CWSGuy406

Five days until the Detroit pusses come down to Soldier! f*** yes! (Well, tomorrow will be five days). DETROIT SUCKS! DETROIT SUCKS! DETROIT SUCKS!

I was just going to ask that, Rex. So - you would consider Pedro an exception to the rule, like you referred Moyer as - as well?

You have to create second-round pick Tank Johnson. Make him somewhere around a 73-78 overall. In that area. And make sure you make him with the dredlocks. The dreds f***in rock!

Yes - and it's mostly you and E38 bantering about Diaz' role next year, Grilli next year, the point of Garcia pitching, and a little bit about Valdez thrown in. That's why I asked my question...

Mario - great article...

Am I the only one who feels Grilli doesn't have the command to be a good big league pitcher, and that, more or less he's been 'lucky' these past two starts? He's getting hit really hard, granted, he's done a solid job getting out of some jams, but... I dunno. It just - IMHO - seems that Diaz has had a plan in his past two starts (even the Oakland start, after he settled down). I can't explain his plan - yet he seems to want to pitch hitters up and in, after getting ahead in the count with a pitch on the corner - then he'll drop a slider/changeup on the corner. He can then throw something in the dirt - blah - I'm just confusing myself and everyone on this board... But - back to my point - am I the only one who feels that Diaz has developed a sort of 'plan' and that he seems to be gaining the form of his AAA Charlotte numbers had shown (Ugh - butchered that sentence gramatically.).

Great post, beck. That IS the attitude the Sox should take. Excellent point.

Radke is a damn good pitcher, but he isn't Johan Santana dominant. I'll leave it at that, I don't think this team will come back. Like I said in the game thread - the eternal optimist inside me will hope that the Twinkies have a mammoth collapse and that the Sox have a magical run into the playoffs, but my brain knows different. That's why it's called hope...

Boy, if I were a Texas fan, I'd be a little pissed off about Teixera's approach there. I realize he's young, but when a pitcher on the mound isn't showing much control, you can't help him out by swinging at the first pitch. JMO...

Ugh - Grilli, your letting this inning get away from ya... 1-0 Rangers, and more trouble to come.

I like Denver's playbook, but I assume KC's playbook would work as well...

I'll play...

Throw to your TEs a lot. When you do throw to your WRs, try running curl routes, drag routes, or quick slants. And, I recommend that if you are going to throw a deep pass, take control of your WR, get in front of the DB, and go and catch it. It's a lot easier that way.

I know that you say that jokingly, but sadly, the eternal optimist inside me still thinks that this team will go on a magical September run... :headshake

BTW - Phil Rogers says Garland will get four million in arbitration, yet how would that happen? He has a 10-10 record with a 4.90 ERA or so. How would he get his salary almost doubled with those type of numbers? Doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Where do you guys think Diaz is going to pitch next year? If we do keep Garland, and go out and sign another starting pitcher, there won't be room for him in the rotation. We could throw him in the bullpen, going into the role that Jon Adkins filled this year - but that would probably mean that we didn't sign a good relief pitcher, which is a bad thing. We should have a lot of guys 'trying out' for our bullpen next year, including Baj, Diaz, Adkins - maybe even Munoz if he's able to pitch like he did when he was a reliever last year. Thoughts?

But - this is my last post, at least for tonight - he'll be a fifth next year. That's what I'm trying to tell you. This team is going out, via free agency, via trade, whatever - and pick up a pitcher, most likely a number two or a number three. Yet - they most likely aren't going to go and pick up two starters. That's why I want to keep Jon, and go into the season without a question mark at the fifth starter spot.

Let me give you the stats of a (for right now) nameless pitcher. He started pitching when he was 22. He is 28 right now - here are his stats through then: 134 IP, 4.21 ERA 104 IP, 5.63 ERA 97 IP, 3.06 ERA 42 IP, 6.33 ERA 61 IP, 3.79 ERA 74 IP, 6.30 ERA 201 IP, 4.30 ERA 186 (So far) IP, 3.09 ERA People are talking about giving this pitcher anywhere from 8-11 million next season. If you haven't figured it out, it's Carl Pavano. Man - are his stats inconsistent or what. So, at the same age, Pavano had hit both ends of the spectrum, an excellent 3.06 ERA, yet a poor 6.33 ERA. With Garland, we know the worst from him - a smidge under a 5.00 ERA. Yet - do we know his best? If I have a fifth starter - and I know that during the season, he's going to do two things for me: log a lot of innings (Jon is on a pace to log 200+ this year), and give me a sub-five ERA - then wow, that's pretty good. Now - factor in that most of us think that we really haven't seen Jon's best season yet - and that's just gravy. You guys want to trade Garland for Soriano? Fine. And then next year, we'll go through the same carrasell (sp?) of fifth starters like we've done the past four years. If we sign a Matt Clement/Odalis Perez/Carl Pavano - we'll finally have five guys who have can eat up 1000+ innings, plus at least four out of the five providing sub - 4.50 ERAs. Why not go into next season with ZERO question marks in the most important aspect of baseball - pitching?

Yet you advocate this trade? I don't know, I'm just a little lost here. You don't like Diaz as a viable option for a fifth starter's spot this year, yet you want to trade Garland? I can see this team going out and spending money on ONE starting pitcher - two - ehh, that's iffy. There are more holes to be filled besides starting pitching. I just don't see how Soriano improves this team...

Well, I'm assuming that the Sox organization holds true and goes out and gets us a pitcher this offseason (I'm assuming one of Pedro/Radke/Clement/Perez/Pavano). That would push Jon back to the fifth spot. I think Schoeney is pretty much done with this team, but I could be wrong.

Using your logic, we should have won the past couple of years. I mean - it's all about the longball, baby... Defense isn't important, nor is pitching - but chicks dig the longball...

And how many of those guys are on the trading block?

You do realize that if we do trade Jon Garland - that Felix Diaz would, in turn, be our fifth starter? You do realize this, correct? DBaho, I agree with your post.

Oh - there's a lot of 24 year old pitchers who have posted ERA's right around 4.50 every year, and continues to pitch as a solid fifth starter - which he will be next year? And don't give me, 'We can just go pick up Glendon Rusch.'. When Glendon Rusch is able to log 200+ innings and put up an ERA under five, then you can talk to me... :rolly EDIT: I'd also like to know all of the fascination with Soriano. He'll hit us some homers, steal some bases - but he still won't solve our problem of not having guys who will get on base and create more contact. I'm also puzzled as to why Soriano's production has dipped going from more of a pitcher's park in New York to a definite hitter's park at Texas... Has he been injured this year?

??? I'm only 16, and I'm also cheering for Ichiro to break the record. But to say I don't appreciate the game by saying I want the new guy to break the record? That's quite stupid. A player of Ichiro's caliber doesn't come along very often, and the way he gets his hits, it's simply amazing. He finds every little crack in the defense, and he'll just poke it through. Like last night - one hit, a soft bouncer up the middle, the next one, a high chopper over the first baseman - on natural grass! Records are made to be broken. I don't know, I just think your a little nuts to say that just because someone is cheering for Ichiro to break the record, that they don't appreciate the game... But whatever - to each his own, I guess. EDIT: And you contradict yourself. You say that it is truely special that Sisler got 257 hits, yet say you're rooting against Ichiro to get the record? If Ichiro got the record, would you not consider that even more special because he was able to break such an awesome record, or what?