Sox willing to deal Beckham in "right deal now"

[BigHurt3515]

Why didn't Ventura do that today when Eaton got hurt? Sierra is a lot better then Garcia

[2nd_city_saint787]

Why didn't Ventura do that today when Eaton got hurt? Sierra is a lot better then Garcia

 

Probably because De Aza is an awful center fielder and if you have Garcia on the roster you might as well.

[Feeky Magee]

Probably because De Aza is an awful center fielder and if you have Garcia on the roster you might as well.

De Aza's better in centre field than Leury is at hitting

[BigHurt3515]

Probably because De Aza is an awful center fielder and if you have Garcia on the roster you might as well.

 

I don't believe Garcia is a better CF then De Aza. Garcia never played CF before we threw him out there in a game earlier this season

Edited August 7, 2014 by BigHurt3515

[greg775]

I wonder if Beckham just naturally sucks or if he's uncoachable. You never hear any rumors about Beckham. So is it a matter of lack of hitting ability, the fact he just can't see a baseball and drive a baseball, or is it that he won't listen to hitting coaches? A lot of first round picks flop, but you have to wonder about Beckham. Personally I've never liked his batting stance and the way he cocks his bat when going for a pitch.

It's really sad but without the hype, he's really no better than Chris Getz.

[Andy the Clown]

The fact that we are giving Beckham ABs while major-league-ready Semien wastes his time in Charlotte is the most asinine decision Hahn ever made.

[ShandyMan]

The fact that we are giving Beckham ABs while major-league-ready Semien wastes his time in Charlotte is the most asinine decision Hahn ever made.

 

I personally don't understand why Beckham, Dunn and De Aza all continue to get ABs.

[Andy the Clown]

I personally don't understand why Beckham, Dunn and De Aza all continue to get ABs.

 

I guess you could make the argument that there isn't anyone to replace Dunn and ADA (I disagree, but I can see the reasoning). There is no logical reason for what they are doing with Beckham/Semien.

[Dick Allen]

I guess you could make the argument that there isn't anyone to replace Dunn and ADA (I disagree, but I can see the reasoning). There is no logical reason for what they are doing with Beckham/Semien.

Semien didn't actually light it up when he was up earlier, and hasn't been so hot lately although he did get a couple of hits last night. Before last night he was 1 for 14 since the trade deadline against AAA pitching. I'm guessing it wouldn't be better vs. major league pitching. So unless you really like seeing Marcus Semien struggle, maybe there is a logical explanation.

[Jake]

Last year I recall Manto saying that they were still fixing things in Beckham that are almost always squared away by the time a guy reaches the big leagues. Fundamental parts of the swing. Manto was saying that most players in MLB need no mechanical changes and are instead in need of refinements to their approach - but Beckham was still at a point where every swing looked different and they had to work on the basics of weight shift and things like that.

 

It was basically a roundabout way of saying that Beckham needed more time in the minors and we aren't able to go back and fix that problem.

[chitownsportsfan]

I wonder if Beckham just naturally sucks or if he's uncoachable. You never hear any rumors about Beckham. So is it a matter of lack of hitting ability, the fact he just can't see a baseball and drive a baseball, or is it that he won't listen to hitting coaches? A lot of first round picks flop, but you have to wonder about Beckham. Personally I've never liked his batting stance and the way he cocks his bat when going for a pitch.

It's really sad but without the hype, he's really no better than Chris Getz.

 

He's a mental midget with a very long swing. He built his hype on spraying the ball into the RF gap but once the league figured out how early he had to gear up to hit fastballs he started seeing a steady diet of inside heat followed by junk. Instead of trying to shorten his swing (see Gillaspie, Conor) Beckham has doubled down on this approach (looking for power I think) and it hasn't worked at all. His swing is just too long for MLB.

 

If he learns 3B a bit he'd be a good utility guy but his years as a starter are over.

[harfman77]

The fact that we are giving Beckham ABs while major-league-ready Semien wastes his time in Charlotte is the most asinine decision Hahn ever made.

 

Semien didn't exactly set the world on fire when he was up here earlier and hasn't done anything since going back to Charlotte to make you think that he needs to be on the ML roster right now. Nothing wrong with giving him more time to work through some things and keep his service time clock from ticking, its not like Beckham is the one thing standing between this team and the WS. Might as well play for draft position at this point.

[witesoxfan]

Semien didn't exactly set the world on fire when he was up here earlier and hasn't done anything since going back to Charlotte to make you think that he needs to be on the ML roster right now. Nothing wrong with giving him more time to work through some things and keep his service time clock from ticking, its not like Beckham is the one thing standing between this team and the WS. Might as well play for draft position at this point.

 

You mean other than hit for power, draw walks, reduce his strike out rate, and get killed by a poor BABIP.

 

I'm not saying Semien is perfect, and perhaps there are still things they are in need of working out, but he has been a lot better than people think in AAA despite the .238 average.

[greg775]

He's a mental midget with a very long swing. He built his hype on spraying the ball into the RF gap but once the league figured out how early he had to gear up to hit fastballs he started seeing a steady diet of inside heat followed by junk. Instead of trying to shorten his swing (see Gillaspie, Conor) Beckham has doubled down on this approach (looking for power I think) and it hasn't worked at all. His swing is just too long for MLB.

 

If he learns 3B a bit he'd be a good utility guy but his years as a starter are over.

 

That's a pretty good post. In other words, he's a very very easy out. Pitchers must love facing the guy.

[Andy the Clown]

Semien didn't actually light it up when he was up earlier, and hasn't been so hot lately although he did get a couple of hits last night. Before last night he was 1 for 14 since the trade deadline against AAA pitching. I'm guessing it wouldn't be better vs. major league pitching. So unless you really like seeing Marcus Semien struggle, maybe there is a logical explanation.

 

His BB/K ratio is the best indicator that he is beyond ready.

[Andy the Clown]

You mean other than hit for power, draw walks, reduce his strike out rate, and get killed by a poor BABIP.

 

I'm not saying Semien is perfect, and perhaps there are still things they are in need of working out, but he has been a lot better than people think in AAA despite the .238 average.

 

Right on target, but good luck getting people to understand that.

[Dick Allen]

Right on target, but good luck getting people to understand that.

Using the same criteria, Gordon Beckham has been extremely unlucky, yet all anyone says is he sucks. You mentioned his walk/k ration. Last year he had more walks than strikeouts, yet that translated to 16 walks and a league leading at the time 57 strikeouts when he was sent back to AAA. He still fans more than he walks in AAA. I don't see how that translates to instant success. We are about 3 weeks away from roster expansion. That would be a good time to call him up. There is no reason to rush. No decision on his future is going to be decided if he got called up and was awesome or horrible the next 15 games anyway.

Edited August 7, 2014 by Dick Allen

[witesoxfan]

Using the same criteria, Gordon Beckham has been extremely unlucky, yet all anyone says is he sucks. You mentioned his walk/k ration. Last year he had more walks than strikeouts, yet that translated to 16 walks and a league leading at the time 57 strikeouts when he was sent back to AAA. He still fans more than he walks in AAA. I don't see how that translates to instant success. We are about 3 weeks away from roster expansion. That would be a good time to call him up. There is no reason to rush.

 

I do believe Beckham has been unlucky to some extent - he's normally a much better hitter than he's been this year, even if the normal hitter is a rather poor one. Normalizing his line based on his career BABIP, without using any actual fancy or complicated calculations, you would figure his line would be around his career average of .245/.308/.376, give or take here or there. It's not bad, but it's not good, and Beckham's about to get even more expensive. Given the very large sample size we have of Beckham and the lack of improvement over the duration of that time frame, I think it's time to get someone else a shot to see if they can stake their claim at the position.

 

His line drive rate is down and his ground ball rate is up. Those are not things you want to see in a hitter.

 

Beckham seems like a good guy, but I don't think he should be a full time starter any longer.

[Dick Allen]

I do believe Beckham has been unlucky to some extent - he's normally a much better hitter than he's been this year, even if the normal hitter is a rather poor one. Normalizing his line based on his career BABIP, without using any actual fancy or complicated calculations, you would figure his line would be around his career average of .245/.308/.376, give or take here or there. It's not bad, but it's not good, and Beckham's about to get even more expensive. Given the very large sample size we have of Beckham and the lack of improvement over the duration of that time frame, I think it's time to get someone else a shot to see if they can stake their claim at the position.

 

His line drive rate is down and his ground ball rate is up. Those are not things you want to see in a hitter.

 

Beckham seems like a good guy, but I don't think he should be a full time starter any longer.

That's fine, but every game thread, if Beckham makes an out it seems posters start foaming at the mouth. He's been bad. He's admitted that, but I don't see why it is necessary to bring Semien up now, and not wait a while. Anyone can say he's ready, but how can anyone really know that? It isn't like he's dominating. Let it go a few more weeks, maybe Beckham finds some luck, someone gets hurt and another team trades for him, and maybe Semien gets hot, he was good last night and comes up confident. It seems to me the reason people want Semien is based more on Beckham than Semien. I think the White Sox need to call him up based on him and not Beckham, he was on the roster because of Beckham's injury initially and was in a bit over his head, or they wind up having more problems down the road.

Edited August 7, 2014 by Dick Allen

[witesoxfan]

That's fine, but every game thread, if Beckham makes an out it seems posters start foaming at the mouth. He's been bad. He's admitted that, but I don't see why it is necessary to bring Semien up now, and not wait a while. Anyone can say he's ready, but how can anyone really know that? It isn't like he's dominating. Let it go a few more weeks, maybe Beckham finds some luck, someone gets hurt and another team trades for him, and maybe Semien gets hot, he was good last night and comes up confident. It seems to me the reason people want Semien is based more on Beckham than Semien. I think the White Sox need to call him up based on him and not Beckham, he was on the roster because of Beckham's injury initially and was in a bit over his head, or they wind up having more problems down the road.

 

To some extent, I agree, it's backup quarterback syndrome. I'd like to see Semien (or whoever the organization feels is going to be the 2B moving forward) get an even more extended look to see if there's something there, rather than a limited look in September against some less than capable talent, but it's not going to be the end of the world if they wait until September 1st.

[Eminor3rd]

At this point, Beckham doesn't matter at all. You bring up the next guy when the next guy is ready. There's no pressure to get "help" on the ML roster this year. Beckham will play every day until they deem Sanchez/Semien/Johnson ready.

 

It's nothing to be concerned about.

[Chisoxfn]

I do believe Beckham has been unlucky to some extent - he's normally a much better hitter than he's been this year, even if the normal hitter is a rather poor one. Normalizing his line based on his career BABIP, without using any actual fancy or complicated calculations, you would figure his line would be around his career average of .245/.308/.376, give or take here or there. It's not bad, but it's not good, and Beckham's about to get even more expensive. Given the very large sample size we have of Beckham and the lack of improvement over the duration of that time frame, I think it's time to get someone else a shot to see if they can stake their claim at the position.

 

His line drive rate is down and his ground ball rate is up. Those are not things you want to see in a hitter.

 

Beckham seems like a good guy, but I don't think he should be a full time starter any longer.

You know...when you hit the ball weakly, you are going to have a bad BAPIP. Simple as that. He's a bad hitter and a bad player.

[CanOfCorn]

Bad hitter...yes. Bad player? Not so sure. He's still a good fielder. And I"m not going to comment on his baserunning since...well...he's hardly on base.

[Chisoxfn]

Bad hitter...yes. Bad player? Not so sure. He's still a good fielder. And I"m not going to comment on his baserunning since...well...he's hardly on base.

He's really not a good fielder. Range is extremely limited. Only thing he does good defensively is leverage his shortstop arm on double plays.

[Dick Allen]

You know...when you hit the ball weakly, you are going to have a bad BAPIP. Simple as that. He's a bad hitter and a bad player.

I still like him, and admit he's been pretty awful the past 40 games or so, but agree with the BAPIP premise. It's easy to say someone has been unlucky looking at fangraphs, andBeckham has hit some balls hard and has been a victim of weather conditions, but in this slump, and I'm his biggest fan, he pretty much is hitting what he deserves BABIP-wise. On the other hand, unless you have seen Semien's ABs, saying his low BABIP is a product of extreme unluck is speculation.