caulfield12

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jun 25, 2015 -> 07:11 AM) Turn Micah into a DH, then. Assuming he can hit, of course. Nothing wrong with having a non-HR hitter, who hits .300 and steals a bunch of bases as a DH. He doesn't have that kind of bat...MAYBE Tim Anderson does, or Hawkins, but Micah's a still a ways off from being a poor man's Tony Phillips. We need him at 2B. Another small problem, we already have three DH's in Abreu, LaRoche and Avi, not to mention Melky Cabrera. Gillaspie, if you want to keep going.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Jun 25, 2015 -> 07:24 AM) The quoted post above yours plus his horrible defense would have me running away from his as fast as possible. The Sox are plagued enough with horrible defense. Now, if Guerrero had a better contract and the Sox had an opening at DH I would be all for it. It might be worth just sticking him at 3B for one season (2016) and seeing what happens. Not the ideal solution...and another problem, Avi or Cabrera probably should be DH in 2016 to replace LaRoche.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 07:42 AM) Do you have a link to the article? Would like to read his take on it. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/10-degrees--t...-043408970.html

QUOTE (flavum @ Jun 25, 2015 -> 06:57 AM) Rodon vs Simon Only 91 more of these things. Hahaha.....even without your projections of wins needed to get back into contention, you just can't resist the temptation to count SOMETHING. I wonder how long SoxTalk gamethreads and Robin Ventura can survive before everyone just throws their hands up in the air and gives up on discovering some positive indicators for 2016? Last season at this time, we had a better record and Abreu excitement. This year, other than Sale, what is there?

QUOTE (daggins @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 06:05 PM) Yeah I had seen that. I just wonder, if they had a real chance of signing Eddy, if it would be worth it to get such a high ceiling player and not have to worry about competing for "the best intl prospect since Miggy", even in a reduced field. I don't think the buzz around him is quite like Ichiro, Hideki Matsui or even Yoan Moncada.

Here's an interesting "reader's comment" from BIG DATA BASEBALL (the story of the 2013 Pittsburgh Pirates) Specifically, about the current overshifting trend and whether it's beneficial or not. Much of the book centers around the Pirates exploiting the pitch framing skills of Martin and the use of big data to employ defensive shifts. According to Sawchik, those strategies were a big part of why the Pirates were able to reach the post-season in 2013. He might be right. But, for me, his case is fairly weak and, given that the blogosphere has started to question the value (or perhaps, more accurately, the over-value) of pitch framing (Dave Cameron at Fangraphs - http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/jonathan-lu...nd-the-nl-mvp/) and shifting (Steve Moyer from Inside Edge - http://www.wsj.com/articles/baseballs-shif...ork-1410304648), I was anticipating Sawchik diving deeper into the actual value of these stats. Instead he accepts them at face value. To wit: 1. On page 107 he notes that 1% more batted balls were being converted into outs in 2013 versus 2007. That's true. But he states that such a decrease was causing more teams to shift. The reality is, year-over-year fluctuations in BABIP (batting average on balls in play) are typical and, further, the largest drop in BABIP occurred before teams were shifting heavily - BABIP dropped from .303 in 2007 to .300 in 2008 and down to .299 in 2009. In 2010, BABIP was .297. It dropped to .295 in 2011 and then in both 2012 and 2013 - when shifts were being employed more - BABIP went up to .297. It went up even more in 2014 to .300. So, crediting shifts with a slight drop in BABIP when a) BABIP fluctuations are normal and b) BABIP actually rose as teams started to shift more is not a good argument from Sawchik. 2. On page 110, he points to the decrease in runs scored as more evidence that shifting is working (the exact quote is "the ultimate proof of runs being cut down due to big data") while completely ignoring the fact that home runs have decreased over the last couple of seasons. From 4934 dingers in 2012 to 4661 in 2013 to just 4186 in 2014. Fewer home runs has had a much larger influence on the decrease in runs scored than shifting has. Yet Sawchik points to lower run totals as evidence of the value of shifting. 3. On pages 147 and 148, Sawchik discusses the Defensive Runs Saved stat at fangraphs.com. He states - correctly - that the Pirates had a 93 run improvement in that stat between 2012 and 2013 and goes on to mention how many wins that is worth. What he fails to take into account is the year-over-year fluctuations in the DRS stat for a given team are usually in the 30 to 40 range. So, he has likely over-stated the value of shifting. 4. Sawchik fails to tackle the fact that sometimes shifting doesn't lead to an improvement (as noted in the Wall Street Journal article linked to above) in DRS. For example, on page 107, Sawchik has a table from Baseball Info Solutions that shows the Toronto Blue Jays shifted 2.5 times more often in 2014 (686 shifts) than in 2013 (249 shif=ts), yet their DRS went down by 46 when 2013 is compared with 2014. Maybe they were doing it wrong? More likely, defensive metrics like this aren't perfect and lead to shifting being over valued. As an odd side note, Sawchik mentions (on page 122) the Pirates desire to have their starting pitchers move to more of a 'pitch to contact' philosophy from of a 'swing and miss' philosophy. The hope would be shorter at bats for their opponents and longer outings for Pirate starters. Sawchik fails to mention that this approach either wasn't employed or didn't work. Pirates starters in 2013 finished first in the National League in K/9 and finished 13th in innings pitched. They were missing bats and they weren't pitching deep into games. http://www.amazon.com/dp/1250063507/ref=as...1789437267_6848 I'm almost ready to say the success of the Pirates is about the front office and coaching staff being on the same page, and all of the players buying into the system, whether it's actually better or more effective (shifting), the players seem to believe it works and that, in a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy, leads to better results and playoff contention. Of course, the Pirates' teams in 2013, 14 and 15 are also very talented, let's not forget that key point.

Just when you think the season will totally fall apart, the White Sox will win 2-3 in a row and that will buy more time for Hahn (and Ventura) not to be the face of public worry/panic. Although you're starting to see more pointed criticisms coming from game stories, whether it's about Eaton, Alexei or quotes from scouts about the way the White Sox are playing. Rodon vs. Simon Quintana vs. Sanchez Danks vs. Kyle Ryan Samardzija vs. Price Should be one win in there, SOMEWHERE.

Let's see 2015 play out with the Nationals before we give up on Strasburg. Who knows, he'll probably be in the 2015 White Sox rotation the rate things are going, traded for Quintana as KW attempts to build attendance via "star power" once again. Hasn't worked with Samardzija, that's for sure.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 11:39 PM) And with that said, when is the LAST TIME the Sox caught lighting in a bottle? Every. Single. FA. that has come here has gotten worse or at best stayed roughly the same. A few (Melky, Dunn) have been historically awful. How the f*** does that keep happening? Coaching. Scouting. Both at the same time, poor all of it. Easy, 2005 and then 2008 (Linebrink in the first half, Danks' Blackout Game, Alexei's grand slams, Carlos Quentin's MVP campaign, Gavin Floyd, Griffey, Jr., barely hanging on). You could argue that stretch in 2010 (guys like Vizquel helping the infield stability) and 2012 (Youkilis for 3 weeks, all the rookie pitchers, Quintana, Reed, Santiago, Nate Jones and a cast of 7-8 more who have disappeared from MLB rosters). Of course, in the end, Liriano, Hudson, Myers and Youk all turned out to be major disappointments in the end. Don't get me started on the money wasted on Manny Ramirez. As far as FA's though, it goes back to 2005....a full decade of "your what hurts?" (Whimperoo reference). And Ramirez/Abreu.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 11:34 PM) Really great and level headed thread and lots of great posts. I think every post has had well articulated critiques of the franchise -- and it's deserved. It's hard to really fathom how bad the Sox have been defensively but then you put a figure like roughly 100 runs per year worse than a good club (KC) over the past 3 years and yea, it makes sense. Given what the scout posted and how brutal guys like Eaton and Ramirez and Avi and hell even Conor and Jose have been, it really seems like something is going majorly wrong in the coaching department. For the most part, these are young guys or guys in their prime that are really struggling. I will continue to harp on how RV let Eaton walk in with his dick dragging on the floor in the spring and how out of sorts Eaton has looked all year. Someone needed to give the "big time" talk to the kid and it's clear that either never happened or if anything was said, the message was inefective. Whether it was the pressure of the extension (self-inflicted?), Eaton's "disappearance" has been the most troubling aspect for the future, as he was supposedly the "straw that stirs the drink." If Avi doesn't make it, that's one thing, corner outfielders are easier to come by...but CFer's/leadoff guys (and Eaton's still not a base-stealer, he's regressed there and baserunning in general has been awful) are even harder to come by. It seems like Williams/Hahn and Co. have spent the last decade looking at CF/leadoff, 3B and now catcher. The lack of production from 1-2 in the order has also had an adverse affect on Abreu, IMO. Finally, when your team's not getting solid leadership from the catching position, and doesn't have a dynamic force at manager...it's a recipe for disaster. What is filling the void? Well, we're seeing it everyday, it's coming out and expressing itself in the lackadaisical/disinterested style of play.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 08:57 PM) Marin hasn't allowed a run in his last 22 innings and counting. Seems like a kid who has pretty decent minor league stats but fairly limited MLB potential. Are we missing something (new pitch, change in delivery, healthy) with this recent stretch?

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 11:12 PM) Soto has actually been worth .5 WAR, (tied with AJP for #19) which is why he's playing a lot more now. The bad news: Josh Phegley is worth 1.2, #9 in baseball. Any person who says they saw that coming is full of 100% s***. We knew that Phegley could hit (he went on a tear the first 2-3 weeks up with the White Sox) but that he was incredibly limited defensively. We also knew that he would strike out a lot. He had 52 K's in 241 Ab's (21.6%) with the Sox. He's cut that down to 12 in 91 AB's with the A's (13.2%).

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 10:56 PM) Jose Abreu http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/pro...P=dayan-viciedo Would never imagine Dayan would be 2/11 with a double, triple and two walks. Lol at 26 speed and 21 patience ratings at TBC. Pretty accurate. Well, if we're going to play this game, it was the value signing of the decade...in Alexei Ramirez.

QUOTE (wsiskel @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 10:40 PM) Moncada just turned 20 years old, is in a new country for the first time (Greenville, SC is a little different than Cuba), and is facing pitchers that are far more advanced than those pitchers (of his age) in Cuba. He's hardly a bust. He had unrealistic expectations placed upon his shoulders, no doubt. The hype was "the next A-Rod," who was already in the big leagues at 19. Obviously he has a LONG way to go, but I didn't think he would be struggling in the SAL. Obviously, it's partly rust, partly based on cultural adaptation and then shouldering the burden of "saving the Red Sox," but the instant impact (the same thing we heard upon the Viciedo signing) simply isn't going to happen. So best to temper expectations, at least for the moment. Of course, with Bogaerts, Ramirez and Pedroia, there's hardly an opening right now anyway. FYI: Just noticed Y. Tomas was 4/5 right now in the game, all the way up to .328. Expected more power and .260's or .270's, so maybe they're satisfied with that...but I haven't seen him at 3B (right now he's batting clean-up and playing RF).

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 08:57 PM) He's really bad with the glove. 2B, 3B (okay, barely adequate) and LF have just been bad. With all the PR in the offseason, it's a bit surprising that Olivera is the one raking and Moncada has been a bust (so far). I'm not so sure Yasmani Tomas would have been the best signing, either. He's done "okay" but he's certainly not a plus defender, either. Has anyone watched any DBacks games this year?? I noticed he's not hitting for nearly as much power as was projected, either.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 08:57 PM) He's really bad with the glove. 2B, 3B (okay, barely adequate) and LF have just been bad. Erisbel Arruebarruena...what's the latest with him? Good glove, but would fit perfectly at the bottom of our line-up probably?? One thing's for certain, nobody's going to spell his name correctly without looking it up first. Good catch by Eminor on the Guerrero thing...although giving ab's to him wouldn't be any different than Beckham, Gillaspie, Flowers, Sanchez and Alexei, fwiw. As long as they don't get desperate and think installing Hanley Ramirez there will fix everything...the guy basically has his own book about how disruptive he was with the Dodgers (The Best Team Money Can Buy) coming out in mid-July.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 08:42 PM) Building? That implies progress. They aren't getting better. 31-40 today (last place). 34-37 this time last year (2nd to last). 30-41 in '13 (last place). If we were watching a bunch of young guns who we knew were taking their lumps then I'd be fine. This is futility. Therein lies the problem. Eaton (contract), Cabrera (contract), Abreu, LaRoche and probably Avisail Garcia are the only players who will even be on the roster this time next year. While Anderson just won the MVP of his All-Star game, his defensive challenges (along with Micah and Courtney Hawkins, who's likely to be similar to Cabrera, at best, due to his size) are well-documented. Rondon, Sanchez and Trayce can't hit well enough to be more than bench players. And the catching situation is the most glaring. Until that problem is fixed, and we bring in a real leader with a strong personality who can control the game defensively (at least), then we're stuck in neutral if not going backwards because we're wasting AB's on players that aren't part of the future.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 06:41 PM) Saw that Eaton run down the line. Originally I thought it was just him not running through the bag, but wow, that was so much more suck. Shuck should start tomorrow. It's appropriate that suck, Shuck and the White Sox all go together this season. At least last year was entertaining with Sale and Abreu...this year, it's hard to find anything positive other than Rodon getting experience and overcoming his growing pains (hopefully). But it's still a lot more fun for fans when it's a rookie hitter like Beckham playing well like the first 4 months of 2009 after he was recalled. http://www.csnchicago.com/white-sox/white-...lack-hustle-hit That play with Eaton was so egregious it merited its own article and response from Ventura.

It depends also on how much (if any) the acquiring team would be expecting to have shaved off that contract. Robertson for Guerrero (and no money changing hands) is a lot more realistic than Putnam/Duke/Petricka...you might have to give up Robertson AND one of those three and maybe you can get some money coming back as well.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 07:36 PM) They haven't "built" this team. They 'are building' this team. And the previous two seasons whose defense you reference was during the process of them tearing down and selling off the old team. Catching defense doesn't seem like it's been a major problem. Fangraphs says Soto's better. And he now seems to be starting half the games. Abreu is going to play first base. Just like Miguel Cabrera plays first base and you put up with his deficiencies. Sanchez has been pretty excellent in the field. Micah was terrible which is why he's not playing there now and won't unless/until he becomes at least passable. Alexei was excellent last year. He seems to have some unforeseen mental issues going on this year. Even still, Fangraphs has him as the #16 defensive shortstop. Gillaspie is bad at third. Beckham is above average. Gillespie has gone from being the starter last year to being a platoon player with a late-inning defensive caddie, to now not even getting every start against righties. All while you and I and Rick Hahn and everyone else knows he is not the long-term plan at third. But if he simply hit up to his career average against righties could make for a fine platoon guy. But he hasn't hit that well this year. Several White Sox players haven't hit that well this year. Many people where clamoring for a free agent upgrade at third last year. Those people should look at what Pablo Sandoval (5 years $95 million) is doing. Fangraphs has him as the worst defensive third baseman in baseball by a good margin. Chase Headley (4 years $52 million) is #27. There would be reason to be upset with Rick Hahn if he had shelled out all that money. Cabrera isn't great, but he's at least in the neighborhood of average and an enormous improvement over Viciedo. Eaton has not played well which is disappointing because he has the ability to be excellent as we've all seen. And the f.o./coaching staff are aware, based his benching for not playing where they've told him to. He seems to be a s***ty meathead who would do a lot better if he didn't try to overwork that tiny brain. He should be fine if he just blindly busts his ass and does what the brain people tell him to do. Garcia has been bad. He's the one player with some possibility of being here longer term from whom you expect to see some improvement. This will also be his first full season (if he makes it through). He also seems to be dealing with a knee problem. Maybe he'll hit enough that you worry less about the defense. Maybe he needs a defensive caddie and more time at DH. Maybe he doesn't hit enough to warrant him having the job. Those questions will answer themselves over time. Again, first half of his first full season. And you'll note he hasn't bee offered a long term extension. The Cabrera signing is the closest thing to longish term commitment (at only 3 years) to a player who's subpar defensively. And he's not that bad. And he can move to DH after a couple years if he's still here. The thing with Cabrera is Detroit doesn't have a DH in Victor Martinez who's Gold Glove caliber behind him, he's pretty much awful at every position C or 1B, especially now with the knee problems. LaRoche, on the other hand, is only the third player of the starters who could at least be above average (along with Eaton and Ramirez). As far as Alexei Ramirez goes, see the quotes from a veteran scout I pasted above. To counter, Defensive Runs Saved has both Eaton and Alexei Ramirez as 25th (out of 27) and 27th in the majors, and anybody's who has watched the White Sox this season can absolutely testify to that....they both made errors again in Wednesday's game. Beckham and Sanchez aren't long-term solutions (due to their offensive shortcomings). The best thing we can say about Tyler Flowers is that he's good at pitch framing. Soto has actually been better (recently) at throwing, probably due to the fact that he's getting into a rhythm from playing more frequently. But he's too old to be a long-term solution. As noted, the biggest issues are Eaton and Avisail, because they're supposedly part of the long-term core. Ramirez, too, has hurt simply because everyone had the idea they needed to pick up his option and at least have his steady defense behind the pitching when the team was legitimately attempting to compete in 2016. So you have three players sliding or regressing (Eaton, in particular, is inexplicable)...three positions that you need to replace (3B, 2B, C)....Melky Cabrera, who throws well and that's about it, he won't get any better at this stage of his career...and the debatable decision to play Abreu over LaRoche.

‘‘The White Sox, they should be ashamed of themselves the way they’re playing,’’ a veteran scout who has seen the Sox play about a dozen times in person this season said...They had two good games against the Rangers [victories Saturday and Sunday], played good baseball, and then they come out and play a game like [a 13-2 loss Monday to the Twins]. It’s unacceptable. It’s shameful.’’ ‘‘Errors, bad throws, mental errors,’’ the scout said. ‘‘Defense and guys not hitting in the clutch. For players, it’s not OK. This is the major leagues...Ramirez is going backwards on both sides,’’ the scout said. ‘‘He was one of the best in the game last year. Now he’s one of the worst.’’ ‘‘I’m sure Robin is doing his best,’’ the scout said. ‘‘Maybe one time he should fake it and throw something against the wall. This is unacceptable, and Robin has to know it. Maybe he has handled it. I don’t know what is done behind the scenes.’’ http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/7/71/71...med-31-39-start

What would the Dodgers want with Adam LaRoche or Melky Cabrera? Some trade proposals are just....

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 04:05 PM) You could do that if your offense was going to be really solid too. You can prevent runs using the pitchers and then win games by pumping out runs. That's been almost the Tigers formula the past few years. And even the Tigers were smart enough to realize with the losses of Scherzer and Verlander that they'd need to tighten up their defense. So they added Gose, Iglesias and worked with Castellanos on improving his defense. They at least had a plan and made some moves to improve a weak spot.

And, it's a lot easier to make a quick recovery in the current AL East than the Central...that hasn't been the case since 2005-2006.

But hey, they finally got Ozzie to agree to officially return July 17th-19th for the 2005 Reunion weekend. One thing to look forward to over the remainder of the season.