southsidehawkeye

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 23, 2010 -> 09:36 PM) Yeah, I am going to take the plunge....this is enough to make me do it... This was the final tipping point for me too... I am officially a "tweeter" now. I guess this is as good a place as any to ask what the "top ten Sox related twitter accounts to follow" are for those of us who are new to the site.

There are very few times that I have felt this way about a Whitesox player, but I truly hope that is the last time I ever see Jose wear that uniform. Unreal.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Aug 3, 2009 -> 10:23 AM) What is your lineup the rest of the way? To me its simple, you give Bacon as many at bats as you can. Hit him 2nd! Pods CF Beckham 3B Dye RF Thome DH Konerko 1B Pierzynski C Quentin LF Ramirez SS Getz 2B I'm very happy going with that lineup from here on out - The only change that I would consider is possibly moving TCQ up if he starts to hit "God Style" again.

Found this interesting chart on someone's blog: http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj27/ou...ornumbers-1.jpg I have no idea how complete this list is, but by my count Beckham has had 235 NCAA/MiLB games - that would put him second only to Pujols on this list. As excited as I am to see Beckham in Chicago - I think we need to leave him down in AA this season. Let him come up in September so we can see if he is ready and if so give him a shot at making the roster next spring.

Another reason Cuban ball players get much less $$ than their Japanese counterparts are lack of reliable scouting. Its hard for MLB teams to be sure what they're getting with Cuban players, so it is very hard for them to cough up huge signing bonuses. Even after Alexei tore up spring training last year, there were a lot of people asking "what exactly do we have here?" - and no matter how good/bad Viciedo is in the remainder of this spring that question will pop up again. Viciedo has looked great thus far, and as all Sox fans I hope that this continues. Nothing would be better than him and Fields both making a great case for the starting 3b spot, but in the end only one of them can have it and unfortunately for Viciedo Fields has already shown some success in Chicago so he holds the tiebreaker. With that said, it would be very stupid for the Sox to "hold Viciedo back" in the minors, he is on a very limited time frame with this team at this point. If he feels he isn't being given a fair shot at the majors he will find someone who will give him that shot when his contract is up. The last thing the Sox want is for him to become the next superstar on someone else's team after they spent a fair amount of money bringing him into the league. If he proves he is ready for the MLB, the Sox will make room for him (by trading Konerko, Dye, or Thome if they are out of contention, or by plugging him in at 3b if Fields underperforms once the season starts, or by filling in while someone is on the DL - how many people have had to wait for someone to get hurt and then never look back??). I'm hopeful that Viciedo will be the next great slugger for the Sox, but I am holding back judgement on if he is MLB ready at this point. Lets wait until the end of Spring Training and see where we stand then. As Carlos Quentin can tell you - situations can change in March, rapidly.

This is the main reason that I am really pulling for Viciedo to make a good transition to the MLB. If he could show that he is ready to step up if needed this year, that will really ease my worries about Thome and to a lesser extent Dye and Konerko's health this year. With Viciedo ready to step up and play DH, 3B, or according to Ozzie maybe even LF I would feel a lot better about this team. As it is right now I worry that one or two injuries (which every team runs into every year) could spell the end of our contention.

I think that it is hard to "assign a level" to many of the international leagues (especially those in Latin America, more specifically Cuba) because there is a very wide range of talent playing on the teams. You probably have some players who are ready to step into the MLB on day one (Alexei, Contreras, El Duke, and various others) and you have countless more that would need seasoning in the minors first, and you probably have even more that would never even sniff anything above Rookie ball. Leagues like Japan, imo, are played on a closer to "level" playing field so it is easier to call it "AAAA". I think in the end the key is good scouting - there are some gems in Cuba (As we've seen recently) but we don't want to blindly waste money signing every prospect that defects. With all that said, I am super excited about our new Cuban import... I think he is going to work his way onto the roster in the spring.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Nov 5, 2008 -> 09:13 PM) The Danks family is really close to George and Laura Bush. Apparently, John went to Laura’s High School, and since Bush is such a big baseball guy (and used to own the Rangers) he really took to the up and coming pitching prospect. Since then they’ve just exchanged kind words, and signed baseballs, but I always thought that it was kinda cool for the POTUS to be such a big fan of the White Sox ace. That sentence soon will change to, "I always thought it was kinda cool for the POTUS to be such a big fan of the White Sox". haha

Great win! Hopefully this gives the boys a lot of confidence going into Baltimore. Time to start a winning streak.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Aug 24, 2008 -> 12:03 PM) Uribe lost his starting job to Ramirez when Juan was injured and Alexei played well. Now Uribe has earned the starting 3B job playing for the injured Crede. Juan should remain the starting 3Bman as long as he continues to play well. I agree, Uribe has been doing great at 3B (both offensively and defensively). I say keep him there as long as he keeps it up.

QUOTE (letsgoarow @ Aug 21, 2008 -> 08:36 PM) WHY??? whats wrong with broadway or richard I agree... I was a little bummed when Broadway was sent down b.c he looked good in his start, but then Richard stepped it up big time last time out. I want to see one of them get the ball again - at this point, I'd probably go with Richard.

DJ: "you know thats the one you need to keep fair because the next one might not be as easy to hit" ...I stand corrected haha Swish!

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Aug 15, 2008 -> 02:33 PM) I thought i heard that the way the schedule is set up we wont need a 5th starter for awhile??? If i misheard that then id give the ball to Egbert or Poreda. We have next thursday off, so we will have to use a 5th starter this time through the rotation (unless they are planning on using guys on short rest).

My biggest mistake for 2008 was Nick Swisher, I thought he'd be putting up some really solid numbers at The Cell. I was really excited about him and although i still like him being on the team and am optimistic about his future, I have cooled off on the Swisher love. Although I never actually said it to anyone, I will admit that I secretly thought that Floyd was unlikely to hold on to a starting spot (I figured he would end up in the pen as a long reliever - maybe with Broadway becoming the 5th starter). I figured that Danks would improve, but never expected this type of season out of him I did get Alexei right, I actually made a bet with one of my best friends (a Cubs fan) that he would rather have Alexei than Fukudome on August 1st (either by Fuku sucking or by Alexei being totally awesome) - although i technically lost the best b.c he wouldn't "rather" have Alexei, he was very nice and lowered the bet quite a bit b.c they have both been pretty outstanding and he never expected that at all.

Normally I hate these days off - but today I think its exactly what the Sox needed. I don't know why, but I have a really good feeling about this homestand. Lets start it off on the right foot tomorrow!