Black Sox Blog

This doesn’t seem to want to go away.  Frank Thomas was annoyed at how he was let go this season.  Can’t say that I blame him because he’s only the best White Sox hitter ever.  Anyway, he feels he was just sort of lost in the shuffle when he should at least had a sit down with someone prior to be cut.  On the other hand, he was paid $3.5 million as part of his buyout, which is a pretty good parting package no matter how you look at it.

Now White Sox GM Kenny Williams raised the bar by calling Frank Thomas an idiot.  Thomas hasn’t seemed to want to let it go, and Williams almost to appears to have snapped.  You’d expect more from a GM, but I’m not really familiary with Williams temperment.

It’ll be interesting to see how Thomas fires back.

Boy did I pick a good year to start this blog, which celebrates it’s one year birthday today.  It was a blast last season documenting the first World Series in a long, long time for the Sox.  Thanks for everyone who stops by.

Here’s a good story on Jim Thome from AP Writer Rick Gano.  I know we gave up a lot for him, but if the White Sox end up repeating, one of the reasons will most likely be the trade for Jim Thome.

PECOTA isn’t too optimistic.  Probably a blend of his age and last year’s injury, his weighted average mean has him at only 341 at bats and 18 homeruns with a .263/.386/.505 line.  If that’s where Thome ends up, this could be a disappointing season.  The good news is, Thome has a 26% breakout rate and a 42% improve rate, so BP is hedging themselves here by saying Thome has a solid chance of beating his projections.  The bad news is, he has a 39% collapse rating.

I’m expecting 40 homeruns from Thome this year.  He’ll be benefiting from being a DH so he shouldn’t have as much wear and tear throughout the season and in addition, he’s playing in a homerun ballpark.

These days, a .694 OPS is rather pedestrian.  It’s pretty bad and it would put a player well beyond the top 50 in either league.    On the 2005 World Champion White Sox team, a rather weak offensive team in it’s own right, a .694 OPS would have put a player in dead last in OPS amongst the team’s starters.  It would have fallen just below Scott Podsedniks’ .700, an OPS+ of 86.

On the 1906 White Sox, a .694 OPS led the team.  Now you’re beginning to get a feel for why this team was labeled the hitless wonders.  By 1906, Hall of Famer George Davis was near the end of a solid career and in a lot of ways, he was the offense for the White Sox in 1906.  He led the team in doubles, RBI’s, batting average, and slugging percentage, but only finished in the top ten in the American League in one of those categories (he was seventh in doubles).

Keep in mind though, Davis played shortstop, a position in that day and age where a slick fielder was just as valuable as a solid hitter.  George Davis combined both of those attributes.  He finished his career with 66 fielding runs above average (adjusted for the season) although this number is skewed because of two horrible seasons late in his career.  Throw in a career equivalent average of .289 over a 20 year career and you have a Hall of Fame shortstop.  In Bill James’ Historical Baseball Abstract, Davis is listed as the fourteenth best shortstop of all time and only one of those, Honus Wagner (who tops the list for now) played in the same era as Davis.  So for the the first couple of decades after the leagues unified, Davis was the second best shortstop of all time.

He also had a solid postseason.  He hit .308 in three games and drove in six runs.  In games five and the clincher in game six, he had nearly identical games.  He had two hits, two runs and three RBIs.

Here are George Davis’ numbers in 1906:

Games 133
AB 484
Runs 63
Hits 134
Doubles 26
Triples 6
Homeruns 0
RBIs  80
Walks 41
Strikeouts ??
Stolen Bases 27
Caught Stealing ??
BA .277 
OBA .338
SLG% .355
OPS .694
RC 72
RCAA 21
RCAP 22
RC/G 5.17
ISO .079

Pitchers and catchers report for the White Sox tomorrow.  Baseball is here folks, and for the first time in a lot of people’s life times, the White Sox are the defending champs.

Here’s to hoping 2006 is as good as 2005 was.

I found a link to this column over at Baseball Musings.  It looks like Joe Borchard, who never worked out for the White Sox after they picked him 12th overall in the 2000 draft, is looking to play in the Canadian Football League if he can’t secure a spot with the White Sox.  Borchard’s claim to fame (or is that infamy) is that he received the largest draft signing bonus ever ($5.3 million).

Borchard hit 29 homeruns in AAA last year but he also struck out 143 times. His pecota card on Baseball Prospectus doesn’t project too much for him.  You have to get all the way up to the 75th percentile just to find a positive VORP.  Plus I just don’t see the former football player having a spot on a team that Ozzie Guillen’s in charge of.

Ed Walsh made his debut on May 7, 1904 and over the next two seasons got modest time on the mound.  In 1904, he threw in 110 2/3 innings and while he had an ERA of 2.60, that was less then the adjusted league average (ERA+ of 95).  The next year, in 1905, he did a little better in more innings.  He threw 136 2/3 innings with an even better ERA of 2.17 (113 ERA+) and he also got his strikeout  rate up (71 vs.57).

1906 was a breakout year of sorts.  Walsh was second on the team and seventh in the league with a miniscule ERA of 1.88 and he was third in the league in strikeouts with 171.  He was fourth in the league in WHIP (0.981) and he led the league with 10 shutouts.  His record wasn’t all that great (17-13) considering he blanked the other team 10 times, but he got the job done and had a great World Series (two wins, seven hits and one earned run in 17 innings).

After 1906, Ed Walsh went on to have a spectacular, if somewhat short career.  In 1907 and 1908, he logged 422 2/3 and 464 innings respectively.  In 1908, he won 40 games, had 42 complete games and he did it all with a 1.42 ERA and a 0.860 WHIP.

Walsh’s workload dropped in 1909, but he had outstanding seasons in 1910 through 1912.  After that though, he was pretty much done.  He held on for five more seasons but never threw more then 100 innings in any of them.

Ed Walsh’s career ERA of 1.82 is the best of any player in modern baseball history.  Only one other player, Addie Joss, had an ERA below 2.00 (his was 1.89).  Walsh’s ERA+ of 145 is the seventh best mark of all time, just ahead of Roger Clemens who has a 143 ERA+ to date.  Walsh’s career WHIP of 1.00 is the second best mark of all time, just behind Addie Joss.

Just a quick note on Ed Walsh and Addie Joss, the two squared off near the end of the 1908 season on October 2 and the game is billed as one of the greatest pitching duals of all time.  Walsh gave up a single run on four hits and Joss pitched a perfect game.  The sole run scored on a passed ball.

Here’s a look at Ed Walsh’s numbers in 1906:

Wins 17
Losses 13
Games 41
Games Started 31
Complete Games 24
Innings Pitched 278.1
Hits 215
Runs 83
Earned Runs 58
Walks 58
Strikeouts 171
ERA 1.88
Runs Saved Above Average 15
Shutouts 10
H/9 6.95
BR/9 9.05
SO/9 5.53
BB/9 1.88
SO/BB 2.95
Neutral Wins 18
Neutral Losses 12

Here’s a nice column on the White Sox outfield situation.  I’ve always been a big Brian Anderson fan and thought the trade for Scott Podsednik was a waste so I’m glad he’s finally getting his shot.

This Baltimore Sun column talks about a possible trade brewing between the White Sox and the Philadelphia Phillies.  According to the rumors, the Phillies would send us Bobby Abreau and Gavin Floyd and we’d send Jermaine Dye and Jose Contreras.

This trade would be huge.  Abreau is one of the most underrated great hitters in the league (he finally got some cred after winning the homerun derby at last year’s All Star Game).  And trading Contreras would open up a rotation spot for Brandon McCarthy.

Part way through last season, the White Sox signed Ozzie Guillen to a contract extension.  The White Sox were cruising to a division championship, and everything looked good for White Sox fans.  I was critical of the extension because I’ve never liked Ozzie Guillen’s managerial style and that he seemed to catch lightening in the bottle with the surprise team of 2005.  I was worried they wouldn’t get it done in the playoffs and we’d be stuck with Guillen for an extended period of time.

I was almost right, but not quite in the way I thought.  The White Sox almost blew their chance of even making the playoffs.  Although once they did, they cruised the playoffs and the near historic choke was long forgotten.

In a lot of ways, Sox fans have reason to be happy because the 2006 version of the White Sox “should” be better then last year’s.  Javier Vazquez is a step up from Orlando Hernandez and this year the Sox have two certified mashers in Jim Thome and Paul Konerko.  My worry is that Ozzie Guillen tries to coach the 2006 version of the Sox the same we he coached the 2005 Sox.    There’s no reason Scott Podsednik should be getting on base then summarily getting gunned down when he has two big bats behind him.  Hopefully we won’t see as much bunting either.  And if I hear Joe Morgan mention “Smart Ball” one more time, I’m going to vomit.

The point of this column?  I’m getting there.  White Sox MLB.com beat writer Scott Merkin wrote a column on that undefinable thing called “team chemistry” as if that was what won them their first World Series in 88 years.  While it helps that everyone gets along, it’s not the be all and end all.  Also keep in mind that most everyone on the team is happy when you’re winning.  if the Sox get off to a slow start next year, we’ll see if they’ll be able to “stick together” and get the job done.

Everyone who is anyone is gearing up for the 2006 MLB season. My first step is going to be purchasing my Chicago White Sox Opening Day tickets. It is a tradition in my family for us all to take the day off of school or work to head down to the US Cellular Field for the White Sox Opening Day. Even when they were playing at Comiskey Park, we’d all hop in the car and get to the park early to celebrate the return of baseball.

This year’s White Sox schedule looks exciting with the White Sox meeting the Arizona Diamondbacks six times. The Chicago White Sox regular season home opener will be April 2, 2006 against the Cleveland Indians. After the Sox winning the World Series in 2005, fans are going to have some pretty high expectations for 2006. Some say White Sox tickets sales will be up for every game no matter who we are playing. Can you imagine a sold out Sox versus Colorado Rockies game?

April’s schedule begins with White Sox versus Atlanta Braves at Turner Field, three Royals games in Kansas City and I’ll be buying Tigers tickets in Detroit for the grand finale of our first regular season road trip. We have a three game road trip to battle the Seattle Mariners at Safeco Field. Hopefully there will be some May flowers blooming when we host the Chicago Cubs and Oakland A’s. Come July, I will be wishing I had bought White Sox box seats as the weather heats up and we head out to the ballpark with our tickets to Baltimore Orioles versus Sox games from the 3rd to the 6th.

All things considered we have a pretty great schedule and with Joe Borchard, Tadahito Iguchi and Pablo Ozuna on the field we should be able to repeat our 2005 record. Mark Buehrle, Freddy Garcia and Javier Vazquez are our top pitchers and we are looking for them to be big producers at-bat as well. It is hard to imagine our pitching core needing improvement, but hard work is being done to try and repeat a winning season. I will probably attend more Chicago White Sox games this year than I have in many years.

In Illinois there are plenty of sports teams to keep a baseball fan busy in the off season. But, going to Chicago Bears home games or watching Chicago Bulls basketball and Blackhawks hockey games on TV, really never compares to watching my favorite baseball team try to make it to the World Series year after year. White Sox baseball games are a part of my history and of my future. I bought World Series tickets in 2005 and spent the next two days celebrating with friends in Detroit. The White Sox have the potential to dominate all of the more powerful teams, so you might find me joining the Sox on the road with New York Yankees tickets, Atlanta Braves baseball games and tickets to Houston Astros home games.