caulfield12

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/04/cuba...ree-agency.html Two more Cubans nearing the market....OF Heredia just outside Badler's Top 10, and a pitcher (age 19) http://www.baseballamerica.com/internation...rospect-update/ Badler's list, paysite/subscriber only

QUOTE (shysocks @ Apr 12, 2015 -> 12:31 PM) Nobody bothers to predict anything about the first six games because it's pointless. A lot of people here are really, REALLY making mountains out of molehills. http://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tige...oyals/25704201/ That's not stopping some respected baseball writers...

http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/...test-big-gamble Interesting story describing all of Ventura's qualities to be a good manager (eventually) upon his hiring. No anecdote about how he had all the character/leadership and IQ points to "make a great general" like we saw a few times thrown out to the media at that time.

Clayton Richard had a lot of problems throwing the ball (to a base) when they'd bunt on him or he'd field a comebacker as well, fwiw.

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?g...&mode=video Video of Soler's homers... Maybe he was trying to trick the baserunner into getting thrown out by Jorge?

Looks like they'll go with Dyson against RHP and Paulo Orlando against LHP for the moment. Speculation is he'll be out until around the last week of May or first week of June. Indians sign Jhoulys Chacin (Rockies released) and reliever Ryan Webb...DFA Shawn Marcum EDIT: Or the Royals turn Viciedo into another GG winner and outfield assist leader.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 14, 2015 -> 10:26 AM) Well there was the guy at Soxfest who actually asked him if he had a pulse. There are many posts on here criticizing his demeanor. There have been posts saying he doesn't even want to manage. His lack of jumping up and down has been a huge issue for fans everywhere, including here. We are only 3 or 4 days away removed from the team taking on the personality of it's manager posts, and it wasn't meant positively. People just want to criticize him. When he sent Rios to the bench for loafing a few years ago, he was criticized for doing so. No matter what, he will be wrong. I wasn't in the gamethread when he pinch hit for Soto on Saturday, but I bet the pitchforks were ready. He turned out to be correct as Shuck came through, and the people ready to call him an idiot had to scramble. How was/is this any different than Guillen being roundly criticized his last 2-3 seasons? Fans are tougher on Ventura than they were on Ozzie? I think not. It is more personal against Ventura than Guillen, once again, no way. How many times were Ozzie's family members (especially his children) brought up in criticisms directed at him? Has that ever happened with Ventura, even once? Your using the Rios example brings back a similar situation with how he (Ozzie) handled Rios' "loafing" and seeming defensive indifference in 2011. He was criticized for protecting Rios too much and accused of not benching him quickly enough because Ozzie "loves only his Hispanic players/veterans" and "hates Brian Anderson/Brandon McCarthy/Beckham, rookies, etc." And this was the guy who'd actually accomplished something, leading the White Sox to the World Series title in 2005 and playoffs in 2008, a rare/anomalous two appearances in the post-season within a four year span.

QUOTE (Dam8610 @ Apr 14, 2015 -> 07:20 AM) If EJ remembered how to pitch, the rest of the division/league should become very concerned. Or if Justin Verlander, Luke Hochevar and Kris Medlen pitch like pre-injury, the rest of the division/league should become very concerned.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Apr 14, 2015 -> 06:17 AM) Hahn should be fired? Really????? You don't see the sarcasm in that post? I thought piggy-backing on DA's witticism was evidence enough.

I'm going to predict this is going to be a slight misfire...ala Green Lantern or Green Hornet

QUOTE (LDF @ Apr 14, 2015 -> 01:17 AM) it a nice movie. that was the first one since tokyo drift. nice tribute to p walker at the end. the lady i was with was tearing up. First one that you've seen since then, or you're talking about the new "chronological" ordering of the films to explain Han's death at Statham's hands (smashing into his car wouldn't fit the character in Furious 7 at all, btw)?

QUOTE (LDF @ Apr 14, 2015 -> 12:53 AM) yeah, that is the main thing, having his old stuff back. this is what i was hoping for since they shut him down. a nice rebound. and if true, adding more pitchers to the mix. um i wonder at what point will the sox coaches will be convince of his rtn to his old self? can he be added to the mix at the major league level if another injury or something happens? If he pitches this way for at least 3-5 starts, I'm sure they would probably go with him over Beck, Surkamp or Penny (assuming they're not ready to bring up Rodon quite yet).

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Apr 14, 2015 -> 01:08 AM) He's been awful defensively? Really? I haven't seen every inning this year due to work, but from what I've seen, he has been just fine defensively minus that one miscue last game. Yeah, the obvious one was getting the wrong read, taking a step back and the ball dropping in front of him in a key situation. I think he's made a few bad throws, but that has never been his strong point.

Furious 7 is already at $90 million after Saturday midnight showings, Sunday and Monday here in CHINA. Pretty impressive considering it lacked the Thursday-Sunday traditional opening weekend here...and that Monday wasn't a holiday...regular work day, and almost $30 million booked anyway.

QUOTE (LDF @ Apr 14, 2015 -> 12:59 AM) i like the espn link. i am going to save this. i wonder if they will keep it up to date? Yep, there's usually a 24 hour lag time... But it's updated for every game of the entire season, just that it's usually one day/night behind....for example, Pittsburgh had their homer opener and beat the Tigers but the attendance isn't updated as of yet.

Hahn should be fired for this contract extension, didn't have enough evidence (see ill-advised contract offers in HOU to Robbie Grossman, Dominguez and Singleton). Luckily, the first two guys turned them down, or they would be stuck with three bad deals with young/non-contributing players. The best one in baseball, though, is Salvador Perez. Top 3-5 catcher in all of baseball in the prime of his career for only $7 million over 5 years. Some feel it's so unfair that they're considering ripping it up and giving him a better one, even though they (the Royals) obviously don't have to do so.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance White Sox actually beat the Royals (although not a fair comparison since the Royals had 3 weekday games, the White Sox 3 weekend games)... Ahead in terms of per game average of KC, Cleveland, Oakland, Miami and TB (7 teams haven't had a home game or had their first on Monday and numbers not yet reflected/updated). Gives some further indication of the predicted 15-25% increase from 2014.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 13, 2015 -> 09:14 PM) Reds are gonna trade Aroldis, aren't they? That team has no pitching outside of Cueto And seems they were smart to deal Latos when they did. Wonder if Cooper would consider returning Chapman to a starting role... Can you imagine Sale/Chapman/Rodon/Quintana/Samardzija? Of course, it couldn't happen this year...his arm would need to be stretched out again. The problem with Chapman is we just spent $48 million on Robertson, so adding him in the Marte/Thornton role would be prohibitively expensive with the payroll close to its limits or beyond already.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 13, 2015 -> 09:15 PM) There's a definite chance Anderson becomes expendable if his defense tanks this year and Johnson plays well. That's true, simply because he won't be able to play 2B/LF or CF (Johnson/Cabrera). Unless Eaton also tanks and/or gets injured. Then he's still very valuable offensively...and he might end up being an even better CF than Eaton/Ramirez. We'll just have to wait and see. I suppose the OTHER option would be 3B, where he could be a Chone Figgins-esque (or Tony Phillips) jack of all trades, master of none, but a force offensively and on the basepaths. (Up until now, there seemed to be a cap on Micah (Ray Durham Lite) whereas Anderson was just beginning to tap his ultimate long-term potential but harnessing his raw tools...in the end, Anderson might be moved to 2B, with Carlos Sanchez always being the odd man out/perennial utility guy).

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 13, 2015 -> 09:15 PM) There's a definite chance Anderson becomes expendable if his defense tanks this year and Johnson plays well. That's true, simply because he won't be able to play 2B/LF or CF (Johnson/Cabrera). Unless Eaton also tanks and/or gets injured. Then he's still very valuable offensively...and he might end up being an even better CF than Eaton/Ramirez. We'll just have to wait and see. I suppose the OTHER option would be 3B, where he could be a Chone Figgins-esque (or Tony Phillips) jack of all trades, master of none, but a force offensively and on the basepaths.

Trading Rodon for Longoria's borderline insane....unless it was the team/cost-controlled Longoria of his first 6-7 seasons, career-wise. That's selling too low on our top asset for what used to be a Top 3 MLB 3B....but can Longoria ever get back to being that player? How much of last year was the start of a permanent downtrend and how much just a blip on the radar? The Longoria of 2014 would be outproduced by the Gillaspie/Beckham platoon 8-9 times out of 10.

Let the celebrations begin. And just wait until Bryant lives up to 75% of his hype...the White Sox might never make the front page of the TRIB again.

We got 2/3 right. Ramirez and Abreu. Whiffed on Dayan. Missed on Puig and Soler, if we actually had the money/resources at the time to pull off either of those deals...same with Moncada (although the jury's still out on that one).

QUOTE (Bruce_Blixton @ Apr 13, 2015 -> 04:46 PM) Thank you for such a lengthy and informative reply, I am absolutely impressed with your understanding and involvement in Brad's progression. He's lucky to have such a great father around! It sounds like he has a great gameplan on the mound and having watched Mark Buehrle all those years I completely agree with your philosophy on working efficiently and keeping your fielders involved in the game. The numbers that you shared with us, especially the situational strike %s, lead me to believe that Brad could make the leap to starter. I would love to read a first-hand account on his transition from SS to P, I've always had a lot of respect for players that can do that. Sounds a lot like the Twins of 2002-2004/06/10 and the Pirates' philosophy of throwing sinkers/shifts/advanced metrics for positioning and getting guys like Liriano/Volquez to get away from worrying about K's and radar gun readings and focused on pitching more effectively/efficiently...keeping the ball on the ground with 2 seam FB/sinkers instead of throwing it 2-3 MPH faster but with less movement (straighter). The example out of the (major league) bullpen last year would be Putnam, who barely got the ball above 90 MPH but was incredibly effective, vis a vis past results/historical stats record.

QUOTE (Señor Ding-Dong @ Apr 13, 2015 -> 12:19 PM) If you know that the difference between most fastballs and change-ups is roughly 10 MPH, then why would you think Montas' change-up would be in the high 70s/low 80s if his fastball is sitting high 90s and touching 100? Sorry if that comes across as dickish, that's not my intention, I'm just wondering. I never played any level of organized baseball (not even Little League ), but I'd have to think the speed differential from a 100 MPH fastball and a 90 MPH change-up would be pretty drastic for a batter despite both pitches being considered "fast." A change-up isn't necessarily a "slow" pitch. From my understanding, it's meant to deceive the batter into believing it's a fastball when it's not, which will hopefully lead him to swing earlier than he should have. Given the ~10 MPH difference in speed, most change-ups are in the low 80s because most pitchers fastballs sit in the low 90s. I suppose if a pitcher were able to throw a fastball at 110 MPH, a change-up at 100 MPH (both pitches considered fast by anyone's standards) would still be effective, seeing as how it's all about the speed differential between the two pitches. Depends on how you throw/hold the ball too...obviously, you don't want a "tell" or slowed down arm action, but holding it like the famous "Mario Soto circle-K finger position" will give a different result in MPH compared to other ways of holding the ball. Maybe now 70 off a 100 MPH fastball, but probably 75-83ish, for example.