Terry Doyle throws 3 1-run innings; finishes AFL season with 1.98 ERA

11/16:

Mesa Solar Sox
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Doyle	3.0	1	1	1	1	4	1	1.98
Beliveau	2.0	1	0	0	0	2	0	5.40
Griffith (BS, 2)(L, 0-2)	1.0	3	2	2	1	1	0	9.64
Petricka	1.0	0	0	0	1	3	0	5.51
Kloess	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	3.6

Pitches-strikes: Doyle 51-33, Beliveau 27-21, Griffith 25-12, Petricka 20-13, Kloess 11-9.
Groundouts-flyouts: Doyle 1-2, Beliveau 0-4, Griffith 1-0, Petricka 1-0, Kloess 1-0.
Batters faced: Doyle 10, Beliveau 7, Griffith 7, Petricka 5, Kloess 3.

Pitch F/X says:

Pitch Statistics
Pitch Type	Avg Speed	Max Speed	Avg H-Break	Avg V-Break	Count	Strikes / %	Swinging Strikes / %	Linear Weights	Time to Plate
FA (Fastball)	92.26	94.6	-5.05	8.71	31	16 / 51.61%	1 / 3.23%	0.8224	0.406
CH (Changeup)	85.10	85.9	-7.25	5.65	2	0 / 0.00%	0 / 0.00%	0.1004	0.443
SL (Slider)	82.85	84.2	0.68	1.02	8	8 / 100.00%	2 / 25.00%	-0.9395	0.455
CU (Curveball)	80.03	80.9	4.15	-7.34	10	9 / 90.00%	1 / 10.00%	-0.5038	0.472
Pitch classifications provided by the Gameday Algorithm and may be inaccurate.Pitch Type LWTS correspond to how many runs were likely to score on a particular pitch based on average run expectancy when each pitch was thrown and what happened as a result. Negative scores indicate more effective pitches.Time to Plate is the time, in seconds, that it takes an average pitch of this type to reach the plate. This is strongly correlated with velocity, but also factors in movement.

Inning-by-Inning Pitch Totals
Inning	Pitches in Inning	Strikes in Inning	Strike% in Inning	Cumulative Total Pitches	Pitch LWTS in Inning
1	17	11	64.71	17	0.582
2	18	12	66.67	35	-0.254
3	16	10	62.50	51	-0.848

There is one more game in the AFL season. The championship is on Saturday.

Doyle finished with a 22/5 K/BB ratio in 27.1 innings. Other stats: 1.25 flyball/groundball ratio, 0.62 WHIP (1st in the AFL).

Pitch-by-pitch results inside.

Fangraphs Fantasy examines Chris Sale’s move to the starting rotation

Mike Podhorzer:

Hot off the presses, White Sox GM Kenny Williams has announced that Chris Sale, who has not started a game since college, will be in their starting rotation next season. So what might we expect from the lanky (I believe this word was invented with Sale in mind) southpaw? …

Kenny Williams may go for a younger team and wants De Aza to bat leadoff next year

Mark Gonzales:

The fact that Williams is more receptive to acquring more young players opens an avenue that the Sox hadn’t aggressively pursued in past off-seasons.

“We’re more open to making potential moves that take us a little younger, take us a step back and live to fight another day if we can identify what we’ve identified the type targets you want in such a deal,” Williams said. “But whether you can get those targets or not remains to be seen. So we’re more open.

“For the last 12 years, we’ve been grinding it out, trying to put forth an effort to win a championship. It’s difficult to do that for such a long period of time – rebuild at the same time as you’re trying to compete. Fortunately we’ve had some teams that have done better than others, and there have been teams that didn’t meet our expectations.”

also,

General manager Ken Williams reiterated Tuesday that Alejandro De Aza would be his choice as the Chicago White Sox’s leadoff batter in 2012.

“I don’t make the lineup out,” Williams said Tuesday night. “If I were making the lineup out, he would be my leadoff hitter. Robin (Ventura) makes the lineup out. He’ll be given a suggestion, though.”

You can relax J.J.!

Kenny Williams back to 50 cents

Daryl Van Schouwen:

[Kenny] Williams said it is not out of the question that the payroll stays near the $127 million mark. He’ll know more by the time the winter meetings take place in Dallas during the first week of December.

“Who’s to say we’re going to lose money and who’s to say we’re not going to win? We still have the talent in place to win. Now, when I say that, that means we have to have some bounce-back years from some guys. Can I give you some logical, sensible reasons why I would expect that? No more so that I would have thought that some of the guys that had tough years would bounce back in the second half of last year. So that would just be blowing smoke up your [butt] and I won’t do that. I don’t know.”

If Kenny keeps this up, he’ll announce a payroll increase next week.

Ex-catcher and A’s bench coach Joel Skinner will manage AAA-Charlotte

Corey Brock:

Joel Skinner, who spent last season as the bench coach for the A’s, has been named as the manager of the White Sox Triple-A affiliate in Charlotte, N.C. Skinner spent nine seasons on the Indians’ Major League staff, with stints as the third-base coach, interim manager and bench coach. Skinner appeared in 564 games as a catcher with the White Sox (1983-86), Yankees (1986-88) and Indians (1989-91).

Other moves are Tim Laker will be the Minor League roving hitting instructor, Andy Tomberlin will be the hitting coach at AAA-Charlotte, Brandon Moore will be the hitting coach at AA Birmingham, and Bobby Thigpen will be the pitching coach at AA-Birmingham. Van Schouwen has a rundown of the Sox developmental instructors.

Other White Sox links:

• James explains how the draft provisions in baseball’s next CBA could be moving the rest of the league to the White Sox way and gives us Kenny Williams tickle index.
• J.J. can’t understand why is there speculation that Alejandro De Aza won’t be the Sox leadoff hitter in 2012. Damn right. And Kenny better not have any Chone Figgins plans.
• THT’s Jeffrey Gross looks on the White Sox off-season.
• Fangraphs’ Dave Cameron says John Danks is a left-handed Edwin Jackson.

Raphael Saadiq – Heart attack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfJe_Cl6CpU

alternate URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZxv5fZg_QQ

Terry Doyle is on the rise (video)

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=19991127&c_id=cws (2:09)

1915 sabermetrics

Fangraphs’ Sam Menzin:

I‘m currently in the midst of writing my college thesis (yes, it’s on baseball), and I recently came across a piece of research that sounded my “wow, everything I thought I knew about baseball is wrong” alarm to claxon-like levels. In the 1915 edition of Baseball Magazine (distributed from 1908-1957), there’s an article written by F.C. Lane that would make even Tom Tango take notice (assuming he isn’t already aware of its existence): “Why the System of Batting Averages Should Be Changed: Statistics Lie at the Foundation of Baseball Popularity — Batting Records Are the Favorite — And Yet Batting Records Are Unnecessarily Inaccurate.”

F.C. Lane wanted to compare two players; Jake Daubert (high batting average) and Gavvy Cravath (sub-.300 batting average):

To make this comparison, Lane looks at the league average figures for singles, doubles, triples and home runs (77.44%, 14.80%, 5.51%, and 2.24%, respectively) and compares those numbers to each player’s numbers. Daubert’s hit breakdown was as follows: 79.47% singles, 13.90% doubles, 5.29% triples and 1.33% home runs. “In other words,” explains Lane, “Jake made more singles and fewer extra base hits than the general average right down the line. Jake had a lot of coins in his pockets, but many of them were nickels and dimes.” Cravath, on the other hand, had the following breakdown: 59.38% singles, 20.80% doubles, 4.69% triples and 16.12% home runs. Lane breaks down the numbers further, assigning the proper (his idea of the correct) values to each hit, thus creating a weighted batting average. Comparing a player’s weighted figures to the league averages seems quite a bit similar to what we know as wRC+ today, wouldn’t you say?

Fascinating stuff!

MLB.com’s Terry Doyle scouting report

MLB.com’s Bernie Pleskoff:

Terry Doyle is a righty in the Chicago White Sox organization.

Doyle presents an interesting starting pitching option for the White Sox. He is a control pitcher with a quick-paced, solid delivery and an ability to manage his game very well. Doyle pitched over two classifications in 2011. He started 11 games at Class A Winston-Salem, where he compiled a 2.84 ERA. Moving to the Double-A Birmingham club in the Southern League, Doyle threw 100 innings over 15 starts. He walked only 22 and struck out 73. His command and control will advance his career. He is the type of pitcher who can be trusted to take his starts at least three times through the lineup.

Doyle throws a low-90s fastball, but his bread and butter appears to be a full repertoire including a very solid slider, a low-80s curve and an effective changeup.

Doyle projects as a back-of-the-rotation starter who can work following a higher-velocity power pitcher. He has the type of delivery and mechanics that could cause the opposition frustration working quickly and changing speeds consistently.

UPDATE: whitesox.com has a 2-minute video of Doyle.

Sox pitchers John Danks and Gavin Floyd drawing trade interest

Ken Rosenthal:

For teams seeking to trade for a starting pitcher, the White Sox can offer one from Column A and one from Column B.

Lefty John Danks appeals to high-revenue teams – he will get a raise from $6 million in his final year of arbitration, then hit free agency.

Righty Gavin Floyd, on the other hand, fits nicely for low-revenue clubs – he is signed for $7 million next season with a $9.5 million club option for 2013.

The White Sox are drawing interest in both pitchers, major-league sources say. Whether they trade one, both or neither likely hinges on the trade offers they receive. …

Will the Sox trade Danks or Floyd, or let Mark Buehrle go? At least they brought back Jason Frasor…

Jon Heyman tweets the Rangers “are believed interested” in Danks.

Other White Sox links:

• James takes a look around the AL Central and the White Sox regarding their off-season moves.
• Fangraphs’ David Cameron tries to find out what’s behind Mark Buehrle’s success. J.J. takes a look.

Kenny Williams has entered negative territory

Chuck Garfien:

What Williams does know is that the payroll will certainly take a hit. How much?” It’s a little bit less than what we had last year,” Williams said Thursday to a handful of reporters. So maybe not as much as fans feared. However, the changes could be significant. …

Also,

Ken Williams said the focus remains on winning first, but there will be a slight cut in payroll. Rick Hahn also talked to …—
Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) November 11, 2011

Williams on White Sox making significant payroll cuts: "We are not talking chump change here. It’s all significant."—
Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) November 11, 2011

One more from KW on White Sox budget: "Do I have an idea where we are? Yes, and it’s a little bit less than what we had last year."—
Scott Merkin (@scottmerkin) November 11, 2011

Kenny has  -25 cents.

UPDATE: Kenny says he’s not ready to deal, yet:

“I’m not ready right now,” said Williams with a wry smile, discussing the White Sox situation after five local high school baseball players, who also took part in the White Sox Amateur City Elite program, signed their collegiate letters of intent during a Thursday ceremony at U.S. Cellular Field. “There’s some fact-finding that has to go on. This is going to take a while.

“We have some players that have garnered some interest from a number of clubs. We’ve got to exhaust ourselves to make sure that if we end up making a deal or we stay the course and try to add to it, that we know exactly what we are getting ourselves into.”

Terry Doyle throws 3 scoreless innings

11/10:

Mesa Solar Sox
Player	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Doyle	3.0	1	0	0	0	2	0	1.85

Pitches-strikes: Doyle 31-21.
Groundouts-flyouts: Doyle 2-2.
Batters faced: Doyle 9.

K/BB ratio in the 24.1 innings Doyle has pitched in the AFL is 18/4.

NOTE: I’m trying to reply to the e-mail that alerted me to do an update to my post, but my message comes back as undeliverable.

Sox sign 22-year old LHP Jose Quintana [UPDATE #2]

Cash Kruth:

The White Sox announced the signing of two left-handers on Thursday, agreeing to one-year deals with Donnie Veal and Jose Quintana. …

Daryl Van Scouwen’s scouting report:

“Quintana’s fastball is in the 89-91 mph range. He also throws a curveball and changep, and according to one scouting report, “throws with some deception.”

Quintana’s stats:

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
2006	17	Mets	VESL	FRk	NYM	0	1	.000	8.44	3	0	0	0	0	0	5.1	6	7	5	0	8	0	5	2	0	0	30	2.625	10.1	0.0	13.5	8.4	0.63
2008	19	Yankees 2	DOSL	FRk	NYY	3	2	.600	1.96	15	12	0	0	0	0	55.0	36	17	12	0	24	0	76	5	0	5	223	1.091	5.9	0.0	3.9	12.4	3.17
2009	20	Yankees 2	DOSL	FRk	NYY	2	1	.667	2.32	14	14	0	0	0	0	50.1	25	17	13	0	37	0	80	3	1	6	211	1.232	4.5	0.0	6.6	14.3	2.16
2010	21	2 Teams	2 Lgs	Rk-A	NYY	3	2	.600	3.26	20	3	10	0	0	1	38.2	25	21	14	1	18	0	44	4	0	1	165	1.112	5.8	0.2	4.2	10.2	2.44
2010	21	Yankees	GULF	Rk	NYY	3	1	.750	2.31	15	0	10	0	0	1	23.1	14	11	6	0	8	0	32	3	0	1	97	0.943	5.4	0.0	3.1	12.3	4.00
2010	21	Charleston	SALL	A	NYY	0	1	.000	4.70	5	3	0	0	0	0	15.1	11	10	8	1	10	0	12	1	0	0	68	1.370	6.5	0.6	5.9	7.0	1.20
2011	22	Tampa	FLOR	A+	NYY	10	2	.833	2.91	30	12	3	0	0	1	102.0	86	35	33	5	28	0	88	1	0	7	402	1.118	7.6	0.4	2.5	7.8	3.14
5 Seasons						18	8	.692	2.76	82	41	13	0	0	2	251.1	178	97	77	6	115	0	293	15	1	19	1031	1.166	6.4	0.2	4.1	10.5	2.55
FRk (3 seasons)				FRk		5	4	.556	2.44	32	26	0	0	0	0	110.2	67	41	30	0	69	0	161	10	1	11	464	1.229	5.4	0.0	5.6	13.1	2.33
A (1 season)				A		0	1	.000	4.70	5	3	0	0	0	0	15.1	11	10	8	1	10	0	12	1	0	0	68	1.370	6.5	0.6	5.9	7.0	1.20
Rk (1 season)				Rk		3	1	.750	2.31	15	0	10	0	0	1	23.1	14	11	6	0	8	0	32	3	0	1	97	0.943	5.4	0.0	3.1	12.3	4.00
A+ (1 season)				A+		10	2	.833	2.91	30	12	3	0	0	1	102.0	86	35	33	5	28	0	88	1	0	7	402	1.118	7.6	0.4	2.5	7.8	3.14

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/10/2011.

UPDATE: Kenny Williams talked about Quintana:

“He’s a strike thrower,” Williams said. “He can spin the breaking ball. He’s got velocity to both sides of the plate. He can grow up and be a starter. We’re very happy to have both.”

UPDATE #2: Phil Rogers reports (end of #2) Quintana will be assigned to AA-Birmingham.

Fangraphs’ Dan Wade takes a look into Adam Dunn’s feature

Dan Wade:

It probably didn’t escape too many people’s attention, but it bears repeating: Adam Dunn had a terrible year. … So the question is: Was Dunn’s miserable 2011 a fluke?

2011 was Dunn’s second straight year of declining production, and while the difference between 2009 and 2010 wasn’t nearly so drastic as the drop between 2010 and 2011, it does mean that 2011 isn’t isolated or counter to Dunn’s career arc. The difference between Dunn’s useful 2010 and his painful 2011 comes down to the contact he was making, which manifested itself in two major ways: his BABIP and his flyball rate. …

Chuck Garfien says Mark Buehrle’s destination won’t be decided this month

Chuck Garfien:

… Over the next month you’ll hear stories about Team X going after Buehrle, or Team Y being hot on his trail. But, when it comes down to it, the Buehrle game is not going to be decided until that final inning, probably around the MLB winter meetings, starting December 5th in Dallas. In that final frame, the White Sox will be in position for an at-bat, maybe even the last one. What will they do with it when the time comes? That’s the mystery. Stay tuned.

So Chuck says chill out…. for now!