TheHammer

Calling Konerko and Thomas cancers is a bizarre and incorrect statement.

He isn't overreacting, he is just not in touch with reality. A reality which is we have relied on the home run all season. Nothing is new. HRs and RBI doubles by Crede that is.

The comments Konerko made were only a big deal on this website. Didn't effect the team obviously. I think Konerko is the longest tenured guy on this team besides Frank, he has a couple AS selections and has been in the middle of the order here for half a decade. I think it is fair to say he does have some kind of leadership role in the clubhouse. A bunch of guys here have decided they don't like Konerko and no matter what he does some people are going to act like he is the anti-christ regardless of reality.

Gload isn't a defensive upgrade from Konerko. But then again, not many are.

"Ray Liotta hopes to one day be more famous than his distant cousin, actor Ray Liotta, who starred in Field of Dreams among other movies." This mistake is unacceptable!

Podsednik to me is a solid offensive player who is the posterboy for our turnaround. But when it comes to actual play on the field he is nowhere near being our team MVP, let alone league MVP. Buehrle, Garland, Garcia, Politte, Hermanson, Iguchi, Carl, Konerko, JDye, AJ. These are all guys I would consider better choices for MVP of our team than Podsednik. I am sick of listening to players on this team who come and play hard and have given a lot to this organization get completely bashed and berated every time they make an out. In Konerko's case he gets grief even when he hits a HR sometimes. But Podsednik gets a pass. He is protected, you can't bash Podsednik! He is the goldenboy! He steals bases and Ozzie wanted speed so he must be the savior. No one cares that he has somehow managed to be a defensive downgrade from Carlos Lee because he steals bases. No one cares that he is LAST in the majors among everyday players in extra-base hits because he steals bases. I love having him on the team but I hate listening to people overrate him while bashing our other players who go out and play just as hard and have meant just as much to this teams incredible first half. The amusing thing is the reality with this team is our offense has still be driven by HOMERUNS. Our aggressive and smart play has made the team as a whole good at manufacturing runs, but we simply do not string hits together. The offense is still very weak when we don't hit the ball out of the yard.

He didn't have more endurance than anyone else he just hit more HRs. He showed much more skill than anyone ever. His HRs decreased in later rounds like would be expected. Just because he hit more it doesn't mean he was showing more stamina, that is a false assumption. No one else ever had a chance to take that many swings, so how do you know . Is Wade Boggs a steroid user? I think there is a good chance he would hold every HR derby record if he ever had a chance to be in it. Why? Because hitting BP fastballs out of the park is a skill that one can have without being a great HR hitter. Abreu is a HOF talent with the bat and it does not surprise me that he is so good at hitting 65 mph pitches out of the park. A "body with a lot of power" is not a sign of steroid use. A body with a lot of muscle mass could be. And his face was about as chubby as his stomach. There were no signs of steroid use with Abreu because he doesn't take them. There is particularly ridiculous when players are now being tested and it is clear that a lot of guys who used to be taking them aren't. Abreu isn't stupid, he wouldn't still be taking them. His power hasn't gone anywhere. It is his ability to make contact that seems to be missing. Being a solid piece of muscle is about as weak as you can get for a steroid user argument because you can easily get that from have low body fat and lifting weights. Where is his chubby face anyway? Where the acne craters? He shows no signs of steroid use, so get off it, you obviously are just speculating based on some very weak evidence. And if you are saying they are just your suspicions then keep them as that. Don't make comments like "stick the needle back in your ass Rowand" when he strikes out. Sounds like something a Cub fan might say, but then again I have more respect for Woo Woo than I do for a guy who says things like that.

Wow, Abreu you COULD have taken steroids! WHAT A REVELATION. Anyone COULD have taken steroids. Being good at hitting HRs from BP pitchers has nothing to do with taking steroids. Some guys can do it and some guys can't. The idea that he didn't get tired seems contrived to me because he had like 8 more HRs in the first round than he did in the next two rounds combined so obviously fatigue was taking its toll. Not that it matters, it isn't like he is lifting more and more on a bench press when he should be getting tired, he is hitting BP fastballs out of the park. There is no real known limit to when you shouldnt be able to do it anymore. I also find it moronic to speculate that any player who seems to have a lot of strength is on steroids. I hear people talk like you can't be ripped and you cant have a lot of muscle mass unless you are on steroids. Also, that you can't go from a skinny guy to a muscular one without roids, why lunacy. So no one works hard? Not one guy just lifts weights? EVERYONE is a juicer? These accusations against Rowand are completely unfair and the people making them are douches. Unless you shot him up yourself the reality is you dont know. And besides that the argument for it is fairly weak.

I think Pods presence on base getting in the pitchers heads has helped Iguchi's average more than Iguchi grounding to 2nd to move Pods to third has hurt it. Iguchi has been a strikeout machine who has been hitting worse and worse as the season has gone on. But I think he can and will turn it around because he is quite skilled with the bat.

Konerko's splits are bizarre. He is hitting .378 with two or more runners on but is 1-21 with a runner on third and 3-24 with a runner on second. With one runner in scoring position he is 4-45. Konerko has struggled in the first half but he has been much better for his career and I would expect him to pick it up. Even with his struggles he has been a big part of the teams success this season and I would hope he is kept around in the future if the price is not too much more than what he is making now. I can't imagine he will get a contract like Sexson as Sexson was coming off a 45 HR 125 RBI 100 walk .275 season in his last full year before he got paid. And Konerko won't put up numbers like that most likely. Some things to consider. Although Podsednik has a .369 OBP he has been picked off and CS so much that effectively he has a .337 or so OBP. The steals obviously put him in scoring position a lot, but extra base hits do that too and Podsednik gets fewer than just about anyone in the majors so his steals are somewhat negated by the fact that he has no extra base hits. As for Iguchi, as good as he has been he strikes out more often than anyone else on the team and actually has more GIDP than Konerko. Lastly it should be pointed out that Konerko has seen 104 runners in scoring position this season. Compare that to other league leaders in RBIs and some other middle of the lineup guys and I tried to get someone from every team. Emil Brown - 79 Vernon Wells - 87 Shea Hillenbrand- 96 Gary Sheffield - 99 Jorge Cantu - 99 Travis Hafner - 102 Alfonso Soriano - 102 Paul Konerko - 104 Aubrey Huff - 104 Craig Monroe - 106 Mark Teixeira - 106 Richie Sexson - 110 Hank Blalock - 113 Eric Chavez - 115 Garrett Anderson - 116 Torii Hunter - 119 David Ortiz - 119 Miguel Tejada - 121 Hideki Matsui - 123 Alex Rodriguez - 126 Manny Ramirez - 131 In this kind of analysis Konerko is exactly where he should be in terms of how many runs he has driven in when compared to how many he has had in scoring position to drive in. But I would argue this is because of his power and how he has driven in 27 runs that were not in scoring position. That is obviously good. but it means he has 27/104 runners in scoring position knocked in which I am sure isn't too good.

QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ Jul 8, 2005 -> 09:21 AM) The entire score of the H.M.S. Pinafore I will take you to heaven....before i send you to hell.

Someone has an axe to grind with Konerko it seems. These people are scouring the papers for anything they can possibly turn into ammo against him.

I voted a measly 18 times. Lets see who put the most effort into this thing. And don't lie about how much you voted. For every extra vote you claim, I shall kill you!

I don't want to go back to 2004. I think the title of this thread is cursed itself.

I think people misunderstand the all-star game. It isn't necessarily the "people who are having the best first-half" game. It is a gathering of stars. Luckily there are so many spots on the team that guys having great first halfs can be added as well and that is how new stars are born. The one player every team rule I like too because I think it would suck if my team not to have a representative and I really do not care about the ONE guy who was the 26th best or whatever it comes to exactly that he will knock off the team. I do not see a whole lot wrong with the game, no matter how you do it some guys won't make it. And the fans absolutely should be able to pick who they want to see as the starters.

Richie Sexson deserves the spot just as much as Konerko. But I think I would take Paulie considering his defense and Sexson's K total

Typically Saves and blown saves are the only important stats for a closer. Wickman has the must saves but he also has the most save attempts. Comparing Politte and Wickman is hard because although Politte has been elite as a reliever more guys can set-up than can save. ERA is irrelevent for closers IF they get the job done. If they are getting the saves let them give up enough runs to make it a 1 run win every outing. They have a cut and dry job and if they do their job it doesn't really matter how they do it. Putting a set-up man in the All-star game is actually more common than one would think and it has happened a few times very recently. Crain and Politte are basically a coin flip. Their numbers are basically idenitical with Politte having an edge in Ks. Inherited runners is hard to compare because a runner on third with no outs being held counts the same as a runner on first with two outs. Crain does have aa sub 1.00 ERA and 7 wins. Pretty impressive. Both should be considered as All-stars Timlin has 13 holds which gives him a heads up over both Crain and Politte. Politte has proven in the past that he CAN'T close. But then again he has never had the chance while pitching as the player he is this season (Which is much better than he has been in previous seasons.) You can make a good case for Timlin, Politte, or Crain and I hope 1 makes it because they deserve it. Also I do not believe Wickman deserves a spot as he only has the most saves because he has the most save oppurtunities and his save percentage is worse than the next few guys on the list.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 28, 2005 -> 05:21 PM) Try playing on a 110 degree astroplay field at Mike LB, FS and CB Try playing center, QB, and Wideout like I did. Al: TheHammer snaps the ball to TheHammer, TheHammer is open over the middle, TheHammer throws it, TheHammer makes the catch, oh and WOW, TheHammer hustled to make a downfield block for TheHammer as he takes it into the endzone for the touchdown. John: Oh no, Looks like TheHammer got hit as he released the ball on that play and he is not getting up. Team trainer TheHammer is coming onto the field to check him out. Al: It looks like TheHammer is getting warmed up on the sideline just in case TheHammer can't come back in for the next series.

Konerko doesn't need a rest. Why would a first baseman ever need a rest? He isn't going to tire out. Pretty much any non catcher could play every game if they are healthy. A day off once in a while is more to get the backup some playing time than it is to actually rest the starter.

Besides Shilling and maybe Santana if the Twins make the playoffs Prior is easily better than any pitcher we will face in a playoff game. I do not see how it is a guarentee that we can't score more than 2 runs against Colon, we have scored more than that on him before and he certainly is not an ace that is certain to dominate the playoffs. Randy Johnson is average these days. Actually even Shilling is a question mark at this point. We get shut down by a guy who literally could be the best pitcher in baseball, it isn't quite time to freak out this badly. Also realize that in games two and three we will always have a big advantage in pitvching matchups. Sure we can get shut down but we could also have some big games where we score a lot. What you need is for guys to come up big in the playoffs, that is what decides the World Series every year. Sure we could use another big bat, nbut that doesn't mean this team is totally incapable of scoring some runs against good pitching, becasue they are. It was just oen bad game.

The point is people are overrating Podsednik, taking unfair shots at Lee, AND I don't want to undo the trade because we are the best team in the majors so I don't really care about the past. Also, no one knows for sure who we would have signed if Lee stayed, certainly we would have got a few of the following: AJ, Iguchi, El Duque, Hermanson. And maybe we would get all of them who knows how the roster would have turned out.

Fall for a basehit sounds logical?

I don't care about the money it freed up because I am not trying to argue that the trade was bad, I'm just saying Pods isn't nearly as good as people think he is and Carlos Lee is a better player. I would also like to point out that we had 4 of the 5 starters last year but 2 of them not for the full season and Garland wasn'tnearly as good. Meither was Contreras really and El Duque is 7-2. Everett did not contribute last year like he has this year. Politte and Cotts have blossomed into players they never have before as well.

QUOTE(southsideirish @ Jun 24, 2005 -> 10:53 AM) I would rather be 49-22 after 71 games than 33-39 after 72 games. Pods has contributed a lot to that win total. I would argue that our 5 starters, Cotts, Politte, Hermy, Konerko, Everett, Rowand, Iguchi, AJ, and Dye have all been more important to this teams success than Podsednik. I think someone pointed out that we are like 7-3 when he doesn't play. No single position player is really that important to this team this season. Especially one with a weak bat and defense

Why would Schmidt care who he pitches next to? He is going to pitch every 5th day anyway. That is just a bizarre concern.