Kalapse

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 11:50 PM) I welcomed the Pods for Carlos trade, because I hated our lift and pull approach. I was sickened watching Carlos Lee hit what he thought was home runs shots, only to get thrown out at 2nd trying to put on the fake hussle. Between him and Valentin who I didnt like the most was hard to figure out. Carlos was fine, until he and Walk worked on turning him from the guy with the long hitting streak ripping doubles all over the park driving in runs, to a monolithic home run hitter who had some sexy numbers but had a propensitity to fall over trying to hit the dramatic homer, when we had a man on 3rd and less than two outs. Now of course hindsight is 20/20. I was hoping that we would balance our all or nothing hitters with some smart line drive types that would get on base, and would hit to all fields. I was a huge proponent of AJ, whom I thought would be a doubles machine hitting to the left side a lot. I never thought how much the offense would sicken me the entire 2005 season sans the playoffs. Before Pods was traded, we were all talking about Frank Catalanato as a possibility for left because of his line drive abilities. The big debate before that season was if we were going to sign Dye or Hidalgo. It was a wash at the time on which would be better, now of course it seems that we won that in a landslide. Man I loved that AJ move, I remember getting into my car on the way to work (probably 3:40pm or so) and hearing George Offman report that AJ had been released by the Giants. I jumped up out of my old Imperial and yelling to my brother on the other side of the front lawn "WILLIAMS BETTER f***ING BRING HIM IN!". Williams bringing AJ in for an interview to see if he was "White Sox material" was just too perfect, of course AJ aced that exam. That was the one move before '05 (Dye right behind that) which I absolutely LOVED at the time and I first started getting optimistic about the 2005 season after that.

QUOTE(jackie hayes @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 11:42 PM) Agreed, I think Russell stays. It'd be odd to send him down just a couple days after Ozzie made those comments about him. It would be criminal to send Logan down. That's what I thought too but outside of Russell I'm really not sure who's getting cut. Possibilities (11): Danks, Floyd, Russell, Masset, Aardsma, Haeger, Logan, Sisco, Terrero, Anderson Perez Not getting Cut (4): Danks, Floyd, Masset, Logan That leaves 7 guys and 3 have to go Probably not getting cut (2): Anderson and Terrero That leaves 5: Russell, Aardsma, Sisco, Haeger, Perez I really don't know. Ozzie is far too unpredictable to even take a stab at this. Or is he just way too predictable that he gets you to over think the situation?

QUOTE(fathom @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 11:36 PM) Mackowiak for Brady Clark rumor in tomorrow's Tribune. It makes a ton of sense. Yeah I'd probably make that deal. It's an incredibly loaded proposition though.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 11:02 PM) kinda funny how I didn't mention any of that. All I am saying is don't turn your back on the whole organization. I really don't care if you hate a player, but I hate it when people make it sound like a fact when they say something sucks. Like everyone is saying Pods sucks and Erstad sucks, like it is a fact. I'll except that offer you made me kalapse. Even though I am not that optimistic, I just have faith in the team. Yeah, I'm not surprised that you didn't mention any of that in your post because to be honest I didn't read it because I don't really care. It was more of a general post about a certain subject that tends to piss me off. How about you don't tell me what to post and what sort of feelings I should be having and I'll extend the same to you. Flash basically said everything that needs to be said. I don't often post things like 'Pods sucks' because I think that's pretty childish and stuff like that brings down the collective IQ of the board IMO. If I do post something like that though it's usually backed up by an argument heavily weighted in statistical evidence not just some bulls*** whim or 'gut feeling' I have at the time. It's kind of tough to distinguish the difference between fact and opinion at times so perhaps some of the posts you've read which you've taken as fact are actually opinions in disguise as facts. Perhaps you shouldn't take everything you read so seriously? Oh, yeah. I feel I must say this I am not crucifying the whole team by any means. I f***ing love Jermaine Dye, he's great. QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 11:09 PM) It's almost the lazy persons why of tackling an issue. To say, "yeah, well, let's just wait and see." Sure, it's safe (as to avoid looking dumb later on) -- but boring and almost counterproductive to the purpose of a message board. Just state your opinion now, jackass!!~!!! Optimistic or not, I'd rather someone atleast contribute to the message board than spout some useless cliche. I guarantee for EVERY Williams deal someone within a thread brings it up. Although it's more commonly associated with controversial trades (such as Garcia and McCarthy) where, rather than admit perhaps it didn't meet their expectations, someone will present the "wait and see" card. No. That phrase should be banned. Totally agree. I'd much rather read a million "Brian Anderson is bad and here's why *lists evidence*" posts than a hundred "lets just wait and see what happens when the season starts" posts. The Former may upset me a bit because I disagree with it but atleast that's an opinion backed up by a little evidence -- no matter how flawed it may be -- the latter on the other hand nothing but fluff to the discussion. QUOTE(BearSox @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 11:08 PM) And I have not told anyone to have optimism, all I am saying have a little faith in the organization, and don't turn your back on the team and say the team sucks. If you truly, genreally feel that, fine. I don't care. But for all the true die-hard sox fans, don't crucify the whole team just yet. Any fan that wants to agree with Baseball Prospectus or has the opinion that the Sox will miss the playoffs this season is absolutely 100% cool to say such things in my book as long as they're backing it up with a little evidence. If it's a flimsy bulls*** statement backed up by a gut feeling then yeah I get why that would be pretty annoying but as long as evidence is being presented I don't have much of a problem with it. Those who think the team is bad are fans just as much as you and I and I really don't see where we get off telling them to think otherwise. You're lucky you weren't around here towards the end of last season when the "soxhawks" and "sinkingship's" of the board took over with their negative talk, it probably would have really gotten to you.

What's the fun in saying 'let's just wait and see' about every facet of the ballclub? That and unwavering optimism over every question mark the team has is just boring, I know I wouldn't want to read that day in and day out. Talk about a boring message board.

I'll hold back my negativity until Opening day if you hold back your optimism until then. Deal?

QUOTE(SoxAce @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 10:40 PM) Damn I can't wait to see whose getting cut tomorrow. It's going to go down to 28 or so? I still think Brian could be cut in a surprise move. I'm not sure how Guillen is going to justify it but the demotion is inevitable. Might as well get it out of the way now and save yourself the roster spot. Think about it though, we have Buehrle, Contreras, Garland, Vazquez, Jenks, Thornton, MacDougal, Pierzynski, Thome, Konerko, Iguchi, Uribe, Crede, Podsednik, Erstad, Dye, Mackowiak, Cintron, Ozuna and Hall as locks to make the team so that's 20 spots taken up that leaves only 8 spots after tomorrow's cuts. Danks, Floyd, Russell (supposedly in the running), Masset, Aardsma, Haeger, Logan, Sisco, Terrero, Anderson and Perez are all on the bubble for the 5th starter spot, the 4th, 5th & 6th bullpen spots and the final spot on the bench. So that's 11 players and only 8 spots. Which 3 of the 11 mentioned below will be cut tomorrow? Probably Russell, Aardsma and Sisco but there should be a decent surprise in there none the less.

QUOTE(sircaffey @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 10:26 PM) Fluke perhaps fits better in this situation. Aberration Anomaly It doesn't matter what you call it, you're never seeing that type of production from Darin Erstad ever again and I don't get why it's even mentioned, Hawk has mentioned 2000 during every Erstad AB this Spring even during games that weren't on TV.

QUOTE(sircaffey @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 10:05 PM) Toss Up... What's more likely to happen first? Erstad gets injured or Ozzie realizes what a friggin failure his idea was and Iguchi returns to hitting 2nd If Erstad begins the year in the 2 hole he'll have about the same odds of being removed from that role as Pods had of being replaced while sucking last season.

Neither of Aardsma nor Cotts should be on a big league roster at this point. I'm sure Piniella meant that as partially tongue in cheek probably laughing afterwards and throwing a few compliments his way. Neil has been terrible thus far but I highly doubt Piniella would hang one of his players out to dry like that just because they're struggling in Spring.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 09:10 PM) I just re-read that thread. It makes me sad that I was right.... http://www.soxtalk.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=56432 Ha I called for Eduardo Perez to be signed in post #33.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 08:59 PM) I don't think KW traded Rowand + Young away because he wanted to "clear the way" for BA -- he traded them because he wanted Vazquez and Thome. I'd bet KW would prefer either one of them to Brian Anderson. 2 starter caliber centerfielders were made expendable by KW's trust in Brian Anderson to be a solid major league centerfielder. WTF is the difference? And to say that KW would probably take either of them over Anderson is sheer conjecture and has no place in this.

Brian Anderson isn't going anywhere. He's far too important to the team this season to be dealt now. If he's traded tomorrow then who starts in CF in May? Leaving Brian off the 25 man roster may be Ozzie's choice but trading Brian would be KW's and he's proven that he has some sort of faith in Brian despite the recent moves to the contrary. He's traded away 2 starting centerfielders in order to clear the way for Brian, he isn't going to cut bait now after 399 career at bats.

QUOTE(WhiteSoxfan1986 @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 08:44 PM) When we signed Erstad I liked the move because I figured he would be a guy who could back up in the outfield and play a little first, I would have been completely against the move if I would have known he had a good chance of starting. If it's Pods and Erstad 1-2, we may very well have the worst 1-2 in all of baseball. HA! You should go back to the original 'Erstad Signs' thread and check out some of the posts in there. It was what 2 months ago and I had it as a foregone conclusion even then that he would be taking over for Anderson as the starting CF to start the season. This isn't exactly coming as a surprise to me. There was no way Ozzie Guillen was going to use the Greatest Grinder In Grinding History as a bench player, it goes against everything he's done over his 3 years as the White Sox' Manager.

Is anyone in the market for a new grill?

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2007 @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 06:16 PM) Fixed. Actually it's more like 2001-2002 & (post AS break) 2004-2006 (pre AS break) form

QUOTE(Damen @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 02:10 PM) I think its much closer to 3 million. 2.9? Well considering his service time he'd be making about $900k on most any major league club despite being terrible. I'm sure someone could have use for a $900K pinch runner, so I'll give him that.

QUOTE(Y2HH @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 02:06 PM) Whats with the link about Uribe? Are you trying to use misdirection?! Did you read the last line of the article?

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 02:06 PM) His pure lack of baseball skills. He simply is not a good baseball player. He doesn't hit for power. He plays below average defense. He has trouble getting on base. The only way Scott Podsednik is effective is with his speed. He was a step slower in 2006, and is coming off groin surgery. Groin surgery with a speed player=Bad News. There really isn't much to like. Plus he's making about $2M too much and is the only real leadoff option on the club in the manager's eyes. They put way too much faith in him.

Ok so I think I'm on to something here. In this sample we have skin tone swatches of 3 of the grinderest grinders in the game as well 3 from a trio of the best players in the game. The question is can you guess which are the grinders and which are the great players? As far as the formula is concerned, I'm making progress things are starting to come together and I really think this thing could get done in the next few days.

QUOTE(pcullotta @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 10:28 AM) Prob'ly sends up Ozuna who hit .322 against Lefties and .273 as a Pinch Hitter Ha, he didn't do that one time last year. I highly doubt he changes his ways now besides Erstad was partially brought here for his clutch late game hitting and he NEVER pinch hits for Pods. What if he already has Pablo in the lineup giving Crede or Iguchi a day off? He tends to do that a lot. Ozzie is just setting himself up for failure with this top of the order, no manager would stack the top with lefties especially 2 of them as bad at getting on base as Erstad and Podsednik.

QUOTE(pcullotta @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 10:07 AM) Ozzie specifically said Erstad would bat #2 against Righties. I highly doubt he would put that 1,2,3 combo out there against a Lefty. Plus, we usually use about five lineups a week so I'm sure there will be plenty of variations. We also now have Toby Hall to do the catching against some southpaws and he hit .292 against lefties last year. So what dos he do in the 8th inning when the top of the order (Pods, Erstad, Thome) is due up and a LOOGY is warming in the pen?

I refuse to call a grown ass man Coco. I've been calling him Covelli since the day the Indians called his skinny ass up and I will continue to refer to him as Covelli until he retires. Same goes for John Bonser damn it.

It just looks ridiculous on paper. LF - Podsednik - L CF - Erstad - L DH - Thome - L 1B - Konerko - R RF - Dye - R C - Pierzynski - L 3B - Crede - R 2B - Iguchi - R SS - Uribe - R How can Ozzie in conscience write out that lineup before every game? It's just looks terrible. And by age: LF - 32 CF - 33 DH - 36 1B - 31 RF - 33 C - 30 3B - 29 2B - 32 SS - 27 AVG OF = 32.67 yo AVG IF = 30.60 yo LINEUP = 31.44 yo

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 12:19 AM) WRONG! I think when Kalapse comes out with his final formula you will see that you need to be a little white guy to be a grinder. Castillo and Ichiro end in vowels. Sounds foreign to me. Well you've already given away a good portion of my rough formula. A major factor in the final result is derived from the amount of melanin in the player's skin, the less melanin the more grinding said player tends to do. A few other factors being taken into consideration are BMI, number of vowels in the player's name and the language they speak. A player like Ryan Howard for example (melanin & BMI overload) would score out very poorly in the Grinder Index©