fathom

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.

The more I think about who we'd have to trade in the event of an actual firesale, the more nervous I get. Hopefully we just play better from here on out and even if we come up short on making the playoffs, we play well enough to convince JR and KW to keep the core together.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 21, 2011 -> 04:18 PM) Teams do this all of the time. It's called buying low. It brought us guys like Jim Thome and Jose Contreras off of the top of my head. Indeed, and if you have a high payroll like we do, it's a great way to get talent without having to give up much. It might not have worked out well with Rios and/or Peavy, but it's much better to be the team in the position to get the talent instead of a team like the Pirates that loses it.

Cooper seemed frustrated with Peavy's ability to get going today on the radio. The good news is that the scar tissue broke up now instead of down the road, as that could have been a more significant setback if it took place when he was in the rotation. I'm thinking by end of May, he'll be in rotation and by mid June, hopefully at 100 pitches. I'd take that!

QUOTE (Tex @ Apr 21, 2011 -> 11:03 AM) Now is the chance to be an expert by figuring out why the team will turn it around. Anyone can point out the problems, the fun is figuring out what no one else sees. So I am not surprised that fathom would start this thread. I am surprised he hasn't contributed more meat. That's what I was hoping to read. Read this three times, and still don't understand what you're trying to say. And if you're saying that anyone could point out the stuff I said, I highly doubt most people would list stuff about Will Ohman looking better, etc. and most people probably had turned off the game before seeing Dunn's compact swing for a double.