Chisoxfn

Oh I quietly think the White Sox are really building towards 2010/2011. It seems pretty evident by the way they handled the off-season and in no way shape or form am I advocating the firing of Kenny. I do think if he thought this team was going to compete he made a massive mistake or mis-evaluation but by and large I think he's one of the very best GM's in baseball and does a very good job with the resources he has. Give him the Red Sox payroll and I think we have an organization similar to theres or at least a chance of that and right now there is no organization even close to being as good as the Red Sox.

Plus there in a new stadium this year. By all means I'm not doubting that they are hurting due to the economy but I can't imagine its expensive to stream over the internet at least. Afterall, we were able to run a streaming radio show so I can't see why the Dash wouldn't be able to.

I'm going to move this to the main forum so that everyone reads it and hopefully sends something. In addition, I will send something on behalf of Soxtalk over there stating how our entire site is dissapointed that games will not be broadcasted.

QUOTE (santo=dorf @ May 13, 2009 -> 03:15 PM) He crapped his pants in the playoffs ala Javy Vazquez, not John Danks. Aren't those the "intangibles?" It also helps that he was near the top in run support last season. You mean the same guy that pitched very good for us in the big games in September? Are you forgetting that?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2009 -> 03:49 PM) I was willing to put up with him there because his defense was saving us as many runs as his bat was costing us. I can't say the same about Lilliputian. I was willing to put up with him because the rest of the offense was very good and Anderson's D was very very important when the other option was sticking out a horrendous defensive Cfer (Mack).

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 13, 2009 -> 03:01 PM) QUOTE Fields just has WAY too many moving parts in his swing now. It's no wonder he can't hit a Pavano fastball down the pipe. Lillibridge is probably beyond hope for this year...he wasn't even able to pull Jeremy Sowers, but continued to flare lazy flyballs to RF. Getz stands almost as much on top of the plate as Quentin. Of course he's going to get busted inside, and unless he turns on those balls and drives them to RF, it's going to keep happening. It's strange to see a LH hitter struggle so much will pitches that are low, but it's the pitches that are low AND inside that he's specifically dealing with, like a cutter from a RH pitcher. That was MY original quote. What is your point? Is Walker supposed to make all guys hit the same way? This is why players fail. If their swings suck, they are THEIR swings, they suck and they'll be out of baseball soon. We talk way too much about hitting coaches on here. This was YOUR response, where I never said anything about Walker or making all hitters the same...if I was to say something, it would be hit the ball where it's pitched, lol. WHERE DID I MENTION GREG WALKER??? I suppose we can't only NOT talk about Greg Walker or Don Cooper anymore, but we can't even add our own opinions or observations about the hitters? WHAT???? So you're suggesting that we now ban any poster who talks about any of the coaches or even Ozzie Guillen? Yes/no? Because our talking about them sure as hell won't change the opinions of KW or JR. In fact, if they read what was said here, they'd be MUCH MORE likely to keep them in place. Really, I think we should just curse at fellow White Sox fans right and left, because that will really have an actual affect on how the team is operated. If you want to curse at ANYONE, call up KW at 674-1000 or whatever the number is, leave your name and address and curse HIM out, not me. You can do that, but it would be cowardly to do it all the way from Kansas. Did you call and b**** at Roy Williams when he never led KU to a National Championship, too?? I'm saying that I'm sick of dumb f***ing comments that have no validity. And yes, Caufield, I am making an example of YOU right here right now. Ie, people blaming Walker for getting shut out six times. You want to tell me Walker sucks, fine, give me a reason or give me X,Y,Z. Don't tell me he does lift and pull or any of that bulls*** cause that is proposterious and I also know he'd have been fired a long time ago if he wasn't solid. The Sox haven't just sat around with piss poor coaches over the last decade. Jerry Manuel was a decent coach, didn't take the team to the next level, gone. Nardi Contreras sucked balls...gone. The Sox have done a good job showing people the door at the right time. I know 30% of this site seems to want Ozzie gone or says how much he sucks this year but again, the guy has done a very good job as a whole. I don't always agree with the way he goes about things and he makes some odd moves but bottom line he wins and gets a lot out of his guys. Right now there is clearly a lack of talent in the everyday lineup and there is nothing Ozzie, Walker, Coop can do with it. The Sox have lost a lot of very good players due to injuries during the course of the early season. Now those guys are getting back and having a regular lineup should make things better. If I see most of the guys suck when healthy for an extended period than fine. And like I said posts ago and even dating back to last year, if you want to fire Walker, you do it because you need to send a message down the line (ie, players aren't listening or aren't putting in the effort to get better or you the manager/front office think players are ignoring the batting coach) than you do it. Otherwise Walker is a good hitting coach. He works with every player and works his f***ing ass off and overall does a pretty good job (given that I've never heard anyone complain about him and if the players didn't like him or he wasn't getting the job done, we'd know. ).

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ May 13, 2009 -> 02:00 PM) Is this how WSI started their regime of terror? Yep, Caufields schacaneries (I know I screwed up that spelling). Rather that I think its f***ing ridiculous that people seriously believe that Walker is the first guy in baseball history that teaches the "lift and pull" theory. It is such utter crap. And I'm pretty sure that if this was WSI, I would have had to ban myself for saying Anderson and Fields f***ing suck.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 13, 2009 -> 12:34 PM) Huh? He throws that hard? Have I been missing something? Probably a quick gun, but he was hitting 94 in spring training and it wouldn't be a shock if he's throwing a bit harder now. He had a good fastball in the spring training appearance I saw him in.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 13, 2009 -> 01:09 PM) Simple, he's supposed to help/assist/mentor in order to maximize the ability of each hitter. Dude, enough already. Its not Walkers fault that Anderson and Fields have f***ing awful swings. There swings have gotten noticeably better under Walker and they still suck. If you want to give a reason for firing Walker say its because another person might be able to get the message across better or that it might just be that the players aren't listening to his voice, but don't tell me he's a s***ty hitting coach. Afterall, most players have gotten better with him than they were in previous organizations, unless of course the guy is just past his prime. Dye, Konerko, Quentin are three guys that got much better with the club. Rowand and Crede both improved significantly under Greg Walker. So enough already. Its not Walkers fault. Look at the s*** he's getting handed or what the Sox are putting out there in the lineup. So seriously. For all of you people b****ing about Walker, wheres the fire Coop thread? Oh wait, Coop isn't at fault cause he was handed nothing for the back end of teh rotation so it shouldn't come as a shock that our pitching staff has struggled mightily at times. When a Walker student goes elsewhere and just dominates or turns the light on, than come tell me, but I haven't seen that happen so I clearly don't believe that Walker is this terrible hitting coach. I swear, I'm going to start banning any dumbass that goes around telling me that Walker should get fired cause we've been shutout 6 times when we throw out lineups with 4 f***ing guys that shouldnt' be starting on a major league team, most of which shouldnt' be freaking near a major league roster.

Pods, Lillibridge. Neither belong on a major league roster, let alone being every day starters. Therefor when both are in a lineup on a consistent basis your going to struggle.

Omogrosso has big league stuff. I wonder if the Sox think he's ready. I highly doubt it as I still think he projects more as a reliever, but you can't ignore the strides he's made. However, I think the Sox are trying to make sure they don't rush there prospects to the detriment of there careers just to try to save what might be a sinking ship. I hope Kenny knows he's got some real nice pieces and that he finds a way to move some of his vets and plus some holes and than instill youth and than makes a big run at a FA or two in the off-season. This team isn't near as far away as some would think and I still wouldn't be at all shocked if it even won the division this year.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 13, 2009 -> 11:21 AM) To be fair, Gavin Floyd had a good 2008. Cherry pick all you want, his full season totals were good. And if he was lucky in the first half, he was actually unlucky in the second half cause he was a much better "pitcher" in the 2nd half. And I speak of the intangibles, not what the f***ing stats show. He grew so much in the 2nd half of last season and I continue to say I'm not worried about Gavin. I will say that he needs to man the f*** up though.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2009 -> 11:26 AM) Fields is 8/41 in May, hitting under .200. I was going to tell you I also wouldn't have a problem with Getz at 3B and Nix at 2B, ramirez at SS for a bit if Fields continues to suck. Or at least for a day or two.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2009 -> 11:23 AM) I just hate how every fix we offer is going to wind up with Anderson going to the bench, or winding up in a platoon situation (and he's hitting RHP vastly better than LHP this year). Cause Anderson is a bench player. I hope he proves me wrong, but he still looks like piss up at the plate. Throw out every stat you want, he doesn't look like a good or even solid hitter, at least not yet. I wish he would too. I freaking love BA and love the Sox. I root like hell for them to get hits but I was so f***ing irritated with how they handled this off-season.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2009 -> 10:49 AM) Alexei is 3/3. The bases are loaded. This would be an ideal place to pinch hit for Lillibridge...if we had anyone. Who the Hell are we sending up? Alexei is at least starting to figure stuff out, or at least I hope so. That would be f***ing huge and I mean huge. Cause if he can figure s*** out you might be able to move him to CF or do something creative to get him, Getz, and Nix all in the lineup.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 13, 2009 -> 10:36 AM) After KW unloaded Swisher and Vazquez he said he was moving on to the outfield. He didn't do anything. I don't think this particular line-up is what he had in mind. The only blessing is that it shouldn't be hard to find a quality corner outfielder on the FA market. SO it is something they should be able to address with ease in the future. Defensively this team is flat out bad. With Nix hitting the way he is, it shoudl really force Alexei into CF and Nix over to SS.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 13, 2009 -> 10:34 AM) I also do not understand much of the standings watching. Standings right now are like college basketball top 25 rankings before conference play even starts - they just don't mean a whole hell of a lot. Well they do if you are 18 games out or something. But as long as you are within 3 games at this point than you know what, you have a chance. Tell me that as bad as we've played and we are still that close and I'll say give me a healthy Quentin/Thome (as much as I bash him, he's a good ballplayer, I prefer a different type of player but he still has value)/Dye/Getz/AJ/Konerko and I'll say we'll have a top 6 offense in the AL. I'll also guarantee that Floyd will pitch better and will finish the year with an ERA under 4.5. He's a far better pitcher than he's shown this year and the stuff is still there. He's definately having some command issues but I think its something that can be fixed and I don't think it will even be a tough fix. He's looked so good at times this season and its just a matter of him getting back those pitching instincts. Bottom line this team will compete. The big thing that scares me is the 4th/5th spots of the rotation, CF, and Alexei Ramirez. I might also worry about the pen a bit more since its going to get used a lot more with what I expect to be very few quality starts by our 4th and 5th starters this season (I'm banking on Colon getting hurt again, but he's done good so far).

On a sidenote, we are working on having a better chat room for the site. Hopefully we can get something set up by months end.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 13, 2009 -> 09:43 AM) Yet its fire Greg Walker. How many runs can anyone expect some of these line-ups to score? Wise, Lillibridge leading off. Lillibridge batting second? Lillibridge being asked over and over again to execute a hit and run so Ozzie can empty the bases. The lack of scoring is on KW and JR mostly and on Ozzie partially for some of the line-ups he's assembled. Completely agree, right now you can't blame Oz. As long as he didn't tell Kenny that he was fine with Owens/Wise/BA. Look, bottom line, most of the reason this offense has looked so bad is injuries. We've had Quentin/Fields/Thome/Dye/Getz all miss some semblance of time and production due to injuries. That is pretty significant this early in the season. Anyteam would be struggling losing that sort of production and the reason I include Fields in the mix is that he was actually hitting good when he went down and I keep hoping the reason he's struggling is that he's still hurting or something like that (and that he's getting close to getting healthy). But thats just me being a crazy optimist. Note: I don't mention Wise/BA's injuries cause it was stupid to go into a season with either of them being starters.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ May 13, 2009 -> 09:38 AM) It is very possible that Jordan could hit a major league fastball better than Lillibridge. It's not like it's some trick pitch he's never seen. Can we set up some sort of Hitting challenge between the two, simply to humiliate the Bridge. Maybe he could, but calling him up right now would be detrimental to the development of Jordan Danks and that is not something you want to do.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 13, 2009 -> 09:35 AM) Jordan has now slumped to .429 as we speak. I'm with Harrelson, Birmingham is a lot more interesting than the major league club. That I'll agree with.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 13, 2009 -> 09:31 AM) I swear Getz is faster than Lillibridge and might have beaten the relay there. Esteban Belte, Jr., your ticket is already purchased for Charlotte Friday. Yesterday was the first time all season we beat a pitcher who entered the game with a +6 ERA, and we face three "no names" (Cecil is known to some) at Toronto, where we've won about 1 of our last 10 games against TOR. Getz is faster than lillibridge. I've been told that Getz is one of the fastest guys down the line in the majors. It's not necessarily because he's super super fast, rather he gets out of the box fast and has a quick first few steps. He's not high end speed, but he's still very fast. Faster than Lilli on the paths.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 13, 2009 -> 09:23 AM) Yep, unfortunately for Jim he was stuck on a club for 12 years that hasn't won a title in 60 years. If we're out of it at the deadline I really hope we find a way to deal Jim to a contender, he deserves a damn ring. Me too. I think him and Dye will have significant value. I'm not saying we'll get much in terms of prospects but if we get one guy for each of them that has upsie and could help the club long term than those are must deals. Plus you'd get cash that could be utilized next year or on draft picks/international signings.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 13, 2009 -> 09:17 AM) Josh didn't have a chance in hell against Lee. Hopefully we find a way to squeeze in a hit or 2 today, I'd rather not be no-hit. Josh has no chance against most guys. His swing is awful. The way he loads prevents him from ever being able to hit a good major league fastball. He brings his hands forward and than far back at the start of his swing and by the time he finally is bringing the bat forward its too late. Its just far too long of a load/trigger. Its why he's usually so effective against breaking pitches but if you can't hit a fastball you can't play in the majors and its why I've always said the Sox should deal Fields. I keep hoping I was wrong and early on this season his swing was looking a bit shorter but bottom line is that I have major doubts but he's a great guy and has solid speed for a 3rd baseman and decent defensive ability so I hope he pans out. But I personally would consider dealing him for a young pitcher that has upside but has maybe struggled his first go-round in the bigs and go for a struggling former top prosepct for a struggling former top prospect trade. Especially since we could use some pitching help anyway. I'd than get creative to find a CFer and just for the time being go with a Nix/Ramirez/Getz infield combo. Note: I don't think that its necessarily a good idea, rather I'd like to get something for Fields and would love a pitcher (or Cfer for that matter).

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 13, 2009 -> 08:18 AM) Pods hitting 2nd and Fields at 6th tells you everything you need to know about our AAA line-up. Earlier in the season I said our Birmingham line-up was stronger, and you can definitely make that case versus what we've had to put out there the last couple of weeks. Just the very presence of Lillibridge screams "automatic out" and the reverse Thome shift to RF for Lilliquist as Harrelson calls him. Shutup. Konerko, AJ and Dye are >>>>> every clown in Bham. Thats not a knock on Bham, just stating facts and if we brought that Bham team up we'd have the worse offense in baseball history. Thats not say some guys would turn into good players, they would in time, but give me a break.