Kalapse

QUOTE (Chi Town Sox @ Jun 21, 2010 -> 04:42 PM) So it's safe to say he is having the best worst season of any reliever in history? Look at that ERA compared to the other LOL (I know there is much more to that ERA though.) Stranding only 8 out of 21 total inherited baserunners is pretty damn bad. It's easy to keep your ERA down when half of the 26 runs you allow to score count against someone else.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jun 21, 2010 -> 02:27 PM) 0 players hit 40 home runs in the AL last year, 5 hit 35 or more, and 15 hit 30 or more home runs. I think if you are expecting Flowers to either boom or bust based off of his ability to hit close to 40 homers, you need to temper your expectations of what makes a successful catcher. 1 more: In the history of the game only 7 times has a catcher hit 40+ HR (5 catchers did it). 1953: Campanella - 41 1970: Bench - 45 1972: Bench - 40 1996: Hundley - 41 1997: Piazza - 40 1999: Piazza - 40 2003: Lopez - 43 Only 18 times has a catcher hit 35+ HR, 7 of those took place between '93 and '99 and since the turn of the century Piazza and Javy Lopez did it a combined 3 times so take those 10 for what they're worth.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jun 21, 2010 -> 02:27 PM) 0 players hit 40 home runs in the AL last year, 5 hit 35 or more, and 15 hit 30 or more home runs. I think if you are expecting Flowers to either boom or bust based off of his ability to hit close to 40 homers, you need to temper your expectations of what makes a successful catcher. Last season 9 teams got 20+ HR out of the catching position (that's total, not just primary), only 2 teams got 25+ (ATL, KCR) and only 1 team got 30+ HR (Royals). In 2008 only 6 teams got 20+ HR, 2 got 25+ (Cubs and Angels) and no one got 30+. In 2007 only 8 teams got 20+ HR, 1 got 25+ (Indians) and no one got 30+. In 2006 only 10 teams got 20+ HR, 6 got 25+ and 2 got 30+ (Padres and Reds).

http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/yB88b

QUOTE (chisox2334 @ Jun 19, 2010 -> 08:57 PM) or its called visquel is playing very well and ozzie doesn't want to bench the player that's doing very well Viciedo can't play first? Vizquel can't play second?

Holy crap Mauer.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 19, 2010 -> 05:53 PM) I want to move Beckham to Charlotte, not to SS. Today's suggested move: Viciedo to starting at 3b, Vizquel to 2b, beckham to Charlotte. Viciedo's going to be lucky to get a game a week ahead of Vizquel if Omar only has 3b to play at, and hell, Vizquel's outhitting Beckham by a lot lately. Plus, calling up Viciedo and benching him is as stupid of a move as you could possibly come up with. One of the main reasons for calling up Viciedo was to give Vizquel significant rest. He's playing WAY too much right now, the guy is 43 and not physically capable of playing everyday. He was brought in here to be a part time player and that's the role he'll find himself in very soon.

We're also dealing with a sample size issue here. 140 inter-league games have been played, there are 2430 games played in a year: that's 5.8% of the total games played in a season. When looking at such a small sample, in the middle of a baseball season (compared to say a playoff series) there will be anomalies. That's like trying to judge a player's worth based on 35 PA out of 600 in a given season.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jun 19, 2010 -> 11:58 AM) Our 3-hitter has a .673 OPS. That is a well-constructed line-up there Ozzie. I just looked at the splits and Kotsay has 0 hits against left-handed pitching (granted only 10 at-bats). That is funny. He's also 6 for 36 with RISP this season. Not so good.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jun 19, 2010 -> 11:55 AM) Wow and we thought it was bad when Kotsay batted 5th , now he's 3rd. Dayan doesn't hit RH all that well so no surprise there but if he's just coming uo to play against lefties, thats a waste. This is a big problem with young left handed hitters especially. They struggle against left handed pitching in the minors then get called up to the bigs at age 24, the manager sees that they couldn't hit lefties and sits them against most left handed pitchers so they never learn how to hit left handed pitching. 4 years later you have a 28 year old who couldn't hit a lefty to save his life mostly because he was never given the opportunity as a young player. If Viciedo can't hit righties then he has no future as an everyday player in the majors, it's as simple as that. And if we called him up to hit in a strict platoon with Vizquel then we're doing him an incredible disservice.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 19, 2010 -> 11:55 AM) That is literally the worst lineup in all of baseball. Nobody in that lineup has an OPS over .800. O.O Andruw Jones is 2 for his last 30. I absolutely hate watching that guy hit, his swing is pure garbage (you can get away with that s*** when you're 27 and juiced up) and he seems to be incapable of making any sort of in-AB adjustments.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jun 19, 2010 -> 11:49 AM) So he's much better against left handers which will be hard for him to get much playing time at the major league level. He's starting today against a Nats right hander so expect some K's. No he isn't. And he needs to play both righties and lefties, the kid needs ABs and putting him in a strict platoon will leave him on the bench for all but 1 or 2 games a week. I can't fathom why he wouldn't be in the lineup today.

Yeesh, talk about putting yourself at a disadvantage from the get go.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 18, 2010 -> 10:28 PM) Rios is a lock. Paulie should make it but won't. Jenks should make it and might. Thornton would make it if set up men made it. He won't. The starters were too s***ty for too long a period for any of them to make it. But Danks is our finest starter. Prediction: One and one only: Alex Rios. Do you even slightly follow teams other than the White Sox?

QUOTE (T R U @ Jun 18, 2010 -> 11:26 PM) Yeah, he did deserve criticism for some of his bad outings.. but luckily for us most of them came in non important situations.. The only thing that really upset me was people's unwillingness to accept that he was bad in more than ONE important situation, his success rate in situations in which the game was on the line was unacceptable and near the bottom of the league. Luckily the difference between Bobby in April and May compared to June has been night and day and now he's performing up to his ability and salary. It's funny that my name gets bantered about as the "Jenks hater" when I never once said that I wanted him released (that was thrown around quite a bit) and believe it or not I never said i wanted him removed from the closer's role. I just hated the fact that people were only looking at his save percentage when judging his effectiveness because as with many, many stats it doesn't give you the full picture of a player's performance.

QUOTE (T R U @ Jun 18, 2010 -> 11:24 PM) Since the Cleveland game where he sucked and everyone wanted his head he has put up a line of.. 9.2 IP - 6 H - 1 R - 1 BB - 13 K - 7/7 in Saves Now we need Kalapse to come in here and give us some off the wall stat that disproves how Bobby has improved I've done nothing but praise his performance in game threads, just because I'm not over the top in love with the man -- like Greg -- or think he's been an elite reliever all season -- like Greg -- doesn't mean I haven't appreciated his recent turn around. His stuff has returned in the month of June and it's breeding results, 7 baserunners in 9.2 IP is the exact opposite of what he gave us the first 2 months and it's awesome to see but teams with good, consistent closers don't throw a f***ing parade every time he does his job drama free because that's what's expected of him. I'm glad he's back to being a dominant force at the end of games, the first 2 months of the season f***ing blew because you didn't know what the hell he was going to do on the mound, it's a lot more fun when he's giving us 1-2-3 innings and getting his curve over. It's just sad that we're supposed to go bananas when the 6th highest paid reliever in the game has a dominant outing. I also haven't used a single "off the wall" stat concerning Bobby Jenks all year as it hasn't been necessary.

Hard to trade your old and/or expensive players when there's no market for them.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 18, 2010 -> 09:34 PM) Jenks' ERA is too high, the manager won't take him. And there's also Billy Butler with the Royals. They need somebody to go. Joakim Soria or David DeJesus I suppose.

QUOTE (sin city sox fan @ Jun 18, 2010 -> 09:33 PM) I think Jenks actually has a better chance than Paulie....his save percentage is among the best in the AL. And there are guys with similar or better save percentages who have been ultra dominant in all types of situations this season. Generally you'd hope the super elite closers would make the All Star team. You know Rafael Soriano, Mariano Rivera, Jonathan Papelbon, Jose Valverde guys like this. At least Konerko has the 4th highest wOBA among AL 1B, he's actually been one of the elites at his position this season. Alex Rios should be a lock at this point. BTW

QUOTE (Wanne @ Jun 18, 2010 -> 06:43 PM) terrible call. the ump behind the plate is bad. Don't know what game you're watching. He's having an outstanding game. You can't turn your body like that and hope to not be wrung up. And Gerry Davis's zone is picture perfect.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jun 18, 2010 -> 06:20 PM) Neither of those close pitches was over the plate, Pudge was setting up outside in an attempt to expand the strikezone and it didn't work. That being said; the 2 strike pitch to Rios was most definitely a strike, no way that was low.

QUOTE (daa84 @ Jun 18, 2010 -> 06:21 PM) whats with the camera angle on balls in play? camera seems really far away from the field They have the worst behind-home-plate camera in the game, it's WAY too high. Imagine watching 81 games with that angle.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 18, 2010 -> 06:17 PM) He was getting squeezed on the corners. Neither of those close pitches was over the plate, Pudge was setting up outside in an attempt to expand the strikezone and it didn't work.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 18, 2010 -> 04:36 PM) Beckham, Floyd, Pierre, Omar is a pretty easy four-some to retire on paper. Hope Juan can stay hot and Omar continue to hit as well as he has of late. Omar is hitting .297/.372/.432/.805 in 45 June PA and Pierre is at .273/.365/.309/.674 in 66 PA. Real hard to complain about those numbers.

Viciedo will start at 3B on Saturday according to Gonzales.