caulfield12

http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=m...tching/2016/ALL If he can sustain giving up less than a hit per inning...that would be better. Of course, still early. And every MILB hitter is going to be geeked up to hit that fastball. And no walks is the most important point in his stat line so far.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 06:02 PM) I hate everyone playing for Chicago teams. What about Maddon? Him too? As much as all this media coverage this season is over the top, it's hard to HATE that guy. He's a very good manager. Not God, but the MLB equivalent of Pop or Brad Stevens.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 05:38 PM) Clippers sign 36-year old Jamal Crawford 3/42. Worst signing of the offseason so far. Just awful. Worse than Mozgov? There's an article out there today stating Westbrook is worth $344 million. With the NBA being about on par with revenues and total franchise values, it seems they're really going to shoot themselves in the foot financially with all these mid-tier guys getting huge deals. We talk about Bryce Harper being a $500 million contract, but there's only a handful projecting in that territory.

I didn't vote, but I'll write some: 1) The luck in the AL Central has to shift at some point. 2) Sox still have more room to play much better at home. 3) Rodon, Abreu and Shields have a lot of room for improvement/upside. 4) They'll be getting Jackson back after the All-Star Break (can go back to their best defensive outfield), theoretically Morneau will help a lot and Cabrera back as soon as the Yankees' series, so Shuck's time will be cut back. 5) White Sox still have payroll space (due to LaRoche), and it will only be 2-3 month commitments on those contracts, rather than a full year. If they add someone like a Bruce, that will ensure they have that bat for 2017 as well, and won't have to go into the market this offseason when the pickings will be quite slim. 6) Possibility of Burdi, Hansen, Stephens...someone catching fire in the minors and helping out in the bullpen in the 2nd half. 7) Indians have to eventually come back down to earth and still have their own set of weaknesses. The Royals and Tigers, right now, are not greater than the sum of all their individual parts, either. 8) Catchers have been performing better recently. 9) Duke/Jones/Robertson seem about as solid as a collective trio as they have all season long. 10) Anderson's continued spark offensively and also on defense and the basepaths, brought some new energy and excitement to the line-up. When Jackson comes back, you'll have three guys in the line-up (along with Eaton, and even Lawrie) who can push opposing defenses. Saladino, when he plays, makes five good athletes. They're not necessarily all stolen base threats, but they can go 1st to 3rd and 2nd to home more easily than Sox players in the past.

Just for Dick Allen's sake, we'll create another "positive thread" to go along with "the April Sox are back." This one's a little different. You can vote yes or no, but the "NO" votes don't get to write anything. This is quite different from that thread, because even if you agree with the premise that the April Sox are back, that alone doesn't guarantee a playoff appearance, either. No caveats. No controlling for injuries or whether or not the front office will make trades to improve the team before the trade deadline and/or in August when the waiver claims start. No conditions or goalposts. Just, whether, in your heart of hearts, you believe this 2016 White Sox team will earn a spot in the playoffs (and, by extension, earn Ventura an extension as well as Rick Hahn)? As I said, ONLY the reasons why you believe the Sox will make it. BALT 58% TOR 56% BOS 53% HOU 39% DET 39% SEA 26% KC 25% CHW 19% NYY 8% http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-m...?ex_cid=rrpromo http://www.fangraphs.com/coolstandings.aspx These standings are similar, except in this case, the White Sox (8th in the AL) are ahead of the Royals, 14.5% vs. 12.5%. Yankees 10th again.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 06:40 PM) Tex and Beltran coming off the books. Royals below .500 and 8 games back after 98 games in 2014. Toronto below .500 and 8 games back after 101 games last season. Determining how it all goes down on July 3rd is foolish. That's fine if the White Sox are adding Tulo (the good version) and David Price. That cleaned out their system to the point where a trade like that (just one of them) is going to much harder to pull off this time around, same with the Royals. The 2014 Royals were sparked, according to most, by a speech from veteran acquisition Raul Ibanez and the addition of James Shields. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2...house/15314435/ Who on the White Sox is going to take a similar leadership role? Justin Morneau? Shields again? Anderson?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 3, 2016 -> 05:46 PM) No it isn't. The last time the Yankees bagged a season was? And chances are they do not trade any reliever. The rumor now is Chapman gets an extension. It doesn't matter what you say. Besides you are always wrong. The Sox still have a lot of LaRoche money left. They will probably spend it on pitching if Morneau shows he can hit, if he is washed up, another bat will come. Jackson and Melky will return and we all , except for you, can be hoping for White Sox victories. Whenever you get like this, it practically guarantees the White Sox won't follow suit and will do the opposite. There aren't very many Yankees' fans who honestly think their team should "GO FOR IT" this year when success is predicated on so many aging/over the hill veterans. They all have seen the competition just in the AL East and know their team is lacking. And, in case you haven't noticed, the Yankees look more like the Twins in terms of their recent free agent spending, other than McCann two and Tanaka offseasons ago. Since then...? It really doesn't make sense for NY to pay "peak value" for Chapman when they already have Betances and Miller under contract affordably (the combination of both averaging out.)

For the New York Yankees, in terms of their direction with dealing Miller and Chapman, it's going to be. Now the likelihood of them getting swept with two of their best starters going and the bottom 3 for the Sox isn't that high. And the White Sox might have gone 9-4, but they still don't have a DH or solid RH relief depth. There's nothing that you can do to change that. Fundamentally, they're still in the same exact precarious situation they were last year at this time, albeit their record is better. If you told me they were going to trade for one of Josh Reddick/Beltran/Bruce and Miller/Chapman/insert solid RH reliever, then I would place them as a solid playoff favorite. Of course, there's still those six teams ahead of us, all with more resources or deeper farm systems, so it's going to take JR signing off on adding $10-15 in additional payroll. Do you believe he will do that now? Flavum and I said 6-3 (or better) or 3-6 (or worse) would help Hahn make that decision over the ASB. Right now, they're at 2-1. 4-2 the next two series leaves them in pretty good shape, but still doesn't guarantee being any higher than 5th or 6th in the WC standings.

Boston +7 2. Detroit/Toronto +6 4. KC +5 1/2 GB 5. HOU/SEA +4 1 GB 7. CHW +2 2 GB 8. NYY -1 3 1/2 GB The Yankees/Sox series still looms as a type of "mini-elimination" set if the White Sox can sweep NY. It's also huge for our non-Sale/Q run in the starting rotation to sustain the positive momentum with this current 9-4 streak. Sabathia vs. Shields Tanaka vs. Rodon TBD vs. Miguel Gonzalez KC at Toronto DET at CLE (huge series for the Tigers)

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.