OmarComing25

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Apr 22, 2016 -> 02:02 PM) Funnily enough, his problem seems to be not swinging at balls inside the zone, rather than outside. His O-Swing% is the lowest it's ever been, by a lot (32% in 2016, 38% in 2015, 42% in 2014), so he's cut down a lot on swinging at balls. However, his Z-Swing% is also the lowest it's ever been (63% in 2016, 67% in 2015, 75% in 2014). So he needs to swing at strikes more, he's missing some good pitches to hit. According to Fangraphs he's also seeing slightly more pitches in the zone this year compared to both 2015 and 2014 (though Pitch F/X says the opposite). Either way, I think he actually needs to swing the bat more, not less. Over the past two weeks, Abreu is hitting .308/.373/.462. As I said in this post, his problem has not been swinging at the offspeed low and away, it was always not swinging enough at pitches in the zone. Over the last two weeks he's still swinging at balls, but now he's swinging a lot more at strikes. After swinging at just 63% of strikes after the first few weeks, he's swung at nearly 80% of strikes over the past two weeks (numbers similar to his 2014 season), with great success. Abreu is successful when he swings the bat more often. You can live with him not laying off the pitches low and away as long as he's swinging at the good pitches to hit, which is what has happened during his current hot stretch. He currently has a career-high walk rate and a career-low strikeout rate, so he'll be fine. Keep swinging, Jose.

I'll take it. Let's get more runs.

Damn

Velocity looked better that at bat.

Two weak hits and then a wild pitch.

Lawrie already has more than half of the number of walks he took in 2015.

BS strike three call. Robot umps can't get here soon enough.

That's two straight extra base hits for Abreu on inside pitches. Nice to see.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ May 4, 2016 -> 07:19 PM) I feel like Jimmy hasn't been on base in ever. Plant one, Jose. Didn't he score twice yesterday? And Abreu!

QUOTE (GreenSox @ May 4, 2016 -> 04:33 PM) And, dare I suggest, Frazier., so far...hopefully he turns around. But as of now, Trayce is out-hitting him. So is Lawrie, who didn't cost Trayce et al. Since you love your small sample sizes, how's this one. Thompson has 57 PA this year and is hitting .278/.316/.463 with a 5.3% BB% and a 29.8% K%. In Frazier's last 57 PA, he's hitting .250/.351/.521 with a 12.3% BB% and a 12.3% K% despite a BABIP of just .211 over that span. Man, I sure hope Frazier turns it around.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ May 4, 2016 -> 04:33 PM) You're right...sometimes it's the batting average that takes the 50 point drop instead. From a macro perspective: Ritchie Swisher Samardzija Edwin Jackson (to be fair he was never any better than mediocre; and he was mediocre with the Sox just like with everyone else). Vasquez - see Jackson Dunn Laroche And, dare I suggest, Frazier., so far...hopefully he turns around. But as of now, Trayce is out-hitting him. So is Lawrie, who didn't cost Trayce et al. The only ones that produced were Thome and Garcia and those were still dubious trades (Thome "allowed" KW to get rid of Frank - while produced .100 OPS points less than Thome, we were stuck with Anderson/Mackowiak instead of Rowand; Garcia was a rent...we could have signed him as a FA). Robertson is excellent and several smaller acquisitions have been pure gold. And yet people are convinced that another such transaction is the golden key. It's madness. Heck, look what happened to the Astros after their acquisition of 2 "Elite" pieces, who suddenly aren't so elite. Not sure why Edwin Jackson is on that list, he had a 3.66 ERA with us. Vazquez performed as expected, he did better with the White Sox than he did with other AL teams. And your continued insistence on including Frazier is mindboggling, his .740 OPS is hardly a huge problem, and he's currently one of the more valuable 3B in the league, As for Rollins, have you seen Saladino's batting line this season? Thompson is striking out at a 30% clip and has a .371 BABIP. Nice try.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ May 4, 2016 -> 04:06 PM) Texeira. He made it sound like there's a bunch of players who come over to the Sox and suddenly have a huge dropoff in their walk numbers, but I can't find a single example of a player who did that.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ May 4, 2016 -> 03:50 PM) Low batting average and high walks...and when they come to the Sox, they keep the low batting average and forget how to walk. 36 and in decline. It's sure to work this time. Who are you referring to with this? Because it doesn't describe Dunn, LaRoche, Melky, Frazier, or Lawrie.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ May 4, 2016 -> 03:20 PM) How does his stats this year compare to Eaton's defense last year? Arms are about on par, but UZR says Jackson is showing far poorer range than Eaton last year. Really hard to extrapolate or read too much into such a small sample with UZR though, too early to really say. He rated really well in range last year. From the eye test, I don't think he's been as bad as UZR or DRS say, but he's definitely had a few misplays out there.

QUOTE (hi8is @ May 4, 2016 -> 03:00 PM) Not sure what I've been missing as AJax hasn't had any issues according to the eye test subjected by yours truly. Any idea why the metrics aren't high on him? Metrics are saying he's had poor range and a below-average arm.

The Angels are about to be swept by the Brewers, and the Phillies swept the Indians. Some of the AL teams didn't get the memo about how bad the NL is.

Our offense is now 13th in the MLB in BB%, that's a big turnaround from the first few weeks (3rd behind Giants and Cubs the last two weeks at 11.7%).

Nationals up 4-0 on the Royals already and there's still nobody out in the top of the 1st.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ May 4, 2016 -> 12:47 PM) Oh my god, it doesn't even matter anymore. Revenue is collected from different resources nowadays +1, it's not nearly enough of a big deal to justify the constant b****ing about it, especially considering it's preaching to the choir here, we all likely go to as many games as we can.

I think they'll both be great pitchers, but Rodon has the higher ceiling, while Nola has the higher floor.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/chris-sale-...to-contact-now/ Good balance of laying out the pros and cons of his new approach.

Honestly, for game experience, my ideal is 20-25,000. That's enough fans to have an atmosphere, but not enough that there's going to be long lines at concessions and in the bathrooms, and then it won't take forever to get out of the ballpark and get home. Plus there will be guaranteed good seats available.

It's only going to get worse tonight, as Buchholz has one of the slowest paces in the league.

So Quintana's last three starts he's faced arguably the three most potent offenses in the league and he posts a line of 21 IP, 1 ER, 5 BB, 19 K. What a stud. Over the past calendar year, he now has the lowest ERA (2.75) in the AL (5th lowest overall), and is third in fWAR (5th overall) behind Sale and Price. God damn.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ May 4, 2016 -> 08:30 AM) Tehran is a mid rotation guy who would help more to get to the playoffs than in the playoffs. That may be his price but it's too much. Such trades of course rarely help and usually cause harm. But that doesn't stop the exuberance for them. Heck no one is even talking about Frazier, the super super slugger, and his Dunn-like output. Frazier is on pace for 3 WAR, he's not one to complain about.