whitesoxfan101

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 11:37 AM) There's 2 different forces that could be at work this season that weren't there last year and could have a big impact in the other direction. 1; the Economy. We don't know what JR is telling KW in terms of the budget (although the Peavy trade gives us some idea)...he could have extra motivation to cut costs now to both save JR some money and to free up money to play in the FA market this offseason, and 2. The team at Birmingham, which wasn't there last year and which looks like it's going to be moving a number of players in sooner rather than later. I actually think economywise we might be ok. We already have a lighter payroll than we did in 2008 I believe, and attendance is pretty similar to last season if I recall correctly as well. Plus, we have some money coming off the books after this year in Dye, Dotel, perhaps Thome, and so on. The two issues to me are the realistic position of the team and the Birmingham team. Even though this team is close in the standings, it stinks and I think most fair minded people would admit that. The other thing is the Birmingham team (although really the minor league system in general is a better description). Our minor league system is in better shape than it has been in a very long time, and there are quite a few guys that are going to be ready to contribute in the relatively near future in my opinion (with more guys ready to contribute in the distant future also out there on the class A clubs). I think Kenny MIGHT be willing to wait for them, trade off some of our expensive veterans, and make another serious run within the next couple of years.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 11:29 AM) This team still looks more like the 2008 team than the 2007 one, IMO, but with its best hitter injured. The 2008 team had its struggles early as well. And summer is late this year. I think we see KW make a move or two early, but they are tweaks or moves that help now AND later. Then come July, if we're abysmal, that's a different story. I think the next month or so will tell the fortunes of this team. 2008 had much better starting pitching, and although the offense wasn't very good early on that year, it had started to show signs by this point and it had a dominant, MVP player in Carlos Quentin in the middle of the lineup. This team has nothing like that. The only positive this team has is that is has a better bullpen than the 2008 one did (mainly because of health and the emergence of Carrasco), but that doesn't matter since we can't seem to ever get a lead to them in the 6th and 7th inning and beyond.

I am a big Conan fan. His show so far looks like the same old Conan show to me, except an hour earlier and with a bigger budget. The one negative I've noticed is they are struggling to make a natural transition to getting Andy Richter back into the mix and overall flow of the show outside of being announcer, but I think they will figure that out. It's a bit difficult for me because I am a David Letterman fan (I didn't like Jay Leno AT ALL), but Letterman lost a viewer in me because Conan is the best.

QUOTE (scenario @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 11:16 AM) July 31st is 52 days from now. Big difference in waving a white flag when the season is 2/3 over than when it's 1/3 over. I don't think anybody is saying the white flag trades are coming very soon. But when it's mid to late July and this team is 10 games under .500, it's fair to wonder what is going to happen, even if the division leader is about .500 (which is a very real possibility), thus meaning we'd only be 5 games out.

QUOTE (Cali @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 11:15 AM) A solid bullpen is one of the hardest things to build in baseball, so trading away any of the back end of the bullpen is a mistake in my opinion, I don't care about the package you get in return, the Sox have NO ONE to fill in for them in the system. And Thornton closing games is a f***ing scary thought.... I won't get into the Thornton closing debate, but he's probably the best left handed relief pitcher in baseball right now, and his stuff (unlike that of a guy like Bobby Jenks, who at the same time still has a lot of trade value) is showing no signs of being in decline. You don't trade a guy like that in my opinion, especially since I doubt we'd get equal value or more in return.

QUOTE (scenario @ Jun 9, 2009 -> 11:12 AM) Teams don't go into fire-sale mode when they're 4.5 games out in June. But I don't want to take the fun out of the thread, so I'll just shut up. The white flag trade says that we'll trade guys regardless of what the standings say if the chairman thinks we're out of it. I think even though we're only 4.5 games out, it's fair to say this a bad baseball team. The white flag trade was in late July (31st of course) as well and the Sox were better that year than they are this one.

I actually wouldn't mind a fire sale, it would at least show this team has a sense of what direction it wants to head in, something I haven't seen since 2006. As for a potential fire sale, I think Dotel and Dye would for sure go, Thome goes if somebody wants him, Jenks goes if we get a good offer for him, and I'm about 50/50 on what we'd do with Konerko since he has value with the way he's playing but he is signed through 2010. Buehrle is the one major veteran I think would stay, nobody would take Linebrink's contract so he would stay, I wouldn't trade Thornton and I don't think they would either, and younger guys like Quentin, Danks, and Floyd would obviously stay.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 05:37 PM) I'm of the opinion it doesn't matter much either way, but I voted for his firing in that I feel this year somebody has to take the fall. It might not matter either way, I openly admit that. But it can't get any worse, and Walker clearly hasn't been doing his job well (whatever that is) since probably the first half of 2006. One thing I will say is there is no argument that dumping him will make things worse, which is perhaps the best argument to dump him and at least try to shake SOMETHING up, which this team unfortunately never does.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 09:38 AM) I feel like I am living Groundhogs Day. So am I, this is 2007 all over again. I'm sure it will be again in the sense that Greg Walker should be fired this year and won't be, just like he should be in 2009 and won't be.

This team is bad for the same reason the 2007 team (who the 2009 team will end up with a very similar record to) was bad, lack of talent. It's not that hard a concept to grasp really. Kenny failed us in 2007 and he did again this year, although at least there is some hope for the future now since our farm system is currently much better than it was 2 years ago.

2007 part two. How sad.

The thing I don't get about baseball is teams tendency to bunt when their offense is struggling. If anything, the WORST time to bunt is when your offense is struggling. Bunting gives away a free out to your opponent (well, you get one base in return if executed properly, but that's not very much), and when you are struggling on offense, outs are coming fast and furious as it is, no need to give extra ones away. As for today, Alexei can't and should not be bunting. When a guy like him fails at bunting, it's not his fault, it's Ozzie's for asking him to do something he can't. End of story.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Jun 7, 2009 -> 09:47 PM) To be fair,it wasn't an easy shot. He had two great looks at the basket in the last 10 seconds of regulation, one of them a layup at the horn, and he missed them both. Even though they aren't the same scenario at all (what Anderson did was far more egregious, and in game 1 at home to boot), 2009 Courtney Lee=1995 Nick Anderson.

He should have been fired late in the 2006 season, certainly in the 2007 season, and perhaps early in the 2008 season. It's absolutely amazing to me he has a job, but I'm convinced he will never be fired at this point. It's his job as long as he wants it, because if he hasn't been fired by now, he never will be. There is no defense of him, except the old "they are major league players, they should hit and figure it out themselves" line. And even that isn't a legitimate defense, since if it's true, there would be no hitting coaches anyways.

I know the thread itself is sarcastic, but in all honesty, even if Beckham struggled badly up here and had to be sent back to the minors for some seasoning, I think he'd be fine even then. We may have rushed him, but he seems like a mentally strong kid who can handle anything thrown his way. He'll be a very good major league player someday no matter what.

Greg Walker has needed to be fired since August of 2006. He's an absolute joke of a hitting coach, but it's clear that he could kill 3 people tomorrow and his job will still be safe, so that's a waste of breath. Although really, if you aren't going to fire your hitting coach when you're on pace to be shut out 27 times, you'll NEVER fire him. In fact, if you aren't going to fire him now, what's the point of even having a hitting coach? The only defense of Greg Walker right now is "these guys are professionals", which is a dumb argument anyway. If that's the case, there should be no hitting coaches, period. However, with that all said, there is somebody who needs to be fired before Greg Walker and that's our advanced scouts. It's clear they do an absolutely awful job, and if they got canned tomorrow it would be a good thing.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 1, 2009 -> 11:00 PM) What's with Linebrink in the 9th inning? I know we had a 4 run lead, but Jenks didn't even get up after Thome's homer. Are we showcasing Linebrink in some save situations (or close to it) as trade bait for teams looking for a closer? Or are we possibly thinking about trading Jenks? I'm probably looking to much into this, but whatever. Nice win tonight! Gotta love late inning wins. I was at the game. Jenks was getting warm for most of the bottom of the 8th, and only sat down after the lead got to 4 and it thus wasn't a save situation. You could even see him (jokingly) making angry gestures towards the field after the walk brought in the 6th run. It was nothing more than that in my opinion. As for the game, it was a good one to be at and a nice win. I about froze my rear end off since the temperature dropped 25 degrees during my drive to the stadium, but at least the rain held off.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 2, 2009 -> 08:33 AM) You have players like Derek Jeter who are labeled "clutch" by everyone, but look at Jeter's stats. If he hits in the .290s, that's a "down" year for him. Then look at his postseason stats and you see that they're virtually identical to his career stats. Is he really "clutch" or is it just because he's one of the best pure hitters in the game? If you're a great player, generally speaking, you will be great in "clutch" situations too. When there appears to be a disparity, you can attribute that to data fluctuations due to small sample sizes. On the other hand you have average players who get the reputations as being "clutch" (Crede for example) but realistically, that's your positive memories lying to you. Nearly all the time, if you look up their stats, they're not as impressive as you think they are. Very true. As I like to say, "there is no such thing as clutch, but there is such thing as lack of clutch". The guys known as "clutch" are almost always good players who also hit like good players in big spots. There are FAR more guys who choke in the clutch (or who are poor players who also don't hit in the clutch) than there are guys who are better players in big spots. As for Thome, his lack of clutch reputation is pretty humerous. One thing I've noticed especially about him is if you get him an at bat late in the game against a right handed relief pitcher (like last night, or on opening day), he seems to be a cold blooded killer. And I guess that's obvious since he kills RHP in general, but he seems to ESPECIALLY kill RHP who are relievers. Combine that with him being a little better against LHP recently (or so it seems), and here we are.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 26, 2009 -> 11:41 AM) 62-83 was his career playoff record coming into these playoffs. That, well, that sucks. Taking 3 teams to the conference finals in all the years he's been around is nothing to really get loud about. Denver blew this series on Saturday (awesome when your players can't execute a simple inbounds pass). That record isn't too bad considering the franchises he's coached for in his time. Not getting the inbound pass in during two different games is pathetic, I won't argue that, but George Karl isn't a bad coach at all. And that series is FAR from over.

QUOTE (The Critic @ May 24, 2009 -> 10:52 PM) So maybe the Hawk fans back then weren't as jealous of Detroit's success as they are now. I'm not jealous of Detroit. They are an amazingly well run franchise, and their success is no accident. I just hate the Red Wings because I have EVERYTHING Detroit related, that is the city, the sports teams, etc. The beauty of the "Detroit sucks" chant is it will ALWAYS be true. The Red Wings don't suck, and at times, other sports teams there don't suck. But Detroit itself always has and always will suck, or at least that's how I look at it. QUOTE (santo=dorf @ May 24, 2009 -> 08:36 PM) He certainly loses points with his association with McCubnough. You do realize how incredibly silly this statement is dont' you? Just because he worked for the Cubs for a long time doesn't mean he is dumb. In fact, McDonough is BRILLIANT. He managed to fill that s***hole of a ballpark up north for a long time despite having terrible teams and a franchise a century removed from a championship, and now he's helped the practical overnight revival of the Blackhawks. His job isn't to build a winning team, it's to promote, and he's the best in the business at it. And your Wirtz statement lacks logic too, considering Rocky couldn't possibly be more different than Dollar Bill. But enjoy the Red Wings bandwagon, I guess the Hawks dead past owner is a great excuse to be a bandwagon jumper.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 24, 2009 -> 02:08 AM) George Karl's playoff record speaks for itself. I knew I shouldn't have hopped on Denver's bandwagon. They've now been dismissed. It does speak for itself. He's taken 3 different teams to the conference finals, and has the Denver freaking Nuggets 2 wins from the NBA Finals. I'm not sure why you imply he can't win big games because that premise is false. Yeah he doesn't have a ring, but he's not an idiot either. As for the current events, Cleveland is going to lose unless LeBron comes up with some superhuman performances. I still don't know how good Orlando is (they are without their best point guard, and I think they'd lose a relatively short series to Denver or Los Angeles) but they are taking advantage of all the matchup problems they present Cleveland (SVG is doing a fantastic job, no surprise) and I would be very surprised if they don't win this series based on what has been seen the first 3 games. I feel a bit foolish having thought Cleveland would win relatively easily against Orlando because there were glaring matchup problems that any idiot (except me) could have seen coming. The LA/Denver series is going 7 games, and it should be a fantastic final 3 in that one.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 26, 2009 -> 11:18 AM) Iraq is better today than it was under Hussien. It might not be ideal, but it is better, no matter what the liberal blogs say. The UN had no part in that, in fact, they could very easily be blamed for bringing it to the point where W felt an invasion was necesary. It is very easy to imagine a scenario with no money, where his regime collapses under its own weight and is replaced with something in the middle of what history has given us. While I agree Iraq is better today, it doesn't change the fact that the whole thing has been a fiasco. I'm not sure what the best option would be to handle problematic countries/governments, but whatever it is, it hasn't been tried recently.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ May 18, 2009 -> 02:31 PM) Maybe Cito Gaston was the right call 5 years ago...........he sees to have not missed a beat. I won't go that far. Ozzie has won 2 division titles and a World Series in his 5 years here. Besides. like in 2007, I think the problem now is much higher than Ozzie. This is a case of all of our bad drafting, bad player development, and older guys catching up with us in my opinion. At least the system finally seems to be getting itself in order now, but that doesn't help the team playing at The Cell in 2009.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 18, 2009 -> 02:29 PM) Make someone accountable!! No one loses their job, no one loses their starting spot (for more than 2 games). I've never seen a team that is so scared to shake things up. Maybe it's because the coaching staff is too close or the veterans are too scared to make a recommendation. I am interested in seeing the boo-fest tomorrow at the Cell. You are right, and it's sad. It's sad that i've reached the acceptance stage of 2009 being a failure this early. It's sad our major league roster is so bereft of talent (although I see a lot of hope and promise in our minor league system), it's sad nobody is held accountable, and it's sad our team is going to probably finish in 4th place in front of an empty ballpark this year. I'm not a fan of booing the home team, but if people boo tomorrow, I can't blame them.

Blow it up, dump the veterans, rebuild. My only hope with this is also my only fear and here's what I mean. My hope is the division is bad and thus we have a shot, my fear is the division is bad and KW will not trade off some of our veteran parts for return items even though we're bad.