Jake

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 05:27 PM) It's going to be like Mark Buehrle Version 2.0 the first 2-3 seasons of his career. Nothing will be given to him, he's going to have to prove himself year after year. To me, one area he REALLY needs to improve upon is fielding his position. He's another verson of Clayton Richard, and not in a good way. And not sure how much of it is further coaching, and how much of it is he's just really bad at that aspect of the game. But he's been a gamer and bulldog for most of the season and showed up in key situations where veterans were spitting the bit. Yep, he'll always have to produce. We can also send him to the minors if he starts out slowly since we have just a hair of depth at the position (assuming Hector, Axelrod aren't in the MLB rotation and guys like Castro and Leesman keep it up in the MiLB). The book won't be closed on Q for a long time and I'd say the future is very bright. A 180 IP, 4.00 ERA season seems very possible next year

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 05:26 PM) He has? He's been average. Nothing great, nothing awful. I'd prefer he play a little more shallow. I'm thinking in terms of his defense being good (in the sense that he's clearly a capable CF, does not need to be moved off the position) and the fact that his bat is much more valuable in that position given what I said about his defense

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 05:25 PM) Kenny and Jerry have been really quiet of late. Ditto Robin. Without Oz here, not much noise from upstairs. Wonder what KW thinks of this choke-job. It's the same s*** every single game. KW has to be f***ing furious. If he wasn't, wouldn't he have sought out the media to blame injuries? KW is doing what he should do -- letting it all shake out. b****ing and moaning doesn't get you anywhere, if you want to rewrite the story of September by talking about injuries you can do that later

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 05:22 PM) ADA told the team he was more comfortable in LF than CF. He's played a very good CF, I don't give a f*** what he likes

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 05:15 PM) And some are going to argue that it's better to leverage him for prospects as he's an injury risk and that we'll only have him for possibly one or maybe two years (2014/15) when we're going to be legit contenders in the AL Central before he leaves via free agency. That's the pessimistic viewpoint. I wouldn't trade Viciedo, simply because I think you're not going to get a good enough return and he deserves another year to prove what he can do before any conclusions can be reached. Same thing with trading Quintana, who's just as likely to go 2012 Humber as be a core member of the rotation for the next five seasons. Santiago, no idea what to expect out of him or what his role might be. 3B is a mess. CF might be a mess if we stick DeAza out there again. Catching is a mess if Flowers is your plan without a back-up who can play everyday or at least platoon. Suzuki and Jaso have been mentioned quite a bit, there have to be some others we haven't thought of. We've got a ton of question marks surrounding our starting rotation and Konerko's health and age as well. Our CF situation is a mess??? What??? If you can't trust him to turn in another good year then you can officially put every single position down as a question mark. Quintana is far more likely to stay in our rotation for a long time than he is to become "2012 Humber." Q is 23 and Humber is 29. Q has done nothing but succeed as a professional baseball player as opposed to Humber who floundered everywhere and several years at the highest levels before catching fire for us. Q has much more going for him and it would be much more of a surprise if he became unserviceable rather than maybe a slight regression

Let's try to hit the ball NOT up

This year was meant to be the start of a rebuild and I think we need to approach next year with a somewhat similar mindset but still far more aggressive. Add players/dollars to the existing commitments if you can improve the team. Try as much as possible to put another winner out there next year. You might do other things like give Hector Santiago a spot in the rotation as a cost cutting measure, though.

QUOTE (JoshPR @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 05:02 PM) Can you chalk up all the s***ty AB's and bonehead plays that have cost us? Can you ignore the strikingly large amount of production he's given us? Do you not like that he's been arguably more productive than our 4 hitter while playing the most important defensive position better than anyone in baseball? QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 05:02 PM) I would assume season ticket sales will be 4000 less than this year or so cause of the lousy economy. Sox may need to make a splash and add somebody, anybody who might sell tickets. I'd bring back Buehrle for ticket reasons, get Miami to pay some of the contract and try to add a power starter as well. And if you can trade Rios, do so and try to add a bat. How many starters do you want? Sale, Buehrle, Danks, Q, Power Starter, Floyd, Roger Clemens, anyone else? Trading Rios and then adding a bat would make no sense

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 04:57 PM) That didn't stop Wise from pitching effectively

QUOTE (JoshPR @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 04:56 PM) And how many are in the clutch??? How bonehead plays has he made that extend innings and cost us the game? Get real really... High leverage: 120 PA, 31 RBI, .290 BA Med: 229 PA, 24 RBI, .281 BA Low: 254 PA, 17 RBI, .250 BA Looks like he gets better in the clutch!

The idea of Heath pitching doesn't bother me and with the state of this bullpen...someone in his position probably needed to...but guys like him pitching after weeks of inactivity is not a good position to be in

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 04:54 PM) And 9th out of 11 in terms of OPS in the AL Efficiency, I like it

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 04:53 PM) Who is this guy Look at his AAA numbers and be amazed

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 04:52 PM) There's a 1B that should be offered to everyone well before Rios. If you can trade PK, you can move Dunn to 1B. If PK is doing this poorly because of non-injury reasons or an injury that isn't simply fixed, I have to put my money on his retirement in the offseason.

Alexei w/ RISP: .341 A.L. SS RBI race: Ramirez #1 Back to the island with you!

QUOTE (chw42 @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 04:47 PM) Rios has something like 2 years and $25 million left. That's pretty affordable for a guy who just had an all-star type season. Yeah, not bad at all. He's earned it and more this year.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 04:46 PM) Viciedo walked. It's a freaking miracle. He's significantly better at drawing a walk than Alexei. Not sure if that is because his eye is so much better or if pitchers are just less afraid to attack Alexei. I also think that Alexei puts balls in play at a higher rate than Dayan, but I'm not sure.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 04:42 PM) Really no strong feeling whatsoever about him. He just hasn't gotten it done against the Tigers. End of story. That 6-0 lead he spit up at home against them still rankles. That game if we're thinking of the same one made Robin look bad for leaving him in too long

Yeah Rios!

QUOTE (flavum @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 04:39 PM) I wouldn't mind Flowers getting an opportunity to play himself into a regular catcher, but they better sign a good Plan B as a backup. Agreed, especially a LH hitter if possible

I'm enjoying the irrational Peavy hate

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 29, 2012 -> 04:37 PM) You want Flowers starting? I won't say I WANT it, but I feel much more comfortable with it than if we had Ramon Castro as our backup this season and thus no clear replacement.

Righties not seeing 'grosso's breaking stuff

Can't say that AJ would leave us in bad hands if he left us

I don't have a problem with what Peavs said. Sale is out of the conversation after today.