southsideirish71

QUOTE(Jabroni @ Jun 29, 2005 -> 05:26 AM) Contreras will earn $8 million next season. I'm sure the Giants would rather just keep Schmidt for $10 million than pay Contreras $8 million. Actually its 6 mill. The yanks gave us money to offset his deal. We could float that back to SF.

QUOTE(Capn12 @ Jun 29, 2005 -> 02:03 AM) I'm still pretty sure that unless KW finds a 3rd baseman that is above and beyond Crede in all areas, we don't make a deal. Credes defense is vastly overlooked by the masses. Every player in a lineup isn't going to hit .300....just simple fact. You have those players that hit .250-.260 but give you so many other things that you live with it. Credes defense allows him to hit .250ish IMO. When our 1-3 in the order aren't getting on base, thats when we lose...not when Crede pops up (again) Crede had a hot streak that brought him up to .240. Now his 2 week hot streak is over and he is back on a down streak. Cruddy Joe by Month April .304 Everyone jumps on the bandwagon. Joe figured it out. The cage worked. May .155 Some people like myself, look Crede is back to normal. He sucks. Others well he had a great May. June .254 2 good weeks followed by more ineptness. Well we are ok with Joe hitting .250 ish because he plays good dfense. .250 would be good, .260 would be great. But he is hitting .235 and he is on his way down. If his current crap streak keeps up he will be below .230 in a week or so. Do you really think that if Joe is sub .230 in Valentin territory that KW is going to watch this guy pull the human fan routine waving at everything popping crap up is going to sit well. And before everyone jumps on the well we have the best record in baseball, lets not make any changes. How did Seattle do after they won 116 games. Did they lift that WS trophy high, they didnt do anything and came up short in the playoffs.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jun 29, 2005 -> 01:49 AM) Jason Johnson is a good, solid pitcher, hopefully Brandon is on his game and can get win numero uno. So I wonder if the whitesox offense struggles tonight to get a few hits are we going to say. No offense would of hit them. Or did you see him pitch, he really lived on the corners. The cure for our offense is our hitters not taking home run cuts. Shortening the swings up, swinging at strikes, laying off balls. Jason Johnson is not that good.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jun 28, 2005 -> 11:53 PM) He was really, really good tonight. When you hit corners like he did today no offense is going to hit you. I have heard this before. Everytime a pitcher shuts us down, everyone starts talking about how, did you see that pitcher, did you see his curveball, he hit the corners, he changed speeds. I watched the replay, if our hitters actually shortened their swings up on 2 strikes they would of had a chance. But taking home run cuts when the count has 2 strikes in it doesnt help. Our offense ranks at the bottom of the MLB in singles, doubles, and triples. We make good pitchers look great. And great pitchers look HOF worthy. The minute that these guys shorten up their swings on 2 strikes or stop taking home run swings everytime they are up in the box, the better they will hit. They really need to work on being more consistant.

QUOTE(Soxnbears01 @ Jun 28, 2005 -> 09:25 PM) a bit, it's only been a couple games. Find me 1 team that doesn't go through this. Give it a few more days, they'll find it again. They've already done it at least once this year. That once before was called April and May. We clicked for a few weeks when we started playing the NL West. But as the temperature heats up, we start looking long ball. Our pitching is killer. No doubt. Mark Buerhle needs to start the Allstar game. He is a stud. Thank you whitesox pitching for this win.

9 strikeouts from Nate Roberston. Wow thank God I was working and not watching this game. Well its nice to see that it was just facing a 300 game winner and facing Prior that was keeping our offense down. So what was the story tonight, swinging for the fences, not working the count, pulling the baseball like madmen. Thank God Buerhle is a stud. This offense needs to start to click a bit more when they dont face the rockies or royals. These guys have got to string a few hits together. Credes awsome June lasted 2 weeks.

Lineups are in. Starting Lineups No. Chicago White Sox Detroit 1 Scott Podsednik, LF Brandon Inge, 3B 2 Tadahito Iguchi, 2B Placido Polanco, 2B 3 Frank Thomas, DH Carlos Guillen, SS 4 Paul Konerko, 1B Rondell White, LF 5 Aaron Rowand, CF Ivan Rodriguez, C 6 Jermaine Dye, RF Dmitri Young, DH 7 Joe Crede, 3B Craig Monroe, RF 8 Chris Widger, C Chris Shelton, 1B 9 Juan Uribe, SS Nook Logan, CF

QUOTE(ZoomSlowik @ Jun 28, 2005 -> 01:54 PM) We don't need to trade for Jason Schmidt or Roger Clemens. You're basically going to use 3 guys through most of the playoffs, with one, maybe two starts for the 4th guy. For a 4th starter, Contreras works. Considering he would probably be facing the other team's 4th starter like Miller/Wakefield, Wang, or whatever scrub Baltimore or Texas throw out there, I wouldn't worrry that much. LA is the only team with a credible 4th starter, but it'd probably be Bird (doing better than he should right now) unless Escobar gets his s*** together, which doesn't seem likely. Oontreras against the Redsox? Good lord. He s***s himself everytime you mention Fenway.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Jun 28, 2005 -> 01:36 PM) With the way the playoff is scheduled, you won't have to depend on them to start. It would go Buehrle, Garcia, Garland then Buehrle again. The only time El Duque or Contreras were to start is if we're about to win the series and we are up 3-1 at one point. Teams dont go with a 3 man rotation outside of the first round that much. We will need 4 starters.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Jun 28, 2005 -> 01:08 PM) And you do realize that 4th ace will only start 2 max games in the playoffs? Another ace isn't needed. It's a luxury. Well we have a possible 4th starter in Conteras who s***s himself everytime he sniffs Fenway. or We have another guy who had a 5.40 ERA in the playoffs last year. He was hitting 88-90 on the gun. This year he is hitting 84-85 and has been on the DL now twice. I keep forgetting where starts in the playoffs are throw aways because they only happen a few times.

QUOTE(sircaffey @ Jun 28, 2005 -> 01:22 PM) Do we not trust our scouting? All this drop in velocity talk w/ some people saying it has been up in his past 2 starts. I trust our scouts to make the correct evaluation. This is from Rotoworld.

QUOTE(Wedge @ Jun 28, 2005 -> 01:07 PM) I'm going to make an assumption here: the Sox will win the division and make the playoffs. This is a valid assumption because no team has had a 10 game lead on its league/division prior to the all-star break or July and not won its respective league/division. For lots and lots of years, lots and lots of baseball has been played and for that to not have occurred yet is remarkable and suggests it is highly unlikely to occur in the future. Yes I know Minnesota and Cleveland and Detroit are teams that can all make a run, but barring two major injuries (i.e. a starting pitcher and an everyday player going down for the rest of the season), but the Sox have done well against them the entire season thus far. I digress, this is not what I am arguing about. Hopefully I'm not making a rush to a conclusion here, but you're telling me that we should get Schmidt if it cost us some mixture of McCarthy, Anderson, Marte, and Sweeney (definitely 2 out of those 4 and maybe 3 out of those 4). Because we have already assumed the play-offs, we will not be needing Schmidt to reach this point. Rather, you're stating that essentially we only need him for one game: game 3 or game 4. The question you need to ask yourself is this: "does Jason Schmidt give this team a significantly better shot to win a game 3 or game 4 in the playoffs (either by pitching it himself or moving down Garcia/Garland in the rotation to that game) to the point where it is worth it to concede several prospects that many foresee helping the White Sox to future division championships?" Schmidt's health thus far this season, coupled with his fairly weak vs. AL stats make me question if he will be able to upgrade our chances this season to a point where it is worth giving up the crown jewel prospect of the Sox, a good reliever, and maybe two good OF prospects. I still think the road to the WS will go through Fenway. We will have the home field advantage. But game 3.4.5 would be at Fenway. The thought of having Conteras or El Duque pitch in Fenway scares the hell out of me. Schmidt or AJ would give us a better chance to win in those games. And in the playoffs there are no throwaway games. All of them count. The first one to 4 wins moves on.

Boston most likely will be in the playoffs. And do you really want the count going up against a team that he has s*** the bed pretty much every time he has faced them.

QUOTE(Wedge @ Jun 28, 2005 -> 12:44 PM) Sorry for asking this dumb question, but why do we need Schmidt or Burnett again? Do you want to throw this years El Duque or Conteras out in game 4 with the pressure on. El Duque is hitting 84-85 and Conteras is a mixed bag. He may throw a great game, then again he may s*** himself silly. Its too much of a risk.

QUOTE(AirScott @ Jun 28, 2005 -> 12:41 PM) 2 starts is really the start of a convincing run. 30 is not that old anyway, he'd be a great pickup. so would Burnett, even if he wouldn't sign for a few more years here. he'd give our playoff rotation a serious boost (Buehrle, Garland, Garcia, Burnett or Schmidt? Contreras and El Duque coming out of the pen. that'd be sick). I hope KW goes out and gets either one of them. If we get either we will have 4 possible shut down guys in the playoffs. We need a 4 man rotation for the playoffs. And pitching the Count or El Duque is not really an option. I could care less what his "career" numbers say, El Duque is hitting the old 84 mark in his velocity and would be a good loss possibility in the playoffs. Either Burnett or Schmidt sound great to me. Get one of them Kenny. I dont really care which. We get that and maybe a lefty who can get lefties out and I would feel pretty good about our chances.

QUOTE(JimH @ Jun 28, 2005 -> 07:14 AM) Just a quick comment on Anderson vs. Sweeney, based strictly on having seen both guys play. Anderson is more advanced right now. He also has better speed, more power, and he has more range defensively. Their arms are about equal, I might give a slight edge to Sweeney. Sweeney has far more bat control IMO, he has the ability to foul pitches off, make the pitcher work, and put the ball in play. This year's stats tend to bear it out, his walks and strikeouts are about even ... about once every 9 at bats. All he's exhibited so far is gap power, I'm a little surprised he has no HR's but he is only 20 and this is his first full year in AA. Anderson seems very susceptible to breaking stuff and I was not totally thrilled with his strike zone judgement. This is just a personal opinion but I think both will be major league regulars. If I had to compare, I would put Anderson at probably the Steve Kotsay level, but not as a leadoff hitter. Right now he looks like a #6 or #7 hitter. As for Sweeney, he has a great lefthanded swing but he will need to hit for more power. If he progresses I feel the White Sox have their starting RF for 10 years, and a very good one at that. So if someone forced me to choose on a long term basis, I would take Sweeney over Anderson without batting an eye. But, I'm not a scout, I'm just an observer. Good analysis. Lets look at it another way. The first one to go will be Anderson. He is the closest to being major league ready and based on this will be the most attractive for a trade partner. Anderson has some pop but still has a lot of strikeouts. Remember Anderson is playing in a bandbox right now. Jeremey Reed looked like the second comming of Ichiro in that stadium. Sweeney is a left handed stick and fits better in our grand scheme of this offense. He is a gap hitter, young and the big thing is that he has made a great impression on Ozzie. My short list of the expendables for trades this year are Tracey, god if someone would take Diaz and Borchard, and of course Anderson will be the big price dangling like Jeremy Reed.

QUOTE(robinventura23 @ Jun 27, 2005 -> 10:07 AM) http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...-home-headlines Trib article... Well the kids is pitching in a pitchers park up in Comerica. He better keep the ball down. That lineup can lace the ball like crazy. This start should really tell us where he is. I think this start will also tell KW if he needs to go and get someone.

QUOTE(daa84 @ Jun 27, 2005 -> 08:17 AM) i dont think there is anything definite but on foxsports.com ken rosenthall says the orioles and another unidentified AL team have engaged in serious talks about burnett. there are 14 AL teams, you know the Os are one, you can cross off the royals, Ms, devil rays, As for sure. that makes 9 teams. it probably isnt toronto or the tigers. this is certainly not minnesota's type of move since they wont be able to sign burnett in the offseason. That leaves teh White sox, red sox, yankees, indians angels and rangers. the indians IMO can't make that deal, because since burnett is a FA, this has to be a deal for this year and this year only. given the needs, i would say the rangers, bosox yanks and chisox are the main possibilities. as far as im concerned, i believe its us, dangling mccarthy but i could be wrong. i also think its us because KW never likes to be mentioned about trades, and maybe thats why the name isnt given. also ozzie has the old florida connection and might be pushing for burnett. http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/3720056 Its probably the BoSox. With their offense facing a Schilling, AJ, Clement, Miller/Fatboy combo would be a tough draw in the playoffs. I hope we are not resting on this best record in baseball crap, because when we go into the playoffs all the records are wiped and we start over. Seattle didnt make it into the world series and they won more games that we will. AJ would definately make a sick rotation in the playoffs. Buerhle, Garcia, AJ, Garland would match up with anything out there. We get that, maybe another stick who can play 1st and 3rd. And a lefty who can get lefties out in the pen and we would be good enough to battle for the WS.

QUOTE(knightni @ Jun 27, 2005 -> 09:18 AM) The good news... The Sox won't be facing Prior in the playoffs. /Cubs Suck Just Schilling/Colon/Clement/Miller types.

QUOTE(jerseysox @ Jun 27, 2005 -> 12:29 AM) that year against the Mariners was a nightmare. but even if we upgrade with say Joe Randa over Joe Crede, is that really going to make that big a difference? There isn't a move we can make that's going to add a couple of .330 hitters to our lineup. We need that, plus we need Ozzie and Walk to sit down with the hitters and talk about a hitting strategy. Just having them swing for the fences all the time is getting out of hand. On 2 strikes with men in scoring position they should shorten up their swings and put the ball in play. Thats the whole idea of this speed team. You put the ball in play and maybe something happens. If you just K you have no chance. Things that concern me are when you have Rowand who has been a great hitter this season and last come into the Padre series and say hey I have been working on a new swing where I get out in front of the ball more so I can get more lift for power. This is after he brings his BA up to near 300. It has dropped since. AJ came here and the same thing, he was a oppo field hitter, he got away from that for a good month and is starting to get back to it. Our hitters need to play within their means, not everyone needs to be a power hitter. That is Konerko, Thomas and Dye. That is their jobs. Its not Joe Credes job to hit the ball to mars. Watching Uribe spin around like a top or tomahawk a pitch over his head. Its a few hitters and they need to corral it.

QUOTE(jerseysox @ Jun 27, 2005 -> 12:22 AM) It's scary. We do take care of business against the weaker teams, and I'm not taking that for granted, because all you have to do is look at what the Yankees have done against the D-Rays and Royals to see how that can change a season. It's just that I don't see what can be done to change it. For instance, if you only have two good starters, you go trade for a third one. If you lack bullpen depth, you go get a reliever. But if you're offense is inept against above-average to great pitching, what can you do? You can't get just ONE guy to fix it. It doesn't work that way. On the flip side, you can't overhaul the entire lineup either. I guess all I can say is The only problem is the minute you mention making a trade everyone gets their panties in a bunch. God forbid if you upgrade at 3rd or maybe dont want shingo or viz to come into a close game. You are betraying the best team in baseball. I remember flying into the playoffs in 2000 with a good record and watching a team that pitched pretty well in the playoffs, but couldnt hit in them. Our pitching has been great, but you still need to outscore the opposing team.

QUOTE(jerseysox @ Jun 27, 2005 -> 12:14 AM) I'm with you man. We're gonna have to win every game 1-0 or 2-1. It's too much pressure on the pitching. I'm just worried is all. I have the stats in my sig that pretty much sum up a problem. We are either last or near dead last in singles, doubles and triples in the majors. The only stat that we are near the league lead is in homers. Our strikeouts are up from last year also. This does not project well into the playoffs. We need to start to shorten up the swings a bit, and go for contact more than just mashing the ball to mars. But when we put up a 10 spot on Jose Lima or Sergio Mitre people think the offense is ready for anyone.

QUOTE(wsox08 @ Jun 27, 2005 -> 12:09 AM) I think our offense will get together, it's really too early to judge that stuff. I know we had trouble hitting Elmer Dessens, but every team has their off days and the Sox seem to win and hit in streaks. Let's hope we catch fire come playoff time and win the world series...... We are coming up to the allstar break. I think the too early to judge is kinda over. We have faced some crappy teams over the last month. Everyone is all happy we beat up on the royals and a few other bad pitching teams and forget that our stats pretty much reveal what this team has done.

Everyone just keeps repeating the mantra. We have the best record in baseball and we dont need to change a thing. This of course is until we end the season and start over in the playoffs. Then we will have home field advantage. Hopefully we can pull some home runs.

QUOTE(whitesoxin' @ Jun 26, 2005 -> 11:41 PM) Just shut up. Or even better, I'll shut you up by ignoring you. One this is a rant thread, second I could give 2 s***s that you ignore me, and 3 STFU.