caulfield12

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 08:15 PM) EVERY ONE GO ON THEIR COMPUTER & LOOK UP SHOHEI OHTANI http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shohei_Ohtani http://youtu.be/9utx2BPIYlU He wants to come over to the states soon and the Sox need to jump all over him. This was from two years ago... Japanese pitcher Shohei Otani announced that he will play for Japan’s Nippon Ham Fighters rather than sign with a MLB team this winter, according to Yasuko Yanagita of Hochi Shimbun (via Twitter). The 18-year-old hurler seemed likely to come stateside for quite some time but recently started leaning towards remaining in Japan. The Dodgers, Rangers, and Yankees were among the teams known to be in on Otani. The Dodgers reportedly would have been “shocked” if the right-hander signed with an MLB team other than them, but they were skeptical that he would come stateside at all. The Nippon Ham Fighters have come out as the victor after selecting Otani with the first overall pick in the NPB draft. The 6’4″ right-hander was often compared to Yu Darvish by MLB scouts. Otani boasts a strong fastball that has been clocked in the 99-100 mph range and could have been the first top NPB draft pick to make the direct jump from high school in Japan to the U.S.

I also think you HAVE to distinguish between Japanese pitchers and Taiwanese/Korean, their workloads, their respective professional leagues and the military service requirements in Korea, etc. You can't just say Latin pitchers when you have Mexico, DR, PR, Venezuela, Panama, Colombia, etc.

Shields' full count pitch to Donaldson's just a bit closer to the corner and it's a strike em out/throw em out double play. Baseball is a game of inches, as always. Woulda/coulda/shoulda. I do think the A's match up much better with the Angels, especially without Richards. The Royals have Shields, but Ventura, Duffy and Vargas in the post-season doesn't seem to be a recipe for success, especially Vargas with how he's pitched recently. And Duffy's had two starts, one great, one bad since his injury. Yet you wouldn't want to go with Guthrie, either.

That's a killer. If the A's go on to win this game, I think you start over with a new manager...it's going to be hard for them to compete next year without Shields, Aoki and Butler unless Hosmer/Moustakas/Perez really pick it up offensively.

I'm sure he wouldn't have done that had Moss not had two great at-bats earlier in the game against Shields. That said, you have the extra day of rest and have to push Herrera/Davis/Holland to their limits....72-1 when they get the lead late in games, there's just no way to argue with the success of those 3 guys.

QUOTE (LDF @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 06:20 PM) as a player he was great, I am sure as a person he is nice. maybe he should have had more time in the minors to really learned his craft. He was a pretty good hitter until injuries derailed him. Great is pushing it, by a bit.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 07:59 PM) Yost should get fired for that decision. Can't believe he brought in Ventura instead of Herrera. Hopefully this won't turn him into another Rick Ankiel...hard to put this behind him psychologically.

Guess it's easy to say that Yost panicked there a little bit pulling Shields in the 6th...but hindsight is always 20/20. 2-0 fastballs. Doesn't matter how hard you throw them.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 04:49 PM) This is getting ridiculous ... Some Royals fans pissed that Jayson Nix is not playing cause he has good career stats vs. Lester. I don't think Jayson Nix is the answer over Mike (I cant' hit, either) Moustakas. Colon is the bat I might have inserted over Moose. I'm feeling a 5-1 A's victory. Another prediction. Royals fans, known the most of late for booing Robinson Cano at the All-Star game after booing Bill Self and Matt Cassel the day before in the all-star celebrity softball game, will boo tonight when Yost bunts in the first inning. It's reached legendary status here. Fans outraged when Yost goes for the sac bunt in any situation. KC will lose, Beane will be praised and Yost will be blamed is my prediction. When you have the 2005 White Sox bullpen and an offense without any huge run producers, scoring to take an early 1-0 lead is usually quite smart, especially at home. It's not like the A's are loaded with consistent offensive weapons either, not after they dealt Cespedes and Donaldson/Moss slumped for most of the 2nd half. If I'm a Royals fan, I want an early lead to put pressure on the A's and/or a 1 or 2 run lead going into the 6th or 7th...and I'd feel extremely confident about winning this one. Royals fans, of late, went to an open batting practice in the thousands, sold out against the Tigers for a late September weekend series and also rocked Arrowhead despite it being a Chiefs' game.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 04:41 PM) After what he did this year, that would be like us laughing at an offer of Chris Beck for Adam Dunn after his 2011 or 2012 seasons. I don't think that would be laughable if the team giving that guy up took the salary on. Or Matt Kemp, even after what he did the final two months of the season. The Dodgers still need to find playing time for Pederson, Kemp and Puig don't get along so well, and they'd save a lot of money trading Kemp compared to Ethier/Crawford. That said, they're also not stupid. They'll trade Ethier to any team who wants to take on that contract.

Pretty unusual to come back from ANY type of shoulder surgery and make it not only to the big leagues, but to become the "ace" of a team. There aren't many examples. He's an enigma. His workload since 2008 has been off the charts, so that's the risk inherent in signing him. He's never had TJ surgery, and Bronson Arroyo is someone with a similar career arc who finally succumbed, but that doesn't mean Shields is guaranteed to break down, too.

God knows how bad things would have been without Abreu and Sale...maybe the lowest in the majors. When you start talking about 6 years without the playoffs (but exciting seasons in 2010 and 2012), that kind of puts in perspective what fans of teams like the Mariners, Royals, Pirates, Orioles, Mets, Blue Jays, etc., have suffered through. I think I would be more alarmed as a Cubs' fan. It's going to take a lot more than Soler and Kris Bryant to draw fans. Epstein is really going to have to make some substantial progress this off-season.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/96580088/roy...er-stop-working

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 11:04 AM) One problem the White Sox may have acquiring LH hitters is Boston is in the same boat, and they usually spend a little more cash and have a few more desireable prospects at the higher levels. In other words, there probably won't be a bargain to be had unless they land a breakout guy. If Boston throws a lot of money at Sandoval and/or Hanley Ramirez, that will impact things as well. Mookie Betts is currently their best trade piece, along with their minor league pitching depth (Ranaudo/De La Rosa/Workman, etc.) and Swihart/Vasquez...also depends on whether they go after Lester to rebuild their rotation in one offseason. Their "experienced" trade pieces, guys like Middlebrooks, Bogaerts, Bradley, Jr., are so far down in value right now they might have no choice but to hold onto them. They've got Cespedes, Victorino (if healthy), Pedroia, Napoli and Ortiz as their core for one more run, and I would imagine they're not close to giving up on Bogaerts despite his terrible half-season.

If it's not Molitor, I'm guessing it will be Doug Mientkiewicz, who's already leading Twins' minor league teams to league championships...possibly (although not likely) with AJ Pierzynski as his bench coach. Terry Steinbach (catchers always make the best managers) is another strong candidate.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 07:42 AM) I wondered that initially, but all of their coaches had their contracts expiring anyway. The new manager will be able to pick his own staff. So technically Molitor is gone, but apparently still a candidate to take over. Personally, if they are saying they didn't win enough with the players they gave Gardy, I don't see how an internal hire makes sense. But if I were a manager, the Twins job has to be about attractive as there is. A loaded system and an organization that doesn't like change in that position. You could ride it into retirement. The Twins are like the White Sox, but even more insular. Twins Way, etc. Why would they want to bring in someone like Dave Martinez (Maddon Way), Torey Lovullo (Red Sox Way/Blue Jays, AL East, etc.)...when they have a homegrown favorite son to take over, ala Robin Ventura in Chicago? The only other hire of the hot names out there that I would support if I were the Pohlads is Jeff Bannister...because they've lost a lot of their identity (pitching, strike throwing, lockdown pen, defense, fundamentals, speed, execution, letting their opponents beat themselves) from the 2001-2010 period. Sure, they spent money on Phil Hughes, Nolasco and Suzuki, the two of those guys were excellent. That doesn't mean they're still not 2 starters short (Meyer and Gibson look like keepers)...and Joe Mauer has been a shadow of his former self. When Buxton, Sano, Hicks, Vargas, Arcia, Plouffe, Dozier, etc., start firing on all cylinders, they'll be a TOUGH TOUGH out. In some ways, they're ahead of the White Sox, because they also have two of the top 10 prospects in baseball. With that said, as the Cubs' example has proven, they also have a 1-2 year learning curve ahead of them.

If they trade Ramirez, they better get a major league average or above player for 6 seasons at an important position.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 05:48 AM) They are going to hire Molitor after they just fired him? If that's how you choose to look at it...they aren't letting all 7 coaches go, by the way, it's going to be at the new manager's and Terry Ryan's discretion. http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/277536121.html Buxton, Sano, Danny Santana, Brian Dozier and Kennys Vargas will be the Twins’ most important position players for the rest of this decade. They all swear by Molitor. This summer, I asked Buxton and Sano who they rely on in the Twins’ organization. Both said, “Molitor.” I asked, “Who else?” Both said, “Molitor.” Of the thousands of baseball people I’ve encountered, perhaps only Kelly sees a game with the same incisiveness and prescience as Molitor, who can steal signs and find a pitcher’s “tells” before he starts his windup. Those seeking a symbolic changing of the guard will beg the Twins to look outside their organization, to steal brainpower from the Cardinals. Hiring candidates associated with success is risky, though. Bill Belichick’s coordinators have not lasted as head coaches (see Dave Martinez). The Twins know what they have in Molitor. He’s a baseball genius, a gifted teacher of young players, a Hall of Fame competitor and, as something of an outcast on Gardenhire’s coaching staff, the rare detached insider who knows exactly what this team needs to improve. So the Twins should do as Ryan insists, and conduct a wide-ranging international search for their next manager. And then they should hire Molitor.

Molitor will be the choice. Book it. As far as the next White Sox manager, I want Jeff Bannister. He just missed on the Astros' job to AJ Hinch. I watched him for a whole season with the Augusta GreenJackets when we won the South Atlantic League championship in 1995, and he's a fair but strict disciplinarian (military background) who was able to keep Jose Guillen in check that season. I can guarantee we wouldn't be seeing any of the same mistakes in terms of baserunning and fielding we've consistently been seeing out of the White Sox the past two seasons. http://m.astros.mlb.com/news/article/97006...-get-astros-job

Teahen would come back to play 3B then, or Uribe? C'mon. Gillaspie as a corner outfielder is just not a good idea. Platoon outfielder, at that.

It's still back to that defensive question. Even if Garcia puts up an 800 OPS (and I'm expecting 725-750 just to be happily surprised), then you've got four bad or below average fielders: Gillaspie, Garcia, 2B (if it's Semien, maybe average if it's Sanchez) and 1B Average=Flowers (maybe you can argue a tick above average) Above average=Ramirez and Eaton If you trade Ramirez, that leaves you with only Eaton. And the only quick fix is moving Avisail Garcia to DH, which isn't going to happen, or Viciedo to DH, which is UNLIKELY to happen. Micah Johnson's not going to improve the 2013-14 defensive numbers, either. I just don't see any conceivable way the 2015 team is going to have something approaching even an average defense unless they find a "defense first" outfielder (like a Parra, Michael Saunders or Leonys Martin...or think Lagares, Bourjos or maybe Endy Chavez or F.Gutierrez 2-3 seasons ago) who will probably struggle to be average offensively. That leaves you gambling on one of those guys like Rasmus who MIGHT put it together on both sides of just as easily turn into the White Sox version of JD Drew. With bad baserunning (even if team speed improves in LF and at 2B) and what will PROBABLY be an average or below-average pen without a minor miracle, there's just no path to competing unless they exchange players and eras with the 1999-2001 Twins, when they were on the cusp of becoming the best team in the division. I would give Hahn a B/B+. If Eaton was 100% healthy the entire season and that wasn't an ongoing concern, I might be willing to push it up to A-. I think there's also a decent amount of uncertainty about how good Avisail Garcia becomes...if he's not a cornerstone or building block, that puts us 3 bats out of contention, not just 2. The Downs/Cleto/Paulino/Boggs/Belisario moves (albeit low risk) all blew up, especially Downs, who was this year's Keppinger. Paulino was a mess and quietly went away. Erik Johnson completely self-destructed. Then you have the Davidson debacle. I'll give him Putnam, Noesi and Guerra, although SOME of those moves had to work by the process of elimination. The jury's still out on Sierra. He also got decent (under the circumstances) returns for DeAza and especially Dunn.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Sep 29, 2014 -> 05:36 PM) Anyone know when the game times come out for first round of playoffs? I have tickets to Saturday's Dodger game and am curious what time the game will be at. 930 pm....aka 630 pm local

The Sale situation is more like what the Royals did with Finnegan out of TCU this last month or so. With Downs as your best option (at the time), he was undoubtedly a better choice for the Royals even after being on a college mound just two months prior. I would be totally shocked if he wasn't starting along with Duffy and Ventura next spring, as they work to replace Shields. Plus, with a Boras client, you're just not expecting to ever work out a Sale/Quintana-esque extension, so there's that to consider as well.

Not a whole lot of LH options out there right now. Heyward L.Martin Gardner Yelich Span Blackmon Seth Smith, but we'd be severely overpaying for in terms of talent coming off this season... then you have the likes of Dave LaRoche and the oft-mentioned Rasmus Victor Martinez, Justin Morneau, Ibanez, Carlos Pena, Adam Lind, Ethier, Crawford...past their primes

Petricka B/B+ based on expectations Putnam an A Guerra a B+ Belisario D Downs F Webb C- Surkamp and Snodgress....C's Cleto C Lindstrom C-/D+