Chisoxfn

Dang...Longoria damn near K'd on the earlier pitch. Phew..almost back to back. 3 hits and 3 hr's for the Rays. Uggh. Oh well, its okay Gavy!!! Time for the Sox to put up some more runs.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 06:41 PM) But who's to say a fresh point of view with a new hitting coach won't help him with that hitch? He's had numerous hitting coaches in the Sox system. It isn't just Walker. In fact, his swing is a lot better now than it was 3 years ago. That should say enough. He clearly has the athletic ability but people act as if the Sox weren't patient. The guy got every chance in the world.

QUOTE (TheBigHurt @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 06:39 PM) Amazing how so many people love to make assumptions. That all this post is. And with Fields, why don't you watch and see how many league average fastballs down the middle he'll swing through. And again, look at the pitch tracking and you'll see he can't hit the FB. You won't have major league success if you can't hit a FB but you can make a career if you can only hit a FB (and are good enough to lay off of the breaking stuff).

QUOTE (TheBigHurt @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 06:39 PM) Amazing how so many people love to make assumptions. That all this post is. My ass, his numbers back up my argument. At some point you have to realize a guy can't hit, no matter what the talent. Look at Jeff Francouer. He was just a version of BA who got hot for a season but had significant swing flaws and those came out with the advanced scouting and now he can't hit either. BA was a guy that relied heavily on his athletism and pure ability to hit, not a guy that had a good text-book swing and in the end it caught up to him.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 06:39 PM) To my eyes, there have been times where it has looked like he has had a very solid swing. Coming in to 2007, for example, before he was hurt. Coming in to camp in 2008 as well. I could be wrong, but both of those times he seemed to be a lot more under control and balanced and was putting together a much shorter swing. In 07, he was benched and by the time Erstad was hurt he was back standing up straight and grounding out again, then he hurt his wrist. In 08, ditto, benched, and all those bad habits came back. BA has had every opportunity but he has a major hitch in his swing that prevents him from ever making consistent hard contact on a breaking pitch. It hinders him from having a good swing plane and thus he'll always have trouble, despite his pitch recognition improving in each of his professional seasons.

I was going to add that the other thing is that the Sox like Getz and he fits this club very nicely (great role playing starter to have). So currently we have Getz and zero 3rd baseman (Fields blows, Viciedo is still a year away with defensive issues, so yeah, Beckham is the guy considering we have Ramirez and Getz who are capable of being league average to above average at there respected positions).

That was a good pitch by Price. I really got to say though, Paulie, thank you...this might be your best season ever!!!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 06:35 PM) I think if he gets a legit hitting coach who can find a way to get through to him, he'll have a solid career, but he's just not a match with this staff at all. The stories we're going to hear whenever they do move him... Thats the biggest bunch of garbage I've ever seen. The guy has one of the worse swings in baseball and will never be able to hit enough to start. Same with Fields (who doesn't have the bat speed to make it).

He might end up at 2B, but right now he's most important at 3B.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 06:33 PM) On whom do you think Coop did his best work, Thornton, or Floyd? I'd have to say Floyd considering, he got great results whike keeping him a starter. I think Floyd made a lot of adjustments in Charlotte as well. It was an combination of an organizational effort and a Gavin Floyd effort. Regardless Coop has helped him continue to develop. Same with Danks (although Buehrle has also been an asset there). Thorty was a complete ML effort so I got to give a lot more credit to Thorty. Therefor I'm going to say Coop's best job is on Thorty. Floyd is the better reclamation project though, but both were stellar pickups.

And that is 3 times Pods has been on base...BA would have been on zero times.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 06:30 PM) He is just flat out dealing right now. His stuff has basically been there all year, fortunately he got his head together. Great thing is, he should be able to keep this up all season because he shows no sign of his stuff going away. When he was struggling I pointed a lot of it to bad luck and just some poor location. The stuff was still there. And it's looking even better now. He's got a good FB, a great curve and a pretty damn good change.

I think Pods is gonna add a steal to his statline.

QUOTE (JDsDirtySox @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 06:26 PM) Sure... 4 games then... hell make it the whole week. BA is not a good everyday player... sorry. Scotty Pods isn't BA in the field, but I will take the bad out there to go with his lead off ability. BA will be traded to a NL team in the off-season. Probably not this year. He'll than go on to be a career 4th to 5th outfielder. Offensively he doesn't have the ability to start.

Gavin is flat out nasty right now. He is so good. Easily one of the best pitchers in baseball over his last 12 or so starts. And if someone thinks I'm kidding, check the numbers. He's going deep into games, giving up few runs, and is looking good doing it. I f***ing love Gavin. He's the most untouchable guy on the roster in my eyes (maybe Gbecks too).

Beautiful Alexei to Paulie...great D by Alexei and awesome pick by Paulie. And Alexei...you probably could have gotten up...Burrell is like Paul Konerko fast.

That was a good 1-2 curve...too bad Pat didn't chase.

I don't care. Only time it matters is if it is Wise in CF, not Pods. Pods has gotten on base two more times than BA would have already.

Upchurch and Griffith both have bad games. 6 runs in 4 innings. Adam Russel with 4 hitless innings of relief work in Charlotte though

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 04:59 PM) Ozzie just said that the primary reason they kept “DeWine” (yes, that how he pronounces it) is because he can steal bases. Ozzie, how the hell can Wise steal a base when he can’t get on base?In theory he'd be a late game pinch runner and defensive replacement for Quentin.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 04:30 PM) We still don't know who the PTBNL in that deal were, do we? Lance Broadway was evidently one of them and it sounds as if Hudson was on the list of guys they could have received.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 04:22 PM) With that deal it appears they were asking for the Mets #1 prospect and a guy in their top 5 prospect list. Its a shame that Poreda has been struggling lately. Because his stock was very high last month. I don't think Poreda's stock went down because of one game. For the most part he's been pretty good and as expected, imo.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 04:15 PM) F-Mart is a much bigger prospect than Danks, and Parnell's at least shown some big league success. Parnell is pretty over-hyped though (ML success or not). I could easily make a case that Hudson is a better prospect than Parnell. You have a point on Fmart, but I think he's over-hyped as well with Danks being under-hyped. That said the package mentioned above is relatively close but that doesn't meant the Jays think it is. All depends on what there evaluators think. Also, evidently Wilpon told Minaya and Manuel that there jobs are safe which is probably why Minaya didn't accept the deal. That is referring to the deal which involves Poreda as well.

QUOTE (beautox @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 04:08 PM) Mets just rejected a trade for Roy Halladay proposed by the jays; per MLBN Halladay for F-mart, Tejada, Parnell, Neise And that is per John Heyman's twitter

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 03:16 PM) What does this mean? It means Brian Anderson doesn't want anything to do with the Sox and wants to be playing someplace else.