caulfield12

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 05:38 PM) Actually Phegley is having a good year so far both offensively and throwing out runners. Let's just put it this way, his 1 WAR as a part-timer is putting Flowers and Soto to shame, and he's actually improved defensively from what we saw in Chicago.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 05:42 PM) This lineup vs Liriano has definite no-hit capability. Just not a lineup you can expect to compete. We could have said the same thing about the Rays' line-up this weekend once you got past Longoria, except they manage to win with pitching, speed, defense and solid fundamentals.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 05:43 PM) Samardzija and Boni gone right after break, shut Carlos down early They do need to get him to at least 150 innings pitched first, if not 160ish. 140 is probably the bare minimum, but I imagine they would be more comfortable with 145-165. Webb now back to warming up instead of Noesi. That's a bit weird. Webb warmed up last inning, then Noesi. Now Webb again.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/splits/_/id/.../gordon-beckham Hope Robin Ventura notices that Gordon Beckham is only 6 for 36 against LHP this season and has been in a terrible slump. Make that 6 for 37. Conor has only batted against lefties five times this year, 2 for 5.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 05:35 PM) Of his first 28 pitches, only 4 were sliders. What the hell is with that game plan? Because he always gets ahead with the fastball and goes for the K with the slider. He's not used to pitching backwards, and Tyler is afraid to call them early in the count. They needed to make an adjustment more quickly than they did, that's for sure.

August 11th against Justin Verlander was the last time the Pirates scored five or more runs in an inning. Five runs on five consecutive hits. Now we have to sit here and watch one of the many reasons we didn't win in 2012 dominate our line-up, lol.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 05:32 PM) All 5 hits off of the fastball...nice pitch selection But Tyler Flowers frames pitches well, lmao.

Essentially one of those 40-54 games that is lost before it has even started.... Why the heck was Garcia playing so shallow? Took the wrong angle cutting it off as well. 5-0, nobody out. Is this the bottom? Probably not. One more base hit from being done. Flowers needs to talk to Rodon and calm him down. Noesi now warming up, Webb down. Sigh. Second triple in five seasons for Cervelli (thanks, Avi). Avi plays too shallow and Eaton won't play shallow, if it's not one thing, it's another with this team.

There goes the 11 inning scoreless streak for Rodon. The Pirates have been one of best teams in baseball the past 2-3 weeks (they've even managed to win four straight games while scoring just 8 runs, due to great starting pitching). This doesn't bode well...for the entire series. Not unexpected, of course. We've been wrong before about the team bottoming out, but -6 would be the worst record of the season (happened just once). Frustrating. Daniel Webb already up in the bullpen.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 05:16 PM) I'm willing to bet the defense would instantly improve if they flipped Melky to RF and Avi to LF. From there, I expect we'll see a new 3rd baseman here next year that will be better defensively than Conor. A problem that's lurking for Hahn is the team desperately needs to find better offensive players, yet they need defensive upgrades as well. Guys that are good at both are usually very expensive. See Heyward and Alex Gordon. So you're left with Upton, Cespedes and Zobrist. Limited options. As far as changing positions in the middle of the season...I'll believe it when I see it with our organization. They did make that decision with Alex Rios, but if I recall, it was Alex who initiated it after becoming frustrated and sulking (bad body language, etc.).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 05:05 PM) Dan Hayes ‏@CSNHayes 13m13 minutes ago #WhiteSox are minus-43 in Defensive Runs Saved, which is 29th. Philly is last at -45. The Yankees, 28th, are -22. KC is +42. @fangraphs That's why the Royals are still holding onto first place despite being terrible offensively the last 2-3 weeks and losing 5 games (+14 to +9) record-wise. Their bullpen (Herrera has slumped but Davis/Holland/Madson/Hochevar are compensating)...and, to a lesser extent, their comparative depth in starting pitchers. Joe Blanton has done very well for them, as has Chris Young until his last couple of starts. Guthrie and Vargas have been so-so and Ventura and Duffy have regressed and/or are injured. Kris Medlen is the wild card in terms of them making a midseason pitching move.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 04:56 PM) Probably not. I was just listing the legitimate positive additions on the FA market. And I believe Alex Gordon has another option next year. I don't really expect they will end up trading LaRoche. If the team nosedives, Shark is the only thing that will go and bring a return. Bonifacio on a salary dump. Alexei won't traded and he'll be brought back next year. I'm 99.9% Gordon will be a free agent next season. (source: Cot's Baseball Contracts) 4 years/$37.5M (2012-15), plus 2016 player option signed extension with Kansas City 3/30/12, replacing 1 year/$4.775M deal signed 2/9/12, avoiding arbitration, $5.45M-$4.15M 12:$6M, 13:$9M, 14:$10M, 15:$12.5M, 16:$12.5M player option award bonuses, including $50,000 for All-Star selection salaries may increase based on awards, performance: 2011-12 Gold Gloves, 2013 All Star increase 2014 salary to $10.75M, 2015 salary to $13.25M, 2016 option to $13.25M 2013 Gold Glove, 2014 All Star increase 2015 salary and 2016 player option to $14M each So Gordon has the same choice Jeff Samardzija does (with a QO), basically, PLAYER but not a club option. He could, conceivably take less money to stay in KC for one year (if he completely nosedives from here on out), but time and time again a player will go for that big contract when they're in their early 30's. Shares the same agent (Close) with Derek Jeter, fwiw. As far as Alexei Ramirez, it does look like the long-predicted decline that was being predicted two seasons ago is finally setting in...

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 02:49 PM) My optimistic view: 1.) Pitching and defense win championships, the Sox seem pretty flush in one of those areas and have some reinforcements on the way. They can continue to trot out Sale-Q-Rodon-?-Danks and have a decent chance of winning most of the time. If they can make some steps forward defensively, I think they can be above .500 with their offense staying at the same level. 2.) I think their offense will improve. Sometimes players just have bad seasons, I really dont expect Melky, Alexei, and Eaton to be this awful next season. I dont even expect Alexei to be here honestly. 3.) Whether it be a comp pick or a nice trade piece, the Sox will get something important for the future with Samardzija. 4.) You can fix next years team in free agency without breaking the bank. Want to immediately upgrade two positions? Sign Alex Avila and Howie Kendrick. Wanna spend big? Swing a trade of LaRoche to the Cards, then bring it Justin Upton to play RF and have Avi move to DH. 5.) Pitching will always be this organizations forte, but they will never be truly elite without identifying that the need to have excellent defense. Identify your weak spots and minimize their defensive impact on the team. There is no way Tyler Flowers, Conor Gillaspie/Gordon Beckham, or Avi should have starting spots in the field next year. I'm pretty sure the last time Avila was really good was 2011...his WAR over the last three seasons (not counting this injury-plagued one) has been 4.9 cumulatively, but I suppose HOPING for 1.6 MIGHT be an upgrade. Of course, that's if he is healthy...and he's at that age where catchers start to break down (AJ to the contrary). From 2011-2015, Kendrick was a VERY solid player, but he's fallen off the map this year with the Dodgers and will be 32 next year... They're not the worst ideas in the world (buy low candidates), but will they move the bar very much to justify the extra spending? Someone else mentioned trading LaRoche to the Cards, and eventually replacing him with Davis of the Orioles. That's also not a bad idea, but you still have a logjam of DH's in the outfield with Avi and Cabrera....and you're using scant resources to chase after the same players like Cespedes, Zobrist, Heyward and Alex Gordon that everyone will be targeting at top-dollar rates if you want to improve the outfield without a trade.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 02:58 PM) I just hope the team goes one way or the other over the next month. If Melky, Alexei, Eaton, and even Sanchez (hitting worse than several pitchers) regress to the mean that should be enough offense to get back above .500 with the starting rotation doing what it should be doing. If instead you think Melky, Alexei, Sanchez, can be historically bad for an entire season, well, then we'll likely have dug a deep enough hole to be sellers in July. Shark will go and flipping LaRoche would become a potentially decent idea. We'd add player(s), free up money and just need to land one of: Chris Davis Jason Heyward Justin Upton Y. Cespedes Ben Zobrist Plug Davis in at DH or improve the outfield with one of those guys and push Melky to DH/OF. We're then back in basically the same situation as 2015 but now with hopeful improvement from Melky, Micah, additional players from Shark/LaRoche trades hopefully a new C and/or 3B, Beck/ E Johnson or a FA (Shark!) in the rotation with Fulmer knocking on the door. Since nearly every NL player goes bust with the Sox, better to stick with Davis, Cespedes, Zobrist or Alex Gordon. We aren't realistically going to spend Upton money next offseason anyway...not on just one player.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 09:18 AM) Not Fullerton. Esch can pitch, that is for sure. Was drafted high himself (some rumblings that he was going to sneak into the back of the 1st but ended up going in the supplemental / comp rounds). His mate, Justin Garza, was just as good as he was with a more explosive fastball but underwent surgery about a month ago. I kept saying he'd have been a great pick but the Tribe grabbed him in the tail end of day 1. Santa Barbara City College and then UC-Irvine for Axelrod. Now starting for Louisville/AAA.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 08:54 AM) The answer is none. You do not discount the likes of Abreu, Sale and Q. You are coming from a perspective of desperation if you are willing to discount any of those three to trade them. Other teams would be desperate to obtain them and not the other way around. While the Sox season does not look good, no desperation move(s) will fix the teams problems in 2015. Just accept it. Talk about panic mode. I'm not even thinking about 2015...at least not after this next week of play. It's already onto planning for 2016. Nothing to panic about anymore....they essentially have the worst offense and defense in baseball, and unless they use surpluses in pitching (Samardzija/Quintana/Putnam/Duke/Petricka) to improve that standing, there's simply no way they're going to make the playoffs in 2016 other than "hoping and praying."

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 08:45 AM) Most importantly the meatball fans would declare WHITE FLAG 2, and this franchise would be dead for a decade. This is where Balta says, but this franchise HAS BEEN DEAD for nearly a decade. Even if it's 1984-1987 bad, and that's actually next to impossible with the stadium lease agreement with the state, the overall profitability of the team will still continue to climb quite nicely whether attendance was/is 800,000 or 1,800,000. As it stands right now, we saw one of the ten highest percentage-wise season ticket growth rates this offseason and we're still 27th in attendance. How can we go much lower? We will pass Miami, Tampa Bay and Cleveland?

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 08:41 AM) Well fWAR is better because it tells what should have happened rather than what actually happened. And that's where you will find a bunch of experts who will say, "who cares what SHOULD have happened...because it didn't." We have an equal duty to explain reality...because it's nearly impossible to use defensive ratings to project accurately what SHOULD happen any more than an algorithm can predict an event like 9/11 or the credit default swaps throwing the stock market completely out of whack. It's getting better and better, but it's not like it's the be all, end all when it comes to assessment. Living in that hypothetical universe, the 1994 White Sox SHOULD have won the World Series, and advanced to the playoffs in 2003, 2006, 2010 and 2012. It's why adding up the WAR of individual players doesn't usually come close to telling you which teams are the best, or will perform the best in the post-season. It's just one snapshot. It did, on the other hand, inform us quite early that the off-season changes made weren't going to make this team a playoff contender.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 08:39 AM) Hooray for appeasing the fan base! Yay, a net increase of 1,750 per game that will all be erased this coming off-season anyway.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 08:31 AM) Please tell me who are studs. This team needs moar Jackie Bradley How come everytime I crack a joke when you make s*** up, you defer to "OMG MAYBE THE MODS SHOULD TELL US WHAT WE ARE ALLOWED TO TALK ABOUT BECAUSE THEY ARE THE EXPERTS"? lol If you comb through pages and pages of "draft talk," it seems a lot of stuff was just conjecture, was it not? By definition, if people weren't making stuff up or theorizing or hypothesizing, then they possessed inside information. And sure, Lorenzo Cain 2-3 seasons ago didn't look all that different from Jackie Bradley, Jr. today, depending on which scout you talked to.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 08:30 AM) Please, Abreu carries plenty of value Caulfield and you know this. It's easy to say trade Sale or Q but what are their values? Of course, he has plenty of value. But "our" version of plenty might not be another team's. At the end of 2014, his value was certainly higher than it is now...same with Eaton, Quintana, Samardzija and Abreu. The question is how much the White Sox are willing to "discount" from that established offseason rate. If it's 50 cents on the dollar, that's not going to help much for the future...it will just end up causing rebuilding to take that much longer.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 08:25 AM) Check fangraphs. Then pop off. Also, 1.8 vs. 1.0 isn't one full point. So obviously there's a huge statistical formula differentiation from dWAR, fWAR and whatever ESPN is using. Tell me in your own words why Fangraphs has a better number....something besides, "but it's from Fangraphs so it must be right." Because obviously if one system or another's proven to be BETTER and more accurate, then everyone would have a vested interested in adopting or improving it. It has already happened with fielding ratings going from UZR to Range Factor to Net Fielding Wins to Defensive Runs Saved in the span of less than 5 years.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 08:20 AM) Maybe we shouldnt pull everything out of our asses in order to comment and consider ourselves erudited? Then you tell me....who are the experts at this site that have insight into EXACTLY which players other teams are making available in a potential Chris Sale or Jose Quintana trade? By definition, nobody in here works for a professional baseball team, so, everything here is going to be 100% speculation (or intentional leaking) and primarily "researched" by going through "collection" sites like mlbtraderumors. When guys like Jayson Stark, Gammons, Ken Rosenthal, Phil Rogers or Keith Law write, they're way off at least 50-75% of the time. That's probably still more successful than the local Chicago media.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 08:21 AM) No I didn't. We all know Josh Phegley can't keep this up. And the great Marcus Semien is fading fast while still "holding his own" at SS with only 22 errors. http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/pos.../qualified/true You're only off by one full point in your WAR numbers on Betts. Not a big deal. Statistics.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 15, 2015 -> 08:12 AM) Betts is a 1.0 WAR player right now. So is Josh Phegley. Bogaerts is a 1.4, 7th in baseball for SS and he is 22. You just made the case we've already made a terrible trade for Jeff Samardzija...and it will only get worse in the coming years. At any rate, Boston isn't going to trade either Betts or Bogaerts.