caulfield12

What was Chris Sale's relief experience level at Florida Gulf Coast pre-2010? 24 relief appearances for FGC, 11 relief appearances for W-S and Charlotte in 2010. http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/pro...sp?P=Chris-Sale Hard to expect Carlos Rodon to follow the same exact path without nearly the same or similar comfort level coming out of the bullpen...and the specific situation he was inserted into was a pretty tough one. Sure, he's a VERY confident kid, but there were a multitude of better ways to go about this...like using Jennings and having Rodon's first appearance be in a mop-up/non-pressure role to help him get his feet wet and under him. Build upon success, instead of letting a doubt or two creep into his mind. (Like with Buehrle in 2000).

Looks like they're going meekly into the night this game.

I'm starting to think the entire (subconscious, hopefully) plan was to blow up Noesi's ERA by having Rodon giving up those two inherited runners...then Hahn/Ventura can point to Noesi's 5+ ERA and use that as justification for removing him from the rotation and making him the long man in the bullpen.

Avi is a big flaw in Hahn's plan if he doesn't ever evolve into at least a 18-21 homer threat. Because, if you're an opposing pitcher, you just think to yourself get past the top four in the line-up (when Eaton's going well) and then nobody's really dangerous...sure, Alexei, Gillaspie and Flowers/Soto will have their moments, but they're not consistently going to strike fear into an opposing pitcher. Micah's just a rookie. Beckham's a doubles hitter, at best...but more of a weakly hit singles guy the last 2-3 years.

Mike Moustakas is raking against everyone right now, righties and lefties...if he's anything like he was once hyped to be (see 2014 playoffs, along with Hosmer), that team just became even more dangerous. This time, all they had to do was get a single, insert Dyson as a pinch runner and let him and Orlando start the track meet around the bases....almost nothing the opponents can do to stop them. Herrera out? Simple, go to Frasor, Chris Young and Wade Davis to close it out. Can't wait for them to get back Hochevar and Medlen...yikes. Of course, it IS the Twins. Let's see if they can do the same against the Tigers in DET.

Mike Moustakas is raking against everyone right now, righties and lefties...if he's anything like he was once hyped to be (see 2014 playoffs, along with Hosmer), that team just became even more dangerous. This time, all they had to do was get a single, insert Dyson as a pinch runner and let him and Orlando start the track meet around the bases....almost nothing the opponents can do to stop them.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 21, 2015 -> 08:36 PM) At least not a fringe player and to the extent he has dominated. Lew Ford, Denny Hocking, Matt LeCroy, Henry Blanco...Shannon Stewart, etc. Pretty much any random Piranha who played against the White Sox from 2001-2004, 2006, 2009-10.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Apr 21, 2015 -> 08:31 PM) It's like the pressure is still on the Sox every AB. It's been this way for a long time now. Why can't they just loosen up and work these pitchers. Foul pitches off on purpose, play the game. We don't play the game, we just swing at baseballs. Hard to iterate this feeling. To reiterate, points for the best use of "iterate" in this thread.

Great, this day keeps getting better and better. SIGH...

Edwin Jackson, one of the most expensive short relievers in the game today.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Apr 21, 2015 -> 07:52 PM) way to set your guys up for success. Jesus Rodon battled but COME ON. It's not freaking game 1 of the playoffs. That's exactly how they were using him....just like Yost used Brandon Finnegan in the post-season. Now he's pitching in AA as a starter.

QUOTE (JoshPR @ Apr 21, 2015 -> 07:48 PM) 98? I think the gun's a notch or two high tonight. They had Carrasco at 98 and Noesi 95-96 in the first inning as well. You can probably subtract at least 1 to 2 MPH.

Why did they just call for 7 fastballs in a row when Rodon has one of the best sliders in the game? Either Flowers should be done, or Ventura. Don Cooper's not going to do that. No pitching coach would be than idiotic. Are they trying to prove he can get outs without relying on his slider? JESUS of Nazareth.

http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/11957...rent-rosencrans Just like Luhnow, Amaro, Terry Ryan, Epstein...Hahn's not going anywhere, so it's easy to see why the pressure is starting to fall more and more on Ventura's shoulder's. It's the nature of the media beast these days.

He's more at fault for logic...as Hahn pointed, out, equally important is "game situation," and in the bottom of the 9th inning of a tie ballgame, that's probably it more times than not if that runner's allowed to stay at 2nd base with a non-closer on the mound.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Apr 21, 2015 -> 07:08 PM) More and more I'm conceding to the fact that he's probably going to end up as a reliever. Given that he appeared to be a throw-in in the first place, I guess I shouldn't be disappointed in that. A wee too early for that...let's at least wait until the end of June and see where he's at.

Love that Cubs bullpen. Not!!!

QUOTE (Condor13 @ Apr 21, 2015 -> 07:02 PM) This is a joke, why not double steal, bunt, hit and run something. But the Sox apparently are content with hitting into double plays and striking out all the damn time Three yards and a cloud of dust offense from 2001-2004, waiting for the three run homer. Maybe all the stupid outs and aggressiveness early on the basepaths has now led to tentativeness as a byproduct instead. Still, with how they won last night, you'd think a little of the desperation instinct would carry over.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/119591242/ri...ia-relationship Good article on the tricky relationship between media and managers from Richard Justice....lots of cool stories. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...-185004931.html 10 Greatest rants of all-time, starring Lee Elia, Hal McRae and Lasorda

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/i...four-al-central Dave Schoenfeld picks Franchise Four for the AL Central teams. Amazing Miggy Cabrera still isn't on the Tigers' list, but they have a long history...plus his time with the Marlins. And Walter Johnson seems so weird with all the modern-day Twins' names...Johan Santana didn't quite make the cut either, or Joe Mauer. For Sox, it's Thomas, Appling, Baines and Fox (over Aparicio)....Collins didn't have enough time with Chicago, more closely connected with the Philadephia A's. Didn't realize Faber and Lyons were so high on the career WAR, and Wilbur Wood, for that matter.

http://m.whitesox.mlb.com/news/article/119...mains-in-dugout "There is also a personnel management side of the game that most people aren't privy to," said Hahn of Ventura. "You guys as media members see some of it, but not all of it. And the strengths in that area are very high and very strong and something we are very pleased with." "That's part of the job," Ventura said. "The focus for me is what we're doing and how to make it better and turn it around. Stuff on the outside is always going to be there regardless. Even if we're winning, there will be criticism and things like that. The focus is in here and trying to turn it around, not kind of the outside stuff."

Bryant up to .462 with his 3rd double and 6th RBI of the week. 4 bb's, 4 k's. Btw, the woman hit on the back of the head by the foul ball has been released by the hospital...she was conscious and alert at the time of her leaving the ballpark with EMS personnel who took over for PNC Park medics.

It was the White Sox for being "unlucky" not to have the opposing team's feed (and really, they should have TWO interns going with both home and away feeds instead of one going back and forth desperately in a 20-40 second window,...with a video supervisor making the final call as to what to tell the manger, problem easily solved)...because the Detroit broadcast clearly showed he was tagged on the foot, whereas Comcast angles were inconclusive and/or showed he missed the knee.

Detroit was "only" 27,540. Of course, the Yanks have missed the playoffs for two consecutive years and all those nimrods wearing Jeter jerseys as if that confers magical powers to also date actresses and models have mostly disappeared. They had the A-Rod show, at least. I forgot about the cover in Milwaukee...but also meant just the general weather conditions outside...it's not like it makes you WANT to go to a baseball game (indoors) when it's pretty miserable like that. 10625, 11056, 11116....three worst attendance numbers last year in first half of April Roughly speaking, you're looking at about a 16-22% increase in the season ticket numbers, estimate. Of course, when you're jumping from let's say 11,000 to 13,000....2,000 statistically seems big but in terms of actual numbers it's nothing like the numbers we were dealing with in the 2006-2009 attendance and revenue cycle. Small progress. Let's see if there is any type of bump at all tonight after the victory. Probably will be hard to "control" for the weather, though.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Apr 21, 2015 -> 02:43 PM) Some quick fWAR numbers: Jose -- .3 Gordon .3 Avi .2 Tyler .2 Sanchez .1 Soto .1 everyone else is negative or at 0. Not very good offensive start. Micah, Alexei, Conor, Eaton and Melky need to step it up big time. Melky is showing signs we'll see about the other guys. Fangraphs like Eaton's defense so far but -5.2 runs with the bat already. Yikes. LaRoche has a pretty good OPS but of course he rarely has the opportunity to play 1B. Cabrera (hopefully) will start hitting for more power when the weather warms up....Alexei and Eaton are the two biggest culprits, by far. Hard to blame Micah for much and Conor's probably never going to hit quite as well as he did for 4 / 4.5 months last year before wearing down over the dog days of August. (And you're looking more at his numbers combined with Beckham, just like Soto/Flowers).