Disco72

The Sox need more Andruw magic.

On the radio, it sounded like Ozzie was trying to get tossed.

QUOTE (MHizzle85 @ Apr 24, 2010 -> 06:27 PM) Yeah, it's about the same. Too bad the control sucks right now.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 24, 2010 -> 06:23 PM) Interesting. Jenks is now throwing 96-97 MPH. What's up with that? I see that on Gameday too. For anyone watching on Fox, is the tv gun saying the same thing?

I don't like bringing Jenks in here. Why not a 2nd inning for Santos?

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Apr 24, 2010 -> 06:08 PM) On a related note, I heard they performed a total face transplant in Spain. Were Nic Cage and John Travolta involved?

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Apr 19, 2010 -> 12:46 PM) Building from within - meaning using our minor league stars- seesm to be the way to go in my opinion. The Sox made some moves in this off season and got older not younger. Building from within is definitely necessary. Not to beat the Twins-rock-in-drafting horse further, but when you look at their payroll distribution, they get some very strong contributions from guys not making a lot of money. The Sox need to continue to have an influx of young talent so that they can pay good money to keep key stars and bring in critical FAs (even if that is via trade, not actual free agency). I would point out that the Sox did not actually get older in the offseason. The bench may be older, but the everyday lineup is younger.

Everyone seems to notice that the Sox have had a historically below average team in relation to BABIP since 2007. However, the point nobody seems to be discussing is that even expecting the Sox to have a below average BABIP in 2010, the team is still waaaaaaay below what should be expected. Therefore, this is either one of the worst teams in the last 3-5 years (based on BABIP)...or, the team has been uncharacteristically bad and unlucky these first two weeks and should trend back towards a more typical number.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Apr 17, 2010 -> 02:15 PM) Wait, Rios was moved down in the order? For AJ? Really, Ozzie? The only thing I can think of is that Ozzie is really trying to protect Rios.

QUOTE (Buehrlesque @ Apr 17, 2010 -> 03:01 PM) What's Berkman's contract status? $14.5 this season with a club option for 2011 ($15M I believe) and a $2M buyout.

QUOTE (jphat007 @ Apr 17, 2010 -> 01:46 PM) It's amazing how much better the twins are than us for about hte same money spent. We have too much money locked up. If their pitching holds up, that's the difference. Other than Nathan and Pavano, they're not paying much of anything for their pitching. I'm not convinced their pitching is going to hold up over a full season.

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Apr 17, 2010 -> 01:23 PM) arent the twins at 97 and the sox at 99? CBS Sportsline (data from the AP) has the ALC teams as follows: Tigers: $122.9 Sox: $108.3 Twins: $97.5 Royals: $72.3 Indians: $61.2 This is pretty close to Kalapse's number for the Sox of 107.075 (before cash considerations bring the "actual" cost of the team down to about 99.575). Cots has the Sox at $103.1 and the Twins at $97.6. So, there seems to be at least a $5M gap depending on the source, which refutes my previous post as that's not a very big difference at all. It'll be interesting to see how much the Twins can raise the payroll or if this year's boost in payroll of ~$30M factors in expected attendance increases due to the new stadium...especially with Mauer's salary almost doubling next season to what would be nearly 1/4 of the team's current payroll.

Cardinals - Mets here in Atlanta too. I hate Fox Saturday games.

The Sox got to Westbrook in the Opener, now it's time to regain that form! For all those struggling Sox hitters, just call me slump buster! Oh...and hopefully Ozzie makes those lineup changes he talked about last night.

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Apr 17, 2010 -> 12:20 AM) College professors are totally the funniest people on the planet. Shows what you know. I guess it depends on the professor (or the school/college/department)... now, I think I'm funny (will be officially a professor in August), but I'm not sure many of my current colleagues are that funny!

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 17, 2010 -> 10:00 AM) The thing that really sucks is not only can the Twins now outspend us, they have a much better farm system. The only area that we can argue superiority is the bullpen. Well, as they say, it's always darkest before the dawn. Things can shift and change very quickly in baseball. Wait? The Twins are outspending the Sox? I think the Sox are spending about $10 million more this season than the Twins. They've closed the payroll "gap," but let's see where it goes from here.

QUOTE (G&T @ Apr 16, 2010 -> 04:49 PM) Well it's supposed to be related to professors. In any event, I think I've passed the buck on this one so big win for me. This is so heavily dependent on if they have a sense of humor. Many professors I know don't...

QUOTE (whtsoxfan @ Apr 14, 2010 -> 06:07 PM) Let's see how those ex-Sox (players gone in few years) are doing now that they're not getting hitting tips from our batting coach: Nick Swisher .318 Juan Uribe .344 Aaron Rowand .318 Scott Pods .457 Chris Getz .207 (oops!) Makes ya' wonder ... My head just exploded. Where's lostfan and his gunshot smiley?

Marshall to the Fins for a 2nd rounder this year and another 2nd rounder next year.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 11, 2010 -> 10:40 AM) That 2005 team was also coming off a World Series championship... Yes, we can always point to the recent Cardinals team or the 1987/1991 Minnesota Twins and make the argument that you only have to reach the playoffs and get hot at the right moment and sustain it for 2-3 weeks. Pretty much a given. But the difference is that team also had the best offense in the major leagues through the All-Star break. Whereas a lot of things have to break right for this offense to be even close to the "average" that was the 2005 team. Not only that, but hitting with RISP as well as fundamentals/execution, something we have only done well for one out of the last 3 1/2 seasons. The 2006 team starting off 1-4 was FAR worse than this team starting out 1-4. That 2006 team was coming off a world championship and added significant pieces in the offseason. In either case, it shows that panicing after a 1-4 start makes little sense.

QUOTE (SI1020 @ Apr 11, 2010 -> 11:20 AM) Forced to throw too long because Ozzie burned through his bullpen. I would like to see what he would have done if the game went 18 innings. Given the amount of innings the bullpen has had to throw, what would you have done? It seems nearly impossible to avoid "burning through" a bullpen when you have to throw 4-5 innings in back to back games.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Apr 10, 2010 -> 06:26 PM) Being an ass is my gig, Disco 72. You lay off. We're good. We're going to be a pretty bad offensive team, but not this bad. Haha...I'll try not to infringe on that territory! I don't think this can be a great offense, but I think it can be good enough... and certainly better than the craptacular display the last week.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Apr 10, 2010 -> 06:05 PM) I ran the projections again just because I love being questioned, and they actually came out worse this time. The 2010 White Sox according to the average projection between CHONE, Bill James, ZIPS and Marcel are projected to score 720 runs this year. Four worse then last. Also we scored 724 last year, and The Pirates scored 636. Now sure where you got those numbers. I was taking your earlier statement literally when you said this current offense is what you expected. At the current pace, the Sox would score about 520 runs. I read the site enough to know you've run the projections during the offseason, so I was just being a bit of an ass about it!

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 10, 2010 -> 04:15 PM) It's Kenny's fault we have Teahen though. Slow start notwithstanding, he's average at best. Moving Beckham to second was also a dumb idea. He was becoming a very good third baseman. Also whether Dye and Thome are finished or not, it should have been easy to see that we needed a reliable big bopper to go with Paulie and CQ. Also, the Juan Pierre love was not good. I never thought we'd get Damon, but he's a real player at least. He's gonna help Detroit a lot. The thing is, all we need is for Teahen to be average. QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 10, 2010 -> 04:17 PM) I should add that, no, I do not think Pierre is a real player. I'd take Pods over him any day of any month. I don't know why I'm taking the bait, but this sentiment was expressed several times in this game thread. Can you tell me why? Pierre is a better hitter and a better defender than Pods. The only thing he doesn't have is the world series history with the Sox that makes people love Pods so much.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Apr 10, 2010 -> 04:05 PM) No, i think things will improve. Just not to the point where we're anything above a below-average offense. Given that the team has lost all 4 games by two runs or less, a little improvement will go a long way in the W column.