Jake

Hitting that 96mph heater at the top of the top of the zone is pretty impressive

McClendon has a legit beef - down 8 runs in the 9th, we have nothing to lose hitting their guys. Of course, that's the same reason they had nothing to lose hitting our guy

I think with Cleto, there is always a reasonable doubt whether or not he meant to hit somebody

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 10:29 PM) Early in his career, he would overthink everything. No idea what's going on with him now. I actually saw a chat a few weeks ago where a scout said he wasn't high on Beckham coming into the draft because they thought his batting approach would really be hurt having to use wood bats (more than most college players) His Cape Cod performance seemed to put everyone at ease re: wood bats. Could be a deal where the people who doubted his wood bat prowess were correct, it just took a while for sample sizes to bear that out

But I'd prefer none of the above

This is not to mention that the disappointing version of Semien this year still outperformed what we've gotten from Gordon this year.

Wade in the two seasons before Big 3: 28.4 PPG, 7.0 AST, 4.9 TRB, 2.0 STL, 1.2 BLK .484 FG%/.568 TS% Kryie past two seasons: 21.6 PPG, 6.0 AST, 3.7 TRB, 1.5 STL, 0.3 BLK, .440 FG%/.543 TS% Bosh in the two seasons before Big 3: 23.3 PPG, 2.4 AST, 10.4 TRB, 0.7 STL, 1.0 BLK, .502 FG%/.580 TS% Kevin Love in the past two seasons*: 24.6 PPG, 4.0 AST, 12.8 TRB, 0.8 STL, 0.5 BLK, .439 FG%/.568 TS% *Only played 18 games in 2012-13

Johnson pitching well, someone schedule a drug test

What irritates me about this CLE talk is the stupid assumption that all of the best players on CLE will put up equivalent numbers to their previous seasons. If we learned nothing else from the Miami experiment, it's that somebody's going to take a big hit to their counting stats

The all-lefty rotation matters primarily in a series format. If a team is particularly strong in one platoon split, will that split be the one that leaves you vulnerable? If you had a rotation with a bunch of Gavin Floyds, even when Gavin was good, a team with a bunch of lefties would murder you in a series

I just don't think this was a primary "he's taking stupid risks" injury. He just didn't know where he was - why that was, I don't know. What I'm sure about is that he didn't decide that he was going to run into the wall no matter what on the play

The Baez comp for me is Alfonso Soriano. Will he reach the peak that Soriano reached? Time will tell.

Unless someone has an in with Tanaka, any reports will come from the team. What disincentive is there for a team to say they were right in it?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 02:59 PM) They went after Tanaka, they obviously have some money squirrelled away for a big pitching target It's easy to say you had the money and pursued Tanaka when Tanaka isn't there to make you put up or shut up

Gordon has been a well below average BABIP player throughout his time in the majors. His current BABIP mirrors his 2012 BABIP. The reason Gordon always has a low BABIP is because he has an astronomically high IFBB% - that is, a really high rate of popping up. Semien's BABIP is .246 but his career low at any level is .293. That's why we're saying he's probably due for an upwards adjustment. He has a nice high walk rate, an unalarming K rate, and an impressive ISO. That means he's hit for quite a bit of power. Since the beginning of July, he's put up a .271/.379/.512 line with 21BB/24K, 6 HR, 11 2B, 1 3B. Sounds like a guy who is ready to me.

Love's health remains a big wildcard

Last year I recall Manto saying that they were still fixing things in Beckham that are almost always squared away by the time a guy reaches the big leagues. Fundamental parts of the swing. Manto was saying that most players in MLB need no mechanical changes and are instead in need of refinements to their approach - but Beckham was still at a point where every swing looked different and they had to work on the basics of weight shift and things like that. It was basically a roundabout way of saying that Beckham needed more time in the minors and we aren't able to go back and fix that problem.

"This move will help them to compete with the Chicago White Sox Bulls" - Kenny Williams

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 09:11 AM) It could be interesting to tear apart a ball from 2000 compared to a ball from today just to see how much of a difference there is in how it's wound. Or, if you don't want the mess, to weigh them to see the differences there. Baseballs have a standardized weight. A weight difference would be a scandal

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Aug 7, 2014 -> 01:08 AM) So Google imagines you will barely use your smartwatch at all? While I agree, why would they want to advertise that? "Hey, buy this expensive product, look, you'll barely even use it!" Haha, no? No, the idea is that you will use it more frequently than you use your smartphone - but your smartwatch will be your launching point into real-life tasks moreso than a gateway into digital tasks. In my blog post, I compare to a highly sophisticated beeper. Traffic alert for my appointment? Better leave early. Weather getting dicey? Might need to change my plans. Think of how Google Now is often out of your way when you need it, but always just has the date and weather when you remember to look at it. Now it's staring you in the face. It also seems to be a perfect answer to the ever-growing smartphone screen. If you don't have to wield the actual phone nearly as often, you won't be as inconvenienced by its size.

Green = time spent not paying attention to smart device whatsoever Red = time accessing device, ie. removing from pocket, tapping unlock pin code Blue = time spent interacting with device So the argument is that you'll interact with your smartwatch more often, but for much less time per interaction and far less overall time interacting. It's too passive to become a time sink.

A timeline of the way we use phones: A timeline of the way Google imagines you'll use your smartwatch: I pondered the "why smartwatches" question in this blog post, but it is to a large extent summarized by the above two graphics

Screw this kid. If he's going to break my heart every few days with injuries then I'll just go like a team that will never be good, like the Cubs

The rookie Abreu vs rookie McGwire matchup will try to determine which is more meaningful: being a bunch older than most rookies or being a bunch more roided up than most rookies

QUOTE (scs787 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 08:50 PM) Ya, I made a whoopsies....On that note, I'm not exactly sure why he's still here. You'd have to think he was put on waivers and the Sox are just waiting around to see what happens with that. Sitting him probably ruins any chance of getting any ol C or D prospect. If I were running the show, I'd probably call up Marcus and send Leury to AAA