Eminor3rd

QUOTE (fathom @ May 30, 2013 -> 03:05 PM) I'd rather protect the health of our trade chip than worry about Nate Jones being overused today. Face it, if the Sox are close tomorrow night, it's not like Jones was going to be used. I agree with this.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 30, 2013 -> 02:57 PM) And, to think, it was 5 years ago and we couldn't believe Wise at that point in his career was a viable option over Swisher, lol. Yet here he still is... Sadly, he's just as bad as he was then. That's our team.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 30, 2013 -> 02:54 PM) I could see it being Alexei, Gillaspie or Wise tomorrow night. Yeah, I'd put Gillaspie there.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 30, 2013 -> 02:49 PM) He won't be. Who the **** else should hit there?

Sox suck. This has been a brutal series.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 30, 2013 -> 01:20 PM) 17. White Sox: Chris Anderson, RHP, Jacksonville Chicago has taken toolsy hitters in recent years, but it also has taken big, strong college pitchers. Anderson faded a bit but was really good early on and in his last start. Last mock Draft: 19 Latest mlb.com mock draft Manaea is falling even more...down to the Cardinals at 19th in this one. Have a hard time believing the White Sox wouldn't take a shot at him. Does anyone know anything about this kid? It's not like Jacksonville is a big-time college program...always a risk when you don't see them against SEC/Big 12/PAC 10 competition as much, but there's also the Cape Cod/summer leagues. Law's latest today also has Anderson to the Sox

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 30, 2013 -> 01:20 PM) 17. White Sox: Chris Anderson, RHP, Jacksonville Chicago has taken toolsy hitters in recent years, but it also has taken big, strong college pitchers. Anderson faded a bit but was really good early on and in his last start. Last mock Draft: 19 Latest mlb.com mock draft Manaea is falling even more...down to the Cardinals at 19th in this one. Have a hard time believing the White Sox wouldn't take a shot at him. Does anyone know anything about this kid? It's not like Jacksonville is a big-time college program...always a risk when you don't see them against SEC/Big 12/PAC 10 competition as much, but there's also the Cape Cod/summer leagues. Thing about Manaea is that he can go back to college and re-enter next year. I imagine if he falls to us he'll just try to get healthy for 2014.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 29, 2013 -> 04:36 PM) It was only two games. Two and third really, really ugly games though.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ May 29, 2013 -> 04:21 PM) More like devolved. I suppose that is the natural progression of a thread like that.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ May 29, 2013 -> 04:18 PM) Get the feeling that so goes Konerko, so goes this offense? He was the catalyst last year. Just a thought. Well, I mean he's our best hitter traditionally, but currently everyone on the whole team is bad except Gillaspie, who is a tick above average.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ May 29, 2013 -> 04:17 PM) Are we reading the same Soxtalk ? There's a current thread about a rebuild. But that thread is assuming the there is a rebuild already underway, or a "retool" and is commenting on the progress of the players. Admittedly, I haven't checked the thread in the past couple days, so I;m not sure if the conversation has evolved.

QUOTE (bbilek1 @ May 29, 2013 -> 04:09 PM) Judge a team off one game. Yeah, things aren't going great, but you don't sell the f***ing team off on May 29th. We have two months to figure that out. We are literally less than 2 games from the high point of this season. And no one has cried rebuild since the offseason. So not sure what you're referring to about May 29th.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 29, 2013 -> 04:03 PM) Can they please send down Omogrosso and try someone else? Running out of options. Half the board seems to want to send Jones down, too.

QUOTE (bbilek1 @ May 29, 2013 -> 03:58 PM) Ackley was the second pick in the draft. Everyone on this board wants us to blow up the team so we can draft a guy like him. Are you watching this game? How is this team going to get you to the playoffs?

QUOTE (fathom @ May 29, 2013 -> 03:55 PM) I'd love to see them shake it up and move ADA down so he can continue to swing as aggressive as he has without his poor OBP hurting the team. I'd love to see them not swing at every pitch like Little Leaguers. Lineup order means nothing now.

Well, so much for THAT

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 28, 2013 -> 03:40 PM) I didn't think he was all that great last year, serviceable, but not someone I'd trust in game that needed to be won. Too many inherited runners scored on his watch for my liking. That is simply not true though. He had an 85% strand rate, which was the 11th best strand rate in the Majors of pitchers that threw at least 50 innings. EDIT: for context, here are the only ten pitchers who stranded a higher percentage of runners than Nate Jones last year -- Kimbrel, Romo, Hanrahan, Rodney, Soriano, Frieri, Gregerson, Howell, Chapman, and Hector Santiago.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 28, 2013 -> 02:43 PM) What's the stat for straight fastball? And since you asked, Pitch F/X records movement for every pitch. In 2012, his fastball averaged 6.8 inches of horizontal movement and 7.8 inches of vertical movement. In 2013, his fastball is averaging 6.8 inches of horizontal movement and 7.4 inches of vertical movement. His fastball is practically exactly the same. http://www.fangraphs.com/pitchfx.aspx?play...&position=P

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 28, 2013 -> 02:43 PM) What's the stat for straight fastball? Marty -- the gist of what I'm saying is that regardless of how straight you think his fastball is, he is striking out nearly the same amount of guys, walking nearly the same amount of guys, giving up nearly the same amount of homeruns, and giving up nearly the same amount of hits on balls in play. The ONLY difference is his strand rate, which is currently freakishly low, as in no one EVER has a strand rate that low over an extended sample, and so that will likely regress with no change at all to his performance or approach. Basically, if his stuff has changed, it isn't showing up in how well batters are hitting him.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 28, 2013 -> 01:58 PM) The contrast between the 2 previous posts could not possibly be more stark. lol

Check this page out: http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playe...&position=P When comparing this year's line and last year's line, I conclude that he's just fine and will be better going forward. Here's why: 1) 48.3% strand rate vs. 85.8% League average strand rate is around 70%. There are instances of pitchers that are who are worse consistently either because they can't focus on the batter with runners on or because their stuff diminishes from the stretch. Typically, however, RPs are NOT among them, given that most of them always pitch from the stretch and come in with runners on base most of the time. Given Jones' success last year, I have no reason to believe he is below average. To me, it's a safe bet that this number will regress toward 70% going forward. 2) 7.01 ERA vs. 3.55 FIP DIPS theory is not infallible by any stretch, but this difference is absolutely stark. Furthermore, his component rates (BB%, K%, HR/FB) are all very similar to last year's rates. The K's are down a touch, but the homeruns are better, resulting in a FIP that is very close to last year's 3.39. This is absolutely ripe for regression. 3) 11.9% walk rate vs. 10.6% If Nate was really having major control issues (as compared to last year), this rate would be much higher. Overall, I think this is a case of some bad luck in sequencing for Nate. I don't ever expect him to put up the same baseball card numbers as last year, but the peripherals are showing him to be essentially the same pitcher in terms of process and stuff. I think he's fine.

I think that because Cubs fans have embraced their rebuild, they don't care if they lose anymore. This won't be interesting again until there's at least SOMETHING at stake.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ May 27, 2013 -> 03:03 PM) Nobody outside of Rios has been hitting consistently well enough to say that it matters that much where they hit in the order. This ^

Read somewhere a week or so ago that the Sox were scouting Chi Chi heavily. Sounds like he may be our guy if he gets to us.

QUOTE (winninguglyin83 @ May 23, 2013 -> 04:01 PM) He never reminded me of Norberto Martin or D'Angelo Jimenez (still playing for Newark Bears allegedly) or Tony Graffanino. Paco Martin!