bighurt4life

QUOTE (qwerty @ Mar 21, 2009 -> 04:11 PM) Maybe compared to the average minor leaguer he is above average, for a major league player that would not be the case (arm strength). I cannot recall many touting quentin's arm strength to be anything above average. In college ball he was supposedly a very strong defender (compared to what else was around him), the times change though, as the competition gets stronger. Dye's arm strength easily blows quentin's out of the water and he no longer has the accuracy he once possessed, we all know dye is has become a very bad outfielder, he is does nothing but hurt the sox while in the field. Dye is realistically nothing more than a dh at this point.. If anderson is not in center the sox will be be fielding one of the worst, if not the worst defensive outfields in the majors once more. I think you may be overstating this point just a bit here. The guys on the other side of town aren't anything to write home about with Soriano, Bradley and Fukudome in CF. Also, Quentin isn't a bad fielder, just not as good as he was supposed to be so people are kinda down on him, and despite his lack of speed JD still takes great routes to the ball and has a cannon for an arm. He did win a gold glove at one point in time and hasn't lost his skill, just his wheels. I would also say that the Yankees could contend for worst outfield with Damon, Matsui, Swisher and Gardner splitting time.

QUOTE (MHizzle85 @ Mar 21, 2009 -> 11:31 AM) I'm surprised one name's on the DP's avoided list, but more surprised at the name on the all-time list...I mean, I know he does it alot. But not enough to be on an all-time list. Yeah, both of those surprised me. Again, we all know he has a lot of GIDP's but like fifth worst all time. Damn!

Interesting statistical breakdown of the double play and a look at the players who hit into them the least and the most often. You will find a couple interesting Sox names on the list. One of them is confirmation of what many of us already knew and one of them goes against the popular opinion. I won't spoil the fun though, you'll have to read the article. http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/...-batter-can-do/

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 19, 2009 -> 05:28 PM) or a middle IF spot. Miranda was a middle IF. He played SS and 2B. Where our system is really thin at the moment is in the OF, none of our prospects there have panned out and we've traded a couple away so my guess would be that we trade him for an OF.

and escobar

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Mar 19, 2009 -> 12:53 PM) The pitcher's do, it's called a breaking ball. No, it's called a high and tight fastball.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Mar 19, 2009 -> 11:12 AM) You're reading way to much into this. If Ozzie has leadoff the way he wants it, it would be Owens. He blows, so Getz it should be. Ozzie may be a peculiar type of person who goes against the grain sometimes, but he's no idiot. I promise you that he is seeing the same thing from Owens that the rest of us are seeing. A weak, hole-riddled swing and an O-fer on SB attempts this spring. That's not what earns you a starting job and the leadoff position. He let Swisher leadoff last year because Swish had a track record of being a very good hitter and he thought that he might turn it around. Once it was clear that Swish was hitting for crap last season Ozzie did what he had to do and moved Cabrera to the 1 spot even though it wasn't ideal.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 18, 2009 -> 05:48 PM) Might depend on exactly what they think he needs to work on. Where is he more likely to see better breaking stuff, AA or AAA? AAA, no doubt. Some say that there is more talent in AA, but to me that means you are going to have more guys with great arms but not as much refinement. In AAA you will have guys who are polished products and will have better breaking stuff, with more control and command of those pitches. More major league type players

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Mar 18, 2009 -> 11:36 AM) Or just put Konerko, or even Allen himself, as a DH since Thome is all but gone after this season. yes, probably Allen at DH as I've heard that he doesn't have much of a glove which kinda surprises me because he is a hell of an athlete. he steals about 20 bases a year and the kid weighs 230.

Pretty good piece. Gives a nice look into the team history. Looks like he put in a lot of work and research on this article

Accdg to the box score it was Braun that gave up the 4 run inning, not DJ.

He's had 439 career stolen bases in the minors. I wonder what the record is.

Well living on the west coast I didn't get to watch this game but it has been the most entertaining and humorous game day thread to read so far this ST. Special acknowledgements go to Head22 and Princess Dye for making me laugh the most.

QUOTE (joesaiditstrue @ Mar 14, 2009 -> 03:08 AM) does anyone here honestly think chris getz is a better option at 2B than beckham to start the season, and is a better (more capable) baseball player at this point in time? seriously, there's really no reason why Getz should be given a shot over Beckham, not one good reason and before someone says "what if Beckham struggles and has to be sent down, and hurts his confidence?" my response if Beckham struggles, getz is DEFINITELY going to struggle because Beckham > Getz Yes there are several good reasons. 1. Beckham is not a natural 2B and should be given every chance to stay at SS as he'll have the most value for us at that position. 2. Getz has worked his way through the minors and has succeeded at every level. 3. Getz is older and has more experience than Beckham, his skills are more refined. 4. Getz would be a more natural lead off hitter than Beckham as he has above average speed and has a great eye at the plate. He actually averaged more BB's than K's in his minor league career and we need a good OBP guy at the top of the order, there's plenty of guys in our lineup with power but we need people to actually get on base for that power to help us.. 5. Getz has already played a bit for us in the majors. That plus his minor league experience makes him more of a known quantity than a guy who has played 30 games for us in our organization so far. There's five reasons for you and I could probably come up with more if you want. Don't confuse tools/talent with readiness. It's obvious that Beckham is a baller and as tons of talent but he's not a finished product yet. So he has had a great spring training, BFD. Lots of guys murder the ball in ST, lets see what he does in AA for a couple of months before anointing him the new 2B messiah. It's a long season and the cream always rises to the top. If he's supposed to be in the bigs, they'll find a spot for him.

I like him in the two hole because of his high contact ability, speed, power, and low K rates.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Mar 13, 2009 -> 04:03 PM) It could and it might just be considering he hasn't gotten a single inning out there this spring and Bill Melton (not the best source of information to say the least) keeps comparing him to Ross Gload. The fact that he's played more 1B than CF tells me the Sox may see him as more of a corner OF/1B type. A Lillibridge/Kroeger CF would be interesting though with 207 total chances in centerfield between them since 2005. What I've read is that he has slightly above average speed so he is passable in CF. He has also played CF in the minors though not much. If he plays a corner OF that would lead one to believe that he has at least an average arm. I wouldn't mind seeing him out there over Wise/Owens. He has potential and we already know what those other two bring to the table, their poor route running really negates their speed in CF, if Kroeger can get good reads on the ball I'm sure he'd perform as well as those two with much more hitting potential.

Not sure why but nobody has mentioned Josh Kroeger as a possibility at CF. He has lots of talent and has played well so far this year. He's also a lefty so he could platoon with either Lilli of Anderson. Not sure what his defense looks like but it couldn't be any worse than Wise or Owens. I'd much rather give him a shot over those two. He's only 25 or 26 so he still has a chance to blossom unlike Wise/Owens who are both about 30 and clearly don't really have that much to offer as anything other than situational players.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Mar 11, 2009 -> 12:27 AM) I get it, but then I don't get it ya kno... it's crazy. Nix is obviously the better player, but Getz is more of a sure thing to succeed. Then there's Lillibridge who is just as risky (and talented) as Nix, but fits the leadoff hitter profile probably the best out of the three. (Oz already said he doesn't want to put Getz at the leadoff, and sees him more as a 9th hitter, or real good #2 hitter, which I like him to be) I'm torn. Best case is they try Alexei at CF, Lilli at SS and Getz at 2B. But it's on Lillibridge. That kid has got to hit, which I honestly don't see him doing. So more than likely, Getz will probably be forced somewhere in the line-up unless it's 9th (he's MLB ready at least.. way more ready than the other two, though Nix had a good year in AAA last season as well) Regardless they are either keeping the seat warm for Beckham, or trade bait/a good problem to have next season) I still think Beckham needs some more time, at least rush him to AAA if the sox think he can handle it. We don't know that Nix is "obviously" better than Getz. He does have a better pedigree and purportedly gold glove level defense but we really haven't seen what he can do at the plate. His numbers from the minor leagues suggest that he has below average plate discipline and with Jerry Owens poor spring so far it is looking more and more like our 2B will need to be able to lead off for us, we really just don't have any other options. Getz profiles as the best leadoff that we have as he has great BB/K ratios and also has some good speed. Lilli would look great at leadoff but it looks like he can't hit a lick so it's really just down to Getz and Nix. If we had someone else who could take the top spot in the order I'd really like to see Nix' defense at 2B but as it is, we can't afford to have him in the lineup without bringing someone in to leadoff.

I still want to see an Anderson/Kroeger platoon in CF. This is contingent on Kroeger being able to handle center but I've read that he has above average speed and arm strength and that he can play CF. Also, CF at the Cell is smaller and a bit easier to play than at other parks. They would compliment each other well, especially with Kroeger handling all the righties we would still have BA on the bench as a late inning defensive replacement at all 3 outfield spots.

He doesn't really say all that much about anyone that we didn't already know. In fact, I'm not sure why he even wrote the article as there is nothing and I mean NOTHING new here. Maybe he had a deadline and nothing else to turn in???

QUOTE (scenario @ Mar 9, 2009 -> 07:51 PM) The Sox released him in late October. I didn't notice it when it happened. Just found it by looking through minor league transactions from late fall. Damn!! I picked him up in my keeper league. He was going to be my 2013 sleeper.

QUOTE (Cubano @ Mar 9, 2009 -> 03:33 PM) He will be release soon. My crystal ball told me that. This is my prediction and nothing is official. You got some voodoo thing going on there??? I hope you're right.

I'd like to see a Kroeger/Anderson platoon in CF. Kroeger would get most of the starts and BA could be on the bench as a late inning defensive replacement.

QUOTE (SoxFan101 @ Mar 8, 2009 -> 02:55 PM) They wouldnt do it if for no other reason dont want to start the arbitration clock early. If anything it would be similar to Longoria on the Rays. exactamundo

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 6, 2009 -> 09:04 AM) Dye is one of the worst defensive RF'ers in the game. That's a pretty bold statement. I'm not saying that he's going to win any gold gloves but you can see that he takes great routes to the ball and gets good jumps which makes up for his diminishing speed. He also still has a good arm. Just because he's old doesn't mean that he can't play defense. I think that he's head and shoulders above many other starting RF's in the game right now- Abreu, Vlad Guerrero, Magglio, Mark Tehean, Geoff Jenkins and Milton Bradley are the ones that come to mind who I think JD is better than overall defensively.