Kalapse

The Pierzynski commercial is very, very good. AJ definitely holds his own in front of a camera and Sale's quiet "AJ!?!" as Pierz walks away is excellent. The Buehrle/Hawk commercial: meh.

Thanks, excuse my ignorance.

So wait, I'm looking at the draft order in the live draft right now. Am I missing something or does last year's winner have the #1 pick? I've never shown up to a draft before it started because I'm a f***ing moron so I don't know if this will change but as of right now it seems a bit backwards.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 23, 2011 -> 06:28 PM) Basically that he was an underrated acquisition and that he'd be a player. I don't blame you for forgetting. I'd block that out as well. I do remember claiming that he'd be serviceable in the field at short. Not my finest moment.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 23, 2011 -> 06:08 PM) I think I remember that. I've made some pretty horrific predictions as well. But NOTHING will ever top Kalapse's Wilson Betemit prediction. What'd I say about Betemit? I know I liked Luis Terrero WAY more than I should have. I can't even imagine how many ridiculous things I've said over the years and subsequently forgotten.

QUOTE (jphat007 @ Mar 23, 2011 -> 03:22 PM) Spring Training doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot for ANYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Spring training is in NO WAY indicitive of performance in April or the season at all. Preaching to the choir, my friend.

Last year Dunn hit .208/.250/.321/.571 in Spring Training. His 2010 April OPS would have been the 2nd highest on the team last season for that month behind Konerko. Struggling in Spring Training doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot for someone like Dunn. The 2 Springs prior to 2010: 2009: .200/.320/.355/.675 2008: .189/.415/.338/.753 His best spring training numbers came in 2006 when he hit 6 HR with an 1.100+ OPS, 2006 also happened to be his worst regular season out of the last 7.

.251/.380/.527/.906, 178 K (33%), 107 BB (16%), 39 HR (7%), 101 RBI If you can't handle numbers such as these from your designated hitter then you're better off not watching the Sox this season because that's about what you're going to get from Dunn, regardless of what he's done this spring. Over the last 6 years he's 3rd in the majors in HR, 2nd in K% and 1st in BB%. He's here for the next 4 years, get used to it.

Boo! 12 teams sucks, I demand we go with 10. I like the nice round number, oh and Roy Halladay.

Yep, he had 1 left. Nailed it.

QUOTE (qwerty @ Mar 19, 2011 -> 06:19 PM) He only has one pitch and was bad in the chances he had to close. I wouldn't do it. Did you get my message? I'd ask you via PM you but your f***ing inbox is full.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 19, 2011 -> 11:34 AM) Humber is on a minor league deal though, correct? No, we claimed him off waivers so he's on the 40 man, he's gonna have to make the team out of spring training or be put through waivers once again. All along I've thought of him as a lock to make the club as the long man for this very reason, it's not like the other choices to take the final spots in the pen are all that exciting, if Cooper likes him as much as we've been told then they're gonna want to keep him around. Last time he was put on waivers he didn't make it out of the AL without being claimed so why risk it?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 18, 2011 -> 08:17 PM) Since no one ever talks about things like this, apparently the Sox are NOT on Felix Hernandez's no trade list, according Barry Rozner. Unless I missed something the past 2 days we don't really know this to be the case. Jon Paul Morosi learned 8 of the 10 teams on Felix's list, there's still 2 mystery teams. Here's a list of the top 11 payrolls in 2010 (with the Mariners excluded), teams that we know Hernandez can block a trade to are in bold: N.Y. Yankees $206,333,389 Boston 162,747,333 Chicago Cubs 146,859,000 Philadelphia 141,927,381 New York Mets 132,701,445 Detroit 122,864,929 Chicago White Sox 108,273,197 Los Angeles Angels 105,013,667 San Francisco 97,828,833 Minnesota 97,559,167 Los Angeles Dodgers 94,945,517 He's effectively blocked all the teams that could realistically trade for him considering his enormous contract, giving himself all the bargaining power in the event that the Mariners do decide to move him. Assuming this is the strategy his agent his using -- which it most definitely is -- you could confidently speculate that the other 2 teams on his no trade list are the Sox and Tigers.

QUOTE (The Baconator @ Mar 14, 2011 -> 11:36 PM) Are his stats inflated as a result of the innings pitched? IE what are his stats by the inning (4th compared to 9th) that he pitched? I can't prove it but I feel like I remember Thornton did not do well when he stepped in last year for a week at closer when Bobby had his family issues. It seemed to me like Thornton mentally operated best in the 8th inning; is that the same case with Sale? (Again, this equation can be negated if I can find that Thornton had similar numbers in the 8th and the 9th). This may be the same case with Sale. It's just my perception that some pitchers pitch better in a given situation- be it set up, clean up, or pressure save. See- Bobby Jenks in a no-pressure clean up in a loss. It's bizarre but you are not alone in this thinking. For whatever reason people have it in their minds that whenever Thornton has stepped into the closer's role in a Sox uniform he has struggled. Well, this could not be further from the truth. Just last year in the final 5 months of the season Matt Thornton had 8 save opportunities that took place in the 8th inning or later (they can take place before the 8th or 9th but these are not the duties of a closer, there was 1 7th inning blown save) here are his numbers from those 8 outings: 9.1 IP 0 R 1 H 2 BB 11 K 0.320 WHIP 10.6 K/9 8sv/8svo Yes, this is incredibly impressive. How about his career numbers in TRUE closer situations (ie: coming into the game with zero outs in the 9th inning with a lead): 6 IP 0 R 0 H 3 BB 9 K .500 WHIP 13.5 K/9 6sv/6svo Even more impressive. When Matt Thornton has been thrust into the role of closer in a White Sox uniform he has not allowed a single f***ing hit. Awesome. I've said this many, many times over the past 2 years: Matt Thornton may or may not be a good closer but there is absolutely NOTHING in the numbers that insists that he'd fail, in fact the opposite is true if you ignore the sample size.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Mar 14, 2011 -> 12:23 PM) One can argue that Dallas has "broken out in AAA" several times already now though. You never know, but it's just highly doubtful at this point he can be any sort of a significant help to a major league club. His true breakout year will come when he gets that K rate under 30% over a season in AAA. Currently at 33% for the spring, FWIW. It's hard to be a productive major league player with a k% in the mid 30s, you gotta be awful special with the bat and sport an elite BB rate.

Here's how I see it: last season Milledge hit .277/.332/.380/.712 over 412 PA. Can you even imagine Lillibridge putting up those kinds of numbers of the same amount of PA? I doubt you can. The last time Milledge got that many PA he put up a line of .268/.330/.402/.731 over 587 PA at age 23, once again mediocre for a prospect of Lastings' caliber but still better production than you can possibly imagine from Lillibridge. Milledge has proven that he can hit a little bit at the major league level and plays all the positions that the Sox require out of that last man on the bench, they have plenty of personnel that can cover the infield position, what they need is someone to cover the outfield, hit a little and run little. We KNOW Milledge can do this, with Lillibridge it's somehow a stretch even though the expectations are low. Then you factor in age and potential and it becomes a landslide in my mind.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Mar 12, 2011 -> 06:56 PM) Milledge's minor league slash .301 .379 .470 .849 Milledge has a ton of potential over Lillibridge, and given what we already have and need, he is a much better fit. Lillibridge is just a terrible ballplayer, and should not be on a 25 man roster of a team that is trying to contend. It's funny because I've just kind of counted Lillibridge out all along since he's, you know, terrible. I had no idea anyone was hoping he'd make the roster out of spring training. What versatility he does possess is redundant on this ballclub, he's probably slower than the other 2 he's competing against, I know for a fact he's slower than De Aza, he's the oldest of the 3 (19 months older than Milledge, 1 year older than De Aza) and he's the weakest hitter of the bunch since he's pretty much a disgrace at the plate. I just assumed he'd be dumped near the end of camp, likely via trade for next to nothing and either De Aza or Milledge would be carried. I thought De Aza may have a slight advantage since he can't be sent to the minors without first clearing waivers and Milledge can though Lastings has at least proven that he can hit a little at the major league level, something De Aza hasn't had a chance to prove really thanks in part to the devastating ankle injury he suffered in '07. And then there's Milledge's potential. I'm still thinking De Aza or Milledge and I'm not sure I REALLY care which of the 2 is chosen though I'd probably lean toward Milledge. This is also assuming Milledge has no out clause in his contract, something I haven't seen reported anywhere. They're generally given to vets, though Milledge's production last season really should have landed him with a major league gig for 2011 so it'd be odd to see him start the season in the minors.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 12, 2011 -> 06:50 PM) Interesting, but irrelavent, especially consideing Milledge did most of his minor league work as an under 24 year old, is younger than Lillibridge and Brent has spent the last 4 seasons basically in AAA. Those are Milledge's major league numbers, his minor league numbers blow Lillibridge's out of the water. For as much of a f***up as Milledge has been during his major league career the numbers he put up are still comparable to what Lillibridge was doing at much lower levels of competition.

I find this interesting: Lillibridge career minor league slash stats: .268/.348/.409/.758 Milledge career major league slash stats: .269/.328/.394/.723

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Mar 9, 2011 -> 04:47 PM) Just curious, since I clearly don't understand his contract status very well either: What's the point of signing him to a Major league contract vs. a minor league contract if both result in the same roster/team control conditions? Does it just sound nicer? Do we have to keep him on the 40 or something? A major league contract means he's immediately placed on the 40 man roster which means if he's going to be spending time in the minors for a few years you're going to burn through his options, some draft picks (Porcello, Andrew Miller) negotiate this into their first pro contract to get them to the majors and to free agency quicker. A minor league contract means he doesn't have to be placed on the 40 and can spend time in the minors without burning options, its far more beneficial to the club since they don't even have to think about putting the player on the 40 until they become rule V eligible 4 or 5 years down the line depending upon their age when signed. If you sign a player to a minor league contract at age 18 he could spend upwards of 8 years in the minors (7 years if he's 19+) without having to pass through waivers, if that same player is signed to a major league deal it's a max of 3 years.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Mar 9, 2011 -> 04:40 PM) If Quentin has another "meh" year, he'll probably be non-tendered next winter. Viciedo then becomes our RF in 2012. But given that Viciedo is a FA after 2012, there's most likely some urgency to get him into the lineup this year. So it's quite possible that Quentin could be dealt mid-season, depending on how he does and how much of his remaining contract Kenny feels comfortable eating. There's no out clause in Viciedo's contract, once it runs out after next year he'll still be a pre arb player. He's White Sox property for at least 6 more years and if he spends most of 2011 in the minors he'll be under Sox control through 2017.

He signed a major league contract during the '08-'09 offseason so he was immediately placed on the 40 man roster. During March of both 2009 and 2010 he was optioned to Charlotte, burning 2 option years. Hence 1 option year remaining.

Thornton extension: Click for full size.

$12M is the number being reported. Looks good.

@JeffPassan Jeff Passan Jake Peavy was 89-92 in his first inning back from surgery. Still plenty of movement on his sinker. Ended inning with 4-6-3 on Torii Hunter. 21 minutes ago via TweetDeck Tell me that's not encouraging.