SB Nation User Blog: bhoov

Election Day Thread -- Enter At Your Own Risk

bhoov — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:22:40 -0000

Come on. We've got a southsider and White sox fan running for president. We've got to have an election day thread. I know we're apolitical here on SSS but this is a once in history event (southsider and White sox fan running for president). Even rarer than the cubs winning the world series!

I'll give my election day story. I early voted 10 days ago. Working until about 4 today. I've got my ticket to the Grant Park celebration, goin' with the wife and another couple. Probably hit a pre-grant park event first then grant park.

Yes We Can!

And WU I can't believe you're voting for a ticket with palin on it. McCain I can at least understand, but Palin??!!

[Note by The Cheat, 11/04/08 12:45 PM CST]: I was going to start one of these. We need an outlet for the inevitable political discussion that is bound to come up over the day-into-night-into-week. So consider this a suspension of the already broken soft rule about no politics. But let's keeep it to this thread, and leave it in this thread. Mkay thnx

We're Doomed

bhoov — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 04:46:01 -0000

We are a horrific 4 games under .500 against the other AL playoff contenders at a pathetic 17-21. If we make it to the playoffs, we will get eliminated in the first round. We should just pack it in. Maybe we can get a better draft pick.

We are getting crushed by a clearly better team. A juggernaut that will cruise through the playoffs and obviously is much better than us against contenders.

thought ballon: (hmm.... maybe I should check that out because somebody's gonna check that on a site devoted to thoughtful analysis).

Red Sox: 15-19 against AL contenders....................

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/standings/grid

Cabrera best defensive SS in baseball?

bhoov — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:14:33 -0000

http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/article/how_well_can_we_project_team_defense_and_other_uzr_data/

MGL's early UZR postings show Cabrera at the top of the heap. Also of note, Q isn't quite perfect (although small sample size of course and as I recall his UZR has been fine in the past). Juan was quite good at 2B (it would be interesting to see Alexei's UZR). These are all per 150 games so Cabrera projects to +36, but of course is not likely to be that valuable defensively at the end of the year. And since defensive stats are best evaluated over a couple of years instead of a couple of months we must bear in mind these are very small sampke sizes.

The White Sox rank 4th in AL in defense according to UZR at +15. And that feels about right to me.

Chicago guy and BP writer Nate Silver sheds anonymity

bhoov — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:32:19 -0000

One of my recent favorite websites has become http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/

It's byline is "electoral projections done right". Really great analysis and application of a regression model to polls. He developed a demographic regression model that actually predicted NC and IN dem primary better than the polls. I've been visiting the site daily for a couple of months now. The blogger was previously anonymous going under the name Poblano. Today he revealed himself as Nate Silver. Pretty interesting.

Chicago White Sox: MLB 's greatest managerial incubator

bhoov — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:38:38 -0000

Chicago White Sox: MLB 's greatest managerial incubator

An interesting short piece on hardball times about Sox hiring tendencies.

What I expect from MY $5,500-a-night-hooker.

bhoov — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 03:49:40 -0000

I can't take credit for this one. This is one of of the very few times that I have actually Laughed out Loud online. And since there is at least one on base percentage/ batting average baseball line in here I figured I would share. I think you'll enjoy it.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/13/124649/291/112/475838

BA Sox draft questions in chat with Callis

bhoov — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:32:43 -0000

Some draft questions at BA.

It seems the top 8 right now are Alvarez, Matusz, Crow, Smoak, Melville, Beckham, Hosmer, Alonso. I'd be happy with any of those 8. Of course it's still early, and that will almost certainly change, but it seems like a relatively deep draft according to Callis. Only Alvarez and Hosmer are represented by Boras so far.

Q: Steve from Chicago asks:
Hey Jim. There's great fear in Chicago that the White Sox will continue to not take the best available talent. Their 1st round picks in recent years seem to be conservative picks while passing on much higher ceiling players. Granted they've been picking lower in the draft, but what do you envision them doing with this year's 8th overall pick? Watching the Tigers snag elite talent (some of which the Sox passed on) while not being afraid to go over slot is not making Sox fans very happy about the Sox' recent draft philosophies.

A: Jim Callis: I've heard that fear as well (I live on the North Side up here in Subzeroland). Last year, GM Kenny Williams reportedly mandated landing some multitooled athletes, but they loaded up on pitchers. I don't think you'll see Jerry Reinsdorf start playing the over-slot game, but I do think you'll see the White Sox take a quality player at No. 8. They might be in play for one of the first basemen, like South Carolina's Justin Smoak or Miami's Yonder Alonso, or someone like Skipworth. I'd be a little surprised if Chicago took another pitcher. The Sox system is really bereft of advanced hitters right now.

Q: Landy from Hinsdale asks:
White Sox fans believe Kenny Williams is enamored enough with Jordan Danks that there's contemplation about selection him 8th overall. Please reassure me that this won't happen. Please Jim. For the love of Shoeless Joe, say it ain't so...

A: Jim Callis: Oh boy. The White Sox did take a late-round flier out of high school and did deal for his brother. And if they wanted Danks, they might have to take him at No. 8 because they won't pick again until No. 84. But I can't see them popping Danks there at all, and he could be available at No. 84. He looks great, but his bat isn't what scouts thought it would be at this point. So, it ain't so . . .

http://www.baseballamerica.com/chat/chat.php?id=2008021101&rnd=12

B Pro translations for Alexei Ramirez

bhoov — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 22:21:19 -0000

Der Komminsk Star over at BTF found some davenport translations for Alexei Ramirez. Pretty optimistic and yet potentially realistic given that Davenport has cuban league at A level. Last three translated OPS .750, .850, .765. Heck even a .700 OPS is better than JO. Jerry Owens has a .639 career OPS. I'd rather the kid get a 1/2 season of AAA under his belt first, but if he dominates in ST (unlikely given his recent lack of ABs) put him in there.

http://baseballprospectus.com/news/images/wbc.CUB.hit

Gio vs. DLS

bhoov — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 17:47:15 -0000

Interesting discussion of Gio vs. DLS over at Sickels site. It's not his opinions but part of the community projection they're doing over there. They ranked DLS the #34 prospect in baseball. Gio hasn't been ranked yet, but will probably wind up top 40 or so. Interestingly the AL Central is noticeably weak with only guys that played very little (Porcello and Moustakas) ahead of DLS.

http://www.minorleagueball.com/story/2007/12/18/222422/57

I think the oft repeated mantra that we are competing against teams with loaded farm systems no longer applies. Now if we switch that mantra to teams with young talent (esp. Cleveland) it may be accurate. One intersting development is that MCab hasn't been signed long term and I haven't even heard talk of negotiations.

How bad were we at LF, 3B, SS and CF

bhoov — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 04:25:35 -0000

Last year our LFers hit .256/.332/.399/.731. Of course once Mack was traded it was sig. worse than that. So .249/.342/.428/.770 would be a very nice upgrade. The AL average for LF is .275 .335 .426.

Amazingly our CFers posted an incredibly putrid .247/.308/.320/.628 line. Average for CF is .272 .340 .414 .754. An average everyday CF would probably be a 5 win upgrade (Mike Cameron are you out there?)!

3B? .221/.275/.367/.642 (remember Crede sucked before going under the knife and when Fields went to LF gonzalez and Cintron replaced him). Still, that is amazingly bad. Average is .266 .334 .427 .761 (of course that includes A-rod).

SS: .232 .279 .380 .659

Summing up
SS: .659
3b: .642
CF: .628
LF: .731

That is frankly stunningly bad. If Fields, Quentin and Cabrera meet their projections we're about 10 wins better.