, which is why Sterger really wasn't smart in telling AJ that story. I read anything Magary or Leitch writes, but otherwise, I pretty much avoid it. Daulerio does seem like a genuine POS though.

QUOTE (VAfan @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 03:39 PM) Most of this discussion took place while I was on vacation and away from the internet. And I confess I haven't read nearly 1800 posts. But I've read a lot of them, and I find myself disagreeing with most of the position's taken. Position #1 -- Jackson is a lousy pitcher. While I don't totally disagree with this view, I think the more accurate view is that Jackson is a pitcher with an electric arm who hasn't consistently harnessed his talent yet. As a 26-year old with several years of ML service, Jackson still has plenty of time to become not only a good pitcher, but a dominant one. He's got to learn how to locate the strike zone better, mostly. And not tip his pitches. These are fixable problems. There are not a ton of pitchers who go throw 800 innings of mediocrity in their career and then have the light switch on. The best example I can think of is Chris Carpenter, but he also had Dave Duncan as his pitching coach, and Dave Duncan has turned mediocrity into good and good into great on several occasions. I honestly think one of Jackson's biggest problems is that he really doesn't have much of a secondary fastball. If he can throw a 2-seamer or cutter effectively, while also maintaining some semblance of control, he could be a very good pitcher. He is still young, and his arm is still good, so all we as fans can do is hope. I would have had no problem using Hudson in relief. In fact, with 2 plus pitches, I think he could be incredibly successful as a reliever. Further, Jackson can't technically win a game by himself, unless he was pitching in games 1, 2, 6, or 7 of the World Series. He needs some help. And, on the flip side of that, a hitter can't win a game all by himself either. He can go 4-4 with 4 solo home runs, but if no one else gets on and the pitching staff gives 5 runs, 4 solo home runs can't win the game either. The biggest problem area on this team is offense, and there is one key area where the Sox could improve, and Dunn fit that mold perfectly. That's reason #1 fans wanted him. Dunn is also very close to attaining type A free agent status, and the Sox could then offer him arbitration and either retain Dunn for a semi-reasonable rate, or let him go to free agency and collect two draft picks for him. That adds future value to the franchise, and it's something Edwin Jackson almost certainly will not do unless he can pitch well enough this year to lower his ERA to respectability and then pitch extremely well next year. That is reason #2. This I can agree with for the most part, though as of this moment, it would be a coin flip for me between Jackson and Garcia. Jackson is a much more talented pitcher, and has some experience in the postseason, but Garcia has been better this year and has a more impressive postseason track record, even if he was a completely different pitcher during that time frame. Garcia has adjusted to his new style of pitching quite well, and I honestly don't have huge anxiety throwing him into the postseason rotation. Maybe I'm crazy, but I almost think his style of pitching would work well in the postseason.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 03:40 PM) Didn't they eventually cut him that season? My memory is drawing a blank. After the season, October 13th, 1993.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 03:34 PM) I'll bet you never thought you'd agree with it. Not to this extent, no. I've been looking forward to getting him back, but that's because I assumed he'd be a great bench player the rest of the way, and they'd be able to either deal him or find a role that suits him next season. I didn't anticipate him coming on to be the DH (or the should-be DH) for this club.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 03:09 PM) Come back soon Espy. I never thought I would see that on this board.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 03:22 PM) Shoot that over to the Ranger. It's hard to figure out exactly, because adding Thome means the Sox would have had to have found room for him on the roster. The obvious answer would have been to trade or release Kotsay before the season (and I believe I even suggested doing so), but the Sox obviously saw some sort of value in Kotsay, and for a reason - because Kotsay, similarly to DeWayne Wise, Darin Erstad, and Rob Mackowiak, has value if he is used properly. And, as was the case with the 3 players before him, the Sox completely misused him and it has predictably resulted in failure. So, considering the Sox were going to keep Kotsay, and already traded for Teahen, and needed 2 backup infielders, 2 backup outfielders (one of whom was Kotsay) and Ozzie's innate desire to carry 12 pitchers at all times (even though Randy Williams never deserved to be in Chicago), there was "no room" for Thome on the roster. As such, it's impossible to predict exactly how Thome would have affected the White Sox season because it's hard to know how the roster would have shaken out had the Sox done so.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 02:24 PM) To the sabermetricians ... how many games will Kotsay cost us the rest of the year by playing in 80 percent of the games. Flat out, how many losses pinned on him? His WAR is -1 right now, which suggests that, with a replacement level bat at DH instead of Kotsay (say, a .725 OPS, or something along those lines), the White Sox would have won 1 more game. So, just isolating for Kotsay, if he were to maintain this level of putrid play, he might cost the Sox another game, but that's probably stretching it, and he literally will not add or subtract any wins from the team. If you are to assume that he was replaced at this point or at some point last week by Adam LaRoche, the difference is probably two games between LaRoche and Kotsay from that point to the end of the season. With Dunn, it's probably a difference of three games in the same time frame. Had the White Sox added Jim Thome in January and DFA'ed Kotsay, and everything else had remained constant, the Sox would have 2-3 more wins right now than they did with Kotsay. To add on to that, the Twins would probably be looking at being 1 game worse, because they probably would have found an adequate DH but not one who could be worth 1.5 WAR in 225 plate appearances, but probably one who would have been worth 0.5-1 WAR in the same time frame. Thus, in this scenario, the Sox are still in first place - as they are now - but instead of being 60-46 and 1.5 games up on Minnesota could instead be 63-43 and 5.5 games up on Minnesota with the Tigers 10 games back.

Three things that come to mind with Jackson #1) He is going to be pitching in front of a much better defense. He may not be a great pitcher, but pitching behind a good defense should result in fewer runs crossing the plate. #2) If the Sox decide to add moving fastball to his repertoire - either a cutter or a slider - he could be much improved come next season. #3) Beyond any of this, he has to improve his command. He simply can't walk as many as he has and maintain any level of success.

The team needs to go 40-16 over their final 56 games to win 100, which would mean they went a cool 76-29 over their final 105 games. That can happen, right?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 02:12 PM) Adrian Beltre turned 31 this year and he only got 2 years from Boston. Looking through the list from last year, I can hardly think of any guys over 32 who got multi-year deals. Quite a few did actually, though Beltre may have been the best of the 31 or over bunch. He didn't get it because his agent is Scott Boras, and Boras looks to capitalize on the long-term investment while accepting a shorter but still expensive 1-2 year deal. From Soxtalk itself, Ivan Rodriguez, Jason Kendall, Brian Schneider, Placido Polanco, Jamey Carroll, Marco Scutaro, Chone Figgins, Mark DeRosa, Marlon Byrd, Mike Cameron, John Lackey, Randy Wolf, Joel Pineiro, Jason Marquis, LaTroy Hawkins, Danys Baez, Mike Gonzalez, and Fernando Rodney were all 31 or older and signed multi year deals, though none of those were longer than 3 years (except for Figgins and Lackey), which is about what you'd offer Konerko. On top of that, there were two players - Matt Holliday and Brandon Lyon - who were 30 and were given multi-year deals, and Holliday's is 7 years. The counter argument to this is that no 1B or DHs signed for multi year deals, but quite frankly, that market was full of either mediocre or older players. The two most comparable players to Konerko were Adam LaRoche and Aubrey Huff, but frankly, I would say that Konerko has proven that he is superior to both of those two. It will definitely be interesting to see the type of deal that Konerko gets. There have been times in the past where I have thought his name was bigger than his production, but it's the opposite this year and I'm not sure many people realize how good of a year he has had thus far. Barring a drastic fall off in the next two months, he has set himself up for very nicely for another payday. If I had to guess, I would say his agent will ask for a 4 year deal, and teams will offer 1-2 year deals for him. In the end, I think he'll sign a 2 year deal with an option for a 3rd, unless he is willing to sign for, say, $6-$7.5 mill per year over 3 years.

I do not find any of these women attractive and will choose to have intercourse with someone who is much more attractive but this is only my opinion.

QUOTE (soxfan-kwman @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 12:13 PM) I kind of hope we pick up Manny. He is like TO, put him somewhere new & he'll produce. Don't really like him, but he is clutch... Look what he did for a crappy LA team in 2008. Put him at DH & maybe let him play LF for the first 3 or 4 innings, once or twice a week. Plus, Tank might learn a thing or two from Manny!! Uhh, and then what?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 12:18 PM) Really, yeah there has been...if he's been close to 100%, he's produced. In 2003, he stank most of the year and he was coming off of a broken foot. In 2008 he stank for a part of the year and he was dealing with, what was it, that thumb injury? I was referencing late in the year. His other struggles have made sense. He was healthy all of 2007, unless he was hiding his injury, and he put up a .242/.330/.449/.779 in August and September, and he was perfectly healthy (other than a contusion on his shoulder from a HBP in late August) last year and his .257/.370/.469/.839 was rather pedestrian, even though it matched up just fine with his season totals. I do worry about some sort of breakdown, similar to Dye.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 12:26 PM) It could also be that teams tend to win the game where they throw their better pitcher out against the other team's worse pitcher. I was going to post something similar to this with some statistics, but the numbers didn't make sense as there was far too much variation. But in yesterday's games, Buehrle went against Porcello, who has been destroyed by the Sox, and Torres went against Bonderman, who is solid against the Sox when he can prevent them from hitting multiple home runs.

It's impossible to know how Konerko will do the rest of the year simply because there's no real pattern to his struggles and successes throughout the past 5 years. Worth noting is that Konerko has been a bright spot when the team has either made it to the postseason, or were in contention late in the year, outside of last year when he was rather ordinary in August and September(.815 OPS in August, .859 OPS in September). 05 August - .300/.369/.600/.969 (9 HR) 05 September - .336/.425/.617/1.042 (8 HR) 05 October - .265/.321/.612/.933 (5 HR) 06 August - .336/.383/.500/.883 (3 HR) 06 September - .344/.402/.600/1.002 (6 HR) 08 August - .333 /.483/.591/1.074 (4 HR) 08 September - .260/.321/.649/.971 (9 HR) 08 October - .313/.353/.688/1.040 (2 HR) It's entirely possible that he keeps this up. Replicating '05 would be just fine by me, because 42 homers would more garner MVP votes.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 11:51 AM) I think it was Kalapse that wanted us to take a chance on Beltre. He gave a pretty good analysis on why he wasn't anywhere near the contract albatross he was perceived to be in Seattle. I think he and Vlad have been the two best bargains in baseball this year. But hey, we got Teahen and Kotsay. What more can one ask for? I've always loved Beltre, and he's been one of the best signings in the majors. He has made himself quite a bit of money this season, and he's only 31 too, which is scary. He's probably got another 2-4 years of being a productive player in him. It kind of sucks that he did end up signing with Seattle, because I think his overall numbers would be much more impressive had he not. Even so, he's got an outside chance at 3000 hits and 400 home runs if he can stick around as an everyday player until he's 38 or 39.

QUOTE (The Critic @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 11:29 AM) Ballparks ADORE archaic, lame fads. Elvis Night, 70's Night, Rat Pack Night, Mullet Night. All old, all lame, all popular. Which means that Disco Demolition Night is just around the corner.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 11:24 AM) I don't know about that. Ortiz has gone 2006 (.977 OPS) on everybody the last three months and change. Then you've got Beltre, who's arguably been the best 3B in baseball, sporting a .937 OPS and .401 wOBA (9th overall). Nobody saw those two having the years they've had. Combine that with a healthy Ellsbury, Pedroia, Cameron, Youk and Martinez, and I think they're better, at least this year. And I hate defending the Red Sox in any manner. But I gotta be real. I don't think it matters either way. And I think Tampa, Boston, and New York at 1a, 1b, and 1c overall. As a baseball fan, it sucks that one of those teams isn't going to make the postseason, but I think any fan (outside of Boston) can appreciate the fact that one of the Yankee/Red Sox hype machine won't make it to the postseason (though, to also be fair, 5.5 games isn't an astronomical jump in the final 2 months of the season).

QUOTE (Frank_Thomas35 @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 11:24 AM) Not to mention you can trade guys who are on the DL (see Jake Peavy). I don't think this says manny is staying by any means. Jake Peavy was traded because the Sox wanted him for this year and the years to come, and they were hopeful that he may be able to contribute come late August (that obviously didn't happen, but he did make it back). Manny is a free agent after this season, so he's not going to be acquired by anyone if the team doesn't know if he's going to be healthy or not. It does (virtually) assure him of clearing waivers though, so a late August addition may be possible.

I think his outing was perfectly fine. No homers allowed, good amount of strikeouts, mostly ground ball outs...you want to see better command, but 3 walks in 5 innings isn't the end of the world.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 09:32 AM) Marrero had an outstanding season last year, how in the hell do they consider what he's done this year to be progress? Christian would be happier if he was hitting like last year. Gallagher is a good ballplayer and I'm a fan, his ceiling would maybe be a Ross Gload type at most. Marrero is walking more and striking out less, even though he's not hitting as well. I'm sure he'd prefer to be hitting better, but the organization has to be encouraged that there is some progress rather than flat out stagnation, even if it is one step forward, one step backward.

Eddie Vedder was so much cooler when he wore a White Sox hat.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 10:25 AM) If that guy uses the internet then nothing short of suicide would surprise me. Poor human. How's the progress on the cross coming anyway? I'm sure he's a nice guy and all, but I don't want him playing. As Earl Weaver would say "(Mark Kotsay)'s lucky he's in f***ing baseball. He was (traded) by the Atlanta Braves, he was (traded) by the f***ing goddamn Boston Red Sox, we saw that (Mark Kotsay) could sit on his f***ing ass for 8 innings and enjoy watching a baseball game like any other fan and has the ability to get up there and break one open in the f***ing 9th."

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 12:30 AM) The wave does indeed suck. You know what else sucks? All the $60 "authentics" that people now have. First it was football, then hockey, now their invading baseball stadiums nationally. Disgusting. Just buy the replica for $100. I bought two jerseys on eBay for $35 and $40. One is a road gray (with no numbers on the back) that says Chicago across the front, and the other is a home pinstripe jersey (again, with no numbers on the back) with the logo on the left breast. I'm not about to claim them as an authentic jersey (even though I'm sure I could have numbers and a name stitched on the back for a reasonable price if I looked around to make it look more "authentic"), but I wanted something I could wear and point out to people that I am a White Sox fan and I am proud of it. And it felt damn good wearing it at Target Field, even if it isn't "authentic."

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 10:09 AM) I guess Kotsay is our DH the rest of the way. There will be other bats available too. Or, the second worst case scenario probably involves Teahen taking over for Kotsay. Of course, the worst case scenario involves Kotsay remaining the DH for the rest of the season.