Eminor3rd

Ugh, meant to post this in the main forum. Was here because I was checking for an AAP. Please move, mods. Sorry

Follow the link for video: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/prospect-wa...don-and-garcia/

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 08:50 AM) It's surely not his fault that his guys walked 15 batters. I saw that and came to two possible non-mutually exclusive conclusions: 1) The pitchers were wild 2) The strike zone was small, erratic, and/or inconsistent. I didn't immediately think "hmm, Robin sure f'ed that one up." You hit it on the head when you said, "if he managed it like a 14 inning game, it would have been over in 9."

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 18, 2014 -> 08:28 AM) I especially like all the "Robin is the worst," "Robin has no business managing," "Robin never does anything right why is he still here" when the last manager made just as many or more reprehensible moves, but because the Sox had an incredible year all around in 2005, he gets a free pass as a result. All managers will look bad when their players fail, and all managers will look good when their players succeed. There are questionable moves that have been made, but someone is going to have a coronary if they continue to analyze every single move he makes under a microscope. I think anyone who is blaming Robin for the loss just read the boxscore. If you actually stayed up and watched the game you know it's clearly all on the bullpen performance.

Felipe "Soggy Burrito" Paulino (0-1, 7.98) vs. Martin Perez (2-0, 2.70) This is the first gamethread I've ever made. So if we can win THIS matchup, it's pretty much assured I'll take us through a 135-0 streak. O/U on runs scored against our bullpen: 4.5

http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=91658

This thread is bonkers. This is like stuff from the White Sox Facebook Twitter account.

God this is the worst discussion we have six times a year.

What ever happened to Leyson Septimo? He get claimed?

QUOTE (Bigsoxhurt35 @ Apr 17, 2014 -> 03:27 PM) How about not bring an erratic Cleto in to start the ninth. Webb has been the best arm out of the pen. He should've came in after Downs. I can get the Downs, Petricka and veal because of the LH, RH, LH bats. The easy answer is that Webb pitched the night before.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Apr 17, 2014 -> 02:01 PM) So he brings in the guy who wasn't even on the MLB roster to begin the year in the 8th inning up 2 with a runner on first? That was stupid. That whole 8th inning was poorly managed IMO Literally every reliever we have has been bad this year. He could have flipped a coin.

You and I must not have watched the same game. What I saw was a coach trying to save a two run lead by not letting his pitchers continue to walk three of every four batters they faced. I guess he could have let Veal or Cleto stay in and actually lose the game right then and there, thus eliminating the need to play extra innings.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 17, 2014 -> 01:50 PM) Yeah, Kenny owes Ozzie nothing. The shots I saw of Kenny after the WS victory were of his celebrating pretty wildly. Ozzie had a lot to do with the best period of Kenny's professional life. That wasn't all Kenny, folks. He definitely had SOMETHING to do with it.

Depends if you trust the Pitch F/X or Fangraphs discipline numbers more. According to Pitch F/X, he's laid off more bad pitches. According to Fangraphs, he hasn't. According to both, he's making MUCH more contact on good pitches. The BABIP will drop 80-100 points, so that's bad. The LD rate will drop (thought it's hard to say how much), so that's bad. He's never had a Z-Contact better than ~5% below league average, and he's suddenly 5% over. That's the thing to watch, IMO. Has he stopped swinging so hard in order to make more contact? Good or bad, that could make a real difference. I need to look into how FG calculates discipline numbers relative to Pitch F/X so I can decide which one I want to believe.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Apr 17, 2014 -> 08:50 AM) In what role though? I highly doubt KW is talking manager here. I loves me some Super Joe at 3B coach. Bench coach?? Not sure what to think of Parent. Infield instructor?? I'm not even sure that exists. Or just something like "Latin ambassador"? Popcorn vendor

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Apr 17, 2014 -> 09:35 AM) I didn't know Leury Garcia pitched last night. How is his stuff? Ton of movement on the change-up (77mph), decent movement on his two seamer (88mph). Completely, totally wild though. It was just luck if it landed in the strikezone.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Apr 17, 2014 -> 09:38 AM) I think someone posted this a couple of months ago, citing it as evidence that AJ was a "class act". The bar for "class act" must be pretty low with athletes.

QUOTE (chisoxfan310 @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 11:25 AM) Chris Sale on days he throws a bp session.... Not the worst idea I've ever heard, lol. Just set an exact pitches cap. If he doesn't exceed it, he stays on the field and finishes while everyone is leaving the stadium, haha.

QUOTE (Bigsoxhurt35 @ Apr 17, 2014 -> 07:15 AM) Should have a 1 game lead but since Ventura is our manager... Yeah I can't see any reason at all to blame last night on Ventura. What would you have done differently? Let Cleto or Veal blow the game for the sake of saving more pitchers for extra innings?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 17, 2014 -> 08:15 AM) Webb threw almost 60 pitches, didn't he? He's going to have to sit now until Saturday, probably Sunday. And he's our best pitcher in the bullpen right now. Yeah, dude battled. For sure. Took one for the team.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Apr 17, 2014 -> 07:54 AM) The umps sorta sucked last night. Yeah but like. They walked 15 batters. 13 of them were by pitchers, even.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 17, 2014 -> 08:48 AM) You know who has good control? Dylan Axelrod. I say they bring him back and insert him at closer. But seriously, I don't know why Lindstrom is closing still. He performs much better in middle relief and set up. Move on with the inevitable and insert Webb into the role. He's going to be awesome. He wasn't, really. He was sent in to try to bail out Cleto.

Awesome, awesome article on linear weights and wOBA: http://www.hardballtimes.com/why-woba-works/ Probably the most complete explanation I've seen for free online. Don't have to tell people to buy The Book anymore, haha.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 16, 2014 -> 09:23 AM) The problem is K-rates that high in the minors generally lead to higher K-rates in the majors. I'm not writing him off, but unless he becomes a 30-40 homer guy, I don't think he's going to have much of a career if he doesn't improve making contact. Hopefully, he is currently just going through a bad stretch and it is not a sign of where he's really at, or this arb clock everyone is worried about is moot. Great point. If we're okay with Davidson being a ~25% guy in the Majors, we really want to see him get down to at LEAST 20% in AAA.

Yep, good offseason into a good April so far. Bullpen is painful, but the position players are playing so well that even the losses don't feel as bad.