ScottyDo

This is just an awful, awful article by Cowley. I honestly want to give the guy a chance just because he gets buried so often (and I'm a sucker for people who get bashed a lot, even if they deserve it), but he is an inexcusably terrible journalist. The vast majority of his article is unsubstantiated claims made to look like they're backed up by quotes, but even a first-grader's analysis of his logic should reveal a boatload of flaws. He's not a stupid person, so it's clear his poor logic is intentionally designed to suit his narrative. In this case, his narrative agrees with you, Elgin, but it doesn't really support your position much because he doesn't back up his claims with any substantive evidence. I didn't read the WSI post because I don't have an account and don't care to get one. Summary?

No way in hell Melton "made it through calculus". I call BS on that. Also, cybermetrics? Hahahahahahaha oh Bill...

For anybody who said things like "man, this team is gonna lose 100 games!" after watching the Sox struggle early in ST: The Sox are no longer in the basement of the Cactus League. They are now ahead of Milwaukee, Arizona, Cincinnati, Texas and Cleveland in the Cactus League. 1/2 game back of the mighty Cubs! In the Grapefruit League, the Sox are tied with Philly and ahead of such teams as Atlanta and Tampa Bay... Once again proving that Spring Training results mean absolutely nothing.

QUOTE (Elgin Slim @ Mar 27, 2012 -> 05:11 PM) I remember thinking during those starts that something was wrong because his velocity was down. When he started getting shelled at the beginning of the 2010 season I put the pieces together. Also, does anyone remember the thing about him going to video of his pitching in SD about end of May 2010? After that he was pitching well but then they had to shut him down with the "fluid in the shoulder" but they kept pitching him anyway until the lat tore off the bone. IMO, horrible mismanagement of his injury Yes, they should have foreseen this injury that has never happened before in the history of pitching... These things aren't warning signs that lead you to believe anything drastic will occur. Herm Schneider is one of the most well-respected trainers in the game, and I have no doubt they were monitoring Peavy for signs of all the common, and probably some uncommon, injuries. Again, this has never happened before ever ever ever. There's no trainer in baseball that could have predicted a latissimus separation, and nobody knows what caused it...all we have are idle speculations.

QUOTE (Elgin Slim @ Mar 27, 2012 -> 04:58 PM) Peavy said in an interview w/Rongey last spring that he shouldn't have pitched in 2009 because his ankle wasn't ready yet. He further elaborated on it saying that he changed his mechanics to compensate for the ankle injury, and that the altered mechanics caused his detached lat. The Sox were out of the race by September 2009, they should have shut him down at that point let him heal. The Padres shut him down for the year after he hurt himself. The Sox tried to rush him back when he wasn't healthy enough to pitch. Absolutely cannot believe such a judgment from Peavy, who has no expertise in injuries or kinesiology. It's his best explanation, but not nearly a definitive answer.

QUOTE (Elgin Slim @ Mar 27, 2012 -> 04:45 PM) That is your opinion. When you take advantage of a player's personality to prove a point to the fans, consequences for the player and your team be damned, I disagree. The Sox organization mismanaged his ankle injury. It is like, hey we f***ed up your arm, now you can't do your job, and we're going to prevent you from trying to do a different job. KW should have been fired over this issue. I think you're drastically overstating the relationship between the Sox' actions and his shoulder separation. It's far from a slam-dunk to say that injury ONLY occurred because Peavy pushed himself. The first few months of the next season, Peavy had the opportunity to shore up his mechanics, but didn't. The Sox' actions may have induced a few bad habits but Peavy had plenty of time to correct them. And that's all assuming that his mechanics had anything to do with it. As an unprecedented injury, nobody can say with any conviction what caused the injury to happen. It's all speculation, and your narrative sounds nice to you (and others), but it's not necessarily correct.

QUOTE (Elgin Slim @ Mar 27, 2012 -> 03:50 PM) If this is what Peavy is doing in spring training against minor league hitters, then they need to either a) consider moving him to the bullpen, or b) just say goodbye now. They have to pay him anyway, why not use that spot on a developing pitcher like Molina, Castro, Axelrod or Stewart. I have always been a Peavy fan, and have held out hope that he could regain his old stuff back even after the injury, but it seems like you can just put a fork in his starting career. What a major disappointment. I was elated when KW traded for him, too bad that he couldn't stay healthy. He is now a shell of his former self. I don't blame KW for the trade, I blame him for rushing Peavy back from the ankle injury, which basically destroyed Peavy's starting career. JP's only chance is in the 'pen now. Why in god's name would you ever do either of the things you're suggesting? If Peavy is incapable of starting, then the season in sunk. The only reason to diminish Peavy's possible trade value by putting him in the 'pen is because you're somehow competing, or he's blocking a legit prospect who needs to be in the majors ASAP. The latter is untrue at the moment, the former is impossible on March 27th. And why just say goodbye now? What do you gain by that? You gain nothing...at all. You've taken your lottery ticket, whose payoff is an ace-level starter, and torn it up without seeing the results. Sure, it's unlikely that he returns to form, but there is absolutely zero upside to the proposals you've suggested.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 27, 2012 -> 02:47 PM) This was after 2IP and 24 pitches today in a minor league intrasquad game. Mark Gonzales ‏ @MDGonzales Crain feels fine, hopes to pitch Thursday v. Dodgers Thanks for the diligent (re-)reporting, SS2K5! I've been reading them, as I'm sure many others have.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 27, 2012 -> 11:53 AM) Mark Gonzales ‏ @MDGonzales Sox reassign Jordan Danks, Jim Gallagher, Dan Johnson, Dallas McPherson, Josh Phegley and Tyler Saladino to minor-league camp. JJ Stankevitz ‏ @JJStankevitz Welcome to the #WhiteSox, Eduardo Escobar. Sox cut Dan Johnson, Dallas McPherson. Like! He appears to be a solid bench player, with an outside chance at being more down the road.

I know I've only seen him in one spring training start, but maaan does Axelrod look like a hittable pitcher. He changes speeds well enough, but he has no plus pitches from what I can tell. Fastball is flat and not very fast, curveball is a slow lob, nothing moves or breaks and his delivery is awfully standard. His decent control and ability to mix up pitches is the only thing currently saving him, and I really doubt it can last at the Major League level. So I agree with Balta: Stewart should be starting in AAA because I think he's the better prospect. Not great, but all of his pitches are better than Axelrod's. So I hope Stewart gets lit up. Weird sentiment.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Mar 27, 2012 -> 11:48 AM) I think arguably the best thing of his start against LA was NO walks. I am ready for peing day. Pitching has been pretty good so far for the Sox Moises Alou is always ready for that day. It always comes as such a relief!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 27, 2012 -> 08:45 AM) Kinda sad that he's getting "Rewarded" for the crap he threw up there last year. How bout we earn this one? Disagree. Danks last year was pretty much the definition of "victim of circumstance". His xFIP was the lowest of his career, BABIP against the highest.

QUOTE (Springfield SoxFan @ Mar 27, 2012 -> 07:36 AM) Even Catfish? Even Booney "Two-Toes" Clark, the best Hawk's ever seen at running halfway to second on a fly ball with 1 out!?!?!?

3 @ TEX 1-2 3 @ CLE 2-1 3 VS. DET 1-2 4 VS. BALT 2-2 3 @ SEA 2-1 3 @ OAK 1-2 4 VS. BOS 1-3 So I guess 10-13. Meh. Not so worried about wins and losses this season anyway.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 26, 2012 -> 08:47 AM) Daryl Van Schouwen ‏ @CST_soxvan Sox lineup for Dodgers Monday: DeAza CF, Morel 3B, Rios RF, Konerko 1B, Dunn DH, Ramirez SS, Flowers C, Viciedo LF, Beckham 2B. Danks P Opening Day lineup/pitcher, with the exception of Flowers in for AJ. Nice! I maybe like the idea of Morel in the 2-hole by the way.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Mar 25, 2012 -> 02:50 AM) Whatever happens, please don't make Crain the closer. There's a reason Twins fans nicknamed him Crainwreck. I'm willing to give Thornton another chance now that Juan Pierre is gone and won't miss routine fly balls anymore. Replaced by Viciedo, so we'll see about this part.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 20, 2012 -> 06:53 PM) In my view, Kenny Williams job rests in the performances of Beckham, Danks, Viciedo, Sale, and Reed. If they play the way they have been touted to play by Kenny Williams and others in the organization, I think the Sox will contend. If they don't the Sox have a huge problem because there isn't anyone else to build around and we're looking at a 3-5 year process. Kenny should not be the guy to rebuild this team if that young core doesn't produce this year. I mostly agree, but I don't think the bolded guys need to perform THIS year for Williams to stay. 2012 is Viciedo's first shot at starting on the big club, Sale's first shot in the rotation, and Reed's first shot at a major league bullpen. I think all three of them get an extra year to mature before Williams' fate is sealed. That's why I don't think Williams' job hinges on this one season, but I agree that he's running low on extra lives (just the one, in my book). If those guys you mentioned live up to expectations, that's a few green mushrooms for KW though.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Mar 20, 2012 -> 03:55 PM) If Viciedo is hitting .210 in May, you still think it will have nothing at all to do with playing LF? Absolutely. If Viciedo is hitting poorly for ~3 months, it likely has nothing to do with a simple positional change.

I'd much rather see Eduardo Escobar than Johnson but I know that's not likely to happen. Solid defense, potentially decent bat and hits from both sides. Less power and experience than Johnson but a much more diverse player.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Mar 19, 2012 -> 09:56 AM) He's in LF now to accomodate Rios' inability to play CF. Once again the Sox forcefeed a young prospect an unnatural position to accomodate an overpaid underachieving veteran. Viciedo has looked AWFUL in LF. Just brutal and it's obviously affecting his hitting. I follow your premise up until the point of this gigantic leap of logic. First off, baseball is not to be judged in ~25 AB bursts. Any random smattering of at-bats could be terrible and may indicate nothing about how that player is feeling in general. Second, even if Viciedo is, in the bigger picture of things, hitting poorly, there could be a billion-and-one reasons for it. A (small) change in position is one of the factors that changed coincident with Viciedo's poor ST start, but another thing that changed was the calendar year. Maybe he's feeling the pressure of having a starting spot be his to lose. Maybe he did something stupid with his swing in the offseason. Maybe he's swinging at tons of pitches to try and get his timing down. Who knows? There's no way to isolate the variable you're claiming was causal. Finally, it's freaking spring training. It can't be stressed enough how little spring training results matter. Last year's AL Champion is behind the White Sox in the Cactus league, and until this week, the Phillies and Yankees were close to the bottom of the Grapefruit league. None of this matters, which is the whole point: it's just an opportunity to warm up before things matter, and that could mean different things for different players.

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 17, 2012 -> 05:19 PM) Escobar 3-run jack. Good player. Sure seems that way. I kind of wondered why he lost favor since a year ago when people were talking about him a little. Good defense, decent contact and a little power. Sounds like a potential major-league middle infielder to me. Utility guy, at least.

We have a player named Carlos Sanchez?

QUOTE (Cali @ Mar 16, 2012 -> 04:36 PM) and Blum knocks them in haha CLUTCH!

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 16, 2012 -> 11:10 AM) “Obviously, the players come and go,’’ Konerko said. “I mean myself and A.J. [Pierzynski], we’re going to be gone here at some point. But the people that head up the team, they have a much better chance of being here a lot longer than us. So they should expect to see a certain way of people going about their business. “And when you have success as a team on a major scale, whether it’s winning the division, making the World Series or winning the World Series, yeah, it kind of buys you some freedoms. That’s the same in almost every workplace in the world. You go out and do the job, and no one says anything if you have little quirks on how you want to get your work in. “When it all comes crashing down, it doesn’t work and you’re not doing the job, then, hey, man, they’re going to batten down the hatches. I certainly don’t take offense to it. If you didn’t see it coming, then you weren’t paying attention. That’s the way it works.’’ But get away from the field and take the elevator up a floor to the front offices, and that’s where the difference between the way the Cubs and Sox are doing business can be felt. For the Cubs, it’s very businesslike. It’s almost like watching surgery. General manager Jed Hoyer is the anesthesiologist, Theo Epstein is the surgeon and Sveum is the bald, tatted-up rehab specialist, waiting outside to beat your body up on the road to recovery. It has a white-glove feel to it. Clean, very little mess. The Sox’ front office seems to be more on a crusade. Decisions are random, confusing at times. More from the heart. Almost a “we’ll show you who’s smarter’’ mentality. Then again, players such as Konerko aren’t really concerned with front-office mentalities at this point. They don’t dictate the workload of mid-March days. “We lost the liberties we had when we didn’t get it done as a team,’’ Konerko said. “I’m not saying they’re overdoing it with us. It’s right on for what we’ve earned.’’ I don't really see anything wrong with the story, other than the over-worshipping and genuflecting everyone in the local media is doing with Epstein. And that will last only for a couple of months before fans start to become impatient. It's the nature of professional sports today. And for having something resembling a "boot camp" atmosphere, it sure hasn't helped to clean up a lot of the White Sox mental/physical errors on the defensive side of things. We've been sloppier than I can ever remember...although 50% of that is related to players who won't even be around come the first week of April. That line about proving themselves to be smarter has to be a shot at the Hudson and Santos/Molina trades, but, whatever... The problem with Cowley articles isn't the quotes, it's the editorialization between quotes. the portion you cited was all Konerko talking, so this article wasn't bad. But the moment he started analogizing, it turns to crap. Give me some evidence of the "we'll show you who's smarter mentality", don't just claim it to be true and assume I'll trust your unclouded judgment, Cowley. Anyway, I'm not nearly as mystified by the Sox offseason as some writers and posters appear to be. Things seem very black-and-white for some people, like every team in the Sox situation should always dump every veteran contract, make no signings and make your intentions very clear. I disagree. I think you need to evaluate every move in detail, be open to signings like Danks', not overvalue closers even on friendly contracts, and not announce that you're liquidating your assets. Shrewdness does not equal unfocused crusading. Of course, some might think we didn't get enough from each of those trades, but that's how every fan feels after every trade if they're down on their GM. He always "should have" gotten more, as though there is a discrete value for each player. Personally, I don't judge executives or coaches for moves that have amorphous or undefined connections with results. I have no idea what KW "should have" been able to get for Quentin, within obvious extremes, so I'm not using the return value as an immediate yardstick for the trade. Rather, I'm looking for the GM's vision in the trade: he traded an injury-prone veteran with a sizable contract for young pitching. That's been an incredibly consistent theme over the offseason, so I don't understand the confusion people like Cowley are articulating.

I get that people are annoyed that Viciedo moved from 3B to RF to LF, but the alternative was to keep him at a position he's bad at, and in the minor leagues. Switched him to RF so he could get a callup and because Pierre can't play RF with his arm. I'm not 100% sure why he's in LF now, but switching corner outfield spots really should not be anything more than shrug-worthy. It's not like switching to CF or between IF spots. I understand that there are some differences in the way the ball comes off the bats of righties vs. lefties, but we have never balked at players switching corner spots before.