fathom

Just fire Ned Yost now and take Brewers fans out of their misery. Sheets looked just awful last Friday, so he brings him back on 3 days rest. One inning into tonight's game, and he got pulled already.

QUOTE(South Side Fireworks Man @ Sep 19, 2007 -> 12:22 AM) Gload is good. I think one of the main downfalls of the team this year was the just horrible bench. Cintron's numbers won't look that bad at the end of the year, but he was worthless for the first 130 games of the season. Toby's been the worst player in baseball this season as well.

Bad Floyd showed up today. Gload is such a solid hitter, we really missed him on the bench this year.

QUOTE(elrockinMT @ Sep 18, 2007 -> 11:56 PM) If we trade Jon Garland and not Jose Contreras this team will be making a huge error. Jose should be the one they market, but if they can't trade him fine. We are going to be breaking up a strong starting staff and most likely not get the pieces of the winning team we will need. Either Danks or Flopyd will be the 5th starter. Maybe the other one will be the long relief man-spot starter. Garland has so much upside and was a two time 18 game winner for the Sox. Every year we go through the same sorry scenarios of trading Garland. We trade Jon and fill a hole maybe only to open one up in the pitching staff. You don't build a championship team that way. I would keep Jon no matter what and fill spots through free agent signings. 3B is a problem that will be filled when Crede is back in 2008 and Fields takes over LF. CF might be an issue, but we have options. SS is really the only concern besides the bullpen. Garland's going to be gone after next season, so it's much smarter to trade him if you can get 2 or 3 pieces that will be around for the next 5 years.

QUOTE(29andPoplar @ Sep 18, 2007 -> 11:04 PM) You are on the right track in my opinion and I am putting bits and pieces together from what little whispers I hear. Not necessarily on Colon but someone of that ilk. A rehabbing veteran on a make good contract with a low base and high incentives. Someone they can DL at the start of the year and work them in later. There are a number of guys out there that fit the profile, the obvious is Freddy Garcia but he may be out all of next year. Mark Prior

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Sep 18, 2007 -> 03:10 PM) and? I don't think anyone questioned that or really cared... Because I am often pessimistic about players that I'm not high on, like Owens, Pods, etc. I'm very happy with Fields power so far. The one thing that's been disappointing is his speed. I expected a little more speed getting out of the box based on his minor league steal numbers.

QUOTE(29andPoplar @ Sep 18, 2007 -> 02:42 PM) I agree that he looks like a potential high impact power bat. As was said in this thread his pitch recognition looks to be getting better but he will need to continue to make major adjustments. One thing they will talk about in November for sure, how many 100+ strikeout guys can they carry? Thome, Dye, Konerko, Crede if he comes back, Fields. I won't count Uribe. Even without Juan that's a lot of K's and they have gone on record the K's need to decrease in 2008. Certainly they don't want all spray hitters, you need power and with power comes strikeouts. But it is a balancing act to come up with the right mix and it is on their agenda. With the 5 power guys we have in PK, Thome, Dye, Fields, and Crede, and adding AJP to the mix, we really should focus on having OBP guys in the 3 other spots.

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Sep 18, 2007 -> 02:26 PM) Dude, did he say "Josh Fields is as good as Troy Glaus and has been a great power hitter for the last 8 years," or did he say something more along the lines of "Josh Fields seems to be on a similar track to Troy Glaus"? It's not a comparison, it's just a feeling that multiple people have that Josh Fields will hit for power while not hitting for a high average, but still be a great bat in any lineup. No, but I'm not going to project Fields as a possible 400 homer guy just yet. I'm one of his biggest fans on this site, FWIW.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 18, 2007 -> 02:13 PM) There were some disappointments in PB this episode. For one, Sona didnt turn out to be nearly as crazy as I thought it was going to be. They also should have done a little rehashing of the plot to get them in Sona T-Bag is just an amazing character though. Sometimes I wonder if it's creepy if I like his character so much.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Sep 18, 2007 -> 01:29 PM) I've thought of Glaus/Fields before. But before I project him as anything, he needs to hit the fastball. He's been in a big slump lately and I think it's because they've figured him out. Now he has to shorten up. If he can, he'll be okay, I think, because his power is great and he has good legs under him. If he can't learn to pull a fastball, he has no significant major league future. Troy Glaus has been one of the more consistent power hitters during the 2000s. Comparing Fields to him is quite lofty.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Sep 18, 2007 -> 01:39 PM) Yeah, sure, but he can't pull fastballs. He kills breaking pitches but that isn't going to last forever, especially not as the league adjusts, which it's currently doing. There are good signs -- when he took Putz deep, that was a great game to be at, but there are some awful signs, too, like all the times he strikes out on 89-91 pitches down the pipe and the fact that he Ks so much. I'd rather he be striking out on medicore fastballs than chasing sliders off the plate. His pitch recognition isn't horrible, and he does draw a lot of 3-2 counts. The most promising thing about him is the way the ball jumps off of his bat. I'd rather have someone with that type of potential than most of our minor league prospects, who need an aluminum bat to get the ball out of the infield.

QUOTE(lord chas @ Sep 18, 2007 -> 04:24 AM) i cant stand much more of this I have nightmares thinking about the crowd outside of Wrigley field the last time they made the playoffs. I just hope they face the Padres in the first round, as the DBacks continue to struggle and Webb is mortal.

QUOTE(Brian @ Sep 18, 2007 -> 03:04 AM) Yeah, it looked like he underestimated his own speed and over dove. I can't tell if he even needed to try and dive for that. If he takes a good angle, it should have been a pretty routine catch. I still want to know, why in the hell aren't the outfielders playing deeper in that situation?

So there's a base open....why in the f*** don't you walk the guy who's 4-4 on the day? Pinella's not a great manager, but compared to the rest of the loser managers in that division, he's a genius.

It's funny how long it takes the Cubs announcers to figure out that should have been caught. Reds should have just kept Burton in the game and groom him as their closer of the future.

f***ing unreal....Hopper should have easily caught that ball. The Cubs are the luckiest team ever. How in the hell are you not playing "no doubles" there?

David Weathers looks just awful. I don't think the Reds have a chance to hold on.

I hate the aura surrounding the Bears right now. I'm not sure what it is, but they just don't have the same flow that they did last year.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Sep 16, 2007 -> 09:07 PM) Even I have to admit that was awesome. Great way to earn your 500th homerun. Before greg even asks, yes, that win was worth it.

Congrats Thome....way to come through in the 9th!

QUOTE(ottawa_sox @ Sep 16, 2007 -> 08:44 PM) Wow - a 6 run comeback to tie it in the last 2 innings. And without the benefit of our only accomplished hitters - Thome, Gonzalez, Kong and Dye. Baseball is just plain weird.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Sep 16, 2007 -> 07:57 PM) Good point about college guys. Gordon did wind up having a decent year out here but he did hit below .100 most of April and May which would have probably got him sent down with a suppsed contender like the Sox. The Royals stuck with him and he's battle back to .250 or so and hit some dingers. Verdict is still out though on that top five pick. I still think the draft is a crapshoot. If we could take the best available player on a current big league roster by finishing with the worst record I'd recommend tanking and root for losing, but not a draft pick. I prefer winning. I'd be willing to bet that Alex Gordon, in 4 years, will be better than anyone on the Sox roster. When a lot of us are saying we want the first pick, it's not to make the 2008 team better. It's to make the future of the organization brighter.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Sep 16, 2007 -> 08:04 PM) They scary thing is there are several people with the White Sox who think they are very close to being very good again. I hope KW isn't one of them. I am encouraged that Ozzie spouted off relying on Fields, Owens, Richar and Gonzalez in 2008 to make meaningful contributions probably means last place. It just makes no sense for the Sox to not go into rebuilding mode. They think getting a quick fix like Hunter or Rowand or Linebrink or Tejada will make us a contender again. The problem is it's likely we're going to have two very young guys in the rotation, and none of these guys are close to becoming better than average pitchers. Unless we can get like 7 or 8 pitchers on the roster to overachieve (like we had in 2005), this team is a long way from being a playoff contender. The pitching is only going to get better in the AL Central with the return of Liriano, the continued improvement of Carmona, etc.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Sep 16, 2007 -> 07:52 PM) Hawk really praising Saunders for shutting down the offense. The line-up is pathetic. It really is awful. With Andy Gonzalez 2 for his last 40 or so, is that really struggling for him, or is that just how bad he really is? Fields swing is just comical right now with how long it is, I don't think he can hit a fastball from Mark Mulder. Thome of course stinks against lefties, but what else is new?

QUOTE(Jeckle2000 @ Sep 16, 2007 -> 07:53 PM) Anyone else bothered by the fact that his starting rotation has 2 question marks and one senior citizen? Everything about the 2008 roster bothers me. I really think rebuilding is the right move, as there's too many holes to go out and fill via free agency. We have very little left in the minors to actually trade.