fathom

Ozzie seems to be playing for the game winning homer now.

Will someone please tell Ozzie that he has the MLB leader in stolen bases on his bench?

Our lack of having a back-up 1b hurt us a lot in the 8th inning. We were in a great situation to have Pods run for PK, and let Willie bunt him over after seeing if Pods could steal 3rd. Rather, Ozzie tried to play for the homer.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Jun 5, 2005 -> 08:30 PM) Ozuna is an awful lead-off hitter. He doesn't look at enough pitches. You can get rid of lead-off there, and just say awful hitter. We should be thrilled with the offense he gave us early on, as he was finding new ways to get on base nearly every game (bunts, high choppers, hbp, etc).

What is Ozuna doing? If you're going to bunt, dont give it away the pitch before. How did he ever hit for such a high average in spring training?

Buehrle gives up 2 straight 2 outs hits to the worst hitters against lhp in the AL.

We're absolutely awful with bases loaded this season. Too many players trying for the grand slam instead of the 2 RBI single.

We're back to trying to pull everything against C.C. Also, Ozuna's not letting me down with his hitting so far today.....he's just a machine at hitting grounders.

I still want to see Rowand batting 3rd against lefties. He's easily our best hitter against lhp.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Jun 5, 2005 -> 06:29 PM) Forgive me for saying something nice about our manager, but I like today's lineup. I just don't like not playing our best defense on the left side of the field for a pitcher who likely will give up a lot of grounders to the left side, etc. Also, why is Crede being benched? Has he not hit 3 homers in last 4 games? Why not let him stay hot?

QUOTE(I-HATE-CREDE @ Jun 5, 2005 -> 06:35 PM) Look how good it did them last year. Yeah, when they had outstanding players around them in Beltran and Kent. However, with those players gone this year, they should have known that their team was going to be in trouble this season.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jun 5, 2005 -> 06:32 PM) Then was does that mean exactly? If you value a player more than another, wouldn't you be playin them everyday? And what does Willie Harris have to do with Ozzie valuing Timo over Frank??? Ozzie values Timo's role and his so-called versatility more than he does Frank's ability to be a tough out/draw walks/put people in the seats. Ozzie seems to go out of his way to get Timo into the lineup as much as possible. I don't see that mindset with other players, especially guys who are swinging the bat good like Widger. There's no rule that suggests you can't play both of your catchers during a game at the same time. If the starting catcher unfortunately gets hurt, then you just activate the DH. It's not the end of the world.

QUOTE(Rex Hudler @ Jun 5, 2005 -> 06:30 PM) I'm not saying he should be traded. Never did I say that. All I am saying is that hanging onto the concept that Frank is an icon and is untouchable no matter what, could be contrary to the overall goal of winning. It is the mindset that Frank can't be traded regardless that I am attacking here. As I have already mentioned, the likelihood of it happening is remote Look how good it did the Astros this year of keeping icons Bagwell and Biggio around.

What I don't understand is why is this situation a surprise to KW and Ozzie? If they wanted to avoid a situation where they had a 4 million dollar bench player, they should have never traded for Everett last season with Carl have the player option for this season. I just hope Ozzie doesn't make the mistake of continuing to put Everett in the outfield. His defense will lose us as many games out there as his offense will.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jun 5, 2005 -> 06:26 PM) You would think if he was picking Timo over Frank, Timo would be in the starting line up everyday, and he wouldn't be benching Carl Everett for Frank Thomas. You might need a tinfoil hat to go with that theory. I never said that the agenda was to play Timo more than Frank....it's a complete different situation. There's no way someone can convince me that Timo deserves to be on the team more than Willie Harris right now. It just doesn't make sense. I would predict that every other team in the majors would send down Timo instead of Willie in a similar situation.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jun 5, 2005 -> 06:19 PM) Where the heck would you get that from? The fact that Ozzie is benching a guy on pace for 100 RBIs for Frank? Or the newspaper article with no basis in fact that siad they were trying to trade Frank? That's just insane. Who cares if Ozzie is benching a guy on pace for 100 RBIs....it's the same player who had been just god awful against right handed pitching for the last two months. If you can't tell that Ozzie has an agenda to keep Timo on the team when he's the obvious person that should be released....you're being a little naive (and no, I'm not talking about Ozzie and Timo's mythical affair).

It really seems like Ozzie values Timo more than he does Frank Thomas. Things really seem to be getting crazy behind the scenes with agendas and feuds.

The problem is, if we decide to keep Frank over Everett, we're going to end up seeing a lot of Timo I have a feeling. Frank can't be counted on to remain healthy the rest of the way, and I can't see how he'd be able to play more than 4 times a week. If we get rid of Everett, who is going to be the DH? That's right, everyone's favorite manager fluffer....OMIT TIMO.

Nothing like playing Everett in left field with a soft throwing lefty on the mound. Not only that, but Crede should be at 3rd base with Buehrle pitching. There's no reason to mess with the fielding aspect of the team with MB pitching.

QUOTE(SEALgep @ Jun 5, 2005 -> 01:43 AM) But if Iguchi went down, they could still call Willie back up. Ozuna is fine for the spot start at second. That's a good point. For some reason, I just neglected the fact that Willie has an option left.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jun 5, 2005 -> 01:34 AM) The same Ozuna with a .349 obp and yes I know willie's is higher but Pablo is perfectly capable being the backup 2nd baseman imo. The same Ozuna that's averaging about 50 feet per hit this year. Hell, he'd be perfect if he was batting in a hit-and-run situation. However, if Iguchi were to suffer an injury that would keep him out for more than a day or so, I'd be much more confident with Willie at 2nd base than I would Ozuna.

It will be up to Frank now. No way do I think the Sox should give him anything more than like 3 or 4 million a year next year. We're not the type of team that can just overpay an aged veteran just to avoid pissing off the fans. Remember how we thought a lot of the fans would turn on the Sox cause Ordonez was gone? Hasn't happened.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jun 5, 2005 -> 01:28 AM) I think ozuna is perfectly capable so yes that'd be fine with me, actually. The same Ozuna that can't hit the ball out of the infield? I like Ozuna's hustle and enthusiasm, but he's nowhere close to being a MLB caliber hitting. The funny thing with all of this is that by no means am I a Willie Harris fan. However, I get pissed when I see that our manager's personal feelings for a player (Timo) screws with his decision making when determining what's best for our team.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jun 5, 2005 -> 01:16 AM) Guys, it was obvious this was going to happen, Ozzie likes timo because he's one of the best bunters we have and stats or not stats Timo's been a clutch hitter and yes this year too. He's been bad this year no doubt but with the few hits he has he'd had some huge ones, the homer vs minny, the bases loaded bunt and of course the hit on memorial day. Also he just had a countless number of clutch hits last year. I personally think it's the wrong move because I think willie is the better player however this move won't kill me either way. So who's our back-up 2nd baseman? Do you really want Ozuna facing a tough righty if Iguchi has the day off?

Willie gives you a pinch runner off the base, and a back-up 2nd baseman to face tough righties or when Iguchi goes into a slump (his batting average has been consistently going down for the last few weeks). Timo adds no dimensions to this team at all.