Chisoxfn

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Apr 4, 2006 -> 02:49 PM) Freddy will actually be 30 in three months, not that I think his age has anything to do with his velocity being down today. And I hope no one was saying we should trade Freddy now. I would definately consider trading Freddy after the season is over though. Its all about conditioning. You could very easily be down 4 MPH because he hasn't done enough cardio and leg strength training. Thats where most of the velocity comes from and he may still be in the process of getting his legs underneath him and good to go. Usually pitchers need to put a lot of work out in the off-season to get there legs strong. And those pitchers who do that and have strong legs tend to be the kind of guys that have the velocity carry late into innings and that tend to not wear out as the season progresses.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Apr 4, 2006 -> 11:22 AM) He does indeed dress like a gladiator. However his fastball is much faster than 120, as the whole reason nobody can hit it is the shock of the sonic boom it causes. This is not sarcastic..he looks like a clown on the mound. I swear it looks like he's just a big awkward clutz and his freaking shoes take up the entire rubber and than some.

He gave up a double, but aside from that he got Hafner to hit into a double play and while he didn't impress me with his command, no one really seemed to hit him hard. I didn't see a lot of movement on his pitches but the hitters are the true sign and they had trouble squaring up. The true test will be how he does as people get enough film on him to come up with a good scouting report. Than we find out whether he can be a main stay in the pen. You have to like the fact he gets a lot of GB's and people haven't hit him hard (including spring training). Still, we will learn a lot about Anderson, Thornton, Logan and a few others as this season progresses. Prior to the trade deadline Kenny will know what he has and whether changes need to be made.

QUOTE(aboz56 @ Apr 4, 2006 -> 02:38 PM) Steroids would not benefit a starting pitcher very much. First off, it would be horrible for flexibility. Second off, Freddy was never noticably big so for someone to say that is just plain irresponsible. The only pitcher on the Sox I ever looked at and thought he was on the juice was Koch and look where he is now. They are a great benefit to relievers, but starting pitchers typically would gain little benefit. They help relievers gain velocity and help them rebound faster. In fact I'd venture a guess that the highest % of users in this league are a combo of relievers and hitters (more relievers than people think were using this stuff).

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 4, 2006 -> 02:36 PM) All I know is this....I don't want to see Garcia become a soft tosser like DJ was suggesting he wants to try and be. That alone makes this a topic. It would be assinine for him to change the way he throws. I think Dick Allen said it best when he mentioned that if he's making this change he isn't doing it on purpose, it means he can't throw that pitch anymore. However, if DJ and Hawk are just talking more about him working on using his breaking stuff a lot more, than it could very well be Garcia not quite ready and in shape for the season and because of that his velocity is down a bit. That would not shock me. But if in fact Garcia is planning on doing this all season, well he better learn to throw a lot more strikes and be a lot more agressive or he might as well get ready to be replaced by Bmac.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Apr 4, 2006 -> 01:56 PM) People who were at the game are calling up The Score and talking about how horrible and out-of-shape he looked on the mound. They are saying he lost 4 MPH off his fastball. If it's because he is trying to locate more by throwing with less velocity, he better go back to his old way of pitching. Mid to high 80 MPH fastballs get roped unless you have Maddux-like control. Not true. Freddy can survive with an 88-89 MPH FB as long as he varies speeds. He gets great movement on his Slider and curveball and varies the speeds on them anywhere from 81-66. That alone is good enough to work and work well. The problem is he doesn't have the type of command to get away with that because hitters won't be as far out in front on these pitches when they aren't worried about his fastball. He definately doesn't need a good FB, but if he doesn't have it he's going to have to become more of an agressive pitcher who doesn't fall behind in the count. I do think its quite possible this is just an issue of a dead arm/him not quite being prepared and ready for the start of the season. Freddy didn't consistently throw hard last year, but whenever he needed to he could rare back and throw 93-94 while throwin consistently in the 88-92 MPH range. I expect him to get back to that point, but if he isn't by May 1st, I think we'll have something to worry about.

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Apr 4, 2006 -> 01:35 PM) I just ran into a guy who was at the game and said that Freddy looked exhausted more than anything, seemed to be laboring through pitches. He usually is sweaty and laboring becaus he throws so many pitches. So I don't consider that unusual.

QUOTE(Reddy @ Apr 4, 2006 -> 12:57 PM) by the way you've all failed to mention that hawk and dj said he was TRYING to throw the slower stuff and work his control, location, curve etc. that he was going at this from a new approach - an approach i think is ridiculous... but a new approach all the same. i dont think anything is physically wrong with freddy. The problem was you saw him rare back and fire his legit fastball and it was topping out at 89. If you aren't throwing hard your not going to just magically be able to throw 93 as the season progresses. I could see him still being tired and working into things and I can buy into the fact that he's working on some stuff, but this is a horrid approach he's taking. I have no problem with him throwing more breaking pitches and varying speeds, but he's still got to be agressive with his fast ball and use it, otherwise that hard heater won't be there anymore.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Apr 4, 2006 -> 12:53 PM) Small update...some of us are having a wee bit of difficulty figuring out exactly what Freddy was throwing...the CSN gun had him in the mid to high 80's, but the CSN gun seemed to disagree with what the stadium gun was saying when Logan, Cotts, and Jenks were in there. Anywho, Freddy did get hammered, and Hawk & DJ did say he was throwing a bit slow. What DJ and Hawk were saying in terms of velocity in the game was dead on with the stadium gun. They read there velocity from the stadium gun and typically thats the same gun that comcast puts up. I also want to note that the velocity was on par for the other pitchers. Sometimes radars are off, but hte best way to judge that is by looking at the varying pitchers that throw and see if the readings are online. This gun seemed pretty accurate. Maybe 1-2 MPH slow, but that would mean Jenks was hitting 97 and I find that hard to believe.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Apr 4, 2006 -> 11:25 AM) The fact that he was hit hard and struggled isn't what bothers me, that happens. The fact I didn't see him hit 90 once all game is what bothers me. Hopefully this was just a bit of a dead arm period or a bad day, because Freddy without a low to occasionally mid 90's fastball isn't going to work IMO. Hopefully his velocity is still coming back, but of course this is a concern considering all the innings he's thrown in his career, especially last year. The fact that the media decided this wasn't an important issue all of spring also bothers me. We had fluff piece after fluff piece, yet nothing was ever mentioned about Freddy's velocity being insanely down. Plus we had Hawk and DJ in the booth talking about how its no big deal. Well I got news, when you have the control Freddy has you can't get away without having good velocity. He's going to have to get in shape and strengthen his legs and hopefully build back some strength so he can reach back and pop it from time to time. Just a really ugly game by him today. I liked the fact he was changing speeds and his breaking stuff looked good, but without that fastball its a little easier for hitters to have success. We saw some weak hits today off him, but he got himself into jams too. Logan looked solid as did Cotts. Jenks is out of shape and you can see he just doesn't have a proper range of motion when he's throwing. I'm really worried he's going to get hope. I sure hope the Sox trainers are working with him on losing some of that weight he gained this off-season, because its going to be a key to his success, imo.

Oh man that was awesome. Thanks for doing that.

Another two players, dont' know what they did: Willie Harris and Carl Everett

QUOTE(GoTribe @ Apr 3, 2006 -> 11:53 AM) From the perspective of those on the Eastern Time, I think a majority went to bed. I for one figured it should've been called and replayed today or tomorrow afternoon, but its not my opinion. Nevertheless I saw a lotta pop in the Sox lineup, I saw a lot of mistakes on the Indians part, bullpen killed us. And truthfully I thought we had no chance yesterday when the rain came, I just figured there is no way we can go and win in this city, this atmosphere, this late at night. Let's hope, from an Indians Fan, the W is next to the wigwam tomorrow.. One thing I noticed was how you guys failed to pounce on the opportunities early in the game. It reminded me of last years squad that struggled so much with runners in scoring position. However, I still think if everything works well you guys have one of the more talented offenses in all of baseball (but than again I thought that last year and we know how that worked for the first half off the season). Just wanted to say welcome aboard. I'm picking the Central to have the wild card winner, but I actually think its the Twins that pick it up. I like what they've done by getting Castillo and I love how they pitch and play d (plus they'll have Hunter back). By the way, your site (tribe talk) is very cool looking.

QUOTE(SnB @ Apr 3, 2006 -> 07:29 PM) it seems like every pre-final four game in this tourney was so exciting, while all the final four/championship games were kind of a dud. Congrats to Florida, they played outstanding this entire tommorow. So solid all around. Your becoming more like me every day. I love GRAMMAR

This game is definately folding out as I predicted. Florida is the best TEAM in the country. Uconn may have had the best athletes, but even that is very close, but we know UConn played like individuals, not like a team. Congrats to Billy Donovan and the Gators and congrats to this UCLA team. They kicked some butt and this is just the beginning of what will become a dominating run at Pauley for the Bruins

QUOTE(iWiN4PreP @ Apr 3, 2006 -> 06:08 PM) wow. that worked perfectly I musta been doing something wrong with the link cause everything else i had done right thanks for the help. =D No problemo.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Apr 3, 2006 -> 05:53 PM) That is my understanding as well, but I guess I will find out tomorrow for sure... Thats cool of them. I assume season tickets are the only ones with the player pictures on them? I have thought that season ticket holders should be allowed down there at the very least. This must be something thats new for this season. Our seats in Anaheim are UD, but your allowed to go anywhere in the stadium (of course we haven't had any fan incidents).

QUOTE(iWiN4PreP @ Apr 3, 2006 -> 05:46 PM) well, if you want that'd be kool, cause ive tried that multiple times and hasnt reallyworked the whole "advanced, subscribe to podcast" thing i get, but i guess i just put in the wrong link in the box? i duno... When you get to that box. Put in this URL http://www.soxtalk.com/frontpage/html/modu...id=&user=&pass= Than it should show up and after you hit enter you may have to hit update podcasts or something like that.

QUOTE(iWiN4PreP @ Apr 3, 2006 -> 05:40 PM) ah my bad. it wudnt work in internet explorer so just for fun i tried it in firefox.. and what do you know? It works! Thanks. =D Thats weird. I'll test it out on my ie later on and see if that does the trick. Do you want me to explain how you can subscribe to it via itunes?

QUOTE(iWiN4PreP @ Apr 3, 2006 -> 05:37 PM) hmm dam i cant seem to download it.. the podcast thing never worked for me, so i wut id do was save it, and manually put it in my ipod, but i cant download it for some reason anyone else having problems ? or just me? http://www.soxtalk.com/frontpage/html/modu...st&func=dl&id=7 That should do it. But I can walk you through how you can get it onto your itunes if you'd like.

QUOTE(SoxPhan7 @ Apr 3, 2006 -> 12:16 PM) They had a fly by last august when we beat the yanks and Randy johnson and it was equally awesome. I thought that one was so great that i was expecting this one and it didnt scare me as much. My girlfriend, though, nearly s*** her pants. The flyovers at the cell are really unbelievable and should be there for every big game. It really gets the crowd going. Ya, that was a sweet fly by. What was even more awesome was that explosion of 3 straight hr's off RJ to lead the Sox to victory

QUOTE(WSoxMatt @ Apr 3, 2006 -> 04:00 PM) WITH AN UPPER DECK SEASON TICKET, CAN YOU STILL WALK DOWNSTAIRS OR NO Nope, however the PR department with the white Sox has been working on making the upper deck experience as good. Ie having the same food items and trying to replicate the experience as much as possible. Boyer says this a lot when people ask him this exact question at the Sox Fest seminars. I also remember him saying they were going to try and create some things that are unique to the upper deck.

QUOTE(Randar68 @ Apr 3, 2006 -> 02:56 PM) You're writing-off a guy who throws low-to-mid-90's with his left hand after just a little over 1 year as a pro? Seems premature to me. Also a guy who has zero good pitches. Plus whenever I've watched him I've seen no movement and little velocity (91 is about the hardest I've seen him throw in person). Basically he throws 5 poor to mediocre pitches. I hated the pick from day 1 though so I'm negatively biased. On the other hand I like Lummy a lot as well as Liotta and of course the guy I think will emerge as one of the top 1st base prospects in all of baseball (Brandon Allen).

QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ Apr 3, 2006 -> 02:21 PM) I've heard coaching. Ozzie has always said the beauty of this coaching staff is that the majority of them do not need the money, they are doing it out of a passion for the game. The baseball season is pretty treacherous and I think Harold just wants to ride off into the sunset. I always figured Baines was a poor bench coach (in terms of stealing signs) so they figured having Raines there would be better served (Raines was involved in getting so many signs that I'd assume he'd be a little more ad depth in terms of stealing them. I remember reading a few times where Baines didn't seem to be in it for the long haul, my guess is he'll become some sort of special assistant and he'll help out in spring training and maybe make a few visits during the season. He has to be one of the quieter coaches around, but when he speaks I bet ya the players listen.

QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ Apr 3, 2006 -> 02:16 PM) Just so we're all on the same page: Harold Baines is the 2006 first base coach because he will no longer be coaching with the White Sox after the 06' campaign. I've heard that in his last year of coaching, he's requested to be the first base coach, and, seeing as Ozzie is not only his ex-teammate but also a close friend, he talked it over with Raines and the three came to this agreement together. I don't know if Raines has managerial aspirations, but, he, too, is benefiting in this arrangement by serving as Ozzie's bench coach and learning some more of the in's and out's of the games. I am very understanding of these moves. I support it fully. I hadn't heard that before Addy. Is Baines planning on leaving the org or just coaching in general?