Balta1701

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 26, 2006 -> 05:32 PM) Could the world handle Cotts vs Mackowiak? Can you have a home run and an error on the center fielder on the same play?

I wonder if Haeger could hold it together a little better in the big leagues in September?

QUOTE(jamalmanburg @ Aug 26, 2006 -> 05:30 PM) WHY isn't AJ playing tonight. Last night he looked like the only guy on the team that was fired up, plus he's lefty and lefties hit santana better, plus he knows minni, PLUS he's not a hundred damn years old. Because left handers can NEVER get hits off of left-handed pitchers. The world will end before a lefty can hit a lefty or a righty can hit a righty. Unless the Lefty is Mackowiak. He's a God.

Sadly, I'll bet McCarthy gets shelled today. It's been so ungodly long since he's got legitimate work in...there's no way he's going to be sharp.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Aug 26, 2006 -> 05:25 PM) Last year I suggested that the team's theme song should be Don't Stop Believin' long before it actually became our song. This year, I suggest Give It Away by RHCP. "Oh Jimmy Crack Corn, and I don't care..."

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 26, 2006 -> 05:23 PM) Ozzie is definitely taking it in the backside this series. So that's why he's been spending all that time praising the Twins, hanging out with them before games, and so on.

QUOTE(Frankensteiner @ Aug 26, 2006 -> 05:18 PM) I agree with you about Contreras and Garland. I think they'll be solid next year. But Buehrle? He has to perform at the end of the year for me to confident he can be good again next year. I don't believe anyone can assume he'll automatically return to his pre-2006 form next season. Mark Buehrle is not like Garcia in that he hasn't lost much in the way of velocity. He just hasn't had his usual bite on his pitchers. He's still just as smart of a pitcher as the guy we had last year, he was even pretty darn good at the start of this year, but he went through a real rough period starting with that Cubs game, and neither Cooper nor Ozzie did anything to help him get out of it. Before that game with the Cubs, Mark's ERA was still down around 3.2. He still has it in him, he just hasn't gotten a good groove at all this season.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Aug 26, 2006 -> 05:17 PM) I've gained some confidence in Freddy as of late, especially because with his loss in velocity he's developed a superior changeup. So if he could find that extra 3 MPH he could come back more dominate than ever. I wouldn't have any problem moving Jose because I think someone would give up stuff as if they were getting an ace and they may very well be. I even wouldn't have a problem moving Buehrle if the right offer came along because we are going to be due to pay him a huge chunk a year from than. That said I don't see why Buehrle couldn't turn things around. Javy is just all over the place so who knows, we'll see what happens but it may determine things. The more I think about it the more I don't think I'd be stunned if nearly our entire rotation stuck around, that said I wouldn't be stunned if we changed 3 starters either. I would like to see 2 pitchers turnover. I would like to see Buehrle, Garland, and Contreras back, with McCarthy in the rotation, and Vazquez, Garcia, Podsednik and Fields used to try to fill in the 1 bullpen spot, 1 additional starting pitching slot, and Left Field. I think the odds are that Buehrle, Garland, and Contreras are guys that next year, you'll still want on your pitching staff.

Seriously, put in McCarthy now, give jose some extra rest, and see if the kid can hold em. Maybe a short outing would help Jose's arm feel a little better next time out.

QUOTE(G&T @ Aug 26, 2006 -> 05:15 PM) That would be great, but why would any team give up a major league ready stud for any of these guys? For Mark Buehrle? Hell, if I'm any team in the league I still give up whatever the Sox ask to get my hands on him if I can afford the contract. Garcia, maybe I give up less, but he's still a veteran pitcher with a world series ring who's going to wind up with 15+ wins again this year in one of his down years.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Aug 26, 2006 -> 05:14 PM) Our pitching absolutely refuses to get on any kind of streak. And I assume there's been a lot of complaining about Ozzie's terrible idea to start Mackowiak AGAIN today against JOHAN SANTANA? He got an RBI, so by my count, having Mack in there has only caused a -2 run differential.

QUOTE(Frankensteiner @ Aug 26, 2006 -> 05:12 PM) You're pretty much cherry picking these guys into a good staff. What about "current" Garland + current Buehrle + current Jose. Or Jon Garland every year except 2005 and a couple of months in 2006 + Jose Contreras from 2004 + ... well, you get my drift. You're also cherry picking. Jose Contreras has been a dominant pitcher all his life in Cuba. He just keeps getting into some bad grooves here. When he followed the formula he was using in Cuba, he was dominating people. Jon Garland was a young pitcher who finally seemed to grow up and find a rhythm last year, something that does happen sometimes. Mark Buehrle is just having a terrible season. Yes, I'm cherry picking the positives, but I think on all 3 of them, the positives strongly outweigh the negatives.

QUOTE(G&T @ Aug 26, 2006 -> 05:10 PM) The problem that KW will face this winter is the question of whether this season was an aberation or a sign of things to come. If he does nothing and things get worse then he'll catch hell. But I don't know what he can do except give BMAC a chance and leave the rest alone. Well, clearly you have to move 1 guy. Garcia or Buehrle are the obvious choices due to contracts, and I think everyone would like to dump Vazquez. I think the question is...what can you get for them? Think about this...if we can get a stud young pitcher for Garcia or Mark through some means, that would still give us 5 good starting pitchers even if we moved 2 guys. The ideal situation of course would be for Vazquez to grow some balls and either turn himself into a decent pitcher for us or to just give him some trading value in the offseason, but I just can't see that happening.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Aug 26, 2006 -> 05:06 PM) Greg, ask Hawk what he thinks of Brian. I think him and DJ already think he's one of the 3 best defensive outfielders in all of baseball. Offensively he's hitting over .280 or so since the ASB (IIRC). The guy is a top notch prospect who continues to get better and he is one of the few guys that is actually doing things right. Post all-star, .281 BA with a .754 OPS. .313 with a .797 OPS in July. BA has had 13 at bats in the past week.

QUOTE(Frankensteiner @ Aug 26, 2006 -> 05:04 PM) Current staff - Garcia + McCarthy = average. Not terrible like it is now, but not good either. I'd throw some money at Jason Schmidt although spending money on free agent pitchers is generally a bad idea. Current Jon Garland + Mark Buehrle every year except 2006 + Jose Contreras from July 05-May 06 + Brandon McCarthy = one of the top starting rotations in baseball. These guys are still not "5.00 ERA" pitchers.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Aug 26, 2006 -> 05:03 PM) Lost. If found, please return to U.S. Cellular Field. Rob Mackowiak has started 4 of our last 6 games in CF.

Any chance the skies will open up and kill off this game?

QUOTE(Frankensteiner @ Aug 26, 2006 -> 05:00 PM) The question is where is our pitching going to come from next year? Since it's so great (as I remember reading that blog quote) that we have these guys signed through 2007/2008. Here's the other side of the token...Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, and Jose Contreras are all significantly better than the numbers they've put up this season. Vastly better. We've seen Garland and Conteras both go through really rough stretches that have hurt their numbers for the season, and we've seen Buehrle be terrible for about 2 months. But these guys are NOT pitchers who put up ERA's between 4.5-5.0. Jon Garland had a terrible start to the season...is there any reason to think that he is guaranteed to have another bad 1st half next year? No. Mark Buehrle can throw up an ERA around 3 for a season, is there any rational reason to believe that he'll put up 5's the rest of his career? I don't think so. At some point, these guys' numbers are going to even out. This season has been so bad for them, that you just have to think they have some good pitching left in them.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Aug 26, 2006 -> 04:59 PM) Tony what I'm saying is Anderson sucks, also. We would have been a much better team with the same pieces of last year. All the additions have been s***. McDougal, Riske, Mack, the list goes on. I think the Thome addition worked pretty darn well. And Anderson got off to a terrible start with the bat, but saying "Anderson sucks" is simply wrong, and 2 years from now, when he's regarded as one of the best CF's in baseball, you'll see what we mean.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Aug 26, 2006 -> 04:59 PM) No, we dont have a long man, remember. Actually, the long man just got up.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Aug 26, 2006 -> 04:58 PM) It sucks too cause I wish I would have been wrong. Ozzie will inevitably be back next year and all we can do is hope that Kenny finds a way to get some more pitching that will be so good that it will once again be capable of overcoming Ozzie's idiotness. We already have more pitching. It's sitting down on the bench in the bullpen, wearing #55 IIRC.

Hmmm, St. Louis Rams vs. Kansas City Chiefs or Tampa Bay Bucs vs. Jacksonville Jaguars? I'm leaning towards the Rams/Chiefs, any other opionions on what I should start watching here?

Ok, Anderson would have had at least 1 of those, if not both of them. Wow.

QUOTE(fathom @ Aug 26, 2006 -> 04:54 PM) Don't forget that Tyner is a slap hitter, so he's going to stay back on the offspeed pitch well. Sandy is just an absolute joke back there. It's no wonder the Dodgers started doing so much better once they stopped playing him. Ok, now I think that one's just not fair. The reason the Dodgers started doing so much better when they changed catchers was that they brought up Russel Martin and dumped that POS Dioner Navarro. They instantly got hot when they put Martin behind the plate in May.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Aug 26, 2006 -> 04:53 PM) I really don't want to hate Mack because of this either. I love the effort he puts out there, but you can't fault him that Ozzie continually plays him out there. If Rob was hitting .250, we likely wouldn't ahve this problem. For about 2-3 months, I was the same way, trying not to blame Mack for this mess. But I've been hoping for a Mackowiak injury for about a month now. Seriously. We would win more games if Mackowiak went on the DL right now.