Chisoxfn

f***....I doubt they throw him out either way, but thats still a costly error by Pablo as it puts the go ahead run in scoring position. Thornton was hitting the mid 90's but he just doesn't have the pop and I wonder if he's being bothered with some back issues or something.

Thornton just doesn't look confident.

Is anyone else worried that Pablo is still out in the field?

QUOTE(knightni @ Apr 24, 2007 -> 09:14 PM) Dunn's a lot like Thome. Pena has a freakin double. Aside from the fact that Thome has a career average thats 37 points better than Dunn's.

I love hearing your guys feedback. Dan is going to be our guest on this weeks show so you can expect some good minor league discussion. I'm also working on getting a blogger in for a segment.

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 24, 2007 -> 09:12 PM) I thought most of Anderson's homers took place when his batting average was extremely low. IIRC they did. Anderson looked just as bad at the end of the season as he did at the beginning of the season (his avg was better and I do happen to think given how bad Mack was in CF that he should have still been playing, but this year Erstad is as good defensively, if not better, and offensively he's a far better player). Its one of the reasons the Sox were quietly looking for CF's all off-season. In fact I'm quite surprised nothing happend with Tampa or Milwaukee considering the Sox were constantly in talks with them.

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 24, 2007 -> 09:09 PM) For two years now, I've been hoping to go online during the offseason to see we traded him for Adam Dunn. Cubs fans are already pencilling him into their lineup next year. I'd freaking throw up if the Sox acquired Adam Dunn. That guy is the reason why I think stat people are absolutely fools. People rave about his ability but I rave about how completely over-rated he is (not saying he's a bad player, but he isn't the god statisticians make him out to be). QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 24, 2007 -> 09:09 PM) For two years now, I've been hoping to go online during the offseason to see we traded him for Adam Dunn. Cubs fans are already pencilling him into their lineup next year. Cub fans can have them. IT would just mean they have a bit more offense to go with that awful rotation.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Apr 24, 2007 -> 09:07 PM) My Dye to LAAAA for Saunders, Saunders + prospects for Baldelli is clearly a pipe dream. I have one hope this offseason -- that the Sox go full out after A-Rod if he becomes a FA. I'll say one thing, if the Angels don't finally get off there asses and acquire a bat I may officially protest them. Stoneman has continued to be an absolute moron and he's refused to give up any kids in order to protect these team for the future. However, during that entire span he's had a team thats a bat away from potentially winning another world series and the longer he waits the lesser the chance of something like that happening. This year the Angels have a loaded rotation, a deep pen and they have a nice influx of young players/veterans in the lineup but they still lack that major bat to put with Vladdy. If they weren't willing to give up Saunders and a couple prospects they'd be absolutely morons. Quite frankly that woudln't be enough to convince me to move Dye. My price would start at Weaver or Santana (and I realize there are some injury concerns with Weaver and obviously Santana has struggled on the road but I don't care, he's got a far better up and much more upside than Saunders) and I'd also demand Figgins (this is mainly because I absolutely love Figgy) and a prospect. There is no reason the Angels shouldn't overpay to get a bat like Dye's.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Apr 24, 2007 -> 09:06 PM) Jason, I hope you're right. I was hoping this offseason we'd deal Jose with his new high(er) value. He had a no trade clause.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Apr 24, 2007 -> 09:03 PM) Not really. When he started hitting well in the second half -- and it was clear his defense was helping the pitchers -- he was still platooned. Thats cause at that point he had already buried himself and while I realize his average improved, all you had to do was watch the games to realize his approach and swing were still god awful.

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 24, 2007 -> 08:58 PM) I just worry about how Ozzie uses him. A great example of my concern is how he let him face a good LHP in 7th inning with a RISP in a tie game when he had Ozuna on the bench. The whole 6 million dollar option is scary also. Frankly I'd agree about the option but I think if he gets 600 Ab's its because he's playing fantastically and in that case so be it.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Apr 24, 2007 -> 08:57 PM) Baldelli had an OPS+ right around 120 last year. He plays better defense than Dye and runs the bases better. It would hurt us a bit for the rest of the season -- I agree with that -- but we'd still be getting three+ years from Baldelli as opposed to the three months left of Dye. I'm definitely not opposed to Baldelli, but I'm not about to trade Dye for him nor am I about to say that Dye won't be back with the organization. In fact, I think the odds of Dye returning are about 50/50 and I even feel the same way about Buehrle/Iguchi. I think Contreras will be moved this off-season with Buehrle resigning (call it a hunch) but I do expect Buehrle to have one of his best years so that could make things difficult. However, when Crede is moved this off-season that will free up a bit of cash that can go to Dye/Buehrle (albeit not a ton). But back to Baldelli, if the club wants to get him, they should give up some of its pitching prospects (not Gio/Danks) but some of the other crop (there is a ton of depth there, plus some pen depth and a few of those guys could translate into the Sox answer in the outfield and top of the order for a good long while).

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Apr 24, 2007 -> 08:56 PM) Not really -- the platoon began in the second game of the season, IIRC. Platoon or not he was playing 4 games a week for the first half of the season and that is more than enough playing time to get into a rhythm.

QUOTE(danman31 @ Apr 24, 2007 -> 08:55 PM) How does that improve our team? Dye>Baldelli Who knows. I want Dye to stick around because if the Sox get rid of Dye this outfield will look absolutely horrendous. It is already pretty bad overall (luckily Erstad and Dye are both pretty good defensively, even if Dye is a bit slow). And the idea of the club losing Dye and having both Sweeney/Anderson in the outfield with Erstad or Mack would make me absolutely vomit/cringe. That would be a flat out disaster. You'd think people would have learned there lesson after seeing BA struggle in his first full season but I guess not, people still seem to think you can just plug in a guy from the minors and expect him to produce like his minor league stats indicated. I got news for people...very rarely does that work, usually at best it takes guys a couple years to develop and even than there is a good chance they don't pan out or at least don't come close to reaching there minor league production.

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 24, 2007 -> 08:53 PM) The thing is, I like Erstad. I just hate the role he's in/way Ozzie uses him. He'd be perfect as a 4th outfielder if we had a better outfield. But why hate on a guy because of the situation. And no, I don't think BA should be the everyday starter. In a perfect world maybe Erstad is a backup, but you know what, when he's healthy he's still a pretty solid role player (in fact a pretty good role player). Sure he's no star, but every good team needs good role players and Darin is exactly that.

Guchi whiffs looking, but Sox do a nice job now they got to have the pitching hold this one and keep the momentum on the Sox side.

QUOTE(caulfield12 @ Apr 24, 2007 -> 08:50 PM) He did last night to tie the game. Ozzie's confidence in Erstad is starting to pay dividends. And we're doing all of this without Pods in the line-up. Heaven forbid people give him a bit of a chance to get going, afterall its been about two years since he's had any sort of consistent playing time due to injuries. Afterall, the Sox gave Anderson plenty of time to dig his own grave last year (not only with his production but with his approach to the game, day in day out).

QUOTE(Capn12 @ Apr 24, 2007 -> 08:51 PM) I'm starting to develop a small man-crush on grindErstad... Join the club...its fun, especially since everyone hates him on here.

Thats right baby....Erstad with yet another clutch hit!!! WHOOOO. Nice job by BA to keep the inning alive.

I think there's a shot he could be interested in being a catcher and my guess is the club prefers him to Molina. But I also know the Sox have told him he could coach (at least in the past) in the org so maybe they are about to announce something. Either way he's more than welcome in the dugout because he's a great baseball guy.

I'm just sad that Frank won't get 3000 hits. The guy was one of the best pure average hitters for a long time in his career and it sucks he'll never reach what I consider the elite plateua for an offensive player (3000 hits). One thing that frustrated me with Frank the past 5 years is that he became much more interested in the homer and his average suffered immensely because of it.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Apr 23, 2007 -> 09:44 PM) Jason -- I was surprised to see Cunningham start the year at Winston Salem, as normally the Sox (seem) to like to push their OFers in the minors (cases in point: Jumping Chris Young straight from Kanny to B-Ham, the pushing of Sweeney despite his lack of dominance at one level, and even starting Fields at Charlotte last year after a less than stellar campaign at Birmy). Anyways -- how long do you think he has until he's wearing a Barons jersey? Month-and-a-half? Barring some sort of disaster he'll be in Bham by the ASB, if not sooner. However, with the Sox depth of outfielders (Anderson, Sweeney, Fields and I guess Owens deserves to be mentioned too just because Ozzie is a fan of his speed and I'll admit he's really made some strides with his swing) there really is no reason to rush Cunningham and I think thats why the Sox are giving him more time in Winston Salem as opposed to having him open the year in Bham. Note: Until Crede is moved I will mention Fields as both an outfielder and infielder because he's completely capable of being an average to above avg left fielder (defensively speaking).

I completely agree. I discussed this on the weekly podcast this week, but whatever it is the 2 hole is good for Iguchi. When he's down in the lineup he gets HR happy and his swing becomes way too long to have any sort of success at the major league level. However, in the 2 hole he's forced to shorten up and go opposite field and as a result he's one of the better 2 hole hitters in baseball.

Positive thoughts and prayers are headed your way Jim.

QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Apr 23, 2007 -> 09:25 PM) G35's can be had in AWD. Just remember, AWD helps you maintain traction under power, but not necessarily while turning and especially not while braking. I see plenty of people flying around way faster than they should be in their AWD cars in the winter because they think AWD makes them invincible. Oh ya, no doubt...thats just people being idiots.