Chisoxfn

My Car has a 6 disc in dash and I used it all the time early on, but than I got a tape deck which connected to my IPOD and since than I play about a CD a month. I never listen to FM radio (unless I'm just sick of whats on my IPOD or am going to listen to a morning talk show). My next car will likely have satellite radio (but I'm not in the market for a car currently) and at that point I may use that a bit more (mainly for sports purposes as well as high quality random music stations).

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 13, 2008 -> 08:47 PM) Sounds good to me. He's horrid right now. I don't know why I want to stay with Paulie and dump Jose, but that's how I feel right now. I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot from Oz about Jose in the papers tonight/tomorrow. Time to check the Websites. I think its because you have a legitimate thing to point at for Paulie's struggles (ie, injuries). You really can't even think about putting the past 5 days as any reason to cut Paulie consider they are the first games back from the DL. His early season struggles occurred when he was playing with an injured thumb (which significantly altered his swing). Bottom line, there is at least some reason to think Paulie can be the player he once was (since it appears injuries were the cause of his problems, not a physical decline). In Jose's case, it clearly appears that he's just gotten older and has lost a lot of his physical ability.

He would be a tremendous acquisition. His offensive numbers will increase leaving Seattle (I'd say you are talking about a .280, 30 HR, Gold Glove 3B). He's similar to Crede in the sense that he has a poor eye and in fact you could really compare the two pretty evenly throughout there career (aside from Beltre's contract season in LA, which was the greatest season any NL 3Bman has ever had). I know If I were the Twins I'd go after Adrian and as a Sox fan I'd be bummed if you guys got him. In fact, I think Beltre will be one of the best acquisitions a team makes (assuming they need a 3Bman). The guy is incredibly talented. I want the Sox to get him cause he'd absolutely rake at the Cell and make us all forget about Crede.

They were grooming him for the pen, IIRC. Rodriguez has a very live arm and is one of the few relievers in our system that I consider a "prospect". Others include Omogrosso (very good live arm, although he was starting in Bham and I thought he got hurt but I honestly haven't been paying a ton of attention to his stats as of late).

Daunte Cullpepper (when he was in Minny).

Anyone else very excited about the Xfiles movie. I f***ing loved that show as a kid (didn't follow it as the show got older as there was a 4-6 year period where I didn't follow much new tv shows (than DVR's came out and I was able to figure out when new episodes were and just record em).

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Jul 13, 2008 -> 08:16 PM) Then where will Dye be? Left Field next year. In two years he'll be the DH (if Konerko is moved this off-season, which I suspect happens, and than Thome retires or goes elsewhere after the 09 season).

I usually don't buy into the hype, but there is no denying the history of Yankee stadium and I'm pretty excited to see the derby there. Plus it will be very friendly for lefties to put up some massive home run totals.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Jul 13, 2008 -> 08:12 PM) He's 26 and is hitting a solid .295 in Charlotte. Why is that so bad? It's not like we have tons of great OF prospects. Dye can't play forever. Bourgois isn't a starting RFer. If you want to talk about potential starting RFers, please throw out the name Shelby/Danks (although both are more CF). In fact the Sox really don't have a strong corner hitting OF prospect in the system currently (Jose Martinez may develop that power though). Oh and another note, next year Dye won't be in RF (Quentin will).

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Jul 13, 2008 -> 05:10 PM) The Getz/Richar fight for the 2nd base job next March should be interesting to watch develop. The question IMO will be if the Sox want to go with the toolsy guy or the "baseball player" guy. Everybody that reads the minor league posts on here knows I'm as big a Getz fan as you'll find, but Richar has so much talent. Whoever plays next to Ramirez in the middle next year will be important though, that's for sure. I want the Sox to get a stud CF and a stud pitcher and utilize the money they will have to make sure money isn't an object (they should clear OC's contract (~$10M), Thome or Konerko's (~12M), Uribe (~4.5M), Crede (~7M) and Contreras (~10M). They won't have to worry about replacing OC, although there will obviously be some growing pains with Alexei Ramirez moving to SS (Getz/Richar battle for 2B). Swisher will slide to 1B, so you don't have to worry about which of Konerko/Thome gets replaced, Uribe gets replaced by whichever of Getz/Richar don't make the team (Bourgois replaces Pablo). This basically means that you are talking of about 43M (with payroll staying about the same) that can be spread out to a stud CF and starting pitcher (which would be the only holes). I'm talking about being one of those teams that actually trades for two guys that are entering there prime and near arbitration years and inking them to extensions that keep them here (plus other money going to locking up guys like Danks/Floyd or whomever else is deserving of a raise). The lineup will be a little bit worse early on (Crede > Fields, OC greater than Richar/Getz) but you'd be upgrading at 1B (Swisher > Paulie's production) and CF (a stud CF >>>> Swisher) plus the rotation would be immensely better (another ace plus Vaz/Buehrle/Danks/Floyd). Pen should still be rock solid. Bottom line thats my plan (the lineup would be very young, rotation would be pretty young, pen would be veterans and you'd still have vets in the lineup (Dye/Thome/Swisher/AJ).

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Jul 13, 2008 -> 07:55 PM) Contreras was in 2005 for the two first months of the season. Since June 10th, his starts have fluctuated, most being poor. That doesn't take away what he did in the first two months. No one is going to convince me that there is anyone in the White Sox farm system that can produce a 3.03 ERA over 74 IP, which is what Jose did in April and May. Thats my point. He is going through a very rough stretch here, but has had major success as recently as last month. I'm not saying Williams shouldn't be keeping an eye out for starting pitchers, but given what Jose showed early on this season, I'm willing to give him a few more goes at it. IMO, there is no such thing as a one year albatross contract in baseball. I would agree with you on the terms of one year not being an albatross, but the Sox are going to have an opportunity this off-season to have about 20-30M to play with (depending on what they do with at least one of Paulie/Thome, Crede, Count, OC & Uribe). If you can't move Count than it makes things much more difficult. And that money can really help fill this teams final holes (ie, getting a legit, stud, CFer as well as pick up one more front line pitcher because i"d like to build this rotation and I think the one final piece its missing is a legit ace). 30 million and a few prospects should be enough to make that happen (Getz will slide in at 2B, Ramirez at SS, Fields at 3B; this means you'll have a very young everyday lineup with Dye and one of Thome/Konerko being the vet bats). But when it comes to Contreras and his good 2 months of the season, the big issue is his velocity. Pre-Slump he was hitting 92-93 on the gun on a relatively regular basis (and was always throwing in the 90's). In this start I didn't see him top 87 and his changeup velocity was in the low 80's (that type of differential is horrendous, especially when Jose throws a changeup that has very little downward movement). Bottom line, Jose's stuff is just horrible. Jose's struggles are the exact opposite of Vaz. I look at Vaz and he's still got very crisp stuff, good velocity, solid breaking pitches and because of that I wouldn't be surprised at all to see him dominate. I would be stunned to see Jose dominate given what he has to currently work with (he's a 2 pitch pitcher, changeup is no longer a pitch given his low velocity on the FB and his FB is easy to hit without the velocity and the lack of velocity also allows hitters additional time to react to the forkball and thus means they are more likely to take it and let it be a ball than swing through it). So unless Jose is hurt or going through a dead-arm, he will not come close to posting what he did earlier this year (in fact I'd be stunned if he was even serviceable). I really hope I'm wrong and this is far more drastic than anything I said about Thome. Cause I recall saying that at the end of the season Thome's stats would be impressive. I just happen to prefer a different type of ball-player.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jul 13, 2008 -> 04:26 PM) Do we beat ourselves the most in the majors or does it just appear that way since I am a Sox fan? And vice versus, do the Twins beat themselves the least amount of times in baseball? Please show me another team that does this more than us... Teams that play great defense, execute offensively (and have some speed) plus have a solid bullpen rarely lose. The Sox possess one of those three things and the pen helps them a lot, but the lack of defense (even though they have some talented defensive players, the team defense has blown balls) and execution/speed (not just speed, but executation, ie, making solid contact and moving the runners over and in when all you need is one run). Having that ability helps you pull out lots and lots of one run ball games and games that you shouldn't even win. And when you dont' have that ability, you put your team in a spot where it loses a good share of games that it should win.

I will point one thing out. Contreras struggles mean the Sox will keep and even closer eye on Freddy Garcia's progress. You can bet your ass if Garcia shows a healthy arm and some decent velocity in a workout that Ozzie and Kenny will be on the horn and Garcia will be back in a Sox jersey making rehab starts down in AAA.

One thing I want to point out, a lot of you are calling for Swish at first. Yes Swish gets on base better and is better defensively (Swish is awesome at 1st defensively) but Swisher isn't exactly what I consider a great run producer. Konerko had one ab today with runnesr on where he scolded the ball (and Byrd was in the right spot). He obviously didn't get the job done and had a very costly error but he wasn't the only guy to fail in key situations today, nor was he the only guy to play shtity defense. Clearly he had the worse game of everyone but there were plenty of opportunities for various team members to pick things up and no one was able to. Bottom line, the team battled and battled and lost a game it shouldn't have but they will recover. Heck, this team has lost more games that they shouldn't have than any Sox team in recent history (because of there absolute piss poor abilities to execute and get guys in when you get a runner on 2nd and 0 outs or a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs).

Konerko has been awful this season, but for the most part he has an excuse (injuries). He's been back what 5 games and had one very good one, one solid one and a couple bad ones. Bottom line we shouldn't really be making any final decisions on him for at least 15-20 games (and than at that point, if he hasn't done s***, than I think its obviously time to start considering not playing him everyday). The reality is the club is counting on him and we can only hope he's finally healthy and its just a matter of time until the timing clicks and he starts producing. Defensively I have no idea what to say other than he isn't the only Sox that has blown balls defensively this year. He had a horrible game, get over it people. He also had a great approach earlier in the game in a key situation and Byrd just happened to be shaded at the right spot.

QUOTE (winninguglyin83 @ Jul 13, 2008 -> 06:18 PM) i think it's time for Charlie. he and Clayton Richard have been Charlotte's best pitchers lately. And richard isn't ready. Egbert has been getting his velocity into the mid 90's (94 MPH range) and has been very good as well. Long term Egbert is the best pure starting pitching prospect the Sox have (not including this years draft class). I'd rank Poreda as the starter with the highest upside, but there are a lot more questions surrounding whether he has enough pitches to make it as a dominant starter. Egbert has a very good feel for pitching and is finally healthy (took him a bit of time this season to wear off the rust from being hurt in spring). I'd go Egbert/Haeger/Richard and wouldn't complain with the concept of calling up either. Broadway would be a mistake given his struggles, but he did perform well last year at the major league level and that could be something Ozzie/Kenny remember.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jul 13, 2008 -> 05:00 PM) Option Russell to AAA, bring up Broadway, and let him spot start. Have Jose pitch out of the bullpen for a week, and see if his velocity improves at all. If it doesn't, DL him with "fatigue" issues. I was a big proponent of Broadway early in the season, but he has been downright horrible in Charlotte over the past month and a half or so. Jack Egbert is finally healthy and has been dominant this month in Charlotte (and very good over his past 4-5 starts) while Clayton Richard has done nothing but kick butt since his promotion to Charlotte. Haeger is another option as he's been rock solid for the past two months.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Jul 13, 2008 -> 04:59 PM) The Contreras and Konerko issue are similar, although Contreras is a little easier to replace. Even though his overall numbers are respectable for a 5th starter, any scout watching in the last month wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole. With that said, while others will probably disagree, with what we have in the minors, I think Contreras has the highest ceiling out of anyone in the organization that could replace him. I completely disagree. Unless Contreras has some sort of injury or is going through an undsiclosed dead-arm (July is the typical time a pitcher would go through a regular season dead-arm) than there is absolutely no reason to be optimistic. His velocity is down and he's turned into a one pitch pitcher (the forkball). The problem is the forkball is an inconsistent pitch by nature and as such he can't rely on it because all a hitter would have to do is lay off the fork ball and sit on his mediocre fastball (the difference between his FB and change is miniscule with the decreased velocity on his fastball, which means not only does his fastball have zero velocity/movement but his change-up isn't deceptive so thats terrible). Bottom line, given the dearth of pitching on the trade market you could probably dupe some team into taking Contreras (you may not get anything in return, but you could move him). I would take the approach that moving him is best for the squad and than look at targeting someone like Bedard or even just a serviceable 5 who is a FA or a fair contract and just take him and go with that as the 5th (and try to use Richard as a 6th starter down the stretch to help rest the younger arms). The problem is the Sox probably won't take this approach since they probably still feel Contreras could be a serviceable 5th. The reality is though, him being a serviceable fifth is unlikely and on top of that, when he proves he isn't, he will be untradeable in the off-season and thus the Sox will be stuck with his albatross contract for a final year. Trading Jose would be a gutsy move (1st place teams don't typically trade starters) but it would be the right move. The only other option to move is putting him on the DL to give him rest and just have him work on throwing regime set aside to increase velocity and get his arm fresh again. Let Richard or Egbert pitch during that period and if they are doing great, you put Jose in the pen/on the block and if they don't do good you bring Jose back into the rotation and hope the break helped him regain some of his velocity.

Geeze. I've never seen more botched pick-offs/run downs on any major league team ever.

Damn, Hawk had me all excited.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 13, 2008 -> 01:38 PM) Why not let Wise bat against Wright here? Juan has always been very good at getting in the run with a guy on 3rd and less than 2 outs. He delivers, WOOT.

2 quick outs for Masset. Booney up in the pen.

f***. DJ was very boring on that DP call. IT was as if he wasn't shocked that they couldn't get in a run with less than 2 outs and a guy at 3rd.

Here is our updated list for the game this Saturday. Final Details to follow in the next day or two. Let us know if there are any changes and you can or can't attend (also, if you haven't signed up but are interested, its never too late so feel free to throw your name into the hat). Also, if your coming out, feel free to bring friends or family (the more the merrier). IN! Southsider Northsidesox72 RibbieRhubarb Chisoxfn DBAH0 robinventura23 GregoryPratt Y2HH Reddy shipps realsouthsider kapkomet ChisoxDavid Molto Maybe BigSqwert mreye Steve9347 rowand44

QUOTE (shipps @ Jul 13, 2008 -> 12:51 PM) Same here,if I really gave it thought I think it would be in my top five favorite movies of all time. Batman next week?