Are we really one of the 4-5 best teams in MLB?

[Marky Mark]

Do you think the top 6 teams in baseball are all in the American League?

 

yes, see above post

[Steve9347]

and who is this?

Frank Thomas!

[JorgeFabregas]

Beane Count does not count errors or defense.

Edited August 20, 2009 by JorgeFabregas

[MattZakrowski]

Were a lot better than our record, because a good portion of those games were played by very bad players who are no longer on the roster/starters (Fields, Owens, Betamit, Wise, Colon, Richard)

[DBAHO]

No, definitely not.

 

But I think this team would certainly be dangerous in a playoff series. Being able to throw out Buerhle, Peavy and either Danks or Floyd makes this team interesting to say the least.

 

The problem will be just getting there, considering the upcoming schedule we have especially for the rest of the month.

 

I think offensively, this team is certainly better and more balanced than last season though.

[thedoctor]

i think it would be difficult to craft a legitimate argument that states we're one of the top-10 teams in baseball let alone top four or five. there are 15 teams in baseball with better records than us. generally a w/l record is a pretty decent measure of a team's ability.

 

with that said, sure, we could probably be dangerous in the playoffs provided peavy comes back and performs at the level he's capable of playing. but sometimes i think that people are just assuming he will come back in and immediately be a cy young quality guy. i'm not sure that's a reasonable assumption.

 

 

[bmags]

I mean this just feels like 02-04, where I felt like (maybe 01 but injuries that year were unbelievable, remember when people were actually calling out Herm Schneider?) we should be 10-15 over but were just unbelievably inconsistent, we had a better offense then but worse starting pitching. I just want us to get hot, this is getting really annoying.

[3E8]

Ok.

• Below average defense. I guess some might say average. I'd say below average.

• Unreliable middle relief, i.e. set up men.

• Slow on basepaths still.

• Don't have the "it" factor to rally late or beat bad teams in an attempt to get 10 over .500 which would win this division.

• 3 good starting pitchers, though what is up with Mark since the perfect game?; Jose and No. 5 very poor.

 

 

Can't play defense, can't manufacture runs, poor overall team speed, weak back-end of the rotation, etc.

 

Jenks and Thornton are the only dudes in the bullpen that have WHIP ratios under 1.30, but I'm not ready to say that our pen is severely flawed. It's pretty scary when you analyze the numbers, though. Dotel is walking damn near 7 batters per 9 IP.

 

The Peavy and Rios acquisitions got me amped, but I'm still not a huge fan of our current team make-up.

 

Looking forward to next year, though.

 

For UZR/150 (most widely accepted defensive stat) the White Sox are 7th in AL, 15th in MLB and obviously going up with the addition of Rios in CF and Nix getting most of the time at 2B now. Beckham is also progressing defensively

 

We are 6th in the AL, 12th in MLB in stolen bases, adding Rios helps in this category

 

The aggregate ERA+ for our 4th/5th starters is just below 100 (league average). This is more than acceptable production from those slots, look around the league at what other teams get out of the backend of their rotation. When Peavy's arm returns to condition our already strong rotation gets better

 

Our bullpen ERA and K/9 are both above league average

 

When I think of severely flawed, I think of a team like the Reds. The Sox seem to be average to above-average in each facet of the game; an especially good starting rotation and a potent offense improving with Beckham, Quentin back and regaining health, and Rios hopefully giving an offensive boost from the CF position which has plagued us for 5 years. The current roster is miles ahead of the one earlier this year that was starting the likes of Betemit, Lillibridge, and Anderson every day

[hammerhead johnson]

For UZR/150 (most widely accepted defensive stat) the White Sox are 7th in AL, 15th in MLB and obviously going up with the addition of Rios in CF and Nix getting most of the time at 2B now. Beckham is also progressing defensively

 

We are 6th in the AL, 12th in MLB in stolen bases, adding Rios helps in this category

 

The aggregate ERA+ for our 4th/5th starters is just below 100 (league average). This is more than acceptable production from those slots, look around the league at what other teams get out of the backend of their rotation. When Peavy's arm returns to condition our already strong rotation gets better

 

Our bullpen ERA and K/9 are both above league average

 

I could probably say something positive about Jeffrey Dahmer if you gave me some time to research it.

 

The Sox defense is atrocious, especially pre-Rios. You don't need to watch very many games to find that out.

 

Our overall team speed is very poor. Konerko, Thome, Dye, Quentin, Pierzynski, etc. These guys can barely move.

 

Jose Contreras, Freddy Garcia, and whoever else we've had in the 4 and 5 slots clearly suck hard. I don't care what the ERA+ says. That's one of the many things that you look at, along with WHIP, BAA, K/9, K-to-BB, etc.

 

Outside of Thornton and Jenks, our bullpen has sucked. We have key relievers in the 1.45 to 1.55 WHIP range. That's horrendous. There is nothing you can do to sugarcoat that. If their ERA stats are good, it's pure luck, and I'm sure that you can see that.

[greg775]

Outside of Thornton and Jenks, our bullpen has sucked. We have key relievers in the 1.45 to 1.55 WHIP range. That's horrendous. There is nothing you can do to sugarcoat that. If their ERA stats are good, it's pure luck, and I'm sure that you can see that.

 

I loved your post especially this part.

I think relievers outside of closers are held to a different standard. I am of the opinion Dotel and Liney have sucked and Thornton has his good and bad nights as well. I do not agree with Hawk that Thornton was an all star who got screwed.

Carrasco has been good for what a team should expect him to do.

That new lefty sucks, thankfully I forgot his name.

And the guy we got for Allen ... the verdict is still out, but he has not been any better than average.

I realize most bullpens are average to s***ty and ours is the same IMO.

Except for Bobby; still pretty darn good.

And I'm glad we have Thornton, but the rest of them ... see ya later.

Edited August 20, 2009 by greg775

[son of a rude]

I loved your post especially this part.

I think relievers outside of closers are held to a different standard. I am of the opinion Dotel and Liney have sucked and Thornton has his good and bad nights as well. I do not agree with Hawk that Thornton was an all star who got screwed.

Carrasco has been good for what a team should expect him to do.

That new lefty sucks, thankfully I forgot his name.

And the guy we got for Allen ... the verdict is still out, but he has not been any better than average.

I realize most bullpens are average to s***ty and ours is the same IMO.

Except for Bobby; still pretty darn good.

And I'm glad we have Thornton, but the rest of them ... see ya later.

I'd say he has been decent at best. Definitely shouldn't sign him next year.

Edited August 20, 2009 by son of a rude

[greg775]

Be careful what you wish for in closers.

Matt can be awfully wild on a given night. We shall see how good a closer he is if Bobby isn't brought back.

 

[son of a rude]

Be careful what you wish for in closers.

Matt can be awfully wild on a given night. We shall see how good a closer he is if Bobby isn't brought back.

I don't want Matt to be a closer. He is too valuable. I like him coming into tight situations with hitters on. I believe this takes more skill than coming into a situation where there is nobody on.