chitownsportsfan

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 26, 2014 -> 01:44 PM) You could bring the worlds best manager in here, and we are still looking at a .500ish team. Honestly, I think the fact that this team has been competitive this year despite the rash of injuries and a couple of key prospect failures supports Ventura as opposed to working against him. It is easy to get into the minutia for any manager and make them look bad. Big picture? The Sox have seen their pre-season starting LF, CF, 3B, 2B, 1B, #1 starter, #2 starter, closer, top set up man, etc all spend time on the DL this year. They have seen a couple of other key players just fail. With all of this, the Sox could have the Cubs record, and it wouldn't have surprised me. If you want to measure the manager, measure him on the quality of the team as it relates to how potentially good they could be. This was never going to be a squad that would make the playoffs, why measure them that way? My problem with Ventura is that we are seeing the exact same mental mistakes in the field and on the basepaths as last year. Throw in his at times puzzling bullpen decisions (granted he has s*** to work with) and I don't really think he's the man we want when we have a decent team again. IMO his only real strength is that he keeps things in the clubhouse and deals well with the media. His tactics often leave me scratching my head and some of his decisions have led directly to losses. Running out of pitchers earlier in the year was a pretty bad sin. That's just not something that can happen in your 3rd year managing.

I am half inclined to think that keeping him this long as "the loogy" was an eleborate tanking measure and a favor to a veteran player.

Rizzo is turning into a STUD. Like a 6 WAR player given his elite D, solid baserunning and excellent patience and hit tool. That said, I think WAR under rates guys that put up 40+ HR in a year as it frees up other spots in your lineup for guys like Conor Gillaspie where their on base skills get to shine. There is something to be said for getting a lot of your power from only a few positions (so you can priotirze other things like defense or OBP or baserunning) and Jose certainly is a huge precense in the middle the lineup. If you surround him with OBP guys you're gonna see a lot of RBI. Oh, Hahn's done just that with Conor and Eaton. Good job Hahn.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 11:22 PM) So true Yea this a million times. This team was f***ING AWFUL last year. Like one of hte worst teams in baseball. This year they are merely bad, perhaps even decent if you were in a expected contention year and they spent 10 million on the bullpen. That's progress. I mean, you have quite a few good players, guys that you'd expect to be worth 2-6 WAR on a yearly basis: Conor, Eaton, Jose, Alexei, Sale, Q. You throw in Garcia and Rodon and you got two more potential stars and at worst, probably solid everday players. Rodon a 3rd starter (or elite closer) and Garcia an average RF. We need a 2B, a LF, a C, a DH (shouldn't be too damn hard to find a DH once we are rid of Dunn) and a s***load of pitching. That's way, way better than last year. and to add: our worst contract is now far and away John Danks. That is f***ing so helpful and Hahn deserves a lot of credit for it. Also he owned his mistake right aaway on Keppinger. I think Hahn is doing a great job. People should realize 75 wins, with maybe half a dozen down to just an awful pen, is pretty dman good pgoress for a team that rid itself of quite a bit of old, over paid vets. Oh Konerko is still around god damnit. That's one thing I'm upset about. Hahn should have put his foot down and threatened to resign. I'm only half kidding, what a f***ing waste.

QUOTE (Bigsoxhurt35 @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 08:14 PM) 15 games back Yep.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 08:10 PM) Abreu almost up to .280 The average is there, the power IS THERE, now, just a few more walks instead of ugly Ks on breaking balls please. Still, he's been like the 90th percentile best case since he started. Can hold down 1B, hits for insane power, hits for a decent average but not much patience. That's still like a 4-6 WAR player and on that contract that's a steal. Can you imagine where we'd be without him? It's scary to think. He's had such an impact on the offense beyond his triple slash line.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 07:59 PM) Noesi's ERA has gone down about 10.00 since we got him I was a big detractor didn't really see the upside but he's blown past that. He's now throwing 95 with pretty good breaking stuff and decent command and control. Hell, you could make an argument he's our de facto 3rd starter at this point.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 07:56 PM) He had an RBI single on Monday Well, if you're gonna get a couple hits a week might as well make 'em count.

Tyler Flowers is not gonna take Chitownsportsfans rips on him sitting down! Good job Tumble Weed you got your monthly hit.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 08:15 PM) Tyler Flowers's OBP is about to slip below .300. He's about to get passed out by Alejandro in offensive production. Eaton meanwhile, is now hitting exactly league average - 100 wRC+. Was just about to post this. It's a long season people get caught up in two month production sometimes. At least De Aza is actually a proven MLB hitter. Flowers is f***ing pathetic, he has to have the lowest OPS to BABIP ratio of all f***ing time. And Adam Eaton was a f***ing steal. A 3-5 WAR player (if healthy, big caveat for sure) that we got for a AAAA starter, yes please.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 06:35 PM) Hawk just said its a good thing he didn't get it up. With a bad ticker it might be too much strain on the system, maybe hawk knows from experience!

QUOTE (VAfan @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 06:33 PM) Wade Boggs anyone? This occurred to me before I looked up Boggs' line at age 26. Boggs. 1984 26 BOS AL 158 726 625 109 203 31 4 6 55 3 2 89 44 .325 .407 .416 .823 125 260 13 0 8 4 6 Gillaspie. 2014 26 CHW AL 54 223 204 24 69 19 2 0 27 0 1 16 29 .338 .381 .451 .832 130 92 3 0 0 3 0 I'm not suggesting he'll be Boggs going forward. But he also doesn't have the advantage of hitting in Fenway. Ha, wasn't there some poster here, oldsox or something that suggested some 26 year old dude in AA in the Sox system was the next wade boggs?

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 01:38 PM) Even though LF is between 3B and 1B on the 'defensive spectrum,' not every 3B can move to LF. I'm not certain Gillaspie has the speed to be an adequate OF. Still, if he can manage an entire season and only be 2-3 runs below average at 3B, maybe you keep him there. I agree, IMO he needs to stay at 3B, his hitting there outweighs the below average defense.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 01:15 PM) If he can keep his OPS over .800, then he is a candidate to slide to 1B/DH next year. No, you don't move guys that far down the defensive spectrum. If anything, you'd try him out in LF first. He's "only" -2.7 runs below average at 3B. That's not butchery, just below average. You take that from a guy that rakes, which against RHP, he does (wRC+ of 149!).

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jun 25, 2014 -> 01:14 PM) If you cant field and you play 3rd, you generally dont stick around unless you have a tremendous power tool. Super sub isnt a bad thing, they basically do "start", just not a consistent position. But the bat keeps them in the lineup. Forget the less precise power numbers -- he has a wRC+ of 129. That papers over quite a bit of bad defense at 3B. MLB 3B have combined for an fWAR of 41.4 and a wRC+ of 98 so far in 2014. Conor slides in pretty well as a perfectly cromulent starting 3B using those numbers. Most teams would be happy to have him. I agree that his defense leaves a lot to be desired but he's still young enough to where you'd expect him to improve a bit as he gets closer to his 27-30 year old peak. The problem with Conor is that he needs a platoon partner (wRC+ of 62 verse LHP) and because of our s***ty ass roster construction we don't have room for one. That's fine as we aren't winning anything this year but in '15 you'd hope Davidson would at least be ready for 200 PA against LHP. Not saying Davidson is only a platoon guy but he's a natural fit next to Conor for now and if he hits so much you have two good 3B then that's a great problem.

your guys' sarcasm detector out of batteries?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 07:38 PM) Too bad he loudly batted .185/.255/.359 in March/April and .161/.237/.195 in May Don't look now but Tyler f***ing Flowers is about to be passed in OPS by De Aza.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 02:31 PM) I would agree the ability is there but he basically didn't play much of the position at all until Semien was sent back down and Micah was called up. If a guy isn't being given work at the position I'm not going to express confidence in him holding it down. Fair enough, although given the Sox' awful position player development wouldn't suprise me if they are just screwing it up.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 02:21 PM) It's really hard for me to project him as the starter, particularly at SS, when he's had so few games there. I agree but the scouting reports all note the ability is there to play SS, anyone got any more concrete info or stats from his time as SS this year in AAA?

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 02:02 PM) I am excited for the end of Flowers/De Aza/Viciedo. So next year we have... C - no one 1B - Abreu 2B - Johnson/Semien 3B - Gillaspie/Davidson SS - Alexei LF - no one CF - Eaton RF - Garcia DH - no one Hahn has to find a catcher, 1B/3B/DH, outfielder, a SP and maybe one serious bullpen piece and a couple of fliers. Either way, we have some in house talent that could factor next year (Johnson, Semien, Davidson) and some money to spend. I think we'll be in for another fun offseason. I think you gotta put Sanchez on that list. He's raking in AAA, as a 22 year old that can play SS his slash line of 299/362/420 is excellent. Let him get a cup of coffee in Sep and then next year he should be the starter at SS heading into the spring IMO. GIve him two years to figure things out in MLB and see what we have. Obviously if he doesn't continue to hit you rethink it but so far so good with his season. Suprised more people haven't taken notice, guess his awful season last year, at a really, really young age for Charlotte, turned people off.

QUOTE (Tannerfan @ Jun 24, 2014 -> 12:48 PM) Does anyone think there's merit in moving Gillaspie to the outfield? If he could play left you've got him Eaton and Garcia left to right. This means Davidson has to pan out at 3b, or maybe Semien can stick at third. There's no merit in moving him to LF when he can play a cromulent 3B. His wRC+ is like 130, that more than makes up for the few balls he doesn't get to a month at 3B. In general, it's really hard to find good young infielders, harder than finding good young outfielders. At least it's clear that we need to continue to rebuild -- jettison Alexie, Belli and anyone else that will get a decent piece.

So, when does Robin's job start to come into question? I'd evaluate in the off-season but what do others think?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 23, 2014 -> 10:34 PM) It's going to be interesting to see what happens with Alexei and Dayan. They're both in terrible slumps over the course of the last 70-100 at-bats. They will surely go on hot streaks again, where they will show tantalizing promise (Dayan) but will that be enough to keep Rick Hahn from pulling the trigger? Changing the attitude in the clubhouse is another big issue...with Dunn, Konerko and DeAza on the way out, who will emerge? Abreu is a quiet, "by example" type of guy like Konerko. Sale's a pitcher. So it has to be Eaton and maybe Beckham if he survives this season in Chicago. It would be dumb to release/DFA Alejandro right now, but if we can't get ANYTHING in July or August for him, I'd hope that Hahn would send a message like they did with Keppinger and free up playing time for ANYONE else. Dayan's entire career has been a slump. I've defended the guy time and time again and he was one of my favs, but a butcher corner outfielder that can't manage an OPS+ above 85 has no role in MLB except as a bench player.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 20, 2014 -> 11:21 PM) That's the question...how assiduously do Cooper and Ventura really look at those current stats and comb through them when looking at bullpen match-ups? Ventura's a lot like Harrelson in that sense. His memory of previous seasons overrules what his eyes are seeing in the current season. It's like his brain can't synthesize both pieces of independent information. So we have this prevailing idea that Mauer is nearly equally dangerous against lefties (as righties) because he had a 740 OPS in 420 at-bats from 2011-2013 against lefties. But his overall OPS during that time was 838 with an 885 OPS against righties. I've said this before and I'll say it again: anything Robin "gives" as far as team chemistry he takes wrt to tactics and strategy. He goes by his gut when he should go "by the book" and he goes "by the book" when he should go with his gut. The Mauer quote illustrates that perfectly. Do some damn research or have a guy whisper it in his ear.

figures as soon as I'd like to watch a game it gets rained out. Come on rain, go away.