iamshack

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 19, 2012 -> 09:23 PM) You know, I'm really pissed that the Sox didn't do what greg wanted and bean some Cubs batters out of bloodlust so that we could have Zach Stewart pitch in long relief. That would have been so much better than Danks today. But ZSIALM

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ May 19, 2012 -> 09:15 PM) In the past couple of weeks, even though our record hasn't been stellar, my worry-level about a large number of key players has greatly diminished: Dunn (2011 was just a dream, like that season of Dallas...and might he be even better in pitch selection than before?) AJP (seemingly mindful that 2013 is last chance for big payday) Viciedo (needs to find a permanent spot in the 5 hole when Paulie returns) Beckham (I now think he can be at least average again, not total suck) Sale (won't rehash, but kidz gonna start an All-Star game in a Sox uni) Reed (up to the task mentally, as well as the raw stuff - will soon be better than Santos, if he isn't already, should have closed from day one) Floyd (more good than bad, which is all we can really ask, and miles ahead of where he was in holding runners) Humber (good recent bounceback after PG hangover) Peavy (no fluke despite bad inning) and now Danks The holes, where they exist, are beyond glaring, as we all know, but I maintain that this is a better problem to have (and easier to fix or at gerry-rig) than a lack of real quality in the lineup, and ours ain't so bad with a dangerous 3-4-5 and a legit 1. I kinda figure Rios will settle into average-mediocre, which is still light years better than last year. Lexi's track record says he's bound to improve offensively as it warms up. Beckham, Tank and DeAza are the key to the season. Ax for Stew. Need to find a bench, but that's tradedeadlineable. Thornton better show something soon, so we can dump him respectably. We're a real winning streak away from making us all believers, and getting the fan turnout that makes us buyers (hole-fillers). The rest of the division is doing their part to make it possible. Semi-long-term, we need our minors to produce a total of 3 OF and IF and 1-2 SP over the next few years. Our system fully blows, but the task isn't overwhelming. Maybe it's the fumes wafting through my window from the rubber plant downriver, maybe it's the fact that I'm headin' for Vegas in a few hours, but all Kool-Aid aside, IMO, this season still has a real chance. You conduct each season as it unfolds in this sport, and you don't have to derail a partial rebuild to get it done. In a season where the Majors' two best records are owned by the O's and Dodgers (picked by nearly everyone for last place), why not us?? Cup half-full. All in. Wish me luck, boyzzz Enjoy Vegas, Stan! Looks like you're coming just in time for the heat wave!

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ May 19, 2012 -> 09:10 PM) only if the tying run is on deck I think in the hole?

QUOTE (BFirebird @ May 19, 2012 -> 09:08 PM) Probably not. I thought Brennaman was announcing for the Reds now and he had that Cub fan rant when about no one liking Cub fans because of the way they act. Or was that someone else? His dad Marty, I believe.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ May 19, 2012 -> 07:31 PM) :headbang I think he's recently divorced.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 19, 2012 -> 07:01 PM) Not in the least. Young is the kind of player you're disappointed if a player becomes, because he has all the talent in the world but can't learn how to hit any way other than "Swing hard in case you hit something". Dayan? Young has had some very nice extended periods...and he has all the tools. I wouldn't write him off yet. He got off to a great start this year before getting hurt.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 19, 2012 -> 07:00 PM) It seems to me Young is the type of player you'd hope Rios would be. Young is a stud. He's had quite the roller coaster of a career thus far.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 19, 2012 -> 06:57 PM) THROW IT BACK AND WE'LL JUST GIVE YOU ANOTHER F***ING BALL!

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 19, 2012 -> 06:53 PM) I can't believe Fox screws this up. I can't watch the Sox-Cubs game. Bummer. KC-Arizona is on. Why is there not more outrage about losing Chris Young? Who did we trade him for? He's a pretty damn good player. Greg...there was a good 4 years of outrage over that. Javy Vazquez.

Damn does our division suck.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 19, 2012 -> 06:20 PM) At. Least. I. Get. The. Game. Yeah, I'm stuck with Red Sox/Phillies

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 19, 2012 -> 05:07 PM) Finally the voice of reason. I am so f***ing mad about Paulie's eye being closed and out a week. You wait, it will be a full week at least. This is outrageous. That f***ing bum Cub hit him on purpose. No question about it. Did he "mean" to hit him in the face? Probably not. At the time in the heat of the moment, who knows? He probably wanted to drill him in the shoulder. The media has blown this. They should be protecting one of the top three players arguably in White Sox history. THIS IS INSANE! I want revenge. Not in the face, but I want both our starters to drill cubs in the first inning. Get the long men ready, baby!! You don't mess with Paul Konerko. Hopefully Hawk will be on it the entire game. Greg! Settle down, buddy! Have a beer and relax!

QUOTE (Cerbaho-WG @ May 19, 2012 -> 05:02 PM) Escobar's had a .300 OBP in his last 700 ABs in the minors. He has no business playing in the majors, even in September. And Hudson?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 19, 2012 -> 03:50 PM) I agree, especially if the cortisone shot didn't work. He dove for a ball the other day and got up and walked around like an old man. I've hurt my back and know that feeling. That's because you are an old man

QUOTE (flavum @ May 19, 2012 -> 03:50 PM) Just checked...Hudson has never played 3B in the bigs. They won't move Beckham, will they? They can't, right? For the upgrade to ODog from Escobar, I sure hope not.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 19, 2012 -> 04:44 PM) Yeah, it's time to DL him and let him get right. Somehow I don't think your reasons are entirely out of concern for Brent's health...

QUOTE (fathom @ May 19, 2012 -> 04:40 PM) I don't get this signing at all. Me neither. We already have like 3 guys on the roster just like Hudson. EE?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 19, 2012 -> 04:39 PM) The O dog has lost a lot of his range. If they move Beckham to 3B, that would be ridiculous. He's a GG quality 2B. I hope KW has the sense to remember his playing days. He was a highly thought of CF who put up decent numbers, but the Sox needed a 3B so he moved there and it seemed like it derailed his once promising career. They have to be thinking of moving him to 3rd...if they move Beckham again, I'm going to vomit.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 19, 2012 -> 04:33 PM) Rogers had an article yesterday which basically said the 2 things Ventura changed right away was the free steals they used to give opponents and the enormous discrepancy in HBP. One thing he didn't mention was the Sox now actually do some 3-0 hitting now. You don't have to hit the opponent to get them to stop hitting your guys. They just have to know that if they do hit your guys, someone is going to pay. I loved how the Nationals handled the situation when Hamels drilled Harper. Came out and drilled Hamels right in the shin. Hamels accepted it, went down to first, and that was that. I'd have either hit Samardjsjdjksjdksamd or Castro, the golden boy...throwing behind some placeholder doesn't really do it for me...but as I said earlier, Castro is getting drilled in one of the next 5 games if I am the manager.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 19, 2012 -> 04:20 PM) Was the LaHair pitch at his head? That'd be the only thing I'd complain about. I got no problem throwing at a guy if the situation causes it. The Indians hit a Sox player after Buehrle plunked Hafner in the head once, no one thought it was on purpose, but a guy on the Sox was going to get hit and that's how things should happen. Just don't throw the purpose pitch where a slip could make it hit a person's head. That's what I keep thinking about...is when Mark hit Hafner in the face with a curveball or whatever...I couldn't remember if they drilled one of our hitters or not, but had they, unless it was like 100 mph at the head, I would have sort of chalked that up to them having to protect their hitters. Since then, it seems like we've hit Hafner a million times. I am always worried one time he is just going to say enough is enough and charge the mound and kill our pitcher, regardless of who that might be at the time.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ May 19, 2012 -> 03:51 PM) Mike Huff played the game and he said on the radio this morning that he has no doubt that Samardzija hit him on purpose and said the splitter was used because it is a less lethal way to achieve the desired result. I doubt he was trying to hit him in the face. It very well could have been a purpose pitch. s*** happens. Problem is any further retaliation we take now will immediately draw a warning. I'd wait til the late innings next time Nate Jones is pitching and drill Castro right in the ribs.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 19, 2012 -> 02:23 PM) De Aza cf, Beckham 2b, Dunn 1B, Viciedo LF, Pierzynski C, Rios RF, Ramirez ss, Escobar 3B, Danks P I have a good feeling about Danks tonight for some reason. Robin showing some confidence in Dayan, inserting him into the 4th spot.

QUOTE (High Mileage @ May 19, 2012 -> 10:29 AM) Here is a great read on Hosmer's struggles from the KC Star... http://www.kansascity.com/2012/05/18/36175...-his-crazy.html Eric Hosmer by the numbers Average 2011 - .293 2012 - .174 On-base percentage 2011 - .334 2012 - .237 Slugging percentage 2011 - .465 2012 - .319 Walks percentage 2011 - 6.0 2012 - 7.7 Strikeout percentage 2011 - 14.6 2012 - 11.5 Line-drive percentage 2011 - 18.7 2012 - 16.0 Ground-ball percentage 2011 - 49.7 2012 - 52.8 Fly-ball percentage 2011 - 31.7 2012 - 31.2 BABIP* 2011 - .314 2012 - .165 * -- batting average on balls in play Hosmer’s walk rate is up, his strikeout rate is down and he is hitting, roughly, the same percentage of line drives, ground balls and fly balls. (Point of reference: statistics show more hits occur on line drives than ground balls, and more on ground balls than fly balls.) The outlier is his batting average on balls in play, or BABIP to the statistically inclined. His BABIP was .314 last year as a rookie, which is a little on the high side of baseball’s historical averages (which generally vary each year from .290 to .310). Hosmer’s current BABIP is an unimaginably low .165 and translates, loosely, to simple bad luck that, well, just can’t continue. Hosmer’s BABIP is, by far, the lowest in either league. The next lowest is Blue Jays outfielder José Bautista at .178. Yeah, that is an incredible display of how much luck can seemingly affect how good a hitter is hitting the ball, when in reality, there may not be that much difference at all. You just have to hope he doesn't buy into the numbers and lose confidence in himself.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 19, 2012 -> 11:00 AM) So JR changed his mind in September? So then they let KW compound the mistake and spend $4 million for one month of a guy who just served a steroid suspension? Was that not a ridiculous waiver claim? You seem to choose how to utilize your knowledge of how the organization works. Why is it you constantly criticize others while doing exactly what your criticize others for doing? I know you love KW and would never say anything bad about him, but whether you want to admit it or not, he's really screwed up the past few years. Yeah, he did, when it was clear it had been a huge mistake to not bring back Thome. In fact, he changed his mind much earlier than that. We tried to trade for Manny in July, but the Dodgers wanted Viciedo in return. It turned out to be a poor claim, sure. But at the time I certainly remember being all for it. I was also all for it in July as well (I was not in favor of trading Viciedo for him). We needed a big stick and he was what was available. Even though he didn't hit for us, I do remember the first handful of games where we benefited from him just being in the on-deck circle. Had we ended up making it to the postseason because of a few games where some of our hitters saw better pitches to hit because of Manny, the money would have been well justified. But yes, it is very easy to look in hindsight now and say it was a waste, since it didn't work out. As for the bolded, I don't have a clue what you are trying to say there. My position on Kenny has been constant since I've joined this forum. He provides the talent, but for whatever reason, it often times hasn't turned into the best collection of talent on the field. He's certainly provided us with the talent on paper to win this division almost every year he's been here. One would hope the coaching staff would be able to extract more wins out of that talent, but I do realize putting the "right" pieces together, and not just the "best" pieces together, is part of Kenny's job as well. If he has failed, it has been in doing that.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 19, 2012 -> 08:36 AM) It was Ozzie's idea, but he supposedly was Ozzie's boss. He eventually overrode him in September when he claimed a fresh off steroid suspension Manny, in what was perhaps the biggest waste of $4 million in his reign, and he's blown some money. This is horses*** and you know it. You don't get to choose to utilize your knowledge of how the organization works when it benefits you but conveniently ignore it when it doesn't. JR told KW that they were going to give Ozzie a chance to put together his type of team, because he shouldn't be responsible if they handed him a team he didn't choose...so they allowed him to jettison Thome.