joeynach

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 5, 2010 -> 01:00 PM) The closer is a meaningless guy? He was a key part in the vs. the Twins meltdown(s). He sure is look at the Twins, they lost their $12M shut down closer for the year and before acquiring Capps had something like a 31/33 conversion rate on saves. That just shows you right there that an adequate closer is good enough to win 95 games and get to the playoffs. Also, Capps blows, I think his ERA, WHIP, and BAA were even worse than the Twins in house candidates. And they still did fine and hardly blew a save. The closer is just one more quality arm in the pen, of course it must be a quality arm, not Andrew Sisco.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 5, 2010 -> 12:12 PM) Really? They'll cut ties with a single player or two? When does Kenny Williams not substantially overhaul his roster in the offseason? I actually think you will see a a large degree of overhaul on the roster. AJ, Paulie, Putz, Jones, Kotsay, Jenks are all likely gone from this team. Thats a large amount of turnover, expulsion of age, cleaning out of veterans, and clearing out of payroll. You can see the principle's off this thought process laid in the Teahen trade and extension. Where as having Teahen for 3 years allows the team to let core position players walk given there is an at least average replacement that can play 2 or 3 of those positions. Its like quitting your good pay corporate job for a riskier but potentially more rewarding small business venture, but you still have a good size savings in the bank.

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ Oct 4, 2010 -> 10:18 PM) No. No. Small sample size. Seriously, 3 at-bats. Could be, but still the three most important at bats of the season.

QUOTE (Allsox @ Oct 4, 2010 -> 03:20 PM) This. From my count, the Sox loaded the bases against the Twins 7 times with less than 2 out and on those occasions, they scored only 1 run. That was because AJ grounded into a double play with nobody out. Paulie struck out 3 times on those situations so..... Nerves? Pressing?

Really? How can neither not be a choice?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 4, 2010 -> 08:24 AM) Here's the thing that amazes me...if you'd told me Peavy got hurt in June and Quentin put up an .800 OPS, I'd have said this was a .500 team or below. OTOH, if you gave me the good things only...if you told me that Konerko had a great year, that Alexei turned into an awesome SS, and Rios had a very good year...I'd still have asked "how did Peavy and Quentin do, because if they're bad, I still think we're a .500 team". Man thats funny too cuz the things you just mentioned that make us a .500 team in our league would make us division champs in the NL Central or West.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Oct 4, 2010 -> 01:34 AM) actually, 3 of those guys you mentioned are bullpen buys. IIRC, all of Thorton, Putz and Santos got rocked in the Twins series back in September. The bullpen just had a terrible series vs Twins. They were pretty solid against them up to that point. You also have to keep in mind that the Sox were fading a bit prior to that series, so i think it's a matter of bad momentum or the pen simply running out of gas. If you look at it, some players just generally performs poorly vs certain teams, and some guys excels against certain teams. You can say that just about any player. So i don't see this as anything significant. In the end, I'd say that Twins just somehow finds a way to beat us. I bring up luck because yes bullpens and players can "run out of gas" and yes they can wear down a bit in the 2nd half. So if the computerized schedule for next year has us playing the twins 12 times before the ASB and not 12 times after like this year do things turn out differently cuz our pitchers face them in more games when they are "fresh and healthy" then. Is this what we call luck!

I was thinking about how bad or how extreme did some of our players really get off their norms when they played the Twins this year. Obviously I cant explain why some of our players, good players, just flat out sucked against the Twins or when we really needed them to do what they do, but this is what I found. #1: Juan Pierre - He didnt really fail us against the Twins, he failed us down the stretch in General. We all know he got off to a poor start in April, but his Sept was almost just as bad. In Sept he hit .223/.279/.268 which well below his 2010 and Career Averages. Why did he go so bad in Sept after such a strong July and August? Was he tired? Was he hurt? Did he just choke when the pressure was on? #2: Bobby Jenks - In 5.2 Innings pitched this year against Minnesota he was 0-1 with a 6.35 ERA, 2.12 WHIP, and a .360 BAA. For his career against Minnesota (including this year) he has a 3.57 ERA, 1.41 ERA, and .266 BAA. Why so pathetic against the Twins? Choke under pressure? Mental? #3: Gavin Flloyd - As good as he was for us for a large part of the season he was downright awful against the Twins. In 4 starts against the Twins this year he lost all 4 games with an 8.06 ERA, 2.10 WHIP, and .370 BAA. Cant beat Twins, they we aren't catching the Twins. #4: Matt Thornton - Similar to Gavin what happened to his abilities and performance against the Twins. Most baseball people will tell you, without the ability to have shut down guys late in games you can basically forget it. Thornton appeared in 7 games against the Twins, went 0-1, and posted a 9.53 ERA, 1.76 ERA, and .261 BAA. #5: JJ Putz - Same thing here with Putz, he just flat out sucked against the Twins. For as good of a season as he had (2.83 ERA), he appeared in 5 games vs the Twins and posted a 6.75 ERA, 2.50 ERA, and .389 BAA. #6: Sergio Santos - If you havent picked up on the theme our shut down bullpen basically blew it when we needed them the most. Santos as impressive as he was in his first year as a reliever couldnt get the Twins out. He posted a 4.50 ERA, 3.75 WHIP, and a .476 BAA against the Twins. OUCH!! My point is not to b**** and moan its to point out some facts and ask the question, how or why did this happen, and can or will it happen again? Is this just a symptom of bad luck where as far as playing the Twins was concerned anything that could go wrong did go wrong? Did Juan Pierre break down in Sept due to age and games played? Is there something the sox can or should do differently, especially with our pitchers in order to avoid this type of debacle. And finally is this what sports announcers and radio host call getting in your head? Were the twins in the sox pitchers heads? Ever player on this list we are going to need in 2011 in order to make the playoffs, but we wont have a chance in hell again if our pieces fall apart when the pressure is on.

QUOTE (3E8 @ Oct 3, 2010 -> 08:24 PM) We will have one of the least talented farm systems going into next season. The two comp picks we'll get by offering PK arb and letting him walk will go towards improving our franchise in that regard. This was PK's greatest offensive season by far, there will likely be regression to follow. With the amount of cash we have tied up in next year's team and several holes yet to fill, it is not prudent to offer him the amount of money it will take for him to sign I agree with your statement but nothing in Konerko's demeanor, his past contract negotiation with the sox, or his comments makes me think he is gonna go crazy with his contact demands or expectations. If the market rate for him is 2 Years and 20 Mil, the same thing Adam Dunn got 2 years ago then so be it, and he prolly comes back. If it happens to be 5 Years 60 Mil then I would expect him to sign elsewhere because of the $$ the sox have committed elsewhere.

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 3, 2010 -> 06:55 PM) 25% would be my guess Then what do you think the market for a slugger who will be 36 years old on opening day will be. Hes not getting his 5/60 again, Abreu got 2/18 about this time last year at age 33 after a season with 30HR and 30SB. If Konerko wants 3/30 we will sign him, yeah ok if he demands his 5/60 again he can go play for someone else.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 30, 2010 -> 05:18 PM) Certain players I truly believe. I still thought it was telling when Konerko's wife said during a broadcast this year that Konerko and Thome still hang out whenever they can. There is no way Konerko goes to the Twins. They have a $15M all star 1B and already have a DH conundrum in Thome/Kubel. The Twins have like $72M commited to 10 players next year and have Pavano and Hudson hitting free agency. There is no way they can give Konerko $10M a year. Boston I could see if Beltre leaves, the Dodgers too if Loney is traded, I could see the Angels for sure needing a 1B/DH slugger. But all that being said who really wants to commited $20 or $30M guranteed to someone between the ages of 35-38. The Angels just did that with Abreu in the offseason giving him 2 years $18M and this year he hit like .245.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 30, 2010 -> 11:14 AM) Sox fan rules? Sounds like fair weather fan rules to me. The Sox are my team, good or bad. More of a logical business choice to me. You wouldnt pay $$ to go see bad movies would you. Put a good show on, show us a quality product and Ill spend my $$ on your tickets. Put a crappy show and team out there, no saying I wont support or be a fan, but I have no reason to spend my limited entertainment $$ on you then. Thats a good fans motto, something that doesn't exist on the Northside.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Sep 27, 2010 -> 01:55 PM) Morel isn't hitting as good as I'd like for me to be on his bandwagon yet... He was awesome in AAA, hopefully it's just a slow start, like Beckham's.. Morel is Joe Randa in the making. Good glove and arm at third, can put the ball in play at a decent clip, and can prolly pop 10 HR a year.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 28, 2010 -> 03:27 PM) This isn't really the case. ISFA can sell any property it wants, including the Cell - the contract, unless it states that per se, does not prevent that. What would happen is, if they sell the stadium, then the contractual obligations go with it. So the buying party inherets it, and has to follow it, again unless either of the the two conditions I mentioned earlier are true. Just like when one company buys a business unit from another. Ok well then selling the Cell makes no significant changes to the White Sox since it doesnt change their terms of the lease or contract.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Sep 29, 2010 -> 05:56 PM) $30 million is quite different from $3.5 million. Ramirez was brought in as a last hope to make the playoffs, konerko would be signed as a keystone piece for the next 3 years. It is up to the Sox to figure out if they believe Konerko can repeat his success and stay healthy, while also figuring out if a replacement level player could come in for him and that the money would be better spent elsewhere (RF, DH, Bullpen, etc). We already know what a player like Konerko is worth on the market. Look at Bobby Abreu's 2009 year and then contract he signed right after. In 2009 Abreu turned 35, that season he hit .293/.390/.435 with 15 HR, 103 RBI, and 30SB. After the 2009 season he received a 2 year $18M contract. In 2010 Paul Konerko turned 34. That season he hit .310/.390/.581 with 38 HR and 107 RBI, and 0 SB (Duh). Now compare the two situations and you essentially have the ballpark figure for what konerko is worth. Its pretty obvious hes getting something like 2 Years/$20M with an option.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 29, 2010 -> 07:37 AM) I agree, no way that's what happens. Might be a slight, slight chance he's retiring, but I doubt it. More likely, he'll say he's going to test the market. The way the Sox org works, they probably don't know yet if they can offer him anything substantial, because they don't yet have a target "number" for 2011. Therefore, PK really has no choice but to test the market. The sox have like $90M commited to payroll next year without addressing 1B, C, and closer. If they re-up Konerko, AJ, and Bobby payroll is going to be way over where the sox operated, your talking $115M before arbitration raises and any additions to the roster. The sox are not really a $125M opening day payroll team, thats more like the Angels, Dodgers, Mets area. We typically operate in the $90-$100M range so that being said before the sox are ready to do anything this offseason they are probably going to have make some serious changes or face some difficult decisions, they just cant keep everyone.

Since the lease is signed until 2025 I see very little behind the senators statement. It sounds more like political talk than any real action. The lease is a contract that binds the two parties to the terms, there is very little that can be done to change the agreement. You can just say lets take a look at making some changes cuz we want to now, that's the point of signing the contract, so you cant do that. Silly politicians.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Sep 27, 2010 -> 09:54 AM) Garcia has been really really good this year and Pena has only started a couple three games for us. Garcia has the track record Yeah of being the most hittable pitcher in all of baseball.

Anyone watching the sox the last month or so doesn't need Fangraphs to figure out that Morel is basically playing his way into becoming the starting 3B in 2011 and our future anchor over there for many years to come. He definitely plays plus defense at 3B something huge with 2/5 of our rotation being very hittable guys (Buehrle, Garcia). Hes also a pretty good hitter. He can cover the fastball, has a decent eye, and make solid contact. What more do you want for your emerging in house 3B candidate. As long as Tehean isn't there to butcher the position that's great too.

While I like the passion and the fire I dont like this idea for white sox games. White Sox games to me and white sox fans are all about whats going on on the field. To me anything that takes away from the play on the field is meant for other sports or other venues. I think part of being a sox fan and going to a sox game is about being entrenched in an environment which is all about the game, teams performance, players, managers, etc. Dont take the purity out of the game and fan experience, leave the shenanigans to the soccer people who care more about marking a parade out of the bleachers.

Titans

QUOTE (stretchstretch @ Sep 9, 2010 -> 01:56 PM) won 8 of their last 11 by one run....geez These are not sustainable things in baseball...neither is their run of like 19 wins in their last 22 games. Thats unheard of this late in the year after guy break down and injuries start to pile up.

Holy Crap 11 hits in 4 innings. Who does he think he is Freddy Garcia and Mark Buehrle. Hey Gavin your not a pitch to contact hitter, get him out he doesnt have it today.

Seriosuly Gavin does not have it today..too many ball put in play, not enough K's, way too much contact for Gavin start.

Gavin's stuff looks awful today. Anyone else notice his fastball is in the 89-90MPH zone instead of the 92-93 he usually hits. A lot of his pitches are up or float through the zone. He doesnt have it today its freaking obvious, unless the sox are scoring 6+ runs this one is in the bag. Are the innings starting to pile up on our pitchers, breaking down a little bit in Sept?