caulfield12

That, and you have to adjust for variation in different team schedules. It's one of the reasons some simulations (like FanGraphs) keep picking the Indians, and others the Sox (538.com). Could be something as simple as White Sox facing the Cubs and the Indians sweeping the Reds. As I said in the Ventura thread, looking at that schedule that takes them to the end of late June, we have a boatload of what look like very tough or competitive games on paper until we get to the Twins again (and eventually they'll get on an offensive roll and we'll catch them at a bad time). So Flavum and everyone can look at a record and say, we're 13 games over .500, all we need to do is play 1 over .500 and we'll end up at 88-74, etc., but that doesn't really look at the season holistically. By that theory, Minnesota at roughly this same time of the year last season should have had a really decent shot at making the playoffs, but we saw how that played out. And the caveat is that the Twins didn't have enough pitching (smoke and mirrors) and they faced a much more dynamic Royals team with Zobrist in the 2nd half. We also have no way of accounting for injuries and/or trade deadline moves (or non-moves, in the case of Shark last year). We certainly can't quantity "Ventura vs. Terry Francona down the stretch in August/September, or Ventura vs Ned Yost," either.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ May 24, 2016 -> 01:34 PM) Ethier depending on when he comes back (I post this without knowing how the Dodgers outfield is doing). But then he'll have to re-establish his value...like the Rockies waited for on CarGo, the Reds with Bruce (and now Votto), etc. Their first priority would be to dump Carl Crawford, and it's going to look quite a bit like the Josh Hamilton to the Rangers' deal.

Kluber had a 4+ ERA before his last start in Boston. Granted, he shut them down after giving up 2 early runs, but he's not nearly the same pitcher he was in 2014 when he edged Sale for the Cy Young. Of course, I was convinced that Cody Anderson was going to get lit up (since every team has done it), not light up the Sox. But you can see he has a very good arm. Just like Carrasco, but especially Salazar and Trevor Bauer and most of their improved bullpen.

Insert Zack Greinke joke here. I know, I know...not a laughing matter, especially when it requires (in its most extreme form/s) a cocktail of medication and eventually hospitalization.

Steverson had a lifetime batting average of .256 at the MLB level so .237 really isn't that bad in his perspective. Of course, he only had 43 at-bats.

The thread was ALSO suddenly about the White Sox chances to make the playoffs... What I wrote wasn't germane? Avisail Garcia is a hitting machine compared to those numbers coming from the majority of that putrid offense. I, in a way, was supporting Omar's argument that not everything has been going right for the White Sox (Abreu, Lawrie and Garcia coming back to earth, Jackson struggling until yesterday, Latos returning to his expected norm/s, the Petricka injury throwing the White Sox bullpen into a little bit of chaos as Albers isn't ready to be a consistent high leverage reliever all season and god knows what's going on with Zach Duke, not to mention the catching situation) and that other competitors have even more problems to deal with, such as the disabled list claiming key contributors. The White Sox have survived all those things and still have a 2 1/2 game late in late May. The only thing that MIGHT make a difference is the managers, in terms of 1-3 game spread between the Indians and White Sox. As far as Garcia goes, it feels like Ventura is now going to go with gut/instinct on who to play for the time being between Sands and Avi, just like he's been juggling all season with Saladino and Rollins. Whether that's the fairest or best way to determine once and for all whether Avi can be a positive and effective contributor as a DH (primary), who knows? Something must have happened to put him in the doghouse...and I'm guessing it relates to not advancing runners or changing his approach for different in game situations. Could be just a managerial hunch, so we'll have to wait and see if an article comes out soon about this relatively new development.

For the next month, the Royals will likely have most of the following players in their line-up: Omar Infante, 0 homers in 121 at-bats, 605 OPS Alcides Escobar, 0 homers in 189 at-bats, 604 OPS Jarrod Dyson, 0 homers in 81 at-bats, 612 OPS Paulo Orlando, 1 homer in 65 at-bats, 950 OPS Cheslor Cuthbert, 1 homer in 51 at-bats, 642 OPS Whit Merrifield, 0 homers in 13 at-bats Christian Colon, 0 homers in 44 at-bats, 608 OPS Granted, Moustakas will be back soon (got hurt in the collision with Gordon), but there's just no excuse not to beat a team with that type of offensive production. Doesn't matter if they have the best defense in the world, and the best bullpen. And they don't. Infante is well below-average, Cuthbert has been moved from 3B to 2B and now back to 3B again (and potentially LF), Merrifield's a career journeyman and poor man's Ben Zobrist. Dyson has been shaky a few times as well as Cain (compared to his past standard). Losing Madson and swapping him for Soria has been a huge debacle, both in financial terms and with their late inning roles shifting. Then you have Kendrys Morales with a 570 OPS. Plus, two of the original members of their starting rotation are already out, and Joakim Soria has a WHIP of nearly 1.4. All they have to do is be better than the Indians.

QUOTE (Dunt @ May 24, 2016 -> 06:54 AM) Why would Wieters sign a 1 year contract? If he has another so-so offensive/injury-plagued season and has to take another one-year offer to wait for the 2017-18 market. Not an ideal situation. But at least he would have more motivation than giving a catcher at age 30 a three to five year extension. Ramos is the more interesting name to me, because the cost will be lower and he's much younger, but still not seeing how we could possibly acquire him during the season.

You mean you're willing to sign Lucroy to a $90-100 million contract to add him to the team through 2020? Because that's going to be the going rate...it's not just losing all the cheap and controlled years of Fulmer, it's the fact that we really can't afford that type of contract unless we make the playoffs. It's always risky to sign a catcher to a long-term extension (see McCann with the Yankees, or Russell Martin with the Blue Jays) once they've reached 30. It's one thing to bring in someone like Wieters for a single season, but a 3-5 year commitment at that position just has so many things that can go wrong with it in terms of losing bat speed/nagging injuries/concussions/league change.

You mean you're willing to sign Lucroy to a $90-100 million contract to add him to the team through 2020? Because that's going to be the going rate...it's not just losing all the cheap and controlled years of Fulmer, it's the fact that we really can't afford that type of contract unless we make the playoffs. It's always risky to sign a catcher to a long-term extension (see McCann with the Yankees, or Russell Martin with the Blue Jays) once they've reached 30. It's one thing to bring in someone like Wieters for a single season, but a 3-5 year commitment just has so many things that can go wrong with it in terms of losing bat speed/nagging injuries/concussions/league change.

After all the talk about building a "sustainable" core of younger players, it's hard to imagine they would go for a 1/2 year rental and trade Fulmer in the process. Quality pitching is so expensive, and so is quality catching, but it doesn't seem like the type of risk Hahn's going to be willing to take after the Samardzija trade went in the wrong direction. Not to mention there's no draft pick compensation, so they ONLY way that trade is made is where they have an agreement in principle and a 5-10 ten day window for the White Sox to get him to agree to an extension (similar to the Freddy Garcia situation).

It probably makes as much sense as thinking the White Sox can just magically pull strings with the US and Cuban governments to reunite him with his family...and that doing so will cure him of his slump.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/blogs/mlb-big-...-034921946.html Discuss.

Hillary vs. Mao Zedong, Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, Nicolae Ceaușescu, Saddam Hussein and Moamar Khadafi...does Greg go with all those "less evil" dictators over her?

Or Ventura, from Southern California and Oklahoma State, Alex Fernandez from Miami, Gio Gonzalez from Miami, Jack McDowell from California, Magglio/CLee/Wilson Alvarez/Roberto Hernandez from Latin America, Ray Durham from North Carolina, Paul Konerko from Scottsdale, etc. When you think about it, almost 85% of the players these days are going to be from "warm weather" states or Latin American countries. If only we had Cliff Floyd, Jim Thome (in his prime), Curtis Granderson, Kirby Puckett and Jason Kipnis, we would have won 2-3 more World Series trophies.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 23, 2016 -> 10:48 PM) Nope. I would bet big on KC winning 3 of 4 this weekend; to get the payoff bet KC to win all 4 and you'll make a hefty profit. Would not bet the Sox to win the playoffs. I wish we had Cleveland's manager the last few years. I wonder if he could get this team in the playoffs. Sale, Q and Rodon (most of the time), as well as Frazier, Abreu and Eaton provide some decent options for a manager to work with. I bet Francona would bemoan our situation and catcher and immediately start Saladino 80 percent of games at ss. This is Oklahoma City's year in basketball. Still not too late to bet the house; there will be some good profits to be made vs. G. State and Cleveland. Greg, we want to see a photo of your betting slip/receipt going "all in" on OKC to beat Golden State in Game 4. Then we'll be duly impressed. And the Raptors might not be done yet. They're starting to make some Clevelanders just a tad bit nervous. AND BACK TO VENTURA TALK LIVE...

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ May 23, 2016 -> 09:47 PM) I'd put everything I have on it. The White Sox, or the sun rising in the east?

I'm just curious if there's anyone here who would go to Las Vegas/Macau/Atlantic City with the tonight's current odds for making the playoffs and place a $10,000 bet on the White Sox and Ventura? As to him being fired THIS season, it's going to take losing the lead (and by 3-5 games) to perhaps two of CLE/KC/DET and the season being on the brink/precipice...and Hahn, Cooper and the front office all believing more in Renteria to get the job done, not unlike what happened with Ned Yost in Milwaukee.

LOL @ Green Line. No, he'd rather bring in Thome or Rowand so we can go through another "good guy" with Sox roots, someone it would be extremely hard to hate on in the beginning. Just hope we see how this team would actually respond behind Renteria either this season or next. Realistically, it's probably 2017.

4-9 now since Terrible Tuesday. 2 1/2 3 4 Is the division lead. I suppose it could have been worse, and we do have Sale and Quintana going the next two games...but Central teams other than CLE are having a difficult time losing to the Twins, even on the road. You don't expect to win DHer's, and it seems like Ventura almost conceded this one by sending Erik Johnson out there to start the 7th. Anderson was dominant, though, once he got through the first 2-3 innings without major damage, he really settled down. White Sox can't score runs from 3rd with less than 2 outs to save their lives, the middle of the bullpen's still completely unreliable and Robin's still Robin.

What the hell is Jackson doing there? That run means nothing. With the exception of Melky's RBI in this game....the White Sox have looked incompetent scoring runners from 3rd base since the 6th inning of the 1st game. It's like an epidemic now. All Saladino had to do was put the ball in play anywhere BUT 3rd base. Oh, well...he was 7 for 18 with RISP coming into that at-bat, one of our bright spots recently.

Scott Merkin@scottmerkin That ball was hit hard but the Indians defense has not looked division championship like today. Nice Merkin...c'mon, we don't need to insult our opponents, do we?

And that's why a 2 run lead vs. a 4 run lead against their bullpen is so important. One swing of the bat and they would have been right back in it.

Well, we will never know, because we didn't even bother to try to hold the lead to just 2 runs with either Jennings or Putnam. We also screwed over Erik Johnson, honestly hope they just trade him and let him get a fresh start with another organization. The fact is, looking at the next couple of games, especially tmrw...you don't anticipate using your entire bullpen in a Chris Sale start.

This is going to be the year if the Sox miss the playoffs we'll all (well, 90%) be convinced it was due to managing. KC has Gordon out now, Kendrys Morales hitting .190ish and a completely patchwork rotation. And yet we're only going to be up 2 1/2, 3 and 4 games over DET. Can't believe we let the Tigers back into this. And they have injuries to Cabrera and Zimmerman, although probably not so serious. Go Cards Go!!!