Balta1701

QUOTE(Hideaway Lights @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 03:33 PM) so 108 innings in the major leagues is suddenly not enough to judge a player? Fine. Is 151 enough? I wonder why so many people on this website have formed extremely solid opinions of brandon mccarthy one way or the other... Now, I'm not going to get dragged into the rest of this debate, but this is an obvious logical fallacy (hasty generalization, btw). Your sample size of 1 pitcher for comparison tells us almost nothing of value. Here's the reality...there are some pitchers that you can tell right freaking away that they're going to be pretty darn good. Think about the first innings we saw in the big leagues from Justin Verlander, Fransisco Liriano, Jared Weaver, and Jonathon Papelbon. They came out like stars almost from inning 1. On the other hand, there are plenty of pitchers who take some time before they start really showing us what they can do. Jose Contreras is a familiar example to most here, as is Jon Garland. Others such as Chris Carpenter fit on that list as well. And then on the other end, think about some guys who came up and dominated but then disappeared. Kerry Wood. Mark Prior. Josh Beckett. Brad Penny to some extent. 108 or 151 innings give you a clue about a pitcher, but it's certainly not the last word on the subject. They could be dominant and do nothing afterwards, be bad and stay bad, or be bad and eventually grow up. I think McCarthy has a real good shot to be a dominant pitcher based on what I've seen of him. But it's certainly not the last word on it. If he can't keep the changeup working and the curve ball down, he's going to get murdered for the next few years. We'll see.

QUOTE(Capn12 @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 03:42 PM) Its like Oz and crew are trying to disprove all baseball logic by putting 3 lefties in a row, the first 2 which have absolutely s*** OBP numbers. Our offense was good in the first half last year. Our top 3 guys were bad against lefties in the first half last year. When we put JD in the 3 hole, our offense worsened. Therefore, the worse the top 3 of our offense is against lefties, the better our offense will be.

QUOTE(ScottyDo @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 03:40 PM) I bet the gooch gets back to the 2-hole before the season starts. I'd be mad at KW if I were him cuz he's got more talent than that. Hopefully it'll be KW signing him anyway and the spot he hits in will therefore have no effect on his contract. Anyway, I still think that eventually, if Anderson can cut down on the strikeouts, he'll make an ideal #2 hitter, probably sooner than some of us think.

QUOTE(Capn12 @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 03:38 PM) Clearly #2 hitter material there. Like Gooch and his 350+ OBP should hit 2nd, yeah right!! Gets even better. Erstad's OPS for the spring is now .635 (took me an extra second to calculate slugging %age).

So, as of today, Darin Erstad is hitting this spring: .275, with an OBP of .302 and a slugging %age of .333. Yes, that's right, he's having such a great spring that his OPS is at .635. He's also leading the team in strikeouts. And he's leading the team in at-bats.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 03:30 PM) Not sure. Doubtful No, Erstad's 3 k's today are not included. He's now at 10 k's, hitting .275, with an OBP of .301.

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 03:28 PM) Yeah, but Ersty has nailed down the CF job with .680 OPS this spring. Clearly better than Anderson's .800 spring OPS. That cocky youngster better go down to Charlotte and learn some humilty, and maybe how to punt. I wonder, if Erstad's #'s keep going down now that the pitchers are catching back up to the hitters...maybe BA might still have a shot.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 03:25 PM) Actual question or do you have the answer? I am interested.... Coming in to today, according to MLB.com, it's Erstad with 7 (tied with A. Gonzalez, who won't be makign the team anyway) Erstad is also leading the team in AB's this spring with 47 coming into today. Konerko is 2nd with 37. And Erstad has walked 2 times in 49 plate appearances, for a sweet .320 OBP. According to the box score, Erstad k'd 3 times today, so make that 10 K's in 51 AB's for the coffee grinder.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 12:24 PM) If it wasn't for the bracket contests, the NCAA tourney would be as popular as the NBA finals. Unless the White Sox are in the W.S., day 1 of the NCAA Tourney is IMO the best single day for sports fans out of the year. And online broadcasting is just making it better. The only competition is that day in early Feb. Just game after game after game, usually a surprising number of close games, lots of underdogs to root for, usually a team or two I actually care about, and it goes on for a whole day.

Jenks MMac Thor Logan Haeger Masset

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 10:06 AM) old school solution: Four man rotation throw Haeger out there on occasion to keep a five day rest for the four starters. After seeing our guys in 2004, I think that's a pretty poor idea. The Sox went with Mr. "Off day" as the 5th starter for about 2 months, threw guys like Buehrle and Loaiza out there every 5th day with no extra time, and I thought by June and July you could really tell they were getting worn out by the innings. I think we're better off putting out a guy to give up 7 runs in 6 innings and saving the pitching staff the innings than we are using up the offdays like that.

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 07:44 AM) You missed out big time if you watched something else other than the tourney on Saturday. The other days weren't exactly things of beauty, but yea, Saturday there were some kickarse games being played.

QUOTE(Reddy @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 08:50 AM) BUT erstad hasnt been very productive for the last few years... why would he bounce back now? He's well-ground.

QUOTE(tealeafreaderii @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 08:47 AM) I'd like to see Haeger make it. I think Charlie has the inside track to wind up as the long man in the bullpen, given Aardsma's struggles.

QUOTE(fathom @ Mar 18, 2007 -> 08:57 PM) http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...-home-headlines See ya Brian. Considering Ozzie said he'd only make the roster if he's a full-time starter, I hope Anderson is looking for an apartment in Charlotte. OBP's the last few years. Erstad .331 .313 .309 .346 .325 .279 Iguchi .342 .352 Just what we need. Fewer runners on base for Thome, Dye, and Konerko.

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Mar 18, 2007 -> 08:28 AM) And Balta, do you think Brian Anderson is a better CF than a healthy Darin Erstad? Do you also think he'll perform better at the plate than a healthy Darin Erstad? Yes. I think Brian Anderson is a MUCH better defensive CF than even a healthy Darin Erstad. It's the same argument you make between Aaron Rowand and Anderson...all 3 of them presumably get quite good jumps on the ball (otherwise Erstad never would have won those GG's), but after that first step...Anderson is pretty much a track star, and the other guys don't have nearly the closing speed he has. And I haven't seen many people get jumps on a ball as good as Anderson, either. Offensively...excluding 2000 (6 years ago and Erstad's career year, numbers he's never come close to matching) and 2006 (erstad's worst year, last year, where he missed most of the year injured)...Darin Erstad has been an .277 average hitter and has averaged a .695 OPS or so. Post All-Star break last year...Brian Anderson hit .257 with a .694 OPS. I think that at the very worst, Anderson would put up numbers offensively equal to what Erstad would give you, and depending on his development, could and should be significantly better.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Mar 17, 2007 -> 10:59 PM) Guillen has been pretty good at preventing Pods from seeing LHP by using Pablo, but if its Pods/Erstad, Thome is going to have a ton of walks and a lot less RBI's Ozzie does an ok job of preventing Pods from seeing Left handed starting pitching using Pablo...(although there's still that whole defense thing)...but in the 7th innings and later of games, if you stick Pods, Erstad, and Thome anywhere within the first 4 guys hitting, you're simply asking for the opposition to stick in a LTOGY, and thus have Pods, Erstad, and Thome hitting against guys that they all hit .240 or worse against. In other words, it's basically just giving away 3 outs.

QUOTE(StatManDu @ Mar 17, 2007 -> 06:10 PM) To add on to my own entry , Frank really took a few steps up in respect in my book on this one. I only wish he could have been there or had been asked questions. I disagree. Even Schilling, the guy who was there as the "outsider" who wasn't under the Canseco-accused steroid cloud, came out sounding like he was schilling for Bud Selig. "Oh, we've got the problem totally under control. Yes, this new policy is great. It'll take care of the problem. Oh, that clause they inserted letting Mr. Selig decide to not suspend some people at his discretion doesn't really matter". He didn't come out like Palmeiro or Sosa...but I don't think even the "clean" player there looked good.

QUOTE(South Side Fireworks Man @ Mar 17, 2007 -> 07:27 PM) I'd probably take Masset over Floyd and let Floyd work things out starting in AAA. Masset has looked 100% better than Floyd this spring. And it's not like Ozzie uses his long men very often. Haeger, Masset, Thor, Logan, MMac, and Jenks is my Bullpen as it stands now.

It will be Pods, Erstad, Thome, Pierzynski, Konerko, Dye, Crede, Iguchi, Uribe. Why will it end up like this? It's the natural extension of our lineup last year. The only way to improve on our lineup is clearly to make the top of our order even more vulnerable to left handers.

QUOTE(TitoMB345 @ Mar 17, 2007 -> 07:37 PM) That, right there, gives us one of the worst defensive outfields that I can remember in years. Mercy! Well...at least the good news is we don't have Soriano in CF. Or Mackowiak. QUOTE(South Side Fireworks Man @ Mar 17, 2007 -> 07:53 PM) Looks like good news: Anderson will still start the season on the DL. Just watch. That way, we can be sure to get Terrero AB's at AAA.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Mar 17, 2007 -> 10:57 AM) Ozzie Guillen would do wonders for Alex Rodriguez career. Yup. He'd send him back to AAA so that he'd finally learn how to work hard. Uribe and Cintron are Grinders!

QUOTE(shoota @ Mar 17, 2007 -> 09:55 AM) Why do you believe grinder-type play has no value? I agree with you that the superior baseball player--Brian Anderson--should be starting over the inferior--Darrin Erstad--but Erstad does have value as a bench player. I don't think anyone here is going to say that having a guy like an Erstad, the "Grinder" who does go all out on every play and inspires other people to work harder, is a bad thing. I think what a lot of people here are getting sick of though is having the fact that a player is a "Grinder" treated like it's the only thing in the world that matters by the team and some of its fans...to the point of sacrificing what we feel is the good of the team in the process. That's what's pissing some of us off...this team seems poised to ignore some of its best talent to put a constantly injured, poor offensive guy in the OF because he's a grinder over a guy who's in his mid-20's, has shown improvement with the bat, has done everything we could hav easked of him this offseason, and who is stunningly good on defense. The logic being followed here suggests that the best OF we could possibly put together is Podsednik, Erstad, Rowand. They'll grind us to a world series! We'd clearly be better off if we just gave JD his outright release, because he's not a grinder.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Mar 16, 2007 -> 07:41 PM) I dont think RPI is the be all end all, just that you could argue that each big 10 seed could have gotten atleast 1 seed higher for the most part (except for Purdue). If the Big 10 had the "prestige" of the ACC I think that would have happened. Bottom line, 5 out of 6 in the first round for 1 conference strongly suggests that the conference was underrated to my eyes.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Mar 16, 2007 -> 08:03 PM) Except I ain't a "Republican". Closer than me! (does happy dance)