WCSox

Freddy's not a terribly consistent pitcher and tends to get shelled at home. I'd be more surprised if he pitched the way that Westbrook has today. Look at it this way: If he continues to suck, we can always trade him. It's not like we're lacking in starting pitching depth.

If I were Commissioner, I'd try to take 40 games off of the regular season. But that's not going to happen. Blaming MLB for a 3-hour rain delay is beyond stupid. The fact that this moron didn't even know that the Sox sold out the game tells you everything.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Apr 4, 2006 -> 12:37 PM) That and the fact that I came into the season most worried about Freddy as it is since his fastball (even with the good year he had), which was 95 in Seattle, was about 91 all year last year. Freddy's on record saying that he purposely doesn't throw as hard as he used to so that he can locate his pitches better. QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Apr 4, 2006 -> 12:39 PM) However, perfect conditions for Freddy are a day game and it being on the road. Indeed. I don't know what it is, but he has a history of pitching poorly at The Cell.

I wouldn't be too worried about his velocity in early April. If he's still topping out at 90 in late May, then we have a problem. Freddy's also maddeningly inconsistent.

Not working at all here. After buffering, it goes back to the NBC logo.

How's Singleton doing on the radio? Haven't gotten a chance to listen yet.

QUOTE(hammerhead johnson @ Apr 4, 2006 -> 09:54 AM) Close, but no cigar. You forgot to slob on his knob. You have to end every Frank Thomas post with "But he's the greatest player in White Sox History and I'll always love him soooo much". Otherwise, nice copy & paste job. I'll leave the slobbing on knobs to you, since you enjoy it so much. Otherwise, nice job of trolling.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Apr 4, 2006 -> 05:10 AM) Frank was grimmacing a lot last night. He's hoping to play 100 games this year, and I don't think he will make it. Thome is a guy who potentially could hit 50 homers, is left handed, something the Sox need, and draws a lot of walks, something else the Sox need, not to mention he is considered the best teammate in MLB. Good for Frank last night. I hope that he can manage those 100 games in Oakland and eventually makes it to 500 HRs. But his time in Chicago was over. The Sox are better off with a more-likely-to-be-healthy Thome who is also a much better clubhouse guy. Randy Johnson looks like a shell of his former self. Fastball topping out at 93? Ouch. He's still effective, but he isn't going to dominate games anymore.

It's too bad that Rowand's bat was a bit of a disappointment, as everything else about him was great. I'm glad that he's coming back for the ring ceremony. It means a lot to the fans.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Apr 3, 2006 -> 12:34 PM) I'll take the innings argument, but he also only feasts off bad teams or low pressure situations. Yeah, he was wretched in the ALCS. He has his share of bad games, which keeps him from being a stud. Other than that, there's not much to dislike about a guy who's 85-53 with a 3.63 ERA and 220+ innings over the past five straight years. His overall postseason stats (2-0, 3.42 ERA) aren't terrible, either. Given the fact that he's more consistent that Garcia or Garland, much younger than Contreras, and just flat-out better than Vazquez, I don't see him leaving anytime soon.

QUOTE(wilmot825 @ Apr 3, 2006 -> 11:15 AM) http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...ack=1&cset=true "I can't remember how I put it, [but] anybody in this [clubhouse] would say the same thing," Blake said before Sunday's game. "I don't think they were a better team than we were... But when you look at the rest of the quote, it's not so controversial, is it? :rolly

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Apr 3, 2006 -> 11:23 AM) Thornton. Cotts. BMac. And if it comes down to it, Jenks. All can throw 1+ innings when needed. I don't trust Thornton with anything less than a four-run lead and the jury is still out on whether or not Jenks can get it done over the course of a full season. There's obviously no reason to panic now, but I'm hoping that KW will keep a close eye on this and make a deal down the road if need be.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Apr 3, 2006 -> 10:14 AM) First off...Politte is not a long reliever, he's a short reliever. And secondly...we already have a damn good long reliever. He demolished the Indians for 3 innings last night. And he needs a shave. So, Politte can't go more than an inning? I realize that's not how he's typically used, but we're going to need somebody other than B-Mac who can be relied upon to throw more than an inning at a time.

IIRC, he didn't have much movement on his pitches and the last out was a liner to left, but he got the job done without walks. He might be OK as a mop-up guy. Agreed that Politte didn't look good last night. He can't be realistically expected to post a 2.00 ERA again, but he needs to keep it under 4.00. Otherwise, we might be forced to trade for a veteran long-reliever.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Apr 3, 2006 -> 08:55 AM) The thing people seem to forget is AJ hit about 50 points below his career average last year and Dye put up about career average numbers for when he is healthy. Nobody on on offense really overperformed to be honest with you, the only "luck" we had was our pitching stayed healthy, and that isn't as much luck as it is building a staff of pitchers who don't have arm problems. I guess one could argue that Crede over-performed down the stretch and that we got "lucky" with career years from Garland, Hermanson, Cotts, and Politte. Then again, we were also "unlucky" with injuries to Frank, Hermanson, El Duque and Pods. The former two were pretty much worthless for the playoffs.

QUOTE(Jimbo's Drinker @ Apr 3, 2006 -> 01:00 AM) 2. BMAC is in the right position, long reliever. I think kW learned alot from the astros last year, and their pen is full of this type. Agreed. He can build up his arm strength in long relief and spot-start if one of our vets needs a rest later this season. He'll be ready for the rotation next year. Not sure about that, but he was hitting the mid-90s last night. If he can eat innings in blowouts, he might be worth keeping around. Politte didn't look too sharp. While there's probably no way that he'll repeat last year's numbers, he's going to have to at least keep his ERA under 4 this year. If he doesn't, we're going to have to trade for another middle reliever. Sadly, theirs is probably better than ours, although I don't see Wickman playing a full season. Graves needs to ditch his Jennifer Aniston hairdo.

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Apr 3, 2006 -> 08:49 AM) Well, the addition of Thome spelled the end for Rowand and Frank in a White Sox uni. Of course that's going to take a little time to accept. People aren't going to hold grudges though, and Thome's one of our's now. Frank's one of my all-time favorites, but I have no illusions about his health/productivity at age 38 or what kind of clubhouse guy he was. Thanks for the memories, Frank, but it's time to move on. Good luck hitting #500 and I'll even take a day off of work to watch your Cooperstown induction live. Even when Thome terrorized our pitchers as a member of the Evil Tribe, I always respected him as a player and a person. Frankly (no pun intended), he was the perfect fit for this team.

Well, I'm glad to see that KW isn't going to hesitate to trade someone if he thinks that it'll make the team better. And while it's nice to know that no player is "sacred," I'm glad that B-Mac would be one of the last pitchers to go.

Or perhaps the Indians weren't able to get a ring back in the '90s because they were just "unlucky"? I find it amusing that many of the same Indians fans who boasted and ripped the Sox to shreds on the Web back then are eating some serious crow right now. Same goes for the arrogant, obnoxious fans who made trips to "Comiskey Park" when the Tribe was in town because they couldn't get tickets to see them at the Jake. Something tells me that they won't be making fun of our ballpark anymore. To quote Jim Thome, "It doesn't mean a thing without the ring."

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Apr 2, 2006 -> 10:05 PM) 431 feet. Longer than any shot hit by any Sox player last year. Imagine how much longer it would've gone if it were sunny and 85 degrees.

Right, because Paulie never had a 40-HR season before last year. Or perhaps by "career-year", he meant that Paulie never hit a grand slam in the WS before? Yeah, what't the risk in having a starter whose ass has it's own moon? If an 8.21 ERA is "improved", I'd hate to see what last season's numbers were like! Yes. Yes. I'll give him this one. Then again, we didn't have Thome last year. I don't think that ball has landed yet!

My apologies to the admins if I was out of line with that last comment. I didn't appreciate being called a "retard" and tend to have a difficult time biting my tongue after a few beers. Feel free to kill this thread, as I have no desire to debate an issue with somebody who uses childish name-calling to defend his/her position.

QUOTE(Cerbaho-WG @ Apr 2, 2006 -> 05:46 PM) Hm, restart for 11:30 PM for me. Tomorrow morning should be fun. 8:30 my time works out just fine. Hope I have enough beer to keep me "occupied" until then...

QUOTE(iWiN4PreP @ Apr 2, 2006 -> 02:53 PM) It seems like the line is short, what im thinking is maybe 45mins/1 hour delay inbewteen game. anyone agree? Looks like lots of stroms behind it as well. Given that both teams have a day off tomorrow, I don't think that they'll call it.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Apr 2, 2006 -> 02:24 PM) LOL. So he sucked the last 74 games of the season and still managed to hit .328, 43, 143 and a 1.061 OPS? Try again. Frank slumped over the last two months of the season AND in the playoffs. If you took those numbers and extrapolated them to 162 games, he wouldn't have even been in MVP contention. "Try again!" No, it's called declining skills. Back in the early/mid '90s, Frank would routinely put up OBPs ranging from about .440 to .480. He's put up an OBP of over .400 ONCE since 2000, and that was the 74-game half-season. Frank had only ONE 100-K season from 1990-2001. He's K'd 115 times in the only two full seasons he's played since. CLEARLY, he's declined as a player. The numbers show it. Wrong again! Bat speed has EVERYTHING to do with hand, wrist, and forearm strength. Wrong yet again! He was about 250 a decade ago and I think he was about 240 when he broke into the bigs. As you'll see by my sig line, I still appreciate Frank. But I'm not going to pretend that he's the same player that he was back in the '90s when he's cearly not. I've also been following the Sox since before you were born, so don't tell me what kind of fan I am, you ignorant little boy.