fathom

Valido looks very smooth in the field. Jenks was working on everything but the heater, and seemed to have solid command.

First time seeing Jenks this year......he looks like an American version of Bartolo now.

Sweeney with a decent swing against a side-arm lefty.

DJ just did my biggest pet peeve, which is when he said "the Sox are trailing today 6-7?! Ugh DJ....you sounded like a 15 year old girl who's never watched baseball.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 10:11 PM) This is not a day to measure the pitchers. THe ball is jumping. Tho to be honest, ST isn't the time to ever do it. The only thing to really look for is the velocity, and if they're having trouble catching up to what it normally is. Hermanson is an example of this. However, there's still plenty of time to get it geared back up to previous speeds.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 10:10 PM) Cliff gave up 11 runs in 12.2 innings in ST last year. 9 of em earned. How many total innings did he throw last season compared to the year before? I just wonder if he'll have some fatigue from last season.

4 up, 4 hits vs Cliff. Jenks is warming up.

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Mar 10, 2006 -> 10:06 PM) It Seems like Sox pitchers are giving up lots of lead off doubles. Well, the wind is ridiculous today.

Has Politte pitched well this ST? I still think he might be a question mark this year also. He pitched his ass off last year though.

First time seeing Haeger on the mound. There's been some bad luck hits, but he has a long way to go to refine his knuckler before he can pitch at the big league level.

The Rockies should look into getting Borchard. Playing at a place where the curve doesn't break as much, and the ball flies out of the park, could be what Borchard needs to get going.

Great play by Iguchi

I just saw the new Sox repeat commercial, and it's glorious.

The more I hear Carl and Frank talk, the more respect I have for Ozzie for making the clubhouse get along so well last year. This also makes me like guys like PK and Thome more. Those are classy players who make it easy to root for them.

Sweeney's biggest fan, besides Mr. and Mrs. Sweeney, is Ozzie.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 9, 2006 -> 08:06 PM) We'll never have a good spring under ozzie. Look at the lineup he runs out there even though we are at home! Do I need to start my "Fire Ozzie" thread again?

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 9, 2006 -> 01:46 AM) I still don't think I agree with the statement "our bullpen will be weaker than last year." Balta...I think the bullpen will be weaker because guys like Cotts and Politte won't be able to match their numbers from last year, even if they have a terrific season. They were two of the best set-up men in baseball. I don't think we can expect them to match their numbers. I'll be content if they're both in the 3.5 ERA range. Hermanson is a huge question mark right now, and I think it's safe to say that no one, not even the organization, knows what stuff he'll have this year.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Mar 9, 2006 -> 01:34 AM) KW's big success was acquiring pitching depth -- so when Shingo stunk we had Hermanson, then when he went down we had Jenks. And Damaso and Politte were also there if we needed them. It looks like our last man in the bullpen could be a big problem. That's not a big deal by itself -- he just won't see many innings. But one disappointment and one injury later, and it's possible that we'll be scrambling for something. Cintron'll help, I'm just concerned about the depth. As for the two pitches, hell, Foulke basically has one. It's not easy to get people out (k's) at aa and aaa -- he seems to use them well. There's very much reason to be concerned about our bullpen. Between guys being injured, tired from last year, or just inconsistent (no position is even close to having as inconsistent of numbers as the relief position is), our bullpen looks to be weaker than last season. However, other aspects of our team look to be stronger, which will hopefully offset any weaknesses. In reality, we're not the New York Yankees. KW doesn't have the payroll to have superstars at every position with amazing depth. With that in mind, given the bullpen depth issue, I still don't think Baj would have been an option. I never got the sense that Ozzie thought highly of him, in regards to pitching in the majors.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Mar 9, 2006 -> 01:18 AM) He's been nothing less than spectacular in his last 2 years of minor league work, and he's never really had a bad year. Please save the "minor leagues are meaningless" responses -- yeah, okay. Some of us'll take that over about 10 innings in the bigs. Cintron can't hurt, but when we're trading away a guy w/ a good history b/c we have Javier Lopez (with a much longer record of major league ineptitude) looking good in a few innings of spring training, it concerns me a bit, yeah. It's not just his numbers in the majors which makes many of us think he can't be a decent major league reliever. He's a two pitch pitcher, and one of them is a very average fastball with no movement. And yes, minor league numbers don't mean much. Edwin Almonte was supposed to be our closer of the future, as was Joe Valentine and Royce Ring. They all had very good minor league numbers. If Lopez wasn't lefty, he wouldn't be an option. If the Sox weren't a World Series contender this year, then I'd say Baj would have a place on the roster.

QUOTE(bulokis @ Mar 9, 2006 -> 01:13 AM) I just got home from work but I am loving this trade. What's the whole consensus on soxtalk about this deal? I cant go through 26 pages on this thread. Everyone but one person has had good things to say about it. Even the Baj supporters think it's a good move, and the radio reports state Cintron will be a utility outfielder, and Mackowiak will be in the outfield.

Well said ss2k5

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 9, 2006 -> 12:49 AM) Thanks for pissing away another thread guys. We really needed eight more pages to know that RnW is a [gasp] Red Sox fan. Could you guys try one favor? Could you actually argue the content of his posts instead of pointing out that he is [cliffhanger] a bigger Red Sox fan than White? We get it, now what is the point of stalking every post he makes with that? It gets old. I'll ask this....this thread has absolutely nothing to do with his Red Sox. We're all talking about the trade, and everyone is saying how much they like the trade because either a) Cintron is a very solid utility player or B) the great Baj is gone. Then, redandwhite comes into the thread, and basically rips it to shreds saying how he makes too much money, has a low OPS, how the Marlins would have traded for him, etc. It's funny, but I never thought I would be accused to causing trouble by sticking up for the White Sox. As much as their was whiny b****ing going on between myself, redandwhite, and rock, we still managed to discuss in details various aspects of this trade, etc. Considering that Jason was in the middle of this discussion talking about the trade, I thought things were resolved at the end.

QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Mar 9, 2006 -> 12:18 AM) BOOOOOO! BAD TRADE! BAJ WAS GOING TO BE OUR NEXT GREAT SET-UP MAN! THIS WAS HIS YEAR!! In reality, it is a good trade but puzzling at the same time. Was this trade necessary? Do we need another utility man? Could we afford to give up a decent bullpen guy? We'll see. On the radio, they're saying that Ozzie wanted another utility infielder so Mackowiak can be mostly a reserve outfielder. Makes sense to me.

QUOTE(JimH @ Mar 8, 2006 -> 11:12 PM) Witness: Mackowiak and Cintron. KW was after both of them for a minimum of 18 months each. That's absolutely true. As I mentioned earlier, when KW wants you, he's going to keep going after you. However, the same is true in that if Ozzie doesn't like you, good luck making the team (Munoz and Baj).

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Mar 8, 2006 -> 11:09 PM) 23 pages and counting...good stuff... Shouldn't you be watching the Big East Tournament today? That's right, DePaul's not in it. Just kidding..... Not to change the subject, but you think Mejia and Chandler will come back?