CaliSoxFanViaSWside

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 19, 2010 -> 04:09 PM) Pierre never gets rest when he's in there. That's one of his things. Yes, Pierre has a lot of CS. However...Pierre isn't the problem on that. He's been reliably at 76% all year on CS's. 75%ish is the magic number where you're actually making a difference. He has a lot of CS because he's stolen a ton of bases. It's actually bothered me more the times he hasn't run rather than the times he has...times when they've bunted with him. Rios, Ramirez are guys that the CS's have bothered me a lot m ore. That's why an over reliance on him has its faults for the future. He would have been CS a lot more if he wasn't so good at avoiding tags when he was basically dead to rights. So right now is he barely passable. Going forward we don't have much to look forward to with him as he will be getting slower and still has a bad arm and no power. His OBP was OK due his getting HBP so many times. It's true there are too many CS by others which brings us back to Ozzie's methods which are questionable in the AL at best where Pierre is still a microcosm of the Ozzie way.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Sep 18, 2010 -> 03:23 PM) Well, it's not like we are going to move Pierre anywhere. And quite frankly, he has been a pretty decent player for us. Pierre is a microcosm of what's wrong with Ozzie. I will agree that Pierre has been "decent" but he's not getting any younger and has a ton of caught stealings. Ozzie over relies on him to a fault. Seems to me Pierre has had less rest than any other starter. I can remember Jones in left a few times during the season . As far as Larussa goes no thanks. Too old, too expensive wants too much control.

It's nice to have 2 young options at 3rd base. If Morel can hit at all he will be there for quite a while. Right now it's more important for Dayan to learn to be more selective at the plate. He will just have to adjust to playing another position such as OF , 1st or DH.

Good job Linebrink #@!%#

Austin Jackson infield single steals 2nd. No hitter gone.

Morel diving play to save no hitter.

Morel HR !

No hitter through 5 for Jackson.

Manny HR.

Neither team with a hit through 3.

Jones takes called 3rd strike. Teahen and Castro also K looking.

Sox turn 2 to end the Tigers 2nd.

Pierre HBP, Pierre out stealing while Alexei K's. Manny flys to right.

Jackson K's Cabrera to end Tigers half of 1st.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Sep 17, 2010 -> 04:00 PM) It would be hilarious if the Sox won all the rest of their games and edged out the Twins for first place. Even if the Sox won out they still won't catch the Twins. Halfway to St. Patrick's day today at the Cell.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 15, 2010 -> 06:34 AM) I'd love to see one post where someone called Clayton Richard a "terrific young talent" before he was traded. I know Hudson had a few fans, but not too many. Before they were dealt a lot of people who are their biggest fans know thought those two kids were garbage themselves. I'm pretty sure Jason liked Richard and I did also. But I always like young starters who come up and show ability. Most thought that ability was 4 or 5th starter type. But KW can't just keep trading talented young under control players for $8+ million a year guys . I understand the need to compete every year but when a cost effective move like resigning Thome presented itself there was no sense of urgency. The sense of urgency/desperation only seems to come at mid season or during the waiver claim period. It would be nice once in a while to come out of the gate stronger which would also pump up the players a bit more too.

In the immortal words of Al Bundy "Let's rock " !

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 03:00 PM) Good afternoon. In less than two hours, the Minnesotta Twins will be landing at US Cellular Field. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. "Mankind." That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it's fate that today is the Fourthteenth of September, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom... Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution... but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourthteenth of September will no longer be known as a Chicagoan holiday, but as the day the Sox declared in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night!" We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our NukeTheTwins Day! Independence Day.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 06:18 AM) Maybe Thome isn't going to cost the White Sox the playoffs, but its hard to see how he being a White Sox right now and not a Twin wouldn't enhance the White Sox chances. Look at Vlad and Matsui's stats last year and this. Thome's were better. Vlad has an .851 OPS this year. Jim Thome had an .864 OPS with the Sox last year playing with a bad heel. Thome is playing for a fraction of what they are playing for this year Thome was truly underrated and under appreciated during his time with the Sox. Its a shame a pretty significant part of the White Sox fanbase for some reason never embraced him and enjoyed what he was able to accomplish from the batter's box. For all the defending I see of guys like Manny Ramirez, giving him credit for others getting big hits, its almost sickening. KW's quote about Manny the other day really struck me. He was asked about his hair and he said that guys with over 500 homers we will bend the team rules for a bit. I know a guy with over 500 homers that wouldn't think about doing anything outside the team rules. My stance is very similar to yours but let me add one thing. Not only was Thome under appreciated by many on this board but apparently in baseball front offices too. I know a lot of older slower one dimensional players were not given significant contracts offers but leave it to the Twins to see the value of the guy when so many could not. You forget just how damn good the guy is because he quietly goes about his business. The media is all over Manny so he's in the minds of fans and apparently GM's too .

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 05:59 AM) Unfortunately for you...thanks to the availability of Pitch F/X data, this unsupported contention can now actually be checked, because PFX categorizes pitch types. Last year, in 2009, Jim Thome Saw the 4 seam fastball 52% of the time. This year, in 2010, Jim Thome has seen the 4 seam fastball 39.5% of the time. In both cases we're talking about well over a thousand pitches, so this is a very statistically significant difference. Jim Thome is seeing vastly fewer fastballs this year. Therefore, your contention that Thome is performing better because of the lineup around him causing him to see more fastballs is simply wrong. When I saw that post with the assumption of what pitches Thome was seeing I knew yours wouldn't be far behind checking the data. That's pretty much why I only editorialize and don't throw things out there I can't support.

Carl Everett is a Paleontologist.

I'll never get tired of this Thome argument. Plenty of you make excellent points . I also reread a lot of the spring training thread about bringing him back and so many wanted him back. I know why everyone is frustrated because bringing him back was the easiest ,most cost effective move the Sox could have made. The guy is all class and a future HOF and used properly ,still a force to be reckoned with. It was Ozzie's call no doubt and KW has to regret giving in to him. So many things could have gone differently with Thome. Maybe with him the Sox don't get off to that terrible start. Maybe the pitchers felt like they had to carry the team and pitched poorly because of that. Maybe a lot of the hitters felt the pressure to make up for the loss of Thome. Maybe with him they hit better early in the season when they all sucked. Maybe with him the Sox don't trade Hudson for Jackson or sign Manny providing relief to a burgeoning payroll that will affect a lot of what goes down in the off season . Maybe without him the Twins are worse. Maybe Delmon Young doesn't have a career year or Danny Valencia doesn't play out of his mind. One thing affects so many other things . We won't ever know how it would have turned out. Would Ozzie's pride at having Thome back made him a better or worse manager ? Pure DH's apparently piss him off. Makes him feel like he's not managing or in control of the game. Apparently all the outs on the bases and all that bunting is his way of saying I'll do things my way and screw all of you who think we can't play small ball and succeed in a ballpark built for the exact opposite. What's really transparent is Ozzie is happiest having guy's who play the game the way he did. Scrappers ,grinders small-ballers . He really belongs in the NL .It's a shame he can't or isn't happy with a team who can out slug the other team. The best managers will do what they have to do to make the best use of the players they have. The Go Go Sox teams are long gone and so is the cavernous Old Comiskey. Not the Old Comiskey most of you remember but the one before there was a bullpen in CF . The one that was like 440 to dead center. That dinosaur is dead and it about time Ozzie the dinosaur (with apologies to Carl Everett) joins the rest of his kind in the La Brea tar pits.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 12, 2010 -> 02:52 PM) There's no reason to trade him frankly; if he puts up an .800 OPS with bad defense next year, he'd be a DFA candidate. You're just not going to get anything for him unless the other GM is a fool. The real thing you have to do in determining what to do about him next year is figure out behind the scenes what's going on with him. Is he still hurting, is he just lost at the plate, is this just all in his head or is he geniuinely never going to recover from his physical issues. I don't know about it taking a fool to want him. Seems like the kind of guy KW would target if he had the same stats with another team. Only 28, one MVP type season but injury prone. Sox once took a chance on the same type of guy (Dye) who ended up a WS MVP.

I'm done with Q for this year but against trading him after a bad year. Give him another year and see if he can rebound. He's a force if he can get it together.

PH hit granny for Jones. Good relief pitching. Paulie tops 100 ribbies. Still 6 back heading into series against the Twins.