Reddy

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Feb 8, 2015 -> 11:42 AM) A lot of good points being made on all sides, but if you don't think the evolution of hitters' approach is part of the high K/low-run-scoring environment, you're not paying attention. The high slugging of the steroid era changed hitting philosophies throughout organizations, and the hitters have not yet adjusted back to a more contact-oriented approach, but they will in order to survive. I think, also, it's become apparent to many that "professional AB" guys like Pence and Sandoval are better bets in October than clout-or-K type sluggers. And yes, pitching is as good and specialized as ever, but they're also ahead of the batters on the adjustment curve. I think this is a GREAT point. And a big reason that Oakland never won it all.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 8, 2015 -> 11:14 AM) I'm talking about the 60's-80's style of player, compared to today. Of course, stolen bases were non-existent back in the heart of the steroids era (1995-2010), as everyone employed the Earl Weaver "wait for a three run homer" style of offense, Ozzie Ball for two plus months notwithstanding. There are two different arguments here, the pitchers of 2014 versus the 1990's and the pitchers of today versus the pitchers of the past, let's say 1968, when Gibson, Drysdale, McLain, etc., were so dominant. My point is that one-dimensional players like Adam Dunn in the past weren't thought of as superstars...to be a truly great player back then, you had possess at least 3 of the 5 skills and usually 4 or even 5 out of 5. If nothing else, Moneyball has created a generation where hitters could make millions with just three outcomes...whereas those players in the past, the likes of Pete Incaviglia, Dave Kingman or Rob Deer, were derided for their lack of contact and lower batting averages. As to my remark about an 800 OPS, it was about the idea that unless you were Dayan Viciedo in the OF, no matter how many K's you put on the stat sheet, it was all things considered a good season (with the possible exception of a 1B/DH, where an 850+ was desired). All of this is because - statistically - these "one dimensional players" contribute FAR more to their team than people thought they did back before the new metrics existed. They're paid because they're that valuable. To argue they'd be even more valuable if they didn't strike out is a moot point, because if they had a different approach, they probably wouldn't walk as much, or hit as many home runs.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 8, 2015 -> 10:51 AM) Yes, pitching has become more specialized, with the supreme example of the Royals' bullpen, speed and defense from innings 6-9 making a so-so offense dangerous. On the other hand, as Dick Allen has pointed out....hitters no longer are: 1) Threats to bunt, which puts less pressure on pitchers and catchers 2) Running nearly as aggressive on the basepaths, with a few exceptions 3) Capable of situational hitting, for the most part 4) Providing any offense from 3B and C 5) Changing their approach with two strikes 6) Shifts, defensive metrics and focus on defense in the last decade have given the pitchers another advantage 7) Expanded strike zone by the umpires I don't know where you could find it, but surely the batting average success of hitters at 0-2, 1-2, 0-1 is much worse for this generation of hitters than it used to be in the past. How many hitters (other than Barry Bonds) do you see choking up on the bat, AT ALL, let alone with 2 strikes? What negative consequence is there for hitters if they strike out 25-40% of the time, as long as they maintain a 800+ OPS? How much easier is it for pitchers to only go 200 innings per season (and that's been very hard for Sale) compared to their predecessors who commonly went 225-275 innings per year? Remember when four man rotations were common in the game? To be a pitcher is easier than ever before because you only have to go 5-7 innings (forget about complete games, that's why the Quality Start was invented by agents, for arbitration hearings and to protect the arms of clients)....we all know Hawk's stories from the past about pitchers going back-to-back doubleheaders at a time when throwing a complete game was EXPECTED and not a rare anomaly. Almost everything in this post is factually incorrect. There were an average of 10 more stolen bases per team in 2014 than 2005, and the average OPS is down 50 points to .700, not .800. I could address the rest of your bullet points too, but it would pretty much all read like the above.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 8, 2015 -> 10:30 AM) If someone offered you free front row tickets to see the 2 best teams in the NBA play or the 2 best teams in the WNBA play, which would you choose? Would choosing the NBA game be sexist? Nope.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Feb 8, 2015 -> 10:02 AM) It wasn't that long ago everyone would call one of our world series pitchers Judy garland all the time. 10 years is 10 years. Also, we were all teenagers back then

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 7, 2015 -> 02:46 PM) Birthday threads still a thing? Anyways, no, thank YOU Douglas for being so entertaining. Odds he ventures into SLaM?

QUOTE (Douglas Rome @ Feb 8, 2015 -> 07:03 AM) foot in mouth well deserved, tough crowd here. thanks, douglas Not a tough crowd. Just not a racist and sexist one. It's 2015 bud, not 1954. Wake the f*** up.

QUOTE (Douglas Rome @ Feb 7, 2015 -> 10:38 AM) baseball has been very very good to Diane V. how much has he made in the last 4 or 5 years? More than enough to go back to Havana and sit on his front porch and eat tacos and get big and fat and live like a king. thanks, douglas From funny to racist just like that. Yikes.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 8, 2015 -> 02:22 AM) If that's true, shouldn't there be 3:20-3:30 minute mile runners by now? There are physical limitations to what the human shoulder/labrum and elbow can withstand. There always will be, until they invent Robot Baseball. I have no idea about runners, but I'm sure that there are MORE people with faster times now, than at any other point in history. Additionally, you're right! The elbow CAN'T handle it! That's why 33% of pitchers in baseball had TJ surgery last year! The difference is that most of them will come back stronger than before! Meaning there are MORE good pitchers now, than at any other time in history. Just like runners. Usually your posts are so logical and well thought out. I'm surprised.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Feb 8, 2015 -> 12:05 AM) How many pitchers from this current generation are going to make the Hall of Fame or even make it to 200 wins? There might be more focus on pitching than ever before...but it's obviously going to shift back to hitters at some point, because casual fans clearly prefer offense to defense. If that wasn't the case. soccer/football would be much more popular in the US than it is. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/226964-...-the-90s/page/8 Take the "Top 30 pitchers from the 90's" and adjust their statistics to the new norm of the last few seasons for offense. Yet another factor is the fascination with radar gun readings, many of which have been cranked up 2-3 MPH higher than reality in order to get fans more excited about numbers in the 100's. Are we to believe pitchers magically are throwing much harder in the last five years than at any time in history, after basically having the notion that guys in the 50's and 60's like Sudden Sam McDowell, Ryne Duren or Nolan Ryan threw that much harder than anyone in modern baseball? um... yes? emphatically yes?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 7, 2015 -> 11:43 PM) So there was 7000 more strikeouts in the major leagues last year than in 2005 because of Chris Sale. He did have 208. That would be Randy Johnson's 14th highest total. Do you understand what I mean when I say "straw man argument"? You simply ignore facts to fit your Hawk-ish narrative. Pitching in 2015 is better in every single way than it was in 2005. Across the board. Proof is in looking at ERA+ and OPS+ in pitchers and hitters, respectively. Did Pedro have the best season of any pitcher in the history of the game? Yes (taking into account the steroid era). Does that change the fact that on AVERAGE pitchers are better than they were when he pitched? No. The stats that constitute "average" (or a 100 OPS+ or ERA+) have changed. A lot. Today the average batting average in the majors is .251 with a .700 OPS. In 2005 the average BA was .264 with a .749 OPS. That's a significant difference. Are you really saying that hitters are WORSE in an age with better medicine, technology, nutrition and training than they were ten years ago? You're really saying that? You really think that a giant strikeout-affirming conspiracy is what has led to the average ERA dropping from 4.28 in 2005 to a whopping 3.74?? Or is it just that pitchers don't get HURT as much anymore, or when they do, they come back stronger? Is it just that conditioning and training has improved so dramatically, that they're able to do things that pitchers couldn't do 10 years ago? And that's leading to the rise in strikeouts? To most of us - obviously - the answer is yes. I have a hard time believing any kid grows up saying "it doesn't matter if I strike out"

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 7, 2015 -> 11:12 AM) DP arguments about strikeouts are beyond lame. If you hit the ball there are no strike em out, throw em outs either. Strikeouts are fine if you are Mike Trout. They are not fine when you fan 140 times and have an OPS under .700, which there were several in 2014, including Flowers. I think there were 36 players that fanned over 100 times and had an OPS under .700. If you cannot hit, at least move runners around some other way. No one freaks out at run producers fanning. Its the ither guys. 100 strikeouts in a season used to be embarrassing, now 4 guys a team on average reach that level and far beyond. Strikeouts are way up, runs are down. Hit the ball.Some of those will become hits. Some will become errors. Some will be iuts that don't make a difference. Some will become walks as you foul off a tough pitch or 2. Some will be double plays but not nearly enough to offset the good that can happen if you just hit the ball. Or, ya know... pitching is in a dominant era right now? Why are you putting all the onus on the hitter? Trends like this have happened for as long as baseball has existed.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 5, 2015 -> 04:16 PM) Maybe we need to combine two threads and just have beheadings for anyone who refuses to vaccinate their kids.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Feb 6, 2015 -> 06:20 PM) Tell your grandpa my address is 25491 Rose Crt Way Valencia, CA 91355 I can't guarantee what will be inside, but I'm sending you a care package. It definitely won't be awesome White Sox memorabilia.

40 homers is incredibly rare these days. .310/.390/.510/.900 32 homers 110 RBI

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 5, 2015 -> 02:00 PM) Reddy works on one now apparently. I went on two with family when I was younger. They were fun but I prefer having more freedom to get out and explore rather than just being in a port for a few hours. yeah this is legit, you're really only in port for 6-10 hours depending on the itinerary so you'll rarely get to see the nightlife of any particular locale. and generally speaking you're dealing with a blue hair crowd of people, but again, this depends on the cruise line and itinerary.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 5, 2015 -> 01:38 PM) Anyone have any cruise experience? you mean other than working on them? but yeah, i've been on a ton.

QUOTE (SnB @ Feb 4, 2015 -> 11:47 AM) The quotes made me giggle. samesies. why don't they let the players pick the lineup music and have it rotate OR base it on like - the previous game's performance ala a game ball - might add an extra layer of fun and keep things loose. If I were RV, that's what I'd do. Sadly though, I'm just me, talking to a computer screen. #lifeshard

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Feb 2, 2015 -> 11:23 AM) She wasn't singing. I don't even think Kravitz had his guitar plugged in. I thought it was all terrible, but I'm not into pop music or theater so it's not really my thing anyway. as a professional singer, she was absolutely singing live. sorry bud.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 3, 2015 -> 12:48 PM) I see no way that Shields ends up getting $14 mill per year. If he'd take that, he would have signed already because there would be a ton of teams willing to give him that. If he "settles," I think it'll be for something like $17-18 mill a year, which puts him in the $68-72 million range for 4 years, and I think he could still get $20 million a year too. Also, this sort of thing scares me a bit too: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/whither-james-shields/ In a vacuum, I think I'd take the risk at 4/$68, but I'm becoming much more cautious about bringing him on board. There is a non-zero chance that James Shields could be a total sunk cost and it seems like an incredibly risky endeavor that could cripple any future moves and really hurt the Sox. Your upside is having a strong 1-4 with a few guys waiting in the wings. The downside is Shields getting hurt and never being the same, having a $17 million #4/5 starter (and the Sox already have a $13 million #4/5 starter), limiting what the Sox can do in free agency and with regards to signing their own guys, and the subsequent buyer's remorse and apathy that comes from giving out a bad contract. Ultimately, it's not a risk the Sox should take. well said.

Wait. Wait. WHAT!? A national media outlet prefers the CUBS over the Sox?

I'll agree that the Blackout game was my second favorite White Sox memory, after Game 2 of the ALCS for the AJP stolen first base and walk off double by Crede, but basing 2015 decisions on something that happened in 2008? Eff it, let's just call up the entire 2005 squad AND the 2008 squad, and have them arm wrestle for who makes the team. I love you, douglas. So glad you're back.

QUOTE (Douglas Rome @ Feb 1, 2015 -> 08:59 AM) what did Samara ever do? Are we forgetting that Danks pitched a shutout in arguably the most important game in White Sox history? thanks, douglas YAAAAAAS

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 31, 2015 -> 09:53 PM) I'm real close to calling this certain at some point. Real close. sweet.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jan 31, 2015 -> 05:02 PM) No mention of the vast amount of illegal immigrants coming in who are bringing with them these diseases? sweet wounded jesus. gmafb