caulfield12

Fact: The Tigers and Royals rely on speed/athleticism and defense more than the rest of their AL peers. Strip away Cabrera and Victor, its nothing like the plodding station to station to station offenses of the past decade. The White Sox have added Micah, but thst is still a defensive downgrade from Beckham for this season. Cabrera is so-so at best (improvement on DeAza/Viciedo)....and Garcia is a great athlete with a plus arm and terrible instincts that will be hard to overcome. Finally, Whe you consider Conor, Tyler, Micah, Eaton's throwing, Alexei's aging/loss of range....and the fact that the best defender for now is rarely on the field (LaRoche for Abreu), it is a recipe for disaster to give up a run or two per game when you're usually scoring 0-4 runs. And the only available "upgrades" are Trayce Thompson and Carlos Sanchez....sigh. http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/b...nded/order/true Look at 4 6 and 29. Heck, Rizzo alone has us beat on the basepaths.

QUOTE (Benchwarmerjim @ May 8, 2015 -> 04:11 AM) The Twins are 3 games above .500 for the first time since 2010. Thats insane. Without Erwin Santana and Phil Hughes struggling health-wise...and zero Mauer homers. Btw, Kyle Gibson owns the Royals and is pedestrian against the rest of the AL.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 8, 2015 -> 06:13 AM) Teams trade from their strengths. It is kind of a thing. You mean like Ritchie for Wells/Fogg/Lowe? Santos for crap. Reed for likely crap. Edwin Jackson for crap. Hasnt worked out that well....except for Eaton in 2014. And Im sure the DBacks still prefer AJ Pollock. They also had a surplus of outfielders.

QUOTE (danman31 @ May 7, 2015 -> 09:21 PM) Anything to show you're a real person to your students helps. Some teachers miss that point and get too worried about discipline and grades. The things you can teach a student who likes and respects you are much more important than the disciplinarian teacher going by the book. I think a lot of teachers lose perspective of how they appear to kids because they've become frustrated by bad students. So, yeah, if they're willing, have them grab you lunch and tip them for it. It's definitely a double-edged sword because one of the reasons given by administrations here (lack of executive experience...which is a chicken and the egg thing if you don't have a PhD) is that I was "too close" with some of my students and they weren't sure if I could magically transform into Mr. Disciplinarian (which I wouldn't want to) as curriculum coordinator. Of course, the curriculum coordinator isn't even supposed to be in charge of student discipline (like a VP), but why/how Chinese school officials perceive things is beyond me. Actually, since we don't even speak native language and can't communicate with parents very effectively, it's hard for any ex-pat to be a school administrator, other than a principal at an international school with mostly non-Chinese students.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 7, 2015 -> 08:34 PM) And then we would have a black hole in CF and in the leadoff spot again. Which further reinforces the failures of Jared Mitchell, K.Walker, Trayce Thompson, etc. The only solution while waiting for Anderson/Hawkins is/was the free agency market and/or trading away assets like Peavy, Reed, Santiago or Samardzija.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketball...kentucky-purdue Swanigan story. Purdue, Cal, KY being mentioned. Where's Tom Crean, lol?

QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 7, 2015 -> 07:46 PM) No, no they did not. http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/_/id/30744/hector-santiago Apparently we have fourth and fifth starters growing like trees in the minors. Hector would have the best stats of any White Sox starter...as it stands, if you substituted Rodon and Santiago for Danks/Noesi, you'd have a much better starting rotation.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ May 7, 2015 -> 05:12 PM) Kottaras off the disabled list in AAA. Is he worth a look? Probably not. Unless you want to increase the OBP with walks. http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/pos...rt/OPS/minpa/50 A wasteland. Russell Martin, Grandal (Top 30 in OPS but 0.1 WAR), Nick Hundley, AJ (let's not go there again), Miguel Montero, Derek Norris, Brayan Pena and Jason Castro were arguably the "available" names Rick Hahn had to choose from.

They've invested a significant amount of money (and value, in trade) into the Eaton acquisition. The White Sox certainly not going to start Trayce Thompson or Shuck out there and abandon Eaton after just one month. Heck, it took them from 2010-2014 just to abandon Gordon Beckham.

Just to amuse DA. Mike Moustakas had 17 opposite field hits all of 2014. This year, he already has 19, a .330 average and increasing plate command and patience/OBP. Moustakas’ issue has been that his hands and shoulders all turn as a unit and rotate toward the ball, cutting off the amount of time his bat is in the way of the pitch’s path. He looked like he tried to improve that last year by getting his back elbow working before his hands started, but he was still moving the hands and shoulders together rather than getting that rollback look with the back arm like the best hitters. Even on his better hits this year, it still looks the same, and often he’s down through contact rather than on a slight upward path with the pitch. I think he’s just hitting the right part of the ball in the early going, but I don’t expect much different results without a big change in approach or mechanics. I do not agree. Even if his swing mechanics could still have room for improvement, Mike Moustakas’ changed approach that allows him to spray the ball around the field should yield significantly better results than the recent past. Mike Moustakas may never realize his perceived potential as a prospect, but he can still be a good everyday player if he continues to hit the ball where it’s pitched rather than try to pull everything. http://kckingdom.com/2015/04/22/kc-royals-...s-a-new-hitter/ Of course, someone at fangraphs disagreed, as is their wont to do.

http://pro.boxoffice.com/latest-news/2015-...erica-civil-war Prospects for Captain America: Civil War, mentions Spider Man/Peter Parker "rebooting"...no Thor or Hulk, of course http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/05/joss-...ers-marvel-cuts Josh Whedon article about painful cuts in the process of filming http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/07/chris...rs-infinity-war Infinity War writers named.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 7, 2015 -> 03:06 PM) Kansas City Royals ‏@Royals 45m45 minutes ago #Royals Kelvin Herrera's appeal has been heard, and his suspension has been reduced to 6 games. He will begin serving the suspension today Herrera has been struggling a bit and Holland's back soon, so not a huge deal. http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/sort/WARBR/order/true Lorenzo Cain leading MLB in WAR. Dee Gordon, Vogt and Joc Pederson also off to amazing/surprising starts. As for CLE, Kluber getting beaten up for the 7th time in 7 starts this season....one year wonder? Indians, mirroring the Sox, already have 2 errors in the game.

No comeback today....instead 4/4 in K's for Soria, who has really righted the ship for the back end of the Tigers' bullpen. Also didn't give Abreu a chance in the 8th with a lesser reliever.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ May 7, 2015 -> 02:58 PM) Sox can hit Soria, make it interesting. Freak Detroit out some more. Detroit usually has that 6th sense when they need to step on the gas. Like after they lost the first two of four to KC and then Price/Sanchez absolutely shut the door. After they didn't score with the bases loaded, the Tigers pretty much knew they had this game...especially after Ventura mistakenly walked JD Martinez and gave them another gift. Plus, in some ways, DET has been very fortunate they didn't have to remove Nathan for "cause" (but injury instead)....when Soria's clearly been better. That situation resolved itself well, plus they have Rondon who will come back at some point from injuries.

QUOTE (Condor13 @ May 7, 2015 -> 02:54 PM) Micah needs to hit in the 2 hole and move everyone else down a spot. I think this will help the Sox some bc if Micah get on at least Eaton won't be able to f*** it up some how. Plus Micah can bunt better then Melky can and will just shake thing up. Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Except you're getting Abreu less at-bats then. The main problem is (this year's) Eaton should be hitting last or 8th, not 1st.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ May 7, 2015 -> 02:50 PM) Tip that cap Hawk you do it every soft tosser that faces the Sox last 15 years. Specifically soft-tossing lefties, unknown/journeymen types with no advance scouting report, Chen/Guthrie, and rookies. Longest outing of Lobstein's career. Of course. White Sox had their chance with the bases loaded, no outs and a 1-1 tie. The last 2-3 seasons when they fail to score a run there (in that situation), it's almost an automatic loss and shoulders shrugging time. Glad I was sleeping then or I would have taken my air conditioning remote control and threw it off the wall (only to realize later how futile a gesture that would have been.)

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ May 7, 2015 -> 02:48 PM) Agreed. What the f*** is Ventura managing a team that cannot afford an incompetent manager? The real problem is that the margin of error to be competitive for the playoffs was razor thin. When you put yourself at a competitive disadvantage right off the bat, needing that guy who can actually make a difference in 2-3 games per year in the standings...we're doing pretty much the opposite.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/splits/_/id/...victor-martinez FWIW, there's almost zero split differential for Victor Martinez the last 3 years, LHP/RHP.

QUOTE (Real @ May 7, 2015 -> 02:44 PM) laroche has to go hes just so f***ing terrible lmao. edit. that was eaton. Unfortunately, we're stuck with BOTH Eaton and LaRoche for awhile. Soria coming in now...not going to mess around in the 8th this time, Ausmus with the "must win this game" decision.

Nick Castellanos is slightly better against LHP, although no great shakes against either this season. http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/splits/_/id/31065/jd-martinez JD Martinez has a pronounced split differential against lefties. 94 OPS points lower this year. The biggest problem is ignoring the 20 k's in his last 30 plate appearances. It's like they thought he was the same hitter the White Sox faced earlier in the season, when he was one of the top 20-30 hitters in the game.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ May 7, 2015 -> 02:35 PM) Ventura's managing is indefensible You know things are pretty bad when the "Lil' Bulldog" is frustrated with the current state of affairs. Beat the Royals two times...no momentum, same with this series. Just can't seem to get anything going without self-sabotaging it.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ May 7, 2015 -> 02:33 PM) Do the White Sox have an advanced scouting crew? Castellanos is in a huge f***ing slump wtf are they doing. The margin for error is quickly eroding with this season and these sorts of things are just giving games away on a weekly basis. Frustrating man. JD MARTINEZ HAD STRUCK OUT 20 times in his last 30 plate appearances before that at-bat. The bigger question is why they even walked him.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ May 7, 2015 -> 02:29 PM) From a bullpen standpoint this inning has been managed terribly. Also no reason to throw to third on the fly ball and allow the guy on first to move up. If the throw was actually accurate, the runner would have been out. That said, he hasn't thrown the ball well (or intelligently) all season. His defense/offense/baserunning have all been equally bad.

Thanks Ventura, great move there. You face Castellanos (who's equally competent against RHP and LHP, basically). Tigers announcers just AMAZED ("it's crazy, really" is the direct quote) that Ventura walked a guy who'd just struck out 20/30 times. Said he was feeling for the ball when he flew out and it wasn't a typical swing like when he's going well...hasn't hit one single ball hard for over a week, literally.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ May 7, 2015 -> 02:28 PM) You don't save other arms in a 1 run game Apparently we're not all that interested in sweeping the Tigers.