Eminor3rd

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jun 8, 2015 -> 11:10 AM) He doesn't strike out as much as I would have thought he would. 20% k-rate last year, 16% the year before. He also doesn't walk much either, or hit for a very good average. I don't know what his defense is like, but if he's an above average fielder, I'd give him a flier for sure. EDIT: Apparently he was known as a defensive wizard in the minors, Goldstein at one point calling him the best defensive 3B in all the minors. Apparently that sentiment has not translated in to glowing advanced metrics so far, but he seems to pass the smell test. One reason for the metrics not loving him are that the Astros shift a TON and shifts aren't accounted for in fielding metrics, so that could skew his numbers poorly. Yeah he was supposed to be glove-first when he was coming up with the Marlins. I'd certainly give him a flyer but maybe I'm just falling for the name, as I remember when he was a legit prospect.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Jun 7, 2015 -> 06:10 PM) Here's a potential problem. What if Samardzija accepts the qualifying offer? I'd GLADLY gamble 1/15 on Samardzija next year at this point.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 5, 2015 -> 08:34 PM) Maybe that's more of an indictment of the philosophy of trying to rebuild through FA and win-now trades than it is an issue with teams gelling. Or it's just more of an argument that this was never going to be a one-year turnaround. And I still don't think it is. If the Sox end up 81-81, it's a huge win, IMO. You get a draft pick for Samardzija, keep everyone else, and you enter the offseason needing to add 4-6 more wins to be a playoff team.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jun 5, 2015 -> 09:30 PM) A win's a win! If we end up anywhere near .500, this should be the motto for the season.

QUOTE (LDF @ Jun 5, 2015 -> 04:56 PM) i still think this signings except for 1 is Hahn's doing. my question is why hasn't they gelled??? they are vet's and not young players, something is not happening. 10-15 teams ask that question every season.

McDaniels' latest update: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-mock-dr...placement-post/

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jun 5, 2015 -> 10:33 AM) Walter O'Malley. Thanks!

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Jun 5, 2015 -> 11:17 AM) The fact the Rangers have one leftie in the pen and our left handed hitters did not pinch hit last night still irks me. Especially for Ramirez or Cabrerra and probably should have for Beckham and FLowers as well Also if Ventura is only going to use Robertson in save situations, he has no need on the team and will get rusty more times than being sharp. Has he pitched in the last week? When he blows his next opportunity (ala Toronto after a week lay off) this can be the number one reason. Ventura is not getting better at his job. I actually agree with the Robertson sentiment, but there are very few managers who would have done it any differently. That's just an "old school cardinal rule" thing.

QUOTE (Big Hurtin @ Jun 5, 2015 -> 10:34 AM) If Williams and Hahn are teflon, could they at least get rid of some scouts / advisors? Whoever thought that giving Melky Cabrera and Adam Laroche those deals was a good idea needs to be gone. There are teams with far better track records of seeing things that the White Sox obviously don't. Who was the last non-pitcher that they "hit" on? Everybody and their brother was in on Abreu, so I don't include him. LaRoche is performing, at worst, SLIGHTLY below expectations, and that's only because he's traded some homers for walks, which isn't something we would like to see him do. He's sitting on a 117 wRC+ against a career wRC+ of 113. And no scout in the country thought Melky Cabrera would have a 48 wRC+.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 5, 2015 -> 08:35 AM) We're always one or two years late. Dunn, Downs, Keppinger, Cabrera, LaRoche, dealing Alexei, Samardzija/selling low on Semien... Was is Veeck that said "I'd rather trade a player one year early than one year late"?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 5, 2015 -> 08:27 AM) I disagree, I feel like I've been hearing a lot of that, and not just on this board. I will admit the back end of the bullpen does not warrant much criticism, as it's hard as can be to fill out, even with a good bullpen. It's the difference between holding Melky Cabrera responsible for his own bad play and claiming that the team wouldn't have been successful even IF Melky & friends had performed as expected.

The Astros will give up less for an equally talented rental before they give up enough to make us satisfied for Quintana. And if we did that, we're starting a rebuild again. Guys, jesus.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Jun 4, 2015 -> 11:42 PM) Let me make this point, I am not saying that the Sox should just dump Quintana. Im saying that if a deal is there, and the Sox feel like theyre getting a return thats acceptable based on how they value Q, thatbthwy shouldn't be afraid to trade him. You could say that about literally every player. The problem is that there's really nothing more valuable than a star level player who is ALSO signed to a long-term, below-market-rate contract. And a one-for-one deal with another one of those players does nothing for us because we do NOT have the pitching depth to replace him. It would be robbing Peter to pay Paul or whatever. So unless some team wants to give us TWO players like that, or at least one and some significant prospects, it doesn't make sense to shuffle the roster and break even. And that's just not going to happen anyway. No one is going to blatantly overpay. Or at least, if they do, we'll never be able to see it coming because it won't make any sense, and therefore it's silly to talk about it like it's a legitimate plan.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 3, 2015 -> 05:32 PM) And that's all the players' fault, not the front office's fault, at least that's what I've been told. That's a ridiculous twisting of a lot of words. It's Dan Jennings fault that Dan Jennings sucks. No one ever said the make-up of the roster wasn't the fault of the front office. But if you want to treat lack of bullpen depth like an obvious issue that was reasonably fixable, then show me where you pointed it out during the offseason, and explain to me why it's reasonable to expect that the FO could turn the worst bullpen in baseball into a bulletproof squad that's three deep with MLB options from both sides of the rubber over the course of four months.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 5, 2015 -> 12:15 AM) LaRoche is done, just a tad better than Paulie at the end (that grounder he hit up the middle into the shift made me laugh; how can he be so stubborn or dumb?). You're joking, right? You think Adam LaRoche can hit a grounder up the middle on purpose?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 4, 2015 -> 02:42 PM) I know it's only Charlotte but Drabek's numbers overall seem pretty impressive since he's been sent down. 2.36 ERA, WHIP barely above 1.0, K-rate better than it was when he was a top prospect with the blue jays. Is he starting? I don't think there's ever been a successful starter after two TJs for more than a season.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 4, 2015 -> 02:01 PM) He's in A ball as a 19 year old. The ERA isn't great, the WHIP isn't great, he isn't striking out a ton, he's walking about 1 every 2 innings, but he is 19 and he does throw 100, so I wouldn't say he's a bust. Too many things can go wrong IMO with HS pitchers picked that high, especially when you had Rodon sitting there. Right -- no one should expect him to be dominating yet, it's just a matter of all that stuff surviving the 4 years it'll take him to develop into a ML pitcher.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 4, 2015 -> 01:53 PM) Supposedly they worked on his delivery a bit, in an effort to improve his command and control. It looked like it worked vs. Houston. Hopefully it continues tonight. Either way, he's tough to hit. If he isn't walking you and getting behind, he is going to be hard to do much against. If he has cleaned it up and he does have command, Houston and Miami will soon be wondering what they were thinking last draft. More than anyone else on our team (aside from maybe Danks), the key with Rodon is getting ahead in the count. His slider is good because it looks EXACTLY like his fastball. But if hitters know about it and they aren't forced to swing, they're gonna sit and walk. It's a deception pitch, unlike Sale's slider, for example, that he can throw for a strike and guys swing and miss on it because it's so bendy. Basically, I think Rodon will be most successful if he treats his slider like a splitter or circle change.

Trading Quintana would be filling a hole via tearing open a new one. The reason I wouldn't trade Quintana for a bat upgrade, even if it was a slightly better overall player, is because Quintana comes with that incredible contract. If you move him, you just bought 20 starts from Scott Carroll/Hector Noesi on top of your bat upgrade that probably costs more money and comes with less control than Quintana in the first place.

QUOTE (harkness @ Jun 4, 2015 -> 10:19 AM) LaRoche is better than Abreu at first base? I've seen more of Abreu so maybe its not fair but I've seen Abreu make a bunch of great throws and great plays on bullets. I remember one or two bullets at LaRoche and they have went right through him. Not sure on the conclusion that LaRoche is better at first. I'm guessing this is a case of not seeing a representative sample, because Jose Abreu has made at least 4 terrible errors this year that I can think of off the top of my head.

Awesome article about the relative values of OBP vs. SLG depending upon roster construction: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/mark-trumbo...of-obp-and-slg/

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jun 4, 2015 -> 10:49 AM) Quintana was a 5 WAR pitcher last year and has a great contract. There is no reason to trade him.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 4, 2015 -> 08:09 AM) TBH, I'm willing to accept a dropoff in defense in exchange for not relegating Abreu to the DH role so early in his career I'm not sure how valuable that really is. Playing first base would help his WAR, sure, but I don't think it's helping the team, because the fact is that he's a bad defender that isn't likely to get noticeably better. I think we have a better chance to win this year with LaRoche in the field, and I don't see much reason to believe that won't hold true in the future too with whoever else we get after LaRoche.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 3, 2015 -> 05:27 PM) I think the idea that Rick Hahn has some completely different plan that is being stifled by everyone here is just silly. First of all, Rick Hahn cut his teeth with the White Sox. If anyone has an idea of how the front office of the White Sox is run, it is Rick. The guy has worked for this team for over a decade. He knows very clearly the organizational structure here, and he knows it infinitely better then any of us on Soxtalk. Second of all, Hahn had teams knocking on his door, trying to get him to interview with them. The Trib article about Rick's promotion stated that at least five different teams came after him at various points. Taking the assumption that Rick Hahn understood what he was getting into with the White Sox, and the fact that despite having many other teams after him, he turned them all down and waited for a promotion here, you can only make the reasoned point that even with the understanding of how the White Sox are run, he wanted to be here. Not only did he want to be here, he wanted to be here more than just about anywhere else. If he didn't, he would have either taken these other interviews, or waited out his contract to find a better organization. None of that actually happened. The only reasonable conclusion is that knowing his market for another job, and knowing how the Sox are run, he wanted to be here. Finally, knowing that both Kenny and Jerry had what ever level of input that was related to Rick in the promotional process, Rick Hahn was also fine with that. He also was accepting of whatever long term strategic plan that was related to him over the course of his time with the organization. When he accepted the promotion, he knew damned well his level of power, the approval process within the organization, and the long term plan for the franchise. Again, if he didn't like any of it, he wouldn't have taken the position. There are only two reasonable conclusions that can be had here. #1, Rick Hahn is totally on board with whatever plan was discussed along they way. #2 Rick Hahn is perfectly willing to accept whatever directives that Jerry and Kenny have put together for this team. Now what are the levels of input and freedom that Rick has? Who knows. Whatever it is, it is something that was established years ago, and involves upper management pretty intimately. To me is also obvious that upper management is OK with what Rick Hahn wants to do, and Rick Hahn is OK with what Kenny and Jerry want to do. If all three of them weren't OK with it, some combination of Rick and Kenny wouldn't be here. They almost have to be on the same page. None of these guys is functioning independent of the others, otherwise this set up would have never happened. No matter who is the "primary" thought guy here, this is a team effort. And this pretty much represents the extent of what we can infer about how the FO runs.

QUOTE (LDF @ Jun 3, 2015 -> 06:28 PM) and who was at fault?? We don't know. Some combination of fate and the collective that runs the White Sox. The good news is that it's only important to us if we insist on having a scapegoat to blame. It really doesn't matter at all. I understand why we, as fans, all WANT to have enough information and insight to make hiring/firing decisions for our favorite team, but the fact is that we just don't and we never will.