fathom

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Sep 10, 2011 -> 01:39 AM) De Aza and Viciedo suck. Viciedo has his single swing locked on automatic. We gotta get Flowers going again...his swing is so much longer than it was 3 weeks ago.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 10:00 PM) Here a couple of examples of intangible things that have no doubt hindered Juan Pierre to getting into SOME (NOT ALL) decent running situations: 1) Having Adam Dunn be able to make contact with the baseball, work counts with the frequency he usually can, and command the kind of respect from pitchers where they will throw him balls instead of center cut fastball strikes he cannot make contact with (and thus set up catchers to throw out any decent speedster) 2) See above for Alex Rios. If you don't think those two things have had an impact on Pierre's running game indirectly, I think you are deluding yourself. Alexei's relative inability to work counts as a #2 has to also have some impact on his running game. 84% of Rios' at bats this year were from the 5th spot and lower. Thus, his struggles this year have nothing to do with Pierre's inability to steal bases. You might be the first person I've seen suggest that Pierre wasn't ineffective on the bases this year.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 07:04 PM) It was more than a TV gimmick, and to say that it wasn't now is just a cop out. They put in a ton of money for this team and emphasized the fact that they need to do well in April and May in order to be competitive throughout the year and draw fans to pay for the team. This was an organization-wide plan and it blew up in their faces. Yes sir!! Raising the payroll to 125 million meant it was an all or nothing year for the Sox.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 01:56 PM) Blackmon, wow. Broyles, Blackmon and Floyd are just sensational

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 05:37 PM) This might be the most amazing thing I've ever read on this site. And I firmly believe Pierre killed any chance Thornton had of being a closer (as slim as it was). Greg, do you just not remember Pierre dropping fly balls hit by Johnny Damon and Daric Barton at the Cell with Thornton on the mound?

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 05:34 PM) I will agree that I would have liked to see him grip it and rip it more often but that wasn't what was expected from him this year. Maybe he should have changed his approach earlier but expecting Morel to outproduce Dunn and Rios was never in the cards . Once it became apparent that those 2 were terrible beyond belief Morel has made strides . It's just not that easy to change gears like that but he has , showing that he's a smart and versatile hitter. Offensively, Morel was basically worthless at the plate until this team was out of contention. If you want to say he picked it up once it became apparent that Rios/Dunn were terrible, that would have meant Morel started kicking ass basically in early June. Again, he's had a nice run of late but let's not make it sound like he was some "versatile" productive hitter this year. That said, it would be great to see him continue to show improvements the next 20 games.

Cyclones, easily. Get the Coney Island experience, they've made some nice upgrades to the area of late.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 04:29 PM) Juan Pierre was more responsible than Matt Thornton and the rest of the bullpen for the 11-22? They blew 3-4 games IN A ROW. Did you watch the games? Pierre's defense led to approximately 3 of those losses. His offense was brutal as well during that stretch, IIRC. Juan Pierre torpedoed Matt Thornton's season more than Matt did.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 04:27 PM) No problem I was using the word afford in both ways. With all the holes he's making nothing compared to the other holes. Dun and Rios are HUGE HUGE HUGE problems for the Sox compared to Morel both offensively and money wise. But say the Sox make some changes this offseason the free up some cash (Quentin/Danks, etc). The argument was that 3rd would have been the easiest place to make upgrades since you're not going to be able to unload Dunn/Rios.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 04:22 PM) So you're saying he's only attempted to steal 21 times the last 5 months? Then he's still worthless. Because attempting so few means, again, that he's no longer a legitimate base-stealer. I'm assuming your numbers are correct, as I don't feel like looking them up. It's ironic because GHibbard basically showed stats the other day that said after our bad start, the Sox had no chance to make the playoffs. No player was more responsible for that awful start than Pierre. Juan's a good guy who's had a solid 2nd half of the year, but there should be a ton of pissed off Sox fans if he's brought back next year when the more talented De Aza/Lillibridge combo could take over for cheaper and be more productive.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 04:14 PM) You tell me. He's improving what more do you want from him ? You're arguing against no one right now it seems. Go back about 10 days ago, and you'll see balta (I believe) and myself and Cangelosi talking about how the Sox media were starting to rip on Morel for his "sissy" approach at the plate. Now, we're seeing the actual change in his batting philosophy that many of us said wanted to see...and it's very nice to see the results follow. I will add that it's pretty disgusting to see it take this long for Morel to make the changes with Walker not being able to break through to him.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 04:18 PM) And if we go young, expect a lot more "Brent Morel" style situations. And those bumps in the road are 100 times more acceptable if you're not going "all in" for the season and focusing instead on long-term development.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 04:07 PM) Since his 5 for 12 April, he has stolen 20 of 27 bases, a 74% clip. His career steal percentage is 74%. I do not know if he has had the same opportunities to steal because of our anemic offense, but when in doubt, Ozzie sure likes to run. It might just be that his steal opportunities have been way down this season. His opportunities have been there, he just doesn't have the confidence to run like he used to. The result has been a ton of 5-4-3 double plays hit into by Alexei.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 04:07 PM) I just updated his post ASB numbers .279/.319/.434 OPS .753 . And what were those numbers like a week ago when people were saying he needs to show improvement the rest of the year to lock up his spot for next season?

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 05:01 PM) Wow, are you really this desperate to exaggerate? Juan has stolen 16 of his last 21 attempts. How much higher of a percentage do you want than 80%? He stole second and third just the other night. Wait, please don't tell me you're trying to say he's been effective on the bases this year?

You can tell how much his teammates like him by their reaction last night

Here's a prediction for next year: Rios is the starting LF and De Aza/Lillibridge platoon in CF. The Sox organization is supposedly extremely frustrated by Rios' defense in CF, and that seems to be even more obvious with Ozzie's quotes the other day.

Broken hand on a HBP. Hell of a season for him. Definitely look forward to seeing him take on a bigger role next year.

I was a student at University of Illinois during that time, and it was crazy there as rumors were spreading around campus that the terrorist were targeting the university due to the "Super Computer" that the school was famous for. One of the smartest decisions of my life took place that night when I convinced my father not to go to Ground Zero to help with the search and rescue, as I told him to be careful about a second wave attack. That attack didn't take place, but we all know about the health issues that people at Ground Zero have faced since.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 05:09 AM) He dove over him and never touched him. The contact was before the dive.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 03:48 AM) Yea maybe we can have a whole teams of .196 hitters who make a ton of errors and K a bunch of times. I'm sure that would be very productive. Can't believe you guys take every thing so literally as if I was saying Morel will have a Schmidt-like career. As I pointed out later, I just want to see people be a little more patient considering he's a rookie. The complaints about him should be way down on the list of complaints. Again, I see nothing wrong with complaining about the approach a hitter had that was so blatantly awful. He's one of those guys you want to understand that it's ok to strike out as long as you're dangerous at the plate.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 03:36 AM) If you made a list of the top 25 Sox problems this year Morel would be about 20th. Disagree with this big time. He was an absolute joke offensively for the first 135 games or so. Just because Dunn, Rios and Beckham have been so bad, it doesn't mean Morel should get a free pass for one of the most ineffective offensive seasons for a third baseman in a long time.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 05:07 AM) That call on AJ Hawk at the end of the game was BS. He gave Sproles a flying knee to the back...it was a blatant PI

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 04:17 AM) Just pointing out rookies don't always set the world on fire. Leave it to some of you guys to whine about a guy still learning. No Schmidt had 80 homers and walks combined in his rookie year? Morel had 10 as of a week ago.

QUOTE (MAX @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 02:51 AM) lol okay. I thought I had a point, but you are right. I actually think he's going to be a bust.