ThunderBolt

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 02:04 AM) Thome would have clogged the paths. Who is arguing about skills? What the hell does, "clogging the paths" even mean, Mr. Baker? It's a baseball players job to get on-base just like how it's the following batters job to drive said runner in. It shouldn't matter how fast the man in question is, that's why we have sitiuational hitting.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 01:19 AM) They view everyone on the team as superior options to Thome, why would you just burn money? As I said before, what my eyes told me last year was that Kotsay was the more dangerous hitter.. And yet the stats for both players careers show that this conclusion has no merit whatsoever. I saw a couple of Yuniesky Betancourt AB's where he smoked solid singles into center and managed to field a ground ball, coupled with that i saw Alexei Ramirez strike out a bunch and make an error once or twice. Who's the better player? Alexei, of course. The stats bear that out. The "eye test" is not the end-all-be-all of baseball analysis. It is subject to both error and bias, and there is little quantifiable about it.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 12:29 AM) You cant be seriously saying that Andruw Jones and Kotsay hitting over 15 hrs together is a statistical improbability? Sorry, i had some dodgy wording on that last post. I suspect that stems from the frustartion i'm feeling at the moment. Here's some of the projections i've been working with. You can find all of these on each players Fangraphs.com page. Andruw Jones Season Team G AB PA H 1B 2B 3B HR R RBI BB IBB SO HBP SF SH GDP SB CS AVG 2010 Bill James 77 203 230 47 26 10 0 11 30 34 27 53 2 1 .232 2010 CHONE 113 394 450 86 47 18 1 20 58 65 51 102 5 3 2 .218 2010 Marcel 338 389 72 40 17 1 14 46 45 44 2 90 3 4 0 9 4 2 .213 Mark Kotsay Season Team G AB PA H 1B 2B 3B HR R RBI BB IBB SO HBP SF SH GDP SB CS AVG 2010 Bill James 78 209 226 56 40 12 1 3 23 23 17 24 2 2 .268 2010 CHONE 102 366 394 93 66 20 1 6 37 42 27 45 1 3 2 .254 2010 Marcel 316 347 82 56 18 2 6 34 37 27 3 43 1 2 1 9 3 3 .259 Averaging all three projection systems is usually a useful tool, in doing so, you find that statically this tandem (in strict platoon)projects to hit around 20 homeruns, 79 RBI's, an average around .240, and an OPB around .320. Adjusting for futher playing time, and discounting the Visquel factor, does little to spin this in a positive direction. Awesome. I'm not indoctrinated to these, but I find them to be fair assessments I'm also not saying that my math is perfect, I just think this is further evidence of the error of Ozzie's ways.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 10:52 PM) I got a good feeling about our new #23. I do too. He's a great guy, with a great build, a decent swing, and a s***load of potential. That's a nice combination.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 12:07 AM) Q will be in RF, and rightfully so. In the perfect world, he should be, but not if Jones is a starter on this team. Common sense means putting the best fielder out there, which is Jones, which of course Ozzie won't do.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 09:51 PM) Last year jones had an OBP of 367 and more walks than K's against LHP and Kotsay had an OBP of 347 and 15/17 ratio of bb/k. They aren't going to hit for power like Thome but if Ozzie goes with a strict platoon, these two should get on base at a good clip. This should be an interesting situation and make this even more fun towatch during the season. The projections I’ve seen for this tandem are mind blowingly bad. We're talking a statistical improbability of anything more then around 15 homeruns in a strict platoon between these guys. I never thought I’d see a situation shape up where Jayson Nix looks to be getting the last roster spot over Jim Thome.

Q sure as hell better be the opening day DH, and Jones better have his ass in right or center field. I'm incredibly frustrated at how thick-headed this team is acting.

I think this is going to be an abject disater. This team will suffer for Ozzie's experiment.

QUOTE (jphat007 @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 11:42 AM) We aren't signing Damon or Delgado or anybody else. It's either Thome or Jones, Kotsay and Nix. Take your pick. Nix won't be DH'ing for the Sox, Even though he's probably the second best option on the damn team if we have to choose between Jones, Kotsay, Castro, Visquel and Nix. Nixs' future all lies on whether Jim Thome is brought back. Right now, Thome not being here is the only thing keeping him on the 25-man.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 08:33 AM) Yeah, exactly. Lance Broadway is not being sued for assault, some other guy is, and Broadway appears to have been tangentially involved. I am changing the thread title. Am i the only one who read this side of the story? "A former relief pitcher for the Chicago White Sox and New York Mets has been sued for allegedly assaulting a Woodlands man during a New Year's Eve party in Dallas. Randy Sorrels, attorney for 25-year-old Ivan Pinney, said his client's left eye was severely damaged when he was punched and kicked by Lance Broadway, currently a minor-league pitcher in the Toronto Blue Jays organization, and Cameron McGuire, who plays for United League Baseball's Edinburg Roadrunners. The fracas began, Sorrels told Hair Balls, when Pinney spotted McGuire giving some undue attention to a friend's girlfriend on the dance floor of the Pegasus Room. Pinney had a quick word with McGuire, Sorrels said, and figured things were resolved. But apparently, this upset Broadway. As Sorrels tells it: "He's taken his shirt off, he takes a running start from Ivan's left-hand side, punching Ivan in the left side of the face, knocking him out. It broke his orbital socket, broke his cheekbone...shattered his nose, detached his retina...." Sorrels said that McGuire kicked Pinney in the face after he had dropped to his knees. Afterwards, according to Sorrels, a brawl broke out and Broadway punched several women, knocking one out. (A Dallas Police Department spokesperson told Hair Balls that an investigation is ongoing). "Right now, he can see motion -- he can't see people out of his left eye," Sorrels said. "....They're not certain if he's going to regain any eyesight....His retina has a risk of being detached [again] and losing all eyesight. He is facing three more eye surgeries, one more surgery for his cheekbone, nose and teeth area -- his teeth may be cracked in the...upper left jaw." Pinney, a petroleum engineer with Chevron, will be off work until at least the middle of March, Sorrels said. Right now, we can't find any information" http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/20...yer_lawsuit.php

I almost got a bit choked up at the Favre-Brunell post-game hug. Just something about two guys who helped define the QB position in the 90's meeting all those years later. One in a moment of his greatest failure, the other (while benched)in victory.

God, Brett Favre has that special talent for screwing up at the worst possible moments.

QUOTE (Ranger @ Jan 24, 2010 -> 04:54 PM) I'm somewhat confused by this, as well. During the season, almost every bit of feedback I'd get on Thome was that fans were sick of his HR-or-nothing game and that they needed to trade/release/bench him. And now that he may not be coming back, people think the Sox need to sign him? That's a pretty big generalization, Ranger. There's a pretty even divide here between the small ball types and the OPB guys.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 24, 2010 -> 01:09 AM) Wait, what? lol. Let me guess. Bill James, right? I've got more if you want.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 23, 2010 -> 07:52 PM) Their young pitching is promising, I wouldn't say yet phenomenal. Tillman and Matusz are probably going to be solid young pitchers, but they are not their yet. More like where Danksy was a few years ago, IMO.A Jake Arrieta is top-line talent too. And they have a couple of other arms who aren't far off . They're in a similiar sitiuation to the Rangers. If at least two of these kids work out, they have a nice future ahead of them.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 24, 2010 -> 12:44 AM) I agree. But god damn. I'm not going to forfeit the season if we don't bring back Jim Thome. Our offense is not THAT much better with him. Replacing Nix with Thome on the 25 man, and putting Thome as the DH improves our projected run total by 40 runs. Define better.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jan 23, 2010 -> 08:01 PM) I'm just thrilled that he gets to be in RF. That means CF for Rios and Pierre in LF. That's exactly the defensive setup that the team needs. Unless Jones is starting, then Q needs to DH.

QUOTE (ChWRoCk2 @ Jan 23, 2010 -> 12:50 PM) Liked that move. Orioles just need some pitching and they are a solid team imo. They just need a pen, their young pitching is phenomenal.

Sigh. Reifert's twitter has more posturing between KW and Ozzie "Ken: Thome not a fit on '10 team unless Ozzie says, but he'll always be part of Sox family." http://twitter.com/InsideTheSox/statuses/8113785354

Retherford's doing everything he can to try to make it to the majors. It's great to see a guy willing to make that kind of commitment.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Jan 23, 2010 -> 08:24 AM) 50:50 now according to Cowley. Going with a platoon of Thome and Jones at DH makes the most sense. Now, that's a decent platoon. Let's get this done, and say, "thank god for sanity."

Bills James has the 2010 White Sox projected for 725 runs. That’s one run better than last year. 86 less than 2008, and 32 better then 2007. That’s right folks. Even factoring in huge years from Beckham and Q (as James does) our offense has improved by 1 run. Better yet a trio of Kotsay, Visquel, and Jones would only equal the production of Teahen, Ramirez, or Konerko (who’s fading) if they had 55 more AB’s then each of them.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 22, 2010 -> 02:41 PM) By the way this is the stupidest off-season since 2007. Pray we dont get the same result. It's a bit scary that this organization has embraced the concept of entering almost every season with a gaping hole in their lineup. A hole that's going to have to be fixed eventually, and will cost this team games.

QUOTE (La Marr Hoyt HOF @ Jan 22, 2010 -> 02:34 PM) Call him Juanny because I live out east and that's what they call him... he's a stud^3 We do? Here i was calling him by his name all this time! I've been had!

QUOTE (PeavyTime @ Jan 22, 2010 -> 02:24 PM) Kotsay @ 34>>>>>>>>>Thome @ 39/40 and its not even close in my opinion Wait, seriously? Simple logic shows this as absurd. There's nothing that Kotsay brings on the offensive end that Thome can't do better. Much better.