Chisoxfn

Titans blew the lead in extras and lost the game. Rubber game tomorrow and I'll be there. I'd love to take two of three at UCI. Titans got a young squad and the past week a couple of there super freshman seemed to start to pick things up (rotation has been shaky though and they still haven't really found a closer).

Daniel Cortes is the 57th ranked prospect by Baseball America. Cortes is a Royal but was drafted by the White Sox and traded along with Tyler Lumsden to the Royals for MacDougall. The interest thing is Lumsden was the key piece (he was having a tremendous minor league season at the time of the deal) but Cortes, who was a sleeper of FutureSox's has really turned into the big player of that deal. He's a big righty who gets great sink on a good fastball. Just wanted to point it out, since people will be talking about Gio/DSL (pitchers the Sox have traded) but realistically Cortes has just as good of a chance as the other and Cortes has a very better pitchers build (ranked 3 spots ahead of DSL in the top 100).

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Apr 5, 2008 -> 04:28 PM) On principle you could get me to be willing to deal Fields if all those things happened...but seriously, do you think that even the first contract related clause for Crede is going to happen with his agent? And on top of that, I am struggling to find a team that would be an actual candidate to make the deal you're suggesting. At least a team that wouldn't be making fools of themselves in the process. What teams have spare young pitching? The Dodgers perhaps, especially if Schmidt comes back soon, but the 2 young pitchers they'd be able to move are Billingsly and Kershaw...and while I'd do just about any deal to get Kershaw somehow I don't think they're doing that, and I don't know what to think of Billingsly. The other teams who we thought had pitching but needed bats? The Angels? All their pitchers are hurt. Seattle? They don't have a lot in the way of guys who could step in. The Giants? Why would they give up either of their 2 young pitchers? I just don't see a logical match for this. Not to mention it assumes Boras would take a guy off the FA market. The Giants and Dodgers are the two teams that come to mind and I do think in the right circumstances either team would consider parting with good young pitching. The Giants have two guys that any baseball expert would like a lot (Cain/Linnecum) and the Dodgers have two guys that are well regarded (Billingsley and Kershaw). I find it absolutely impossible to get Kershaw, however, if the Dodgers other starters are doing okay and Schmidt is back they would be able to part with Chad and the Giants would possibly be willing to do a Cain for Fields straight up deal and if the Sox/Giants could expand things somehow I think there is a possibility at Linnecum (of course there are some people who I have heard like Cain more than Linnecum long term). Either way all of the guys discussed are what I would consider high impact arms which are young and cost efficient. I do agree that the scenario may not be super likely, but it is a possibility and its why I continue to be miffed at the fact that people are 100% against trading Fields because in the right circumstance I think it could be a very good move. Of course the very best option...is Crede hits about 15 hr's the first month or two, Fields is just destroying the ball in AAA, Sox get a ridiculous offer for Crede (two top 5 prospects from a team) and promote Fields who keeps raking (all of the rotation is looking good and the prospects are allowed to be developed and slowly integrated into the team.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Apr 5, 2008 -> 04:18 PM) And I'll still say that trading Fields would be the dumbest move KW has ever made. Lets say June rolls around, Crede is hitting .275 with 12Hr's and playing gold glove defense and has came to the Sox willing to sign an extension. Fields is putting up good numbers in the minors and the Sox biggest weakness is the rotation. A team with pitching to deal comes to the Sox looking at Fields and the Sox are able to get a good mid of the rotation starter (with front of the rotation upside who is young and cheap) for Fields (ie, the deal fills the Sox biggest ML need without making the team older or anything). That is exactly the type of scenario I see going down or at least find possible (I'm hoping Danks/Floyd/Count all kick ass though and that the Sox just have a major luxury). Hell, I'd consider dealing Fields for a couple top notch prospects if a team like the Dodgers or someone else in the NL looking for a 3B got desperate.

QUOTE(LVSoxFan @ Apr 5, 2008 -> 04:02 PM) Jim Thome going OPPOSITE FIELD? Amazing. Floyd was awesome. Way to drive the dagger in, JD! Swisher patrolling CF like a pro. Aaron who? Anyone catch Swish reading the lineup? LOL I was watching Swish today and started getting a comparison in my mind...Jim Edmonds. Don't ask me why I compare things, but Edmonds was over-rated for most of his career defensively but he was still good and I am quickly thinking Swisher is going to be better than any of us would have ever imagined defensively (I know I had serious doubts about him in CF, but he's looked real smooth out there early). Of course there is still a lot of baseball and we'll have to see how he handles CF in his home park, which is not the easiest place to play (due to the swirling winds in CF).

QUOTE(Wanne @ Apr 5, 2008 -> 03:53 PM) Swish has looked great out there and it would be a shame if they messed with this lineup right now and just handed the job back to Owens. I'll take Quentin over Owens any day. As for Carlos...I got to see quite a bit of him early in his career with AZ and when he was with Stanford. Mark Marquess always called him one of the best he's ever had out there. I don't even think he's touched his abilities yet at this level...plus...he's not even 100%. I think he's still getting his timing back, but health wise I am starting to think he's feeling good. Its just a matter of him getting used to everything and getting his baseball skills back. His swing looks pretty smooth and you can just see what a great feel he has for the game (working the count, taking good routes on balls, very strong arm, etc). He looks like a baseball player in the field and at the plate while BA looks like a baseball player in the field (and good god does he look like a player on the field, but at the plate he still looks like a little leaguer, albeit one with above average tools). I will continue to hope for brilliance from Swish/Cabrera/Quentin because if all three do well and the Sox continue to win Ozzie will be hard pressed to go with Owens.

QUOTE(WilliamTell @ Apr 5, 2008 -> 02:13 PM) Another question could be, thinkk either one of them will throw 150 innings this year? I think both of them will.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Apr 5, 2008 -> 03:54 PM) I know Swisher made the play and the Sox won the game, but I was wondering why Anderson wasn't in CF as a defensive replacement in the 9th inning today. I am willing to accept Quentin as the 3rd OF but Owens will get the nod over both. Send Ramirez down when Owens comes back, and make him the be in the pinch runner role which apparently Anderson currently has. Running is the best and only thing Owens can do. Hall looked terrible today too. I agree with you. No reason to not have your best defensive CFer out there. Swisher played darn good out there defensively in center, but still, he isn't Brian Anderson in CF (not many are defensively). In fact santo, I agree with everything you said. Ramirez will be well suited to get everday ab's and almost a full season in the minors. He looks to have good tools but he's raw and I think the Sox are better suited using Quentin as the starting outfielder, Owens in a pinch runner type of role and Anderson as a bench guy who comes in for defensive purposes and gets ocassional starts against lefties (realistically there is no way I want Anderson playing over Quentin who is head and shoulders a better baseball player; Anderson has tools but Quentin actually has a legitimate swing). I could also live with Anderson in AAA with Ramirez and Jeff Davannon up at the major league level (solely because I would have no problem with Anderson/Ramirez both getting lots and lots of ab's as opposed to rotting on the bench).

QUOTE(The Bones @ Apr 5, 2008 -> 03:44 PM) Much more fun to be the team scoring runs late in the ball game and shutting the other team down with our bullpen than the other way around like it was all of last year. I really like what I see from these guys so far. The funny part is when the Sox took the lead all I said was maybe get an insurance run but if Gavin can give us a quick 6th this game should be over (thats how much faith I have that the Sox for the most part have the guys to bridge things from the starter to Bobby. If we get games like this out of our 3/4/5 we'll see quite a few games where we turn things over to the pen and put things away (not to mention I can see the pen holding quite a few games which will allow the Sox to pick up come from behind wins). I've long said that in the modern era of baseball the bullpen can actually be more important than the rotation (since pitching tends to be thin throughout baseball, so if you can make up for it with a tremendous bullpen you will find yourself in business). Hopefully the pen proves itself to really deliver (the big if is Mac's confidence/health as well as Dotel's health). Obviously other injuries could happen and those are keys to any team (ie, every team needs to stay healthy for the most part to win).

QUOTE(G&T @ Apr 5, 2008 -> 03:46 PM) When was the last time Bobby converted 3 straight saves? Usually that third try is blown. Do you mean in 3 straight games? Cause he did have that whole 40 some odd no hit innings thing where he was converting saves left and right.

QUOTE(Wanne @ Apr 5, 2008 -> 03:44 PM) Night and Day better. The passion is back! also...Clev losing 6-1 now late. Go A's. The big thing is they got rid of non major leaguers like Terrero, Andy Gonzalez, etc. The only non major leaguer they have left on the club now is Toby Hall. Man, I can't stand having a catcher that not only can't hit, but who can't shut down the running game. The idea behind signing Hall was tremendous, but I wouldn't give him much more than a month to show that he's not the player he was last season (which I'm more than willing to put 100% of the blame on his nasty injury). At that point it will be time to call up Phillips or Lucy who are both head and shoulders above Hall defensively and given Hall's lack of offensive ability I honestly could care less what either Phillips or Lucy could do with the stick. Oh and Swisher has surprised me with his range out in the outfield. He made some nice plays today. I still think ultimately Dye should move to LF with Quentin playing RF (I really hope the more Ozzie sees Quentin the more he realizes just how good of a baseball player Carlos already is and just how good he will be).

I also want to give the Sox offense some credit. THey didn't get a lot of hits but they had a great approach at the plate for the most part (ie, they saw a lot of pitches, got good hacks and really worked the count and put them in a position to get those runs despite not getting many hits at all). Last season this club would have lost the game and this year they won it. This is a much better baseball team, imo.

QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Apr 5, 2008 -> 03:37 PM) We could very well be 4-1 right now and I'm liking the make-up of this team. If Buehrle and Vaz get their s*** together, this team could make some noise early on. Swisher has been awesome with the patience at the plate and with the D in CF. Quentin with the cannon and the clutch hitting, Crede with the D. Let's sweep these guys tomorrow and start them off 0-6. Early on in the season I can safely say that Quentin is my favorite player to watch. My god what a tremendous throw by him and offensively he had some pretty darn good at bats (prior to hitting into that inning ending DP in the 4th he absolutely killed the ball a couple feet foul from being a 3run shot).

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Apr 5, 2008 -> 03:36 PM) 34 starts = plenty of chances for those next 19 wins. On a sidenote, it has killed me to not make a comment about Fields as I hope Fields does nothing but kick ass, but deep down I know that Polanco would have been hitting had Fields been playing 3rd. I really hope Josh can work out his flaws down in the minors and when he eventually makes it back up he comes up and plays like an all star for his Sox career Either way, I don't care, whether its Fields or Crede I'm rooting for nothing but badass success for anyone in a Sox uni.

Its beautiful to be over .500, hopefully this team stays above that mark for the entire season

Crede made a great play there to end the game. Nice win for the Sox. Floyd pitched pretty damn good and I really liked the way he pitched the last couple innings (he was mixing his pitches real well and throwing strikes). Logan and Linebrink did a great job bridging things to Jenks for the save. If the Sox can get Danks/Count/Floyd to keep them in games and the pen can work like I think it can this team can end up winning quite a few games (injuries could obviously get in the way of things but I love this teams defense, bullpen, and offense for the most part). Danks/Floyd both had good first starts, but there are about 34 or so starts left for each of those guys .

Season long is your only option. God damn it, I had mlb.tv last year and It auto renewed so I'm trying to cancel and I've been on hold for like a freaking hour.

Xtra innings typically has every game with the exception to games you would be blacked out to (ie teams in your region and than any Fox National Games). There are ocassional exceptions but I'd say you get 90% or so of the Sox games. WCIU games are not carried (so you have to hope the road teams feed gets carried).

I want to add, we are not about to ban Fields/Crede discussion or do anything like that. Its more we are trying to come up with ideas to get back to making everyone comfortable to post and just kind of do what we can to help improve the tone on the site (and by tone I'm talking more people getting overly snippy with each other not necessarily saying that everything is always good on the SouthSide and that no one can ever say anything bad about the White Sox).

QUOTE(chimpy2121 @ Apr 5, 2008 -> 09:41 AM) Well maybe this is some good news...90% chance of rain at 3 in the ATL, 70% at 4, and 50% at 5 and 6. Maybe it'll get delayed or postponed and we'll see the Sox. I got the Dodgers-Padres so there is no chance that will get rained out. Plus its a later game start. I just wish Fox would utilize things like FX which have pure s*** on during Saturdays and play the other MLB games on there (it doesn't cost anymore, infact, I think you could make a case that it is better for them since they already have the A game in the region on Fox but open it up for other people on the FX network (so as a whole by doing this you'd probably up FX's Saturday rating and keep Fox's rating steady).

QUOTE(rangercal @ Apr 4, 2008 -> 10:38 PM) ryan sweeney 4-4 tonight Sweeney is the one guy from that deal that has a chance at becoming an above average player. However, I have my doubts if he'd ever have long term success with the Sox (realistically he had quite a few guys to climb on our depth chart).

I still say the best thing that could happen to the Sox is them resigning Crede and swinging Fields for a power pitching prospect. Sell Fields at his highest value because I still think he has quite a few flaws that could get in his way at the major league level (ie, flaws that I believe will prevent him from ever being a star, so why not swing him in a deal while his value is high for a guy that has the tools to be a star). This of course is under the assumption that such a thing could be done (and there is no guarantee of such). But I'm a bigger fan of Crede than most (and it is because of how he plays the game; he isn't a truly great offensive 3rd baseman, but I consider him average to a little above average (I know his stats, but I think he'll have a pretty damn good season, especially as he continues to gain more confidence in his back and get his timing back after missing practically all of last year) offensively and tremendous defensively).

QUOTE(danman31 @ Apr 4, 2008 -> 08:05 PM) Aaron Crow continues to be the best pitcher in the country. 9 IP, 0 R, 7 K, 0 BB, 8 hits. He got a shot to his bicep in his throwing arm off a comebacker to the 1st batter, but it didn't phase him much. 42.2 scoreless inning streak. That is sick, especially given aluminum bats in college. Titans beat #5 UCI today (Gorgen too, who is there Ace).

QUOTE(bkmoney @ Apr 4, 2008 -> 10:35 PM) i dont know who thought that would be a good idea.. ugh discuss San Diego is a navy town and those are definitely my favorite jerseys in all of baseball. I freaking love the Padres camo jerseys.

I f***ing hate Fox games. I can never see them. Stupid mfers.