fathom

QUOTE (Ranger @ Apr 22, 2011 -> 07:00 PM) Overall, I'm a firm believer that people tend to make WAY too much of both GM's and coaching staffs. In general, I truly believe that unless the guys you have are totally incompetent, the results on the field will be dictated by the players. Now, you could say, "Yeah, but the GM obtains the players, so isn't he responsible?" Yes, but to an extent. GM's acquire players based on two things: 1)track record and/or 2) projection. Let's say a GM acquires a veteran player that has a track record of success, yet, for some reason, once acquired, he does nothing like he had done in previous seasons. Is that performance really on the GM? Something I think about often is the '06 team. Really, that team was a very good baseball team that was betrayed by a failing bullpen. Even with all their issues, they still won 90 games that year and I think would have been a dangerous playoff team. However, how was KW supposed to know that Pollitte and Cotts would be so terrible after being nearly unhittable the prior season? It's not like their performance lagged a bit. No, those guys were TOTALLY different the next year. Elite in 2005, awful in 2006. That degree of change doesn't usually happen like that from one year to the next. Tons of baseball statisticians were predicting Politte crashing back to earth after the 2005 due to the percentage of line drives he gave up that turned into outs. Some metrics ruled him the luckiest pitcher of 2005. As for Cotts, the fact that he gave up one home run all 2005 with his high fastball probably indicated that there was luck involved. The 2006 team didn't fade because of the bullpen...it faded cause the starting pitching hit the wall with a few months left. Even with a bad bullpen to start 2006, we were 6 games up on the Wild Card at the ASB.

Make Danks a pitcher, as he's never going to become a MLB caliber hitter.

According to Ozzie, Rios won't be put 2nd in the order cause he hasn't bunted enough in his career. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,3381064.story

Haven't heard people's thoughts on Pippen as an announcer. To me, he's a better tipper than he is announcer.

Jeff Gray really isn't a bad mop-up reliever. Good sink on a pretty strong fastball. Omar needs to get more playing time, and I have a feeling he will.

Rose made the big shot when he had to. Amazing how hard Indiana is playing every game, yet Bulls find a way to win. Korver was fantastic in the 4th tonight.

Whole lot of baserunners for Tampa tonight. Thankfully, bullpen should be well rested.

Nice to see an offensive explosion that inning! Now it's Gavin's turn to lead us to the win. Quick observation after listening to a few innings on the radio: Farmer should not say "there's a shot to right field" on a routine ground ball to 2nd base.

What do you guys think about splitting up Humber/Floyd in the rotation due to the similiarities in their stuff?

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Apr 21, 2011 -> 08:24 PM) Being serious with this...where would he play? Outfield, DH vs tough lefties

Who won the Tournament of Bad?

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Apr 21, 2011 -> 08:19 PM) I'm obviously not Gage but I'd say it's way too early for that. Dayan needs to get his bat going in the minors before we make that kind of call imo. How was Viciedo doing prior to being promoted last year?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 21, 2011 -> 09:16 PM) And even in this extreme case, a 10 year deal makes you pause. For Ryan Braun it elicits more of a WTF? If I was a Brewers fan, I'd be mad cause that's less flexibility you have to fill the 1b hole after this year as well as it hurts your chances of extending Greinke.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Apr 21, 2011 -> 09:13 PM) I can honestly say I have no faith in Rios. Had that feeling going into the season and just still do, he's obviously going to be better than this but overall, I expect him to have a below average year at the plate. And if he does indeed do that, he needs to stop letting it effect his fielding. Just like with our fielding, it's not possible for Rios to play worse. I wouldn't mind seeing him maybe bat 2nd to try and get him more fastballs. The faith is dwindling, but he's here for a while and not going anywhere so him getting going is important for a lot of reasons.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Apr 21, 2011 -> 07:38 PM) I think giving a rookie off for a mental break makes a lot of sense. Me too, especially with all these righties we've faced. Don't be shocked if he sits tomorrow as well against Verlander. Jason, in an effort to get more offense, do you think the Sox would consider calling up Viciedo anytime soon? That seems like the type of move we've made the last few years.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Apr 21, 2011 -> 08:06 PM) Nah, cause we have TCQ instead of CQ right now. Big difference. It's so important for our offense to get back to "holy s***, what a steal Rios was" instead of "holy s***, what a bad move Rios was". Really hope he keeps the momentum going from last night. Like you said, Quentin is swinging well enough to carry this offense if people get on in front of him.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Apr 21, 2011 -> 08:08 PM) Complete PR move(which I in no way condone btw) if I had to guess. They lost Sabathia(and yes I know he was only there for half a season), they're about to lose Fielder, they just wanted to lock one of these stars up for a while and they overpaid Braun to do so. Perfectly said. Rumor is the Brewers will go with a rotating 1b next year (wave of the future) and have a platoon of Kotsay and Toby Hall.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Apr 21, 2011 -> 06:51 PM) but he's better than teahen and he's got more talent. I think you need to let him ride this out. Teahen's been fine at 3rd this year. He made a great play last night.

Vizquel in for Beckham, Teahen at 3rd

Oh, and Edwin Jackson looks far better than Daniel Hudson so far this year.

Any reports on how Mitchell's quickness and speed looks since returning from injury?

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Apr 21, 2011 -> 04:48 PM) I'm staying in this thread - the other one scares me. Like a honey badger. I'll say, this is some good group therapy in here. Let's go out and win tonight against the struggling Niemann and not have to worry about breaking the losing streak against Verlander.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Apr 21, 2011 -> 05:30 PM) So, every other year, huh? The alternative of going young and cheaper isn't really exciting to me.

We couldn't play worse if we tried. However, I give Ozzie a lot of credit for being more proactive than usual. He already replaced his closer, and already moved Quentin into the 3rd spot.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Apr 21, 2011 -> 04:59 PM) I noticed at spring training that his bat speed just looked slow. He had trouble catching up to any fastballs and it looks right now that he's completely in between on his swing. If you're referring to Beckham, I had the chance to hear DJ analyze his swing in his first AB last night. Said Beckham's not completing his loading mechanism fast enough, so there's too much movement while the pitch is in the air and he's not able to get his hands/barrel through the zone fast enough.