Rex Hudler

My thought is that BJ is marginal at best..... Along with a guy like Matt Smith, Matt Guerrier, Gary Majewski and even Baj, performing well at the right time and luck is what will be the difference between a Major and Minor League career. Tom, I looked for you today but didn't see you in Section E. I was sitting behind home plate talking with Matt Guerrier's parents for the first 5-6 innings. I bailed after that. It took 2 1/2 hours to get to the 6th inning. I was bored to tears at that point. LOL

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jun 20, 2005 -> 04:08 AM) Ozzie took a chance that they'd pitch around him and they did, basically giving us a free baserunner. That was a brilliant move. Today it was......... but if Frank grounds out to SS and then Pods gets on and steals 2B, then you have Willie up there trying to drive him home rather than Frank. I'm not saying it was a bad move, because it worked like a charm, but I don't think that would be smart to do frequently.

QUOTE(Dizzy Sox @ Jun 20, 2005 -> 04:06 AM) Was it a straight curve, or was it his knuckle curve? I'm assuming knucklecurve. I believe that is the only curve he throws??

QUOTE(ScottPodRulez22 @ Jun 20, 2005 -> 03:53 AM) I didnt see the play, but if pods was half way beetween 1st and 2nd im preety sure he shoulda got 3rd. which direction he was heading does not matter

This was probably discussed in the game thread, but am I the only one that thought it was strange to have Frank pinch hit leading off an inning? It certainly worked, but to me Frank should be up there to drive in runs, not set the table. Having him pinch hit for Willie who was due up third that inning. I know Frank walks a lot, but if you use him as they did tonight, you have to burn two players. That could eventually haunt them if they tie the game instead of winning it.

Can anyone explain to me the ruling which allowed Pods to go to 3B after Weaver chucked the pickoff throw into the stands?? The rule is quite simple. The runner gets one base on an overthrow from the mound (rubber), two from the field. Weaver did not step off the rubber before he threw, he wheeled and turned. Did I miss something? And will someone fill Joe Morgan in on the rules?? An overthrow does not get a runner "the base he is going to plus one". That's like saying "a tie goes to the runner" and "the hand is part of the bat". None are true statements.

Saw Honel pitch today. He was not impressive at all. He did hit 88 mph on the stadium radar (which is typically 2-3 mph off), but he was very inconsistent with his velocity. His fastball floated between 86-91 (assuming radar adjustment). Even when hit the high side on the radar, it didn't seem very crisp. He was very lucky to only give up what he did. He escaped the 1st allowing only one where it could have been much worse. Granted he is still basically recovering from a lost year, but he certainly was not impressive. He has a long way to go if he wants to think about getting MLB hitters out in the future. On a side note, his curveball had good bite. It is a big, sharp breaker, which gives him a small margin for error to throw it for strikes. Not sure MLB hitters would not just lay off of it until he hangs it. When he hits its spot, it has nice bite and is a nice pitch though.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jun 19, 2005 -> 05:43 PM) When is Bmac slated to pitch? I have a sneaky suspicion he is going to be promoted again with Duque finding the DL. you're suspicion is right

QUOTE(Jimenez4MVP @ Jun 18, 2005 -> 08:50 PM) Lets say Gio goes into WS and dominates like he has been.. what do you think the chances are of him getting to Birmingham before the end of this season? Anything can happen, but not real likely.

QUOTE(poorme @ Jun 17, 2005 -> 05:17 PM) what were stewart's stats? (he's vanished from the usual stat pages). i don't really get this move, not that it matters much. Stewart was 4-4 with a 4.25 ERA 14 games (11 starts). He had 65.2 IP, gave up 65 hits, walked 16 and struck out 41.

looks like you pulled a Jason.......

QUOTE(Randar68 @ Jun 14, 2005 -> 09:29 PM) Rogo is 24 in AA after spending good parts of 2 years on the DL or nursing injuries and playing just one healthy full-season in W-S. He's also hitting .330 in AA, yet you don't care because Daigle, a 25-year old with AA experience, is hitting the cover off the ball in Winston-Salem and have gone on some kind of crusade to promote him for some unknown reason. How many HR's do you think he'd have in AA in a MUCH bigger park and less of a hitter's league? Sheeesh. Rogo's career numbers: http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/casey_rogowski.shtml Daigle's career numbers: http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/leo_daigle.shtml That's an easy comparison to make? In Daigle's full-season in AA he hit .238 while Rogo is hitting well over .300. Meanwhile, Rogo JUST turned 24 while Daigle is just a couple months from turning 26. This is Daigle's 6th *bleeping* year in A ball and a whole year in AA too! Sheeesh, this infatuation is utterly nonsensical. Coming into this year he had almost 2600 minor league at-bats with a whopping .262 career average and .749 OPS. Meanwhile, Rogo, who was drafted out of HS (to Daigle's college experience) came in as a very raw kid with a predominantly wrestling and football background, lost a ton of in-season and off-season development time (extremely important to young/raw prospect as that is when most individual work is done) due to injury. He had merely 1,000 career minor league AB's heading into this season, and was a .270 hitter with a .800+OPS and a great OBP along the way... Yet, it's an easy comparison? LMFAO. Easy as in "Graduationg from Harvard in 2 years is easy"? Put your freaking crack pipe down and stop creaming yourself over a career minor leaguer. Well yeahthat's all well and good, but Daigle's brother is married to Jenny Finch!! I think we got the wrong Daigle, but that still has to count for something, doesn't it? ;-)

QUOTE(ChiSoxyGirl @ Jun 8, 2005 -> 04:09 AM) since red velvet cake wasn't an option..... Chocolate on chocolate are you available chisoxy? lol

QUOTE(Steff @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 02:38 PM) I don't believe anything beat writers or columnists write anymore, not that I believed much of their garbage before. I've heard a lot more than the usual contradiction from in and out of the clubhouse lately. Steff, will you stay out of the damned clubhouse. It is much easier for the players to concentrate when you aren't in there trying to steal their towels. ;-)

grassy ass

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Jun 7, 2005 -> 02:55 AM) When are games going to start being on ESPN? I wanna watch Cesar Gotta finish the more imporant NCAA Softball games first. UGH

Anyone know what the projection is for Ryan Mullins out of Vanderbilt??

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jun 7, 2005 -> 02:45 AM) I understand the purpose, but I think there should be a way for a player to deem himself ineligible from collegiate baseball and go back to school. Of course if he were to do that he'd be giving up a whole lot of leverage. There are definately two sides to this and I think Townsend was on the end of some bad advice and it came back to bite him in the butt. He'd be gaining leverage by doing that, Jason. There would be no deadline for him to have to make a decision until almost a year later. That doesn't help the club that drafted him. They have money set aside for draft picks. They don't want have to spend that money the following year by signing him before the draft. That could affect their budget for that year's draft. That whole move was to give Townsend more leverage and MLB said Nyet!

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jun 6, 2005 -> 04:07 PM) No, it was nobodies fault. Townsend wanted to go back to school to finish up his degree during the negotiation process. He registered for classes and MLB came up with a retarded ruling that he was no longer eligible to sign with the Orioles and would have to re-enter the draft. It was one of the worse decisions I've ever seen MLB make. I disagree. The MLB rule has always stated that as soon as you attend your first class you are no longer eligible to sign. Townsend's agents tried to get around that by declaring him Ineligible or voiluntary retired (or whatever term they used), saying he was giving up his eligibilty so that he could continue to negotiate. Unfortuantely, they did so and assumed that would be okay and Townsend went to class. MLB stuck by their rules, which I think they should have. The rule is there to give the MLB team leverage (the player has the leverage of going back to school). It is there for a purpose and to allow an agent to circumvent it, gives agents an advantage. I was glad that MLB took the stand they did.

Ditto

QUOTE(3E8 @ Jun 5, 2005 -> 07:01 PM) I don't know but his offense seems very similar to Gload's. Kotchman > Gload offensively.... May be similar right now, but the ceiling is much higher.

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Jun 5, 2005 -> 06:51 PM) If writing about 'potential' problems is valid, then I can start sports writing for the Trib right now. Morrisey writes a column. He is not a beat writer. There is a difference. Columnists inject opinion (which is why they piss so many people off) and write about things beyond reporting on games. That is the way newspapers work in every city. Columnists and reporters are not the same. Columnists tend to be somewhat controversial by design. It sells papers and creates interest. But controversial or not, this column makes sense. There is a potential problem here.

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Jun 5, 2005 -> 06:42 PM) Rex, I'm not saying those things about Frank aren't true, in fact let's assume they are. My point is that IF the Sox decided to trade Frank, there would be a backlash from the fans as someone else noted in this thread. In order to calm things down, it wouldn't surprise me if the Sox (KW and Oz) suddenly opened up that bag of dirty laundry. I understand what you are saying. I am just saying that if he were traded and the team was winning, then there should not be such a backlash. Do the Sox want FT to end up in a Sox uni or win the WS? I know the answer is both, but it may not be possible. Like I have said before, this isn't going to happen anyway.........

I have no problem with this article at all. In fact, I think it is very valid. Frank's history has indicated a problem could brew here. As Texsox alluded to, anyone that didn't see a potential problem when Frank came back had their head in the sand or was just so drunk on black and silver kool aid they could not see the forest for the trees. This may not be a problem. But it certainly could become one. I guarantee you Ozzie is aware of the potential. It is easy to see that from some of the things Ozzie has said.

QUOTE(I-HATE-CREDE @ Jun 5, 2005 -> 06:26 PM) In order for Frank Thomas to have any trade value he would have to show that he can stay healthy and hit. However, if he shows that he can stay healthy and hit, he will fill one of the White Sox missing puzzle pieces (a hitter that other teams actually fear). Why should they trade him under these circumstances? I'm not saying he should be traded. Never did I say that. All I am saying is that hanging onto the concept that Frank is an icon and is untouchable no matter what, could be contrary to the overall goal of winning. It is the mindset that Frank can't be traded regardless that I am attacking here. As I have already mentioned, the likelihood of it happening is remote