nickofypres

They could probably play there another 60 years, IMO.

QUOTE (MAX @ Feb 7, 2013 -> 12:57 AM) Is that a joke? I guess OBP is fairly new to the back of cards. Slugging goes pretty far back though. It was a serious question. I didn't get into baseball until 2004. I thought OBP and SLG weren't used until the early-mid 2000s.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Feb 6, 2013 -> 07:14 PM) I'm already f***ing sick of reading how good the tigers are going to be. Ditto. Not sold on em.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Feb 6, 2013 -> 10:59 PM) *ahem* They used OBP and Slugging in 1998?

Santiago will probably get the nod until he implodes. 4.23 FIP 4.33 xFIP 5.16 tERA 4.50 SIERA Was his August, and September meltdowns due to regression, league adjustment or just because he never pitched that many innings before? They got almost 200 IP out of him between Charlotte and Chicago.

Beckham produces and/or Danks is back to 100%

Peavy's gutless pitching vs Detroit always made my blood boil. Seems like he would cruise till about the 5th then implode. Sox really need to learn to beat Detroit and Kansas City.

Youk, AJ, Konerko, Dunn are older players and Sale, Q, and Peavy either hadn't pitched that many innings in years, or ever, so I think that played a part. Robin also seemed more hands on towards the end of the season that seemed to backfire (running into a lot of outs), etc. Just need the young guys to mature, hopefully Peavy, Sale, and Q (if he doesn't regress, which he probably will) can last longer, and some of the vets can avoid injury I think the Sox can compete.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 24, 2013 -> 03:21 PM) Scott Merkin ‏@scottmerkin Thigpen on ceiling of White Sox bullpen: "How good can the group be? Best in baseball. I think." I agree.

Our bullpen lost us 23 games last year, hopefully with Lindstrom, and no rotation of closer to start the year we can reduce that number by a good margin.

I agree with Thigpen, I think this bullpen could be the class of the league this year.

I'm anxious to see the new campaign.

I appreciate the input, you guys.

Thanks, Reddy.

I'm trying to lose weight. If it isn't a problem, can anyone give me some tips on what to avoid (similar to the small discussion about granola)? Thanks.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 21, 2013 -> 07:04 PM) I don't see them being the "Favorites", because Detroit is legitimately a solid team on paper. If you just do things on paper with people doing kinda what they did last year, but getting Danks back...the Sox become an upper 80's win team and Detroit becomes a low-90's win team with what they're adding. I guess it's all a point of perspective.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Jan 21, 2013 -> 11:09 AM) Same guy predicted a last place finish for the Sox last year. However, he makes a few good points. The backloaded contract hell comment doesn't really make sense, though. If Rios has a decent year, Dunn hits 40+ HRs again, and Konerko is better after the surgery, the Sox have a chance to compete within the division. The pitching looks pretty good right now, especially if Danks returns to form. This. If the hitters play to their career norms (with the exception being the Flowers types who don't have a lot of time under their belt), and the pitching stays healthy, I think the Sox should be the favorites.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jan 21, 2013 -> 06:02 PM) I think it's a cost-benefit analysis at the time. That's the core of what we're saying. It's not about "go for it" or "don't go for it," it's about "what can I do to improve this team? What does that cost? Does the situation call for trading the future value it will cost for the present value I'll get?" Depends on who is available and how far ahead or behind we are. I LOVED how KW handled the deadline last year. Those acquisitions were very close to getting us to the playoffs and they cost us NOTHING. Play those few months out a bunch of times and I bet we make the playoffs at least half of them. We had a very real chance -- all we had to do was not collapse at the end -- and we sacrificed almost nothing for the foreseeable future. Exactly. Great post, Eminor3rd.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 19, 2013 -> 03:44 PM) I don't think either of those is more likely. I think they're about equally likely, because I think they're about a 90 win team, so a whole lot would have to go wrong for them to be below .500, just like a awhole lot would have to go right for them to close in on 100 wins. Right, and I wasn't advocating 80 wins for say, more or less I don't think they're as OP as they're given credit for.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 19, 2013 -> 03:37 PM) I think Detroit has probably gone from being an 88 win team to a 91-92 win team with Martinez back, Sanchez for the full year, and Hunter in the fold. They could be seriously better than that...but they could also be worse. Injuries always play in, and a small decrease in performance from Cabrera if he doesn't get in quite as good of shape this offseason or has his ankle go bad again at 3b could hit as well. Why you play the games. Right, obviously anything can happen in baseball, they very well could win 100 games, or only 80 games. But, I feel that given the evidence, and the circumstances, the latter is more likely.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 19, 2013 -> 03:18 PM) They are a solid team and are the favorites to win this division. But hell, the favorites to win this division never seem to win this division. I know they've won the division two years running, but remember, in 2011 they were an 89 win team (pyth), and Cy Young winning Verlander made them look better than they actually were (6.3 WAR), but hardly the as great as their W-L advertised. Last season it took the Sox not being able to beat them and a Sox collapse to get the division title and their rotation (which is pretty good, can't knock it too much), but that's what got them into the World Series. Not to mention they got the luxury of playing Oakland at home for two games despite Oakland having the better record. Not to mention their defense except for Jackson, and Infante isn't all that great, their bullpen is suspect and, like the Sox, Detroit has question marks in their line up. Can Martinez produce? Can Dirks put up those numbers over a whole season? Can Hunter prove his 2012 wasn't a fluke despite a high BABIP in a hitters park. I'm not saying the Tigers are awful, or that they're not any good, but I gotta look at things from all perspectives. I know the media is going to slobber over Detroit, KC, and probably Cleveland, but I find them overrated. I felt the same way last year.

We won the home opening series against them too. I know its going to sound biased, but I'm still not overly sold on Detroit.

Sox are usually competitive every year. Yeah, the Sox don't go to the playoffs every year, but under Jerry and Eddie the Sox have been competitive most years, or at least projected to compete, especially over the last 10-12 years. I think most of us wish they would make the playoffs more, but going into most springs you know the Sox are going to be in the race until September. I mean, what could a fan base wan't more? Obviously its not the Yankees, but its better than being the Royals, Pirates, Cubs, etc. EDIT: Leaves me a question, what does Einhorn do? Is he still a majority owner like JR, or?

I would take Javy on the cheap for the #5 spot.

I don't think Detroit is really all that much better than us.