joeynach

I'll just start with a few observations and things to take away. I look forward to seeing what other things people noticed. 1. Danks is a big game pitcher and can defiantly be relied upon when needed the most. I also noticed an increase in velocity vs the twins and rays. 2. Mark Buehrle is gonna be the same ole MB, good for 14-16 wins with an ERA in the high 3s. He can also be counted on for quality starts in the postseason. 3. Javy Vazquez is really nothing but an innings eating #4 starter who feasts of the weak (BAL, KC, OAK). He pitches like a sally in big situations and in big games and can definatly not be counted on for postseason (or big) games. I compare him to a Doug Davis or Jeff Suppan, just with better stuff. 4. Gavin Flloyd has a lot of promise but when it rains for this guy it poors. He still has difficulty keeping the ball in the park and when hes not spot on he falls behind a lot of hitters and then gets beat, mainly by his fastball. He is someone to keep an eye on and it will be interesting to see how the league adjust in 09. 5. Matt Thronton can defiantly bring it and really does throw 95-97 MPH. His fastball is by far his best pitch and its a shame to see him get beat on off speed pitches. When he throws his off speed stuff righties can usually hand it and occasionally fool a left, but its defiantly a "B" pitch for him. 6. Bobby Jenks can defiantly still bring it, maybe not 99-100 MPH but 95-97 for sure. Its nice to see he can reach back when he needs it. 7. Thome can still hit and he still has the 30+ HR pop, maybe not at the .275 BA anymore, more like .250, but he still has value. 8. Paulie hasn't completely lost it, once he got healthy and in a groove he looked like the same ole Paulie, I would expect the same from him next year. Anyone else?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 29, 2008 -> 08:23 PM) Fair enough, they've won both times he pitched at Comiskey. He was hit hard in MN and lost, a game we eventually lost 10-6. Three Starts against MN this year.. 5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K's (W) 6 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K's (W) 6 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K's (L) 17 IP, 19 H, 10 ER, 7 BB, 13 K's (2-1, 5.29 ERA) The thing that gives you the most confidence is the home field advantage, and Blackburn has been bad on the road. Danks is usually better in road games, but he's pitched decently (more or less quality starts) both times at home. Still it kinda of bothers me. Like today we all knew Flloyd has had a ton of success against the tigers, you expect him to shut them down by defualt. With Danks against the twins I dont expect him to shut them down, in fact I expect him to battle his ass off and probably surrender 8 hits, a few walks and a few runs through 5 innings. Prove me wrong Danks but history tends to repeat itself as an awful good indicator. This is not an ideal matchup for the sox.

Hawk said it right on the broadcast last night. We will always have trouble winning in that dome with the current team and style of team we have. They can go from 1st to third on a single, we can't, they can score from 2nd on a hit, we cant. The fast turf field along with our slow softball style team of sluggers means we need plenty of walks, extra base hits, and HRs to win in that stadium. While they can win with a few singles, steals, and hits here and there. Its a huge advantage for their team and it is represented in their home record. Conversely we have short pull fences and power alleys, a huge advantage for us, represented in our home record. What will be interesting is what happens to the twins when they move into a more traditional stadium, grass and open air (I believe to open in 2010). The dimensions for their new ballpark are very similar to those of Camden Yards, a great hitters park, 339-L, 377-LC, 404-C, 367-RC, 328-R (with a 15-18FT wall next to the RF pole). For the time being though its just difficult for our team and teams like us to compete in the current metrodome setting.

This is an issue that has been with this team for some time now. They tend to break down, taper off, cool off, whatever u want to call it towards the end of the season. This is a result of KW's composition of this team, not Ozzie. It even happened in 2005, but the effect was far less dramatic. The cause is the reliance upon older sluggers and run producers for much of the lineups production. Guys like Thome, Konerko, Dye, Griffey, AJ, etc all fall into this category. The one fortune area is Konerko, who b/c of injuries has only played 114 games. As we have seen hes playing near the top of his game recently, unlike the other older guys who have already played 140-150 games. They will always tend to cool off towards the end of the season rather than heat up. That is why losing CQ is so huge b/c he was in essence a balance act against the aging sluggers (him being a young slugger). Alexi too has gone a little cold in Sept, he has never played this many games before. Its the same thing over and over.....we have a lineup of guys (except for maybe CQ) who hit their walls at about 140 games....and were past that point.

This feels just like 2003. The big series towards the end of Sept at the Metrodome to basically decide the division, it was Sept 16-18 2003. I remember the sox went up there on got swept and basically that ended the season even though there was still 10 games left. If I remember correct we had Loiaza, Colon, and Garland pitch and they all lost, though I recall the bats going ice cold except for the meaningless solo HR here and there. Some people were trying to say Loiaza was sick and throwing up before the game, but it sounded more like an excuse for being bad. I think the sox went up there and went from 0.5 games behind the twins and left 3.5 games behind the twins. That was a disaster, hopefully this wont be nearly as bad. Heck even if we only win 1 out of 3 we are still in first by 1.5 games. I feel more confident this time. Doesn't hurt that we miss Liriano and face a slumping Blackburn either. The only thing Im worried about is the sox go back into 2003 mode and dont do anything beside hit solo homers and we lose games like 4-2, and 5 -3. Fingers crossed!!!

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Sep 20, 2008 -> 04:04 PM) I don't know. I joined the Sox Pride Club so I actually have a 3% chance of getting a ticket instead of the 0% I had without it. I know you had to register with mlb.com this past week to be eligible. And if anyone wants to buy Cubs tickets (not necessarily to keep), they go on sale tomorrow. I thought they changed it this year and had that signup for the lottery online. I know last time it was basically first come first serve online for tickets, but I think this time u have be selected from the lottery and then u can buy up to 4 tickets per person to one of the ALDS games.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Sep 15, 2008 -> 11:43 PM) http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?s=...t&p=1743642 Yep thanks. I agree with everything he said. Man our team is old on all sides no wonder we always tend to break down in the second half

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Sep 16, 2008 -> 12:16 AM) Looking for me? You really don't have to go into the stats to tell you whats been wrong. Linebrink has been absent from the pen, and Kalapse covered Dotel yesterday. It isn't a hard formula to figure out. What exactly did he say about Dotel I must have missed it?

I was wondering if anyone has any stats to compare our bullpen's performance in the first half vs the second half. Its no secret our pen in the second half has been just about awful. It was almost automatic that the pen would come in and close the door in the first half, now it almost automatic that they will either blow the lead or surrender runs in one form or the other. Back in June on Sunday night baseball Joe Morgan even called our bullpen "the best I have ever seen". There is no way he would say that now. And whats even worse is that it seems the sept call ups have made our team, pitching wise, worse. The mere availability and subsuquent "we have to use them somewhere" theory with Macdougal, Wasserman, Logan, Broadway (the clown car, b squad, whatever u want to call them) has cost us games, its kinda of sick. P.S. And to no ones surprise 2nite when Ozzie brought the clown car into a tie game on the road in the 7th inning they immediately surrendered the lead and we lost.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Sep 14, 2008 -> 10:26 PM) I got sliced and diced for having this position earlier in the week. Point blank though: he has the best K arm in the pen. He isnt considerably worse vs. righties. If we can get LHP for the pen (Poreda)... then do you consider him for closing games? Have to come to grips w/ the fact that Jenks isnt a strikeout pitcher anymore, and that we will have to start paying him more and more now. His ERA and saves dependability will give him serious value elsewhere. Trading Jenks is a shot at retooling...get players that can get OBP up which is our weak area. Bullpen needs work, but you guys know how it is. We didnt expect a lockdown bullpen in 05... you just try to get a right mix of arms and hope for the best. We'll do the same this offseason with or without Jenks. I dont care how u get outs or close games just win the games. Jenks has good stuff overall with a multidue of pitches, thornton does not. Jenks gets out thats good enough for me to be a closer. Yeah he doesnt have the 9K/IP ratio but he gets SAVES.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Sep 14, 2008 -> 11:38 PM) Farmer must be nuts. Sox have to hang in there without Q at least for the regular season and most likely all of the playoffs if they advance. I know we all hope Q is back for some portion of the playoffs but in the regular season seems a bit farfetched. I understand opportunities to play in playoff games are few and far between for some but the long term risk isn't worth it. I agree the risk is too great. We have a potential franchise player here. There is no need to risk further injury upon him and his hand, and this swing mechanics at this point. We have plenty of power in Dye, Thome, Swish, Griffey, and Konerko when hes back next week. They just need to perform. In the end CQ and Farmer can say what they want but there is no way the Docs and Herm let CQ go out there if they dont 100% think hes good to go, thats the way this organization is and always has been.

WORST NEWS OF THE YEAR!!

now tell me who didn't see that walk/HBP/wild pitch coming from boone logan

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 29, 2008 -> 08:31 AM) It's crazy that the Angels are the only team in the AL with a winning road record...and they are 15 over .500 on the road! What are they doing that the rest of the league is not? Have a stacked roster 1-25 and afford to have a guy making $12 Mil sit on the bench.

I am planning on going to Boston for the series next weekend. I am buying tickets and a rather large portion of them say "obstructed view". My question is what defines obstructed view seats. Does it mean you are right smack dab behind a pole, is there just a pole somewhere in your plane of view of the ball field, or are u just under the over hang (thus losing high fly balls)? If anyone has any insight it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

King Pimp

I think its things like this that are going to land him unemployed after the season. Rumors from a friend of mine who works for the team is he wont be back, Stone to the booth with Hawk, and Ventura to join Farmer.

QUOTE (sin city sox fan @ Aug 19, 2008 -> 10:08 PM) I have to say I was definitely in the majority who was screaming for KW to go get a starting pitcher when Jose went down. I didn't care if it was Byrd, Washburn, or somebody else of just slightly below mediocre talent. However, you have to hand it to Kenny....he knows when to trade and when not to trade. The jobs done by Broadway and Richard in each of their last starts has been an extremely pleasant surprise and gives me confidence for the rest of the year. If these two can keep it up, we may have a young staff of homegrown starters wearing a White Sox uni for quite some time. Way not to make a move Kenny! U would be lying to urself If u didn't think KW was still rolling the dice.

Its funny he says "the stars would have to align" and notes the young unproven pitching on their staff. U want to talk about being real, look at Alexi and CQ as well as the unproven Danks and Flloyd, all are having monster years at the same time. If thats not the stars aligning than I dont know what is. It goes both ways sometimes u are very fortunate and sometimes not. The twins are fortunate they play in that dome, creating a huge homefield advantage (thats very ackward to many road teams). The sox are very fortunate they play in a small ballpark with short pull dimensions and a small outfield. We have a lot of power from pulling the ball which gets inflated at home as well as non traditional CF with not such good range (great for our small outfield). So the stars tend align in more ways than one.

QUOTE (griffey17 @ Aug 17, 2008 -> 08:07 AM) I agree interleague does suck....except for playing the Cubs....every team should play the closest rival 6 games and call it good. This interleague schedule sure does suck. No real marqee match ups and too many repeats from the previous couple years. Cant MLB get a little more unique, lame.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Aug 10, 2008 -> 06:01 PM) Unless Crede comes back with a bang like he did after going down in 2005, he's not much of a loss at all. Uribe seems to be more reliable at third than Crede was, and even though he's clutch, Crede's still a pop-up machine. The big injuries here are Contreras and Linebrink. Those hurt a TON. Crede IMO is not even a factor at this point. Hopefully Ramirez for Logan will prove to be an upgrade, Carrasco for Masset will continue to be an upgrade, Russell will survive until Linebrink gets back, and KW picks up a Major League starter that allows the Sox to play .500 baseball in his starts for the rest of the year. Overall I'm not all that worried, although if I had any expectations whatsoever for this year's team I'd be freaking out - and not because of the Twins, who for the first time in seemingly forever are choking in opportunities to put the Sox behind them, but because it looks like we may very well have nothing left come playoff time. I agree with you on Crede, there is something to be said for the patented Joe Crede infield Pop up. Its kills us when he does that about 1-2 times per game. Its not as if Uribe has awsome at bats either, but were almost out of options here. Pablo had better and more productive at bats, but was a liability with his glove. Fields also turned into a liability with his glove and didn't really seems to have a ll that productive at bats either.

If we did get washburn we would probably just be getting the LH version of Contreras, at least in terms of ERA. Washburn is much better at holding runners on, albeit he is a lefty. AT USCF career Washburn is 3-4 with a 3.92 ERA and 1.11 WHIP, he has given up 11 HRs in about 60 IP. Thats the one thing to worry about with this guy at our park, if u equate that to 200 IP that would be about 37 HRs given up, not good. He would be another Gavin Floyd type, prone to the long ball in hitters parks like USCF, Ballpark at Arlington, etc. Though he would probably do well in places like DET and KC. All in all if we landed him I wouldn't expect anything better than around a .500 pitcher with a 4-4.5 ERA, not bad but not great either. The problem is anyone that trades for him is on the hook for 10.35M next year, and I dont think I would want this guy pitching 50% of his games at USCF.

Well look on the bright side on losing Jose. It will force the Sox hand to acquire another starting pitcher, perhaps not for 08, but defiantly for 09. That means we will probably get someone younger and more talented that isn't a liability in holding runners on or covering 1st base. Im not happy Contreras is gone, but sometimes this stuff and turn out to be a blessing in disguise if it forces KW to do what he does, go out there get creative in bring in someone we thought we weren't going to get. Could work out well for 2009.

Well look on the bright side on losing Jose. It will force the Sox hand to acquire another starting pitcher, perhaps not for 08, but defiantly for 09. That means we will probably get someone younger and more talented that isn't a liability in holding runners on or covering 1st base. Im not happy Contreras is gone, but sometimes this stuff and turn out to be a blessing in disguise if it forces KW to do what he does, go out there get creative in bring in someone we thought we weren't going to get. Could work out well for 2009.

There is no doubt this team is pretty banged up and probably wont be 100% for the rest of the year. Its starting to catch up with this team, bad bullpen, bad starting pitching, weak 3B. So the question is where are the answers. Getting rid of Massett and sending Boone down is a great start, those were both non productive members of the pen. Getting Linebrink back would be a big boost, but we need more if we are really gonna win this division. Uribe's glove is nice at 3B and fields was really becoming a liability there. Hopefully Crede can come back and be productive, but its looks like thats 50/50 with his recent setback. We could really use a solid replacement in the rotation. Do we try and rely on guys like Rusell, Broadway, Poreda, etc or do we try and hit the waiver wire with Maddux, Washburn, or Byrd. I think Maddux would get killed in our ballpark but Washburn might be OK. Are we really anchoring the problems in our pen with Horacio Ramirez, what options do we have. This is huge for KW and the team....the next few moves we make could make us or break us. Either way its going to interseting, but I just dont know if there is enough in our minor leagues or via the waiver wire to solidify this team enough. Seems like we are kind of short answers!