Tag / Tyler Flowers

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#74 – Brent Lillibridge

lillibridgeName: Brent Lillibridge

Rank: 74

Position: 2B/OF

Years With White Sox: 2009-2012

Brent Lillibridge was acquired by the White Sox, along with Tyler Flowers and 2 minor leaguers, from the Braves in exchange for Javier Vazquez and Boone Logan on December 4, 2008.  He split the 2009 season between Triple A Charlotte and Chicago, hitting an anemic .158 in 95 at bats spread across 46 games.

Lillibridge stuck with the White Sox in 2010, improving his average to .224 in only 64 games.  2011 was his best season, setting career highs in home runs, RBIs, batting average, and OPS.  On April 11, he hit the 10,000th home run in White Sox history off Dallas Braden and the A’s.

Lillibridge struggled again in 2012, with his average dropping down to .175 before the June 24th trade that sent him, along with Zach Stewart, to the Red Sox for Kevin Youkilis.

Lillibridge’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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iTunes Top 200: #41 – 46

itunes_image3 years ago, we first counted down the then Top 100 songs in my iTunes library. Since that time, I’ve successfully managed to migrate my music collection to a new PC with the stats intact. So, I figured it was time to take another look, expanding out the field to the top 200 songs, based on number of plays as of January 1, 2016.

With 3/4ths of the rankings completed, we kick off the look at the final quarter today with the first 10 songs ranked from #46 through #41.

#46: Elvis Presley – An American Trilogy
iTunes stats: 24 plays, most recently on 12/3/2015
Previous ranking: #96

An impressive jump in the ratings for this medley of three 19th century songs: Dixie, a blackface minstrel song that became the unofficial anthem of the Confederacy since the Civil War; All My Trials, originally a Bahamian lullaby, but closely related to African American spirituals; and The Battle Hymn of the Republic, the marching song of the Union Army during the Civil War.

#46: Divinyls – I Touch Myself
iTunes stats: 24 plays, most recently on 9/28/2015
Previous ranking: #41

The sole US hit for the Australian band which formed in 1980.

#46: Color Me Badd – All 4 Love
iTunes stats: 24 plays, most recently on 10/3/2015
Previous ranking: Unranked

The highest ranking song that did not make the cut three years ago, thanks to its use as at bat music for former White Sox catcher Tyler Flowers.

#46:  The Cast Of Buffy The Vampire Slayer – End Credits (Broom Dance/Grr Argh)
iTunes stats: 24 plays, most recently on 11/9/2014
Previous ranking: #41

A jazzed up version of the ending theme from the musical episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

#46: The Beatles – Can’t Buy Me Love
iTunes stats: 24 plays, most recently on 9/17/2015
Previous ranking: #41

This 1964 hit had the biggest jump to number one (from #27) until Billboard began using SoundScan for their charts.

#44: Tegan and Sara – I Hear Noises
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#120 – Tyler Flowers

tyler-flowers

Name: Tyler Flowers

Rank: 120

Position: C

Years With White Sox: 2009-2015

Tyler Flowers came to the White Sox following the 2008 season, acquired from the Braves, along with Jon Gilmore, Santos Rodriguez, and Brent Lillibridge, for Javier Vazquez and Boone Logan.  Flowers performed well in 2009, splitting time between Double A Birmingham and Triple A Charlotte, hitting .297 with 15 home runs.  He earned a call-up to the big leagues when rosters expanded on September 1, but his hot hitting did not follow.  He appeared in 10 games for the White Sox, hitting .188 without driving in a run.

Flowers opened the 2010 season back in Charlotte, where, unfortunately, his hitting woes continued.  Despite a .220 average, he got another late season call-up, this time garnering only 1 hit in 11 at bats.

Flowers returned to Charlotte to start the 2011 season, but returned to the big leagues in July when Ramon Castro went down with an injury.  Flowers got a chance to start every day in August when A.J. Pierzynski got hurt, enabling him to garner both his first home run and, later in the month, his first grand slam.

2012 saw Flowers break camp with the White Sox for the first time, becoming the backup to Pierzynski.  Appearing in 52 games, he managed to “raise” his average to .213, but saw his on base percentage fall below .300 for the first time in his short career.  Despite the troubling offensive performance he had put up to date, the White Sox decided it was time to let Flowers take control behind the plate and they allowed A.J. Pierzynski to leave as a free agent following the season.

As the starter in 2013, Flowers continued to struggle offensively, finishing with a batting average below .200, though a shoulder injury ended his season early, limiting him to 84 games.  With his shoulder recovered, he returned behind the plate as the primary receiver in 2014, appearing in 127 games and rebounding to a .241 average, though his OPS failed to break .700.

2015 was more of the same for Flowers, appearing in 112 games and struggling offensively, finishing with a .239 average and a weak .652 OPS.  Following the season, the White Sox decided not to tender him a contract for 2016, and his tenure on the south side came to an end one month ago.

Flowers’ numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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by jim

Wilted Flowers

TFlowThe White Sox made another move behind the plate yesterday, declining to offer Tyler Flowers a contract for the 2016 season and making the veteran a free agent.  Flowers, acquired in the 2008 trade that sent Javier Vazquez to the Braves, became the starting catcher in 2013 after A.J. Pierzynski left as a free agent.  In his three seasons as the primary receiver, he failed to post an OPS over .700 while the White Sox averaged over 91 losses.

There is still a small possibility that Flowers could return, though it seems unlikely.  As a free agent, he can resign with the White Sox at a smaller salary than he would be entitled to through the arbitration process.  However, early reports from Bruce Levine claim that the White Sox will move quickly on shoring up the catching situation once Flowers is officially off the roster.  Combined with the signing of Alex Avila last week, the White Sox are starting to look like a much different team heading into 2016.

Flowers’ numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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by jim

Remaking The White Sox… Again

Alex-AvilaRick Hahn made his first move in remaking the White Sox for 2016 by replacing Geovany Soto, who signed with the Angels a day earlier, with Alex Avila, the former Tigers backstop.  Injuries have sapped much of Avila’s offensive production the last few years, culminating in a .191 average in only 67 games last season.  Defensively, though, he remains top notch and should provide an upgrade over both Soto and incumbent starter Tyler Flowers.

The obvious hope is that the White Sox medical team, led by Herm Schneider, can keep Avila on the field, allowing him to regain some of the offensive stroke that has been missing in recent years.  In doing so, Hahn must hope that he has plugged the whole behind the plate that has plagued the White Sox since A.J. Pierzynski left as a free agent following the 2012 season.

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2015 All Star Break Batting Leaders

MLB: Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles DodgersNow that the All Star Game is behind us and we await the start of the second half of the season, let’s take a look at the first half offensive leaders, if you can call them that, for the 21 games I attended:

Home Runs

Name Total
Gordon Beckham 3
Brian Dozier 3
Jose Abreu 2
Josh Donaldson 2
Avisail Garcia 2
Alexei Ramirez 2
Adam LaRoche 2

Hits

Name Total
Alexei Ramirez 23
Melky Cabrera 19
Jose Abreu 18
Avisail Garcia 17
Adam Eaton 17

Runs

Name Total
Jose Abreu 11
Avisail Garcia 9
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Mix Tape Monday – Volume 5 Revisited

Between 1989, my sophomore year of high school, and 1995, my fourth year of college, I put together a nearly 20 volume collection of mix tapes, containing my favorite songs that I had gathered either from the radio, a cassette tape, or (eventually) CD.  Three years ago, we looked back at all 20 volumes and which of my “favorite” songs I still listened to. Today, we revisit those mix tapes and see how things have changed in the last 3 years.

Volume 5 takes us from the end of my junior year of high school, through the summer, and all the way to spring of my senior year, from mid 1991 through early 1992, and once again features a healthy dose of hair metal and pop.  It also includes the appearance of my first CD player, a Christmas gift in 1991.

Side A

Firehouse – Don’t Treat Me Bad

I haven’t listened to the first hit from Firehouse in nearly 3 years.

2012 iTunes stats: 3 plays

2015 iTunes stats: 5 plays, most recently on 7/11/2012

Color Me Badd – I Wanna Sex You Up

The first hit for ths so-called R&B boy band had a decent increase over the past 3 years.

2012 iTunes stats: 2 plays

2015 iTunes stats: 5 plays, most recently on 3/10/2015

Boyz II Men – Motownphilly

The debut hit from Philadelphia crooners had a healthy 3 play increase since last we checked.

2012 iTunes stats: 1 play

2015 iTunes stats: 4 plays, most recently on 2/14/2015

Motley Crue – Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)

The last hit off of Dr. Feelgood gets a nice increase to keep it in the running for most listened to song.

2012 iTunes stats: 18 plays

2015 iTunes stats: 22 plays, most recently on 2/6/2011

Slaughter – Fly To The Angels

It’s been almost 2 years since I heard the big ballad from the hair band.

2012 iTunes stats: 4 plays

2015 iTunes stats: 6 plays, most recently on 5/21/2013

Boyz II Men – It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye

Big increases for both versions of the cover song originally written for the film Cooley High.

2012 iTunes stats (Radio version): 11 plays

2015 iTunes stats: 15 plays, most recently on 3/14/2014

2012 iTunes stats (Album version): 6 plays

2015 iTunes stats: 13 plays, most recently on 4/3/2015

Salt-N-Pepa – Let’s Talk About Sex

A big three fold increase for the first ladies of rap.

2012 iTunes stats: 3 plays

2015 iTunes stats: 9 plays, most recently on 4/14/2015

Side B

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by jim

Transaction Tree

WhiteSox-rosterA few weeks back, when Corey Kluber won the Cy Young award, a New York time reporter tweeted how the Indians had, through multiple trades, turned Eddie Taubensee’s 1991 roster spot in to Kluber.  The fine folks at Grantland took it a step farther, and looked at the longest such chain for all 30 teams.

The White Sox fall smack dab in the middle of the league, having the 15th longest chain, dating back to the February 8, 1994 signing of amateur free agent Carlos Lee.  Lee made his major league debut on May 7, 1999, and quickly became a mainstay of the White Sox lineup, holding down left field through the 2004 season.  New manager Ozzie Guillen had tired of the station to station team he inherited, and was looking to implement some small ball, so Lee was shipped to the Brewers for a package that included Scott Podsednik and Luis Vizcaino.

Vizcaino spent just the one season with the White Sox, earning a World Series championship ring for his troubles.  With general manager Kenny Williams looking to repeat, he packaged Vizcaino with Orlando Hernandez and outfielder Chris Young in a trade to the Diamondbacks for starting pitcher Javier Vazquez.

Vazquez lasted 3 seasons with the White Sox, up to and including their 2008 AL Central title-winning year.  As the White Sox battled the Twins for the title, Vazquez turned out to be the one weak link in the rotation.  With the season stretching to a 163rd game, Guillen was forced to turn to Vazquez to start the first game of the division series against the Rays.  Vazquez responded to the challenge by giving up 6 runs in 4 1/3 innings, putting his team in an early hole in the best of 5 series.

Feeling that he couldn’t open the 2009 season with Vazquez still on the roster, Kenny Williams moved him, along with Boone Logan, to the Braves for, among others, Brent Lillibridge and Tyler Flowers.  Flowers made his debut in 2009 and became the full time starting catcher in 2013.  His production has been lacking over the course of his major league career, and, should an opportunity to upgrade arise, this chain may come to an end.

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2014 Final Batting Leaders

MLB: Cincinnati Reds at Los Angeles DodgersAnother season has come to a disappointing end, with both Chicago teams left on the outside looking in to the post-season.  Let’s take a look back at the offensive leaders for the 35 games I attended this season.

Home Runs

Name Total
Jose Abreu 6
Alexei Ramirez 4
Dayan Viciedo 4
Paul Konerko 4
Oswaldo Arcia 3

Hits

Name Total
Adam Eaton 38
Alexei Ramirez 36
Jose Abreu 29
Dayan Viciedo 26
Conor Gillaspie 23

Runs

Name Total
Adam Eaton 19
Alexei Ramirez 19
Jose Abreu Continue reading →
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#221 – Boone Logan

Boone Logan

Name: Boone Logan

Rank: 221

Position: P

Years With White Sox: 2006-2008

Boone Logan joined the White Sox organization as their 20th round pick in the 2002 draft.  He made his major league debut against the Indians on April 4, 2006, on the day the majority of his teammates received their World Series rings.  Logan ended up splitting time between the White Sox and Charlotte, finishing with a very disappointing 8.31 ERA for the big league club.

2007 saw Logan spending the majority of the year in the major leagues, appearing in 68 games for the disappointing White Sox squad that lost 90 games.  He managed to lower his ERA to a still enlarged 4.97.

While the White Sox rebounded to win the AL Central in 2008, Logan continued to struggle, with an ERA that jumped back up to 5.95.  Logan did not appear in the Division Series, which the Sox dropped to the Rays in 4 games.  Following the season, Logan was packaged with Javier Vazquez to the Braves in the deal that brought Tyler Flowers, Brent Lillibridge, and two others back to the White Sox.

Logan’s numbers in a White Sox uniform, both for games I attended and overall, were:

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