joeynach

QUOTE(elrockinMT @ May 9, 2007 -> 09:46 AM) The loss last night was humiliating. I listen to as many Sox games as possible on XM satelitte radio, but the down side of that is when they are on the road you have to listen to the other teams announcers. I have always hated the Twins and last night their radio folks just reinforced my feelings. They were laughing at the Sox and made comments about Perzynski and Crede being cry babies and the such. Total BS. We need to play better. The bullpen was supposed to be our strength. Yeah and whats up with Sisco and thornton supposed fireballers coming in the game and throwing 91 mph. I thought these were effortless 95 mph guys. They both came in and were throwin 91-92 occasionally touching 93. Thornton I know last year was 94-96 and could touch 97 easily. Sisco I remember being 94-95 with KC and then I seem both come in and light it up at 91, wtf.

QUOTE(fathom @ May 9, 2007 -> 09:00 AM) While he did look good against Cuddyer (who's clearly not 100 pct and should have been pitched to in the 8th instead of Hunter), I don't think even the most optimistic of Sox fans liked his chances against Morneau. Masset's 93 mph inside fastball in that situation was not a good call, especially after Morneau was looking in after looking bad on an inside slider. The pitch Morneau was about letter high 6 inches outside. He just hit it, somehow. Usually thats just a bad pitch and an obvious ball that you take.

QUOTE(fathom @ May 8, 2007 -> 11:44 PM) Nach...I like the way you try to analyze things, but remember this is Aardsma we're talking about, not Greg Maddux. If he had pinpoint control on every pitch he throws, he wouldn't have been traded twice already in his young career. I realize this, though I believe his two trades were a result of inability of control, which hasn't really been his problem with the sox. Though I can see that his pitches tend to move around a lot, both good and bad, hitters with good eyes, patient hitters will be able to quickly recognize that his pitches might run out of the strike zone. IMO, Hes actually got good movement for a 4 seamer, to good RH sluggers though it tends to help them out cuz it runs toward their swing plane, or level of motion at which they move their bat at a high fastball. If that pitch is on the outside corner both to Hunter and Thames thats 2 wins. Im sure Aardsma was trying to throw the ball on the outer half, it probably started there and naturally ran up and in, twice.

QUOTE(BearSox @ May 8, 2007 -> 11:43 PM) You don't know what you are talking about. He doesn't have a designed cookie pitch. Two mistakes = two big hits. Bad location. Those fastballs aren't aimed belt ^, but for around the knees. Of course they are not aimed, but I believe his pitches quite frequently have a natural run towards a right handed hitters (the only hitters he faces) swing plane. What if his fastball ran naturally moved down and away at 95 mph instead of up and in towards the direction of where the bat is coming from. I 100% believe he would be a better pitcher and those two big hits never would have happened.

QUOTE(gosox41 @ May 8, 2007 -> 11:08 PM) Just take 5 really good ball players, and surround them with 20 guys with average to below average talent, slap a Twins jersey on them and the Sox will find ways to beat themselves. Of course the other way is to throw any left handed dummy on the mound who can get the ball over the plater and watch the Sox flail away like fools. You don't even need a Santana or Sabbathia. Wait until Ted Lilly gets a hold of us. We'll make him freaking Cy Young in the NL. Boy do I miss the days when we had that "selfish" player who used to tatoo left handed pitching. What was his name again? The guy Ozzie and KW hated. Plays for the Blue Jays now. I'm sick and tired of losing in the same fashion. I can handle team wide slumps (though not happy) but I can't stand watching the Sox continually choke against the Twins or suck against lefties. Bob I actually think Frank was a better hitter against RHP than left. Something thats strange but I remember that sticking out for some reason. You can look up his splits on yahoo I think.

QUOTE(RME JICO @ May 8, 2007 -> 11:02 PM) Now if avid fans can see these issues, there is no way others are not seeing the same thing (management, media, etc). It is plain as day. I really hope someone asks Ozzie why he did not walk Morneau and allowed a RHP pitch to him with 2 outs and jeff Cirillo on deck. What could he possibly say other than he trusted Masset? Thats the key issue. Ozzie has no control over MacDougal not being able to get anyone out and giving up 3 strait hits, he has no control over the bad pitch Aardsma threw hunter that ran up and in towards his hot zone. But what Ozzie does have is the ability to situationally change the game and induce matchups that will present better situations for his guys. He absolutely failed to that last night by letting Masset pitch to Morneau instead of going after cirillo on deck. Thats twice now we have seen Morneau beat us on one swing of the bat on pitches that are basically pretty lousy pitches, compared to the strike zone. So there is no reason to say u can get Morneau out by pitching around him because he has already hit two balls way out of the strike zone off of us that resulted in 2 wins.

QUOTE(Hawkfan @ May 8, 2007 -> 10:27 PM) yeah up and in fastballs are so easy to hit at 95 mph.. good thing hes only thrown two of them all year I truely believe it doesn't matter what speed if you know its coming and u see it enough times. Aardma did a decent job of mixing it up, but throwing pitches that moved towards your swing plane is bad, espeically against guys like Thames who cant hit anything but that s***. The point is for as good as stuff as Aardsma has he and AJ need to very careful that when they call for a high fastball it needs to be no where near inside becuase that makes it easier as it runs towards a righties bat. So even if hes late hes getting helped by the pitch moving toward his bat, where as if it was away he would remain late and not make contact. It is these minor suttlties that can 100% change and outcome of a swing, AB, or game. And I had this exact conversation with a white sox former scout and now white sox stadium operations staff guy about 2 months ago.

Stop throwing that same fastball (no matter how fast) that runs up and in to right handed hitters. The first time you did it you gave up a game tieing homer to Thames the second time a game tieing hit to hunter. So please David stop throwing the pitch that runs up and in to right handed hitters, which is basically like the hot zone or easy pitch to handle for most Righties. I like Aardsma I really do but its obvious his pitches tend to (naturally) run into the no-no spot against righties with decent power. Anyone else notice this suttle oddity.

QUOTE(shawnhillegas @ May 8, 2007 -> 03:55 PM) At the East Bank Club. He was using rubberbands to assist with lateral lunges. He looked a long, long way from being ready. Ive got his fragile ass penciled into returning the first week of July and also not being in a sox uniform in 2008.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ May 8, 2007 -> 03:11 PM) I saw a homeless man wearing a Sox cap last Thursday. Wow me too must have been the same guy.

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ May 7, 2007 -> 11:20 PM) Even the Yankees don't have one hitting 8th, unless you think Robinson Cano is going to hit .342 again. That's also a .330 OBP, not the .340 you wanted. There were even fewer the past few years. If we could even acquire/find said SS, he'd almost certainly be batting 1st or 2nd. Also, we're closer to 8th in payroll when you factor in money we're getting for Thome and Vazquez and have other things to worry about with our money. My point is really in relation to the type of hitter Uribe is, BA as well but hes no longer on the team. This team in terms of Erstad/Iguchi/Thome/Konerko/Dye/AJ/Crede/Pods is a team predicated on good productive at bats. Im talking about not swinging at the first pitch, seeing lots of pitches, working the count, fouling off tough pitches, elevating the pitchers pitch count, making productive outs, moving guys over situationally, drawing walks, etc. Where on earth does Uribe fit into that scheme of offensive production. Actually, IMO he seems to disrupt that rhythm if anything. Uribe being the 1 guy in the lineup most opposing teams know they can go after, or who will chase balls in the dirt and over his head (BA too in terms of last years lineup). I was so sick of seeing Crede and AJ get on with a nice AB from a walk, or lengthy foul offs until they finally get a hit right ahead of Uribe (or BA) only to see him swing at the first pitch and popout or strike out on a ball at his neck or in the dirt. Its sickening. Fine screw the .340 OBP just give me a guy with some plate discipline who can at least make productive outs, Id kill for Aaron Hill.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ May 8, 2007 -> 09:08 AM) We might not play Baltimore and TB as much but we play the Cubs and Pirates while Detroit and Cleveland play Milwaukee and Atlanta. Milwaukee is the best team in baseball and Atlanta is pretty Dam good too, I really dont think Det and Cle are getting a pass there.

There was about 40 or 50 of us at my friends place all gathered around the tv. It was classic, a bunch of us are watching the fight and as soon as we (the sox fans) all see Leo sporting a sox cap in the background we immediately perk up like a dog when his name is called and all look at each to other and point at the tv. Classic.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ May 8, 2007 -> 01:01 PM) No, I don't think any outfielder the White Sox could have acquired could have put up the numbers I suggested Jermaine Dye put up. You're using career averages, which I'm not talking about at all right now and has NEVER been brought into the discussion. The White Sox were counting on Dye to put up about .300 30 100 .900 coming into this season because he's hit 31 and 44 homers in his 2 only years as a member of the White Sox, and has put up OPS's of .845 and 1.007. They were counting on him to be the 5th hitter, and a damn good 5th hitter, in the offense. You have not found me a reasonable player that can put up .300 30 100 .900, and instead have changed the question and put it back on me. Find me one player the White Sox could have acquired that is likely going to put up .300 30 100 .900 that could have been acquired reasonably, and I'll admit that you were right that the Sox should have traded Dye, even considering I don't recall you ever even mentioning the thought that the Sox should trade Dye or Crede in the offseason. I never said they should have or that I wanted to trade them, although I do believe their values were the highest they would have ever been. I wasn't on a trade Dye/Crede campaign but I was on a "I dont expect their #'s from 07 to be that close to their #'s of 06" campaign. My point is on expectations, did you expect Neal Cotts and Cliff Politte to have 2.00 ERA's in 2006 like 05, did you expect Hermanson to start 06 with no ER into June, did you expect Garland to post a 3.50 ERA in 06? I like Dye and Crede for what I believe they are, which is not a .300 hitter for either IMO. Crede is an outstanding defensive 3B with 25 HR pop along with 75-80 RBI. Dye is an aging RF with diminished range, but a decent arm, hes got good pop in the bat, a good low ball hitter who should be around .275-.285 with 30+ HR and 90ish rbi. I think too many people just blindly expected Crede and Dye (as well as some of our 05 guys) to just post #'s similar to the prior year with absolutely when no track record was present. To much of an assumption by saying "well they turned the corner". Thats my point about all those other guys, everyone knew Neal Cotts finally turned the corner in 2005 right, tell that to him in 2006. And the only reason i was talking about career numbers is because that is the mean in the term "regression towards the mean". Its the same thing when a lifetime C student gets and A on one test. In my comparison the lifetime C grades are the same thing as the players career average(s).

QUOTE(Kalapse @ May 8, 2007 -> 12:53 PM) McCarthy: 1 R - Ichiro 1 R - Jose Vidro 3 R - Jose Vidro 1 R - Sal Fasano Danks: 3 R - Morneau 1 R - Ryan Garko 1 R - Josh Barfield 1 R - Brandon Inge 1 R - Jose Guillen 1 R - Yuniesky Betancourt So out of the 10 HR they've allowed combined, half of them have been hit by Mariners. Thats just sick right there.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ May 7, 2007 -> 11:13 PM) .900. As in OPS. But 90 works too, so that's fine. And that's why KW didn't trade Dye, because it's very likely he's going to be really productive this year. It's also why he hasn't signed him to an extension. I mean, honestly, name me one logical replacement for Dye's production. You dont think any of the sox outfield prospects have the ability to put up dye career #'s of .276 avg and .339 OBP, and 23 Hrs per year (based on 164 hrs between 1999-2006 minus 2003) over their career. You dont think any player KW could possibly acquire via trade or FA could put up those #'s every year or better? Possible 08 free agents that would look good in the sox OF: Byrnes, Ichiro, Dunn, Andruw Jones, Hunter, Abreu, Shawn Green, Trot Nixon.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ May 8, 2007 -> 12:23 PM) Danks 6HR/28.7IP BMac 4HR/26IP How many of those were with 1 or more runners on base for McCarthy than with Danks.

QUOTE(fathom @ May 8, 2007 -> 11:47 AM) McCarthy's fastball is probably one to two mph faster on a consistent basis than Danks. I do like Danks potential a lot more than McCarthy now, but to say that we got rid of McCarthy due to him being a fly ball pitcher is wrong with Danks previous history allowing the long ball. I don't think Garcia ever reached 95 mph when he was with the Sox. I can't recall him throwing fastballs past hitters since he joined the team 4 years ago. Nearly every strikeout he had was on an offspeed pitch. I remember in 2004 freddy being a consistent 93-94 guy. And I believe he was always 93-95 with the M's prior to the sox. As for BMac, IMO, it was really his arm angle and delivery method which I believe just wasn't good enough to pitch in the toughest division and league in baseball. It was very standard very over the top and very plain and I think that caused his 2 seamer to never develop or fail when he tried with coop. Plus I think it led to a very flat 4 seamer and change up as well that currently haunts him.

QUOTE(fathom @ May 8, 2007 -> 11:29 AM) Isn't this the exact type of pitcher that Danks is in terms of stuff? First of all I believe danks throws 90+ consistently with a better change up. I remember seeing McCarthy mainly around 89 with the occasional 90 perhaps 91. I think Danks doesn't quite have the 12-6 curve with the over the top delivery his to me looks more like slurve with a lower arm angle that just by defualt keep the ball lower in the zone. Whatever the case his breaking ball is one breaks lower down in the zone where if McCarthy's was perfect yes it broke from the shoulders to the knees, but most pitches aren't perfect. McCarthy was kind of a no frills standard Righty, and even his change up was like a meatball coming in belt high.

QUOTE(caulfield12 @ May 8, 2007 -> 08:49 AM) The 6 IP, 2 ER outing last night was his best so far. He has been throwing 89-92 pretty consistently this year, when I've watched him. He's picked it up a little more than I thought he would, but his stats should be better with his stuff in the NL. That we have Gonzalez and Floyd is better than waiting 2-3 more years for compensation picks to develop. Also, does anyone think the Freddy would be a disaster these last 2-3 weeks with our offense? He'd be pointing fingers...saying he did enough to get the win....that he's only motivated by big games. At any rate, I wouldn't want to pair Garcia's attitude problems with our anemic offense. It's a bad recipe. The way he has pitched, he would have the same record as Danks but 10X more clubhouse issues. And the Angels would have recorded 5-6 steals against him in one game. On the sunday night game last week against the braves, which he lost, the announcers were noting his velocity problems. Basically they were saying that since hes become a guy who throws 87-89 mph now when he tries to dial it up and reach back for a little extra to hit 92 he is leaving the ball up over the plate and its getting hammered. There point was when he was throwing 92-94 consistently and reaching back for 95-97 he could get away with that because hes blowing people away and they couldn't catch up regardless. The new Freddy, the one thats here to stay, is a junkballer now thats cant throw as hard as he used to.

I think KW and the sox organization, including medical know exactly when its time to get rid of somebody. Mike sirotka, Jim Parque, Jason Bere, Jim Baldwin, Cal Eldred, they knew about these guys. Even the big hurt. The McCarthy thing to me was more of a funtion of the type of pitcher he was, a flyball pitcher, which is very bad in our ballpark. Plus I think his inability to really develop or showcase any type of variation of a pitch or throw a new pitch consistently, led to his falling out of favor. After all Bmac only threw an average 4 seam fastball around 90 mph, a good curveball (but a flyball pitch), and a below average change up, thats it. Sorry not gonna get the job done over the long haul. As for Freddy I think it was pretty obvious he was nearing the end of his effective pitching career. He lost close to 5 to 6 mph on his fastball and become a sort of junk baller. He couldnt challenge anyone with his 86-88 mph 4 seamer and his 2 seamer was OK. He started throwing a ton of changeups, splitters,sliders where he used to throw a 93-95 4 seam, 2 seam, overhand curve. His strikeout rate was down tremendous and his whip was up. The key thing was that in order to rear back and throw a 92 mph fastball he would leave pitches high in the zone that would get crushed, hes doin the same this year. Also, he couldn't hold anybody on base. All and all thats not the type of pitcher really anyone should want in their rotation. It was just flat out time to leave.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ May 7, 2007 -> 09:47 PM) Regress from superstar numbers to very good overall numbers. and, again, you're contradicting yourself. You can't say you're not writing them off and then go ahead and side with the numbers come May 7th. There are no substantial numbers to side with. It's likely Dye won't hit 40+ homers again, but I wouldn't write off him putting up .300 30 .900 at all, and that would be perfectly acceptable. Isn't .300/30/90 regression since his #'s moved toward his career averages from where they were in 06. And once again im not saying its all over on May 7th im speaking of a trend here, not the absoulte certainty. QUOTE(StrangeSox @ May 7, 2007 -> 09:51 PM) How successful has moneyball been in winning a WS or even getting to one? Well apparently $200 Mil payroll hasn't been succesful either how many WS have the yanks had recently.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ May 7, 2007 -> 01:33 PM) and then what happens when you trade David Ortiz or Travis Hafner? You are, what I like to refer to, jumping to conclusions. It's May 7th and you're already writing Dye, Crede, and Morneau off for the entire year. Why? Im not writing them off im siding with the #'s. Those guys u meantion are blips on the radar in terms of what im talking about. Sure u get a few who break out and become stars but most regress. Just look at the numbers. And im not saying what is or isn't going to happen, just what the trends are historically. THats why I talk about planning for the event that the most likely will happen, the trend being regression. I liked the idea of Eduardo Perez as a decent insurance or backup (at least against LHP) but they released him. Now see what happens when Dye and Crede dont match last years #, just like Cotts and Politte from 05 to 06. Need insurance against possible, more like probable, regression. QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ May 7, 2007 -> 02:11 PM) The success of the A's for many years has been based on maximizing the performance they get out of guys, and then trading them to teams who will overpay for them, only to see the guy they got regress to the means (SEE: Mulder for Calero and Haren for example). In fact, they do it well in cases like Frank Thomas, Chad Bradford, etc as well in cases without trades. That is the true essence of moneyball, far more than on base percentage (although that is important too). Exactly.

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ May 7, 2007 -> 12:59 PM) That's a hell of a high standard for a #8 hitter. There were only 13 qualified shortstops that had an OBP over .330 last year, and none of them hit lower than third... Now for a leftfielder, okay, that's another story. But capable SS's that get on base don't exactly grow on trees. I'd love to have a lineup full of .350+ OBP guys, but there are only around 100 of those in the entire league, not exactly good odds there. And we also have the 3rd or 4th highest payroll in the league which puts us in a different class of team. We can afford to be one of those 13 qualified teams and we should.

QUOTE(Soxfest @ May 5, 2007 -> 06:07 AM) Williams failed to address post all star break problems and his bench he put together in 2007 is horrid! I thought the lineup was gonna need some more shakup post ASB in 2006 when he couldn't do anything all that productive. IMO yes CF needed to be adressed and sort of was, but i was also sure a new LF and SS were needed. The philosophy of "well we can have a glove man thats not all that productive on offense cuz our middle of the lineup is so good" is a bad one. It will only get you in trouble. From the type of hitters Uribe and Pods have become I was failry sure they needed to be replaced, no matter what they do with their gloves. In this division in this league against the tough pitching we face you can not afford to have those guys out there everday. They aren't productive enough, aren't selective enough, dont hit for a high enough avg, dont get on base enough, etc. We had three of those last year in our lineup in pods,uribe, and BA. The bottom of our lineup last year was dismal and nearly automatic non prodcution when we needed it or against any decent pitcher. This year Erstad will be better offensively than BA, but Uribe will be his same self and Pods who knows. This team could use new men at LF and SS who can hit, get on base, and at least make productive outs. Id kill for a SS that would hit .275 with a .340 obp from 8 or 9 spot.