whitesoxfan101

I guess making stupid/ignorant/both comments runs in the family.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Aug 10, 2006 -> 05:20 PM) And the Colts fan says Peyton Manning is the best QB in the league. And from September through December, that is an undeniable fact.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 10, 2006 -> 05:32 PM) "Respectable" and "Consistently solid" do not equate with being one of the top players in baseball, having his name up in MVP talk, or having the highest salary of any player who's being paid entirely by 1 team in all of baseball. Not to mention his defense. I forgot all about that, he's in MVP talk this year Jeter would be the 5th best player in our everyday lineup this year, yet is in MVP talks. Flat out awesome.

QUOTE(aboz56 @ Aug 10, 2006 -> 05:27 PM) Calling Jeter overrated is ignorant. He has 4 rings and he's posted consistently solid numbers throughout his career. I'd say a .316 career batting average is awfully good. His OPS for his career is also in the mid .800's which for a SS is respectable. How is he overrated? Well in my defense, he's a GREAT hitter and does have quite a bit of speed. However, he's been one of the 5 worst defensive shortstops in the game since the first day he put on pinstripes, yet has won a couple gold gloves and is always credited for his great defense. The level of overrated his defense is alone nearly wins him the most overrated player crown. But I just couldn't say he is #1 on the list because of how he hits, and to say he's #1 by far is pretty silly.

Overrated Player: Jeter's .316/.388 BARELY offsets how overrated his defense is here. My vote goes to Josh Beckett for pitchers, and Bobby Crosby for hitters (I keep hearing how good he is when healthy, well he's a .244 average, .724 OPS guy in his career) Manager: Tony LaRussa (very well could be #1 all time) GM: Brian Sabean of the Giants: All you hear is good things about him, yet he keeps trading young studs for old crap. Underrated Player: Lance Berkman, Astros.....just ahead of Jermaine. Whoever is 3rd has a long way to go. Manager: Ron Gardenhire, Twins: I've thought he's head a deal with the devil for several years now he's been so good, so obviously he's just that damn good. Doesn't get a lot of props outside the midwest either. GM: Larry Beinfest, Marlins: Just read his resume and you'll see how far and away he wins that award.

QUOTE(elrockinMT @ Aug 10, 2006 -> 04:07 PM) But, if Pods starts hitting and stealing bases it might ignite some offense. The offense leads the league in runs, it doesn't need to be "ignited". The pitching staff (mainly the starters) needs to quit being a giant pile of crap, that's the problem here. Mack in LF and Anderson in CF everyday would help the defense, and thus help the pitching staff however....and it wouldn't hurt the lineup at all either. That's why that movement keeps growing.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Aug 10, 2006 -> 04:01 PM) I don't mean to add on to the Broadway bashing in any way, but you can't really be serious about comparing Broadway and McCarthy. McCarthy's K/BB ratio is almost double Broadway's. McCarthy has already proven that he can be semi-successful at the big league level, not to mention AAA. We've seen McCarthy have three big league pitches. I've heard rave reviews about Broadway's curveball, but his changeup doesn't seem where it needs to be yet, and he's not doing a great job of fooling the hitters right now; he only has 100 Ks in something like 142 IP. I think Broadway has a chance to be a good #5 innings eater who can put up a league average ERA or so, but my expectations aren't a whole lot higher than that. Nah, I said I think Broadway and McCarthy will be good. I think McCarthy is more of a 2 or 3, and Broadway is a 4 or 5. They are both going to be starters though and fill their roles well in the long run IMO.

The bullpen has been decent, but inconsistent overall. The rotation sucks, and the lineup can hit the hell out of the ball, and our defense sucks. Looks like the same old White Sox to me, but if Javy is on tonight I'll feel quite a bit better.

QUOTE(Beltin @ Aug 10, 2006 -> 03:36 PM) The White Sox had Konerko, Thomas, Ordonez, and Lee all in a row from 2000-2004 and could not win a title. I am not disputing the impact Thome has had on the lineup from Iguchi to Crede/Pierzynski. I also agree that Anderson is/will be a better center fielder than Rowand. I am talking about balance. I will take a little less defense out of Rowand coupled with his bat in the 7 or 8 hole versus Anderson's defense coupled with his big looping swing and .205 average. Konerko can not DH once in a while because the choices for a backup at 1st base are Gload, Mackowiak and Thome. Gload is a pariah on this board 99% of the time, Mackowiak has played only a handful of games at first, and Thome is too fragile and valuable to risk injury in the field. The Sox have no legitimate backup defense in the outfield no matter how good Mack and Pablo are when they are on a hot streak. The 2005 White Sox won the title not because of monster production in the middle of the lineup. The did it through pitching, defense, and teamwork. Thome can hit 60 home runs and have 185 RBI but he can be streaky, strikes out a lot, and most importantly can not play defense. If you can eliminate the need for Gload, you can save a lot of the runs that Mackowiak surrendered with his rotten glove in the 7-9 innings this year. Anderson could still be on this team in Mackowiak's current roll of part time starter. You pick your spots and allow the regulars to rest while Anderson can develop against some of the less stingy arms in the league. Meanwhile, he can always come in late to help preserve a lead. It is all hindsight, but as much as the starting pitchers and Ozzie deserve some blame for the team struggles, so does the defense for not backing them up. Just remember, the Yankees line-up is stacked and has not won a world series since the days of Brosius, O'Neil, Williams, and Martinez. That's all fun and cute and heartwarming, but if this years pitching staff were as good as last years, we'd be the team with the record the Tigers have. Hell, maybe better than that. If this pitching staff were HALF as good as last years, we'd be in shape to win 105 games. The problem with this team starts and ends with the pitching staff, and the reason people want a change in LF and Brian in CF everyday is simply because it makes our defense A LOT better, doesn't hurt the offense, and the better defense in the long run would help the pitching staff gives up a few less runs and maybe get us the few more wins we need to make the playoffs.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Aug 10, 2006 -> 03:31 PM) If Brian was 3/4 the CF he is now, and just dove around a lot. People would say he's better than A-Row in center. The fact that he's had like 2 web gem type plays detracts from what people think. Brian still has his issues covering towards the gaps when Dye or Pods are nearby, but I would expect that to change as he's in CF more and more. Now he just needs to shake off this mini slump. I know if people knew he'd hit over .260 after the break after his start there'd be no problem. I definitley don't like how he's looked lately though, because a lot of his AB are similar to the early year ones, at least in the last few days. Correct, Brian's skill on defense which allows him to make almost every play look easy, is why people still think Rowand was better. Rowand's diving, crashing into walls, and reckless play was fun to watch and showed he really cared, but it doesn't change the fact that Brian is a better defender and catches just about everything, while having more range than Crash ever dreamed of.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Aug 10, 2006 -> 03:27 PM) Definitely great. Every defensive stat I've seen says he is, and so do my eyes. Our CF defense this year is better than last year. Our problem is the RF and LF are both a lot slower, and Pods defense, why relied ALL on makeup speed in the past (and was STILL bad), is now a joke because he has no arm, gets bad reads, AND can't run very well. At least with Dye in RF, he's a beast at the dish and still gets good reads and can throw.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 10, 2006 -> 11:52 AM) And has this season's massive attendance increase already been spent/factored in? Without question yes. The reason this payroll is so high is because the FO knew attendance would be somewhere in the 2.6 to 2.9 million range, plus merchandising from winning it all and from bandwagoners and etc. That's why I don't care who the hell shows up at The Cell, as long as it's full and loud I'm happy, because it means more payroll.

I wish Ryan Sweeney was 2 years older and a long time left fielder....

QUOTE(LVSoxFan @ Aug 10, 2006 -> 03:15 PM) BTW, isn't Mack, by trade, a LF? I believe so. Anyways, Brian in CF and Mack in LF everyday would do more for the defense really. Those 2 in those spots everyday is a HUGE improvement for the defensive outfield, and would save runs (and even more than you'd think considering how many fly balls our pitchers give up). So the lineup would prevent a ton of runs, and possibily produce a few more. Also, with this lineup, people need to realize this isn't anything like last year. Last year, Pods HAD to get on base with an infield hit, and steal 2nd, then take 3rd on a Gooch grounder and come home on a sac fly. Now Pods can't run like that anymore, but even if he could....unless it's close and late, stolen bases really aren't worth the risk for us. This lineup just needs the guy(s) at the top to get on base, so that our stable of monters (Dye, Thome, Konerko, Crede, Piersynski to a degree) can mash them home. Mack will get on base a lot and is a very good baserunner for the most part (also important when you have people on base that much).

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Aug 10, 2006 -> 02:56 PM) Excellent...eeeeeeeexcellent. I've wanted Mack to start in LF everyday for almost a month now. Your probably the only guy here that's been on that soapbox longer than I have.

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Aug 10, 2006 -> 02:53 PM) totally Hooray, somebody got it!! (I think...)

Scarlett is great, however they probably don't like her in Hollywood since she weighs more than 85 pounds. I never got the Portman thing, but then again I never got the Star Wars thing either.

I'm not sure about this, but since Brian started to hit about 5 weeks ago or so, I'd guess his walk totals are down noticeably. He almost seems afraid to hit with 2 strikes, and rather tries to foul off pitches until he walks, whereas early in the count he's more aggressive and takes good swings (which is how he's been hitting much better lately).

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Aug 10, 2006 -> 02:29 PM) Miami will take the MAC. NIU at Miami on October 7th will be our toughest conference game by a mile. It could be like last year at Akron, we played a close game at their place during the season, and had another one in Detroit for the MAC Title.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Aug 10, 2006 -> 02:29 PM) Here's the kind of lineup I'd like to throw out there just once. Mack LF BA CF Dye RF Thome DH Konerko 1B AJ C Crede 3B Gooch 2B Uribe SS It's not anything to stick with, but I think it'd be worth a one game try to shake things up. Gratned, that's the slowest 4-5-6-7 ever, I think it'd be worth a change. I also think that Brian could do well in the 2 spot. He doesn't have the black hole behind him or in front of him. The lefies would be spread in the lineup too. Anyway, that's if Heads was manager for a day. God knows, we have too many auto outs at time. I think Brian hitting higher than 9th would be a good idea, but I am not ready to put him in the 2 slot yet. However, I am ready to move Gooch out.....anyways, my lineup would be: Mack in left Dye in right Thome as DH Konerko at 1st Crede at 3rd AJ catching Gooch at 2nd Anderson in center Uribe at short Ok, Anderson at 8th doesn't seem like a big deal, but having him in between Gooch and Uribe IMO would get him a lot more pitches to hit than being in between Uribe/Cintron and Pods/Ozuna. Is that lineup very fast?? Hell no, but 1 through 7 can all hit, the top 4 will all be on base a lot, Gooch is further down in the order, and you have some speed in front of Uribe, who thrives with men on base. QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 10, 2006 -> 02:36 PM) I would not be surprised at all, based on what I've seen from him since June, if BA could wind up as an ideal #2 hitter within a year or two. Agreed, but he's not at that stage yet, especially not on a team that needs every last run and win they can get right now if we want to make the playoffs.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Aug 10, 2006 -> 02:17 PM) Remember when it seemed like we'd be up 1-0 after the first inning as a foregone conclusion last year? I love Pods as much as the next guy, but we need a new leadoff man next year. Right now, Ozuna has been off since he was hurt. I, at this point, have no problem with Mack starting in LF and leading off. At the very least, Rob's an intelligent baserunner. Agreed, and I've thought that for a couple weeks (although I'd bet you have too). Rob gives better at bats, gets on base more, is an average left fielder (no really, he is....which is way better than Pods) and is just a better option to play LF and lead off. Also, I remember being up 1-0 in the 1st being foregone last year, and also remember that our pitchers would actually hold leads. God that was fun. QUOTE(TitoMB345 @ Aug 10, 2006 -> 02:14 PM) While I agree that it will take a change to get into October, I think ANYTHING can happen once we get there. I actually agree big time. That's why the goal IMO is to make the playoffs, once you get there it's almost a matter of luck. This team is built for the playoffs and could make a run if we get in, but that's why it's so important to get in. I still think that 2003 team could have won it all, but of course we didn't make the playoffs.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Aug 10, 2006 -> 02:03 PM) There was a night involving an entire bottle of Grey Goose and a few of my friends this spring. Stuff got broken. If none of the stuff was body parts, you guys are very lucky.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 10, 2006 -> 01:54 PM) You know, I understand your point, but I would be willing to bet the opposite...that there is a rough, but existent, correlation between how hard a person throws and how often they wind up with some sort of arm injury. Yeah, I needed to be more clear. I think guys that throw 100 do get hurt more, but it's not due to the velocity, but rather the mechanics. It's just VERY hard to throw at those kind of speeds without harmful mechanics (with a guy like Thornton being a rare exception).

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Aug 10, 2006 -> 01:56 PM) Thank God the terrorists didn't have snakes. Snakes + Planes = WWIII WWIV >>> WWIII

Last night was the ultimate proof that "momentum is as good as the next days starter" is true. If you can't pitch, you can't consistently win, and you can't gain momemtum, which is why it would take a monumental change from our starting staff for us to end up in the playoffs, let alone do anything in October.