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QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Aug 20, 2009 -> 01:07 PM) Honestly, yesterday might have been the turning point to the season. Jose Contreras vs. Zach Greinke? And we win? Easily? Then the Tigers have their ace on the mound and lose to the Mariners who tossed IAN SNELL? We're 2 games out when most thought we'd be 4 out at this point. Jim Thome is back, and we're ready to rock. Anyone else feeling as good as I am after Bizarro Wednesday? I dunno...I thought that the previous day was a turning point for Detroit...they come from behind and win a game started by the Mariners' King Felix...then we lose a game thatwe were winning 4-1. That's why baseball is so awesome..so mant unpredicatble outcomes!

QUOTE (EvilJester99 @ Aug 13, 2009 -> 11:03 PM) Let's hope if he does pull any of that stuff here Ozzie or some of the vets will set him straight. How does the old adage go? If a guy owes you? If someone owes you $10,000 hes's in trouble....if he owes you $1,000,000, you're in trouble. This deal reminds me of that...Rios is owed so much money for so many years, why should he listen to anyone to 'set him straight'?

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 13, 2009 -> 07:07 AM) Bad, very bad trade. His pitches just hang over the plate. I can't believe Ozzie used him over Dotel. There is nothing in this guys history that suggests that he is a good pitcher or capable of being one. Yes, i know about how the success that we had with Thorton and Coop turing himaround. Remember though, that a left handeder with good stuff is a surer bet than a right handed guy with similiar stuff. Also, I wish kenny would not place so much emphasis on Coop being able to turn raw talent into gold. Not that we should not do thid, we should, but do we need to trade away a decent 1st base prospect whom AZ projects as a starter next year to get what amounts to a reclamation project??

How was this guy able to accomplish what he did in 2007? Hmmmmmmmm......

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Aug 9, 2009 -> 08:03 PM) Yep, that's exactly what it is. People get hung up on the strikeouts. What about Flowers or Viciedo? Both guys are destined to be either DHs or corner outfielders.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 25, 2009 -> 11:35 PM) Anyone else remember the 1991 season, where the team was 1 game back, Wilson Alvarez threw a no hitter his first time out, the team was 20 games over .500, and suddenly they went on a major losing skid, finished the season in 2nd place and were 8 games under .500 after the no-no? I thought of the same thing. I also recall in 2004 when Crede hit a come from behind walk off home run to forge a tie for first in late July. Two days later, Torii Hunter back up catcher and we proceeded to leak air like punctured tire.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 25, 2009 -> 11:47 PM) Is the cost of acquiring Sherrill close to worth it? Wouldn't it be better, if we did pull Jenks, to at least give Thornton a shot at the job first? You'd hate to give away a big piece of our future offense in Tyler Flowers when this team could be knocked completely out of the race in the next 10 days of the season... Way too many holes on this team to mortgage the future. Apparently, Kenny didn;t think enough of this team to improve it in the off season...why improve it now when the cost would be astronomical?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 11, 2009 -> 02:32 PM) You're reading my mind. Rotation juggling burned us a bit last year too at the end of the season.

Though we lost, this game was a great moral victory for us. We came from four runs down against their best pitcher and we only lost by two runs. I would not be surprised if we won 3 or 4 games this year in the Hump Dome.

QUOTE (Friend of Nordhagen @ May 13, 2009 -> 12:19 AM) Good call. Lillibridge looks like Fred Savage. Lillibridge looks like Scott Fletcher (circa 1990)

I like this too. Let's face it...I would rather have a known, albeit somewhat dry, but professional commodity than an ex jock announcer-in-training ala Chris Singleton.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Oct 29, 2008 -> 05:39 PM) From what I cant tell, they are hacking off the east side of the north ramp and creating a new building (presumably a restaurant) and also turning that "courtyard" into some sort of an enclosed area. Animated Gif: Static with transparency: Wow, I am impressed by your photoshop skills

It looks like they will remove the east half of the existing ramp along 35th Street and replace it with the new structure.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Oct 25, 2008 -> 03:36 PM) Lol, what a load of BS! If there is one thing I absolutely despise, it's people complaining about production from certain players because of the position they play. The position a player plays should not determine their numbers, but rather what spot in the lineup they bat. Figgins played third base, but he was a leadoff hitter. Leadoff hitters aren't supposed to be big huge power hitters. But because he played 3B he needs to put up huge power numbers? My god, how stupid can you be if you believe that? You are correct in that if you can offset the production form other positions ie, shortstop centerfield, where you play in the field doesn't matter. Good catch. Production aside, Figgins is getting older, is slowing down and frankly seems to the type of older verteran guy who is on the right side of the 'bell curve' that Kenny seems to fall in love with. Per Jim Margulus' Sox Machine Blog from yesterday..."He (Figgins) saw a sizable increase in walks (62 from 51, plus three HBPs), but managed a Jerry Owens-like 16 extra-base hits over 520 plate appearances. Add those with a third straight year of decline with regards to his stolen base total (34-for-47), and there's one very obvious conclusion: Figgins is getting old. There are two general trends about ballplayers as they age: The legs are the first to go. They become more selective because they can't cover the plate like they used to. He'll be 31 next season. He was hampered by a bad right hamstring for about a month, so there's a chance he could rebound, but these are warning signs worth paying attention to. On the other hand, this makes him an excellent candidate to acquire for only a year. His contract expires at the end of the '09 season"......

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 24, 2008 -> 07:32 PM) If it's either of those two straight up for Chone, then yuck! And BTW, Chone got the reputation last year as a bad clubhouse presence. KW and Ozzie better do their research on a guy's personality prior to any big acquisitions. Unfortuantely, when it comes to veteran players, Kenny has a habit of overrating and acquiring certain players. Last year's poster child was Swisher..my fear is that Figgins will be this years entry. And for God's sake people, look at Figgin's stats and tell me that he is a good player! A third baseman that drove in all of 22 runs!

1B - Paulie C- Injured a lot, but not very good when he wasn't 2B - Lexi A. What a find. SS - OC B Seems to be in decline - limited range..can't handle a cutoff throw to save his life 3B - Crede - Incomplete. Uribe - B. He saved our season when Crede went down. LF - Carlos - A . Team MVP yes, but self destructed at the end. Wise - C. 'Sparked us with speed and some big hits but really isn't an everyday player'-Agreed. CF - Swish D-. Complete dud. Poor acqisition Miscat in the lineiup order and in the field.. Never has been that good of a player. Griffey - C. 'Had a chance to get a second wind on his career and carry us to a title. Too old and slow to do that. Didn't hit many bombs. Good try, KW but it didn't work much' Agreed- PLease decline the option. RF - Dye. B. Dissapointing September DH - Thome - B. Only gets a B because other DHs in the league suck. C - AJP. B. Seems to decline in the second half, which is why we need a better backup Toby - C. 'He ain't very good'-Agreed- See comment above. Mark Buehrle - B+ Great finish. Javy - D Awful finish. Floyd - A-. Good this year, but I expect a falloff next year. Danks - A. Nice job young man. Jose - C-minus. 'I think you are done, Jose- Yes he is, Except for that $10 million contract next year. Richard - 'Incomplete but some very nice moments' Agreed - Need sto work on some things but I like his potential.. Jenks - A- Dotel - C. The Sybil of relief pitchers Thornton - B. Linebrink - B. Itchy about his long term deal given his injury. Logan - F- This may be a lost cause for the Sox. He will come back with another team and have success.. MacD - F. More dead money in 2009 Carrasco - B-. Caught lightening in a bottle at the right time (when Linebrink went down) Ramirez - F. 'He just isn't a big league pitcher'- Agreed. Fields - Incomplete, 'poor guy's body is falling apart' Agreed. I'm sure I'm forgetting some players. Just wanted to get the thread started. My MVP: Carlos. My Least VP: Swish (from what I thought we were getting). My MVP pitcher: Jenks. My least VP pitcher - Gotta go with Logan for his lefthanded meatballs to righties and lefties alike. I do think Dotel however is one who bugs me the most. I feel like he has the potential to be dominant; but he's pretty much an enigma to me.

QUOTE (kjshoe04 @ Oct 8, 2008 -> 09:24 PM) I really miss Olivo's arm. I'm really starting to get sick of AJ and his complete inability to throw out anyone. I know that alot of it has to do with our pitchers, but he has a terrible arm. I wouldn't mind having Maguel back. Problem is, I beleive that KC has a club option on him for next season. Regardless, I would like to see Toby gone. The fact is, AJ is getting older and seems to tail off in the second half offensively, as most catchers do. The key for next year is to bring in a better backup catcher that can handle more games and ideally bring something else to the table like a stronger throwing arm, or decent offense. Henry Blanco would be great as well but I doubt the Cub would be stupid enough to let him get away.

Swisher didn't fit on this team the day we traded for him...Not one of Kenny's smarter moves - seeming made out of fustration and desperation.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 28, 2008 -> 04:16 AM) I agree you never know. Has anybody ever experienced something like this with their favorite team(s)? This is a once in a lifetime deal for sure. It's crazy. Thing is with this team it's not a once in a lifetime deal....They minichoked in 2003, almost choked in 2005, choked in the second half of 2006. I would call this a trend. Maybe the severity of it this time will engrain an impression or two in our stubborn GM's head, that he need to go radically in another direction.

QUOTE (TheBigHurt @ Sep 27, 2008 -> 11:26 AM) Just a little disagreement and a little lol from me in response. Me too. I give him a short leash because the longterm succes of this franchose will hinge on something Kenny has never done before - build a solid farm system.

Checkout Palehose 8 and look at the last few carttoons...Carl Skanberg has a halarious one regarding Ozzie's bullpen dilemma.

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Sep 27, 2008 -> 08:24 AM) Yeah, they're not good excuses, they're answers, reasons, explanations etc. Losing Q means less protection for the other guys in the lineup. Take Morono out of the Twins lineup, how do you think they would do? The reason we do not have a 5+ game lead right now is due to injuries and injuries alone. The number of games lost due to no Q, no Linebrink, no Jenks, no Contreras, no Crede = well over 5 games. Maybe if we only lost Wise or Ozuna for a couple months, you can say "oh injuries are just part of the game"...but not with those losses. The Twins had injuries, but nowhere near the extent we did. Again, look to KW for blame on the injury angle.....While the CQ injury was self-inflicted, the fact is that Kenny's roster is comprised with older veteran players who historically break down and get injured more than younger players. So when these players get injured, the only recourse is that you replace them with your better minor league players...but.. oops, Kenny did a lousy job of that as well. I think that from a prospect development standpoint, we are slowly getting back on track again, but in the meantime, it's going to be tough counting on any help from the minors...so...the only way of finding help there is to sign veteran free agent talent....but...oops, the Sox budget is already high and there is very little flexibility in 09. Also alarming is the growing amount of 'dead money' accumulating in 09 - Contreras $10 million, MacDougal $3 million, Linebrink $5 million, Swisher $4 million....that's one hell of a lot of money tied up in guys that you cannot count on in 09. So how do you fix this? You do have a nice but small core of good players, but major changes are clearly needed and other than throwing more money at the problems, the options are few. I would give Kenny a one year deal, but absolutely nothing long term.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 25, 2008 -> 04:20 AM) No offense, but Floyd is due to get roughed up in a "big" game. I pray otherwise, but I sense an 11-1, 12-1 laugher. Our only hope is to get back home, sweep and hope Meche and Greinke have something left. Hate to tell you this but Fox Sports reports that the Royals are shutting Greinke down...with Lee pitching against us on Sunday, the Twins are almost already up 1/2 game. My prediction is that both the Monday and Tuesday games will be irrelevant and unnecessary.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Sep 24, 2008 -> 12:40 PM) I posted it before, and I'll post it again, my ideal lineup for next year: 1. Figgins, 3B 2. Hudson, 2B 3. Quentin, RF 4. Konerko, 1B 5. Thome, DH 6. Dye, LF 7. Ramirez, SS 8. Pierzynski, C 9. Swisher, CF You could flip flop Dye and Konerko. Also, I think Dye has to be moved out of RF. I'm tired of seeing a guy with the speed of a turtle trying to track down balls out there. No 'ideal' lineup should EVER have Swisher in CF. What are you thionking?

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 24, 2008 -> 02:49 AM) They said on the radio today that he told KW he wanted to play RF, and not CF. KW said he would have to play CF, and Griffey agreed to it then. You have to lay all of this at Kenny's feet...We needed releif pitching help at the trade deadline and he picks up yet another has-been player Ken Griffey, along with an awful relief pitcher. Kenny's knack for collecting relics is getting very old. You don't think the Sox will be stupid enough to pick up his option, do you?