South Side Fireworks Man

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 9, 2010 -> 11:25 PM) Sports fans are some of the dumbest creatures on earth. I don't blame Ozzie at all for that. Maybe so. But they're the ones paying the salaries of Ozzie, his coaches and his players. I guess that proves how dumb they are! Regardless, you don't continually insult the fans who may or may not be wrong in their criticism of their favorite team. And you don't make condescending comments about "that's why they have to get up at 4:00AM and go to work while I have this job." I'm not quite sure that's exactly what he said because of the bleeps and his accent, it certainly sounded like that. But if I heard that correctly, that comment crosses the line. EDIT: Ok, I found the Ozzie quote - Here"You don't want to watch the way I manage this ballclub, be a Cub fan or talk about something else," Guillen said on Friday. "I don't want to tell people why I do stuff and why I did it. They talk about taking the bat [out of Beckham's hands], it's the seventh and the ninth inning. I've got my two best hitters [coming up], the only guys swinging the bat well right behind. "All those idiots out there who talk about baseball, they should come here and manage for me. I don't have to explain to anybody why I do stuff. They have to get up at 4 a.m. and talk [expletive]. I'm going to run this ballclub the way I think it should be done. I'll bet they didn't talk about how we struck out 12 times and all the times we had bases loaded and didn't get a hit. They talk about how I run this ballclub! Shame on them."

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Apr 9, 2010 -> 11:12 PM) He doesn't care about anyones feelings on this, and he isn't resigning. So this is pointless. Ozzie should be fired for telling his company's customers to take their business to the competition. Also, I thought I heard him say something on CTL before the game about "idiots" that think they know baseball and something like "that's why they have to get up at 4:00 in the morning and I have this bleepin' job." Very condescending to the fans. Couple this with his poor eye for talent, his poor in-game managing and his inability to make out a decent lineup and I think he has finally worn out his welcome. I liked Ozzie but his time has come. He wanted this mess of a roster so now he has to take the blame for wasting this great pitching staff. Yes, it's early, but if he's going to insult the fans who are upset at his team's poor performance it's already time for him to go. Maybe some fans are overreacting, but you don't insult your fans.

The 2010 White Sox: An incredible waste of a pitching staff. Not only is Ozzie a terrible in-game manager and terrible at making out a lineup, he's also a terrible judge of talent. "Ramirez is going to be the best shortstop in the AL" -- my eye!

The real problem is that the Sox have a weak lineup. Having your number two hitter bunt isn't necessarily a bad idea, but what really sucks is when your number two hitter happens to also be one of your best hitters in the lineup and the rest of your lineup is short on legit RBI men. It sucks to take the bat out of one of your best hitters in a game situation like that. And it also sucks that the guy who is batting leadoff not because of a high OBP history nor because he is an above average hitter but solely because he's supposed to be a base-stealer, can't be relied upon to steal a base in two consecutive crucial situations like that. But hey, this is the lineup/roster Ozzie wanted. So let him deal with it and take the blame when his decisions don't work out.

QUOTE (PeavyTime @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 11:21 PM) What is Pierre's #1 asset? Base stealing. What is Beckham's #1 asset? Hitting. So why the f*** is Beckham bunting Pierre to 2nd?! That's exactly what I was thinking.

QUOTE (jphat007 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 11:12 PM) I wish it wa sjust a DH that we needed. We need a whole second hafl of our f***ing lineup. Sox are two quality bats short. They need a good DH and a good bat at either LF or 3B.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 03:50 PM) Just like Erstad brought a leadership role and grindy to the leadoff role. Just like Mackowiak did as a starting CF instead of a good utility guy off the bench. Just like Wise did as the leadoff guy and starter. Erstad was basically a .400 hitter and Wise earned the starting CF and Leadoff role with his "tremendous" play. You may have a point about Mackowiak, however.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 03:20 PM) And for you people that call Ozzie a moron for playing Jones in center, well, quite frankly, you will be proven wrong. Jones is not some hack of a CFer. Again, I'm fine with Jones playing CF, but I'm against moving Rios to LF to accomodate him. Jones can play CF when Rios needs a day off or a little rest at DH. Jones can play RF when Quenting gets a day off or DH duty. Tonight, Jones should be in LF while Pierre is the DH. Rios is the starting regular CFer (or at least should be). He's an excellent defensive centerfielder, is locked up long term and is making the big money. Let him settle in CF and be the leader of the Sox outfield instead of being moved around to accomodate a one year rental.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 01:54 PM) Would you play Rios in RF and Carlos in LF then ? I would start Jones in LF, Rios in CF and Quentin in RF most of the time. When Pierre starts in LF, Jones can play either CF or RF depending on who is getting a rest that day.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 01:49 PM) Jones is the beter Cfer, imo. I doubt it at this stage of his career. Also, Rios is locked up with a large, long-term contract. He's the Sox' centerfielder of today and tomorrow. Jones, if he has a "comeback" year and proves to be an above average CFer again will be gone after this season. Boras will see to that. Why move Rios, your long term player around to accomodate a one year rental who may or may not be as good defensively as the excellent defensive CFer Rios? Let Jones move around from LF to RF to CF depending on who is being rested and leave Rios settled as your starting CFer.

QUOTE (jphat007 @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 10:25 PM) THe problem is not Kotsay. The problem is the entire second half of our lineup. .......And the leadoff man. I'm confident the second part of the lineup will be fine with the players they're starting, but any lineup that features Pierre leading off along with Mark Kotsay batting fifth is going to be a weak lineup.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 08:13 PM) ^ See poll. I think Kotsay is a good bat off the bench and good for an occasional start at first, not a starting DH in the 5 hole. I agree that Kotsay is a good guy to have on the bench. He's shown to be an effective pinch-hitter coming in cold off the bench and plays a pretty good defensive 1B as a backup. He used to be an excellent defensive outfielder and can still be used to back-up the corner OF spots and maybe even CF in a pinch. But having him as a DH is a joke and batting him fifth in the order is worse.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Apr 6, 2010 -> 01:02 PM) Especially, when he has trouble naming any of the players. LOL! "Kaminsky Park" Ugh! From the Sun-Times: President Barack Obama not quite a White Sox expert

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 17, 2010 -> 04:49 PM) Lyons said apparently Ozzie asked the players who the best CF was and they said Jones. I guess Ozzie would have to ask the players about who is the best CFer with Ozzie's track record on centerfielders. Oz has shown that he has little eye for talent as far as CF defense is concerned.

QUOTE (Ken Harrelson @ Mar 14, 2010 -> 04:05 PM) Nix' 900+ OPS and .350 average is very disappointing. good one ozzie you dumb s***. mercy. Ozzie has a great eye for talent. Remember, he's the only on who noticed Dewayne Wise's tremendous ST last year.

So Walker is penciling in the DH for the ninth spot in the lineup. What team that expects to contend in the AL goes into the season expecting whomever their DH is to be batting ninth? Shows me at least Walker doesn't have much confidence in Jones/Kotsay/Vizquel/Nix DH either despite what Ozzie says.

Sign Leslie Anderson and hope he's the 2010 version of Tadahito Iguchi?

@ $8M for one year, Tigers overpaid. Let them have him at that price.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 05:35 PM) No one thinks higher of him than I do. I just think it would be hard to give up ALL of your remaining prospects for him while agreeing to an 8 year or so extension without it having a huge impact on the shape of the organization. I still believe that we wouldn't beat out Boston for his services, but that's a different argument. What if the Sox offered Beckham for AGon straight up (or including lesser prospect on both sides)?

QUOTE (b-Rye @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 04:43 PM) "ESPN.com's Buster Olney hears that Scott Boras wants two things from the Tigers. First, he's asking them to remove all deferred money from the one-year $7MM deal they have offered. Second, he wants the Tigers to add a second year (Twitter links)." And now we see why KW was smart to pull his offer. Now the Tigers feel no pressure to meet these demands. When they say "No" Damon can either take their $7M offer or have Boras tell the Sox that if they put their $6M back on the table he'll sign immediately.

QUOTE (joeynach @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 04:41 PM) I dont think thats the way it works, the agent works for the player. He tell Boras and boras makes the call. I know. What I meant was the Damon camp.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 04:31 PM) This really sucks. Gonna be an interesting Sunday for KW to speak about this.... Especially after Damon calls and accepts KW's terms.

QUOTE (jphat007 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 04:26 PM) KW is f***ing playing games with Boras. Trying to show that he's the boss. He never f***ing talks about offers. Smart move by Kenny. He's tired of Boras trying to make the Sox bid against themselves. Apparantly the reported 2 year $14M offer from the Tigers was BS. Boras had the Sox' $6M offer in his pocket and he was trying to squeeze more out of the Tigers while at the same time hoping the Sox would up their offer. Now with KW publicly declaring his offer is off the table, Damon and the Tigers both know that there is no other offer. If Damon really wants to play for the Sox for $6M, he'll have to call KW and commit himself. If not, he's stuck playing in detroit for whatever their last offer was, which apparently he wasn't too thrilled about in the first place.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 05:33 PM) If we sign him, I hope he goes back to the caveman look. I hated that "Cave Man" look. I like the "Yankee" look a lot better. Maybe there will be an in-between "White Sox" look for Damon this season.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Feb 12, 2010 -> 02:15 AM) Who DH'es with Damon here? Quentin? I'd split time between Damon and Pierre with Damon getting 60% time at DH and 40% in LF. This keeps both Pierre and Damon's legs fresh which should help their running games.