One of the most exciting things about the buildup to a season is anticipating the debut of your favorite team's new acquisitions. This year, White Sox fans can look forward to seeing Jeff Samardzija and Melky Cabrera, among others, in a White Sox uniform for the first time (well, at least in meaningful games).
Read MoreA continuation from Part One. As in that article, questions and answers are paraphrased as accurately as was possible from my notes.
Question 6. Kevin of White Sox and Stuff asked if Rodon’s path to the majors had been determined yet - starter in AAA first, breaking in through the bullpen, etc.
Hahn’s Answer: This has yet to be decided, actually...
Read MoreI was privileged enough to be included on a conference call interview of Rick Hahn and Buddy Bell with a number of White Sox blogs on Tuesday. While I didn't record the conversation verbatim, I took notes as best I could and I believe there was a lot to be learned from what each White Sox executive had to say. Here's the first part of what Rick Hahn said and what I took away from it - the conclusion and Buddy Bell's interview to follow in another article*.
Read MoreDon’t you love spring training? There’s baseball, live baseball, live baseball with real MLB players that I can see on my TV. It’s wonderful. It’s also a time where other than a few positional battles and cool storylines (there’s a ambidextrous pitcher!) there really isn’t much to talk about of much importance.
Read MoreThose of you out there who listen to our podcasts are probably used to hearing me complain about defensive metrics. In the end, my objections to defensive metrics are limited in their scope - I just think they should be approached as pieces of data, rather than definitive, precise measurements. However, that does not mean that I don't care about defense, or that I don't think it's important. For a long time, defense was so underrated that it was one of the market inefficiencies that Billy Beane tried to exploit. Picked up off the scrap heap, J.B. Shuck could provide a lot of value with his glove this year - especially given the White Sox' recent history.
Read MoreAs Rick Hahn pointed out, the most important thing to take away from the various AL Central projections is that it's probably going to be a tight race. Sure, if you take two teams with "true" 81-win talent, give one good luck and the other bad they may wind up very far apart. But right now we don't know where that luck is going to fall, and most projection systems seem to think that the Indians, Tigers, White Sox, and Royals are pretty close in terms of present talent. Over the course of 162 games, injuries will likely play a huge role in differentiating between these four teams. While there are certain things teams can do to mitigate against injury - Herm Schneider is considered one of the best in the business at doing just that - the best thing a front office can do is prepare as many Plan Bs as possible in the form of depth. So which organization is in the best shape in terms of backup plans should Plan A go awry?
Read MoreRick Hahn is known for at least outwardly broadcasting a very aggressive negotiating position, but at this stage, I want to grant him the benefit of the doubt and conclude that there is not a verifiable soul working in an MLB front office that wants to give up anything of substance for Dayan Viciedo. In which case, probably good that they didn't give him 500 more PA's and a gang of innings in the outfield.
Read MorePart of the trouble projecting Sale is expecting regression from a miracle. He had blown away expectations just by being as effective as he was out of the gate, but the nutty pitch development ability from which his slider was born never stopped being at play. 'Sale working on using his changeup vs. lefties' seemed like a space-filler offseason story about a guy who was already death to lefties, but then he went and reduced his OPS against them to sub-.400 levels. Despite only having three pitches, Sale has never been as simple as just betting on his ability to repeat prior performances. 178 ERA+ is too preposterous to become his new baseline, but he's not just going to zap back to the guy he was in 2012-13 either; he's evolved
Read MoreThe White Sox are planning to compete for a playoff spot in 2015; this much is clear. There is intense optimism around the team, culminating in a SoxFest that seemed, aside from being a celebration of the 2005 team, a love fest for the moves Rick Hahn & Co. have made this offseason.
This is cool. It’s been a while since the Sox were a contending team, and even longer since they made the playoffs.
Read MoreStashed away in the loathsome wilderness of the National League for all of his 11 years in the majors, Adam LaRoche has been more or less interchangeable in my consciousness with Nate McLouth, Nuke LaLoosh, Chesty LaRue, The Mighty Boosh, and Lyle Overbay. And yet, he's been plugging away as the typical adequate hitting first baseman we theorize about but never pay to watch. He owns a career .263/.340/.472, 113 wRC+ batting line that he's jumped back and forth across like a metronome.
Read MoreI have been operating under the assumption that since his shoulder injury in 2012, John Danks is - essentially - a replacement level player moving forward until proven otherwise. This article is inspired by the fact that reader Dean challenged this assumption in one of his comments. Rightfully so - my assumption is largely based on the fact that Danks' velocity has been down, I have perceived his stuff not to be as sharp, and...well, he has posted an ERA of 4.75 and 4.74 in the last two years.
Read MoreI have a smattering of thoughts that aren’t worthy of a full post’s energy.
Read MoreIt’s pitching depth week at The Catbird Seat! In consecutive days you’ve had Ethan and Nick explaining the problem that is the White Sox rotational depth. To keep with the trend, let’s continue addressing, but let’s also use a different approach. Though the Sox rotation is certainly not strong front to back, it is not ill equipped to enter a season representing a playoff hopeful team.
Read MoreIn 2013, the White Sox were really, really bad. There were seemingly very few bright spots. Surprising as it me be, however, the White Sox were second in MLB in pitching (Baseball-Reference) WAR (which goes to show how incredibly bad they were offensively and defensively, seeing as they finished with the third-worst record in baseball). After the loss of Jake Peavy and Hector Santiago, however, the back end of the White Sox pitching staff sputtered, and the team fell to 20th in MLB in pitching bWAR, despite their top two starters combining for the third best bWAR for any pair of rotation-mates in baseball. As it turns out, the combination of John Danks, Hector Noesi, Scott Carroll, and the worst bullpen in baseball do not combine for a good pitching staff.
Read MoreThe Baseball Writers Association of America did not undergo any sort of massive sea change in their voter base from last year. The voting process, which reduced the candidacy window from 15 qualified years on the ballot to 10, did not inspire some great urgency in the nation, and thus we got a fairly similar retelling of persistent Hall of Fame voting issues. Uber-dominant titans of the steroid-era strangely ignored (Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Gary Sheffield, and to a lesser degree, Sammy Sosa*), borderline cases with strong career narratives slide in without issue (John Smoltz, Craig Biggio), while equal candidates with vague PED suspicion slog their way through slowly (Jeff Bagwell, Mike Piazza), and we're just sort of thankful that super-obvious first ballot guys don't get screwed up (Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson). And why the hell can't Curt Schilling get a foothold?
Read MoreA few weeks ago I briefly mused on Twitter that if Ben Zobrist is on the market, the White Sox should make an attempt to add him. Then, at the end of December, the Rays signed Asdrubal Cabrera which lead to the inference that Zobrist was going to be traded, and possibly to the White Sox. Zobrist is owed $7.5 million for 2015, what will be his age-35 season, after which he will be a free agent. Primarily a second baseman, Zobrist is famous for his versatility, playing all three outfield spots and even some shortstop last year. His offensive profile is also of the Little Bit Of Everything variety, being a switch hitter with doubles power, decent average, and walks. With the acquisitions of Melky Cabrera, Jeff Samardzija, David Robertson, Adam LaRoche, and Zach Duke, the White Sox are clearly trying to compete in 2015. Zobrist would address a position of weakness while providing depth virtually everywhere on the diamond. Should they do it?
Read MoreIf you're looking for a reason why the White Sox are not being immediately crowned as the conquering heroes of the AL Central after their OFFSEASON CHAMPIONSHIP, look no further than vaunted prospect Avisail Garcia. While the Sox have been pushing Garcia as a foundational since his arrival, the projection systems that push around tepid win expectations anticipate Garcia as a complete zero, or at the very best, below-average.
Read MoreRick Hahn is an ever-present character in all White Sox dealings. He's looming not far from the foreground in every offseason story; it feels unnecessary to dedicate our entire focus to him above the actual players coming in. To do so, would be a furthering of the ever-present cult of the executive, where our fascination and praise has diverted from world-class athletes and their craft. Instead of admiring the works of art, or even the artists, we ogle the work of the curator and then take some bizarre fascination in the operating budget they had to secure the priceless. No thoughts of watching Melky Cabrera popping singles all over the yard, just contemplation of 2 WAR for three years for $42 million. Is it worth the investment for a famous tycoon?
Read MoreIn the offseason after the 2013 season, we saw two Scott Boras clients - Stephen Drew and Kendrys Morales - turn down qualifying offers and play hardball for a long term contract for big dollars, only to have it blow up in their face. Each wound up taking a 1-year deal worth less than the QO after the season started, and then posted abysmal numbers. Boras made himself the biggest agent in sports in part because he knew that if he stuck by his demands for his players, one team would blink and come up with the money. But with these two players, the strategy didn't work out at all. Jon Lester has signed with the Cubs for 6-years, $155 million, while the number being floated as Scherzer's demand was $200 million. Is anybody actually going to come close to that number?
Read MoreThe White Sox are holding a press conference this afternoon to announce the acquisitions of Jeff Samardizja, Melky Cabrera, and David Robertson. That is good news; three good players, filling holes at three important positions.
Read MoreThe Catbird Seat is a White Sox blog by White Sox fans that focuses on intelligent and humorous baseball commentary. Brought to you by ESPN's SweetSpot Network.
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