caulfield12

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 08:57 PM) Marin hasn't allowed a run in his last 22 innings and counting. Seems like a kid who has pretty decent minor league stats but fairly limited MLB potential. Are we missing something (new pitch, change in delivery, healthy) with this recent stretch?

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 11:12 PM) Soto has actually been worth .5 WAR, (tied with AJP for #19) which is why he's playing a lot more now. The bad news: Josh Phegley is worth 1.2, #9 in baseball. Any person who says they saw that coming is full of 100% s***. We knew that Phegley could hit (he went on a tear the first 2-3 weeks up with the White Sox) but that he was incredibly limited defensively. We also knew that he would strike out a lot. He had 52 K's in 241 Ab's (21.6%) with the Sox. He's cut that down to 12 in 91 AB's with the A's (13.2%).

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 10:56 PM) Jose Abreu http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/pro...P=dayan-viciedo Would never imagine Dayan would be 2/11 with a double, triple and two walks. Lol at 26 speed and 21 patience ratings at TBC. Pretty accurate. Well, if we're going to play this game, it was the value signing of the decade...in Alexei Ramirez.

QUOTE (wsiskel @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 10:40 PM) Moncada just turned 20 years old, is in a new country for the first time (Greenville, SC is a little different than Cuba), and is facing pitchers that are far more advanced than those pitchers (of his age) in Cuba. He's hardly a bust. He had unrealistic expectations placed upon his shoulders, no doubt. The hype was "the next A-Rod," who was already in the big leagues at 19. Obviously he has a LONG way to go, but I didn't think he would be struggling in the SAL. Obviously, it's partly rust, partly based on cultural adaptation and then shouldering the burden of "saving the Red Sox," but the instant impact (the same thing we heard upon the Viciedo signing) simply isn't going to happen. So best to temper expectations, at least for the moment. Of course, with Bogaerts, Ramirez and Pedroia, there's hardly an opening right now anyway. FYI: Just noticed Y. Tomas was 4/5 right now in the game, all the way up to .328. Expected more power and .260's or .270's, so maybe they're satisfied with that...but I haven't seen him at 3B (right now he's batting clean-up and playing RF).

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 08:57 PM) He's really bad with the glove. 2B, 3B (okay, barely adequate) and LF have just been bad. With all the PR in the offseason, it's a bit surprising that Olivera is the one raking and Moncada has been a bust (so far). I'm not so sure Yasmani Tomas would have been the best signing, either. He's done "okay" but he's certainly not a plus defender, either. Has anyone watched any DBacks games this year?? I noticed he's not hitting for nearly as much power as was projected, either.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 08:57 PM) He's really bad with the glove. 2B, 3B (okay, barely adequate) and LF have just been bad. Erisbel Arruebarruena...what's the latest with him? Good glove, but would fit perfectly at the bottom of our line-up probably?? One thing's for certain, nobody's going to spell his name correctly without looking it up first. Good catch by Eminor on the Guerrero thing...although giving ab's to him wouldn't be any different than Beckham, Gillaspie, Flowers, Sanchez and Alexei, fwiw. As long as they don't get desperate and think installing Hanley Ramirez there will fix everything...the guy basically has his own book about how disruptive he was with the Dodgers (The Best Team Money Can Buy) coming out in mid-July.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 08:42 PM) Building? That implies progress. They aren't getting better. 31-40 today (last place). 34-37 this time last year (2nd to last). 30-41 in '13 (last place). If we were watching a bunch of young guns who we knew were taking their lumps then I'd be fine. This is futility. Therein lies the problem. Eaton (contract), Cabrera (contract), Abreu, LaRoche and probably Avisail Garcia are the only players who will even be on the roster this time next year. While Anderson just won the MVP of his All-Star game, his defensive challenges (along with Micah and Courtney Hawkins, who's likely to be similar to Cabrera, at best, due to his size) are well-documented. Rondon, Sanchez and Trayce can't hit well enough to be more than bench players. And the catching situation is the most glaring. Until that problem is fixed, and we bring in a real leader with a strong personality who can control the game defensively (at least), then we're stuck in neutral if not going backwards because we're wasting AB's on players that aren't part of the future.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 06:41 PM) Saw that Eaton run down the line. Originally I thought it was just him not running through the bag, but wow, that was so much more suck. Shuck should start tomorrow. It's appropriate that suck, Shuck and the White Sox all go together this season. At least last year was entertaining with Sale and Abreu...this year, it's hard to find anything positive other than Rodon getting experience and overcoming his growing pains (hopefully). But it's still a lot more fun for fans when it's a rookie hitter like Beckham playing well like the first 4 months of 2009 after he was recalled. http://www.csnchicago.com/white-sox/white-...lack-hustle-hit That play with Eaton was so egregious it merited its own article and response from Ventura.

It depends also on how much (if any) the acquiring team would be expecting to have shaved off that contract. Robertson for Guerrero (and no money changing hands) is a lot more realistic than Putnam/Duke/Petricka...you might have to give up Robertson AND one of those three and maybe you can get some money coming back as well.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 07:36 PM) They haven't "built" this team. They 'are building' this team. And the previous two seasons whose defense you reference was during the process of them tearing down and selling off the old team. Catching defense doesn't seem like it's been a major problem. Fangraphs says Soto's better. And he now seems to be starting half the games. Abreu is going to play first base. Just like Miguel Cabrera plays first base and you put up with his deficiencies. Sanchez has been pretty excellent in the field. Micah was terrible which is why he's not playing there now and won't unless/until he becomes at least passable. Alexei was excellent last year. He seems to have some unforeseen mental issues going on this year. Even still, Fangraphs has him as the #16 defensive shortstop. Gillaspie is bad at third. Beckham is above average. Gillespie has gone from being the starter last year to being a platoon player with a late-inning defensive caddie, to now not even getting every start against righties. All while you and I and Rick Hahn and everyone else knows he is not the long-term plan at third. But if he simply hit up to his career average against righties could make for a fine platoon guy. But he hasn't hit that well this year. Several White Sox players haven't hit that well this year. Many people where clamoring for a free agent upgrade at third last year. Those people should look at what Pablo Sandoval (5 years $95 million) is doing. Fangraphs has him as the worst defensive third baseman in baseball by a good margin. Chase Headley (4 years $52 million) is #27. There would be reason to be upset with Rick Hahn if he had shelled out all that money. Cabrera isn't great, but he's at least in the neighborhood of average and an enormous improvement over Viciedo. Eaton has not played well which is disappointing because he has the ability to be excellent as we've all seen. And the f.o./coaching staff are aware, based his benching for not playing where they've told him to. He seems to be a s***ty meathead who would do a lot better if he didn't try to overwork that tiny brain. He should be fine if he just blindly busts his ass and does what the brain people tell him to do. Garcia has been bad. He's the one player with some possibility of being here longer term from whom you expect to see some improvement. This will also be his first full season (if he makes it through). He also seems to be dealing with a knee problem. Maybe he'll hit enough that you worry less about the defense. Maybe he needs a defensive caddie and more time at DH. Maybe he doesn't hit enough to warrant him having the job. Those questions will answer themselves over time. Again, first half of his first full season. And you'll note he hasn't bee offered a long term extension. The Cabrera signing is the closest thing to longish term commitment (at only 3 years) to a player who's subpar defensively. And he's not that bad. And he can move to DH after a couple years if he's still here. The thing with Cabrera is Detroit doesn't have a DH in Victor Martinez who's Gold Glove caliber behind him, he's pretty much awful at every position C or 1B, especially now with the knee problems. LaRoche, on the other hand, is only the third player of the starters who could at least be above average (along with Eaton and Ramirez). As far as Alexei Ramirez goes, see the quotes from a veteran scout I pasted above. To counter, Defensive Runs Saved has both Eaton and Alexei Ramirez as 25th (out of 27) and 27th in the majors, and anybody's who has watched the White Sox this season can absolutely testify to that....they both made errors again in Wednesday's game. Beckham and Sanchez aren't long-term solutions (due to their offensive shortcomings). The best thing we can say about Tyler Flowers is that he's good at pitch framing. Soto has actually been better (recently) at throwing, probably due to the fact that he's getting into a rhythm from playing more frequently. But he's too old to be a long-term solution. As noted, the biggest issues are Eaton and Avisail, because they're supposedly part of the long-term core. Ramirez, too, has hurt simply because everyone had the idea they needed to pick up his option and at least have his steady defense behind the pitching when the team was legitimately attempting to compete in 2016. So you have three players sliding or regressing (Eaton, in particular, is inexplicable)...three positions that you need to replace (3B, 2B, C)....Melky Cabrera, who throws well and that's about it, he won't get any better at this stage of his career...and the debatable decision to play Abreu over LaRoche.

‘‘The White Sox, they should be ashamed of themselves the way they’re playing,’’ a veteran scout who has seen the Sox play about a dozen times in person this season said...They had two good games against the Rangers [victories Saturday and Sunday], played good baseball, and then they come out and play a game like [a 13-2 loss Monday to the Twins]. It’s unacceptable. It’s shameful.’’ ‘‘Errors, bad throws, mental errors,’’ the scout said. ‘‘Defense and guys not hitting in the clutch. For players, it’s not OK. This is the major leagues...Ramirez is going backwards on both sides,’’ the scout said. ‘‘He was one of the best in the game last year. Now he’s one of the worst.’’ ‘‘I’m sure Robin is doing his best,’’ the scout said. ‘‘Maybe one time he should fake it and throw something against the wall. This is unacceptable, and Robin has to know it. Maybe he has handled it. I don’t know what is done behind the scenes.’’ http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/7/71/71...med-31-39-start

What would the Dodgers want with Adam LaRoche or Melky Cabrera? Some trade proposals are just....

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 04:05 PM) You could do that if your offense was going to be really solid too. You can prevent runs using the pitchers and then win games by pumping out runs. That's been almost the Tigers formula the past few years. And even the Tigers were smart enough to realize with the losses of Scherzer and Verlander that they'd need to tighten up their defense. So they added Gose, Iglesias and worked with Castellanos on improving his defense. They at least had a plan and made some moves to improve a weak spot.

And, it's a lot easier to make a quick recovery in the current AL East than the Central...that hasn't been the case since 2005-2006.

But hey, they finally got Ozzie to agree to officially return July 17th-19th for the 2005 Reunion weekend. One thing to look forward to over the remainder of the season.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 01:46 PM) The Tony LaRussa whose team was just roundly mocked for dumping one of their top prospects for some salary relief? Does that sound like his idea or ownership's (because of financial issues)? No different than Teahen/Jackson being bundled...although this is more egregious than that one even.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 01:41 PM) True. The time to fire him was that series where we lost all four to Minnie. Or even before that. He's a joke, but no more than the players. Right now, you'd have to give a D or F to LaRoche, Gillaspie, Lexi, Sanchez, Micah, Flowers, Soto, Melky, Abreu, Bonifacio. For the most part the pitchers have been OK. Abreu is a B. He's not getting as many pitches to drive and he's being forced to be more aggressive trying to carry the team on his back. But he's almost at .300, at least coming into today. B-, at worst. LaRoche C+ or B-.

QUOTE (lord chas @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 01:38 PM) Attendance is going to drop like a rock after July 4th if this nonsense continues http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?sh...p;#entry3186851 We're already 27th. Perhaps we could "pass" Miami going downwards, Cleve and TB would be hard to overtake. Then again, the Rays keep this up and 29th is possible. Funny the Sox attendance with even a winning organization and super creative front office would have been abysmal as well down in St. Pete. Charlotte might outdraw us in actual seats occupied here on out.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 01:33 PM) This is not a defense of RV, but seriously, do you honestly think (insert any name here) would make a difference at this point? Well, we'll never know because of their fear of being disloyal to Ventura...especially if this terrible style of play continues into next year. It will remain one of those unanswered questions if the baseball equivalent of Brad Stevens could have turned the season around.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 01:29 PM) The Twins are going to cost Sale the Cy Young this year, just like the Indians possibly did in 2013. He's given up 32 earned runs this year, and 16 to the Twins. They've scored half the runs he's given up this year (more than half if you include unearned runs). 9-4 against Sox, 9-15 against the rest of the AL Central. Winners now of 1 of their last 7 series. Still hanging in there for the Wild Card.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 01:26 PM) The complaints for not pulling him were 100% pitch count. It was a hard inning. The defense made at least two mistakes to prolong it. My main concern was Sale trying to throw as hard as he could against his old nemesis Mauer...simply because of his frustration level with the defense and umpiring.

Yes, every street named after Nathan Bedford Forrest should be forcibly renamed...Longstreet should be forced onto the Stone Mountain facade.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 01:17 PM) Re: Micah, we did. Re: Anderson: buxton's OPS at AA was 100 points higher. Re: Anderson: if we were in a pennant race right now, with the way Alexei is playing...you might get me to actually say "Why the f*** not". I have a hard time imagining Aaron Hicks taking his job away when he returns from injury...all depends on the k rate. 15 k's in 37 ab's and a 501 ops. Maybe it's the Alabama (aka Asian Crazy) jumping worm's fault.

QUOTE (Knackattack @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 01:06 PM) I'm okay with trading everything on the team but Sale. If we can't get a good team around him before his contract is up he will still be worth a boatload in his 2nd to last year. Knowing the Sox, they'll trade Sale/Quintana first out of misguided sense of loyalty to Ventura's managerial legacy.

Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson and Nolan Ryan...Sale is the fourth. Get used to seeing Buxton doing that against us....but it's a bit like the White Sox calling up Micah Johnson or Tim Anderson in terms of his offensive preparedness.