ChiliIrishHammock24

QUOTE (flavum @ Feb 4, 2015 -> 12:32 PM) Sox added a couple panel discussions. Minor Leaguers http://m.whitesox.mlb.com/cws/video/topic/...e-top-prospects Hahn and Ventura http://m.whitesox.mlb.com/cws/video/topic/...upcoming-season Thanks for the links. Courtney Hawkins has no concept of how microphones work. lol. Also, I love listening to Micah talk. He's a good speaker and he's very likeable.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Feb 4, 2015 -> 11:31 AM) Does anyone watch Masters of Sex? I am almost finished with season 2. Michael Sheen is excellent. I do, although I didn't like this last season very much.

QUOTE (MEANS @ Feb 4, 2015 -> 12:19 PM) Does anybody watch The Americans? It's one of the best shows on TV. Yeah, I'm a big fan, although the Russian embassy stuff always seems to confuse me because it's all in subtitles and they talk so fast that sometimes it's hard to even read all the dialogue before they take it off the screen.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Feb 3, 2015 -> 11:33 AM) They are a good candidate to end up with Welington Castillo. He will be playing somewhere next year. Nah, they just got Gerald Laird. S'ALL GOOD.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 3, 2015 -> 01:21 PM) But so would the Yankees or Angels or Red Sox or Blue Jays or Tigers or Diamondbacks or any number of other teams. Are you willing to go 3/$60? Or 4/$72? I think someone is going to realize that he could add a lot to their team and give him that kind of contract. I'm not saying he will sign for 3/$50M I was referring to the "reports" and rumors about $50M being a possible price tag. I wouldn't even sneeze at that offer, I would totally do that deal. 3 yrs/$60, maybe. 3 yrs/$70M, no. I think someone will give him a 4th though, and cinch the deal. I'll predict 4 yrs/$80M to the Tigers.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 3, 2015 -> 05:58 PM) There's absolutely nothing wrong with a K rate in the 8's. It's perfectly decent. His walk rate was a little elevated, and it's a bit troublesome, but it's not "write him off, he's terrible" bad. The WHIP is partially a result of the relatively high walk rate and can also be affected by a poor defense. His groundball rate was perfectly acceptable at 41.6%. He had an abnormally high percentage of runners scoring (with a LOB% of 69.9%). He's 40 years old, and I don't expect him to stick around forever, but someone considering Joe Nathan to be a better reliever and better bet overall than Zach Duke isn't wrong, nor is it right. It's merely an opinion. Care to make a wager on who has the better 2015 campaign? Grandpa Joe or Duke of Hurl?

QUOTE (farmteam @ Feb 3, 2015 -> 04:16 PM) You guys are majorly underestimating Schwarber. Kid has a better-than-usual chance of being a 30+ HR hitter. I think Keith Law's ranking of #90 is much closer than BA's ranking of him in the top 20. He hasn't even been challenged yet. How often does a college bat who is a mid-1st RD talent get thrown in to the top 20 prospect ranking when he's never played above A-ball? And how many of those guys don't have a position? The only way BA can justify that is if they 100% think he is a future catcher in the majors. Max Pentecost didn't make the list, and he was ahead of Schwarber on every pre-draft list. Same age. He figures to actually stick at catcher, unlike Schwarber. DJ Peterson was taken 12th overall in 2013, is still playing 3B, and was ranked #85 by BA the year after he was drafted. OF Hunter Renfroe was taken 13th overall in 2013, was ranked #80 by BA the year after he was drafted. OF George Springer was taken 11th overall in 2011, was ranked #59 by BA the year after he was drafted. OF Michael Choice was taken 10th overall in 2010, was ranked #80 by BA the year after he was drafted. And like Schwarber, none of those 5 guys made it above A-ball in their first years. The only guy who I could find who played catcher who had a similar high ranking, was Mike Zunino who was ranked #17 the year after he was drafted 3rd overall. Except Zunino STAYED at catcher, that's why he was ranked so well and is still valuable today. The ONLY justification I can see for Schwarber being so high after dominating kids younger than him in A-ball is that BA must think he is a catcher for good and won't end up as an OF. Because as an OF, there is no way they can put Schwarber this high already after not facing any competition yet.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 3, 2015 -> 01:25 PM) But Joe Nathan also had decent peripherals and has a much more heralded career. Prior to last year, Zach Duke was a journeyman swingman who was bordering on AAAA player. He had Brad Boxberger on his bubble and he was nothing short of filthy last year, with a K/9 of more than 14. Relievers are volatile, and going on guys who've proven it over the last 10-15 years means something, even if they are old and struggled last year. He had decent peripherals? He had a 8.4 K/9 (worst of his career), a 4.5 BB/9 (worst of his career), a 9.3 H/9 (worst of his career), a 1.53 WHIP (worst of his career), and his only decent peripheral was his HR/9, which was 0.8 (career average). His peripherals were bad, like really bad. And yes, I get that Zach Duke has only done it for one year, but he also fundamentally changed his pitching mechanics and arm slot. It wasn't that he finally had a lucky season. Not saying Duke deserves to be treated as if 2014 is who he is now, but I can't see how you wouldn't pick him in 2015 over Joe Nathan in 2015 based on last year and their ages.

He's been worth $20M+ a season 7 out of his 8 full seasons. The guy is completely worth $15M a year in my mind. The problem is that he is 33. I would totally do 3 yrs/$50M on him.

40-year-old Joe Nathan who had an ERA of almost 5 last year is better than Zach Duke who had a 2.09 xFIP, 3 more K/9, and 2 less BB/9, while both pitching 58 innings. Yeah.....no.

f***, lost in the ALCS again. Swept by the Indians, who got swept by the Marlins for the 2016 WS. God damn injuries. I had to play the playoffs without Samardzija, Melky, Eaton, Seagar, Brantly, or Hawkins (who may with ROTY in 2016). Will be turning down the injury frequency yet again before next year. My budget is just horrible though. May need to dump Samardzija somewhere.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Feb 2, 2015 -> 06:52 PM) He was pretty bad the first month or so, but from then on, he was pretty damn good at first. I must say, I watch a few Cubs games a week when the Sox are not on, or if the start/end times are staggered, and Rizzo is a really great defensive 1B in the games I've seen. He's very athletic and has some good range. I don't think he was great at picking the ball, which I don't think show up in defensive metrics, but I would certainly give him the nod over Abreu defensively when it comes to reactions, range, athleticism. Both should spend a winter with Paulie learning how to "Pick it, Wilson".

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 2, 2015 -> 04:12 PM) And one is wildly more successful. The NFL also has an all-star game and nobody seems to think it's fantastic. Just because the Peoples Choice award exists doesn't mean it's the Oscars. The dunk competition is "wildly more successful" than the HR Derby? I guess I'll have to take your word for it, as I don't know anyone who watched the dunk competition anymore. From all the ratings I've found through google, the HR Derby draws the same or more viewers than the dunk contest, and the MLB All-Star game draws a DRASTICALLY higher rating than the NBA All-star game. http://regressing.deadspin.com/the-mlb-had...ts-t-1606770612 So when you speak about one being wildly more successful, I assume you are talking about baseball's all-star week.

My buddies and I picked this game, of course, in our 7 game plan.

Never bought a pack of sports cards even once in my life. I don't think it's something many people my age ever got in to.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 2, 2015 -> 02:51 PM) Jerry Crasnick ‏@jcrasnick 1h1 hour ago Free agent catcher Gerald Laird is signing a minor league deal with the #dbacks, source says. Their catching situation is an absolute joke without Montero. Right now, their opening day catcher is Tuffy Gosewisch. A 9-year minor leaguer with a .239 minor league average.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 2, 2015 -> 03:51 PM) He didn't say All Star game, he said ALl Star weekend, and yes, the NBA does a much better job at making events EVENTS than the MLB. And baseball doesn't have a "finals" it has a "series". It's the same thing. It's not just the all-star game, it's the Home Run Derby and the celebrity and legends softball game as well. Both make it a 3-day event.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 2, 2015 -> 03:52 PM) I don't think he said Baez would be great at all, but when you are going head to head against Beckham/Bonifacio you wouldn't rather see how this kid with massive power potential does? I'd rather have Baez there too. Yeah, I think they are right about Baez. I don't like Baez, but it's hard to like anyone the Sox have either in 2015 (I like Micah, but not for 2015).

Things I disagree with..... Alexei is better than Castro. This isn't a "future value" discussion, this is based on 2015. Castro IS a better offensive profile, and Alexei IS a better defender, but one aspect he forgot to include is baserunning. Alexei always grades out as one of the best baserunning SS in baseball. Castro grades out as one of the worst, mostly to his laziness and admiring flyballs that don't leave the park. If those other 2 categories wash out, Alexei takes the edge for baserunning. I mean, the guy is 10 years older and he swiping 2-3x as many bags as Castro. Q is better than Arrieta. The guy did it for "most" of 1 season in the big leagues. We've seen plenty of pitchers have flukey years as a young pitcher. Not saying Arrieta is no good, but I'll bet on the track record of Q versus Arrieta. The bullpen argument he doesn't even complete. He mentions the Sox got Robertson but "The rest of the crew returns". If that's true, how do we also then add Zach Duke, one of the best LRP in baseball last year, and Dan Jennings? When it's all said and done, we could have more than half our bullpen revamped over last year. Not saying the Sox bullpen is better, but come on, the guy didn't even lay out the facts here.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 2, 2015 -> 03:23 PM) The Cubs don't do it. They do it before the game with the Anthem. Celebrity Take Me Out To The Ballgame takes a backseat to no one. It really chaps my ass that all those traditions that Harry started with the Sox are all Cubs things now.

"The NBA is really well known for the big spectacle of events they do, such as All-Star weekend and the NBA Finals," Man, I wish baseball had events like that. Instead, there is no break in the middle of the season, and everyone goes home for the winter when the regular season ends. This guy may be on to something.

Oh yeah, and I just looked up Viciedo. In 2015 with the Indians, he hit .286 with 21 HR and 36 2B. In 2016, he is batting .308 and on pace for 25 HR.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Feb 1, 2015 -> 11:50 PM) Viciedo is having a pretty good year since he has been in the lineup. Oh and Adam Eaton got hurt for 4 weeks like 2 games after I posted so now Thompson and Bonifacio are sharing time at CF. Michael Taylor is on my bench I had to turn my injuries down a level after my first year because I only had 1 player play more than like 130 games, and it was Rob Brantly. Eaton has turned in to an absolute stud for me. I think he is a 4.5 star player. And despite Avi declining in rating, he has been very productive for me. It's August 2nd, and Avi is hitting .318 with 18 HR. He's my 2nd best offensive player behind Kyle Seagar. And now we just went on an 11-1 run, and back in 1st place baby. Don't stop now boys!

QUOTE (zenryan @ Feb 1, 2015 -> 09:03 PM) I wonder if Sherman is still running his mouth about Revis now. shocker, the punk b****es Seattle cant handle losing. unlikeable. I can't believe anyone who isn't a Seattle fan could root for those f***s. They are so hateable.

Yeah, Katy was good, but far too conservative. Which is funny, because the older adults at the super bowl party were commenting on how raunchy it was. lol, they have no idea what it COULD have been. Crazy old people. That dead kid commercial, yeeeesh.