caulfield12

Buddy Bell on Viciedo....."He's become a very, very solid outfielder (this year)."

Konerko's supposedly going to play 1B again, according to Farmer. He thinks it's premature, a "stretch," he says. Meanwhile, Ackley's OPS is almost 200 ahead of Beckham. Sigh. But Smoak, what the heck happened there?

Then Marty, there have been a lot of "stupid" White Sox fans this season. And maybe a lot more are considering the economic ROI of spending on the Sox rather than saving, paying down credit card debt or using it for a vacation or big screen HD tv, etc.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_...?urn=nfl-wp5831

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Aug 25, 2011 -> 07:39 PM) I'm joining the camp that Dayan isn't up because Kenny knows Ozzie won't play him. Look at De Aza, he's done nothing but produce...but Rios remains in center. Flowers has been hitting well...AJ will be back to hitting singles galore. Whenever Morel has a good night...benched the next. Other than Gordon, I have never seen Ozzie put a young guy in position to succeed. Bobby Jenks and Chris Sale He also played Josh Fields almost everyday in 2007 during the 2nd half. Fields and Jerry Owens were responsible for their own downfalls.

So Cheat was wrong about Hahn 3-4 years ago, too?

The World Series champion Chicago White Sox use a different popular method to assess their expected victories. Rick Hahn, their assistant general manager, tracks the number of runs his lineup should score and his pitching staff should allow. Several studies have shown that any 10-run swing in that differential equates to about one victory. “When we got Jim Thome from the Phillies, we figured he was worth about 20 runs more than the combination of Carl Everett and Frank Thomas,” Hahn said, referring to the 2005 club’s designated hitters. Hahn estimated that giving up center fielder Aaron Rowand in the trade cost about five runs. “That gave us a total improvement of about 15 runs. We feel we improved by about one and a half wins in the exchange, which is pretty good.” NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/sports/b...ll/11score.html http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/sports/b...amp;oref=slogin “Hahn, 34, the assistant general manager in Chicago, joined the White Sox without any training on how to identify flaws in a pitcher’s motion or a hitter’s batting stance. General Manager Kenny Williams had Hahn shadow the club’s director of scouting, Duane Shaffer, to learn about judging talent. "I had more familiarity with the objective and statistical side of the evaluation," Hahn says. "The void I had was on the scouting side. I got a crash course on that side of the business." from Danielle Sessa, link broken Towers has worked for Lucchino. Hunsicker is one of the game’s best general managers. So is Milwaukee’s Melvin, who worked for Lucchino in Baltimore. If the Red Sox decide they want a pure talent man — and with the Yankees adding the revenue from their new ballpark, talent evaluation is the way the Red Sox have to beat the Yankees in the future — the name of LaCava (Toronto’s director of player development) will be at the forefront. And if they want an organizational baseball mind with a huge reputation in the business, they will interview White Sox assistant GM Rick Hahn. http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/gammons/story?id=2210636 Peter Gammons Hahn's primary responsibilities include assisting Senior Vice President/General Manager Ken Williams with all player acquisitions, evaluations and contract negotiations, as well as with overseeing all elements of the club's baseball operations, including the scouting and player development departments. Williams credits Hahn with negotiating multiyear contracts with several current White Sox players, including 2006 All-Stars Mark Buehrle, Jose Contreras, Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski. from mlb.com ■The Cheat on September 30th, 2008 12:39 pm Hahn is very careful about what he says in the press, so it’s understandable that you’re unable to come up with much on his, let’s call it a, saber profile. He’s the oft-ignored, but highly respected, saber-influence inside the White Sox front office. I’d imagine that his willingness to interview and accept a job outside the organization will have a lot to do with the rumored extension of on Kenny Williams, whose own current contract is something of a mystery. If Hahn is out-and-out promised the GM job when the current Sox FO disappears — slated for 2012 when Reinsdorf steps down to relinquish control to his son — he might be a tough get. I thought this was much more interesting based on the last line Cheat wrote.

"Hahn Dynasty" would work if he was in China. The problem is 90% of the articles written about Hahn state this same information. Not just bloggers or "internet writers" but well-paid, national sports journalists. If I watch Obama on tv and describe him as "cool/aloof/detached/cerebral," then am I incorrect if I offer that as my opinion based on an accumulation of observation, as well as reading about him? I'm guessing somewhere out there is an interview (maybe Mark Liptak or whatever his name) with Hahn where it was actually put down on paper...in terms of his philosophy.

Unless you have believe he's actually 32-34 and not the age that's stated on his birth certificate. Then, in that case, signing that extension would have made a LOT less sense going forward.

Forget signing the equivalent of Delmon Young/Craig Monroe or Kubel for LF. It will be DeAza/Milledge/Lillibridge. No way we're spending "new" money. It might be a prospect we get in return for Danks/Floyd or Quentin, though. Maybe, we should be just as worried about 3B and 2B as LF?

How does Kubel fit "well"? Now we're finally benching Dunn two months after it could have actually affected the division race? Even two weeks ago would have made a difference. Now, not so much. That's just dumb. I hope they mean he would fit well because Quentin's injured... Maybe Minnesota wants to prevent an additional month of Viciedo developing and playing everyday with the big league squad.

Well, that will give Ozzie yet another excuse to NOT play Viciedo the final month. Geez. If they have Pierre, Kubel and Quentin to play at the same time, they might as well just send him to winter ball. I'm hoping and praying it was just to block him going to the Indians or Tigers. But can't imagine Minnesota would take the PR hit of just giving him away to the White Sox, even if we're already out of it.

Knowing the White Sox, we'll trade Viciedo, Kuhn and Reed for one month of Kubel (after we're already basically out of the race). Then, after trading Quentin, not have any outfielders who deserve to be starting heading in 2012. Do they really think any White Sox fans are going to turn out to see Jason Kubel play? If anything, it would be a totally uncomfortable situation for Jason...knowing he wouldn't be sticking around after September, playing for a rival and having about a 2% chance to make the playoffs.

That just seems to be the "collective/consensus" opinion on Hahn from every article ever written about him. I've never seen anyone explain WHY, just heard him referred to in that camp simply because he doesn't fit in the "old school" camp at all. As far as KW and Stanford, he's always promoted his "football tough" approach and the comparisons with the Raiders...I think his "football first" background tends to supercede the university he attended. Who knows, maybe he attended more classes than Tiger Woods, Mike Mussina, Joe Borchard and Jerry Yang. Jim Hendry never was a numbers guy. He was a scout, which certainly has its advantages. But at the end of the day, that scout made quite a few questionable moves -- beyond the Alfonso Soriano contract -- that perhaps could've been prevented with better statistical analysis. And that's where Hahn comes in. He's not a complete numbers guy -- which is good -- but he has a much better balance between scouting and statistics in his analysis and decision-making than Hendry. But, if the Cubs decide to target Hahn, the next question is this -- would he actually leave the White Sox? Here's an example from the first random Hahn article I googled (from beerleague.com). What is the writer's opinion based on? Interviews with others around Hahn? Hearsay? Conjecture? I've yet to see any solid evidence or support of this common assumption that seems to be flying around about him. Maybe it's simply because with the new group of young GM's, everyone assumes he can't be a traditional, "baseball background with a lesser education" type of GM.

Now at least we can really tout some of our ex system guys like Mike Morse, Brandon Allen, Gio, Hudson, Richard (well, not so much THIS year), Getz (mehhh), Sweeney, and Chris B. Young might be revisiting the playoffs again...

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Aug 25, 2011 -> 10:39 AM) Next year it will be Crain in the 7th, Reed in the 8th, Santos in the 9th. The bullpen won't suffer without Thornton. An unproven rookie who has never pitched in the big leagues is promoted over Frasor and Crain already? Obviously you're not planning on Ozzie being back, because that could never happen on his watch. And that same manager who has two of the best lefties in Sale and Thorton will suddenly be "just fine" with only Ohman and Santiago? Ummm...okay.

Don't forget our old "flame-throwing" pal Nick Masset. Although with Cooper, he was usually at 92-93 MPH.

Well, if you believe the stories, he went through two interviews with the Cardinals but withdrew from that process as the power struggles between LaRussa, ownership, Jocketty and Mozeliak became more unsettling... But I didn't see where it was actually offered to him...just that he withdrew, same with the Mets situation. Pretty sure he could have had the Pirates job, though, had he wanted it.

This is basically the assumption because of his time spent with Moorad and Steinberg, as well as Northwestern and Harvard Law. Since he's "numbers oriented," he has to be a SABR type of person. On the other hand, we've never really seen these numbers applied to personnel/scouting/FA decisions or referenced in articles. The only examples I could think of would be the times they went to arbitration with a player, but those examples aren't plentiful and they're obviously closed to outsiders, so only the agents would really be able to testify to his actual approach. He's definitely not Grady Fuson, old baseball scout, referenced in Moneyball.

Well, the problem is "where will he play?" with Rasmus. Despite all evidence to the contrary on Rios, Ozzie seems wedded to him as the CFer. http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/gamelog/_/id...73/colby-rasmus He's 19/88 so far with the Blue Jays...for a 216 average and mid 600's OPS. I'd like to say Rio can do better than that at some point, maybe?

FYI, the initial "Sox-like" lowball offer by the Twins to Cuddyer was $12.5 million/2 years

Latest update, looks like Quentin will miss entire Seattle series too....yet, in their all-knowing competence, the White Sox never DL'ed him in order to bring up Viciedo because "Ozzie already has 5 DH's." Meanwhile, Dunn lost track of outs in an inning and "doesn't believe in scoreboard watching yet (until September)" when we're playing the Tigers... http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,5648781.story

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Aug 25, 2011 -> 12:10 AM) I heard a discussion on the SCORE about that. I guess Hahn is the highest paid asst. GM in baseball. So the reason why he hasn't been hired can be over money. Guess he learned how to negotiate his own contract from working for Steinberg and Moorad!

Maybe Heyward and Beachy for Quentin, Thornton, Dunn, and Rios. We'll throw in Peavy to make it far.

QUOTE (SpainSOXfan09 @ Aug 24, 2011 -> 11:31 PM) Is Hahn really considered a sabremetrichead? Didn't think he was and if he isn't then he wouldn't fit the bill that Ricketts is looking for. If he's been responsible for our farm I wouldn't hire him based on that mess. He's considered a hybrid, basically. Next to Ozzie and KW, anyone would look like Bill James or Billy Beane.