Kalapse

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 1, 2010 -> 04:18 PM) Maybe we're just not THAT biased. Yeah, I'm not going to go nuts with the All-Star ballots trying to get Alexei Ramirez, Orlando Cabrera, Darin Erstad or AJ Pierzynski into the All-Star game. Very few Sox players have been the best at their respective position over the years and when they are -- Quentin in '08 and Rios this year -- there's usually a reason not to get amped about getting them in. (ie: not on the ballot and general malaise towards the baseball season)

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 1, 2010 -> 04:17 PM) If you look past the arm, I feel that he is a plus defender. Simply put, he makes all the plays you need from him. I've always gone against the grain with regards to thinking that Konerko is a mediocre defensive player. No range, and while he's good at picking balls in the dirt, so is nearly every 1B in baseball. He's one of the very best at making the throw from first to second on 3-6-3 and 3-6-1 double plays and pickoffs. That's a throw the majority of 1B have a ton of trouble with and it seems Konerko always gets the best angle possible for the throw. That's a pretty big part of being a plus 1B.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 1, 2010 -> 04:12 PM) It's somewhat impressive how much UZR agrees with you. It disagrees on Konerko being above average, thinks the same about Kostay in the OF, Teahen and Quentin have been the real weak points. Alexei slightly above average, Beckham sitting basically at average, Pierre and Rios tearing it up. And the thing with Konerko is; picks and swipe tags unfortunately are not factored in so it's going purely on his range at 1B which is going to be pretty poor given how much of his athletic ability he's lost to this point in his career and you figure a 1B #1 job is to scoop balls out of the dirt, not cover a ton of ground so a stat that aims to quantify a player's range is going to mean a whole hell of a lot for a 1B so I'll take that data with a grain of salt. No doubt in my mind all the errors Konerko saves on errant throws outweighs any lack of range he may have at the position.

QUOTE (KipWellsFan @ Jun 1, 2010 -> 04:03 PM) Not sure about that, but I voted for him. He's my only All-Star White Sock. Ended up voting voting for Casey McGehee and Yadier Molina over Miguel Olivo. Sheesh AL's going to be better again. EDIT: And yah, everyone should just vote once. I'm not down with all this ballot stuffing nonsense. And it works against people like me who actually take the time to properly think through a ballot. Anyways, back to worrying about something that means something. 8th in baseball in wOBA, 8th in UZR/150 (plays arguable the most important defensive position on on the field and is #1 at that position), 7th in SB and 2nd in WAR to a firstbaseman.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 1, 2010 -> 03:57 PM) Lots of that is canceled out by giving up extra bases with a complete lack of an arm IMO. Eh, I haven't gotten that feeling this year. I expected his arm to be a big problem but there haven't been many instances where it's cost us, baserunners for whatever reason aren't taking a lot of chances against him perhaps due to his getting to balls so quickly. Teahen and Quentin have been awful but Pierre and Rios have been awesome, Alexei -- despite having a negative baseball IQ -- gets to a lot of balls your average SS has no chance at and Vizquel and Jones in their limited playing time have been excellent so the good has gone a long way to cancel out the bad.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 1, 2010 -> 03:45 PM) The only guy who has been an above average defender by any reasonable amount has been Rios. There is no way Rios makes up for Teahen. Juan Pierre has been awesome in LF, aside from a couple misplayed balls early in the year he's gotten to basically everything out there.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 1, 2010 -> 02:24 PM) This has nothing to do with NL/AL matchups. This is just saying that Jon Garland is due for a sharp, sharp regression sometime soon and that what he's put up thus far has been quite the fluke (ie luck). Plus, do you know any other starting pitchers with a ERA in the low 2s with a 1.33 WHIP? I don't. Since 1901 there have only been 9 occurrences of a starting pitcher finishing the year with an ERA under 2.50 and a WHIP north of 1.300. The last time it happened was 1942 when Hal Newhouser put up a 2.45 ERA and a 1.367 WHIP all other occurrences took place prior to 1920. 1.250 WHIP: 1952, Mike Garcia. 16 other occurances, 1 in the 40's all others prior to 1920 The highest WHIP with an ERA of 2.40 or under in modern baseball was Chuck Finley in 1990 who had a 2.40 ERA and 1.233 WHIP. Beyond Finley in '90 we have to go all the way down to the 1.196 WHIP and 2.27 ERA Peavy put up in 2004.

Career vs Harden: Pierre 1/2 Pierz 1/12 w/ BB, 4K (.083) Rios 3/14 (.214) Konerko 1/17 2BB, 5K (.059) Kotsay 1/6 Quentin 2/5 w/ HR, BB, K Ramirez 1/3 w/ BB Vizquel 2/10 w/ 3BB, 4K Beckham 0 PA

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 1, 2010 -> 01:57 PM) I actually understand with Harden on the mound, but hopefully this doesn't become a habit. I'm sure it will be. Personally, I go with the guy that's seeing 4.54 pitches per PA this season (4.00 last year) over the guy that's seeing 3.78 pit/pa this season (3.75 for his career) against the starter that generally struggles to get the ball over the plate.

Pierre LF Pierz C Rios CF Konerko 1B Kotsay DH Quentin RF Ramirez SS Vizquel 3B Beckham 2B

LINEUPS ARE OUT! And . . . Vizquel's at 3B and hitting 8th. HUZZAH!

QUOTE (SoxAce @ May 31, 2010 -> 10:40 PM) Said it before.. very very underrated player. You keep saying it but it makes no sense. He has a .750 OPS and 6 HR.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ May 30, 2010 -> 04:10 AM) With Rios WAR & UZR and his decent offensive output to date his 9.7 million dollar contract is not so bad for 2010. Even 12-12.12.5 million until 2014 may not be a bad deal. You mean elite? Even with Vernon Wells out there Alex Rios has the highest wOBA of any CF in the game this season. If the Sox were any damn good he'd be in the AL MVP talks. At least so far this season that $9.7 is an absolute steal.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 29, 2010 -> 07:01 PM) Really, he started off that hot in 2006? I thought his numbers suggested he was mostly a 2nd half player. In the 2 best offensive seasons of his career his power came early in the year, this trend flipped in '08 and he had an overall s***ty version of the former last year. There isn't much of a pattern to work from; '06: amazing first half, mediocre 2nd half, '07: solid in both halves, '08: mediocre in the first half, great in the second half, '09: mediocre in the first half, one of the worst hitters in baseball in the 2nd half.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 29, 2010 -> 06:59 PM) C'mon. Floyd will be fine. Everyone rips him and then he inevitably goes for 6-8 weeks where he's the best pitcher in the AL. Has Danks already come close to having 3 no-hitters? And the defense never plays well behind him, either. I'm not ripping Floyd, I think he's a good pitcher but if he can't get his curve over or he's leaving it up he's pretty much f***ed. It's impressive to have a no hitter going into the 8th when you have your absolute best stuff but it's even more impressive when you manage to pick up a quality start despite having absolutely nothing out there.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 29, 2010 -> 06:58 PM) 120 OPS+ in 2006. 150 OPS+ right now. Sorry, I didn't realize the season was over. He had a .335/.388/.619/1.007 line, 15 HR and 19 2B 268 PA into the 2006 season. He has what? 182 PA this season?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 29, 2010 -> 06:19 PM) But he was a terrible hitter shortly before he met Walker. And he wasn't this good of a hitter long before he met Walker, either. He was in '06.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 29, 2010 -> 06:34 PM) He's had a lot of those this season I feel, but he's made the right pitch at the right time and also gotten away with a lot of bad pitches. With that said, that's also the sign of a good pitcher. That's a sign of a top of the rotation -- ACE -- pitcher. It's game over when he's on and he finds a way to get outs when he doesn't have it. It's really what separates him from someone like Gavin Floyd.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 29, 2010 -> 06:48 PM) I really, really missed him for those games at the end of 2008. That would have been a totally different series. Remember that crazy bomb he hit in Tampa early last year? Just a taste of what we missed out on about a half a year prior.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ May 29, 2010 -> 06:47 PM) Alexei four pitch walk. Bizarro Sox show up again. And the Rays with a s*** defensive play. What the hell am I watching here?

Quentin's 4th HR in 12 career games in Tampa, some of his most impressive bombs have come at the Trop.

Speaking of Aroldis: BNightengale #mlb #reds Those 103mph radar readings on Chapman in his last start are legitimate, Reds GM Walt Jocketty says. Wow. 27 minutes ago via web

Alex Rios now has the 2nd highest WAR in the majors, only Justin Morneau and his insane .494 wOBA is ahead of him.

QUOTE (whtsoxfan @ May 28, 2010 -> 09:27 PM) Agreed, Cora made the right moves with the bullpen... Not really what I was getting at. Rather than brilliant strategy it turns out that he was forced into those moves and I was unaware of this fact when I so richly praised him during and after the game. If Jenks had been available he likely would have pitched the 9th which would have been a tremendous disappointment.