fathom

QUOTE(BearSox @ Mar 27, 2007 -> 02:22 AM) No, he doesn't. ustavo Molina is batting something like a collective .097 this spring, and his defense aint that good, from what I have seen. I'd rather have my dog play catcher because at least he has speed, Molina has nothing. Also, I'd like to see a trade for a top catching prospect for AA/AAA. Looking through our system, our catching situation right now is terrible. According to KW, it's either Wiki or Molina.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 27, 2007 -> 12:04 AM) KW was interviewed on Comcast and said the backup catcher position will be filled internally. THE WIKI ERA BEGINS IN CHICAGO! Super, the only position where I felt we upgraded during the offseason, and now it's a downgrade.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 11:46 PM) Alright this pisses me off, but I can't put all the blame on Ozzie. Sure, he put Hall in a position to fail, but Hall didn't act safely. Even though my favorite poster below disagrees, I still think experience at a position allows you to understand how to react (in this case, dive towards your right or left). I'm not calling for Ozzie to get fired for this, but I still believe it was an idiotic decision. Every manager makes some dumb decisions like this throughout Spring Training, and unfortunately we lost a key player. I'd like to see KW show the same determination to get a quality back-up catcher now as he did when he signed Hall. QUOTE(WSoxMatt @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 11:51 PM) If Hall thought he was at risk of getting hurt at 1B, Im sure he would have toild that to management and he would have not been playing 1st...But since Hall found no danger playing 1st, why would KW or OG...All of you just like to complain about Ozzie about anything...If your going to complain like little women, complain at Hall for thinking he could play 1st...Im pretty positive Guillen didnt put a gun to his head and tell him to play 1st base! The team asked Hall to play first base. I don't think it would be in his best interest to say no. I just want to know about why was there never any mention of Hall possibly being a candidate to be a first base reserve before the injury happened?

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 11:48 PM) It was a fluke play. He dove for a ball A LOT of guys would have dove for it and maybe or maybe not got hurt. What if it was Konerko? Then the Sox would be screwed. It had NOTHING to do with his inexperience, except for maybe he would have realized the game doesn't count so he wouldn't have dove. I seem to remember a guy who has played several games at first base do almost exactly the same thing and tore his tricep or bicep in Frank Thomas. After all, NONE of the games in Arizona mean anything, so why should anyone play? They might get hurt. Having a guy like Thome run the bases in the 8th inning of a game that's already decided and he comes up lame, that would be idiotic and stupid. Having Toby Hall play a few innings at first base and tearing his labrum is just bad luck. What do you think about Erstad batting in the 9th and busting his ass down the line?

QUOTE(Melissa1334 @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 11:43 PM) lol wow, r u serious? Yes....let's look at the positions they have more talent: 3b SS 2b LF And it's not even close at those positions. Both teams have awful center fielders. It's a shame Girardi completely screwed over J. Johnson. They have some young pitchers who are more promising than what we have coming up. Olivo's numbers were pretty good last year. He had similiar power numbers to AJP...it's just his walk total is astonishing.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 11:40 PM) Please, never say that phrase again. It's the mating call of the baseball retarded. It's the worst part of the home run call by Ed Farmer when Crede won the game against the Indians. I think he also said the same stupid line when Iguchi hit the slam to tie it against the Astros last year.

QUOTE(Melissa1334 @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 11:21 PM) well he wasnt good enough to be starting, only if its a team like the royals, drays, marlins or something. Marlins have just as much talent as the White Sox do (when healthy).

QUOTE(BearSox @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 11:25 PM) What the hell are some of you doing by blaming Ozzie? Hall needs his AB's. Hall has played 1B before and is capable there. Hall has never had an injury his whole career playing the most physically demanding position in all of baseball. This was a freak injury. Ozzie did not go out there, push Hall down, and rip his labrum. I bet Hall even volunteered to play 1B, to stay in the game and get some extra ab's. Was it the smartest move, probably not. If Hall went out there and re-did the play 10x, I bet this freak injury would only happen once out of those 10x. Can we please stop stating this like it's a fact. He has two career at-bats there. Robin Ventura had more career at-bats at shortstop.....it doesn't mean he's capable of playing there. It's also amazing that Toby Hall has never had an injury at a position he is familiar with, and then gets hurt playing first base though. It's fine though....it's time to move on and hopefully the Sox find someone who can benefit the offense vs LHP.

QUOTE(Melissa1334 @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 11:12 PM) well if thats the case, were going to have to look elsewhere to get a backup catcher. thats true though because im sick of all these garbage catchers weve had lately, davis, alomar, burke, olivo Olivo wasn't garbage. Actually, he'd be the ideal fit for back-up, but it will never happen.

We absolutely must get some offensive production from our back-up catcher.

QUOTE(AWhiteSoxinNJ @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 09:54 PM) Name one player, off the top of my head without making a trade: Javy Lopez Secondly, I've seen them play enough, I have MLB.TV and watch almost every game. How many games was Hall going to play in a week, the max, 1. Therefore, it is a lost, but it's not the end of the world, calling for Ozzie head, etc. You people need to relax a little bit. Not the end of the world. Nearly every team in our division has two or three lefty starters. Hall would have played twice a week for sure. Javy Lopez is terrible. Just look at how quickly Boston figured that out last year.

Since we're supposed to be first guessing now in order to complain, I thought it was stupid for Erstad to be batting in the 8th or 9th inning of the game yesterday. Erstad busted his ass down the line like he always does, but for someone that's injury prone, maybe you pull him after 5 or 6 innings like you usually do in ST.

QUOTE(AWhiteSoxinNJ @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 09:48 PM) I'm not writing it off, what I'm saying is that there are the same players out there as Hall that can do the same things. And yes, KW overpaid for a backup catcher. Please name me one person we can realistically pick up then? Is it like when we got rid of Widger last year, and traded for Sandy Alomar?

QUOTE(AWhiteSoxinNJ @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 09:43 PM) back up catchers are a dime a dozen. I'm sure KW can lure Javy Lopez here or a player like him. Its not as a big deal like losing Tads, Crede, Dye, etc. for the season. Too much overreaction for a back up who was marginal at best. Wow....I'll keep this post in mind over the course of this season when our back-up catchers are hitting .200 or lower.

If Hall would have been injured catching, there's no one on here that would have blamed Ozzie for that. And I agree with the above post, I don't think Hall was ever a legit option to play 1B during the regular season.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 09:33 PM) I believe I was out on the patio when the actual play occurred, I went out to fire up the grill, came back in and Toby was laying on the ground. I just said to myself "WIKI TIME!" I assume the Blizzard was worth it though, right? The Brownie Batter Blizzard is a delight.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 09:34 PM) Where are these models and what do they take into account? I have no clue....they're similiar to the Baseball Prospectus models. QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 09:36 PM) From which websites/publication are these models associated with? I think they'll be ones used by Baseball America for their projections, etc. I got them from my contact with the company.

FWIW, there have been 3 more computer models that have run projections for the 2007 MLB standings. The highest White Sox record was 74-88 in the models, and they didn't make the playoffs one time out of the 1,000 times the projections were run. Look for these projections to be released in the next few days. And BTW, Phil Rogers predicted a Wisconsin/Texas championship game. Shows how smart he is.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 09:28 PM) For the record I was sitting on my bench press watching the game on MLB.tv, I had no idea Hall was even playing 1B. If I had actually been watching closely I likely would have said something but it was 6:00 and I was trying to bench, watch basketball and listen to the Sox all at the same time. I'm usually pretty good at first guessing Ozzie as opposed to a lot of the 2nd guessing that goes on. I will never go get a brownie batter blizzard during a Sox game again, as I missed the actual play that hurt Hall.

Ironic that if Rowand was catching, he'd still not catch anything when Jenks is pitching.

QUOTE(CanOfCorn @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 08:53 PM) Well, let's see...Eduardo Perez' calf was stiffening up again, so they didn't want him to be hurt more...Toby Hall might have played some 1B this year anyway...he was diving for a ball, which is the effort you want out of any player...Hall gets hurt. Yeah, I can see how it's Ozzie's fault. Like we've mentioned before, there's about 5 other candidates that can play first before Hall should even be mentioned. I understand that Ozzie was trying to get another at-bat for him yesterday, but it seems like he might be trying to cover his ass by stating how Hall was in the plans to play first base this year. Like DA mentioned before, let's hope this is our worst injury of the year, and we'll be in great shape.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 08:46 PM) Fun to hear these Giants announcers chatting about the White Sox backup catcher situation. What are they saying?

I think it's promising that Anderson is getting a chance to be a utility outfielder. He'll make a great defensive replacement. Also, it's nice to see that Dye's bicep soreness isn't a big deal.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 08:34 PM) GMAFB. Sometimes, you people just kill me around here. Which part do you disagree with? We've argued at length about whether or not it was Ozzie's fault, and I can see how people would agree/disagree with it. If you're arguing about it not being a big blow to the team, then I would have to severely disagree with you.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 07:23 PM) how about a back up first baseman that is right handed? Like Eduardo Perez? If only Pods was to start the year on our DL, our roster would be in such better shape (pre-Hall injury). Javy Lopez has an awful reputation in baseball. He's also on of the most obvious former juicers.