SSH2005

Yep, Uribe may have the fastest bat speed of any player on the team. His problem is obviously making contact. He swings at too many offspeed and breaking pitches away but his new leg kick seemed to help him a lot. He started taking a lot more pitches in the second half of last season. It was like night and day for Uribe before and after the All-Star break last season... Juan Uribe (2005 stats Pre All-Star): 240 AB | .246 AVG | .276 OBP | .379 SLG | .655 OPS | 13 BB | 41 K Juan Uribe (2005 stats Post All-Star): 241 AB | .257 AVG | .325 OBP | .444 SLG | .769 OPS | 21 BB | 36 K

Uribe is one of the best bunters on the team so we shouldn't lose much if anything in that aspect. But the bolded part above is the key. If Uribe is actually forced to take more pitches to allow Podsednik a chance to steal, he may end up drawing more walks. Hopefully, that factor and his new leg kick stance will help raise his OBP. If Uribe does end up staying at #2, I just hope that Ozzie doesn't make Uribe attempt to steal bases. He's a horrible base stealer. Uribe shouldn't need to steal second base to score anyways with Thome, Konerko, and Dye behind him.

How strange is it that Joe Cowley writes an article about Dale Torborg right as we are discussing him? Sox trainer also knows championship rings http://suntimes.com/output/sports/cst-spt-sox26.html

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...rtswhitesox-hed

The title of this thread is a bit off. The first Spring Training game is on Wednesday, not Monday. Chicago White Sox 2006 Spring Training Broadcast Schedule

http://whitesoxpride.mlblogs.com/inside_th...y_in_tucso.html http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb...t=.jsp&c_id=cws

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb...t=.jsp&c_id=cws

Fabio Castro, the #1 pick in the Rule 5 draft:

http://sandiego.padres.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/...t=.jsp&c_id=mlb Ouch. I guess that Vinny Castilla trade wasn't a steal afterall.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/sox/cst-spt-cowley25.html

Gload, Borchard, and Munoz are all out of options. But I doubt Gload has any trade value regardless.

Jim Moore, a Seattle sportswriter, had this excerpt in one of his articles from last week: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/moore/260228_moore21.html

I mentioned this in another thread. Grieve has always had a good swing but little bat speed and no defensive abilities. Jose Canseco said in his book that if Grieve had taken steroids he could have developed into a great power hitter. Grieve's loss of bat speed is the reason he won't see those numbers again. His lack of defense will probably be what sends him to Charlotte.

http://poststuffx.entensity.net/022406/med...=juggernaut.wmv *NSFW* (bad language)

The Sox now have a good option to call up from Charlotte if either Konerko or Thome gets injured. If Konerko gets injured, Thome could play 1B and Jacobsen could DH or vice versa. If Thome gets injured, Konerko would play 1B and Jacobsen could DH. Now there isn't as much of a need for a backup 1B/DH on the 25-man roster since there will be a good option at Charlotte. They may as well keep the best strictly outfield option now and that would be Borchard.

"Your days are numbered, Ross."

The only way we will see him is if either Konerko or Thome get hurt. Let's hope that doesn't happen. But I think YASNY is right though. We now have a decent 1B/DH option at Charlotte. I think Gload is as good as gone and Borchard will get the last outfield spot.

Jacobsen seems to have had a very up and down career in the minors according to his numbers. I would guess it's partly for that reason and maybe because he's probably not very good at 1B and is more of a DH. Another reason is pretty ironic. When Jacobsen was in the Brewers' minor leagues in 2000 and 2001, they already had Richie Sexson at 1B. Then when he was in the Cardinals' minor leagues in 2002 and 2003, they already had Tino Martinez and Albert Pujols. Then when he went to the Mariners the last couple seasons, they went and signed Richie Sexson last year. Looks like he's been screwed by Sexson twice in his career. Hard to get a 1B/DH job with that kind of talent ahead of you. I'm surprised that the Mariners didn't just keep Jacobsen and give him their DH job instead of spending (wasting) money on Carl Everett. Jacobsen is a fan favorite in Seattle so it's not like there would have been a big backlash against the move. I guess his knee injury was the reason the Mariners didn't consider this route. But I wouldn't be surprised to see this guy outproduce Everett if given a full-time DH job in the majors. Like you mentioned earlier, playing at Safeco you would want your DH to have the kind of massive power that Jacobsen possesses. Everett is going to hit a lot of warning track shots at Safeco in 2006.

I googled his name. I was looking for an article about him by Peter Gammons or some other sports writer. I seem to remember a story about Jacobsen hitting a few homers well over 500 feet in the minors.

ROFL, he even has his own fan site: http://www.buckybackers.com/

Excellent point. There's really no reason to dump Borchard now. I remember this dude being EXTREMELY popular among Mariners' fans that season (2004). Fans love him. He hits absolute monster bombs.

He's a good option to have at Charlotte if either Konerko or Thome go down, that's for sure. Here are some videos of the homers he hit with the Mariners in 2004: http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/team/player_...layer_id=430944

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/spor...onenotes25.html This dude can hit moon-shots, haha. He's the first base version of Borchard. Here are his stats: http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/J/b...-jacobsen.shtml http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/players/playerpage/25762

Yep, triple those numbers above and you get... 531 AB .305 AVG .374 OBP .571 SLG .944 OPS 39 HR 102 RBI That would be second to only A-Rod. Only guys like David Wright, Aramis Ramirez, and a healthy Scott Rolen would be close. It's not going to happen but it sure is nice to dream.

If Crede did that he would be the second best third basemen in the entire MLB. He would be second only to A-Rod. I don't expect it to happen at all but it sure would be sweet.