Dick Allen

I think more bullpen help is needed if you can't upgrade the rotation. You pick up another real good reliever, you can yank Vazquez and Garcia when the inevitable is about to occur in the 5th and 6th innings, and not blow out your bullpen.

Hawk and DJ were pretty much letting Vazquez have it for his pitching style last night, and that was while he was cruising. Shockingly to me, they have slammed Vazquez and Garcia in the past several days, and I'm glad the sugarcoating is OVA. I'm to the point where I can't stand seeing him on the mound. The White Sox generally score a lot of runs when he's pitching however.

QUOTE(Contreras @ Jul 20, 2006 -> 08:41 AM) http://www.dailyherald.com/sports/rozner.asp?id=209327 Feel free to discuss Barry's insanity and all the ways the $11,500,000 shell that was formerly known as Gonzo does not fit on the White Sox. I saw that earlier. Usually Rozner makes a lot of sense, but I thought this was crazy also. Rozner does have really good White Sox sources though. It may be an indication of the White Sox growing dissatisfaction with Pods.

QUOTE(daa84 @ Jul 19, 2006 -> 09:20 PM) i would agree with you, except the fact that his HR #s are profoundly down, which was the knock on him coming into this year...its amazing to me his inability to put hitters away consistently when hes up in the count...something tells me hes making good enough pitches in the hitters counts, but for some reason hes getting beat in pitchers counts...i think hes to blame for some of it, but personally i think some of it for vazquez has been plain bad luck....i know ill get ripped for saying that, but thats what i think....now a guy like freddy is a whole different story That's the scary thing. His HR allowed numbers are way down, and his ERA stands at 5.20. A guy with his kind of stuff should not have more hits allowed than innings pitched.

QUOTE(3E8 @ Jul 19, 2006 -> 09:19 PM) GM'ing 101: Don't let other teams know your would-be major trading chips are readily available. Or let everyone know they are and start a bidding war.

QUOTE(daa84 @ Jul 19, 2006 -> 09:14 PM) this is a ring of bad luck IMO for vazquez...he hangs a breaker to monroe and its hit out...two batters later, he does it again to inge and its popped up...sabremetrically, vazquez actually has the best peripherals of any starter on our staff...a good indication that 1.) he will get better, and 2.) hes been rather unlucky...lots of hits, but still high K-rate, low BB, and after tonights slam 11 homers is actually pretty damn good at this point of the season, especially considering that the knock on him was the homers he has given up...that said, javy needs to trust his fastball more...he tied hitters up and had them swinging and missing at his fastball all night.... of the 7 Hits... pudge: hanging curveabsolutely scalded pudge: ditto monroe: ditto ordonez: bleeder on a nice fastball on the outside part of the plate polanco: IF hit on a fastball he got jammed on guillen: sawed off for a bloop single with the fastball... Javy has 3 decent pitches, fastball, slider and change....all he has to do is flash teh curve once in a while in the dirt to show the hitters he has it, and to give them a change of pace...if he locates it better hell be fine They've been saying that ever since he left Montreal 2 1/2 years and 3 teams ago. He is an average pitcher. His stuff is better than that but it hasn't translated to wins, and chances are it never will.

Wasn't the point of having 6 starters to have BMac ready because KW anticipated his other 5 were going to need a break? From what I have seen, they almost all need a break.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Jul 19, 2006 -> 09:05 PM) Won't be long before we can't keep throwing out "We still have the 2nd best record in baseball". Don't worry, these pitchers are going to be working overtime with Coop. They'll all be unhittable.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jul 19, 2006 -> 08:44 PM) You're good with stats...when's the last time we won a game like 2-1 (pitching literally won us the game). I believe the Sox have only won 4 or 5 games this season when they have scored 3 or less runs. Last year, they won 5 of those types of games in April alone.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Jul 19, 2006 -> 08:40 PM) In fairness to Vazquez's salary, we're not paying all of it, and that money was given to him by the Yankees. We all know how they evaluate talent and determine how much money he should get. Rogers, Bonderman,Verlander and Robertson make less money combined than Vazquez does. The Sox are getting a slight break on the entire salary.

Part of pitching a good game and earning your $12 million a year is making a good pitch with the bases loaded and your team leading by a run. Vazquez didn't do it.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Jul 19, 2006 -> 08:34 PM) The Cincy blow out. Last time he got an extra base hit, May 29th He's due.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jul 19, 2006 -> 08:31 PM) He cares too much, Jas. He gets too down on himself when he makes one bad pitch(in this case the pudge rolling curve is what got it going) and that just leads to a big inning. It's happened a ton this season. Hawk and DJ constantly praise the competitiveness of Vazquez, although neither of them seem to care for how he approaches hitters.

QUOTE(Frankensteiner @ Jul 19, 2006 -> 08:28 PM) Funny, no one mentions that when it comes to Widger's game calling. Just an FYI. Widger has been beyond brutal. Game calling is only part of his weakness.

AJ may be calling the wrong pitches, but its Vazquez's game, and he can always shake him off.

QUOTE(Melissa1334 @ Jul 19, 2006 -> 08:20 PM) why is it that kenny is reluctant to trade javy?i dont care if pitching is very valuable,etc. he plain and simple sux. u have to trade this guy. shoot, i dont care if it were to a team that we could face in the playoffs or something. i would love it if the sox faced this guy... KW is probably very reluctant to trade him because he's only been around 3 months and they have invested heavily in him in terms of what he is paid, and the talent they had to surrender to get him. I don't think moving Vazquez is a thought in KW's mind right now unless somebody calls with an outrageously generous offer which, after his performance the past 2 1/2 seasons and his contract, is not likely.

QUOTE(DonkeyKongerko @ Jul 19, 2006 -> 08:15 PM) Scooter said it was a slider. It was a hanging slider.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jul 19, 2006 -> 08:12 PM) Yes, Bonderman is right handed with good stuff. That's it, no good reason. Its about time Ozzie gets it through his skull that everytime he puts Mack in CF there is a play that isn't made that costs the Sox runs. Its amazing. You would think there would be a fair share of games with nothing but routine plays for the CF.

Vazquez is just not a winner. He teases you, but in the end you are dissappointed. If Young turns out to be anywhere near as good as a lot of people think, that trade will KW's worst.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Jul 19, 2006 -> 05:47 PM) When you say "mediocrity" you have to keep in mind what else is available right now. The only really solid pitcher that has been rumored to be available at all is Zito, and I doubt that at this point since Harden is down and Loaiza has been bad. The Mets have a comfortable lead in the East. They will probably win the East, barring some huge run by the Braves. I don't know about you, but from what I understand, New Yorkers don't strike me as the type to be satisfied with postseason "appearances." I'm not advocating Minyana do anything ridiculously stupid. With this, he keeps Milledge and Pelfrey, and acquires a pitcher who has won big games before and seemingly would not shrivel under the NY spotlight. He has a 6-2 postseason record with a 3.31 ERA. Livan has a postseason record of 6-2 with a 3.99 ERA, but all the good results came 97' and 2000'. In 2002, he was horrible. Trachsel has no postseason experience. Before last season, most of the White Sox staff had very little to no post season experience. Good pitchers, especially power pitchers do well in the postseason. Freddy is not a very good pitcher right now, and no way you can say he's a power pitcher at this point. You are saying Hernandez was good in 97 and 2000 but horrible in 2002. Freddy was good in the 2005 post season, but easily could be horrible in 2006. I would love for the Sox to trade Freddy, I just don't think they could get the package a lot here seem to think. I really doubt Minaya would weaken his bullpen too much to acquire a guy who is not that big of upgrade, and may not even be an upgrade.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Jul 19, 2006 -> 04:17 PM) Look more closely at Trachsel's numbers and tell me if you expect him to continue winning.... If you are all going to rip on Freddy with his numbers, check out Trachsel's in a pitcher's park in the national league. He's doing it with smoke and mirrors right now. You want to put HIM up against the White Sox, Yankees, Red Sox, or Tigers? We've seen Freddy against the Red Sox and Yankees. I wouldn't mind seeing him against the White Sox. I think its not a lock that Freddy outperforms Trachsel, so I see absolutely no reason Minaya would want to overpay for mediocrity.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Jul 19, 2006 -> 03:53 PM) Well, We have been very good... But honestly, it isn't that much of a stretch. Omar, if he doesn't want to pitch Steve Trachsel as his third pitcher in the postseason, has to go get someone. The options may very well only be Garcia, Livan Hernandez, Rodrigo Lopez, or Mark Redman. Livan is probably the only other guy of those you might trust in the postseason and he is having an even worse year than Freddy. Additionally, Bowden is said to be demanding Pelphrey or Milledge for him. Faced with that decision, dealing Heilman and Humber seems to be the better alternative. Not saying it would happen. Just saying I think it could. Trachsel has won his last 7 starts. Why would Minaya overpay for a guy not pitching nearly as well to bump him back in their playoff rotation?

I think its pretty safe to assume Carl Crawford will not be in a White Sox uniform in 2006, and most likely not ever.

Ironic that a 3rd base coach ran a stop sign.

I read one of the NY papers and they were saying the Yankees had no interest in Roberto Hernandez. Their scouts think he would be lit up in the AL. This from a team who signed Sidney Ponson. Makes you think twice about Bert.