why yes, yes he is

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Indeed.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

That's certainly an opinion one can have.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Did anyone see Baez snatch that ball and get the guy trying to round third today? I'm not sure theres many other SS that make that play.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Terrible thread

He has the chance to be. Too many errors for now though.

Moncada, however, is the best 3B in chicago.

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That infield over-all is one of the best two way infields in all of baseball. Even with Sanchez in it. I gotta give him some credit though. He is a sort of spark-plug for this team and does a very good job at second base. He turns as good a double play as there is in baseball. His positioning and timing to take the throw and with the runner bearing down on him still almost always get a strong accurate throw to first. It is nice to see that because a lot of 2nd basemen cannot do that well.

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

The way I read statistics, I think that Anderson today, may be eligible for the batting title in the AL. Moncada right now has seven more ABs than Anderson and he is the 6th leading hitter in the AL. Anderson is now hitting .332 which is higher than the number one guy in the AL. Pretty nice to have your short-stop and 3B in the top echelons in baseball. Add in Abreu who is the best hitting 1B in the AL and you really have a wrecking crew offensively in your infield.

Bring up Robert next season and plug him into the middle of this line-up and next year is going to be great fun to watch. Add in Mercedes, Sheets, Madrigal next year or in 2021 and add some starting pitching, and we very well could be looking at a championship or two in the very near future. I am not an optimistic guy when it comes to the White Sox because of Reinsdorf and he still has the key to all of this with the requirement that he spend some significant money for pitching but this is very possible.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Ha-Ha Clinton Dix is now the best SS in Chicago.

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"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

See we can agree!

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

Baez is a terrific and gifted short-stop. He is a natural at the position. For the record, I think that Anderson is playing out of position. I always thought he is a natural center fielder. In a way Moncada was miscast as a 2nd baseman also and the move to 3rd put him at a position that he was well suited for. He is truly a very good defensive 3rd baseman and a mediocre to average 2nd baseman.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

13 errors. 5th worst 3rd baseman in MLB. Not to mention it's only in 100 games

Get out of here with your advanced statistics, Nardi.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Errors are not the definitive measurement of defensive ability. Moncada has a lot of range at 3rd base and throws on the run much better than a ton of 3rd basemen. He made a couple of plays just yesterday that most major 3rd basemen would never have made and would have gone for base hits normally. One was on a swinging bunt where he had to come in fast, field, and throw a ball with zip on it to first. Many 3rd basemen would have either had to eat the ball when they got it or get it and make a throwing error to first. Another came when he ranged into the hole on a slow ground ball, pick it in front of Anderson, and throw a dart to Abreu. That was impressive in that if Anderson picks that ball up and threw it would have been too late and the batter would have gotten an infield hit.

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Leading the entire al in batting average now

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Also leads the entire MLB in errors. There's a nonchalance that I've seen this year. It's unacceptable.

That's a good take, Nardi. . Nonchalance is a good word for it. There is also way too much acceptance of stupid misplays all around. The dugout reminds me of a frat party and that game last night was illustrative of it. Garcia's wrong break on a ball in center field was met with laughter in the dugout by he and his teammates. The next inning he misplayed a ball in right center field. Palka is a joke in the outfield. All the while there is no coaching going on whatsoever. Hell, the base coaches themselves are bad.

The Sox need a housecleaning in the coaching staff, starting with Renteria.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

I'll still take Baez. If Anderson continues to do this next year, I'll reconsider.

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Sherman remarked, "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" Grant looked up. "Yes," he replied, followed by a puff. "Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though."

Championship teams do not have butchers at SS. It's great to see TIMMAY be a great hitter....but I'd still take Baez

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Javier "elite defensive ss, makes plays no one else makes" Baez 15 errors

Tim "horrible defensive ss" Anderson 24 errors

if errors are your thing

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I haven't read any stats on this but I think since the advent of the really juiced baseball and the defensive shifting that is going on across the major leagues this year, my guess is that errors are probably greatly up this season. In that game yesterday, Anderson went in the hole, backhanded the ball jumped in the air and DIDN'T THROW THE BASEBALL TO FIRST. Why? Because where he got the ball was in short left field and even though he has a gun for an arm he knew that no way could he throw the runner out.

Frankly, as someone who loves defense, I hate watching today's baseball because of the ball itself. I even think that the umpires have been told not to call marginal pitches strikes because the league wants more scoring. That umpire yesterday was an example of it.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Please note that that 24 errors leads all of baseball by 5.

Javier Baez's error total and fielding percentage are in the middle of the pack for shortstops. He also has the second highest Range Factor for SS... which has been known to saddle players with errors they don't really deserve from time to time.

Baez is a very good defensive SS. And there is room for improvement.

_________________
Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

Too many of Anderson's errors in my judgement are because of bad positioning and footwork. He is not a good defensive short-stop and I doubt that he got much coaching as such while in youth baseball and high school.

_________________
An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Nice sin of omission there. Who is right behind him on range?

I don't think Anderson is currently some OMG, Super awesome defender right now but perceptions in this town are severely skewed.

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

Kind of. There are some who think Baez is a God and the best tagger ever to have worn a baseball mitt. They will make up some sort of metric in that regard so he can be "the best" at something other than losing his helmet on swings. But, thats what Cubs fans and media have done for years.

Anderson is having a wonderful offensive season, but he is just above a butcher at SS. His defense needs to drastically improve if the Sox are to become a Championship team over the next few years.

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Fair call out. Unintentional...I assumed he would not be there and didn't look.

That being said, the 'ratio' would still fall in Baez's favor. Higher RF and lower errors.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

They are when he lollygags a throw and it goes sailing. He's done a lot of that this year. If you have time to set, then set.

Is range factor affected by shifts? In other words, if Baez is playing in a better position (instructed by the coaches), and he therefore gets to more balls than if he were in the standard SS position, does that help his RF or does it not matter?

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Yes, RF is simply A+PO/GP.

Baez does get in shallow right against pull heavy lefties, for example. That could help him versus a SS whose team would rather move the 3B over to shallow right and keep the SS on the left side of second.

That being said, the Cubs shift less than almost any other team in baseball, so this might actually hurt Baez' RF versus other SS.

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Rick Hahn is the best GM in baseball.

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