balfanman

I was a Flowers supporter to start the season, but I must say I've seen enough. The Sox management really needs to shake things up and I think that it should start here. Maybe a few weeks in the minors would wake Flowers up, IDK, but something needs to happen to get this teams attention. As a primary defensive position, the catcher should set the tone defensively for a team and this is not happening. This should not be the only move either, Flowers should not be made the scapegoat for the lousy way this team is playing, but it's a start. JMHO Whoever this teams baserunning coach is (is it Boston?) should be fired immediately as well!

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 10, 2013 -> 05:48 AM) Ventura has never said he doesn't want the job. In fact, the only thing he said about it was during spring training when he said he liked it more than he thought. His demeanor hasn't changed. It was the same when he was playing. He basically said the other day, he is managing out his comtract, then they will talk about another. The comclusions being made because he turned down an extension are proposterus. How it is ovvious to anyone here that he doesn't want the job, is crazy unless you have talked to him and he told you so. The other thing I don't understand is the Dave Martinez love. The guy has interviewed for several jobs and hasn't been offered one. If standing next to Maddon makes him so skart, how is Ventura so dumb when he has played for Torborg, Lamont, Valentine and Torre? I agree with you D.A. Saying that Robin Ventura doesn't want to manage based on the evidence that we have is not ignorance, it's foolishness.

Maybe it's just me, but I think I would put a players name on the cup who had a hand in about 20% of your season & playoffs rather than some of those names that appear there.

There is an article on the Tribunes site about Bryan Bickell: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/hocke...,2701539.column (hope the link works). Towards the end of the article I saw this comment and it got me to thinking. "Right now he's concentrating only on getting his name on the (Stanley) Cup because he didn't get it last time.'' When the Hawks won it all in 2010, Bickell played in 16 regular-season and four postseason games but wasn't among the 52 names engraved on the silver chalice." I have no idea what it takes to get your name on the cup, but jeez, a teamate who played in 16 regular season games and 4 playoff games doesn't get his name on the cup? Who are these 52 names on the cup for the Hawks in 2010 and how many of them are front office "nobodies"?

What is this "winning a game" thing?........I kinda like this, maybe we should start doing this more often.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jun 5, 2013 -> 03:06 PM) Well that's convenient considering they've lost 8 straight. I think that the main thing it shows is that our pitchers have been giving leads right back if we do score.

Several seasons ago, when Bonds cheated and broke the home run record, I remember people saying how they couldn't wait for Arod to break it so the record would be clean again. Yeah right. I could not believe that anyone could be so sure that Arod was clean.

I just heard somewhere that the Sox have not had a lead at the end of an inning in over 72 innings. Wow, that's bad.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 3, 2013 -> 01:43 PM) May update... Trivia question... under what circumstance can a player be promoted, hit .390 at the new level, and still fall down the prospect lists? Answer: when you are moved from 3B to 1B and not showing any power. Ravelo has been on fire in Winston-Salem, putting up a .390/.457/.458 line. He has only 5 K in in 70 PA so far at High A, versus 9 walks. His contact and OBP numbers are fantastic so far. But his Iso SLG is only .068, with 4 doubles the only XBH among his 23 hits. It is possible of course, given his still-young age (21) and relative lack of development time (missed 2nd half of last year), that the power can come. And if it does, he could really be interesting. But for now, it isn't there. He's definitely still work keeping an eye on, but I am not sure he is T25 material as a 1B, at this point. I realize that 1st base is normally a premium power position, but with the current contact skills (or lack of) of the major league team I would not be totally opposed to a high contact, high average, good plate discipline, singles & doubles hitter at 1st. Thinking of a Lyle Overbay, Mark Grace type.

Well it's pretty obvious that management sees a big problem with this team. The question that I would have is "just what are you going to do about it"? As someone else posted a few days ago, "Actions speak louder than words". It may take some stones by our Manager & GM, but I really want to see something done that gets the players attention. Don't ask me what specifically, I am not privvy to all of the available options or trade possibilities, but a stronger message needs to be sent.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 3, 2013 -> 12:47 PM) I fully expect a Heat victory by about 20 points. It will start off as a close one, a couple of bad calls will go against the Pacers, Miami will take advantage, and the blow out will be on. This is precisely why I don't give much thought to the NBA anymore. The last time I cared at all about the NBA was during the Jordan years, as entertaining as they were (it was a pleasure to root for a team that you knew were going to destroy an opponent before the game even started) the NBA playoffs were always fixed. The NBA made sure that most every series went 7 games, or at most 6, just to stretch out revenue. Most of the teams that the Bulls played had no business taking them that far. The Bulls - Nicks series ticked me off the most. The Nicks had no business winning 1 game against the Bulls, let alone taking a series to 6 or 7 games. I can garuantee you the Heat will win the series because that's what the NBA wants.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 3, 2013 -> 09:09 AM) Ironically, Jordan Danks made an awful play in CF yesterday. As bad as the defense has been, if they could score more runs, they still would be OK. I don't know how inserting Jordan Danks into the line up every day will make the offense better. The Sox have already lost 10 games in which they allowed 3 runs or less. I hear ya, and I'm not necessarily disagreeing. I just think that its time to shake things up a little bit and try something different. I agree that Danks wouldn't help the offense much, if any; but Danks replacing 1 of DeAza, Viciedo, or Dunn in the lineup isn't exactly taking out a hot bat either. I think that while making a bad play yesterday, overall Danks is much better on average than anyone else we have in centerfield.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 3, 2013 -> 08:47 AM) They key is fixing up the middle first. Beckham/Ramirez, then CF and C. At least, that's traditionally the way to think. It's just going to be incredibly difficult to do in the short-term...but rather than spending huge money on veteran bats in the free agency market, they're going to have to find value players like the Rays did with Ben Zobrist (Astros) and someone like a Franklin Gutierrez (Mariners). That will at least allow us to be play "Twins/small ball" and win the close games (if we can shore up the bullpen too) and make other teams beat themselves with our pitching, base-running and defense. I agree with this. Now that Beckham is back middle infield should be better. I think the time has come to play your best centerfielder on a consistant basis. Put Jordan Danks in center everyday and see what he can do. It's not like you're going to lose much offensively the way DeAza & Viciedo have been playing. DeAza can play left while Viciedo splits time with DeAza (lf) & Dunn (dh) until one of them gets hot or proves that they need to play everyday somewhere. I think that this could relax our pitchers a bit as well because they wouldn't have to feel they need to strike everyone out and pitch more to contact knowing that they have a defense that can help them out.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jun 2, 2013 -> 11:58 PM) We need Beckham to put a boot up everyone's asses. I believe that this could be Gordons chance to "put up or shut up". With Paulie on his way out, at least after the season is over, if Beckham can at least put up some half way decent offensive numbers and play his usual quality defense, it could now be "his" team. Kind of a passing of the torch.

I'm glad that the Blackhawks won, but can you imagine the firestorm today if someone would of gotten hurt in the extra few minutes that they had to play. If they would of had to go into the next series with say Toews, Kane, Hossa etc. out the referee would come under more fire then he is now.

I realize that the Sox are just not playing good baseball right now, even in sweeping the Marlins they were all close games that could of gone either way. I do have a question though. As depressing as the Sox are to watch right now, if the series were reversed, would we be happier if they would of gotten swept by the Marlins and were now in the process of sweeping the Cubs?

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 29, 2013 -> 07:32 AM) Whats the most likely outcome of having a team with Danks, Axelrod, and a bullpen that's already in tatters facing the best offense in the AL 19 of the final 76 games? How in the world is this offense going to cover for that? Why don't we let them play the first series first? I think that's early - mid July. If the Sox are blown away that series and are 7 - 8 games back then Rick Hahn has 2 weeks or so to "blow the team up".

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 28, 2013 -> 08:22 PM) It's really not. That's what's so bizarre. What do you think is the likely outcome of having 19 of the final 76 games versus the Tigers. Think the pitching staff won't be stressed beyond its limits? When that happens all hell is going to break loose. Why must it be that the Sox falter while the Tigers just get stronger and "all Powerful"? Why can't the Tigers pitching staff be the one that is "stressed beyond its limits"? Can't fatigue or injuries happen to Verlander, Fielder, Cabrera etc.? Maybe, just maybe the Sox could take 10 or more of those 19 games this year. You (and some others) act like the Tigers are this unstoppable force that just cannot be reckoned with. The Tigers have a good team on paper, but they are a long way from an automatic World Series winner. I, for one, still have hope that Sale, Peavey and company will match up just fine with the Tigers pitching staff (Reed vs. who.....really?) and our offense shouldn't be this bad all season. It's way to early for all of this doom and gloom, let's at least wait until the end of June. It's quite possible that the Tigers will walk away with the division, however, it's possible that the Sox, Indians, or even the Royals can win it too.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 28, 2013 -> 03:46 PM) The moves the organization made in the offseason indicated to me that they didn't want to make any long term committments to the roster but that they were willing to spend a little bit. They had an offer worth more money on the table for Eric Chavez too, but he wanted to play on the West Coast. I think if there had been more contracts like that - 1 to 2 year contracts at reasonable prices - the Sox could have made them. I would have liked to have seen a bit more action, but it wasn't an easy offseason to make moves. If we would of gotten Chavez there is a good chance that Gillaspie would be elsewhere. I would rather see what Gillaspie has to offer for a whole season. So far, so good.

Where's our El Duke?

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 21, 2013 -> 10:07 PM) Santiago also only threw like 80 pitches last time out. Can't hurt. According to a Tribune article this morning Santiago also threw a 40 pitch bullpen session yesterday and even admits he wished that he had known he was going to start tonight before he threw it. "Left-hander Hector Santiago, who threw a 40-pitch bullpen session Tuesday, will take Sale's spot. "It kind of sucks that I found out after I threw my bullpen," Santiago said. "For the most part, I think I'll be fine." I hope I'm wrong but this seems like a disasterous, emergency start tonight. I hope that the bullpen is ready for a long night. Maybe they can call an extra pitcher up for tonights game for a few innings.

I haven't updated this in a while, but Dan seems to keep plugging away. He's leading the Sox minor league offensive stats in several categories including OBP and RBI. It looks to me that Dan has sacrificed some power for increased contact, but I'm just going off of stats. I have no idea of the park he's playing in or any of the other factors. Could be he has noticed what the Sox seem to be looking for these days (he's obviously pretty smart being from Purdue) and adjusting his hitting style accordingly. He still has a ways to go to ever make the majors, but if he plays at US Cellular the power numbers should improve enough to be sufficient for a 1B. he looks like a doubles machine right now.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 15, 2013 -> 06:58 AM) Trust me. I was all for Danks coming up last year and it being his job. In the times that Jordan has been up here, I haven't seen anything that really told me he would be significantly better than Wise, especially when the price for DW is only $700k. And I won't undersell the clubhouse factor as being important here. Something hasn't been right with the team this year, and it isn't something that has been easy to explain. That's what I've been trying to figure out. How does a team go from good to horrible defensively in less than a year with pretty much the same players. I'm sure that there is some bad luck involved, but it seems to me there has been some kind of attitude shift. Some type of clubhouse presence or issue that has had a big influence on the mental part of the game. Have they tuned Ventura out already? Do they miss the annoyance of Peirzynski that much? Is Beckham really the glue of this team?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 13, 2013 -> 10:03 PM) And they used to have the best, most reliable bullpen in baseball in the heyday of Shields/K-Rod. It was even more of a lockdown pen than the Twins' great bullpens. Plus, they could attack you on the basepaths with speed and versatility, Kind of like when the Sox were good. God I hate a team that relies way too much on Homerun ball.

QUOTE (winninguglyin83 @ May 12, 2013 -> 08:21 AM) 2. Paste HIT THE CUTOFF MAN post-it notes on the forehead of every player. How would players read a post it note that is on their forehead?