Second half predictions

[greg775]

Joe Morgan from what I've heard is a strange cat.

[Balta1701]

Joe Morgan from what I've heard is a strange cat.

I've never loved anything as much as he loves David Ortiz's shoes.

[greg775]

I think it "gets a little tiring" to nitpick at this present time.

 

Thanks for the post ptatc.

I just think my above quote summarizes my feeling on the Carlos Quentin topic today.

[fathom]

Joe Morgan from what I've heard is a strange cat.

 

If you call him a black cat, he'll get Jesse Jackson on your ass.

[Balta1701]

Thanks for the post ptatc.

I just think my above quote summarizes my feeling on the Carlos Quentin topic today.

You know what strikes me about this discussion? I didn't exactly come on here, or come in this thread, to rant about Quentin's defense. I doubt many of us did. But when we see someone say something we believe is clearly incorrect, even if its on a subtle point, we're going to bring that up, and if the original poster decides to challenge that his point is right, then we've got a discussion.

 

We might be nitpicking, but that doesn't mean you're going to convince us you're right.

[dyuen]

I've never loved anything as much as he loves David Ortiz's shoes.

good lord he talked about those damn shoes about 57 times

it was the only analysis he gave

 

and listening to berman describe the homeruns was giving me a headache

[fathom]

great post Balta. I even went as far to stick up for Quentin on the play in question, as I was at the game and know how awful the conditions were.

[fathom]

good lord he talked about those damn shoes about 57 times

it was the only analysis he gave

 

and listening to berman describe the homeruns was giving me a headache

 

And the worst part about it was Morgan and Berman were good compared to Bobby Valentine. Bobby Valentine sure was a lot more interesting when he was in another continent.

[greg775]

We might be nitpicking, but that doesn't mean you're going to convince us you're right.

 

Yeah but I'll die trying.

[greg775]

If you call him a black cat, he'll get Jesse Jackson on your ass.

 

Great line.

I cannot believe he went there with the "slave" references.

My god, Jesse. Get a grip. Slaves (and I make no light of slavery which was a f***ing disgrace to humanity) were not paid like LeBron. My god, Jesse. Shut up please regarding LeBron.

[dyuen]

Great line.

I cannot believe he went there with the "slave" references.

My god, Jesse. Get a grip. Slaves (and I make no light of slavery which was a f***ing disgrace to humanity) were not paid like LeBron. My god, Jesse. Shut up please regarding LeBron.

Slaves didn't hold a one hour town hall meeting announcing they were switching masters

 

[greg775]

Yeah, the whole slave thing bothers me. Why bring up such a disgusting topic.

Is Jesse the only guy out there that does that? The comparison was evil.

[ptatc]

Joe Morgan from what I've heard is a strange cat.

 

He is Al Micheals strange.

[chw42]

Yeah but I'll die trying.

 

2005 White Sox Baseball Win or Die Trying...

 

I bet you'll be the first in line when they invent a time machine.

[Vance Law]

The team is 25-5 and and you want to talk about the defense of a guy who is ON FIRE? That's not very logical to me.

 

Then your version of logic is notably different than a lot of other posters' version. It's not just when Quentin's on fire that his bad defense ought to be mentioned. It's also when he's been bad at the plate. And when he's been medium.

 

It is not people trying to find something negative to talk about. It's not searching hard to find chinks in Quentin's otherwise perfect armor, it's that by the most reliable defensive metrics out there, Quentin has been one of the 2 or 3 worst outfielders in baseball. It's not that he's not perfect, it's that he's been one of the WORST. That's significant. That's a lot of runs over the course of the year.

 

Yes, he made an impressive catch recently. It can't be easy to run full speed after a ball hit that hard and dive at the last second make that catch. We applaud the effort and the play. The important point, however, is that an outfielder's usefulness is predicated on his ability to cover a lot of ground. The more balls he can get to, the fewer hits, the team gives up. That's pretty logical. If Jermaine Dye runs 20 feet and makes an impressive-looking diving catch, is that a "better" catch than if Scott Podsednik or Alex Rios can just quickly trot over and catch it standing up? Which is more useful? Logically, if they don't have to dive for that ball, he can get to balls hit further away, catch more balls, prevent more hits, prevent more runs.

 

It is very sensible for anyone to postulate that, clearly, this team (NO team in baseball) can maintain a 25-5 pace. No team is going to get pitching as good as we have this month for an entire half of a season. That said, it's pretty logical for people to discuss what would be a very easy, in-house, significant improvement to the team- Quentin taking his bad defense off the field and DHing, and inserting Jones' plus defense in right.

 

[greg775]

That said, it's pretty logical for people to discuss what would be a very easy, in-house, significant improvement to the team- Quentin taking his bad defense off the field and DHing, and inserting Jones' plus defense in right.

 

Are you kidding me? You want a steady dose of Andruw Jones??? My god. I don't.

[BigSqwert]

Are you kidding me? You want a steady dose of Andruw Jones??? My god. I don't.

The guy has 400 career HRs and has double digit HRs this year and plays great defense. Must you always nitpick when the team is doing well? Can't we just enjoy that we're playing well as a team?

[justBLAZE]

-MLB officials suspend Freddy Garcia, stating that he can't be as good as he's been therefore he must have a robotic arm

 

-Brent Lillibridge demands that he be known as TBL on SoxTalk

 

-Carlos Quentin's hair actually gets messed up after he hits a walk-off GS, rips off his helmet, and his teammates rub his head

 

-Mark Buehrle is tossed from a game by Joe West when he strolls to the mound wearing a cowboy hat

 

-Peavy, being the grinder that he is, learns how to pitch left-handed and starts a game in late September

 

 

-Ozzie forces Lillibridge to bunt for singles because his constant extra base hits don't allow Guillen to hit and run.

 

-AJ smashes his bat into the ground before an at bat, getting it out of the way so he can just walk to the dugout when he pops up.

 

-Jones leans so far back to try to uppercut a fastball that he scrapes his right elbow on the ground.

 

-A DJ weird attempt at humor is shoe horned into a conversation, met with silence by Farmer, and then driven into the ground as DJ assumes all the joke needed was to be repeated ad nauseum.

 

My favorites by far.

[hogan873]

Wow. This thread has become quite engaging. I don't know if I've ever seen so many * in a thread. I'm glad I didn't post right away because it gave me time to think. At first I wanted to jump in and defend greg, and I'll still say this: He's definitely the target of many angry posts. But I cannot agree that Quentin is any better than lousy in the field. The catch, well that was awesome, but Andruw Jones could have caught that while dumping a fistful on sunflower seeds in his mouth because he would have taken the correct route to the ball. I'm exaggerating, but not by much.

 

Watching Jones and Rios in the field on Sunday was a treat. These guys make it look so easy, especially Jones. I'm waiting for him to catch a can of corn behind his back while chatting it up with a fan. Quentin is always jumping around, and he looks uncomfortable every time a ball is hit in his direction. I've realized that I release a held breath every time he does catch the ball and it doesn't bounce off his head ala Jose Conseco.

 

If Jones has returned to form (and there's no guarantee that is true), he's a much better choice...scratch that...he is THE choice to play right field over Quentin. TCQ is a beast at the plate, and the Sox need his bat. I like the idea of him DHing and having Jones and someone else playing the field. I don't think Jones can do it all the time,maybe not even most of the time.

 

Quentin bat = good. Quentin glove = not good.

[hogan873]

-Ozzie forces Lillibridge to bunt for singles because his constant extra base hits don't allow Guillen to hit and run.

 

-AJ smashes his bat into the ground before an at bat, getting it out of the way so he can just walk to the dugout when he pops up.

 

-Jones leans so far back to try to uppercut a fastball that he scrapes his right elbow on the ground.

 

-A DJ weird attempt at humor is shoe horned into a conversation, met with silence by Farmer, and then driven into the ground as DJ assumes all the joke needed was to be repeated ad nauseum.

I have a feeling this will happen tomorrow.

[shakes]

Wow. This thread has become quite engaging. I don't know if I've ever seen so many * in a thread. I'm glad I didn't post right away because it gave me time to think. At first I wanted to jump in and defend greg, and I'll still say this: He's definitely the target of many angry posts. But I cannot agree that Quentin is any better than lousy in the field. The catch, well that was awesome, but Andruw Jones could have caught that while dumping a fistful on sunflower seeds in his mouth because he would have taken the correct route to the ball. I'm exaggerating, but not by much.

 

Watching Jones and Rios in the field on Sunday was a treat. These guys make it look so easy, especially Jones. I'm waiting for him to catch a can of corn behind his back while chatting it up with a fan. Quentin is always jumping around, and he looks uncomfortable every time a ball is hit in his direction. I've realized that I release a held breath every time he does catch the ball and it doesn't bounce off his head ala Jose Conseco.

 

If Jones has returned to form (and there's no guarantee that is true), he's a much better choice...scratch that...he is THE choice to play right field over Quentin. TCQ is a beast at the plate, and the Sox need his bat. I like the idea of him DHing and having Jones and someone else playing the field. I don't think Jones can do it all the time,maybe not even most of the time.

 

Quentin bat = good. Quentin glove = not good.

 

I agree with this post. Jones should be in right field as long as he is somewhat productive at the plate. And if TCQ keeps producing at the DH spot like he has lately, they can afford the dip in Jones bat. With him in RF the Sox are fielding a very good defense and this team should be more about run prevention, as contructed.

 

With that said, people are going a little far with how bad Carlos defense has been. I will freely admit he is a below average defender and I like him much better as a DH, but he does not hurt the team as bad as some make it out. Corner outfielders just simply don't effect the game that much, and he is not nearly Ryan Braun, Brad Hawpe, Jermaine Dye bad. You just can't take UZR as gospel, it is a very flawed metric and even very inconsistant and unreliable when talking about a half seasons worth of data. The people who created UZR even say that a full seasons UZR is inconsistant. Using 86 games of UZR data to 'prove' an outfielder is bad, isn't a strong argument. He is a below average, but capable corner outfielder.

 

[chw42]

I have a feeling this will happen tomorrow.

 

It happens every single broadcast, lol.

[ScottyDo]

We were JUST begging KW to DFA Jones a week ago and now we're lobbying for more playing time because of his defense? Jeeze, the mood swings are hard to handle sometimes

[DBAHO]

KW makes a run at acquiring Dejesus for the umpteenth time. He'll probably end up in Boston though.

 

Adding that BA and plate discipline to the top of our lineup though, would make our offense better going forward for sure.

[greg775]

The guy has 400 career HRs and has double digit HRs this year and plays great defense. Must you always nitpick when the team is doing well? Can't we just enjoy that we're playing well as a team?

 

Ha. Please remember this Jones love affair when you all call for Ozzie's head for playing him regularly the next couple weeks.

You guys act like Quentin in right field is like having a stick figure out there. That the only way we'll get an out is if it is hit right at him. I told you I don't mind negativity but I can't even imagine taking time to write anything negative about CQ right now.

You act like there's just a big green patch out there and anything hit out there will fall for a hit. Yeah, Quentin is sitting in a chair out there and ordered to not move. That's how bad he is in right.

An Andruw Jones love affair going on right now? Wow. Andruw Jones???

 

And great post by shakes. You are da man. A reasonable look at the issue.

Edited July 14, 2010 by greg775