vilehoopster

I just want to put my vote that I really like listening to both Jason and Steve. I think they do a great job together. Jason just seems completely the professional, and I think you have to be impressed with Stone's insights, especially how he can predict, from time to time, what is going to happen in an at bat. A player is up and whatever the count and Stone will say something like, "The pitcher will waste this pitch and then come back with a fastball high and inside and strike him out." and damn if not two pitches later that's what happens. Or the other way, Stone will say something like, "If that pitcher throws that pitch again, it's gonna be hit hard into left field, and that happens one or two pitches later. I know some will say that's what Stone does is obvious, but I haven't seen other announcers doing that. On the topic of the "Nationwide" song. I can't believe others hate it so much; it's a commercial, like other commercials. I see the Nationwide song like sweet potatoes with marshmallows at the Thanksgiving meal. Not at all my thing, but it's part of the tradition, and I would be a little disappointed if they were not there.

Can you add TA to your list? Because I would, and I’d have TA near the top of that list.

I am talking about this year, this month and this next month, so no, honestly I don't think a player, regardless of his batting average in the past, who has been playing and acting like Tim has all year would make this team, right now and the rest of the year better. There is more to helping a baseball win than batting. For starters defense, especially at short stop. I know I saw it on here but someone posted a stat about how bad our corner outfielders were defensively, and stat pointed out that the Sox were even worse at short stop (Please someone find that stat). Also, there are intangibles that Elvis adds to the team that Tim is sorely lacking. Work ethic, leadership, attention to detail, putting the team first. Guys who flip off fans and bump an ump again, are not putting the team first. A lot of 3rd basemen were better "hitters" than Joe Crede, but there were very few who helped their time wins games as much as Joe Crede did.

Am I the only one who, when you look at defense and other intangibles, thinks that Elvis should remain at short stop and sit Tim down? Beyond defense, what intangibles? Well, for starters, he actually wants to win more that build his brand. Tim's # 1 priority, to me, is more about being noticed anymore than helping the Sox win. I've felt that every since he was suspended for the 2nd time this season, you know, before the 3rd time. Examples: Serving three suspensions this year, getting picked off 1st base consecutive nights, some real bone-headed plays on defense. To me that is a guy who is not mentally into the game and helping his team win each night. Example: Elvis's bunt last night in the big inning. That was a huge play. Would Tim have done that, tried to do that. Stuff like that is about winning, not being noticed. Can Elvis keep playing and batting at his current level? Sure. Being with a contender has him playing harder that what he was doing for the A's Now, I know you can't really do this, and the clubhouse would go crazy if Tim sat, but I don't think you can look at what is happening and what has happened all season and not think that the Sox are better with Elvis at short for the rest of the month and into the playoffs, if they get there.

You’re really happy that Vaughn is out? He is arguably the Sox’s best bat, certainly among the top three, and you’re happy he’s sitting out a game when every game is so important? That he’s not in the lineup, somehow, every day strikes me as crazy.

Can we please bring up Burger so we have a bat at 3rd base. How many men has Moncada left on base the last two games. It has to be over 10, no exaggeration.

Home runs since August 10: ALBERT PUJOLS: 7 White Sox: 6 Red Sox: 5 If the White Sox, as a team, shared the amount of PEDs that you have to believe Pujols is taking, the Sox would probably have 50% more home runs.

Was it only me, or did did anyone else see Giolito looked towards LF as the inning ended and he was walking off, and Giolito with a seriously pissed off expression on his face.

Well . . . Yes and no. But not weird at all. Ignoring body language (non-verbal communication) seems like weird, burying your head in the sand behavior. Body language communicates a lot more truthful communication than words, a lot more info. There’s tons of studies that come to that conclusion, to the point it is pretty well accepted as fact. It’s extremely easier to lie, misdirect with words than body language/ actions. Can you positively know a person by their body language, of course not. But it communicates a lot more truth than words. Southsider, we’ve all watch Moncada play for years and games after games, and that equals hours and hours, probably hundreds of hours of watching him play. That gives no validity to your comment he or we “don’t know a damn thing about him”. That’s a disingenuous statement to win an argument. Are you really going to argue you’ve never seen Moncada take a bat appearance off, where he goes up there with no mental effort and just quickly strikes out. Really, you never seen him do that or do a game worth of at bats like that. I think we know a little damn bit about Moncada and his work ethic.

I can't believe we're still talking about Comforto on this board. While we're at it, I like our chances of getting Bryce or Machado. Oh wait, no. We're going to trade for Soto. No wait. We're trading for Shohei . . . For God's sake, let it go . . . . .;

So every ball that lands in the OF is because Vaughn and Sheet are DHs. Really, how many RFs would have caught that? Very, very few if any. Again, complaining just to complain.

I thought that too.

BS, with at least 75% of RFs in majors that's a double, at least, and Haseley wouldn't have hit a homer. You're complaining to complain here.

Because he sucks?

So a light at the end of the tunnel. Only one more year of him.

How much longer is Grandal's contract?

Serious question, if we sent Sheets ( or Burger or whoever) down to AA against AA pitching wouldn’t he tear the cover off the ball and have an OPS around 1100 or 12OO. Mendick’s Charlotte OPS IS .894, way better than his Sox OPS, and that’s Triple A. Wouldn’t Mendick’s OPS be over 1000 in AA? I remember when Palka had that terrible start for Sox in 2019, something like 2 for his 1st 45 at bats. He still went down to Charlotte that year and had an OPS of .900 and had 27 homers. So, minor league pitching much easier than MLB pitching, so even with his great start in AA, that doesn’t mean he can hit major league pitching. I agree he will be a good one for Sox but we probably need to cool our jets on Colas, especially with a small sample size.

Living in mid/ north Indiana, back pre-covid, I was able to go see the Knights play in Indy a couple years in a row. But then Covid hit. and last year they did that thing where teams only played local teams to cut down on travel and whatever else reasons, so the Indianapolis Indians and Charlotte didn't play at all. But this year, in May, the Indy Indians had a series in Charlotte, but Charlotte never played in Indy. Does anyone know, will Charlotte return the favor and come to Indianapolis next year. I really hope so. It's just great to be able to see the Knights in Indy, an easy drive, cheap seats and parking, a total win.

How can we fans be complaining about dumb plays and low baseball IQ and no one bring up Tim Anderson yet, especially after his play today not stepping on 2nd base to start that double play? He makes the dumbest, most mindless plays, and seems to me, far and away the most of any Sox player. Even before this season, I was amazed that a major league player could get picked off 2nd base as much as Tim has been. But this year he's been something special. Was it a month, a month and a half ago where Tim got picked off 1st base in back-to-back nights. One of the pick offs was because he tripped and stumbled over 1st base as he stepped back and 1st baseman just held the glove on him as he fell off the base. It was a couple or few weeks after that where Tim was running to 2nd base and ran past and tripped coming back and was tagged out. Again, the defender just held the glove on him as he fell off the base. Today, he completely missed stepping on 2nd base to start a double play. A player missed stepping on 2nd base to start a double play. How is that possible? Mendick had that bonehead play trying to tag up to 2nd base which cost a run. Moncada/ Engel ran into that triple play. And Leury constantly playing drives me crazy, but it seems unfair to pile on about him or the others being as being dumb players and nobody brings up Tim Anderson.

Completely disagree with 1st sentence. Three amazing bats (when Eloy’s healthy). Keep them on the roster and keep them in the lineup. Find a way to get and keep those bats in lineup. If that means Vaughn and Eloy at corner outfield spots, so be it. Sox are not at .500 because of outfield defense, it’s because they can’t score runs consistently. You solve that by have a ton of strong bats in the lineup, and these three with Tim and a healthy Robert are the best the Sox have. Eloy won the Silver Slugger in LF; he certainly can do it again (if healthy). Sorry, I believe Vaughn is more than adequate in LF to justify playing him there for his bat, whatever DRS says or even is. DRS, another eye-test, made-up stat. How many people on here have said that Vaughn looks better in the outfield than Eloy? Tons of them, yet this DRS says Eloy is average but Vaughn is terrible, not buying it. You win games by out scoring the other team, you do that having your best bats in the lineup. I’ll say it again, Sox aren’t struggling to stay at .500 because of their outfield defense, it’s lack of run production. And if you put forth the argument that the Sox need more lefty bats in the lineup, it would have to be a pretty elite lefty to hit righty pitching better than one of those three. Get a real lefty bat at catcher or 2B or 3B, but keep those three bats in the lineup.

In ways that would take me longer than I want to write here, I question that Leary is as harmful as this stat you’ve discovered makes him look. Plus you seem to be cherry picking games. A strong argument could be made that Leary’s homer won the game yesterday. Does that make up for the game where your stats say he cost the Sox 1.9 runs (which seems every bit as subjective as saying his homer won the game yesterday). With that said, I agree completely with you main point, Leary needs to play a lot less, a lot less. I’ve said it here on this forum a few times before: of all the crazy shit TLR does, his obsession with keeping Leary in the lineup seems the most crazy to me; I don’t begin to understand it. You don’t need the stats you quoted above, just look at his pathetic OPS and OPS+. Serious question, do you think that other coaches and Hahn have talked to TLR about playing Leary way too much, expressing the same questions and stats that we discuss here. I have to believe they have, all of them including Hahn have brought up the Leary situation. I also believe that TLR just politely listens and then follows whatever twisted logic he uses and keep putting him in the lineup.

This is so funny. When I saw this thread, I thought it was being sarcastic, making fun of the trade for Soto thread. You know, mentioning another silly trade idea. I was going to start a thread like, “Let’s trade Leary and Grandal for Judge and Stanton” to keep the idea going. Then I started reading the thread and was it was legit, that some people were discussing this like it could happen. Wow, so funny.

“And an actual OF at that. No more DHs playing OF.” Pollock is an actual outfielder and when Vaughn plays RF; he too is actually an outfielder. I said this before: offer every team in baseball, you have a choice of Vaughn or Conforto in right field, but Vaughn can only play RF, who would you rather have? Because of his bat, every team would take Vaughn. Why. Because his bat truly is elite.

“Lol, yea, why would the Sox need an elite hitter against RHP? “ He’s batting 0.00 this season and he hit .232 last season. Your idea of “elite” and mine differ somewhat. If you go back further than that, you’re talking about back when Keuchel was good too. How relevant is that now. You go back and look at stats back then, Pollack’s stats for that good run Conforto had, Pollack’s OPS was better.

I can’t believe people still trying/ hoping White Sox will get this stiff. All you guys calling for the Sox to go after this guy, just admit you were wrong. But no, you want to be proven correct. He’s of no value to the Sox at all. The same guys who complained about the Sox signing vets like VV or Harrison, want Sox to sign this guy in hopes he’ll be good NEXT year so they can say they were right all along for wanting the Sox to sign him before the season started, you know, back when Conforto was hiding his injury.