caulfield12

But his average number of innings pitched (per start) the last month has been closer to 5+ than 7-8 like last year.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 09:23 AM) We need a perfect day: White Sox beat the Astros Phillies beat the Royals Angels beat the Red Sox Rays beat the Tigers Indians beat the Blue Jays Orioles beat the Mariners http://espn.go.com/mlb/standings/_/view/wi...rd/group/league It's not good seeing five teams ahead of the Sox at 5 over .500, or better. Feels a lot like 2015, deja vu all over again. Minus the 23-10 start. Last year we had the winning streak in late July to project false hope instead.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 09:08 AM) All this talk about how the bullpen has been awful but they're 9th in WAR and ERA in the MLB. You sure like to exaggerate Caulfield. Even if you want to go by WPA the bullpen is still in the top half of the league. And how much of that is carried by Jones, Robertson and Albers' first 5-6 weeks? Now we count ERA as an important statistic for bullpens? http://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/team?stat=pi...&order=true Did you realize only one American League team has more blown saves so far this year? The Mariners are 22/37, the White Sox 25/38 (65.7%). If that's a "good" bullpen in your idea, okay. (Robertson's 22/24, the problem is the rest of the pen is 3/13...where 50% would be expected for the 2-4 set-up guys). DET 24/32=75% much improved after getting through month-long rough patch KC 20/30=67% Soria has been a lot worse than Madson, Davis has been more human and already blown 2, Herrera still likely to be All-Star CLE 18/25=72% Allen has two blown saves in 19 opportunities

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 07:44 AM) Sox are dumb every other team is smart. I get the narrative. If you go back to spring training, no one on this site thought they needed another reliever. Not even you. If you're not going to make a HUGE change (paying for that bat we've been talking about for months and months now), then you HAVE to make improvements somewhere else, and it's much easier to take a bullpen to excellent from average/below average than it is to gamble on a second-tier hitter (and even guys like Gordon and Upton haven't earned their money). Lawrie was fine for the cost, and Frazier was fine...and they got lucky with Anderson so far...but there was simply no insurance for an outfield injury and no credible alternatives to Avi at DH. Little did anyone realize how much a 660's OPSing CF going down would affect the rest of the team. In the end, standing pat with an average bullpen and counting on NO INJURIES and also on Nate Jones making up for anything else going wrong (injuries/non performance) was a big gamble. It's fine, if you have the type of farm system necessary to cover it. Heck, in 2012, they did exactly that, until the final 2 weeks of the season, in fact, and almost none of those pitchers they used were top prospects any longer or highly touted/Top 10 prospect types. Petricka was, at one point, when he was still perceived a start prospect. Jones and Santiago were #8-10 types in the system, if I recall.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 07:40 AM) They didn't. Petricka and Putnam got hurt. They tried Kahnle. Every team in the division has suffered more significant injuries than the White Sox and managed to cover for them. Some teams have lost four All-Stars to the DL. http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2...OWGP/story.html Btw, you'll enjoy this article. Although it does cite one prime example of another managerial change that worked (of course, Robin Ventura isn't "hated" like John McNamara by anyone).

Fine, White Sox pitching prospects have fared better than position prospects. More money has been invested in pitching, comparatively. Better results, not competely unexpected. Almost all of the money for position players has gone to 30+ veterans. Brief and pithy analysis.

The argument is that they shouldn't have relied on Albers as their ONLY solution for the 6th/7th inning RH set-up guy. There's no reason they couldn't have brought in ONE more veteran...especially as Petricka was very shaky last year, compared to 2014. Jones has worked out as well as expected, and Jennings/Duke. But those 4-5 spots have been a nightmare for Ventura since Albers went south. Webb was never a realistic solution as someone to be counted on. Didn't need five, but they had the money to sign at least one more as insurance (LaRoche's money was freed) and they didn't take advantage.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 07:12 AM) If Petricka was right he woul really be helpful in the 6th ans 7th. Putnam was fine too. Without those 2 there is a void, especially with Albers not anywhere near where he was last season and the first part of this season. If he can get back there and the Sox get another bullpen guy they should be fine, The Tigers invested a lot of money this offseason into their pen, which has been a chronic problem. The results have been mixed, at best, but better recently. The Indians and Royals have also invested more into developing their pens and bringing in veteran reinforcements (like Dan Otero, Gorzelanny, Manship, Joba Chamberlain or Tommy Hunter, for example). That's five veterans they brought in. Otero, until the 7th yesterday, has pitched exceptionally well. Obviously, the White Sox invested money into Robertson and Duke two years ago, but not much since then.

The problem is that for every Putnam or Albers (good version), there's been a Kelly Downs, Brett Myers, Paulino, Jacob Turner or Belisario. Each one takes up resources that could have gone to better use. Right now, we're going to have to bring in another veteran reliever (RH) if we realistically want to compete the 2nd half...meaning another $2-3 million likely down the drain.

In other words, Coats was "expendable" to the organization in terms of sitting him on the bench, May probably isn't. Same with Engel. Need one of them to make it, to fill the Austin Jackson role. Of course, it would be more ideal if that CFer could put up a 700-725 OPS with solid/above average defense.

The argument is centered around Sale, Quintana's identification, Hector Santiago, Addison Reed, Sergio Santos and Nate Jones. Daniel Hudson figures in there as well, and then of course Carlos Rodon. Montas, as well. Carson Fulmer/Spencer Adams. Obviously, before that, working with Floyd and Danks. If you go back to 2009-10, what hitters has the Sox system produced? Beckham, Flowers and Viciedo all eventually became busts, although you can still argue whether we'd be better off with Flowers catching this year (or not). Avi and Davidson have been pretty significant disappointments, as well. Counting the likes of Ramirez and Abreu as "development" projects is pushing it. So that leaves Eduardo Escobar, Saladino, Micah (struggling in the low 600's in AAA OKC), Carlos Sanchez, Trayce Thompson, Chris Carter....and now Anderson. Everyone's going to side with the pitching over the hitting in a head-to-head comparison there.

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/cubs/post/...eeps-struggling What's wrong with Jake Arrieta?

Meanwhile, the Sox are only a couple of games over .500 AT HOME. Royals have that crazy split, 10 games under .500 on the road and 16 games over at Kauffman. The other thing to take into consideration is just how bad CLE attendance has been....30th in the majors. Just wait until they start getting 25-30,000 more consistently, they'll be even harder to beat. Even when they've been at the bottom in attendance, they've really had an exceptional home record for most of the past 3-4 years. They get DET and NYY at home before the All-Star break. Their crowds, with CLE just having won the NBA, will really pick up in anticipation of an extended playoff and maybe World Series run.

By WAR, Trout, Altuve, Donaldson, Machado, Cano, Eaton, Ortiz, Betts, Desmond, Lindor. Based on playoff teams or close to the hunt, Altuve/Donaldson/Machado/maybe Cano/Ortiz (ESPN/East Coast Bias), Betts...Desmond and Lindor on the outside looking in

Central Intelligence 3/4 The Shallows 3.25/4 Green Room 3.5/4

Or having a pagan pentagram on an ad attacking Obama SUPPOSEDLY being non-Christian...or, more likely, some type of Muslim symbol like a crescent while questioning his "true" religious affiliation/sympathies.

http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=m...itting/2016/ALL May "only" has a career minor league OPS line of 715. That translates to what, 625-650 at best at the MLB level? He needs more at-bats, and right now he profiles more as a 4th outfielder unless his defense is equal or better than Thompson's. 2015=661 2016=657 So, with those two higher level numbers in mind, you're talking lucky to hold a 600 OPS. That just won't work. At a minimum, you'd like that number to be 725-750ish if not higher. Didn't realize he played at the now-famous Coastal Carolina.

The Andre Dawson 1987 Theory. Cy Young, yes. MVP, no.

http://pro.boxoffice.com/early-estimates-d...ise-bfg-modest/ Looks like THE PURGE 3 is the breakout (especially on a $10 million budget) hit of the weekend, and dovetails nicely with what's going on in the US/Europe today quite well. Great timing. BFG, despite the Spielberg ties, was modest and basically the DORY tidal wave ran it over. No interest in seeing Tarzan. The Shallows is the next film on my list.

As Justin Morneau gets set for a minor league rehab stint next week, Ventura likes what he sees of the left-handed hitting designated hitter/first baseman taking batting practice with the team. “From the injury he’s had [elbow surgery] it’s nice to see that he’s free and easy,’’ Ventura said. “The first couple of times that he hit you could tell he was a little unsure about letting it go. Right now he’s letting it go where you don’t see that hesitation or tentativeness, which is another reason why it’s safe to let him go out next week and let it rip and see where he’s at. “The way he’s swinging, it’s nice to see. It’s exciting.’’ suntimes.com/sports

When's the last time the White Sox brought up an outfielder from AA to the big leagues? It's been a long time, wracking my brain for any recent examples. Seems they prefer their position players to progress through both BIRM and Charlotte. Beckham is the last position player that really flew up through the system.

Yep, it was by the tightest of margins...a couple of inches on that tag play at home on the bloop misjudged by Tyler Naquin that almost turned into an incredible throw out at home to preserve the tie. Then Tommy Hunter imploded after the call was reversed. Indians had the 6-5 lead and turned it over to Otero and he actually gave up a homer after having pitched so well in set-up during this stretch of games. They almost were able to cover up for Bauer by throwing a minor league call-up out there for 3 2/3 IP in the middle of the game (started McAllister and then another reliever for 2 innings). Really has felt like a playoff series/playoff preview so far.

Thankfully, Eaton's not being paid for his baserunning acumen.

As the "tryout" for those players was already held (hosted by MLB), I would think we would have heard at least that someone from the Sox was in attendance....but maybe not.

Didn't Italy have an 8 game winning streak against Germany in international play? Read something like that. Would be really cool to see Iceland knock off France, but, for the "excitement level" of the tourney, having the quasi-championship match of France/Germany in the semis in front of a crazy stadium will be better. Wales/Portugal should actually be quite an interesting match. Pretty evenly matched teams, at least in terms of how they've played in this particular tournament. Still awaiting news of Belgium's coach being fired. Seems inevitable.