CWSGuy406

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Aug 2, 2005 -> 04:24 PM) LOL, in the MINORS. Willie has yet to come close to duplicating those numbers. And last year he posted a .342 OBP, around .360 vs righties. Along with being about three runs better than the average secondbaseman in 77 games. Someone will grab him.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Aug 1, 2005 -> 09:52 PM) Kiko Calero - Puerto Rico Ricardo Rincon - Mexico Keiichi Yabu - Japan Marco Scutaro - Venezuela Jay Paton - Black Bobby Kielty - ??? He's certainly not human...

I've backed off on wanting Satan. People who've seen him a ton more than I've seen him have said that he's pretty soft and is out of place defensively. If they can get him real cheap, that's fine, because he's a real good scorer, and I think the Hawks can use a pure scorer like him. But, I'd rather they put their attention on getting Auccoin and ( ) someone like Peter Forsberg.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Aug 1, 2005 -> 08:03 PM) If the Sox go 3-55 the rest of the season, Steve Phillips' prediction of a 72-90 season will be correct. Two more to go to beat Joe Sheehan's prediction of 71 wins...

Getting Williamson is going to be huge for them. I really would have liked to see the Sox pick him up for an incentive-laden contract in the offseason.

Wow -- Haigwood had an extremely nice month. 26 1/3 IP, 26 K's, 1.03 ERA, 1.10 WHIP. Tracey didn't do too well. And every pitcher on Charlotte had a better month than Jon Adkins except for Kevin Walker, yet he gets the call. It's got to be real dissappointing to post an ERA around one, strike out more than ten guys per nine IP (showing he's clearly ready for the next level), yet see guys like Walker and Adkins get the call because of their 'major league experience'. Does it matter if the major league experience wasn't good? No. But Ozzie knows that Bajenaru isn't going to be a good pitcher because of eight innings pitched. Really dissappointing...

He takes batting practice.... (Sorry, I had to.)

He'll get a chance somewhere. It seems like teams are starting to value defense more and more, so he'll definitely have a chance somewhere as a backup, maybe even in a platoon situation.

QUOTE(CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Aug 1, 2005 -> 05:40 AM) So what exactly do you want me to go by ? His minor league stats? I'm looking at it from Guillen's perspective and so far his vision of what the Sox should be has led to the best record in baseball. I have nothing against Munoz and don't exactly think Adkins is a long term answer . Chances are neither one will be on the playoff roster. Munoz will get his chance in Sept. and next spring. If he's any good it will play out that way eventually. Cali, truth be told, I'm making a bigger deal out of this than it should be. I don't like calling up another pitcher, period. I'd rather they make the Blum move, send Willie to Charlotte, and keep Gload up here. I don't see why this team needs another reliever. Pitch Vizcaino in every mop-up situation till his arm falls off, get some use out of that $1.3 million they paid him in the off-season.

QUOTE(CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Aug 1, 2005 -> 05:26 AM) Arnie Munoz pitched 14.1 innings last yr., He gave up 16 ER , 20 hits, walked 12 gave up 4 HR's and his ERA was 10.05. Adkins earned Ozzie's trust last year Munoz didn't. It's really that simple. But how many long relievers are really that good anyway ? If Ozzie prefers a guy he knows and trusts then I can deal with it. Wow, 14 IP. That's like people judging Baj on his 8 IP... I'll take the larger sample size of Adkins' (approx) 700 IP of an ERA around 4.50 than the 62 innings last year.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jul 31, 2005 -> 10:10 PM) Ozzie simply wanted another pitcher, and as JimH pointed out, a guy who could pitch mutiple innings. The off days are very few in the coming weeks. A reserve player had to be sent down. So they got Blum, because he can play where Willie and Gload play, and is a switch hitter. As far as I could tell the White Sox have done quite well without Ross Gload in the line-up this year. I can also remember they would probably have another victory if Ross Gload would have stayed in Charlotte this season. Could you imagine the outrage on this board if KW packaged Gload and Baj in a deal? People, they aren't that good. This is the same organization that didn't think Chad Bradford was very good either. Don't worry, this is no judgement whatsoever of the Olivo/Bradford trade, I'm just saying that I'm not going to exactly trust their judgement just because... Gload isn't a great player. But, for the league minimum, he's a damn good player. He's hit everywhere he's been, and when given some AB's last season, he did well. Something like a 115 OPS+. Having him off the bench to pinch run for Konerko, ala Saturday vs. Baltimore, is much more important than having a 12th guy in the bullpen. Vizcaino has proven that he can give you three innings (crappily, but whatever), but it's extremely poor judgement to give a guy with a 5.80 ERA (or around there) a shot over two other guys who have better stats, pitching in the same conditions. And, even though Gload made a bad defensive play at first -- one play isn't going to cloud my judgement -- and he's still better defensively at first than anyone on our rosters. One play isn't going to cloud my judgement. No -- Konerko and him are there, because I don't think I've seen a player as good as Konerko at picking balls out of the dirt. But Gload's value to the roster is, and will be (or would have been) much greater to the roster than Adkins'.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Aug 1, 2005 -> 04:53 AM) Not as much as other defenseman on the market like Niedermeyer, Pronger etc. The Hawks have targeted Aucoin, and I think they'll get him. I don't know much about Aucoin. Is he an offensive defenseman? Where did he play, and how old is he? Brian, I'm just not sure. Obviously, Cullimore-Vandermeer-Mac are all but locks to make the team. I can buy the 'Hawks getting one top flight defenseman. Two? I dunno about that. Assume they get Aucoin. That means there's four with Aucoin (what'd'ya know, I can do math! ). Then they still need to fill two spots on the forward lines: Calder-???-Ruutu Daze-Arny-??? Bell-Brown-Barnaby Borque-Nichol-Thorton So, that's four guys they need to sign -- unless they want to promote Bell to the second line, and have someone like Vorobiev make the team along with Borque. I can't see them getting four FA's, two of which being top-notch forwards, the other being two above average defensemen. I think they'll go one defenseman, two forwards. Seabrook makes the team, and Babchuk/Keith (gotta buy a Keith jersey) battle for the last spot. I'm gonna miss Berard. Like Tom says, he is what he is -- not a great defenseman, but he still did a real nice job for us while he was here. I don't have strong feelings on it, but he was fun to watch. BTW -- Tom = Pauly8509. He knows more than hockey about I do, his dad has had season tickets for -- a long time. Great seats. Center ice, 300 level, row one or two. Thanks for the link, Brian.

Rooting for Oakland to win the West. No way do I want to have to face Harden/Zito in a five game set. I'm perfectly fine going up against Colon/Washburn (or Lackey). And, their lineup is good, but it's not as good as everyone makes it out to be. Guerrero is great. Anderson is good, but he's posting his lowest OPS since 1997 (.750). After that, there's some decent hitters, like Figgins, Molina, Erstad (using 'decent' very loosely with him). Then there's Cabrera (four years, $32 million ) and Finley. Both are overpaid, and Finley seems to be fading fast -- .289 OBP this year. Yeah... I'm perfectly fine facing Anahiem in the first round. ESPN is all over Anahiem -- that's all I hear, "Angels are the best in the AL". They're 1.5 up on Oakland. Sheesh, you think they'd be undefeated for how much they're slobbered over...

In a market where Chuck Lamar was basically asking for a top pitching prospect (McCarthy, Petit) for a friggin' relief pitcher -- Kenny did good to not overpay. The Blum move is a good one, too. He's a nice backup to have. And, I'm 90% sure we'll get a reliever in the next 30 days. IIRC, we got Sullivan that way two years ago.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Aug 1, 2005 -> 03:54 AM) Poor Willie. Is he another Corey Patterson? Washed up? Willie is gonna go the way of Royce Clayton. Corey Patterson isn't really a great comparison. Both play exceptional defense at positions where defense is pretty important. Both have speed, too. But at the plate, they're totally different. One takes pitches, the other hasn't met a pitch he hasn't liked. Oh, and the fact that, well, Harris' career has to be considered a success thusfar -- I mean, he was a 24th round pick. Any contributions from a 24th rounder is awesome, and he contributed (somewhat) last year, providing a good OBP vs. righties and spectacular defense. Patterson, on the other side of the spectrum... 3rd overall pick. If he can repeat his 2003 numbers (heck, even 2004), he'll be valuable to some team. He's pretty damn good in CF. But, he's really messed up right now. He's hitting .226 at Iowa. Ick -- I can't believe I spent half a post talking about a Cub... :headshake

QUOTE(Jeckle2000 @ Aug 1, 2005 -> 03:28 AM) I think what most of you are forgetting is those terrible AAA numbers are from him being used as a starter pretty much exclusively.... He will be in the pen here... Besides seeing Harris and Gload on the way to Charlotte was like a wonderful dream come true.... So, him being a starter is the reason he's giving up a homer every SIX innings? Or that he's only striking out about six guys per nine? He doesn't have good stuff. And, look for yourself, he's had one good year in his professional career -- 2000. Then he had a couple of decent years with Charlotte. He's just not that good.

Stone commenting on Vizcaino's breaking (or lack thereof) slider. You suck, Vizcaino. Go suck for Milwaukee...

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Aug 1, 2005 -> 03:31 AM) So far: Slider, slider, slider. Holy Moses! Two fastballs... in a row!

Stone + Miller = awesome announcer duo. Phillips I could do without, but I'll take him over Morgan.

Adkins or Vizcaino for the ninth. This would apply as mop-up, no?

QUOTE(CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Aug 1, 2005 -> 02:56 AM) Decisions are not just made on minor league numbers. Adkins has more experience in the majors and Ozzie was very impressed with the job Adkins did last year IIRC. He did Ok last year. 4.65 ERA or so. When he finally was given innings that meant something down the stretch, when Politte was hurt, he was garbage. And, major league experience -- that did Kevin Walker real well, huh? He's not very good at all. I guess his ERA will come down from 5.80 or whatever, and he'll suddenly start fooling hitters.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Aug 1, 2005 -> 03:05 AM) Did you ever play at Bremen. Do they still have that stupid ground rule where if you hit a ball over the fence on the right side of this flag on the football stands its a ground rule double. I hit one that hit the top of those stands and got gipped. No baseball for me. I'm a basketball star. Ok, not a star. But, if there was a 12th man of the year award, I'd win it.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Aug 1, 2005 -> 03:04 AM) I went to Marist and played Juco at Moron Valley. If you don't mind my asking, how old are you?

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Aug 1, 2005 -> 03:03 AM) Tim Byrdak is up. He pitched for Oak Forest. I played against him in high school. He and now Mahay. This is a riot. Where'd you go to high school? I go to OFO. Senior this year...

This time it didn't hurt us. Lopez swung at ball three. Sammy swung at three balls. It did, however, hurt us against Detroit a week or two ago, and if he makes that type of decision against a team that can actually take some pitches, like Oakland, he's gonna run into a boatload of trouble.