CWSGuy406

QUOTE(fathom @ Jul 25, 2007 -> 06:01 AM) The Trib reports the Angels inquired about Konerko. I can't see the Sox trading him though. KW/Ozzie say we won't be going into a rebuilding mode this offseason. It would be a pleasant surprise if we can find a competitive team next year. That's interesting -- Kotchman is far, far down the list of reasons why the Angels have been slumping lately. Unless they would want Konerko for DH -- that'd make a little more sense. I'd swap OFers and first baseman with them in a two-for-two deal, though -- Konerko and Dye for Rivera and Kotchman (edit: not that this is anything more than an XBox trade, BTW).

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ Jul 24, 2007 -> 06:54 PM) The prospect flameout rate isn't worse than anyone else. You want to talk about prospects being hype, let's talk about the Dodgers. I'm starting to think that about a lot of west coast teams' farm systems. All of their hitting prospects come up in those leagues where hitting .300 is just barely above average, so a lot of them end up getting overrated. I'm mainly thinking about the D'Backs here -- Conor Jackson 97 OPS+ (well below average for a first baseman), Carlos Quentin 66 OPS+, Stephen Drew 71 OPS+. Even guys like Scott Hairston and Alberto Callaspo have been very mediocre. Very tough to judge some of those guys. Not saying I wouldn't want them on the Sox, just that their numbers are difficult to put into perspective.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jul 24, 2007 -> 05:55 AM) What'd Sickels write? He basically described Floyd as needing a "change of scenery" but that he still liked him, citing the same AFL 'readings' (ie he still possessed the plus fastball and breaking ball) that Kenny talked about. I'm too lazy to look it up, but I'm sure someone else can back me up. I don't know if you were here a whole lot in the offseason but the Garcia trade thread was mass chaos. I'd say at least 75% of the people expressed a negative sentiment on the deal. People have 'cooled' on it because a.) Garcia hasn't done anything well and b.) both the guys we 've got back have performed just about as well as could have been expected (maybe not Floyd, but let's not get into semantics). I think people back up Floyd because there's nothing left for him to do in AAA. Over his past eight (minor league) starts he has an ERA just north of 2.00. I don't know if he has what it takes to become an average major league starter, but I want to see. Pretty much the same thing I said about Brian Anderson going into the season. This may be true, but that doesn't make what I said false -- Danks was the centerpiece. And so far he got it right on Danks when a lot of people had their doubts. So I guess what I'm saying is that it's better he got it 'wrong' on Masset than getting it 'wrong' on Danks. Would it have been better if Masset ws throwing 96-97 out of our 'pen with a 3.00 ERA like Kenny said? Sure -- but it's still, IMO, a minor quibble on the list of reasons why Kenny should be canned. In fact, without thinking about it a whole lot, I'd say that this hypothetical list could pretty much begin and end with the the player development (or lack thereof) during Williams' tenure.

Can we replace the "he gawn!" Hawk icon with a "dag gummit!" one?

Any news on the Tigers signing Crosby and/or Porcello?

QUOTE(Chet Lemon @ Jul 24, 2007 -> 02:01 AM) In light of recent happenings, could the Sox swing Heath Phillips for Scott Olsen? Phillips is rightly buried beneath a plethora of our young SP, but could probably step into the Marlins rotation this week. Olsen is still young and would be low risk, high reward-perhaps out of the pen. Olsen's kind of a jag. To go along with the recent DUI and refusing arrest, he got in fights with a couple of teammates last season and even with Girardi. He's the Marlins' only answer to some of the "dawgs" playin' in Tampa.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jul 24, 2007 -> 02:00 AM) For some reason, I think Dye will end up back with the Sox next year. The only way I can see that happening is if the Sox keep him through the rest of this season (presumably because the offers for him at the deadline are mediocre), offer him arbitration and he accepts. I think Kenny understands that this team needs to get younger, and resigning Dye to a three year deal doesn't help that.

I don't think anybody is particularly happy with the season Dye has had so far, but at least he picked the right span of time to start hitting. Dye hitting like this is a definite upgrade for a bunch of teams out there, so hopefully we can get something better than the two draft picks we'd get at season's end.

QUOTE(Vance Law @ Jul 24, 2007 -> 01:24 AM) Cutting their losses Jul 23 - The Red Sox have had talks with the White Sox about a deal that would send fourth outfielder Wily Mo Pena to Chicago, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. But before they trade Pena, Boston would like to acquire Pena's replacement. Oakland's Bobby Kielty has been mentioned as a possibility. I imagine it would be for a reliever, if the reports about the Red Sox being interested in Soloman Torres are correct.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jul 23, 2007 -> 04:35 AM) Besides that, though, there's the fact that Kenny has now, by my count, gambled on three awful pitchers: Masset, Adkins and Floyd, seeing in them what absolutely nobody else sees in baseball (warning: hyperbole precedes, I know -- but hyperbole is based in truth). Gambled on three awful pitchers? In Masset and Floyd's case, neither were centerpieces in the deal. Adkins? Yeah, that one was bad, but that was in the early part of Kenny's GM career -- I feel he's gotten a lot better since then. That's not to say that Kenny didn't overrate any of the above three -- but these issues with Kenny are far down on the reasons why he should be canned. You've also become waaaay too biased to even comment about Floyd at this point, or so it appears. There were several people who still liked Floyd at the time of the trade, most notably John Sickels. I know it's the "cool" thing to still rip Kenny about that trade -- hell, just look at the thread of the trade, just about everyone wanted Kenny's head on a platter after the deal -- but for anyone to even bring up Floyd's name in a negative light is simply ridiculous. As far as the whole luck thing about certain players like Jenks, Iguchi, Contreras... You can spin it that way to make it seem like every move is lucky. The Sox were lucky to draft Mark Buehrle -- afterall, every other team had a chance to draft him, 30+ times over. The Twins were lucky to get Johan -- afterall, Houston let him go.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jul 22, 2007 -> 11:22 PM) http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6068 Since that article was written, Haeger has given up ten homers, more than half the amount he gave up from 2004-2006 combined. I don't care to comment on Haeger's future and how good/useful he will or won't be -- I'm just saying things have changed a bit since that article was written.

How much does Jack Wilson make and when is he signed through? I don't really like Wilson a whole lot, but if they were signed through the same years, is there any chance of a bad contract for bad contract deal, Contreras for Wilson straight up? Again, Wilson isn't a very good player at all, but he's a better-than-average defensive shortstop and at the very least, you can rely on him for a .300 OBP (I know that's not saying much). That doesn't really "solve" our problem at SS, but if Wilson is only signed through 2009, he can hold the spot down for a year or two.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jul 22, 2007 -> 09:21 PM) No no, I trust you. I just wanted to look at the stats. In all seriousness, if you could choose one guy on this team to get a clutch hit for you right now, who would it be? Right now I'd say Konerko, but Thome would definitely be number two for me. Ever since the LA walkoff game in 2005, all AJ does in close-and-late spots is swing for the fences -- he seemingly only comes through when we play the Cubs -- and while Jermaine is coming around, I don't think I'd put him above Thome.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jul 22, 2007 -> 09:19 PM) I'd love to see where you can get this so I can look up the game logs, and see why I can't remember his numbers being at that level. Come on, Fathom, you know me better than to lie about statistics. But if you must... Scroll down a bit and you'll see 'em. http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/bspli...1&year=2007

QUOTE(fathom @ Jul 22, 2007 -> 09:15 PM) Will Thome ever do anything to help this team in the 9th inning or later? FWIW, in the ninth inning this year Thome is hitting .313/.571/.438. I luuuuuuuuuv selective memory.

Papelbon's splitter doesn't look sharp today.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jul 22, 2007 -> 02:57 AM) its not like A.) the Sox offense was going to come back, or B.) the bullpen could have held up even if we scored 8 runs to get the lead again. In other words it didn't matter if Jesus Christ himself came out of the Sox pen last night, he still would have walked the bases loaded last night, and then gave up a grand slam. So you're saying pretty much that it didn't matter what the hell Ozzie did, the game was over anyways. If that's the case, why doesn't Ozzie just have the White Sox players come off the field when they get down by three or more runs at any time the rest of the season? Hell, Ozzie can just have a little fun -- let's put Contreras in CF, Jenks at SS and Buehrle behind homeplate. Just so we have this clear, everybody -- from now on, Ozzie gets a pass on ANY decision made when the Sox are down by more than one run. Apparently I was wrong in thinking that the manager's job was to put make decisions that gives his team the best possible shot at winning. QUOTE(RibbieRubarb @ Jul 22, 2007 -> 08:50 PM) That's where I disagree with you... They are VERY FUNNY. You see its all an attention getting act. Stir the pot...hope for an argument. He's kind of like Andy Kaufman without all that talent getting in the way. You know what I find very funny? The fact that it's clockwork that people like you come into threads like this and never, EVER defend Ozzie's decisions. In fact -- it's very ironic that you're the one saying that other people are stirring the pot. What do you do? You come into these threads and throw s*** at other people. Have you ever actually tried to put up an argument relevant to Ozzie's decision-making? No -- you come in here and just point the finger at the people who are calling out Ozzie on the (stupid) moves he makes. And when it comes to these threads taling about individual moves in individual games, what do you do? Bring up irrelevant bulls***. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. EDIT: The only person who actually came in and put up a decent defense for the Ozzie shift was TLAK. And I've seen absolutely nothing for leaving in Contreras for the 8th.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jul 21, 2007 -> 08:36 PM) The only reason to take Floyd over Contreras is $$$ No, not really -- it's because Floyd has nothing left to do at AAA. He can get AAA hitters out. I want to find out if he can get big league hitters out. And let's not get into the Gavin Floyd "mentality" discussion. Everybody said Jon Garland was a mental midget when he first entered the league -- apparently he didn't punch enough lockers or throw enough water jugs when he had a bad outing. People didn't like that he maintained a calm demeanor win and lose, so they took that as him not caring.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jul 21, 2007 -> 06:08 PM) Because certain members of our organization think we still have a shot. If you honestly believe that Kenny Williams still thinks that, you're a lot more dense than I thought. Ozzie saying it is one thing -- what is he supposed to say? -- but at this point, I really doubt Kenny isn't fielding just about every offer for Dye, Mackowiak, Contreras, Thorton, Iguchi etc.

Harris actually wasn't a total disaster the one year he started for the Sox. He gave the 2004 team excellent defense and a .343 OBP. The problem was that the Sox gave him too many ABs against lefties. Of course, our SS also had the same problem of having absolutely no clue against southpaws. But getting back to Harris, his OBP vs righties that year was .366 -- combine that with superb defense and above average baserunning and you have an okay (still below average but above replacement level) player.

Anybody know anything about the English Premier League teams' online access programs like MUTV and LFCTV? Are these at all similar to MLB.TV in that I can see live games? My options are limited at school, so I'm trying to figure out a way to actually keep track of the Premiership this season.

I don't care that we're not going anywhere this season, I hope we sweep Boston. I know too many of their smug fans who I really want to see squirm a bit as their division lead shrinks and shrinks. Tomorrow is huge -- Beckett starts tomorrow, right? -- if we win against Beckett, I think a sweep is possible.

What an embarrassing at-bat by AJ so far. Chased two balls up in the zone. Wow, that pitch was close. Heh -- and he rips one by Youk.

QUOTE(AirScott @ Jul 20, 2007 -> 01:38 AM) Says his .210 average this year, his career .311 on-base percentage, and his tendency throughout his career to strike out one every three at-bats. He's 25, has never been given a full year of at-bats but still has a career slugging percentage of .468. Tough to get into a groove when you're playing twice a week.

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ Jul 18, 2007 -> 03:50 PM) Other rumors...Iman Shumpert trimmed his list to 5 and droppped UI (the finalists are UNC, Clemson, GTech, Marquette, and Bradley). Speaking of Suggs, he reportedly has offers from Florida and Kansas and wants to visit Kansas before making a verbal commitment. Finally, from the Suntimes, Jereme Richmond on his commitment to UI: I know very little about Shumpert, but I do know that Tom Crean has put in his due dilligence with Iman. It's tough competing with UNC and G-Tech, but if by chance Shumpert chooses Marquette, they'll have a very strong guard duo coming in for 2008-2009 (the other being Nick Williams). And since I don't feel like putting this in another thread, Marquette's second best player this year will be Lazar Hayward -- second behind McNeal. Just so that I have that down somewhere when he's averaging 15 and 5 next season.