Will White Sox fans also boo BA if he goes 0/8?

[EvilJester99]

Hopefully BA can build off that....one can hope

[Kyyle23]

Brian was the genuis behind BRG:

 

 

 

Brian's blog

 

 

For the fanboys' sake, hopefully Anderson may one day give us another White Ross Gload.

 

yes, everyone who does not want Wise starting is an Anderson fanboy

[caulfield12]

Wow...game had the feel of one our typical Dome losses after going 3 for 13 with RISP.

 

Kudos to Ozzie for using the hit-and-run, for Chris Getz at least making contact and Josh Fields having a heckuva game to go along with JD (horrible baserunning tonight, but Cox should never have stopped him from scoring the 3rd run) and John Danks. Just glad this game didn't get away and Danksie ending up with a ND after so many tough-luck ND's and losses last year, including his first outing of 2009. Especially after that bad luck bounce on Iwamura's ball.

 

Anderson STILL needs to cut down on his swing and keep his head in there. Harrelson is exactly right...pure textbook clinic on what NOT to do when you're hitting, although that extra run in the 9th turned out to be the game winner.

 

Brian AT LEAST didn't strike out with his two opportunities with RISP...but he's now 1 for 15 with the bases loaded in his career. Sort of the anti-Alexei Ramirez, who is already 8 for 19 with 4 GS's in those same situations. I think perhaps the thing that Anderson is WORST at is cutting down his swing there and just guiding a nice ground ball or soft liner anywhere up the middle or to the opposite side when they're giving you a run and you turn it down, which has now happened three times in a row.

 

Alexei has also looked in a fog almost all season but at least you feel pretty confident he'll pull out of it after he makes the adjustment on all those breaking pitches he's being bombarded with.

 

By the way, according to Stats and Elias Sports Bureau, we had the worst bench in the history of "modern" baseball.

Corky Miller

Brent Lillibridge

Jerry Owens

Wilson Betemit (the only thing close to a threat, and only against RHP)

Edited April 17, 2009 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

Before the game, Guillen said, "There is not a legit center fielder out there that we can look for."

 

That leaves Anderson with the first shot, although Guillen raised some questions about his billing as a former first-round pick.

 

"Maybe he is what he is," Guillen said of Anderson, who lost the starting center-field job in 2006 and is 2-for-12 this season. "We made a lot of mistakes with first-round picks for a long time here. Thank God we changed that scenario.

 

"But I think whoever picked him in the first round ... the tools are there. He has the tools. But he has to show people the tools."

 

Guillen would like to see more of the production Anderson displayed in the ninth when he singled with one out, moved to third on Chris Getz's hit-and-run single and scored on Fields' hit.

 

"If Brian doesn't do the job, somebody else will," Guillen said before the game. "Who? We have to figure out who it's going to be. ... But right now, I don't have Plan B or C if Brian doesn't do the job. I want to see Brian's at-bats and see how that works."

 

Before the game, Anderson was grateful just to get another shot at regaining the job.

 

"They think I can do the job, so it's just a matter of getting on a roll and making the best of the opportunity," Anderson said.

 

"Like [Wednesday], I got a couple of at-bats and it felt good. But I don't feel like I'm in the groove yet. I need to get into one and see how long I can keep it."

 

chicagotribune.com/sports

 

 

 

from suntimes.com/sports

''There isn't a legit center fielder out there that we can look for,'' Guillen said Thursday. ''We're trying to put the best guy there. I'm begging those guys to start playing the way we think they can play. Not because I don't have patience on how they're playing; it's because I don't have the patience to try to figure out who is going to be the guy.

 

''It's funny, if we win the game, we have a good center fielder. If we lose, we need a center fielder, a leadoff guy, we need a reliever.''

 

With Dewayne Wise out possibly until June with a separated right shoulder, Brian Anderson has the first opportunity to replace him. Considering Anderson stranded five of the first seven runners the Sox left on base Thursday night, there has to be an alternate plan, right?

 

''If Brian doesn't do the job, somebody else will,'' Guillen said. ''Who? We've got to figure out who it's going to be. But right now, I don't have no Plan B or C if Brian doesn't do the job. I want to see Brian's at-bats and see how that works. Just get better at-bats than what he's got and be aggressive -- that's it. I sound like 2006 when he was in the plans every day. I had to answer the same questions: 'What do you need from him?' Better at-bats. That's all.''

Edited April 17, 2009 by caulfield12

[jamesdiego]

yes, everyone who does not want Wise starting is an Anderson fanboy

 

 

Never said that. I said the people who booed BRG were Anderson fanboys. And I give sympathy to them, I know how they feel watching him struggle with each at bat. Praying he gets a hit. I don't think they felt any for me though when I was in the fetal position watching Deweezy bat leadoff. But I predicted he would fail there, then rightfully get moved to the bottom of the order where he would dominate the league. Hopefully Brian is good enough to keep us close til BRG comes back to fulfill my prediction. And who knows, Brian might be the second coming of WRG and I'll join the fanboys too.

[FedEx227]

Dominate the LEAGUE?!

 

A 31-year old career minor leaguer...

[knightni]

BA has started 3 games for the Sox this year:

 

.300 BA 3 H 2 R 1 BB 1 K .375 OBP

 

 

[caulfield12]

Still would like to see him drive in a runner...but the ball he hit today up the middle was too hard to score AJ.

 

At least I've seen a few small signs of progress, and he seems to be making a bit better contact.

[knightni]

Still would like to see him drive in a runner...but the ball he hit today up the middle was too hard to score AJ.

 

At least I've seen a few small signs of progress, and he seems to be making a bit better contact.

He still can't hold up when he sees the down and away pitches.

[Harry Chappas]

I wish people on this site would realize that Brian Anderson has the tools and potential to be a five tool player. The thing is, it hasn't clicked yet, that is what us "fanboys" are looking at. Jerry Owens is at best a one tool player and Dewayne Wise is a 31 year old career minor leaguer.

 

Anderson if given a shot the next few weeks to play every day should then be evaluated.

[lostfan]

Well since this thread got bumped when Brian "Cracka Ass Cracka" had a s***ty game, it's only fair that it get bumped again when he raises his stats too, right? .273 BA, .429 OBP. No power yet.

[knightni]

BA has started 6 games for the Sox this year:

 

.333 BA 18 AB 6 H 5 R 3 BB 3 K .500 OBP

[ThunderBolt]

BA is having some great at bats. If he keeps this up, the hits will start to come.

[chw42]

Well since this thread got bumped when Brian "Cracka Ass Cracka" had a s***ty game, it's only fair that it get bumped again when he raises his stats too, right? .273 BA, .429 OBP. No power yet.

 

If BA can hit .273 for the rest of his career, he can be on this team forever. I'm also loving the OBP.

Edited April 19, 2009 by chw42

[caulfield12]

I said this in all threads we've had about BA.

 

He has to get his OPS to 740 to be an effective player for us, that's not unreasonable to expect. Second, he has to start driving in runners (at least occasionally) when they're in scoring position, which he hasn't done (he did hit the ball hard but AJ couldn't score from 2nd last night). Right now he's at 701.

 

As long as he's in that 720-760 range, then I'll never have any complaints about Anderson because of his defensive abilities...and I'm sure Ozzie won't have any problems either, even if he's in the 650-700 range, AS LONG AS we're still winning games.

 

DeWayne Wise had a .385 SLG percentage after being taken out of the starting line-up...Brian is still struggling to get close to .300. As I said, we'll have some real numbers to look at with BA after he faces Balt, Toronto and Seattle, especially as those home games will be in cold/er weather with teams sporting pretty solid pitching.

Edited April 19, 2009 by caulfield12

[danman31]

BA has started 5 games for the Sox this year:

 

.333 BA 18 AB 6 H 5 R 3 BB 3 K .500 OBP

He has 6 starts including today's effort.

 

He has to get his OPS to 740 to be an effective player for us, that's not unreasonable to expect. Second, he has to start driving in runners (at least occasionally) when they're in scoring position, which he hasn't done (he did hit the ball hard but AJ couldn't score from 2nd last night). Right now he's at 701.

 

As long as he's in that 720-760 range, then I'll never have any complaints about Anderson because of his defensive abilities.

 

DeWayne Wise had a .385 SLG percentage after being taken out of the starting line-up...Brian is still struggling to get close to .300.

Anderson is the 9 hitter. 9 hitters don't drive in runners. I'm ecstatic he is getting on base at a superb rate. There is more value to that than slugging .385.

[caulfield12]

He has 6 starts including today's effort.

 

 

Anderson is the 9 hitter. 9 hitters don't drive in runners. I'm ecstatic he is getting on base at a superb rate. There is more value to that than slugging .385.

 

 

If Getz or Lillibridge had only 25-30 RBI's batting first, we could live with that.

 

If you look at the type of the hitters we should have in front of BA....AJ, Ramirez, Fields...he will have quite a few chances to drive in runs over the course of a season. He has to be at least occasionally successful at that.

 

Do you really believe BA would be an asset on this team with a sub 700 OPS and 8-12 homers and 40 RBI's? We might be able to survive that (like the first half of 2006), but he would still be in danger of losing his job. An inarguably better player, Aaron Rowand, was constantly doubted by KW. There's no reason to think that would change with those type of numbers.

 

Sure, if he hits 20-25 homers with 60-75 RBI's, you will never hear me say a bad thing about him (by the way, those are numbers that Uribe reached every year from 2004-2007), but only time can tell.

 

People were constantly trying to get rid of Uribe over the last 3 years, and he was a Gold Glove-caliber defender, so if Brian's numbers are similar to Uribe's, KW will try to replace him.

[danman31]

If Getz or Lillibridge had only 25-30 RBI's batting first, we could live with that.

 

If you look at the type of the hitters we should have in front of BA....AJ, Ramirez, Fields...he will have quite a few chances to drive in runs over the course of a season. He has to be at least occasionally successful at that.

 

Do you really believe BA would be an asset on this team with a sub 700 OPS and 8-12 homers and 40 RBI's? We might be able to survive that (like the first half of 2006), but he would still be in danger of losing his job. An inarguably better player, Aaron Rowand, was constantly doubted by KW. There's no reason to think that would change with those type of numbers.

 

Sure, if he hits 20-25 homers with 60-75 RBI's, you will never hear me say a bad thing about him (by the way, those are numbers that Uribe reached every year from 2004-2007), but only time can tell.

 

People were constantly trying to get rid of Uribe over the last 3 years, and he was a Gold Glove-caliber defender, so if Brian's numbers are similar to Uribe's, KW will try to replace him.

First off, Ramirez has been awful so you can't use that argument right now. I'm sure he'll bounce back, but you are complaining about 0 RBI from Brian when the guy that is right in front of him in the lineup hasn't done anything.

 

And, yes, I believe a player with a .400+ OBP is an asset to any team. Anderson has scored 5 runs in the last 4 games. He's been valuable despite not meeting your OPS requirement.

 

Quit playing the race card. I liked Uribe and I like Anderson.

[newportitis]

[quote name='danman31' date='Apr 19, 2009 -> 08:20 PM' post='1874232'

Anderson is the 9 hitter. 9 hitters don't drive in runners.

 

I know everybody and their mother sees flaws in Brian's swing, but here's what I see...It seems to be so significant a problem that I don't think we'll know if he can contribute to the offense until he corrects it.

 

If you watch BA's approach in the box to each pitch...he gets his feet set, moves the bat a little, leans slightly forward from the hips over flexed knees - everything is just fine up to this point - but then he completely straightens up to wait for the pitch. Then, as the pitch is delivered, he returns to the original slight lean from the hips...but he's doing it as the pitch is coming in...his head is moving between 6" and a foot from his straight upright position to his natural hitting position while the ball is in the air. This is more movement than anyone else I've ever seen (major leaguer that is). For a few pitches, watch nothing but his head. It's very obvious. Then watch Thome. Completely stationary, no movement. Watch Paulie, watch JD, CQ. Nothing, no movement. Occasionally when a hitter is going bad his head begins to move forward with the stride, but what BA is doing is different.

It's hard enough to hit a small object moving 90+mph...add movement from the other end, it's like asking the SEAL snipers to set up to shoot pirates from a merry-go-round.

For a while last year he stopped straightening up, he seemed to be hitting from his natural forward lean. I thought maybe Greg Walker had cured him of the habit, but then it returned and is still there now. Maybe I'm all wet but I think his hitting would improve if he were sighting the pitches from a stationary platform.

[knightni]

He has 6 starts including today's effort.

 

I meant 6.

[caulfield12]

First off, Ramirez has been awful so you can't use that argument right now. I'm sure he'll bounce back, but you are complaining about 0 RBI from Brian when the guy that is right in front of him in the lineup hasn't done anything.

 

And, yes, I believe a player with a .400+ OBP is an asset to any team. Anderson has scored 5 runs in the last 4 games. He's been valuable despite not meeting your OPS requirement.

 

Quit playing the race card. I liked Uribe and I like Anderson.

 

 

Uribe versus Anderson has nothing to do with race actually...we lived with Uribe's "horrific" offensive numbers for half a decade.

 

If you average out 2004-2007, Uribe gives you 20 homers, 71 RBI's (out of the bottom of the order, nobody can say that Uribe wasn't sometimes "clutch" or that he wasn't one of the best on the team in driving in runners from 3rd with one out with a sac fly).

 

492 hits in 1959 AB's, a .251 batting average. An OBP of around 280-290 and SLG between 425 and 450.

 

OPS 04=713

OPS 05=698

OPS 06=678

OPS 07=682

 

So I'll set the bar even lower with my expectations...even though Anderson should walk more.

 

Is it fair for me to expect a 680+ OPS, OBP of 300+, 400+ SLG and a final line of 250, 20, 70 out of BRIAN ANDERSON?

 

I don't see why not? Plus, with baseball changing, I would expect GM's to look for more offense from an outfielder than the most critical defensive position on the field. A decade ago, you might have gotten a different answer from GM's because of all the young offensive stars in the AL, but why shouldn't Anderson be able to drive in 60-70 runs from that spot in the batting order?

[NorthSideSox72]

1. Using RBI's as a measure of performance is silly, since it is dependent on others.

 

2. Brian has plenty of power, but right now is focusing first on making good contact and being selective on pitches - which is EXACTLY what he should be doing to get himself into a rhythm. Once that becomes natural, the power will return. This is sort of basic hitting stuff - you cannot power your way into contact, but you can contact you way into power.

 

3. 740? He has to have a 740 OPS to be valuable? Where do you get that magic number from? And further, since most of his competition (Wise, Owens) would be lucky to get a .700 OPS much less .740, and Brian has superior defense, I'd say he's valuable even at a much lower level.

 

[lostfan]

Fields is contacting his way into power I should add.

[caulfield12]

1. Using RBI's as a measure of performance is silly, since it is dependent on others.

 

2. Brian has plenty of power, but right now is focusing first on making good contact and being selective on pitches - which is EXACTLY what he should be doing to get himself into a rhythm. Once that becomes natural, the power will return. This is sort of basic hitting stuff - you cannot power your way into contact, but you can contact you way into power.

 

3. 740? He has to have a 740 OPS to be valuable? Where do you get that magic number from? And further, since most of his competition (Wise, Owens) would be lucky to get a .700 OPS much less .740, and Brian has superior defense, I'd say he's valuable even at a much lower level.

 

 

Then how do you explain Uribe's consistent performance in hitting about 20 homers and 70 rbi's?

 

Or AJ Pierzynski's numbers?

 

As far as the 740 OPS, I think that is based on not being in the bottom 25% or 33% of ML CFers....break even point for a CF to be considered below average offensively.

Edited April 20, 2009 by caulfield12

[Harry Chappas]

Fields is contacting his way into power I should add.

 

I know a majority of this board will be all over me for this but maybe Greg Walker is having an influence on young guys. He is not going to change the likes of Konerko, Dye, A.J., Thome and even Ramirez as he could not do anything for Uribe as some hitters are what they are.

 

Did he help Quentin...maybe refined him a little.

 

The thing is, Anderson and Fields seem to simply want to make contact rather than hit for power (i.e. lift and pull). With this, comes lower power numbers. As these guys cut down on their strikeouts and become more selective the power will return.

 

As for Anderson's RBI's and OPS, I rather he have an OBP of >.350 and let the other guys drive in the runs or be on base for the top of the order.

Edited April 20, 2009 by Jenks Heat