Chisoxfn

Somehow I hope Kenny is sitting there and realizing the Sox have a lot of pieces in place but he needs to make a significant tweak or two which really adjusts the entire makeup of the offense (and moving Thome/Konerko would do exactly that).

QUOTE (fathom @ May 3, 2008 -> 10:49 AM) Ha, I said the same thing last week. Thankfully we didn't give up anyone good in the trade for him. I don't want to say he's been a bust, but he's been a disappointment. With guys like him, I'm not surprised the Indians never won it all. I f***ing hate Thome. I mean hate. And I say that because I absolutley hate his style of baseball (ie, I'm going to either slug it 10000 feet or strike out or do something s***ty). He's not a hitter. Manny Ramirez, Pujols they both hit for power, but they also have tremendous approaches and that makes them dangerous hitters all the time, where as Thome has a horrid approach and just goes all hit or miss. The Sox need more legitimate "hitters" on this team and less pure "sluggers". Thome is also old and I still think he has trade value. I've been saying it for a long time too, this team will be better without Thome (because of what you can get by moving him and the fact that it should free up the Sox ability to move Swisher down and get a legitimate leadoff hitter which is something Ozzie needs). I know Thome will have top stats at the end of the day, but I completely don't buy into the bulls*** approach that OPS is king. I think it is important but also show me a hitters approach and how he's capable of coming up in the clutch. I also would have no problem if they moved away from Konerko (although Paulie typcially has a good approach, you can see his bat speed is slowing down and he has relied on that for a large chunk of his career). I'd say keep Dye cause he's signed pretty affordably. Oh and the pure slugging thing is one of the reasons I'm not as high on Josh Fields as most (because I don't see him being much different, but at least he has decent footspeed and can go from 1st to 3rd). You can still win by building around this rotation and making some more tweaks to make this lineup more athletic (and I don't just mean more speed, rather, more good baseball hitters and less pure sluggers).

I hate Jim Thome. There, I've said it again. It has nothing to do with him, he'll get his stats but he's not a winner. I f***ing hate "sluggers". Give me hitters who can also hit for power. Guys like Adam Dunn, Jim Thome are losers plain and simple. They don't know how to truly hit and because of that it is all "hit" or "miss" with them. I still say the offense has a lot of the tools, it just needs a bit of a tweaking (ie move Thome or Konerko and make some adjustments and try to get yourself a legit leadoff hitter so you can move Swisher down in the lineup).

Wow Jeff, you just gave me plenty of ammo to give you crap. My worse is I once had the Brian Urlacher zero on my head (I had never had a buzz and just decided one day f*** it, its all coming off). The second worse, although it was badass at the time, was when I had my hair dyed two seperate colors.

QUOTE (Steff @ May 2, 2008 -> 03:48 PM) No I didn't, but I can sure believe it. Maybe you were sending me video of the dancing... Thats the only thing I can imagine...which is why deep down, I was thankful that whatever video I sent didn't go through cause if it did, I can only imagine how embarassing it would have been

QUOTE (Steff @ May 2, 2008 -> 03:44 PM) From what I got on this end... mission accomplished. Haha, Did you see the drunk thread where I mentioned I woke up on Sunday morning with dollar bills in my pants (apparently I did a stripper dance at the bar for some girls).

We already have MacDougall and other guys that have enough trouble throwing strikes (whether in AAA/AA).

I think it works similarly to the bereavment list.

Masset just pitched so the long man is gone and I know for a fact that the Sox like Russel a lot so I'm guessing they'd rather have him up here, knowing that they really have a pretty solid bench with guys that can play many positions so the club was better suited going with the extra arm.

I may be screwed....really was on a roll and my knee is hurt, possibly very severly...waiting to finally get it looked at.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 2, 2008 -> 12:09 AM) The important question is...how are your pants? I miss those pants.

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii..............Booooooooooooozeeeee...........WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIi. Sobering up by 7 AM..........f***KKKKKKKKKK

Russel has kicked ass down in AAA in the pen. He has shown a lot of velocity out of the pen as well (mid 90's). The question is who the heck does he replace or does he just replace Ramirez (with the Sox carrying an extra pitcher)?

Terrible...terrible. The guy leads the AL in plenty of offensive slugging categories and he's the guy you want benched. Wow.

It was a spot start, Masset wasn't stretched out to give 6 innings and pitched pretty solidly over 4 innings. He definately kept the club in the game and showed some pretty good stuff (as well as some poor command). The defense didn't help him either as he could have given up one less run with just a tad bit of help.

QUOTE (knightni @ Apr 30, 2008 -> 02:10 PM) So, I adjusted it. Baseball, Football, Basketball, Hockey, and Soccer only. rangercal, chwrock, you'll have to change your lists.. sorry. GREATEST SPORTS PLAYERS WHO PLAYED FOR A CHICAGO AREA PRO TEAM Deadline is still May 18 for your lists. PM them to me. Thanks! Depending on how this is wrote up, can you make a version that has the list in a more condensed version that we can throw up on the blog (I think that is a pretty cool blog piece).

Yes....Avery Johnson....new Bulls coach....well I can hope that is what Pax decides on.

Fields at 2B would make a sense.

I like reading newspapers too. Its far easier on your eyes than the screen.

Waiting for mine to arrive in the mail (won't be able to play it till the weekend anyway).

Alright offense, kick some ass and help Masset out and get a win (hopefully you too kick some ass Nick).

QUOTE (WhiteSoxfan1986 @ Apr 28, 2008 -> 07:58 PM) How many days does a player have to be sent down before he can come back up? I believe Broadway should be on the team anyway, so I would have no problem with Masset being sent down, even though he would probably be claimed on waivers. I believe it is 7.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Apr 30, 2008 -> 09:37 AM) Only if you feel that Fields and Broadway will play up to their ceiling which I feel is their highest right now and neither will be anythign more than average players at best. What exactly about this offense leads you to believe that they are not a reincarnation of the last two years. I pointed out in the game thread that 20% of the games played this year the offense did absolutely nothing (in an embarrassing sense) in regard to offensive prodution and they had no chance to not only win the game but barely scored and none of the pitchers were above average. Even if you feel that way you should at least trade them for what there value is and right now you could trade Josh Fields and swap him with another teams top prospect (or at least there is a good chance of being able to do such). Broadway maybe doesn't have as much value. Now I'm not saying you could trade Fields for a top 10 prospect, but you could have him as a centerpiece in a deal that nets you a pretty damn good everyday player that is still young.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Apr 30, 2008 -> 09:22 AM) Franchising changing trade, and for the worse. Ouch. Terrible deal. I'd rather deal Paulie or Thome and let Fields play first. You could get more chips, stay young, and still have a pretty damn good offense (given the emergence of Carlos Quentin). The key of course is that one of the chips you get back is a legit, hopefully young, top of the order hitter (the other chip you get back should still be a top pitching prospect or a top shortstop prospect who can fill in and play when OC leaves this off-season). I'd deal either one of Thome/Paulie if it got the Sox a top of the order hitter who could play 2B plus one high impact prospect (more is obviously better and ideally you get the 2B/Top SS Prospect/One Other Top Prospect (I'd lean to pitching wise just because you can never have too many pitching prospects).

It is stickied because we are promoting our in-network front page. Personally I enjoyed the article and I think IamShack brings up an interesting point regarding Swisher. On the OC front I am absolutely not a fan of having him leadoff. I think OC is a natural fit in the 2 spot of the batting order because he isn't super speedy or high OBP enough to be a leadoff hitter, however he has great bat control and is incredibly smart and that is best utilized in the two spot (I'm telling you guys, OC will be just fine in Chicago...in fact I'll practically guarantee such barring some sort of significant injury). However, Swisher is obviously not a natural a top the order. He has provided us with an above average OBP and that is a major plus and right now the Sox don't have a better option atop the order (they drastically need someone though, imo). The thing is, Swisher has changed his approach at the plate and this is preventing him from using his biggest strength (to go with the high OPB) and that is his above average power numbers. I think he feels he needs to do things different now that he is atop the order and while that helps the Sox at the top of the lineup it actually hurts the Sox because it means they don't get the most out of Swisher (who lower in the order would be a bigger asset to this offense because he could focus on the things he does best....long ab's, hitting for power/extra bases). I really am a proponent of finding a way to tweak this lineup just a bit (whether it is moving one of the older bigger bats in the middle to free up space as well as acquire a leadoff hitter) or it is getting ballsy and making a big trade for a 2nd baseman that can leadoff (as opposed to waiting for Richar/Ramirez to develop cause neither of those guys can legitimately be expected to be leadoff hitters this season).