caulfield12

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 11:50 AM) Many do exactly that. Why do you think a guy like Grady Sizemore is still hanging around baseball. 98%, because of Lillian, I believe.

QUOTE (LDF @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 11:48 AM) excellent point. but i bet they are not counting on them to perform and to be used right away, as if it was foregone conclusion that it was going to work. Other than the Dodgers....oops, you have guys like Callaspo, Grandal, Justin Turner, Brett Anderson....basically, every team in baseball has 3-5 guys (or more) who fit into this category.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 11:39 AM) He's at negative fWAR now with the Sox and if you prefer ERA+ he's at 72. They haven't found any success with him. Cooper's pixie dust is long gone, what was their last successful reclamation project, like seriously successful not just a halfway decent start now and there... I figured out of Noesi, Rodon and Danks they might squeeze out 500 innings around an ERA+ of 90. The turned out to be wildly optimistic. This team isn't firing on a single cylinder. Time to clean house. Phil Humber. Jose Quintana. Zach Putnam. Sergio Santos. Hector Santiago (if you consider where he was originally drafted)

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 11:30 AM) I would figure a very hefty fine and the loss of some draft picks (possibly for many years?). Hopefully this means no more supplemental picks for them as well, as they never get any in the first place. They're redefining the idea of "competitive balance" with this one, haha. It was always a joke how teams like the Cardinals or Tigers ended up in this category in the first place.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 11:40 AM) 4.68 ERA with supposedly the best defense in baseball behind him. Is he living up to his talent level? Where is the leadership? I'm giving up on this thread and going to bed because there's really no point. Back to White Sox leadership issues.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 11:33 AM) I don't know why he would need to prove he used advanced stats to sign Jose Abreu. He was the one that got him. Put here is a guy that has been with the Sox for 27 years who apparently you have never heard of. http://www.csnchicago.com/white-sox/white-...ball-operations Gee, I've written of posts referring to both him and Jeremy Haber, but apparently you missed those. ONCE AGAIN, YOU'RE SAYING THAT KW IS PROFICIENT WITH ADVANCED METRICS. Where is this coming from? Because every team in baseball now has 2-3 guys in their front office who concentrate on that area...not to mention all the guys hired from Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, fangraphs, etc.? As Balta has pointed out over and over and over again, the pitching isn't the problem over the last decade, it's the hitting. How is KW using advanced metrics to bring better hitters into the organization?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 11:25 AM) I said performance, it's spelled a little differently and has a different definition but ....And so far Ventura has performed a lot more like John Danks than a talented guy who supposedly has all these terrific leaders doing a great job showing him the way. http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/pitching/_/le...ric/order/false 29th out of 56 vs. 47th for John Danks. Okay. WHIP. Ventura 31st, Danks 54th out of 56.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 11:22 AM) I don't like KW, but you again are writing fiction. You may actually want to do some research. KW has been using advanced stats well before you started using the ESPN.com numbers as gospel. Examples? In the last 7-8 years (after the Quentin/Ramirez/Danks/Floyd acquisitions), there have been just a few excellent players added to the organization. There's Chris Sale, Abreu and Rodon kind of fell into their laps. If you can convince anyone that KW used advanced stats to identify either one of those players...well, I'll believe it when I see it. Earlier, you asked me how much time I've spent playing sports. How much time has Rick Hahn? I'm not the issue to be solved for the White Sox front office, it's talent identification and development that are on trial here.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 11:11 AM) Explain the Royals' treasure trove of leaders' terrific job with Yordano Ventura. A minute ago you said only talent counted. The only thing that matters is what Ventura does the 30-32 times per season he takes the mound. I could give you the links to numerous articles, but you've already made up your mind so there's no point in even trying because I'm sure you wouldn't read them and would continue to make this about the Royals and not the White Sox...which is yet another distraction from the real issue.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 11:02 AM) This thread is about veteran leadership, and it is ripping the White Sox and praising the Royals. Yet there is Ventura on the Royals, he of the multiple ejections, a suspension, John Danks' stats, why is that good leadership? People got mad at Sale and Samardjiza for their roles in the fight, so damned if you do, damned if you don't. I just think a lot of people are taking liberties with Robin Ventura's personality, and believing they know exactly what goes down in the clubhouse, and with meetings with Hahn and KW. KW is still there, like him or hate him, one thing he isn't and wouldn't tolerate is being "lax". The White Sox are just playing lousy baseball. Sometimes the reason a team sucks is as simple as that. If there's this continuous process of improvement on the part of KW and Rick Hahn...then why hasn't ANYTHING been done about 2B or the catching position? About John Danks? If he wouldn't have wasted all that "small change" money on Keppinger, Downs and Bonifacio, we could just eat that contract and move on. KW once said that he dreamed of going out and winning another World Series...of taking the city away from the Cubs, etc. I'm not sure where you get the idea he's working harder than ever, because some of the complacency (and hubris) that affected Ozzie as manager has got into the bloodstream of Williams as well. He's gotten stale and the game has passed him by, the whole revolution of advanced data and analysis just isn't his thing.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 09:43 AM) How do you know there is a lack of urgency? Did you read it on a message board? The fact is, your favorite team and model organization hasn't been all that great the last couple of months. I guess their leadership or coaching or something must be lacking. The leadership crap is just like the chemistry argument. Konerko was a great leader in 2005. When the team is bad in 2013, where is the leadership. You can have great leaders, that doesn't mean you will win more games than you lose. Have you ever even played a baseball game or any game for that matter? Does the team with the best coach usually win? Or is it the team with the best leaders? Or is it the team with the best players? Or is it the team with the best performers? I'll go with the last one. Gee, no, I've never played sports before, lmao. Many White Sox insiders have noted time and time again that the team was never quite the same after the losses of Rowand, Everett and eventually Juan Uribe and Mark Buehrle. Yes, we've heard time and time as well that the 1970's Yankees players hated most of their teammates but they came together and won because they had the most talent, blah blah blah. Well, the fact of the matter is that there's a TON of parity in MLB today...and when the margin of talent differentiation is lowered, leadership becomes a more important factor in a team's success.

The Astros computer system, dubbed Ground Control, was featured in the Houston Chronicle last year. Shortly after the article appeared, the Astros said people were trying to get into the database because they could see a URL in a photo that accompanied the article. However, the site and link were also available via Google. http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/ast...own-5300746.php When the Astros hired general manager Jeff Luhnow in December 2011, he had a 25-page plan he presented to owner Jim Crane. In it were details for this website - a complex, built-from-scratch database - that would be fully tailored to every one of the club's needs. Since senior technical architect Ryan Hallahan was hired in February 2012, the database has become just about the most useful baseball tool available. Some features, like a trade analyzer, seem ripped straight from a video game. It's one of the coolest toys the public will never play with. The Astros are not the first team to build their own database, although they believe theirs rivals anyone's. The Cleveland Indians gained notoriety as the first to build a confidential system, called "DiamondView." The Boston Red Sox further popularized the trend with theirs, nicknamed "Carmine." The name comes from the David Bowie song...."This is ground control to Major Tom"

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 09:51 AM) I just dont get it. Why are the Cardinals hacking the astros back then? The Cardinals were the premier organization and the Astros were just straight up garbage To get back at Luhnow, who had polarized that front office before leaving for Houston. Partly, because they felt they were entitled to, because the system was largely (in the minds of the Cardinals/aka Gavin Belson of Hooli/"Silicon Valley" reference) developed as "work product" in St. Louis and then brought over to Houston under a different name (and further refined by the likes of Sig Mejdal)...and Luhnow brought quite a few of his guys from St. Louis over with him, which led to more hurt feelings between the two organizations. Prior to joining the Astros, Sig worked for the St. Louis Cardinals from 2005-11, most recently as Director of Amateur Draft Analytics. During his time with St. Louis, Sig was involved with modeling, analysis, and data-driven decision making throughout all levels of the organization. He was a key contributor in the draft decision processes that led to the selection of more Major League players than any other organization during that time frame. Earlier in his career, Sig worked at Lockheed Martin in California and for NASA. He earned two engineering degrees at the University of California at Davis and later completed advanced degrees in Operations Research and Cognitive Psychology/Human Factors at San Jose State University. source: Houston Astros website The hack, reported to have been not very sophisticated, was apparently motivated by the suspicion on the part of Cardinals officials that Astros GM Jeff Luhnow had improperly taken proprietary knowledge from the Cardinals upon his departure. The key paragraph from the article states: Investigators believe Cardinals officials, concerned that Mr. Luhnow had taken their idea and proprietary baseball information to the Astros http://www.crawfishboxes.com/2015/6/16/878...sible-hack-into

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 09:30 AM) This is all a bunch of BS. You don't know the leadership structure of either the White Sox or Royals. Abreu bland, Kendrys Morales policing everyone? LMAO. Get real. Once again, obfuscation. Obfuscation. Obfuscation. Why don't you address the question, then...which is that there APPEARS to be a lack of immediacy or sense of urgency from this team. How do you explain this team getting absolutely hammered by opponents in the early innings? If it's not leadership, it's not preparation, it's not coaching...then what is it? All the White Sox players are "mentally weak" and the front office doesn't know how to put together a cohesive and proverbial "sum of all the parts is greater than the individual numbers" team? With Ventura, I should also add Mark Guthrie...who always serves as his "unofficial" translator for post-game interviews.

With Almora disappointing and McKinney probably ticketed for a corner....it does make a lot of sense for the Cubs to go after a game-changing CFer, even one who's 2 or maybe even 3 years away by most reports. Almost nobody believes Fowler is going to be the long-term solution, he's simply a placeholder until a better option comes along...although he's been fine for his particular role so far this season.

I think the reason it's working pretty well (despite the loss of James Shields) for the Royals is that you do have a pretty much perfect mixture of youth and veterans. Obviously, Infante's not playing very well (probably the worst overall 2B in the AL), but each clique of players has a ringleader, like we saw in 2005. With the Latin players, it's Salvador Perez and now Kendrys Morales policing Escobar and especially Yordano Ventura. As much as Hosmer and Moustakas are hated by many, there's the steadying presence of Alex Gordon who arrived as a regular 2-3 years earlier and gets respect as the "veteran" of the group, the vanguard of that first wave of prospects. Gordon, from all reports, work as hard as Juan Pierre on his game, always the first to arrive and the last to leave and never satisfied with all the elements of his game. Then you have Lorenzo Cain doing his own thing and bringing a certain amount of swagger and confidence (just like Torii Hunter in his prime years with the Twins, but even this season again) to the entire organization with his bold style of play. So just in their starting line-up, they have four really strong leaders, and that's not even counting Hosmer and Moustakas, who have big and arrogant/confident personalities as well. What players in our starting line-up match that? Eaton? Abreu is about as bland as Ventura. Expecting Alexei to be a leader? We might as well watch paint dry. Avi kind of has that playful, big teddy bear personality, is a jokester and prankster, but there just aren't enough position players who can be counted on right now. Catcher is perhaps the most important position on the field and we have Tyler Flowers...who is having a hard enough time for the last two years holding his position to be considered a leader. Beckham has a personality, but he's failed so many times offensively he can't be the leader except in granting interview requests, and Conor is even more boring and vanilla than both Ventura and Abreu somehow. Last year it was cute, this year it's symptomatic of the overall team malaise. Then there's the growing disappointment with Samardzija's performance as well as his leadership abilities (so far). Very little out of LaRoche and Cabrera's almost non-existent.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 08:33 AM) Its funny, in hindsight I keep seeing all of the mentions about the Samardjiza deal being bad, and how much we miss Semien. But seeing Liriano last night reminded of missing Eduardo Escobar. I really didn't think we would miss him from that deal, but at the very least he is the utility infielder on this team, and we don't have to worry about defense off of the bench for sure. Thus, saving the money wasted on the Bonifacio signing.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 08:11 AM) Did you have that concern every time a white cop got named? If that happened, then maybe people wouldn't rush to make up lies to fit their agenda? These three were perfectly willing to completely screw the lives of the white officers, possibly even put them in the crosshairs, because of what? Would suck for them, but I don't care. The difference is that a civilian is generally not as well prepared to defend themself from attack. Assuming you're naming these people, and shaming them....do you want them to buy weapons to prepare for that eventuality? How many of the white police officers named in these high profile cases have been attacked by civilians as a result? http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/15/opinions/jon...lity/index.html Blaming black protesters for "increased crime"?

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 07:46 AM) Eye-witnesses are notoriously unreliable. I don't know about this particular case but a lot of them would pass a polygraph with flying colors because they truly don't believe they are lying. They honestly believe they saw something completely different than what really happened. The human mind/memory can be a messed up thing. For example, Anita Hill in the Clarence Thomas case. Passed the polygraph test, etc. Sometimes we believe in a lie so strongly that it essentially becomes the truth, at least our version of it.

QUOTE (glangon @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 07:28 AM) With Wieters returning to the Orioles, a trade for Caleb Joseph would be a good thing, a good defensive catcher who hits better than Flowers and Soto. He's batting .250 with 5 homers and 20 RBI's and allows 66% of runners to steal on him which is better than anything we have in the majors or AAA and with the Orioles in contention we could maybe offload Shark to them for Joesph and a couple of prospects. Except all indications point to the fact that the Orioles are generally satisfied with Joseph (especially considering the price) and most likely will let Wieters go the FA route. Who poses a greater threat to Matt Wieters' future in Baltimore: Caleb Joseph or his agent, Scott Boras? -- Dan S., South Florida Boras, unquestionably. Joseph will be the first to tell you -- and he did tell reporters several times this spring -- that there's no replacing Wieters. And while Joseph has certainly grown into a defensively sound catcher in his second year, he doesn't have the experience or the offensive ability yet that the switch-hitting Wieters does. Keep in mind, Wieters was on pace for a career year offensively in 2014 before an elbow injury eventually required Tommy John surgery. Wieters hasn't played this season and is still on a throwing program in extended spring camp. The more time he misses this season -- his final under team control -- the less leverage Boras may have to work on a megadeal for his client. Could that work in the Orioles' favor? Maybe, but it could be a stretch. When the sides were talking, they were said to be worlds apart. Bridging that gap, at least with where things are now, would be incredibly difficult. source, MLB.com

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 07:32 AM) How is it that the Cubs are able to spend wildly again this period, didnt they blow past their limit last year? I'm a little confused myself. Seems like it's the Cubs, Dodgers, Yankees and Angels who can't sign him before July 2nd... Martinez, 20, is eligible to sign right now, but the fact that he hasn’t with the 2014-2015 signing period closing in mid-June is significant. That implies, strongly, that he is at least seriously considering (or has quietly agreed to) an offer from a team that is locked out now but won’t be in July. The top candidates to be that team? Cubs and Dodgers. And while the Dodgers have been winning the Battles of the Moneybags lately, I suspect the Cubs have the reserves to put up a fiscal fight for a player they really want. And they might have another fight, too, on the number three prospect, Lucius Fox. If the Cubs land Fox, this class becomes incredibly good. Like Martinez, there are a lot of team involved on Fox, but unlike Martinez, Fox cannot sign until July 2. Given that he arrived on the scene a little late, any team that does not want to blow the spending limits may already be promised to enough other players that they won’t have the room for Fox. That puts the deep pocketed teams who are committed to blowing past the limits in the drivers’ seat, and that means it may well be the Cubs and Dodgers fighting for the wheel. http://www.bleachernation.com/2015/06/05/c...julio-martinez/

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 07:25 AM) So I believe someone said today is the last day for some teams to get EJM inked to a deal before the July 2nd deadline. Who is no longer able to sign him after today? It’s unclear as yet whether Martinez will sign in this period or the new one beginning July 2, but he’ll have to put pen to paper in short order if he’s to head to the Yankees or Angels. Those two clubs will be unable to spend more than $300K after this July 2 class closes, and they are among the teams who Sanchez lists with interest. The Cubs, Blue Jays, Nationals, Rockies, Tigers, Dodgers, and Giants have also reached out to Martinez’s camp, per the report. “I’m working hard to get to my goal to play in the Major Leagues, ” says the 20-year-old. “That’s what I have always wanted to do.” baseballamerica.com

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 07:07 AM) They should be named and shamed as much as possible. And then what happens when a white person hunts one of them down and kills them out of revenge? Naming and shaming are funny things....if you were asked who was responsible for costing taxpayers billions of dollars as a result of the whole credit default swaps/adjustable rate mortgages, most posters MIGHT be able to come up with Angelo Mozilo. That had 100X the impact on everyone here personally, yet do we as a society really want to take this type of approach? Should we do the same thing for girls who make false or contradictory rape allegations, even when they're minors? How do you decide who should "fairly" be named and shamed? What happens if people take the law into their own hands as a result? How many of the white people who have falsely accused black people of robbing or attacking them do we remember? There was the Stuart case in Boston, the Tawana Brawley hoax on the other side, but does that prevent white people from doing the same thing?

Derek Norris is a really good defensive catcher, but the Pads just acquired him this year. Jason Castro has been mentioned a LOT over the last two or three years around here. Nick Hundley would be another one who grades out very well this year. However, it's almost like you're forced to take a AAA/AA high level prospect, because the cost for major league catching talent is usually so high...and our offense right now is so limited that it's hard to make just incremental improvements if you're going with "defense first" personnel. That said, I would love to hear a reporter ask Robin Ventura why he feels the defense played so well for most of the 2012 season, and then fell apart the following year. Why did guys like DeAza, Viciedo and Alexei play so much better? It seems like Abreu was improving a lot in the second half last year and now he's gone backwards. Eaton, backwards. Alexei, fading. Cabrera is just so-so at best and Avi hasn't made much progress in this area, along with Conor and Flowers. It's almost a team-wide malaise, other than Beckham and Sanchez, who obviously have their offensive limitations. Even LaRoche hasn't been up to par compared to what he showed the last couple of seasons in Washington.

Baseball-reference.com ranks the White Sox last in the majors in Defensive Efficiency while Fangraphs.com has them 29th of 30 in Defensive Runs Saved. The White Sox and Philadelphia Phillies are both nearly double the New York Yankees, who rank 28th in the majors with minus-22 Defensive Runs Saved. The White Sox are minus-43 and Phillies are minus-45. The Kansas City Royals are first overall with 42 Defensive Runs Saved. “Defense is always going to be something that you need to be able to win,” White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. “But there are also momentum swings with defense. Defense can help you help the pitchers. Teams that play good defense get momentum because you don’t need to do as much offensively to be able to cover it. When we get better at that, and we get some hits with some guys on, it looks better. When you stub your toe in one area of the game, it can cost you.” So what is the plan for getting better at that, exactly? Obviously, they sent down Micah and are playing Beckham over Conor at 3B, but that's only a half solution at best if those particular moves don't move the needle at all offensively. http://www.csnchicago.com/white-sox/poor-d...haunt-white-sox