scenario

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 11:28 AM) I can't believe people are so blind as to what will happen. CQ returns on 6/10, and Wise is likely DFA'd (even though it could end up being Betemit). I picture you walking around the Cell with protest signs that say "Free Wilson Betemit". LOL.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 11:28 AM) So if we lose tonight and BA is in the lineup, what will the next thread topic be? Trade for a starter? Clayton Richard is not a starting pitcher? Maybe Jenks blows a save and its Trade Bobby Now? Whatever happens, you can be sure of one thing... It's Greg Walker's fault.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 11:25 AM) Since people are still saying that Anderson could resolve this by playing better... Couldn't Wise also resolve this by playing better? No. But Wise will resolve this... By playing worse... And getting DFA'd when Quentin returns.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 11:02 AM) The platoon makes no sense. The numbers don't even support it. Anderson against righties .313BA/.370OBP/.703OPS Anderson against lefties .154BA/.313OPB/.505 OPS And we are going to get him more ABs against lefties, why. I swear there should be a law against using small samples to support arguments. How about... last year in a larger sample Wise hit righties better and Anderson hit lefties better? Anyway... I'm not trying to pick on you (or anyone else specifically for that matter)... I'm as frustrated as anybody with the 'hole' we have in center. I just don't buy into the view of the Brian-ites that seem to believe he is the answer... and anybody who doesn't get it is stupid.

QUOTE (TitoMB345 @ Jun 3, 2009 -> 10:57 AM) Wow, one of the dumbest things I've ever read on here. Congrats to you! .269/.352/.344/.696 .172/.200/.172/.372 So what the f*** has DeWayne f***ing Wise done to "get" the job (besides suck)? You didn't really just make a comparison based on the 29 at-bats Wise this year, did you? And called what I said dumb? Look... I'm not suggesting Wise is the answer. So far, he's shown he's a marginal player too. I just don't see why people get so religious about why one marginal player needs to be sat down so another marginal player gets to play... And then screaming that the manager needs to be fired because "he doesn't get it".

Brian, of course, could make this whole thing easier by PLAYING BETTER. Amazing how people want to pick any one thing he does well and wave it like a flag as to why Brian deserves to be a regular and questioning why Ozzie 'doesn't get it'. What part of having a sub .700 OPS are you not paying attention to??? Let's put this in perspective. In 690 career at-bats, Brian has a .661 OPS, which is over 20 points lower than Jeremy Reed's career numbers. So... why are people screaming that we need to have that type of production in our lineup? Sub-.700 is not good. That is barely hanging on to the bottom rung of the MLB ladder type production. When Brian plays well enough to be a real MLB regular, he'll get the job. Don't blame management for his inability to get the job done.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jun 2, 2009 -> 10:18 PM) That's fine, I'm fairly sure I won't be worrying about it very often. He did not blow the league away. He hit under .300, he didn't have an OPS above .900. I'm not saying he didn't have a good season, but he did nothing to demand a mid-season promotion. That's what I mean by blowing the league away. Do you realize that in the Carolina League last year only 3 players in the entire league hit over .300? And only one player in the entire league had an OPS over .900? You have to look at what was going on in the leagues and not just apply some arbitrary guidelines to determine whether somebody performed well. When you're #6 in the Carolina League in both batting average and OPS... that's very good. Add the speed and slugging in... and that's pretty darn impressive. Consider that he had very similar power stats to Tyler Flowers!! Plus 33 steals. If you're really not impressed by that, I think you're either being unrealistic in your expectations or you've simply decided you don't like the guy... facts be damned.

Dan, You picked a bad day to trash Shelby. 4-5 with 5 RBIs including a game-tying grand slam in the 9th inning tonight. You realize now that every time he has a good game for the rest of the year that you're going to be hearing about it, don't you? Regarding your other responses... there were a couple of articles I quoted on the board last year about his position change, and why he didn't get promoted to Birmingham, etc. And I know I wrote about it several times in posts. I thought it was a pretty well understood and documented issue. And what do you mean, he didn't 'blow the Carolina League away'? He lead the league in slugging. He was 2nd in doubles. He was 3rd in steals. He was 4th in triples. He was 6th in the league in batting average. He was 6th in RBIs. He was selected in a poll of league managers at year end as the most exciting offensive player in the entire Carolina League. What else does he have to do to impress you? Walk on water?

Wellll.... lookie here... John Shelby warming up... goes 4-5 tonight with a game-tying GRAND SLAM in the 9th inning. Attaboy Trey-bone! Shelby & Cook a combined 7-10 with 8 RBIs tonight.

4 of the 6 pitches to Thome... fastballs 94+ on the inside part of the plate. Glad the kid walked him.

Who is leading the Barons in OPS? It's a virtual tie between Flowers (.912) and Retherford (.911) who check in at #4 and #5 in the league respectively. Who is #8 in the entire Southern League in OPS? This will surprise some people... David Cook Cook now has an .882 OPS which is 20 points higher than Beckham's OPS in Birmingham. What got him there after a horrible start? A serious hot streak: a .344 batting average with 5 homeruns in the last 10 games... Cook now leads the Barons with 10 home runs. Others - Stephan Gartrell checks in at 9th in the league with an .875 - Brandon Allen is 17th with an .831

I'll set myself up for some future crow-eating (or crowing)... Kenny Williams said you don't really know what you've got until you've played 60 games, right? Well... I predict... on June the morning of June 12th... the day after we play game #60... the Chicago White Sox will be in 1st place in the Central. I have my crow pie recipes all ready just in case... but I feel pretty good about my prediction.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jun 2, 2009 -> 01:29 AM) The college argument doesn't completely fly. If you are an above average prospect out of college you rush through A ball pretty quickly (see Beckham, Danks, Fields off the top of my head). On average, college players that reach the Majors are older than the high schoolers that do, but I wouldn't say that is a good enough excuse for Shelby. He went straight to rookie ball and spent 2 full seasons in A-ball. He hasn't done anything to wow me as a prospect. If he gets it together he can be an above average 4th OF. He brings speed and defense. He could be useful, but I wouldn't expect much. I think you're overstating the "two full years in A-ball" thing. First... he spent one year in Kanny (low-A) and one in Winston-Salem (high-A) which is not unusual. Second... It's been well documented that offensively he was considered ready for AA last year, but went through a position change that led the organization to choose not to have him skip a level offensively at the same time. Two consecutive years he's had an SLG over .500. In 2008, Shelby led the Carolina League in slugging percentage and was 2nd in extra-base hits. He had 37 doubles, 7 triples, 15 homeruns, and 33 steals in 447 at-bats and you're excited about his defense? (BTW, Flowers played in this league last year too and Shelby out-slugged him.) Every year in the minors he's started slow and come on in a big way later in the season. What do you say, let's see how this season plays out before writing him off, eh? Regarding age... he's only 23... he's younger than Retherford by a couple of days... he's a couple of months younger than Lucas Harrell... he's only about 6 months older than Tyler Flowers... and he's only about 12 months older than Danks and Beckham. I don't get why people are treating him like he's "old" for his league. Is it because his name has been around too long, so he's simply not as 'intriguing' as the new guys?

QUOTE (beautox @ Jun 1, 2009 -> 10:20 PM) does anyone have a solid scouting report on link? also I can't wait for the future. Fastball (90-92mph) with sink; slider; and changeup. All 3 are solid pitches. Good K/9 of over 10 last year; around 9.0 for his career. The slider is his strikeout pitch. According to Baseball America, it's the best slider of any Sox prospect. Some concerns about his control. Not bad problems, just enough to raise questions about MLB potential. BB/9 around 4.3 last year. In his minor league career though, it's right at around 3.0 which is respectable. Down to 3.3 this year. Reputation of having a closer-type personality... thrives on pressure. He was selected as the top reliever in the Southern League in 2008. Personally... I like the fact he has 3 good pitches. I think that'll earn him a shot. His control will determine how long he keeps it.

Talking about stupid numbers... Beckham is 2-2 so far tonight (Monday)... 3 for 4 last night... Making him 9 for 17 (.529) since getting promoted to Charlotte. He's not waiting for someone on the Sox roster to screw up to get promoted. Looks like he might simply force Sox management's hand.

Charlotte @ Toledo Birmingham @ Huntsville Myrtle Beach @ Winston-Salem Delmarva @ Kannapolis

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 1, 2009 -> 08:24 AM) Knightni should check out the guy who closed for Toledo. LOL. Family maybe?

QUOTE (Heads22 @ May 31, 2009 -> 11:43 PM) Pods is something like 13-26 all time against Greinke. Here are the stats from ESPN, but I'm not sure if today's game is included. If not, then even better... 11 hits in 23 at-bats; 3 doubles; 3 walks; and only 1 strikeout. Batting average = .478 On-base percentage = .538 Slugging percentage = .609 OPS = 1.147 So, when Pods comes to the plate, he looks like Albert Pujols to Greinke. LOL... I love it.

QUOTE (Cali @ May 31, 2009 -> 08:45 PM) My only concern: Pods is doing fantastic right now with the bat, but sucks as a center fielder, and is fine in left. BA is a stellar CF'er, and is doing pretty good with the bat. What happens when CQ gets back? What happens? Depth happens. That's a good thing IMO. It gives you alternatives for lineups... helps you keep guys fresh... etc. I could see anybody playing well getting enough playing time. For example: there would be some days Q bats DH and rests Thome against lefties, etc.

Potent 1-2 Punch Sparking WhiteSox "With the emergence of Podsednik, batting .320 on the road trip, and Ramirez, who is hitting .441 over his past eight games with a move away from pulling the ball, manager Ozzie Guillen also has been able to move Chris Getz and Josh Fields to the bottom of the order and not put as high expectations on the young tandem. The move seems to have paid off, with Fields hitting .417 over his past six games, and Getz batting .320 in his past seven starts." Nice to see the lineup starting to jell.

Greinke up to 80+ pitches.

QUOTE (False Alarm @ May 31, 2009 -> 01:04 PM) i share his doubts about shelby--if he doesn't succeed this year he'll be 24 at AA next year, which is old for a prospect, and that'll dim his star considerably. (scenario, don't bother pointing out that 24's younger than league average [if it even is]. 24 at AA is old if you're supposed to be a major league baseball prospect.) his athleticism'd allow me to still hold out hope for him, but i wouldn't be real bullish on him at that point. You're right. If Shelby stumbles at AA and repeats then you do have to question his potential. Not sure what that has to do with doubting Shelby's potential in his first year of AA because he's 6 months older than other players whose futures aren't being questioned. The author of the WSI article disregards talent. He lumps a whole bunch of limited talent players with no real shot at MLB together with Omogrosso, who is a legit talent... and suggests none of them have a chance to make it because of one factor... their age... which is an absolutely ridiculous argument. There are alot of reasons why a player may end up at a level where he is 'older' than the average... injury (in Omogrosso's case)... college (in Shelby's case)... etc. The more important determinant, as you correctly pointed out, is whether the player is making a normal progression through the minors.

QUOTE (qwerty @ May 31, 2009 -> 12:46 AM) If it means anything i thought you were no where near 50. Thanks. I don't think I'm really much different personality-wise than I was at 30. Just have more experiences and scars. For the most part, my closest friends and I still have the same juvenile sense of humor we've always had. LOL.

For some time now there seems to have been a fairly popular consensus that if Brian could only hit .250... that he'd HAVE TO be the regular because of his defense. So, here he is... batting .275... but we have to get rid of him because... he strikes out to much... or doesn't hit in key situations... or whatever the fan flavor of the week is. Fascinating. I say as long as he doesn't sink into sub-Uribean type batting average and OBP territory... keep running him out there.

And the Sox will wake up tomorrow in 2nd place. Nice while it lasts. Even if Greinke wrestles it back from us within 24 hours. Given where we stood about 2 weeks ago, I'll take it.