Kalapse

QUOTE (qwerty @ Mar 26, 2009 -> 03:45 PM) He is piss poor all around, what else is there to expect. That's only if you choose to acknowledge his -12 OPS+ since 2004. His 37% CS% led me to believe that he can throw a little.

Piss poor throw by Corky right there.

QUOTE (fathom @ Mar 26, 2009 -> 03:18 PM) The real question should be if Lillibridge should start in AA or AAA. He was overmatched in AAA last season. He's never really proven he can hit AA pitching.

QUOTE (fathom @ Mar 26, 2009 -> 03:15 PM) Wise thrown out by a mile trying to get a triple. This team is a terrible base running team so far. Oh, and Wise is faster than Owens. Still waiting for Jeff Cox to leave his mark on this team or perhaps he has?

God damn it. HUZZAH!

It's not really rumblings, Ozzie has pretty much come out and said that Anderson will make the team being the only right/elite defender of the bunch an given that the other 2 candidates blow ass you'd figure Brian would see his fair share of playing time in CF. (25% of the PA in a straight platoon)

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 26, 2009 -> 12:15 PM) I guess need is relative. Does anyone know how our OBP out of the leadoff and 2nd position compared to the rest of the AL last year? I just had to check. And shockingly the Sox were 3rd to last, thank god for the uber-incompetence of Toronto and Oakland. TEAM OBP1 OBP2 SB1 SB2 OBPa SBa OPS3 RBI3 Baltimore 0.372 0.350 40 4 0.361 22.0 0.862 110 New York 0.364 0.349 38 15 0.357 26.5 0.863 112 Detroit 0.359 0.351 13 8 0.355 10.5 0.766 92 Kansas City 0.358 0.343 20 8 0.351 14.0 0.700 78 Boston 0.322 0.377 49 18 0.350 33.5 0.915 131 Texas 0.357 0.338 27 7 0.348 17.0 0.837 130 Seattle 0.361 0.329 44 11 0.345 27.5 0.822 107 Cleveland 0.372 0.317 39 10 0.345 24.5 0.686 88 Tampa Bay 0.352 0.326 10 41 0.339 25.5 0.851 103 Anaheim 0.364 0.302 39 6 0.333 22.5 0.789 100 Minnesota 0.318 0.335 36 15 0.327 25.5 0.837 89 Chicago 0.339 0.301 15 13 0.320 14.0 0.878 113 Toronto 0.336 0.300 12 5 0.318 8.5 0.782 83 Oakland 0.285 0.306 14 14 0.296 14.0 0.688 69 OBP1 = OBP from #1 hitter OBP2 = OBP from #2 hitter SB1 = SB from #1 hitter SB2 = SB from #2 hitter OBPa = (OBP1+OBP2)/2 SBa = (SB1+SB2)/2 OPS3 = OPS from #3 hitter RBI3 = RBI from #3 hitter Sure OBPa isn't a clean average but there isn't a huge difference in PA between the #1 and #2 hitters and there's no way I'm going to do the leg work required to come up with a clean average.

Getz also has an inside the park homerun, it doesn't get much more speedy/grindy than that. We'll just have to wait until May, then Getz and [hopefully] Alexei can be thrust into their new slots in the lineup. It's good to get Wise all this work in the leadoff spot, a year from now the Long Island Ducks/Portland Beavers can thank Ozzie for keeping him fresh. And you just know Brent Lillibridge -- since he just HAS to make the 25 man roster -- will get more than a few starts at 2B/SS/CF in the leadoff spot this year, he's just too damn fast and short to hit anywhere else.

QUOTE (bighurt4life @ Mar 26, 2009 -> 11:40 AM) Respectfully disagree. Honestly, how many teams have a true leadoff hitter i.e. high OBP base stealing threats??? Jose Reyes, Sizemore, Victorino, Ichiro, Ellsbury, Figgins, Brian Roberts. Am I missing anyone?? The rest of the league gets by with guys who have some deficiencies in their leadoff capabilities so I'm just not too concerned going into the season with Getz or Ramirez in the 1 spot. Jimmy Rollins, Curtis Granderson, Denard Span, BJ Upton didn't lead off much last year but he's an outstanding top of the lineup hitter, Ian Kinsler ledoff off the Rangers last year, Ichiro Suzuki, Hanley Ramirez has been the leadoff hitter for the Marlins, Gregor Blanco had a .371 OBP in the leadoff spot for the Braves last year now they have Rafael Furcal, hell even Alfonso Soriano managed a .350 OBP and 19 SB last year (plus he knocked himself in nearly 30 times), Skip Schumaker (.370 OBP and good speed in the leadoff spot for the Cardinals), Nate McLouth, Brian Giles (.400 OBP, I'd pay to have him in at the top of our lineup), Matt Kemp, even Stephen Drew managed a .360+ OBP in the leadoff spot, Fred Lewis and Randy Winn are both head and shoulders better than any of our centerfielders. This is just depressing. If the Sox stick with Owens/Wise at the top they'll likely have a bottom 3 leadoff man in baseball this year. Oh, I almost forgot. Derek Jeter and his .387 career OBP will be leading off for the Yankees this year. Johnny Damon and the .375 OBP he put last year has been relegated to the #2 spot.

QUOTE (scenario @ Mar 26, 2009 -> 11:23 AM) As a lefty you mean? Yes. Look at his career splits... As a left-handed hitter - .269/.339/.460... a .799 OPS. Not great but okay. As a right-handed hitter - .232/.276/.360... a .636 OPS. Yikes. This spring? I'm not sure, but I think all of his homeruns were hit left-handed. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on this. Bottom line... he has no business switch-hitting because he SUCKS as a right-handed hitter. He's Jose Valentin As a Left-handed hitter - .253/.331/.486/.817 As a right-handed hitter - .209/.283/.310/.593 Jose actually went 6-19 (.316 AVG) w/ 1 HR as a left handed hitter off left handed pitching. Did he truly believe he could OPS any lower than .593 off lefties as a lefty? The novelty of switch hitting is a dangerous one. Luckily 75% of pitchers throw right handed.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 26, 2009 -> 10:50 AM) Timo Perez? Darin Erstad? In situations like this, I really don't know if KW and Ozzie have a real good track record. You read my mind, I was about to post both names. If you're looking to make yourself sick just go ahead and read some of this. It really takes you back. It's the middle of May 2007, Darin Erstad is hitting .259/.304/.347/.651 and the White Sox brass has nothing but good things to say about him, he injures himself at the end of May (hitting .264/.311/.341/.652 at the time) and from the way people talked about him you'd think the Sox had lost their best player (I think Phil Rogers actually called him one of the bright spots of the season). Sickening.

QUOTE (scenario @ Mar 26, 2009 -> 10:41 AM) Good. All set to slide into the leadoff spot if and when the other options puke out. It's really sad that we'll likely have to wait until then.

Eh, Clemens.

The Chicagoland area might get some accumulating snow on Saturday. Kill Me now.

Your Spring strikeout leaders: B. Lillibridge: 22 K, 1 BB, 57 AB C. Davis: 21 K, 9 BB, 58 AB K. Blanks: 19 K, 10 BB, 59 AB C. Rasmus: 19 K, 7 BB, 60 AB It's going to be kind of funny when Lillibridge makes the Opening Day roster after leading the team in strikeouts (10 more that #2) and errors, drawing only 1 walk, sporting a .035 ISO and even failing to show any sort of base stealing ability (1/3 in SB). You know, you can usually find guys off the street who won't make a complete ass of themselves at the plate while playing competent defense in the middle infield. The thought of Brent Lillibridge getting 20+ starts and probably leading off some just shakes me to my core.

Lillibridge struckout again? Wow, that's a 1/22 BB/K for the spring.

Any word on a buyout to go along with that 2013 option?

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Mar 25, 2009 -> 04:26 PM) Where the Wild Things are looks like a movie I will enjoy bringing my daughter to. It looks terrifying.

Just so people know; Gary Matthews Jr. is 34 years old (he'll be 35 in August), has put up a .247/.321/.391/.712 line since leaving Arlington and is no longer an elite defender. (it's debatable that he ever was) And I changed the thread title.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Mar 25, 2009 -> 03:27 PM) Q will be hitting a lot of solo homeruns this year, won't he? 60 RBI if we go with that lineup for a full season.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 25, 2009 -> 11:37 AM) Who else is in the lineup, that we know aren't being cut? Any info on scheduled pitchers? Lillibridge is the only one. Lillibridge CF Getz 2B Quentin LF Dye RF Thome DH Konerko 1B Pierzynski C Ramirez SS Fields 3B Colon starts. Contreras will also pitch.

It's a shame Lillibridge won't be among them, he's in the starting lineup today, leading off. Maybe only striking out once yesterday saved him.

What the hell does that have to do with anything? David Price has a clause in his contract that allows him to void his deal once he becomes arbitration eligible. If he made the opening day roster and never again played in the minors he'd first be arbitration eligible after the 2011 season (2010 if he's a super 2 player) meaning he'd be able to void the final year of his contract and make substantially more in arbitration. Sending him down for 2 months this year would buy them another year of control (he'd hit free agency after 2015 instead of 2014) and push back his first arb eligible season to 2013, allowing them to pay him the $1.25M he's due in 2012 under the terms of his current deal as opposed to the multi-millions he'd make if he were arbitration eligible. (assuming again that he doesn't qualify as a super 2 player)

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 25, 2009 -> 07:59 AM) It is his walk year... Since he spent a large portion of last season in the minors he'll be arbitration eligible next season.

QUOTE (JorgeFabregas @ Mar 24, 2009 -> 11:23 AM) Not that spring training stats should be given the amount of weight that they are getting in this race, but saying that Dewayne Wise has better spring numbers is questionable at best: http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/sortable_player_s...amp;compare.y=1 Just another example of lazy writing by one of the biggest hacks in this city. It's like he doesn't take his job seriously.