fathom

Great win, showed a lot of character surviving the Cavs run to start the 4th.

Thibs just got caught with his a majority of his bench in against the Cavs starting lineup.

Kershaw might be in for a ridiculous performance. Facing an awful Brewers team, already K'd the side in the first inning.

QUOTE (LDF @ May 5, 2015 -> 12:26 AM) this team has so much pitching that this yr draft has me trying to play guessing games. Out of curiosity, why do you think this team has so much pitching? Going forward after this year, you have Sale/Q/Rodon and then a big pile of garbage (Danks) and a ton of unknowns.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 4, 2015 -> 11:44 PM) If your core is guys who are in AA and AAA then you shouldn't be spending $50 million on guys for this season. To me, the core of this franchise is Sale, Q, Rodon, Abreu and Avi. It would be great if all of them play a high level the rest of the way, as it would make going into next season a lot easier for Hahn.

QUOTE (raBBit @ May 4, 2015 -> 10:00 PM) Danish keeps doing it. Young for high A but more than holding his own. 2.66 BB/9 and 9.22 K/9. 3-0 with 2.63 ERA. Very small sample, but no surprise with his arm angle - he's getting hit by the lefties. It was nice to see that he was able to get out two of the better lefty hitting prospects in all of baseball today.

0-5, 3K for Hawkins. Now has 33 in 88 at bats, to go with only 5 walks. Another thing that doesn't bode well for him in his journey to become a major leaguer is that he is horrible against LHP.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 4, 2015 -> 08:27 PM) I wonder if Rick gave him the "here's the continuing rebuilding way, here's the high cost way" choice that KW gave Reinsdorf before the 2011 "all-in" season. From every story this past offseason, Jerry told them he didn't want the team to keep losing like they had and they were going to try a quick turnaround this year.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 4, 2015 -> 08:14 PM) And the timing of that next wave of younger players (Anderson, Hawkins, Montas, Danish, Johnson and Davidson hopefully) puts them in a difficult situation where....as has happened over and over again the last 15 years....there's simply not enough patience for "on the job" training because of the "all-in/win now" mentality the fanbase demands in order to attend games regularly or consistently. Anything those in bold contribute at the big league level would be considered a plus, in my opinion. If those 6 are considered the future.......then yikes!!!!!!!

QUOTE (raBBit @ May 4, 2015 -> 08:08 PM) I am definitely a fan of Hahn and many of his moves but I'm with both of you here. Here's an example of something I fault Hahn for. After last season ended, everyone felt like something had to be done at catcher, especially vs RHP. He didn't bring in a platoon option for Flowers, and so far this year, Flowers/Soto are a combined 11 for 60 vs RHP (.183 average) with 1 homer and 22 strikeouts. A lot of the struggles this year couldn't have been predicted, but the catchers struggling to hit RHP and lack of power from 3rd base were easy to see coming.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 4, 2015 -> 07:53 PM) I am no fan of KW, but there was the drafting of Chris Sale, and the signing of Jose Abreu. Alexei Ramirez. They did make the playoff in 2008. When you get rattled, your hyperbole machine goes full blast and gets even more inaccurate than usual. Better question is what has Hahn put on the field to not show that he sucks at his job? I absolutely don't think he sucks, but so far, the results under his tenure have been terrible with very little progress being shown in multiple areas.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ May 4, 2015 -> 07:36 PM) Personally, I do not want both Micah and Eaton starting in the same outfield. I'd rather just keep one and move the other. Their skillset is too similar and this team already lacks power (not that Melky has any homers but I'm just saying for now and the long run). If you have Johnson at 2nd and Eaton in CF, you better get a heck of a lot more power out of the 3rd base and RF spot. Also, if Anderson ends up playing SS with those guys, it's another position where minimal power is likely.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 4, 2015 -> 07:32 PM) Free agent or trade acquistion hasn't worked out.....blame KW Secondbaseman throws a DP ball into LF....blame Robin Now that's the "accountablility" people have posted about for years. Who's to blame for Sale injuring his foot by doing something he probably wasn't supposed to? How about Samardzija focusing more on his rivalry with Cain and the Royals this year instead of his breaking ball command? Quite simply, basically everyone but Robertson, Duke, Jennings and Avi have been a disappointment this year. I said this a few weeks ago, but if this was the NBA, Sale's acted like the type of player that would end up requesting a trade.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 4, 2015 -> 07:30 PM) Carney Lansford will fix them. Yeah, you're probably right. And I don't think Micah could be hidden playing LF or CF in that huge stadium 81 games per year. They would run on him more than other teams ran on Pods or Juan Pierre (or J. Damon). Is your goal to name every player in baseball since 1990 today?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 4, 2015 -> 07:24 PM) And emerges as Marcus Semien's DP partner for the next half decade. that would be the worst defensive combo in history

QUOTE (GreenSox @ May 4, 2015 -> 07:21 PM) KW's fingerprints were all over the offseason moves. They look like Williams' philosophy, executed by Hahn, to me. ( how many times, how many times, has Williams loaded the Wagon for his "Ace" starter? ). The only really productive trade Williams made as GM since 2008 was for Youkalis. The only really top defensive team we've had was 2005; and then we gutted the defense. I don't know what Hahn can or can't do because I don't think we've seen it, other than the execution of the trades, which has been fine. I do think the org was way too stubborn about Avi's bad defense and not moving him to LF this past offseason. I bet they would have done that if they acquired Heyward.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 4, 2015 -> 07:17 PM) AJ Preller deserves a lot of credit, too, in SD, for really going almost crazy with all the acquisitions...but they have worked out well because he has a good coaching staff IMO. We kept wondering how all those pieces would fit together, but they have....trading Maybin and Seth Smith, Quentin retiring, everything has seemingly fallen into place. And Shields was a bargain in the end as we all had a feeling in the NL West he was going to outpitch his 2014 peripherals and especially his woeful playoff performance. Justin Upton and Matt Kemp >>>>>>> anyone the Sox acquired

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ May 4, 2015 -> 07:16 PM) Micah or Sanchez is a symbol for everything that is wrong with how this org develops position players. They value athletes over ball players. They value some nebulous thing like "speed" over repeatable, real skills like above average defense up the middle, they rush guys before they've even proven they can tear it up in the upper minors. I have no idea why they were in such a rush to get Micah Johnson into the majors. Since last July or so, it was very apparent they thought he was going to be starting for the Sox this year. The problem was he was very ordinary in Charlotte last year, and definitely needed more seasoning in the minors this season. He had two good weeks in ST, and the rest is history despite him really struggling the last few weeks of ST. I know I say this too much in the game threads, but he seems overpowered by 91 mph fastballs at this level (a common theme from hitting prospects in the Sox system when they get called up).

QUOTE (raBBit @ May 4, 2015 -> 07:07 PM) Please explain this. You have no reason to think this. You usually don't respond when someone calls you out, but if you do, please respond to the bolded with your reason to think that. I just love this board's rationale. All winter I was saying KW is more involved than you guys are acknowledging. I was told this was Hahn's team and I was wrong. Now, with the players underperforming, KW made all of these moves. Everyone's making assumptions that decision X (at this point in time) was a bad one, and since it hasn't worked out in the twenty-whatever games, it has KW all over it. We have no idea who suggested/executed the majority of the moves. Some moves, however, have leaked out to the public. For instance, KW spearheaded the Abreu signing and Hahn worked exclusively with David Forst to get Samardzija (a move attributed to KW by the fickle SoxTalk masses). Most of you can save yourselves the time with long posts and just be succinct and say RV/KW suck and Hahn's still the GOAT so the rest of the rational posters who can handle the team's skid can skip right over it. If this was KW's team, he would have brought in a veteran to start at 2nd base as opposed to handing it over to Johnson/Sanchez. Like you said, I don't get the KW bashing at all, as it seems like a coping mechanism for people to not lose faith in Hahn.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 4, 2015 -> 07:45 PM) It's got to be a major factor for the Brewers for one, keeping their fanbase satisfied and creating the perception (at least) they're trying to do everything in their power to remain competitive this season (especially with Wainright on the shelf). Still, the Cardinals Nation machine just keeps humming, as happened before when their starting pitchers have gone down to major injuries like Carpenter and Wainright in the past, Jaime Garcia/Wacha more recently, etc. The Brewers aren't trying to be competitive this year. That's no shock to their fan base, as this was confirmed once they traded their #1 pitcher in the offseason.

Tim Anderson's inability to draw walks is kind of ridiculous. He's made huge improvements in terms of limiting his errors this year, but he's putting up slap hitter-esque numbers.

Ventura was the anti-Ozzie

QUOTE (GreenSox @ May 4, 2015 -> 07:50 PM) I basically agree with the article. It was way premature to trade for rents. Thankfully they only traded one player (Semien) that I think could be an average starting player in the majors. They also traded him from the only position of depth within in the system. Hahn did a very good job this past offseason of not trading away potential core players.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 4, 2015 -> 05:54 PM) Because there isnt a point. You unload your SS first and foremost if you want to start bring up the youth. IMO, the Sox should be looking to trade Alexei already, especially with the Padres in the market for a SS and showing a willingness to overpay for players.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 4, 2015 -> 05:49 PM) I've said this before and I'll say it again, I don't see this strong future at all. We're going to be stuck with a couple big money guys next year who are even older than this year, maybe breaking in a rushed-as-usual rookie SS, we're going to be down one of our supposed "big 3" starters next year, and at the same time unless we trade someone we've already got $125+ million committed next year assuming they offer arbitration to people, which is already a payroll hike. So to me, no money to spend whatsoever, in fact a very good chance we'll have to trade someone just to cut that payroll down given how this season has started, a team that is either older or relying on rushed rookies, no depth, and the same major long-term holes. Only way I can imagine that changing is if we turn around the poor fundamentals, but alas. Agreed, and I don't think there's any big impact players in the minor league system now that Rodon has been promoted. Avi showing improvement this year is promising, but the Sox desperately need Eaton to remember how to play baseball. I know someone else has stated this on here in the past, but I really wish the Sox would have used all their resources to try and trade for Josh Donaldson this offseason.