Greg Hibbard

Is there not a thread on him? Every time he hits 1-2 XBH in a game I keep asking myself "Who is this guy and when is he going to come back down to earth?" A few days later, I see another couple of XBH. Is he having a Alejandro De Aza type of "mirage" partial season, or is there a chance he is the real deal? BABIP doesn't look outrageous, his K/BB leaves a lot to be desired but I just don't know what to make of the guy and don't see a lot on him.

I prefer another year of control, because I think it's a wash between the bad losing culture of the 2018 Sox and getting him MLB at bats slightly earlier.

Of course we are going to stink - we have had TERRIBLE starting pitching - some of the worst I've ever seen since I've been a Sox fan. Even guys like Danny Wright and Carlos Castillo weren't this bad. With Anderson's offensive resurgence, flashes of Moncada's future, Abreu's career year type stats, Davidson's power stroke and Kopech/Eloy being ahead of schedule, I don't understand how people can't see that once we get some major league caliber pitching in the mix our record is going to massively improve.

we are less than half of one season into 50-60 game winner territory.

why does 49 vs. 65 wins even friggin' matter? Last place is last place. win/loss is not going to be a good metric for whether this team is better long term or worse this season. It's about evaluating who can perform on this roster at a major league level medium term. If we find out Gio and Fulmer aren't suitable, we move on faster with more info.

Yeah I'm not really interested in reverting to middling 80+ win "moral victory" teams that have no championship potential. Real longterm winners take time to build. They aren't retooled. Like it or not, 2005 was lightning in a bottle and a bunch of us drank some major KW koolaid.

If Giolito were able to cut down on the number of walks significantly (and HBB), to an amount that reflected his previous two seasons, wouldn't that normalize his numbers? He had 24 BB in 66.2 IP previously.

Didn't know his BABIP was down that far.

I'm extraordinarily concerned about his offensive performance this season. a .689 OPS doesn't seem enough to cut it. I realize it's typically not a power position, but he's 17th in qualified SS in OPS. Does anyone else think his offensive decline is eerily similar to what happened with Beckham? Great rookie year offensively followed by a gradual dropoff.

2024 vs. 2025 seems silly for us to think about - what did we know about 2018 in 2012? Nada. I don’t think the White Sox should be thinking about saving 2025 as a year of service, as much as what will make them most competitive in 2020-24. That’s their realistic window with this group. Call either up whenever it makes sense after mid July to save the arbitration money but to hell with 2025 as a year of service. All this losing is conditioning us to think 7 years down the line....

Maybe we all need to keep in mind that the White Sox are a bad team but also that the Astros are really really good.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Apr 18, 2018 -> 10:48 AM) You've been on this board for 13 years and you still have it set at 15 posts per page? Yes.

25 pages of debate about a sample size of 7% of a single season we must really be bored this year

Greg, in all seriousness, how could you question the relevance of BABIP as a stat? I mean of all the stats we track in baseball, including ones like RBI that have been around for decades, questioning this one seems...strange.

QUOTE (Scoots @ Apr 17, 2018 -> 02:10 PM) Is it though? Look at how much Davidson is walking and he's not hitting very well right now either. let me clarify - I think Avi's lack of walks are his biggest offensive problem right now. Then again, I expect Avi to be a .270 hitter and he's having a somewhat cold April In no way do I expect Avi to be a .330 or even .300 hitter this season.

To answer your question Avi Garcia is a .250-.270 hitter who had one season where a lot of balls dropped in.

0 walks - that's the biggest problem

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 11, 2018 -> 02:30 PM) So you are taking one person's words and applying it to the entire site? Yeah, that tells me what this conversation is worth. In my original post, I said "a handful of people". It isn't just Ron883, there are others too. I can pull them up if I need to prove my case, but I'm not applying it to the entire site at all. I never said that. Why are you twisting my words?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 11, 2018 -> 01:00 PM) Vitrol? Yeah, can't say I see that. I think the takes have been pretty realistic. No one he is saying he sucks, or is even average, but Hall of Fame is a whole other level. When I close my eyes and squint at the future of Jose Abreu, I see a Harold Baines ceiling. Maybe a few big years, a lot of consistency, but nothing that stands out and makes HOF voters go WOW. Call it a 5-10% HOF vote, tops. Yes, vitriol. As I mentioned, I'm referencing the links in the thread above. Ron883 saying Abreu was DFA worthy based on 100PA last year is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen on this site.

I think it's fascinating so many see this as a ridiculous notion worth making fun of. Yeah, I get that he's not currently projected at that pace. I get that he was brought in late. He's a still a very, very, very good offensive player. It's not out of the realm of possibility that Jose actually improves a bit in the thirties. The guy he's most often compared to in this thread, Paul Konerko, had a pretty amazing run from 33-36. In fact, that was the best 4 year stretch of his career. With a little luck and a little longevity, I could see Jose ending up with close to 400 HR and 400 doubles. For someone who started his ML career at 27, that's pretty amazing. He could also turn out to be just another above average 1st baseman. I agree with the poster who said he is underrated here. You only have to click on the links referenced to see why. I find it fascinating that a handful of people on Soxtalk seemingly love to hate on this guy. Maybe it's the product of the doldrums era we live in, but I've never seen such vitriol for the best player on the team, the face of the franchise. Especially because he's an all around good human being, too.

Yeah, my friends have seen it. It's cool. They like to talk about the White Sox, you see.

http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/...-in-cooperstown This article on ESPN today gives no mention of Jose Abreu. Yes, yes - I know - it's ESPN, and they love ignoring the White Sox at every turn. I also know that Abreu started old, and has borderline numbers with an expected dropoff as he gets older. Nevertheless, I think this is an interesting question - if Jose has 6 more years identical to the average of the previous 4, how borderline is he then? I don't think that's necessary unrealistic. An .882 OPS puts him in the top 100 all time in that category, and he'd have 300 homers, 350 doubles and a .300 batting average with 1000 RBIs. Would he be close? Or just in the hall of "very good"?

Call me crazy, but I don't think the corpseball problem will rear its ugly head with this lineup this year. Holy smokes, if they are hitting like this in 39 degrees and snow, I can't wait for July I realize this is the Tigers, but they've certainly been hitting these 6 games thus far...

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 5, 2018 -> 12:26 PM) You have to play him to figure it out. He has shown in the past he is talented enough to be on a major league roster. The Sox should still be in talent accumulation mode, and Saladino is a part of that process. Your series of points don't make sense to me. You say on the one hand he's been proven to be an ML in the past. However, you also said "even the drop off is real" - which is the point I'm addressing. Not his 2016 and before status, but the 2017 drop off, which is well below what I feel is acceptable from an ML hitter. So, if we're talking about the drop off being real, we are talking Saladino as now a .178 BA / .484 OPS ML hitter. If that's where he is at, and it's real, what exactly is he figuring out? What value do the Sox have in the occasional start for him to figure it out...if the drop off is real? I understand using him purely as a defensive replacement late in games with the occasional AB.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 5, 2018 -> 10:48 AM) I do think Tyler really had issues through injury last year, as the drop off in his place was stark. Realistically, we don't need to be in any hurry to get rid of him, even if the drop off is real. Let him play and figure it out. if the drop off is real, what exactly is he figuring out?