Milkman delivers

I don't want to sound like I'm complaining about a hit, but does anyone else think Crede should've been on third?

Yes, I said this in the game thread yesterday. A 3.99 ERA is not impressive at all. It seems like every single pitcher we had last year is getting noticeably worse this year. In fact, forget the "it seems" part. Every single pitcher we had last year is definitely worse this year.

QUOTE(Jake @ Aug 5, 2006 -> 11:11 AM) I really don't think Mackowiak will be successful as an everyday player. I think Scotty is better offensively and defensively. If we were to make a change in LF, I would want it to be a Ryan Sweeney-type, someone who actually has some upside and is better defensively. I'm going to repeat this again. Mackowiak has played in 79 games this year. He plays all the time, and he's fishing killing RHP. He basically is an everyday player. Scott Podsednik plays predominantly against RHP, too (with Ozuna getting a lot of the starts against LHP). Mackowiak is batting .333 with an OBP of .409 against RHP in 150 AB's this year. That's way past fluke territory. His defense is better than Pods' D. His average is higher than Pods (especially against RHP, which is when Pods mainly starts). His OBP is better than Pods. His arm is better than Pods. Pods has stolen more bases (though none recently) and gets thrown out a whole bunch. Mackowiak won't steal much, but when he does try, he's likely to be successful because he's a great baserunner.

What's the story behind this?

That contract has to make Bagwell one of the highest paid players this year, right?

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Aug 5, 2006 -> 11:05 AM) IMO, not a chance, and im not really sure where this talk is coming from.... Well, I didn't bring it up, but it does have some logic to it. The guy could possibly be having a career year, something that he'll never do again. In this case, it would be selling high in order to get a stud pitcher. I just don't see it happening and I honestly don't want to see Dye go.

The more I think about it, the more I think we can't trade Dye. The guy helped to carry our team last year, was the WS MVP, and is putting up MVP-type numbers this year. Plus, he took a smaller contract to play for this team (and that's the key for me). Can we really just ship him off like that?

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Aug 5, 2006 -> 10:51 AM) If Machowiak could hit LHP, then bingo you've got the perfect platoon partner. But that job goes to Ozuna. Hence why Rob hardly gets anytime in LF. He doesn't get much time at all in RF and 3B because of how well Dye and Crede have played, so more often that not it'll be in CF. And you know how many people around here have been criticising his defensive capabilities there. And yes I agree on Gload, in fact that was in my signature about 2 months back. But they won't be moving Ross now with the way he has hit. Personally I would still think, if you could get a better defensive bench CF than Mackowiak, then you wouldn't need Gload, as Rob could play 1B if you really needed him to. I agree with everything you said in the second paragraph. For the bold part, I think Mackowiak should flat out take Pods' job. That way, there would still be a platoon of Mackowiak and Ozuna, and we'd have a better hitter against RHP in Rob. I've been preaching about and hoping for this for a while, though, and it just ain't happening.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Aug 5, 2006 -> 10:47 AM) Now this is where it gets interesting and where KW will make his money here. He could go with Ryan Sweeney. Sweeney's picked it up as of late, but I would still personally prefer him to have another season at Charlotte so he can keep improving especially with his power. So most likely maybe a stopgap in the FA market, or possibly a trade. There are options like Jose Guillen who may decide on a 1 year deal to try and increase his value all over again so he can get a nice payday next off-season. I definitely wouldn't want Sweeney taking Dye's spot. With Anderson's struggles this year, I'm not nearly sure enough that he's going to do well enough to have two liabilities in our OF alone. EDIT: I wish the Mariners would just decide to completely rebuild and give us Ichiro. That's my dream scenario.

QUOTE(Jake @ Aug 5, 2006 -> 09:59 AM) I feel the exact opposite way about him. I actually wouldn't mind seeing him close out some ballgames. He had one bad night the other night, but he is in the upper echelon in set-up men. As is MacDougal, when healthy. We have 3 legitimate closers on this team, and if Bobby continues to struggle we have two good options. ^^^^ And isn't it weird that we didn't have either of our set-up men at the beginning of the year (ST, that is)?

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Aug 5, 2006 -> 10:41 AM) The thing is with Mackowiak, he's not going to get used as much as he should at LF, even though we would like him to, because he's not a leadoff hitter (even though he's never really been used in that situation), and because he can't hit LHP. If he could, problem solved. My line of thinking was, if you could get a good defensive center fielder that can still hit righties quite well, then yeah I would move Mackowiak, while his value is really quite high. I can see your point, but I'd like to add two things. Pods himself doesn't fair too well against the lefties. And if anyone should be removed from the team for a respectable back-up in CF, it should really be Gload (despite what he's done recently).

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Aug 5, 2006 -> 08:58 AM) Tell me this. Would you rather have Crawford at the expense of the likes of B-Mac and Broadway, or would you rather sign Dellucci, to give you the flexibility to trade Pods and a starter, so B-Mac can move into the rotation? Unfortunately Dellucci doesn't steal a base, and you know really likes having that speed at the top of the order. With the way I harp on the starting pitching, do you really think I would trade our only cheap replacement after the year? BTW, who would play RF if we traded Dye?

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Aug 5, 2006 -> 09:48 AM) It's a shame this couldn't happen before the trading deadline. That way the Sox could have moved Machowiak to a team like the Padres for a couple of prospects, and sign Cruz to fill his spot. Maybe there's a tiny chance he would accept a minor league contract in AAA until the Sep 1 callups, kind of like a Durazo type of situation. My guess is that he'll latch onto a major league team somewhere though. Why do people want to get rid of Mackowiak so badly? The guy is hammering the ball. If he subs at LF, RF, and 3B, he's probably the best utility player in the league this year.

Damn, I just wanted to see 40.

What did Utley do?

QUOTE(BobDylan @ Aug 4, 2006 -> 08:57 PM) You're pushing the idea like it's the bridge to 30 wins in a row. I never said it would help us win 30 games, but it may win us a few more games this year, IMO. And as I've said a million times, we're in an extremely tight race and we're going to need every win that we can get.

QUOTE(Brian @ Aug 4, 2006 -> 08:53 PM) Yeah, he's horrible. Just seems like a lot of runs have been scoring on him recently.

Starting to lose confidence in Jenks.

I can't believe teams don't walk Ortiz late in games. I understand that Manny is a hall of famer, but Ortiz wins every time. Take your chances with Manny.

I really would've rather had MacDougal-Thornton-Jenks for today and saved McCarthy to relieve Vazquez tomorrow, but I can't argue with today's results.

Ozzie making damn sure that McCarthy won't be able to come into the game in the 6th tomorrow. Gotta love it.

QUOTE(BobDylan @ Aug 4, 2006 -> 08:29 PM) I'm saying Rob Mackowiak isn't the answer. I'm saying he's the answer to our problem in LF.

This ump hates Rob more than Soxtalk.

QUOTE(SoxHawk1980 @ Aug 4, 2006 -> 08:19 PM) Pointing out the weakness of a particular argument isn't "insulting people". Done. Telling people they shouldn't even hold an argument because they're not intelligent is insulting people.

QUOTE(SoxHawk1980 @ Aug 4, 2006 -> 08:17 PM) Because I'm saying that pointing to pitching wins is a weak argument? Don't think so. Because you keep insulting people.