shysocks

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Mar 29, 2015 -> 09:04 AM) Charlotte rotation could actually be pretty fun with Rodon, Drabek, Beck, and Johnson. Fun and Erik Johnson used in the same sentence.

ALC is balanced but lacks a standout team; not sure Cleveland is it. ALW has two teriffic teams and a rock solid one. We'll see if the bottom two drag the division down too much to call it the best, but right now that'd be my bet. NL divisions are disqualified because they're in the NL.

Relevant to the discussion of how many lefties to have in the pen: Dan Jennings has relatively pronounced reverse splits in his career. .757 OPS allowed against lefties, .711 against rightes. I mentioned this the day we traded for him and still really hope somebody has informed Robin Ventura of this.

QUOTE (LDF @ Mar 30, 2015 -> 08:55 AM) you it is perception, i took the whole comment as a friendly banter. the way, he said afterword "how much that felt great" something to that extent. also a friendly banter from JB about getting him a drink. in other words, treating him as a rookie all over again. but that is me and how i took the comment. I think you are misinterpreting it. It seems like Mark had built up a lot of anger and he had no interest in being friendly with Baldwin.

I think Davidson had a bad shoulder for most of spring.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 27, 2015 -> 11:53 AM) And if he has a good year, he will sign for an outrageous sum, but still come back with a mystery team offered him more. He already is BSing. He said he wants to see how it is on the White Sox before he agrees to a contract. If the Red Sox offer him $120 million next winter, will he balk because he never played for the Red Sox and needs to see how it is first? For his sake, he pretty much is answering the questions how he probably should, but free agency/money questions always have answers that 8 months later don't add up. Exactly, he's just saying what you say. I'm not gonna hold it against him if he bolts for a better offer and point back to this quote.

A shark cage is for the divers (fans) to safely observe the Shark hunting (pitching) in its natural habitat. So the name is actually pretty fitting. /coolstorybro

QUOTE (ptatc @ Mar 27, 2015 -> 11:35 AM) Maddon said in an interview that if the pitcher is a decent hitter, he will do this alot. Something in the analytics shows it is more effective for scoring runs. Probably has to do with putting the pitcher closer to the meat of the order, meaning there are more likely to be guys on base and you can't walk the guy in front of him as comfortably. That and getting somebody who can hit in the 9-hole to be driven in by your top of the order. Hammel is not a decent hitter though, he's pretty much your typical pitcher at the plate. But it's just spring and it's definitely interesting. Pitchers in 2014: .122/.153/.153 Hammel career: .123/.144/.158

It's athlete speak. What's he supposed to say to a reporter? "Yeah, I just want the most money." This is completely meaningless.

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 27, 2015 -> 10:37 AM) Also on CSN (Cubs broadcast) https://twitter.com/ChiTribKane/status/581479156069715968 Cubs batting Jason Hammel 8th, slightly notable I guess.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Mar 26, 2015 -> 04:43 PM) So the "Sauce Castillo" nickname (Nick Stauskas) story is pretty funny. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-don...-180042667.html I wish I had a nickname half as cool as that, and he got it by accident.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Mar 26, 2015 -> 04:01 PM) Prior to yesterday's start, everyone seemed to think he needed to be in Charlotte for at least a couple months to work on his command and change-up. I don't see how one start, albeit a terrific one against the Royals A-Team, should change that. He had his slider working and that is why he was successful. He still needs to work on that change-up and overall command. The media got a little too crazy with one great start which was just four innings. I predicted this exact scenario a couple weeks ago - the media was going gangbusters with the "PROMOTE HIM" stuff, we knew he'd struggle and it would quiet them down, but one good outing would have them piping up again. Lo and behold. He'll be in Charlotte and it's for perfectly legitimate baseball reasons. The service time stuff is a nice side effect.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Mar 26, 2015 -> 03:56 PM) Penny has zero chance the make the roster. They'd have to add him to the 40 man, not gonna happen, even before today's performance. Look at his B-Ref page. The last time this guy was good Obama was in his first term. I don't think he'd be getting as many innings as he's gotten this spring if they weren't thinking of bringing him.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 26, 2015 -> 03:50 PM) Other point: White Sox made $31 million last year. 2015 opening day payroll is listed as $21 million above 2014 opening day payroll. If the White Sox want to keep Samardzija next year without moving salaries, they'll need to have revenues improve by $10 million or more without new TV money appearing. Not quite that simple because you've got lots of salaries that are a little higher next year, be it Duke at an additional half million or Sale at an additional 3.2. But for the record, $10M more over the course of 81 games would require about 5,000 more fans per game at $25 per ticket. No idea how close that actual average is to that.

QUOTE (fathom @ Mar 26, 2015 -> 03:36 PM) Brad Penny is awful. Even when he was doing ok in his starts, he looked to have very little on his pitches. I think I'd rather take a chance with Carroll. I know I'd rather take that chance. But am I mistaken or does Penny have an Article XX-B contract described here? "Players with six years of major-league service time that sign minor-league deals now have what is called Article XX-B protection. Teams either have to put these players on the major-league roster or release them five days prior to the start of the MLB season. If they do neither, they must pay that player a $100,000 retention bonus. This is essentially a built-in out clause for veteran players. If you are an Article XX-B free agent, you also receive an automatic June 1 out clause if you're paid the $100,000. Most teams get around this retention bonus by releasing a player and then resigning him sometime before the five days prior to Opening Day." If he does, then the Sox have reason to go with him instead of Carroll, as small as the reason is.

I feel like the expressions of "yeesh, calm down guys" in this thread now far outweigh any original anger there may have been. You'd have thought there was a riot. It's sort of a dumb idea to give a guy his own cheering section when he's never thrown a pitch for the team, especially when you ripped the idea off in the first place, and especially when you already have an underappreciated guy on the team who has been objectively better. Also that hat is frigging ugly. Also the Shark Cage will not persuade Samardzija to sign here in any capacity. Those are my thoughts. No outrage, just puzzlement and moving on with my life.

Too much.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 25, 2015 -> 10:58 AM) I wonder why everyone would be healthy and all of a sudden be able to remain healthy once the playoffs start. That is just not realistic. Everybody's crossing their fingers. Should help.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 25, 2015 -> 10:56 AM) Puig is a great talent, obviously, but...having watched how professional Abreu is in comparison, I'd prefer someone like Chapman or Fernandez (assuming health) to the likes of Cespedes or Puig. They both tend to showboat too much, and aren't team-first players. I don't care. I don't like Puig's attitude either but put him in right for the 2015 Sox and I'd forgive his transgressions pretty quickly.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 25, 2015 -> 10:40 AM) Some other names to consider: Alex Guerrero (LAD) Erisbel Arruebarrena (LAD) Leonys Martin (TX) Yuliesky Gourriel Jose Iglesias (DET) Frederich Cepeda (played in JPN, Mexico, 34-35ish) Jose Miguel Fernandez (2B) Alfredo Despaigne (best remaining hitter, along with aging Gourriel) Ismel Jimenez Vladimir Gutierrez Freddy Asiel Alvarez Danny Betancourt Vladimir Garcia Yosbany Alarcon Guillermo Heredia Norge Luis Ruiz Kendrys Morales Odrisamer Despaigne (P) Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez (Phillies) Gerardo Concepcion (Cubs, LHP) Lazaro Alonso 20 1B Osniel Madera 29 OF Gio Gonzalez, Carlos Rodon, Jon Jay, Erik Hosmer, JP Arencibia, Alex Avila, Bronson Arroyo, Nolan Arenado, JD Martinez, Gaby Sanchez, Nick Castellanos, Matt Dominguez, Raul Ibanez....Cuban-Americans or at least Cuban ties This is literally the most caulfield post ever. But obviously you'd want Puig.

Some really good stuff in this post about a call with Hahn and Buddy Bell, but I found the part about the fifth starter the most interesting. Sounds like they're somewhat confident Sale will make his timetable and they'll just push Shark into the 4-11 start on normal rest. Either that or they've got a weather control device to force a rainout. 4-6 at KC Samardzija 4-7 4-8 at KC Quintana 4-9 at KC Noesi 4-10 vs Min Danks 4-11 vs Min Samardzija 4-12 vs Min Sale

QUOTE (oldsox @ Mar 25, 2015 -> 06:47 AM) Yet, one of the strangest events of a bad 2014 season was when Leury hit a home run to dead center. I can't remember the circumstances, but I believe it was a big hit at the time. I can't remember either, but I do remember it being hilarious. Looked it up, it was a solo shot in the 3rd inning of a scoreless game which the Sox won 2-1. Belisario with the no-sweat save, as usual. http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=340604119

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Mar 24, 2015 -> 03:37 PM) We've certainly got a lot of "hawkisms" already this spring. We've got: 1) Bo Jackson's 1 iron 2) fast baserunners stress pitchers more than home runs 3) baseball is the only sport where offense doesn't control the ball surely I've missed some as well. I'm so f***ing tired of him it's going to be a long season. And as I ALWAYS SAY -- Hawk is a legend, a boyhood treasure -- but put him out to pasture please. He said Saturday that Alexei Ramirez in 2014 had the best defensive season by a shortstop he had ever seen. I am not exaggerating or misquoting. Those were his words. I'm with you - when he retires I will enjoy watching Sox games a lot more. I wish he could just call the ***ing game without giving us his thesis about the state of baseball as we know it every two innings. No other announcer does that. The closest is Jeff Van Gundy and he's annoying as hell too.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Mar 24, 2015 -> 02:42 PM) I agree. I think he can drop his K rate substantially if he improves his approach. His contact rate has not been nearly as bad as his K rate would suggest. With some reps and instruction, I could absolutely see him becoming a poor man's Bonifacio, which definitely has some value. His contact rate would be 111th of 146 qualified hitters, so while that would suggest improvement, it isn't anything to write home about. It's not even about his major league results, which, yes, are indicative of a guy in over his head. It's just that no-hit is the book on him. .650 OPS and poor man's Bonifacio are big stretches. He's a light hitter; some guys just can't hit. For example, I wouldn't achieve a .650 OPS in MLB even if I quit my job today and spent the next five years taking batting practice. I am not saying he has no value; I said just the opposite earlier in the thread. But here's another thing I'll say: I'll be surprised if he ever gets back to 0.0 WAR for his career.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 24, 2015 -> 02:25 PM) That still doesn't mean it makes sense for the White Sox to just let Leury go. Saladino, Sanchez and Garcia aren't much different as projected finish projects. They pretty much all project to utility guys. Leury may not ever be able to hit, but same with the others. Saladino will be 26 this summer. Still in AAA usually isn't the recipe for future difference maker. Keep as many as you can around. No reason to let anyone go to make room for Brad Penny. There are degrees of not being able to hit. Garcia really, really won't hit.