Happy New Year! First things first, I'd like to thank the Fighting Illini for proving every Missouri fan's point. Now we just need Virginia Tech to beat the crap out of Kansas, and 2008 will be off to a superb start.
Yes, I'm still bitter. Moving on...
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Jermaine Dye's preview is now up. I feel compelled to point out that I'm making my projections before checking the Bill James Handbook, because so far my gut feeling is eerily similar to that computer model, for both Dye and
Mark Buehrle.
For instance, we both settled on a .265 batting average for Dye, and our OBPs are a point off. Both the BJH and I pegged Buehrle for 24 homers allowed, with walk and strikeout totals one off. The difference in WHIP: 0.01.
Hopefully we'll see more variety, because this isn't fun.
Another non-main-blog-related note: I
compiled all Sox photoshop jobs from the year in the Sox Machine MySpace blog area. I still don't think I've topped the
anti-Justin Morneau propaganda poster yet.
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Scott Merkin offers his
look ahead to the new year. First, note these adjacent grafs:
As the lineup currently stands, either Owens or Orlando Cabrera, the team's new addition at shortstop, would hit at the top of the order. But the White Sox envisioned Cabrera as the perfect second hitter and are looking for a little better on-base potential than Owens' .324 on-base percentage in 2007.
And that conundrum brings the White Sox back to the pursuit of a veteran outfielder. The free agent avenue appears to have been exhausted, with the pursuit of Coco Crisp or Willy Taveras via trade as possibilities.
Coco Crisp, 2006-07: .324 OBP.
Taveras isn't an awful idea, but he's not a solution, either. Before going to Coors Field, he had OPSes of .666 and .671 the two prior seasons in Houston.
Owens' OPS after his second call-up: 672. He helps hit lefties, but he's another batting average-dependent guy who could tank in a snap.
Theoretically, Taveras (.417 OBP against lefties) and Owens (.351 OBP against righties after his second call-up) could form a decent platoon, but 2007 was the first year that Taveras didn't experience reverse splits. Historically, he's worse against lefties, so there's no reason for the Sox to trade anything of worth for what seems to essentially be a lateral move. If the Rockies aren't giving him away, then I don't see why the Sox would try to take him on.
Of course, further down in the article...
[Torii] Hunter's choice threw the White Sox offseason plan out of whack,
ultimately leaving the White Sox general manager still pursuing an
outfield upgrade.
My rooting interests for 2008:
- Interesting baseball from the White Sox. I'm not saying great baseball, but last year, I used tens of thousands of words to basically say "same sh-t, different day." I don't want to have to do that again.
- A tank job from Hunter.
I have nothing against Hunter, aside from his stealing the Gold Glove away from Aaron Rowand in 2005. I just want people around the Sox organization to
stop moaning about him, and the only way that'll happen is if Hunter makes the same impact in his Anaheim debut as Gary Matthews Jr. did last year.