lasttriptotulsa

QUOTE (Dunt @ Oct 3, 2014 -> 07:50 AM) So I havent been here as long as most of you, but is greg an elaborate troll or just kinda baseball stupid? I think a little of both.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Oct 1, 2014 -> 10:42 PM) 16th without Dunn playing in one of the top 2 home run parks in baseball. 10th in OPS 20th in OBP This was not a good offensive team. It was average. What kind of nonsense is that? I'd be willing to guess that if you took the 2nd leading home run hitter off any team their ranking would drop substantially also.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Oct 1, 2014 -> 10:52 AM) Dude still hit for a good average and had a solid OBP. He was not horrid. Worse then previous years, sure, but horrid, absolutely not. Any DH/1B who had a 97 wRC+, .311 wOBA and a ISO of .107 had a horrid year. Had he been a slick fielder infielder with those numbers, then fine, but no way a DH/1B should be playing everyday with those numbers.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 1, 2014 -> 07:57 AM) I'd expect Scherzer and Lester to get longer than that. Scherzer already turned down 6/$144. I think you would have to be a fool to go more than 6 years on a 30 year old pitcher. That being said it wouldn't surprise me at all if somebody did. I would have to think at some point GMs are going to get smarter and see how bad the contracts given out to players like Sabathia, Pujols, Hamilton, Fielder, A-Rod, Crawford, Howard, etcetera are hamstringing their teams and will look to avoid them. If someone gave Scherzer 7 or 8 years at $25 million there is a good chance they are going to regret at least $50 million of that contract.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 09:37 AM) Will this get Guerra non tendered? I wouldn't think so. First year arbitration eligible players only average around $1.5 million or so. He doesn't have a real consistent track record so he will probably end up signing for less or an arbitrator will rule in the Sox favor.

I forgot to put in my post that if Quintana wins a Cy Young award from 2014-2019 his 2020 option increases to $14 million. If he comes in second or third any of those years it increases to $13 million.' Sale has the same thing in his contract. A Cy Young award from 2013-2018 increases his 2019 option to $16 million and a second or third increases it to $15 million.

QUOTE (Knuckles @ Sep 30, 2014 -> 06:30 AM) Can someone break down Qs contract for me? Signed through 2018 with 2019 and 2020 team options. 2015 - $3.4 million 2016 - $5.4 million 2017 - $7.0 million 2018 - $8.85 million 2019 - $10.5 million (team option or $1 million buy out) 2020 - $11.5 million (team option or $1 million buy out) Had he not qualified for Super 2 status, his 2015-2018 salaries would be as follows - $1 million, $3.8 million, $6 million, $8.35 million They knew when he signed he would probably end up being Super 2. Still a great contract and he's well worth the extra $5.5 million the Super 2 status bumped his contract up.

QUOTE (Jake @ Sep 26, 2014 -> 01:08 PM) Only Yankees fans could help make a HoF player into one of the most overrated players in history. In reality, he's a fringy HoF guy who is put over the top into "definite HoF" territory for being an excellent playoff performer. Yup. If he hadn't played for the Yankees he would be Craig Biggio.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Sep 26, 2014 -> 09:42 AM) You could make a weak case for him as a top 25 position player, but I won't try. Anybody who voted top 5 should have their Internet taken away. I would say calling him a top 25 position is still absurd. I definitely put him out of the top 100 for all players.

One of the polls on ESPN's homepage right now asks "where does Jeter rank among the best baseball players of all time" Options (with current results) Top 5 (12%) Top 10 (20%) Top 15 (12%) Top 25 (28%) Not in Top 25 (28%) Are these people delusional? 72% believe he's a top 25 player all time?

QUOTE (kevo880 @ Sep 25, 2014 -> 12:37 PM) My question is, were they somehow able to tell that he was high at the time? THC stays in your system for 3-4 weeks on average unless you have virtually no body fat on you. Was he just a regular smoker or could they prove that he was high at the time? It depends on what samples they took for the toxicology report. THC is metabolized by your body and is only detectable in blood for a few hours (similar to alcohol). If THC showed up in his blood sample, he would have had to smoke recently which is why they were able to determine he was probably under the influence.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Sep 21, 2014 -> 11:31 PM) Yummy. Also, it's not unreasonable to expect an improvement since many of his at bats where of the "getting reacclimated" variety. Good point. In the month of September he is slashing .308/.378/.492 with 3 HRs, 3 2Bs, 3 SBs and 11 RBIs. Over 600 PAs, that would end up being an .870 OPS with 24 HRs, 24 2Bs, 24 SBs and 89 RBIs. That's pretty much All-Star level play. The most impressive thing to me is that he has raised his walk rate to 10.8% and lowered his K rate to 17.5%.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Sep 18, 2014 -> 05:39 PM) For sure on all that. Part of it too is that he became sooo good before he tanked out. The Professor was such an aptly chosen nickname because he was putting on an absolute clinic on how to hit what the pitcher gives a hitter...and then launching mistakes. That small window of greatness was an exciting time. Was he better than Thomas during that window? I dunno. If by better than Thomas during that window you mean was he better in 2010 than a 42 year old Frank Thomas who had been retired for two years, than yes he was. If you mean was he better than a peak Thomas, then that statement becomes absolutely laughable. Konerko's wRC+ in 2010: 158 (the best of his career by far), Thomas had 9 seasons that beat that including a ridiculous career high of 205 in 1994. His career wRC+ is 154. Konerko at his best was essentially equal to Thomas when he was frequently injured and at the tail end of his career. Thomas at his best landed him in Cooperstown.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Sep 16, 2014 -> 02:02 PM) Pitchers better than Sale: Kershaw That's it. If Sale doesn't deserve the Cy Young, then neither does Kershaw. Kershaw is head and shoulders above the next guy in the NL, will probably win 20 games (which voters still look at) and is still going to end up with over 200 innings.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 16, 2014 -> 11:10 AM) Assume that both Troy Tulowitzki and Jose Abreu were both in the AL and that every other player in the league sucked. Is there anyone here who would vote for Tulowitzki over Abreu for the MVP, given the disparity in playing time? No, but by the end of the season Abreu will have played 60% more games than Tulowitzki and Hernandez will have only started 25% more games than Sale so it's not really comparable. Now if Tulo had only missed a month like Sale and not nearly half a season, he probably would have won it (if we ignore Colorado's horrible season). With that being said, I still feel that Hernandez will and should win the Cy Young.

QUOTE (flavum @ Sep 14, 2014 -> 12:39 PM) Buehrle starting today. Looks like they moved him up, which makes me wonder if they'll let him pitch on final day of the season on three days rest if he comes up a couple innings short of 200 in his last few starts. I don't think they'll give him another start, but Gibbons did mention the possibility of pitching him out of the bullpen for a couple innings in one of the last two games of the season if he is short of 200. Gibbons said that he is more worried about Buehrle coming up short than Buehrle is. He has two more starts and just needs to go 6 in each so he should get there no problem.

QUOTE (shysocks @ Sep 12, 2014 -> 10:27 AM) That's because Kershaw has been so far beyond the competition. There's no other possible choice than him. In the AL, there are enough guys comparable to Sale that the missed time hurts. Pitching the entire season is an important consideration for Cy voters, and it should be. I agree that his rate numbers are the best right now. Yup. This is the key. Had Sale not missed time and had the same ERA, WHIP, K/9, K:BB, etc numbers, he would probably win. With Felix being so close to him, the missed time is going to cost Sale the Cy Young. In the NL, there really is no other option. Kershaw missed significant time, but is leading in most of the rate categories and is even leading in wins (which voters do still look at).

QUOTE (glangon @ Sep 12, 2014 -> 04:00 AM) Kershaw has pitched the same amount of games and only 14 innings more than Sale, should he have an asterix too when he wins his CY Young. If Sale continues like this he could be the 1st pitcher to have an ERA below .200 and more than 200 strikeouts since Pedro in 2000 and it would be a crime if he did not win the CY Young. It really wouldn't be. As much as I want Sale to win it, Hernandez's numbers are just as good and he will end up with 50+ more innings pitched. Unless he gets rocked his last couple starts, he is going to rightfully win it.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 10, 2014 -> 03:39 PM) Yeah, there is zero chance the Sox pick up all of a deal like that, unless a star player is thrown in to go with it. I think even more likely is that John Danks goes someone in a deal like this, and then the need to send cash gets lessened greatly. Yeah if we do pick up a high salary guy I think it will have to be a bad contract for bad contract swap at least in part.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 10, 2014 -> 10:00 AM) I do not understand you guys. You could not WAIT to get Adam Dunn out of town -- a lefthanded DH who strikes out a ton (30.6%) and is putting up a 117 wRC+ -- because he was grossly overpaid at $14m per year. Now we want to take on the ass end of Josh Hamilton's backloaded contract -- a lefthanded DH/OF who strikes out a ton (28.6%) and is putting up a 113 wRC+ -- at like $25m per year. So what if they throw money in? It's still going to be at least Adam Dunn money for a declining, injury prone, one dimensional DH-in the making. This. He's owed $89 million over the next three years. Unless the Angels are willing to throw in around $60 million, I want no part of Josh Hamilton.

QUOTE (Jake @ Sep 9, 2014 -> 06:09 AM) The average AL 5th starter has an ERA of around 6, so let's not sit here and pretend 4.28 is bad This. I don't think there is a team in baseball that would be upset over getting 160-170 innings of a 4.28 ERA out of their 5th starter.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Sep 9, 2014 -> 07:01 AM) Somebody please correct my errors, but this is what I have: Guaranteed: Keppinger $3.5M Konerko $1M Danks $14.25M Ramirez $10M Abreu $7M Sale $6M Quintana $1M Arbitration eligible (salaries estimated): Belisario $4.5M Viciedo $4M Flowers $2M Jones $1M I feel fairly confident that Belisario gets non-tendered, so that is $49.75M to fill 8 roster spots. Keppinger is $4.5 million, Quintana should have enough service time to be awarded Super 2 which ups his salary to $3.4 million.

Baseball Reference keeps a nice payroll chart that goes 6 years out. Just factoring in the guaranteed contract, using averages for the arbitration guys, and filling the rest of the roster with pre-arbitration guys, the Sox basically have $64.4 million committed for next year. I have to think that leaves a lot of money to spend. http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CH...-salaries.shtml

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Sep 8, 2014 -> 11:59 AM) 1 minute... time to constantly refresh our Twitter feeds Really? You're that concerned over it that you're constantly refreshing Twitter?

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Sep 8, 2014 -> 11:53 AM) It also would greatly affect player stats, both season and career. Perhaps Joey Gallo, in 15 years, hits 400 home runs, but since they took a month off of the seasons, he really could've hit 440. Abreu would've finished this season around .310 with 96 RBIs... etc. I don't think anybody is advocating taking a full month off of the season. If anything the talks would likely begin with dropping back down to the 154 game schedule like it was until 1961.