chw42

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 22, 2009 -> 08:04 AM) This is unacceptable. They don't even eat Chop Suey in Japan... On another note, I honestly don't see any team going after Matsui with mad money. Seattle might do it, but they have Griffey as a full time DH. I don't think they want to bench him, even though they should. At this point, he's just a DH and hitters that can only be a DH aren't worth much of anything in terms of value.

QUOTE (beck72 @ Nov 22, 2009 -> 08:48 AM) http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/10357594 I'm glad to hear the Sox seem to be keeping their options open regarding Teahen at 3b. I guess it comes down to who the Sox can add at 2b, 3b or the OF that would allow them to move Teahen away from 3b. Here are a few options that come to mind: 3b: [Which would move Gordon to 2b, and Teahen to RF or 1b]. *Adrian Beltre. Wouldn't cost a draft pick, though he's a type B. Seattle won't offer him arb. Would solidify the left side of the IF with his defense. Would likely get a 2 yr, $12, 13 mill. deal. The sox would still need someone for leadoff, such as a Randy Winn for RF or Pods for LF. I like Randy Winn for RF [1 yr, $5 mill], with Teahen for 1b. Beltre's power should come back moving away from Sea. and getting healthy, which could make up for Winn's lower power numbers in RF. Under this scenario, Konerko would likely have to be moved to afford both Beltre and Winn [most likely in a salary swap for bad contracts]. Thome could then be signed for DH [1 yr, $5 mill] and provide the sox with LH power. Getting all signed would be tough. Though the sox could sign Beltre to a lower 2010 salary, such as $5 mill. in 2010, and $7 mill in 2011, with PK's salary coming off the books. The sox could sign Pods to lower deal, have him for LF, with Quentin going to RF. Yet I like the defensive improvements that Beltre and Winn would give the Sox. *Chone Figgins. Too expensive. Likely not happening. 2b: [which would move Beckham back to 3b, and Teahen to the OF or 1b] *Orlando Hudson. Though the sox would likely lose their 2nd rd draft pick, he would likely take a 2 yr deal, for $11, 12 mill. He could hit at the top of the order, and is solid at 2b. *Felipe Lopez: It wouldn't cost the sox a pick, as he's a type B. And he's a better defender than Hudson. Hudson is a better overall bat, and Lopez may have had a career year at the plate in 2009. Lopez should get a similar deal as Hudson's 2 yr deal, for $10, 11 mill. I question Lopez as he's moved around a lot, not by his choice. What are some other options/ ideas if the sox are still looking at having Teahen for other than 3b? Teahen should be playing right field or DHing. Winn is getting old, he had a bad season offensively in San Francisco last year, but his glove is still decent. I don't actually think he's worth 5 million in the market right now. I like the idea of Beltre, his home/away splits are crazy. Safeco has sucked the life out of him, but I'm not sure $7 million per is enough for him. Either way, like you said, for any of these deals to be done, we need to shed some contracts, most likely Konerko's or maybe even Jenks' arbitration.

QUOTE (scenario @ Nov 20, 2009 -> 01:15 PM) Not really. But if he doesn't, it could mean we'll flip him during the offseason for another team's former first round bust... ala Borchard for Thornton. That passing thought just interested me for a minute. I'm pretty sure he does have some options left.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 20, 2009 -> 01:11 PM) Right now he would be a waste of a roster space. He would essentially be a pinch hitter against lefties and pinch runner. He can also play great defense. Although with Vizquel taking over the defensive replacement role, I don't know where you can fit him. I like Nix's potential a lot. Hopefully, he will stay in the organization somehow.

QUOTE (scenario @ Nov 20, 2009 -> 01:06 PM) Anybody know if Lillibridge has any options left? Does it really matter?

I actually like this. Vizquel can be a very good defensive replacement and he can fill in once or twice a week at SS, 2B, or maybe even 3B. It gives Ozzie a lot of flexibility. His defense is still well above average and his bat is well below average. However, defensive contribution is almost just as important as offensive contribution. Even though Vizquel posted only a .301 wOBA last year, his near 9 UZR made him worth 1.2 wins, which is pretty impressive for a guy his age. You guys wanted better defense right? Well, here you go. At around a million, this is a great signing.

QUOTE (smalls2598 @ Nov 19, 2009 -> 01:27 PM) Tim Lincecum repeats as Cy Young in a close vote. Lincecum had 100 points; Carpenter had 94, and Wainwright (who had the most 1st place votes) finished third with 90 points. MLB.com article Real close, but Carpenter should have won.

If Kenny gets this deal done, he is officially a god.

QUOTE (G&T @ Nov 12, 2009 -> 03:40 PM) Here is the link. NY Post He compared them over the past 3 seasons. Jeter contributed 6 more wins in that time than Damon, that's 2 more wins per season. That's not comparable.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Nov 12, 2009 -> 02:12 PM) http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jeterde01.shtml BR have Damon as the 8th similar batter to Jeter and they both suck out loud on defense (even as a Jeter hater I will admit he was better this year, but the best in the league as a GG should indicate is a joke). Jeter would be worth more on paper because he plays SS over OF, but then you have to weigh his defense against his offense. Even when you weigh his defense to his offense, which WAR does, Jeter has had a 4+ WAR 6 times out of the past 8 years. Damon's only done it twice since they began to record the stat in 2002. As bad as Jeter has been on defense, Damon's been about as bad as an outfielder. He is much less valuable.

QUOTE (G&T @ Nov 12, 2009 -> 06:50 AM) I can't find the article referenced, but I read it yesterday and, from what I recall, Boras did not say Jeter and Damon were comparable. He said that Damon made Jeter better and that the Yankees are paying for more than just Damon's numbers, but Jeter's improved numbers with Damon in the lineup. So he's trying to say that Damon made Jeter...? That wasn't what I heard from the shows on ESPN (but then again, should I believe what they say?). I guess you can argue that in a way, but I think New Yankee Stadium made Damon and Jeter better last year more than anything. Plus, Jeter's improvement in fielding has nothing to do with Johnny Damon.

QUOTE (MattZakrowski @ Nov 11, 2009 -> 06:23 PM) I dunno, his Grindy index was 53 points lower than Scott Podsednik's, his Ultimate Scrap Rating was a whopping 124 points lower than Chris Getz's. No thanks. But seriously, 1 please. His Wins Above Grinder (WAG, pronounced like vag ) was also lower than Alex Rios. ALEX RIOS! I didn't even know he was a grinder. Oh BTW, the highest WAG ever belongs to Darrin Erstad, which was over 9000. Aaron Rowand is second with a 8997.

Every year, Mr. Borass puts out propaganda for his players. This year, it's much of the same. He overvalues his players and he looks like somebody who is clueless about baseball and the value a player contributes to a team. This year though, he made leaps towards insanity by saying that Johnny Damon (his client) is comparable to Derek Jeter. Not only is this a totally flawed statement in the world of casual baseball fans, it is also an extremely flawed statement in the world of sabermetrics. Believe it or not, Derek Jeter had one of the best, if not the best, years of his professional career this past season. He had a wOBA of .390 and for the first time ever, an above average UZR, easily making Jeter one of the most valuable players in baseball this season. In fact, he only contributed one less win than Albert Pujols with a WAR of 7.4. Now Johnny Damon is a good player. He's about as old as Jeter, gives good offensive production, but also plays horrendous defense. Plus, the fact that he plays a corner outfield position doesn't help his case in terms of value. His WAR this past season was a 3.0. That's a difference of 4.4 wins between him and Jeter, which is insane. For those who do not know about WAR, 1 win share accounts for 10 runs of production, which comes from both an offensive and defensive standpoint. Therefore, Jeter saved/created 44 more runs than Damon. With WAR, any player with a WAR of 4 or above is considered as a premier producer. Therefore, Jeter is literally a little more than twice the player that Damon is in terms of Wins Above Replacement. So in terms of metrics, Jeter is far superior. But what about in the casual sense? Derek Jeter is a future first ballot hall of famer. Call him whatever you want, it's going to happen and he actually does deserve it. So it's safe to say that even the most casual of fans would think of Boras as a crazy idiot. I'm pretty sure that Boras is smart enough to know that what he's saying is totally false and he's just trying to lure some stupid GM into thinking this way. However, how many GMs are stupid enough to believe something like this? I think it's gotten to the point where if I'm a general manager, I am insulted by Boras' comments since they're basically aimed towards general managers. So if he thinks that I'm stupid enough to believe such rubbish, what is his perception of my baseball knowledge? Hopefully, no GM falls into the Boras trap this off-season going after Holliday or Damon, especially Damon. I think this act is getting too old and he's crossed the line, even for the most casual of baseball fans and maybe even Brian Sabean.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 11, 2009 -> 10:21 PM) Royals to sign former White Sox IF Wilson Betemit. Hahahaha, only makes their defense that much worse.

QUOTE (ChiSox @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 09:38 PM) *insert random nba superstar here* could. that was so close that you have to just stay with the call on the floor. garbage like this is why i barely watch the nba. If that was Kobe, it would have been good no matter what. Nobody would believe that Brad Miller can make such a shot. Honestly, if the NBA was corrupt like that, the commissioner's office would have called the refs and told them to keep the damn play. That's one of the plays of the year if it stayed.

QUOTE (fathom @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 09:36 PM) The thing that sucks is there was clearly .4 seconds left when Noah called timeout after the missed FT. Officiating late in the game sucked dick overall. Anthony tripped Deng with the ref watching right on the side, then Carmelo tried to bulls*** the refs by helping Deng up. IMO, an act like that is almost worse than hacking a guy hard intentionally. Plus, Billups got fouled by Noah, shoulda been called. If anything, it might have helped the Bulls.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 09:35 PM) Honestly, could you call a timeout, catch, and shoot in 0.6 seconds? I couldn't. He didn't catch that ball, it was more of a volleyball set.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Nov 10, 2009 -> 12:28 AM) He was pretty bad in '07 and '08 and he'll be 33 on opening day, he's not a great bet for 2010. He got injured in 07 and he was still an above league average hitter back in 08.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Nov 9, 2009 -> 03:06 PM) Because Overbay isn't all that great and he's making $7M for a team that is looking to cut payroll and rebuild. I imagine any team willing to take on his entire 2010 salary could pick him up for a couple non-prospects like McCulloch and Armstrong. $7 million for a guy who had an wOBA of .363 last year isn't that bad of a deal. Sure, he's a 1B and a stat like that doesn't make him very appealing, but Konerko only had a .362 wOBA last year. Both Konerko and Overbay are average defenders. So basically, Overbay is being paid $7 million to be about as productive as Konerko, while Paulie is being paid $12 million. This is no knock on Konerko, but you guys are undervaluing Overbay. Given his current situation, the trade does seem to gain some validity, but if I'm Toronto, I want more than two minor league failures.

I think the Braves know what he did last year is not repeatable by Vazquez, especially if the Braves plan on contending. It'd be a great time to trade him to a sucker GM drooling over his sub 3 ERA.

Why would Toronto want to make this deal...?

What a bulls*** holding call.

My goodness this defense blows.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 7, 2009 -> 06:45 AM) Counting on USCF to be the savior and make this guy go from below average to anything close to a force, while its possible, is probably really reaching. It was only 2 years ago when the Sox got Nick Swisher out of Oakland into USCF. A lot of "experts" and I'm not digging at people here, I'm talking about guys who get paid a lot of money to talk about baseball, were predicting 40 homers, .400+ OBP, .900 + OPS. Teahen is really liked by a lot of scouts, and of course Hawk has been an admirer for a few years, although even he seemed to sour on him a little bit this past year. He could break out, and maybe playing one position will help him, but on the other hand he also was playing in total obscurity in KC and their meaningless games began rather early. How will he handle a little more scrutiny? I think there's a better chance he is what he is, but hold out the 2% hope he has a Ryan Ludwick breakout. The K's concern me, a lot. I know a lot of people think a strikeout is no different than any other out, but a strikeout doesn't get a guy at third home with one out. A strikeout doesn't make a SS boot a ball, a strikeout doesn't advance a runner especially considering the White Sox really don't have many basestealers on the roster. Obviously that can change, this isn't the big splash I was hoping for. I still think they better do something about the bullpen. Honestly, I saw that prediction very little back in the 08 off-season. I was expecting at least 30 homers from Swisher and fantasy predictions had him at around 32 from what I remember. I didn't look up his PECTOA projections that year. The problem with U.S. Cellular Field is that it changes the mindset of some hitters. Since it's known as a hitter's park and our club has a history of swinging for the long ball, it could alter a hitter's approach for the worse. This could be the case for Teahen, although the one year he did hit very well, he hit more fly balls, which is the only tell tale sign that this move might be a good one for him. However, in the back of my mind, I also think that he might be a complete bust if he changes his approach for obvious reasons. Oh and Teahen is far from a big splash. I think Kenny has at least one big signing and trade left in him.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Nov 6, 2009 -> 11:27 PM) You stat junkies ... please analyze Mark Teahen's strikeouts and overall s***ty offensive numbers and tell me he's more than a utility player. Royals fans are sooo glad to get rid of the guy. I real all these stat analysis of our players ... give me one on Teahen because he is a disaster in terms of production. 50 ribbies in 130 games or something? All those Ks. Of course the Sox are probably happy to get rid of Fields. Getz is the puzzle. It should have been Fields for Teahen cause they are similarly bad. When you say Royals fans are glad he's gone, should it really matter? I mean, they're Royals fans. There's not too many of them and I really doubt most of them care since they've been so bad for the past decade and a half. Saying they hate Mark Teahen doesn't validate anything. A lot of us here hate Alexei Ramirez, does that mean Alexei Ramirez is a bad player? Not necessarily. As far as Teahen's offensive abilities... Well, here's what Teahen is from a Sabermetric point of view: A very average hitter in terms of line drives. He's around the league average in that. However, the biggest problem with him is the amount of ground balls he hits, nearly 50% of his balls in play are hit on the ground throughout his career. Unless you're Juan Pierre, that's a very bad thing. Teahen also strikes out more than the average hitter, which doesn't make too much sense due to the fact that he's a contact hitter. Another thing to look at is Teahen's protection. Playing on the Royals definitely doesn't help you get better pitches to hit. That might be a reason why he doesn't drive in many runs. Not that RBI matters in player evaluation. Teahen's low walk rate is also incredibly uncharacteristic of a guy drafted by Billy Beane. Thus, Teahen is incredibly prone to cold streaks since he's a ground ball hitter that is prone to strikeouts and does not walk enough. Since Teahen hits the ball on the ground so much, his fly ball rate takes a huge tumble, suggesting why he's had such low home run totals even though he was projected as a good power hitter out of the draft. Part of the reason for this might be because of Kaufman Stadium, which has taken a lot of power away from guys like Jose Guillen, Mike Sweeney, and etc. over the years because of its large dimensions. This can also suggest that Teahen deliberately stopped swinging for the fences due to Kaufman, meaning more line drives instead of deep fly balls on the warning track. However, it should be noted that he had a high fly ball rate in 2006 (5% higher than his career norm), where he put up a .500 SLG%. His line drive rate that year was also extremely low while he posted his career high in average. In other words, 06 was pretty much a fluke in terms of the numbers he put up (although his BABIP wasn't that much higher than his career average). However, that does not invalidate the fact that when he hit more fly balls, the results were better. How does this benefit the White Sox and Teahen? For beginners, Teahen had a .500 SLG% at the Cell in around 150 plate appearances. Not a big enough sample size to gauge anything drastic, but it's definitely a start. Here's the kicker: he has 8 home runs in those 150 plate appearances. What's even better is that he only has 28 home runs at Kaufman Stadium in 1366 plate appearances. Talk about power sap! To simplify things, if we give Teahen 600 plate appearances this year, he'd hit somewhere near 25-30 home runs, 16 at U.S. Cellular Field alone. Of course, it is completely unrealistic to think that way, but the fact that Teahen has more than 1/4 the amount of home runs at the Cell in comparison to his home runs at Kaufman Stadium in a sample size ten times smaller is just mind boggling. We can pretty much say that Kaufman held Teahen back. Even if it didn't, the Cell is definitely a much better home for him. With Greg Walker telling him that he should try to hit more home runs, Teahen will definitely swing for fly balls more often this year. Two things can come out of this: more home runs and more strikeouts. Teahen's power numbers will go up by a lot, those doubles he hit at Kaufman might turn into home runs at U.S. Cellular Field. But since he's most likely going to change his approach to be more of a fly ball hitter, his average and OBP will most likely decrease while his K rate goes up. However, as mentioned before, when he did swing for the sky back in 2006, he had a career year where he posted an all-star caliber OPS. In my opinion, Teahen is slated for a mediocre year in terms of average and OBP. He will most likely hit anywhere from .250-.260 with a .310-.320 OBP. However, his SLG should be around .470-.480, giving him an OPS of about .780-.800, which translates to an OPS+ of around 105 and a wOBA of .340. In other words, he'd be a slightly above average hitter with good power. As a 3B, that's all you can really ask of him. In the end, Teahen should be around a 1.5-2 win player given his bad defense.