14 minutes ago, chw42 said:

I also don't know where he got his numbers from. Who has Grandal as a 2.5 WAR player? 

Those are bWAR numbers. Grandal is a much more valuable player in fWAR's eyes due to pitch framing, which is one of its factors for a measuring defensive value of a catcher.

1 hour ago, mqr said:

https://www.twinkietown.com/2019/12/26/21034635/mlb-minnesota-twins-war-record-free-agent-why-are-you-scared-of-the-white-sox-al-central-pennant

ahhhhhhh it feels so good to feel genuine hate for the twins again. 

That article is a joke.  He does all that WAR research, then just says, let's say they are replacing replacement level guys?  By my math and bWAR, they are replacing -7.1 WAR with the guys they have brought in, on offense.  With guys that were basically RF, DH and C (not including McCann).  ( I took the numbers for Alonso, Cordell, Castillo, Delmonico, Jay, Reed, Rondon, Skole, and Tilson)

They are basically dumping -3 WAR on the pitching side just with replacing guys like Covey, Despaigne, Detwiler, Banuelos, Santana and Santiago.

So, let's say that his 9.6 number is right on for what those guys bring to the table next year.  Then you'd have to consider the -10 games they are losing, so, that makes a 20 game difference right there.  

And, that isn't how WAR really is supposed to work anyways.  But yeah, bad data anyway.

1 minute ago, turnin' two said:

That article is a joke.  He does all that WAR research, then just says, let's say they are replacing replacement level guys?  By my math and bWAR, they are replacing -7.1 WAR with the guys they have brought in, on offense.  With guys that were basically RF, DH and C (not including McCann).  ( I took the numbers for Alonso, Cordell, Castillo, Delmonico, Jay, Reed, Rondon, Skole, and Tilson)

They are basically dumping -3 WAR on the pitching side just with replacing guys like Covey, Despaigne, Detwiler, Banuelos, Santana and Santiago.

So, let's say that his 9.6 number is right on for what those guys bring to the table next year.  Then you'd have to consider the -10 games they are losing, so, that makes a 20 game difference right there.  

And, that isn't how WAR really is supposed to work anyways.  But yeah, bad data anyway.

Well you never really get to do that though as even deep teams give some games to guys who wind up below replacement. 

On paper Sox' 2019 offseason looks a lot like the 2018 one the Twins did last year.  Brought in good players at the start of their contending window while banking on improvement from the youngsters.  

Just need to sign Cruz's doctor and maybe the Sox will set the MLB HR record.

2 hours ago, BFirebird said:

I don't get this article.  If they are using WAR as the premise to NOT be afraid of the White Sox, then their argument doesn't make much sense to me.  White Sox currently are 2.7 Wins behind the Twins according to Fangraphs (https://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=Team).  I am willing to guess they were far greater than 2.7 wins behind the Twins at this point last year.  I know the offseason isn't over and the Twins will probably sign 1-2 more guys at least, but the Sox may sign some more as well (RP and possibly another RF).

Twins fans should be weary. They overachieved last year and their true talent is not 101 wins. FanGraphs' projections indicate that. That's where the author of that article has it so wrong. That and he assumed our bad players were replacement level somehow (they weren't). Right now the Twins are an 88 win team according to the FanGraphs Depth Charts. Like you said the Sox are 3 wins behind at 85. The Sox aren't done yet and we can easily close that gap further with some bullpen signings. Plus we have 3 big young pieces in Kopech, Robert, and Madrigal who can easily outproduce their projections. The Twins don't exactly have that. Our ceiling is sky high and the signings we made this off-season really solidify our floor.

Edited December 26, 20196 yr by chw42

4 hours ago, chitownsportsfan said:

OK I'm completely happy with the Mazara trade now that this is the other side of it.  Team has some real big league depth now and didn't have to handcuff themselves to any long term commitments.

There's still a huge question mark in the rotation but on paper the lineup looks as good as anything since 2006.

Smells like South Side *hit Men. 

Madrigal has to be a major pain he ass for pitchers. If is walk rate isn't that high nor is his strikeout rate I bet he fouls a boatload of pitches off. A pitchers worst nightmare.

4 minutes ago, SoxSteve said:

Madrigal has to be a major pain he ass for pitchers. If is walk rate isn't that high nor is his strikeout rate I bet he fouls a boatload of pitches off. A pitchers worst nightmare.

If I've got this right from his stats over at Fangraphs, his Pitches/Plate Apperance last year was 3.35, which is lower than Tim Anderson's was. In other words, he's very much aggressive at the plate and often sees very few pitches - if you give him a pitch in the strike zone on the first pitch he will put it in play, but he also took 3x as many walks as Anderson did, so if you don't pitch to him he won't swing.

If this keeps up remotely at all we are going to be talking about this guy's bat command and strike zone command forever. As soon as you throw him a hittable pitch he puts it in play.

3 hours ago, mqr said:

https://www.twinkietown.com/2019/12/26/21034635/mlb-minnesota-twins-war-record-free-agent-why-are-you-scared-of-the-white-sox-al-central-pennant

ahhhhhhh it feels so good to feel genuine hate for the twins again. 

One of the big problems with their argument in this article is that they are not even taking into account Robert, Madrigal joining the lineup this year. And Kopech joining the rotation. 

4 hours ago, smellysox said:

One of the big problems with their argument in this article is that they are not even taking into account Robert, Madrigal joining the lineup this year. And Kopech joining the rotation. 

And the fact that they’re just adding and subtracting wins based on WAR added and lost. So Keuchel with 2 or so WAR pushes us up to 74 wins but losing Yolmer and his 2 WAR pushes us right back to the start.

It. Does. Not. Work. Like. That.

Yolmer was an offensive black hole with great D. His loss does not offset the addition of Keuchel, who will replace a catastrophe like Dylan Covey and go out every fifth day and give us a solid chance to win (with a QS about 70% of the time).
 

WAR is a fair way of comparing the overall production of individual players in all aspects of the game. But if you think you just add and subtract it to what you already have and that accurately predicts a team record, you need to step back and go watch a baseball game.

Last year, we gave 513 starts and 2,181 PAs to 11 players who had an average OPS+ of 57. Next year, the vast majority of those PAs will be consumed by three MLBers who put up an average OPS+ of 113, a highly touted prospect who went 30-30 with a 1.000 OPS, and a first round draft pick with a .782 OPS who struck out 3% of the time.

Fuck your WAR calculations. Unless one of our acquisitions falls off a cliff or the prospects disappoint, we are a MUCH better team and can absolutely knock off a team that got 30+ roid bombs from Mitch fucking Garver and has Devin Smeltzer, Randy Dobnak, and Lewis Thorpe slotted for the back end of the rotation.

12 hours ago, The Sir said:

And the fact that they’re just adding and subtracting wins based on WAR added and lost. So Keuchel with 2 or so WAR pushes us up to 74 wins but losing Yolmer and his 2 WAR pushes us right back to the start.

It. Does. Not. Work. Like. That.

Yolmer was an offensive black hole with great D. His loss does not offset the addition of Keuchel, who will replace a catastrophe like Dylan Covey and go out every fifth day and give us a solid chance to win (with a QS about 70% of the time).
 

WAR is a fair way of comparing the overall production of individual players in all aspects of the game. But if you think you just add and subtract it to what you already have and that accurately predicts a team record, you need to step back and go watch a baseball game.

Last year, we gave 513 starts and 2,181 PAs to 11 players who had an average OPS+ of 57. Next year, the vast majority of those PAs will be consumed by three MLBers who put up an average OPS+ of 113, a highly touted prospect who went 30-30 with a 1.000 OPS, and a first round draft pick with a .782 OPS who struck out 3% of the time.

 Fuck your WAR calculations. Unless one of our acquisitions falls off a cliff or the prospects disappoint, we are a MUCH better team and can absolutely knock off a team that got 30+ roid bombs from Mitch fucking Garver and has Devin Smeltzer, Randy Dobnak, and Lewis Thorpe slotted for the back end of the rotation.

WAR is a good way to see how teams stack up, the Fangraphs depth charts WAR chart looks like it is pretty accurate power ranking of teams, the problem the article has is he didn't accurately do math.  The Twins and Sox are a LOT closer than he portrays.  They had a ton of career years last year that outperformed their predictions, everyone doing all that again is not likely.

Nacho Libre, "A Song for Encarnacion"

 

Edwin is gonna mash

Edited December 27, 20196 yr by Orlando

19 hours ago, oldsox said:

I hope you're wrong.  We don't know how good a hitter Yermin will be in 2020.  He might be as good as Edwin.  Only one way to find out.  

He won't be

1 hour ago, Orlando said:

Edwin is gonna mash

Encarnacion greatly strengthens our lineup for 2020 and is a legitimate middle of the order hitter. 

Every player will benefit by having a respected veteran in the lineup who can still hit the long ball. Much improved lineup protection. 

1 hour ago, shago said:

Nacho Libre, "A Song for Encarnacion"

 

 

I always love me some Jack Black. School of Rock, High Fidelity. Tenacious D.

15 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

I always love me some Jack Black. School of Rock, High Fidelity. Tenacious D.

High fidelity is an awesome classic.

5 minutes ago, ptatc said:

High fidelity is an awesome classic.

I just watched it again . Also love me some Catherine Zeta -Jones  and she looked fantastic. I kept pausing it when they showed albums seeing which ones I could recognize . There was one scene where a black guy customer  was telling Cusack, Black and the other employee that they were snobs and he was holding some albums and the one on top looked like Whipped Cream and other Delights by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.  I think half the albums they sold were because of that cover.

Oh and if you haven't seen the trailer for Wonder Woman 1984 go watch it . It's great especially if you like the New Order song Blue Monday.

26 minutes ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

I just watched it again . Also love me some Catherine Zeta -Jones  and she looked fantastic. I kept pausing it when they showed albums seeing which ones I could recognize . There was one scene where a black guy customer  was telling Cusack, Black and the other employee that they were snobs and he was holding some albums and the one on top looked like Whipped Cream and other Delights by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.  I think half the albums they sold were because of that cover.

Oh and if you haven't seen the trailer for Wonder Woman 1984 go watch it . It's great especially if you like the New Order song Blue Monday.

I did see the trailer at the Rise of Skywalker yesterday. The soundtrack looks to be great. It was the perfect song for those scenes.

 

Zeta-Jones is outstanding in high fidelity. The albums are a great part of it. Those kinds of movies where people hang out at the record store or an arcade like in war games bring back the memories. 

Edited December 28, 20196 yr by ptatc

20 minutes ago, ptatc said:

I did see the trailer at the Rise of Skywalker yesterday. The soundtrack looks to be great. It was the perfect song for those scenes.

 

Zeta-Jones is outstanding in high fidelity. The albums are a great part of it. Those kinds of movies where people hang out at the record store or an arcade like in war games bring back the memories. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfM7_JLk-84

33 minutes ago, caulfield12 said:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfM7_JLk-84

Yep. That's the one i saw.

1 hour ago, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

I just watched it again . Also love me some Catherine Zeta -Jones  and she looked fantastic. I kept pausing it when they showed albums seeing which ones I could recognize . There was one scene where a black guy customer  was telling Cusack, Black and the other employee that they were snobs and he was holding some albums and the one on top looked like Whipped Cream and other Delights by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.  I think half the albums they sold were because of that cover.

Oh and if you haven't seen the trailer for Wonder Woman 1984 go watch it . It's great especially if you like the New Order song Blue Monday.

Did you see that Hulu is making it into a TV series with zoe Kravitz as the John Cusack part? It drops on valentine's day.

Entrapment Zeta Jones...that's one that will make the pants tight.

1 hour ago, ptatc said:

Did you see that Hulu is making it into a TV series with zoe Kravitz as the John Cusack part? It drops on valentine's day.

Didn't see that . Oh well don't have Hulu so guess I'll have to wait a few years to see if it's any good.