lasttriptotulsa

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Aug 1, 2014 -> 11:43 AM) ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ Chisoxfn, you see this? This is who you've given otherworldly mod powers to. Just look at that statement right there. Unbelievable. Dunn has a .858 OPS vs RHP, has the 2nd highest OBP on the team, and is 2nd in HRs on the team. Just because you do not like somebody does not make them bad. Obviously at $15 million he is overpaid, but I would be perfectly content if the Sox brought him back at a fraction of his current cost. There really are not many options out for there for a LH, middle of the order power bat. He is still a very useful player against RHP and certain favorable LHP matchups. If the Sox keep both Viciedo and Sierra next year, they could re-sign Dunn and get Viciedo and Sierra both in the lineup versus LHP with one as the DH.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Aug 1, 2014 -> 06:26 AM) From a rotation standpoint, I think we'll add one RH starter to slot before or after Quintana. As bad as Masterson has been, he seems like a guy who might take a short-term deal and hope for a rebound. That's the type of low risk move we should look into, assuming the more impactful free agent pitchers all command ridiculous contracts. I think an opening day 1-2-3-4 or Sale, Quintana, Masterson, & Danks is pretty decent. With any rebound from Justin, it's a rotation that can keep you afloat with a solid offense. As for the #5 spot, have Noesi compete with Johnson (hopefully an offseason fixes him) and see what you got. I think we should plan on Rodon assuming a rotation spot as soon as his service time needs are met so we get the extra half year out of him. Most likely he replaces Noesi/Johnson, but if one of those guys does well, then Danks is probably the odd man out. Regardless, once Rodon is up, the rotation has a chance to be very good next year, with guys like Montas & Danish likely at AA and only a year away. Not really sure what you mean by this. There is no date that allows you to get extra time out of a player. If Rodon is on the opening day roster they get him for 6 years, if not they get him for 6 plus whatever partial he plays in 2015. It doesn't matter when he comes up. I think the date you are thinking of is the Super 2 date, but all that does is determine whether or not a player gets 3 or 4 years of arbitration.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Jul 31, 2014 -> 01:12 PM) Yeah, I have all of Mars Volta's albums minus their first. All of Tool except 10,000 Days and Aenima, hoping they'll re-issue Aenima. All of A Perfect Circle, original pressing of Mer De Noms, re-issue and picture disc. The Radiohead discbox for In Rainbows and the newspaper album for King Of Limbs. A collector's box for one of UnderOath's albums. Lots of 7" box sets, one for AFI and one for The Prodigy. Glow in the dark vinyl of the last Mudvayne album that has artwork you can only see under a black light. A few Puscifer records. I just got the new Swans album on triple vinyl, only $30. I found Portishead's self titled album for only $13 at a record store near my house. Got the vinyl boxset for the Macklemore album which comes in a black alligator skin style box and on gold vinyl. Hoping one day to be able to get Mogwai's boxset for Rave Tapes and Mars Volta's De-Loused on either gold or silver vinyl. I should have ordered a copy of the re-issue. I could spend a fortune on that stuff if I had the money. Neil Young is the main guy I collect. I have all but 4 of his albums and have multiple copies of some. All told between his solo work and his work with Crazy Horse, Buffalo Springfield and CSNY, I have 65 albums.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Jul 31, 2014 -> 12:51 PM) Love vinyl. I have a small collection of mostly collectible stuff, colored vinyl, etc. That's the stuff that I mostly collect too. A lot of the Record Store Day stuff is pretty cool. I definitely go for quality over quantity. I've seen too many guys with 10,000 record collections in which 9900 of them are worthless garbage.

Any vinyl collectors in here? I just bought the "super deluxe" editions of Zeppelin's first three albums that came out last month. Expensive but very nicely done. Their untitled fourth album and Houses of the Holy come out in October and the rest to follow after that. All in all it will be a very nice set once all the albums come out but will cost right around $1000 to get all nine. http://www.amazon.com/Led-Zeppelin-Super-D...in+super+deluxe

QUOTE (Charlie Haeger's Knuckles @ Jul 31, 2014 -> 10:17 AM) I hope the Oakland A's win the World Series so all the 50 year old grumps on WSI will STFU and GTFO about how Billy Beane and his spreadsheets can't win a post season series. People still go to WSI?

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 31, 2014 -> 10:00 AM) Those are pure offensive numbers. Way to ignore the premium defense at a premium position. When you take in the value he adds in both places, he blows Abreu out of the water. Fangraphs has Trout as a below average fielder this year and a slightly above average baserunner.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Jul 31, 2014 -> 09:19 AM) Put out there 4 hours before first pitch. That seems a bit odd doesn't it? Or am I reading too much into it? You're reading too much into it. The lineups are always available a few hours before game time. Danks was scheduled to pitch so he's listed. If talks get even semi serious, he'll probably be pulled for either Rienzo or maybe even Sale as he would be on normal rest.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 31, 2014 -> 01:47 AM) Not another player who is being beloved by some on Soxtalk ... Webb. Geez. What have Nate Jones and Webb done to be so beloved? Webb has been total horses***. Yet some want Robin to have used him in high pressure situations as if he'd actually do better in those situations. I do feel badly for Nate with the Tommy John. He'll obviously not be heard from again for a long long time. QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 31, 2014 -> 08:11 AM) Daniel Webb had an ERA of 1.87, a K/9 of 11.2, BB/9 of 3.9, and he allowed 1 home run in 62.2 IP in the minors last year. He came up and had a bit of success this year and has been fairly good this year. He throws 94-97 MPH and has good stuff otherwise. He's 24 years old. Yet, just so everyone knows, greg says he's horses***, nevermind a 3.38 ERA, 3.86 FIP, 4.37 xFIP, 52% GB rate, and decent K numbers that will likely improve over time. Nate Jones is a very good reliever too, but I'm not going to get into those numbers, and he's obviously hurt for a while now. Greg has two qualifications for whether a player is great or horses***. 1: Were they on the 2005 White Sox? If yes, the player is great and will always be great and should be re-signed and given whatever amount of money for however many years they want. If they were not, they are horses***. 2: Are they a current Kansas City Royals player. If yes, the player is great and the Sox should trade for or sign him as a FA no matter the cost and comp picks attached. If the player does join the Sox, the player no longer meets one of the two qualifications and instantly becomes horses***. There are obvious exceptions to every rule, but this is my general thoughts about Greg's player evaluation from the years I've been on this board.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 04:41 PM) I suppose it's possible they keep him there for a month if they start slipping and show no signs of competing in the slightest. Rehab stints can only last 20 days for position players. If they wanted to keep him in AAA, they would actually have to option him there.

QUOTE (VAfan @ Jul 30, 2014 -> 01:26 PM) Let's look at the Sox actual W-L under Robin versus their expected W-L using the pythagorean formula, and then compare it to Ozzie Guillen's record. 2012: Actual W-L 85-77. Expected 88-74. -3 games 2013: Actual 63-99. Expected 67-95. -4 games 2014: Actual 52-55. Expected 52-55. 0 games Overall for Robin -7. Here's Ozzie's record: 2011: +4 2010: +2 2009: -1 2008: 0 2007: +5 2006: +2 2005: +8 2004: -1 Overall for Ozzie, +19. Looking at a team's W/L versus the pythagorean W/L and using it as a way to assess a manager is pretty ludicrous.

Currently, if he were qualified, he would be 4th at .322. Adjusted for the minimum PAs he is currently 7th at .315.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 29, 2014 -> 09:28 AM) This is stunning to me if true? FIP = ((13*HR)+(3*(BB+HBP))-(2*K))/IP + constant The constant is derived by taking league average FIP and subtracting the league average ERA. xFIP = ((13*(Flyballs * League-average HR/FB rate))+(3*(BB+HBP))-(2*K))/IP + constant Basically the same thing but it uses a league average HR/FB rate instead of a pitcher's actual HR/FB.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 28, 2014 -> 02:15 PM) They're literally park and league-adjusted so you can definitely say all of those things. FIP and xFIP are not park and league adjusted. FIP- is and Kershaw just edges Sale out 49 to 58. Now if you want to look at what really happened on the field versus what some stats think should have happened, Sale beats Kershaw in both ERA- (47 to 50) and ERA+ (210 to 201). While I feel Kershaw is slightly better at the moment, it is because Sale has yet to peak. To say that Kershaw blows Sale out of the water is just blatantly false.

QUOTE (TitoMB @ Jul 26, 2014 -> 05:27 PM) Lol, I was just oogling over Sale's stats and I noticed he struck out 11 of 12 batters in 4 IP in AAA. Haha, poor AAA. His K/9 in the minor leagues is 18.8. Thats pretty ridiculous.

I really think Danks will be gone if they can get any sort of reasonable offer. Considering what starting pitchers are getting on the open market, his contract is not horrible. Even though Danks has become a useful starter again, I think the Sox will move just because of his left-handedness. They probably don't want to go with four lefties and with Sale, Quintana and Rodon (at some point over the next year+) Danks is the odd man out.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 22, 2014 -> 10:42 AM) The average suffers, as does the power. The numbers suffer across the board. He is career 81 OPS+ against lefties. You are looking at tOPS+. That is a completely different stat. tOPS+ starts off at a baseline of 100 and adjusts to show how much better or worse a player is in a certain split (such as vs LHP or RHP) relative to their overall performance. For example, Frank Thomas's tOPS+ against RHP is 93, 121 vs LHP. That number is not showing you what you think it is. A better stat to look at would be wRC+. Dunn's wRC+ against LHP is 103 for his career. Which is still better than average. I'm not saying he's better than average now, but he's not been as bad throughout his career as you are pretending he is.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Jul 22, 2014 -> 10:20 AM) I was thinking the whole point of having Konerko this year was to hide Dunn's uselessness against lefties. If it weren't for Konerko there would be more people hating him, not more power numbers. No. The whole point of having Konerko this year is nostalgia. The Sox just can't seem to cut ties with him for whatever reason. If Konerko had retired, there would be no platoon. They would not have filled his role with anybody else. Dunn would be playing everyday.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 22, 2014 -> 09:16 AM) Considering the fact that Konerko is playing basically mostly against lefties, and we all know how Dunn hits lefties, I'd argue the case that the reason Dunn's numbers are so "good" is because his exposure to his main weakness has been limited somewhat this year. Dunn is 7-46 in 56 PAs against lefties this year, putting up a stellar .152BA .286OBP .239SLG .525OPS against them. He has exactly 1 homer in 56 ABs. Note that his slugging percentage is LESS than his OBP. That isn't easy to do. On the other side, Konerko against lefties .267BA .300OBP .467SLG .767OPS, That is in 80PA/75 AB. If you to add those 75 ABs to Dunn's totals, along with the same .152 BAA that he has put up against lefties this years, Dunns BA would drop to .207 on the season. His HR/BA and all of this other power numbers would take a huge hit as well. 56 PAs is not a big enough sample size to prove anything. Between 2012-2013 Dunn hit 21 HRs in 305 ABs versus left handed pitching. That is 1 every 14.5 ABs. Against right handers he hit 54 HRs in 759 ABs. That's 1 every 14.05 ABs. It's not his power numbers that suffer against lefties. You are also leaving out the fact that when you only play every 2 out 3 or 3 out of 4 games it is hard to get in a rhythm. Dunn's value has been hurt this year by our owner insisting on hanging on to Konerko and letting him take ABs away from Dunn when it was clearly time to move on.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jul 22, 2014 -> 07:42 AM) Had to laugh. Is this an old nickname, or original material from yourself? I've seen a few different people call him that on here. Not sure who started it.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 22, 2014 -> 12:34 AM) Gillaspie has 300 plate appearances but still does not qualify for batting average leaders. When will he qualify? QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 22, 2014 -> 01:02 AM) Need 3.1 PA per game. He's currently on 3 flat. If he plays the next 6 games he'll qualify. Remember too that you can still win the batting title if you do not have the necessary plate appearances. You just need to take hitless at bats to make up the difference. Gillaspie's average adjusted to the qualifying PAs is .311, good for 9th in the AL.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 22, 2014 -> 02:38 AM) He's done. He has very few home runs this year for a power hitter. I commend him for today's key hit, especially if he was trying to go that way, but he's been an utter disaster on the south side. Dunn's hitting plenty of HRs. He has hit one every 19.5 ABs this year. 19th best in all of baseball. Right on par with Pujols and Bautista. The reason his power numbers look so low is because he's lost 100+ PAs to our mascot. Add another 5-6 HRs and 15 RBIs and his numbers look a whole lot better.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jul 21, 2014 -> 08:44 PM) That is not true. Baseball is moving further and further from head shots as it should. Most pitchers, away from the Vicente Padillas of he world, understand that you throw at the back/butt/thighs. What's your point? Yes players don't throw at the head anymore, therefore there are very few beanballs in baseball anymore. Bean is slang for head, thus why it is called a beanball.

QUOTE (1dog @ Jul 21, 2014 -> 08:03 PM) Anything from Hawk about Wegner's handling of Sale's beanball against Valencia? He didn't react like this at least. I am stuck with the Royals broadcast. Sorry, but pet peeve time. It is only a beanball if it hits the player in the head.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 18, 2014 -> 02:33 PM) He can't until at least his 3rd year, and unless the contract scale changes drastically, it won't be worth it until probably his 4th year. This. I think the three arb year records are around 10/11.5/12.5 for position players. Even if Abreu breaks all three records he wouldn't make significantly more than his contract is worth.