Eminor3rd

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 20, 2015 -> 11:53 AM) Jose Quintana was pictured rising over the Mexican volcano Popocatepetel earlier this week.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 20, 2015 -> 09:12 AM) This is the player we are talking about. http://streamable.com/oq6h?t=1.2

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Aug 19, 2015 -> 07:11 PM) Nope. He was an above average defensive shortstop 2 years ago and an acceptable one last year. There's little to suggest he couldn't handle third base. I'm not arguing that Hanley's without warts or even that this is the best solution. More arguing against dumb counterarguments at this point. With a team that has been deficient offensively and in need of upgrades at least somewhere, and with a glut of middle infield options under control, and with the virtual non-existence of catchers who can hit, so far I've seen the suggestion of no human who could/should play 3rd base for the White Sox in 2016 other than Tyler Saladino. Anybody who is smart and often has interesting things to say have any other possible thoughts? Eminor? Anyone? There's "can be" and there's "will be." He "can be" a decent defensive LF, but he isn't. It's mental.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Aug 18, 2015 -> 01:12 PM) .907 OPS for 2013-2014. 8.4 fWAR in a season and a quarter (216 games) with decent defense all at shortstop. There is some price in $$ and prospects at which it is a good idea to acquire him. I don't know what that is. If not him, who, to improve at 3rd base? If not 3rd base, improvement from where? Throw infinity dollars at Matt Wieters and his 104 wRC+ (career 99 wRC+)? He got that fWAR by playing a passable SS. Whichever team he's playing for next year isn't getting that out of him.

QUOTE (Knackattack @ Aug 19, 2015 -> 03:01 PM) Some one posted that Flowers pitch framing turns like 1.89 balls into strikes per game and Soto's turns 1.09 balls into strikes. So you're playing Flowers for his pitch framing when he turns 1 extra ball a game into a fcking strike over Soto while Soto has a .818 OPS and 1.5 WAR for Flowers .608 OPS and -0.1 WAR. The problem with this is that there are a ton of independent variables NOT being controlled here. For example: who is pitching? How much credit does the pitcher get? Who is the umpire and what type of strikezone did that umpire have? Sale's control > Samardzija's control, so should Flowers get credit for Sale's ability to dot the corner, while Soto suffers from Samardzija's lack thereof? If the umpire is calling outside strikes one night and the pitcher notices it, proceeds to pound the area off the outside corner all night and gets rewarded, is it really the catcher framing? Or, perhaps better put, how MUCH of it is the catcher framing? This is a burdgeoning field for sabermetrics, but it's still very much the great frontier. The research so far has done a great job of quantifying the overall impact of a ball turned strike (and it's bigger than most previously expected), but we're almost literally still at square one when it comes to assigning credit for that impact.

Ruben Amaro was at our ballpark twice last week watching his nephew play. I should have asked him about Utley, lol.

http://bb_catchers.tripod.com/catchers/cera1.htm

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 18, 2015 -> 08:46 AM) It's the recurring theme with every thread how so and so is so bad, yet if you get in a gamethread, if Joe Maddon is managing the Sox, they might be 80 games over .500 right now. I'm with you on the RV thing, but seriously why do you have to make EVERY thread into an argument about it?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 18, 2015 -> 09:17 AM) For the park he's playing in, his mid-.700s OPS wouldn't be particularly impressive for a DH. Upgrade from LaRoche but not saying much. The bat has been essentially league average so far (101 wRC+) and projects to be a bit better going forward (111 - 125 wRC+ depending on the system). If you thought what he's doing now is what he's going to do going forward, you;d be insane to acquire him. But yeah, a ~120 wRC+ isn't worth $20m per year anyway.

QUOTE (bmags @ Aug 18, 2015 -> 09:21 AM) For what? Why? Your whole stance is that they incorrectly accelerated a rebuild, and you are worried about an extra $7 million we are hamstrung by for one year? Your question is are we nervous about Shark accepting, but no, I would have no reservations about delivering a qualifying offer if the worst case scenario is getting a 200IP pitcher for 1 year, 17 million. I would be shocked if he didn't outperform this year, but even if he did, it has very little ramifications longterm with the exception of possibly/maybe creating a temporary surplus of pitching depth. If that's the worst case scenario, that is certainly worth extending with the hope fo getting a comp pick. It's unquestionable that we should give him the QO. If he accepts, fine. It's a one-year overpay, and we can trade him to get some of that back at the deadline. It would be no different than signing some bounce-back Jason Hammel pitcher and trying to trade him at the deadline.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 17, 2015 -> 11:53 PM) Here's what Shark deserves: 9 to 10 million a year for 4 years. I'd say 3 years but in this day and age four years. Here's what he'll get: 17 to 24 million a year for 5-6 years. Good luck to the team that gives him that kind of dough. Given the relative glut of top-end pitchers available next year, and the fact that Samardzija is pitching like a 3/4 starter, I'd be shocked if he gets more than James Shields money at this point. That said, I don't want the Sox to give it to him anymore than I wanted the Sox to give it to James Shields last year.

Hanley is a DH. He's more than capable of playing a decent LF, he's not doing it because he doesn't give a s***. I don't see any reason to believe that would change if he was moved to 3B.

Advanced fielding stats currently take ab out three years of data before they are reliably predictive. Also, at least last year, there was significant disagreement between UZR and DRS, with the latter grading him out as above average. Right now, I think he most likely grades out as "just fine" defensively. He's not a problem out there, and he's hitting well, so we should just leave it alone.

Loved this signing. What a clunker.

THAT was GIFable

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 14, 2015 -> 02:49 PM) What is really interesting is to compare the offensive numbers of Soler and Avi. That is interesting, indeed. Identical wRC+. More pop for Avi, more on-base for Soler. Strangest part is that Soler's plate discipline looks great, while Avi's look embarrassingly bad (from the Pitch FX numbers). Seems like Soler should be making a lot more contact, but he's actually striking out more than Avi. I wonder if he's got the Marcus Semien problem where he can't handle two-strike counts well.

QUOTE (shipps @ Aug 14, 2015 -> 02:42 PM) I am not going to try to convince everyone that Avi will be a good ball player. When he reaches his potential all his haters will act like they always knew he had potential I am sure. I won't. I'll eat hats or whatever. And I'll only be bitter about it if it happens when he;s on another team. I love it when Avi gets hits -- it feels like finding money on the ground in the parking lot. I'm really glad Avi just drove those two runs in, but he's still in the midst of a sub-replacement-level season.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Aug 13, 2015 -> 02:23 AM) Melky is not the reason that KC keeps owning the SOX. greg lost a bet a while back and now he can only post here if it's about the Royals. Sometimes he has to make some big stretches, but you can't fault him for trying. He just wants to post.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 6, 2015 -> 09:29 AM) They can talk mechanics all they want with Avi. It comes down to swinging at pitches he can actually hit hard, unless he's in protection mode. If he figures that out, he will be really good. If he doesn't, he'll be what he is. This. Defensively, well. That's another issue. But if he learns to hit, he'll at least be a positive contributor.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 6, 2015 -> 07:30 AM) He's been one of the worst outfielders in baseball and the White Sox insist they have a roster ready to compete right now. If they have a roster ready to compete right now then they can't afford to give time for one of the worst outfielders in baseball to develop.

I am not in favor of a scorched-Earth rebuild and don't think it's necessary under the current playoff structure. No team is ever going to look good when nearly all of its players perform below expectations, yet it happens to half the team in baseball every year. Sometimes you try and just don't win. I don't think the core fo the team is as hopeless as they've looked this year, and with a good offseason, I think the Sox can be legitimate contenders for the next few years. Not powerhouses, but in the race.

Haha

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 02:28 PM) How about the outside chance that the Sox know they have a great chance of extending Samardzija once the season ends, but only if he's still on the team? There's literally NO reason for Samardzija to extend before free agency. Even if he wants to return, he can get more money leveraging other deals.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 02:25 PM) I generally understand that and I think Cubs fans do too... They've spent so many years selling on the future that they're all convinced "even if we don't make the playoffs this year we're going to start rocking the next few years and keep getting better". I still remain kinda surprised they haven't moved Baez for something. My pet theory is that on one actually likes Baez. Every fan/writer has been virtually-trading Baez for three years now. Everyone seems to understand that THEY don't want to deal with the low floor, but assume that another team will pay for the high ceiling.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 31, 2015 -> 02:24 PM) The poster said we had no top 100 position player who could contribute next year, but we clearly have one who can. There's no way Micah Johnson is considered top 100 at this point.