shysocks

This is bonkers. Dan Hayes ‏@CSNHayes 1h1 hour ago Doing base running research -- 2015 #WhiteSox were the first team since the 2002 Rangers to not steal third base in a season. Went 0-for-3. South Side Sox ‏@SouthSideSox 1h1 hour ago @CSNHayes First White Sox team to not steal third since 1949. http://www.southsidesox.com/2015/10/8/9477...no-go-white-sox …

Melky, like Abreu, saw his numbers against left-handed pitching take a tumble last year. That seems to be the primary driver for his previous two bad seasons, last year and the spinal tumor year. Against righties, he's been just fine. We should expect improvement from him on that front. I do, at least.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Mar 1, 2016 -> 05:23 PM) Avi's D is his D; but it wouldn't surprise me if he hits pretty well. The list of players who have finally developed at 26-28 is pretty stout (donaldson, e.g.). Avi takes walks and hits the other way; if you can do those things, which are hard, you should be able to do other things that would help and are actually easier for most players. Where is this coming from??? Everybody, PLEASE STOP SAYING THIS. 6.0% walk rate last year. Sox as a team, 6.7%. MLB position players, 7.8%. 101st out of 141 qualified hitters in walk rate. By what standard are we honestly assessing that "Avi take walks?"

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 1, 2016 -> 09:31 AM) I don't want to feel this way, help me. I am on the ledge with you. I was very hesitant after the Frazier trade because like many, I saw the Sox as a .500 team. I allowed myself to get sucked into the Gordon and Cespedes stuff, but sometime a few weeks ago I became resigned that Avi was going to be our starting right fielder. I think they intended to go big. And I don't want to be a broken record, but I'm about to be. They either misjudged the market or their capacity to take advantage of it. Same end result - terrible outfield. Hahn says he still expects to add before Opening Day, but why should I believe him? I don't expect us to sign Austin Jackson. I don't expect a meaningful trade to occur. I expect to watch a .500 team that needs a lot to go right to be good. Did that help?

I'm sure Frazier will be happy to sign a market-rate extension. We've only been dating a couple months Todd, let's at least live together for a year before we think about long-term.

Hawk said we had one of the best defensive outfields last year so don't worry about it.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Mar 1, 2016 -> 07:37 AM) I agree that the defense is a concern but bad defense isn't why they lost last year. They had one of the worst offenses off all time and they didn't improve as a team once Saladino, Sanchez, and Thompson were on defense either. Hitting covers up a lot. I can respect the sentiment behind this, specifically that great hitting can patch over mediocre defense, like with the Jays last year. But on what are you basing this "one of the worst offenses of all time" comment? They put up an 86 wRC+, which is bad but certainly not in all-time company. I'm seeing it at 103rd worst in the last 30 years. The offense's WAR was 3.1, which IS all-time terrible, but that's because not only could they not score, but they couldn't field. They lost plenty of games because of that too, and Balta was right, they've done little to improve it.

Who would have thought that a decades-later randomly-timed reboot of a show that was bad to begin with would be bad. o_o

QUOTE (soxfan85 @ Feb 28, 2016 -> 12:37 PM) What is baffling is actually thinking that the White Sox will pick anybody of any value with that draft pick. Especially that incompetent pack of clowns. Other than a pitcher, who is the last position player that we picked that was of any value to the organization? They acted as if they were going all in when they acquired Frazier and Lawrie. Then, they backed out and failed. The 2016 White Sox are partially in and will once again achieve the same results. Micah Johnson and Trayce Thompson just helped us acquire Todd Frazier. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Knew the instant I saw his tweet that it would turn into a dumb controversy.

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 01:39 PM) This, of course, makes the huge assumption that the anywhere from 16-30 teams in the league between 1908 and now have the same makeup and the same chance of winning year in and year out. That assumption destroys this analysis, as the New York Yankees have a quarter of the Championships over the same time period. If every team in the last 100 years had won anywhere between 3-5 championships, I would be a little more accepting of this probability calculations, but the deck is stacked against teams many years, and therefore a team like Philadelphia does not have a 1/30 chance of winning the World Series this year. The 1/30 chance is just wrong. Never said it was realistic. Just fun with math.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 11:37 AM) I would think that the chances of a team winning the WS in any given year are higher than the chances of single team not winning a single WS in 100+ years. Especially since they keep increasing the number of teams that make the playoffs. Yet they've somehow managed to continuously defy those odds. I was curious about this so I did the math. If you assume that every team starts each season with an equal chance of winning the World Series, the odds of a team not winning once from 1909 until now are 0.41%. This takes into account the increasing number of teams as the league expanded, and that there was no WS in 1994. 0.41% is about 244/1. The team Bovada pegs to have the lowest odds at winning the title in 2016, the Phillies, is at 200/1. So regardless of how or why, the Cubs have pulled off something very unlikely.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 09:36 AM) Typically a mutual option with money only gets paid if the player accepts and the team doesn't. If a player opts out, they don't get paid. Maybe this one is different, but I have never seen it. Interesting. I'm not too familiar with the concept but that makes sense.

QUOTE (Buehrlesque @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 09:37 AM) Everyone left as a FA is bad, including Austin Jackson, who has become overrated in the past few weeks now that all the good OFs are gone. Yes his D is solid, but his bat has been downright awful, and he's not coming at some Rollins or Latos-like discount. Boras will get him his money, and I don't think it will be with the Sox. Hahn must have a trade, secret target or obvious target, lined up. I just can't imagine what's taking so long to complete it. Austin Jackson rises above "bad," and I'm not overrating him by saying that. He'd be worth 2/$17M. I fully expect that you're right and he'll sign somewhere else though.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 09:32 AM) Now I see the confusion and its my fault. The blurb I was reading said Fowler had signed a 1/8M for '16. Apologies to all for my confusion. It is 1/$8M with a "mutual option" for the second year and a $5M buyout. Most don't see a scenario where both Fowler and the Cubs want that mutual option, so it's effectively a 1/$13 deal.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 09:23 AM) I agree and pretty much said the same thing in a previous post. Fowler is betting on himself this year to lineup a payday next year all the while getting another chance at the post season. Imo, Fowler taking a mere 8M this year speaks volumes, he easily could have gotten much more elsewhere and yet he still chose the cubs. This directly conflicts with your previous statement that it was never about the money. What are you arguing?

QUOTE (shipps @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 09:21 AM) Levine said that the Sox offered him 2/$17mil They oughta slide that money over to Austin Jackson.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 08:56 AM) If he loved the Cubs as much as he says he does, then he would have just accepted the QO. Exactly. All this "where my heart is" stuff is bull. Just media spin.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 03:01 PM) Yeah they can make him a QO. Same situation with Gordon this offseason. Thanks. So then the lost pick is replenished and isn't that big a deal. Not sure why the O's reportedly drew such a line in the sand against the one year opt-out.

Can the Cubs make Fowler a qualifying offer if he is bought out after 2016, or would the buyout make that against the rules?

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 02:44 PM) David Kaplan ‏@thekapman 2h2 hours ago I have to tell you, I never saw this coming but the Cubs move speaks to the absolute class person that @dexterfowler is. Phenomenal guy. I wonder what Adam Jones thinks about this Hahaha, what a diaper full of s***.

Yeah the Jays and Tigers were bottom 2 in the AL there, and also beat up lefties far worse than all the other teams. Probably not a total fluke, but still interesting in the context of the rest of the ALC.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 01:13 PM) The ad program is a key word finder. It is absolutely true. The reason the ad is there is because it is seeing post after post about them. I've been seeing that ad with the Cubbie blue laser beam constantly since the day the Cubs thread was created, before anybody replied in it and certainly before today. So the mere existence of that thread triggered the ad for me? I kind of doubt that. Figured it had more to do with the Cubs' current marketing push for tix + we all have baseball sites in our browsing histories.

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 12:46 PM) I wouldn't mind Reddick, either, but not exactly my first choice. If he comes cheaply, sure, why not. We certainly know there is an open line of communication between Forst and Hahn. He is pretty terrible against LHP, but I suppose him and Avi would make a decent platoon. Still wouldn't have a platoon partner for LaRoche, though. Can't carry Sands on a roster with Cabera, Eaton, Avi, Shuck and Reddick. You'd platoon LaRoche first, Reddick isn't so bad against lefties that he has to sit.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 11:32 AM) I wouldn't mind Reddick, even as a rental. Worst case scenario is that the Sox send a fringe prospect or two to the A's and get the compensation pick back next year when he leaves. I can think of worse scenarios than that. But yes, he's a good player. Very interesting to look at his K rate the past few years.