Chicago White Sox

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 26, 2012 -> 09:39 PM) I'm not as optimistic as you, but that's why I'm suprised so many people pick the Sox to finish last. They could arguably have the 2nd best rotation in the division. SI picked us 5th and predicted less than 70 wins. I'm just not sure how's that's possible with our rotation. We'd have to suffer a couple serious injuries to our rotation suck that bad IMO. We just have too much talent and potential otherwise to be that bad.

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 26, 2012 -> 06:40 PM) Rotation is official: Danks, Peavy, Floyd, Sale, Humber (shocker) Rangers will start Darvish on April 8th or 9th. 8th is the Sox on Sunday Night Baseball vs Floyd. I'm really excited about our rotation. If they can stay healthy, I think we'll have a chance at making the playoffs.

Could Nate Jones actually make the opening day roster?

This is just another example why every newspaper article and tweet does not require its own thread.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 20, 2012 -> 10:28 AM) Kind of surprised McPherson survived longer than Martinez or Kuhn. The battle lines now are... BULLPEN DEFINITE: Thornton, Crain, Ohman, Reed BULLPEN CANDIDATES (2 or 3 - I bolded my prediction of who makes the roster): Axelrod, Bruney, Jones, Santiago, Septimo, Stewart, Stults BENCH DEFINITE: Lillibridge, Flowers BENCH CANDIDATES (2 or 3, probably 2): Escobar, Gallagher, Johnson, McPherson, Olmedo, Saladino, Danks This means there isn't a true backup for CF, but De Aza and Rios can both play there. Everything else is covered pretty well. Sounds like Santiago is pretty much a definite based on Merkin's article. Also, I really hope Bruney doesn't make the opening day roster.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 12, 2012 -> 01:31 PM) Beckham in particular...needs to hit his way there, after his last 2 seasons. But if it's between him and A.J., I'll take a chance on the guy who might be able to fill the role well rather than the guy we already know can't.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Mar 12, 2012 -> 09:01 AM) The number one characteristic or ability of the number two batter is to take pitches. This enables the lead-off hitter to see a pitch or two and get a read on the pitcher before deciding to steal a base, as well as give the number three hitter on the on-deck circle and the clean-up guy in the hole a chance to observe a few pitches before coming to the plate. With that said, you could arguably make the case that AJ is the last person on this team who ought to be hitting in that slot. He swings at the first pitch about as often as anyone in the league, and while he does make a lot of contact, often times it's weak, resulting in easy grounders to the right side. So if DeAza continues to be the get-on-base type of player he was last season, you'd hate to waste those efforts with a guy who could erase things in the blink of an eye with a 4-6-3 double play. Just my opinion, but for me, it's 'no way, AJ!' as the number two hitter. Having the top of the lineup take a lot of pitches also helps wear the opposing starting pitcher out. Honestly, there is no good reason to have A.J. in the two hole. There may not be a clear cut choice at this point, but clearly A.J. has none of the traits you'd like in a #2 hitter. I'd probably just start the season with Beckham as the #2 hitter.

Right now, I see these guys competing for the last 3 bullpen spots: LR (RH) - Axelrod/Stewart, with the loser starting in the season in the Knights' rotation. LR (LH) - Santiago/Leesman/Veal/Hernandez, with Santiago the early favorite. MR (RH) - Infante/Marinez, although a spring standout could land this spot.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Mar 4, 2012 -> 03:01 PM) What's the MLB record for GIDP...?! Yup, I think GIDPs will be a huge issue with top half or so of the lineup.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 3, 2012 -> 03:45 PM) AJ's still a crappy option as the 2nd hitter, but the people need to earn it otherwise and prove that there's a better option. The lineup gets very right handed from 3-9, especially if Dunn struggles at all. Viciedo, Ramirez, Morel, and Beckham might never see a left handed reliever. I agree that A.J. is a crappy #2 hitter. I want some OBP from that spot and A.J. has a career .324 OBP. Then you have Rios in the 3 hole sporting a career .323 OBP. Plus those two guys hit into a ton of double-plays. So my question is who is actually going to be on base when Konerko gets up to bat? I'm glad De Aza is penciled into the leadoff spot right now, but I'm not feeling the rest of the top of the lineup. I know there aren't a ton of great options on our team, but I'd be willing to roll the dice on Beckham in the 2 hole. Not sure about the 3 & 4 spots, but I'd most likely just use some combination of Konerko and Dunn.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 1, 2012 -> 03:10 PM) Scott Merkin ‏ @scottmerkin Don't completely rule out Nestor Molina for a bullpen job, although he really would have to be dominant over next month That would be f***ing stupid. No matter where Molina begins the season, which should be AA, he needs to be starting. He needs to build up arm strength and be positioned to replace Peavy in the rotation in 2013.

Linebrink.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Feb 29, 2012 -> 09:21 PM) I kind of liked Jerry's quotes in that story. We might suck, but I can't argue with his reasoning of how the team conceivably could be good. As long as you have starting pitching, you always have a chance. I have no idea how our staff will ultimately turn out, but a rotation of Danks, Peavy, Floyd, Sale, & Humber has a chance to be very, very good. That's why I think it's foolish to completely rule out the Sox next year.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 24, 2012 -> 01:45 PM) I almost want to throw the "I'd ban myself" cliche post for Morel hitting 30 homers in a season. I just can't see it happening in the game today. Only four 3B hit 30 HRs last year, so expecting Morel to do so is crazy. However, the position is less of a power position now as evident by no other 3B hitting more than 17 last year. If Morel can get hit 20 with his defense he'd be incredibly valuable.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 22, 2012 -> 05:40 PM) There's a fair amount of year over year variability that shows up in those numbers I've never seen accounted for well, but generally, both Wrigley and the Cell play as hitter's parks. Here's both Rotoworld and BleacherReport showing Wrigley as one of the best hitters parks in the game, slightly above the Cell. Here's a 5 year average showing Wrigley as the 3rd and the Cell as the 4th best hitters park. If you go through ESPN's Year by Year numbers, last year both parks played a bit big, but if you flip back a few years, Wrigley consistently shows up in the top 10, is #3 a couple times, and the Cell is up there as well. I don't think you can tell me Wrigley is a better hitter's park than the Cell, but you can't say the Cell is massively better than Wrigley either. Most likely they're pretty close to a wash and the exact position depends on the number of days the wind blows out. Thus, you're basically putting Fukudome into a similar park. If his slugging goes up because of the park, it's because of some peculiarity he's exploiting, not because of anything systematic. Fair enough...for some reason I thought the wind blew in at Wrigley more.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 22, 2012 -> 02:14 PM) Compared to Wrigley? Do you have any numbers that show how much a park inflates/deflates offensive stats for a player on average?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 22, 2012 -> 01:19 PM) What exactly makes you think that? His career OPS vs. RHP is .775 & he showed major decline last year? I think some of the decline can be attributed to switching teams/leagues mid-season. I think having a full spring training to prepare will help with that aspect. Also, I would think playing half his games in USCF will increase his slugging a little bit.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Feb 22, 2012 -> 12:03 PM) What I read from this: Stewart is gonna be a starter in AAA. That would be fantastic. I'd love to see him, Castro, & Santiago all in Charlotte's rotation to start the season. Have Axelrod be the long-man to start the season.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 22, 2012 -> 09:34 AM) If we have a shot to win, we are not winning without Dayan Viciedo raking. It really is that simple. Kosuke Fukudome putting up a .750 OPS if we're lucky in the 2 spot will not make this team competitive. You're right, but I'd rather look at the overall production of the position. I think Viciedo is more likely to put up a .850 OPS or higher in 450 at-bats if he faces all LHP and sits against tough RHP (based on matchup). I honestly think Fukudome can give us close to a .800 OPS in the remaining RF at-bats, which I'm predicting would be a lot higher than what Viciedo would put up in those same at-bats. Overall, you'd be getting very good production out of RF this way.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 22, 2012 -> 07:59 AM) If Dayan Viciedo needs to play his way into playing time over a veteran, put him at Charlotte and stop the charade. Or Hell, just release him. LOL...you aren't one for the drama. You view 2012 simply as a developmental season. Some people think we have a shot to win. I'm looking to balance the two, at least at the beginning of the season. I think Fukudome can be extremely valuable to us in the #2 spot against RHP. I want to get his bat into lineup as much as possible against RHP in April. That means Rios and Viciedo will need to sit sometimes and I'm fine with that. Viciedo had a sub .500 OPS against RHP last year. I'd rather pick matchups where he can succeed initially and gradually give him more playing time througout the season. I'm not so sure having him struggle terribly is necessarily better for his development. Some guys that struggle early on develop bad habits and get away from what made them successful in the first place.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Feb 21, 2012 -> 12:02 PM) The got rid of Ozzie. They improved. Even with Robin's inexperience, getting rid of Ozzie should be worth several wins. He was that bad last year.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 19, 2012 -> 10:23 PM) Not a chance. Unlikely sure, but "Not a chance" is just ridiculous.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Feb 19, 2012 -> 09:21 AM) At the very least it is a serious black eye on the Williams administration and deserves much more blame for the current state of Sox player development than it has been given. You're 100% right about the effect the Wilder fiasco has had on the system. We've basically had no Latin America operations (excluding Cuba) since then and it shows. But who hasn't acknowledged that?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 18, 2012 -> 08:22 PM) Last sentence translation: If Viciedo struggles in the bigs, I'd rather have him get 600 PA's to have a chance to work through those struggles than sit on the bench. If you're going to put him on the bench for more than a few days, then send him to AAA and let him resume raking. There is no way that I'm going to be happy if he gets more "Rest" than others on the roster. If he's hitting .220, then either keep running him out there or send him to Charlotte. Do not make Fukudome a starter in his place, or even a platoon player. If De Aza struggles in the bigs, I'd rather have him get 600 PA's to have a chance to work through those struggles, so that we can see if he's a legit option for 2013. He might turn it on after a couple months of struggling. Put him out there until we've seen enough to decide if he's a 2013 starter. If he goes to the bench for Fukudome, then that ought to be it for him. If Rios struggles again, I don't care what happens to him. You can bench him for Fukudome and I promise not to be mad. So you have no interest in trying to compete next year? Got it.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 18, 2012 -> 03:37 PM) If he's going to struggle...he's going to struggle. He's not going to stop struggling while sitting on the bench. Put him in there. Play him. What you just wrote is a path to 400-450 plate appearances. If he's healthy, he needs 600. If he's going to play 2 games out of every 3, just put him back in Charlotte. How is 450 at-bats considered being on the bench? Viciedo has shown he can crush LHP at the major league level, but he's got a sub .600 career OPS against RHP. I know that's based off a small sample size, but it shows he's going to need to make some adjustments. Let him play against all lefties and the righties he matches up well against, make the necessary adjustments, and build some success. If he proves himself, then he can continue to get more and more at-bats. If Viciedo, Fukudome, Rios, and De Aza are all playing well, then figuring out how to divide playing time is a good problem to have. I'm not too worried about that though, as at least one of them is likely to suck and that player's at-bats will likely be reduced.