joeynach

Hudson definatly has trouble with both command and control. Anyone who watched him pitch against the A's can tell you that. He has control trouble especially in more crucial and pressure situations, or at least he did against the A's. He threw a lot of pitches way out of zone or bounced them up there, that his control issue. He also has no control of the movement of his pitches. The run on his fastball, which is moves and locates to, he seemingly cant control. You saw him throw a bunch of two seam fastballs that ran right into RH hitters swing plane for base hits. He has good stuff there is no doubt, but he cant keep pitching his fastball belt high with inward run to righties waiting for middle in pitches, that wont work. All that being said hes still young and raw, he needs to develop and polish his abilities. The place to do so is in AAA or on an MLB roster not in a pennant race. Unfortunately that's not a luxury we have. For right now we either needs to live with Hudson's erraticness in his starts, or find some sort of replacement and send him back to AAA.

My question is, is it finally time to move Beckham back to the 2nd hole in the lineup. Now that he appears be hitting, back to his usual self, should someone who can hit for average, handle the bat well, hit for some power, and has a unique ability to hit the ball to RF be wasting away in the 9 spot? His production the last 3 weeks or so has been relatively wasted with Pierre and Vizquel hitting behind him. Both of those guys have proven they have trouble hitting the ball to the outfield let alone driving in runs or spraying the gaps. Now Beckham in the 9 hole does provide some ability to drive in runs at the bottom of the order since he hits behind AJ and Alexi, but Beckham in the 2 hole would theoretically create more RBI opportunities for the meat: Rios, PK, and CQ. Plus moving Vizquel (or Pierre) to the 9 hole isnt really that big of a change because they both follow each other in the lineup now, you would just be giving Beckham, a hitter with more power an extra at bat that would be take away from one of those guys. So is it time?

Put Tehean back at 3B and our infield defense sucks for sure.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 15, 2010 -> 12:47 AM) My recollection is that the White Sox got back $4-4.5 million on David Wells' contract in 2001, and that happened in the middle of the season, where he went down and actually looked like he was headed towards retirement. You'd have to think if you could insure David Wells at that age, you could get insurance for just about anything. Then again, he was pretty resilient despite being fat basically and might have been less of a risk than Peavy, since 90% of the message board has had concerns about his mechanics from Day 1, obviously "professional" insurance companies would have even more insight from experts on the likelihood of Peavy breaking down again. Id be shocked if a prudent business guy like Reinsdorf didn't took out insurance on Peavy contract, even a high price.

Well its a good think Ozzie isn't in charge of player personnel. There is no way a guy like KW is going to be fooled by this statement. If the opportunity is out there to add quality piece Kenny will do it.

How about Tehean (when healthy) at 3B, Vizquel at 2B, Beckham down to AAA. BTW anyone have a status or update on Tehean hes been gone for like a month now with this broken finger. Andre Either broker his finger a few weeks ago and was out for like 10-12 days, its been like 30 for Tehean, what gives.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 22, 2010 -> 01:16 PM) Come on guys. They have no other lefty besides Thornton. Give me a break. Arent lefties hitting something like .350 against Williams. That being said you dont think anyone else, whether lefty or righty can do better than that. Come on. Get rid of the clown car once and for all.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jun 22, 2010 -> 10:25 PM) Ozzie says he thinks he just split a nail and should be DTD. When Ozzie says day to day I think week to week.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jun 20, 2010 -> 09:18 PM) I might just take him over Randy Williams at this point. Whats wrong you dont like the clown car's 2.29 WHIP.

QUOTE (JohnCangelosi @ Jun 19, 2010 -> 03:27 PM) Is there anyway of getting around the blackout and watch on mlb.tv for us out of towners? Usually living in Europe its no problem but now that I am in NY for a few days it is...let me know...thanks Browse through a proxy server through your web browser and it will work.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 17, 2010 -> 06:27 PM) Beckham opened up way too quickly on the first two pitches. Hes been doing that all year and its so obvious. Watch his left hip and left foot, every swing he takes his hip is open and facing the left field pole and his foot is pivoted that way too. Its a classic swing flaw that is corrected with proper mechanic approach, patience, and practice. Its almost a little league problem, similar to "stepping in the bucket". In a major league sense hitter do it to cheat on the fastball and open up early to try and catch up to velocity that they feel that are having problems covering. Problem is for Beckham he doing it on every swing, not good!!

Quentin just double off the big wall in Pittsburgh in RF, but I noticed something about his swing. Now I am no hitting expert, but I do pride myself in understanding mechanics and fundamentals. Quentin swings looks excessively long. The reason being when he swings he doesnt seem to throw his hands at the ball, something that produces short quick movement to get the head of the bat on the ball. Instead Quentin seems to dip his hands down, like a hitch, the head of the bat drops down, and then he sort of wraps the bat out and around his body. This makes a much longer, slower swing. Thats my evaluation of Quentin's hitting suck-age to this point.

Quentin just double off the big wall in Pittsburgh in RF, but I noticed something about his swing. Now I am no hitting expert, but I do pride myself in understanding mechanics and fundamentals. Quentin swings looks excessively long. The reason being when he swings he doesnt seem to throw his hands at the ball, something that produces short quick movement to get the head of the bat on the ball. Instead Quentin seems to dip his hands down, like a hitch, the head of the bat drops down, and then he sort of wraps the bat out and around his body. This makes a much longer, slower swing. Thats my evaluation of Quentin's hitting suck-age to this point.

Hudson spotted at the Pittsburgh Airport. Hes there.

Rotoworld, Peavy has fluid in his arm. Jake Peavy (arm) will attempt to start for the White Sox on Saturday. Peavy was scratched Wednesday from his scheduled Thursday start and the White Sox announced on Thursday afternoon that he will not pitch Friday either. Gavin Floyd will start instead against the Nationals. Peavy has some fluid in his arm that is causing him mild discomfort.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 17, 2010 -> 02:43 PM) Bye bye Randy Williams. We can only hope one member of the clown car is gone.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Jun 14, 2010 -> 08:06 PM) Allow me to speculate about all of this with a completely different hypothesis. Consider the following: 1) Baseball is after all entertainment 2) Jerry Reinsdorf is a pretty smart owner 3) There is intense competition between the Sox and Cubs for the Chicago baseball entertainment dollar. 4) There is this MLB.COM reality show being produced featuring the White Sox. 5) Ozzie has always been regarded as a very entertaining personality, and not above theatrics I recall the video of A.J. and the mock fight with a professional wrestler during Spring Training, a couple of years ago, in which Ozzie participated by hitting the guy with a folding chair. What if the producers of MLB.COM suggested to the Sox that they could generate a lot of interest and publicity if they staged a big riff between Ozzie and Kenny? Jerry Reinsdorf, though reluctant to go along, decided it would be worth the publicity. Such a scenario would explain how a smart business man like Reinsdorf would tolerate such behavior without stepping in and firing someone. If this is not an act, then there are a lot of people here who are bigger idiots than we think. Ozzie would have to be an idiot for allowing his sons to cause so much controversy. Kenny Williams would have to be an idiot for not exercising some self restraint, and for allowing Ozzie to usurp his responsibilities and control. Ozzie’s family would all have to be idiots for creating such a scene and jeopardizing Ozzie’s professional career. After all none of this would look good on his resume, if it were real, and if he ever intends to get another managing job in the Big Leagues. If this isn't a publicity stunt, wouldn't you think that everyone involved would be on their best behavior, knowing that it will all come out in the MLB.COM show? Maybe we're the idiots here for falling for this stunt. “I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’‘. Luv this.

Its philosophical from the Top down and everyone in between. I was trying to make this point before. How did the Twins win like 6 division titles in the last 10 seasons, how did the Phillies go to back to back WS (and maybe a 3rd in a row this year). They were both really really bad and pathetic for awhile (late 90s), stocked high draft picks, patiently waited for their picks to develop, and devoted significant resources to scouting and player development. If this is what we want for the sox, then everyone has to commit to process, including us. Screw the get in contention by this date nonsense, lets get dominant for year after year. The earlier you commit to it, the earlier you reap the rewards.

At this point its obvious Beckham is hurting this team more than he is helping. I think the only thing keeping him at the ML level is the fact that his backup, Jason Nix, is basically playing 3B right now as Tehean's has gone to the DL. If Tehean was still at 3B then maybe Beckham is already down and Nix is starting at 2B.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 14, 2010 -> 12:09 AM) Read this from Gonzales and tell me you don't frickin love Ozzie Guillen: White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen took notice of the Wrigley Field fans booing Gordon Beckham for attempting a bunt with one out in the eighth inning of Ted Lilly’s no-hit bid Sunday. With the Sox trailing 1-0, Beckham fouled a bunt, prompting most of the 40,456 fans to voice their displeasure. “You bunt in the ninth, that’s unprofessional,” Guillen said. “But the eighth, Wrigley Field people; the only thing they can do is boo. They boo for every freakin’ thing here.” My take: Oz stands up for his players. He is a great great man. Totally agree. You bunt in the 8th during a no-no in a 1-0 game its a totally acceptable, you bunt in the ninth, especially if its like 5-0 game, thats bush league. What Beckham did was absolutely fine. The booing is just another example of groups of morons with a voice.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 8, 2010 -> 12:06 AM) I'm not saying we can or should trade Mark, or Jake for that matter. I'm in the camp of still liking this core and if we can add the right supplemental players, AND THE CORE PLAYERS CAN GET THEIR HEADS OUT OF THEIR ASSES AND ACTUALLY PERFORM AS THEY ARE CAPABLE OF, then we can still be a scary team to contend with. I was just making the point that if you are going to deal away some fan favorites, this would be the time to try and do it. You'd probably have some fans come back for OD next year and ask "what happened to Mark and Pauly?" Im a fan too, but you cant really let your fans run your team. They dont operate in the same galaxy you do when your a member of the front office. I just read an article in forbes about Philly's recent success. Their success is a product of patience by mgmt, tell the fans and media too bad be quiet for awhile, and excellent production (and spending) from scouting and drafting. If its time for PK and MB to go for the correct direction of this team then thats what needs to happen, I cant worry about Alice from Oak Lawn who on teacher night in 2011 is shocked and saddened to hear that hear favorite player Paulie and her secret crush Buehrle are no longer with the team.

QUOTE (heirdog @ Jun 7, 2010 -> 10:42 AM) So who are the vets? The usual suspects are AJP, PK, MB. Knowing KW, he will want to simply re-tool for next year and not trade away players with multi-year deals. So I think its just the first 2 and perhaps Freddy, Andruw Jones, Vizquel, Kotsay. Granted you aren't getting much for them but it keeps this team intact hoping for the rebound next year that didn't come in first 3 months this year. Also, gives an opportunity to see what Viciedo and/or Flowers, Hudson bring in terms of needs for next season. I think we may get some near ready, "change of scenery" prospects like we did with Floyd as opposed to stud prospects or low level, high ceiling guys. Id say their are very few players on this team that should be "safe". I think its safe to say we have seen the best of Buehrle, Flloyd, Quentin, Jenks, AJP, Freddy, PK. There are a few guys to keep but for the most part I wouldnt be surprised if the sox try and dump most of that veteran talent. It could save them potentially $20M or more to spend for next year. Given the fact that its been reported the sox "stuck their neck out financially" this year I could see this being the case. Save some cash from a bad under-performing team, get some nice prospects in return, spend wiser next offseason, see if 2011 or 2012 you can make a winner out of. Seems logical.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 6, 2010 -> 03:57 PM) Timely DP, very nice! Didn't Tiger say that in one of his text messages.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 6, 2010 -> 03:55 PM) That wasn't the argument you were trying to make. I hear people call up sports radio all the time with these stupid theories. It's a pretty convenient defense mechanism instead of placing blame on the GM or Manager. I was joking when i said its all part of the master plan stuff.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 6, 2010 -> 03:52 PM) Oh stop...that's a stupid argument. He got his roster he wants, but he decided to let Kotsay face a LHP. He had a bench full of righties, but he trusted his veteran. After last season, Ozzie specifically told KW he wanted Kotsay to be brought back. Yeah so him, KW, the fans, and the media can blame all of the Sox offensive struggles on Kotsay. It was a genius plan.