Jake

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

Players likely to be off 40-man next year: Nate Jones (60-day DL) Matt Lindstrom Felipe Paulino Adam Dunn Paul Konerko Gordon Beckham Players who reasonably could be removed from 40-man: Ronald Belisario Scott Carroll Maikel Cleto Frank De Los Santos Raul Fernandez Javy Guerra Charlie Leesman Nestor Molina Tyler Flowers Josh Phegley Jordan Danks Alejandro De Aza Jared Mitchell Moises Sierra Dayan Viciedo Bear in mind that Avisail will have to take somebody's place on the 40-man roster when he returns, too.

Even while in MiLB, Semien has to pass through waivers. I doubt he'd make it past 1 or 2 teams.

Jose Abreu Chris Sale Adam Eaton Avisail Garcia Jose Quintana The Cubs have one guy who is as clearly worthy of going to a ballpark to watch play (Rizzo). It's not lack of exciting players holding back our attendance.

I knew that would happen

With Eaton out, there is some chance you see him bat second now. Alexei leadoff, perhaps

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 01:47 PM) When I played CF in HS, we had a game where they had a snow fence as the wall. I was going back for a ball and didn't realize I was that close as there is no warning track, as I ran into the fence, I somehow hit the ball with my glove, which kept the ball in play, but I went flying over the fence. Our LF came running over to get the ball laughing his ass off. I think the batter wound up getting a homer anyway. Getting back over it was a problem. I think it was about 4 and a half feet high. I was so pissed I just stepped on it. I hit a home run in HS on a windy day - blowing out of course - so the ball kept drifting back and back and back...and the kid just ran right into the chainlink fence. He had to get a new nose after that play.

I've never seen a professional baseball player do that. It's largely his fault that he was unaware of the fence, but this isn't the same thing as diving into first or leaping into the wall. I don't think he was aware that he was risking injury at all. I just can't figure out why he was so off.

What a weird deal. He had NO clue he was that close to the fence. I know people are going to call him reckless, etc. but I don't think he had any idea he was going to hit the fence. You could see he had just then taken a step to start a jump right as he crashed into it. He had miscalculated the distance of the fence by at least 5-8 feet. I hope he's okay. I haven't seen a play like that, where the guy is unaware of the fence, since I was playing high school baseball

You are way, way, way too low on Marcus Semien.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 09:38 AM) Moto 360 will have wireless charging and will last as long as 2.5 days. I just want to throw my money at it. TAKE MY MONEY!!! That thing is beautiful and watching the demos at I/O finally made me figure out how tremendously useful a smartwatch can be. This is the only one that looks good enough to wear IMO

If he commits an error, they'll have the entire Javier Baez experience