Kalapse

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 30, 2007 -> 03:51 PM) It's the classic "Give 1 guy a 15 second head start and see if everyone else can catch up" scenario. Santana + Nathan. It's simply impossible to have a bad pitching staff with that. It's always going to at least be decent. + Neshek + Rincon + Guerrier the rest is pure dogs*** or unproven young talent.

QUOTE(JohnCangelosi @ Mar 30, 2007 -> 02:35 PM) Do you think it's a bit of a stretch to say he "completely broke down"? I mean, he was 41 of 45 save opps as I recall (I am not looking at the stats). Yes, he blew some big games for us- in fact the one against Boston at Fenway I ended up punching my desk and smashed it up pretty good. He sucked as did the rest of the bullpen in the second half but I still dont think it was a complete break down...I think that's a bit of an overstatement... Fine, he broke down, take away the adverb and it stands true. He lost a ton of velocity, wasn't snapping his curve, lost all control of his pitches and was being used in non-save situations (mainly because they weren't leading very often after 8.) I don't have a lot of confidence in a guy who from July 5th through the end of the year was pretty ineffective. Which sucks because he's one of the most talented pitchers to ever wear a Sox uni. OPENING DAY - JULY 4: 2-1 | 38 G | 25 SV | 37.1 IP | 28 H | 10 R | 10 ER | 11 BB | 43 K | 2 HR | 2.41 ERA | 1.02 WHIP | 4 SB JULY 5 - SEPT 29: 1-3 | 29 G | 16 SV | 32.1 IP | 38 H | 22 R | 21 ER | 20 BB | 37 K | 3 HR | 5.85 ERA | 1.79 WHIP | 7 SB Luckily the Sox have MacDougal backing him up, so I'm not incredibly worried. That SEPT 8th game Vs Cleveland still gives me nightmares. SO MANY DOUBLES!!

Mark Buehrle Vs Chuck James in Atlanta in the final locally televised Spring game. I don't know why but I'm kind of excited to see this game, finally a prime time game being played in a real ballpark. Plus we're only 3 days away from Opening Day.

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Mar 30, 2007 -> 01:57 PM) These are pitchers that they drafted right? That some good drafting. Bonderman they got in exchange for Jeff Weaver back in 2002. Verlander they got with the 2nd overall pick in the 2004 draft. Zumaya they got in the 11th round of the 2002 draft back when he was throwing in the low 90's. That was more of fluky luck than anything. Maroth they got from Boston in exchange for Bryce Florie in 1999. He's not a great starter but certainly an effective one. Robertson is a no talent hack who had a career year last season, the Sox actually drafted him twice but he did not sign. The Tigers got him from the Marlins in exchange for Mark Redman in 2003 Zach Miner they got from the Braves in exchange for Kyle Farnsworth at the trade deadline in '05. Great deal. Andrew Miller they drafted 6th overall in last year's draft, easily the best pitcher in the whole damn thing, fell do to signability and the Tigers stole him with the 6th pick, great move. Wilfredo Ledezma who is still young and pretty damn talented was a Rule V pick from the Red Sox in '02. Fernando Rodney was signed as an amateur free agent from the Dominican Republic in 1997. Yeah, they've done a pretty good job stock piling arms.

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Mar 30, 2007 -> 01:45 PM) The Gambler goes down. He gambled and lost. That guys a douchebag. Where the hell did Detoit get so many good pitchers. They've been terrible for about 13 years now giving them some pretty high draft picks and Dave Dombrowski is a pretty good GM.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Mar 30, 2007 -> 01:45 PM) Eww gross. I'll stick to my girlfriend giving me head. Or lonely drifters in need of a little scratch.

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Mar 30, 2007 -> 01:42 PM) everyone freaks out easily around here. Sox lose like 2 games in a row and they want KW head. Oh and Pods and Erstad are the devil. Is this all you have on your mind or do you have anything else to share outside of conjecture? At least the people who are 'freaking out' have an argument behind their statements.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 30, 2007 -> 01:36 PM) Totally the wrong way to phrase that. Anyway...I think there's also a real chance that Rogers could come back and struggle more than helping when he does return. I wonder how that newfound positive attitude he seemed to have last year will be able to take this injury. Now do they go with Miner or Miller? We can only hope they want to give Miller a bit more seasoning before they start his arbitration clock and instead turn to Zach Miner to fill out the rotation. At least the Sox proved they could hit him last season.

QUOTE(JohnCangelosi @ Mar 30, 2007 -> 01:33 PM) I just joined, but I could only IMAGINE what people were saying when Cleveland was on our tail late in the season 05. My guess is a majority poll of people here would say they were going to miss the playoffs entirely... No, not really. I'm not ready to call 1 year a trend, just because Jenks regained some of his velocity last year after not having much in the spring does not mean he'll do the same this season. Not to mention the fact that he completely broke down in the second half last year, these factors are not exactly encouraging. There's already reports that Jenks has gained weight since arriving in Arizona and his arm is still being held together by a few screws. Luckily there's a pretty solid backup plan in Mike MacDougal, though having to use him would take all the depth out of the pen, I'm not all that worried about the closer.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Mar 30, 2007 -> 01:23 PM) He's a little more than banged up now. http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?sh...57562&st=15 So now they replace him with the #10 prospect in all of baseball and the best player in last year's draft, lefty Andrew Miller. Fun.

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Mar 30, 2007 -> 12:59 PM) I honestly don't see this team winning a game this year. The team should just cancel the year. Why are we even on here, close the boards. Sell you Sox gear. The team will be shut down. The world is ending!!!!!!!! Honestly this whole "we suck" vibe is gettin old and boring. I do not remember reading any of that, perhaps you're mistaking this forum for another one?

QUOTE(LVSoxFan @ Mar 30, 2007 -> 12:34 PM) I love it! Just where I want to be: fourth. Fine with me. Hell, make us 5th for all I care. At least the pressure's off. So am I the only one that doesn't buy this at all?

He also picked Randy Johnson to win the Cy Young in the NL because he had 17 wins last season. Some great logic there Scott.

Jared Weaver has also been having some Bicep problems and will start the year on the DL.

101.1 FM "The Source"

Doesn't look like there's any sort of television or radio for either game. Sucks.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 01:50 PM) I think that our definitions of "career year" might differ somewhat. I don't think last season was a "fluke" and I don't think that that Bonderman will return to mediocrity, but I'm not convinced that he'll better his performance last season, either. What's to stop Bonderman from pulling an '06 Jon Garland? About the same thing that stopped guys like Roy Halladay, Johan Santana and Roy Oswalt from regressing after they tasted success for the first time in the bigs. Garland doesn't have anywhere near the pure stuff of a Jeremy Bonderman, they're not even in the same universe. Garland's 1 great season basically came out of nowhere, Bonderman's success has come gradually with experience and development at the big league level. If Garland were 23 in '05 with a high 90's fastball and 2-3 other plus secondary pitches then his chances of sustaining that success would have been greatly improved. Once again, there isn't a single factor that says Bonderman will not progress into a dominant starter over the next 2 seasons. He has all the makings of an ace, something there aren't many of these days.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 01:36 PM) I'm really just scared Detroit will call him up at some point this season. He'd wreak havoc. Well he did have a 1.286 OPS against the Sox last year, so yes he should be thought of as a possible menace.

The #1 sportsblog on the internet presented their AL Central Predictions today. Deadspin picks the Sox to win the Central, so quit your b****ing, the Sox actually got some love from a media source.

Again, how was last season a career year for Bonderman? It was his best season as a pro mainly because he's 23 but that's certainly not the best season he'll ever have in the bigs unless something goes seriously wrong. A 'career year' implies it was a fluke season (ex. Loaiza, '03) and he will never again reach the level of success he realized in 2006. Bonderman, frankly, scares the hell out of me as a Sox fan. 24 years old this season with just nasty stuff and no real history of arm ailments.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 01:16 PM) was waiting for that one Timo will never know how much his 31 at bats with the Cardinals last year mean to me.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 01:07 PM) That 2002 Angels squad was quite the joke. Have people seriously soured on Buehrle this freakin much after one bad season? I know the guy was bad last year but that doesn't erase the fact that he's been pretty damn good for 6 years. If he pitches like he did in 06 then he's obviously replaceable, if he pitches like he did anytime before that, he's going to be hard to replace. *Awaits the "he doesn't throw 95" post* I think most people are just waiting for Buehrle to prove that the past 4 months of baseball have been a fluke. This is a make or break year for Mark and until he shows otherwise, the guy is very replaceable.

QUOTE(JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 12:47 PM) not to turn this into a thread about david eckstein but this man has been overlooked his whole career and personally i think he would be a real solid 2nd baseman, even though he is a below average SS. also, eckstein isnt as bad offensively as you might think. now, if you are the kind of guy that only looks at OPS and SLG then you might think hes a terrible hitter but the guy is a .283 career hitter with a .351 OB compared to iguchi's .280/.347. plus, iguchi strikes out way too much as a #2 hitter for me. over 100 k's back to back years. eckstein really is a little pest at the plate and hardly ever K's. he's a damn tough out always fighting off pitches and making the pitchers work extra hard to get him out. thats the kind of thing that isnt always reflected in statistics but is a very, very important part of the game That's actually pretty interesting. Iguchi: 1066 | .280/.347/.430/.777 | 16.5 HR per season | 112K per season Eckstein: 2201 AB | .278/.347/.353/.700 | 4 HR per season | 50K per season Eckstein's American League numbers are shockingly similar to Iguchi's until you start getting into power numbers. Yes, Eckstein doesn't strike out much and that is a nice quality to have. In the field I'll take Iguchi without question, Eckstein couldn't make a throw from the hole or a quick toss to first on a double play to save his life. To call Eckstein 'terrible' was a poor choice of words, he's not, he's also a below average player in my opinion, not taking intangibles into consideration. In the end I'm taking Iguchi. QUOTE(RME JICO @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 12:59 PM) So it seems that this "always injured" or "on the DL" perceptions are a little misleading. Then it needs to stop being used as some sort of excuse for why he hasn't produced at the plate since 2000. Just go to 670 The Score's website and listen to the past couple Steve Stone interviews, all he does is talk about how oft injured Erstad has been over the past 6 seasons saying now that he's finally healthy he'll begin to produce.

QUOTE(Vance Law @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 12:26 PM) I assume this refers mainly to CF. I wrote last week and still am not conviced otherwise that, the situation may be being handled in a way to get the most out of Anderson as possible. Bringing in a veteran, making him fight to win the job. All the while touting Erstad publicly. How will Anderson react? Whine and complain? Work his butt harder just like Erstad would? You may not be able to take everything said by Ozzie and Kenny to the media at face value. A week ago, a majority of the people were certain, certain that Anderson would be sent down to AAA. He is on the team. In a position now that he's not looking over his shoulder at a veteran, worrying about messing up. Instead he's hungry to show up and work his butt off and prove himself in every at bat and every game to try to get the starting job. If Erstad breaks his legs, Anderson will have the job. If Erstad is as bad as people fear he'll be, and if Anderson shows anything, he'll have the job. Again, though, this CF spot will not in any way make or break the team that won 90 games last year with Anderson's .225. It will be determined by the pitching. Here's a post of mine from yesterday, it's not exactly what you're saying but it's pretty close. QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 27, 2007 -> 12:56 PM) So he fed him bulls*** for the whole damn month about still being in the running for a starting job, every damn day going to the media saying if Brian produces in Spring he's my guy and the whole thing was just a ruse to get Brian motivated? That's just ridiculous if true. What did Darin Erstad do during the Spring to earn the starting CF job? Is Ozzie's motto: "Nothing is just handed to you everything is earned" just a crock of s***? Erstad and Podsednik were handed jobs this Spring, neither of them earned it. And to say "he saw something in Erstad that he didn't see in Anderson" or anything along those lines is such a cop out. He could say that at any time to justify any asinine decision he chooses to make. "I've decided to go with Alex Cintron as my secondbaseman, I just saw something in his this Spring that I did not see in Tadahito." You as a fan can not question that, he is immune to criticism because you're not out there on the practice fields every day watching these guys play, if he says he saw something in Cintron that makes him a better candidate to start over Iguchi then who are you to question him. What if Ozzie had used this logic in choosing Floyd over Danks for the 5th spot? "Floyd just showed me something that Danks didn't" Would that be acceptable? At a certain point lying to motivate a player becomes too much and the word of Ozzie as a man comes into question, how can you EVER believe anything he says? He could have some ulterior motives behind the things he says. What about Brian in all of this? He did everything asked of him this spring and beat out the competition yet despite meeting the objectives of his manager and being rewarded accordingly he's told "Sorry kid, you never really had a shot" or "Not good enough". Seems pretty slimy to me. You may not be able to take everything Ozzie says for face value but when he starts to go back on every proclamation he makes, I don't know why I should take him seriously anymore. I'm not convinced Erstad will be benched if he wets the bed, 2006 says otherwise and that sentence didn't just apply to Anderson it also goes for the bullpen, it seemed like Logan earned a spot to me. If the centerfielder is not going to make or break the team then what's the harm in giving the job to the guy who earned it during the spring and sending the other guy to the bench? And as of yesterday Ozzie said he didn't want Anderson on his team, period. He wanted him him AAA but was forced to keep him on the roster seemingly by someone higher up.

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 12:28 PM) defense, batter's eye, hustle, two world series rings. And I wouldn't call Brosius or Borders "terrible baseball players" either. Anderson's still better David Eckstein has always had trouble drawing walks, atleast that was the case when he played in the American League, not to tough to do that in the NL Central. He has the worst infield arm in the history of baseball as well as lackluster range, yeah he does hustle the guy's a grinder I wouldn't expect any less. Timo Perez and Scott Spezio also have 2 world series rings, so yeah I don't care. If you're going to pay a secondbaseman $5M a year I'll take Iguchi over Eck every day of the week.