balfanman

I get the feeling that when the weather warms up, so will our offense. I wouldn't particularly care to hit in weather like this, but if someone offered me millions to do so I think that I could "warm up" to the idea. What perturbs me is that the other team has to hit in the same conditions and they seem to do just fine. Maybe our guys are just a bunch of cold weather wimps.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 20, 2010 -> 08:35 PM) Yeah, there's no way you can play Kotsay over Jones for now...it wouldn't even be remotely in the proximity of stupid/foolhardy. I'm not one to jump on Ozzie; I try to give him the benefit of a doubt. My thinking is that Ozzie surely knows more about running a baseball team than I do. But if Kotsay is in the lineup over Jones tomorrow Ozzie will have definitely lost a few notches in the intelligence chart in my book. And I don't think that Kotsay is that bad of a player if used properly.

QUOTE (scenario @ Apr 20, 2010 -> 04:17 PM) It's going to be very tough for most teams without big budgets to compete with the Yankees and RedSox. Have the economics of baseball created a chronic problem in the AL East? I have a novel solution... move the Mets and Phillies into the AL East... and the Orioles and Blue Jays to the NL East. Let the budget Titans duke it out in one division. I'm half kidding... but something may eventually may have to be done in the AL East if the other teams have no chance of competing year after year. I am an avid Sox fan and baseball is the only sport that I follow closely. Football, Basketball, and Hockey are sports that I will watch if I'm absolutely bored and there's nothing else to do, which is extremely rare. That said, if I were a Blue Jay, Ray, or Oriole fan I would of given up hope a long time ago and found another team to root for. I believe that the Yankee / Red Sox affluence problem must be solved or eventually it will erode away the fan base of all teams, as it has already begun to in Toronto, Tampa, and Baltimore. I love to watch good baseball being played, particularly if the White Sox are the ones playing it. It would take away a good amount of fun if I knew going into it that the Sox had almost no chance to win anything, barring a miracle.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 02:13 PM) Yes, they do. They have above average, and in some cases, elite caliber defense, in LF/CF/3B/SS/1B. The White Sox have above average defense at exactly 1 position. And that's RF with Rios (or when they play him in CF). Alexei has the tools to be an above average defensive SS. But he's not there yet. PK is good at scooping up poor throws. But he has zero range. Everybody else is either below average or not proven yet. It's not even close. Edit: Pierre has good range. But that arm. I agree that the Rays are probably better defensively and it's more than likely just a matter of semantics between us, but I don't think thatr the edge will prove to be "enormous". Other than Pierres' arm I think that our outfielders (any combination of Pierre, Rios, Jones, or Quentin) will prove to be among the best in the majors. Teahen, who knows yet; Ramirez could also be elite if he finds consistancy; Beckham, probably not yet but by the end of the season I'm thinking that he will rank among the best 2nd basemen. While not the most agile at 1st base I believe that Pauly more than makes up for any range issue with his scooping ability, saving countless errors. All in all, I think that by the end of the year our infield defense will rank in the top third of the league as well. A. J. is well....A. J., average at best defensively but apparently knows how to handle pitchers. I'm not that familiar with the Rays catcher but I can't imagine that all things consdered that he's tremendously better than A. J. Again, I'm not argueing that the Rays are better defensively, I just don't think that the difference will prove to be all that enormous. JMHO.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 6, 2010 -> 07:05 PM) And what would a Rays fan say if their starting LF/3B was Juan Pierre and Mark Teahen? And their rotation might be young. But David Price and Wade Davis project out to elite #1 and #2 starters. Jeff Niemann looks like a solid middle-of-the-rotation guy. And whatever advantage we have in pitching gives way to the big edge they have on us in hitting and the ENORMOUS edge they have defensively. I don't think that the Rays have an "enormous" edge on us defensively. I know that it's wrong to compare our defensive prowess to recent Sox teams because frankly, we haven't been very good. The 2010 Sox may not be the best team in the league defensively, but we are vastly improved in this area and I think that we will end up being above average overall. JMHO.

QUOTE (everafan @ Mar 26, 2010 -> 07:36 AM) Alexei Ramirez wins a GG. Has anyone noticed that he is playing great defense this spring? I would really like to agree with this, but I just don't think that he (or anyone else for that matter) has a chance until "Jeetah" retires.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 18, 2010 -> 01:08 PM) If the 2 Chicago teams swapped GM's, I'd guarantee you that you'd see both Vitters and that new young SS moved before the trading deadline, probably for a starting pitcher and a LH bat, to try to make one last run at it this year. The really scary part of this would be having Hendry as our G. M.!

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 2, 2010 -> 09:52 AM) If they were going to do radical realignment, I would probably do 5 divisions of six teams: Pacific- LA, LAA, SF, Oak, SD, Sea Southwest- Arz, Col, KC, Stl, Hou, Tex Central- Chi, Chi, Mil, Min, Cle, Det Southeast- Fla, TB, Atl, Cin, Pit, Tor Northeast- NY, NY, Bos, Phi, Was, Bal I would probably have some type of plan where you rotate out the Southeast teams in the Northeast division so Washington and Baltimore wouldn't always be in the same division with the New York teams and Boston. Play the teams in the division 18 games=90 Play 12 teams outside your divison x 6 games=72 5 division winners seeded 1-5 by record. 3 wildcard teams (top 3 second place teams) seeded 6-8 by record. 1 vs 8; 2 vs 7; 3 vs 6; 4 vs 5 in the first round. Not a straight bracket. The best seed remaining plays the lowest seed remaining in the semi-finals. All rounds best-of-seven. If you do this, any matchup can happen in any round. It would be possible the Sox and Cubs could play in the first round or the World Series in any given year. I actually kind of like this idea for some reason. Instead of having Washington and Baltimore rotating divisions though, you could do something like have team opponents based on the previous seasons records. That way teams like Boston and New York would consistanly have to play a tougher schedule.

ANDERSON-FIELDS AWARD: Jayson Nix DANNY WRIGHT AWARD: Sergio Santos PABLO OZUNA AWARD: C. J. Retherford

I would like to see them go with a 7 man bullpen because with the cool weather in April, starters not fully stretched out yet, and Linebrink (Putz too) probably should not be overworked early so that they can still be effective later in the season. JMHO

QUOTE (beck72 @ Feb 13, 2010 -> 02:49 PM) If Detroit and the White Sox offer similar money, my bet is Damon picks the Sox. He wants to play for a bigger payday in 2011, ala Bobby Abreu. To do that, he needs to put up good numbers [the Cell would be better for him than Det.] and the larger market of Chicago would get him more publicity. I'm not totally disagreeing here, but why would the Cell be a better place to hit in for a guy like Damon. Isn't the Cell more friendly to home run hitters, but not so kind to doubles and triples hitters. I think Damon would hit well in Detroit.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jan 21, 2010 -> 01:35 PM) And for about $4M less than some on here were willing to pay him 2 months ago. Anyone still have any doubts that he'd have accepted arbitration? I was one who wanted Dotel back and would of offered him arbitration. Call me nut's I don't care, I've been called much worse. It's not my money and I would love a little more certainty in the pen. Correct me if I'm wrong but there is a lot of question marks in the Sox Bullpen. I think that the only "near" sure thing is Thornton and he's no certainty either. I just hope that we don't blow our chances this year due to a weak pen when a few extra million (sounds trite doesn't it) would of nailed things down a little better. I guess if all else fails, we can be the team that acquires Dotel in July. JMHO

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 11, 2010 -> 11:57 AM) Which Danks? John or Jordan? If it is Jordan, the deal is done as far as I am concerned. If it is John, forget it. I agree. If they want Flowers, Jordan Danks, and Hudson I do this deal in a heartbeat. Surely they must want more than that.

QUOTE (soxfan3530 @ Jan 5, 2010 -> 10:48 AM) do you know what sparks rallies? home runs! i will take cust. I always viewed home runs as more of a rally killer. Aren't rallies usually over when someone hits a home run? As Ed Farmer says "let's keep the line moving".

It also appears more likely that versatile reliever D.J. Carrasco will not be tendered a contract by Saturday at 11 p.m. and become a free agent. The Sox met with Carrasco's agent Wednesday. "You'll just have to wait for those things to come down the pipeline, and everything will reveal itself in time," Williams said This makes it sound to me like Carrasco is gone. Boy, I hope not.

I really appreciated the piece as well. I don't claim to be a stat guy, mainly because I don't take the time to understand most of them, other than the basic ones (era, batting avg. rbi, etc.). I appreciated the explainations that went along with the graphs as well. It's one thing to look at information, quite another to understand it.

Has anyone heard anything at all about the condition of Crisps shoulders? Has he even picked up a baseball since the surgeries? I was all in favor of Crisp a couple of years ago, especially over the likes of Owens and Anderson. Now I'm not so sure.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Dec 9, 2009 -> 10:20 AM) As was pointed out earlier, Jurassic had milder issues but he seemd to adapt to the Cell quite well. But I believe that Carl was considered a winner by his team mates. Milton.....well it seems that we would probably get banned if we published what his team mates thought of him.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 9, 2009 -> 10:18 AM) It also doesn't mean that Toronto can't come down in price. I agree. Isn't this one of the reasons that Riccardi was fired up there? The new G. M. may be under pressure to get what he can for Halladay, before spring training.

In my best Hawk voice, "Don't tell me what ya hit, tell me when ya hit it!

Personally I think that Pierre gets a bad rap. I don't think that, other than his arm, he is that bad a ballplayer. Sure his contract isn't good, but how many players in MLB with more than 6 - 7 years of experience have "good" contracts. Ozzie seems to like him so maybe he does possess some type of intangible that may help a winning team. Pierre has been on what, for the most part, has been winning ballclubs in L.A. and while being primarily a bench player I haven't heard anything about him being disruptive. I'm sure that Ozzie has requested some type of a typical lead off hitter and for what is actually available I think that you could do a lot worse. For those in the know, Pierre can still cover ground in the outfield can't he? If the Dodgers are in the financial bind that people are claiming and don't want to give cash in a Pierre - Linebrink swap, maybe K.W. can get them to part with a good prospect or 2. JMHO.

I will state right now to the amusement of some here that I think that the Royals are going to turn into a team to be reckoned with. Probably not next season, and maybe not even 2011, but they will. I really like how their new G. M. is building things. Back around 2000 I was posting on the Sox MLB board before they changed over. I made the comment after the Sox won the division in 2000 and were getting ready for the 2001 season and posters were commenting on how the Sox only competition in the division would be the Indians. I mentioned that I thought that the Twins were up and coming ( after suffering through many terrible seasons) and I pretty much got laughed off of the board. How has that prediction turned out over the last 8 - 9 seasons? Not to pat myself on the back, but even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. I get the same feeling about the Royals now that I did about the Twins back then FWIW.

QUOTE (SHIPPS @ Dec 6, 2009 -> 03:47 PM) If Andruw comes back in shape I will predict a Comeback player of the year award. I feel like a probably have made this statement a couple times before so eh... Personally, I hope Freddy is going to get the comeback player of the year award next year. What a rotation we should have if he does. The moment that Jones signed I was thinking in the back of my mind that this is probably going to be our starting rightfielder in 2010 with Rios in center, or vice versa if you wish. I can't say that I mind Jones starting at all providing that he EARNS it in spring training. I would be upset if it was just given to him.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 4, 2009 -> 01:24 PM) Plus AJ and Padilla hate each other. Again, personally I do not want Padilla, I am just trying to make sure that we have correct information. I know that Padilla threw at A. J. what was it 3 - 4 seasons ago now, and A. J. was looking into the Sox dugout. Was A. J. actually mad at Padilla, has he said anything, I don't recall; or was A. J. upset that his team wasn't retaliating? It may very well be that A. J. hates Padilla ( as a lot of other players seem to), I just don't remember the specifics or if this was actually stated.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 4, 2009 -> 09:18 AM) He'd fit nicely with the Cubs though, who in the last few years have gotten really good at signing thoroughly unlikeable human players. Bradley, Freel, Zambrano, Soriano... I feel kind of bad for guys like Derek Lee. I've heard that Soriano is actually very likeable, way overpaid & bad, but likeable.