Milkman delivers

QUOTE(scotty22hotty @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 04:04 PM) Stop bashing Pods Untill we trade for Carl Crawford... Hes the best we can put out there. Mack and Ozuna are bench players and I doubt their stats would remain impressive while playing everyday. As a platoon, I'm pretty sure their at-bats would hover around the amount of at-bats they're already getting.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 04:01 PM) So, in essence, you're benching Pods? Yes, at least for a while until he gets his s*** straight. The guy does nothing right anymore.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 03:59 PM) So are we in agreement that Ozuna is just about as bad in left as Podsednik? I don't see where the upgrade would be. And what's wrong with Scott's baserunning? Have I been missing something of late? He gets thrown out a lot. And the upgrade could possibly be a much better average and OBP.

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 03:57 PM) It's more of a gamble, not a guaranteed upgrade. Ozuna is just as bad, if not worse, with the glove and we don't know if his bat can stay hot nor if it would make up for defensive deficiencies. Why needlessly experiment when Pods isn't that huge of a concern?? :banghead Let's address the more serious needs and concerns first. I don't believe Ozuna could be much of a downgrade defensively from Pods, whereas he could be a huge upgrade offensively from him. Ozuna hustles on every single play, and we've seen Pods lose his train of thought out there or sometimes just flat out not hustle.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 03:56 PM) So what are you complaining about then? Ozuna gets his run against lefties. Anything more than that would be basically be starting, right? I'm saying that Mackowiak should start getting Pods' at-bats against righties. Throw a platoon of Mackowiak/Ozuna out in LF for a little while, see how it works. I can't imagine they could be much of a downgrade from Pods.

QUOTE(Greg Hibbard @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 03:51 PM) I think I outlined my solution pretty clearly in the last sentence of my initial post, to platoon Ozuna full-time. I never said anything about trading him, but because you asked and said you couldn't find anyone available better than Podsednik, I humored you, took a passing glance at the list and found you one. But we shouldn't try to upgrade, even if it's from parts already on the team, since there are more glaring needs. So it's basically fix the biggest problems and forget about the smaller ones, even though you may easily be able to fix the latter. QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 03:52 PM) LOL. Give me a break, Kalapse. I know you don't believe for a second Ozuna could do what he's doing now if he was an everyday player. You hate Pods. You make that clear every single day. You'd have D.J. give up the booth to play LF if you could. Ozuna had already been platooning with Pods in LF before he got hurt, and he still kept the average up.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 03:44 PM) Also this is all opinion, not fact. The only way to see if this is true, would be for Pablo to begin a platoon in LF which more than likely will not happen. But remember, until there's any actual proof this is simply opinion being displayed as fact in some cases. Nice catch

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 03:03 PM) We easily take 2/3 if we don't choke away multiple scoring opportunities in which we could've blown each of the two games we lost wide open. Boston is a good team. I didn't need to see them take 2/3 from us to know that. But winning a series in early July doesn't make them better. I simply said all of the other playoff teams have better team ERA's than we do, and the one team that doesn't just beat us anyway. Just a little negativity from the fountain of pessimism on Soxtalk.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 03:41 PM) Except Mack is not, nor should he ever be, a starter. And it's easy to slobber over Ozuna while he's hitting over .400. Ozuna is a bench player, that's it. If he were to start playing as much or close to as much as Podsednik, he would be exposed. He was already starting against basically every single lefty we saw. And Mackowiak has basically been a starter this entire year anyway. So they've both had a whole lot of playing time this year, and they're still doing pretty damn well. I say give them a chance in LF.

QUOTE(Felix @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 03:39 PM) There's a reason Pablo is a bench player. He's a good bench player, but he's just that, a bench player. I see no harm in letting him and Mackowiak get a chance to platoon for a week or so. He wouldn't be a starter, basically a platoon guy against lefties. There are a lot less lefties in baseball than righties, so he wouldn't see an absurd amount of time.

QUOTE(watchtower41 @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 03:35 PM) he has improved greatly, and I'm extremely happy for his progress... problem is, there were more than a few people on this board that wanted Owens starting in front of Pods or Anderson when he was below the Mendoza line. If Pods beat Ricky Henderson's sb record, people around here would still b**** about him.... Thinking Pablo or Rob Base would do better for us defensively in LF is ludacris....... how many passed balls on dives would it take, doubles turned into triples, for this theory to actually make sense to some?? I absolutely guarantee you that Rob would be better in LF than Pods. I f***ing guarantee it. And Ozuna would be a wash at best, but would be much better offensively.

QUOTE(Greg Hibbard @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 03:31 PM) Why does Podsednik deserve any respect? Statistics don't lie. The only thing the guy does better than other qualified AL leadoff men is steal bases and score runs, and both of those statistics are clearly overvalued, as one has a smallish chance of contributing to a victory and the other is the product of the hitters behind you. When Greg Hibbard is on your case, there's something wrong with you.

QUOTE(Sonik22 @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 03:16 PM) I personally love ozuna and everything, but he is not meant to be an everyday player. He is to valuable off the bench. Also as mediocre as pods d is, ozuna isn't any better and it doesnt seem like he has much range. The success of hitters behind pods when he is on base is somewhat because of pods. When he is on base he gets into the pitchers head causing the pitchers to miss their spots leaving better pitches for guch and thome. I still think that pods is enough of a factor to continue to start in LF. I doubt there's much difference in range, but Ozuna would be better offensively if he gets to face a lot of lefties and I'm sure he would bust his ass out in LF more than Pods does. And if Mackowiak were to get some starts against righties, he'd be better offensively and defensively (I believe he hits righties better, though I may be wrong). He just wouldn't steal as much, which may not even matter since Pods' steals seem useless most of the time.

A little while ago, we discussed having a platoon of Ozuna/Mackowiak in LF. The only thing I can think of that might be a downgrade is how many pitches those two see in comparison to Pods. Does anyone know?

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 02:48 PM) Did you watch the series? They didnt beat us easily. We didnt execute. Its not like we got destroyed over a 3 game period and we were just outclassed and outshined. They kicked the crap out of us in, I think, the first game. And just to avoid the sweep, we had to play for 19 innings.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 02:32 PM) 1.) Tigers - 3.46 2.) Angels - 4.07 3.) A's - 4.20 4.) Yankees - 4.30 5.) Twins - 4.36 6.) White Sox - 4.44 7.) Mariners - 4.45 8.) Red Sox - 4.54 9.) Rangers - 4.63 10.) Blue Jays - 4.66 11.) Indians - 4.74 12.) Devil Rays - 4.82 13.) Orioles - 5.29 14.) Royals - 5.79 I didn't even think it was possible to have a 5.79 team ERA. I don't like that the only playoff team with a worse ERA than us just beat us pretty easily in a 3-game series.

QUOTE(Drew @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 02:32 PM) I voted for JD, although for me it was a tossup between him and Thome. No single player has changed the makeup of this team like Jim Thome has, but my gut just says Dye, the other bookend of the best 3-4-5 in baseball. It's hard to argue against any of those four guys, but A.J. has also had a big half for us. He is always in the right place doing the right thing at the right time, like sliding high into second to break up a double play ball by forcing an errant throw, a play which meant the game. His average is up this year, and while he isn't popping them out of the park like Thome or Dye, he consistently moves the line. His greatest assets are his intangibles, which stats don't really measure. I think that JD has a better chance of winning AL MVP simply because he plays the field. IMO it's why Ortiz didn't win over A-Rod last year, and IMO should have. What I love about this team is how difficult a decision this is. I wish AJ were fast because he's absolutely money with nobody on base or leading off an inning. We'd be able to replace old worthless out in LF if AJ could run.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 02:07 PM) Interestingly, both are right. We're 4th in terms of starters ERA in the AL, we're 14th in terms of starters ERA in MLB. But since the NL doesn't have that DH, with the exception of the phenomenal year being had by Detroit, usually NL teams will find themselves having lower ERA's than AL teams. (Oh, and we dropped from 4th to 6th in terms of AL starter's ERA yesterday, unfortunately.) So, who else are we behind now? I know the Angels, A's, and Tigers.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 01:57 PM) Not saying any of it makes sense, just posting from the chat. We're 14th in starters' ERA?! People saying we're 4th must be the ERA of the entire pitching staff. 14th is terrible for how much money they're making and the expectations we have for them.

QUOTE(Beltin @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 01:29 PM) I agree with you about the Tigers. I should not even mention them when issuing a grade. I just think overall the White Sox have not been as fundamentally sound all around as they were last year. They have gotten away with it because of the vastly improved offense but they have been exposed at times. I agree about Garland, although I have been way more concerned about Freddy than Garland thus far this season. I was discouraged by how much better Boston's defense seemed to be in the last series. The big spending teams used to not have defense, and that was one of the things we could hold over them. Now that might be over.

B+ The positives: -Jenks, Thornton, Cotts, Riske, offense, Contreras, and Buehrle most of the time The negatives: -Last bullpen spot, McCarthy on occasion, Garcia, Vazquez, and Cora Things that used to be negatives but have straightened themselves out seemingly: -Garland, Anderson, Uribe, defense from everyone but Mack/Pods

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 12:49 PM) It has nothing to do with that. Its cause jose threw about 120 pitches yesterday. Same reason Schilling isnt going. I know. I just don't like to see that our only starter representative is Buehrle with his 4+ ERA.

Buehrle's still in. So the more deserving guy dropped out.

QUOTE(MHizzle85 @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 12:37 PM) David Eckstein's been added to the NL roster taking Reyes's place What happened to Reyes?

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Jul 10, 2006 -> 12:31 PM) Why would SF sell their best pitcher while still in the NL west race? Maybe they figure they'll just get destroyed in the first round of the playoffs whatever team they play.