Eminor3rd

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 3, 2015 -> 10:18 AM) Funny, those aren't the 3 worst guys on the team. And the point I made was people praise s***ty players. Look at Bonifacio. He makes almost as much as Flowers and Beckham combined, and he is a pretty s***ty player, yet gets praised, and we get the "if he is used properly" crap. I would love to see someome in this board "use" a guy "properly" and only have him face pitching from one side. You can't seriously believe that "if used properly" means that a guy LITERALLY has zero at bats against the platoon split. bonifaciotalk.com

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 3, 2015 -> 07:42 AM) 2 of them make about 50% of average, and one of them that makes a lot had an injury. What's wrong is even when they do well, it is basically totally ignored, and if others do just as poorly, that is ignored no matter what they make. Why are you so worried about what they make? The point is that the s***tiest, most overpaid players on a team are ALWAYS the "whipping boys." This isn't some massive conspiracy to slander the Beckham family name. He didn't kill any of our dogs nor steal any of our girlfriends. People just hate the bad players, man, it's normal. Let's give it a rest.

QUOTE (LDF @ Apr 3, 2015 -> 09:28 AM) ok, i need a little info to help me sort out this thing i am having a problem with. can someone, using the advance stat formula or whatever you use, can some one figure out the sox standings in the central with det and cle. i don't know if that can be done or not. i am not too knowledgeable with all that advance stat lingo. my problem is, am i being too much of a white sox homier that i can't see the truth. i keep reading on how many are picking det to win and sox coming in 3rd in the central. with price being a better pitcher than sale. It's complicated and fuzzy. It's really anyone's race. Any of the four AL Central contenders can dominate if "everything goes according to plan," but none of them are well equipped to deal with any significant issues, such as a key injury or two or a star player not living up to expectations. So the team that wins will be the one that mostly "does what they think they'll do." The Sox biggest issues are that (1) John Danks and Hector Noesi both suck, seriously, no matter how much we want them not to suck, so they're going to have to perform significantly better than what they are likely to perform in order to not hold us back (which definitely CAN but probably won't happen), (2) we're a "stars and scrubs" team, in that we rely heavily on our core players to provide transcendent, elite level performance in order to be successful, so if one of them sucks or gets hurt, we see a huge dropoff in production in the replacement (and just by the law of averages, usually SOMEONE gets hurt), and (3) players that do what Avisail Garcia has done are usually terrible, so he's not projected well. We know he's got the tools and he could very well buck the trends, but we have to admit that historical precedent shows us that it's unlikely he does so. It's a vague answer, but it's also the beautiful part of this sport. Anyone can take this thing. Just rest assured that this team has a real shot this year, because that's what matters most. Don't stress, LDF, it's baseball time!

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 2, 2015 -> 04:05 PM) Flowers, Beckham and Danks are the punching bags. Flowers and Beckham can go 3 for 4 and the game if lost will come back to the time they made an out. AKA the worst players on our team that aren't making league minimum. What is strange about that?

RIB HELMET is an awesome band name

Just remember that expectations actually have nothing to do with what is going to happen on the field. I think it's fair to be skeptical -- this team is far from bulletproof -- but don't fear the optimism, because any correlation it has ever had with results is purely coincidence.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 2, 2015 -> 08:07 AM) Besides Mauer, what the heck are the Twins spending all that money on??? Seems crazy their numbers are so high with a rebuilding franchise. A bunch of #4 starters.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Apr 2, 2015 -> 08:26 AM) That Dodgers payroll is just ridiculous. You only have to go down to #9 on the list to find a payroll that's less than half of the Dodgers.

Chris Cwik is a White Sox fan, FWIW

I hadn't realized how high the Royals have crept up.

Lol, was wondering who would be the first to do something like this.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 31, 2015 -> 06:07 PM) I think so. They point out of the obvious flaws in the team (4-5 guys)....possibilities for regression from Abreu and reasons for that, and also how much of the line-up's hopes are pinned on Avisail Garcia being a 20-80-20 SB guy....another example, Eaton also had very high BABIP, and low walk rates, not unlike Abreu (around 8%)...so both need to pick up their walk rates to the 12-15% range to compensate for expected falls in BABIP/returns to normative numbers. Concerns about Gillaspie's late season fade and platoon splits, the catcher's spot and Micah Johnson's ability to make an immediate impact. A bit about the bullpen....not much analysis yet of the impact of Petricka being on the DL, and who will step up to take his place, whether it's Putnam, Guerra, Albers, Leon, etc. Crain I guess had that shoulder setback but should contribute as early as May or June. Thanks for the TL;DR, I can't bring myself to deal with slideshow articles

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 31, 2015 -> 09:21 AM) http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2408778...-season-preview Very comprehensive preview...best ive seen. Wait, what? Bleacher Report? Best preview you've seen?

Omg season please just start.

80-82. I don't believe in Avisail Garcia, I don't believe in the back end of the rotation, and I have to predict that a couple guys get hurt just because usually a couple guys get hurt. If those things happen, the team has some real holes. That said, I'm absolutely hopeful for an awesome season, and even if the team jumps from 60-something wins to 80 wins, it'll still be a very positive thing. A playoff appearance very much COULD happen. But I think it's less than 50% that the team makes the playoffs, so my my best guess seems a little negative.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 27, 2015 -> 01:04 PM) No. They pull a few guys from minor league camp for every game to get them a few AB's in a real game, but they are still in minor league camp. For example you may still see Hawkins play in an ST game. If you look at the stats, there are a dozen or more prospects and minor leaguers who have played in a game so far, that were never in big camp. Ah

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 27, 2015 -> 11:47 AM) Actually, he has said he has a responsibility to the Player's Association. Yeah I'll believe the hometown discount narrative when I see it. It just doesn't make a lot of sense for either player or team to get this thing done without hitting free agency. We need to see what we have before going out a limb, and by the time we see that, Jeff is going to have no reason not to see other offers anyway. Of course, I made a similar logic-based argument about how there was no way we were going to trade for him in the first place, and I was obviously dead wrong. So, who knows. It just doesn't make sense to me.

Hey there, DeMichelle is still in camp!

Ok I'm tired of Spring Training now. Bring the season plz.

Going over this made me feel even better than I did before. Aside from Semien, we really lost nothing of substantial consequence. It was straight upgrades all over the board. I don't know if this year will be the year, but I'll be damned if I thought we'd be able to get this much better this fast while mortgaging so little of the future.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 27, 2015 -> 08:54 AM) Since you can retro the DL 10 days in spring training, start the season with Sale on the DL, and have 8 relievers. The typical long man then won't be needed. Just another guy who could give you 2 innings in a pinch. I don't understand people who would give JR and RH a standing ovation if they waived John Danks, yet have no problem with Brad Penny taking the mound for the White Sox. The guy hasn't been good since Alexei Ramirez left Cuba. If he were lights out this spring, I maybe could understand a spot start, but he has a 6.89 ERA and a 1.787 WHIP. I don't necessarily like Brad Penny in particular, but I do like the idea of having a veteran who could be an adequate swingman. Those guys are hard to come by because, if they're any good, someone will usually give them a full-time rotation spot. FWIW, I'd be just as happy if that swingman was John Danks, but his velocity isn't touching the mid-90's in relief and I'm guessing he's not late enough into his career to accept a role like that willingly.

Penny/Guerra. I actually really like the idea of Penny being able to take spot starts and also serve as a middle reliever. If not Penny, Albers in that slot.

More evidence that Erik Johnson isn't real.

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 26, 2015 -> 08:29 AM) It's just not the time to do this yet. Do something else. He's a pending free agent. When is the right time? Maybe they'll do a Mayan Quetzalcoatl headdress giveaway, too.

This is not a dig on Quintana, this is an attempt to get fans excited about the new star pitcher we got. And they want to give you a hat so you'll come to the game. I cannot fathom being upset about it.