thedoctor

there's are any number of reasons that this team hasn't played well. when things are going this way it's extraordinarily simple to just say "it's ozzie's fault" or "it's kw's fault." certainly they are accountable for this current mess, but i tend to hold the players most responsible. here are a few factors i'd point out. key players performing well below their career averages: konerko, dye, macdougal, and iguchi in particular are really underperforming at this point. all were expected to play integral parts of this team but instead they've mostly flopped. their issues are exacerbated by... injuries: yeah, i said it. people hate this excuse but c'mon. we've now had (in succession) podsednik, thome, erstad, and crede head to the dl. now there's no doubt these players themselves (excepting thome) have debatable overall value to the team depending on who you ask. that said, you can't jockey the top three players in your batting order with regularity and not expect that there will be some kind of residual effect. it's the bullpen, stupid: wow our bullpen is bad. this goes on kenny. the fact that we currently have bukvich, day, and prinz on the major-league roster is not a good thing and just emblematic of how bad of a failure this year's bullpen experiment has been. aardsma, sisco, and macdougal have all imploded leaving us with a a huge gap. the fact that we've mostly replaced those guys with journeymen is not helping anything. the kids can(t) play: some teams can weather injuries or players not meeting expectations. many times they do this by bringing up young players who at least don't appear totally overwhelmed here. while sweeney looked good in spots, it's been a long, long time since we brought up a product of our system who provided an immediate and noticeable boost to the big club. that has to change. anyhow, my two cents.

QUOTE(maggsmaggs @ Jun 6, 2007 -> 02:38 AM) How does being signed out of Asia in Wang's case as a youngster any different from Latin America. He is a farm product of the Yankees. i'd agree on wang (seems weird typing that). although he was signed out of asia he did spend a fair amount of time being developed in the minors. at the same time, i wouldn't credit the yankees for developing soriano. he spent parts of two minor league seasons in their system after being signed out of japan.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jun 6, 2007 -> 02:33 AM) Yeah because the Yankees dont have unlimited funds to go and buy it. We dont have unlimited funds. that's true, but my point was more directed at the post claiming the yankees have had some great track record of developing players. they haven't. there is no doubt changes need to be made because our system isn't producing what it should be. williams has said that himself.

QUOTE(maggsmaggs @ Jun 6, 2007 -> 02:28 AM) Don't you wonder why some teams just continually produce solid big league players like the Braves, the Yankees, the Indians, the Twins...And then wonder why the Sox can't. Well it lies within the organization and sometimes you need a clean sweep to reconstruct. i'm not arguing that changes don't need to be made. i just think people can get carried away sometimes. and i also don't think the yankees have continually produced solid big league players.

so, to get this straight if we're 10 out by the end of the month we fire every pitching and hitting coach in the organization. top to bottom. christ, why don't we just dig up andy the clown and kick him a few times, too.

QUOTE(TheOcho @ Jun 5, 2007 -> 08:08 PM) Is age actually being used in this conversation? Eesh. and post-count superiority and job/career bragging as well. quality stuff.

good read on lost's storytelling interesting. not a spoiler or prediction of the future of the show, but a nice look at how the story is told and how that's helped the show.

thomas makes it official, ohio state is his choice

all that video is missing is chris tucker going, "you got knocked-the-f--k out!"

QUOTE(Jenks Heat @ Jun 2, 2007 -> 03:46 PM) As for Zambrano, he appears to be trying to pitch through an injury. If healthy with Guillen, I think it could work. Health is the issue. If Zambrano tanks, I see the cubs going hard at Buerhle although I believe he really hates Wrigley. and hates the cubs. totally agree on your point about zambrano pitching through something right now. his arm angle is noticeably lower than it was last year which makes me think he has some kind of shoulder issue.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ May 29, 2007 -> 08:45 PM) Who in the world is Ron Mexico?

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Jun 1, 2007 -> 01:03 PM) Good lord. Congrats to OSU; that's impressive to get that guy to commit this early in the process. He's going to be amazing. apparently thomas is an early top-3 in the nation in the class of 2010 along with jereme richmond and a kid from california who's name escapes me now (jeremy tyler?).

QUOTE(sox4lifeinPA @ May 30, 2007 -> 08:43 PM) A group of friends started watching classic movies...this month was "East of Eden"... Dean is/was awesome. Hitchcock is next month, any suggestions? vertigo and rear window are good.

watched little miss sunshine over the weekend. cute, but not sure i got all the hype. and i'm sure this has been well-covered here before, but how did alan arkin win an oscar for that.

QUOTE(beautox @ May 30, 2007 -> 10:08 AM) no offense but i totally disagree with this statement. we've got some interesting pieces coming up thorough our system. Gio, Egbert, Russel, Masset, Floyd if he gets it together and De Los Santos is a ways away, then there is Haeger, Broadway & McCulloch As far as position prospects we've got Fields, Sweeney, Anderson, Carter, and Cunningham. Carter is showing big time power and an exceptional eye, he looks to be the heir apparent to 1B. We also have a good mix of interesting BP arms; all is not lost for sox fans. This Team needs an influx of youth and speed to go along with the station to station baseball we've bore witness to for so long. The Kids need to play. If i we're KW these are the moves i would make this offseason provided we let mark, iguchi and dye walk. Trade AJP and Uribe to the Blue Jays for OF Travis Snider & RHP Graham Godfrey. Their current SS is Royce Clayton and Zaun is on the DL and the decline. Snider is a very young OF with a ton of potential and tools unfortunately they Jays already have a stacked OF(Lind/Wells/Rios) That gives the sox an additional 10.5 to play with to go along with the 10mil they cleared when they traded Garcia. Trade Jose along with Anderson and possibly Mmac if he gets his ERA down to something respectable or another BP arm(Sans Jenks, Thornton, Aardsma, Masset) for C Jarrod Saltalamacchia and SS Yunel Escobar. Salty is blocked by McCann and his value lies behind the dish, not to say his bat couldn't carry him to 1B, and Escobar is among the throngs of SS the braves have at both the ML and Milb level (Renteria/Andrus/Lillibridge/Fontaine). Jose is old, but he is still putting up good numbers and at times dominates, i think a change to the NL would only further that at 10mil a year he's a steal for the next two years, Kyle Davies hasn't lived up to expectations and they're still paying Hampton to sit on the DL. Both Brandon Jones and Matt Harrison won't be ready for another season and a half. Andruw Jones is going to become a FA and they'll need a CF who can cover ground like him and still has some power potential; enter BA i think he needs a change of scenery and consistent ML ABs. Mmac is a constant injury risk but when he is healthy and on hes a great setup man/closer. I just don't see us getting an All star caliber back stop that is great defensively calls a good game and knows how to hit with out giving up a bit. Trade Joe Crede to one of the following teams The Giants or Angels for one of the following 4 players: From the Giants 2B Kevin Frandsen or 2B Marcus Sanders; From the Angels MI Erik Aybar or MI Sean Rodriguez. The Angels have Kendrik and Cabrera at SS & 2B respectively, and the Giants have Durham for 1 more season and the other 2B who doesn't get traded. Try and get anything you can for Scott Podsednik & Alex Cintron, if not non tender. Sign one of the following FA CF. Ichiro (5/90) Jones (8/$138M) Hunter(6/85) Rowand(6/85) Fukudome(3/8-10) With the money saved from making the moves stated above along with letting Mark, Dye & Iguchi walk the sox should easily be able to afford a marquee CFer. Along with all those moves i would extend Jon to a 5 year deal (5/58?), jon gives us 200 innings has been incredibly durable and an ERA+ of 110 over the past 3 years on average and takes some preasure off the up and coming arms. Also give Terrero enough rope for this season to either build a bridge into 08 or hang himself. So now i present my version of the '08 white sox LF - Erstad L SS - Escobar R DH - Thome L 1B - Konerko R CF - Jones R C - Saltallamachia S 3B - Fields R RF - Sweeney L 2B - Aybar S Erstad is merely a place holder unless we sign Ichiro in which case i would keep him as a bench player/all around good guy. With having acquired Snider and Cunningham developing we still need someone to fill in one of the 3 OF spots. SP Garland Vazquez Danks Masset Gio/Egbert/Broadway/Floyd/Haeger BP Jenks Aardsma Thornton Logan(LOOGY) Wassermann(ROOGY) Russel/Perez/Vasquez/Reynoso/Sisco/Day Bench Hall Mackowiak Gonzalez Terrero Ozuna?? There is alot of question marks up and down the roster i would be the first to admit it, but if we expect to contend in 2-3 years you have to role the dice, the team to be is going to be Cleveland for what appears to be a long time. The tigers are getting old like us around the diamond but they've got alot of good young pitching, and the twins are weird place after this coming season. the royals still need alot of pitching. anyways just my .02 dude, that was way more than two cents.

walt and michael returning?

a few lost stories to help whet your appetite. we have a loooong time to kill. lindelof not happy with spoilergate this and that on the finale and the future

not sure if this belongs here or the diamond club, but this is a great read: bo

QUOTE(dasox24 @ May 25, 2007 -> 12:07 AM) Oh wow, I completely forgot about her. Thanks Doc. no problem.

QUOTE(dasox24 @ May 24, 2007 -> 04:43 AM) Wow, I don't even know how to describe how I'm feeling after that. I really wish there were only 2 seasons left instead of 3. And who the hell are the people on the boat that Naomi was with? Who's Nadia btw? nadia is the woman sayid was in love with when he was in iraq. she was a part of his storyline in the first season. she's also turned up in locke's flashback, and then was the arab woman who charlie came to the defense of in his flashback episode last week.

QUOTE(Jenks Heat @ May 24, 2007 -> 01:50 PM) I am not sure we are suppossed to even know who the dead guy is right now and it will be interesting to see how it plays out. here is a theory on the name in the article. it's not a spoiler, just a theory. i pulled it from another board:

QUOTE(bmags @ May 24, 2007 -> 06:47 AM) It clearly says clinton portis. i really liked this finale but hated this "future look" thing they did with Jack. Absolutely hated it. Was jumping up and down when sayid was still alive thou, just the boost i needed after seeing this terrrrrible sox game live. last night i wasn't sure how i felt about the future look, but after a night to rest on it i am more comfortable with it. more importantly, i'm really curious how it affects the story and approach going forward. do we now pick up in the present and what happens on the island from communication with the boat becomes the flashback. or, was the future look a "potential" future, not the reality. either way, well done. this show kicks ass.

less than 12 hours to the finale!

danks is the man.

QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ May 22, 2007 -> 08:35 PM) In best Hawk voice: "I love doc." Agree on nearly every point made, doc. There are really no must-gets; rather, there is a handful of talented kids that will contribute to whatever team they join. I, too, would like to see the CPL controversy put to bed--hopefully, with a commitment from Dunigan or Liggins or both, it would be a start. I must be hearing the same rumblings on Dunigan that you are hearing, because I've heard Weber is head-over-heels for the kid and Dunigan is taking quite the liking to Illinois. I would be ecstatic with Dunigan and Shumpert, just thrilled to death and from what I've been hearing, it's not out of the realm of possibility. If you're looking for the role playing type, that kid Humphrey fits the bill. He is a big-time perimeter scorer that matches up nicely with Weber's offense. I'm a little worried he takes a scholarship out of the hands of someone better rounded, but if these other options don't materialize, he'd be a fine addition. yeah, supposedly dunigan most likes illinois and purdue. that will be a tough one to the end. it would be nice to get one of those five-stars, of course knowing our recent luck we'll get the five-star that sucks. unfortunately i think dunigan has the potential, which i largely base on his lack of production in high school games. liggins is the guy i'd most want, just because i think a 6-6 kid who can really pass the ball would be a great fit for motion.