WCSox

QUOTE(Reddy @ Jul 14, 2006 -> 02:52 PM) if ya look at his last bunch of games he's gotten a LOT better about that and the results show: since June 13th he's given up more than 2 runs only once. he's turning things around. i'd rather hold on to Garland. Though it's a moot point since he's not on the block... Well, those quality starts were Reds, Cubs, and Orioles - not exactly "murderer's row" lineups. But, yes, he has gotten a lot better. Jon really, really needs to learn how to locate his changeup. If he continues to throw two-seamers and sinkers 90% of the time, he's going to get shelled whenever he misses his spots.

QUOTE(NUKE_CLEVELAND @ Jul 14, 2006 -> 02:19 PM) I think the biggest wildcard here is Syria. If Isreal gets a wild hair up its collective ass and decides to hit targets inside Syria then that will draw Syria and Iran into a war against Isreal and that will force the US to come in on the side of the Isrealies. That's the worst case scenario as I see it and I don't think it's too much to say that there's a 50-50 shot of it happening at some point. Unfortunately, it's definitely going to happen at some point. Both Israel and the U.S. are going to war with Iran at some point in the not-too-distant future. Tehran's support of terrorisim in the Middle East was tolerable for the U.S. back in the '80s and '90s, but the combination of 9/11, the Iran-supported insurgency in Iraq, and Tehran's defiant pursuit of nukes has rendered them too dangerous to America. Sanctions won't get the job done anymore.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Jul 14, 2006 -> 02:00 PM) Well, first off, the velocity on his fastball has been totally exaggerated around here. He is NOT topping out at 85 or 86. He's usually around 87-89 with the ability to get it up to 91/92 when he wants. And, as has been mentioned, he does have 10 or 11 quality starts this year. ^^^ You don't need a 93+ mph fastball if you can throw a 72 mph hook for strikes. Garland's been throwing 92-94 mph all season, but is still getting shelled in about half of his starts because he can't locate his offspeed pitches.

Not a fan of The Jungle? I didn't like Rome at first (took a while to get used to the pauses), but he grew on me. His TV show sucks, though.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jul 14, 2006 -> 09:38 AM) I don't think there's a chance in hell KW would ship Freddy out of town without consulting Ozzie and getting his OK first. He doesn't need his blessing, but its best for everyone that he gets it, at least concerning Garcia. Oh, I'm sure that they've spoken about it before and I agree that there's no way that KW would deal Freddy without at least speaking to Ozzie first. But given how KW likes to assert his authority, I don't think that he'd not make a deal that he thought would improve the team just because he didn't get Ozzie's "permission."

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jul 14, 2006 -> 09:32 AM) If KW is shopping Freddy, Ozzie must have given his blessing. I think that says enough right there. KW doesn't need Ozzie's "blessing" and I'm sure that the two of them have spoken about this before.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jul 14, 2006 -> 09:31 AM) I haven't seen him above 91 mph on a legit gun this season. Also, it doesn't matter what he can max out at. If he's consistently around 88 mph the whole game, he's going to get crushed. If he's not locating his offspeed stuff, I agree. I've seen Freddy throw 88-89 consistently and reach back to throw 91-93 on a gun that clocked Jenks at 97-99 later in the same game. When people say that Freddy's fastball is 86 mph, it's misleading.

QUOTE(Frankensteiner @ Jul 14, 2006 -> 09:21 AM) And once again, we are talking about Freddy Garcia. At best, a middle of the road starter with an 86-mph fastball. Freddy's throwing harder than 86. He's consistently around 87-89 and can reach back to throw 90-93 if he wants to. And if KW decides to deal him, there's a good chance that the Sox are going to have to eat a large portion of his contract. And B-Mac will be forced into the #5 spot, which means that the Sox will need two relievers in return to gain anything out of the deal. I don't see it happening.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Jul 14, 2006 -> 09:03 AM) Am I the only one who thinks it'd be silly to get rid of a starter for bullpen help that, really, we don't need? I think that we could definitely use somebody to replace Politte, but that with Thronton pitching well and the addition of Riske, it's not worth giving up an innings-eating starter. I don't see the Sox dumping Garcia jbefore the end of the season, mostly because the long-term viability of both Vazquez and Garland is still in question.

QUOTE(chitownsportsfan @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 04:48 PM) Exactly. If you're White, you have had the socioeconomic advantage (will anyone even dispute that?) for the past 500 years or so. Don't ignore it, but don't make so called "reverse racism" into some rallying cry about double standards. The Caucasians who had the "socioeconomic advantage" did so 30-500 years ago. Those that you're speaking with now most likely did not. "Reverse racism" is a legitimate issue today and shouldn't be dismissed.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 04:55 PM) A month and a half is a pretty good time period to see where a player is trending. Like I said, it's more like five weeks than a month and a half. And Anderson sucked for four of those five weeks. I agree that Anderson may very well be trending upwards, but a week's worth of stats doesn't really say much. Rowand's already an established average-to-above-average hitter, so a bad five weeks is probably more indicative of a slump than anything else. I don't see any hard evidence that his hitting skills are on the decline. But I am optimistic about your boy Anderson. It may take time, but he's going to develop into a solid hitter.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 04:47 PM) Cherry-picking? What about the player who has gotten worse over the last month and a half or the one that's getting better? WARNING: SMALL SAMPLE SIZE! Seriously, a month and a half's worth of stats means almost nothing. And it's more like 5 weeks than a month and a half. And Rowand's numbers in June were still better than Anderson's.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 01:51 PM) The Rowand who hit .223 in June and .185 in July so far? Or the Anderson that hit .196 in June and 333 in July so far? Anderson is playing significantly better than Rowand is right now. Then again, I was never as high on Row as most, and I fully believe Jason could strike him out low and away. Rather than cherry-picking a week and a half of Anderson's July stats, I'll say that the Rowand who is hitting .264 with .434 SLG is a much better bet over the course of this season than Anderson's .192 BA/.324 SLG. That said, I don't see the point in bringing Rowand back and agree that Anderson is the better long-term option.

The fact that Shingo wants to come bck to the Sox means that he's probably saying lots of positive things about the organization to other Japanese players.

I had a friend in grad school whose background was similar to Bobby's: Grew up in a town with one stoplight, drank like a fiend (had one DUI that I knew of), chewed tobacco, drove a pickup, jokingly referred to one of our mutual friends (a Palestinian) as "terrorist", etc. He was definitely rough around the edges, but he was in no way, shape, or form a racist.

QUOTE(Steff @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 11:46 AM) For what...? For asking some questions based on rumors that came from Bobby's own actions...?? And which of these "actions" contributed to the rumors of Bobby being a white supremacist? The fact that he lived in rural Idaho, drove a pickup truck, and listened to the Charlie Daniels Band? Or the fact that somebody heard him use a racial slur? Because if he did use the term "dirty Jew", he MUST be a white supremacist! :rolly I love this quote.... In my experience, racists can be identified by the way that they use the race card to tear down those that they don't like.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 12:39 PM) And Anderson, at this point, is better. The Anderson who is still hitting below the Mendoza Line is not a better option than Rowand "at this point." Agreed that he has higher upside and will probably be a better player with time, though.

QUOTE(DrunkBomber @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 12:52 PM) This is definately the most protection hes had around him in a lineup in a long time too. Ironically, his one 50-HR season came in '02, after the Indians dumped most of their prolific hitters. He had TONS of protection from '94-'01 (Belle, Manny, Justice, Murray, Giles, Sexson, Fryman, Matt Williams, the Alomars, etc.).

I'd love to see Bobby and his ethnically-diverse teammates kick the crap out of Grant for this.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jul 13, 2006 -> 08:34 AM) You don't think he can hit 20 HRs in the second half? I think it'll be hard for him not to get there. Given his age, recent health issues, the fact that he was on fire during April and part of May, the fact that the Sox play 31 games against teams with good starting pitching (DET, MIN, BOS, OAK) in the second half, and the fact that he's only had one 50-HR season in his career, I think it'll be a struggle and that he'll come up a bit short. That said, I hope I'm wrong. Thome's the definition of a class act and I wish him nothing but success. And it would be great to see Albert Belle's name erased from that place in the Sox record book.

I doubt it. Thome was on an absolute tear for the first month or so and he'd have to hit another streak like that to stay on pace. I hope I'm wrong, but I just don't see it... especially from a guy in his mid-30s who battled injuries all of last season.

IIRC, our nation's largest stockpile of VX is located in Western Indiana.

QUOTE(sircaffey @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 08:14 AM) Gordon would be perfect. We don't need someone who can eat innings. We need someone that can take Politte's role of last season. Gordon is that man. Do you think that a veteran closer who is getting paid big bucks (and is still pitching well) would want to play second-fiddle to a young guy like Jenks? I'm not sure he would.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jul 12, 2006 -> 07:35 AM) Actually, adding Flash to the deal adds a little sense to it. You'd have someone to take Brandon's spot in the bullpen and we'd have that right handed set up man a lot of people want. Move Brandon into the rotation and then the money would be pretty even as well. That being said, I still see no point in adding Aaron Rowand as I think Brian is going to be the better player starting the 2nd half of this season. The money wouldn't really be even. IIRC, Gordon's deal was 3 years/$18 million, so his yearly cost would be ~ half of Vazquez's yearly salary. But Gordon's contract runs through '08, so the commitment would be a year longer. Agreed that Gordon wouldn't be that great of a fit for the Sox, though. He's a setup man/closer and the Sox would probably want somebody who could eat more innings. And, as Yasny pointed out, the Sox would be giving away their starting pitcher "insurance." It should be interesting to see what happens this offseason. I'm sure that some of the current season-ticket holders will not elect to renew and that KW will be under pressure from JR to drop $10 million or so in payroll. But there's no real clear-cut "odd man out" in the rotation right now.

If the Phillies threw in a reliever, I could see this happening. But something tells me that the Sox don't want Gordon and there's really nobody else in that 'pen that's impressive enough to trade for. I could easily see KW moving Vazquez this winter. The Sox aren't going to be able to allocate $50 million of their payroll to their starters over the long term. But any move that would send B-Mac into the rotation this season is unlikely. It would likely take time for him to re-adjust to the rotation and they'd need to receive a very solid reliever (preferably one that can pitch long relief) in return.