Frankensteiner

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ May 4, 2009 -> 08:08 PM) KW would tell you off the record that they're not going for it this year. Which is fine by me, there's too much of an upside to halting spending now and waiting til some big money comes off the books after this year. Spending that plus adding Beckham could make for a great 2010, and i wont sacrifice that for a slightly better '09 with the dinos. I am not holding my breath on them spending money next off-season. As far as KW, I understand not having money to really improve the team, but some of these roster decisions were again made to stroke his ego and I'm sure the smug bastard is hoping for another "I told you so" opportunity at the end of the season. Whatever.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 29, 2009 -> 03:16 PM) But so will the opposition. You have to wonder how 19 hits in April with the temp under 40 degrees transfers into July and August. Gavin Floyd is resembling the pitcher the Phillies gave up on. But we gave him a nice contract extension and are counting on him for us to win the division.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 15, 2009 -> 03:19 PM) I bet it will be lower than that. Between $60-70 million unless they lose 100 games this year and they have to sign someone significant to keep at least a few people paying $23 to park. If that happens, I'll be speechless. That would be a horrible way to run the team...

IIRC, our offense was also pretty corpse-y last April and May when we were all b****ing about the number of great starts going to waste. It pretty much looks like the same team from last season, and since the division is still horrid, I'm not really worried about our chances. This softball offense will get it going from June to August, and then stay on schedule for their annual September nosedive. I can no longer criticize at any of the players because their limitations are clearly documented but Williams should absolutely be held accountable.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 07:18 PM) Apparently you didn't notice last season, because there were few reasons to be optimistic heading into this season? Jerry Owens? Andy Gonzalez? Fields? Wasserman? We won't be favored to win the division going into next season, probably 2nd or 3rd (unless we pull off something crazy like getting A-Rod and Ichiro simultaneously)...Cleveland, if they get a couple of more pitchers and shore up their bullpen, should be strong all season long, especially if Sabathia miraculously ended up there again (odds of that are approximately 2-3% with Dolan). I would prefer to see the positives rather than dwell on the negatives. It was a very enjoyable season...the glass is half full. I said at the end of last season that I thought it was an aberration. I was one of the very few people here expecting this team to bounce back and win somewhere between 85-90 games. I mean this was a team of highly paid veterans with a WS championship and a 90 win season to their credit. Why shouldn't they be better than the 72 win season? It's possible that I'm too harsh on this season because I'm just not very optimistic about next season. It looks to me like this team maxed out at 88 wins and I don't see significant improvement for next season.

I'd just like to see some balance in this line-up. A couple of line drive hitters. And a true lead-off hitter. I think there won't be too many changes, though. Too many guys with big money/declining play/NTCs to think you can get stuff done. Hope KW proves me wrong.

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 06:57 PM) FWIW, there are people on here with inside info on how hated OC is. My point is maybe it's not a problem with OC.

I guess it depends on your perspective and expectations. I fully expected this team to be very competetive in this division, and I thought the division would be much better overall. So I don't see winning the AL Central as some odds defying accomplishment. I mean this was a team with a $120 M payroll and a veteran core of players. I would hope they'd be able to compete in this sad sack AL Central. It was a good season. They won the division, but it was the 2nd worst division in baseball. They were also regularly outplayed by other good teams and we could make an argument that there were two other AL teams that were better than the White Sox who didn't make the playoffs (Toronto and the Yanks). It was nice to find some young players but this team is still very old and getting older. I'm not really seeing how it's going to get better next season.

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 06:44 PM) Me and Joe Cowley and Jermaine Dye and others, I guess. You and Joe Cowley? Well geez if that's not proof I don't know what is.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 06:44 PM) I'm sure someone will claim inside knowledge on why OC is such a cancer. But before they do, I'd like to say that is clearly not evident on the surface. Furthermore, just because some on the team don't like him, doesn't mean he's necessarily the problem. He's been on more playoff teams the last 5 years than the great veteran core for the White Sox. He didn't seem to be a problem on those teams.

QUOTE (joesaiditstrue @ Oct 6, 2008 -> 06:15 PM) You fail to grasp the point he was making. Nice try, though. I'll help you out a little bit, he wasn't blaming the season on Orlando Cabrera. Why is OC gettinng singled out? He's one of the few veteran players on this team who actually lived up to their career averages. fathom's had some weird psychotic hate for him all season and I can't quite understand it.

He's probably why we lost. Good post.

Rally empty press conference room!

Should have won the game... but whatever. I'm not even mad. I was mad in August when I realized this wasn't a very good team. And then even more mad after Quentin's injury when I realized this team couldn't beat any of the other top teams. Now I'm indifferent. You can't expect wins in the playoffs when your offense consists of a bunch of dumb power hitters. And by the way, to anyone who thinks we didn't lose anything with Uribe replacing Crede, I say watch the last couple of games. Maybe I'm losing my mind, but it seems like everytime the Sox have a big RISP opportunity it's Uribe up at the plate. Those have been some horrible ABs.

I was encouraged to see that, unlike the in the NL, the team winning the first game of the ALDS is only 12-14 in the series.

Pathetic. Time to do something else...

Damn, thought that had a chance.

Swisher should be up here.

Bases loaded. Plot thickens. I hope we pinch hit for Uribe.

Just one swing away!!!

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Oct 2, 2008 -> 02:37 PM) Sox dont pay all of Javy's contract. Yankees pay some, AZ pay some. But I dont know the exact numbers, im pretty sure that Kalapse knows them haha Sox signed him to a new contract.

Odds of Konerko crossing home plate on a non-homer?

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 2, 2008 -> 02:28 PM) It's so strange, but I think I was much angrier when the Sox were losing last week than I am right now. I felt like we blew our wad the last 3 games....and thank Quentin we made it to the playoffs at least. As we've been saying, making the playoffs is better than not. Even if the Sox get swept, I'll have extremely positive thoughts about the 2008 season. I wish I could think like that, then maybe I'd be satisfied. Winning the 2nd worst division in baseball and getting eliminated quickly won't make feel differently than if the Sox had not made the playoffs at all.

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 2, 2008 -> 02:25 PM) Vazquez was brought in to be a huge contributor 3 years ago. Just because he's sucked in his 3 years here, it doesn't mean that the Sox only expect him to be #4 caliber. You know what, even if he is #4 caliber, his record and ERA are below average. His Sox career has been a disappointment, and it will be over as soon as this season concludes. The Sox made it to the playoffs despite Javy. I think that will be easier said than done.

That was pathetic. to think I took the afternoon off to watch this garbage.