June 27, 2011
June 26, 2011
June 25, 2011
Ozzie Guillen tries to keep his thoughts to himself. And he fails miserably.
Ozzie says he’ll keep his thoughts to himself:
“I wish I could say what I think, because I’d be on CNN, the Playboy Channel, everywhere, [if I say] what I really think about this,” Guillen said. “But I’m not going to say it, it’s the first time I’m going to keep it to myself.”
but that is easier said than done:
“I wipe my [expletive] with the critics,” Guillen said emphatically. “I play JP because I think that’s the best guy to help us win. If he’s 0-for-100, you think I don’t know that? But in the meanwhile, when you’re in my spot, when you sit in my chair you will be criticized 99 percent of the time. Because when things are going good, you have good players. When things are going bad, the manager’s [expletive].”
“I’ve said in the past, they want Viciedo here, my door is open, as soon as he’s here I’ll play him every day,” Guillen said. “Now, I make it clear, they gotta make a trade or make a decision to send someone down. I cannot play with a 26 man roster. But as long as JP is here, he’s playing. If people don’t like it….”
If Kenny brings up Dayan Viciedo and doesn’t move Juan Pierre the fireworks will be deafening.
BTW, the Cuban Tank went 2-5 and hit his 11th HR today. He’s hitting now .324/.363/.517/.881 with 16 BB and 56 K in 290 AB. His last walk was on June 12. Patience Dayan, patience!
One more week before the Cuban Tank invades the South Side? [UPDATE #2]
Once Dayan's arb date passes in a week (making him FA-eligible 1 yr later) I expect Dayan will be leaving Charlotte for good, at KW's behest—
Brett Ballantini (@CSNChi_Beatnik) June 25, 2011
UPDATE: Scot Gregor at the Daily Herald speaks to a “source” and says there aren’t any such restrictions:
One source scoffed at the logic, considering Viciedo accumulated only 83 days of major-league service last season and couldn’t become a free agent until amassing the required six years.
… “There is no magic date next week,” the source said Saturday. “I have seen some of the speculation out there, but a lot of it is based upon not having a full understanding of the rules.”
… Had Viciedo played enough to qualify for salary arbitration by the end of the current season — which he hasn’t — the 22-year-old right fielder could have voided the final year (2012) of his deal, giving the Sox the option of triggering a $3.5 million option.
… “A lot of misinformation,” the source said. “He is not a free agent until he gets six years of major-league service like anyone else.”
UPDATE: 1 year of service time is 172 days. 172-83=89. So, about 3 months. Hmmm, this is very close. I don’t know if the conspiracy theory isn’t true. I guess, we’ll see…
Jake Peavy is getting stronger
“Physically I feel good,’’ he said two days after throwing 5 1/3 innings and 104 pitches against the Cubs. “I’m looking forward to Colorado [next start]. “Obviously, I’m not even a year out of surgery yet [July 14], and I’ve always been told that a year out of surgery you should feel close to normal and be gaining strength. I hope I’m going to get stronger, but that stuff is to be determined. Certainly, I hope I can pitch the remainder of the season healthy, or semi-healthy, and help the team win.’’
Other White Sox links: J.J. doesn’t like Ozzie Guillen’s lineup moves, James tries to explain why Edwin Jackson hasn’t lived up to expectations, Jim calls the Dan Hudson and David Holmberg for Edwin Jackson trade the worst trade Kenny has ever made (aye on that), and MLBTR estimates how much would the Sox have to pay to sign Carlos Quentin to an extension.
June 24, 2011
Teahen! [UPDATE: AJ!]
Teahen: http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=16244811&c_id=cws (0:51)
Walk-off now please!
UPDATE: Time for that walk-off boys.
A.J.: http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=16250931&c_id=cws (1:02)
UPDATE #2: And we give up 4 unearned runs… Damn…
White Sox sign Fresno Pacific senior 2B Andrew Douglas
FPU:
Fresno Pacific infielder Andrew Douglas, having just completed a highly-decorated four-year career with the Sunbirds, was helping his parents redo the roof of their house on Tuesday. While ripping off shingles and contemplating what was next for the All-Academic Psychology grad, his phone rang.
On the other end? A scout from the Chicago White Sox telling Douglas to keep his phone on him for the next couple hours.
“I thought it would be a good idea to get off the roof at this point, just so nothing bad would happen because I might have a new employer,” said Douglas.
45 minutes later he received another call, this time telling him that he was now a member of the Chicago White Sox organization. Douglas agreed to a minor league contract with the team, and will be assigned to Chicago’s Rookie-Advanced affiliate, the Great Falls Voyagers, in Montana. …
Douglas, 6’0” 210lbs, wasn’t drafted and was signed as a free-agent.
Here are his stats:
| Year | AVG | GP-GS | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | TB | SLG% | BB | HBP | SO | GDP | OB% | SF | SH | SB-ATT | PO | A | E | FLD% |
| 2011 | .331 | 46-45 | 166 | 42 | 55 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 34 | 84 | .506 | 20 | 9 | 38 | 0 | .422 | 4 | 0 | 20-21 | 68 | 124 | 9 | .955 |
| 2010 | .352 | 47-47 | 176 | 51 | 62 | 20 | 3 | 7 | 47 | 109 | .619 | 18 | 4 | 35 | 2 | .412 | 6 | 2 | 7-9 | 75 | 137 | 12 | .946 |
| 2009 | .181 | 40-24 | 72 | 19 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 19 | .264 | 16 | 8 | 25 | 1 | .385 | 0 | 2 | 4-5 | 53 | 87 | 7 | .952 |
| 2008 | .281 | 40-17 | 57 | 27 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 21 | .368 | 6 | 6 | 15 | 0 | .400 | 1 | 2 | 5-9 | 23 | 46 | 10 | .873 |
June 23, 2011
Dr. Cooper
Don’t sell White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper’s knowledge of pitching mechanics short. He can analyze and break it down with anybody. But where he sets himself apart is the psychology of pitching.
‘‘I view my job as bartender-slash-psychologist,’’ Cooper said.
… Cooper built his reputation as one of baseball’s best pitching coaches by keeping the complicated art of pitching simple and accentuating the positive with his pitchers. …
Other White Sox links: J.J. looks at the booing in Chicago, James looks at the entire bullpen’s performance in yesterday’s game, and Scot Gregor says Phil Humber is no Esteban Loaiza.
Dayan Viciedo and Gregory Infante were selected to play in the Futures Game [UPDATE]
As some fans continue to wonder when Dayan Viciedo will be called up from Triple-A Charlotte, it was announced on Thursday that he, along with teammate Gregory Infante, will play on the World team and represent the White Sox in this year’s XM All-Star Futures Game at Chase Field in Phoenix.
Viciedo, the White Sox No. 1 prospect per MLB.com, has the International League’s fourth-highest batting average, at .324. The third baseman/outfielder has slugged 11 home runs and is third in the league in RBIs, with 49. He also played in the 2009 Futures Game, going 1-for-2 with an RBI double.
With the White Sox offense struggling to find consistency this season, the question of calling up Viciedo to the Majors has been posed to both general manager Ken Williams and manager Ozzie Guillen, especially over the past couple of weeks. Guillen, however, while acknowledging Viciedo’s success and talent, simply wouldn’t know who to replace on the current 25-man roster to make room for the 22-year-old. …
UPDATE: Reifert:
OF Dayan Viciedo (Cuba) and RHP Gregory Infante (Venezuela), both at Class AAA Charlotte, have been selected to play for the International team in this year’s All-Star Futures Game on Sunday, July 10, at Pheonix’s Chase Field.
The 13th annual Futures Game can be seen live on MLB.TV and ESPN2, and can be followed live on MLB.com’s Gameday. Game time is 5 pm CT.
Current Sox Mark Buehrle, John Danks, Gavin Floyd, Edwin Jackson, Adam Dunn, Brent Lillibridge, Alex Rios and Ramon Castro appeared in the game.
June 22, 2011
Sergio Santos goes slider crazy again [UPDATE]
Sergio threw 11 pitches tonight. 8 of those 11 were sliders. Of those 8 sliders, 7 were strikes (87.50%) with 4 [of the 8] being swinging strikes (50.00%). Coop’s lessons must be working!
| Pitch Statistics | |||||||||
| Pitch Type | Avg Speed | Max Speed | Avg H-Break | Avg V-Break | Count | Strikes / % | Swinging Strikes / % | Linear Weights | Time to Plate |
| FF (FourSeam Fastball) | 96.00 | 96.1 | -1.99 | 10.26 | 2 | 2 / 100.00% | 1 / 50.00% | -0.1055 | 0.391 |
| CH (Changeup) | 89.80 | 89.8 | -6.64 | 0.07 | 1 | 0 / 0.00% | 0 / 0.00% | 0.0421 | 0.415 |
| SL (Slider) | 85.14 | 86.5 | 5.53 | -2.26 | 8 | 7 / 87.50% | 4 / 50.00% | -0.7990 | 0.443 |
| 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 | |||
| 9 | 11 | 9 | 81.82 | 11 | -0.862 | |||
UPDATE: James looks at the entire bullpen’s performance in yesterday’s game.
Fegan’s awesome Paul Konerko/Adam Dunn article
While Dunn continues to scare the bejeesus out of the fan base by failing to square up fastballs, suggesting a possible sudden deterioration of a player whose type lends itself to sudden deterioration, Konerko is hammering heaters at 2.92 runs above-average per 100 (through Monday). That is fourth in all of baseball, and the only time Paulie has ever hit them anywhere near as good is….last season. And that’ll do just fine. …
Fangraphs says Paulie at 21 Fastball Runs above average for the year. I was skeptical when the Sox gave him a 3/$37.5M deal last year but the guy has been on fire so far. As for Dunn, I don’t know if I can trust a NL player over 30 again…
BTW, while I was browsing Fangraphs I notice in the AL scoreboard the Sox have 2 players among the lowest 3 wRC+ scores, 3 in the lowest 10, or 4 in the lowest 14. Things have been bad…
White Sox sign 9th round draft pick LHP Matt Lane
Baseball America’s draft database reports 9th round draft pick LHP Matt Lane (one entry before the last) from Northwest Florida State College (JuCo) has signed with the Sox.
Bats: L
Throws: L
Height: 6’05″
Weight: 195
Born: 1990-08-11
Hometown: Marrieta, GA
Class: J2
Here are a couple scouting reports. Baseball America:
Lane is a Georgia prep product who started his college career at Mississippi State. After pitching 12 innings in 2010 and posting a 5.25 ERA, he transferred to Northwest Florida State, where he got a chance to start and took full advantage, going 8-5, 2.18 in 99 innings. The 6-foot-5, 180-pound Lane has room to fill out and added some velocity this season, bumping 90-91 on occasion and pitching consistently in the upper 80s at season’s end from a high arm slot. He throws a solid curveball and changeup at his best but can be inconsistent with his secondary stuff when he loses his slot. He’s committed to Tulane.
Matt Lane is a 2009 LHP with a 6’4”, 175 lb. frame from Marietta, GA who attends Pope. Tall lean build, body projects very well on the mound, OH arm slot, long arm action, occasional life to fastball, big downer curveball, tight spin on curveball, around the plate, has feel for pitching, raw with big upside, lots of ability to work with.
Perfectgame.org has 2 more scouting reports.
And here are his College Stats:
| Year | ERA | W | L | GP | GS | CG | SHO | CBO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | 2B | 3B | HR | TBF | B/Avg | WP | HBP | BK | SFA | SHA |
| 2011 | 2.17 | 8 | 5 | 17 | 14 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 99.1 | 79 | 37 | 24 | 34 | 92 | 14 | 0 | 3 | 417 | 0.219 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 9 |
and from Mississippi State:
| Year | ERA | W-L | APP-GS | CG | SHO/CBO | SV | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | 2B | 3B | HR | AB | B/Avg | WP | HBP | BK | SFA | SHA |
| 2010 | 5.25 | 0-0 | 9-1 | 0 | 0/0 | 0 | 12.0 | 13 | 11 | 7 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 46 | .283 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Sergio Santos goes slider crazy
Sergio threw 15 pitches tonight. 13 of those 15 were sliders. Of those 13 sliders, 12 were strikes (92.31%) with 5 of the 13 being swinging strikes (38.46%).
| Pitch Statistics | |||||||||
| Pitch Type | Avg Speed | Max Speed | Avg H-Break | Avg V-Break | Count | Strikes / % | Swinging Strikes / % | Linear Weights | Time to Plate |
| FF (FourSeam Fastball) | 95.30 | 95.3 | -3.75 | 8.74 | 1 | 1 / 100.00% | 1 / 100.00% | -0.0431 | 0.398 |
| CH (Changeup) | 88.60 | 88.6 | -8.49 | 1.96 | 1 | 1 / 100.00% | 0 / 0.00% | -0.0431 | 0.426 |
| SL (Slider) | 83.42 | 85.5 | 4.38 | -2.24 | 13 | 12 / 92.31% | 5 / 38.46% | -1.0685 | 0.453 |
| 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 | |||
| 8 | 3 | 3 | 100.00 | 3 | -0.292 | |||
| 9 | 12 | 11 | 91.67 | 15 | -0.862 | |||
Other White Sox links: Chuck Garfien tells us the story of Gloria DeSucre who traveled 2,500 miles to meet Omar Vizquel. Gloria is 80 years old. I must say she looks absolutely amazing for her age. My first reaction upon seeing Garfein’s story was ‘this lady is 80 years old? Wow!’ Like I said the other day, the ladies love Omar!
June 21, 2011
White Sox sign 45th round draft pick OF/C Cory Farris
The White Sox have signed 45th round draft pick OF/C Cory Farris. The White Sox had drafted him in in the in 2008 in the 43rd round as a Catcher. He was assigned to Bristol. He was drafted as an OF but he’s listed as a catcher in Bristol’s roster.
Bats: L
Throws: R
Height: 6’00″
Weight: 190
Born: 1989-12-29Hometown: Florence, KY
Class: JR
Here are his College Stats:
| Year | AVG | GP-GS | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | TB | SLG% | BB | HBP | SO | GDP | OB% | SF | SH | SB-ATT | PO | A | E | FLD% |
| 2011 | .279 | 62-62 | 219 | 50 | 61 | 9 | 2 | 12 | 53 | 110 | .502 | 22 | 11 | 42 | 1 | .369 | 3 | 0 | 5-10 | 149 | 8 | 3 | .981 |
He was in Kentucky before Cumberland:
| Year | AVG | GP-GS | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | TB | SLG% | BB | HBP | SO | GDP | OB% | SF | SH | SB-ATT | PO | A | E | FLD% |
| 2010 | .259 | 34-27 | 108 | 19 | 28 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 24 | 55 | .509 | 9 | 4 | 37 | 1 | .333 | 2 | 0 | 7-7 | 43 | 3 | 1 | .979 |
| 2009 | .310 | 29-23 | 87 | 21 | 27 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 36 | .414 | 11 | 4 | 30 | 0 | .412 | 0 | 0 | 2-2 | 18 | 1 | 1 | .950 |
