vilehoopster

This is so much bullshit to hear this the morning after Austin Hays gets hurt and he’ll probably be out 6 weeks or so. This pisses me off because now the Sox will have an awful outfield just like all the Sox Buzzkill Army predicted. What angers me is Getz/ Venable had solved it: Hays in left, Acura in center, and Peters / Pereira in right and then plug in Baldwin who was going to hit around 20 home runs this year; that was going to be a very solid outfield to get the Sox to 75 wins or so. But now . . . ? When does Pereira get back? Beni in left? Is Hays gonna be like Tauchman last year, pretty much limping around all year, repulling that hamstring every other month? Probably. I just said yesterday there was no reason to bring Antonacci up because there was nowhere for him to play. Well, it’s time for him to learn left field. Maybe, just maybe if he can learn it in a week?? and Periera can get quickly back and stay healthy, maybe the outfield will still be solid, but that depends on Peters and Pereira not going in the crapper with their bats. I try so hard to stay optimistic, but it’s tough being a White Sox fan.

I am gonna give an unpopular opinion, but I don’t see any point in bringing him up. There’s nowhere to play him. If Sosa can’t find at bats, why bring Antonacci up as an infielder? And as horrible as everybody has been saying our outfield would be (like they said about our pitching), I think our outfield is looking very solid, Acura especially. So there’s no one for him to replace in the outfield. All these people so sure that Antonacci would be better than Meidroth, there’s no real basis for that. It’s just “Second-string quarterback” syndrome.

Hey Ray Ray Run, Good thing the Sox had Leasure, their best reliever, available to get that high leverage out in the 7th and take care of business in the 8th today.

Good thing the Sox had Leasure, their best reliever, available to get that high leverage out in the 7th and take care of business in the 8th today. Just to be smug, I’m gonna post in the thread for today’s win also.

Well, now since you’ve given me so much evidence to your claim that Taylor is the best Sox reliever, I have to agree with you. My fault. I thought you were just stating your opinion.

I keep asking this question but you keep arguing why Taylor shouldn’t be the opener and not answering my question. Why do you keep saying he’s their best reliever? What is your evidence? Certainly, he’s had those two, only two, great innings, but he wasn’t close their best reliever last year. Down the stretch Leasure clearly was their best, and Taylor was just among the rest. And the Sox added Dominguez and Newcomb. Right now it is a VERY SMALL sample size, and I doubt it will happen, but it’s very possible the Sox could have two or three relievers better than Taylor. If the Sox have a couple relievers (or three depending on lefty/ righty matchups) better than Taylor, there’s no reason why not to use him as an opener.

I agree with what Eddy about Kay. Giving up 2 runs in 4.1, though not great, is fine against the Jays. He gave his team a chance to win. Also, at least for today, all the freak out negative comments about Hicks did not age well.

Anyone else think that with Martin going against a lefty tomorrow that you really have to like the chances of a Sox sweep. He better pitch well because not much chance of the Sox getting any innings from Taylor or Dominguez tomorrow.

Wow, wow, wow! That really is great for you both. I hope they turned your son into a life-long White Sox fan.

Okay, that makes sense. Thank you.

A couple things: One, I think Acuna should be the centerfielder, all the time, every time he plays. It would be easier for him to learn the position and give him a feeling of confidence knowing he's there everyday. Establish him as the centerfielder and don't mess with him in the infield. The Sox have a TON of infielders; they can't even find a way to get Sosa's bat in the lineup, let alone the fact that Antonacci needs to come up soon. To have Acuna continue to practice and work at an infield position when the Sox are overloaded there seems silly. Also, I am generally not as anti-sacrifice bunting as some posters are on here and think it does have its time and place; but I do not think Acuna sac bunting is not a good idea. Let him swing the bat and see what he can do. I have to believe he is tough to get a double play on with his speed to first. Okay, sometimes Venable makes me shake my head at what he's doing, but today, he has me stumped completely. Last year Quero batted .357 right-handed and .234 left-handed, and 4 of his 5 home runs were right-handed last year. Every time he bats, he batting lefty, and I say to myself, "When does Teel get back? I'm so sick of watching Quero bat left-handed." So today, Toronto is starting a left-handed pitcher, and Quero can finally bat right-handed. So what does Venable do? He sits Quero down so he can start McGuire, a left-handed bat?? What are we doing here? This seems so stupid, especially for a manager who seems overly obsessed with the pitching matchups to the point we keep seeing Benitendi's bat over Sosa's because of the lefty/ rightly matchup. I just don't get it. And also by that logic, shouldn't Pereira (if he's healthy) be in right field over Peters? I don't get Venable at all sometimes.

Is he their best reliever? That is certainly up for debate. What are you basing that opinion on?

How is the weather and the rain up there? Are we going to be able to get this one in? It's 11:25 (your time) down here in Lafayette, Indiana and absolutely pouring with no sign of a let up. I checked the radar up there where you guys are, and it looks like the rain clouds and moved past your guys. Is is clear and relatively sunny up there? Can they play? Does the field drain well enough?

Thank you for saying this. Get Sosa’s bat in the lineup.

Add me to the people who don’t stand this move at all!

Anybody else think that if Paez throws a good/ solid game, that he makes the 26 man? I think there’s too much potential there to lose him.

I can’t remember which thread it was in, but somebody was complaining about the $17 million Sox spent to get Jordan Hicks and Sandlin. I think that will be money well spent, at least, for Hicks. I believe he will be a very valuable late-inning/ high leverage reliever. And as for Sandlin, we’ll have to see.

Hmmm . . . . I wasn’t confident about Fedde as the 5th starter. Feeling less good after today. I wonder how much runway he will get. I would guess with all those young arms in Charlotte, not much.

Just waiting for a chance to make that 1st statement. People see what they want to see. As to the “not much difference statement”, I guess if everything went wrong, they could lose 90 or so, but not realistic.

100% True!

That stat is about teams, not individual players. Completely apples to oranges.

Again, if Meidroth hits .250 with only two doubles this spring; and Sosa and Antinocci both hit five home runs this spring, Meidroth will still be the starting 2nd baseman for opening day and week. But he better have a good March and early April or he will be replaced. Not that long runway. I guess that’s what I’m saying: A couple doubles would help secure Meidroth a longer runway for the start of the season.

Yes, ST is a small sample. I have to admit that is a strong argument against ST’s value. But still, it is still a sample, and whatever you may say, it is considered. Plus there are sooo many stats now taken during ST, especially for pitchers. Again Shane Smith last year.

Zero correlation. . . ? That is too simple to possibly be true. Certainly for a secure veteran, you can somewhat say that, but only somewhat. Your one example Rollins means pretty much nothing; there are many examples that show spring does matter. A super easy example is Shane Smith last spring. He was a rule 5 pickup, no reason to pay him any attention for opening day. But (to anybody paying attention) it was pretty obvious, long before spring training over, that he was something special. Again, based on what the Sox already knew about Antonicci, his three EVs this spring of over 100 mph, have probably taken, at least a couple months off how soon he is brought up to the majors this year.

Spring training means nothing. You really don’t know a lot about a player just from his spring training results. Everyone knows and understands this. Except, when spring training is added on to other things, then we start to think that, maybe, spring training is telling us something. It has been understood that Meidroth is a big part of the core, and he’s gonna be the starting 2nd baseman, even to the point that he has a bobble head this summer. But Antonicci has killed the ball this spring. Add that to his minors performance last year, and add on his AFL results. Hmmmm. Sosa led the team in home runs last year. He seems to be pounding the ball this spring. Hummmm. Again spring training means nothing, but there are starting to be discussions. I think it would help Meidroth to get a couple hits today, maybe one for extra bases.