scenario

Year - Projected/Actual (Performance over Projected) 2004 - 79 wins/83 (+4) 2005 - 80 wins/99 (+19) 2006 - 82 wins/90 (+8) 2007 - 73 wins/73 (0) 2008 - 77 wins/89 (+12) 2009 - 73 wins/79 (+6) So, if they predict every year that we'll do worse than we actually do... are there other teams that get the same treatment? They can't predict every team will do worse than they actually do. Somewhere their predictions have to break even. Is there another team that they are too optimistic on every year I wonder?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 28, 2010 -> 07:44 PM) He turned down $6 million. I genuinely am wondering if he might retire. No one is offering him more than that. Looks like Oakland is offering Damon 1 year - $7M. And that Tampa may be offering him more. If I were him and Tampa offered similar money, it's a no brainer. He'll get alot more exposure playing in the AL East, which he and Boras would want to help create a market for him in 2011. Plus, his game might not translate well to playing in that tomb in Oakland.

Unless a few players step up and have substantially better than average years we could easily have one of the worst offenses in the league. And this from a fan (me) who usually is accused of wearing rose-colored glasses. It's not that we have bad individual players.... I like most of them... I just wouldn't put them all together as a lineup. There is simply not enough OBP there to sustain any consistency on offense. It's the same mistake the Sox seem to make every year, only this year without the power.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 28, 2010 -> 11:26 AM) Does that mean they move there outstanding Dh who is a butcher in the field into the field so that Thome DH's? I don't buy it. I've seen several good posters I respect on Minnesota boards recommend it. Kubel hasn't played the field because of injury issues, which are now past. Young so far in his young career has been sub-standard both at the plate and in the field. If he starts out poor this year, don't be surprised that Gardy starts giving Kubel time in left.

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Jan 28, 2010 -> 12:40 PM) From Law's chat: bill (St. Louis) hudson's ceiling as a starter for Whitesox Klaw (1:11 PM) 4 or 5. Dan Hudson (Chicago) I need an explanation on why I didn't make your top 100. I dominated every league in existence last season! Klaw (1:12 PM) With average stuff at best. And I'm sorry, what a D1 college product did in A-ball - especially low-A - is just not that exciting. Unless he stunk, in which case, he's got one food in the discard pile. Absolutely classic. Hudson pitched a total of 22 innings in low-A ball last year. Meanwhile, he went 7-0 with a 1.60 ERA in the very talented Southern League (AA)... with a K/9 of 10.1 and BB/9 of 1.6... Before his promotion to AAA where he pitched more innings than he did in low-A. Geezus, Law... do a little research before you open your mouth and insert both feet in it.

QUOTE (chunk23 @ Jan 28, 2010 -> 12:16 PM) He's actually really down on Hudson, doesn't see him as an impact prospect. He loves Mitchell though, thinks his ceiling is sky high. How much you want to bet that he's never seen either one of them play?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 28, 2010 -> 11:57 AM) Hudson not even in the Top 100? Yikes. 2009 MiLB Pitcher of the Year can't break his top 100?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 28, 2010 -> 07:29 AM) If SD has the same impression about the Sox prospects as Keith Law, there pretty much is zero chance Adrian Gonzalez ever becomes a White Sox. If SD had the same impression about the Sox prospects as Keith Law, there would have pretty much been zero chance Jake Peavy would have ever become a White Sox.

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 08:48 PM) Well in fairness to Law, he is a stats guy. Floyd was posting 6 K/9, 5 BB/9. That's not a Major League pitcher. Gavin Floyd's turnaround was seemingly unforeseeable by everyone other than Kenny and his scouting team. The article I'm thinking of was written the first week of spring training in 2008. Law basically stuck a fork in Floyd suggesting he was done, that he had nothing on his fastball, and that his curve wouldn't break, etc... after watching Gavin's FIRST outing in the first week of spring training. Who makes a comment like that during the first week of freakin' spring training??? Anyone who watches a Don Cooper run staff knows pitchers focus on control the first couple of outings in S/T... not trying to blow away scouts with their speed or stuff... and that curveballs don't break in Arizona in March the way they normally do up north. But Law obviously had to write an article for a deadline. Scouting quality and baseball acumen got trashed for a good story line. It's that type of ignorant crap that irritates me. Of course, Floyd went on to make the Sox rotation and win 17 games in 2008. Nice 'scouting' Keith.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 09:55 PM) Danks as a solid #2 hitter as soon as this season? Me think not. Danks will move faster than his 2009 averages suggest. He was absolutely on fire (at two different levels) until he got hurt. The end of the minor league season was a total writeoff for him. Then, the AFL showed what he could do when healthy. He's got the tools to play MLB now. But he needs to work on his batting eye (reduce the K's). And I think it would a mistake to rush him and risk screwing him up mentally at the plate. If he shows improvement in plate discipline, he'll be in Chicago next year.

QUOTE (BaseballNick @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 09:04 PM) MLB Network had a Top 50 Prospects of 2010 special tonight. Zero White Sox prospects made the cut. Not Flowers, not Mitchell, not even Hudson. The Royals, Rangers, and Rays led the way with four each. Last year no WhiteSox prospects made MLB.com's Top 50 (yes, different I know... just making a point about these types of rankings)... Then Beckham almost won MLB-ROY and Hudson won MiLB pitcher of the year. Neither showed up on their radar screens. :0 Oops.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 08:27 PM) And yet he calls Viciedo a non-prospect in his comments. Exactly why he is an idiot. ^^^^^ That is one of a thousand good reasons. He wrote a pretty scathing report a few years ago explaining why Gavin Floyd was basically not a major league pitcher too. Doh!

QUOTE (daa84 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 03:21 PM) Law thinks higher of Flowers than just about any other publication out there from what i've seen Yet says that Mitchell is the only potential impact player in the Sox organization...

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 01:55 PM) There should already be an overall in our Latin American scouting, but I'm tired of debating that. It's obvious we're paying those people to be on vacation. No one has done anything of note in ten years. May as well scrap the entire operation and put it towards the major league draft. That was one of the topics at SoxFest. The Sox announced new strategies, etc., for Latin America... which has basically been on hold since the Wilder fiasco.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 01:21 PM) Sox system has fallen back a bit in the past year, so I'd say they are no longer top half. But #30 is a joke, and its Keith Law, so take it with a gigantic grain of salt. ^^^^ Thank you. It gags me how far Law has his nose buried up Mark Shapiro's a**. Law slobbers all over Carlos Santana of the Tribe, and basically discounts Tyler Flowers as a potential impact player. Flowers is only 3 months older than Santana... has major league offensive tools... was named top defensive catcher in the Southern League last year... AND had a better season while playing in a pitcher's ballpark in 2009. And the fact that Law had nothing good to say about the prospects we traded when we had them makes his comments about trading away all of our talent and depth disingenuous at best.

Yawn. Two words discredited the entire analysis for me... Keith. Law.

Not sure if it was posted earlier but Thome signed for $1.5M.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 06:17 PM) Kubel is the full time DH. He's a hack in the field and only played there because he had two hurt teammates. Thome cant play the field, cant hit lefties, and is mostly pinch hitting. Sorry if I am not scared. You keep talking about Thome playing the field. He's NOT going to play the field. Delmon Young sucks. And all I'm saying is Gardenhire is likely to figure out quickly (if he's not thinking it already) that a lineup with Thome at DH and Kubel in left is going to be a better option. If he keeps Young in left, Kubel at DH, and Thome on the bench, that would be much better... for us.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 05:57 PM) Thome will be playing the OF then? Jason Kubel is the full time DH and the team confirmed that. Thome is a pinch hitter unless they trade Kubel. DH duties Kubel 80-120 games Cuddyer-10-20 games Mauer-15-20 games Thome-10-20 games Thats about it for the DH. Uh-huh. 1. Kubel can play left. And it's not like Young is a gold-glover out there... in fact, he's a hack... so defense is not likely to be the decision-maker. 2. Hmmm... Delmon Young... .723 OPS in 2007, .741 in 2008, .733 in 2009... career OBP of about .322... strikes out an average of 5X for every walk.... playing every day.... with Jim Thome on the bench. Let's see how long it takes Gardenhire to figure out what lineup scores more runs.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 05:49 PM) And where would he be playing exactly? Who is he pinch hitting for? Because it must then be the late innings and we will bring in Matty to blow him away. That's the scenario if they trade Delmon Young's sorry no power-hitting keister to some other team willing to wait on his "potential".

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 05:34 PM) That's an awfully over-run-with-LH-hitters lineup. Imagine a right-handed pitcher facing Mauer, Morneau, Kubel, and Thome in the middle of the lineup... and then Cuddyer behind them. Crap.

Possible that the Twins could trade Delmon Young, put Kubel back in left, and start Thome at DH?

QUOTE (Ranger @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 04:28 PM) Well, smartass, I'm a guy refuting the idea that this season's offense rests in the hands of Greg Walker. People can't spend an entire offseason saying the hitters in the lineup aren't good enough but then say Walker is responsible if it fails. Can't be both. True... But it did come off as a little Berra-esque.

Garland to the Pads.

How's that old saying go...? The problem with wrestling with a pig in the mud is that the pig likes it.