fathom

Did the Sox ever give any thought into developing Sweeney into a 1b in case Konerko didn't come back?

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 24, 2006 -> 11:00 PM) Who would you describe as viable closer options as the ballclub is currently put together? Jenks, Politte, Cotts? just Jenks and Cotts? I'm going to assume you left out Logan because he's an obvious candidate?

Looking back on it, we sure were spoiled with the contributions that Jenks gave us last season. These inconsistencies shouldn't be surprising, but he was remarkably consistent for the Sox last year in the closer role.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 24, 2006 -> 10:55 PM) Anybody know if Pods will be back by the all star break? Wow, didn't we have like a 20 page thread where a dozen people or so said we were only concerned that he would miss like the first 3 games? Personally, I know I never said that he was going to miss half of the season, etc. All I ever said was that I didn't think he was going to be able to play by opening day. Luckily, he was able to start getting his cuts only a few days after the team gave him a second test to determine if the shoulder was damaged. Now, lets get Contreras back and throwing at a comfortable arm angle without fear of having his elbow flare up again.

QUOTE(JimH @ Mar 24, 2006 -> 10:50 PM) Well none of us know for sure but I do believe your thinking is possibly off base in this instance. Among guys we will see closing games this year IMO will be Jenks, Cotts, McCarthy, Politte, and if they get another hard throwing RHP like Cruz, he will close out the odd game or two as well. JimH....I mean out of the gate, I think Ozzie will give Jenks every possibility to be "the" closer. I think he's doing a very smart thing by challenging Jenks the way he is. This type of challenge can be very effective, especially since Jenks has yet to get his first big baseball contract extension. He still has to prove himself in this league to start making his millions. If Jenks does struggle, then I'm sure Ozzie will make some changes, and I'll be proud of him for not being passive.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 24, 2006 -> 10:48 PM) - Give it up? - I got it the first 1,000 times you said it. Now there's a concept, except it might be the first 1,000,000 times you said it. What the hell are you talking about? The closer-by-committee thing was the first negative thing I've said about our outlook all offseason. I could care less if you just responded to my posts with your 100 percent optimistic approach or else. However, you've been responding to everyone else's posts like they're completely wrong just because they mention a concern about something.

Also, our bullpen was much, much, much deeper last season. This allowed Ozzie to save Marte for later in the games, and Cotts could come in around the 6th or 7th to get some big outs. Hopefully McCarthy and Logan can be counted on to get some crucial outs prior to the 8th inning. FWIW, I still believe we're going to make the playoffs. My biggest concern, besides the closer position, is making sure that Contreras rebounds from his elbow position. I just hope he's not scared to pitch from the 3/4 arm position now.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 24, 2006 -> 10:44 PM) Hey, almost identical posts! And you are right. Guillen is never afraid to go to a matchup. He used Marte in the 9th at times at the end of the year. I can only remember one time (at Toronto) where Marte was brought in to get the final out of the game. I always said that Ozzie deserves a ton of credit for the way he handled the closer position last year. Manuel would have allowed Shingo to give up 500 foot homers for probably another month more than Ozzie did.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 24, 2006 -> 10:43 PM) But predict doom and gloom. Cool by me. Give it up. I got it the first 1,000 times you said it. I just hate the idea of closer-by-committee, and not for one second do I think Ozzie is going to go with it.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Mar 24, 2006 -> 10:42 PM) Thanks for setting me straight on this issue. That's why people with actual medical knowledge should post here more often. I"m still worried on whether or not Hermanson can be an effective reliever. Unless epidural injections allow him a fluid delivery, he'll still have a drastic drop in velocity. It just seems so painful for Hermanson to pitch. I can't see how his back's going to get any better, as it's been like 8 months since his back started to bother him. I think the back problem really hurts his follow-through, which prevents him from getting any movement on his splitter and flattens out his slider.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 24, 2006 -> 10:26 PM) Yah, because that closer by committee thing surely didn't work for us last year. When did we have closer-by-committe? It went from Shingo to Hermanson to Jenks. Closer-by-committe basically means you go with whoever is fresh and pitching well at the time and matches-up well. Having 3 different closers during the course of the season doesn't equate to closer-by-committee.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Mar 24, 2006 -> 10:23 PM) ESPN 1000 sports update: Ozzie says that he will use a closer-by-committee if Jenks continues to struggle. I guess we weren't blowing it out of proportion if Ozzie is saying this. This is nothing different than what he's been saying the last few days. If we go to a bullpen by committee, we won't make the playoffs (the first of many predictions by me). BTW, I've decided that my key to the season is Brandon McCarthy.

I'm confident that some pitcher we have confidence in will be a huge disappointment, and some pitcher that we never thought would contribute will be a huge part of our bullpen.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Mar 24, 2006 -> 09:14 PM) At the risk of sounding like Kenny, Cruz is actually a guy I've wanted for a while. With his arm and his funky motion I really think you get him with the right pitching coach(see atlanta) then he'll be a very good pitcher out of the pen. Also, don't get me wrong I'm not comparing coop to leo but coop aint bad himself. I think Cruz can becomes a terrific set-up man. I'd much rather have him than guys like Thornton or Redding.

Why get Juan Cruz when we have Tim Redding, Dustin Hermanson, and Matt Thornton? "WHERE WOULD HE PITCH"?

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Mar 24, 2006 -> 08:33 PM) Add inexperience at the major league level as well. At least thats part of it for me. There's no way to predict if Jenks is going to be a reliable major leaguer.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 24, 2006 -> 05:54 PM) Your favorite person to cite Joe Nathan isn't throwing as hard as he will. Before his first year with the Twins everyone was wondering how he was going to get by with a 90 MPH fastball, but when the season started, after his training, his good fastball was there. That's the way many hard throwers do it. Favorite person? I think I've only mentioned him one time as an example of something, and that was saying that he's a sure-thing to get 35 saves. Again, I'm not overly worried about Jenks. I just think that if he can't succeed though, we're in a lot of trouble. We're a team built on winning low scoring, close games. A competent bullpen is very important.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 24, 2006 -> 05:42 PM) I was sitting in sect. 113 row 12 which is really about the 7th row. The gun is stationed right in front and it was easy to read. A black guy with the Marlins was sitting right in front of me and he had his own gun. He only used it for 2 pitches but it read the same as the one that was hooked up. Buerhle never threw higher than 84 that day, and Politte was about the same as Jenks. The one pitch I saw go to 93 was laced for a double. I wouldn't be surprised if the was a conspiracy within MLB to add a couple of miles per hour to everyone's fastball, much like the NBA with height measurements. I couldn't care less if jphat doesn't believe me, but anyone else, I am speaking the truth. Why would I make up what Jenks was throwing? Who knows what is causing Jenks drop in velocity, whether its his weightlifting, tightening himself up, or lack of conditioning, or something else, the fact remains his velocity is down, his mechanics looked a little off, he having a tough time throwing strikes, and when he does throw strikes he is getting hit hard. I trust what you're saying, and I also trust my own eyes. Hitters aren't just barely making contact on his heater like they were doing last year. There's no life on his fastball yet. There's still time for him to get it back, but we have less than 10 days until the games start. Paging Brad Lidge....paging Brad Lidge.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Mar 24, 2006 -> 03:38 PM) Jenks has been throwing in the high 90's since high school. And he damn sure doesn't look like he's ever taken a drug that helps build muscle or cut fat. He's pretty much just a fat slob who throws extremely hard like RockRaines said and I'm glad we have him. I just hope he starts showing some signs of control soon. Ozzie wouldn't be having meeting with Jenks and talking about Cotts as a fallback closer plan if there weren't some concerns about him. Oh, I'm not saying I think Jenks was or is on roids.

Here's my biggest concern about Jenks.....his mechanics are off right now, and he seems very tight on the mound. With his elbow history, I just hope he's not putting too much stress on it. Also, if Cotts has to be our closer, our bullpen becomes even weaker. Can Fox make a "Prison Break 2: Venezuela" and get Urbina back here soon?

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Mar 24, 2006 -> 03:33 PM) All I can say is thank God it's fairly obvious that Jenks has never done steroids in his life. The thing is, I never thought Koch did either. He was throwing in the high 90s when he was in college. It's not like his velocity just picked up all of a sudden one year.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 24, 2006 -> 02:27 PM) What does that have to do with the White Sox? Guillen doesn't lie and he's said that he isn't worried about his velocity, and just wants him to throw more strikes. I swear on my life that this is what they said about Koch going in to Ozzie's first year on the job.

But Jphat told me that Jenks wasn't fat....he just came in with more muscle, and that no one should be worried about him?

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Mar 23, 2006 -> 10:38 PM) That was in the minor league game he pitched in today, right? Nice. What an excellent acquisition. This guy is going to hurt us more than help us. This guy doesn't deserve to be pitching in the majors. I hope KW's not too proud to see that.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Mar 23, 2006 -> 10:08 PM) Time for Redding to lose the game. Good! I don't want to see him do even close to well enough to pitch for us in the majors. I'd rather have Felix Diaz over him!