southsideirish71

QUOTE(caulfield12 @ May 31, 2007 -> 11:24 PM) It would be absolutely shocking, that would be comparable to Magglio or C-Lee when they were rookies. Not going to happen unless his swing undergoes a magnificent shortening to "compact" status. The Trib said "probable ligament damage" regarding Erstad's injury. Our system doesnt compact swings. thats cheating a power stroke. Elongate it, and swing for the Dan Ryan is our motto. The harder you swing the better you are. Pull Baseball son.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ May 31, 2007 -> 10:32 PM) Detroit loses Kenny Rogers, Zumaya, and Rodney and they still keep winning. Minnesota is struggling a bit but has a payroll many millions below the White Sox, they lose Liriano and Mauer and kick the Sox ass. The Sox get the back-up catcher hurt, Pablo Ozuna hurt and a $1 million guarantee player like Erstad injured who gets hurt every year, and Pods another perrenial injury is out and they look like they may just prove BP's 72-90 PECOTA projection correct. If the Sox fail this year, injuries shouldn't be an excuse. Dont worry, in the 2nd half of this year the Hawk will be all over the injury angle. It will be what KW and Hawk ride into soxfest to keep the hordes from wanting blood.

QUOTE(southsideirish @ May 31, 2007 -> 09:44 PM) You're right, it's definitely the coach's fault. No doubt about that. We can't blame every single player for hitting like complete crap, it has to be something the coach is doing. Great catch - awesome post. Well you can get rid of every hitter on the team because they are all sucking, or you can fire the hitting coach. Maybe its just a teeny tiny coincidence that all of them are vulnerable to low and away pitching. We keep changing personnel and the results is the same. We take line drive hitters and turn them into myopic pull home run hitters. But dont let logic get in the way of being the friendly neighborhood apologist.

QUOTE(diegotony06 @ May 31, 2007 -> 09:16 PM) I really hope JR opens the purse strings and resigns Mark. He is a reliable starter who in my eyes is the face of the Whitesox. He will be a big help with Danks I also believe, so that is just another reason to keep him. I'm not sure you will be able to get enough talent in return for Mark, just for the simple fact that he is a free agent next year. Teams aren't gonna give alot up for him, just for that reason alone. The best things is to resign him to a 4 year deal with an option for a 5th. JR and KW need to do whatever they can to keep this guy!! Well Diego here is a tip. Take a gander at the attendance sheets, and how much money the team takes in. Thats pretty much what will be reinvested into the club the following year. So hopefully they pull it out of their asses, because if they suck and attendance takes a dump you might not see it this year, but in 2 you will see a payroll hit. Here is the simple math of it. If Buerhle wants to get paid similiar to what he gets today for 4 years he will be a whitesox. If he wants Zito or more money, he will be traded and we will see him on another team. Its not a matter of opening pursetrings. Its about being sane. 5 to 6 years for a ton of money isnt going to happen.

QUOTE(Allsox @ May 31, 2007 -> 09:24 PM) I hear ya. But, the Sox won the World Series with Shingo, Dustin and Bobby closing. And the Cardinals won with Izzy and Wainright closing. Granted, it'd be an ideal situation to have a Rivera or Hoffman but that doesn't usually happen and teams usually ride the hot arms of the starters in the playoffs anyway. We got lucky with our setup. Shingo was pretty much meat from the beginning, Hermie had a good run. Then a kid with a 100mph fastball showed up. How would of our 05 run went if we had Borowski at the back end. Izzy is closer, and Wainright had serious stuff. Just because a closer is not Rivera or Hoffman the best in the business and hall of famers, doesnt mean you get rid of them. Jenks is dirt cheap, and closes games at a good rate. Danks would probably get a good killing as well, and he isnt Sandy Kofax. Now as insane as that sounds and I never want to see Danks, that is what its like. You build your team around cheap young good guys, you sell of old superstars for more cheap young goood guys. Nobody gets rid of young cheap players to put a borowski in their bullpen.

Jenks has a screw in his elbow, and bigger stones than the rest of our relief crew. Trading him would get a lot. But have fun with morons and goofs at the end of the games. Maybe we can have 3 to 4 closers in a season, ride the hot arm again. They just had a stat today, where Boers and Berstein stated we had more closers on this team than any other team since 2000. Think about that before you jettison someone who is cheap and pretty good at their job.

Well in a bought of self preservation, we should have a new hitting coach if the Walkerball express keeps its suckiness in tact.

Owens was just pulled from the knights game according to Rongey. Here we go.

QUOTE(klaus kinski @ May 31, 2007 -> 08:27 PM) Guillen just said Sweeney or Owens. it will be owens. Ozzie needs his leadoff guy, and Owens can pretend to be one for a few weeks.

At least the comedy hour known as the PFB Rongey Postgame Carnival of Special people should give everyone a few giggles. We will have the bunt lovers, who think we need to bunt more. Or the running lovers, who think that AJ should steal more. This could be fun. The worse the sox get, the goofier the calls get.

Okay can we all admit that Greg Walker is not the best hitting coach in baseball. I could care less if he and Konerko hang out together, or if Greg is a model citizen. This low and away shutdown show has got to stop. No matter who the pitcher is, if you spot it low and away you defeat walkerball. This is beyond corpseball. Fire him.

QUOTE(kwolf68 @ May 31, 2007 -> 07:53 PM) I don't think Walker is the problem...we just don't have a good hitting team unless we are going yard 3 or 4 times a game. Uribe .210 Mack . 239 Crede .227 PK .229 Gooch .223 AJP looks like Ted Williams with his .255 average To top that off, very little speed and mostly poor fundamental baseball. We have 3 or 4 players in our lineup right now (CF, LF, 2nd for sure, not impressed with SS or 3rd) that would not start for most teams in baseball. And I have little confidence that help is in Charlotte. Sweeney is hitting about .250 down there and Anderson around .270. Owens is no help and is more a utility guy. We're screwed for this year. And get well Darrin...dude probably was one of our best players this year so far. I cant count the number of times I saw a quote where Walker or a hitter were quoted as saying, that Walk and they are working on them getting more power. It happened at the end of Carlos Lee's 28 game hitting streak, it happened in 05 at San Diego with Rowand and he was dust offensively for the rest of the season. He likes our hitters to get around on the ball and drive it. Aka Lift and Pull

Sal Fasano should be a cub, he looks like some of their fans with the Johnny Cakes look.

2 solo home runs and Mark is looking at a Loss because our rotten horrible Walker lead offense cant hit pitching when they spot low and away.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ May 31, 2007 -> 07:43 PM) That low slider is still kryptonite to Joe, isn't it? Low and away is a bane to all things walkerball. Its funny how everyone in the league has figured this out but the sox.

I think if you want a difference maker, a top of the rotation guy. You need to explore the high school ranks. Someone with the body type, and you see the spark of stuff that projects to be a top of the rotation type guy. The college guys that are like this are off the board before they get to us. To me you take a chance. What the hell, the current drafting strategy hasnt exactly put superstars in the rotation. We have made a better splash with our later picks. So take a chance and get a toolsy kid. You can teach control, and how to pitch. You cannot teach stuff. This is what I would like to see if this kid falls to us. He is high school, but has a good arm, movement and body size for a good pitcher. Phillipe Aumont 6'7 225 Good fastball with serious life on it. Could grow into serious velocity. This is more of what I look at from a high school pick with some upper mobility. He needs control of course. But you can teach control in the minors, you cannot teach a guy who has a live arm that can grow into his velocity more. http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/ev...x.jsp?mc=aumont Here is another top of the rotation type guy. His velocity projections could be topping 97/98 and he is a lefty. Madison Bumgarner is my current favorite. He has nice projectability. His motion has some deception to it. And he has a lot of late life on that fastball. http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/ev...sp?mc=bumgarner Madison Bumgarner has a strong, sturdy frame and an effortless delivery. He has an incredible feel for pitching, with an ability to throw all three of his pitches for strikes in any count. Madison's fastball has been clocked as high as 95 mph. He went 12-2 with a 0.99 ERA and 120 strikeouts in 84 innings as a junior on South Caldwell's state Class 4-A runner-up club. He also hit .392 with 14 home runs and 39 RBI’s. In the first game of the best-of-three state finals, Madison belted a pair of home runs and pitched a shutout. He spent much of the summer playing for American Legion Post 29. As a sophomore at South Caldwell High, he was 9-2 with a 1.20 ERA and 130 strikeouts in 77 innings. Madison’s freshman season he won five games and had a 1.63 ERA with 53 strikeouts in 30 innings. Madison has committed to North Carolina.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ May 31, 2007 -> 04:36 PM) I've been following the progress of players projected to fall within the first round/sandwich round for several months, and the true strength in this draft remains high school pitching. I know our draft philosophy recently favors college pitchers, but aside from Aaron Poreda and Nick Hagadone -- perhaps a handful of others who have come out of nowhere and escaped media attention -- there won't be many high ceiling, college pitchers available. More high schoolers with projectability will be there. Andrew Brackman stock has plummeted, but he's a Boras client. Forget about that. Jake Arrieta and Nick Schmidt will both be available, but do you associate either as high ceiling college pitchers? Or Jason Simmons? Even Poreda and Hagadone have problems with throwing secondary offerings. Since Latos is off the board, I'm pimping Nevin Griffith. Although it'll obviously serve no purpose, as we've likely had our selection in mind for several weeks. Still, if high ceiling college pitchers is the criteria -- and the various mock drafts I've seen remain true -- we're going to have to take a chance with a one-pitch pitcher. Senior righthander Nevin Griffith’s first outing against senior slugger Mike Burgess got lots of national hype, and Griffith was again sharp Tuesday in a rematch with Burgess and Hillsborough High at Griffith’s Middleton High. He touched 96 mph with his fastball, and leaned heavily on a low-80s slider that has developed into a legitimate strikeout offering. “He rang the bell once again,” said a scout with an American League team that was among more than 30 scouts at the game. “I believe he even broke Burgess’ bat, and he was swinging metal. He’s got power (stuff).”

QUOTE(SoxFanForever @ May 31, 2007 -> 04:54 PM) Haha, what happened to your chops. That's great. So what do people here think of Lesnar's chances in his first K-1 fight? I know he has a very solid college wrestling background. I'm interested to see what others think he will do. He will need to work on his submissions. Wrestling helps with take downs and ground control. However watching great wrestlers like Kostchek look lost after they mount, is what I would worry here. He really needs to know how to get into position to strike or he will need to be able to submit and defend against submissions. Plenty of wrestlers look great on the take downs, but cant do anything once they get control. I dont think he can go toe to toe striking yet. He is strong but it takes time to get that part going. Having Gracie as your trainer cant hurt on the submissions.

The Jays just pound lefties and we have 2 going this series. .294 BA with an .841 OPS against lefties.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ May 21, 2007 -> 05:28 PM) Bulls***. We need gap hitter who can post a well-above average OBP. Pods does neither of those things. Owens is walking for the first time in his career, and has something like 3 extra-base hits. A Gap hitter who gets on a lot who doesn't steal that much would score a hell of a lot more runs than some light hitting low obp guy who steals a lot at a 70% clip. This team needs line drive hitters a hell of a lot more than a bunch of speedy guys who cant get on base at a good enough clip.

How is this bush league, this is called smart baseball. I have seen this done from little league to the college level and I am sure it happens more and more at the MLB level. But because its Arod, then people get mad. Our shortstop in college and the 2nd baseman used to yell back back back when a guy would get off the base, to deak them back to the base while using his cleat to kick up dust and make noise. The runner would think that a play is on, and would break back or shift his weight back. This was enough to either keep the guy from scoring or allow us to have a force on a play we wouldnt of before. How many people steal signs? We had a bench coach for years that was a master at it. How many people on 2nd relay signs back to the hitter? We used to yell cut calls when the ball was coming into home from the outfield. The minute the ball would come near the cut guy, the guy in the batters box would yell "CUT 2". The cut man ever so often would buy it and cut the ball.

Al Qaeda Also Fed Up With Ground Zero Construction Delays

Here is another Youtube classic. Rampage buying a jock in japan. He tells everyone he has a big dick, and the jocks they have are too small.

QUOTE(Wedge @ May 31, 2007 -> 11:13 AM) Obviously Steff can't say anything, but what can we really speculate in terms of big changes? Move Crede and bring up Fields Move Dye and bring up Sweeney Move a starter and put Masset in the rotation Move AJ and make Hall the fulltime starter Do something with Iguchi? Redo the bullpen? I mean, we really can't move Konerko or Thome and I think we really need to move one of Konerko-Thome-Dye. That 3-4-5 is just so slow. Not to steal a Dusty-ism, but it really "clogs up the basepaths". The best thing the team could do is move to the NL Central... The AJ move wont make sense. We have no depth at catcher and AJ and Hall are the tandem we will have for a while. Hall has a torn labrum, so that doesnt scream make me the full time starter.

QUOTE(Steff @ May 31, 2007 -> 10:58 AM) No point. Trade them all and start from scratch. I recall saying this after Soxfest. We can trade them all, and then go through the same thing. Something has to be done this offseason with the way our minor leaguers are prepared for the majors. The twins have one of the best systems, because they work on playing the game the right way, and making their players fundamentally sound. Every prospect we bring up, is a slugger who has a long looping swing and isnt exactly fundamentally sound. They get exploited and abused when they are up. We need to seriously blueprint the twins minor league coaching philosophy and then find people that can instruct the kids still in the minors, and the ones we are bringing in to play the game the right way. Or we will be back to square one in a few years. We have been through this before. Revamp the entire minor league coaching, and instruction and scouts and start over. Its broke.