caulfield12

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

QUOTE (glangon @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 04:05 AM) It's probably not a priority for them at the moment but Noesi is a train wreck and Carroll wasn't, Carroll has seemed to settle well into the long relief role and done well there, Carroll on a regular basis seemed to steady the ship without giving up a lot of runs and give our offense a chance of getting back into the game (which they didn't take) whereas Noesi seemed to ship runs everytime he enters a game. Rodon's innings will probably be picked up by the likes of Beck and Johnson in the last month. I think they see the likes of Beck and Johnson more as starters than long relievers and when Shark is traded and Rodon runs out of innings, these guys and possibly Montas and Danish could come more to the fore. With the trading of relievers, all of them bar Duke and Robertson are probably on the block with Hahn knowing that he has Jones and Crain ready to come back near the All-Star break and Albers rehabbing soon with Lindstrom still in AAA. I'm thinking that 2016 could see a very settled pen with Crain, Jones, Carroll, Duke, Jennings, Albers and Robertson with the option of Lindstrom, Petricka, Putnam and Webb depending on who gets traded / released. To that list, you can add add Montas, Danish, Sanburn, Blake Hickman (the White Sox plan to convert him into a reliever), Junior Guerra, etc. If the future rotation is expected to be Sale, Rodon, Fulmer and Danks (2016), that only leaves room for one of Danish/Montas/Beck/Johnson in a starting role. Or maybe two of them, depending on what assets they can get back for Samardzija OR if they trade Quintana and/or acquire a 3/4 guy to hold down the fort while they're waiting on Fulmer's arrival in the rotation. My own belief is that the bullpen is one of the areas they will try to "sell high" on now with either Petricka, Putnam or Duke if they can get the right pieces back...and, if not, they just end up holding them, as will likely happen with Alexei Ramirez and Jose Quintana. I'm also not 100% convinced we will see Lindstrom or Albers again in a White Sox uniform.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 11:19 PM) Interesting thought. The Cubs have been drafting and acquiring hitters as the new market inefficiency, while the Sox keep finding pitching yet losing games. I don't think it's the hitters that are the market inefficiency, as much as those trades that replenished the system by taking struggling pitchers from other teams and turning them all into assets: Feldman and Clevenger to the Orioles for Jake Arrieta, Pedro Strop and international signing money Samardzija/Hammel (who they got back, another form of market inefficiency the Cubs can exploit, the popularity of playing for the Cubs in a stadium that's going through "exciting" renovations) for a Top 10 player in Addison Russell as well at Top 10 prospect in former first rounder Billy McKinney Garza to the Rangers for Olt, Justin Grimm (he has been helpful to the bullpen), Neil Ramirez, CJ Edwards (another Top 10 prospect)...Olt was a bust but that still turned out okay Then they took advantage of their "big market" status to go after Jorge Soler...as well as: Chicago added more talent in the July 2 international signing period, signing the top two prospects available, Dominican outfielder Eloy Jimenez and Venezuelan shortstop Gleyber Torres, for a combined $4.5 million. The organization spent more than $7.6 million on its top five international signings, blowing past its international bonus pool of more than $5.5 million. http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/2014...p-10-prospects/

It’s the 12th time this season the White Sox have lost by at least five runs. “It went downhill pretty quick,” center fielder Adam Eaton said. “You hope you can get more than two hits offensively. Defensively you have three errors and throw the ball around and its not a good sign. But this is a good team. We’ve got to continue to work hard and try to compete every game and every at-bat. But we need to start doing it a little more frequently and grind out at-bats and same thing on the mound and defensively it has got to be much better.” www.csnchicago.com/Dan Hayes

It was time. Whether the Padres' decision to fire Bud Black was the right move remains to be seen, but it was the necessary move on Monday. It is unclear if a managerial shakeup will cause these underachievers to wake up — but it was clear that the front office had to try something. The influence a skipper has on his ball club is one of the more nebulous and debated topics in sports. Some say an MLB manager can mold a mediocre team into a title contender, while others deem him no more valuable than the bat boy. What cannot be disputed, however, is that the Padres' last playoff appearance came one month before Black was hired in 2006. So what do you do to try and end a drought? You make a mid-season splash. http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2015/jun/15...e-to-go-padres/ The second page of the article is particularly relevant. If you see Ventura as "Mr. Nice Guy," then Bud Black is that, but even more so. The Padres have two examples of "choke jobs" under Black, the White Sox have 2012 down the stretch. Both teams in 2015 entered the season with high expectations and both have been among the most disappointing teams in baseball (you can argue between the Mariners, Red Sox, White Sox and Padres for MOST disappointing and not be incorrect with any of those four choices.)

QUOTE (glangon @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 01:24 AM) It shouldn't matter what anyone in Charlotte does but other organisations seem to benefit from having options and some decent AAA players. If you look at the other franchises out there such as the Scrubs, the Mets, the Red Sox and the Yankees. Every one of these teams has rookies with options to go with their veterans, they have a balance and a mix. We don't, so when things go bad and you need to make a move to bring up a guy to freshen up the line up, we can't do it without eating money or sticking someone on the DL. This, I agree with this. Ramirez should have went last year when his stock was high, we should never have signed Boneyfishio and although it was nice to see Beckham hit well for a few weeks, it looks like he's back to his old ways. I think once this losing streak is out of the way (and I reckon it could go beyond the Rangers series) and we are over 10 games out of the lead, then I think you'll see Shark, Ramirez and anyone else we think we can get value for traded (especially bullpen pieces) You also neglected to mention that we should have DFA'd Noesi who has been much poorer than Carroll in the long-relief role. As for Noesi/Carroll, I guess it's not a priority for the organization at the moment. It will be when they reach Rodon's innings limit, but right now he's only at 54.3 IP and has at least 100 innings more to go this season. In fact, if he averaged only five innings per start, he could pitch until the very end of the season, theoretically, but he's probably going to be limited to 15-16, no more than 17, starts the remainder of the year (because even though his total innings pitched aren't SO high, his pitch counts per inning are, to say it in the most positive way, elevated.) That would give him 24-26 starts, which is about in the area he needs to comfortably get to 190-215 innings next year. Thinking about the 2016 and beyond teams, though....they might want to give Beck or Erik Johnson some experience in that "Carroll role" and see how well they respond over a 1-2 month period.

QUOTE (JoshPR @ Jun 16, 2015 -> 02:43 AM) Gamethreads have become unbearable..... In all honesty, what positives were there last night? Beckham made a couple of good defensive plays and almost hit a home run but it went foul. Plus, there's the overwhelming optimism surrounding the Hawks and even the Cubs right now...it's human nature to be frustrated when your favorite team seems to be getting left way behind.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 09:14 PM) In his 3 pre Steroid seasons he was 68, 94, 77. So he's essentially an 80 who has already peaked and should be on the downturn of his career from an athletic standpoint, especially taking into consideration the physical early onset of physical deterioration that PED's usage can cause. So 70-80 is certainly a predictable or expected range. At least this one isn't as surprising as Dunn in 2011, although there were indicators the final 2-3 months of 2010 with Adam as well.

8/50 (.160) since his injury at the end of May. He does have 3 homers and 7 RBI's, so he hasn't been completely unproductive with those hits at least.

Which was reportedly one of the reasons the DBacks were eager to let Eaton go (and, of course, they had AJ Pollock behind him on the depth chart). He's seemingly fine when things are going well for the team or he's doing well himself, but when circumstances aren't exactly ideal...well, you get the drift. We'll see how well he gets along with Melky, Alexei, Samardzija, LaRoche, Duke and Robertson when everything is going against them. For awhile, the whole "I'm the one who stirs the drink" thing was cute, though. Like Harrelson's The Will To Win, the team's play didn't last long enough for it to become much of anything besides a joke's punchline.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/10-degrees--m...-044924957.html Passan The Year of the Rookie is Upon Us Features Rodon, Bryant, Addison Russell...doesn't even have room to include Gallo in the Top 9.

Well, the Royals are in the process of almost blowing an 8-2 ninth inning lead against the Brewers, when Holland and Davis had been practically unhittable the entire season. Baseball's such a weird sport. Same thing with the Mets rallying in extra innings with two outs to beat the Blue Jays (who were leading 3-2 and scored in the top of the inning), and who had just won 11 straight games. Holland just gave up 4 hits, a walk....already three earned runs without recording an out and his ERA ballooned all the way to 3.52. Wade Davis and his 0.32 ERA saved the day, but it got dicey. Nevertheless, whatever they do...the White Sox are basically in a position where they almost have to keep David Robertson if they have any pretension of competing for playoff spots the next 3 seasons.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/bud-black-pay...-223152731.html Article on the Black firing. Lots of parallels with the SD and White Sox offseasons. The main difference being Preller wants to bring in his own manager and that JR is loyal to a fault. But similar expectations and disappointments...the Padres are in much better position (standings-wise) than the White Sox as of today's date (1 game under .500).

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 06:26 PM) I agree, sixth inning when you realize a loss is inevitable it becomes an issue of entertainment and why not have the same pitcher no-hit us again? I feel it also brings all issues concerning our offense to the forefront again, which isn't exactly new but just a reinforcement of this team's mediocrity. Nothing will change as a result, but its fun-bad and atleast worth a chuckle. Nolan Ryan might have it...but wonder who has the record for most no-hitters against the same team pitching for different teams? More defensive ineptitude. No reason to let that runner get into scoring position. Just bad defense and lack of execution. Abreu just dropped the ball. Had him (Marte) dead to rights. Harrelson still upset or has he gone into his quiet steaming phase already? Rodon tagged for seven earned runs. ERA now for the season almost up to 4 (3.86). And the perfect example of a RH Melky Cabrera hit....only his sixth of the season, up to .094. Seeing eye single.

Updated as of tonight. 27. White Sox, -59 28. Red Sox, -63 29. Brewers, -65 30. Phillies, -91 At least our attendance is perfectly lined up with our performance in terms of runs scored/runs allowed. Almost exactly a margin of one run per game. Not easy to do in modern day baseball with all the parity.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 04:56 PM) I would guess someone created some automated program. If they were smart, they would also be voting for all Phillies. Yeah, you can vote up to 35 times from each different e-mail account. Easy to spoof that with a relatively simple programming trick.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 01:26 PM) Padres have had some bad injuries this year (Myers, Alonso, Morrow) as well as some of the same black holes that the Sox have (2B/SS) And Kemp has completely gone into the toilet in the last month or so...that guy is REALLY streaky.

Ramirez just appealed to first base and got himself called out. LOL. Quintessential White Sox this season. Wasn't called a strike originally, his own appeal got him called out. Points for honesty. Struck out the side. Breaking news, nothing doing for the White Sox offensively through 4.

At least Gordon hasn't given up. That's two great plays defensively. The only sign of life, that and Rodon not completely imploding and fighting his way through the 1st. More signs of the decline of Alexei Ramirez...just doesn't have the same range he did a couple of seasons ago.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 05:54 PM) or just give Johnson and Davidson as many at bats as possible if the Sox sell off the veterans. Guys like Saladino and Garcia are highly unlikely to play big roles next year. Yeah, I agree...unless they're deliberately tanking for draft pick position. The biggest question is what they will end up doing with Alexei Ramirez. Somehow, you have a feeling they end up making no decision while desperately hoping for him to return to form for one final hurrah in 2016.

We might as well try Leury, Saladino, Davidson, Micah and Sanchez in different combinations from 3B to 2B until we've eliminated nearly all of them from being legitimate 2016 options. Hopefully Micah Johnson (eventually) emerges as a legit candidate for 2B, though....that's one less position we'd need to trade for or overpay on the free agent market. Conor's fine as a bench option, but not an everyday player because of his defensive and LHP/split limitations. Rodon ERA up to 3.59 but it could be much worse the way that game started...at least he's settled down now. He should learn something valuable from this, rather than being pulled in the first inning and succumbing to frustration.

As bad as Tyler is, that one was swiped off Rodon.