caulfield12

We're certainly experiencing a lot more late-game excitement than previous seasons. White Sox keep proving themselves to be a resilient bunch this year, no matter what adversity they manage to find themselves in.

QUOTE (Bigsoxhurt35 @ May 28, 2014 -> 08:49 PM) He hit a home run off one earlier On a change-up, not a mid 90's fastball.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 28, 2014 -> 06:32 PM) If someone told you before the season Paulino and Johnson would be as bad as they were, Noesi would be getting starts. Scott Carroll would be getting starts. Sale would be on the DL. Abreu and Eaton would be DLd, would anyone really think this team would be anywhere near .500? Atta boy, Marcus!! Welcome back to "Clutch" Talk. Not to mention Lindstrom, Nate Jones, Beckham and Gillaspie.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ May 28, 2014 -> 06:28 PM) Noesi is starting to remind me a little bit of Gavin Floyd and not in a good way Even 75% of Gavin Floyd, it's still better than 100% of Noesi. (Yogi Berra-ism)

Nice job speeding up Giambi's bat. He's only in his 40's and hitting barely above .100 but a notorious Sox-killer. So throw him a change-up.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ May 28, 2014 -> 06:21 PM) Not getting consistent at-bats isn't helping either. He really needs to be playing everyday in AAA. I think some people are really sleeping on this kid, because he has the talent to be an incredibly valuable player. Like you said, him getting on base at a .375 clip would make Abrue that much more protective. On top of that, him taking a ton of pitches wears down opposing pitchers and gives the rest of the team more looks. He's exactly the type of hitter we need more of and it's ridiculous that some posters are writing him off as a utility player after a tough first two months in the majors after essentially skipping AAA. Because it's very rare that a top position player prospect ever is better off watching from the bench at the major league level than getting his confidence back playing everyday in AAA. So it's causing some to question whether the organization really does view him as an everyday player going forward. Now, if Semien doesn't turn out like a thought of us thought he might...skipping AAA, being overmatched/overwhelmed and then sitting at the big league level will be seen (with hindsight) as the reason. (Of course, some will argue that he's psychologically-weak and not capable of being a big league regular if he can't deal with a stretch like this.) Finally, we already have a player to cover 3B-SS-2B in Leury Garcia, so there's just no reason not to send him down, and Micah's on the DL, so there isn't even an argument about rearranging the AAA infield positions remaining.

Well, the point is this is the first time in ages where you could make an argument trading Dunn wouldn't force you to eat salary...even though the return won't be that much. Of course, where that money goes is another question. As far as trading Ramirez, other teams also have to be thinking will Alexei still be the same player (in a big market like New York) where every mistake is magnified, and where he will be away from all of his Cuban teammates, and out of his new comfort zone with Steverson. It's a legit concern for an opposing GM.

Either Kazmir, Tim Hudson, Phil Hughes, Feldman or Haren A healthy Avisail Garcia and a better lefty/loogy than Scott Downs...(in fact, if you subtract the money we've spent on Downs/Keppinger/Paulino/DeAza to sign one of those five veterans and a different lefty, that roster would still cost the same or less even) And the White Sox are in the Wild Card race until the last week of the season.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 28, 2014 -> 09:18 AM) Just so we are clear, this: is not an extended period of time, but this: is worth $50 million over 4 years and a 2nd round pick. Got it, thank you! http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/gamelog/_/id.../ubaldo-jimenez 4 months of starts, to be exact.... Well, it actually would have been better/cheaper to steal McHugh before the Astros did (from the Mets/Rockies). Kazmir, Tim Hudson, Phil Hughes, Feldman, Haren and Josh Johnson (obviously that was a bad one) were closer to the White Sox price range and years.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 28, 2014 -> 09:12 AM) The only place Paulino played where his ERA was below 5.83 was KC, and that was 162 innings and 27 starts over 2 years. How is that being a great pitcher over a fairly large period of time? That was also 2 surgeries ago, and his short stint in the minors last year look just like his performances this season. I still would take Jimenez as he has had a few good starts. And no one seems to mention Santana. I guess he is doing too well. (Although I preferred Jimenez myself, and noted it here) Santana has been terrible recently. Overall, just over a 4 ERA and decent WHIP, 1.25 or 1.26, something like that. You'd take him over Jake Peavy, that's for sure. But then there's the 2nd round pick argument. However, if it's Rodon, we might not be able to afford our 2nd round pick anyway.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ May 28, 2014 -> 08:41 AM) Given the spending restraints, you cannot sign 3-5 of them. You can go all in on a guy like Adolfo and then take fliers on some other guys or you can add 3-4 guys that are more mid-range prospects in the market, which appears to be the approach this season. Well, yeah, one top ten guy...or a couple of guys near the back end of the top ten....then 2-3-4 guys you spend $300-600,000 on. Lottery tickets. Albeit a lot more expensive. And maybe a 5-10% shot on paying off.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 28, 2014 -> 08:53 AM) Ubaldo also costs 33.3x what Paulino cost PLUS a 2nd round pick. No big deal. Salty's faded, but he'd have been a hell of a lot more valuable at $40 million and no 2nd round pick than Ubaldo right now. Paulino was also good between 2011 and 2012. Look it up yourself. I also have no problem with xFIP, but showed that he has two peripherals that are working against each other - his K/BB is in his favor while a 29% GB rate is an absolutely terrible thing, especially with non-overpowering stuff. One of those is going to give eventually, and if it's his K/BB, his xFIP is going to rise very quickly and he's going to start giving up a lot of runs. And Salty would cost us 22X what we're paying Tyler Flowers this season. 779 vs. 760 OPS, pretty much a wash. The problem is that the $5+ dollars we're saving by NOT signing a catcher for 2014 wasn't invested in a better pitcher for the back end of the rotation, or we might legitimately be in this thing. Going into the season with three major question marks and only Andre Rienzo as the back-up plan hasn't worked out so well. They've survived/improvised...so far, and that's about the best you can say about the situation. Or maybe we can just pool together the money we're spending on DeAza, Konerko, Paulino, Keppinger and Scott Downs. Or simply just the latter three.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ May 28, 2014 -> 08:51 AM) I went on a Field Trip yesterday with 7th graders to Springfield. They bickered like this the whole ride back. I thought I had escaped...then I read this thread. Good grief. Guess we need some more of the spirit of Abe Lincoln at Soxtalk then.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 28, 2014 -> 08:43 AM) OMG Caulfield and I agree. Miracles do exist. However, I won't join the Indians' broadcasting crew in touting Gordon Beckham as one of the most underrated "double player turners" in the majors today, haha. Hawk can do that all by himself.

Paulino was a "decent" pitcher on two bad Royals teams in 2011 and 2012. That's it. He had high strikeout totals and a good arm. His BAA for 2011-2013 is .267, with opposing hitters putting up a 742 OPS. Included in that is a 3.28 ERA in 13 starts at Kauffman Stadium, which helped make his overall stats look a bit better than they really are/were.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 28, 2014 -> 08:29 AM) Petricka, Putnam, and Webb all have ERAs lower than him (on the active roster). That puts him 4th best. Belisario, Putnam, Downs, Petricka, and Webb all have lower FIPs than him. That puts him 6th best. Putnam, Belisario, and Petricka all have WHIPs lower than him. That puts him 4th best. His xFIP is nice, but it's aided by a high K rate and low BB rate. He has an incredibly low GB rate right now and, while his HR/FB is high right now, he's had problems with homers in the past. Something's going to give. Also, believing that a guy with good stuff who was a great pitcher for a fairly large period of time was going to be a good pitcher is not trolling. It's believing in something. I've already owned up to that. BTW, how's Ubaldo doing? You wanted to give him $50 million. That would have looked a lot better going to Saltalamacchia, wouldn't it? And I "only" wanted him for $40 million. That would have been a hell of a lot better than anything you would have committed the money to which, as I recall, was basically anything Marty wanted. /drops mic How many of those numbers by the bullpen members have been compiled in closing situations? We could take Purcey's numbers from last year and argue he was better than Addison Reed...should we so choose. Belisario's certainly not going to come out on top of any type of statistical comparison going by this past week. Or, 14/16 saves versus Belisario's two blown saves already. Wait...blown saves don't matter for middle relievers, right? Well, then comparing statistics of middle relievers has little or next to nothing to do with the statistics of those getting the 25th, 26th and 27th outs in a game. Besides, if that was actually the case...your argument was true, then Rick Hahn would be on the phone right now trading for three more position player versions of Matt Davidson and welcoming Putnam/Belisario/Petricka not to let the door him them on the butt on the way out.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 28, 2014 -> 08:13 AM) I just read this tl;dr post and have no idea how you pulled this out of your hat to argue that the Sox would be 2 games over .500 with Reed as the closer. This post is like someone using the argument that "over easy eggs have a runny yolk" when asking why a medium rare steak is the perfect temperature. Obviously, I'm not talking about Reed...simply the fact that someone said it was ridiculous that the White Sox could compete with the Tigers this season...and asked for the case to be made. I'd have to find the original post that brought up the Tigers and copy what started it all, but I'm too lazy to "prove" anything at the moment. Also, obviously, my argument has nothing to do with Addison Reed, as you can see where I highlighted exactly what it was that I was responding to.

Fine, if someone wants to send a boat to Mexico for Despaigne or one to Japan for Frederich Cepeda, we can give them more credit than Marco Paddy, haha.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ May 28, 2014 -> 08:11 AM) Bucket, who has been pretty plugged in over the years, is telling you that Paddy was instrumental in signing Abreu. Why don't you believe that? Paddy also was believed to be the driving force in signing Micker Adolfo. Paddy wasn't in the organization for Zach Stewart I didn't think and where did Jeff Marquez come from related to this topic? Marquez came from the Yanks for Swisher. In the end, he went to the highest bidder, did he not? I can just as easily credit Alexei and Dayan Viciedo for using their influence (which they used). Adolfo's a million miles away from Chicago. We need 3-5 of them every international signing period for those efforts to bear fruition. As far as Marquez and Walker, I was just listing players who we were hyped into believing in by the press/Sox p.r.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 28, 2014 -> 08:07 AM) So shedding $26 million in salary and signing a 27 year old power hitting 1B to a 6 year contract at a lesser AAV is...? The problem is there's no Tanaka the next off-season. Most of the available pitching moves are "win now" mode, especially if we select Kolek or Aiken. The Cubs are learning the same lesson...just because they'll have money to spend doesn't mean they can find the right player to spend it on.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ May 27, 2014 -> 08:24 PM) Some dude named Abreu I give Hahn a lot more credit for pulling the trigger than Paddy. Anyone could see Abreu's talent. It's finding undervalued guys like Alexei Ramirez and Tadahito Iguchi that's MUCH more difficult. Plus, I'm still not over Nestor Molina and disappointed that we put any faith in him, Zach Stewart or Jeff Marquez ever amounting to anything. Keenyn Walker, too. We only know that name because he was the first player drafted that particular year.

QUOTE (Benchwarmerjim @ May 28, 2014 -> 05:14 AM) After 1565 MLB plate appearances, Ben Revere hit a HR. Over the fence and everything! Please hurry up and sign Jeff Keppinger. That will make the rest of our match-ups with the Twins more interesting. Sorry to see Morneau having such a great comeback season with the Rockies. That must sting a bit, but who could have predicted it after how poorly he played for the Pirates down the stretch?

Except that's not exactly the whole story. It's not like we traded Alex Rios in order to sign Jose Abreu. We needed to get younger and more cost-controlled. It's like saying we traded Rios to bring back Lindstrom and pay for Downs, Paulino and Keppinger. You can twist it around any way you would like, right? Now if we spent $150-175 on Tanaka, then you could have me convinced that trading Rios was absolutely imperative to make it work. We also shed Santos, Peavy's deal, AJ's deal, Konerko's deal, let Buehrle go, Crain and Floyd, etc.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 28, 2014 -> 07:12 AM) Then make it. --- You can't because it's an absolutely ridiculous argument. He did nothing to me other than pitch like a middle reliever. I like/liked Reed. I honestly think, given his repertoire, he'd be better served in the rotation instead of the bullpen. The Sox bullpen has not been horrendous - have you watched games or seen the numbers the bullpen has put up, or are you still basing this off the first two weeks of the year? Greg, I'm pretty sure that if Adam Dunn puts up .275/.400/.500 next year for Texas or Houston or someone, you'd say that you gave him a B for his time with the Sox and whoever is currently playing for the White Sox would get a D. With only two pitches? By that argument, Petricka should be re-converted into a starter again. Or Webb.