lasttriptotulsa

QUOTE (Coach @ Sep 21, 2016 -> 09:54 AM) Your sarcasm is not appreciated. It seems all you wish to do is cut others down instead of making an intelligent response. I was trying to make a point that winning starts from the top and as long as players are not held accountable, how can a team expect to win if management does not care so much. If you are coaching little league team or an adult rec team, would you put players out there that don't hustle or play the right way? Of course not. So why shouldn't major leagues who get played a lot of money to play a kid's game be held accountable? The vast majority of this team plays hard day in and day out. You have no idea whether management cares or not. To assume they do not is just asinine. What is your solution? To sit Melky Cabrera because of one ball you in all your expertise claim he didn't charge hard enough. Who plays then? Coats? Shuck? That is supposed to give us a better chance to win than Melky Cabrera? Come on. These are not 12 year old kids. They've been playing ball for 15+ years. The problem is not the effort. The problem is the talent.

QUOTE (Coach @ Sep 21, 2016 -> 06:24 AM) The other day, I posted on this site on how Melky did not charge the ball on a single and this allowed the KC runner to score. Had he charged it, the runner would have been out by plenty since it was a close play at home anyways. A desire to win would have prevented the run from scoring. Holding players accountable for this type of lazy play would send a very strong message throughout the dugout and organization. I am only using this one example. I have seen guys not hustle on grounders, jogging to the next base, bad leadoffs, etc. and basically not enough aggressive play on both offense and defense. But just for the record, this is not on all players, just some but it costs because this sport is a team effort and the little things add up. As long as management from the top down is ok with this type of behavior, winning will never come no matter the talent. How do you not have a job as a MLB manager yet? You seem to have all the answers.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Sep 21, 2016 -> 08:23 AM) Defensively in right field, yes. Great to see the White Sox playing him much of September in center. No, not just in right field. Overall. He is on pace for 6-6.2 WAR this season. That is well above All-Star level, borderline MVP caliber.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Sep 15, 2016 -> 03:21 PM) I figure Shields will be back next year. Question then becomes do we bring up Fulmer or keep Gonzalez or both? Shields will definitely be back. His value is so low right that there's no point in trying to trade him. You just hope for a rebound. I really think this back thing is what is bothering him and hopefully the offseason helps him get over it. Next year I think the job is Gonzalez's to lose. Fulmer probably isn't quite ready. Hopefully he gets stretched out in the minors and if one of Shields or Gonzalez falters he will be ready to go.

This is the James Shields we need next year. If we get him the rotation is going to be stellar. Probably top 5 in baseball.

QUOTE (bmags @ Sep 15, 2016 -> 11:02 AM) Is Anderson really faster than Eaton? I'd bet Eaton is faster from home to first, though his swing probably plays a bit into it. That and the fact that he has 3-4 foot less to run to get there.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 15, 2016 -> 07:52 AM) Unfortunately minor league numbers didn't hold up for Micah Johnson at all. Once you get to AA and above, it's a different story. You're basing that statement on the grand total of 38 games Micah Johnson has played in in which he has attempted 5 stolen bases?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Sep 14, 2016 -> 06:14 PM) Doesn't really make sense for the Dodgers. They don't need another highly paid often injured sort of not bad outfielder Huh? How is a guy with a .306/.371/.537 slash with 27 HRs, 82 RBIs, a 3.2 fWAR and 4.4 bWAR a "sort of not bad outfielder". He also has played in at least 135 games per season every year of his career other than the year he was suspended with an average of 148 games per year. He has not been on the DL since 2014. For his production he is also not that highly paid with an average of $19M over the next four years ($15M option with $4M buyout in 2021).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 14, 2016 -> 01:02 PM) He has played the OF on three different occasions this season. If I'm remembering correctly at least a couple of those times were when he was brought in as a 5th infielder.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Sep 8, 2016 -> 06:20 PM) Alexei had 5 seasons with OPS >.700 and exactly 1 > .750. Besting Alexei isn't the highest of bars, and I have little doubt that he will shortly be better than Alexei ever was, if he isn't already. Alexei was a 4 fWAR player in his prime. Give the guy some more credit. He was a damn fine ballplayer.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 8, 2016 -> 02:19 PM) Anderson is about as raw of a player his age that you can have. Yep. Talent level off the charts, just needs some time to acclimate to the game. I think he's a future All Star.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 8, 2016 -> 01:34 PM) Anderson's defense has been a really pleasant surprise. He really has a knack for making the spectacular play, but definitely needs some work on the repetitions of the routine play. That will come. Anderson has been a great positive for the White Sox this year. Kinda sounds like our last shortstop.

QUOTE (ron883 @ Sep 7, 2016 -> 09:50 PM) Jose starts finally producing when it doesn't matter and people keep calling me out? Too bad he couldn't do it back when it mattered. I'll reiterate what I've previously said. Jose isn't what we thought he was. The league adjusted to him after his rookie year. He is a mid-tier first baseman. He has a .342/.390/.573 slash line in the 2nd half. What exactly did you think he was going to be because that is about as good as it gets. QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Sep 8, 2016 -> 05:51 AM) Ron's posts are a little extreme, but I don't necessarily disagree with him. He was a ghost offensively when the Sox were still in the hunt. He's killing it now, but it's much easier to pad stats when the games don't mean anything and there's much less pressure. Abreu isn't as bad as Ron makes him out to be, but it's not like he was some stud the first 3-4 months of the season either. In baseball there are these things called slumps. It happens to even the best of the best. If during your slumps you are still a league average bat and when you're not in a slump you are among the best hitters in the game then overall you are pretty damn good.

He has only 3 starts this year where he has given up 4 or more earned runs and 15 where he gave up 3 or less. I will gladly take that from my 4th starter every day of the week. If you take out his 7 run and 8 run game this year his ERA would be 2.79. So essentially a 2.79 ERA over 15 starts and just 2 starts where the team had very little shot at winning. To me he's been pretty impressive. If they decide to go for it again next year and Gonzalez pitches like this again, the Sox front 4 of Sale, Q, Rodon and Gonzalez would be among the best in baseball. If they can get anything out of Shields/Fulmer/FA in the 5th spot they could have a top 3 rotation in all of baseball. Even an average offense could make the playoffs with that type of rotation.

QUOTE (Hatchetman @ Sep 7, 2016 -> 08:41 AM) Definitely keep him but have to assume you'll only get maybe 20 starts out of him. Why is there reason to assume they will only get 20 starts out of him? Since his first full year in the majors he has made 28, 26, and 26 starts. This year he has made 19 starts with probably 4 or 5 more scheduled in a year in which he wasn't called up until the end of April.

QUOTE (Lip Man 1 @ Sep 6, 2016 -> 11:37 PM) Hope he comes back next year as a back end starter, what is his contract status? Mark Next year is his final arb year so he's under Sox control if they want him. Looks like a great option for 4th/5th starter.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 5, 2016 -> 10:17 PM) Build a complete pitching staff somehow. Fire Robin, hire Leyland, fire Cooper and get a pitching coach who believes in 7 innings from his starters minimum. Pitching, pitching, pitching, defense, defense, defense. You keep repeating this ad nauseam but it just isn't a reality. The fact is that nobody goes 7+ innings every start. Out of the 79 qualified starters this year exactly 1 averages 7+ innings per start. That pitcher? Chris Sale. And who's his pitching coach? Oh yea, the guy you're complaining about.

I live about 45 minutes from the Field of Dreams site. Every year they have a bunch of former players come back and play a game, sign autographs and have a dinner where they tell stories from their playing days at the Grand Harbor Resort in Dubuque, IA. My mom was able to grab free tickets to the dinner through her job at the newspaper so I am going to that. This year has a pretty decent lineup with Wade Boggs, Ted Simmons, Ozzie Smith, Johnny Bench, Curt Schilling, Ivan Rodriguez, Fergie Jenkins, Lee Smith, Robin Yount, Willie McGee, Steve Carlton and Rafael Palmeiro schedule to attend. Should be a good time. Then on Sunday I am going to the Black Sabbath concert concert in Tinley Park. Should be a fun but busy weekend.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Aug 31, 2016 -> 02:01 PM) FWIW, Avi has his first year of arbitration next season. Next year will be Avi's second year of arbitration. He qualified as a Super 2 so he gets four years of arbitration and was eligible for the first time this year.

Be pretty ridiculous and undeserved to make the playoffs at 14 games under but rules are rules and they may be there. I guess anything can happen in the playoffs though.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Aug 31, 2016 -> 02:40 PM) So are they about to waste the closer in a non closing situation? It's not a waste because there is nothing to save him for. It's the right play at home.

In case anybody didn't know or forgot, Quintana has the same Cy Young clause in his contract as Sale. If he wins a Cy Young his 2020 option increases from $10.5M to $14M. If he finishes 2nd or 3rd it jumps to $13M. Not that that is a big deal in any way as it's still chump change for his production but just wanted to point it out as a top 3 finish is very possible for him this year.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Aug 31, 2016 -> 10:49 AM) A little off topic, but do they allow a pitcher who doesn't have the innings to qualify for the ERA title? With hitters and the batting title, they just add hitless at bats until they get to 502 plate appearances. I've never heard of anything similar for pitchers; don't think it exists. You're right it does not exist. If you are 1/3 of an inning shy. Tough luck. You can give up unlimited runs in the innings you are short of qualifying but you can only make one out in the plate appearances you are shy. The only time I remember the plate appearance thing coming into play was Tony Gwynn in 1996. He was 4 PAs shy of qualifying. Giving him 4 hitless at bats dropped his average from .353 to .349 but it was still higher than Ellis Burk's .344 so he was awarded the batting title.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Aug 31, 2016 -> 10:32 AM) There is no way in hell that David Price should even be considered for the award. He's had an awful year. His first 7 starts were pretty poor but since then he has a 3.16 ERA and a 1.180 WHIP. Far from awful.

QUOTE (bmags @ Aug 31, 2016 -> 10:12 AM) Yeah leading the league in ERA is cool. Fulmer is going to be tough to pass but I obviously Q pitched more innings. Not sure he will end up even being qualified. He's not currently (just 1.1 IP shy) but who knows how he'll hold up down the stretch in his first big league season. The last two starts have been a little rough. He only threw 10.1 innings between the two raising his ERA from 2.25 to 2.69. Unless they shuffle the rotation he has 6 starts left. He will need to average 5.1 per start to be qualified. A couple short outings could do him in. He is only .08 ahead of Quintana anyways so catching him is doable with the way Quintana has been pitching and Fulmer scuffling a bit in the 2nd half compared to his 1st half (still just a 3.50 ERA in the 2nd half).