whitesoxfan101

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Sep 22, 2006 -> 08:51 AM) NO, NO, NO! There is no reason at all to trade Garland. The starter we need to move before anybody is Vazquez. I just love how he decides to show up after we're basically out of it. Get rid of his ass. That goes for Garcia too. Another one who didn't show up until we had knocked ourselves out of the hunt. If we are going to dump a starter, make it Buehrle. He's only ours through 2007, is a lefty with trade value, and has terrible stuff. At least Vaz has shown some signs, and Freddy has shown he can get people out lately.

If by this he means we have a new SS and LF that are fast and get on base at least better than our current SS and LF, I have no worries. If we are going to go totally Ozzieball this offseason, I'll cry.

Great get for DePaul, congrats to you DePaul fans. Methinks this also means A.J. Stewart to Illinois.

That game last night was vintage 2006 White Sox: -Three double plays, a single off the wall, and no clutch hitting to go with 2 solo home runs -Bullpen gives up a run in the 9th to add onto a game already out of reach -Ozzie leaves Garland in too long, and as a result the first pitch of the 8th inning is hit 410 feet to turn 4-2 into 5-2. Then Ozzie plays appendage ball with Thornton and Eminem, and 3 pitchers face 3 batters to start the inning, and Thornton is wasted on 1 guy. -Runner steals 3rd while the ball is being thrown back to the mound, makes it easily -Every aspect of the game was pathetic Man I'm glad this season is almost over. I hope this is just an abberation, but it's for sure the most disappointing season I've ever seen. I'm sure glad Ozzie decided last night that Mackowiak isn't good enough to play CF though, didn't take him too long there. He's started 50 games out there since Anderson got hot, I'm sure those 5 or 6 games his defense cost us in that time couldn't help us now...

Ozzie likes Pods, Mack in CF, and keeps playing Uribe, but can't stop b****ing about BA and no beer in the clubhouse. I simply am dumbfounded by him. QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 19, 2006 -> 01:04 PM) Little bit of fun here. Brian Anderson hit .161 in April, .167 in may, and .191 in June. Post All Star, he has hit .285. In the 2nd half, Rob Mackowiak has 80 at bats. He has hit .250 in those at bats, almost Podsednik territory. Just for fun, I figured I would like to know what would have happened had Ozzie shut up and Played Anderson almost every game in CF after the break except for the occasional day off or late inning pinch hit situation. So if I were to give Anderson another 80 at bats in the 2nd half...if his 2nd half numbers were to go unchanged (and not improve with even more experience), here would be his season line: .245 batting average, .300 OBP. Considering how bad he started off, that wouldn't be a bad season at all. Those numbers are very similar to what Joe Crede, Juan Uribe, and Carl Everett had LAST YEAR (and none of them started as bad as BA). Would somebody tell Ozzie that.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 19, 2006 -> 12:59 PM) And the only people making "radical" changes are the armchair GM's of soxtalk. This I disagree with. Kenny made borderline radical changes after a World Title, so you know he'll be busy this offseason. I just hope he doesn't go overboard, because I honestly think as much as the players and Ozzie have been awful, part of the problem has been bad luck this year.

Just for the record here, I am against radical change. I want Pods and Uribe gone for improvements, trade Freddy or Buehrle (or hell, both if you want) and get B Mac into that rotation, and get some bullpen help (maybe through said trades). However I just have a hunch with all the factors in play that we could trade Crede. Would I do it? Depends on what we get back, but I wouldn't just say no he's untouchable, not at all, I'm just too concerned about his back, Boras, and the career year factor at the plate (which I'm not saying this for sure is, but it has that smell to it).

The reason I ask this question is pretty simple actually. Yes he appears to be blowing up this year finally, but the question is, has he finally figured it out, or is this just a career year. Not many guys suddenly figure it out for good at age 28 to be honest, plus he's going to finish with 30/100 and a .290 average and .520 slugging, along with spectacular defense. Now those are great numbers, but combine the price he costs which keeps going up, his prime age and peak trade value right now, the danger of this being a career year, his back, Scott Boras, and Josh Fields, and I wonder if maybe we should dump him now at peak value. To be fair here, I can definitely see both sides to this debate, but if we are going to be making radical changes again, Crede is one of the few core guys I could see us dealing in theory, so I figured I'd bring up the topic.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 18, 2006 -> 11:52 AM) I just hope that Kenny Williams is smarter than that. On paper he did everything right last offseason, except maybe for the Vazquez deal. Every single major problem we had with the team at the end of last season he did something to improve. He found us a left-handed power bat, he added significantly to the team OBP, he strengthened the bench, he found a way to put a long-reliever in the bullpen, he added a dominant lefty to the bullpen for a guy we were going to lose anywya, and he added another innings-eater to the starting rotation. The only one of those moves that might have looked bad on paper was the Vazquez move, but at least on some level it was a reasonable gamble if Cooper thought he could turn it around. On some level, I still find it hard to blame KW for the fact that some of his moves blew up in his face. Seriously, how do you predict that Neal Cotts would go from that good to that bad? Or that Ozzie would decide that Rob Mackowiak was a center fielder, and would play Anderson less as he improved later in the season? Or that Buehrle and Garcia were going to flame out? I think, and hope, that KW is smart enough to try to do exactly what he tried to do last year; make a list of the team's problems, and address them one after another. Anybody who blames Kenny for this season is insane. All he can do is give Ozzie the horses, which he did. He can't control the fact that Ozzie won't use Brian, and will use Pods and Mack, who are HORRIBLE defensively and both inferior to Brian at the plate (well, have been since June, but wake up, it's September). He can't control the fact that Ozzie leaves his starters in the game an inning too long, then is too lefty-right reliant when using the pen, instead of using common sense. He can't control the fact that Ozzie refuses to sit down Uribe, even though he's worse than you are at baseball this year. He can't control Ozzie being more worried about beer in the clubhouse and ripping Frank Thomas than a pennant race. He can't control Ozzie using Boone Logan and Neal Cotts in big spots. He can't even control the fact that Ozzie is a bad manager, but you can't fire him 11 months after winning it all without having the dopey fans go crazy. But what he can control is getting this team better (which he will) this offseason, and dumping Ozzie after 2007 if it goes as badly as 2006 (which wouldn't surprise anybody). I just hope he has the balls to fire this idiot when the time comes in 12 months or so.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Sep 18, 2006 -> 11:35 AM) I just LOVE the fact that the Bears play the AFC East this year simply because of the Phins and Bills games (both games also being played in Chicago) this shall be a fun season. The Jets suck too for that matter. What an easy schedule.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 18, 2006 -> 11:36 AM) Honestly, it wouldn't shock me at all. The talent is still there on this team to do something next year exactly as is constructed now, and more importantly, that talent can also be turned into other pieces this offseason. I still think we'd be right in the thick of things, and maybe leading this division, if Anderson was pushing 500 at bats. Anderson will never get 500 at bats with Ozzie here, Minnesota is going to destroy us next year, so we're relying on the Wild Card, Owens is going to be our leadoff man in LF, Garcia will stay since he's family, and everybody will still love Ozzie since he won us a title. Sadly, I'm not kidding either.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 18, 2006 -> 11:23 AM) Based on that standard...if he is the manager in 2008, that means something went right in 2007. Which would SHOCK me....however I'll take it if that is the case.

Until Hawk remembers the biggest reason why this team is going to be sitting at home next month, I say meh. It's not like he's ripping anybody with power in this organization, just the players.

There is no way Ozzie is gone after this year. However after he botches up next season, he HAS to be gone. If he is our manager in April of 2008, I'll be very disappointed.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Sep 17, 2006 -> 05:40 PM) If I'm remembering right, the Vikings are 8-3 since Johnson took over as the starting QB. He may not be flashy, but he wins them games. That's all they really care about. And the Vikings D looks pretty tough so far this year. It's gonna be a good game, that's for sure He scored 6 points in regulation, and they lose without a lateral and a fake field goal. Color me unimpressed, but I'll eat my crow if they beat the Bears. Won't happen though.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Sep 18, 2006 -> 01:59 AM) West Virginia is going to run the table and get screwed out of the national title game, just watch. I wouldn't say they'll get screwed. USC and Ohio State will both go undefeated and be more deserving of making the title game IMO, and the system will screw over West Virginia. But then again, who needs a playoff system.

Lake Zurich gave Libertyville a better game than I thought, lost on a late TD. Kudos to them, good team.

So........why didn't we IBB Frank. And why is Mack and Pods a better offensive lineup than BA and Mack in LF (or a better d one for that matter). And why are you so effin worried about beer in the clubhouse?

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Sep 17, 2006 -> 01:37 PM) I think there are about 3 or 4 teams in the SEC that can give either of those teams a good run, but the SEC is just going to beat up on itself. Especially since they have a title game and the B10 P10 don't That is true, but LSU already has a loss, Georgia's QB's suck too much to not lose, Florida's gimmick O isn't going to be enough, and Alabama again doesn't have an offense. SEC teams have great defense, but to be honest they also have bad offense. The one SEC team that I think really does have a shot is Auburn though, but like you said the SEC beats on their own too much.

At Vikings will be somewhat tough, but Brad Johnson SUCKS so the Bears should dominate that D. Just get 20 points and get on the plane 3-0.

That's horrible news. I really hope her eye receives a miracle, or that at least she can keep and learn to have vision in one eye. What a tough year for him.

Should we just play the USC/Ohio State national title game right now? Oh, and Garrett Wolfe is really good. And the Illini are indeed bad, but if they start Juice at QB, that's a big start to getting respectable.

In our home opener of my freshmen year ('04 when NIU made a bowl and won), SIU came up here and missed a 2 with less than a minute left to lose to us 23-22 at Huskie Stadium. Congrats to you NIU fans on getting a huge win like this now, enjoy it.

After Johan beats us at Minnesota. It would only be fitting if that's the last straw.

I will never buy that it was a full government conspiracy, however I also will never buy that we had no idea it was coming, and it's still inexcuseable that the "greatest country ever" could let something that catastrophic happen on it's own soil.