OmarComing25

McKinney was rated #30 on one of those prospect lists. Why would the Cubs give up him plus Edwards for a two-month rental on a guy they can just sign in the offseason anyway? Since the division seems out of reach, that seems like a lot to give up when your best shot at the playoffs is a one-game playoff.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 22, 2015 -> 10:05 PM) I wonder if he's had this batting stance his whole career. It seems a really ridiculous approach to hitting the baseball. With the defense putting all their defenders on the side of the field he hits the baseball, he's not going to get many hits besides ones over the fence. You're acting like he's the only left-handed hitter who gets this shift put on him. Not even close. Rizzo gets it too. So does Ortiz and a lot of other good left handed hitters. Changing their approach to hit the other way would likely take away more than it would give.

I've been a big LaRoche defender all year but the last month or so he's been absolutely brutal.

QUOTE (Mike F. @ Jul 22, 2015 -> 09:51 PM) Is it bad that I don't even care if the Sox lose anymore? More losses just guarantee better draft position next year and hopefully it'll make the Sox become sellers that much faster. This team obviously won't make the playoffs, so they might as well start selling off pieces. I'd rather we get a lesser draft pick and play well enough to have some hope for next year. If we lose 90 games it will seem hopeless again.

If this score holds the Sox will be 6-5 in their last 11 games they've scored 2 runs or less.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 22, 2015 -> 08:41 PM) And the worst hitter on the Cubs roster delivers a 2 out RBI off Chapman. They have no business being in this game, and they are likely going to win Kind of like how Alexei and Beckham got hits off Chapman earlier this year? Maybe s***ty hitters are his kryptonite.

At least Viciedo hit for power, Avi doesn't do anything well.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 21, 2015 -> 05:41 PM) It would be nice to have the second or third best team in baseball and still have the luxury of sending down the equivalent of Carlos Rodon with little or no impact on the product on the field. I still think their starting rotation ends up biting them in the ass later this year. They've gotten the least amount of innings from their rotation out of any team in baseball except the Rockies, and they're last in WAR for their rotation in the AL. They have an amazing bullpen, but it's got the highest usage rate in the league (the only reason the Rays' bullpen is ahead in IP is because the Rays have played 5 more games than the Royals). That doesn't bode well for the end of the season.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 22, 2015 -> 03:43 PM) Does it really matter? Soto blows as does Tyler. Both are good enough to contribute a bit and hit a homer now and then. It's not like Soto is good; he's OK. And believe it or not Tyler is OK. Average AL Catcher OPS: .669 Soto's OPS: .761 He's almost 100 points above league average, and he's rated as a pretty good pitch framer this year as well. He can't throw out runners and has some trouble with passed balls, but so does Flowers. I'd hardly say he blows.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 22, 2015 -> 03:31 PM) The bolded is exactly what I'm focusing on with his K-Rate. His K-Rate is the worst of his career. you giving that list of his positive starts could be answered by me giving the list of his negative starts from the beginning of the year. Reality? Jeff Samardzija last year had the best strikeout rate of his career and the best numbers of his career for a reason - they're directly linkes. This year his K-Rate is very much down, 30% lower than last year, and that's not a statistical fluke, it's been that way the entire year. Almost entirely because his K-rate is down, he's a worse pitcher. That doesn't make him a bad pitcher, it makes him a middle of the order starter right now. He'll have some good games, like he did against Toronto, but when he can't put people away with the strikeout he'll also have some weak games like he did his next time out against KC. The balance between them is set based on whether or not he can strike people out. If people are putting the ball in play enough against him, he will get beat too often. If he's this pitcher again next year, he's a solid #3 starter that can help a team with a good offense to the playoffs. But...that huge, sudden drop in K-rate should be extremely concerning to any team wanting to bid on him. If he's giving up strikeouts for those other things...he's losing games because of it. If he's willing to lose games because of this strategy, then we should expect he's a 4-ish ERA pitcher in the future. If the White Sox win 86 games this year and need a pitcher in the middle of the rotation to put them over the hump and have a ton of money to spend, fine he's a candidate for that. For a long term deal, for a team that struggled this year, is extremely weak on offense, and keeps spending their first round pick on pitchers anyway? I wouldn't touch a guy whose K-rate plummeted like this with a 20 foot pole. Good post and completely agreed. However, if you believe him to be a 4-ish ERA guy going forward, that is back-end of the rotation material, not a #3 starter in this current run environment. It's below average. Either way he's certainly not going to be worth anything close to $18ish million a year if his K-rate doesn't improve.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 22, 2015 -> 03:27 PM) FYI, the FS T30 list is complete. Doing the write-ups and profile updates now. Hope to publish next week. Anyone want to take some guesses, on Top 5 or more? My guess for Top 5: 1) Fulmer 2) Anderson 3) Montas 4) Adams 5) Micah

Last 30 games: Bryant: .191/.302/.400, 38 Ks Soler: .241/.290/.371, 38 Ks Russell: .196/.295/.250, 30 Ks Russell is hitting worse than Sanchez over the last 30 games. Heck, even Rizzo has a .216/.373/.275 line over his past 15 games, and his OPS has fallen below last season's mark. Schwarber had another 2 hits in the first game today though. With the rest of their lineup catching White Sox-like symptoms, there's no way they send him back down after Montero comes back, right?

The only things that make sense is that the pitchers like throwing to Flowers more like we know Sale does, and/or Soto isn't healthy enough to handle an everyday workload. He's been far superior in every aspect basically, and is only slightly behind Tyler in pitch framing this year.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 21, 2015 -> 05:52 PM) So I'll just say this once and you can trash me for it. I'd remove Robertson. Take best available offer and clear out that contract. Goal: something similar in value to a 2nd round pick. I'd do that trade in a heartbeat.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 18, 2015 -> 05:35 PM) Wasn't he the "Wade Davis"-type of reliever in 2013, then he got injured? Happy to see he's back and healthy now Well I wouldn't say I'm all that happy about it right now.

Really hating not having that extra man in the pen right now.

Isn't Quintana the anti-Danks when it comes to the Royals?

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jul 18, 2015 -> 01:41 PM) I'm just saying man, he has a tendency to give up these early f***ing runs. Look at what happened Sunday. He just need to pitch better and he has proven he can in the past. He still pitched great overall on Sunday despite the first inning.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jul 18, 2015 -> 01:36 PM) Would not mind Q being dealt. I'm so glad you're not Rick Hahn.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 18, 2015 -> 12:05 PM) Without looking up stats, it feels like we have played better against good teams for this year, especially outside of the ALC. Record against teams .500 or better outside the ALC this year: 13-12 (that 4-game sweep to the Pirates really hurts) If you include the ALC that falls to 25-33. Record against teams below .500 outside the ALC: 13-8 If you include the ALC it's 17-13.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jul 18, 2015 -> 12:19 PM) Regarding a question of a Castro for Samardzija trade, a righteous member of the Chicago media had this to say. Matt Spiegel ‏@MattSpiegel670 3h3 hours ago @Djeenigenburg That's a rarity: A genuinely interesting, viable, and conversation-worthy Cubs-Sox proposal. I bet Cubs would say no first. I don't live in Chicago so I don't know who these characters are, but, good gracious. Ugh, stay far away from Castro. He's bad, and he has a bad contract. His negative WAR would fit right in with all the rest of the guys on this team. This isn't the first year he's hit like s*** either.

Welcome to the board Lip! I've always enjoyed your posts on WSI, glad to see you've joined the community here as well. Good stuff as always.

I hate this offense so much.

Remember when Alexei used to be clutch with RISP?

We're f***ed.