joeynach

Most likely go Alexi/Beckham or Beckham/Alexi. I know Alexi isn't hitting worth a lick right now, but getting him in more fastball situations is perfect for him.

This is actually nice. For the first time in at least a week Quentin and AJ, our .150 hitting menaces, are not hitting back to back in the lineup. CQ is sandwiched between Rios and Alexi, that should help alleviate the automatic outs in the middle of the lineup and get CQ some better pitches to hit. Be interesting to see how this plays out tonight.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 26, 2010 -> 04:10 PM) Alexei has been in the league 2 years, and has hit .290 and .277 in those 2 years. Theriot is a career .290 hitter. In his first 2 seasons, he hit .328 and .266 consecutively. Theriot's worst average month in his career is Sept./Oct, where he hits .254, while he typically hits 70 points better in April/May. Theriot sprays the ball more consistently and strikes out way less. How about comparing their OBP, alexi cant take a walk remember.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 26, 2010 -> 03:57 PM) Huh? Meaning guys who are much more consistent at the plate, higher Batting Averages, and known for spraying the ball all over the park. Alexi and Tehean are perfect examples of guys that overall perform well, but nothing that consistent and have the ability to be hitting .200 for months at a time.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Apr 26, 2010 -> 03:49 PM) I think this is a symptom of a larger problem with the general construction of this lineup; we have an overwhelming lack of players who can get on-base on a consistent basis. This team has some power, its no secret. But we cant play Ozzieball we dont have overwhelmingly consistent batters. We have a lot of batter with high peaks and low valleys. If we had a team of all placido polanco's we could do this but we dont. We dont have a ton of high OBP or high BA guys. We dont have a plethorea of guys that spray the ball around at a high clip either. For Ozzieball to work you would need like Ryan Theriot instead of Alexi, Polanco instead of Tehean, Either/Kemp instead of Quentin, etc. We might have more overall team speed and less lumberjack base cloggers, but we are no where near a lineup that can play ozzieball.

QUOTE (since56 @ Apr 24, 2010 -> 08:51 AM) They wanted to stop relying so much on the Homer. Seems like they forgot one thing though. They have to score runs another way! Its kind of hard to score runs without a HR when most of your lineup isn't hitting their weight in BA. No one gets on base, no hits get stacked together. Hell we got CQ and AJP hitting like .160 a piece, back to back in the heart of the lineup. No wonder we have trouble scoring runs. It seems like for a lot of our hitters WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS. But the answer to so far to why does our offensive suck seems to be more closely related to their all hitting like garbage at the same time instead of they all aren't capable of being good to begin with. So at least thats good.

Just from watching the last few games on TV, is it just me, or does Quentin's swing look exceeding loopy and long. I know hes struggling right now, defiantly looks like hes trying to lift and pull a lot and in the end has been hitting weak grounders and infield pop ups. But is there a mechanical problem, has anyone noticed anything. When i see him swing (and miss) his swing looks so long. Not only does he have this hitch, or clutch going on, but then u see the bat get way out there and wrap all the way around in what seems a long and slow motion. It just doesnt look good. But has anyone else noticed this, or am I just seeing things?

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 21, 2010 -> 12:11 PM) I've been saying this all along. Does Ozzie just ignore this stuff because he feels like it? Exactly, dont get me wrong I know there is a certain amount of gut and feel involved in making managerial decisions. And the best ones go with their gut a lot and it works out, believe me I play poker everyday of my life. But that being said you can just ignore statistical facts. It would be one thing if he said I know Jones has better numbers than Kotsay against this righty, but my gut tells me Kotsay is going to...blah blah today. Whatever thats fine, at lease you know hes looking at all the information first before making a decisions, and that the most important part of making any managerial decision.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 20, 2010 -> 11:47 PM) Considering just today he said he was going to stick with one lineup against righties and one vs. lefties, we are stuck with Kotsay against righties. I agree it will be pretty dumb. Jones is proving me wrong by hitting the long ball at a nice clip. Oz is gonna get hammered if we get shut out with Kotsay in instead of Jones. I posted Andruw Jones' splits a month or so ago, he hits righties and lefties at about an identical clip. Of of course he hits righties way better than Kotsay does, both this year and Career wise. So I have no clue how or why Kotsay belongs in a starting lineup except for the sunday B squad time.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 19, 2010 -> 08:12 PM) The biggest misconception that has been used about past White Sox drafts has been they picked low so they had nothing to work with. Just some of the picks in the 2005 draft after Broadway, the "safe" pick: Jacoby Ellsbury Matt Garza Colby Rasmus Luke Hochever Clay Bucholtz Nolan Reimold Kevin Slowey Yunel Escobar What we don't know is if the problem was recognizing talent, developing talent or both. Perhaps if Broadway was drafted by someone else he may have been useful. I doubt it. Maybe if the above had been drafted by the Sox, they may have been busts. So many variables.

Isnt the draft budget just a function of the quality of players we are able to select. The better the draft picks, meaning the higher the picks, the more $$ we are going to spend. If we keep drafting late picks, lower talent picks, then our draft spending will be lower.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Apr 17, 2010 -> 07:18 PM) I'm sure Kotsay batting 5th will perk up his ways. Kotsay blows...there I said it.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 19, 2010 -> 02:08 PM) Cue the Nick Swisher discussion again....joking! Yeah I remember thats what they said about Swisher in 2008, that his BABIP was so low that he was essentially having a super unlucky year. But I do believe in BABIP, it really shows you an important characteristic. Do your hitters tend to hit hard balls right at ppl, do they hit a lot of easy pop ups and weak grounders when they dont make good contact. I think 2007-2009 I would expect to see a low BABIP, we had a plethora of lift and pull, kind of all or nothing hitters. And the nothing would rarely be a productive out. As 2010 looks you would assume things would be different becuase the lineup turned over quite a bit. We inserted a career .300 hitter at the top, have a full season with our best hitter Beckham, added a traditionally good BABIP in Rios for a fulls season etc. So as it seems the sox did address their poor performance in this category, so for it just hasn't worked out. My observations of the sox season so far is, think of anything that could go wrong to contribute to a loss at any given point, and so far that has come to fruition every single time. Ill give this team till the end of June. If they are still way under .500 the 2010 roster remake is a bust.

QUOTE (The Gooch @ Apr 16, 2010 -> 08:46 PM) So in essence, we passed on Jim Thome so Mark Kotsay could DH. All of the double play hitting capability with none of the power Its so obvious Andruw Jones needs to be the everyday DH. He at least brings a consistent power threat every single day and he hits the ball hard. Kotsay should be a sunday starter only.

I really wish I knew what the record was for either most double plays hit into int he first 10 games of the season, or maybe most weak grounders hit in the first 10 games. Either way, the sox have to be close to matching or breaking that record. Also add to that category, most bloop hits or lucky nubbers that turned into hits. Im usually not one to complain but I remember this stuff was brutal on the first home-stand, and now playing the indians its reminding me again.

Feddy is a junk ball pitcher. His fastball never tops 88 mph, its a show me pitch. If he isnt locating his junk or inducing nasty swings, something u can tell by the 2nd inning, then he is going to get hit hard. Floating junk around the plate at 82 MPH usually gets hit hard. Ill say he gets 6-8 starts. If he cant keep his ERA around 4.5 or lower then hes gone.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Apr 15, 2010 -> 02:20 AM) And how many of those are there in baseball? Bullpen guys who you know are going to be good year in and year out. Well thats my point, thats why they were allowed to walk. Because of some sort of flaw or issue. If they were the Thornton or Scott Shields type it would be a different story, but those guys more similar to commodity type bullpen guys. You can find them in your farm system or on the market year in and year out. Hence, no love lost.

I wouldnt really want any of those guys right now. Sure they are alright, they get some outs, but really. Those guys are a bunch of "B" players and everyone knows it. They have roles sure, but come on, those are not ur sure thing bullpen guys at all.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 14, 2010 -> 05:54 PM) 7 Kotsay 4 Beckham B Quentin 3 Konerko 5 Teahen 8 Rios 9 Jones 2 AJP 6 Vizquel Pierre will lead the league in outs if he plays everyday. His role has to be diminished. Pierre is still a lifetime .300 hitter with a career .335 OBP. That means over 600 ABs he will get one base 200 times. Its been 6 games and his first stint in the AL, be patient we will need him if we are going to win.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 13, 2010 -> 11:36 PM) I'd venture to guess far less than 1% of the fans at Wrigley were in a fraternity. Nice generalization though. I didnt really mean it as if they physically in fraternities. I meant it to describe a style of behavior. Have u sat in the bleachers on a weekend. You feel like your at a tailgate or someone summer party in their yard. Its more like the general accepted attitude is one of rowdy ra ra "ness" if you catch my drift. I got the same feeling at a lala palooza for example. My point was so if this type of enviornment is encourages then no wonder lots of cubs fans (generally my age, mid 20s) take on this embarssing of silly, goofy, just have fun and clown around behavior at the ballpark. Hence the racist Fukudome episode.

The white sox look dumbfounded by this guy. Hes got like 13Ks and hes not even an overpowering strike out guy. Hes either really lucky or really good. Im not sure yet, or the white sox hitters are the worst guess hitters on the planet. Something strange.

This is one of the main reasons the cub fan base has been moving from gritty die hards to just a bunch of rowdy frat boys over the last 10 years or so. And its not just us that have noticed. We had had the whole beer dumping incident last year with Vicotrino. And here its not that the t shirts themselves are bad, but the glorification of this type of stuff by the "cubbie faithful". The fact that after they signed Fukudome a couple years ago, a big signing at the time, 4 years 48 mil, a player thought to really anchor the cubs outfield, there fanbase made a spectacle out of the whole thing. Its all a big happy go fun time joke to them. They glorify this whole ra ra wooo hoo attitude where the actual game is the in the background. To sign Fukudome and then see every young person (my age), frat boys, young trixies, even young couples, wearing these shirts, singing these chants, and wearing red head bands like their Japanese warriors is disgusting. Enjoy the game, enjoy the park, enjoy chicago summer, even wear a funny t shirt once in a while, but dont make a mockery of 100+ years of baseball and turn a following a baseball game (or team) into just another partying/ra ra activity.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Apr 12, 2010 -> 11:04 PM) I think everyone wants Jones in the lineup whether it is DH, LF, or RF when Q is DH'ing. I think everyone wants Kotsay to pinch hit and play 1B when Paulie needs a day off. Defiantly.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 12, 2010 -> 09:19 PM) He wasn't pitching around him...he lost all command of his fastball. Alexei with some interesting footwork on that grounder. He had bad stuff tonite. He was throwing spinning and floating 2 seam fastballs all nite that were running into RH hitters swings. His fastball never popped over 91 and he was trying get some fastballs by some hitters, but 91 wont cut it. He just didnt have it tonite.

Thank for blowing the game ozzie and williams.