Fotop

Wow Pienella got his wish, a stud college pitcher.

Hey guys I'm going to be around listening today as well...really pumped for the draft. IMO, Weaver is NOT worth the money he's asking for if he falls to us. Too many picks to sign/he's no Prior. I'd really love to see us get Syzmanski or Fields and then some good college pitching. That would be a boon for the Sox. Overall, they're saying this is a pretty weak draft pool but the beauty of the MLB draft is it's unpredictability. About a half an hour until coverage starts! Whoo!

I agree with you on Fields dasox24, I would LOVE to see the sox pick him up. Hopefully he won't be a tough sign because of his football career, but the guy is one of the top bats in college and plays third. As much as Szymanski may be good (OF from Princeton projected as our pick in BA's mock draft) I'd much rather have a stud at 3B than a stud in the OF. OF's are a dime a dozen, plus we're already stacked there. Fields is the man and will probably be there when we pick...I just hope we pick him.

I was at the game tonight as well (a friend of mine got a couple of first row upper deck seats for free!) And would have to agree with you observations Nuke. Konerko's eye is better than ever and Jose looked pretty bad for a 2nd night in a row. But how about that Frank Thomas? He's really hitting the cover off the ball. His first homer got out of the park in a HURRY and his missed a second HR by inches. Also, he hit a rope to Blalock in his third AB but Blalock made a sweet play on it. If he keeps this up he'll be an all-star come June. Other than that E-Lo pitched his best outing of the year...gotta love it when our guys rack up the K's. Quite the enjoyable game, much better than last night and pretty painless drive home.

I'm down for a league as well. I'd prefer OOTP 6, but I guess I'd be down w/5 as well. Let me know.

It could be a lot worse...we could have Jeter for 17million a year. What's he hitting these days? .190?

Brando, the "Jose struggling" was an assumption really...I haven't seen him do much as of late and I was at tonight's game so I put two and two together. Also, I was speaking in terms of the here and now...not really based on what he may have done for the first couple weeks of the season or whatever. But I do believe Jose will give us what he's always given us, and that's solid numbers. He hasn't shown us in the past that he will do otherwise.

When talking contracts I think it's pretty darn hard to say a player is overpaid for 5million. Especially when it's the last year of said player's contract. I'm not going to get on the Jose bandwagon or the Anti-Jose bandwagon, I'm pretty netural on Jose because over time the bad stuff (K's) evens out with the really good stuff (above avg range, power). But to say Jose is overpaid you must have the mentality of the Twins. A 5million dollar, short term contract is not the death knell for a team like the White Sox. I think it's safe to say we're not a small market team and therefore can afford to "overpay" a player like Valentin who may bring intangibles that every good team needs (leadership, excitement, etc.). I may or may not know that he provides this, but he's obviously good for the rest of the team because you've never heard the words "clubhouse cancer" in the same breath as Jose Valentin. I think high character, hustle players deserve their pay. Jose defines this and even though he may have his 0-4 nights w/4 K's, he'll have his nights w/two homers or knocking in the game winning run. Hell Fernando Vina and Kenny Lofton make 3million a year, to think that Jose is "overpaid" for 5 is downright laughable. I just think instead of living day by day people should look at the big picture and calm down. We're tied for first without our offense in its highest gear (crede struggling, Jose struggling, CF a mess). Maybe we can all just have fun watching a first place team for awhile and wait for something truly drastic to happen before going nuts. Maybe?

I was in RF as well tonight (sec.102) to be specific, but normally I sit behind the plate where my family's season tickets are so I didn't really "know" about what was going on in the outfield during half-price nights. Well now I certainly do, and let me tell you it's not pretty. The fights are out of control and are in fact condoned by the crowd. These things are endorsed by the cheering/testosterone directed towards them. Case in point the one "big" fight in RF tonight didn't even start until security got there, but at that point something was bound to happen because well the crowd was asking for it. And what did it turn into? 5 guys throwing a couple cheap shots a piece at one guy. In fact one of the guys that threw the cheap shots fled to our section to not get thrown out but a responsible parent got him tossed when she pointed him out to security. This was my second half-price night, first in the outfield and both times the park has had a terrible atmosphere because of the fights. People were more interested in the fights instead of the friggin' game! Sure we stand up to see who's getting jumped but God forbid we stand up for Mags when the game is on the line. The noise was better tonight, and in the first third of the game peopel were really getting behind Schoe when he was getting two strikes on the batter. I really liked that, but as the game progressed the mood degenerated. These half-priced nights are a double-edged sword because of the revenue they bring in yet they reduce the "quality" of fan in the park. For every one of us that is able to get into the park a few more times because of half-price nights there are 10 jerk-off Cubs fans/frat boys there to drink and think "oh yea there happens to be a ballgame going on." I wish there was a cut-and-dry solution to all of this but there really isn't. All I know is SOMETHING needs to happen because this has already gotten out of hand IMO. :headshake

Anyone else think this eerily resembles the Bears logo? Where's the McCaskey's screaming for royalties?

Redandwhite, I play OOTP pretty often (I own both 5 and 6). It's a really good game and I don't understand why more people aren't into it because it is perfect for all of those "wannabe GM's". So ya, I'd be down for a league of some kind if you guys were to start one up.

Is that what happened? I only saw part of the replay...but either way it was a really close play.

Olivo thrown out at 2nd, very close call...looks like they got him though on the replay.

alright knock in Jose and this becomes the PERFECT inning. Do it Mo!

Big two run single from Carlos! 7-6 sox!

it could be, those at bats by valentin and crede were awful. Do SOMETHING with runners on. Please.

Ah the 4 man rotation, the myth, the legend, and the holy grail of sabermetricians... The problem is with today's pitchers and the emphasis on pitch counts and the amount of wear a pitcher puts upon their arm is quite magnified. Everywhere injuries to pitchers are popping up (take the northside for example), and with our farm system and our lack of funds the replacement of one of our pitchers would be damn near impossible. This is quite possibly the main reason why I oppose this idea. Theoretically, the 4 man rotation is the best. Beane and his army of statheads have proven this. However, to have a four man rotation one would need four young and healthy arms with the willingness to take on the extra work (the latter is important because when this was tried in Toronto last season Cory Lidle nixed it due to his injury history). We have two young arms, two old, all without that extensive of injury histories. That's a good start, but I seriously do not buy into to the fact that this would do more good than it does bad. Now hear me out. By swtiching to a four man rotation, you take away the 20-30 starts the 5th slot would normally get. You obviously aren't going to win ALL of those games or come close unless you're tossing a Roger Clemens out there. Best case scenario is you probably win 10-15 with a four man rotation (barring player fatigue impeding performance). With a 5th starter, say you win 25% of those games (5-7) at the very least. I know, I know, the Sox haven't won with their fifth starter in God knows how long, but one cannot think they'll drop EVERY fifth game for the rest of the year. So in the best case for a 4 man rotation, you get maybe 5-8 more wins than you would with a fifth starter. Sounds good right? It certainly does, but there are obviously more viable, and less risky options out there. Actually give a guy like Cotts or Diaz a CHANCE. I'm not talking two starts here, especially in Cotts' case because he's not even stretched out. Sure you run the risk of taking a thumping, however if one of them turns into a decent starter you have a young, inexpensive solution to the problem. Which is amazing for a mid-market team like the Sox. I mean look at the Marlins. For the less patient, you trade for a starter. Granted, we don't know what the team is dealing with in the trade market, or what they would give up but the addition of a solid starter to the team saves the arms we already have and gives us the wins from the 5 spot. It's win-win, yet it's uncharted water because we don't REALLY know what's out there or what our team has to give up. Are these options risky for the short-term? Yes for the first because you run the risk of losing precious games seasoning young pitching, no for the second because you gain a proven starter to shore up the rotation. However, in the big scheme of things I feel saving the quality young arms we have now (Buerhle and Garland) as well as preserving the older arms (Elo and Shoe) is better than sacrificing our rotation down the road for a few wins in the next few months. I think the best option here is to play this out until mid-june/july, if no one emerges and this trend continues then this could be considered. However, at that point the hole in the rotation would be so glaring that KW would HAVE to trade for a starter if he thought this team had any shot at the post-season. Ultimately, this is the goal. No LH Bat, No reliever, A proven pitcher is the key the sustaining success this season and should be acquired if guys like Cotts cannot step it up. Not a Dusty Baker-esque wear down of our pitchers because we've seen time and again that even the most flawless pitchers (mechanically, a la Prior) can fall due to being overworked and I for one would hate the day that that happened to the Sox. In conclusion, I think it's a bit too early for the four man rotation. It sounds like a great plan, but in reality pitchers are just too fragile and important to a team, especially ours with guys like Rauch, Diaz, et al who would take the spot of a hurt starter (*shudder*). I'd much rather see a kid try to prove himself for a month or so than jepordize the 2nd half of the season...plus letting a kid throw every 5th day is a constant reminder that the team needs another starter. Thus pressing KW that much more to pull the trigger on a deal for a stud pitcher at the deadline to push us over the top. Dang it's 4am, and I bet I'm just rambling at this point so I'll stop. However I will say that this is just my honest opinion, and I welcome contention from the other side... I'll just get back to this subject during tommorow's (today's. Afterall it is sunday ) game. Here's to a thoughtful discussion and (hopefully) a whitesox winner against the twins!

Stocking, from what I recall Mulder is from South Holland and grew up a Sox fan. This is just off the top of my head, but I've heard it multiple times before.

geez the twins have been TERRIBLE in the field these past two games, another error (offerman throwing to first). 1 on 1 out

HE GAWN! Blanco K's.

Jose w/a two out double. They really own Silva.

Timo with a 2-run BOMB to right! 6-0 Sox!

Konerko with the very "Twins-esque" diving stab at first to get LeCroy on a line out!

It wasn't an "excuse" persay...however I firmly believe if stewart, koskie, that 1b with the name I can't spell, et al were playing E-Lo wouldn't have gotten off so light. I'm glad we're taking advantage of this though, we certainly need to.

Maybe because all their good players are hurt.