Comments on: The White Sox’ Enigmatical DH Situation

By: Walter Stanger

Walter Stanger — Sat, 29 May 2010 23:54:09 +0000

Due to my experience you can get really high interest savings accounts online within minutes!

By: Chair

Chair — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 06:40:27 +0000

If I were the White Sox a Frank Thomas spring invite would be in order.

By: CircleChange11

CircleChange11 — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:26:56 +0000

Point taken.

How long can GMs ride a WS championship? I don;t know, but the ChiSox have the only Chicago baseball title in the last 90 years.

Your commentary is exactly why I am asking for a complete record of a GMs moves and how they worked out.

I am also curious if KW is being compared to his peers or people’s perception of the “perfect GM”.

My only commentary on the issue is that he is “not bad”.

There does seem to be a big difference in difficulty in building a team than can win 85 games per year versus one that can win 90+.

This is where I am interested in Jack Z’s off-season for next year. It’s one thing to go from say 75 wins to 85, but each win after that requires some significant upgrading, at a steeper cost.

I don’t think it’s realistic to expect KW to “steal 2 more SP’s” from other teams and/or be able to continue claiming key pieces off the waiver wire. If it were that easy, more GMs would be doing it.

By: texasfan04

texasfan04 — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:50:44 +0000

Yeah,

He is definitely not ready for opening day, but I was encouraged with his numbers after August 1st. He’s apparently spent the off-season in Florida working w/ Alexei Ramirez and Joey Cora. He needs to improve his conditioning, and learn a little more patience.
Even if things go well in the minors this season, I don’t see him getting any consideration until at least July 1st.

If his conditioning actually improves, the smart move might be to keep him in the minors to continue working on his defense.

By: scott

scott — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:51:56 +0000

Terry, jesus christ, he’s a career -5 fielder! What verdict is not out? 900 innings worth in right field? Or the larger 1900 in left?

You “don’t buy” his numbers in 2009; ok, great. What about his 1150 innings in left in 2008? A grand -6/150! Do you buy those?

By: scott

scott — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:45:43 +0000

Maybe if he thought really hard about healing himself he’d get better!

By: Mike Green

Mike Green — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:33:55 +0000

The Branyan projections do not, I think, take into account, his pattern in 2009. He started out hitting like a monster, and then his back started bothering him. He hit poorly in July and August, and had surgery for a herniated disc and did not play the rest of the year. It is particularly problematic because Branyan had not received more than 300 PAs between 2002 and 2009, and so necessarily a lot of weight has to be given to 2009.

As a 34 year old player with old player skills, and this injury history, I would take the projections with a larger grain of salt than most projections.

By: Tom B.

Tom B. — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:56:33 +0000

Why do people keep bringing this up as relevant? We’re talking about the White Sox as a team. Yes, it’s true that DH’ing reduces your offensive stats according to the book. But, they assume it’s like that for everyone. Not just TCQ. If Carlos is not DHing, someone else will, and, therefore his stats will be reduced. Unless you believe Carlos will become a worse hitter than Jones/Kotsay/other DH, doesn’t this this cancel out in the long run? Maybe I’m not getting it.

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:39:08 +0000

Viciedo’s MLE triple-slash for last year was .244/.276/.331. Sure, you can cut him slack for being a 20 y.o. in AA, but there’s absolutely no way he’s ready to contribute on the major league level this season.

By: texasfan04

texasfan04 — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:25:51 +0000

Great article. I agree they’ve gotta sign somebody to fill the DH role. Do you think Viciedo or Jordan Danks will provide much help this season. Danks is a great defender and it was encouraging his offensive numbers improved last season. He’s still got a ways to go, and right now, I’m guessing the plan is to give him a callup as a backup outfielder once somebody goes down.

I like Viciedo more than most. There are plenty of reasons to criticize him (weight, plate approach, etc), but I don’t think last seasons #’s were that bad for a 20 year-old in AA. I apologize prematurely for the non-quantifiable comparison, but a lot scouts totally wrote off Livan Hernandez back in 1996 based on similar criticisms (weight, etc) after his first season #’s weren’t that great. He bounced back in 1997 w/ really good numbers. Not actually projecting that will happen w/ Viciedo, but I still think there’s a chance he could give them a lift around July if the person they try in their DH spot is not working. At the very least, if I were Kenny Williams, Viciedo is someone I would consider if continues hitting like he did the final two months in Birmingham.

How much do y’all think Branyan or Dye would cost for one season?