iamshack

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 22, 2011 -> 03:41 PM) I've suggested to a couple Raiders fans that the best thing for that franchise would be for Al Davis to die. I don't know if there is a Rocky Wirtz waiting in the wings, but simply getting out from under his control would do wonders for that team. For the rest of us as well...have you seen him recently? I was watching the ESPN 30 for 30 "Straight Out of LA" and even Ice Cube looked afraid while he was interviewing Davis. Pieces of his face are literally falling off while he talks...

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Aug 22, 2011 -> 10:19 AM) I loved him since his days as a prospect in Texas forming the DVD trio (with Volquez and Diamond). Still has alot of potential left and at age 26, his best days are well ahead. Absolutely, but like I've said before, I think highly of him than most here. Though I've said give him Buehrle money (4/56), Weaver is a bit more than that. I know he's still young, but what is it that he is suddenly going to start doing that is going to allow him to unlock this potential? I just don't see it...

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 22, 2011 -> 10:15 AM) Absolutely not Danksy is a very good left-handed starting pitcher...but I don't see him making any huge leaps forward at this point. As it stands now, he's probably worth 5/$60 or 5/$65.

Happy Birthday, fellas! Hope you enjoyed your day!

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 22, 2011 -> 07:35 AM) It shocked me that Jarred went that low and short. Maybe his bro going year to year and team to team has some effect on him? I think he just wants to stay in LA and have a chance to win.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Aug 21, 2011 -> 02:23 PM) The velocity dip is obvious. You just get this, "Hey, there's something wrong with this guy. We need to get him the f*** out of here!" kinda vibe. Especially when you then consider that the Rockies were refusing to share their medical records for Ubaldo with the Indians.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 21, 2011 -> 07:26 PM) Weaver signs a 5 year, 85 million dollar extension. Not good news for the Sox, as that's one less pitcher on the 2013 FA market to contend with Danks. This probably also means the Sox would have to come in at $14-15 million per season to extend Danksy.

2 million is a reasonable number of fans...I'll bet it is still at 1.5 million for the target.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 21, 2011 -> 06:57 PM) Can I use this thread to predict that Ramirez will be back next year, but Beckham will be traded in the offseason with Lillibridge taking over at 2nd next year? De Aza will be in LF in a platoon with someone we acquire with Rios in CF and Viciedo in RF. Man, I can't see Beckham getting traded at this point unless someone is really still seeing that guy we drafted in 2008 in him...otherwise, it's just not worth it to us to risk trading him and having him resurrect his former self at our expense.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Aug 21, 2011 -> 06:10 PM) Yes. I believe it's at the average ticket price. You trade Ramirez because his value will never be higher. In so doing that, you free up money to possibly sign Buehrle. I find that almost impossible to believe...you're saying the State of Illinois (or whomever the entity is that we lease US Cellular from) will actually compensate the White Sox at the average ticket price for every ticket less than 2 million that they do not sell? No way...maybe that would trigger a clause which would allow them to terminate their lease early...but compensate them? No way...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 21, 2011 -> 06:10 PM) Because 1 guy is getting paid 22x the salary of the other guy, and therefore the more expensive guy was needed to fill a much more important role. And the more expensive guy has also not been a great fielder. Let me ask you this question: Does Alex Rios' salary make his hits count any more or less than Brent Morel's right now? We need to win games. Now. Getting big hits out of Alex (and theoretically Dunn as well, although I am starting to believe this is actually impossible) goes a long, long way towards us winning said games.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 21, 2011 -> 04:52 PM) The sad thing is, Rios only has a .675 OPS in August. By any reasonable standard he's not "starting to hit". By the standard of the .383 OPS he put up in July though... Yet, if this was Brent Morel's numbers we were talking about, you would be shouting from a mountaintop about him and spinning them any which way you could. Anyone that is watching the f***ing game can see Alex is hitting now. He's hitting balls hard. After an initial hot streak in Baltimore, he cooled off again (and hit some ropes that were caught), but has started to get some big hits for our Club again. I don't give a flying f*** what his OPS is in August. We're starting to get some production out of him, along with some big clutch extra base hits, which is what we need right now. He's not going to morph into Albert Pujols over night, but getting some production out of him versus the production we were getting out of him actually gives us a chance to compete down the stretch.

Funny hearing Chuck's comment that the White Sox' lineup was without a lot of power today on the pregame show... This is a fun little team to watch when De Aza and Flowers are hitting like they are...especially with Alex starting to hit... Looks like we have some young players that might be able to contribute some things we weren't necessarily counting on...

QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ Aug 20, 2011 -> 10:00 PM) I appreciate Rios' contribution to tonight's game, but I still hope he snaps his leg in 4 different places getting out of bed tomorrow. I was only half-watching by this point, but did he mess up again when he was at third on that complicated catch on a bloop later in the game? I assume he did because he's awful, but I'd like to be corrected if not. I'm pretty sure he couldn't have known he could tag on that ball, so it was the right play to go halfway and hope it dropped in.

Alex! I think I am your only fan! But I am cheering loudly!

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 19, 2011 -> 02:09 PM) Well we're under .500 on August 19th and suck at home. Our starting rotation is beginning to falter too, with or without Humber. Plus, we still have too many holes on offense. I was just thinking out loud. Not ruling anything out at this point, but it's still baseball. Anything can happen when you're within a handful of games. Definitely need to go on some sort of extended run though.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 19, 2011 -> 02:06 PM) Anyone still think we win this division? Aside from Greg Hibbard? Imagine if something like this were to happen to Justin Verlander.

QUOTE (shakes @ Aug 18, 2011 -> 03:04 PM) I have to agree, the draft is such a difficult science, it doesn't really bother me that the Sox don't spend a ton. Yes, I wish they spent more, especially on international signings, but dollars spent doesn't always correlate to successful minor league systems. The Sox really need to focus on development of the young talent they do have. They are really good at scouting players that are a little more developed. They have done a great job targeting players that they see a good future in, once they have a couple of years in the minors. Danks, Floyd, Quentin, Lillibridge, Deaza, and hopefully Flowers and Stewart, although too early to tell on those guys. Up until recently, they have had a good track record of noticing guys in their own system that have limitations and maximizing their value like McCarthy, Poreda, Brandon Allen(I know Pena sucks but he will likely have a more successful pro career than Allen), Clayton Richards, Carter, and others I'm forgetting. And the Sale and Beckham draft picks were their highest in a long time and both are successful picks. Beckham has some big adjustments to make, but a lot of that to me was because he was rushed, and hasn't adjusted well to failure(reminds me a lot of Rick Porcello). They have been burned a bit lately, but I think it has had way more to do with KW's impatience and stubbornness. I still don't think the Edwin Jackson deal was as horrible as many make it out to be, but the Swisher trades were the big losses. His impatience has also has precipitated the terrible, but defensible, signing of Dunn. Viciedo easily could have been a DH, but both the manager and GM are infatuated with having the big lefty bat, and KW won the pissing contest after the Kotsay debacle. I think the Rios claim was also a very poorly thought out overreaction, although there has been a lot of conjecture on how much they really wanted to keep him. They do make up for their failures in different areas. Santos and Humber have been great finds, along with a bunch of other no name or washed up pitchers over the years. I think Coop deserves a lot of credit for that. The Cuban signings have also done really well. Too bad that couldn't translate into other international markets. Great post.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Aug 18, 2011 -> 12:34 PM) Maybe acquiring him with the idea he could play CF everyday messed him up too. I think it had more to do with putting him in the leadoff spot, at least according to what Swisher has said publicly.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 18, 2011 -> 12:07 PM) I agree with Shack in that if you can trade unproven prospects for proven big league players, that's a good business strategy. The issue has been that KW and company have completely whiffed on these proven guys for quite a while now (Javy, Swisher, Pena, etc). Javy was not a net loss for us in any way, IMO. Although he struggled down the stretch in 08', I don't think his acquisition was a bust, especially now that we are seeing what kind of player(s) Lillibridge and Flowers may turn out to be. Swisher, IMO, was ruined by our coaching staff. You are not going to convince me that Swish is not a productive player. Ozzie and Walker just failed to find a fit for him, and then keep him out of a rut when he struggled to fit into that role. KW's biggest failures are obviously Peavy and Rios. He was simply too aggressive on both accounts, and that will most likely harm our chances to compete from the present and possibly as far out as 4-5 years. However, given the state of our division, I still think it's possible for us to win division championships during that timeframe. We just won't have an optimally built team due to payroll constraints (because of Rios and Peavy's salaries).

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Aug 18, 2011 -> 11:52 AM) Exactly. With the seasons we've gotten from Dunn, Peavy, and Rios we should not be anywhere near first. A trademark of Hollywood's teams going back to the Jerry Manuel days seems to be as you call it a lack of productivity from key personel And in an ideal world, we could supplant that lack of production with components of a good farm system, or from acquisitions made using pieces of a good farm system. Unfortunately, we only have so many financial resources available. Obviously, some of you would prefer a lower payroll with a higher percentage of assets being committed to player development. With the huge attrition rates of prospects in this game, I honestly prefer our current model, which is weighted much more heavily towards committing to known assets.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 18, 2011 -> 11:45 AM) Talent= GM's job (Is it too late to switch from the Ninja to the Assassin for Kenny? I like that better) Production=Manager's job The Sniper The Reckless Assassin

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Aug 18, 2011 -> 11:38 AM) See I view it as a lack of talent too, we always seem to be a player or two short of really being a complete team, and the draft/deep farm system would help with that (D Wise, Kotsay, etc) without putting the team at risk of losing millions of dollars from big contracts. To me, it's all intangled, there is an impact in the players you have at the major league level from your prospects, whether it be what FA's you go after, extensions, or your ability to trade for/away players. So not being able to trade away expensive players or prospects for relief/help because your farm system is lacking is part of the lack execution. Well, I agree that a weak farm system limits the moves available to the big league club. In an ideal world, you'd like to have a strong farm system, and a high payroll, and be able to do whatever you possibly can because of a tremendous level of resources, both personnel and finance-based. Ultimately, I feel like we have made additions when we needed to and have given this coaching staff more than enough talent to win this division at a much higher rate, and they just haven't been able to squeeze the results out of that talent.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 18, 2011 -> 11:36 AM) This is very true. How many years in the last decade have we gone into the season not thinking we were the most talented team in the Central? Most of them outside of 2007 and possibly last season, due to Ozzie's hairbrained decision.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Aug 18, 2011 -> 11:28 AM) I agree that we find quality players in ways that other teams don't, but it hasn't led us to consistent winners and a manageable payroll with those winners. Well, up until this year, I'd argue our payroll was pretty manageable. And I have never viewed our failures to win this division as a lack of talent, which is what this complaint is all about. I view it as a lack of execution. That falls more on the coaching of the players we do have than on the GM and FO for acquiring the players they have.