Balta1701

QUOTE(rowand @ Jul 25, 2006 -> 01:53 PM) My question is- WHY IS WASHINGTON GOING TO TAKE THE PACKAGE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT???? For the last month it was players like Zumaya, McCarthy, and other top prospects. Now its Pods, Phillips, and another prospect??? No way. I wouldn't trade Vaz for that. Why would they trade one of the best players in baseball for that? When McDougal gets our best pitching prospect and a good 2nd prospect? Just my thoughts. 2 reasons. One, No one is going to give up a Zumaya, Ervin Santana, or Brandon McCarthy for 2 months of Alfonso Soriano. Washington could hold out as long as humanly possible and they wouldn't get that offer. And secondly, they are in a position where they actually NEED to deal him. They cannot really seriously afford to just get the 2 draft picks they'll receive if they lose Soriano at the end of the year, when they could get talent that is much closer to the major leagues by trading him now.

Ozuna, LF; Iguchi, 2B; Thome, DH; PK, 1B; Dye, RF; Crede, 3B; Uribe, SS; Alomar, C; Anderson, CF. Jose Contreras on the hill. I really hope Sandy can block a Forkball in the dirt.

QUOTE(S720 @ Jul 25, 2006 -> 01:31 PM) If you don't know how many games BA has saved us using his defensive skills, why stated "He has been a big reason why we have won?" I like BA, but I will take Soriano AND Pods over BA AND Pods anytime. But you're leaving out the 3rd option...BA and Soriano, which is so much better of an option than either of the other 2 its not even funny.

QUOTE(redandwhite @ Jul 25, 2006 -> 12:41 PM) Vazquez has had one "good" year in the last four and it was for a mediocre national league team. Beckett has had "good" years pretty much his entire career, including exceptional years between 2003-present. He's three years younger than Vazquez, has proven himself as an elite pitcher on the center stage, and makes a fraction of what Vazquez makes. Vazquez doesn't deserve any hype. He's been a below average pitcher this year, Beckett has not. 1. Beckett has not had what I would consider "exceptional" years between 03-present. First of all, he has never made 30 starts in a season. You have to be healthy to be exceptional. 2. Becketts numbers are good, but not exceptional, even in seasons where he was healthy. In 2004, for example, he put up a 9-9 record and a 3.79 ERA in the NL (26 starts). While those aren't terrible, they're not exceptional. 15-8 and 3.38 in 2005 is much better, but still wouldn't even make him the best pitcher on that Marlins staff, and that was only 29 starts thanks to the blister problems. And the big one: 3. Beckett makes a fraction of what Vazquez makes. Next year, that fraction will be 10/12 (10/11 if you count the couple million the White Sox got from Arizona). And finally, yea, Beckett has been below average this year. Out of 45 pitchers in the AL who have enough innings to qualify in the ERA crown, Beckett is #33. That is below average. He could get better, but thus far, he certainly has been below average.

QUOTE(JimH @ Jul 25, 2006 -> 12:46 PM) Bingo, Jason ... in fact what I heard was the White Sox had Lumsden on their short list of lefty reliever candidates in case something went wrong with Thornton or Cotts (this was after Javier Lopez was dealt). They had him profiled into the bullpen, similar to Cotts. He has a really good arm but as you correctly identify, secondary stuff is not his strong suit, he is very much a work in progress. I am not diminishing him, he is a good prospect, but it's not the end of the world he was traded. Well, one bit of good news is that our old friend, the man, the myth, the legend, has seemingly been doing fairly well in AAA of late, to the point that he could merit another callup by the end of the year. In other words, on paper, we seem to have 3 young LOOGYs, 2 of which have put together excellent stretches in the majors already. So, we do have a backup lefty in that role already. Lets put it this way, if KW talked to Cooper and Cooper said yes, he can work with MacDougal and keep him healthy for the 3+ years we have him, along the lines of what they said about Thornton, then KW did not overpay. If KW is just getting him in the hopes of him staying healthy, with no real reason to think he can do so, then he probably did overpay. Even if Lumsden becomes a very good pitcher for the Royals 5-6 years down the road, when they might actually be trying to compete, what is going to determine whether or not KW overpaid is what MacDougal does for us now. He sets up for Bobby against the Mets this October, and I don't think anyone will complain even if KW did overpay.

QUOTE(BDavisFutureHOF @ Jul 25, 2006 -> 12:34 PM) Unless I am out of the loop -- the one name that I haven't heard Kenny completely shoot down is Sweeney. Did miss something? Maybe a package starting with Pods, Sweeney and Haegar A few days ago, KW did say that both Fields and Sweeney "Weren't availalble" to the daily herald. Here's the thread on it. I think "Pods and Haegar" is a great start to a deal, btw. Probably requiring a 3rd minor leaguer, but those are 2 I would think would fit well as a part of this. Haeger should be pitching in the big leagues already, IMO, and Washington would be an ideal situation for him.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jul 25, 2006 -> 12:37 PM) In MacDougal's case, I was talking ot my dad and he was watching the Royals game and was telling me that Mac came in and looked downright unhittable against the Angels in a game. Said he was popping it into the upper 90's with a nice breaking ball (slider). He gets good sink on his fastball and I think it will be a big benefit for him to come to a winning team for the first time in his career. He's going to really want to win and I think that type of attitude is something good to have (since he has never won in his career so a different kind of fire will be there). Its probably also worth noting that at least one of his major injury problems in the past has been, by a couple of sources I read yesterday, due in part to bad Mechanics (helped lead to his elbow problem in 04). As we've seen before, and recently, bad mechanics are things that can be fixed by the right pitching coach. Cooper now has a heck of a glut of talent in that bullpen to work with. Hopefully he has enough time in the day to deal with them all, especially given where the starters are right now. Oh, and his injury problems have in the past contributed to all those blown saves people were talking about a few posts ago.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jul 25, 2006 -> 12:34 PM) Thats been me and I saw major strides in Javy's game yesterday with runners on. He was using a higher leg kick (which is how he pitches with no one on) and it helps to keep his delivery slower without getting out in front and rolling his breaking balls. I see absolutely no reason to move him from the rotation. I have a lot of faith in this guy turning it around and being a front line pitcher for us for a number of years. Call me insane, call me whatever you want but I've seen progress made and I expect it to continue to be made. Sox fans will be thanking Ozzie and Coop for this later on in the season, just like they should already be thanking Ozz for being patient with BA (Something I have long said they had to do). I have no problem with McCarthy joining the rotation next year when we move Garcia for prospects and financial flexibility. Right now, I think I'm closing in on just taking your word for it and hoping you're right. Partly because I really see no other option, BMac can't replace 3/5 of our starting rotation, and partly because Coop has done it before, and within a season even. I can't be the only one who noticed that Contreras put up ERA's of 5.8 and 5.7 in June and July of 05 before crushing the league in August and September. I just hope Coop can do it with this guy too. He has the stuff, just like Jose did.

At some point with him, do we just get to the "Let Cooper keep working with him and hope for the best" phase? Can't recall who, but at least one person was saying that Cooper has really been working with Vaz on improving his pitching with runners on base. We've seen what he can do for 5 innings, if he can just hold it together a little more and find a groove, he could really help us. Then again, maybe I'm just hoping Cooper can do something he just can't do.

QUOTE(vandy125 @ Jul 25, 2006 -> 11:58 AM) We keep talking about LF with Soriano, but he can also be used to give Iguchi a rest. Just have him play at 2nd, and have Pods out in LF when you want to give Iguchi a rest. He adds a lot more flexibility to the lineup. Except of course we'd need a roster spot to put him into, which would presumably involve dropping Gload, which gives us less flexibility in terms of actually having a backup for our 1st baseman

QUOTE(S720 @ Jul 25, 2006 -> 11:41 AM) I second that! BA has been an offensive disappointment. Period! Yes, B.A. has been an offensive disappointment, but there's certainly no period at the end of that sentence. The kid took his sweet time learning how to hit big league pitching, but he finally seems to have shortened his stroke and actually make solid contact every at bat. The kid looks dynamite at the plate. Robin Ventura endured an 0-41 slump early in his rookie season. Anderson is just going through the same thing. Don't place a period where Brian Anderson is going to place a comma.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Jul 24, 2006 -> 12:40 PM) Whatever has clicked with Logan -- whether that's twinging his delivery or developing control -- he has pitched unbelieveable as of late. Aside from his low BAA, Logan has missed bats. I recall information provided on the Sox game several days ago where he had 15/16 strikeouts in his last 10 innings, and that was prior to these recent appearances where the totals have increased. I'd have to imagine any promotion is held off until September, unless an injury occurs or Tracey is replaced. Of course this discussion could prove unneccessary if Williams ships him around the trade deadline. I really liked how the kid looked in terms of his delivery and throwing ability when he was up here in the Spring...he had a very sneaky delivery combined with a fastball that was a lot more explosive than the low-90's he was recording. The only problem was the same problem a lot of kids have, especially if they're killed early by a Travis Hafner...they're so scared about getting crushed that they become scared to go after a hitter. So they wind up falling behind in counts, walking people, and having batters sitting on the fastball.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jul 25, 2006 -> 06:06 AM) Better that you go broke and die than an embryo be murdered. Interestingly enough, Tony Snow actually apologized for that comment.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Jul 25, 2006 -> 05:11 AM) The interesting thing is that natural gas year over year has experienced basically a zero price change. That's right, it hasn't gone ANYWHERE, while crude is up around 50%. That folks is what you call speculation and terror premium. And more rapid demand growth than supply growth.

QUOTE(Bonderman38 @ Jul 24, 2006 -> 08:34 PM) The Sox didn't average 100 losses in the last five years and they didn't lose 119 games in 2003 though. And therefore, we didn't get to draft anyone nearly as sure as a Justin Verlander.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Jul 25, 2006 -> 07:39 AM) 6 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 3 ER, 4 K's, 1 HR. That was Beckett's outing 6 IP, 6 H, 1 BB, 3 ER, 4 K's, 2 HR. That was Vazquez's outing after the 6th when people were throwing him under the bus and thought he should be pulled. Amazing how much that "run support" thing can help a pitcher eh? So, you're telling me that Beckett is almost as bad as Vazquez? This year I'll buy that.

Well, at least if we're facing Johan, we're throwing our best at him also. I just hope that Alomar can block a forkball in the dirt. Come on Jose. Take us to the promised land.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jul 24, 2006 -> 05:41 PM) Walk and we have runners on the corners with Punto coming up. The runner got to 3rd on what I'd deem a passed ball. You and the official scorer it appears.

If the past week is any indication, Punto will also draw a walk here, thus bringing Mauer to the plate with the bases loaded.

You can cancel the postgame show.

Gload can prove me wrong at some point this game, but I still think Mack should be starting in RF.

17 pitches, 14 strikes for Vazquez through 2 innings. That's reallllly good.

Javy turns 30 tomorrow.

If Bonderman has an off day, Cleveland's offense is good enough to come back

QUOTE(AbeFroman @ Jul 24, 2006 -> 03:37 PM) I can't imagine that the market for soriano is so dry that he would resort to this deal Depending on how much money we sent along, it might actually be that dry. Vazquez is still a potential #2 starter in the right spot (Taht ballpark might help him too)...if Detroit, Anaheim aren't giving up Sanchez, Santana...there's not much more ML ready talent being talked about.