lvjeremylv

QUOTE(Vance Law @ Jan 29, 2008 -> 04:26 PM) Hell yeah. No more Santana hopefully means a couple more wins for us. Oh absolutely. We seemingly never beat Santana, so not having to face him 4 or 5 times in 2008 is a huge thing for the Sox. In 2007 he faced us 4 times, and he had a 3-1 record with a 3.41 ERA. In 2006, he started 5 games against us, and went 3-1 with a 2.31 ERA. 35 IP, 31 strikeouts, and we hit .220 off him. In 2005, he started 5 games, went 4-0, and posted a 0.92 ERA. 39 1/3 IP, 44 whiffs, .175 average. In 2004, he started 4 games, went 2-2, with a 3.75 ERA. So yes, very glad to see him go.

QUOTE(JFields27 @ Jan 29, 2008 -> 12:40 AM) Mets already told Loshe and Livan's agents to hang tight, but apparently if a Johan trade fell down so fast that it was good as dead supposedly they would sign one of the above names in the days following Well according to the USA Today, the Mets have acquired Johan, so me thinks they won't be worrying about Colon or Livan Hernandez anymore. http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/20...s-santana_N.htm

QUOTE(BearSox @ Jan 28, 2008 -> 07:14 PM) this was a no brainer... KW does indeed makes moves I like, but he makes a lot that I despise as well. Say what you will about our GM, but he's not afraid to make moves. I applaud that - too many GMs in sports are too busy sitting on their hands while their teams are missing the playoffs year in and year out. KW isn't afraid to shake things up and try different things, and I think that's good in the long run. It can be frustrating at times, though, that's for sure.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 28, 2008 -> 01:39 PM) ^^^. I was going to be pretty surprised if we couldn't pull off something like this, with as good of an arm as Aardsma has. So, just in advance, who do we blame when AA turns his career around and they move Papelbon to the rotation to make room for him? Why does someone always have to be "blamed"? Just because an athlete has talent, does that mean you hold onto him forever just waiting for it to show? No - you move on and do what's best for your club. If he ends up turning it around in Boston, more power to him. But does that mean KW should save a roster spot for him indefinitely? If Aardsma had gone out and done his job in 2007, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

QUOTE(bigruss22 @ Jan 28, 2008 -> 07:54 PM) So this idea was brought up in a discussion with my dad recently in a talk over the leadoff spot: When Pods was a real threat to steal, in that first half of 2005, the next guys up to bat saw a lot more fastballs when he was on base. Atleast it seemed that way, and this was the cause from the threat of Pods to steal a base and the pitcher/catcher trying to catch him by throwing more fastballs so they would have a chance. I dont know if this is completely true, that a good-great basestealer gets in the head of pitchers and actually forces him to throw more fastballs is true, but if so I think that should be taken into account. That is a very good point, and quite true. Unless you've got a savvy veteran pitcher who can stay calm with a speedster dancing around in the corner of his eye, a guy like Podsednik is going to create a lot of problems for the opposition. And yes, the person at the plate is going to see more fastballs because that gives the catcher more time to get the ball down to 2nd when the runner inevitably takes off. It gives the manager so many more options, too. He can tell the 2 hitter to take 2 strikes, giving the runner more time to get into scoring position; he can play hit and run; he can wait for the runner to steal 2nd, then sacrifice him over to 3rd and give your 3/4 hitters an RBI chance; the game COMPLETELY changes when you have a base stealer at the top of your lineup.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 28, 2008 -> 07:16 PM) How many of those guys would you think are reliable for a full season? The Mets should be one of those teams where they can risk quite a bit of money over a year or two in order to have 6 pitchers with the expectation that some will be on the DL. So go with a 6 man rotation? Make one of them a reliever? I disagree with both of those options.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 28, 2008 -> 07:13 PM) If I was the Mets and I couldn't trade for Johan...I'd sign both. The Mets really only have room for 1 starter. They already have Pedro, Maine, Oliver Perez, and El Duque in their rotation. If I were the Mets I'd go the more safe route and sign Livan. Colon is an injury waiting to happen.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Jan 28, 2008 -> 04:50 PM) He was? If Colon posted his 03 numbers for this club in 2008, I think the Sox would have a very legit shot of making the post season. I would love to have his "train wreck" 03 numbers on this club. I would take his 2003 numbers on our staff for 2008, too. Unfortunately, it's 5 years later, and he's a power pitcher who has suffered arm injuries. Which makes his 2003 numbers meaningless in 2008. And I will amend what I said about him being a train wreck. He actually put up good numbers. So, I retract that statement. The fact, however, remains that he only started 18 games last season (10 the season before), and posted a horrific 6.34 ERA. No thanks.

QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Jan 13, 2008 -> 02:19 PM) I can't bring myself to hate anyone on that 2005 White Sox team...especially not Pods, who won Game 2 of the WS for us and orchestrated the offense for us that season. Yeah, no kidding. I cannot understand how any real Sox fan can claim to "hate" Scott Podsednik. This guy came to town and our attitude completely changed, and it resulted in a World Championship. Yet he's a piece of crap now? People sure do have short memories.

Colon was a train wreck in 2003, so thank goodness he won't be back 5 years later. It would be nice to have a veteran (other than Contreras) to sandwich between John and Gavin, but Bartolo certainly is not the man for that job, IMO.

QUOTE(almagest @ Jan 28, 2008 -> 02:04 PM) If calculations like this are "meaningless," then what about the 2007 Sox? They finished at 72-90, which just happens to be their Pythagorean record. You can't discount any sort of statistical evidence or projection just because the games haven't been played yet. By that logic, no one would know how any player or team would perform, ever. Sometimes those projections pan out, sometimes they don't. If I recall correctly, we were picked to finish 3rd or 4th in the Central in 2005, and we all saw what happened there. Bottom line in professional sports is that so often, injuries can crush a team that otherwise would have been right in the thick of things. There are no projections or theories that can predict what players are going to get injured, and when; nor can they predict what players are going to have career years and, conversely, what players are going to have off years. That's why they go out and play 162 games and see what happens.

QUOTE(bmags @ Jan 28, 2008 -> 01:16 PM) I say that, b/c consensus snowballs on this site. And the general consensus is owens ceiling is .270, because of his rookie season he hit around there. His power is awful, his home run was comical, but there seems no thought given to what owens #'s would need to be for him to overcome that power. And his obp in the minors was high. And his average was around what I posted. And his OBP was a good .50 points higher and sometimes more in the minors. And while you say SB don't matter, for owens they do. He can't hit doubles, so he needs to convert his singles into doubles. If he can convert at a 85% percentage and is getting on base at a .360 clip, that helps negate his power. I'd love to have grady sizemore too. I'd really love if Quentin was a CF, or we were confident in Swisher in CF. But we're not. And owens hasn't been handed CF. The notion though, that if he enters the season at CF, we are screwed, is stupid. If he's there, it's because he showed he is gonna produce at a high level. I'll go back to what I said about Podsednik - he didn't have any power either, yet his style of play is what set the tone for the entire mode of our offense in 2005. Get em on, get em over, and get em in. Fans knew that if Scott could get his way on base, he was going to steal 2nd (and often times, 3rd as well) - and the opposition knew it too. His job wasn't to hit the long ball or hit for a high slugging percentage. His job was to get on base and create havoc for the other team. That's something that Owens is capable of doing, and I don't think we should all dismiss the importance of that. We have plenty of hitters that will hit plenty of home runs in 2008. I just hope there are people on base when they happen.

QUOTE(daa84 @ Jan 28, 2008 -> 11:42 AM) agreed on all accounts... i will honestly be very upset if jerry owens plays over carlos quentin .....Quentin had a .427 obp in the minors with a .526 slugging....owens had a .362 obp and .368 slugging....but yet, because jerry owens can steal bases so many sox fans want him to play over quentin because he can "lead off" Good point, assuming Quentin is healthy. Keep in mind, though, that if Quentin is in the Sox lineup, that will put Swisher in CF, which hurts us defensively as opposed to having Owens in CF and Swisher in LF.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jan 28, 2008 -> 02:51 AM) I'm pretty sure everyone would be fine with Owens starting if he could put up a .360-.380 obp. That isn't happening though, ever. Scott Podsednik - who I think we will all agree did more than a good job of leading off for us in 2005 - had an OBP of .351 that year. Jerry managed a .324 last season - just 27 points off of what Scott did. I think it's very reasonable to say that Owens could show improvement and have an OBP of .350 in 2008, and he's shown he has just as much speed as Podsednik. An on base percentage of .360-.380 for a White Sox leadoff hitter would be awesome, but it's certainly not a pre-requisite.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Jan 28, 2008 -> 02:39 AM) I have just one question for you. How many times has the lineup had Paulie 3rd and Thome cleanup? Eh I don't know, guess I wasn't remembering how Oz does his lineups. Typically you have your top power guy hitting cleanup, and that would be Thome when he's in the lineup. And now that we'll have the switch-hitting Swisher possibly in the 5th slot, it would enable the Sox to have some flexibility later in games and force other teams to use their bullpen more.

QUOTE(sircaffey @ Jan 27, 2008 -> 08:30 PM) Owens/Cabrera 1-2 would be one of the worst 1-2 combos in the majors. It would still be a vast improvement over our 1-2 from 2007.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Jan 21, 2008 -> 06:57 PM) That had more to do with him leaving meatballs out over the plate than it did the drop in velocity. Absolutely right. For pitchers like MB, it's all about control and hitting your spots. For any pitcher that throws 90 or below, if you miss your spots, you're going to get HAMMERED at the major league level. Guys like Jamie Moyer and Greg Maddux have been around so long because they are able to locate their pitches and dictate to the hitters what they're going to have to hit. Once they lose that control, they lose everything.

QUOTE(Linnwood @ Jan 20, 2008 -> 09:59 PM) Does anyone have an idea where Bobby is on list of least needed # of opportunities to reach 100 saves? I dunno, but Gagne is probably #1. He had the streak of 84 in a row converted, and I don't remember him blowing very many before that. Amazing what steroids can do for a guy.

QUOTE(bear_brian @ Jan 27, 2008 -> 12:15 PM) If we could figure out a way to get a starter in a deal involving Crede (even Lowry), we would look very good. Thoughts? If we're dead-set on trading Crede, then getting a ML-ready starter in return is essential IMO. Trading him for prospects would be a complete waste, and would piss off many fans. If someone like Noah Lowry is offered in return, I suppose the Sox should take the deal. That would enable us to try to find a taker for Contreras. Maybe Castro wants him back?

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jan 26, 2008 -> 02:12 PM) So am I. I'm still scared a bit about the top of the order and the back 3 in the rotation but at the same time there are a lot of parts of this club that I really love. For me the part of our lineup that worries me is the back end of it. The way I'm understanding it, if Owens comes in and has a good Spring, he'll get the nod in CF and most likely will be our leadoff guy. He certainly proved later in the 2007 season that he can hit at the major league level and that he can steal a base. Hitting .267 and stealing 32 bases is pretty awesome for a rookie if you ask me, and he only played in 93 games. So if Owens is in our lineup, it would probably look like this... CF Owens SS Cabrera 1B Konerko DH Thome LF Swisher RF Dye 3B Fields (like most, I am assuming Crede is gone, which I would not do, but that's a different topic) C Pierzynski 2B Richar (Ramirez? Uribe maybe?) Then let's say Owens has a crappy spring and they decide to stick Swisher in center, which would probably give Quentin the slot in LF.... SS Cabrera CF Swisher 1B Konerko DH Thome RF Dye LF Quentin 3B Fields C Pierzynski 2B Whoever Either way, I think that's a rather solid lineup. Josh is really going to have to work on his approach at the plate. Hitting 23 home runs in 100 games is great - but striking out 125 times is not. Especially when he only walked 35 times. With my lineup the way I have it, our bottom 3 guys had OBPs of .308 (Fields), .289 (Richar - granted, very limited playing time), .284 (Uribe), and .309 (AJ). That will not get it done at the major league level. I left out Alexei because he's a rook and I don't know how well Cuban stats would translate to the majors. Hopefully Owens comes out and has a great Spring, because our lineup would be much better with Owens/Cabrera at the top, with Swisher moving down to the middle of the order.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Jan 27, 2008 -> 09:46 AM) Gah...you seriously think Crede is worth $12.5 mill a year? For what he brings both offensively and defensively, as well as being loved by the fans of Chicago, I think he's very much worth signing to a long-term deal. Now, is he worth $12.5M a season? Well, who is? I mean, in this era of players making millions and millions of dollars, is anyone really worth it? I say that if you have a player that is productive, loved by the fans, and wants to be a part of the team, then you do whatever is reasonable to make that happen. This of course would all be under the assumption that he comes to camp and proves he is healthy. And I'll add that it depends on what we get for Josh Fields in a trade. He would have to be used to acquire someone really good who will help us now. I don't think Erik Bedard would be an option, but if the only thing keeping that from happening is trading Josh Fields, make it happen now.

QUOTE(GreatScott82 @ Jan 14, 2008 -> 07:33 PM) i know... unless kw decides to part ways with Fields of course. i doubt that would happen. i do however see Colon returning. Am I the only one that would trade Fields and whoever is good in our minor league system for Bedard and Roberts in a heartbeat? That would be the biggest no-brainer of all-time as far as I'm concerned. I am of the opinion that Crede is going to be just fine following his surgery, so if Josh were the centerpiece of a huge trade, we'd basically be giving up nothing. Then you offer Crede a 4 year deal worth $50M, he takes it, and everyone lives happily ever after. We then would have one of the best lineups in baseball, and one of the most dominant pitchers anchoring our staff. Now, I'm not naive - I know that it will never happen. But if the situation presented itself, it would be a very easy decision for KW and the Sox brass to make.

QUOTE(qwerty @ Mar 1, 2005 -> 09:24 PM) Yes, wish his partner wasn't though. Was watching an old game the other day with Wimpy. Made me realize how much I miss him.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Mar 1, 2005 -> 09:18 PM) You'll be fine. It's a different network then FSN but it'll work the same way for your pacakge. Dumb question, but it'll still be Hawk doing the games, right?

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Mar 1, 2005 -> 09:14 PM) It's comcast sports net. Is that good or bad for me seeing games through MLB Extra Innings?