The Chicago Shite Sox

EDIT: Mods, please remove the version of this topic from Anything Goes


Check out the headline

http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=291618

No relief as Shite Sox blow lead in Kansas City

 

Re: I Hope This Is A Typo

Great stuff! Lot of truth in that headline.

 

Re: I Hope This Is A Typo

Editors? We don't need no stinkin' editors. I don't need to hire no stinkin' editors.

 

It's an appropriate name for a team that signs Scott Podsednik off the scrap heap and instantly makes him a starting centerfielder.

 

With the alliteration, I kind of prefer this name.

BTW, where are all of you who kept telling me that the Lee for Pods... & Viazcaino trade was a good one because they won a title.

 

Um, it was a good trade because they won a title. If you hadn't noticed, left field for the White Sox (Carlos Quentin) is not a problem. They're getting just as much production for a far cheaper rate than Lee.

Re-signing Podsednik has nothing to do with the Lee trade. It has everything to do with the Sox being unable to find a suitable replacement Aaron Roward in center field after trading him for Jim Thome -- itself a good deal in terms of offensive production, but one that was hurt when Brian Anderson failed to develop as expected to replace Rowand. (And Anderson and Dwayne Wise being hurt this year.)

 

Since they've finally made the correction, here's a screen grab to preserve it.

 

It was a bad trade, and they won a title anyway. If you have a talent like Lee that you don't need, because you can somehow prophesize that the D-Backs will gift-wrap a young star for you, your job as a GM is to get maximum return for him, not a corner OF who can't hit and a generic MR.

 

Scott Podsednik was one of the most valuable players on the team that season. They needed a speedy leadoff hitter who could get the offense going - and since his injury plagued 2006 season they need another one. It was a good trade because it was the piece that fundamentally changed that team into one that hit lots of home runs but could also play small ball when necessary. Also, the salary relief that trade brought was important. It allowed them to sign A.J. who was a big upgrade at catcher and another couple of players who I'm blanking on right now.

 

Podsednick was not one of their best players, by any means. It's not that hard to find fast guys who can hit .270 with no power. He was a half step up from Juan Pierre - non-200 hit version. They fell victim to a very clever Brewers strategy back then which was to rack up saves and steals in mediocre players by increasing their attempts (see Kolb, Danny), and then selling high. They tried it with Brady Clark the next year, but he just got thrown out every time. I'm not saying you shouldn't trade Lee, you just have to get back value. And if you think that the White Sox won the WS because they didn't hit HRs, we'll just have to disagree.

 

The White Sox hit 200 home runs in 2005, good for 4th in the league.

They scored 290 runs off of home runs out of 741 total (9th out of 14, 30 below the league average). That's 39.1% of their runs from HRs.

The AL as a whole scored 3964 runs off of HRs, out of 10790 total runs, or 36.7% of their total.

The White Sox were *more* dependent on home runs than the average team.

They did lead the league in sacrifice bunts, but they were 7th in sac flies. They led the league in caught stealings and were sixth in strikeouts (i.e. 8th in putting the ball in play). They were 7th in the league in "productive outs" by baseball-reference's standard. They were 7th in the league in percentage of runners scored from third with less than two outs, and 11th in total runners scored that way. They were second to last in runners moved from 2nd to 3rd with no outs.

Anyone who believes the White Sox were a small-ball team in 2005 is buying a load of horsehockey.

And meanwhile, it's irrelevant because their offense was downright bad in the playoffs. They won the World Series because their pitching went nuts for a few key weeks.

 

Scott Podsednick has a really hot wife.

Like a cheese cracker.