It's time to talk about the Sox young pitching

[wrathofhahn]

2 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

They're also waiting on Greg Bird to get healthy and for Gardner's contract to expire (this year)...Ellsbury, too.

Gregg Bird isn't very good though. If I was a yanks fan and I'm not I would be hoping they trade for a 1B and look to sign the top FA pitchers next year. Forget Harper and Machado.

You still have Didi for another year and then Torres behind him. You have Andujar at 3B. Then you take the best hitter at DH whether that be Gardner, Ellsbury, or Bird.

Take for example Gregg Bird he had a .710 OPS last season. Abreu has a career OPS of .881. Thats a .170 OPS improvement. He'll make around 24 million total over the next two years. He'll cost some assets but not their top guys.

Machado if they were to trade for him would cost their top prospects. He'd replace Didi whose played extremely well for them. He'd cost at least 30 million AAV so 60 million over two. It's doubtful you'd see a .170 OPS improvement over Didi. He'd block Torres. With Harper he'd block someone in the outfield either Stanton or Judge forcing them to DH.

 

 

[caulfield12]

Not to mention the fact that the Yankees also have Brandon Drury for the infield...

 

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2018&month=0&season1=2018&ind=0&team=4&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0

Btw, it’s a SAD SAD day when James Shields, Bruce Rondon and Aaron Bummer are the 3 best pitchers on the White Sox in terms of fWAR.

Fulmer grades out much worse than Giolito, even.

Edited May 17, 2018 by caulfield12

[FT35]

On 5/14/2018 at 2:19 PM, Jack Parkman said:

https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=16400&position=P

Look at his FIP and xFIP. He's been bad, just extremely lucky. 4.93 FIP and 5.54 xFIP. Shields has been the best starter on the staff and it isn't close, which is very scary. 

I'm not saying they are silly or worthless--they certainly have the ability to give us some useful information, HOWEVER, THIS ABOVE is why I look at the new metrics with a raised brow.  Sure...a number can be used to conclude Lopez as being bad and Shields as being great...but let's not lose site of reality--which factors in ALL numbers and gives you a REAL tangible/observable result--and a MUCH more accurate destination to an evaluation.  Look at the pitcher, not the math--using real observation, you can see that Lopez is the better pitcher.  I'm sure if you spend all night, you will find that there's a number out there that Adam Engel has on Mike Trout--but using that number to say that something like "Engle is the much better player because Trout has a higher average of balls in play that extends beyond what luck should yield and Engel's is bound to catch up and pass Trout's?"  All because an "advanced number" comes out a whole point better than Trout?  You can't lose site of reality and true human tuition when evaluating. 

Just ran the numbers...Jose Rondon's xFrTym came back at a -.00529 and that is .0057 higher than the RANx0-9 of Yoan Moncada.  Factoring out the bad luck factor--he actually had a .00012 chance of not going 0-4 yesterday in Pitsburgh...meaning we should have waited 2 days to activate Moncada.  Based on those numbers projected over the course of a season, Rondon is our best option at 2nd base over Yoan and it's not even close.  

Math will NEVER explain everything about a human being.  

 

[Dam8610]

13 hours ago, chitownsportsfan said:

He should try not sucking as well.

What a novel concept! Maybe if we share this tidbit of information with the whole 25 man roster, they can still win 90+ games this year! All they have to do is not suck!

[wrathofhahn]

I would have tried Shields in the pen to start the year and brought in a buy low guy.

[TaylorStSox]

Gio's slot isn't a huge deal if he can throw the curve for strikes. Knowing it's coming and hitting it are 2 different things. If he can throw it for strikes, hitters can't just lay off it.

 

On another note, he seems like one of those OCD pitchers that's always going to be tinkering with his release point. Baseball's a strange game. The season's long and there's too much time to obsess over mechanics. It can ruin some guys. If it was me, I'd let him throw naturally and not touch him. Get him to focus on other things. Then again, I'm just a dude sitting at a computer. 

[ptatc]

15 hours ago, Dam8610 said:

Maybe he should try throwing his fastball from the curve release point and his curve from the fastball release point? It would effectively make him a 5 pitch pitcher and dramatically increase his deception. It's worth trying something at this point since he's not been very effective thus far.

Very few pitchers throw the FB straight over the top. It's really hard on the shoulder due to the impingement of the humerus and the acromion, the arm and the shoulder blade. It also decreases the movement on the ball. As someone else said, the release point is a big deal if the hitters think the CB has a chance to be a strike. Right now they recognize the release point and don't swing because it is most likely not a strike.

Edited May 17, 2018 by ptatc

[chitownsportsfan]

39 minutes ago, Dam8610 said:

What a novel concept! Maybe if we share this tidbit of information with the whole 25 man roster, they can still win 90+ games this year! All they have to do is not suck!

I actually thought my plan was easier than yours.  No less absurd mind you.

Edited May 17, 2018 by chitownsportsfan

[Chicago White Sox]

I do think if Giolito continues to struggle with his command and the velocity remains where it’s at, I’d send him down to AAA and let him work with McCatty in a low pressure environment.  Hahn has already said they won’t be afraid to send guys down and won’t view it as a failure and I really think for certain players that’s the right approach.  It would hopefully be a short stint to figure his shit out .  I’m fully prepared to give Lucas all of 2018 & 2019 to show us what’s he got before considering contingency plans with him.

Edited May 17, 2018 by Chicago White Sox