WCSox

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 02:53 PM) I've never seen his fastball so hittable. That's because he kept falling behind in the count, was forced to throw it, and the hitters knew exactly what was coming. I have no idea if he's playing through an injury or not, but it would seem strange that his back would act up so early in the season. And his stuff was fine (speed, movement), so I wouldn't say that he's "done" just yet. He's only under contract for one more year.

Nice to see that Jenks was hitting 96-97 regularly on the "official" gun. Looks like his arm strength has increased sine ST.

QUOTE(StrangeSox @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 12:22 PM) 3) We're already trying to pull everything/ why does Greg Walker still have a job So, three runs and five hits over three innings against Sabathia is bad? LOL.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 12:06 PM) He's at 94-95 according to the gun a the park which MLB uses. That's up near where Jenks usually is That same gun has Sabathia throwing 93-96, which sounds about right.

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 11:46 AM) Wow. What an awful day. +1

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 11:45 AM) Cool. That means our gun is 3-5 mph slow. Jose has been hitting 93-95 pretty regularly.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 11:41 AM) Is the gun about 5mph slow, or are both Sabathia and Contreras throwing really slow? ESPN Gameday is reporting both throwing mid-90's regularly.

Brutal... absolutely brutal. Good thing we're only down by 3 now.

That sucks. I'm sure that he'll catch on somewhere else later this season.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 30, 2007 -> 03:05 PM) Do you really think Kenny Rogers is better than Verlander or Bonderman? He was better than Bonderman last season and about as good as Verlander. I think that Leyland deliberately had Rogers pitch at home during the postseason. I clearly recall him REFUSING to pitch Rogers in St. Louis in the WS. That said, Rogers will probably be a non-factor until at least August this year.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 30, 2007 -> 05:55 AM) Just a couple of days ago, Ozzie was concerned talking about how you can't just flip on a switch. Now he says the pitchers have looked good the past 2 weeks. Two words: damage control I wouldn't say that I'm "worried", but I'm not feeling incredibly optimistic about this bunch right now.

Awesome. I wish Hermy nothing but the best.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 12:00 PM) About the same thing that stopped guys like Roy Halladay, Johan Santana and Roy Oswalt from regressing after they tasted success for the first time in the bigs. Garland doesn't have anywhere near the pure stuff of a Jeremy Bonderman, they're not even in the same universe. Garland's 1 great season basically came out of nowhere, Bonderman's success has come gradually with experience and development at the big league level. If Garland were 23 in '05 with a high 90's fastball and 2-3 other plus secondary pitches then his chances of sustaining that success would have been greatly improved. Once again, there isn't a single factor that says Bonderman will not progress into a dominant starter over the next 2 seasons. He has all the makings of an ace, something there aren't many of these days. I left my crystal ball at home, so I suppose I can't claim that Bonderman won't win a Cy Young in a few years. I agree that he has the tools to do it. My overall point was that three of the Tigers starters had, by far, the best seasons of their careers in '06. Even taking Bonderman out of the equation, I think it's highly-likely that the other two don't match those numbers this season. And I think it's also unlikely that a 42-year-old Kenny Rogers can repeat the second-best season of his career. Given that and the fact that the Tigers are relying heavily on thee aging, injury-prone players to score runs, I'd say that they win about 10 fewer games this season.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 11:25 AM) Again, how was last season a career year for Bonderman? It was his best season as a pro mainly because he's 23 but that's certainly not the best season he'll ever have in the bigs unless something goes seriously wrong. A 'career year' implies it was a fluke season (ex. Loaiza, '03) and he will never again reach the level of success he realized in 2006. I think that our definitions of "career year" might differ somewhat. I don't think last season was a "fluke" and I don't think that that Bonderman will return to mediocrity, but I'm not convinced that he'll better his performance last season, either. What's to stop Bonderman from pulling an '06 Jon Garland?

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 10:09 AM) Why wouldn't Bonderman improve? The guy is 24 has some of the best stuff in baseball and has improved each year since coming into the league. Everything points to him taking the next step and moving into the upper echelon of starting pitchers in the American League this season, I don't see much that would suggest otherwise. The guy is just nasty. I do agree with you on Robertson though. QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 10:30 AM) But...they do get Maroth back from his injury and surgery last year. He was very effective before he was lost last year. That could fill in some of their issues. And of course, if they stay healthy, they've significantly upgraded their offense by adding a cleanup hitter. My mistake, I meant to say Maroth instead of Bonderman. Maroth was dismal until last season, so I don't see him repeating his brief '05 numbers. The Tigers got career years out of Maroth, Bonderman, and Robertson last season (and arguably out of an aging Rogers as well). Especially with the added post-season innings, I don't see their pitching dominating this year like it did in '06. IMO, they're more of an 85-win team than a 95-win/AL Champ squad.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 09:36 AM) Anyway...KR is the one guy on Detroit who's probably the most likely to take a huge step backwards this year. Not only is he another year older after a big workload last year...but people will be watching his hand after the playoffs. I don't expect Bonderman and Robertson to have career years this season, either. Detroit will be a good team this year, but they're not going to win the AL again.

As much as I dislike him, I'd certainly welcome Zambano to the Sox. But he's going to go where the most money is and I really doubt that JR is going to match Steinbrenner's offer. I could see the Sox going after Ichiro, but JR never gives huge contracts to pitchers.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 02:07 PM) It's not Ozzie's fault Hall got hurt. It's Ozzie's fault that Hall was in a position to get hurt the way he did. Ozzie should have kept Hall up on the top shelf of the China cabinet to avoid the possibility of injury. You guys need to give the Ozzie-bashing a rest.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 01:06 PM) Meh, he's only 33 years old and will probably pull in a 5 year deal. I'm not really all that worried about a 38 year old Ichiro, he's an insanely effective pure hitter (one of the greatest of all time) and will always have a ton of value because of his ability to make contact. I forsee Ichiro becoming more of a power hitter later in his career as well, he already has excellent power now that he doesn't really utilize so when/if he legs start to go he could start driving the ball. Plus I foresee him as being one of those guys that doesn't break down until after he leaves the game, sort of in the Ricky Henderson mold where he'll just never lose that athleticism. I'm not sure about him never losing that athleticism, but I completely agree about him having value as a contact hitter until the day that he retires. He's Japan's answer to Tony Gwynn. My concern is that the stats that he put up in his prime and his celebrity status in Japan will drive up his asking price to an unreasonable level. I'm surprised that Ichiro hasn't played more CF in Seattle. Of course, I realize that his cannon arm makes him a very good fit for RF, but his freakish speed and very solid anticipation on fly balls would be better-used in CF, IMO. Mike Cameron was a good defensive CF, but is Jeremy Reed really a better option? Or has Seattle just been lacking a strong-armed option in RF in the post-Buhner era?

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 12:45 PM) Ichiro Suzuki (Awesome, would love to have him) I would've liked to have him five years ago. A huge chunk of Ichiro's value is his speed and I don't foresee him being able to steal 40-50 bases per season over even most of the duration of his contract. Methinks that we'd end up over-paying for him.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 10:59 AM) Rodriguez will get way more than $20 million a year, or he won't opt out of his deal. The thing with Borass is his guys for the highest per year average to set the curve for his other players. He has got to be near $30 million or he isn't going anywhere. Not that I disagree, but didn't A-Rod agree to lower his own salary a few years ago to go to Boston? And wasn't the Player's Union the one who wouldn't allow it? If he's as desperate to get out of NY as it seems, I don't necessarily think that $30 million/year is what he'll ask for.

QUOTE(Vance Law @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 10:35 AM) Which would cost more? Which would produce more on the field? ARod Fields Sweeney or Crede Uribe Dye As much as I hate to say it, I'd rather KW let a 34-year-old Dye walk at the end of the season than over-pay to re-sign him. And KW has already said that the Sox aren't going to give Crede a long-term deal. The Sox will obviously need a big bat in the lineup to replace those two, but I'm not sure that A-Rod is the answer. That said, I wouldn't exactly be upset if he were in our lineup (assuming we're not paying full-price for him).

QUOTE(retro1983hat @ Mar 9, 2007 -> 06:10 AM) A-Row coming back. This is like Van Halen reunion talk. Everyone says it is going to happen. Never does. Um, VH went on a reunion tour with Sammy in '04.

QUOTE(CanOfCorn @ Mar 8, 2007 -> 12:01 PM) I'm not so sure about his inability to get along with young players. It's that fact that he wants them to work hard and listen to the coaches. To me, players like Danks are going to be fine with Ozzie because, just according to what I've seen him say, he just wants to work his butt off to make it to the big leagues, and if not now, he'll go to AAA and do what he needs to do. THAT'S what Ozzie wants. I don't know about that. Ozzie seemed awfully harsh on Anderson and Tracey. It doesn't sound like he got along with McCarthy either. Of course, he treated Jenks like gold, so who knows. It's difficult to know what goes on behind closed doors. But it seems to me that Ozzie, at the very least, has a strong preference for veteran players.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 8, 2007 -> 10:27 AM) The only thing that's going to get Ozzie fired before the end of the 08 season is Ozzie's mouth. If we keep getting worse, the locker room falls apart, and the young guys KW trades for don't work with Ozzie, then I could see Ozzie departing then. Certainly not before that. +1 Ozzie wasn't responsible for his team's erratic-to-poor starting pitching last season. His mouth and inability to get along with young players are a far greater concern.