TLAK

By all the usual statistical measures the 2005 White Sox record was better than their numbers. The tried and true Pythagorean theorem put them at 91-71. The other formulas put them in the same range. These theories assume that any stats they are not measuring will be about the average of all teams put together. But nobody won games by slim margins like the White Sox, that’s what was abnormal. It usually takes X runs scored over Y runs yielded to get to a certain record and over a long period of time it comes true. So how in the world did the White Sox squeeze so many wins out of such a small statistical margin? I credit the type of players they had, the manager and ‘chemistry’. By type I mean the guys concentrated on the routine play first and the highlight films second. By manager I mean Ozzie was excellent at communicating a specific mission in a given at bat or batters to face, and he was excellent at not asking players to do what they couldn’t do. By ‘chemistry’ I mean that the players happily accepted the missions, sometimes over their own personal goals, for the good of the whole. Before the season started I said that if you could put together a team where everybody just did their jobs, no hero stuff, they would be hard to beat. The ’05 team played this style beyond my wildest dreams. They swept the freaking World Series by a total margin of 6 runs! As to 2006 the two big guys they brought in, Thome and Mack seem to fit this profile perfectly. It’s no secret I don’t like Vazquez, and there are 5 other spots on the roster to be finalized. KW has been masterful at finding the right ‘type’, calls them grinders, and I hope he can keep it going.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jan 18, 2006 -> 01:38 AM) The 2006 White Sox are now complete. Let's get this title defense thing started. KW still has work to do to patch holes in the bottom of the pitching staff, outfield and I think one more utility infielder. The open spots could kill a team if filled with, say Keven Walker in the pen and another Perez in the OF. There is also no plan B I can discern in the event either Kong or Thome get dinged for a while, who DH's? There are lots of candidates already on board and KW may have more moves up his sleeve. ST will be entertaining to watch as this plays out. But I would not call the White Sox complete yet.

This brought a tear to my eyes. When people of any age are very sick their whole life becomes consumed. Not just the pain and reaction to medicines but the whole situation wears on you 24/7. Its all they get to think about and all most people talk with them about, the world shrinks to just being sick and it gets damn depressing. The diversion of shredding the paper and participating in the parade is wonderful, for a time they get to actually live a little part of life that is not about being sick. The trophy was at the childrens wing at UC last week so I know this isn't an isolated incident. God Bless the Chicago White Sox.

This little note from Tom Singer in MLB.Com today

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Jan 16, 2006 -> 11:53 PM) Ummm, maybe because 191 of Vazquez's career 256 starts were for the lowly Expos? He was horrible in 50 of his losses, giving up runs at more than a 6 ERA clip. Thats not giving your team much of a chance to win no matter who they are. If he could avoid terrible innings and learn to survive even when he doesn't have good stuff, perhaps he could turn it around. Maybe we should be comparing him to the old Garland instead of Contreras. Garland figured it out and last year avoided the disaster inning, he gave his team a chance to win even when he didn't have his best. Vazquez has had 8 seasons to figure it out and the recent numbers don't indicate that he has.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jan 16, 2006 -> 09:30 PM) Well you must hate Contreras then. Because before the 2nd half of last year. He looked just as mortal as Vasquez is. Contreras looked just as bad as a Yankee, and he looked just as bad in the playoffs with them. How about this, outside of everyones masterful knowledge of statistics and all, lets trust the man who put together last years baseball team. KW seemed to know what he is doing then. I dont think that all of a sudden he lost his marbles in one year. We gave up a prospect that is supposed to be Mike Cameron part II, a 45 year old pitcher, and a reliever that mad everyone cringe when he went out to the mound. BTW remember the analysis of how bad Garcia was away from Safeco and how bad the sox got ripped giving up the CF of the future in Reed, the next Pudge Rodriguez, and Mike Morse. How did that work out for us. ' Conteras is 35-18 lifetime (he was 13-7 with the Yanks) considerably better than Vazquez ever was. He was traded for Estaban Loiza who was having trouble with Ozzie, it was a case of trading 'problem' for 'problem' as both of their managers were mad at them, a far cry from the value he gave to the DiamondBacks. El Duque and Vizcaino both made large contributions to the championship, don't underrate them. I buy your concern out Hernandez's age but Vizciano will likely stay a good pitcher for years to come, and I note is above .500 in his career. The jury is out on Chris Young but he is highly rated by the scouts, who knows? Funny you mention Cameron because that is one trade that really did work for everybody.

QUOTE(Colorado Sox Fan @ Jan 16, 2006 -> 08:35 PM) Talk about over analysis. Just trying to figure out how a guy with 'Electric Stuff' can be 89-93 life time. And his stuff can be electric, I saw him make the White Sox look like children in '04 and he looked pretty good against them last year. But I also saw him get blown off the mound against other teams, including the hated grubs. You may recall the Yankees even took him out of the playoff rotation because they couldn't trust him. I just don't like this trade.

QUOTE(RME JICO @ Jan 16, 2006 -> 08:18 PM) Of those horrible outings, how many innings were bad? I took out his 4 worst innings of 2005 and his ERA almost dropped a point. You have him listed with 10 horrible starts from 2005. Out of those how many innings of 3 or more runs did he give up? Date- D_ERA- IP- ER 8/31/2005- 11.81- 5 1/3- 7 6/4/2005- 18.00- 4- 8 4/4/2005- 37.80- 1 2/3- 7 8/14/2005- 40.50- 2- 9 Does this help?

QUOTE(chitownsportsfan @ Jan 16, 2006 -> 07:33 PM) I'm afraid I don't get the chart, could you explain it please? I took each appearance and calculated his ERA for that day only, then I just counted how many days for each group shown and show his W/L for the games in each group. For example, last opening day he went 1-1/3 innings vs the grub and gave up 7 earned for a D_ERA of 37.80. So I put this in the 10+ group. At the bottom I totaled them, calling 3 or less quality, 3 to 6 meh and > 6 horrible.

Vazquez' inconsistancy is not a recent phenomenon. Expecting Cooper to straighten him is like expecting him to change the stripes on a tiger, after 8 seasons I think you is what you is. Below I expanded a chart I made earlier to calc his era on a daily basis, and included his whole career. He has always been prone to being shellacked and giving his team a very poor chance to win about 10 times a year. This is the record of the pitcher that Kenny Williams feels is worth $11,000,000 per year, plus give up El Duque, Vizcaino and Young for the privilege. - Perhaps I'm being too hard, if you subtract his worst 76 starts he might make the Hall of Fame, provided he pitches the 30 years it will take him to get to 300 wins. D_ERA Total 1998 Vazquez 1999 Vazquez 2000 Vazquez 2001 Vazquez 2002 Vazquez 2003 Vazquez 2004 Vazquez 2005 Vazquez 0 30 ( 23-0) 3 (2-0) 3 (2-0) 10 (9-0) 1 (0-0) 8 (6-0) 2 (1-0) 3 (3-0) 0+-3 71 ( 38-11) 4 (1-1) 5 (2-0) 9 (4-1) 8 (6-1) 15 (9-2) 9 (4-2) 8 (6-1) 13 (6-3) 3+-6 80 ( 21-32) 15 (3-7) 7 (3-1) 14 (4-5) 4 (0-4) 10 (0-6) 10 (3-4) 13 (6-2) 7 (2-3) 6+-10 51 ( 7-27) 10 (1-4) 8 (2-4) 4 (1-1) 7 (1-3) 5 (1-2) 7 (0-6) 5 (1-3) 5 (0-4) 10+ 25 ( 0-23) 4 (0-3) 3 (0-3) 3 (0-2) 3 (0-3) 3 (0-3) 4 (0-4) 5 (0-5) Quality 101 ( 61-11) 4 (1-1) 8 (4-0) 12 (6-1) 18 (15-1) 16 (9-2) 17 (10-2) 10 (7-1) 16 (9-3) Meh 80 ( 21-32) 15 (3-7) 7 (3-1) 14 (4-5) 4 (0-4) 10 (0-6) 10 (3-4) 13 (6-2) 7 (2-3) Horrible 76 ( 7-50) 14 (1-7) 11 (2-7) 7 (1-3) 10 (1-6) 8 (1-5) 7 (0-6) 9 (1-7) 10 (0-9)

QUOTE(Greg The Bull Luzinski @ Jan 15, 2006 -> 11:44 AM) I predict Kerry Wood will be a dominate pitcher next year with a low earned run average and a higher strike out total than anybody else in MLB in simulated games. That is why Kerry Wood is my simulated league Cy Young finishing just ahead of Mark Prior. Perhaps he can even take the cubs to a simulated World Series. Mark it down that I called the shot on January 15. I understand he's coming back fast, throwing his towel at 90 mph.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jan 13, 2006 -> 08:42 AM) Feel sorry for me. It's going to be a long, painful process. There is no solution to a broken SQL dB short of trying to append it to a new, correctly indexed dB, and seeing what falls out, an awful and painstaking process. On a free site like this, it's just not worth it. I think the plan of starting a new dB and archiving the corrupted tables makes perfect sense --its not like you guys have a room full of guys getting paid to do this. Also, allow me to thank Jason, yourself and all involved from the bottom of my heart for the efforts rendered in making this site. It is a wonderful pastime for me and, at last count, 2,843 others.

My work network requires a password with a combination of upper and lower case plus some characters from the top row of the keyboard, so I use Sox players to remember the freaking things. My last four have been traded or released. Rowand33 Thomas35 Everett8 Harris1 Now I am on Cotts46 and hoping for the best. I considered using Buehrle56 but fear I’ll forget how to spell it and lock myself out.

QUOTE(The Critic @ Jan 12, 2006 -> 07:37 PM) First impression.....not good. I heard a small clip of Singleton speaking on the Score, and he has a weird voice. Kind of high and squeaky for a radio voice in my opinion. Combine that with the lazy tones of Sleepy Ed and I don't think I'll listen to many games on the radio. Sleepy Ed You hit the nail on the head. He was great during the playoffs but the games were so good Steven Wright could have done them. In a regular season grind it out type of game, Farmer's voice can make paint dry. I was kind of hoping they would bring in someone with a classic PbP style, a Wayne Hagen or Dave Wills type to inject some life into the broadcasts. I'll give Singleton a chance before making a judgement, it's going to take until about the 4th a July for him to acclimate and then we'll see what we have.

QUOTE(BHAMBARONS @ Jan 11, 2006 -> 10:22 AM) Yes there is talk of Josh playing 1st and he played one game at 1st last year when Rogo went down with an injury. I also agree his footwork is still a big problem and I hope he improves this season because the guy can hit and did show some flashes of brilliance at the hot corner this season In Chcago we get a lot of Sox ST games on TV. Last spring was the only time I ever saw him and he was pretty rough. I'm looking forward to seeing him again this year and watching his progress. Then I think most of us, who haven't seen him as much as you have, can have a little more informed view of him.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Jan 11, 2006 -> 01:46 AM) They are bailing like rats from a sinking ship. I wonder if guys are bailing to avoid the embarassment of being cut or not playing. The US still has Clemens, Haladay, Petitte, Sabathia, Sheets, Willis and Zito as starters -and a like roster of relievers. The roster will only be 30 with a minimum of 13 pitchers. The most games any team can play is only 8. A lot of players may 'decide' to go home.

QUOTE(Middle Buffalo @ Jan 10, 2006 -> 11:15 PM) I can't wait to see what Barry Bonds looks like. I want to hear him say that he lost weight to take pressure off his knees. This is from the scouts dinner in December.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jan 10, 2006 -> 07:13 AM) Isn't this almost exactly what Neal Cotts problem was when he was walking 6 guys per 9 innings? I'm no expert on mechanics but this gives me chance to note how well Ozzie handles his players. Even in '04, everytime he brought Cotts in it was for a mission and only a mission he could do. Get this guy and the next one and we'll get you out of here, so don't worry about nothing else. Cotts has grown tremendously and has been given more and more difficult missions, but always missions both he and Ozzie knows he can do. Contrast that with JM and the famous Yankee stadium start, the wieght of team is on you boy, go get them. I think Oz has shown a marveleous ability to use the best parts of the talent on his teams. So they might keep some obscure guy, to our amazement, only to be there for a mission the Ozzie wants done.

QUOTE(CantuSox @ Jan 3, 2006 -> 03:52 PM) I was wondering if anyone might know where I could get one of the 2005 AL Central Division Champs lockerroom hats? The ones with the silver on the sides that they wore when the won the division in Detroit. My step dad didn't get one when they were out and I would like to get one for him. I haven't been able to find them in a store, online or ebay. If someone could point me in the right direction online or a store in the Chicago area it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. This one? It's on a clearance ad. Sox.Com

Why all the bashing? I liked it, picture hearing it in a club late in the evening. Check out her site etc, she seems the type who really wouldn't care what any of us think anyway, good for her. Kim Char Meredith!

I’ll say one thing about KW, he’s got guts. Rowand, Haigwood and Gio Gonzalez for Thome. Thome’s coming off surgery so there are already questions, KW then burned his bridges to Everett and Thomas, and put all the eggs in one basket. Arow’s spot is going to a rookie while the two young LH’s might turn out to be pretty good down the road. If Anderson and/or Owens struggle and Thome has any type of injury KW could look pretty bad. El Duque, Vizcaino and Young for Javier Vazquez. Vazquez is a sub .500 pitcher making $11,000,000 a year. He has driven his last 3 managers crazy with his inconsistency; it’s a good thing Don Cooper is so well entrenched because this guy is tailor made to get coaches fired. He sent away proven major league pitching and a very hot prospect that could be good for years to come. This is the riskiest deal of all, Vazquez could win a Cy Young or end up the 10th pitcher. Marte for Mackowiak. This move was forced by Marte’s blow up with Ozzie last season, I don’t know how the trade will workout but KW got fine value for a player that everyone in baseball knew he had to trade. But should Marte regain his form, nobody will remember that. Coming off a World Series win Williams didn’t have to make any of these moves. The White Sox could have just sat back and cashed the season ticket deposit checks. I’ve voiced criticism of some of these moves, but one thing I can’t deny is, KW has balls.

Anybody know anything about this guy?

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jan 7, 2006 -> 09:53 AM) I highly doubt they will let a guy who played an entire minor league system and had 180 ab's in winter ball decision to call it a year before the winter ball season was over, affect their decision whether or not he makes the White Sox. If its in the White Sox best interests to have Jerry Owens on the roster, he will be there. I think so too, I just wonder how Cora will react.

Joey Cora was a guest of Bryan Dolgin and Bruce Levine on BaseBall 365 this morning and boy, is he mad at Jerry Owens and Charles Haeger. He mentioned how great Owens played for him, he was leading the league, but then he said he quit on the team. Said he could only see him making the White Sox if somebody gets hurt. Then they asked about Charles Haeger and he says he was leading the league but quit on the team too. Said sometimes when a player gets on the 40-man roster and his agent gets involved they think they have it made. I don’t know if Joey was speaking for the White Sox or just as disappointed manager who’s team fell short of the playoffs after his two stars left. I can't remember Joey Cora saying anything negative about a player before, so he must be mighty upset. There is an article on them on Sox.Com that notes between the minors and winter ball Owens had 775 plate appearances last year, and Haeger pitched 210 combined innings, his previous high was 88 2/3. I’d be surprised if the White Sox development guys want any of their players to log more time than these two. The Owens situation could get interesting around cut down time. If Cora is mad enough to say what he said in public, and Owens plays well enough to make the team, can the two coexist?

Shame to have to put Big Frank notes in the Diamond Club, but I guess thats where they belong now...