South Side Fireworks Man

QUOTE (Brian @ Jun 7, 2010 -> 05:15 PM) I don't ever think I would be mad at AJ. I think he is under valued by a lot of fans and we will see that once he is gone. Amen to that.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 6, 2010 -> 06:13 PM) He sure as hell looked to be a lot better than that last year. Hit 14 HR and 28 doubles in 2/3 of a season, and that was as a 22 year old rookie. As well as he drove the ball the other way last year and controlled the entire plate, he sure looked like a guy who could hit well over .300 and push 25-30+ HR. He's too small and not super-athletic. Again, not knocking him because I think he's going to have a nice major league career.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 6, 2010 -> 01:21 PM) Right... because you wouldn't have throw a fit if we traded Gordo? Not me, unless of course they traded him for some questionable talent. But if for example they traded him straight up for say Adrian Gonzalez, or something like that, I'd have been pleased. But again that's because my expectations for the kid were not as high as a lot of others'. BTW, I was not one least bit upset when KW traded the "great" Brandon McCarthy.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 6, 2010 -> 11:57 AM) Well, if you want to get an idea of the ridiculous expectations placed on the kid, just re-read that last sentence. The kid is 23. Exactly. I never had the ridiculous expectations for the kid as others have had. I expected him to be a "nice little player". Average defensively, decent but not great speed, decent average (.280ish), decent power (18-20HR) and generally good baseball IQ. But some, including many here had the kid as the next Robbie Alomar or George Brett and saw him as "untouchable." I thought the Sox could get a great value for him if they wanted to trade him this past offseason.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 6, 2010 -> 11:49 AM) Agreed, he might never be a superstar, but he should be a productive player in the .285-18 home run range. That's about what I had him pegged for. But since many others seemed to think he was a can't miss super stud, they probably could have gotten quite a return for him if they traded him this offseason. I still think he'll reach his potential and have a nice career, but he's never going to be a hall-of -famer.

QUOTE (chiguy79 @ Jun 5, 2010 -> 11:14 PM) I was just dicing up the Sox roster to think through who all they could actually trade and get some value for versus who they would keep this is what I came up with. I can't see the Sox moving Thornton/Buehrle or Alexei although I would think they would listen to offers on everyone. It is amazing how many players we have that I can't imagine any contender would want any part of. I am sure JR is putting pressure on Kenny to cut the payroll big time with attendance levels running where they are, this is what happens when you don't have a DH and you are counting on Juan Pierre, Mark Kotsay and Mark Teahen to produce. I mean we had Omar Vizquel DH, that is grounds for dismissal for incompetence regarding the entire organization. Keepers 56 Mark Buehrle SP L L 31 6-2 235 St. Charles, MO $14,000,000 50 John Danks SP L L 25 6-2 210 Austin, TX $3,450,000 34 Gavin Floyd SP R R 27 6-6 235 Annapolis, MD $2,750,000 46 Sergio Santos RP R R 26 6-3 210 Bellflower, CA $400,000 37 Matt Thornton RP L L 33 6-6 235 Three Rivers, MI $2,250,000 15 Gordon Beckham 2B R R 23 6-0 185 Atlanta, GA $445,000 10 Alexei Ramirez SS R R 28 6-2 170 Pinar del Rio, Cuba $1,225,000 Too bad they didn't trade Beckham this offseason when his value was probably sky high. To me Beckham always seemed like a guy who would develop into a "nice little player but I never saw him as the potential superstar others did and never thought he should have been an "untouchable".

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 5, 2010 -> 11:20 PM) Sounds like Peavy would be really upset to get traded...not! http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,6040482.story Screw Peavy. He's an overpaid bigmouth.

Peavy sucks.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Jun 4, 2010 -> 03:38 PM) Color me surprised that Paulie is sitting since he just went through a mini slump and was heating up once again. Yeah, but you forget who's the manager.

QUOTE (The Beast @ May 30, 2010 -> 04:07 PM) Anyone else a bit concerned with Peavy? Jake Peavy = Javy Vazquez + a big mouth.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 29, 2010 -> 12:35 PM) He needs to stand on the plate. He is so far off, anytime he tries to pull the ball, he ends up hitting it off the end of the bat. Bingo!

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ May 23, 2010 -> 11:22 AM) I never thought I would say this... ever... but how nice would it be to have Juan Uribe at third right now? I'd take Uribe at third base in a heartbeat...I'd also take him at 2B as well.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ May 22, 2010 -> 04:01 PM) I smelling a nice 7 game winning streak here. Its starting to look like Q and Beckham are starting to finally find it. Quentin needs to stand one step closer to the plate like he used to do. He used to get hit a lot but he used to kill the ball. Now he hits a lot of balls off the end of his bat. Beckham still sucks, at least at this point in time.

QUOTE (JohnCangelosi @ May 22, 2010 -> 10:54 AM) Cmon Gavin, time to quit being a p*ssy and make it happen tonight. No more BS Tonight will be too late. Make it happen this afternoon!

QUOTE (fathom @ May 19, 2010 -> 09:30 PM) We hear that all the time. Either get tougher players, or find a manager/hitting coach that can relax the guys. I'm sick of hearing that f***ing excuse. Screw Walker. Screw Ozzie. Fire them both already. QUOTE (fathom @ May 19, 2010 -> 09:33 PM) Hitless game for the bust brothers (Beckham and Quentin) I remember when some people used to call Quentin "god" and some thought Beckham was some kind of savior. LOL! Screw Quentin. Screw Beckham. And screw Teahen too while we're at it. And if KW doesn't bring in a bona fide third baseman and a stud DH, screw the 2010 White Sox.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ May 17, 2010 -> 10:37 PM) The board is going nuts with this trade everyone crap. Anyone who believes Tyler Flowers will as good as AJ Pierzynski has his head in the clouds, and that's the best case scenario. Anyone who believes Buerhle can/will be replaced is even loonier. We have been playing like crap because KW listened to his psycho manager and decided to have an offseason with his head stuck down a toilet. Fix the problems and suddenly we're a better team. Unloading vets for a bunch of prospects is not a smart idea and it just makes us worse. You prospect lovers need to wake up and realize that most of the players out there you're salivating over aren't going to make it at all. The value of an AJ Pierzynski in ****real life***** on the baseball field is a thousand times greater than that of Tyroid Flowers. It's one thing to talk about selling high on someone like Freddy or Putz, or even the resurgent Andruw Jones, or dumping the future non-tender candidate Bobby Jenks, but the idea of dumping guys like Mark and AJ is nuts. And I'm not even going to mention dealing names like Gavin and Johnny Danks because that is just waaaay too stupid to even respond to. Anyone who thinks it would be a good idea to trade those guys is off his/her f***ing rocker and needs to abandon the season right now before he/she ends up going on an angry, stupid rampage. PS the saving money argument is pretty much null and void at this point considering the Sox have lied all offseason about what they had to spend. They bulls***ted their way through the DH/lefty bat discussions saying they were broke and then found Damon's offer apparently hanging on the money tree. Bulls***. The Sox aren't broke. The Sox made their own bed and now they have to sleep in it. The Sox had the seeds for a great f***ing 2010 ballclub last September and then one of the better General Managers in baseball suddenly forgot what his f***ing job was. The Sox pissed away the brilliant investments that were Jake Peavy and Alex Rios and now they have to deal with it. f*** this "saving money" s*** because you know it's a bunch of crap if you paid attention over the offseason. Hopefully the Sox wake up and get back to being a smart baseball team and Kenny realizes that he plays second fiddle ***to absolutely no one other than ownership**** and then takes this team back. I do trust in Kenny and have for a long time, but the dumbest move he has ever made in his entire career happened this offseason, and it was him allowing a manager too much input. He f***ing knew he needed offense and he let Ozzie talk him out of it. And no one is to blame for that other than Kenny. It's his fault, now he needs to fix it, and he needs to do it by coming up with a couple good players to fill a couple big holes, not blowing up a ballclub that has most of its necessary pieces in place. PS I'm still hoping I'm wrong on Teahen and Pierre, and I'll continue to rag on those acquisitions until they prove they don't suck. But they do, so whatever. I hope to God Jim Hendry is looking for a couple more s***ty ballplayers to give a lot of money to, because if he is, we've got a few he can have. Great post, and I especially agree about AJ and Flowers.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 16, 2010 -> 10:12 PM) Honestly, playing Vizquel at DH isn't a big deal with Quentin being out. It is when you have Teahen playing 3B instead of Vizquel.

Beckham might benefit from a stint in AAA. He is still very young and really was rushed up to the major leagues. Everyone should keep Beckham's current struggles in mind before clamoring for Tyler Flowers to replace AJ or for Jordan Danks to be brought up this season.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 8, 2010 -> 03:35 PM) Teahen has an OPS under .400 against LHP, and not a single lefty batter has a hit against B. Cecil this season. Why the f*** is he in the lineup? 3 lefties in the lineup, AWESOME! We need fewer assholes managing this team, and more people in the organization that better utilize our resources. Fathom, you're the greatest!

Re-sign AJ and trade Josh Flowers or Tyler Borchard or whatever his name is while he still has good trade value before everyone else finds out he's over-hyped.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 5, 2010 -> 04:25 PM) Premature evaluation!!! Give Teahen some more time. It's EARLY. He's a great clubhouse guy, does interviews for anyone who asks (even school newspapers) and an all-around good guy with a great sense of humor. You will come to know and love him like many Kansas Citians did with Joe Randa, another under-rated performer at the hot corner who never got the full amount of respect he was due because he played for the Royals and Pirates mostly. I never really saw his defense at 3B much when he was on the Royals. Are you saying that what we've seen of his D at 3B for the Sox so far this year is not indicative of the way he usually plays the position? Or are you saying that because he is such a nice guy we will learn to love him despite his defensive shortcomings? And what can we expect of him as far as offensive production?

The more I watch Teahen, the worse he looks defensively at 3B. And his hitting hasn't been very impressive either.

Is Quentin hurt again/yet?

QUOTE (GREEDY @ May 2, 2010 -> 07:52 AM) According to +/-, Teahen has been the 32nd best 3B this season. I do not believe there is a minimum games played requirement yet, so there has to be quite a few "eligible" players. Bill's site will not show them in list form past the top ten; but for what it's worth everyone I checked on ranked higher than 32nd. To my eye he has been terrible, and according to +/- he is the worst. I guess he's been even worse than I thought defensively. And I thought he was below average.

Teahan looks to be a below average (not horrible) 3rd baseman defensively. If he can hit the way the Sox seem to think he can, he'll be alright as the Sox starting 3rd baseman. If he hits to his career averages, he will be a liability as the starting 3B.