Kalapse

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Mar 2, 2009 -> 03:27 PM) Slayer at SS. Jenks in to pitc. Donny Lucy with a triumphant return behind the plate and Santos at SS You know, it really is. There was a lot of talk of his catching career being over after his dislocated knee cap last season. I'm glad he was able to recover and make it back behind the plate, all of his value as a baseball player comes from his catching ability.

Slayer sighting.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Mar 2, 2009 -> 03:20 PM) What second baseman is so much better than Alexei defensively that it's not even close? Mark Ellis is infinitely better. Dustin Pedroia was also terrific.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Mar 2, 2009 -> 03:16 PM) For all the bashing of the Alexei was the best 2B in the AL statement, I thought he meant defensively only. I believe you have at least an argument in that case. I don't think he was anywhere near the best, I thought he was at times spectacular but overall disappointing probably because he had never played there before. The numbers suggest he was one of the worst. If he had called him the most spectacular defender at the position he'd have a case.

"Mike Sweeney has close to 300 career homeruns" Oh poor poor Bill he has 199.

QUOTE (ChesterCopperpot @ Mar 2, 2009 -> 03:06 PM) Second double for Fields. I think he said Washerman. Meaning Wassermann.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 2, 2009 -> 02:50 PM) Melton: Alexei Ramirez was the best 2B in the American League last year. A young star. Ummmm....maybe Bill, in the first half of the year, but definitely not over the full season. Apparently the White Sox don't care if their pitchers give up runs at all...only if they have a good BB/K ratio. Good news, Bill. And an error on Dye allowing the double. A woeful AA/AAA roster is dominating the White Sox (minus Beltre) and sending Wasserman to Charlotte again. Is Melton serious? They're playing the infield in because they don't want to go down one more run (from five to six) and they have the offense to come back? REALLY? Carlos Quentin did a good job last year defensively (WHAT?) and he has the best pop-up/sliding catch that Bill has seen, lol. UGH!!!! Don Wakamatsu is apparently a "good baseball man." Glad to think they might have hired a bad one was GM, but didn't. You would think Melton would be more familiar with him due to his White Sox ties. I guess in order to be a White Sox announcer you have to believe that everyone on the team is incredible defensively. DJ was spewing the same s*** a few days ago. Oh and Bill THE f***ING MVP OF THE AMERICAN LEAGUE WAS A SECOND BASEMAN YOU YUTZ! Alexei was probably the 4th best 2B in the AL last season.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Mar 2, 2009 -> 02:55 PM) I think it's the exact opposite. This board hates speed so much that having it is almost a negative. (I'm a huge Owens hater though, FWIW.) Speed's fine, the problem comes when all you can do is run.

QUOTE (qwerty @ Mar 2, 2009 -> 02:52 PM) That seems to be pretty close to the soxtalk definition of a leadoff man. But then again maybe because i am not ''content'' with jerry owens as the leadoff man i need to find a new team to root for. Infinity laughs.... The consensus has shifted, seems like 90% of the board now hates Jerry Owens. It's fun being ahead of the curve.

33 first round picks + 10 type A sandwich picks + 5 type B sandwich picks + 11 picks ahead of Oakland = pick #60 overall as of now Don't hold me to it.

Jerry Owens can steal lots of bases therefor he has "what it takes to be a leadoff man" That's exactly what Bill Melton just said. How can anyone believe that s***?

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 2, 2009 -> 02:28 PM) Yes. He's horrible. I don't even like him on CSN pre/postgame. You can tell he doesn't do his homework. "Washburn had some kind of arm injury last year, don't know what kind it was but he missed some time. He should be healthy and much improved in 2009." It took me 40 seconds to find Washburn's ailment. He missed most all of September with a strained abdominal muscle (Washburn's is apparently located in his left arm). Is it really that hard to do a little pre-game prep?

It depends. Will Jermaine project to be worth $12M next year? If not you don't offer him arbitration, you just let him walk. Jermaine has been no where near the most productive RF in the AL over the last 3 seasons. He's definitely hit the most HR but I'd say he's been the 5th or 6th most valuable RF depending on where you rank Ichiro and Nick Markakis.

He plays a horrible RF Bill, probably the worst in the game over the past 3 seasons.

Jesus the Mariners sent Adrian Beltre, Ronnie Cedeno and a WHOLE lot of bad to Glendale. This is something Ozzie has been upset about in the past.

Melton keeps saying the Sox "signed" Getz, he said it like 4 times just now. Apparently Getz is Dominican. He just said it again. Twice.

Bill Melton likes the Mariners' rotation because of the veteran presence of Jarrod Washburn and Eric Bedard. Yeah Bill, they're awesome.

QUOTE (R.J. @ Mar 2, 2009 -> 01:53 PM) We don't get that #12 pick, right? Pick in the top 15 are protected so we get a sandwich pick and a second rounder I think. Still very nice. QUOTE (Kalapse @ Mar 2, 2009 -> 01:31 PM) The actual source is Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports and Buster Olney. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ti-c...ns&expire=1 http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3946501 It's a 1 year $4M deal. The Sox will receive Oakland's second round pick (#12 I believe) and a sandwich pick between rounds one and two.

The actual source is Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports and Buster Olney. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ti-c...ns&expire=1 http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3946501 It's a 1 year $4M deal. The Sox will receive Oakland's second round pick (#12 I believe) and a sandwich pick between rounds one and two.

What a gorgeous swing.

'Bout f***ing time. Slayer sighting.

QUOTE (jenks45monster @ Mar 1, 2009 -> 12:40 PM) Who's pitching? Buehrle gets the start

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 1, 2009 -> 12:33 PM) Well it is March 1. 92 k in 67 IP with a .208 BAA in 2008. Yeah, he's really bad. Through his first 57 outings of 2008: 53.2 IP, 37 H, 24 BB, 74 K, 12.4 K/9, 3.19 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, .189 BAA, .609 OPS, 27/36 inherited runners stranded

Dotel was one of our most successful relievers last year before his dead arm period over the final couple months, I'd say that's to be expected when a reliever in his mid 30's tops 40 IP over a 2 1/2 month span less than 2 years following Tommy John surgery. Scott Linebrink is also not a very good closer, same applied to Latroy Hawkins and well the vast majority of effective relief pitchers. Failing as a closer doesn't make you a bum or a bad reliever. If anyone applies any sort of significance to Dotel's first two spring outings then, well, I just feel sorry for you.

QUOTE (SoxFan101 @ Mar 1, 2009 -> 01:37 AM) I kinda disagree with your take on Alexi. It seemed watching him, he had no problem taking a ball. Just when Alexi swung at a pitch, he put the ball in play moreso than most hitters. I do want him at the bottom of the order though. Your perception is off. Last year only 1 player in baseball w/ 500+ PA swung at a higher percentage of pitches outside the strikezone than Alexei Ramirez, you guessed it, Vlad Guerrero. Meaning he was the second worst hitter in the game at laying off pitches out of the zone. So last year Alexei swung at 42.8% of pitches out of the zone but only made contact on 81.4% of all pitches he swung at. An average contact% is about 80% so Alexei is slightly above league average. Last year Alexei was awful at taking balls. It's crazy, Alexei swung at 60% of all pitches seen last season, good for 2nd highest % in the game (guess who's #1) while at the other end of the spectrum Nick Swisher only swung at 38.5% good for 5th lowest in baseball. Only Jack Cust, Chone Figgins, Joe Mauer and Bobby Abreu swung at a lower percentage of pitches than Swish.