qwerty

We have two catchers with bad arms and two players up the middle that do not do their fair share of keeping the runners honest off second (cabrera and ramirez). Pierzynski takes just about as long to get the ball to second as anyone else that comes to mind. The throw has to be near perfect just to make up for the lost time getting it down there. Luckily no current starter for us is as bad at letting base runners run all over them like contreras is, that is a plus anyway.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Sep 22, 2008 -> 08:22 AM) I couldn't disagree more. I think that if we miss the playoffs, the three days rest decisions by Ozzie will haunt him for a long time. I think we will make the playoffs, but if we don't we will dread the term "three days rest" around here for a long time. Pitching guys on three days rest this time of year is such a huge risk. Guys are already tired due to the heavy workload of a full season, and to take a day of rest away often makes it even worse. I see it as all reward and no risk. Chance to win a world series (the only goal) compared to possibly not making the playoffs? Hmm... There is simply no better option at this pont. No one is their right mind would rather have trotted richard or broadway over this 12 day stretch we are in the middle of. We need wins. Buehrle, vazquez, danks, and floyd give the sox a much greater chance to win when it matters most, easily more than anyone else in the orginization. I would laugh at any pitcher who would blame a bad outing on only pitching on three days rest... then again i doubt we here anything like that as it would just be petty. Buerhle tired? Doubt it. Vazquez? No. Floyd? Haven't really heard of much fatigue on his park.. Danks? Sure he Has been said he ''hit a wall'' ... looks to me like he just leaned up against the wall. He had a 3.30 era in august and is sitting at 2.42 for this month. Players are bigger, stronger, healthier, and have better mechanics than ever before, yet they get more babied decade to decade. Pitchers have thrown back to back games of a double header and lived to tell about it. "Too many pitchers, that's all, there are just too many pitchers. Ten or twelve on a team. Don't see how any of them get enough work." - Cy Young

This three days rest talk is being blown out of proportion to me, especially only during a twelve game stretch. If we don't make the playoffs i don't think i would ever think of them throwing on only three days as one of the reasons why they did not make it.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 21, 2008 -> 08:37 PM) Just win one game. Tuesdays game is by far the most important to win even though i do not believe it will be the most difficult to win matchup wise. Then you have Wedsneday we have blackburn. Blackburn is coming off of two atrocious starts in row and the sox have hit him hard all season. In 22 innings the sox have scored 15 runs off of him along with 28 hits and 7 walks. Not good. I just do not like the floyd match up versus slowey, and i think it may be a let down game in a sense if the sox win the first two. Then again for all i know we lose the first two and floyd is once more a stopper. How i see it we need to win 2 of 3 this series to be sitting pretty. Winning only 1 of 3 would potentially mean the detroit game would have to be made up if we went on to only win 1 of 3 from the indians and the twins sweep the royals, just knowing that possiblity exists is not comforting. I mean it would mean having to play the game against the tigers and putting the entire season on the line right then and there. Even a worse case scenario is possible if we were to only win 1 of three from the twins. Even when teams are in slumps. with whatever facet of the game, it just doesn't me they are no longer capable, as they clearly are. Prior to this month the sox were consistently in the .285 batting range with risp, which was usually good for about 3 to 5 in all of baseball. Now they sit at .279 and are tied for sixth. It kinda sucks though that the sox have the third best ops with risp in all of baseball to this day. I blame the sox scoring woes on their mlb worst 7 triples with none on base if anything... It is just unfortunate that they have had the troubles of recent, but would it have really been any different if we just flipped another months success with this months bad month, and vice versa? The reason i say no is because every game is worth literally the same as any other, april or september. All i hope is ozzie lets our starting pitching win the series, or lose the series, pitch count should not matter if any of these games are within 1 run in the 7th or 8th... unless the situation truly calls for the pen. Any calls to the pen for a left hander just because he throws the ball with his left hand will hopefully not occure... ramirez and even worse logan are candidates for what i speak of.

Adam Jones. Adam Jones again...

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Aug 31, 2008 -> 02:27 AM) Aaron Poreda will make at least one more start for B'ham in the playoffs, possibly two or even three depending on how far they go. I don't believe he should make the jump to the major league level quite yet, while his numbers are decent, well they are just that. He doesn't miss enough bats for a lefty throwing at the velocity that he is capable of reaching, what is currently his out pitch, a 95-97 mile an hour fast ball. He has limited feel for secondary pitches, which leads to not having a plan B or C in the bigs if he finds himself having trouble getting the fastball over, which will end up happening. I would like to see him repeat birmingham, charlotte the following season, depending on how well he has developed his secondary a call up mid season looks most realistic. I just don't see everyone's desire to rush him, he is a very raw, young, hard throwing lefty. We need to give him proper time to fully develope. The real reason i responded is actually because i disagree with you in a way, depending of course. If the sox felt that he could help them make an impact with the big league club right at this moment he would be up regardless of minor league playoff contention. Minor league championships basically don't mean a damn thing in the grand scheme of things. The ultimate goal is a world series and nothing less.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 01:46 AM) me too. but man... all these names like Brando bring back memories. good times. i was thinking about qwerty the other day... seemed to me he joined up, posted like a madman and left all within like a year. I guess you could day i never truely left. The 2005 season took a lot out of me, it was very hectic here, a good hectic, but hectic nonetheless. I saw how nuts (people still at one anothers throat) it was while the going was great/amazing throughout that 2005 run. There is nothing worse than ''OMG OMG OUR TEAM IS LIKE SO TOTALLY AWESOME!!!'' and then the next day ''OMG OMG SOX= AAA TEAM!?!?!''. I figured, and turned out to be right, that things would only get worse from there. 2006 everyone was floating like a balloon ( people played nice you could say) until late in the year when the sox skidded and then it all went downhill. That off-season, including the 2007 season were almost unbearable here as very few had a level head about the sox situation. Unlike any other sport baseball is a damn marathon, teams can play amazing one day and play even worse the next day, and in the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter, there is still a whole hell of a lot of a season to be played. For instance say the season long theme this season, '' the bullpen sucks'' well the numbers prove they are one of the better pens out there. Why don't i ever hear how much worse they realistically could and should have been this season? When you put into account the sox pen struggled when jenks went on the dl, linebrink has been out for five weeks, not to mention having a couple jokes in the pen for half of this season, i would say they have pitched pretty damn well, better than any could have expected coming off of 2007. Masset is a nobody and will not be missed and logan went through one of the worst stretches i have had the privilege of seeing this season, though i still believe he can be a valuable piece to a team someday, he has the make-up. Basically all that i have been trying to get to is people really need to see both sides of the story, regardless what the story is, take it in, then say what you please. Hell things piss me off too, and i like everyone else has irrational thoughts, but i try to not let it get the best of me. I would wager to say i browse soxtalk more throughout the day than 98% board, it has been my homepage since shortly after i signed up, also helps that i work from home. Another thing is i miss a good amount of certain members, and i have also never seen see this many people favor players over the team, it is uncanny. I love the comedic value here, not the laughing type funny, moreso the '' holy s*** did he/she really just say that and i can't believe it'' type funny. Soxtalk and i have a love-hate relationship... but my love for it pulls through. Wite's lady?

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Aug 17, 2008 -> 05:05 PM) My White Sox player of the game is Gio Gonzalez. The one from last year that was so good he was traded and allowed us to right all that ailed us for one day. What an easy game to watch. We would easily be better with gio this year than without him, hell ryan sweeney too.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 14, 2008 -> 07:20 PM) But at the same time, that guy is guaranteed to get the most plate appearances on your team (you'd probably want one of your best hitters to bat the most times over the course of the season) and most importantly he's the guy who hits in front of your supposed best hitters. It's not about leading off the inning, it's about leading off the batting order. So, no the leadoff spot is not "overrated" (whatever that means.) I thought you were in the camp that the leadoff spot was overrated, when did this change? Our options have not gotten any better for the 1 and 2 holes since the beginning of the season. You know it is bad when pierzyski is batting second tonight (one prior plate appearance in his career before tonight) and when batting pierzynski in the leadoff spot is actually being thought of as an option (not a crack at who first thought it, moreso a crack at the sox...).

QUOTE (shipps @ May 12, 2008 -> 08:23 AM) I see he/she has now logged off.I will continue to follow the situation. I will tell you who it is for five bucks...

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ Mar 12, 2008 -> 02:15 PM) I know your angle, but people can be too wasted to drive. It is a drug, it can cause impairment, it can cause an accident. I remember reading about an experiment done recently regarding this very situation. They set up all sorts of field tests with sober people, high people, liqoured up people , and people on other miscellaneous impairing drugs. The high people blew everyone else out of the water ( yes, the sober) for the better. They also set up people just on a cell phone... also eating something as simple as a bag of chips while listening to the radio... etc. I will find it later and post it, because i have a feeling this will be an on going thread for awhile.. Btw, what was the purpose of this thread again?

Who else heard darrin jackson before macdougal gave up that home run? Laffs.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Feb 24, 2008 -> 03:24 PM) Yeah, I don't understand how baldy people type when they're drunk. It almost seems like they're exaggerating on purpose. I can be black-out drunk, and still write coherently. This I know for a fact. I type better, concentrate more for some reason.

HAHA larry hughes... sleepy will be happy with this.

QUOTE(FlaCWS @ Feb 20, 2008 -> 12:50 PM) ' I really don't understand all these people saying Owens should be the 4th OF. Do you really think a winning team can have Nick Swisher in CF? I don't. I want Owens out there every day because he can chase balls in the gap. Swisher will let them drop for doubles. Whatever offensive issues Owens has will be made up for by the balls he chases down. I want him starting - and batting 9th - every day. Let Quentin come off the bench this year and take over for Dye next year. April fool's day is still over a month away.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Feb 19, 2008 -> 04:39 PM) Always trade the older, more expensive player for the less expensive, younger player with potential. It's all about team profits and potential. Trying to reel it in...

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Feb 18, 2008 -> 11:12 PM) It's not hot. ^^^ (Doesn't lie)!

Chris widger is still on the team in spirit...

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Jan 31, 2008 -> 04:31 PM) I know you completely throw out September stats for everyone, but I don't look it that way. -Last season, Owens put up a .267/.324/.312 line. Crisp, a .268/.330/.382. I have said it time and time again. While I am know Owens fan, I have to call it like I see it. He played well after getting his 2nd call up, and earned the line he put up. Owens will be 27 when the season starts. If he was given a full season of AB's,(I hope he doesn't get them) I would expect him to be able to put up a OBP around .335, and stealing at least 40, with average D out in CF, mostly due to his arm. So now I ask... 1.Why isn't that a realistic projection? 2.Why should I expect Crisp to be able to put up numbers that much better than that? Numbers better enough that warrant the Sox giving up something of value to get Crisp. It would be a waste of resources to acquire Crisp. We already have a very similar player on the roster. Owens has absolutely no extra base power and is a weaker defender than crisp. His best comparison would be scott podsednik lite. At least he is fast i guess. Owens minor league slugging was .368 which will maybe on the high side hover around .350. Crisp on the other hand has a career slugging of .409 (took a big hit due to his last past two seasons). Crisp's slugging the last four seasons. .446 .465 .385 .382 I see there being a much better chance that crisp regains his old form (or somewhere in between the the numbers above) than i do owens being a productive major league hitter. Btw, i am in no way saying that the sox should acquire crisp for anything of real value, but if he just so happened to fall in our laps...

QUOTE(peanut33tillman @ Jan 30, 2008 -> 05:47 PM) Qwerty do u really believe O-Cab would be better suited as a 8 or 9 hole hitter honestly? How do you figure? Cabrera hit over 300 last year with over 600 ABs in the 2 slot, granted his OBP I believe was somewhere around .350 but this kid is the ideal 2 hole hitter for this ball club.... Yes, that is why i said it i believe. His last two seasons are his best back to back seasons of his career offensively. There is not the best track record that would show me he is consistent enough for that to be his permanent role. Do people really not know who cabrera is? Basically his seasons offensively goes like this, decent, awful, , atrocious, meh he didn't suck, oh s*** what do you know? He sucked thhe next season too. No one has a clue what we will get out of the guy, and even his peak is nothing to get excited about. The sox do not have tiny holes to fill to the point it didn't matter. The less talent on the team, the more perfectly rounded a team has to be. If something small of off kilter, that is when teams become exposed. Like it or not the yankees have more overall talent than basically any team year in year out... doesn't matter how old they are or how much they make. Do they make the playoffs every year? Practically. Do they win it all? Not recently cecause their talent has not been spread out evenly, and they get exposed easily. They could have 5 johan santana's but if they have nine scott podsednik's in line-up it wouldn't matter. Balance is what makes any team. QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Jan 30, 2008 -> 05:49 PM) This is what I posted in the original Swisher thread, I stand by it: Only way i can see the line-up being constructed. QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 30, 2008 -> 05:52 PM) Unfortunately, the problem isn't that he's not an ideal 2 hole hitter...he certainly is. Good bat control, decent speed, just kinda fits that role well. The problem is we don't have an obvious person to hit in front of him, and it seems to make more sense to go Cabrera/Swisher than it does Swisher/Cabrera, because Swisher would be expected to put up better power numbers and you kinda want that guy with a chance hitting in front of Thome and with a chance to have someone on base in front of him. I still think it's possible something will work out where Owens gets a decent chunk of AB's and actually gives us a .350ish OBP and solves this problem for a bunch of games, but the problem with that is we have no where to play him right now. Ideal two hole hitters? Well, vidro, renteria, young, jeter, hell even randy winn is even. I just wish there was a better option. QUOTE(peanut33tillman @ Jan 30, 2008 -> 05:55 PM) Oh yea and i can absolutely agree with that, if O-Cab isnt hitting 2 hole he should be our leadoff man with Swish hitting second, assuming Quentin starts over Owens in LF, but to hit him in the 8 hole I think is a little crazy, but JMO... Can only hope he is leading off, if not get ready for a long season. QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jan 30, 2008 -> 06:18 PM) Given the current personnel how would you arrange the pieces? Unless, of course, we're aloud to use imaginary players then I might have something for you. Optimized: Swisher - Thome - Pierzynski - Dye - Konerko - Fields - Quentin - Richar - Cabrera ...

QUOTE(rcpweiner @ Jan 30, 2008 -> 05:05 PM) I'm firmly in Kalapse's camp on this one. "Leadoff hitters" are overrated. Cabrera and Swisher will do just fine up there with the roster currently organized as it is. I fully agree, the worst hitter ( if not the worst one of them) should be the one with the most chances to make an out, fully.

Anyone we leadoff or put in the two hole are being placed in a bad situation. Cabrera has been in and out of the 1-2 for years, sure, does that mean he is being utilized the best there? No. Cabrera is best suited batting 8th-9th, just the type of hitter he has shown he is over the years. His positives would be his gap power and lack of k's, negatives would easily be his batting average, obp, and even his overall power. Should be noted in 2000 cabrera had a worse ops+ (66) than owens had last season (67) and worse than uribe has ever done while with the white sox (76 in 2006). Owens leading off and cabrera number two? This would easily be one of the worst 1-2 combinations in the league. Owens has not shown in the minors he is capable of being a major league caliber leadoff hitter and last season was no indicator to expect a vaaaaaaaast he improvement he would have to have to be benificial to the team. Owens seems to be the new posednik of soxtalk... but i suppose with ever team comes a player that the fans love because of there good looks? Is that it? Or because he runs fast? Not quite sure what his case is yet. Cabrera leading of and swisher batting second? Leading off cabrera is even worse than him batting second... but the real kick in the ass is swisher would therefore slowly but surely be getting wasted batting in the two hole.. Swisher has the homerun power (which is one of the many reasons he will be hindered in the 2 hole, yet lacks the average (good chance he improves slightly in that regard this season) and gap power. He would be utilized to his fullest ability batting either 5-6 while slipping cabrera down to the 8-9 hole, Cabrera career .724 ops~~~ juan uribe .722... and yes i know what parks and leagues each played in. Cabrera's ops+ which is of course adjusted is only 6 points higher than uribe's (86 to 80). Basically it has come down to the realization that there is no free agent signing or trade on the horizon to shore this up. Sox are short four and a half players/positions and that is likely the difference from making the playoffs and being a serious contender and us fighting to hit that .500 mark. No one even close to ideal to bat 1-2, pitch in the 3-4 spots in the rotation, and field center. Swisher will field adequately, but will still leave me (and hopefully others) wanting more.

QUOTE(ptatc @ Jan 30, 2008 -> 02:45 PM) I think most people would agree with you. Chicks and GMs did the long ball. This will also drive his price up. Would PK be worth more than JO and Orlando Cabrera? Two speed and defense vs. one HR guy? I'M SO DAMN CONFUSED!!!! That's why I love baseball and it's offseason!!!!! Is owens really a defensive specialist though? Cabrera i can see having that claim. Konerko for cabrera straight up? The team trading konerko would easily net cabrera and the other player thrown into the mix would seemingly have to be much better than owens at the major league level. to make it even close. Owens seems like a legitimate fifth outfielder/4a type player and nothing more, but with time we shall see.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 30, 2008 -> 01:38 PM) if Konerko and Owens had identical OBP's, Owens stole 60 bases, Konerko bopped 40 home runs, which one would you pick? Player b, konerko in this case, would win in a land slide, each and every single time. Owens has to rely on himself and his teamates just to get into second, and later on score. Konerko (player b/ whoever you wish to imagine) relies on no on other than himself to touch all four bases. For some reason i think a homerun just might be a bigger rattle to a pitcher than someone stealing a base. On base percentage is a great thing and all but you need people to slug them home time from time. People always say that you cannot rely on a homerun.... but more so the same goes for sitting back and waiting for the ''small ball'' approach (yes, i know that won it all for the white sox in 2005).

QUOTE(YASNY @ Jan 29, 2008 -> 08:38 PM) I hope they give BA a legitimate shot. Where is the green?