Harry Chappas

Ozzie Guillen is a good manager and will be for as long as he chooses to be because he understands the players and the game. If he is managing games by the seat of his pants, simple moves that should be made may not be made because his pants don't tell him so. I believe he needs a bench coach to rely on. Despite all of the BS about Baines becasue he isn't up on a soapbox chattering with everyone that wants to talk with him, he knows baseball as does everyone in the dugout......more than everyone on this board. The thing is this is a message board and if not for these topics we can all post about trading John Danks for Migel Tejada in the offseason. I like Hawk and his rants about Catfish and early era baseball because it is better than the alternatives like the half inning score updates which also scroll across the bottom of the screen. Stone and Hawk are a great duo that I would listen to regardless of the team because they are interesting. This shows how brutal DJ is. Nice win.

I have been saying all year that Joey Cora is a terrible bench coach.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Aug 7, 2007 -> 11:51 AM) My neighbor went on sunday. Descriptions of the day leave me wondering why the heck people go to those things. Right on. Got free tickets for the weekend and went Sunday night to see Pearl Jam. I thought it was one of their better shows. It was way to crowded though. I am never going back again. Left home pretty buzzed got home sober as a judge. Not the way I wanted it to work. Their set list was better than I thought it would be but the crowd was a bunch of jag offs that seemed to want to fight and show their girl friend how tough they were. My buddy was confronted by some doucebag and when the guy realized it was going to be four on one he and his lady simmered down. Right when I was getting past the crowd scene and really thinking the show was going ot be awesome they brought out a wounded Iraqi vet and went on a very long winded political rant. I see their point but by their means the Germans would have annihilated most of the world in their "Free World" it really turned me off. The sound was much better than I expected. Anti-war people really make me laugh, it is so simple for them. Peace.

I think what this thread is coming down to is the fact that there were options here and the one's choosen failed. If Uribe is on first in that situation or say Fields then the bunt works. The thing was the battery combination along with Owens speed is what this team wants to be known for. If I-Rod is behind the plate or a leftie is on the mound then the bunt is best. Flip the situation to this, Granderson on first, no outs, Polanco-Sheffield-Ordonez up, what do you do with Jenks/AJ..... I think the situation last evening had the opportuntiy to see waht Owens was made of. Stone said Owens could get a huge lead. I would've liked to have seen the Fields at-bat play out a little more. There just never seems to be a creative managerial move made from the White Sox and I think the lack of a good bench coach is the reason.

AJ, Konerko and Fields all should have made outs swinging at the first pitch. I again blame Joey Cora. The bench coach's job is to help in making the decisions that were made in the 9th. Owens should have gone on the second pitch if not the first. Steve Stone adds more insite in one sentence than DJ has in 7 plus years. I think Stone and Hawk would be great together unfortunatly it will not happpen. Stone corrects Hawk to better understand what he is talking about. The thing is, I like the history of baseball and Hawk brings that out.

If the Sox trade with the cubs and do not get a great deal (Karchner for Garland) and the Cubs win becasue of it KW and the Sox will get roasted. Do not for one second treat he cubs like any other major league team. Pods for Marmol or Pie.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Aug 4, 2007 -> 06:05 PM) Of course it's not coincidental, but it happened to come at a time in which Kenny Williams damaged the future of our organization by standing pat and as certain convictions about this organization and these scouts came to mind. That aside, I'm going to shrug at your hyperbole about how every post I've made is about Atlanta or Schuerholz -- a good portion of my posts have been that way in trade sections and overall baseball sections. It's not as if I'm popping into Game Threads to remind everybody that Schuerholz is God. As far as the strength of the NL throughout the run -- well, I think it might be better not to respond to such a bulls*** claim, because it's clearly meant to discount what the Braves did and anybody who would ever discount those years and the strength of that franchise in that time is mad. But, hell, just for curiosity's sake, let's look at the teams in the NL from 91-93 91: 94 77 74 65 93 77 78 98 84 75 84 71 92: 98 78 90 81 63 72 70 96 82 72 83 87 93: 104 84 73 67 64 85 81 59 97 75 61 103 87 94 Starting in 94, we had three divisions, but we'll skip 94. 95 was a weak year. 96 was weak, but not as bad: 96 76 81 83 80 82 90 71 67 73 91 68 88 88 97 was up and down in the East, but the Marlins and the Mets were good, and there were other strong teams in the league was well: 101 68 76 83 92 84 88 88 68 79 76 90 73 78 98: Braves were very good, and the East was overall weak, but the NL had strong teams in it: 106 90 77 77 54 102 83 74 88 75 69 98 89 83 65 99: Very strong league, with a very strong Mets team barking at them: 100 103 67 96 72 64 97 77 74 97 77 78 74 86 75 68 00: Once again, a very tough Mets team, and a good league. 85 95 65 85 82 79 72 86 73 94 65 69 76 97 95 67 01: Phillies and Mets were tough, and the League wasn't so bad. 92 88 88 66 73 76 93 86 68 82 86 62 79 90 93 68 02: Weak division, but they had a very good team. 98 101 67 78 73 79 84 92 56 75 80 72 66 95 97 83 03: Very competive division and competitive league. 84 101 88 69 74 91 87 85 68 66 86 75 64 100 85 83 04: Sort of a weak division, although the Phillies weren't bad, but the League wasn't a pushover 51 96 89 76 68 83 92 93 67 71 86 72 87 91 105 67 05: Perhaps the most impressive year due to the number of injuries and the losses to their pitching staff over the years, and the division was very tight and tough: 77 90 79 73 67 83 89 71 81 83 88 67 82 75 100 81 So the league and division changed from powerhouses to very tough to the Braves simply dominating, but I'm finished with the discussion here since this has gone far beyond Jermaine Dye not being traded. Not to mention all of the championship flags Shurholtz has won. Bobby Cox is as big a reason they have won as Shurholtz is. Didn't Cox make his name in the baseball powerhouse that was the 80's Blue Jays.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 6, 2007 -> 10:48 AM) He's picthed maybe a handful of times. Not doing great, but not being pummelled either (except 1 outing). Considering he's so new, he's doing well. I was psyched to see him called up - I have a soft spot for players who make their way up the chain the hard way (he got in via an open tryout), and who succeed despite not having the as high a level of natural tools as many others. I like the hair on fire wind up. Seems like a fluky Chad Bradford/Joe Neschik kind of guy that will be serviceable but after guys see him, I think he'll get hit.

Outside of the disaster that is White Sox baseball I flipped around to see Lohse only threw one inning Sean Marshall got lit up but the cub pen is now god like. Cubs are about to come back from being down 7-1 as Rocky Cherry and the rest of the pen has become amazing The Brewer pen is a f***ing disaster with Jorge Sosa getting a run scoring double and the Mets blew that game open. Brian Lawrence started for the Mets. The National League is a disgrace.

QUOTE(DonnyDevito @ Aug 2, 2007 -> 02:21 PM) this is what i walk talking about. iguchi is more focused and playing better than he ever did in chicago right now for the phils. not a game has gone by, it seems, where Gooch didn't either get a hit, run, or an RBI. and i think gooch has more walks as a phillie than he did, on average, with the chisox. There are so many things wrong with that post it isn't even funny I'll give it a shot. Gave himself up and cost at least 20 points on his average to move runners along Moved to 7th so Uribe could bat second I think he had the biggest hit in the 05 playoffs 7 RBI in the 8th and 9th inning of the Houston game last year when games really mattered Not sure what your are looking for in player. You want to think of becoming a Red Sox or yankee fna so you can cheer for a highly paid player at every position.

QUOTE(rangercal @ Aug 1, 2007 -> 01:54 PM) 2006 Sox Football is usually a bit more predictable though where the better team, if healthy produce. Grossman and Benson are the only question marks on this team. Should injuries ravage the O-Line, all bets are off.

So while it was closed the Brewers win in a way they have been losing for the last two weeks and the thread is reopened?

Dvoracek played next to Harris in college so they are comfortable there already. Due to the rotation system I think four guys all end up with about the same amount of time on the field at the DT position. I think this happens at DE as well but I could be mistaken. I thought that the Cover 2 relied so heavily on the D-Line to get pressure and stay fresh that 8 guys were used quite often.

Jenks ball was moving beautifully today and toyed with Thomas a little it seemed like. I think he has taken pressure off his eloow by throwing a little differently.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Jul 27, 2007 -> 10:27 PM) Will Mark ever stop with the Cardinal bulls***? Honestly... His wife veto'd Franklin Wilbur

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jul 27, 2007 -> 10:17 PM) Why would the Red Sox and Mariners want to help each other? To help themselves and keep the Yankees out.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jul 27, 2007 -> 07:32 PM) Sometimes I'm just taken aback by the inflammatory, knee jerk reactions of Sox fans. It's disturbing. Just because a player was on the World Series team doesn't mean they have good trade value. Ricar should be given the opportunity to play short for the remainder of he season, this position is a larger hole than 2B. IF he hits there but doesn't field well move him to 2B for next season. Also no matter what he does this season it is only 2 months and gives no true credability to what he may do next yuear.

Iguchi is a mjaor league player. I think I speak for the negativity when I say the player that was given to the Sox should have major league potential. It appears that KW seems to think building a AA team is what is required when trading at the deadline. There is no purpose to this deal. Unless you get a win outcome in the trade hold on to him. What is the purpose in moving him if there is no chance of improving your ballclub by doing so. This guy is not a prospect and there is no upside. Iguchi should have garned something there has a shot at doing something.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jul 27, 2007 -> 11:55 AM) Better options than Podsednik: Rob Mackowiak, Jerry Owens, Eric Byrnes (w/ a backloaded deal) or the best of them all Kenny does his job, gets creative and finds a Leadoff man through trade. I really don't want to see Owens or Byrnes leading off for the Sox next year but I could probably stomach it if it meant not having to endure another season of Podsednik. The best option is Kenny getting creative and finding someone on the trade market. This is where his scouts need to come through for him, even if he needs to give up a minor league arm to bring one in he needs to find a fresh face to leadoff in '08. Scott Podsednik has become the Kerry Wood of the South Side only without the talent. I believe three or four minor league arms will be gone this offseason. If Mackowiak was an option (and I agree he was) why wasn't he used this season? I think the idea that a guy must be fast to leadoff is as stupidas some ofthe leftie rightie ideas of Guillen. Guillen needs a better bench coach as Cora is down right terrible.

QUOTE(29andPoplar @ Jul 27, 2007 -> 11:24 AM) I don't think you have anything to worry about. Not to mention it's not worth worrying about it at all right now. It seems like this is how it goes on this message board, a guy has a good series and people want to keep/build around him. There is the other extreme too, a guy has a bad stretch and people want him designated for assignment. I do not want to keep or build around Scott Podsednik the problem is what are the options. Jerry Ownes and Darin Erstad are as serviceable as Podsednik. The 3 and 4 hitters in the line-up are bringing in $27M next year, they need to a degree, create their own offense and drive in runs more consistently. Iguchi needed to sit in the 2 hole and not be moved for the likes of Juan Uribe or Andy Gonzalez. I actually thought when Erstad went down that Iguchi should have lead off. Having a lead off hitter for the month of June that was gettting on at under a .200 clip along with missing Crede and a pathetic stylings of Juan Uribe added to the problem. I am just not certain the replacement is out there and as readily available as everyone believes.

I think Seattle will take Contrearas and hope for the best in the big park. Desperation will set in. I think KW eats about $5M a year and takes Weaver for the remainder of the season for a decent prospect.

I HATE SCOTT PODDEDNIK! But I realize that there is something to the argument that they win with him. I do not know what it is. I find it funny that they are playing pretty well right now and have been for the last month due to the pen being some what serviceable and having a lead-off hitter that is adequete (Owens). Next year I think the Opening Day outfield will be Pods, Rowand and Dye with Owens and Erstad as platoon guys. The problem with this team was OG and KW fell in love with Erstad and rushed Pods back. If Anderson was given the CF job and he held it Erstad would have played less and been available to replace Pods by he playing a less stressful LF as oppossed to CF. This was an organizational move that blew up in their face which was compunded and more the cause of the season going down the tubes by the horrendous bullpen. The line-up's inability to score runs for the entire month of June doomed this season. Should we have been only 8 back I would think we had a chance. Why we coudn't beat the NL, I do know.

Contrearas contract will allow him to be traded through the end of August. If he starts to turn it around and strings some starts together a team will look to get him. Brad Penny injured himself last night. I flipped on Baseball Tonight EY and Ed Perez, along with Dusty doing the show from his basement. My god it was unwatchable. My guess is that is where Chris Singleton or Darin Jackson are headed after this year.

QUOTE(Jim Spencer @ Jul 26, 2007 -> 06:14 PM) I sure wish the Sox had the Tiger's problems with pitching Verlander 11-3 Bonderman 10-2 Durbin 7-3 Miller 5-3 Grilli 5-2 Jones 27 saves Seay 2.96 ERA in 36 games and don't forget Zumaya will be back next month. I also wish the Sox had the Tiger's problems with hitting I'd taken the proven history of the durability of Garland/Buerhle/Vazquez over Verlander/Bonderman/Miller Durbin/Grilli/Seay/Jones are, for the long run not much better than McDougal/Jenks/Thorton. The little span from late May through June killed this team and I am not sure what happened. I also believe the AL Central is vastly overrated. This offseason none of the teams will improve themself except hopefully the Sox.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jul 26, 2007 -> 03:45 PM) He's only hitting .227 overall. Imagine what could have been had for he and Crede this past off season..... Our bullpen is what kept the Sox from going 8-0 against the Indians and Tigers. Sox are 19-18 against the AL Central.