OmarComing25

Starts throwing the slider and suddenly everyone is whiffing.

Heh, that was a loud f*** by Lowrie.

He'll be lucky to go 6 at this rate. Was that a 30 pitch inning?

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Apr 4, 2016 -> 10:15 PM) Always this happens at Oakland. Sox swept A's in Oakland last year.

Almost 90% fastballs isn't going to work.

I think I missed game thread overreaction comments. Baseball is truly back.

I feel like every team's fans complain about getting beat by mediocre pitchers, I've seen it from all over. I'm not sure I buy that the Sox have a unique problem there, and how true it even is. No one remembers the times when the offense scores 6 runs off some AAAA fodder, but the losses will surely stick out more in your mind.

QUOTE (sin city sox fan @ Apr 4, 2016 -> 04:13 PM) I wonder if we should scratch Sale tonight. Seems like pitching him here is a waste when he's not needed to win. Pitch Danks against Hill and let him pad his record for trade value. Than come back with Sale later in the series when he might be needed to get a win. This can't be a serious post, right? You can never just guarantee a win in this sport. When the Sox were the hottest team in baseball last July, we had Sale go up against some bum knuckleballer on the Red Sox and got slaughtered. Travis Wood beat Clayton Kershaw. Scott Carroll outpitched David Price in his MLB debut. You don't take anything for granted.

QUOTE (chisox802 @ Apr 4, 2016 -> 03:16 PM) I don't like this at all. Rich Hill is the typical shi**y starter we never hit...... We were going to face him tomorrow anyway if it weren't for the food poisoning today.

From Dave Cameron's "Five Things I Believe About The 2016 Season" today:

Yeah the Saviors started it all. Plus Rick didn't want another attack on Alexandria like what happened with the Wolves. It was a pre-emptive strike, there's no way he could have known they'd have this many people. But I'm surprised at the overall positive reaction to the cliffhanger here, I thought that was a horrible decision. Really ruined what could have been a great episode, this was their "Red Wedding" moment and they completely blew it. People are going to find out who it is when they start shooting the next season anyway, and having to wait 6 months to see who got the bat ruins a lot of emotional impact the death could have had. Not sure who thought this was a good idea.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Apr 4, 2016 -> 08:00 AM) Loney should never, ever bat vs LHP. So who does he platoon with if the Sox pick him up? I'm not really ready to make Avi a platoon player yet. Do you sit Jackson vs RHP and let Loney DH and Avi play in the OF?? Avi is terrible against RHP, so ideally he should never bat against them either.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Apr 2, 2016 -> 07:32 PM) I'll take a view in the middle. I love the addition of Frazier. I like the addition of Lawrie. The offense is better at 3B-SS-2B but the defense is worse. The 4-5 rotation spots are really questionable and I am not excited by the Turner and Latos additions. I think we may have 2- 1/2 catchers who will be better offensively and worse defensively. We are improved offensively and worse defensively except maybe w Jackson. But if he can't hit, then the outfield may be worse offensively when he plays. I love the bullpen. So I think they are better than 10 below .500 but maybe they are .500 or slightly better. NOT A TON How are we worse defensively at catcher? I think we improved there. Soto and Flowers weren't exactly defensive stalwarts.

A quick Google search brings a SoxNet article reporting this is true, but nothing else.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Apr 1, 2016 -> 02:55 PM) Well, according to every Cubs fan ever, he's "bound for TJ surgery any day", so by their standards, that's a huge overpay! http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/02/pred...-surgeries.html Funny thing is according to this article Sale has a below-average risk for TJ surgery.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Apr 1, 2016 -> 02:24 PM) Probably Melky since he wasn't good against lefties last season. In only 171 AB though, it's a sample too small to read that much into. He had a .784 OPS in 2014 and an OPS over 1.000 in 2012 against lefties.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Apr 1, 2016 -> 01:23 PM) They could make room for him in the bullpen and use him as a long man and try to work through whatever issues they think he may have and transition him into the rotation as a spot becomes available. Who are you kicking out of the bullpen for him?

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Mar 31, 2016 -> 03:56 PM) Zero Bust in Boston We have a 3rd baseman...Panda can play no other position. If this isn't "hero worshiping", then what is it? I think you've forever ruined the word "hero" for me.

I read that his velocity is way down, and he's a big flyball pitcher too. Not bad to have more options I guess but I don't have high hopes for him, especially when a team that could have the worst rotation in the MLB cuts him.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Mar 31, 2016 -> 09:37 AM) I think what we'll see happen is Avi gets his chance and will be re-evaluated when June comes around. If Avi is struggling in June, the Sox start shopping for a LH OF bat. Until then were stuck with the Avi experiment. My hangups with Loney are based on him only being a 1B and his bat is just not impressive. If the Sox were going to carry a five player bench I would be open to the idea of Loney but they are only carrying four on the bench so versatility from the last spot becomes more important, IMHO. Ishikawa/Sands bring the versatility that Loney cannot provide. I just don't see Loney being a significant enough of an upgrade to push Ishikawa/Sands out of the picture. At this point I would rather stick with what the Sox have and see how they look in June. Avi has an 84 wRC+ against RHP in 800 PA in his career. That's terrible. Loney's bat might not be impressive, but even his uninspiring 2015 RHP splits are still way better than Avi's career numbers against RHP. I hope the Avi experiment has a short leash.

I'd rather have Loney (provided we get him for basically nothing) than Ishikawa, but that's not saying much. His numbers against RHP were very uninspiring in 2015, but they were pretty good in 2014 and 2013 (120 and 122 wRC+), so he at least has more upside than Ishikawa does. Hopefully we can get someone better though.

Indians moved Bauer to the pen. Anderson and Tomlin will be the 4th and 5th starters.

Eddy Alvarez continues hitting in AA, puts himself on the radar for a big-league role in 2017-2018.

Nah we would still need Lawrie, considering we had the worst production in the MLB out of the 2B spot last year. Even if Lawrie is only the 20th best 2B (where projections have him), that's still a big upgrade. And we gave up nothing in the trade to get him.

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Mar 29, 2016 -> 04:51 PM) If Nate Jones keeps up his dominance & Petricka, Putnam & Albers can continue to do what they usually do, they're are going to win a lot of games because of it. Not nearly as dominant is the Royals pen but even something like it is going to make them win games. I feel like everyone is overrating the Royals pen right now. They lost two major pieces from last year, and while Davis/Herrera/Soria should be a great back end again (though Herrera was not very dominant last year), I'm less than impressed with their other options, and they're going to need to rely on those guys a lot with their paper thin rotation.