ronkark

two comments: Jose Abreu. Does anyone still think he's even an average first baseman? Dropped an easy pop. and then some will forgive the throw home which was straight bit not exactly a laser. He is bad. And on offense he's pedestrian at BEST. bottom tier first baseman. Sorry dems the facts. And Frazier. I watched him do the same thing in Anaheim. Reach for ball way out of zone and watch meatballs over the plate when all he needs to do is put it in play to win or tie. This is not his fault. This is the organizational philosophy of, since Aaron Rowand, continuing to acquire all or nothing, low contact players. he did what i'd expect from a .210 hitter. He struck out. things are bleak people. no one on the way form the minors.

Wow just wow. Real hard to find something about this team to get excited about th enext two months. Fulmer not ready for bigs and should be in minors. New kid is done. Anderson is fun but two walks? Oye. Pen's an even bigger mess without Duke. And what rookies are coming up in September to cheer for? Uh... Coats again? Kevan Smith? Ranaudo? I don't see it. They did themselves such a disservice with fan base by not making any moves.

It's not Charlie Tilson's fault we traded for him. For a team mired in mediocrity, the definition of a trade to keep them there is trade a lefty reliever when we have no one to replace him in exchange for a guy whose ceiling is 4th outfielder according to scouts. And then we're left still needing a lefty reliever next year too. He makes us worse this year and potentially next. That said, he was all I had to be excited about the rest of the season. And yes I feel bad he's hurt and hope it's not bad. BUT when they say the question for him is his hit tool, and then he takes a joke of a read on a fly ball igniting a SIX run inning. Then follows it up with again taking an awkward closure on a ball and jumping awkwardly, well let's just say a smooth fielder he is not. Yes it's one half of one game but a pretty awful fielding debut. And where does that leave us? Having to watch Avi Garcia continue to play. UN-WATCHABLE.

Another one past slow twitch Jose any first follows by Eatin's 5th bobble of the week. What new? No trades either. Stand pat. What new. They gone.

I'm turning it off. hasn't thrown a strike yet. wake me when they pick a direction. the past 6 games typify this season.

Chapman v. Abreu. This should sum up the season right here. Their guy who they've had two days beats are supposed star and turns a 4 game win streak into a losing streak. SELL SELL SELL

guys guys so what, Eaton failed to get the runner over in a crucial situation It's okay. Abreu's on deck! He's our best player! Yay!

2 runs in two games. Sale hosed himself with the leadoff walks and HBP but still 2 runs in 6 innings is more than fine. This O is a joke. Starting with Abreu. Shuck/Sanchez/whoever is catching. half the lineup is not even a threat. And btw. Play Saladino EVERYDAY while Lawrie is out. he can help you win in many ways whereas Sanchez has two skills: defense and rocking Adam Eaton like a baby. That's it.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Jul 28, 2016 -> 11:16 AM) I'd like to hear your take on Paul Konerko's 2003 season and his value overall as a player for this organization. Sorry, I'm just a realist who knows .295 hitters occasionally have bad months or even "bad half seasons" - christ, if that's what we're calling this. somehow I'm pretty fine with him hitting .276 even with garbage power numbers, because I expect him to have 30-40 homer seasons regularly in the future. This isn't some Gordon Beckham type dropoff. He just had a s*** April and hasn't hit homers. ARe you really comparing him to Konerko? He hasn't earned it. He's had two good years of offense. None of defense. Konerko was MUCH better defensive player. Range? Not so much. Jose even less. But paul much better hands and much better thrower and much better decision maker. And much better clutch hitter. Yes he had a bad 03 after 4 stellar full seasons. And are you really reading this season as a bad april and lack of power and that's it? Horrid defense. Horrible with runners on in key postions. 8 rbi in july. That's not power. That's productivity. So tell me again how he's had a good July. Happened again tonight. He's the master of the dinky grounder and chasing the same pitches out the zone he has for 3 years.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Jul 26, 2016 -> 01:33 PM) Only the most dedicated of pessimists can find real reasons to complain about a guy hitting .320 in July. Oh, and he's on pace for more walks than last year. If you liked his numbers last year, why are you complaining about his walk totals? Yes, he has hit no homers recently. Yes, he's made some defensive gaffes. Ok. Those things can happen from time to time. Abreu is definitely, absolutely, positively, not the problem with this team. Not even close. He's 20 points shy of his career average and having a power slump that would be corrected by a good WEEK of homers. Back away from the ledge, people And only the most blind optimist would ignore his EIGHT RBIs in July. From a guy in the middle of your lineup. His least productive month of a poor season.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Jul 26, 2016 -> 12:56 PM) The only cause of descent in Frank Thomas's career was injury. Had he not had multiple season ending injuries he more than likely would have finished with over 600 homers and 2000 RBIs. Watch early Frank Thomas and late career Frank Thomas and they absolutely did not have the same stance. Early on he stood straight up. Pitchers started trying to jam him inside. He then opened up his stance and went more into a crouch and became more of a pull hitter. Your assertion that he didn't adjust his stance because he figured he was already a HOFer proves you know nothing of Frank Thomas. He was obsessed with his stats and would do whatever he had to do to keep them up. For f*** sake the man finished 4th in MVP voting at age f***ing 38 coming off another season where he had a major season ending injury. Really? You're putting it on injuries? Yes his stance was different than in his first year or two but for the last decade plus he was the same and never moved. Hawk talked about it all the time. In 2000 he hit .328. In the next EIGHT years, he never topped .277. Injuries you say? 4 of those seasons he had around 600 at bats.

I don't get the reluctance to DH him a few times a week. Why not to protect his ego? As much as I hated LaRoche one of his biggest assets was his D and even though Robin said he'd get time out there, he barely did. DH Abreu. It kicks Garcia out of lineup. You can have him play first when Morneau DHs if Morneau really can't play D right now. And the second part of this point is get Saladino in the linuep more often. Not every day but the fact it took Lawrie getting hurt to EVER spell him at 2nd - ridiculous. Saladino should get 1 start at 2nd, SS and 3rd per week. As for Abreu's bat, not that I'm comparing, but Frank Thomas the last few years of his career was getting jammed left and right and never adjusted. Never moved his stance because he figured he was already a a HOF. And he was. But his descent happened faster than it needed to because of ego and stubbornness. ABreu has not heard the right to not adjust to a league who has adjusted to him.

Miguel was amazing. He's been better than expected for a month now. Saladino needs to play more. Eaton - what the heck happened to Eaton's D. One poor read turned into single, one over run - his second in a few days and THREE bobbles trying to pick up ball. Is he trying to undo all the WAR he's built up?

Let's talk about our star first baseman. I am over him. Forget about the offense for a second. His defense is AWFUL. Not average. Not so-so. AWFUL. 3 times tonight the ball either went off his glove or an inch above or below. Doubles instead of outs. Not errors but very makeable plays. I'm tired of it. The dude's bad. I don't care if Morneau has half an arm - put him out there twice a week. OR even better, and like I've said before. Put Frazier at 1st and start Saladino at 3rd. Saladino is actually a good player. He makes us better at D at 3rd and 1st with that move. Frazier is not amazing but at least he has basic reflexes and can stop some of those doubles from being doubles. Now let's go to offense. I don't care how many times Jason Beneti says he's showing signs of breaking out becaue that's what the game notes say - he is now and has not. No homers in 5 weeks. Walk numbers are awful. Sense of strike zone is awful. The guy doesn not adjust. And guess what - he's not young either. So we have a doughy one dimensional DH playing 1b and that one dimension is not even working. That's a below WAR player and if he's in the middle of our lineup and highest paid - that's a problem.

While many are to blame. Our 3-4 hitters or whatever order thare in - are most worthy of scorn. First: Abreu. Run production is job one. The Saturday game typified his season. Single and double with no one on base. Then runner at 2nd, no outs, he grounds out weekly, not even advancing runner. Then with a runner on in another inning, a K. He is BAD at defense. Not average. BAD. Errors or not, balls go under or just over his glove on a regular basis. HIs footwork is awful. How many times does he drift into baseline to catch a ball. He can't scoop hops. Limited range. BAD. He also has no speed. He also doesn't walk very much. So he HAS to hit. Yet he sits there, doesn't adjust and is garbage. I woul dbet prob one of the worst #3 hitters in baseball. And oh by the way. ,has a doughy body that will not age well or IS not aging well as he is not a kid. Meanwhile Morneau rides the pine and will never play first? Why? Abreu costs you runs out there. Frazier: This is simply the Chicago hex. Pattern. Dunn on downside, LaRoche on downside. Frazier on downside. Only his upside isn't amazing. Power yes. But look at his second half last year. AWful. We banked on turn around. Well, he's worse. Much worse. LaRoche look at last year before we got him. Same thing. Strong start, awful 2nd half, we pick him up. Frazier swing for fences everytime and chases garbage. It's embarrassing. .210? Really? After the Dunn/LaRoche sagas? Unbelievable. And Robertson well, we clearly keep paying the wrong guys. You can;t leave your starter out to dry like he did tonight. Althought Navarro, another bad pickup, had the awful frame job which cost him a key K and added a runner.