Princess Dye

QUOTE (longshot7 @ Aug 12, 2009 -> 04:20 PM) I was just talking Pods' performance. If you think he's an everyday major league LFer, then I have a bridge to sell you. Get a real corner outfielder and use him as a 4th guy off the bench. Do you see him starting for either Boston or New York next year? Then he shouldn't for us either. The Cubs have a huge payroll and expected to contend for a WS at the beginning of this year They would take Pods and start him. It depends on fit, leadoff is such a problem leaguewide....a lot of teams will take on some bad defense to have one, and we're one of those teams right now. I would love for someone to take over that leadoff spot next year, but if Rios duplicates his Toronto 09 performance...... you'd have to think the Sox will try to bring Pods back with a cheap one-year deal.

For the most part, I have no problem with Dye wanting to play. It's unnatural for a player to hear that theyve added another starter to his filled position....and not care If he'd went off publicly, I'd have a problem with it. But he barely said anything of consequence, surely nothign we'll remember in a week

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 12, 2009 -> 02:15 PM) Quentin is also playing with plantar fascitis, which undoubtedly is slowing him down right now. Oh, no question I would want CQ in right field if the current injuries completely subside. It's just a matter of when that's going to be. Everything we hear is that it bothers him but he plays thru it.

QUOTE (suicidesqueeze @ Aug 12, 2009 -> 02:06 PM) Ozzie should be thrown in a rubber room if he ever puts Pods in Cf over Rios if/when both are in the outfield/lineup. That would be criminal and about 100 times worse than Toronto shoving Rios to RF for overrated Vernon Wells. I agree, but I think Ozzie's initial comments said something like-- he sees Rios playing LF/CF/RF. aeh. Fortunately Ozzie has a history of saying one thing to reporters and never putting it into practice.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 12, 2009 -> 01:51 PM) I'm not opposed to putting mediocre arms in RF under certain circumstances, but Pods' arm is even worse than Johnny Damon's. It comes down to Quentin's inability to cover ground in RF vs. Pods' total lack of an arm in RF. Great throws from the OF...it is great to have, but your team can be solid in all categories except this one, you sacrifice it. no team is perfect. I also have to say that Quentin (playing with soreness) in RF might actually be a guy who cant get to balls AND cant throw people out. CQ has a strong arm but it seems like most of the time he just doesnt get anything behind his throws. CQ got absolutely abused in LF sunday.... Pods has poor OF instincts but at least gets to balls. When Dye sits, it's a tough situation, no question. I'm sure Ozzie's brilliant solution will be LF:CQ, CF:Pods, RF:Rios. I would flip the last two.

Crawford returning to what he normally is....it would still be great, but I think that price might be too high for us I might pay that price for a corner OF who will slam moonshots. albeit with Crawford's career avg and obp I'm worried about going HR deficient in the next few yrs.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Aug 12, 2009 -> 01:20 PM) Putting Thome in the 2-hole and Alexei in the 3rd spot pretty much proves that its wrong right there. Stats are stats and are useful to a point, but they arent absolute and they dont have the ability to take all game factors into account. I hate to say it, but if it shows Thome as a 2-hitter...... it may not necessarily show that the program is wrong, but more shows that we're ill-equipped as an offense. Obviously Thome is not an ideal 2-hitter, but it kinda makes sense that if Beckham is being moved up...the program is telling us we really dont have another 2-hitter. Ouch. For instance, put the Yanks into this program and I'm sure just about any lineup is going to be great.

Maybe too depressing to do this while we are about to enjoy our new team, but we now have a poll considering who might be odd man out next yr

If Rios keeps hitting doubles as he's been known to, I like him as a leadoff hitter next year. That is supposing we had no better one. Beckham just has to be 2 or 3, that RBI bat is too valuable. If Beckham is our leadoff hitter, well to quote Ozzie, "we're in trouble"

We should keep this. This is 2009-helpful, there's little firm for 2010

QUOTE (GO CHI SOX! @ Aug 11, 2009 -> 09:00 PM) Contreras has to be who he meant. Dye took the collar in that game. I took it as a general shot at the team This is a can of worms but i'll open it anyway. Our manager and GM are really really open with the media. I think it's great. But one offshoot of this is occasionally the puzzling free agency exit of one of our players. Colon left kind of inexplicably when he was a great player. He seems like the paper-thin ego type. Magglio is another situation, also at his peak. I love KW but that and the recent poll about managers..... well, I just hope it doesnt cost us in free agency down the line.

I had an eye on the game here and there, but I only fully started watching til the 8th.

Just grabbed a blkberry to say 'iloveyou this game' a la gheorghe muresan on his draft night woooo

What is the one thing slower than Konerko? Konerko TRIPPING OUT OF THE BOX Uy.

conchords is a great show

Hey the outside the box thinking is eventually what KW will do, one way or another. By 2011 we wont recognize two of our 3-4-5 hitters somehow

Thats a lot coming from a thome boy I agree, although if Thome is ridiculously cheap due to good teams already having a DH.... and the fact that he can chase 600 in a HR-friendly park (while close to Peoria) Then maybe enough stars align for the Sox to take him and they can spend the savings elsewhere

QUOTE (Baines3 @ Aug 11, 2009 -> 02:28 PM) There is a possibility Thome will retire. I think Dye will be the DH next year. Thome will pursue 600

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 11, 2009 -> 01:51 PM) Dye is not going to get benched (for an extended period of time). He'll snap out of his slump, he always looks awful when he's in a slump. If Ozzie benched him, that would also just be terrible for the clubhouse. I'm confident he would never even consider that. Agreed, I'm just saying it's one scenario that could happen on a given day that would interest me. I would be open to having Dye take more rests than the others over the next few weeks, though. QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Aug 11, 2009 -> 02:00 PM) God no. In the past, Dye sitting would mean Kotsay or Wise in RF, but now it's going to mean Pods being there I would think. CQ not running well enough, and Guillen sees him as solely a LF I suppose maybe we'd see Rios in RF with Pods in CF at some point. Do you like that better though? At some point it will happen.

If Q tears it up for awhile, something may have to be done. But hitters slump, and Dye singlehandedly held this team together earlier in the year. A phenomenal first half. Guillen is the type to ride that right into the ground if he has to. Q has been improved but we need a larger sample size based on how awful he looked up til this point. If you make one rush to judgment about one of our sluggers, you are compounding it with a second one.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Aug 11, 2009 -> 02:02 PM) Whats the current status of Pierre's bad contract? Pierre will earn $7.5 million next season, $8 million in 2008, $10 million each in 2009 and 2010, and $8.5 million in 2011. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2672676 Interesting that it's descending from this point on, and also surprised to learn Pierre is three days away from being 32. Thought he might be slightly younger. I really do think that last Thome or Dye spot will be replaced (whether in '10 or '11) by a power hitter.

The Sox will definitely not spend much if any dough on a FA 5th starter. The price on that still hasnt come down enough, and theyve invested a lot in Buehrle/Peavy

QUOTE (Capn12 @ Aug 11, 2009 -> 01:51 PM) AND gives us a leadoff hitter, something we still do not have even with Rios. Rios with his doubles ability now going to a division with less pitching....plus somewhat better hitters park..... He could be an atypical but effective leadoff hitter. Also probably going to steal more bases and leg out more triples than the then-34-yearold Pods People wanted Coco Crisp, but Rios' speed and OBP in the years 06-08 would cut it in the leadoff spot.

As far as this year, I am intrigued by the following scenario: Pods starts in RF, with Rios in CF. Dye on the bench. Getz is still your #9 hitter. Come late moments of the game, if a good lefty comes in to face Getz/Pods..... you can then sub-in Dye for a PH and force their hand to potentially leave said lefty in to face middle of the order righties. Just one thought but ....in a lot of ways...we have lots of flexibility now. And I really like not having to depend on Thome against great lefties late. Dye is not a natural PH but based on his slump, his fielding, and our righthandedness...........I think for awhile now we have to see him coming off the bench a few times a week.

QUOTE (TheBigHurt @ Aug 11, 2009 -> 01:20 PM) There's almost no chance. What point would there be to that? If we want an insurance policy, I would think we'd have better options. To have Rios and still have Thome AND Dye just seems ridiculous to me. With the dearth of leadoff hitters out there, I think Pods could actually get a nice sized one-year offer from somewhere. Look at what Taveras got--for a short-term deal, he's going to be worth more than that if he keeps this up. If faced with competing to bring back Pods vs. getting all those HRs for cheap in this park....the Sox would seriously have to ponder it. If Rios raises his OBP back to past levels, we actually could bring back the two sluggers and use Rios to solve leadoff and cf defense all in one.