CB2.0

Gonzalez has done nothing but get better with every start. Hard to find many on this team you can say THAT about.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 6, 2016 -> 10:03 AM) Your 2 year old couldn't apparently see that we need pitching too? Sox SP: #6 in MLB in ERA (#1 in AL - also ER and R) #3 in MLB in CG #5 in MLB in SHO (#1 in AL) #7 in MLB in QS #11 in MLB in BAA #5 in DIP% You get the idea... And we had Gas Can Danks for the first month. Another SP is nice and all, and I'm glad we didn't get fleeced in the deal, but this was hardly a top priority when you look at it.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Jun 5, 2016 -> 07:43 PM) Tim Anderson has put up a .725 OPS in his 2 months at AAA, is a clearly inferior defender than Saladino and you seriously think he should be in the majors? Definitely bad first month. But, over this last month: .361/.387/.513/.900 I wish he was a LH hitter.

Fire Robin, don't....I don't think that's going to really matter. This team needs hitting - particularly against RHP. No manager in the world can cover up that glaring fact.

It sure is a good thing we're going to spend $27M on Shields when Detroit just showed the entire division (and league) all you have to do is trot out RH pitching against the Sox to sweep them. My 2 year old daughter can see the Sox need LH hitting...what is the FO doing??

You can certainly have your own preference for how you choose to measure success, but flavum's (correct) point regarding divisional foes is it's not just an increase in the W or L column. It also directly affects your position in the division. You sweep the Angels in a 3 game set while the Tigers, Indians, and Royals also win over those 3 games - so what. You don't gain any ground. Same as if you and they all lose. But you GET swept by any one of those 3, you can see huge difference immediately. That we keep getting our asses handed to us by Cleveland and Kanas is a big problem.

Hey - Any you guys hear the news that Adam LaRoche retired and left $13M on the table? Is that crazy or what?

Now just sign A-Jax and we got a team.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 29, 2016 -> 10:16 AM) Love me a Jennings for Petricka deal I could get on board with that! But would the Rays do it? The deal they just did with the Rox was the exact opposite....dealing RP for more OF depth.

Please, God...no more NL 34+ year olds with 8 figure salaries. Are we EVER going to learn from this? Just go sign Jackson.

QUOTE (shipps @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 03:54 PM) I think there is zero chance the Sox sign Desmond, which is fine by me btw. Amen to that.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 03:57 PM) How many free agents other than Rasmus, Heyward and Upton have been under 30? Jackson.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 03:51 PM) That's the same exact thinking that led from better players to Cabrera and LaRoche... What? Where am I advocating signing veterans on the wrong side of 30 to 8 figure deals? QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 03:54 PM) It's also the same reason not to pick stocks or mutual funds based largely on previous year performance without considering context.Context is the point I've been trying to make here the whole time.

QUOTE (Knackattack @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 03:44 PM) I just have a hard time seeing Desmond not hitting like he did in 2014 when he hit 24 HR and was a 4war player. And everything I'm looking at projects him being much closer to 2015: .236 .294 .390 .299 wOBA 87 wRC+ 1.5 fWAR Not worth the $ to me.

QUOTE (Knackattack @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 03:36 PM) The point of signing him would be something like 2/30 with a team option with an opt out after the 1st year. Everyone is safe there and if Desmond gets back to being Desmond you either get a year of an elite SS for cheap and then the draft pick comes back, or if he doesn't revert it's not a huge commitment. So $15M AAV isn't a huge comittment if he repeats. I disagree. But that's fine - we can do that amicably. There's good power potential now at 1B, 2B, 3B. I'd rather see that $15M go toward the salaries of a Jackson/Latos, roll with Saladino at SS, and wait for Anderson at SS. QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 03:38 PM) Can we afford -1 to +1 war out of three positions in the line-up and still compete? You realize it's not at all unlikely Anderson puts up 25-35 errors his rookie season when we are most setup to be competitive? Sure. I also realize there's a big difference between $500K and $15M. $14.5M could go toward better options at those other 3 positions you mention.

QUOTE (Knackattack @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 03:27 PM) I think Desmond committed like 30% of his errors in the first 12 games of the season.. his entire bad year is kind of attributed to pressing too hard to not look like an idiot for turning down the 107m or whatever washington offered him. Desmond is a guy with good range and a strong arm but those are the types of guys that are likely to commit an error trying to make a play on balls most guys don't get to (that would go through as hits anyway), so some of it has to be taken with a grain of salt. So what would be different on a 1 year deal? Can we afford to continue to compromise defense in the hopes for a bigger bat? What about Anderson? Is it worth $12-14M? I look at all these things and think, no.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 03:20 PM) You can't compare CF and SS by total number of errors, because shortstops in general are always going to have a lot more errors. The point was that Cain had the most errors at this position, but no one is going to say he's a bad or even average defender. Also doesn't your 3B example just help prove my point? Donaldson, Arenado and Beltre all have glowing defensive reputations, yet they were among the league leaders in errors.Of course you can't - I'm not the one that introduced comparisons between SS and CFers. My point is that if you look at just errors as a means to evaluate defensive capability, and you put in context with the league...and see a HUGE difference like you do with Desmond (and you don't with the examples you gave)....one can REASONABLY settle on the idea that Desmond is really NOT a good defensive SS. You said looking at errors is lazy, and I'm saying that with Desmond....just looking at errors (and how many he is charged with...comparatively)....is, probably, enough and not a lazy analysis. Look, I see value in advanced stats as I mentioned earlier. But you don't always need them for evaluating everyone and everything, and it's not fair to call a guy lazy for reaching a conclusion when, in this case, it's clearly not necessary.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 02:42 PM) Lorenzo Cain led all CF in errors last year, and his total was 30% higher than the next guy too. Ian Kinsler is among the leaders in errors at 2B every year. Josh Donaldson has the most errors of any 3B over the last 3 years. Errors need context.Now you're just being argumentative for the sake of being argumentative...or disingenuous. There's a big difference between 27 errors (Desmond) and 10 (Cain/Kinsler). That 30% is roughly equivalent to the TOTALS of the guys you try to use as examples. Also, Donaldson's "league leading"18 errors are evenly matched with Lawrie, and just a single error away from guys like Arrenado, Beltre, and Bryant. Yes - context. QUOTE (bschmaranz @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 03:12 PM) Frazier led the NL in errors at 3B last year. Still considered a solid guy on the hot corner. Just more fuel on that fire, hehe.No, that's not more fuel because his league leading number of errors is only 2 more than the 3 I mentioned above (+10% ). That's not remarkably significant.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 02:49 PM) He is? He's playing in Japan lmao Yeah, per ZiPS, he's gonna be the 2016 Sox #3 slugger! QUOTE (shysocks @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 02:50 PM) Projection systems always spit out inexplicable quirks like that. Steamer is a special offender, always having tons of guys with one plate appearance yet a triple slash like .236/.291/.358 (that's 2016 Paul Konerko). But this is 438 trips to the plate...that's a pretty big flocking quirk considering he's not even affiliated with the team anymore.

Yeah, seems so. Quintana is expected pitch nearly identical number of innings as Sale, yet yield 30 more hits to 40 more batters faced. And again - how are we getting 16HRs and 52 RBIs from a guy that was released outright....a year ago?

Errors alone are not enough...at least without context. In Desmond's case, he committed the most in his league last year, and the next closest guy committed nearly 30% less. I think its pretty safe to say you're not very good defensively in that context, without the need for an in-depth advanced defensive stat analysis.

Neither Abreu nor Frazier with 30/90? Yikes. I really hope that's not the case. And why is Viciedo on there with a 253/299/430 and 52 RBIs?

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 12:17 PM) Quintana's is strange not only because of the ERA, but also his projected FIP (3.29). Not sure why the projection has such a big gap between the two numbers, especially considering Quintana's career ERA (3.46) is almost identical to his career FIP (3.45).The big uptick in ERA is odd. He's never been higher than a 3.51 in a 200IP season. The lower FIP isn't as surprising to me, as SS noted, due to the same OF defense. He's posted a FIP .5 lower than his ERA before (2014).

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jan 27, 2016 -> 12:48 PM) That's just not true. There are dozens of examples every year of plays being mistakenly marked as errors or non-errors, it's a subjective judgment call, and if a player gets to a ball that leads to an error he's not giving up extra bases if the other player doesn't even get to the ball. You're also completely ignoring throwing errors, which can easily happen on balls the defender with poorer range doesn't get to. The scoring of an error is subjective - I agree with you, but a throwing error is not. A tough throw on a ball fielded that others wouldn't ordinarily be able to field, yet is errant, is still a bad decision. It's a point I think YOU are ignoring. Nobody is charged with an error for fielding a ball deep in the hole, and holding onto it. As for dozens of examples - I'd like to see that, but recall that we're talking about over a dozen difference in errors just between a bad 2015 Alexei and a 2015 Desmond just in this example. Are you suggesting that 16 additional errors charged to Desmond were likely erroneous too? If so, that's a big pill.

I wouldn't go so far as to call it lazy analysis. And I'm a guy that likes advanced statistics, but the defensive ones still leave a ton to be desired. In order for an error to be recorded, that means that a fielder: This is the problem I have with the "Well, he just has great range, and is getting to balls that most ordinary fielders wouldn't". If that were true, he wouldn't be charged with an error. He's clearly doing things.....LOTS OF THINGS...that cost BASES. At least 11 more bases than a bad Alexei year, and most likely a lot more than just 11.