shysocks

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 1, 2015 -> 08:38 AM) This link has a rendering. Looks pretty awesome. http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/201...-cellular-field Very exciting and it looks great, but I can't stop laughing at the fact that they used Gillaspie.

Fewer teams make the playoffs in MLB than the other sports. The Sox have sucked but as far as comparing across other sports... *shrug*

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 1, 2015 -> 12:29 AM) Hawk convinced me a year ago Micah was gonna be a superstar. Now he's just a blah prospect. What happened? I was hoping he was the next Ray Durham. Well there's your problem, you let Hawk convince you of something. That being said, to the people writing him off because of this - I think you're overreacting.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 30, 2015 -> 07:43 PM) Heard Chris Singleton say Arrieta does more in bigger games. I guess Kershaw doing it to clinch the division was an unimportant game. Arrieta has 20 wins and despite everything we know about the win stat, I feel like that's still going to be the magic number for him.

Fittingly, he looks exactly like Derek Waters, the Drunk History guy.

QUOTE (Lemon_44 @ Sep 30, 2015 -> 05:42 AM) Yep, Garcia's played 1 complete major league season and didn't hit .300 with 30 HR at the age of 24. Get rid of him, he's a bum. Yep, that's what people are saying. That's the bar he had to clear. Anybody who doesn't do that is a bum, that's exactly right. QUOTE (EvilJester99 @ Sep 30, 2015 -> 07:07 AM) Avi has struggled.. but to me he isn't the biggest issue on this team yet most are so down on him as if he is the cause of the Sox sucking so hard. He is one of the biggest issues on this team. For the Sox to contend he had to break out. Instead he got palpably worse. So much else went wrong that you can't pin all the blame on him, but he might have gone the wrongest. QUOTE (Mike F. @ Sep 30, 2015 -> 08:14 AM) I can't see him being any worse at third than in right field, but's just me. Oh I can see it. He's never played the infield, why do people wanna do this? QUOTE (daggins @ Sep 30, 2015 -> 07:05 AM) He's had ~1100 MLB plate appearances. He hasn't shown any growth in power or plate discipline. He's awful defensively. I'm not saying the Sox need to cut bait, but he can't be considered a starter in 2016 if there are pretenses of contention. I'm at the point where I don't even think you can start him in any scenario. All this "he's only played one full season, he's young" stuff would be more convincing if he was actually showing any progress, but just like you said, he isn't. He's even more of a hacker now than ever. I liked this movie better when it was called Dayan Viciedo. Cut bait and give the job to somebody else next year. Do not flush another 600 plate appearances on him. Trayce would be a better option, he's YOUNG! just like Avi but he's already shown more promise in two months' time. He has a better walk rate than any single month of Avi's career, except the one that lasted 8 games before he fell down and hurt himself.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 29, 2015 -> 03:34 PM) Our system is loaded with SS's. Semien isn't someone I am that worried about, especially because if the guy we traded him for did anything at all, or the guy who was blocking him at SS hadn't sucked for the first two months of the year, no one would really care. Dealing Marcus was dealing surplus. Heck we could probably call up Tim Anderson today and get the same hitter/no fielder SS in the line up. Wouldn't he have played 2B for the Sox? Unless they really liked Micah so much that they would have played him ahead of Semien. And while the bolded is true, I think we gave up the best middle infielder we had. Anderson couldn't do what Semien is doing at the plate right now, that's a stretch, and scary stories about Semien's defense are exaggerated.

If Phegley ever has another year half as good as this one I'll eat my hat. Semien is still the only guy I'll miss from that deal - and I'll miss him plenty.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Sep 29, 2015 -> 02:03 PM) i just didnt want to know any of that lol Also who edited that story? "We broke the story ... Rose's ex sued the Chicago Bulls player..." "Rose says things were so cool the following day -- the accuser casually had a cup of coffee with her roommate in the morning after the sex ... and headed into work for a full shift." Why is it written like that??

Wrigley Field is a gross old dump national treasure that renders any comparison pointless. Nobody should be compared to the Cubs. They are an anomaly. No argument comparing Sox and Cubs attendance should go more than ten posts without somebody acknowledging this. So here's the acknowledgement.

QUOTE (VAfan @ Sep 28, 2015 -> 11:34 PM) 6. Plan for 2B to be the same contest it was this year -- Sanchez v. Micah Johnson. Sanchez had only one good month, and the rest has ranged from crap to awful crap. But he plays good defense, and like Garcia, the Sox will hope for his hitting to improve. Johnson's fielding still won't be good enough to displace Sanchez. I'd be totally fine handing the job to Sanchez again. You compare him to Garcia, and that makes sense because he'll be a disappointing incumbent with youth on his side. Unlike Avi, though, the offensive level Sanchez needs to reach to be a productive player are pretty low. I think he can reach that level.

QUOTE (Knackattack @ Sep 28, 2015 -> 03:51 PM) http://m.whitesox.mlb.com/news/article/152...r-for-white-sox Think they're trying to say something here? Not really, I think it's just a column and it's no different than if it were published anywhere else. Merkin even says it in the article: "Nothing aside from local media postulation has arisen concerning trading Quintana in the upcoming months." I do think he's one of the more likely guys to get traded, my response above notwithstanding. I hope they don't do it, but if they do, I really hope they don't screw it up. He really is the model of consistency, just like Cooper says. He followed up his breakout with a better season in every regard, and when they said he couldn't repeat it without a fluky-low home run rate, he did it! If you trade a guy like him with that contract, just please don't screw it up.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Sep 28, 2015 -> 01:49 PM) Removing injuries from the equation because the Bulls have just as many potential issues on that front as the other contenders, what makes you think the Bulls could beat the Cavs, Spurs or Warriors in a series? Rose and Noah rewind the clock. Mirotic makes a leap. It's a lot to hope for, but it could be worse.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Sep 28, 2015 -> 01:02 PM) Oh, for sure. He has put up a 2.0 WAR in 139 IP. Adjust that for a 200 IP year next season, and that's about a 3 WAR without accounting for ANY improvement. But we have already seen improvement out of him as the season has gone on. His 2nd half versus his 1st half splits..... 1st half - 66 IP, 3.80 ERA, 8.95 H/9, 9.22 K/9, 5.56 BB/9, 1.65 K/BB, 1.61 WHIP 2nd half - 73 IP, 3.70 ERA, 7.89 H/9, 8.75 K/9, 3.69 BB/9, 2.37 K/BB, 1.28 WHIP Not a drastic improvement (other than BB/9), but it's steady improvement. Now you in to it even further and look at his numbers since August 11th...... Aug 11th - 54.2 IP, 1.81 ERA, 6.25 H/9, 8.07 K/9, 3.45 BB/9, 2.34 K/BB, 1.08 WHIP I would say this has been a great rookie campaign for him. Probably a top 3 ROY pitcher in the AL. I would feel confident saying he could become a 3.5 to 4 WAR pitcher next season, and if you count Sale with is usual 6+, and Quintana with his usual 5+ WAR. That's a helluva top 3 in a rotation. Not many teams, if any, have 15 wins out of their top 3 in the rotation. Good stuff, thanks for pulling that together. One additional thing I want to point out is that even though his K/9 dropped in the second half, it's really just because the innings that made up his personal "/9" got shorter. The percentage of batters faced that he struck out remained effectively identical, from 23.0% to 22.8%. I think I also saw a stat somewhere that he went from using 19 pitches per inning to 15.

Is there anybody here who wouldn't call Rodon's rookie year a resounding success? It's been really satisfying to watch.

Jayson Stark ‏@jaysonst 1h1 hour ago Jeff Samardzija has joined Brett Tomko (2003) & Jaime Navarro (1997) as only pitchers in last 50 years to give up 9+ ER 3 times in one year He said the magic words - Jaime Navarro! I still think making a QO is a no-brainer, but he is doing everything he can to change my mind.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Sep 15, 2015 -> 11:05 AM) Jeff Passan ‏@JeffPassan 12h12 hours ago Starling Marte would've been with the White Sox if not for a vengeful, gun-toting buscon. More from @BradyMcCollough: http://bit.ly/1gnFkOq Balta mentioned it in the minor league thread, but I thought this was worth its own thread on what would of been. This really upsets me because I love Starling Marte and would of loved to see him in a Sox uniform. What a crazy what-if game you could play with this. Sub Melky for Marte on this year's roster, for one thing, but there are probably other ripples too.

QUOTE (bmags @ Sep 15, 2015 -> 11:08 AM) It's an easy way to add more talent to the system without affecting the long-term goals of the club. The prospect we added for Beckham may actually make it to the big leagues, and who would have guessed. It's cool to mock something very reasonable that the club needs to be doing while rebuilding, though. You are much smarter than us. Good, my goal is to look cool and smart. Albers is pictured next to "just a guy" in the dictionary, despite his remarkable August in which he allowed 14 hits, 6 walks, and a hit batter in 13.2 innings. He's also allowed 10 inherited runners to score this year, which is tied for 35th in MLB this year behind a whole bunch of guys who've thrown more innings. The 1.38 ERA is a mirage and GM's know it. Any return for him would be a long shot to ever contribute, Gordon Beckham trade notwithstanding. Should he have been traded? Sure. Is it worth complaining about? No.

I know I'll lie awake at night wondering what stud prospect we missed out on because we didn't trade Matt Albers.

Perfect! Exactly how I feel. The wave is a scourge. You and this guy are very close to my seats. I'll have to keep an eye out for him, and I'd be happy to try to start a middle finger wave with you.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 13, 2015 -> 07:47 PM) The Sox need desperately ... a.) power bats. Anybody available from Cuba that the team could sign? Or is Viciedo gonna be ready for the comeback? b.) bullpen. The bullpen is horrific. Can it be fixed? c.) defense. The defense blows. Can it be fixed? d.) Some righthanded veteran starting pitcher who can pitch effectively. All four of these areas must be improved drastically. Two weeks ago you were pissed the Sox didn't trade Robertson.

Leadoff "double" on which Eaton badly displayed a line drive.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 11, 2015 -> 01:11 PM) I think the trick is that "you're paying $6-$7 million based on what the guy did last year". You then wind up paying $9.5 million because "what they did last year" doesn't take into account the chances of a guy going all LaRoche/Melky/Rios/etc. And that is so common - guys underperform so incredibly much - that failures like them are the norm, not the exception. You sign a couple guys and you're bound to find someone who completely disappoints. But teams don't pay based on what a guy did last year, they're paying based on their projections and they understand that some decline is expected given the age of most free agents. They don't expect a guy to go all LaRoche/Melky/Rios, but they do expect probably half a WAR less, give or take depending on the guy's baseline. That's why the $6M has been surpassed. I did my own checks based on this link and came up with 38 names, not 31 like you had. Not sure why we differ but I did cut a few names because they were either international signings or they merely had options picked up. I extrapolated their final 2015 WAR just like you did and found there were 17 guys who do better than a 0.5 WAR decline. So yes, if 17 out of 38 will do better than you think, those are pretty bad odds. There are 6 more guys due to decline by 0.5-1.0 WAR. 6 more between 1-2 (the moderate failures?), and 9 who decline by more than 2.0. Those are the catastrophes. The Sox have two of those (LaRoche, Melky), along with one moderate failure (Duke) and one big win (Robertson).

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 11, 2015 -> 11:50 AM) Why thankfully it did not work out? If it did work out, the Sox would have a shot right now. Just Samardzija's second half alone, if he was just average, they are probably over .500 even as poorly as they have played overall. I wish they didn't trade for him, but do wish since they did, it worked out. I think he meant that given Samardzija's bad season, it's a good thing the efforts to convince him to sign an extension didn't work out.