Jake

Start him in AAA and tell him to throw changeups until his arm falls off. If he has an average change, he is suddenly an extremely compelling prospect as a starter.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 31, 2013 -> 05:19 PM) I got the "Dunn's platoon splits" line repeatedly when Konerko was re-upped as a reason why it made sense so I call back to that. I don't think that's why Hahn did it

I would imagine the Maddux/Glavine/Thomas types will get fewer votes than what ThinkFactory reflects while the Clemens/Bonds types will get more. Just have to think of what types of votes would make a writer more likely to conceal their choices so as to avoid a bunch of abuse.

Who knows, maybe he's just an axe murderer or something

I'll save my bellyaching for when the deadline passes

PK's resigning has nothing to do with his platoon splits. The last thing our bench needed was a right handed bat

I don't feel like either team "blew it" today. It was quite back and forth, The win was well-earned.

Great game for Illinois. That wasn't the Oladipo and Zeller Hoosiers, but they are a good team. I wasn't very optimistic about our chances before the game, but JFG teams continue to really come through. Ray Rice is really something else, too. A lot of folks doubted how he'd do in the Big Ten, but this should quell those doubts for a while. Even I was unsure about how much he might drop off in conference.

During the Illinois run in the second half, I was shocked that Crean didn't call a timeout or make a substitution. Really questionable coaching. Regardless of today's outcome, I don't think IU will make it to the promised land with him. He has done a great job of putting them back on the map, but I'm not sure if he can coach.

OT should not be happening. Well officiated until the very end.

that's a f***ing awful call - come on, they've been having a good game but sheesh

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Dec 31, 2013 -> 04:52 PM) Abrams was a little late but yeah could have just as easily been a jump ball. Fourth on Egwu was a joke though. Egwu himself is a joke too though lol, agreed on all counts

Not a fan at all of those last two foul calls

This has been a pretty damn good game. I have no idea who's going to win. Hope Indy gets down to earth from 3 land

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 03:04 PM) Because handguns are tough to shoot if you're rushed, try hurriedly mag dumping a .45 and see how well you do. You might graze your target once or twice. Honestly, if someone tried breaking into my truck my (shiny, new self purchased Duke Christmas present) Sig p220 would be more effective at very loudly scaring them away. The chances of me hitting them even in confined quarters are slim. I have to wonder how many people in the "somebody just broke into my store, better whip out that gun" situation have ever fired a firearm

When I say Davidson "doesn't have much left to prove in AAA," I'm saying you can't put him there and justify it as a developmental need. You can put him there because you have a "logjam" at 3B, but you'll be doing it at the expense of Davidson's development.

Bear in mind also that Eben Britton lined up alongside Mills about 1/5 of the time, which shows you what they think of him/our line. I hope we get to a point where we don't line up an extra OL all the time. Worth mentioning that offensive tackles are in a position where it's very easy to accumulate negative grades given how they can easily influence every play by not doing their job. The distribution of grades for offensive tackles is really wide, maybe wider than any other position. As you might expect, the center grades are fairly narrow since they are often teaming up on a DT and have a hard time f***ing up or really excelling on any given play.

Not much left for Davidson to prove in AAA. You can't just trade ADA for nothing, but Dayan's development is paramount here. The "bad" version of him is really a quite useful player and he doesn't have to reach his ceiling to be great.

Fun fact as I browsed PFF: no OL missed a single snap until Mills left yesterday's game early. Remarkable. Our best cumulative overall PFF grades over the season: Brandon Marshall, by a large margin Alshon Jeffery/Matt Slauson (tie) Josh McCown Our worst players, from worst to less bad: Jordan Mills Shea McClellin Major Wright The next tier of bad players is quite far from that trio, who are all fairly close in terms of their grade. FWIW, Mills's negative is almost entirely clustered in his pass blocking, though his run blocking is negative as well. The one thing Mills did well was avoid penalties, taking just two all year. Compare that to Bushrod's 7, which is still better than average. Marshall finishes with the team's best run blocking grade, but it should be emphasized that WRs have many more opportunities to get positive grades than negative grades, which is not true of linemen who are always in prime position to f*** up a play. Other interesting notes: McCown finishes with 5th best cumulative grade among QBs despite low amount of snaps. Cutler 10th, also fewer snaps than most. Forte dead last out of 55 eligible RB in pass blocking. McClellin 51/52 among 4-3 DE, dead last in run defense and 46/52 in pass rushing. Jon Bostic and AJ Hawk are essentially the same gradewise, both overall and in terms of doing well against pass and poorly against run. Major is dead last out 86 safeties, Conte is 83/86. Major's negative grade was almost twice that of Conte's however, with Wright f***ing up pass coverage much more than Conte while both did terribly in run defense. Podlesh had a late rally to become last-ranked punter. Hester ranks 6th among all returners, in a virtual tie for third after Cordarelle Patterson and Golden Tate, each of whom were in a league of their own at the top.

One of the things about Bostic -- he rated fine in pass coverage on PFF and generally looked quite capable there, which is what I thought he might struggle with. Our defense asks a ton from the MLB in terms of pass coverage, so the fact that he has done a very good job in that regard is very encouraging in that regard. Experience, a better line and linebacking corps, and perhaps coaching can take care of his lack of discipline in the run game. I'm fairly optimistic about him and it's insane to call him a bust or a miss at this point, especially considering the entire cast around him...at some point, it's hard to tell which guys really, really suck and which are the products of a bad supporting cast.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 11:21 AM) The unnecessary roughness call was fine. If you think that you can just pile on a QB after the play is over, in this modern NFL, you haven't been paying attention. The NFL protects QB's to the max and I am fine with that. No one wants to watch a league full of Jason Campbell and Matt Flynn. Mike Pereira tweeted out immediately that it was a bad call.

Japanese pitchers tend to pitch every 7th day FWIW. Whether pitching every fifth day and throwing 105 pitches/start and every seventh day with 115/start are equivalent, it would be difficult to say. I'd say with relative certainty that it is better that they get longer rest when they throw more pitches, but I cannot say how much better it is.

Weaknesses in our lineup: taking pitches, left-handed bats, walks Guys we are trying hardest to dump: Adam Dunn (3rd in the league in P/PA, 13th in BB%, LHH) and Alejandro De Aza (15th in P/PA, 7.4 BB% was second among Sox regulars, LHH). Also it appears Conor Gillaspie could be on the way out - was second on the team in BB% among regulars, though his P/PA was below our team average

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Dec 30, 2013 -> 11:00 AM) It doesn't matter, but on that Rodgers touchdown to Cobb, a cornerback for the Bears just flat out tackles Jordy Nelson about 12 yards down field. It would have been interesting had Cobb dropped that pass. I don't know if tackle is the word, but he definitely dropped him. That was Major Wright, the other safety. They both worked hard to f*** up that play.

Would you rather Lovie get hired in Detroit or Minnesota, in the hypothetical world where he has to get picked by one of them? As much as I'm sick of Lovie and glad he's gone, I really think he's a fine coach. It wouldn't surprise me to see him get a ring one day.