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ESPN Sox vs Cubs Article


Jose Abreu

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QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Feb 2, 2015 -> 04:54 PM)
Things I disagree with.....

 

Alexei is better than Castro. This isn't a "future value" discussion, this is based on 2015. Castro IS a better offensive profile, and Alexei IS a better defender, but one aspect he forgot to include is baserunning. Alexei always grades out as one of the best baserunning SS in baseball. Castro grades out as one of the worst, mostly to his laziness and admiring flyballs that don't leave the park. If those other 2 categories wash out, Alexei takes the edge for baserunning. I mean, the guy is 10 years older and he swiping 2-3x as many bags as Castro.

 

Q is better than Arrieta. The guy did it for "most" of 1 season in the big leagues. We've seen plenty of pitchers have flukey years as a young pitcher. Not saying Arrieta is no good, but I'll bet on the track record of Q versus Arrieta.

 

The bullpen argument he doesn't even complete. He mentions the Sox got Robertson but "The rest of the crew returns". If that's true, how do we also then add Zach Duke, one of the best LRP in baseball last year, and Dan Jennings? When it's all said and done, we could have more than half our bullpen revamped over last year. Not saying the Sox bullpen is better, but come on, the guy didn't even lay out the facts here.

 

These are the two major flaws in the article to me, Arrieta over Q and not even mentioned (or realizing?) that the Sox now have Duke and Jennings. Yeah, the author either didn't do his homework or is being a bit disingenuous.

 

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QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 3, 2015 -> 09:39 AM)
I was gonna root for the white sox, but then I saw they picked Soler over Garcia :(

It's your choice but the Sox do compete with the Cubs for long term health and competitiveness of each franchise.

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QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 10, 2015 -> 04:20 PM)
Schoenfield sure doesn't think highly of the Sox. Tampa higher than the Sox is quite puzzling to me.

 

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/i...24-through-19-2

I always love articles that say the team is going to be bad, but on the other hand he wouldn't be surprised if they won 90 games. He will count himself correct in October no matter what happens.

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QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 10, 2015 -> 05:01 PM)
I always love articles that say the team is going to be bad, but on the other hand he wouldn't be surprised if they won 90 games. He will count himself correct in October no matter what happens.

 

That was my favorite part.

 

"They will either be under .500 or really, really good."

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Taking Castro over Ramirez at short equals taking Mark Grace over Frank Thomas. Castro can't carry Ramirez jockstrap defensively. The writer is obviously just another Cubs fan. The Cubs will move Castro off their team in a heartbeat if they get a decent offer. When the day comes when Castro is moved, I wouldn't be surprised to see him moved to another position.

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QUOTE (WBWSF @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 08:55 AM)
Taking Castro over Ramirez at short equals taking Mark Grace over Frank Thomas. Castro can't carry Ramirez jockstrap defensively. The writer is obviously just another Cubs fan. The Cubs will move Castro off their team in a heartbeat if they get a decent offer. When the day comes when Castro is moved, I wouldn't be surprised to see him moved to another position.

I think Castro may have some character issues. He seems to be around trouble a little too much, but as a player, I'd be pretty happy if the White Sox had the equivalent. If Tim Anderson turns out to be as good as him, we are all going to be happy.

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QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 10, 2015 -> 05:01 PM)
I always love articles that say the team is going to be bad, but on the other hand he wouldn't be surprised if they won 90 games. He will count himself correct in October no matter what happens.

 

I had exactly this debate with a local writer over high school basketball. In one article he wrote how bad the local HS basketball team would be next season, and that they wouldn't win double digit games. Two months later he wrote another moving his win total up 4 games (they only play 20 games in the regular season). When they hit 10 wins, someone called him out on it, and all he could say was to read his other article, like he didn't write the first one. He flat our refused to admit he was wrong.

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QUOTE (WBWSF @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 09:55 AM)
Taking Castro over Ramirez at short equals taking Mark Grace over Frank Thomas. Castro can't carry Ramirez jockstrap defensively.

 

Lol no it's not. It's a completely defensible choice. Castro is a much better hitter and is way younger/less likely to fall off a cliff this year.

 

The choice is basically a wash.

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QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 10:15 AM)
Lol no it's not. It's a completely defensible choice. Castro is a much better hitter and is way younger/less likely to fall off a cliff this year.

 

The choice is basically a wash.

 

I think it's a close call but I'm picking Ramirez until Castro proves he can play better than Alexei. So far, he hasn't.

Edited by asindc
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QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 09:15 AM)
Lol no it's not. It's a completely defensible choice. Castro is a much better hitter and is way younger/less likely to fall off a cliff this year.

 

The choice is basically a wash.

The pick was for who will be better this season, so age doesn't matter. Alexei has also shown no signs of falling off a cliff (he always has good hitting starts to a season and gradually declines).

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QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 09:15 AM)
Lol no it's not. It's a completely defensible choice. Castro is a much better hitter and is way younger/less likely to fall off a cliff this year.

 

The choice is basically a wash.

 

It's only a wash if you ignore baserunning, in which Alexei is one of the best baserunning SS and Castro is one of the worst. That factor tips in the scale in Alexei's favor IMO.

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Alexei Ramirez was worth 3.3 WAR last year compared to Castro's 2.9. 2013 was a huge difference, as Ramirez was worth 3.1 and Castro 0.1, but 2012 also had a significant difference, with Castro at 3.2 and Ramirez at 1.9.

 

Really, if someone says they'd prefer Castro over Alexei for any number of reasons, I'm not going to shoot them down. I'm perfectly content with Ramirez and am happy he's with the Sox.

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QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 02:37 PM)
The pick was for who will be better this season, so age doesn't matter. Alexei has also shown no signs of falling off a cliff (he always has good hitting starts to a season and gradually declines).

 

Of course it does. A guy entering his age 33 season is more likely to decline than a guy entering his age 25 season.

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QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Feb 11, 2015 -> 04:29 PM)
It's only a wash if you ignore baserunning, in which Alexei is one of the best baserunning SS and Castro is one of the worst. That factor tips in the scale in Alexei's favor IMO.

 

I'd probably choose Alexei too, but my point is that the choice is perfectly defensible, especially if you believe Castro has upside. The OP suggested it was like choosing Mark Grace over Frank Thomas.

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