ChiliIrishHammock24

QUOTE (Andy the Clown @ Jul 22, 2014 -> 12:14 PM) That's not how other organizations view him, I can promise you. That's because no org. is going to want to give up value for a #3 starter who is pitching like a #5. They want to buy low on him. You are being far too shortsighted if you think the start you saw a couple days ago is who Danks really is.

Rodon is schedule to throw 8 fastballs, 3 sliders, and 2 change-ups in his debut tonight. Will be striking out 1 hitter in a perfect inning.

QUOTE (Andy the Clown @ Jul 22, 2014 -> 12:09 PM) He's a number 5 starter at best making a #2 salary, and his "recovered" shoulder can barely break 88. Dump, dump, dump, dump. He's not a #5 starter. He's a former #2 starter who is probably more like a #3.

- Abreu final line - .281 AVG, 46 HR, 123 RBI. Wins the ROY, and finishes #6 in MVP voting. - Sale final line - 2.29 ERA, finishes 3rd in Cy Young. Everyone will discredit him for only 170-something IP, while Kershaw wins the NL CY unanimously despite even less IP. - Danks and De Aza are traded. - Quintana finishes with a top 10 fWAR for pitchers - People continue to force a passing of the torch, from Jeter to Trout, as if that actually makes any sense or they are in any way similar players. - Cubs trade Javier Baez to some team for a pitcher, maybe Arizona for Bradley, and everyone in Chicago suddenly thinks Baez sucks anyway. - Jared Mitchell gets traded before he ever gets re-exposed in AAA. Some team will bank on him figuring it all out in AA. - An injury or a trade will force an Andy Wilkins call-up and everyone will finally see that sweet-sweet HR swing and pimp step he posses.

Danks for Eric Jagielo and Aaron Judge. Just sweep their entire 2013 1st RD class. But seriously, I would love to have Aaron Judge. A gigantic OF who has been drawing a ton of walks so far.

Ep. 2 of Masters of Sex was much better. Betsy Brandt appears to be a new character. And I love any scene with Betty in it.

Are we 3 games under yet? Seem to never get passed that hump.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jul 21, 2014 -> 09:25 PM) No damn way Sale should pitch the 8th. Yeah, he must be exhausted from throwing 1 inning in what, like 11 days? But to Robin's credit, Belly pitched a perfect 8th, so it doesn't matter now anyway.

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Jul 21, 2014 -> 09:04 PM) Positive stuff but nothing new. BA's best draft tools from 2013: http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/best-tools-2013-draft/ Engel in there for best athlete, fastest runner and best defensive player. Micah Johnson and Adam Engel were in different draft classes.

Everyone make your "Robin should have pulled Sale *at this time*" comments right now or forever hold your peace! I would let him start the 8th. Pull him if someone hits a hard base hit, or he walks someone. Let him finish the 8th otherwise. He is well rested. He can do this.

I haven't decided if I want to watch Leftovers yet. First episode of Masters of Sex was painfully slow. So much dialogue and crying. Haven't watched Ep. 2 yet. Ray Donovan has been good this season. Love the addition of Hank Azaria.

I've got some great news about our big speedy OF Adam Engel. Apparently he is INSANELY fast. Stoltz says he's faster than Micah..... Nathaniel Stoltz ‏@stoltz_baseball Jul 19 Most of the few players who possess Adam Engel's crazy speed aren't anywhere near as big or strong. Have never timed Engel, but I think he's the superior runner (to Micah Johnson). I think Engel is faster, though. He just flies all over the place. Plus-plus range in center, first to third in a blink. Micah's got tremendous speed, but I've never seen him just explode on the bases like Engel does. If he can even hit .240 with a few walks, he'll be a nice player. Should have some pop, big speed/D value. I've got to say that's the best thing I've heard about Engel. Of course he is too old for his league, but his bat can catch up some, it sounds like his speed and D should carry him.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 21, 2014 -> 07:34 PM) lol, my boy Wilkins is ridiculously hot. Or he's what others might call a "Kris Bryant slump" Hey, back off, he was my AAP!

QUOTE (CWSpalehoseCWS @ Jul 13, 2014 -> 06:24 PM) Is there any site that has that for other speedsters? Like what is time for guys like Reyes, Hamilton, Gordon? I'd love to see some side-by-side comparisons. Here is an article. Says Hamilton was clocked at 3.3 on a drag bunt, but some don't believe it. A scout said the fastest he ever clocked was Brett Gardner on a 3.5 bunt to 1st. Later in the article a scout says the fastest he has ever timed to first on a swing was Billy Hamilton at 3.8. So if Micah was actually clocked at 3.74 on that play in which he swung, he essentially has Billy Hamilton speed, at least acceleration wise. Hamilton may be better running the bases or longer distances maybe. http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/writer/jon-he...ter-hes-hitting

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 13, 2014 -> 06:20 PM) Johnson was 3.72 to 1B. I wonder what he drag bunt time is. I think Billy Hamilton's is in the 3.3's.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 13, 2014 -> 06:05 PM) His BB% is way inflated by IBBs. 9 out of his 23 walks were intentional. If he hits close to .300 again in the 2nd half with 15+ home runs and another 40+ RBI, he can draw all the disproportionate amount of IBB he wants.

Micah hits a chopper to the right of the pitching mound, nearly beats it out. My god he is stupid fast. If he bunted 100 times a season, I bet he could hit .450 or better in those ABs.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 13, 2014 -> 04:59 PM) I hope he shows some ability to start drawing walks. Go on FanGraphs and filter all 1B in the last 30-40 years and show me one that walks as infrequently as Abreu. The best comp I could find was Andres Galarraga. With that said, Abreu's rather quick adjustment to what looked like a serious strikeout issue has already been very impressive. One thing at a time. In their first season? Mark Trumbo hit 29 bombs his rookie year. Walked 4.4% of the time. Joe Carter had a 5.8% career walk rate. Here is a list of 41 1B who walked less than 6.4% of the time in their rookie seasons. I expect Jose's BB% to improve just like these hitters saw their improve once he not only gets used to the pitchers he has never seen before, but also the respect he will get from pitchers who pitch around him to avoid his bat. http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=...amp;sort=10%2ca

Oh my god, Joey Gallo is unreal.

Micah Johnson beats out a routine ground ball to SS, but the ump blows the call. And of course, they never even mentioned Micah up at the plate and didn't speak about him at all. They had a long conversation about Clayton Kershaw that overshadowed his AB.

And for the Conor Gillaspie HR that snuck inside the foul pole..... It would have been a HR in all 30 parks. He actually hit it 378 feet, it just happen to sneak inside the pole, which is the same in every park. http://www.hittrackeronline.com/detail.php...amp;type=hitter

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jul 13, 2014 -> 01:12 PM) It's dumb though. Who cares that a HR just made it over the fence. I'm sure Hank Aaron had a ton of those. I know we all like 450 ft. HR's but keeping track of just barely made it HR's is just ridiculous. What possible purpose does it serve ? What purpose does tracking the distance on any home run serve? Nothing, it's just fun to know. It's fun to know what hitters have the most "No Doubter" home runs, and which hit the most "Just Enough" home runs. If you don't care, that's fine, but understand that a lot of people find it interesting.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 11, 2014 -> 10:21 AM) It's unbelievable how quickly Gordon's season went from on pace to his best ever to on pace to his worst ever. I think he's going to end up where he always does, which is at the very low end of regular starters that didn't play so bad that they absolutely have to be replaced. Maybe he'll get better with a change of scenery, but I hope we can all agree that he's not going to get better with the Sox. He's like any baseball player where he gets hot sometimes and slumps other times, but we know how it will end each year. To be fair, his offense is is still one of the best in his career this year, it's his defense that has been horrendous this year according to metrics. His range at 2B is just terrible this year.

QUOTE (TitoMB @ Jul 12, 2014 -> 05:51 PM) I'm shocked his OBP is as low as it is. If he starts getting some more walks, and can get that OBP up to about .375, he's a for-sure MVP at some point. Love it all though! This guy is a home run hitting machine. One would think his HR rate and AVG may drop in the 2nd half, but his K's and BBs should improve as pitchers start to pitch around him more. May lead to weaker contact, but more walks if he can lay off them, which he has really improved upon in July.

QUOTE (Bruce_Blixton @ Jul 11, 2014 -> 04:45 PM) I knew Thome started as a 3B but I never realized that he was more of a hitter for average in the minors, I always assumed that he was a masher from start. That makes things a lot more interesting, now I'd like to see Ravelo promoted to Charlotte sooner rather than later. Really? I had no idea either. I know he was a real skinny dude when he was a rookie, but I too assumed he was always a big HR/OBP guy as a prospect.