witesoxfan

SPAM, the meat not the email I'm also a big fan of freeze pops. They give me company when I'm sulking in a hangover on a Saturday afternoon.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jan 22, 2009 -> 04:19 PM) I saw that story on the MLB page today. I am only speculating, but I think the Sox are looking at a more durable FA starting pitcher and there is a chance as things get closer to early to mi February we see a signing. I still like Garland as an option. And I doubt the Sox have enough money to give him. Garland won't be back with the Sox.

If there is any country that could field a better team than the Americans, it's the Domincan Republic. C - Olivo/Paulino 1B - Pujols 2B - Hanley SS - Reyes 3B - Aramis/Rodriguez/Beltre LF - Manny CF - Soriano RF - Vlad DH - Ortiz The pitching isn't nearly as good, but they do have guys like Liriano, Ervin Santana, Pedro, Cueto, and a few so-so others, and the bullpen would be OK, but the lineup would be sick.

I wouldn't say competitive, but it would be competent and expensive at the very least. I also have to imagine Burgos is going to do some jail time and that could end his career.

QUOTE (philadelphia sox fan @ Jan 21, 2009 -> 10:48 AM) I can't see a good reasoning to pick any of the pitchers. I know they're great, but they are all either too old or not proven yet. Lincecum is 24 and he has a Cy Young. Cole Hamels is 25 and he's had 3 great seasons since coming up. Johan Santana is 29, and I've never heard of 29 being old. Sabathia is 28 but he's fat so I really can't count him due to potential arm problems. Dan Haren is also a pretty fantastic pitcher in his own rights, but for whatever reason, I've never considered anything more than a #2. Even considering the park he pitches in, it's a huge wonder as to why Jake Peavy isn't on this list over a guy like David Price who has thrown like 20 innings in the majors. Peavy has an ERA of less than 3 in 4 of the last 5 years he's pitched. I'm also wondering why Rodriguez is on the list of pitchers...he's probably not even the best closer on his own team, let alone the league. I could definitely name 7 or more closers I'd rather have than Francisco Rodriguez. Dude just got whored out this year when he broke Thigpen's record.

He's got Hall of Fame numbers. It's whether the voters can get past the fact that he was a crazy bastard. Atleast he didn't do steroids!

Freddy would be dumb as hell to sign with the Yankees. CC-Wang-Burnett-Joba and then any combination of Pettitte if he resigns, Hughes, Kennedy, and any other minor leaguer or free agent they bring in. He'd atleast be better off signing with the Mets, but I don't understand why the Sox wouldn't want to be more involved in negotiations, unless both New York teams are offering multi-million deals.

I love the extremist opinions. It's very simple...sure, Danks will "only" pitch 6 competitive innings, but at the same exact time, that's 6 more competitive innings than he'll pitch until April, and that's 6 competitive innings he will be pitching when his arm is not in shape. At the same exact time, it IS only 6 innings, and assuming he's keeping himself in shape, it shouldn't have a big effect on him in the long run. You do also have to consider that these guys are doing workouts and what have you to make sure that they are in game shape as well. Be concerned but be a proud American (or whatever country of origin you are cheering for). A player from the Sox wants to represent his country, and this is one way that he feels ballsy enough to do it.

QUOTE (ScottPodRulez22 @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 05:18 PM) should of had obama bobble heads I would suggest starting a new trend and creating Obama bobble hips

QUOTE (R.J. @ Jan 21, 2009 -> 02:21 PM) 20th sounds about right. We don't have a ton of high upside guys. Maybe 5 or 6. Not a ton of high upside guys? Everyone is raving about Gordon Beckham, Jordan Danks's ceiling isn't limitless, but everything I've ever read suggests near Grady Sizemore like tools, Dayan Viciedo tore up Cuba as a 17 year old, Tyler Flowers is thought to have 30 homers power, Aaron Poreda has an absolute dynamite arm who needs to refine his secondary pitches, and the Sox actually have pitching prospects in the middle and lower levels of the minors to go along with Poreda who have considerable upside. If you want to be very extreme and say they have no high upside guys like in the form of a Hanley Ramirez or Nick Markakis or even John Danks, that's entirely possible, but I wouldn't rule anything out at this point. It's not the best system in the game, but there's some resemblance of good players in the system for the first time in a long time.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 19, 2009 -> 06:58 AM) This is because stats, as well as a number of people on this board, state that winning games is over rated by pitchers. They look at all of thenumbers other than wins to determine if you are a good pitcher. Buerhle "wins" more than his numbers show. There is something to be said about the pure aspect of pitching. Buehrle allows a lot of hits, allows his fair share of homers, and he doesn't strike a ton of guys out. However, when you know how to pitch to contact, know how to induce soft groundballs or average pop flies, and field your position well (along with having a good defense behind you), you'll perform well. There are several different pitchers with peripheral statistics similar to Buehrle who do not perform well and it's because, simply put, they are not nearly the caliber pitcher that Mark Buehrle is. Buehrle is a fun pitcher to analyze. He can allow a lot of hits (2008), allow a lot of homers (2004...though his HR/9 isn't horrendous because he set a career high in innings pitched), strike very few out (2007), walk a relatively high amount (2002) and still be a good pitcher. It's when he does all of those poorly (2006) when he's a bad pitcher, and that had a lot to do with a dead arm in the second half of 2006. It doesn't seem like it, but he was a deserving All-Star that that year, but was also very close to the worst starter in the game in the second half of the year.

QUOTE (Jimbo's Drinker @ Jan 18, 2009 -> 11:10 PM) I smell 4th place You are a Kansas fan...maybe you are smelling the Royals

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 21, 2009 -> 10:41 AM) As long as a huge year from Pauly is .275, 30, 100, I think you'll be happy. When he's healthy he produces. And besides that, a .275 30 100 line from PK could result in a .900 or near OPS. A .900 OPS from the 1Bman would be fantastic considering that it would be a huge improvement over what the Sox have gotten the previous two seasons. Health and avoiding nagging injuries is his biggest concern, and if he can do that, he'll be fine. The problem is that he really hasn't been able to do it over the past couple years, and it could be a big concern going forward.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 21, 2009 -> 10:26 AM) Even with Konerko's improved second half, his "unlucky" level was higher than Swisher's. Paulie is in his early 30's. He'll be fine in 2009. I'm actually expecting a huge year from Konerko assuming he can stay healthy.

QUOTE (santo=dorf @ Jan 21, 2009 -> 06:44 AM) Ever think that defenses adjusted to him? Is it unlucky when Jim Thome or David Ortiz to groundout to the second baseman in short left field when the shift is on? Why is a soft line drive to the second baseman considered the same as a rocket hit down the line? If people can take the time to record the number of flyballs, groundballs, and line drives, why can't they make note of soft line drives vs. rockets? because a soft line drive is going to fall in quite a bit too. And at some point, what is a soft line drive and what is a hard line drive?

I think all of that is beside the point. The Cubs drafted Ryan Harvey that year, and he had a .636 OPS in his first crack at AA this past season. He was the pick right before Markakis. It would seem that Harvey is pretty much a lost cause at this point unless he stumbles into some pixie dust.

They'll probably settle because the Phillies offered $14 mill. I could see it landing right in the middle. It'll be interesting to see what happens next year if they don't agree to a long-term contract.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 04:05 PM) Papelbon got $6.25M That's about right. And the Red Sox are wise, just as the Sox are, taking it year by year with an injury prone closer.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Jan 20, 2009 -> 06:13 AM) Thank you. It's marketed as the best of the best. I guess it is true, Americans really don't have pride in themselves. They rather win a league championship over a truly world championship. I don't see soccer teams complaining about their guys playing and they would have more of a gripe as countries play friendly matchups against each other all the time. I'm glad Danks and Co. are going as they are thought of as some of the best players. Exactly. It kind of sucks to see Danks going because it puts him at risk of injuring himself, but if you want to pitch for your country and you're healthy, I say go pitch.

It seems that one of the main reasons for creating the WBC was to get the superstars of the came representing their country. It wouldn't make a hell of a lot of sense to have the WBC be only minor leaguers. The goal of it is to make it like baseball's World Cup, and the greatest soccer players in the world play in that; why wouldn't you keep that true about the WBC?

QUOTE (philadelphia sox fan @ Jan 19, 2009 -> 04:59 PM) 11mil per year... seems a tad high for me seems like a bargain. Markakis is fantastic and he's only going to get better

might be too soon, but I wonder if McGahee is questioning the thought of playing football. In the two biggest games of his career, he has personally just gotten absolutely destroyed in both of them.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 17, 2009 -> 05:42 PM) The biggest plus about Hudson is his infield defense. If we're going to move him to the OF, he's a "marginal" liability or so-so at $8-10 million per season....better to get Chone Figgins at $5.75 mil if we plan on making Hudson a LF or CF so he can hit leadoff. Hudson doesn't cost any players. Any hypothetical trade of Figgins would open another hole elsewhere, making it a pretty pointless move at this point.

There seems to be quite a bit of resentment for a person looking at other ways of evaluating players. I don't understand that to be quite honest. Is it really that hard to just sit and look at other statistics and try to understand them and interpret them a bit, rather than just immediately saying "they're garbage"? It's a bit hypocritical to say "you have to use my stats and no one else's" and then not look at both sides of the equation - that goes for both parties in this instance. There are definite flaws to both sides. To me, ERA and WHIP indicate how good a pitcher has been throughout his career, while a statistic like FIP can give you an indication of how good a player could be or what you can likely expect from the pitcher throughout his career. To say that Javy Vazquez has been good the past 3 years is wrong, but you can clearly see with his talent and through his numbers - both scouting and statistics - that he has the ability to be a very good pitcher, but that he just isn't. It's also not that hard to say that Jon Garland was bad last year and that he's pretty much a league average pitcher (which, in case people have forgotten, is a synonym of mediocre). It's also well understood that Garland wants $10 or $13 million a year, but he's not going to get it. I'll predict that he gets a 1 year, $5-7 mill "prove-it" type deal so that way he can go back on the market next year.

Arizona in the Superbowl just doesn't seem right, and yet, it's still awesome. Adrian Wilson crying is pretty epic.