CaliSoxFanViaSWside

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ May 4, 2014 -> 03:17 PM) Another QS for Rienzo. Him and Carroll have been great for this team Don't want to burst your bubble but "a quality start is a statistic for a starting pitcher defined as a game in which the pitcher completes at least six innings and permits no more than three earned runs." Rienzo pitched 4 2/3 innings gave up 7 hits 4 walks and 3 earned runs. Amazingly the 2 HR's he gave up to Kottaras had no one on.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 4, 2014 -> 01:43 PM) I think we will see a lot of ups and downs with Abreu, he seems to be in a down valley right now, he looks like he did when he went 1/25 It only seems that way because now his HR's are solo shots since Eaton or Semien are no longer on base when he hits one out. But he's actually at .280 with 2 jacks and 2 doubles in his last 7 games More extra base hits than singles which is inline with what we've seen of him so far.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ May 3, 2014 -> 05:44 PM) Anyone that can confirm or deny my recollection on Abreu of him having a tendency of getting a bit antsy in big situations and getting swing-happy? Might be a bit unfair as he's got a walk-off grand slam, but I think there's been a few times where he seems to get to the plate and feels like he has to swing at everything. There's no doubt he has to learn to take walks because sometimes the pitchers would rather take their chances on the next guy up. There's the learning curve he has to go through. They won't challenge him much now . It'll be get yourself out or take your walk. Trust your teammates can do the job too in the late innings.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ May 4, 2014 -> 01:13 PM) Tank hit the 3 run homer, so we're buyers again, right? Oh for sure after Sale, Eaton, Conor,Paulino, Keppinger all come back and Johnson finds his mojo and Paulino gets his groove back we're good as gold with The Carroller in the rotation now.

QUOTE (BigEdWalsh @ May 4, 2014 -> 01:07 PM) Stick that up your Kottarass, Cleveland! I like that. Creative writing skills .

QUOTE (flavum @ May 4, 2014 -> 01:11 PM) https://twitter.com/CST_soxvan/status/463047845314965504 That's great . Can't help but think if only they had been there before everyone got injured and we were hitting the snot out of the ball. But the bullpen had its injuries,visa problems , and the death of Webb's mom during spring training so I can see why they got off to a terrible start. They just didn't get the innings under their belts.

Get Sale back , get Johnson back on track . Hell maybe because of the injuries we found a guy like Carroll . Doesn't strike fear into anyone but he's a heavy sinkerballer which ought to play well in the Cell.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 4, 2014 -> 01:08 PM) Wite did nothing to deserve praise He stayed out of the game thread.

Abreu early . Tank late. f*** the Indians just like that.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 4, 2014 -> 01:01 PM) Wow, did not see that coming. Great win. Horrible loss for the Indians, which is nice. Very very nice.

I had to wait to say it till the last out but the Sox owe Cleveland some payback after last year just like Tank did it.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 3, 2014 -> 05:33 PM) Doesn't matter. Hahn loves his arm. In this type of season, they'll risk losing Putnam before they do the same with Putnam, even if Zach deserves the spot based on performance. I think Hahn cares more about results right now . It's not like Cleto is some guy who'll be in the rotation one day. He's just a reliever out of options and pitching poorly.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ May 3, 2014 -> 05:33 PM) Doesn't that apply to everyone? Cleto is the tallest of the non strike throwing midgets.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 3, 2014 -> 05:30 PM) They'll keep Cleto over Putnam. Cleto's of no use if he can't throw strikes.

That's a WOW of another kind for Abreu.

QUOTE (Jake @ May 3, 2014 -> 11:21 AM) I usually don't get very worked up about batting orders, but I was already getting pissed about having our worst hitter batting in front of Abreu. Now we have our second worst hitter batting in front of our worst hitter who is in front of our best hitter. Sheesh This made me laugh because that's really all you can do is laugh about it.

QUOTE (oldsox @ May 2, 2014 -> 06:23 PM) He was certainly given the opportunity, but he looks overmatched too often. At least when other teams chose to pitch to him with Abreu behind him he showed an ability to hit fat pitches. Still not sure Beckham can do the same thing in front of Abreu. Marcus was good with RISP terrible with no one on.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 2, 2014 -> 04:55 PM) Does anyone know why Hawkins is sitting out again for W-S He's being called up to be a starting pitcher.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 2, 2014 -> 08:19 AM) They moved Carrasco to the pen. 20 runs and three quality starts this weekend, then come back to Chicago and beat the Cubs four straight. Good time for a win streak. We don't really have the starting pitching for a win streak unless of course you're expecting Carroll and Rienzo to go 3-0 like they just did. But love the high hopes.

QUOTE (raBBit @ May 2, 2014 -> 07:12 AM) I really think the team can and will employ both of these strategies. I don't know if he's considered a big time FA, but Justin Masterson is a guy that would make sense. Sinkerballer, RH, expensive but not grotesquely expensive. I'd want Shields (depending on the price) but Masterson seems to be more aligned with the team's tendencies. We know for sure they are stockpiling injured guys, big arms and no control, unsigned free agents, Hanson, Noesi, Cleto , Frank Francisco anyone with a pulse and potential . Hoping for that needle in the haystack guy they always seem to come up with. Get them on the cheap and turn them into gold.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ May 1, 2014 -> 06:19 PM) Keeping draft picks, using them well, signing international FAs, investing in your scouting/development team, analyzing potentially undervalued assets using advanced metrics and scouting, signing low-risk high-reward guys, signing the occasional and very targeted FA acquisition, and saving your bullets until you can make them count. EDIT: Totally agree, the above is the extremely hard part. But Marty's wish for a blank check is a pipe dream. Only two teams have really made it work, and they're two of the richest teams in baseball. Even LAD has 0 recent championships to boast about. That's all well and good and a sound way to do things ,but the young core, our young core, if it proves to have staying power , we coud've competed this year and next year . There comes a point where you're either very serious about fielding a contender, not just a competitve team, or you're not.They're going to either roll with the big boys in the free agent market or if they continue doing business the way they always have, get very lucky rolling the dice on undervalued int'l. FA's, low risk, high reward guys because the rest of the things take much longer and then you start losing key pieces to the core or you have to trade a key piece to that core. The best thing for the Sox going forward is selling high on Viciedo if he can maintain what he's doing now all year. We are too right handed and maybe the Sox can swing a trade for someone fairly equal to Viciedo who is LH who can also catch the ball. Even someone older . The core won't stay the core very long. The path to more immediate success is trade from the core, the prospects or actually have a $100M contract on the Sox somewhere or perhaps a few Abreu like contracts unless you think you can imitate the Tampa Bays and Oaklands out there , which we shouldn't have to do.

QUOTE (BaconOnAStick @ May 1, 2014 -> 07:51 PM) We really have to kick Cleveland while they're down here and put them on a nine game losing streak. Which will have to coincide with playing better on the road.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ May 1, 2014 -> 03:20 PM) How much does it pay? Words may be cheap but I am not “A right judgement draws us a profit from all things we see.”

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 1, 2014 -> 07:21 AM) For specific guy, absolutely. Some take that as if he is willing to spend money on Tanaka, he has to have a spare $100 million in his pocket to spend now, having no idea if that is true or not. The Tanaka stuff could mean a lot of things. Honestly I think in that case they viewed Tanaka as a money generator that pretty much any other player wouldn't be. He would single handedly open a revenue stream back to Japan, and in this country, which no other player on the market really could have. I think they also viewed the guy as a game changer, much in the line of Abreu's batting ability, and didn't see that in the other pitchers on the market. This is right. For the rebuild Hahn wanted young impact now guys, Eaton, Abreu, A. Garcia, and Davidson. And he gave up the pitching to get bats. So of course he went for Tanaka, who is young and impactful right now. Hahn saw this as a chance at sustained sucess, just not one and done playoff appearances. But Hahn should also know it's very difficult to get a full young talented roster. Every sucessful team has high priced vets wether they come from free agency or the team developed and resigned or extended them. With Tanaka the Sox probably had their fingers crossed that if he and Abreu both were better than advertised they had a shot this year and if not that, surely next year with Eaton, A. Garcia , Viciedo and others with another year under their belts. But now without Tanaka the Sox will be in scramble mode for high end starters and not just young ones. The questions the Sox have to ask now if the young lineup proves to have staying power what do they do to get pitching ? Is it back in "all in" mode ? Do they give up prospects, look internationally, free agency ? The easy part is now over. Hahn gave up the high priced talent and a young starter and young closer with value for young position talent. Now Dunn is the only hold over high priced vet and the Sox might end up with nothing for him except a few million saved. How do you now get the starting pitching you need right now or next year to start this run of competing every year ? Even going after guys is no guarantee you get them. How big is the window , how long do you wait before it becomes " we desperately need another really good starting pitcher" ?

Rienzo settled in nicely. Pitched different this time, more cut fastballs and sliders as opposed to the curve . Only went to the curve late. Sox continuing to hit wel with RISP. Eaton, Semien, De Aza ,Alexei and Abreu all with big hits.