BrandoFan

If he can get me 130-140 RBI, let him whine all he wants.

His bat, solid speed and his glove (as of coming to the Reds has fielded better than Robbie in that span) are doing all the "speaking" and all the "caring". Put him against RHP with Uribe against tougher LHP starters and watch Frank and Maggs come up with runners on base for a change.

No. This franchise is in a must-win-to-rekindle-fan-interest mode. Time to learn was in 2001 and 2002 and even in 2003. Look, I like Aaron; outside of that bike accident-related slump to begin 2003, I think he has proven he can be a 780-820 OPS hitter in the bigs. His time has come NOW. If he can't right himself by early-mid-May, bring on Reed.

Didn't see the whole game, but off the top ov me noggin' I think Lee took away an RBI triple to save Wrong's ass. Perez gunned the guy down at 3rd. Uribe had an above average play. Paulie snagged a DP line-out. Kong's was most important (the game is over right there and then if he doesn't get it and it's a 2-run double) but Lee's was the toughest. Friday's GoG: Carlos Lee.

Yeah and then he finished strong with the Reds. Good: September (02), ST, April, May, July, September, ST (04), April. Bad: August Ugly: June That makes it 8-1-1. See a recent trend emerging anywhere? Or better yet....Just watch his at-bats if you want to understand why he has a 460 OBP so far. I was lucky to catch a Cubs game -- the dude is tough as hell to get out and had some nice baserunning to boot. Still below-average defense but not as big a liability as it's made out to be; Todd Walker was much worse.

Aaron has not proven he can hit righties. Most if not all of the damage in 2003 came off lefties - same as Miguel Olivo and Tony G. Unfortunately, southpaws comprise only 30% of all AL pitchers -- if that. With a short/quick swing and a strong upper body Aaron has, there is NO reason why he should be a pull guess hitter. ML pitchers are VERY smart and they will exploit your tendencies and mechanical holes and impatience in a second. I am not liking the adjustments Aaron is purportedly making thus far. Back to pitch selection and strike-zone management....The more I think about it, the more I realize how damn indispensable they are; not everybody is born with Soriano quickness or McGwire strenght, so a hitter's ability to hit is directly proportional with the quality of pitches he swings at. Sounds so damn simple, but watching the Sox get shut down by nobodies in the last 3 years, only reinforces it time and again -- if Carlos is hacking at a 1-0 pitch up and tailing inside or if Rowand is cheating fastball on a 1-1 slider 6 inches outside and low.....What possible outcome can there be, but some series jammage or whiffing? Aaron's awesome winter league were promising as far as his hitting IQ was concerned; now, he's just taken a step back. Let's see how he rebounds; Sox might be in trouble if he, Crede and Harris don't shape up soon.

I do wonder sometimes if it's even possible to draw 3 Mill on the South Side anymore.....barring a 115-win super-squad. Has it ever been done? Hell...take away the half-price stuff and 1.9 Mill figure is even less impressive. Raise the ticket prices to the MLB big city average, and Sox might not draw 1.5 Mill. Molto and Tizzle had some nice ideas, but ultimately too vague. Marketing, neighborhood, commute....details please - afterall, I am not the college-educated one here .

It's a shame the kid didn't put something, um, *else* in that taco....

I don't think W-L is "meaningless" (let's face it, some pitchers are more clutch than others and have consistently outperfomed their ERA peers in W-L category....alas, Danny Wright is not one of those tough pitchers), but I do think it's HIGHLY overrated. I also agree with the "and then you wonder why the TEAM has gotten nowhere" part. If you think about 2003, you could literally make a case for a single player killing the team -- when teams are as closely matched up in talent as Sox were with Twins, little things like using DW two times too many or not benching Konerko/Koch quickly enough are the difference between playing in the postseason....and not. And the worst part is that DW is incomparably better in the bullpen -- his volocity and break are crisper and hitters can't time him as well without seeing him more than once. Whereas as a starter.....Did you see his two homers to "super-men" Lugo and Crawford? The first one was a knee high 89 mph fastball on the inner half and the second one was an 88 mph thigh-high SMACK in the middle of the damn plate. Both had little movement. As if that wasn't enough, judging by the hitters' reaction, he may have TELEGRAPHED the pitch when he released it, Billy Koch-style. I am sorry, but that's batting practice at the ML level -- hell it's batting practice in single-A. That he only gave up 3 ER was pure luck.

Aaron will be fine; don't drag him into the puddle of choke and chaos where DannyBog is currently splashin' around. Aaron, even at his near-fatal crash worst, was still an average ML'er. Whereas Danny never came close to being an averahe ML'er, and yet he's received twice as much hype and benefit of the doubt since 2001.

Frank hit a vicious line-drive right at an infielder; no shame in that. Pitch selection is not = to taking pitches for the sake of taking. But swinging at slider foot outside and sinkers 6 inches in and low is even WORSE.

If you can't debate the facts, rip into the poster. Blah.

Yes, because well-deserved criticism is = rooting against a player.

I am sick of this term already, but 'pitch selection' IS by far the number one hitting attribute; it seems like Frank is the only Sox who works the pitcher, manages the zone and swings at hittable pitches these days. For shame.

The way Danny was pitching, he "deserved" to get tagged for 5-6 ER easy. You can't expect Sox to score 5-6 runs in every road game just to tie it up. Paul Abbott was getting his breaker over, Sox needed Danny to come through for once against a weak-hitting team. He tanked badly. Stop making excuses.

Hey, if you don't want to hear the answer, don't ask the question.

So? How? Very f***ing simple: Had a 6.00 ERA in the first half. Sox fell out of contention. In pressure-free situations, Danny stopped sucking badly and somehow managed to bring it down to still bad 5.20. In 2003 he was even worse -- much worse. This year, worse still. Boring, eh? Tell me, how do you like losing the s***tiest division that ever s***tied by a few games in September partly because a mental gimp choker scumbag Wright is missing strikezone by feet and is afraid of his own shadow? I bet you find it exciting, don't you? If you cheer for him like you cheer for Jose...please don't.

Jim Edmonds's been superior to Maggs offensively in the last 4 years and his defense is better as well. And yet he makes, what, 9 Mill per? Cards normally have a payroll well into 70-80's. They could pay 15, but they choose not to. Gee, I wonder why? Giles is another great example. Sheffield, too.

Damn, it's almost unfair: Danny is bailed out by ANOTHER excellent defensive play, this time by Perez. He literally doesn't deserve this luck. HR going just foul, line out DP, pick-off, diving catch, runner gunned down at 3rd.....And still gives up 3 ER to D-Rays in 4 innings. Ozzie is right to take him out. Even if Cotts gets killed, Danny's ineptitude should not be tolerated.

Case in point: Danny lets the first two hitters get on with a walk and a hit. Goes 3-1 on the next batter who absolutely smokes the ball right at Konerko for a DP. The next batter lines the ball and only Lee's diving show-string catch saves the RBI triple. No runs scored, so that's a good thing right? WRONG: when you pitch like s***, major leaguers are gonna crush you. Luck will only save you for so long. Danny is pitching like crap. No excuse.

Amen.

Danny is a punk-ass choker: waits until he gives up the lead and only THEN starts getting curveballs over strikes. This 2003-esque garbage has GOT to stop -- instead of running D-Rays over 3 straight and coming into the Yankee home series on a 9-3 roll, the team looks lethargic, not picking up breaking ball rotation and jamming themselves. I've seen this for 3 years now....Oh great, Konerko just flies out meekly on a 3-1 count. :puke :puke :puke

His career ERA is in high 5.50+ Win total is not = good indication of pitching worth. DW is terrible and I said as much during the NYY start. Get him to the pen.

How come a 38-yo assclown scumbag like Alou can have 5 homers and 800 Slugging and Crede can't hit the ball out of the infield against a mediocre pitcher at best?

Redbird, I agree with you that Aaron is an underrated fielder, but his range is definately not unbelievable. If we could get that from Aaron at 300K, Beltran who?