Balta1701

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 5, 2011 -> 02:29 PM) Call me crazy, but I really like De Aza. I think he's an upgrade in 2012 leading off instead of Pierre. I've liked him since we picked him up. He's still got some issues to work out...he's being more aggressive than he was in the minors so he's not walking as much right now, but compared to Pierre he's going to slug more, obviously.

De Aza now at the 75% clip on steals.

All right Adam!

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 5, 2011 -> 02:23 PM) The funny thing is Viciedo isn't even swinging the bat that well, IMO. Has a "magic wand" going, which is great to see cause when he starts driving the ball, his power numbers will go up quickly. He's actually a lot like Flowers in that when he makes contact with the ball, the ball goes a long way. The difference between the 2 is that Flowers might K 175 times, while Viciedo will K 85 times at a normal pace.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 5, 2011 -> 02:17 PM) Cubs have outscored the White Sox this year. Of course, they have the DH in their lineup while we've had the pitcher's spot hitting 4th for a good portion of the year.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 5, 2011 -> 02:22 PM) True, a nice end to the season for Stewart would go a far way towards getting him a rotation spot for next year. He can't keep going out and giving up 6 or 7 runs like he has been. Ditto Philip. Responding well to the 2 weeks off would be excellent.

Dayan Viciedo singles. I assume this means that the sun came up today and Mark Prior felt a pop in his elbow.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 5, 2011 -> 02:18 PM) I'm much more excited to watch game 2 with Lillibridge, Flowers and Viciedo in the lineup. I'm hoping to see some good from both pitchers today.

Good solid first for Philip.

Phil her up!

Happy Birthday to the Hawk!

QUOTE (LVSoxFan @ Sep 5, 2011 -> 01:50 PM) But Jesus, when you've got the announcers for national sports networks openly criticizing our players' hitting mechanics during the TELECAST, how much more obvious could it be that a new hitting coach should be the LEAST of our changes. Hell, Hawk and Wimpy went after Rios, Morel, and Beckham on their hitting approaches in Seattle.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 5, 2011 -> 01:46 PM) Not equal to ≠

Horse's mouth. The one thing the host didn't ask is why he's taking that money and using it to slash the top tier tax rate.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 5, 2011 -> 01:31 PM) 2005 Ozzie 2011 Ozzie also... 2005 team situation 2011 team situation I'm uncertain what those symbols are supposed to be. Rhombuses?

QUOTE (Tex @ Sep 5, 2011 -> 01:02 PM) Sure. But not nearly to the same degree as placing a majority of the blame on him. Are you not indicting any of the players? or is it all Oz's fault? And an appropriate response might have been to replace those struggling players, or to bench them at least for a long time, and put guys who were deserving of playing time in the lineup. That would have meant taking Dunn, Rios, Pierre for a while, maybe Beckham also, out of the lineup for days, weeks at a time and getting at bats for Viciedo, De Aza, and Lillibridge almost every day. But...Ozzie Guillen said no to that.

QUOTE (Tex @ Sep 5, 2011 -> 12:55 PM) Ok, the entire organization is a problem. Same as if the organization wins, everyone shares the credit. As long as you understand that you're not defending Guillen, you're indicting him.

QUOTE (Tex @ Sep 5, 2011 -> 12:51 PM) No not at all. There is plenty of blame to go around, including the players in question. Is there a manager in the world that you would give a pass to and then blame Dunn and Rios? Oz 10% Players 90% is about my assessment. Let me put it this way...I have no idea how the balance goes, but "only a portion of the problem is the manager" tells me that if you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

QUOTE (Tex @ Sep 5, 2011 -> 12:30 PM) Who is "they"? Do you mean players? Guys that have been playing at the highest levels for years. Suddenly Dunn and Rios don't know how to get ready for a game without a manager telling them? I'm not saying Ozzie doesn't deserve his share of the blame. he's had a season almost as bad as Dunn and Rios. But his craptastic season wasn't nearly as big as problem as the craptastic seasons from major pieces of the team. You've been watching Bad News Bears too much if you think a manager can somehow make up for Dunn playing like a guy that should be a low draft pick in AA. I agree it's time for an organizational shake up, but the next guy is going to inherit the same pile of crap, and if that pile of crap doesn't change, the results will be the same. And when multiple expensive pieces come to the same team and have craptacular seasons, well, we just throw up our hands in frustration and say that there was nothing that could have been done?

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 5, 2011 -> 11:55 AM) And once again that's not what I implied. The original promise that many had for him as a prospect was on full display during the '03 season. And as one might have expected...he put up a .353 BABIP in the process. Same strikeout rate as the next year, worse walk rate in fact.

QUOTE (Tex @ Sep 5, 2011 -> 11:59 AM) Was Oz really responsible for 10 losses this season? Five? If you watched this team this season... Did they come to the season prepared to play? (My answer...look at April's record). Did they regularly come into big games ready to play? These are 2 things that are directly within the manager's sphere of influence.

QUOTE (Tex @ Sep 5, 2011 -> 11:57 AM) If you really want to discuss a hypothetical extreme than I would rather the players did everything right and the manager do everything wrong than the manager do everything right and the players do everything wrong. No amount of managing will compensate for players having a season worst than their harshest critics would imagine. In the AL I place the mangers influence as less than 5% of the total. Maybe a handful of games. The obvious question in reply is...what makes a series of guys repeatedly have their worst seasons in their careers? From your standard, the manager is useless.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 5, 2011 -> 11:56 AM) Especially because it seems to be working for the Bulls Can the Sox get the benefit that the Bulls had?

QUOTE (Tex @ Sep 5, 2011 -> 11:47 AM) Because I never saw him strike out or give up an earned run. Let me ask you this hypothetical...if the players did everything right on a franchise and the manager did everything wrong...from bad decisions on the field to making sure players were ill prepared for games, whatever you could imagine...wouldn't that same standard hold true?