Chisoxfn

Happy Bday to one of the best posters Soxtalk has. A true asset and a good buddy, even if I've never met the feller

QUOTE (Cali @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 11:02 AM) And it would be even worse in Beckham's case, since KW is obviously not gonna trade him. So he'll just be in the clubhouse on the team everyday with Ozzie hating him the whole time. If Ozzie treats Beckham poorly or mishandles him than I think you'll start to hear grumblings of a firing. Right now I think everything about Kenny and Ozzie disagreeing is being blown way out of proportion but that might change a month from now when significant changes are made and Danks and others are up and Poreda is in the rotation (probably in replacement of Count).

QUOTE (everafan @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 11:00 AM) How many times has Thome been on the DL since he's been dwith the Sox? I can only recall once. I'm not certain, but he's missed a decent chunk of games with various ailments and I swear he's been on the DL multiple times but I might be wrong.

QUOTE (Cali @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 10:59 AM) Guys with swagger and attitude in the clubhouse who are in their first season with the White Sox....yeah ask Nick Swisher how that went... I think the problem with Swisher was that it might have rubbed people the wrong way with how he handled his struggles as well as how he failed to listen to our coaches or make any adjustments with his swing. But you bring up a valid point, I'd even point even more so at a guy like Cabrera whose a smart baseball player that is well liked in most circles but rubbed some people the wrong way in Chicago.

The swagger Beckham has is much needed cause our clubhouse and team leaders, aside from AJ and Buehrle, are very unemotional and un-inspiring on the field and in general are quiet guys. I also think that AJ and Buehrle have had a very large part on why our young pitchers have developed and improved and our young hitters haven't. You might also bring the Coop vs Walker argument into the debate but I'd prefer to stay away from it since we are debating Ozzie here. Plus I think that topic has been absolutely killed.

Our sister site,FutureSox.com, has been working hard to set-up interviews with some of the recent additions to the White Sox organization and Jared Mitchell has been nice enough to agree to an interview with us, which will occur in the next week or two (most likely after the CWS is over). Please share with us any questions you'd like to have answered by one of our "Stars of Tomorrow" and what we all hope is the next Carl Crawford!

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 10:04 AM) "He's very cocky." 'You guys [the media] do a pretty good PR department for Beckham,'' Guillen said. ''I've been in Chicago for 17 years, playing and coaching. Has anybody been 0-for-whatever he is, he hasn't got booed yet? He hit a ground ball to second base and got a standing ovation from the fans [the other day]. Somebody hit a ground ball right at him, and he got another standing ovation. Good job, guys. Keep it up. I hope he sells a lot of shirts, but I need production.'' I'm certainly not going to say Ozzie hates Beckham cause that's pretty ridiculous at this point but he certainly hasn't had one good thing to say about him since Spring Training. Wow, I hadn't read that quote. That is downright awful. I don't know what the context is but the kid is a f***ing rookie. Making a statement like that does nothing good. Instead it tells the kid that he hasn't done s*** and that I'm not impressed. I certainly hope Ozzie has a different attitude behind closed doors.

To me the most interesting part was when he talked about how guys, no matter how cocky they are, have doubts as to whether they belong when they are called up. That alone tells me that you as the manager need to make them feel as welcomed as possible. And I have on good record that Ozzie didn't always do a good job of that (*cough*Brandon McCarthy*cough*). However, I had hoped he had improved and I'm going to have to hope he has and if he hasn't I'm confident that Kenny would than make the right decision and find a manager that works better with young players. I can also point to pitchers that Ozzie has done a great job handling (Richard, Danks, Floyd, Garland)

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 09:45 AM) Perhaps he's along the Sisco, Aardsma, JVB lines. Marquez was very bad last year. He was a throw in. KW talked him up, but that was just propaganda. He never has had anywhere near the stuff of guys who the Sox have had success bring back from the dead like Thornotn, Contreras, Floyd and Loiasa. BTW, I couldn't care less what Nick Swisher's OPS is right now, I still think KW did well to dump him even if nothing he gets back pans out. Completely agree DA. Nick Swisher is a bad baseball player. I do think he would be a very valuable NL player in a utility role, able to play a ton of positions. Is he better than some of the guys we've ran out, absolutely, but long term he isn't my type of ball-player so I had zero problem losing him. It would have been nice to get some talent back, but I'm at least content that the Sox had financial savings and most likely put it into Viciedo. When you say JVB are you referring to Vanden Bosch? Cause I really don't think you can compare those with Aardsma and Sisco. I don't recall anyone hyping JVB as making our squad or anything along those lines.

Cubano, can you catch me up to speed. Are any of these guys high upside talent? You usually have been pretty good on this and I know we've discussed it in the past but for some reason I'm having a major brain fart.

I've seen some people doubt Richard of late, so heres to hoping you go out and kick some butt Clayton. It would be huge if you have a good season as it really would put our rotation in great shape (both statistically and financially since it would mean we'd have 3 guys in our rotation that are young with talent). And than of course Buehrle.

Awesome debut for Shirek....7 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs. Beautiful.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 09:06 PM) I hope it is an injury. This organization for some reason really seems to be right on pitching prospects. The entire planet had given up on guys like Jose Contreras, Gavin Floyd, Esteban Loiaza, and DJ Carrasco. But somehow we turned them into studs. When they started talking up Marquez, I listened, based on their history. I don't know if I'd call Carrasco a stud. But in general I do think the organization has a good eye for talent. You also have to factor in the misses as well (Aardsma, Sisco, MadDougall, etc).

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 08:42 PM) I'm going to defend Treybone, he's an aggressive RBI guy. But he spent the first month or so of the season batting leadoff. He's also been yo yo'd up and down the lineup. Plus, he is only playing 4 out of 5 games. He seems to have picked it up since spending more time in the 7,8,9 holes. Last year he was hitting consistently in the top of the order, usually 2, 3 or 4. Yes, there has been a decline in all of his numbers, but his approach has obviously been changed, and the adjustment is taking time. One thing that always is failed to be mentioned is the adjustment from playing at Ernie Shore and playing at Regions Park. Unfortunately, those two parks are so different that it can throw off a lot of players. I've seen it over and over before. Shelby needs more time to develop, plain and simple. I'll give him the second half to pick it up, with the likelihood that players like David Cook will be promoted. Awesome post JPN. Its just another reason why I am so glad that you are a constant contributor amongst these parts. As 99% of us aren't able to see these guys in action very often, we aren't able to pick up on these sort of things. I'd definately point to Marquez but second would be Gilmore because I expected a lot of out of him after hearing the praises I had heard from scouts this past spring and seeing his raw power potential for myself. Shelby falls in at 3rd because well quite frankly, I've never been a Morel fan and think of him as Bill Mueller. That said, I'd be pretty stoked if he turned into Bill Mueller cause he was a pretty damn valuable baseball player.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 06:06 PM) cry me a river. What more could Josh have said. That was a pretty professional quote, imo.

Tremendous article. I really recommend everyone reads it.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 09:18 AM) Again, that's not what I'm doing. I keep saying there's no reason why Alexei shouldn't play out the rest of the season at SS... All I'm saying is depending on how the rest of the year goes, it might not be bad idea to move Alexei to maybe another spot and see how Beckham handles SS. Considering Alexei has the better defensive skill-set, it probably should be Beckham that switches positions. Alexei has more range and the stronger arm and he also has very good hands. In the limited amount I've seen Beckham he too has good hands but his arm and range wouldn't be above average for a shortstop while Ramirez is. Now if the Sox can't find a Cfer and deem it best to have Beckham at SS and Alexei in CF than I might understand but if we have someone able to play CF and plan on starting both Beck and Alexei in the IF, than Alexei should be the one playing SS every time.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 03:22 AM) Gavin, this type of start is why you are my homeboy. I say he ends up with better numbers than Danks this season, except maybe K/9. The biggest reason I think Gavin is better than Danks and it is also the reason Gavin will probably win more games most seasons is because of Gavins ability to pitch deeper into ball games. I really love Gavin. I love the s*** out of Danks too and clearly if you were going to ask around the majors Danks is the better of the two (has more trade value) but man I'm glad we have both of them.

Alexei is in his second season in the majors and his first full-season. Everyone here has probably heard of the sophmore slump and Alexei went through it early in the season. Teams had a full off-season to scout players and major league pitchers made a major adjustment to how they pitched Alexei and he had a hell of a time handling the breaking pitch early in the season. He has since made adjustments and has been playing much better, as evidence of his past months numbers (and his seasonal numbers, all of which are trending upwards). He also was playing SS for truly his first time at the major league level and while I realize he was a natural SS (or so they say) it wasn't as if he had been a fixture at short in Cuba either. So bottom line we have a guy that is still developing, although he is a bit older, and he put up fantastic numbers last season and shows the ability to be one of those guys that can hit for a very high average. Will he ever match the numbers he put up last year, I don't know, but I certainly think he's earned a shot and shown enough to warrant an extended look and it would be very foolish to be short-sighted and deem him a utility player based upon two below average months and really only three below average months in his young major league career (and one of those months was his first month in the majors where he hardly ever played).

QUOTE (rangercal @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 07:23 PM) overreact much? Thank God you are a poster and not a GM. AJ, I don't mean to call you out cause your a long time poster and a very good one at that (and it is with that in mind that I think you can handle this) but I want to point out this post as being the type of post we dont' want to see at Soxtalk. While I realize you are stating the obvious in the sense that clearly there is a bit of an overreaction to Alexei Ramirez play. However at the same time, BearSox is sharing his opinion (not fact, opinion). I'd rather see you say, I disagree and heres why or just ignore the post overall. There is no need for the semi personal attack. Again AJ, don't mean to call you out, but I want posters to see what I'm talking about when I say I want to see some changes.

The comparison to WSI should end by the fact we are leaving this topic open to discuss, like we always have. I think everyone knows that I'm not as active on the day to day modding an admining as I used to be and thankfully we've had a wonderful number of posters step up and take those roles and they've done a hell of a job doing it. The key is that we receive messages from good long-term posters, we look at things ourselves, and flat out realize that some things need to change. Am I talking about a massive lists of posts you can or can't make, absolutely not. I'm talking about common sense, thats it....common sense. We aren't talking about banning 100 posters or anything ridiculous like that. We are putting something out ther to make people aware that we see a growing issue at Soxtalk and believe it needs to be nipped in the butt and unfortunately the issue has been compounded by really terrible Sox play. Have you seen me make one positive post about the current major league squad in a while? No, did you see me ban or warn myself, absolutely not, why, because as far as I'm concerned the vast majority of my posts involve some sort of logical answer and discussion point as to why I feel the way I do (whether I'm right or wrong, who the hell knows). Please don't take what we are saying 1000% literally, just listen to what some of us long-time admins are trying to say and I think when you read the things, you'll pretty much agree 1000000% with what we are saying. It really is a matter of keeping the filth out of a place. That said, I get into game threads some days and people are cussing out Konerko or Danks or whomever because they do one thing wrong or have a bad night. Its absolutely f***ing ridiuclous to do that. This is a sport where people fail more than they succeed and I don't need to see one poster make that post because than another 10 or 15 chime in. And that my friends is the true pack mentality and it is completely unacceptable. If a guy has a track-record of poor performance (see Josh Fields) than go right ahead. Or if a guy can't execute and get a bunt (something that shouldn't have a high failure rate) than again, it is okay. But say something more like Damn it Josh, learn to execute than, Josh you f***ing suck at life or yada yada yada. I also want to say we are very appreciative of everyones comments and I want to ensure people that have these worries of us preventing negative topics or anything should not be worried cause I guarantee I'll start a few trade discussions over the next few weeks, possibly involving some long-time Sox players, why, because I don't believe in the current nucleus. Bottom line we still are as open of a large site as you'll find on the web and it is you the posters that enable us to have that sort of attitude (as we really have such a tremendous group of posters here). And Flash, Fathom is one of my favorite posters on Soxtalk.

QUOTE (Whitewashed in '05 @ Jun 12, 2009 -> 08:22 AM) If teams don't want to give up anything worthwhile for an impact bat like Dye's then I'd rather get the draft picks and see if the sox can make a run in the process of keeping their players. The Sox won't get draft picks for Dye, unfortunately. To get draft picks, we'd have to offer up arbitration and thus pretty much guaranteeing he gets an 11M or so contract from the Sox next season as I highly doubt anyone else offers very substantial money to Dye. I think best case Dye gets a 3yr 24M offer and maybe he takes it, but that is a best case scenario and the reason the Sox wouldn't offer him arbitration (unless of course they don't mind bringing him back and to be honest, if you could get him at 2yrs 15-16M, it isn't a bad idea, but with the plan on using him more in a DH role where he plays less in the OF or at least plays over in FL). I tend to agree you probably don't get a ton for Dye, but you also have to remember that you maybe get $5M in savings that was budgeted this year. So if the Sox than take that 5M and budget into the international market or futher move it to next years budget than I might be okay with it. But they still would have to get some sort of piece in return. To me Dotel (unless we trade Jenks/Thornton) is the most valuable piece in a trade.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 03:48 PM) Then send him to the Mets for Wilmer Flores and/or Fernando Martinez. Is there anyway the Cardinals would take Jenks, Anderson, and Carrasco for Rasmus? Doubtful. The Mets have zero need at closer, they have Krod and than JJ Putz in the back of there pen. Cards have been getting good performance out of there closer as well, so I wouldn't put it as a need for them, although I don't really buy into there closer. They probably don't trade Rasmus cause they love him.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Jun 11, 2009 -> 03:41 PM) If Jenks goes to the Cubs, it better be for Hoffpauir and maybe even Colvin. Oh my god, that would also be absolutely f***ing awful. That would be like trading Jenks for Kyle McCulloch and Brad Eldred (I know he's not with the club anymore, but he's the first AAAA slugger I could think of that was last on the White Sox). If you trade Jenks and are going to go the prospect route, you need to get two top 100 baseball prospects, preferably at least one who is considered an "impact" prospect.

Sucks they couldn't get the W for floyd, either way its great to see Gavin kicking ass. I'm officially on the bandwagon of moving Jenks if we can get a really good offer for him. Not sure if we can though. And it has nothing to do with him blowing the save and everything to do with the fact that I think now is the perfect time to move him, although, you have to get great value and if you don't, you keep him.