fathom

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 11:15 PM) Alright, No Hafner, and Victor is behind the dish. I say 3 SB's for Pablo... I would have liked to see Pods play, as funny as that sounds. It's ok though, I don't mind seeing Mackowiak over him (since we have to play a lefty in LF tonight).

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 03:52 AM) Ozzie says that Sweeney will start on Thurs night. Looks like another night off for Anderson, as I'd imagine Ozuna will be in LF. I guess Ozzie changed his mind.

Exhibit number 200 this season of why it's been inexcusable to not acquire another back-up righty outfielder.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 10:40 PM) Joe out with a bad back. That's not good. The news gets better though, as Hafner's expected back after missing the past few games. QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 10:43 PM) Ozuna, 3B; Iguchi, 2B; Dye, RF; Thome, DH; PK, 1B; Mack, LF; Uribe, SS; BA, CF; Alomar, C. Buehrle on the mound. Mackowiak in LF against a lefty? That makes no sense. We might as well put Ozuna in LF, and Cintron at 3B. Nice to see Ozzie can't even keep his decisions straight, as he said Sweeney would be playing tonight. This is an awful lineup we have tonight.

QUOTE(Hideaway Lights @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 07:08 PM) The Ditka analogy is a good one - because he wasn't a great coach. But to say that any team, whether it was the 85 bears or 05 Sox was a lock to win the WS despite whatever manager you threw in there is just plain ignorant. The intangible qualities that a manager brings - such as motivation - are not apparent to us on a day to day basis. Here's my way of looking at it: Obviously, Ozzie ended up being the perfect manager for the 2005 Sox. It was a team that could shut down the opposition, so playing Ozzieball worked out perfectly. Ozzie might not be a good manager for what 2006 is ending up being. Our pitching has struggled all year, so Ozzieball isn't really effective (we can't win if we don't score more than 3 runs). He will be back next year, so lets just hope the personnel is adjusted to fill some of the holes we've had this year.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 06:40 PM) I don't know about the poll, but I have notice that the Tigers fans have disappeared quicker than a buffet table at the Williams household since their slump began. Even if they end up making the playoffs, I get a nice little laugh out of what the Tigers fans are going through right now. We were going through the same exact thing last season, where your team seems invincible for about the first 60 pct of the season....and then it just seems to slowly fall apart. It worked out in the long run for us last year, but will the Tigers rebound? I sure hope they sweep the Twins this weekend.

QUOTE(Hideaway Lights @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 06:52 PM) Of course, whenever Ozzie puts players in and they fail, it's his fault for putting them in, but whenever Jerry puts a player in, it's probably the player's fault for not performing. Were you around during the Manuel era? He was blasted every single game, and the biggest complaints were about his tinkering and about the lack of intensity. I don't think anyone is saying he's the greatest manager on the planet. On a team with equal talent, I would take Ozzie over Manuel.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 06:51 PM) When did Manuel's players ever successfully bunt or steal bases? Then why doesn't Ozzie get blamed for the terrible base running we're seeing this year, and the horrific bunting we've had?

QUOTE(Hideaway Lights @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 06:48 PM) Okay how about this trap: Ozzie won the world series last year, true or false? Manuel couldn't even win a friggin' playoff GAME. Ozzie was the manager when the Sox won the WS, and we'll always appreciate him for that. Many great managers have won the WS, and many crappy managers have also won the WS. However, if Ozzie wanted to be remembered for only winning the WS, he would have retired after last season. This is a new year, and he needs to be responsible for the day-to-day decisions he's making on and off the field. It's very eerie how similar the Ozzie/Ditka comparisons are right now.

QUOTE(Hideaway Lights @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 06:43 PM) Would Manuel have brought Buehrle in to close a World Series game? Hell no. It was the right call. Jerry Manuel loses game 3 of the WS every day of the week, IMO. Game 3 likely doesn't go into extra innings if Ozzie didn't make the terrible decision to bring in Hermanson to face Jason Lane in the 8th inning. Hermanson hadn't pitched in about 3 weeks, and he clearly had nothing left at that point in the season.

QUOTE(JDsDirtySox @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 04:32 AM) I would love to seem him be a Grady Sizemore like hitter. I know he doesn't have Sizemore's speed, but I think his plate discipline could be very comparable. That would be great, but it would obviously take some improved bat speed. In my opinion, Sizemore is a future HOF.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 04:30 AM) Injuries have slowed Castillo down. He definitely used to be a stolen base threat. Injuries and the buffet table

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 04:30 AM) His OBP scares me... Sure...but he'd be such an overall upgrade over Uribe offensively, and it would be at one of the few positions where we can legitimately upgrade our speed over the offseason. When you think about who we have coming back, only LF and SS seem like logical places we could try and improve.

QUOTE(JDsDirtySox @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 04:28 AM) I completely disagree. A players game can drastically change over the years. Heck we are talking about two young twenties players. I won't be surprised at all to see Ryan Sweeney develop a power stroke. Yeah, I expect he'll hit more homers than he did in the minors. However, I don't think he'll become this monster power hitter all of a sudden. Especially in the post-2004 era, 35 or 40 homers isn't as frequent as it used to be. I expect Sweeney to be more of a spray hitter like Casey...and hopefully not a slap hitter like S. Burroughs.

The question I have is this: since when have we developed a speedster? If anything, players come to the Sox, and their baserunning gets worse. I'm not an advocate of it, but you can see the writing on the wall for the Sox to go after Pierre this offseason. Personally, I'd rather see the Sox try and get J. Rollins instead.

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 04:24 AM) Really? I bet it is closer than you think. I've seen plenty of grounders that Anderson hits in the hole where he still gets thrown out. Ozuna gets down the line much faster than anyone else on our team.

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 04:20 AM) You know this for a fact that Ozuna is the fastest or is this speculation by watching the games? He looks the fastest, but I don't know if this is fact. I never saw them race. I'm just saying. Ryan Freel is a speedster? Brian Roberts is? Johnny Damon is? Derek Jeter is? Bobby Abreu is? Omar Vizquel is? Really? Those are all speedsters? If so, then ok, but I don't consider any of the speedsters. It's easy to tell....this isn't rocket science. And yes, I consider Freel and Brian Roberts to be speedsters. Look at Anderson's career stats that were just posted. 30-40 stats just isn't realistic. That's like saying Sweeney will hopefully become a 35-40 homer hitter. Anderson's calling card in the majors should be his great CF defense. I think it would be great to have a cheap, great defensive option patrolling CF at the Cell for years to come. QUOTE(southsideirish @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 04:22 AM) A smart baserunner with an excellent first step can definitely be taught to steal 30-40 bases in the major leagues. More so than a purely speedy guy. I'd much rather Anderson focus on becoming a better hitter at the plate instead of becoming a stolen base threat.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 04:19 AM) 1.) Ozzie said he thinks Anderson is the fastest guy on the team which frankly is a crock. Ozuna's speed is to Anderson's speed as Jenks's speed is to Cotts speed I'll have to remember that he said Anderson is the fastest guy. It assures me that Ozzie is watching a different game than all of us.

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 04:15 AM) You have no idea about the clubhouse or what he has the chance to lose so why comment on something you have no idea about? I doubt very much that players are telling these "informed posters" anything that they can run and spread around. I have great difficulty beleiving that. I don't care how much confidence you have in someone, that just doesn't get out without reporters and others knowing about it if you tell "informed posters." I haven't heard it from anywhere else, so I am not buying it for a second. When Thome passed by him chewing Garland out? It didn't look like disgust to me. Plus how do you know what they are giving that look of disgust to? Maybe it is at Garland for not being able to hit someone? Possibly. I am just saying you are assuming way too much about things you have no idea about. Neither do I, but I am not speculating one way or another about it. Well, if you're not going to believe that some people actually have "inside" information, then there's no point of even trying to argue with you about this.

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 04:09 AM) Only really fast guys have stolen 30-40 bases a year? Really? I think you are a liar. Plus some think BA is the fastest on the team. I think he has more potential than you give him credit for. BA is pretty damn fast by the way. Who thinks Anderson is the fastest on the team? He might be the most graceful runner on the team, but Ozuna is far and away our fastest player. There are 14 guys in the majors with 30 or more steals right now, and everyone of them is a speedster (except maybe Pods, but that's another story). Every single guy on that list is significantly faster than Anderson. I don't have his career minor league stats, but since when have we projected him to be a 30-40 stolen base guy?

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 04:07 AM) He has ripped Pods and his defense. He has started to platoon Pods. What more do you want him to do? Hasn't he ripped Garcia's fastball? I believe he has. Who cares who he rips? I really don't understand it. They players aren't crying or upset about it. Why the hell are you? Grow some thicker skin and move on. For the love of God man. Whe freaking cares. WHAAAAAA!!!!!!!! Because he keeps saying these types of things in the press, and he's going to lose his clubhouse. As a couple of informed posters have noted over the past few months, everything isn't as great as you might think in the clubhouse. I still won't forget the look of disgust that Thome and Dye had when they saw Ozzie chewing out Garland in that Rangers game.

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 04:03 AM) I read to "decide to become a power hitter or a baserunner." What is your definition of a power hitter? To me that is Jim Thome, David Ortiz, or any other 40 homer guy. What is your definition of a baserunner or stolen base guy? 30-40 stolen bases? That is what I think. I am getting from this that Ozzie wants him to becaome a 10-15 homer guy with 30-40 SBs. He is not telling him to stop hitting for power. The power will be there just because he has natural power. Ozzie has always talked about speed. Speed does help a lot. Speed and defense is championship baseball. Speed gives you a lot more options and a lot of different ways to score. Brian Anderson will never, ever become a 30-40 stolen base guy. Quite simply, he's not that fast. I'd be pleased with 15 homers and 15 steals for him. I think he has the potential to hit for more homers than that, but I'm not exactly writing in Anderson as a future 2-3-4-5 hitter for the Sox. Put him in the 7th spot, and we'll be just fine.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 03:54 AM) Fathom do you at least agree you like all fans love Oz when we win? Admit it ... last year after we won it all were there any negative thoughts in your mind about Oz?? Go back in time as you celebrated all those postseason wins. Any negativity at all toward Oz? Be truthful. A year later, he's the same guy. We are a twoweek win streak from all loving the guy again. Not saying we will do that (knock on wood). Nope, I don't care what the Sox accomplish on the field, you'll never hear me say that I love Ozzie. I congratulated him for being the manager of the AL Central winner, and then winning the World Series. Yes, I had some complaints about Ozzie when I thought he made brutal managerial moves (bringing in Hermanson to face Lane was awful, as was bringing in Marte vs the Red Sox when the umpire had no strike zone). The one thing I'll give Ozzie a lot of credit for is that he shut up during the postseason. He was pretty good during the offseason until a few weeks before Spring Training. Then, the ARod stuff came out in the paper, and he's been an idiot pretty consistently with what he says since then. People seem to forget that during our bad stretch last year when the Indians almost caught us, Ozzie was making some absolutely terrible decisions. He was still leaving in our starters too long (Mr. Garcia), and we blew quite a few games during that stretch due to lack of urgency in his decisions. I absolutely hate the way that Ozzie seems to criticize his young players more than his veterans. Who's to say that guys like Pods and Garcia don't need the same kick in the ass that McCarthy or Anderson do? My whole argument about this Anderson stuff is that I didn't see the need for these comments about Anderson right now. The Sox aren't sucking because of Brian Anderson only.

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Sep 7, 2006 -> 03:53 AM) He has said more than that about Pods. He has said that he needs to improve defensively, that he doesn't understand how someone with that much speed can be that bad defensively. He has now platooned the man with a couple of career long backups. What is worse than that? How has Oz treated BA like crap on and off the field? Because he is treating him with rookie kid gloves and not playing him every day? Picking and choosing the spots to play him? Sounds like most rookies to me. He has treated BA like crap off the field by what he has said in this article? WOW! Talk about thin skin. The kid is near the end of his first full year in the majors, and Ozzie is busy talking about how he either has to become a power hitter or a speed player. How about he just becomes a stand-out defensive player and tries to hit .270 each year with 15 or so homers? It doesn't matter. The more I hear Ozzie talk about getting more speed, the more I feel like Pierre will be our CF next year.

Ozzie says that Sweeney will start on Thurs night. Looks like another night off for Anderson, as I'd imagine Ozuna will be in LF.