shysocks

Would it be outrageous to suggest that Rodon, if put into the Sox rotation in 2015, could struggle and return to the minors? He will be 22.

QUOTE (Buehrlesque @ Aug 18, 2014 -> 09:58 AM) Good point. That might make VMart less realistic. I'm guessing he would be unrealistic before the qualifying offer roadblocks. Buying high on a 36-year-old doesn't really seem to fit the plan.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 17, 2014 -> 11:00 AM) Never would have thought a month ago that the Tigers and A's might be headed for a one-game elimination playoff. And three weeks ago, a lot of people were giving them a free ride to an ALCS clash of the titans because they acquired some pitching at the trade deadline. Baseball's weird.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 18, 2014 -> 09:04 AM) So they didn't sing "Na Na Na"? Nope, the stadium speakers didn't play it and it would have been drowned out by the cheers anyway. It was a really cool moment. I was part of the large group that gathered around the visiting bullpen to watch him warm up pregame, but my wife and I staked it out early and got the best spot. When he jogged to the outfield and everyone was standing and clapping, Navarro (his catcher) also gave him a round of applause; that was amusing. And Mark acknowledged the crowd when he entered the bullpen, but he didn't look up even a little the rest of the warmup or even hint that he was gonna sign the myriad of things people wanted signed. It was minutes before a start, after all.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Aug 17, 2014 -> 11:49 PM) If he hits 290/350/480 with 40 doubles he'll be worth roughly 4 war assuming his other tools develop a bit more defensively and on the bases. He might never be much of a power hitter, but a poor man's Mags wouldn't be bad either. A .190 ISO would be an optimistic expectation, since he's only even approached that in really tiny samples throughout his career. He's at the right age though. We'll see.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Aug 16, 2014 -> 10:47 PM) Rodon was promoted to AAA Charlotte tonight. Was a little bit surprised when I saw that reported. Does this mean they're fast-tracking him to the Sox in September? Speculate!

Just something that crossed my mind this morning. I wonder if this is a tough choice for anyone.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 16, 2014 -> 07:09 AM) 2B Micah Johnson CF Chris Young LF Michael Morse DH Chris Carter RF Ryan Sweeney 3B Matt Davidson/Marcus Semien 1B Andy Wilkins SS Carlos Sanchez C Chris Stewart/Phegley Buehrle Gio Gonzalez McCarthy H.Santiago Rodon Bullpen...Boone Logan, Addison Reed, Matt Guerrier, Sergio Santos, Neal Cotts, Clayton Richard, Lucas Harrell Like... in 2015? Probably last? That offense is pretty terrible.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 15, 2014 -> 10:19 AM) To the folks who voted no, like I did. ... If they moved to the suburbs you'd be OK though, right? Yes, I could handle that. I think most are assuming that the question means they're moving far away.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Aug 15, 2014 -> 09:03 AM) I'm surprised how many people said they would stop watching baseball if they moved. Are there that many fans of the team that really aren't fans of the game in general? I haven't posted yet and I am really not sure how I'd feel if it ever happened, but I voted "No" in the poll. And I think I'm in the group you're talking about. It's not that I'm not a fan of baseball; I love it so much. But the hurt feelings and the sense of uselessness would be too much for me to follow the game anymore. The people who are responding that it's so easy to follow a team from anywhere these days - I see what they mean, but to me that's beside the point. I would get such a feeling of "Why the hell even bother," you know? EDIT: And of course the Cubs are absolutely not an option.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Aug 14, 2014 -> 03:55 PM) Anyone who listened to any of those Wimpy and Stone games know what a non-s***ty broadcast booth can sound like. God was that great. It really was delightful and we'll have something like it before too long. At the same time, you should read the article. It was super, super dumb.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 14, 2014 -> 02:56 PM) Harrelson, predictably, taken to task by media Article, predictably, sucky and full of hyperbole

So glad I couldn't see this on TV. I'd be about 600% more pissed off.

So am I to assume that "B Posey tripled to deep right," as ESPN describes it here at work, is not the entire story? Nice job by Q to wiggle out of it though!

Relevant: Jake Peavy OPS allowed and K/BB by times through batting order, 2014 1st: .734, 2.65 2nd: .688, 2.64 3rd: 1.003, 1.53 All MLB starters, for comparison 1st: .684, 2.91 2nd: .714, 2.67 3rd: .759, 2.40

The excitement of National League baseball, you guys.

Not sure what to take away from it. The writers seem to leave the door open that Locke was involved after all, just the language they used, like he "retreated" to the weight room or whatever. But that seems like a remote possibility to me. MLB had huge financial incentive to make sure this was stopped in its tracks so the heavy-handedness of their investigators is not surprising. And finally, this Barr guy is a supreme dumbass.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 02:13 PM) My usually more hesitant cub fan friend dropped a wait tip next year post on FB yesterday. Yeah, no. Yes, in my experience they're getting very cocky too. It's really bringing my Cub hate, dormant for so long, back to the surface.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 02:09 PM) That is the average LF this year? Holy crap that is terrible! No, sorry, I should have been clearer and I also shouldn't have made a gigantic typo. Those were the numbers for all AL hitters, and it's actually .255/.318/.394, not .225/.318/.394. For left fielders, it's not all that different. .255/.322/.402

QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 01:01 PM) If you think that a good defensive LF is so very important, why is the worst defensive OF typically put in LF? Why are guys that can't hack it in the infield moved to LF? Maybe you have unearthed some new discovery that the rest of baseball has missed. He's playing LF at an elite level, whoop-de-doo. It shouldn't result in the 2nd highest war in baseball when combined with his very average offensive numbers. First, read this, published a couple months ago. This is how even a left fielder can flex defensive value. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-value-o...-using-his-arm/ Second, his offensive numbers are not "very average." American League: .255/.318/.394 Alex Gordon: .280/.356/.436 QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 01:01 PM) Regarding the use of WAR, just take a look at the discussions on this board and most articles analyzing the trades at the deadline. Nearly every one of them is using WAR and player salary as the baseline to evaluate a trade. They certainly are not acknowledging its imperfections when they say that a trade was better for team X because the guy they received has a surplus value of X based on his WAR. As I said, I have a huge issue with WAR serving as the baseline when I believe the defensive component is deeply flawed. The article I linked above is one of MANY I have read that references error bars or something like them. Jonah Keri published a piece on Grantland today that includes the phrase "given the vagaries of defensive metrics." I'm sure you have examples to the contrary but I can't really be held responsible for those. And as far as I can tell, you believe the defensive component of WAR is deeply flawed because you believe the defensive component of WAR is deeply flawed. Whether it is or isn't, it's definitely a lot more reliable than saying, "That guy can't be better than this guy because I know it's he's not."

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 01:03 PM) MLB ‏@MLB 2h Chris Sale has struck out 29.9% of all batters he’s faced this season: http://atmlb.com/1mJrB1l #Whiff His skill is positively heteroclite.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 11:07 AM) I think the goal right now is finding some sort of long-term alternative, which is something Willingham doesn't represent. That's my biggest qualm. Even if Taylor is a 28 year old career minor leaguer, he can still stick around for 5-6 years and that takes you to 2020. And you hopefully have someone lined up to take over that spot come 2019. Frankly, Alejandro De Aza was pretty much a career minor leaguer when he took over CF for the Sox and, while he's had his struggles and brain farts, has been an overall good player for the Sox. Hopefully you are right about Taylor. I almost brought up De Aza myself but it only served your point. So I didn't. My thing is that I know we're looking for long-term guys, but there are already lots of tryouts going on all over the 2015 roster with two rotation spots, half the bullpen, second base, arguably right field, etc. So at some point, I just want a guy who I know can do it in the majors. That's what Willingham represents to me, but if I elaborate I'll basically just be repeating myself. I certainly see where you're coming from.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 10:42 AM) I would not say he remains a good hitter, I would say he remains a competent hitter. He's also old while the Sox are in a rebuilding phase, and players do not improve as they get to that age unless they are aided by something. You state that Taylor is "probably" a 4th outfielder, but if he's never given a chance, we'll never know. Thus far in AAA, he's hit an (unsustainable but still great) .338/.417/.545. If he can come up and get a significant amount of at bats and prove to be capable of being a good 4th outfielder, then I find more value in that than I do bringing in an older Willingham. I will just state that Willingham is not a good option, and I imagine he'll probably want to re-sign with Minnesota this offseason anyways. He was never going to get a QO to begin with and stated that he'd love to retire to the upper midwest. That is more faith than I'm willing to put into a 28-year-old career minor leaguer, but given he can do those things, I agree that he'd be a better choice. I just find it very unlikely that he or any other outfielder in our system will emerge next year as the starting LF on our next good team.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 10:09 AM) 2012 was a career year and a clear outlier, and at 36, he's not likely to repeat that. Just 2 years ago Konerko had a really good overall year for the Sox too, but that version is long gone. He's also been quite poor the last two years and banged up on top of that. Frankly, I'd rather see what guys like Phegley and Taylor can do when given a chance at the MLB level. The Sox have alternatives that aren't unathletic 36 year olds with one basic talent, and that's hitting the ball a long ways. At this point in his career, Willingham reminds me a lot of Pat Burrell late in his career. Willingham's falloff from 2012 to 2014 isn't really comparable to Konerko's, because Willingham remains a good hitter. Taylor is probably a 4th outfielder at best, and if you'd really rather see Phegley then we're very far apart on this one. We can use a guy who hits the ball a long way and plays a position where we're not exactly talent-rich.

QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Aug 9, 2014 -> 09:31 AM) I'll give you ramirez but how has Dunn been vastly better this year? And flowers has improved his average but power numbers haven't improved. I wouldn't say he is vastly better. As we have seen over the past week, if abreu isn't driving in runs this entire offense is lifeless. He is was what makes this thing go. Without him, they are easily in the bottom third in runs scored and bottom 5 in record again even with the "vast" improvement of everyone else in the lineup. Did not say Dunn was vastly better, just said he was better. Tyler's AVG/OBP/SLG right now stand .053/.060/.021 points higher than last season; if that is not a vast improvement, I don't know what is. QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Aug 9, 2014 -> 09:31 AM) Regarding defensive metrics, yes they give you an idea of whether a guy is a good defender or not but my problem is the use of them as the end all be all. If they aren't perfect then they shouldn't be used as a large component in everyone's favorite modern age statistic - WAR. When people start using WAR as the single most important metric when evaluating trades, players's worth, etc. that's where I have an issue. Alex Gordon has the third highest WAR of position players this year, that's comical. Is he the third most valuable player in baseball this year? If you went by WAR, the answer is yes but I would love to hear an argument from anyone on this board that justifies this rank. Again, he's a LF, not a SS, 2b, or C, he's a LF! Yes, and if balls hit to left field off KC pitchers are caught instead of going for doubles or runners hold at third instead of scoring on singles, that is valuable. Again, you're basically saying that WAR is bad because it doesn't seem to back up whatever feelings you already had. Whether or not Gordon is the third MVP isn't really the point. The defensive component of his WAR is the highest in baseball. That means he is doing something at an elite level and his WAR reflects that. The bolded is a straw man argument that I can't deal with. I think you have a misconception that people just look at WAR and rank the players by that list. The people who use it acknowledge its imperfections, which is why other stats come in as well.