Chisoxfn

Lets at least agree on this, BOTH ARE TWO BLAME. This organization has quite a few things to do to fix itself. I thought they were close and I admit I was wrong. For that I won't blame them as much, but that doesn't change the fact that this team needs a change. If no one is in charge, they better get someone in fast, cause they should be busy on the phones trying to find some top arms and prospects to acquire. I'd have the scouts going out ASAP.

True. I saw him on third when the outfielder picked it up. I was studying during this whole thing so who the hell knows. I could be blind. No point in arguing that play individually. I soley stick to my guns on Jose. People actually convinced me this year that he would be worth something. I tried, yet all I ever see is worthless traits. You can say he runs, but Tom Goodwin can run and play good defense and he hits like crap. You don't see me asking for him to play. Jose has power and he's better then Goodwin, but similar situations. Jose's just off to the same start that 90% of our team is -- a horrible one. Assuming that all of them will just suddenly realize how to play winning baseball is looking more and more absurd as the L's pile up and all hope is dissolved. I think I'm gonna take Jason's approach -- just watch and try not to care too much about it, because it's just too frustrating to expect the Sox to win every game when they appear to just not care. Thus far it made todays game a bit more relaxing, especially cause the whole time I was just looking for Borchard to hit; That homer was impressive. Still, its going to be hard to take that approach until we get some TALENT up here. By talent I mean my mixture of players. Damn, they should hire a 20 year old gm.

Lol; He just needed the porn star mustache.

I am not saying we should start Miles and move Jimenez to 2nd. I want Jimenez to stay at 2nd with the Sox acquiring a young shortstop from AAA. Almazenga Jose can be here until then, but the Sox need to retool this team the right way. Jose isn't the type of player I want around, simply because like I say I want defensive guys that don't strike out a lot and have great speed. Jose is solid, but aging and is terrible defensively. There are quite a few things I'd change with this lineup to make it WAY WAY more balanced. Lee and maggs would be the only vets to stay offensively if I were in charge.

Sometimes I can be wrong ; I'm not wrong in regards to Jose. I could be wrong with Borchard on the play. I didn't see the jump he got and I will admit as always that Jose gets awesome jumps. Borchard definately has a lot to learn before he is Jose on the paths.

Could it be that they stopped him because they don't know his speed, etc because he's been up for so little. I agree with you Jose doesn't get the stop sign because they know him. But I think if they treated the two the same, neither would of scored. Obviously Jose has more trust because he's been here and doesn't get into many mistakes. I understand your huge on stats, but stats only show part of it. Overall you can look at stats and figure things out, but to really asses you watch and breakdown the swing. See who he gets his hits off of (Can he hit good pitchers?) etc and then you know a lot more. I know Jimenez is doing good, don't have to look at the stats. I know Carlos has been solid and Maggs has been really doing good. I could say that jsut watching their approaches and seeing them go oppo field, etc.

True. I saw him on third when the outfielder picked it up. I was studying during this whole thing so who the hell knows. I could be blind. No point in arguing that play individually. I soley stick to my guns on Jose. People actually convinced me this year that he would be worth something. I tried, yet all I ever see is worthless traits. You can say he runs, but Tom Goodwin can run and play good defense and he hits like crap. You don't see me asking for him to play. Jose has power and he's better then Goodwin, but similar situations.

I want to trade him and use trades to bring in a young shortstop with a slick glove that has great speed and can handle a bat. By handle a bat I mean make contact, bunt, and has a good eye. I could give a damn about what he hits right away as long as he does the little things. I mean he'll have to do around .250 with a solid obp. Note: I'm more then willing to accept a rather low avg if they have a ton of other things that make up for it. Almazenga of the Angels would be my guy cause I think we could land him.

Well if they agree with me this is a new trend cause for years everyone has disagreed with my take on Jose. You flash me the runs he stops, but you never mention hits. Errors hurt a team no matter what. It just happens he hasn't made any during super key situations, but they still hurt. If you want to say you appreciate him when comparing him to the Sox baserunning go for it, but don't make him good because of the Sox pathetic fundmentals. This team needs a wholesale change from players to coaching to management. There are a lot of issues and some of it stems from the way the organization builds teams. They build it on power and not speed, defense and pitching, which is what really wins games. I'd trade for the Twins any day of the week. You realize how fun they are to watch. I bet the Cell would be damn near sold out if the Sox played that style of baseball. All those guys have the fundementals and heart of Jose (Using him for example) and they make all the heads up plays while still playing tremendous defense, etc. I hate to admit it, but the TWINS are FUN to watch. Great defense, do the little things, never say die; They are just FIESTY.

Its funny, 98, 99, and 00 were my favorite years watching because the Sox were just so fun to watch grow and develop. The problem was we were developing players that weren't fundementally sound via a manager that is an idiot.

I'll agree with you on KW (move him elsewhere; this team is lacking the major major type talent/makeup) as long as you'll agree with me that we need Backman

only young guys and Maggs stay in my books.

I think 2004 will be fun to watch, simply because I really enjoy watching prospects and players develop. I'm not seeing anyone develop on this team other then Miguel, Borchard, and a few other players. Otherwise I'm just seeing players fundementals get worse and worse and worse and I point that at the coaching and the type of players we have. We have a lot of guys up here that aren't solid fundemental players. We probably have a lineup with quite a few dh's and guys that are terrible runners, have bad approaches, etc and its a big reason we suck.

Its time to retool the farm system and team, pretty much from the ground up. I got some great ideas I'm working on in an article; Don't you all love self promotion

Borchard is faster. I've watched him take off. On that play he's safe by a mile. I couldn't possibly watch anymore games cause I see all of them in some shape of form, minus the WCIU games (Hell everyone needs a break to go to the pool or beach every once in a while; Plus my friends get sick of hearing me talk about the Sox and seeing the games, lol) Borchard did good on that play and would of been safe. All I'm saying is Jose would of got the stop sign too. Both would of scored on the play and I agree Jose takes great angles. When I played ball I was never the fastest, but when it came to running the bases I always had the best times cause I made the bannana turn right and was always moving and new how to cut the angle perfectly. Since I didn't see Joe the whole way I can't say if he had a good jump, but with the location of that ball he should of been running the whole way. If only we had a replay we could say. If I was wrong, I'd gladly admit and I won't say Jose isn't a good baserunner. I think he does plenty of things that would make him fine off the BENCH as an ocassional starter/dh.

I think Borchard would of scored. There is no way I wouldn't of been sending Joe. BS...he DIDN'T SCORE and that's EXACTLY the point...Jose scores from 1st on doubles and 2nd on singles as well as anyone in the league. Alas, people only start appreciating it when Sox can't score on 3 long singles in the Metrodome with the game on the line... Jose will finish the year with 85+ RBI, you can bank on it. He also has only 1 eror in his last, what, 17 games. ONE. Umm, he misplayed a ball about two days ago that sent the Sox into extra's against the Twins and I can remember a few more errors lately, I think. I watch almost every game, so I don't pay much attention to stats and there is NOTHING I trust more then my eyes considering how often I watch. I got a ton of confidence in them, lol. Jose isn't a good player. Ask NON Sox fans if Jose is good and you'll get a much more rational answer and that would be NO. For some reason Sox fans get this fascination that he's a great player and he isn't. He sucks defensively and sucks offensively. He has about a hot month that keeps his avg up over an entire season, otherwise he's bad. Look at last season and you'll notice that Clayton was out hitting him for a bit. At least expecting Frank to pick up was reasonable. He was coming off an injury. Jose was HEALTHY last year. Frank was coming off an injury and started seeing the ball and whacking it for a full month. You just assumed he was finally back from his injury. Tearing your labrum or whatever he tore (Bicep?) and having to sit out a full season is way harder then a hammy injury where your still able to play. It has an effect, but once your healthy there isn't much of a rehab cause you haven't missed a full season of timing and seeing live pitching.

so does Jose say thank you after you suck it off, or does he drop a ball on your head to let you know he finished? Your rapier wit knows bounds....feel humbled by actual numbers from 2001-2002? I bet. Right now Jose is simply not seeing the breaking ball early. A few tweaks, few extra sessions with the BI and he will be fine. He is healthy finally and has SS all to himself. As bad as he has been thus far, he is still out-perfoming Konerko, Crede, Rios, Daubach. Harris, Olivo, etc ABRE LOS OJOS, AMIGO! And he is proving me right that he should never of had the opportunity to have shortstop all to himself. He's mediocre player. Look through his attitude and you'll see he hurts this team, doesn't help it. He's far from the only one, but I put him as one of the major problems with Konerko and Thomas. Then I have White, who sucks horribly, but isn't near as much of a let down as those three. Although I never expected a damn thing from Jose. I've wanted the Sox to trade for a shortstop and 2nd baseman for a long long time now. I can only hope we get Almazenga from the Angels in a trade or something like that.

People still make excuses for Thomas sucking too and at least Thomas isn't killing the team defensively because he's a dh. Thomas can also manage to get an obp over .300 no matter how crappy he is.

I think Borchard would of scored. There is no way I wouldn't of been sending Joe. BS...he DIDN'T SCORE and that's EXACTLY the point...Jose scores from 1st on doubles and 2nd on singles as well as anyone in the league. Alas, people only start appreciating it when Sox can't score on 3 long singles in the Metrodome with the game on the line... Jose will finish the year with 85+ RBI, you can bank on it. He also has only 1 eror in his last, what, 17 games. ONE. How could he score if they hold him up. he can't run through the stop sign. He would of been way safe. I didn't have a freaking clue why they held him up. Valentin is slower then Borchard so I don't think he would of scored because he would of also gotten the stop sign. I know you don't want to make that out, but in that situation you got to be going for the run trying to make something happen. Lord knows the Sox don't hit with two outs.

He's hitting about .215 with RISP this season. Anyone watch that sequence in the ninth. Like I said, three straight curves and the whiff. Also their is no such thing as an error that isn't costful. No matter what it makes a pitcher throw at least an extra pitch or two. Well I guess you could get a dp on the very next pitch, but thats unlikely. A run may not score, but you have to face more batters, extend the pitcher, etc. It also hurts the mindset of the club. Jose's defense and offense are definately some of the problems. I've never given a hoot about his offense and have always hated his defense. Konerko is stinking at both, Thomas stinks at both. Crede, Olivo, Borchard, aren't the problems. YOU DON"T BLAME ROOKIES. Valentin isn't a rookie, he's been in this league and you don't just get better at 34 or however damn old he is; it isn't likely to happen at least. Valentin is and always will be a mediocre to crappy shortstop who has heart. That means crap on a losing team. heart is a great thing to have when your coming off the bench for a winner. Problem is the Sox aren't a winner and he isn't coming off the bench. You want a winning team, get fundementally sound guys. YOUR NUTS if you think Val is a fundementally sound player. Val, Thomas and Konerko along with White should be the first to go. Lee then goes to first.

He's hitting about .215 with RISP this season. Anyone watch that sequence in the ninth. Like I said, three straight curves and the whiff.

I think Borchard would of scored. There is no way I wouldn't of been sending Joe.

Borchard walked. Rios was pulling the outside pitch every single time up. Carlos Lee is looking really good as of late. I stick to my idea of moving him to first. The thing is its going to be so hard to get someone else to take Thomas and Konerko cause part of the answer is getting rid of the two of them. Remember, we can't blame KW for having Thomas around.

Is that how much he is owed? If so we pay him pretty well. I can't wait for Backman to come here. I don't think Backman will solve the things, but he will make things happen next year and is going to be a good manager to lead the rebuilding process.

They sure have been winning 60% of the time lately Also, lets note that once again it is the curve that gets him out. Like I always say, he can't hit curveballs.