WCSox

It looks to me like Richard's lack of command is what makes things worse off for Richard.

QUOTE (Frankensteiner @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 12:03 PM) I am so glad KW did nothing to improve our pitching at the deadline. Like I said, that is going to be the nail in our coffin. Somebody like Maddux or Lowe to round out the back of the rotation would've been nice and possibly doable. But the impact guys like CC and Harden tend to go to teams that actually have young players of value to offer.

QUOTE (tommy @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 09:31 AM) Maybe the whole ordeal about bringing in Junior is to limit Thome's PA? For example Junior is the DH instead of Thome for today's game. In the past, I wouldn't have put that past the Sox's front office. But I think that Jerry and friends have learned that those bottom-line tactics don't work in professional sports the same way that they do in other businesses. Plus, the Sox are in a heated divisional race and I'm pretty confident that Ozzie and KW are more interested in winning than weaseling out of JT's option.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Aug 2, 2008 -> 04:33 PM) If you want to point your finger at something as the reason why we are in the situation we are in. Its not our record post ASB, its not the pitching tiring, hell its not even the injuries. It was when our pitching staff put up top shelf numbers at the beginning of the season and we were bouncing around as a 500 team because our offense decided to take a few months off. The stress and the wear and tear of our pitchers having to pitch perfect, because god forbid if the offense could scratch a few runs across the board. Its when we have 8 shutouts on our offense by early June. Pitchers have a few dead arms periods over the season I'm not sure if the pressure of having to pitch perfect put any actual physical wear and tear on our pitchers' arms, but I agree that one would have to expect a drop-off in performance over the course of the season due to dead arms and the fact that many of them were pitching way over their heads (Dotel, Logan, Floyd, Contreras, etc.). One would've hoped that PK and Swish would've picked their games up by now to help overcome that, but that hasn't happened. The bottom line is that the Sox are about a 90-72 team. Pretty good and MUCH better than one would've expected back in March, but maybe not a playoff team with a surprisingly-strong AL East. It's going to come down to whether or not the Sox can win the Central, because I'm pretty sure that the Wild Card will come out of the East.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 08:39 AM) I would use a different word than "stuck"...we're "lucky enough to get the money from Philly and have Thome's option vest so that he'll be back in a Sox uniform next year" and don't have a choice. Given his injury history and the fact that his BA and OPS have fallen steadily over the past three years, I'm wondering when our luck is going to run out. That said, we're certainly "lucky" to have him as an alternative to the lack of young talent on this team. Even if he's limited to DH, JT can still swing the stick when he's not fighting a ribcage or calf strain.

QUOTE (almagest @ Aug 2, 2008 -> 01:38 PM) "Injury-prone" - Has played in less than 130 games once (59 in 2005) since 1994. Yep. "Injury-prone". Also there's the fact that he's posted OPS+ of 155, 150, and 132 with us. And that he was our best offensive player last year, and second-best in 2006. But hey, everyone's entitled to their opinion. Mine's more like fact than opinion. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past four seasons, you'll note that Thome missed most of '05 with an injury and was either out or limited with injuries for a decent chunk of last season. Thome may have ONLY missed about 15-20 games last season, but he was clearly playing hurt for a couple of weeks and not producing because of it. You'll also note that Ozzie won't even play Thome at 1B during interleague play because he's afraid he'll get hurt. If that isn't "injury-prone," I don't know what is. Like I said before, Thome will most likely garner enough plate appearances over the next two months to trigger the guarantee clause in his option for next year. And since JT has a limited no-trade clause, we're pretty much stuck with him for another year and don't have a choice.

QUOTE (almagest @ Aug 2, 2008 -> 11:16 AM) My question is, how can anyone justify not re-signing Thome? Unless he goes on the DL this year, he'll garner enough at-bats to automatically guarantee his contract option for next year. Beyond that, extending an injury-prone 38-year-old so fragile that Ozzie's afraid to stick him at 1B during interleague play would be a retarded move.

QUOTE (BlackBetsy @ Aug 2, 2008 -> 09:54 AM) Wow...it's buy Griffey out and let him walk by a mile to me. I just don't see the arguments for signing a 39 year old Ken Griffey where his best positions are LF, RF and DH and he's inferior to the players you have there now (Quentin, Dye, and Thome). +1,000,000. Griffey is a two-month hired gun. If Konerko and Swish weren't slumping, Kenny probably wouldn't have bothered. Unfortunately, it looks like Thome will likely pick up enough ABs to guarantee his contract for next season. At this point, I think that you use the money left over from the Crede/Cabrera/Uribe attrition to solidify 2B and 3B (Alexei moves to SS) and stand pat afterwards. If the Sox are playing mediocre ball in July, you shop Thome and Paulie.

QUOTE (hawksox13 @ Aug 1, 2008 -> 12:23 PM) If the Sox do make the playoffs, I'll have zero confidence in him pitching in a big game. At this point, Floyd and Danks have shown me much more than Vazquez ever has. My playoff rotation would go: Mark, Floyd, Danks, Javy. And if Contreras was healthy and pitching relatively well, I'd seriously consider moving Javy to long relief.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Aug 1, 2008 -> 10:32 AM) He throws his curves and sliders to the outside corner too. He has an outstanding changeup that gets made irrelevant. Using both corners is what makes Danks so good. Not to mention Mark combining that cutter with the back-door curveball against righties. QUOTE (Cali @ Aug 1, 2008 -> 10:34 AM) This technique is called "Pitching like a Pussy" His unwillingness to pitch inside and his penchant for crapping his pants in pressure situations certainly makes him look like one.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Aug 1, 2008 -> 12:18 PM) link? This was pretty well-known back towards the end of A-Rod's tenure in Seattle. Last year, Colin Cowherd also mentioned that Griffey would whine to ESPN about certain highlights of his not being shown. I like Junior and all, but his reputation as a thin-skinned diva is there for a reason.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 1, 2008 -> 12:12 PM) Are you obsessive about Nick or something? You keep inventing this straw man that I have yet to see on this board. Apparently the obsessiveness has transferred from Frank to Swish. QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 1, 2008 -> 12:11 PM) That's an awesome gesture by Swisher, in all seriousness. Some money may have exchanged hands, but offering was the right thing to do. Plus, the whole "Dirty Thirty" thing wasn't helping him hit.

QUOTE (RME JICO @ Aug 1, 2008 -> 09:45 AM) Isn't that exactly when it actually became widely available? The Steelers were infamous for using 'roids back in the '70s. I don't see why they couldn't have made their way to MLB.

I hope that Junior doesn't see that. This is the same guy who used to whine about A-Rod getting louder applause than him.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 1, 2008 -> 05:04 AM) So when did Nick turn into a hockey goalie at first base, and maybe Griffey can just play 1B instead? Like I've been saying, Swish's superior arm and range DO NOT make him a significant defensive upgrade over PK. He failed to scoop a slightly-off-target throw from Alexei a week or so ago as well.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 1, 2008 -> 07:13 AM) I'm too lazy to look it up but I could have sworn we beat up on them pretty good earlier in the year in '03 and then got spanked in the Twinkie dome. We expected to beat up on them late in the season at home and got our asses handed to us. That was the Jamie Burke play that triggered the Twins to destroy us. I'm not saying that we play well in the Humpty Dumpty Dome. That said, the Twins don't play particularly well outside of there, either. The '03 Sox fell apart down the stretch. And while I give credit to the Twins for playing better, the Sox shoulder the blame for losing to a less talented team.

I imagine that seeing Junior in the clubhouse this afternoon will give the squad a morale boost.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 1, 2008 -> 06:40 AM) I'd have to agree with Balta's thoughts a few weeks ago where he was still a bit skeptical about this team. I can't help but to think it's 2003 all over again. On paper we are much better than the Twins but they are completely outplaying us. Didn't we sweep the Twins in a four-game series at home back in June, and take 2/3 against them in May? And aren't we still in first place? The Twins are a good team and all, but they haven't exactly been kicking our ass this season. This team does have some of the characteristics of the '03 squad, although they seem to have more stones. When they get embarrassed (Cubs series at Wrigley), they respond (Cubs series at the Cell). I have some serious concerns about our 'pen and the back of our rotation, but like what I see otherwise. QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Aug 1, 2008 -> 06:43 AM) Well, thankfully we'll be nice and happy to get Linebrink back in a couple of weeks. He's feeling good, reports say. I think shutting him down now was brilliant to avoid his terrible second halves. I look for him to be lights out and for our team to get back on track when he returns. I agree. And I don't know what it is, but it seems like about half of the time I watch Dotel pitch, he craps his pants. He has value, but I don't trust him as a setup man.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Jul 31, 2008 -> 07:58 PM) Have 4 kids. Name them: Scott Paul (last name) Joseph Geoff (last name) Kenneth Ozzie (last name) AJ Jermaine (last name) Ok the last one sucked but you get the idea. I can't believe that you didn't mention Frank Thomas (last name).

QUOTE (Wanne @ Jul 31, 2008 -> 08:43 PM) I brought this up a couple days ago...it pretty much reached my melting point tonight. Somehow, someway I'm gonna find that friggin Hawk and BJ email during telecasts on comcast and rip away. I already sent one to Ozzie saying as much too. I'm sick of this s***. I honestly am looking forward to BJ being gone and Stone in the booth to keep Hawk a little bit more in the real world. And for as much as I've defended Swisher this year...I'm sick of his s*** too. Sit. The. Hell. Down. for a while. I've been pissed after games before...but not like this one. I'm not sure if this post was intentionally funny, but bravo nonetheless.

QUOTE (Nokona @ Jul 31, 2008 -> 01:20 PM) Wilbon givin the love Kotex Boy even said that he liked the move on Around the Horn.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 31, 2008 -> 01:16 PM) In all honesty, I think the team is better today than it was yesterday. I'd prefer to see Junior at 1B with Paulie to the bench, we'll see what Ozzie's got up his sleeve. I agree with this. I don't see Paulie producing at the plate any time soon and Griffey is not only an upgrade at this point, but also another left-handed bat. And at the very least, the Sox have more options at this point and an insurance policy if another one of their aging vets goes down with an injury. QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 31, 2008 -> 01:22 PM) I think KGJ is better than Dye in the OF, so I would like Dye to shift to 1B preferably. Agreed with this as well. Anybody remember how JD did in the one game that he played 1B back in '05?

Wow...

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jul 31, 2008 -> 11:39 AM) 2:37pm: Jeff Blair talked to a source who thinks the White Sox might move one of their outfield-DH types for pitching help. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/07/white-sox-acqui.html Would that be Quentin or Dye?