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QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 15, 2014 -> 12:45 PM) Just to be clear, one can think Semien is major league-ready (which I do), and think his few issues can be corrected at the MLB level (which I also do)... but ALSO think the overall best path for the team is for him to be in AAA for a couple months while Beckham ups his trade value. Being in AAA a couple months, especially since he's spent very little time there anyway, does not hurt his development, and may in fact help it. Absolutely. I'm actually on the fence with what I want to happen. I do think there is potential danger in sending a guy with advanced plate discipline to the minors, however, especially if coaching is in fact trying to get him to expand his zone (no idea if they are, just that it could be justifiable giving that he takes so many strikes.), simply because he could develop bad habits in being able to succeed hitting crappier stuff. No idea if it would hurt him or not, but I think it's plausible that it could. I don't think we, as fans, can have enough information to know what's best. It'll come down to how clearly the coaching staff thinks they can communicate with him. Maybe it's as simple as "do nothing different, just rake and wait for your shot."

Here's another way to look at it: What exactly do we want Semien to learn in AAA? When I look at his results and peripherals, I really only see one issue: strikeout rate (28.1%). But what is causing the high K rate? Almost everything actually looks really good. The BB rate is a touch above league average (10.5%), the O-Swing rate is significantly better than average (18.6% by Pitch F/X, 24.1% by FG), and his Z-Contact is right in line with league average (83.5%/88.2%). The issue appears to lie in Z-Swing (56.1% compared to about 65% for average) and O-Contact (50% compared to about 65% again). So it appears he's (1) actually taking too many good pitches in the zone, and (2) in the rare instances that he DOES swing outside of the zone or get fooled by a slider, he's really struggling to make contact. I can't see any reason that improving either of those wouldn't best be done at the highest level possible. And, arguably, he may not even WANT to change #1 much if he's operating under direction to work counts. If he's going to improve, it's going to be on recognizing ML breaking pitches. I don't think he can do that in AAA because he won't be seeing those high quality pitches.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 06:50 PM) Track record caps whatever trade value a player has. This is not true. I'll give you an example: when we were trading Alex Rios, the Pirates were involved. It was rumored that the Sox wanted Alen Hanson but that the Pirates were not interested in making such a deal. Alex Rios had a long track record as an effective major leaguer, whereas Hanson had literally NO track record, and in fact, his stock had recently fallen from a disappointing minor league season. Why would the Pirates not be anxious to make that trade, given their obvious need and the very, very obviously better track record for Rios? Because projection is more important. Track record is definitely a factor in projection, but the ultimate measure of a player's value on the field is what he WILL produce when you acquire him. What matters is projection. This is also why team control affects trade value so highly -- you're buying future performance, NOT past performance. QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 06:50 PM) 4. of course there are many factors. Then why did you ask me the question about Peavy and Feldman, insinuating that the only thing different was track record? QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 06:50 PM) As far as Fangraghs goes, it is their opinion that Viciedo swings at sh**ty pitches. I watch his AB's and have the same opinion. No, it's NOT a matter of opinion. FanGraphs reports Pitch F/X data that records exactly how many s***ty pitches Viciedo swings at based on the academic definition of the strikezone. It's fact. And I still don't understand what this has to do with the New York Times. QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 06:50 PM) As far as Paulino goes, he was bad before he was signed. I'd rather have spent money on a capable Ml starter. Paulino had loud tools and a career derailed by injury. The White Sox felt that he was fully healthy and that he could be successful under their tutelage. It seems they were wrong, but I'd much rather they try when they feel they've got a shot. It isn't about Paulino, it's about what Paulino represents: a team that has had a great deal of success with pitching reclamation projects continuing to try to be successful with pitching reclamation projects. It sucks that it hasn't worked in this instance, but it's good that they continue to take the shot.

It's really just going to come down to which pitcher our staff feels like it can work with best. No matter which one they grab, it's going to be an easily defensible choice at the time.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Apr 14, 2014 -> 03:44 PM) What the hell happened to Jair Jurrjens? If he isn't hurt for the year he would be nice to bring in.. I actually would rather have most of those guys instead of Paulino Something's very wrong with him. His velocity dropped drastically. He's cooked.

Cahill: Too much money for a "fix 'em" project, unfortunately.

It's also probably fair to say that "depth" is not our problem right now. Konerkois useless on paper, sure, but his roster spot isn't keeping us from wins at this point. The "everyday" bullpen is the issue. So is Paulino, but it's typical for your 5th best starter to be in flux. We've actually been spoiled with good back-enders in recent years.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 13, 2014 -> 11:19 AM) Like, oh I don't know... Scott Feldman. Precisely.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Apr 13, 2014 -> 08:07 PM) You ruined a good post with this inane idea of trading Beckham. Semien hasn't proven anything yet You say that like Beckham has.

Alright, Marty. I'll bite again. QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 13, 2014 -> 08:40 AM) I'm still waiting for your answer about how, if performance matters more than track record as you claimed in an earlier thread, why Jake Peavy returned more in a trade than Scott Feldman last year. 1. This is completely unrelated to the topic 2. What does "performance vs. track record" even mean? Is performance not the primary component of track record? They are not mutually exclusive. It makes no sense. 3. What I DID say in an earlier thread is that GMs should (and increasing DO) pay for players (in both money and assets) based on the performance they expect going forward as opposed to the performance that has occurred in the past. Track record is one thing that can inform a projected performance going forward, but it would be foolish to use it exclusively. Why could Carlos Beltran only sign a 2yr/$26m contract this offseason? His track record suggests he's a borderline hall of famer! Should someone have paid him $100m? Because that's what Ellsbury got and Ellsbury doesn't have as good a track record. 4. Regarding Peavy/Feldman: There are more factors that go into trade value than simply the quality of one player versus the other. Here are some examples: number of suitors, contract length, contract dollars, budget of teams involved, value of marginal wins to team involved, personality of front office, ownership expectations, near and long-term revenue opportunities, perceived window of competition, etc. You're comparing two different players with different contracts who were traded from two different teams to two other different teams at different parts of the season and expecting that their trade values should be compared apples to apples. That's like saying "if this burger isn't better than steak, how come it cost the same today as a steak cost in 1911?" QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 13, 2014 -> 08:40 AM) As far as Fangraphs goes it has been elevated by the people who read it to something more than opinion. It's got a LONG way to go before it reaches the stuature of the NY Times. What in this god-forsaken world does FanGraphs have to do with the NY Times? If I want to learn about the latest in global politics, I'll read the NY Times. If I want to know if Dayan Viciedo has stopped swinging at s***ty pitches, I'll read FanGraphs. I have no idea what you're trying to argue here. QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 13, 2014 -> 08:40 AM) Why should I be happy that even though Paulino is awful, he is cheap? You shouldn't, now that we actually know he's bad. But there was reason to believe we could fix him at little cost when we acquired him, and that's a good thing.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 12, 2014 -> 09:46 PM) Sorry, but Fangraphs is awful. You don't think things are going well right now? Fangraphs is at the forefront of mainstream baseball analysis right now. Even conservative outlets are buying in -- Fox Sports JUST signed a contract with FG to have them start writing articles for them, for example. Also, FanGraphs has NOTHING to do with us being hopeful about Felipe Paulino. That would be like me saying, "Man I hate paying Chicago street sweeping tickets. THANKS OBAMA." I would be inclined to take your anti-SABR criticisms seriously (because there are a lot of valid criticisms to make) if you ever even put an ounce of effort into actually understanding what you're talking about. You don't even know what you hate about it, you just hate it for the sake of hating it. It's like when a child wants to play in traffic and won't listen to his parents when they try to explain why he can't. I guess the question would be this: why is FanGraphs awful? I don't expect you to answer that because you never do. Because you don't actually read it and have nothing to say about it. You just know Hawk probably wouldn't like it. I think there are a lot of promising things going on with the White Sox. I just notice you never want to talk about them. You seem to just like raining on everyone's parade. Like, why was it so hard to accept that witesoxfan was happy that Paulino had a shot to be good on the cheap? It looks like the gamble isn't paying off. No one will argue that. But why couldn't we be happy about taking a low-risk shot in the dark?

You guys are insane today

Apparently none of you actually read the article. Sullivan has been writing nothing but positive Abreu articles for the past few weeks. He's been most of the national coverage, lol. He was just pointing out that it was interesting that the homer was such a cheapie. Let's not act like fanboys, guys. We don't have to get mad at every word about Abreu that doesn't call him a god.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 12, 2014 -> 09:36 PM) Had to be a bootleg statistic offered up by Fangraphs. Paulino is and was a waste of time. No, it was pure hope from raw tools and upside. The scoutiest, non-Fangraphs thing there is. I'm glad you could feel good about s***ting all over it anyway. Here's a question: what are you going to post if things ever start going well?

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Apr 12, 2014 -> 03:38 PM) Oh I see. What about Paulino? How did he look? Horrible

God this f***ing bullpen

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 11, 2014 -> 07:10 AM) I would Stubhub the tickets. You will get great seats at a great price. I doubt there will be a problem getting a blanket, but if you ae there a bit before gametime, if they are out at a gate you are at and you really want one, go to a different gate. They should probably have some unless it is just about gametime. I doubt there will be 20k at the game.

QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 11, 2014 -> 06:47 AM) By the way, when does the national media start giving Abreu the Puig Treatment? Ever? Or do you have be on a coast or the Cubs? When he becomes controversial...

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 10, 2014 -> 03:47 PM) The need for an impact bat just got greater. If it came down to Rodon, a HS pitcher, or Jackson, I could see the Sox taking Jackson now. BPA, BPA, all day, every day.

The blackouts don't anger me nearly as much as the fact that archived games randomly restart mid stream, that they leave up the blank COMMERCIAL BREAK screen for some unknown reason even when watching archived streams, that the screen goes blank when you fast forward so that you have no idea where you are, that the slowest you can FF is in :59 increments, making it impossible to skip the blank, unsold commercial breaks, that there's no way to skip to specific innings, that the Apple TV stream shows the final scores of the archived games by default, etc. Mlb.tv is a textbook example of how quality suffers without competition.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Apr 9, 2014 -> 11:23 AM) mlb.tv is the biggest joke there is. I live more than 250 miles from the nearest mlb stadium yet I am considered in market, and therefore blacked out from, all White Sox, Cubs, Twins, Cardinals, Brewers and Royals games, that 20% of the league. I second this. I hate that it's the only way to watch games now that I'm not in Chicago. The product just sucks. Glitchy streams, no features, weird blackouts, etc.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 9, 2014 -> 01:06 PM) I kind of agree. He hits many balls hard, but his groundball rate is one Leury Garcia would be proud of. If he is thinking about homers, maybe he gets the ball in the air a bit more, and if he does, more runs will happen. I think part of his GB issues are that he's always reaching out of the zone to hit stuff. When he hits liners, they travel, he just needs better pitches to get more liners.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 9, 2014 -> 09:04 AM) Can that decrease still if he sucks it up for the rest of the year and plays crappy defense? Yep.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 9, 2014 -> 08:14 AM) If Flowers is fixed (check back in a month), Severson should immediately get Coop-like status Agreed. Unfortunately it doesn't look like it'll last from his peripherals. Leads the majors with a .714 BABIP and is sitting pretty on a 32% K rate and 25% HR/FB.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Apr 9, 2014 -> 08:28 AM) Frank's ego was always his biggest flaw I'm guessing he took some sage advice in keeping his mouth shut during the HOF voting.