Chicago White Sox

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jan 31, 2018 -> 01:55 AM) Personally while I believe in advanced stats to a degree there is an over reliance on them.Baseball Common Sense 101 tells me when you hit .330 you did a lot right and just didn't get lucky. While I will have to agree that his batting average is likely to regress because of a large number of infield hits it wasn't just luck . I think we forget baseball takes a large amount of skill to get hits and all this talk about his numbers declining to pre 2017 is just people hedging their bets playing the odds that previous bad seasons still outweigh the 1 good one. Why can't the Sox have a player who breaks out in a big way ? Happens all the time. The only way to get a feel for a player is to watch a lot of games. I don't mean 1/2 the games I mean at least 75% and watch what the player is doing up there in the batters box. There's a lot to be said for actually watching/studying baseball. First, let me give you credit about Avi. He actually got better last year and became a better player. You believed in him and deserve credit for that. Having said that, no one can sustain a .392 BABIP. It’s not about an over reliance on advanced metrics, it’s based on actual historical evidence. The highest career BABIPs (by some truly amazing players no less) come in around .350. Do you actually believe Avi is going to continue to be better than the best ever by a good 40 points? It’s not going to happen. His batting average is most definitely going to regress some. Having said that, I think he can still maintain an incredibly high BABIP and remain a .290ish hitter. And that’s fantastic IMO. The real question is can he add power or improve his plate discipline. That’s what will truly define a breakout. I honestly don’t see any reason to believe his plate discipline will improve by any significant margin at this point, but the power theoretically could. If it does he could be a damn good RF like he was in 2017, otherwise he’s probably league average at best. I personally don’t think adding loft is a simple task, but I’m more than willing to give him a shot this coming year because his fielding & base-running are no longer huge value drains and he’s got a non-zero chance of being a star.

QUOTE (Dam8610 @ Jan 30, 2018 -> 09:55 PM) Explain how the advanced stats scream regression without using the acronym "BABIP". That's the only one that is strongly favoring negative regression, and other advanced metrics point to the possibility of positive regression in both power and plate discipline. If he puts up a .290/.360/.540 line, is he any less valuable? Because I could see that based on his 2017 numbers factoring negative BABIP regression with positive regression in the power and plate discipline categories. It’s more than just BABIP, although it’s obviously the big one. I’ve read multiple articles that suggest regression is coming for a multitude of reasons and I’m pretty sure one of them had a metric that suggested even his 2017 power numbers were a bit flukey. If I can find it, I’ll make sure to post it. What metrics suggest positive regression for power and plate discipline?

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jan 30, 2018 -> 05:57 PM) Another thing people should stop doing is referring to Native Americans as Indians. Sure, "Cleveland Native Americans" doesn't have the same ring to it, but Indians... are... from India. Sorry, Columbus, but you missed your target. I guess I’m missing the point here. Are you suggesting that referring to a Native American as an “American Indian” would be offensive? Maybe I’m not informed on the issue, but my understanding is a vast portion of the world back then was considered part of “India”. Regardless, the Cleveland Indians aren’t based on modern day Native Americans but Indian tribes that existed in the early days of America. So calling them the “Cleveland Native Americans” really does not make any sense.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 30, 2018 -> 07:00 PM) Let's face it, there are people on this board (I'd say 40 percent of the peeps, maybe a bit more) who will never "believe" in Avi. His age and his production scream "excitement" and "potential" but Sox fans just can't unequivocally support the guy. That's fine. He's got to prove it again. I'd say if he has the same year this year as last there still will be severe detractors. I guess they will want at least 15 more homers from Avi, a ton more RBIs. The funny thing is that the advanced stats all love Avi and still the advanced statniks here can't buy that Avi is a star. Again, that's fine. We Avi lovers can't win; and Avi can't win. If he sucks in April and May ... wow the naysayers will want to run him out of town. If he excels? Big deal. It's not sustainable. Tough tough crowd and it makes no sense cause of Avi's age and his WAR. p.s. Would the nontender crowd like for Hahn to just dump him for scraps ASAP? Dat's a good question. p.s.s. The Royals getting rid of Moss?? Now that makes sense in all aspects. Avi being dumped? Makes no sense. BELIEVE.IN.AVI. He will deliver, folks. The advanced stats scream “regression”. He most definitely got better last season, but he also got really lucky. You can continue to ignore all those indicators all you like (and you will), but I think the majority of people here simply want to see more power from him before truly believing that he’s an above average player. The good news is he young enough to see further improvement and maybe just maybe he finds a way to loft the ball consistently in 2018.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 30, 2018 -> 06:46 PM) I feel like they’d just keep destino in extended until he has a spot. I think they’ll pretty much have rotate their OFs through the DH spot. I guess Kannapolis could be an exception if Zangari is ready and they want to give him and Villa everyday playing time. They may very well consider Destino the better prospect at this point.

Right now I think the OFs shake out like this: A. A+ AA LF: Gonzalez. Rutherford. Fisher CF: Robert. Basabe. Polo RF: Dedelow. Adolfo. Jimenez 4th: Destino. Call. Hawkins I fully expect Polo, Basabe, & Robert to move up a level after about six weeks and remain the primary CF at their respective levels. I think Call & Gonzalez also move up around that time, with someone from extended spring training getting promoted to Kannapolis.

QUOTE (InTheDriversSeat @ Jan 30, 2018 -> 01:27 PM) Robert Feder is usually right on the money, so we can disregard Daily Herald writer Scot Gregor's Tweet about the White Sox going to FM. WMVP actually has an excellent signal (50,000 watts, clear channel regional), although some listeners located west of the towers (which are located in Downers Grove) have complained about reception at night. WLS is a good station. I can think of many other choices that would be worse than WLS. You're in Rockford. Last season, AM 1330 WNTA in Rockford 'Sportsfan Radio 1330' carried all White Sox games. Hopefully the station will renew for 2018. If not, AM 1060 WRHL in Rochelle is a station that reaches Rockford which has aired White Sox game for many years. . What is good about WLS? I live in Elmhurst and can’t get a good signal half the time. And the content on the station outside of White Sox games is dreadful. I’d take pretty much anything over it.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 30, 2018 -> 08:28 AM) Feder reporting Bulls most likely to the Score, Sox most likely to WGN or ESPN 1000. Awesome all around. Did not want to see our Sox end up on FM. Hoping for ESPN 1000 but will be fine with WGN. Anything is better than WLS.

QUOTE (ChiliIrishHammock24 @ Jan 29, 2018 -> 06:39 PM) By runner-up, do you mean...finished 2nd? Or just "these are the other guys we considered"? Because if that means 2nd....then f***, that's amazing. Technically it was “also in the running”, so not necessarily 2nd.

MLBpipeline released their best tools winners out of the top 100. Below are the Sox who were mentioned: Best Power: Jimenez (winner) Best Fastball: Kopech (runner-up) Best Slider: Kopech (runner-up) Best Curve: Cease (runner-up) Best Command: Dunning (runner-up)

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jan 29, 2018 -> 04:39 PM) I honestly don't care (in respect to whether it should still be used or not) if a mascot offends one group or not. I think that as a society, as humans in 2018, we should be able to look at something called Chief Wahoo and collectively agree that it's not a good image to have around. And the reason the white man card keeps getting played is because white men keep coming in here and saying their s***. If white men would more commonly not have horrible takes they wouldn't get picked on so much. I’m pretty sure you just assumed a Native American on this site wasn’t one because he wasn’t offended by this. If you don’t agree with someone’s take on this issue, then simply call them ignorant. You don’t need to play the skin color blame game. Like I said, there are plenty of people of all races & genders who are not offended by this mascot. Just go to a Cleveland Indians game if you don’t believe me. I’m all for getting rid of the logo, I just don’t appreciate people who aren’t offended by this mascot being labeled with this condescending “white man” moniker by a subset of posters here. It’s a dangerous game to make assumptions about people based on their perceived skin color.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jan 29, 2018 -> 03:20 PM) Thank you! "Hey wait a minute....I'm a white man and I enjoy stereotype pictures of other races! I am not offended at all" Always got to play that “white man” card. What would you say to the millions of white people who aren’t offended by Notre Dame’s nickname? I’m all for this logo getting scrapped because of its racist undertones, but please stop playing the “white man” card anytime someone isn’t outraged by something. I’m sure there are plenty of other people of varying races & genders who gives two s***s about this logo.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Jan 29, 2018 -> 12:06 PM) Agreed and when the deadline comes around the Sox will have a better idea of how close Eloy is. Plus, it gives the Sox time to evaluate the progress of Robert and Adolfo. I think Adolfo began turning the corner last year and I'm suspecting a breakout from him this year. IMHO, with the amount of young OF talent in the system, Avi's days are numbered on the south side. I agree that Avi’s days are probably numbered. If Delmonico can show his 2017 stint wasn’t a complete fluke, he quickly makes Avi even more expendable. Having said that, I don’t want to completely rule anything out. If Avi suddenly hits 30+ HRs I may just want to keep him around

I called it a year ago, but with the Marlins having three more desirable OFs that they ultimately sold (plus McCutchen & free agent options), the market just wasn’t going to be there for Avi. We got to hope he can add some power and offset the likely BABIP regression. Then he becomes a potential trade chip at the deadline or a guy worth considering locking up long-term.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 29, 2018 -> 10:44 AM) TBH, that is a thankless industry that is going through monumental change. These guys have no job security and maybe no future depending on what direction things go into. Information is so cheap and easy to access now, careers like journalism and related areas are just being decimated. I have been in Sports information in one form or another is something I have been involved in on the side for most of my adult life, but it is a bad place to be trying to make a living now. If I were him, I would be sticking with finance or accounting too. 100% agree. The uncertainty sucks, but some of those jobs require a ton of travel and/or s***ty working hours. Not necessarily the type of life a lot of people are looking for nowadays.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jan 29, 2018 -> 10:17 AM) Well you probably have schoolwork or something and it might not be your 1st priority but it should be near the top. You have a good camera presence , good knowledge and best of all can express that knowledge in a clear precise and unhesitating manner. I could easily see you doing this on the MLB network as the Sox rep just like Dan Hayes did and unfortunatly Phil Rogers still does. You should get an agent if you don't have one. You already have a decent resume with written, in the field work and in front of the camera. If you would like to continue in the sports field and wish to hear more you can message me. I don't have any "ins" in the field or anything but I have a few more suggestions for in front of the camera work that I wouldn't want to put here. I think raBBit has invested heavily in a career path in finance/accounting and wants to see that through. He no doubt could be a Scott Merkin or Dan Hayes type IMO or even more since he has a far deeper understanding of the game, but I don’t think that interests him at the moment.

Anyone who went Friday or Saturday mind elaborating how long the autograph lines were and how many minutes before a session started did they hand out wrist-bands?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 27, 2018 -> 08:25 PM) Fine, technical term we have more potential than any other org has talent. Yankees and Dodgers included. Everyone hits their "potential" and this team is an unstoppable 120 win menace in 2020, counting a free agent or two. 100 wins is the "a normal amount of guys struggle" level. The Yankees had three guys 25 years old and below combine for 18.3 WAR last year. They have a top 5 prospect in Gleybar Torres, a bunch of other top 100 caliber prospects, plus a ton of prospect depth beyond that. Right now we’re simply hoping that Moncada, Jimenez, & Kopech can match the output of Judge, Sanchez, & Servino. Let’s say they can match them, does Rodon, Anderson, Giolito, Lopez, Robert, Hansen, Cease, Rutherford, Burger, Collins offer more upside than Torres, Frazier, Montgomery, Florial, Andujar, Sheffield, Abreu, Adams, etc? I’d say it’s awfully close and the Yankees have far more certainty at this point.

Sox with seven in the top 100. I’ll update with actual rankings shortly but here is how things roughly shaked out: 04. Jimenez 10. Kopech 28. Robert 54. Hansen 61. Cease 92. Dunning 99. Rutherford Was shocked to see Cease ranked that high, although BP is also super high on him. Glad to see Rutherford crack the very end of the list. Also, Burger & Collins both were ranked top ranked 10 prospects at 3B & C respectively. And Gavin Sheets was an honorable mention for 1B. The top 10 looks pretty damn strong.

Well the rumor was we offered A-Rod 10/$190M back in the day. Tanaka is another one we know about. What did Alex Gordon ultimately sign for? I thought there was a rumor we offered more than the Royals, although that might not have been nine figure. I’m pretty sure we made a massive offer to Torii Hunter, although that was probably closer to $80M. I’m sure there are some we don’t know about. I fully expect us to set a new club record next record next offseason and by an insane margin.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Jan 27, 2018 -> 04:10 PM) Exactly. I love that we’re #4 without counting Moncada, Lopez & Giolito. We have the most young talent in baseball and it’s not even close. I mean, I think the Yankees would disagree. They nearly made the World Series last year behind some young stars and still have a top system. Some of guys need to develop first before we can make that kind of claim IMO.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Jan 27, 2018 -> 09:39 AM) Found it. http://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/white-sox...tfield-prospect Awesome and thanks for sharing. I’m actually pretty excited about this kid. Cordell mentioned in an Athletic article that he feels most comfortable in CF and if he can actually stick there then we might just have something here.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Jan 27, 2018 -> 09:02 AM) Came across an article earlier where Hahn was talking about Cordell. I guess a few teams have called the Sox to try to deal for him. Do you have a link to the article? Would love to read it.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 26, 2018 -> 09:35 PM) Was switching channels and Fox News had a host yapping about how Trump is not getting the credit for the surge in the economy. Said if this was a Democrat everybody would be celebrating in the streets over the economy. FIFY

Bulls tied for the 7th worst record. If they can trade Niko & Lopez I think they can finish bottom five. A potential top five pick combined with Cousins could actually make this team incredibly dangerous very soon.