southsideirish71

QUOTE(greg775 @ Mar 11, 2008 -> 05:58 PM) I know Couch and he is a great guy. I'm surprised you don't like his style of writing. I think he writes good stuff. We might agree to disagree here but if you read Couch, I think you will get reasonable points of view. You might disagree with what he's saying but I personally think he backs up his points quite well. As far as Stone joining the Sox, I bet you he will remain very critical. He's not going to change. Why would he? All they can do is fire him and he has a contract so he gets the money. He's been around too long doing it his way to change. If Oz and AJP go after him, they are idiots because Stone was a damn good pitcher and is a smart baseball mind. They might listen to him and learn something if things are going south. I love Oz's style but he's not perfect, nor is AJP. If I want to know what Couch is going to write about I just have to look at Marriotti's articles. Couch over the last year feels that he needs to follow up with another article basically saying the same thing Jay said earlier in the week. Greg was fine when he wrote his own pieces, the minute he decided to take the Marriotti slant on things and pretty much become a lackey for Marriotti is when he became unoriginal.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Mar 12, 2008 -> 01:10 PM) Range is more important than throwing arm for CF'er IMO. Taking away gap shots can be a huge lift for a team. Range is a combination of being able to read the ball correctly and speed. Torii hunter is not the fastest guy in the world, but he can read the ball off the bat and get a better jump than the pure speedster that can go get it. If speed was part of range then Pods would of been an allstar in CF. Brian Anderson is a natural centerfielder and he can make the correct reads that get him in the right spot at the right time.

QUOTE(SoxWS05 @ Mar 12, 2008 -> 12:54 PM) It's way more important for the strong arms to be in RF and LF. That's where the xtra bases are taken. Actually it goes from Right to Left in order of strength of arm requirements. Right is your strongest arm, and you can hide your weakest defensive guy and weakest arm in left. And before we annoint Mr Owens our leadoff guy, maybe he could make it a few days without getting injured. game.Pods Jr scratched from the lineup.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 12, 2008 -> 07:07 AM) Keith Law had some tidbits on 3 White Sox. I'm not a fan of Law but he was employed for several years by the Blue Jays as an assistant GM. He thinks Ramirez can hit for a decent average with 20 homer potential, but feels his OBP will be extremely low and compared him to BJ Upton now an OFer I believe, defensively at 2B. He says he's a lot like Soriano, but lacks Soriano's explosiveness and has even less plate discipline than him. He said Gavin Floyd's stuff has gone backwards, that his curveball, once deemed as one of the best is now just "solid" average. His fastball is 91-93, with little command, and says his change isn't anything special. He likes Josh Fields but says his pitch recognition is still lacking which will keep his walk rate down and well keeping his strikeouts up, and says he doesn't have the defensive capabilities to fall back on. All in all, pretty harsh. I still don't know how you judge anybody at this stage, and obviously Law didn't talk to the 29 teams KW mentioned who would love to have Floyd, and that most people in the industry, according to him, view him as a top of the rotation starter. Keith Law also said that Fields can hit the fastball and can't hit the breaking pitch, which is exactly the opposite of what we saw last year. He could hit the breaking pitch fine, he had a hard time with fastballs above the belt. Then again, he is making assessments from a game he sees that day. I doubt if he is putting a lot of detail into his analysis of the team for this year. He is taking a quick peek from a scouts eye view and then reporting it.

QUOTE(Princess Dye @ Mar 11, 2008 -> 11:12 PM) obviously i'm no expert on Ramirez or his hitting, i dont know who is at this point. but IF he's a contact hitter, we need that. more than what Uribe is gonna be, which is his usual hackaway self. again, the other options at 2b leave us little reason to look away so quickly. For these reasons, I'd even wish Ozuna at 2b over Uribe. Do others feel, like me, that 2b has been Ozuna's least crappy position defensively? There are over 4 million reasons for Uribe to be the starter.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 11, 2008 -> 10:32 PM) First off, Ozzie hasn't been too impressed with his glove at 2B this spring. I also think there's a comfort level he would have playing in Cuba that he wouldn't have March 31 in Cleveland. He was a star, now he's a guy trying to make a team. The major leagues is the biggest stage, he's bound to be a little tight. I also think Ozzie is referring to offensively as well, as he's probably rarely, if ever, faced a guy with Sabathia's stuff in what could be not the most ideal playing conditions. I wonder what the lowest temperature Ramirez has ever played in. God forbid if he faced CC, it would be so much better if we put Uribe and his .200BA against CC up there to swing for the fences. We were so impressed with Uribe that after signing him, we immediately traded our best trading chip for his position. Then after finding no suitors we are forced to use him. If it wasn't for the 4 million dollar salary Uribe he would be sitting on the pine as a utility guy.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 11, 2008 -> 04:56 PM) I think it's pretty unlikely. There's just been too many repetitions of the "he's too raw", especially on the defensive side, for me to think that they aren't planning him for AAA at least to start the season. Plus if Uribe gets mad and sits on Ozzie, it could kill him. Its better of to start him, bribe him with some homer donuts and hope he doesnt have to move too much.

They keep killing good shows. The unit. Great show. Dead Las Vegas Molly Sims, great show. Dead Jericho took an act of god to get it back. Then they replace it with 70 hours of reality TV programming. I could care less who gets voted off of X mythical place.

QUOTE(SoxWS05 @ Mar 11, 2008 -> 04:37 PM) I think I heard the Rangers announcer say he was hitting 97-98MPH on the radar gun. That sounds promising for Mcdouche. Hopefully someone who is radar gun crazy decides to trade for him. Maybe we can find something in the national league that could use a guy like MacDougal.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 11, 2008 -> 04:25 PM) If you're expecting Swisher to play CF in the regular season and Anderson to start the season in the minors, then it makes sense. Heck, it might make sense even to set up the regular season so that Swisher gets practice in CF if he's going to be the backup there, which he could well (treat it as a platoon between Anderson and Owens if Owens ever gets healthy?) If Anderson worked more on his 40 time, he might of had a shot.

QUOTE(SoxFan562004 @ Mar 11, 2008 -> 04:09 PM) If Anderson continues on this roll and makes the team, do they put Swisher in LF and Anderson in CF? Would that be their best defensive option at that point? If we based it on performance sure. But we base it on 40 yard dash times, therefore Mr. Owens will start. Speed doesnt slump.

You can disagree, hell you can protest. But the minute you decide to run up, and perform a citizens arrest on someone you have crossed the crazy formula and need to be taken away. From the sounds of his responses he gave as good as he took in. He knew what he would get into, and quietly took the money. I would have loved it if when the Iranian Mini-President would of been confronted by people peforming citizens arrests. Then again the student body was too busy fawning over him. The morons screaming in the crowd. What exactly did they think they were going to accomplish. Like Rove was going to say, well until you yelled at me I didn't realize what a horrible person I was. I am worse than Hitler, and will commit suicide using a knife, making sure not to consume any more carbon credits. I apologize for my existence. May god have mercy on my soul. I am donating all of my money to the Kook and Crazy library for the insane.

QUOTE(SoxWS05 @ Mar 11, 2008 -> 02:08 PM) No, if Fields was better, he would be starting. Crede will be starting because Fields is not ready for everyday play at 3B. Wonderful analysis here.

QUOTE(SoxWS05 @ Mar 11, 2008 -> 01:56 PM) His D will develop. Why do you think Crede is still on the team. Fields can't play 3B. Crede is on the team because people are not lining up for a mediocre offensive guy who just missed a season with a bad back thats a FA with Boras as an agent. If he was good and healthy he would of been moved.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 11, 2008 -> 01:46 PM) Don't you say Walker tries to make everyone swing for the fences? I believe "lift and pull" is the term you use. They actually have some new instructors in the minor leagues this season. Joe McEwing I believe is the Charlotte hitting coach. How many long looping swings have come up from the minors. The small park in Charlotte plays like a bandbox, and with the crappy competition a lot of bad habits get by there, and get exposed in the majors. When Fields comes up maybe he can bring McEwing with him. Hell lets send Uribe down as well. We can work on shortening the tornado twist lift and pull special he uses.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 11, 2008 -> 01:41 PM) He can work on shortening his stroke. I'm surprised you think exposure to Greg Walker is good for him. Sure because when I think about shortening the stroke, the whitesox minor leagues come to mind. They have produced many a short and quick swing.

QUOTE(SoxWS05 @ Mar 11, 2008 -> 01:29 PM) What is the Sox current status? 0-0 right? Why are people worried about hindering Fields development? Shouldn't we be more worried about winning the division and league in 2008? The fact is, Joe Crede will help us win the division, Josh Fields is just another piece of the puzzle that will hinder the sox chances of winning in '08. They are already trying to develop several young players. We have a better player at 3b now, why confuse the matter. Crede should and will start (if he's still on the tea0m and Josh should go to AAA. He will "develop" fine in AAA. Everybody preaches about pitching. Well, Crede makes the pitchers better by taking away hits, starting DP's and frankely making less errors. Wow so now Fields will hinder the sox from winning. Who are these young players. The only one that looks to start is Owens. The rest will be in AAA or bench fodder as it looks. How is he going to develop in AAA. Feast on the crappy pitching of the International League. The same league that allowed Brian Anderson to hit 300 or better. Sure he can learn all sorts of bad things there.

Sounds like Fields understands what is about to happen.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 10, 2008 -> 09:52 PM) So if they both suck in ST the rest of the way, who gets the job in the majors? The one who hasn't played ball in 10 months and is struggling after a surgery or the one who was at least decent for your team last year? The ones making money will play. The kids will be sent down. The only kid that stays up is the bantam weight track star. Oddly this was all predicted earlier in the offseason, and those who predicted it were told its early and that the season hasn't started. Yet here we are, with the kids going down and the money makers are starting. Woo Hoo.

Brooks Robinson Jr is not impressing anyone yet. Hot off the presses from Cheats blog.

Sounds good to me as well.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 10, 2008 -> 05:33 PM) Not really. If he hit .300 with 30 homers, he would of been paid $5 million this year. If he does it this season, some moron will give him a boatload of dough for several years. If he hits .300 with his all or nothing tazmanian devil swing I will be shocked. He will suck for most of the year, and then turn it on in September like he always does. It amazing how you think everyone sucks yet Uribe who pretty much has been a worthless hitter with a glove is magic to you.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 10, 2008 -> 05:26 PM) I like the idea of Uribe playing for a contract. He has a lot of talent. He was playing for a contract last year. How did that work out.

QUOTE(SoxWS05 @ Mar 10, 2008 -> 04:22 PM) No need, I bet Crede would rather retire then put on another teams uniform. Crede is something else. Wow.

QUOTE(SoxWS05 @ Mar 10, 2008 -> 03:05 PM) Fields will start in AAA, that will solve part of the problem Are you going to sign up on Crede's new team webboard so you can follow him forever.