greg775

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 5, 2010 -> 07:49 PM) Those Twins are pretty resilient. Down 2 games to none they came back and took the next 2 to split the series against the best team in baseball. This race is going down to the wire. It'll go down to the wire if we play well. They aren't going anywhere. Hopefully we can keep winning.

Is Detroit pitching a righty? He's gonna be playing every day against righties obviously.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Aug 5, 2010 -> 04:58 PM) I think he deserves some credit for the change in approach we've seen from the team is a hole. Anyone who still says Walk is a "lift and pull" coach hasn't watched this season at all. That said, he probably didn't have much to do with our struggles or are successes, which is why I was never on the Fire Walk bandwagon. At the very least, good for him for getting the fans off his back. Great post. When the team starts hitting it shuts everybody up and takes away one cliche: "Blame the hitting coach." Oz and KW have said publicly how hard the guy works in good times and bad.

It's official. Kotsay is the biggest whipping boy in Soxtalk history. I hope you guys are still able to enjoy the season with Kotsay on the brain, seemingly in every thread. I've never seen anything like this. Good thing I am not in favor of playing Kotsay and don't like him as well or I'd finally be banned for good. I mean we all dislike Kotsay and everybody knows we all dislike Kotsay so should the Kotsay posts slow down? It sure ain't pursuading Oz to bench him.

Is Cooper a genius? What a great Sox debut for Jackson. Very nice. Paulie, CQ, Beckham, of course I have to mention Bobby. Easy, quck work of the Tigers in the ninth. Jackson, Jackson, Jackson. Hope I'm wrong again. I hated the trade and ate s*** tonight.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 09:29 PM) I dunno about the "lack of controversial columnists" angle. Seems like there have been plenty of controversial sports media personalities in Chicago over the last few years...the problem I see is that the most notorious of them flat out sucked at life. I guess I meant since Mariotti. Chicago doesn't have anybody that harps on an issue over and over and over as we do on this board. If Mariotti didn't think Kotsay was worth a s***, he'd probably harp on it 3 times a week. Not saying that's good writing/reading. But nobody will do that now. I still think the Kotsay thing is worth a story at this time. Oz is prolly thrilled at tonight's 1-for-3 though.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 09:59 PM) It doesn't seem like the media has taken Ozzie to task on his (over)use of Kotsay whatsoever. Why is that? You read my mind. I was just thinking the same thing. I think it's basically the decline of newspapers. Because of budget cuts, nobody has a "controversial" columnist anymore, one who would just attack the situation and harp on it every single day. The TV guys don't have a forum, really, their sportscasts are too short. That would leave Stoney to tell the truth on it or Darrin Jackson and they can't do that for obvious reasons Somebody should at least write a feature story on Kotsay, however, and get different takes on his suckiness. I dont read the papers online every day; has anybody written a Kotsay piece lately? Or one on what the Sox are going to do when Teahen comes back at least? Unless this is just a soxtalk phenonemon, it would be worth the media discussing it.

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 09:27 PM) Its funny, we all think this and know that he is going to play but we still feel compelled to repeat ourselves over and over again and comment on how much we wish he wasn't playing. I think that is a testament to how bad the situation is. Not me. I expect to see his name in there everyday so I'm used to it and it doesn't anger me at all. If it was up to me, the Tank would play every single day, though, and Mark Kotsay would be a fast fading memory. He's worse than Erstad and that's saying a lot. Oh, maybe just as bad as Erstad.

Tonight is a big game. It would suck to win the first and lose the next three as we did in Minnie. I'm assuming it's a 4-game set.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 08:12 PM) Adrian Beltre turned 31 this year and he only got 2 years from Boston. Looking through the list from last year, I can hardly think of any guys over 32 who got multi-year deals. So if nobody that age is getting a multi year deal, the key for a player is, at 29, to sign a huge, six-year deal like they do in the NBA.

To the sabermetricians ... how many games will Kotsay cost us the rest of the year by playing in 80 percent of the games. Flat out, how many losses pinned on him?

True, Hibbard. Maybe we should just go with one less pitcher and keep Kotsay when Teahen is back. Oh wait ... the organization is afraid to cut Linebrink as well.

Yeah, that is a good point and further clouds the issue. Why did Ozzie want Thome gone, when Thome is a great chemistry guy; yet he doesnt want to rid the team of Kotsay, who is a great chemistry guy? I can't answer that one. Maybe that'd be a good one for Rongey. Was Thome willing to accept a platoon here?

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 02:25 PM) I'm not quite sure where you're going with this. The only "inside information" reason to keep Kotsay is he's good in the clubhouse. But being good in the clubhouse does not make up for being a horrible baseball player. There is no practical joke or clubhouse speech that can change the fact that Dayan Viciedo and Brent Lillibridge are contributing to this team at a significantly higher clip on the field than Kotsay is. And that's why it's a no brainer that he should be gone when Teahen is back. Winning breeds chemistry, not the other way around. I think just on general merits, Ozzie is a smart baseball man. But his level of stubborn is VERY high, and it gets in the way of logic far too frequently for him, which makes him look dumb. I shouldn't speak for Rongey and I don't know why I'm commenting since I also want Kotsay gone, but in reference to your point, I think in Rongey's mind, "being good in the clubhouse does make up for being a horrible baseball player" in this case. Because from what I read, I think it said he believes one lousy player can't cost a team a division title, but the collapse of team chemistry could be a killer. WIth so many players on a team, I"think" he was saying yes one lousy player who is a great clubhouse guy is an acceptable tradeoff. Again, I'm all for getting rid of Kotsay but I think there's a difference of opinion in how much Kotsay is killing the Sox with Rongey and the rest of the board becaause Rongey truly is valuing chemistry as much as on-field performance here.

I'd like to see a list of the Sox's last 20 doubleheaders. As a fan it seems to me we haven't swept many; we have been swept in many and split several as well. My guess would be swept at least 10 times; 2 sweeps and 8 splits is my guess.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 06:54 PM) I think someone might offer him like $8-$9 million for a season...but no one's offering him a couple years. Love this thread. I've love watching him hit and dig throws at first for a long time. You really think he can't get a three year deal at that kind of money per season? Just one year? I don't see why he wouldn't be able to land a multi-year deal. I have no reason to doubt you, I just think teams always find money for guys who produce. He won't be THAT old, either. Do guys his age still get multi-year deals from teams with cash?

QUOTE (balfanman @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 08:43 AM) I agree with this, however; Chris does have access to some inside information that none of us do. I don't believe that I "stroke" Chris anymore than any other poster as I like to get the views of eveyone here. I can disagree with someone without resorting to nastiness and name calling. In this case I disagree vehemently with Ranger on the Kotsay issue, but I would love to encourage Chris to keep coming back and posting his opinions as well as any other information that he can give us. I almost get the feeling some stubborn posters don't want any inside information. Which is crazy. It's like they know Kotsay sucks and don't want to hear ANYTHING to the contrary. I mean I think he sucks as well, but if there are reasons for keeping him around and Ranger knows them, it is of value to us to learn those reasons IMO.

Fair enough, Soxfan, but I think in his eyes the chemistry/clubhouse issue is a strong point. He said that it means more to a team than we realize. It's fair of him to push that issue, which to him appears to be a strong issue. He seemed to be saying he feels it's not always about numbers. It's about a team being a team and the clubhouse is a big part of that. People seem to counter that Oz could make him a bench coach. Well, he prolly doesn't want to be a bench coach. He wants to get a hit every nine at bats or so.

Yeah, you would think KW would overrule Oz on this one. Kotsay just doesn't get enough hits or walks to warrant playing time. But I was just saying with him playing both ends of a DH today, no way he's gonna get released upon Teahen's return. That wouldn't make sense for him to fall that far in the skipper's eyes in just a week or so. I find it difficult to believe KW and Oz haven't been driven crazy by his ground outs to second and pop outs, but I guess they haven't been driven to insanity yet for some reason.

Why is it here to stay? People aren't against people having a good time at games. They just don't want fans to do the pathologically cliche Wave. Is it really here to stay? Or is it something done once every 4-5 sellouts or so??

I disagree. I think he does a good job on the postgame dealing with a lot of crazies and is not condescending on here. Sometimes his view is opposite of the norm and he is not afraid to state it. And ... I would turn down any invitation to be on any roundtable discussion with him or on the air, so I'm not kissing his ass here in hopes of anything like that, which somebody stated. Condescending? Can you imagine hosting a talk show after a White Sox loss? I haven't seen anybody stroke him on here, BTW. I like reading his stuff because he disagrees with the majority opinion on here and has arguments to back his opinion just as others on here have arguments to back their opinions.

Probably wise to not hold your breath. No way they are going to DFA a guy who played both ends of a DH today. Oz actually considers him one of his better players obviously if he played both ends of the DH at his age.

What are the odds of that? There are a couple crappy players on every team as well as veterans having off years and also deserving the tag of "crappy" for a given season.

QUOTE (SouthSidePride05 @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 01:41 AM) Do fans at Wrigley do the wave? The crowds at the Cell have been downright embarrassing. It's like when the stadium gets more than 30,000 fans, they don't know how to handle it, they get all giddy and start the wave.. Then there's the fights in the UD.. But what's bugging me the most is how lame the crowds have been. The fans are so f***ing lethargic. It looks like half the crowd are zombies. Whenever I happen to catch a Cubs game on tv, I notice how those fans are alive. Whenever there's a big pitch, the entire crowd rises to their feet in unison.. within 2 seconds. I've never seen that at the Cell. It takes 45 seconds for half the crowd to stand up. I know we rip on Cubs fans for acting like every game is a World Series game, but that's better than looking like a casual family softball game. I just wish every game was like that blackout game. The White Sox deserve more crowds like that! Not to sound like an, "In the old days" guy, but you guys who missed out on the Old Comiskey missed some incredible incredible crowds. Wow was it electric in there when the place was full. Now when the team sucked, it was empty and a morgue and dangerous when you walked back to your car, but when it was full ... WOW!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 03:56 AM) That's exactly what everyone said about Nick Swisher too. Now everyone wants him back. QUOTE (Friend of Nordhagen @ Aug 4, 2010 -> 04:11 AM) Believe me, I don't want Nick Swisher back. I do, however, want Gio Gonzalez back. Not me. I don't want Swisher back. I still have a bad taste about how bad he was with the Sox. Love the second post. I want Gio back and Clayton Richard too. I wouldn't mind getting Garland back, either, but I don't want to start a monumental eruption on Mt. Soxtalk, so strike that comment from my record, please. The Kotsay situation is what it is. For some reason, Ozzie isn't sick of seeing his weak ground outs and pop ups. I think it'd make a veteran baseball guy like Ozzie puke as it makes us puke. I don't get worked up about it, because it seems inevitable Kotsay is gonna play just about every day. I wonder why Oz likes seeing Kotsay make out after out. It's ugly to the eye and Oz has the power to eradicate Kotsay from our eyes and his eyes.