Marty34

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 9, 2012 -> 08:57 AM) Wasn't your argument earlier in the season that if attendance fell to 1998 levels...or at least below 22,000 per game, that KW should be fired? If they don't win, yes.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 9, 2012 -> 08:54 AM) What do you want to do now? Move Rios back to CF? Trade Viciedo? Name KW Executive of the Year in the AL up until this point in the 2012 season? After all, how amazing is it that the White Sox are tied for the AL lead in blown saves, can't win at home, can't win 1 run ballgames, can't win in extra innings, have used 4 closers already, have 3 starting pitchers with 5.3+ ERA's, have one player on pace for 300 K's, have gotten 1 homer from the entire left-side of the infield all season and are STILL in first place on June 9th? Their third best starting pitcher is a Colombian who maybe only 5-10% of SoxTalk even could identify about 2 months ago. Kenny Williams has has a stunning 12 homegrown players on his roster this year, tied for 2nd in all of MLB. They should be building a statue for him, yes? Unfortunately, they don't award playoff spots on June 9th.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jun 9, 2012 -> 08:22 AM) Well... I would think that as a GM that he's supposed to be responsible for putting butts in the seats, not just player personnel, no? No, I don't think this is true.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 9, 2012 -> 12:36 AM) Great, you're not concerned and I'm the only one, lol. Glad to see you're taking a more realistic view of this season and the financial profit/loss expectations. KW can't be fired, because no amount of attendance will be disappointing. Just remember that for the times during the rest of the season when the White Sox aren't in first place. So the reason you are concerned with the attendance has to do with KW's job security? If the Sox continue to contend he deserves to be back regardless of the attendance.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 8, 2012 -> 10:58 PM) We'll see what kinds of crowds we draw Sat and Sunday, especially tmrw afternoon. If we're not 25-30,000 for Chris Sale with a first place team in June, there's something seriously wrong. What concerns you so much about attendance?

I prefer the pre-TV days of the draft. It takes too long and Mayo, the guy who knows the most about these prospects, can't get a word in edgewise from Reynolds and Hart.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 3, 2012 -> 08:40 PM) Why don't they try an experiment ONCE..."fan/customer appreciation day," on a Monday-Thursday game??? FREE PARKING. And just analyze the total revenue increase from those games in tickets sold, fans attending, concessions and souvenirs, etc. Maybe it wouldn't be worth it...and they would lose money, but there's no other way to study this specific market (Chicago White Sox ticket demand) without at least trying it once to see what the effect is. I don't think the season ticket holders who pay for parking as part of their packages would all threaten to burn down the front office. Maybe you can give them a preferred parking area that's closest to the stadium, some kind of giveaway (all you can eat those days for free, or all you can drink, or whatever, be creative!!) I don't think parking is a big issue. The Sox do allow tailgating two beers in the lots and you're roughly breaking even.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 3, 2012 -> 10:06 AM) Hard to say as long as first and last in that division are divided by 3 games. If they're at te bottom come July, salary relief and young guys. If they stay 2 games back, salary relief and MLB caliber pitching would be a likely guess. They couldnt take on a Peavy contract, but they will want something on an MLB roster that fills a need. Thornton is a plausible match. Thornton would be about the limit I'd go. Quintana sliding in to take his place in the pen.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 2, 2012 -> 04:58 PM) Concepcion is only supposed to have a fifth starter ceiling anyway. There was debate about Concepcion's ceiling to be sure, but he did sign for a pretty good sum which makes me think somebody thought of him more than a 5th starter.

The flip side of the attendance issue is, taking last year as an example, they had the highest payroll in their history and according to Forbes made money averaging only 25,000. It shows a pretty strong franchise with room to grow.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jun 2, 2012 -> 02:30 PM) I guess I'll never understand why the 3rd largest city in the US cannot support this team and fill up the stadium when we have one of the best teams in baseball. I'm sick of all of the excuses over the years that even I have used to justify the lack of attendance. Just look at 2005. We had weekend games in September where we could only draw 28K or 30K. A year where we were close to winning a 100 games. I guess I've come to realize that our fan base is pretty small. Respectfully . . . what's your point?

Extremely early of course, but Geraldo Concepcion isn't exactly setting the world on fire. http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?s...&pid=615868

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Jun 2, 2012 -> 11:33 AM) What I'm curious about, is it a buyers market or sellers market for Youkilis? Who has the better bargaining position in a possible trade? Boston or the potential acquiring team? That is really hard to determine. My guess is if the Dodgers are involved the Red Sox might get a decent return because the new owners want to make a splash.

I'd like to wait on Youkilis even if it means losing out on him in case pitching becomes more of a need later on.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jun 2, 2012 -> 10:14 AM) That doesn't seem right. Right. Too low.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jun 2, 2012 -> 09:32 AM) The "Where in the World is Marty34?" game has begun Oh it is on. Hope Sox security is extra dilligent with their at the gate searches the next couple of days.

I'll be by the Beers of the World stand in LF during the top of the third today and tomorrow I'll buy the first one to say "Hey Marty" a beer each day. I'll be wearing a Sox hat with a shamrock on the back of it. Can't make it too easy for you, right?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 1, 2012 -> 10:05 PM) The weather's supposed to be much nicer Saturday and Sunday. If they don't have 25-30,000 for both of those games, you just don't know what they can do...other than junk their dynamic pricing model. Maybe it would be worth it to add more more half-price/discount nights (Monday-Thursday) just to get the disillusioned Sox fans back to the park again. Tigers are now 6 back with two more games left against the Yankees. Kuroda/Porcello, Hughes/Verlander the pitching match-ups. If they don't draw 25K tomorrow and Sunday what does it mean? Means nothing in the big picture. The Sox have to build their season ticket holder base back and two months of winning isn't going to do that.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Jun 1, 2012 -> 05:32 PM) I think the attendance discussion is very much on point. Everyone knows White Sox fans won't come out if they team is not winning. Well.. this is First Place Chicago White Sox! I don't know. It's different right now, seems the economy is really taking its toll all over the southside/south burbs. People continue to worry about their jobs, if they have one, and with that as a backdrop it's really difficult to justify going to a baseball game. It's one of the things that annoys me about the media's take on Sox attendance - it's ignored. Of course, not many media members live south.

I can live with the offense. The question for me is will there be a starting pitcher available who could replace Humber in the rotation (for remainder of year) and be a top 3 post-season starter who the Sox could trade for with their 30th ranked farm system?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 31, 2012 -> 05:07 PM) You GAVE Kenny one last chance? That is very generous of you, here I was thinking that you were stuck with him, but that wouldn't stop you from firing off thread after thread showing just how bad things really are(ie. This thread). Weird. To be fair, things haven't been too good with the Sox since the World Series.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 31, 2012 -> 05:00 PM) LMAO, really? Calling for KWs head while simultaneously predicting success and failure isn't Mariotti? How's giving Kenny one last chance, Mariotti?

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ May 31, 2012 -> 11:29 AM) Marty, I will support you, sir. Thanks JP. I'm not always right about baseball.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 31, 2012 -> 11:47 AM) How very Mariotti of you, Marty. Stick a "I think they will contend" statement in the middle of a bunch of "I think they will fail, and fail hard, and KW will be the root of it" statements and all of the sudden you are the only one that saw it coming. Nice job. I've been consistent in saying that if this team does not contend this year that it was time for Kenny to go. How's that being Jay Mariotti?

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 31, 2012 -> 11:42 AM) Umm...yeah...I've been saying since last year that if we can get these guys turned around we had plenty of talent to contend... Don't doubt you did because you know the game, but there wasn't a lot of others.