shysocks

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 08:16 AM) Over his last 753 plate appearances, Willingham has put up a .209/.343/.381/.724 with a wRC+ of around 105. He's not an absolutely terrible hitter, but at this point in his career, he's best served hitting solely against lefties. He's also never been a good fielder either, so it'd basically be bringing him in to be a platoon partner at DH against lefties. Beyond that, he's going to be 36 next year too. Frankly, at least there was nostalgia for bringing back Konerko and employing him in that exact role. We can't really say that about Willingham. I think the Sox would be far better finding some other alternative. Bolded the OBP because it fills a need with Dunn presumably gone. It would be nice if Willingham was a lefty, but look again at his platoon splits. Year: wRC+ v L/R Career: 128/120 2014: 120/107 2013: 95/104 2012: 145/141 (!) That doesn't say "lefties only" to me. I'd rather have him than Viciedo, for example, even considering salary - neither can defend but Willingham hits and he might have another 2012 lurking in him. There are many alternatives, but a lot of them will cost more. I don't think he's a long-term solution, he gets hurt a lot, and I would think very hard before giving him even a two-year deal, but the 2015 team needs an outfielder and he's a fit.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 09:06 AM) Wow..I'm an English teacher and am familiar with all the words he's previously used, but that's quite honestly a new one for me. I'm guessing the brain trust decided to go a little further into the dictionary now that the national media has picked up on the game.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 12:55 AM) Decided not to make a thread for this, so I'll just further hijack this thread.... I like pointing out fun facts, during todays game I randomly looked up Dunns batter vs pitcher stats against the Giants and noticed he really dominated some pretty damn good pitchers on that staff....Then I got to thinking about how he kills Kershaw, and wondered if there are more good pitchers out there that he does well against.....Surprisingly, there's quite a few good pitchers out there he smashes.... Cain .304/.385/.652 2 HRs Hudson .333/.368/.778 5 HRs Kershaw .615/.643/1.692 4 HRs Masterson- .295/.373/.432 1 HR Wainwright- .381/.552/.571 1 HR Dickey- .400/.471/.800 2HR King Felix .250/.438/.750 2 HR Cliff Lee .286/.400/.429 . 1HR Hammel .350/.381/.800 2HR Lester .273/.467/.545 1 HR Kuroda .278/.500/.556 1HR Colon .462/.467/.692 1HR Cy Chen .346/.469/.769 3HR Kluber .316/.409/.526 1HR All that reminded me of the bold part of your post.....It would appear Dunn CAN hit good pitching....Somewhat baffling. I made sure to only look at guys he's had more than 10 ABs against so the sample size is a little more than just a 1 for 3 or 2 for game. I really don't know what that all means but I found it rather interesting. They obviously just had bad days when Dunn did his damage against them.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 13, 2014 -> 08:55 AM) As reported by The Score and CSN Chicago. Too bad he's going to miss Jake Peavy by less than a week. That would have been a fun match-up. Good news. Hopefully they tortured him until he promised not to "dive" anymore.

I don't care if it's pitching, hitting, tiddlywinks, equestrian events, sex trafficking... Chris Sale's gon' compete.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Aug 11, 2014 -> 09:18 PM) Royals acquired OF Josh Willingham from Minnesota. Didn't see it posted anywhere. Good, that takes care of any qualifying offer concerns now that he changed teams. His path to the Sox is clear. I'll roll out the red carpet for ya Josh.

Sale's changeup is hilarious tonight.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Aug 12, 2014 -> 02:11 PM) I remember that game like it was yesterday. It was just shortly after the Everett and Alomar acquisitions and after this game I remember thinking that the Sox really had a shot that year. Also one of my favorite Frank Thomas at bats. He went down 0-2 and worked the count full while hitting several hard foul balls including the homerun distance one you mention. Wish I could find video of it. Not just shortly after, but RIGHT after. Internet confirms that it was the first game for both in a Sox uniform.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 12, 2014 -> 02:03 PM) That homer he hit off Guardado was awesome. I remember freaking out in my living room at the time. Thomas came up the next inning, hit a long one foul and then hit a long one fair. Was lucky enough to attend. There are some individual moments I've seen in person that resonate more (Banner ceremony and Thome homering after the long rain delay opening night 2006, Buehrle homering in Milwaukee, Buehrle's last Sox outing), but that game is my most vividly remembered. Such a blast.

QUOTE (striker @ Aug 12, 2014 -> 11:49 AM) Acquiring a player that only has value at DH or 1B doesn't make much sense to me. I'd much rather see someone that can play 3B/1B/DH (Gillaspie/Davidson) or CA/DH/1B (Victor Martinez) or OF/DH. That provides your team with much more depth and flexibility. Ditto, although I'm not sure I'd characterize V-Mart as a catcher anymore. And that's the way a lot of teams are going now. Using the slot to play matchups (Rays with Joyce/DeJesus/Forsythe) or get players with minor injuries into the lineup (Rangers with Choo). All those guys have played some-to-extensive innings in the field this year as well as significant time at DH.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Aug 12, 2014 -> 01:12 PM) Friendly reminder. Lindstrom, while better then a lot of the guys in our pen, is still not a very good reliever. Nonsense, let the playoff push resume.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 5, 2014 -> 01:30 PM) MLB Trade Rumors ‏@mlbtraderumors 6m Tigers To Sign Jim Johnson http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/?p=40595

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Aug 5, 2014 -> 11:04 AM) I am not saying he's going to do that. I just said if he did that, that is what you'd be talking about. I'm enjoying this ride but its Tyler Flowers, if we had a good option, I'd be asking for him to be playing now, but we can't just throw Nieto to the wolves totally and might as well ride this version of Flowers while its rolling and who knows, maybe something finally clicked. I know, I was just having fun imagining the massacre that post would have sparked a month ago. I agree with you that the tools are there. I've always tried to be more patient with Flowers than most, perhaps overestimating the impact of the shoulder injury last year. But right now, out of 55 MLB catchers with at least 100 PA's, his bat is sitting right around the middle. The way he got there was just very... roundabout, to say the least.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Aug 5, 2014 -> 09:58 AM) If he hits .250 with moderate power, with his ability to call a game and do a quality job behind the plate, we will be in great shape because we'll be talking about one of the 5 or 6 best catchers in the game. Tools are there but lets see if he can sustain and start hitting the ball more consistently hard for a long term period like he has since putting those glasses on! I wanna go back in time one month and share this statement with that version of Soxtalk.

QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 06:26 PM) I understand what you are saying in theory, but how do you explain the huge jump in offense for the White Sox this season? As I mentioned before Eaton and an improved Conor have been a boost but we have also seen a decrease in production from other guys as well to temper the Eaton/Conor boost. Take away Abreu and I would wager we are somewhere in the bottom third again in runs scored. That's just one guy making that kind of difference. I don't think one guy can make that much of a difference on defense (with catcher maybe being the one exception). Alexei Ramirez and Tyler Flowers have been vastly better. Dunn has been better. That's six spots in the lineup that are better than last season. You also have to consider that we're getting at-bats from Abreu instead of Paul Konerko's corpse, so while Abreu is a massive improvement, the level of production he is replacing was miserable. QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 06:26 PM) I do undersell defensive metrics for a number of reasons. Outside of errors, putouts, assists, etc. they aren't tangible. I don't always see a 3B get to a grounder that another 3B would not have. It's not always obvious. I see when a guy hits a homer and knocks in three runs. And that's exactly why we need the metrics. I'm not saying they are perfect, but Jake and others have done a beautiful job of explaining their value. They help measure something that is otherwise fuzzy. They tell you something, which is exactly what good stats should do. QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 06:26 PM) Also, I feel like there's a lot of gray and fluff in the defensive numbers. I have a hard time believing that Placido Polanco has a UZR/150 of 9.9 while Adrian Beltre is at 8.4 since 2010. Does anyone really believe that Polanco has been a better defensive 3B than Beltre over the last 4 years? For these reasons, I have a hard time putting defense at the same value as offense Why? Have you watched every inning they've played? I know I haven't. All I know is that Beltre gets more press for his glove - largely because of his bat. Which, again, is why the stats are useful. We can see that, hey, even though he doesn't get the same level of attention, Polanco has played the field pretty well.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 4, 2014 -> 07:18 PM) I chose the position player, but it hurt to do it. Bottom line is that Sale is a pitcher and because he is a pitcher he could blow up at literally any minute. That's the only reason to choose Abreu. I picked Abreu too for exactly the same reasons. Take the hitter because the pitcher is a bigger injury risk just by being a pitcher. Sale makes the choice harder by having a longer track record of stardom, but still, give me Abreu.

HEY GUYS THE SOX WON THE SERIES

BECKHAM.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jul 31, 2014 -> 02:51 PM) Thank you Soria Tigers should sign Bobby Jenks next.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 31, 2014 -> 02:44 PM) Perfect managing by Robin. I have to assume a lefty is coming for Detroit.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Jul 31, 2014 -> 02:15 PM) well it worked out, Danks made good pitches. Was actually a pretty textbook move, Avila has never hit lefties.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 31, 2014 -> 02:03 PM) I'm not talking about today specifically. I've felt he should be hitting second for a while now. But Robin won't do it because it'll put Eaton and him back to back. Agreed.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 31, 2014 -> 01:55 PM) Conor should be hitting second. I don't care if he's left-handed. When you have a guy with a .370 OBP batting 6th and the rest of your lineup sucks, you're doing it wrong. Gillaspie against lefties: .213/.250/.280. He's rightly sitting today.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jul 31, 2014 -> 01:43 PM) Out of the 96 qualified starting pitchers in the MLB, roughly where would you place him? Not high, but just to go against the snowballing hatred around here, just BEING one of the 96 qualified starting pitchers - and above replacement level - is something.

John Danks is taking out his frustration with trade rumors on Torii Hunter.