wsgdf_2

Good news? The Twins have beaten up on the three worst pitchers on the staff, and now Bobby's in. This game bought Putz, Thornton, Sale and Sergio some rest for the next two games. Tomorrow will be a different day and hopefully set up a pretty excellent rubber game between Floyd and Liriano.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 10, 2010 -> 09:40 PM) I don't see how we win this division. The Twins have a better 25 man roster and an easier schedule. Oh yeah...they own us head to head too. It will have to be with better pitching. The Sox need two guys to pitch lights out and two to pitch really well. Then there's Freddy... they nee him to get really really lucky for at least half of his remaining starts.

QUOTE (Chisoxfaninminny @ Aug 10, 2010 -> 03:53 PM) HEY SOX fans. Im living in here in minnesota. New twins fan site that some of my buddies run. Clubtwins.com. They want to talk some smack. Im being too nice i guess. If you want to come and talk to some fairly knowledgeable twinks fans this is a good developing site. Hmmm... clubtwins.com sounds like something i might not want to try accessing from work.

Here's a pretty good article explaining why the ticket disclaimer may not make this case such a slam dunk: http://notanotherbaseballblog.wordpress.co...ple-bat-injury/

QUOTE (Frank_Thomas35 @ Aug 5, 2010 -> 12:47 PM) Why or why does Ozzie continue to bunt with a speed guy on first? IMO it is a waste of an out. I rather have a hit and run every time esp. With Pierre we know he can make contact and foul balls off. And now he sends Pierre back to back times. Wow Pierre probably steals whenever he wants. I highly doubt they give him a steal sign.

QUOTE (mcgrad70 @ Aug 3, 2010 -> 07:49 PM) Had no plan regarding this second game. Is there anyone their organization that can pitch? Detroit is as close to death imaginable and we run some clown out there. Now watch Detroit win 10 in a row. I was going to go home early to watch the second game. Glad I didn't. And I'm not very excited about Jackson tomorrow either. Peavy really screwed us with his injuries. Best record in baseball for a month and half and only a game ahead of the Twins. Speaks more to how bad we were than how good we might be. Holy overreaction Batman!!

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jul 31, 2010 -> 08:20 PM) I don't understand why he wouldn't pitch on Tuesday. To give Coop an extra couple of days to fix him... duh!

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 31, 2010 -> 12:45 PM) This thread proves one thing: Nobody cares about steroid users aka 'cheaters' as long as they play for your team (outside of Balta). I really don't want Manny. I don't think that's fair. I hate steroids. I hate the whole era. I dispise the unfairness. I have a harder time when it comes to the individuals. Who did what when? I actually kind of forgot about Manny in regards to steroids... it's not the first thing that comes to mind with him like it is with others. Not sure why.. but I guess Balta's position is more consistent. I don't know why, but it's not about having him on my team vs another. It's more about my subjective opinion about individual players.

A little more from Carroll and the link: The Cost: The White Sox were one of the few teams to be well below the league average in 2009, losing only $3 million due to injury. Chicago has consistently been one of the more successful teams in the dollars lost category; losing $19.7 million over the last three years. The vast majority of last year's injury cost came from the 48 days that Chicago's prized 2009 additon, Jake Peavy, was on the disabled list. Peavy's 2009 count for the Sox was $2.1 million. Chicago brought in the huge contracts of Peavy and Alex Rios last season, and it's not too hard to think that the training staff's strong work the last few years allowed them to absorb the extra $116 million. The Sox saved nearly $11 million dollars compared to the rest of the league, and they spent the money this offseason by giving Mark Teahen and J.J. Putz a combined $17 million. Whether that money has been well-spent can be debated, but the training staff sure has allowed them to be able to spend the money. http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article....articleid=10137

QUOTE (wsgdf_2 @ Jul 31, 2010 -> 12:16 PM) Right... which all would have been fine if he didn't have a bad back that kept him from playing. Here... some stuff from Will Carroll: "The Summary: Herm Schneider's staff could argue they deserve another Dick Martin Award after another great year in 2009. They belong at the top of any discussion about how an effective medical staff can contribute to a winning team. Despite "heavy" workloads on the starting staff and a bullpen that is made up of guys with thick medical files prior to coming to the Sox, they all just seem to cruise along. Jim Thome and Jermaine Dye were kept healthy and productive despite chronic problems. The one black spot on last year was the plantar fasciitis that sidelined Carlos Quentin. There's no one, aside from Albert Pujols, that has played through that, so it's hard to knock the Sox here. If they can get Quentin back and keep up the rest of their work, the South (Side) may rise again."

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 31, 2010 -> 12:15 PM) Nobody wanted to touch Thome because he had about $45 million on his deal for 2006-2008 and the Phils weren't going to give him up for free. Gio and Rowand is a legitimate offer for him. Right... which all would have been fine if he didn't have a bad back that kept him from playing.

QUOTE (The Beast @ Jul 31, 2010 -> 12:12 PM) Who was the other guy? Bobby's one.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jul 31, 2010 -> 12:12 PM) The work that the staff did with Thome to get as much out of him they did on a regular basis was incredible too, I know he had a few injuries, but Thome and the staff worked so hard to get him out there as much as they did. Yeah - nobody wanted to touch Thome because of his back issues... I think they're credited for keeping Crede on the field as long as they were able to as well. There are other guys... I don't know.

Couple of quick thoughts... 1. I'd love to have Manny and the Sox have done a great job over the past 10 years or so of keeping "injury prone" players more healthy than other teams have been able to (TCQ being the main exception). 2. I don't understand the posts about Manny nostalgia. He's never been a White Sox. There would be nothing nostalgic for me about seeing Manny in a White Sox uniform. 3. I really don't want Viciedo to be dealt... hmmm...

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 11:56 PM) Yeah, a lot better: 4.30 ERA as opposed to 5.00, wow. Also... guys in the same range as Jackson's 4.27 FIP are Shields 4.20, Dempster 4.24, Hamels 4.30, Scherzer (interesting) 4.32. If you look at xFIP, pitchers in his range are Sanchez 4.24, Niemann 4.25, Buchholz 4.25. It will be really interesting to see what will happen to all those groundballs when Alexei's sucking them up.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 11:56 PM) Also you can't just erase 2 outings, you can do that with a ton of bad pitchers, take away a few s***ty outings and things start to look better. He's been terrible since the no-hitter, it's not like he's on some sort of incredible stretch aside from a couple bad outings early in the year. You say there isn't a ton to be fixed yet 4 other teams have have failed to tap into that potential, yet we're the special team that will turn him around over the course of 3 days because of our magic pitching coach. I never said he was on an incredible stretch, but just because you're not on a Floyd run doesn't mean you suck. Seriously. 10 ER in 2 1/3? Pretty safe to say you can throw that one out. I just don't think there's a ton to be fixed. A 4.30 with no innings limits (like Hudson may have had) is an upgrade for right now. His 'untapped potential' is that he has the potential to be a 1 or 2 but for two years he's pitched more like a 3 or 4.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 11:35 PM) We're the FIFTH organization to take on this project. This isn't Contreras or Thornton who were only with 1 org. previously, this is a guy who's been around and dealt away for very little a few times, never staying in 1 place for too long. And now we have to fix him in 3 days time. Yeah, and he pitched really well for the Tigers. He's actually pitched a lot better than his ERA suggests this year as well. I'm not sure there's a TON there that needs to be fixed. He gets a lot of groundball outs and a fair share of Ks. He pitched in front of a horrid defense and still would have had about a 4 ERA this year if not for 18 earned he gave up over 6 1/3 innings against the Rockies and Cubs in late April early May.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 11:33 PM) It was imminent. It did happen in the morning. Cowley got his original info from those tweets and message boards. There was definitely a delay from the imminent 7 am tweets and the eventual deal. Usually when the national writers use that language, the official post comes really soon after. But whatever...

QUOTE (WCSox @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 11:30 PM) I have a difficult time believing that the Nats would have such a massive hard-on for Jackson in the first place. I actually like him. Another top top prospect, this guy was #4 overall at one point. Still young, still throws really hard, and except for two really awful games this year, he's pitched similar to last year.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 11:29 PM) No. He first said the deal could be done in the morning. Look at his posts. Anyone of us with no source could have come up with that. Easily. You will see if you ever really follow him, how innaccurate a lot of his stuff is. He just deflects people from looking at his errors by taking potshots at others. I know he did... but he was also the first to say there's a hold up. I was following everyone at that point and Heyman, Rosenthal, etc were still saying 'on the verge', 'imminent', etc...

QUOTE (WCSox @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 11:24 PM) So did Rizzo actually give Kenny his word that he'd deal Dunn for Jackson? Because it makes absolutely zero sense for them to not do a three-way deal. Or does Rizzo have a reason for screwing over the Sox and turning himself into a pariah? Two reasons I can think of: 1. He was hoping it would force the Rays or Yankees to give him what he was REALLY after. 2. He's trying to help his old team (DBacks). 3. Combination of the two (I think the most likely).

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 11:21 PM) I posted the link in other threads, but sounds like Sox weren't nearly as close to getting Berkman as was reported. There wasn't even a trade finalized that needed his approval. Berkman said no to a few teams. OK, well it still could have been what they were working on. It's just pretty interesting how soon the Berkman deal happened after the Jackson deal. I'm kind of defending something that's all speculation, so I'm not on real solid ground here, but none of us are.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 11:21 PM) But he said huge and off the radar. Berkman was far from off the radar. Joe is full of it. He likes to rip others, but his "sources" failed him again. He didn't start saying the 'off the radar' stuff until later, and really that was him just speculating because he didn't have a name. You may think he's full of it, but he was the first one to say hold off on Jackson while the national media was saying the deal would be done any minute (like around 7 this morning).

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 11:12 PM) You make a 3 way deal. Not do it in pieces, but if Rizzo gave his word that getting Jackson would get you Dunn, and now he's singing a different tune, his days as a GM are more than likely numbered. I like to give KW a hard time, but if someone went back on their word, he's blameless here even if he was a little careless not doing it as a 3 way. If that was the plan, it appears all of Cowley's crap was total BS. The way I see it, Cowley's original tweet that the Jackson deal was on hold was the Sox finding out they could get Berkman. Berkman turned down the Sox trade offer, and the Sox went ahead with the Jackson deal and Berkman signed with the Yankees.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 30, 2010 -> 11:12 PM) You make a 3 way deal. Not do it in pieces, but if Rizzo gave his word that getting Jackson would get you Dunn, and now he's singing a different tune, his days as a GM are more than likely numbered. I like to give KW a hard time, but if someone went back on their word, he's blameless here even if he was a little careless not doing it as a 3 way. If that was the plan, it appears all of Cowley's crap was total BS. Especially since Rizzo is a 6 year vet of the DBacks organization. Amazing how big a favor this was to AZ. Major ethics issues with this scenario. Even the Nationals should be suspect of Rizzo's intentions and who he's looking out for.