SCCWS

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Mar 30, 2015 -> 07:27 PM) Thank god. Don't know why they are starting the season a week later than last year. What's the official word? Trying to avoid snow outs? Seems like first week of April (or March 31st) has been opening day for most of my adult life and now it's the 2nd week of April? Easter

I think 84 or 85 wins which is improvement over last sseason. Starting pitching will be good, bullpen shaky, offense average and defense below average.

QUOTE (Baron @ Mar 30, 2015 -> 01:45 PM) Good question and my answer is yes Boston is supposedly very interested

QUOTE (daggins @ Mar 30, 2015 -> 08:44 AM) Passan bitin' on Jonah Keri with that order. As for the title, I would guess its either the AL Central, AL West, or the NL Central. NL East is probably the worst, even with the improved Mets. I have seen several AL East teams this spring in Florida. That division looks pretty loaded. Boston must have the best lineup in all of baseball. Luckily their pitching has some questions in the 4 and 5 spots.

QUOTE (LDF @ Mar 29, 2015 -> 08:45 AM) wow, that is close. Sanchez is having a real nice, quiet spring. this is a choice that is hard for a coach to make, and i am glad i am not making it. Johnson turns 25 this year if that affects management thinking.

Let's face it. If you are going to a home game, one consideration is would that be a day Sale is on the mound. How often do White Sox fans actually choose to go to a game based on that??? Well a problem is coming. When Rodon joins the rotation this season, fans are going to be forced to choose on some occasions. Will some fans start picking Rodon games over "Sale days". What a nice dilemna!!!!

QUOTE (Señor Ding-Dong @ Mar 25, 2015 -> 04:24 PM) It was bound to happen sooner or later, but damn if it ain't a little disappointing. Really enjoyed watching him this spring. Zero is a very low number. If Melky breaks his leg tonight, there is some chance hawkins makes the opening day roster.

I read all these positive offensive things and I figured we won. I see why no one mentioned our pitching or lack ther of today. It seems like we are giving up a lot of homeruns lately.

According to Farmer's Almanac, April 6th game will probably be postponed due to sleet/rain. Count on the 7th as opening day

QUOTE (LDF @ Mar 18, 2015 -> 06:22 PM) i just got the chance to read it, a great article. going into spring training, i just naturally assume, that CS will be the 2b. but this spring and how MJ responded, it does not make it a bad choice. more of a pleasant choice to make either CS or MJ.. many thanks STOP THE PRESSES. After Beckham's performance today, he gets 2B and Micah to AAA......................................

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 18, 2015 -> 11:05 AM) When you haven't made the playoffs in 7 years, maybe you need new horses to pull the applecart? Agree. Carl Everett had a history of upsetting the applecart. He also played a key role in 2005.

QUOTE (LDF @ Mar 13, 2015 -> 05:56 PM) interesting conversation. i missed it. since this is a subjective opinion which in itself may vary from others opinion, in other words, no one is right. why question the whole list?? is there a final ranking that is right, making all others wrong, pretty much like how someone will take a test with a certified answer list. on this forum what makes mine (i am always right ), more correct than any others? I think the confusion comes on how the writer arrives at his rating. I could be wrong, but I think position has an impact. He uses the standard 5 categories: hit, power, run etc and he averages the five scores. But if you notice Adolfo scores slightly higher than Johnson but is rated below him. Hawkins rates slightly higher than Trey but he also ranks slighly lower. I wonder if he ranks outfielders lower than infielders when the numbers are in the same range???

QUOTE (WhiteSoxLifer @ Mar 11, 2015 -> 11:48 AM) Must be having to rest Beckham after his first hit of spring training lol Being traded...................

I have posted several times that I think Johson needs a year in AAA since the White Sox need to improve their defense. But he may prove to be too good offensively to do that. If so, nice problem to have

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Mar 7, 2015 -> 02:33 PM) JJ Stankevitz @JJStankevitz · 14m 14 minutes ago Nolan Sanburn -- the pitcher the #WhiteSox got from Oakland for Adam Dunn -- was lit up over 2 IP: 5 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 3 BB, 1 K in the B game. Damn. Should have kept Dunn and see if he could develop another pitch.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Mar 6, 2015 -> 03:23 PM) Reflects the quality in the AL central this year. Many projections have the Indians as a top 5 team. I wonder what factor travel has on the toughness of a schedule. Certainly the AL Central has by far the easiest travel compared to the other 2 divisions both within the division and travelling to the other divisions. But western division teams like San Fran and LA have been very successful despite getting the short end of travelling.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 5, 2015 -> 09:14 AM) Yes, but it was March 3. There are a lot of guys who look like stars the first couple of weeks of spring training that wind up being bad, and vice versa. Especially this early, a lot depends on how much you did in the offseason. Others who didn't hit as much or throw as much eventually catch up. I like Micah Johnson and hope he winds up starting at 2B. But whether he went 0-4 with 4 k's or 4-4 with 3 steals on March 3rd, it wouldn't change my opinion. The guys that played some winter ball are probably a little ahead right now. Watching these games now are great for entertainment purposes. It's been a while since we have seen them on the field. But making any evaluation at this point is crazy. I agree on offense but defensively you can get a better reading. If a player goes 3-3 but it is against a Class A pitchers it does not mean much. If he steals 2 bases but it is against the 5th string catcher in camp then again you can't draw much. But if a guy is not covering the ground for his position or is not making good throws or struggles turning the doubleplay, those can be takeaways of what is to come this spring when the roster gets trimmed.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Mar 4, 2015 -> 09:37 PM) It's nice to actually have a few guys that can take an extra base. As I said in another thread, simply removing the slugs (Dayan, Kong, Dunn) is going to lead to more runs. Those three guys are possibly three of the slowest 20 runners in all of MLB. Having them all on the team was a big detriment to any sort of overall baserunning prowess. No errors today. Hopefully we see improved defense this year compared to last.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Mar 3, 2015 -> 03:27 PM) Sanchez instead of Johnson.. Oh and Beckham Beckham has tenure................................

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Mar 2, 2015 -> 05:36 PM) I was thinking that too. That'd be nice. Probably the 12th which would be his normal 2nd start.

QUOTE (staxx @ Mar 1, 2015 -> 04:30 AM) Assuming he hurt it today 3 weeks = march 21st. They aren't going to take chances with him. He'll need until about april 18-20 ish weekend to build up arm strength. Im sorry but this just about pencils Rodon in the rotation. OR we go get another starter. For a team making this many moves you aren't guessing for 2.5+ weeks If your timetable is correct, that would equate to 2 starts missed. If their intention is to hold Rodon back until June, they are not going to alter that over 2 starts. I would also doubt they trade in spring training for a starter unless they make that decision based on a need regardless of Sale. My guess is Sale misses one start at most based on the current info.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 27, 2015 -> 09:04 AM) Fielding percentage is a pretty weak indicator of true defensive ability, and it's not as if making 96% of the plays that you get to is unacceptable. Sanchez makes 97.5%, so in theory, Sanchez makes one or two more outs per 100 plays than Johnson. That doesn't include the idea that Johnson may exhibit better range than Sanchez given his superior athleticism, but it's also not counting plays that Sanchez may make because of a stronger arm either. I haven't seen a ton of Johnson in the field but there's no reason to assume that he's bad. Also, depending on what metric you use, the Sox were OK and nowhere near one of the worst fielding teams in the league last year. 3B, 1B, and RF were their primary weak spots. Probably average or so overall. And really, they haven't done much to change that in the starters - Cabrera is probably going to be similar to De Aza, Garcia has better instincts but is still awkward like Viciedo, and 2B should be about a wash overall. Really, I don't care who starts, I just want whoever is the best player to start at 2B. Fielding % and range factor combined are a pretty good indicator. Sanchez at second had better range as well. To put the fielding % in real numbers, they both played about 60 games at 2nd base. Sanchez got to more balls and made 4 errors and Johnson made 9 errors.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 26, 2015 -> 03:35 PM) #1, I don't know how you can figure that Micah is a -20 at 2B while Sanchez is a +10. That's a 3 WAR difference. That's the difference between the Pedroia (20.3) and Jose Altuve (-10). Those are first and last on the list. That's absurdly large. #2, I don't understand why you feel that Johnson is THAT poor of a defender. His hands aren't soft and the arm isn't great, but he's got a good deal of range. #3, I don't think there's a rush. I think if he impresses the coaches enough and they feel he's the guy for the job, they'll go with him. I don't think anything's guaranteed. FWIW---- Johnson has a career .959 fielding average in the minors. Sanchez is .973 Johnson needs more time in AAA. The White Sox were one of the worst fielding teams in baseball last season. Johnson would make them a little worse ( compared to Beckham )since only LF will have a new face and Alexei is a year older.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 24, 2015 -> 12:33 PM) Hopefully this helps him defensively. The last 2 years he seemed at least average defensively at the beginning of the year, and left you questioning why he is even standing on the field towards the end. His OPS was actually better than Panda's last year. Maybe the additional weight will help him hit a few more over the fence. I would be concerned the extra weight would make him a worse defender as he might be less mobile. Hopefully that isn't the case.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 21, 2015 -> 09:29 AM) If the Sox are in contention at the deadline and Shark is flipped for prospects, then something crazy is going on. I can see one scenario. Rodon expldes in the minors and is put into the rotation and the Sox are in contention but have one major hole. Say Alexei or Flowers ( positions the Sox may not have a reliable back-up for) goes out for the season and they can get a ML ready prospect for Shark. If the Sox think Shark is going anyway, they could deal if they got a top prospect back.