Eminor3rd

QUOTE (flavum @ Feb 18, 2013 -> 12:39 PM) Interesting... http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/t...ng-projections/ Was coming here to post this -- very interesting indeed. We knew about this, but it never struck me as something that could make quite THAT much of a difference.

This is the worst time of the baseball year. There's literally NOTHING happening, but we get constant reminders via useless articles that baseball isn't happening but will be sort of soon, so that the time passes as slowly as possible.

QUOTE (KG#1 @ Feb 14, 2013 -> 10:09 AM) Sox Claim Campana in August Anyone check that little blurb out? What would you guys think if the Sox got him? Dude is fast, but can't hit. I would think the Sox would pass. Yeah, we have fast guys on the bench. No need, really.

Nice work man, let us know if there's anything else we can help with.

QUOTE (flavum @ Feb 12, 2013 -> 07:38 PM) And they made mistakes too. They stuck with Morel too long, especially when he was batting 2nd. And Dunn can't be a 3-hitter for a winning team. I'm not going to knock Ventura for one season of managing, but I have no idea if he's a good manager yet. It all seems like a "college of coaches" scenario, with Robin doing the pre- and postgame media sessions. I just don't feel like he's the guy in control yet. And when he turns down a contract extension, I have to question how much he wants to do this. Truthfully, I'd rather have Mark Parent managing since he paid his dues in the minors, and has a good reputation. They had it won and blew it. Every player sucked for the last two weeks of the season and the blew a substantial lead. You should be complaining about them blowing it, not where Dunn is batting. He still has to hit, and the formula worked just fine all year. But they blew it. Sucks.

QUOTE (MHizzle85 @ Feb 13, 2013 -> 10:59 AM) Good morning lovely people of Soxtalk. It's been a long road (kinda, not really) & today's the day. Just over 5 hours of voting left. http://mlbfancave.mlb.com/fancave/vote.jsp...bid=0p2APw_luw7 Thank you again for all the support. Just voted about 15 more times. Good luck!

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 12, 2013 -> 03:24 PM) I've never had any problem with that. I've changed my tone a bit in believing that he could make it as a starter, but I believe he would be incredibly streaky as a starting pitcher, depending entirely upon the effectiveness of that screwball. As a reliever, he can light it up to about 95 and then the screwball (so long as hitters don't wait on it, like Cespedes did last year) it can be extremely effective. Yeah, his screwball is a good weapon because it looks different, but it doesn't have near enough movement to be a reliable swing-and-miss offering. It will be very effective if he uses it only about 10% of the time -- it's value is in its surprise.

So it consistently underrates us.

I'm changing mine: The Sox are competitive to the point that Hahn makes a big time pickup at the deadline that is more than just a rental.

QUOTE (ROC Sox Fan @ Feb 10, 2013 -> 09:48 AM) MLB Network Top 10 Right Now completed Third Basemen 1. Miguel Cabrera 2. Adrian Beltre 3. David Wright 4. Evan Longoria 5. Ryan Zimmerman 6. Aramis Ramirez 7. Chase Headley 8. Brett Lawrie 9. David Freese 10. Pablo Sandoval Just Missed: Pedro Alvarez, Kevin Youkilis, Alex Rodriguez, Jeff Keppinger, Todd Frazier, Manny Machado, Will Middlebrooks, Mike Moustakas While not Top 10, it's nice to see him get some "Just Missed" love. I'm very excited for some steady 3B contributions this season. Yeah, I mean we should really be expecting league average production from him, and I think we'll get it.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 8, 2013 -> 10:59 AM) A lot of players add the leg kick for timing. I dont think Viciedo is lacking in the power department Yeah this is kind of a head scratcher for me -- he seems to have no trouble squaring the ball up. To me, his issue is purely pitch recognition. Every pitch he takes looks like he decided beforehand not to swing. I wonder if this isn't something to get him to habitually load his swing so he can make a decision to swing later.

I asked Mike Newman (FanGraphs prospect guy) about Thompson in a chat, and here's how he responded:

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Feb 7, 2013 -> 03:17 PM) Yeah, cuz you throw in the towel on Beckham to justify Keppinger's contract. Makes sense. All these exciting offseason moves really bring on the feeling that we're going for it this year. That's not what I said at all. I don't know if you've noticed, but Beckham sucks. Right now Keppinger is a better player than Beckham. Therefore, it's more likely that Keppinger will play better than Beckham. You throw in the towel on Beckham because he's never been good and now you have to give him arbitration raises.

QUOTE (JoshPR @ Feb 7, 2013 -> 03:47 PM) Just read a mag at the supermarket previewing the 2013 season they have the central looking like this.. Tigers, Indians, royals, sox and twins... Lol, wow.

QUOTE (Cali @ Feb 7, 2013 -> 03:31 PM) And the Yankees don't? Yeah but Verlander is a local hero. If Illitch will come close to matching the Yankees' offer, I gotta believe he'd stay in Detroit.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Feb 7, 2013 -> 02:32 PM) Agreed. I have felt (silently) all off-season that Morel deserved another shake. His minor league numbers, and early major league ones, were too promising to be as awful as he was last April, especially with a ready-made explanation like back problems. He needs to outplay Beckham, realistically, to get his job back. Keppinger could play 2B.

Carlos Sanchez made Law's list of Top 100 near misses:

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article....articleid=19564 Ben and Sam preview the White Sox' season with Ken Funck, and Pete talks to Chicago Tribune White Sox beat writer Mark Gonzales (at 16:24).

Cool article

http://www.fangraphs.com/not/index.php/pre...ing-chris-sail/

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Feb 4, 2013 -> 10:25 AM) Also, Keith Law published his org list today, but it is for Insiders only. 28. Chicago White Sox The system is improving, helped by a draft where the team opened up and looked more at prep players up top, and progress from a couple of arms already in the system, including two less-heralded pitchers from the 2011 draft (Erik Johnson and Scott Snodgress).

Wait, are you the mhall that is sometimes in Baseball Mogul leagues?

He's Dan Johnson, but maybe a a bit worse. Former top prospect that turned out to be a AAA mistake hitter.

Turns out Sale is the real deal for 200 innings

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 1, 2013 -> 02:20 AM) Rolen may be done; honestly. Ben Zobrist would ideally fit their need the most, but who knows what he'd cost. I actually think Zobrist would cost more than Olt.