Wedge

The latest from Ozzie: http://www.theonion.com/articles/ozzie-gui...hinks-fi,27893/

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 14, 2011 -> 06:36 PM) Caricature of Weis on front page of the Trib sports section today, and a full page interview on page 3. Ah yes, now I remember where my Notre Dame hatred came from. We don't really like him either.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Dec 12, 2011 -> 10:52 AM) He is very good and was playing at close to a pro bowl level this year but it debatable whether he is a top 5 QB. I think everyone will agree that Rodgers, Brady and Brees are the top 3 and then there are probably about 7 or 8 QBs you can make a case for as being the next best. If you adjust for supporting cast, Cutler is definitely a top 5 QB. Would Rodgers be an all pro playing on the Bears?

A couple of thoughts on Weis (I'm an ND fan who followed him pretty closely): A) Overall he's a pretty decent recruiter, particularly for skill position talent. However, Kelly's early success at recruiting might show that it's not as hard to recruit at ND as Bob Davie and particularly Ty Willingham made it look. B) Had some difficulty recruiting line talent, particularly in the front seven. C) Never played the game. Does not seem to involved in the physical side of things (i.e. strength and conditioning). Some of our defensive linemen never did leg lifts under Weis. Weak overall training regimen. D) Never has terribly phyisical teams. As much as you'd see fantastic development over time in his QBs and receivers and tight ends (see Quinn, Clausen, Stovall, Shark, Golden Tate, Carlson, Fasano, Rudolph), you'd never seen any development in any of his linemen. Guys like Sam Young were about as good as freshmen as they were as 4 year starter seniors. Then you see a guy like Trevor Robinson (senior guard this year) who really blossomed over two years under Kelly. E) Despite the NFL OC pedigree, has a surprisingly poor understanding of building a running game. Rushing plays are very vanilla and there's almost no misdirection in his offense. One time he tried to implement the spread option to hilariously bad results (see Georgia Tech 2007). Plays like the zone read aren't in his offense. F) Look for Dayne Crist to transfer to Kansas. Great kid, but a mediocre QB. I don't think he'll have very good luck at Kansas. G) No real offensive philosophy, look for team to lack fundamentals. Basically: -desperately needs a good OL coach -desperately needs a good defensive coordinator -desperately needs a good S/C coach -needs to have learned to listen to those guys and defer to them -Overall he is far more suited for the NFL than the NCAA.

Barber is walking home.

Didn't Williams mention that the only trades involving Sox MLB talent would be for other MLB talent (or at least MLB ready)? Unless there's another Danks-for-McCarthy-esque sucker move out there, Beckham will be on the 2012 roster.

Any chance he joins the Sox front office in some capacity? I also heard a rumor that La Russa gave the Sox their scouting reports for the Astros back in 2005.

I sort of don't get a couple of things 1) If Theo is going to be the Team President, why do the Cubs need to provide compensation? I thought compensation was only for lateral moves. 2) Why are the Cubs going through all this trouble to bring Theo in as Team President? You'd figure his talent is as a GM and that bringing in a GM under him only undermines the ability to use Theo's talents.

Update: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...,0,768698.story

QUOTE (SOXOBAMA @ Oct 13, 2011 -> 01:16 PM) I would make the following trades.. Danks to TX for Martin Perez P and Profar SS. Since Profar is stuck behind Elvis. Konerko to AZ for Skaggs P and Bobby Borchering 3B. AJ to LA Dodgers for Angel Sanchez P Floyd & Alexei to Reds for Alonso 1B, Bill Bray LR and Billy Hamilton Utily Peavy and Thornton to Yanks for Gary Sanchez C, Bettances P and David Phelps P Quentin to Phils for Domonic Brown OF Would also try to trade Dunn, Crain, and Rios We'll put you down for trading the entire roster.

Basically, this was a classic PR move by Williams. -Fanbase wanted LaRussa, Francona, Martinez, or Alomar. -Presumably, the White Sox could not deliver on those options for whatever reason. -White Sox brass circles in on Ventura, who is less popular than the other four options. -Realizing backlash, White Sox brass highlights another, even less popular option (Konerko as player-manager) as the other alternative considered. Fanbase is at least glad THAT didn't happen.

If it's $110 million, that's great news. A lot more flexibility than I feared. The four biggies for 2012 are Peavy at $17, Rios at $12.5, Dunn at $14, and Konerko at $12. So $55.5 for the big contracts. Other money on the books: $6 for AJ, $7 for Floyd, $5.5 for Thornton, $4.5 for Crain, $2.5 for Ohman, $1 for Santos, $3.25 for Viciedo, and $5 for Ramirez. So another $34.75. I believe Quentin, Danks, and Beckham are all arbitration eligibile. My guess is the Sox would be lucky for that group to sum to $20M. This doesn't account for De Aza, Humber, Lillibridge, or Flowers. Even with those guys, I count 6 more roster spots that need to be filled. That's $110M before counting the low salary guys and adding anybody (or picking up Frasor's option). You have to figure Buehrle is a casualty unless they trade somebody.

It's official: http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7091803/...-boston-red-sox

The correct answer is almost always "it depends". In this case, it depends on what we would get back in a trade for Konerko. Considering: -his contract is pretty reasonable -he's the emotional leader -he's the team's best player -fan favorite, potentially one of the last ties back to 2005 -most good teams have a pretty good 1B and some sort of a solution at DH I really doubt we'd "get value" in a trade for Konerko.

Joe Cowley claiming this decision was made months ago. Says he'll have his timeline in tomorrow's column.

Phil Rogers: "Sounds like you're in the deep end Robin" Robin: "Yup, but I can swim Phil."

KW said Ventura has a bench coach in mind. Sox will have to seek permission to talk to whoever it is.

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 6, 2011 -> 03:36 PM) " a lot"= 5 people? And fired? Really! Let me rephase: "This is why a few of us were sad when Ozzie left the organization."

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 6, 2011 -> 03:35 PM) So he can talk about Ventura stories from last century? You know who Robin reminds me of? YAZ

This is why a lot of us were sad when they fired Ozzie.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 11:33 AM) @DKnobler DKnobler It's not impossible that Francona lands with White Sox, but I hear they don't want to pay big $$$ for mgr, unless it's Tony That's probably for the best. I would rank those four: 1) LaRussa 2) Martinez 3) Francona 4) Alomar I know everybody hates LaRussa but it's really, really hard to argue with his track record. We'd all think he's a giant ass, but he'd win and we'd be OK with it. With Francona, it's easy to say he's got a great track record with the World Series rings. I do think he did a good job managing the Red Sox, but I'm not sure if he's the right fit for the White Sox. We're nowhere near as talented as those teams were. I think the team would appreciate his professionalism, but I'm not sure how well he'd wind up doing here. I think you're better served taking a flier on a manager than you are hiring Francona. Martinez is sort of the sexy candidate, and probably rightly so. He's Maddon's right hand man and seems well prepared for his own gig. Obviously, he's an unknown at this point, but at least he's a really good guess. Alomar is the furthest down. It doesn't mean it couldn't turn out to be a great manager, but he's just the biggest unknown on the list.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 09:46 AM) It would be nice if someone could consolidate the pros and cons for each potential manager in a relatively unbiased post. I don't know enough about any of these men to make any kind of an assessment. How about this: LaRussa Pros Experienced manager (I count 34 seasons) Won two world series titles with two different teams Won three NL pennants Won two AL pennants Cons Everybody thinks he's a giant asshole He wears his sunglasses at night Francona Pros Experienced manager (I count 12 seasons) Won two world series titles Made the playoffs five times in eight seasons with the Red Sox Cons Never made the playoffs as the Phillies manager Epic 2011 collapse Martinez Pros Bench coach under Joe Maddon Tampa reached unparalleled heights with him as an assistant Banged Sandberg's wife Cons No manager experience Alomar Pros Reportedly a SABR guy Long time "good guy" Experience as first base coach Former catcher Cons No manager experience

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Sep 28, 2011 -> 12:26 PM) I expect to get a package better than Edwin Jackson commanded, so top 100 prospects are definitely in play if not top 50 for someone like Danks. Quentin is going to be an interesting bat on the market especially after Pujols and Fielder sign. If history is an indicator, expect to be disappointed by KW.

This might be a dumb question, but what's so great about a manager that uses SABR?

Put me down for anxious, mixed with the sadness option. Going forward, Dunn, Rios, and Peavy all need to produce (or traded) for this club to have a hope of competing. Management likely needs to adjust its decision making processes so huge mistakes like those aren't made going forwards. I hope for the best for the new manager, but fear Williams will saddle whoever it is with an untenable roster.