AlSoxfan

I've been watching various K zone or other places with similar strike zone boxes. I've seen pitches called a ball when they hit the exact center of the box/strike zone on many occasions. It makes me wonder how far off they are. I can see it if the ball was high/low or on the black but the exact center is confusing. I've also seen the same dot (as you say) being called 2 different calls. When this happens I wonder if it's got anything to do with pitch framing. Maybe one time he hit the glove an the next time the catcher had to move his glove. In any case I've been wondering about these boxes. I tend to believe the umps even though I know they're not perfect. I've been arguing with a few friends about these boxes. They (my friends) want to do away with the umps calling the balls an strikes while I'm a bit old school an think it's part of the game.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 11, 2015 -> 02:06 PM) Believing that minor changes are all that is needed is very much consistent with how they behaved during the season. No moves whatsoever at any of the trade deadlines, little change in coaching staff after the season, "If we keep playing like this we'll be right there in the end". Yes, I heard both Robin and Hahn say we just got off to a bad start, just after the AS break. I think they believe they're close. Personally I think even if we had started the year 10-0 we would of never been close. I really don't expect much this off yr. because of this line of thinking.

QUOTE (VAfan @ Oct 2, 2015 -> 09:21 PM) Disgusted. As I wrote elsewhere, managers should be assigned WAR. If they were, I'd give Ventura a -5 to -8 range. Just pulling that out of a hat. But I think there is no question managers make a difference. And it starts with whether the team plays good fundamental baseball. Do they field well, or as well as they could give their talent? Do they run the bases well? Do they move runners over? Bunt if called upon? If they dont, this is a managerial problem. Anyone think the Giants win the World Series without Bochy? Any of the 3 they just won? Managers also make in game decisions that win and lose games. Ventura is not good here either. They set lineups, decide who sits, etc. Ultimately, how can Ventura hold any player accountable when he hasn't been held accountable himself?? Another wasted year coming up. Sox could be better, but there is no way they will overcome the anchor that Ventura is for the team. I don't live in Chicago, but I'm not going to see them when they come to DC or Baltimore. And it's hard for me because I have a 12 year old son who loves baseball. You can add to your list how the team played coming out of spring training. The team was not ready to play and that IMO is the manager and his coaching staff's fault. Fundamentals are really bad on this team. Most of the ream came from other organizations so it's not like we taught them, but you would think the manager would see the bad play an speak to them and/or assign a coach to help him improve with a warning thats not how we play baseball here. To be honest I think some of our guys that came up through our farm system seem to have better fundamentals than many of the others. I hate to rip on Robin because there's only so much he can do but I don't think he's doing enough. Bottom line he's the manager and responsible for how the team should play.

I am for the most part against trading Q. I don't think we get what he's worth or enough of what we need to make it worth while. On the other hand Sale might get us there, but thats a whole nother thread.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Sep 29, 2015 -> 02:37 PM) Samardzija was not a mediocre acquisition. He underperformed, but he still has surplus value on his cost. Plus, we have a very valuable draft pick coming from his dismissal. I liked this move then and I like it now. This was a well thought out, perfectly positioned move. The fact that Samardzija has performed the way he has and the Sox are in the position they are in shows how well-coordinated this move was. LaRoche was a mediocre signing. He had a great track record and in theory, I really liked the move but it just didn't work out. I don't know what happened to him but he had been consistent and he was a way of attacking a market inefficiency. He's been downright terrible and nobody expected it. Fortunately, he's got one year left and struggled with injuries more than it was reported. There's a decent chance he can be a plus contributor next year still. The Duke signing sucked. I hated it then and I hate it now. Just a terrible move that went against one of the things the Sox have always succeed with: spending money on relievers and spontaneous results. This one hurts but it's not a crippling number he's paid. Cabrera is the one that really bothers me. I was "eh" with it at the time but everything that happened since has made me really dislike it. Melky is a decent player and a good guy. I'll root for him but I agree with Hahn on this one. Kenny saw the offseason unfold and drank the kool-aid on the team. He went to Reinsdorf for the money and made this signing against Hahn's wishes. Hahn thought they could find a LF on the trade market that could contribute in the same ways at a lesser cost. The Sox owe him 2/29 and he doesn't have much room to make surplus value. What hurts me the most, is if he doesn't sign with us, we have a third round draft prospect/that pool money, an extra 14 million off the payroll and more importantly and a position we can get crafty with and add value. This should have been the final straw on KW but everyone knows it won't be. Agree Agree Agree but had hope. Coop seemed to really like him Agree with a side note I liked Aoki for a couple reasons, he was cheaper and a shorter contract. He also performed as well as Cabera if not better. All said an done I'd do it all over again without hindsight of course, except Cabera

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Sep 25, 2015 -> 12:13 PM) Santiago being an all-star was a fluke. He's the same old wild, 100 pitches thru 5 innings Santiago. We won the trade. Agree 100% an we need to find a couple more deals like that

As far as I'm concerned Abreu an Eaton are the only 2 I'd keep. The rest of the hitters are trade bait, holes we need to fill. I'd have no problem moving him to left if we got a better center fielder or if maybe Trayce turns out to be the real deal. I think he might be a better lead off bat then center fielder.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 24, 2015 -> 02:16 PM) They need to get Swisher on the team. Even if he sucks, the first year, the team makes the playoffs. Awful with the Sox...playoffs. Good with the Yankees...playoffs. Awful with Cleveland....playoffs. Never noticed Swisher but for awhile I thought Uribe was a golden goose

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Sep 23, 2015 -> 05:48 PM) I think Boston goes FA route probably after Price. I think they will try and unload Hanley and Panda and keep the young players at catcher and outfield. But maybe Dombroski loses out on Price and would take Q for some of their young talent. To my knowledge while with Det. Dombroski never signed any big name FA pitchers. He always traded for them. That's not to say he won't going forward. He's also got quite a few players with which to trade. It would seem to be the cheaper way to go as well.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Sep 23, 2015 -> 01:14 PM) The Dodgers basically have bottomless pockets. Why would they want to give up substantial prospects for Sale when they can just go out and sign David Price? My thoughts as well

QUOTE (BamaDoc @ Sep 23, 2015 -> 12:45 PM) What are the boards thoughts on Marcell Ozuna? Marlins owner disappointed in him. Had great 2014 but questions of his conditioning this year. Pros: young 24, has some power, CF ability with dwar about 0. Cons: Boras client though earliest FA 2020, strikeouts about once per game, conditioning/attitude? Supposedly Marlins looking for pitching. Could Avi and a pitching prospect do it or just pitching prospects? Put him in RF I don't know, sounds like the Marlins have pretty much soured on him. I think we have enough problems of our own although I wouldn't rule it out I wouldn't give much for him. I'd put it on the back burner in case nothing better comes along. Could be a better player than Avi but I question his desire.

I thought Hahn did a pretty good job last off season as did most others. It seems though we have more holes to fill than we had previously. Our bullpen is much better than it was, so we have that but I'll take that with a grain of salt. Relief pitchers are often to hard to predict. The one thing I don't think Hahn even gave a thought to was defense. My favorite saying is "Pitching, defense and the three run home-run". We've got pitching but defense is about the worst in all of baseball an only 1 guy who can hit homers with any consistency, an thats not saying anything about the 2 guys on base needed to make it a 3 run homer. Steve Adams was asked what the biggest needs were for the Sox this winter, his response was as many have said "Add a real catcher and figure out second/third base. Improve the terrible defense. I'll admit I got a chuckle out of get a REAL catcher. How we improve without a top ten pick should be the same as how we improve with one. Many have said "dump the whole team and start from scratch", while I might agree, I don't see them doing that. Which leaves us patching holes via trades and a couple FA signings. I'm sure Hahn knows as well as we do what is needed. I do enjoy playing GM but at this point I'm stumped. Unless we trade from our strength..pitching, I fear we'll continue to be a bad team. I think we need to start with defense an go from there.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Sep 22, 2015 -> 10:17 PM) Ben Zobrist is a bad idea all around. How so? and I will say I don't see us signing him at all

Zobrist is not a bad idea. He won't cost a draft pick. I have no idea how much he'll cost but I'd bet more than a few teams will be wanting him. I do think however the Sox will find a 3rd baseman

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Sep 22, 2015 -> 03:53 PM) We have a guest post from author Doug Wilson, about the famous confrontational moment between Carlton Fisk and Deion Sanders. http://www.chicagonow.com/soxnet/2015/09/w...met-neon-deion/ Wilson is the author of "Pudge: The Biography of Carlton Fisk", the first complete biography of Chicago White Sox icon Carlton Fisk, to be released October 20, 2015. I remember this game well. As a big time fan of Fisk I was very proud he was a White Sox player an my favorite player. Good article an I will be buying the book.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Sep 22, 2015 -> 03:48 PM) Resurrecting this thread because I am bored in a waiting room. Trade Trayce Thompson to Milwaukee for Will Smith. Trade Avi Garcia to Oakland for Craig Gentry. Sign Alex Gordon (if 1st round pick protected). 5yr/90mil Trade Quintana for Chrisitan Vasquez/Blake Swihart, Deven Marrero and Joe Kelly. I think Red Sox would rather keep Vasquez so Swihart. Trade Carson Fulmer for Trevor Plouffe. Sign Mat Latos. 1yr/9mil. vs. RHP CF Eaton LF Cabrera 1B Abreu RF Gordon 3B Plouffe DH LaRoche C Swihart/Flowers SS Ramirez 2B Micah vs. LHP LF Eaton DH Cabrera 1B Abreu RF Gordon 3B Plouffe SS Ramirez CF Gentry C Swihart/Flowers 2B Sanchez Bench: C Flowers/Swihart, INF/2B Sanchez/Johnson, DH/OF LaRoche/Gentry and Saladino/Shuck (whoever wins the spot). SP1 Sale SP2 Rodon SP3 Latos SP4 Danks SP5 Johnson RHP Robertson RHP Nate Jones LHP Will Smith LHP Zach Duke RHP Zach Putnam RP Joe Kelly/Dan Jennings/Montas/FA flier RP Joe Kelly/Dan Jennings/Montas/FA flier I might be stretching that Thompson could get Smith but that'd my plan. -Defense gets a lot better (Add Gordon, Plouffe, Gentry, subtract Avi and Eaton is CF on somedays.) -Young controllable talent switches from pitching side to hitting side (Add Swihart/Marrero/Plouffe, subtract Quintana/Fulmer.) -Pitching takes a slight dip (Add Latos/Smith/Kelly, subtract Q/Fulmer.) -Hitting gets way better (C, 3B, OF, legitimate back up SS) So far IMO this seems to be the most do-able and best plan I've seen without the lopsided trades (we do seem to value our players a bit much) and keeps our payroll about right. I would like to keep Albers though and agree the Smith trade might take more. I'd also rather sign Heyward than Gordon but that would blow the budget.(just dreamin) Good plan

Honestly without hindsight all but Melky. I thought they were all good moves at the time. Guess I'll never be a GM an just stick to watching the games.

QUOTE (flavum @ Sep 19, 2015 -> 08:35 PM) No, but Robertson does. Hiyo.... yea I caught it...lol

And so Robertson gets a save for that....wow

Rodon at 71 pitches after 6 innings...not to bad

QUOTE (ventura_abreu @ Sep 19, 2015 -> 04:43 PM) Steve Stone did an interview and gave his judgment that he would be given the qualifying offer, and he would decline it. Stone feels that some team will give him a 4-year, $60 million contract. In the unlikely chance that he accepted the qualifying offer and tried to re-establish himself, Stone feels he would be smart enough to make the emotional and pitching adjustments that he would need to make and would pitch well enough for the Sox. Stone, though, definitely puts an extremely low probability that he would take that route because going into free agency makes the most sense for him. In short, Steve feels there is no substantial downside risk to making him the qualifying offer. I like Stone and would believe an trust in him over most anyone else

"His underachieving season surely won’t help him in the free agent market. His return to the South Side? Don’t count on it according to Bruce Levine. Chicago must determine whether to make a qualifying offer to him after the World Series ends. A qualifying offer means you offer your own free agent a $17.1-million one-year contract. If the player accepts, he gets a one-year contract. If he declines, the team gets a pick after the first round of the June amateur draft in June 2016. The smart money has Samardzija getting a multi-year deal of significant money, despite having a down season. His return to the White Sox beyond 2015 seems highly unlikely." I'm not sure where he got the $17.1 mil from

This has turned into a real conundrum. Damned if you do an damned if you don't. I would have to side with giving him a QO especially if you believe he's a better pitcher than he's shown this past yr. I think he'll get at least a 3/48 offer from someone, which is better than the QO offer he'll get from us. I don't think he'll accept the QO.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 17, 2015 -> 03:50 PM) Christopher Kamka ‏@ckamka 32m32 minutes ago The game sure has changed over the years: Ted Lyons: 484 starts, 29 no decisions Jose Quintana: 117 starts, 50 no decisions #WhiteSox yep..another good game by Q and another no decision. I know wins mean little in today's game but come on.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Sep 17, 2015 -> 12:24 PM) Also, I can't believe Oakland didn't get a top pitcher from Toronto for Donaldson. They could of done better than this 85-88 mph fluff. I agree, I keep thinking we could of given them more...who knows