Vance Law

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 13, 2013 -> 08:55 PM) To be fair, if you actually watched him this year, he was one of the worst defenders and baserunners in all of baseball this year. I would say, more accurately, that he made a number of errors both in the field and on the base paths and that fact seems to have a disproportionate emotional impact on many fans. He was not one of the worst baserunners in baseball. Fangraphs has him as our 3rd best baserunner after Rios and Ramirez. Fangraphs has him as the 25th most valuable baserunner in MLB for 2013. Fans don't get actively angry at Adam Dunn or Paul Konerko for being terribly slow since they can't help it. They can't help it, but it does make Paul Konerko the worst baserunner in baseball, and Adam Dunn the 16th worst. He did have a bad year defensively- made a lot of errors. Players have good and bad years defensively. All of that plus his offense adds up to 2.2 WAR- 3rd best on the team- and all for the bargain basement price of about $2 million.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 9, 2013 -> 10:39 AM) The team that pays Loney based on 2013, a .778 OPS he hasn't had since 2007, is going to be about as happy about it as Rick Hahn is he signed Keppinger. In 900 career PAs against lefties, Keppinger has an OPS of .829. Gillaspie was .738 against righties in his first full season. On paper, the two of them together should form one pretty decent full player.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 04:30 PM) But even with that said, I wouldn't take Ethier's contract on if he were put on irrevocable waivers. 4 years, $70 million remaining for a 31 year old who, again, has put up WAR numbers comparable to De Aza over the last couple seasons. They'd have to pay something like $30 million for me to be interested in taking the remainder on and that's with no real talent going back. They have no reason to do that. Right, they'd have to eat plenty of salary. Dodgers almost certainly will trade an outfielder not named Puig, and Ethier seems the most likely. As a player pretty comparable to Granderson, I wondered if he could be had for cheaper.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 04:25 PM) I really don't think we need a right fielder. He could play left and move Tank to 1B/DH. Or Garcia to CF if it's thought he'd be better there than De Aza. Dodgers obviously have to unload him or Crawford.

Does anyone think we might target Ethier from the Dodgers. I'd rather have him than Granderson.

QUOTE (flavum @ Oct 7, 2013 -> 09:29 AM) De Aza is a 4th outfielder for an NL team. He can pinch hit, fill in for a regular on the DL, pinch run for slow guys. De Aza OPS in 1463 plate appearances with the Sox .763 Viciedo OPS in 1235 plate appearnaces with the Sox .738 That's the lead-off hitter/ center fielder vs. the guy many want to be moved to first base.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 5, 2013 -> 08:43 PM) Beckham was going in the right direction? Are you sure you didn't skip the second half of the season? Ramirez was a much more consistent offensive contributor this season than Ramirez. I'm sure 1/3rd of the fanbase is ready to non-tender Beckham, if not more. If Carlos Sanchez didn't fall back this past season, then Sanchez and/or Semien would be your starters in 2014 (were they to deal Ramirez). 2012 OPS+ Ramirez 75 Beckham 80 2013 OPS+ Ramirez 86 Beckham 87 All of Ramirez's "consistency" still didn't average out to better than Beckham over the season. Beckham has improved each of the past 2 seasons even while having surgery on his hand. While Ramirez bounced back from 2012, his power and ability to draw a walk seem to have left him. But the biggest thing pointing to the difference in value of the 2 players is that Ramirez makes about 3 times as much money as Beckham. I'm a very big fan of Semien. But neither his 32 games at AAA nor his 21 games in the majors (OPS+ 78) have proven that he's currently a better hitter at the major league level than Beckham. And I don't know anyone who suggests he's better defensively.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Oct 4, 2013 -> 11:36 PM) Career OPS: Viciedo. .738 Rizzo. .735 De Aza .744

QUOTE (scs787 @ Oct 5, 2013 -> 06:05 PM) Interesting, still though what it really boils down to is who's better Beckham vs Ramirez and to me that answer is clearly Lexi. Then again that also means he has more trade value so I'm not against him being traded for the right package. The other thing to consider though is that Ramirez will be making $9.5 million compared $3 million and change for Beckham. You're probably right in that Alexei has been the better player the last couple years on the merits of his defense (though he did lead the league in errors this year) and it remains to be seen what Beckham could do at SS. Both are very good defensively and together the best double play combo in baseball. As a hitter, Beckham has been better than Ramirez in each of the last 2 seasons (even while having wrist surgery during that time) and he's going in the right direction. To me it's something of a tossup as to who's the better player going forward. Ramirez has the edge defensively and Beckham offensively in my opinion. QUOTE (scs787 @ Oct 5, 2013 -> 06:05 PM) Looked up that outs made stat and there are a ton of good players on that list...Top 10 alone features Machado, Andrus, Adam Jones, and Pedoria. It does. Which is why I'd say both of those stats # of hits and # of outs are not extremely useful in isolation. They really are largely a function of who gets the most plate appearances. Pedroia puts up a great OBP which is what's important. The fact that he plays every game, hits at the top of the order, and plays for a team with a great offense and therefore gets more at bats per game are what puts him on that outs list. Edit: I didn't realize Ramirez is under contract for 2015 as well. Maybe that means start Semien in AAA, see if he can dominate there.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Oct 5, 2013 -> 03:55 PM) The team needs offense so it makes little sense to get rid of a guy who was in the top 15 in hits. Total number of hits, alone, I do not believe is a very meaningful stat. He was #11 in the AL in hits. He was also #5 in outs made.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 3, 2013 -> 03:28 PM) Except a trained chimp could have done a better job coming up with a Sox offseason than Jeff Keppinger. Keppinger was the best 3B on the market and a solid bet to be adequate for cheap. The only other person in the conversation was Youkilis. He made $12 million to put up a .648 OPS in 28 games played. 28 games played. Keppinger was obviously very bad this season. He was also very unlucky. By this measure the unluckiest hitter in baseball. http://www.bsports.com/statsinsights/mlb/l...-on-line-drives

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Oct 1, 2013 -> 01:19 PM) I think the Sox plans for 3B in 2014 is a platoon of Gillaspie and Semien. They are not going to platoon Semien. No chance.

I'm very interested to see what Hahn does because there are a lot of positions that can be upgraded but not a lot of obvious ways to do it. Free agent market stinks. McCann makes a good amount of sense. To me the drawbacks are 1) that you're going to have to way overpay, and 2) if you're someone who thinks the Sox potential for legitimately competing is probably 2 or 3 years away rather than next year, you're paying a lot for age the 31 and 32 seasons of a catcher has clearly been downhill with the bat and healthwise since he was 24. Even still it's such a clear upgrade that it makes some sense. To me the most obvious move is to trade Alexei. Get something for him rather than letting him walk as a free agent. Take some more $$ off the books. Give Semien an everyday job at SS or 2B.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 30, 2013 -> 02:06 AM) Fathom, if Gillaspie is our 3B next year, I predict 99 losses again. Got to get major leaguer regulars on the field. Gillaspie was more valuable a player this year than regulars Dunn, Konerko, Viciedo, Keppinger, Flowers, and Phegley.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Sep 28, 2013 -> 07:58 PM) How would you guys feel of a Santiago for Trumbo + trade? Trumbo's a first baseman who only put up a .750 OPS. He's Adam Dunn but gets on base less. We could do better for Santiago.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Sep 28, 2013 -> 12:42 PM) Robin, if you care about the White Sox, resign. You didn't do the necessary work to ready yourself for this position and it shows. And you know it. won 88 games his first year.

QUOTE (Jake @ Sep 28, 2013 -> 02:24 PM) pretty much every other position on the team other than SS could quite easily be upgraded. how? with who? I agree Tank shouldn't go to first base. Do people think Avisail could play a better centerfield than De Aza? Tank in right and De Aza in left would be an improvement.

I fully side with Gomez. I will almost always side with a hitter doing pretty much whatever he wants as retribution for getting drilled on purpose. I would be in favor of a rule that says after hitting a batter, the pitcher has to stand motionless on the mound while the batter gets one chance to throw the ball back at him. I was fully in favor of Quentin football tackling Greinke. Maholm drills the Brewers' fastest player on the knee a couple months ago and there's no punishment for it. Absolutely when Gomez crushes a home run off him he should at very least stand there and admire it and yell obscenities at Maholm. If the Braves first baseman and whoever else wants to b**** about it while he rounds the bases, fine. But the McCann thing is ridiculous- no one in baseball can recall a catcher ever having blocked the plated on a home run. He should have been thrown out and fined. He caused the on-field brawl. And the obstruction causes the run to count even though Gomez never touched the plate. They also could have invoked the rule where on a walk-off, if the fans rush the field and the hitter can't touch the plate, it still counts. You don't get to just have your catcher start a fight so that a home run doesn't count.

Ahhh. Exactly, like I said, sign FA Beltran for LF or RF and DH.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 4, 2013 -> 05:25 PM) Like I said I have no problem moving Alexei if the right deal comes along (personally I'd give Semien first shot at the SS spot) but I'm not going to take a poor deal for him until one of the young guys plays so well that I'm forced to move Alexei for them. I agree. I wouldn't mind seeing Leury platoon with Gillaspie as well as being super-utility. The Cardinals have no use for both Craig and Adams and could use Alexei. Would love to see something get done there.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 23, 2013 -> 09:50 PM) Sickels had a recap of the first round picks of 2012 and Hawkins at this point might be the worst pick of the draft. I don't know how he can say that while, at the same time, Hawkins is one of only like 3 guys his age in high A.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Aug 22, 2013 -> 09:45 AM) Im sure a compulsive gambler wouldnt do anything to affect a bet he made when he has full control of the game. Nothing at all. Where you two seem to be talking right past each other is on the point that Rose never bet on his team to lose. If he was doing anything to "affect the game", it was to win. Just like a non-gambling player.

QUOTE (pktmotion @ Aug 17, 2013 -> 03:14 PM) Sign Delmon Young Was this a joke? He was just released by the Phillies. Over 8 seasons, he has amassed a career WAR of -1.3.

QUOTE (pktmotion @ Aug 17, 2013 -> 03:14 PM) Sign Delmon Young Was this a joke? He was just released by the Phillies. Over 8 seasons, he has amassed a career WAR of -1.3.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 12, 2013 -> 08:28 AM) Ramirez has been just fine. Huh? Alexei Ramirez? walks? Career walk rate of 5% and has been around 2.8% over the past two seasons.