chw42

QUOTE (whtsoxfan @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 06:43 PM) 63 games to go, wild card unlikely what's gonna happen? Looks like we need to win our division to make the playoffs. The east has teams with more wins than our division and will probably have the wild card. Wonder how many games it will take to win our division? We'd only have to go 35-28 to get 90 wins. Is that enough? 90 should be enough.

QUOTE (kjshoe04 @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 06:21 PM) You honestly thought he was going to put up a .900+ OPS this season? I personally saw a 39 year old slugger on his last legs last year. He hadn't had a .900 or higher OPS since 2006 and seemed to be regressing and starting to break down. I had no problem letting him go and am not going to say it was a mistake like I knew he would be hitting this well. Who's to say he would have put up those numbers here playing every day? For all we know, he would've hurt his back playing every day. He has a .930 OPS right now. I don't think everybody expected a .930 OPS from him, but I would have expected at least .850. And that .850 is a hell of a lot better than what Jones and Kotsay are putting up.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 04:38 PM) On what planet is one sick of a .900+ OPS? I don't care if my DH doesn't have Carl Crawford's speed. I don't think the Red Sox and Rangers are too concerned about Ortiz's and Vlad's legs. I want my DH to mash. This whole perception of the DH being able to do others things besides hitting is really weird. I mean, it's the designated hitter, he's designated to hit. Isn't his ability to hit more important than his ability to do anything else.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 05:29 PM) From the team's twitter feed: http://twitter.com/OFFICIAL_TIGERS/status/19774611329 Tigers acquire Jhonny Peralta from Indians for minor league pitcher Giovanni Soto. #mlb Well, we're f***ed. lol another Geovany Soto, just spelled differently. And Peralta doesn't scare anyone.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 04:30 PM) The Twins lineup really, really scares me. We were saying the same thing back in April and May. Every team goes through the motions. There were times where the Twins offense looked like ours.

QUOTE (kjshoe04 @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 04:31 PM) I hate the Thome talk. If anything we've talked too much about it. I'm still glad we didn't re-sign him. I was sick of Paulie, Jermaine, and Thome in the middle of the lineup. Obviously I'd like someone other than Kotsay, but it really was time for Thome to go. People sure remember Thome for the shift and his lack of fleet-footedness, but they sure forget all those home runs he hit... I don't know how you are glad we didn't re-sign him when we've been stuck with the abomination that is Mark Kotsay as our full-time DH.

Thanks for nothing Kansas City.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 04:19 PM) Hendry is a bad GM IMO and handed out some bad contracts, but Lee used his 10/5 rights for this, I am 99% sure he didn't have a clause in his contract He has a full no trade clause. 5 years/$65M (2006-10) signed extension with Cubs 4/06, replacing final year of previous deal, which was to pay $8M for 2006 06-10: $13M annually no-trade clause award bonus: $0.1M for All Star selection

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 04:17 PM) Fangraphs showing Alexei some love: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/t...her-ss-ramirez/ It was about time.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 04:16 PM) That wasn't the question. The question was why was Rios at DH. and Jones in CF. And I agree with Balta, Jones has done a good job. Another question: could the resting of Konerko, Rios and TCQ allow them to be more fresh and have a better overall season as opposed to the lineup with someone like Thome full time at DH? If nothing else to probably has allowed TCQ to play more without lower extremity injuries. There is no way to know for sure just a question that popped into my ADHD mind. I'm sure Thome would have shared platoon duties with with Jones at DH since Andruw was already on the team. The thing is, Ozzie could have made Thome part of his rotating DH platoon, that's what Thome's doing in Minnesota right now and it's working extremely well. With a guy like Thome, you don't want to give him an excess amount of at bats anyhow. He's getting old and you need to keep him fresh too.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 04:12 PM) How would PK feel about becoming the everyday DH? There's no way you'd waste Lee's glove at DH. I don't think any player wants to DH. It's more or less an insult to your ability to play defense. But in cases like Adam Dunn, insults like that don't even do him justice to describe how bad he really is.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 03:38 PM) Vargas road splits consist of a 3.99 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP over 8 starts. It would probably be good if he left with an ERA well over 3 and well over 4 on the road. What's weird about Vargas is that he's given up more home runs at home this year, 4 more in fact. Nice article about how his stats look a lot like Washburn's last year: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/j...arrod-washburn/ Vargas pitched against us in the series where we swept them. Gave up 2 runs in 6.2.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 03:39 PM) Mr. HGH cuts it to a 5-4 lead, but Brayan Pena (who?) can't keep the rally going. On to the 9th Rick Ankiel's back?

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 03:33 PM) Ozzie would put Dunn between Rios and Konerko to break up the righties. And that would be a pretty smart move. Dunn would be the Sox' second best hitter if he were in the lineup today (only behind Konerko).

QUOTE (Benchwarmerjim @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 03:02 PM) you guys got to beat up on the Os and weaker NL teams earlier in the year. Things are evening out now, and it shows the Sox and Twins are pretty much even teams recordwise The Sox haven't played the Orioles yet. And it's not like the the Twins didn't play the Brewers 6 times. It's their fault they got swept.

QUOTE (soxfan3530 @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 02:28 PM) If the Sox do deal Hudson to get Dunn, what about acquiring Ted Lilly? What will the price tag be on him? RIght now it appears that the Cubs options are dwindling and they are willing to pick up some of his deal. He could easily take that 4/5 spot and we could be in business. From MLBTR: I'd like to have Lilly for pretty much nothing given that he's probably a 4.6-4.8 FIP starter in the AL and in this park. Anything above a couple of low level prospects would be overpay for this team IMO. You might as well just go get Jake Westbrook.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 02:24 PM) I believe this is the most talented Twins team they've assembled on the offensive end. Oh definitely. I was just talking about Twins teams of the past.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 02:03 PM) What is with the Twins? Is it that they were constructed to just be better than anybody in the Central? Year after year they are champs. Their early exits in the playoffs never seem to demoralize them or take away their momentum. In the end, talent usually beats scrapiness and playing the game the right way in the postseason. Plus, their pitching's never been super outstanding.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 02:15 PM) You're not going to hear me defending that. I can defend Jones as doing an excellent job in his role as 4th OF/part time DH. I can't defend anything Kotsay has done this year. What's worse is that Kotsay only plays 1B. You can play Viciedo at 1B to give Paulie a day off if need be. I see absolutely zero things that Mark Kotsay does better than Thome except run slightly faster and the ability to play 1B. Those two things don't even come close to the .280 gap in their OPS or the near .100 gap in their wOBA.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 02:06 PM) Jones has an OPS+ of 98 on the season and a .753 OPS. Against LH pitchers in particular, he has an .853 OPS. Furthermore, he's been a plus fielder in both CF and RF, despite limited time there (he's been a negative fielder in LF, but he's played a total of 10 games there, as opposed to 35 in RF). Yes, he's all or nothing, but he's pretty much been exactly the kind of guy you'd want on your bench and rotating through the DH as the right-handed partner. Strong on defense, and especially against LHP, not a liability with the bats. The issue is that Kotsay's getting almost all the PAs as the DH.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 01:55 PM) I do think this is the thread of the century, though. The timing of it is mind boggling. And no I don't drink the koolaid. I think the Twins will ultimately win the division by six or seven games. But as of today we are in the race which isn't really a fireable offense for either of the above mentioned subjects. So let me get this straight. You think we're not good enough to win the division. Yet, you are complaining about others saying this team isn't good enough. I don't care if where we are in the standings. Criticism is not always time dependent. When you see something wrong and there is something wrong, that wrong isn't going to go fix itself on its own. You're basically saying that it's okay to second guess when we lose the division while it's not okay to first guess now.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 01:29 PM) Ozzie's plan for the rotating DH. Keep a player's bat in the lineup while resting him from the field. This is why he wanted Kotsay and Jones. Good defenders in the field while the starters rest. It's only a good plan if you have capable offensive players, which we really don't have in Kotsay and Jones.

QUOTE (heirdog @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 01:45 PM) When was the last time the Braves actually gave up a top (elite) level prospect that actually panned out? I really can't think of one...Andy Marte, Jarrold Saltalamachia, Tyler Flowers. Those guys really seem to know or tout their prospects well and package them in trades. So I think we go ahead and trade Flowers because the Braves gave him to us and it was for Javy "Freakin'" Vasquez so you know he can't be all that good. Elvis Andrus and Neftali Feliz.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 01:20 PM) If that's true then other GM's are quite silly indeed. Doesn't really mean his talent is declining. He was just really good last year and it would have been easier to sell that to a GM.

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Jul 28, 2010 -> 01:10 PM) Pizza Cutter did a study on how big of a sample size is needed in order for the numbers to hold any predictive value. It worked out that you need a 550 PA sample size for a >.70 correlation with ISO. Two months is not going to tell you a lot. I knew somebody would have looked at this in some way.