shysocks

I thought the consensus on Leury has always been "no bat." He has skills that can be useful to the right team but I wouldn't expect him to ever hit much, and that limits his ceiling severely.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Mar 24, 2015 -> 11:08 AM) 13 pitchers? They didn't rule out 8 in the bullpen to start the year earlier this spring. I don't think it'd be a great idea either.

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 24, 2015 -> 10:43 AM) What an home opener weekend for the sox. Who wouldn't want to see brad penny and john danks? Was ready to make the "Sox are favorites for the -insert year in past- division title!" joke. Looked up their numbers. They never had overlapping good years. =( Until 2015 of course.

These are all great, particularly this one of Shuck "beating a tag," ahem. Close call.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 23, 2015 -> 10:04 AM) I don't think it is that simple or sustainable. If it was, he would have struck someone out this spring I would think. You are paying him for 2015, 2016, and 2017, not 2014. I think Hahn got ahead of himself on this one. Found a stretch from August 1 to August 23 in his play log last season where he went 25 batters between strikeouts, more than he's faced all this spring. His K/9 for the 15 remaining appearances after that stretch was 12.54. Random stuff happens. It's extremely fortunate for my argument that his season shook out that way, but even if it hadn't you'd be right when you said not to put any stock into a veteran's ST numbers. sry will stop hijacking this thread now

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 23, 2015 -> 11:01 AM) Watching Soto throw the ball back to the pitcher is hurtful to the eye. Ha I haven't watched any innings he's caught, but if it's that bad I have a lot more doubt about him as the backup. QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Mar 23, 2015 -> 11:02 AM) Sanchez? Booooooo. Sanchez has done exactly what you'd expect this spring but he's just been overshadowed.

QUOTE (WhiteSoxLifer @ Mar 23, 2015 -> 10:53 AM) #WhiteSox lineup 3/23: Eaton 8, Cabrera 7, Abreu 3, Gillaspie 5, Garcia 9, Ramirez 6, Flowers DH, Soto 2, Sanchez 4. Quintana 1. https://twitter.com/CSNHayes/status/580030771953422336 Flowers and Soto CAGE MATCH.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 23, 2015 -> 09:47 AM) The guy tripled his k-rate. I don't put much in spring training stats, especially pitchers who have no chance of not making the team, but his next strikeout will be his first. I think there is little chance he ever has stats that match his 2014, which is the basis of what they are paying him. Because of a mechanical change. Guys don't triple their K-rates at age 31 for literally no reason. If you've already read this column and are still pushing this argument, then I've got nothing.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 23, 2015 -> 08:31 AM) Call me crazy, but I'd rather have Surkamp at what he's making than Zach Duke with his contract. I still don't understand that contract. Surkamp's all right, I think I like him more than most. He can do some things. And he's really no more of a question mark than Dan Jennings. I'd be hesitant to move him before some other guys on the 40. As for Duke, I'm not too interested in going down that rabbit hole with you, but here's my attempt to explain. You often cite his poor second half - I'm assuming as a reason not to believe in the effects of the well-documented changes he made to his throwing mechanics - but I'd encourage you to take a closer look at the peripherals, because a poor ERA does not mean he pitched poorly. He still only allowed a .655 OPS after the break, for example. Out of the 477 guys who pitched at least 20 innings - I picked that cutoff because that's Duke's second half - that would be 167th. I think you'd agree that doesn't mesh with a 4.79 ERA, which would be 381st. Other than his walk rate, nothing changed in the second half, and when you combine it with an elite first half you still get a pitcher worth $5 million. He's a lefty who dominantly handled both sides of the plate, struck guys out, and got ground balls. That is literally everything you want out of a reliever. The drawback is that he hasn't developed a long track record of success. It's a slight gamble but it's not some mystifying deal. You can argue with the validity of trusting in one season but these are the reasons they signed him.

Missed the first homer. The second one was crushed.

Hawk is specifically trolling me now.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Mar 21, 2015 -> 10:59 AM) Honestly, there's almost no risk to this deal. Up until that last year and the two options, Eaton is basically being paid high-end backup money. IMO, this may be Hahn's best extension yet. Nah, that's still Sale without a doubt. This is a good move though. I wanted the Sox to wait one more year on Eaton because of health, but for this price it's difficult to complain. Also love this MO of the double team option years. Really adds a lot to the potential value of these contracts.

Penny won't sink the team if he makes a couple starts. I'd way rather see Carroll though.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 19, 2015 -> 07:03 AM) His bad in AAA corresponded to his hamstring injury he played through. I think people are putting WAY too much into that small and explainable sample size. I'm just saying that I need proof positive from a guy before he jumps to the majors. At the very peak of his performance in AAA he had a 109 wRC+ and a 4.7 BB%. I don't need Kris Bryant, 43 homers, this-guy-kills type numbers. But I need a little bit more than that, especially with some of the other lines guys were putting up in that ballpark. I particularly want to see the walk rate come along as it's one of the things that makes Micah so exciting. And I know people will say that Sanchez wasn't lighting it up when he was promoted, so I'll point out that the circumstances were obviously different.

QUOTE (WhiteSoxLifer @ Mar 18, 2015 -> 10:07 AM) Again micah was hitting pretty well through July in Charlotte. He got up over a .300 average. We started to decline in august but that was due to the hamstring issue that he was eventually shutdown half way through august. I appreciate that the injuries were unfortunate for him, but an unhealthy season is absolutely justification for having him test AAA again. A prospect isn't ready until he proves he is. And even his "while healthy" numbers were not indicative of a guy ready to break the doors down. Now the Sox seem to think that everything he's done beyond the numbers shows he is ready, and I can respect that belief too. They've got more information than me.

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 18, 2015 -> 09:52 AM) Instead of having offshoots of Beckham and Penny talk in the Sale thread, let's just talk about the 25-man right now. Here's what I got... Lineup: Eaton CF, Cabrera LF, Abreu 1B, LaRoche DH, Garcia RF, Ramirez SS, Gillaspie RF, Flowers C, Johnson 2B Bench: Bonifacio UTL, Beckham IF, Shuck OF, Soto C Rotation: Samardzija, Quintana, Noesi, Danks, Penny Bullpen: Albers, Webb, Jennings, Petricka, Putnam, Duke, Robertson DL: Sale, Crain, Jones (60-day) On the fence about Webb. He'll have a short leash if he sucks in April, and Crain is ready. The three guys to move off the 40-man: Leury gets traded Guerra and Brantly get moved off the roster too. Maybe we could package him for Alex Rios if the Royals fall out of it. I think I'd swap Webb for Guerra right now. Webb just doesn't have it right now.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Mar 18, 2015 -> 09:45 AM) I read some of the reviews, the game looks beautiful. Some of those Indie games have so much attention to detail It's definitely getting a lot of attention for its graphics. I wish big games went stylized like this more often instead of trying to be Gears of Duty all the time but I understand why it doesn't happen. That's one reason the indie market has exploded so much.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 18, 2015 -> 09:40 AM) See, here is where I was able to make up my mind. I have concerns about the defense too, but his range as I've seen over the years (and we're seeing more in ST now) is such that he can easily make up for an extra 10 or 12 errors and go beyond that in the course of a season. And that's without considering he could improve with the glove. What I've seen so far is focus - he's not making the mental mistakes, in an admitedly small sample size. If that holds true even most of the time, I think he ends up a better defender than Sanchez - and that makes it case closed in my view. Just my opinion though, as this is a lot of projection and I could very easily end up wrong. Do you think he ends up a better defender right now though? I'm only able to rely on what you and others say from scouting his defense and if his glove is indeed major league ready then he deserves it. 30 AB's in March also don't change my mind about his need to show something at the plate in Charlotte. But it's helping.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 18, 2015 -> 09:35 AM) WINNER! That is kind of the point of this article. Guys like Trout have HUGE contracts. Kris Bryant doesn't. Is it better to have Kluber and more cash to spend, or Felix? That is why a guy like Chris Sale is desirable. All things equal, even Chris Sale's mom would rather have Clayton Kershaw pitching for her life... but when salaries are taken into account, would you still rather have Clayton Kershaw? To me the point of the article was to prove that a handful of GM's and managers are kinda dumb.

I'm about halfway through Ori and the Blind Forest, the indie platformer flavor of the month, and I'm enjoying it a lot. The gameplay is extremely sharp, I can't emphasize that enough; you immediately feel like you've been controlling this character your whole life. The production is great. The difficulty is rewarding but not frustrating. If you like your Metroidvania's, no reason not to get this. The only complaint is that it seems like it might be on the short side, but I'm not done yet, so who knows.

QUOTE (Nunnigan @ Mar 18, 2015 -> 09:27 AM) Kluber is actually 2 days younger than Felix. The only reason that Kluber got a couple votes was because of last season. Otherwise there is no other reason not to take Felix over Kluber given King Felix' proven track record Well there's their salaries...

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 18, 2015 -> 08:44 AM) I'm now fully in on Micah as the 2B. Got into a discussion with James Fegan (from The Catabird Seat blog), as he feels Micah isn't there yet. So here's a sort of response to his piece, where I make the case for Micah as the Opening Day 2B. Agree? Disagree? Not sure yet? Grammatical errors? I would still rather have the certainty of Sanchez' defense, but Micah has the job. I'll be thrilled if I've been wrong about this.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 18, 2015 -> 09:05 AM) Paulino had upside, but Beckham has none. That just isn't accurate. The fact is the White Sox have brought loads of bench players from other teams in the past 10 years and they have been awful, even if Soxtalk favorites. Cintron and Mackowiak right away. I know, they sucked, but the argument will be they had upside. Who cares about upside if it isn't coming out. Gordon Beckham has as much upside as any of these dopes brought in over the past years: Cintron Mackowiak Erstad Richar Toby Hall Kotsay Nix Lillibridge Castro Teahen Milledge O-Dog Hudson Fukudome Olmed Tyler Greene Casper Wells Tekotte Of all the guys they brought in, the one guy that worked out OK was Omar Vizquel. Yet none of them get the mention Beckham does if he goes 0-2 in a game the first couple weeks of spring training. Lillibridge had his moment in the sun. I'm not even arguing that Beckham gets more attention. I acknowledged as much in my last post. I think we'll probably have to agree to disagree on the bolded. Beckham has 1-WAR upside, Paulino had 2 or 3 but was obviously not likely to reach it. The team's situation and their projected roles were very different as well, of course. Beckham is coming to play the bench for a team that's trying to win. Paulino was a total flyer handed a starting role for a rebuild.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Mar 17, 2015 -> 07:16 PM) The same people arguing against his utility and practicality (Eminor, shysocks, myself) can be seen doing so on the day he was signed: http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?sh...=94456&st=0 I love that the initial thread went 36 pages and turned into an argument about projections and now this one's on 12. That has to make Beckham the most debated 24th man in Sox history. That lends credence to the claim that if he had spent his career with, say, the Braves and the Sox had signed him, the reaction would be far more muted. But I think the particular context around Beckham is also important because it lends symbolism. LittleHurt said it well: QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 18, 2015 -> 07:31 AM) He's the poster boy for the Sox struggles the last six years and their inability to develop any position players whatsoever, yet they don't want to get rid of him After such a dynamic offseason, Beckham's signing just seemed lazy and lacking in creativity. Perhaps he's here because it is better to let in-house guys like Sanchez and Saladino get minor league seasoning, but I have a hard time believing either one for league minimum plus a Paulino-type sixth starter wouldn't serve the 2015 White Sox better. There's an alternate universe where Paulino was useful last year - he had upside and that's why I liked the signing at the time. The same could be said for a 2015 proxy like Brandon Beachy (another loaded name around here, and yes I know the money is not quite the same). Beckham really doesn't have that potential.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Mar 17, 2015 -> 04:13 PM) Fair enough. Good catchers are hard to find. Having a guy that is proven 1 WAR catcher isn't the end of the world but I just feel Flowers has zero margin for error. If he doesn't have a BABIP of .300 or higher he's going to slash 190/230/340. Plus, aesthetically, like Rock said, the guy is hard to watch. This is true and while he's always struck out a lot, I often wonder what happened to his patience. He always seemed like he'd be a guy with a worthwhile OBP coming up.