MattZakrowski

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 20, 2010 -> 01:45 PM) Fielder will be lucky to be at 1st base 2 or 3 more seasons. He's a DH waiting to happen. Smoak could be the guy at 1st in a few years. Not to mention that he's gonna fall off a cliff if he doesn't get into better shape.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Feb 20, 2010 -> 09:43 AM) Ted Williams was one of, if not the, best hitters in the history of the game. Speed on the basepaths can be forgiven if you are hitting .400. This whole argument is silly. The DH has been neglected, we all recognize that. There is still room for improvement and the will to do it by the general manager. Thome wasnt going to make this team an instant contender for the title, his production and health has been suspect within his own standards the past couple of years. he can still get hot and hit bombs all over the place for a few weeks, but he can also go on a cold streak where he strikes out 2-3 times a game for weeks at a time. We ALL b****ed about a slow lift and pull lineup for years, and when that was taken away, now we all b**** about it being gone. Thome is damn near 40 years old, his past with the team was appreciated, but it was time to go. 1. Green text is awesome 2. Don't lump me in with the 'base-clog' complainers. I never did that, and I'm sure lots of other people didn't either.

QUOTE (SouthsideDon48 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 03:48 AM) Sprite soda. I never drink that soda except for when I'm sick, and I find it to be soothing to drink when I'm sick. Same here, I did a whole 2 liter yesterday, and I'm pounding Gatorade all day today.

QUOTE (SouthsideDon48 @ Feb 20, 2010 -> 02:15 AM) The fact that he was our best hitter is pretty sad. As far as I'm concerned, we never won a world series with him, so he never helped. Sure his home run won us game 163, but he didn't help us win in the postseason, did he? All he did was clog up the basepaths, and when we got him the rest of the lineup adopted the swing-for-the-fences mentality. Yeah! And Ted Williams sucked too!

The relief I felt when I found out that Danks wasn't going to the WBC showed me once and for all that the White Sox winning at baseball means a hell of a lot more to me than the United States winning at baseball. That said, feel free to send any non-Sox player you want.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 08:43 PM) So is the fact that he spent a heck of a lot of money on a very good pitching staff. There is a weakness in the lineup because he spent the money on the pitching. Would you rather have: 1. A decent pitching staff with a decent lineup 2. A very good pitching staff, with a weak lineup 3. A weak pitching staff with a very good lineup. With a budget you can't have a strength at every position. Something has to give. Completing a major league roster isn't like choosing a team template in a video game. You should try to put the best players you can at each position, and Damon/Thome/Matsui/Guerrero/Johnson would have been a huge upgrade over the vortex of suck that is Jones/Kotsay.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 12:09 PM) It's worth noting the 2005 format...that year, we started the year with an 11 man staff. We went to a 12 man staff at some points, but only when people got hurt in June or so. We also kept our 6th starter in the minors as a starter, and he wound up being a starter for us several times. The one difficulty with that bullpen style is...you need guys who can give you 2 innings occasionally. The Sox squeaked by a couple times with Vizcaino going 2.1 innings and that cost them at least one game. I don't know if, as that bullpen is set up, there's really any obvious innings-eaters for a game where a starter goes out early or the game goes 13 innings. I'd be willing to keep Torres over Williams, I know it leaves us with only 1 lefty, but merely being left handed doesn't justify letting Randy Williams be in a major league bullpen.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 12:01 PM) I still think Torres makes the most sense as long-reliever/mop-up. I'd rather have Hudson getting his starts in at AAA. Agreed, it's a low leverage role, and I don't want to start Hudson's arb clock unless he's making starts, or is at least a 7th inning guy.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20...sp&c_id=mlb Working title, "Can you hit better than a replacement level player (And if so, go DH elsewhere)

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 10:18 AM) I don't want to go into this season without a backup 1b. Not at Konerko's current age. Honestly, just about anyone with 2 legs and a glove can play 1B 20 times a season.

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 10:03 PM) Duh. In the National League. We are building that style team...

QUOTE (WCSox @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 09:06 PM) What, you mean that Pierre is the only player who doesn't put up the exact same numbers every month? Say it ain't so! Pierre put up a .455 OBP in March/Arpil, a .435 OBP in may, and a .413 OBP in August. Those three months accounted for 262 of his 380 at-bats, and that's pretty freaking impressive for a guy who didn't play regularly for much of the season. Some of you people need to do your homework before posting. Yeah, I basically agree that, aside from roster and defensive issues, having Damon and AGon on the Sox would be a good thing. My overarching point is that you're way too focused on DH, OBP/OPS, and 2010. If you take DH out of the equation, the lineup isn't that bad at all. The Sox also have a team with much better pitching and much better defense than the vast majority of last year. A healthy Quentin and a productive Rios alone will ensure that they're better than 12th of 14th in offensive production. So when can we expect to see this bizzaro 8 man lineup baseball?

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 07:34 PM) I'm not reading through 60 something pages since it last was since I posted. What has transpired? Lillibridge for Pujols. I'm cautiously optimistic.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 01:37 PM) Now that I look at it, this is actually very true. Jeter should have won the MVP that year. I'd have given it to Sizemore, but yeah, Morneau won on the strength of RBIs.

QUOTE (hogan873 @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 11:55 AM) He WILL be wearing a uniform of some team that plays somewhere...I'm sure of it. And that team will be a Baseball team in North America.

Curling is really addictive. I got caught up in it because it's been in the same schedule blocks as the hockey, and I'm hooked.

QUOTE (bmags @ Feb 17, 2010 -> 07:22 PM) I think it's a bit of a confusing question Would I want the magglio of what...06 07 08? hell yeah, Do I want the magglio of 10? Not so much. If we are taking a players best year and putting it on that team, that's one thing, I thought we are adding a player we want on our team today that we lost. In that case, Vazquez. The rotation would be ridiculous and our bullpen would be the least used. I might have to change my pick to Vazquez, didn't even think SP's.

Struck out first 9 I faced one day, and threw a no-hitter. When I was 10 I threw 2-3 complete games.

Disagree.

At that age I side with staying away from medication, and at east trying the other options first. Just dialing back sugar alone could make a huge difference. I've never been tested, but since improving my diet and starting to exercise fairly frequently, I've become so much better about studying for long periods of time.

Ryan Sweeney or Nick Swisher to play RF.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Feb 15, 2010 -> 10:21 AM) The Super Cauldron Idea: So, I go an idea during the opening ceremonies. They say every country has it's own unique cauldron and it must be seen "from a distance". So, why no use the entire STADIUM as the cauldron? Have a "ring of fire" along the stadiums roof? You could totally hide the "cauldron" during construction by saying the pipework is for pyrotechnics during the opening and closing ceremonies. I don't trust that idea based on Canada's cauldron construction skills.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Feb 14, 2010 -> 04:35 PM) No kidding.I think he's gonna have a year similar to his 2008 one, considering he's a power pitcher who pitched 240 innings last year. This is critical. I think he's the 2nd best pitcher in the division, but he's been Dusty Baker'd most of his career.

So the latest recalculation has a 3 way tie at 80-82 between the Twins, White Sox, and Tigers, FWIW.

Kubel really isn't much worse in the field than Young.