[4/15; Red Sox @ White Sox]

Downs got a out............praise the Baseball Gods.

 

 

Actually a good move by Robin bringing in a new pitcher to face the rookie.

[4/15; Red Sox @ White Sox]

1-2-3 nice

 

One walk and 8 strikeouts is terrific.

 

[AND THAT'S A WHITE SOX WINNER!]

If this offense keeps up, we'll start pulling in a normal number of people. I almost went to this one, but live in Peoria so it was a little too much for the wife.

 

I think there is a significant fan problem. Last night the White Sox were by far the lowest draw in baseball. Unfortunately Tampa Bay which usually gets that honor was on the road. Obviously the season ticket sales tanked this year which is the core of most teams attendance. Hopefully the Sox react and offer packages conducive to getting fannies back in the seats.

[AND THATS A WHITE SOX WINNER!]

I think we will be in the playoff race until mid September. Book it.

 

YES------------That means Hahn becomes a buyer at trade deadline and resigns Dunn to a multi year deal and trades several prospects for a few rent a players.

 

[4/5- White Sox @ Royals 1:10 PM CT]

No.

 

What are you basing that on. On most teams the pitching and bullpen coach set a rotation for the bullpen set up guys for the game They track not only appearances but also up and downs warming up. Are you saying this doesn't happen w the Sox???

 

[Erik Johnson's start]

Then sick back dude. Lots of today's coming at you.

 

Personally I think we gel and take a step towards 90. I like the energy.

 

90 losses is still a step in the right direction after last year.

 

[Kansas City Royals vs Chicago White Sox 3:10 PM]

The game is immaterial. They were looking to not burn the bullpen again.

 

 

It is cold in KC. The bullpen guys want the work so they can get to a heated bullpen.

[Finding a #2 hitter]

I was thinking this earlier today too. I would love an infield of Abreu, Micah Johnson, Semien and Davidson.

 

They might be very good offensively but awful defensively. The knock so far on Davidson and Johnson is defense and we shall see w Semien as a SS and Abreu as a 1B.

 

[Attendance]

11,056 today.

 

With so few fans, they should have invited them all to sit in the press box.

 

[Sox vs Twins April 3 game thread]

Avi Garcia played about as bad of a game as you can play.

 

 

Well if he collided with Abreu on a pop fly and knocked them both out for the year, that would have been much worse. Compared to that , today was no big deal.

[White Sox winner!]

It should be De Aza against RHP, no questions asked. In fact, it's so obvious Ventura will never do it.

 

Actually a question asked. DeAza has swung a hot bat in ST and the first 2 games. Shouldn't he be the 5th hitter between the righties instead of (all)Dunn? Move (all) Dunn down to 7th. Got to give Semien more than 2 games hitting 2nd before you move him down or even out.

[B/R Has Sale/Abreu Winning Awards]

Thanks for the compliment!

 

Not having an established closer may kill any chance for Sale. I was glad yesterday that the pen was able to finish off his start.

 

[AND THAT'S A WHITE SOX WINNER!!!!]

Sale 1-0, Eaton and Abreu were great.

 

 

DeAza was greater.

[Left-handed power - 2015 -]

JI

 

DeAza will be the LH bat next year.

 

 

[The Official 2014 Opening Day thread]

You know when it's bad when Opening Day isn't sold out yet.

 

 

Even Tampa Bay is already sold out................

[3/28 at Birmingham]

Hawk doesn/t sound well at all. Medically, that is.

 

He sais one very odd thing. He complained that last year's team was the worst defensively he has ever seen . But his biggest complaint was their attitude towards playing D. This year, he said, with the changes Hahn made, there is a new and improved attitude. But then he went on to say that a poor attitude would not have happened under KW either. So who were these players and if Hahn or Williams isn't to blame is he complaining about Robin allowing it.

[Final roster moves]

A major league team needs players like Alex Liddi? Try again. He has one tool, power. Strikes out more frequently than Adam Dunn. Doesn't walk and defensively, although you can put him in at several positions, he doesn't play them well.

 

Sounds like Flowers. He strikes out more than Dunn and he doesn't walk much either. Can Liddi catch........................................

 

[Sox claim Javy Guerra]

So pumped for Monday I can barely handle it

 

 

Really???

[Nieto makes 25 man roster]

Theoretically, we could acquire Grandal in trade and sign Kendrys to be our DH next year. Begin 2015 with six Cubans, five in the starting lineup. Crazy.

 

OR JR is getting ready to sell the team to a Cuban owner and they become the Havana Bananas

 

[ST: 3/24vs Mariners]

Correct. Hope he saved most of his signing money.

 

Must be nice getting a couple million for being able to swing a bat fast and hitting high school pitching.

 

 

Hopefully the scout who recommended him saved his as well.

 

[Jose Quintana extened thru 2018 - 5 yrs, $21.5 or $26.5 mill]

Honestly if I was a young pitcher who is already successful I'm not sure I could pass down a team friendly deal in hopes of a huge FA payday. That is such a huge risk that a freak baseball to the elbow even will cut your value to nothing.

 

Your living in the 50's. These players all have big time agents. Do you actually think their agent is advising them to take a huge risk and blow their own cut???? They all have special policies that in the case of injury their income is protected for life. Once they sign the mega deal they drop the policy. It is why colleges are able to get a one and done player a policy to protect them until they make it to the NBA.

 

[Tyler Flowers is your 2014 starting catcher]

If you are looking at ST numbers, there is no way you can equate Danks and a hole in the rotation. Johnson may be a work in progress, but 90% of rookies are. Paulino is a question mark, granted, but the fifth rotation spot is not going to make or break this team, if it turns out that the only between the Sox and contention in mid-July is Felipe Paulino, Hahn has the assets to make and upgrade at that time. I think a lot here are underrating our pitching and overrating our offense going into this season.

 

 

Rebuilding, especially a team as bad as last year, is not a 1 year process. Hahn has made changes that has added youth to several key offensive spots in RF, IB, 3B and CF. Now hopefully 3 or even 4 develop into full-time players. By next year he can hopefully find a closer, another starter and most importantly a catcher. He should also have made decisions on LF, SS and 2B. I look at this year as developmental, next year as vastly improving and 2016 as contending again.

[ST: 3/19 vs Angels]

fix that for ya

 

But the caution is who they produced against. A GM will also look at spring stats versus level of competition. If a player is producing mostly against the opponent's AA/A pitchers then the stats are really inflated.

[Tyler Flowers is your 2014 starting catcher]

In the 315 PAs before last year he had a 700 OPS. So by your metric we're to only consider his 275 PAs last year? Is that fair to him?

 

You need to read what I said. He strikes out more than any catcher in baseball. Last year he struck out 37% of the times he came to bat. I gave him a break using last year. If you add inyour 315 PA before last year it jumps up to 39%. To put it in perspective, that is about 5% worse than Adam Dunn. Regardless of what he makes, he may actually strike out more than anyone in baseball

 

[Tyler Flowers is your 2014 starting catcher]

So you'd prefer they start either a guy who was even worse than him in the majors or a guy who has never played a game above A+?

 

It's not a good option, but Tyler Flowers is absolutely the Sox best option at this point. I wish it weren't so, but it is, so there's no time to dwell.

 

(I was wrong on this front too, but it is what it is)

NO. Flowers may be the only viable option. My problem is with Robin 's quote that "he has done a good job and he is picking up offensively. " He strikes out more than any catcher in baseball based on at bats and he has done the same so far in spring training.