iamshack

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Aug 15, 2011 -> 09:03 PM) It's harder to get information on assistant GMs and the impact they have on their organization, but from all accounts Hahn is a genius. And I take it that you haven't looked around the league and where some of the best GMs have come from. A genius as it pertains to the business side of the game. As for his knowledge of actual players and how to build a baseball team, I don't think any of us have a clue what he knows.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 15, 2011 -> 01:32 PM) If this was a reference to Romney, then I'd agree. Romney is moderate AND spineless. I don't see that sort of shifting in the wind in Huntsman's past, from what I have read (which admitedly is still limited). I read the recent article in Esquire or GQ (I have both of them, not sure which it was), and was pretty impressed with his position on the war and his desire to reduce the defense budget. Of course this is easy for him to say now, and more difficult to implement if he were to actually become President, but his willingness to say it was at least more than most other Republicans are willing or able to do. As for his time in China, this has basically insulated him from the tea party nonsense because he simply wasn't around to take part in it. I dunno, I am certainly not a political expert by any means, but I, like NSS, was at least curious to see what he is about, which is more than I can say for almost any other Republican at this point.

He still can't pitch for them...

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Aug 15, 2011 -> 11:07 AM) Police Academy 1-6 were all great. Speaking of Officer Carey Mahoney and Steve Guttenberg, I watched Cocoon and Cocoon: The Return last week. You want to talk about some sequel gold....

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 15, 2011 -> 09:00 AM) That's what I do is the MLB package. It costs less than the football package and instead of 17 days with games I get ~170. If you have a relative who has DirectTV, they'll usually spread around an extra $100 if you tell them that relative referred you. Or you can tell them I did (you'll need an account number). Balta, did you see the comment I made about buying Apple TV and then buying a mlb.tv subscription? I think this would replace the Extra Innings package for far less money year-in and year-out.

Good post, GH. I guess I like to think of it this way...If I would have told everyone here at the beginning of the season that on August 15th, we'd be 4 games back of first place, with 6 games remaining against the division leader and 42 games to go, I don't think nearly as many people would feel the way about this team as they feel now. If I had told everyone that Dunn would be in line for literally one of the worst seasons in the history of modern baseball, and we were still 4 games out with 42 to play, I think there would have been a lot of surprise. No one is saying that we should be celebrating this team as a model of consistency, but we are still right in the thick of this thing.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 15, 2011 -> 09:33 AM) Here's my issue. If the results aren't there, then maybe I have to question that line of thinking. Maybe there's more to the "Rotating DH" concept than we gave credit to (in that case, the problem is who we chose to put there, a NL pinch hitter, rather than the concept itself). Yeah, I am sure there is....not many concepts are going to prove effective if they are built on ineffective parts. Look, I get the fact that Dunn has been horrific. But two things: Dunn could still obviously come back and have three monster years for us, and in the end, be worthy of that contract; and secondly, sometimes s*** just happens. This is one of those times.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 15, 2011 -> 08:29 AM) We know. We're just all still trying to figure out how the hell the right line of thinking produced worse results. The bigger concern is that people don't recognize it was the right line of thinking and instead just want to attack the results.

Not at all the same thing. One guy had sucked for the better part of the last 5 years, and continued to suck. Another guy had been one of the premier run producers every year for the last 8 years or so, and he inexplicably has sucked. Same result, but different decision-making. I know which line of thinking I prefer.

QUOTE (SoIL @ Aug 15, 2011 -> 09:12 AM) No thanks to LaRussa and Duncan. If I recall correctly Jockety is no longer in St. Louis baecause of LaRussa. Obviously Ramus is no longer in St. Louis because of LaRussa. I don't really want to sse the yearly beanball fights the Cardinals seem to get into and I absolutly don't want McGuire as our hitting coach. LaRussa appears more b****y and whinning every year. I do see him on television quite a bit since I'm close to St. Louis and surrounded by Cardinal fans. Keep Ozzie and get rid of Williams if you have too. Give Ozzie the kind of team he want's and he will win. I like Kenny, but if someone has to go, I'd rather it be him. We tried that last year with Mark Kotsay.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 15, 2011 -> 08:32 AM) Which is who we are comparing it too... No, we're not. We're comparing it to what a normal MLB bullpen pitches year-in and year-out. For several years now, Ozzie has relied more on his starters and less on his bullpen that pretty much every other manager. So what seems like it might be destroying the bullpen to a White Sox fan may just be an adjustment from what we are accustomed to.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 14, 2011 -> 06:59 PM) I'd give it about 20 games before people would be wishing Ozzie was back if LaRussa managed the White Sox. Every game would be 3 hours plus. You would need about 4 loogys, and a real bad player, DeWayne Wise would probably be available, that LaRussa would absolutely adore and play way too much. But you'd also have intelligent decisions being made and my guess is you wouldn't have these years where you have talent stacked up and lying around all over the place with no results to be seen from it. Say what you want about LaRussa, but he gets results out of his talent.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 14, 2011 -> 06:44 PM) No he wasn't, and Williams on his own extended Manuel before 2004. You do not hire a new GM and then tell him some other guy who is close to the owner and has 30 plus years in the game is going to be the manager. That makes the GM position beyond weak. It would never happen. Ever. I do think the fact that no one on the coaching staff has been extended does make it look like its do or die for either Guillen, Williams and the coaches or for all of them, but your scenerio is not going to happen. If they cleaned house, no new GM with any self respect would take a job where they had no say in the manager hire. Either way, I really think Tony LaRussa managing the White Sox again, even if Hahn if he where hired, or Williams if he stuck around really wanted him, isn't going to happen. Oh, I misunderstood...I thought you guys were talking about KW being President of Baseball Operations or something over Hahn as being the issue. I don't really get the impression that Hahn's strong point in the on-field stuff as much as the data and dollars stuff. I don't see him having any kind of a problem with LaRussa as his field manager. In fact, I don't really see any General Manager having a problem with Tony LaRussa as their field manager.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 14, 2011 -> 06:26 PM) So they will make Hahn the GM and force a manager on him. That is brilliant, and BS. Find a new "guy". Yours is full of s***. Given JR's background with other executives, such as Krause, what would make you think that would not be possible? Sounds very similar to what the Indians did with Shapiro. Not saying I believe this, and certainly not saying he's stating anything other than the obvious with this (this has all been rumored previously), but I don't think it makes him full of s***, per se.

QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ Aug 14, 2011 -> 05:42 PM) Tony LaRussa would be a thing over here. Stormy times ahead for Soxtalk if this comes to pass. After Ozzie Guillen for 8 years? I don't know how LaRussa could be more of a thing...

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Aug 14, 2011 -> 04:28 PM) La Russa/Duncan are a package deal. My guy didn't mention Walker, my guess though is he'd be gone too. Although he did play for La Russa. Imagine if we got stuck with McGwire...

Happy Birthday, Fellas! Enjoy your day!

The problem is Thome said something silly like 'You'll have to tear the jersey off my back before I'd leave Cleveland,' or something of the sort.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Aug 14, 2011 -> 12:43 PM) Right and the reason Tice (imo) is keeping Webb at LT is that he believes Carimi can learn and play RT better than Webb could learn and play RT. Its possible that Carimi is both the best LT and RT on the team and that Tice believes that switching Webb would make them worse, thus putting Carimi at RT. Now a coach would never say this about a young player, so hes going with the assessment that cant be proven "athletic" to justify the decisions. Im not making the numbers up, when I did the combine searching I assumed that my argument was going to be that Webb was slightly more athletic but that Carimi was more polished. I never thought that Carimi would be better in basically every category. That may very well be true. It may be optimizing the performance of the line.

They don't need some excuse to sell to the fans on why not to move Webb. The average fan, and even most hardcore fans are not going to know/care if they want to put Carimi at LT or RT before the season even starts. Lineman simply aren't scrutinized as closely as skill players. You can post all the numbers you want, but I'll take Tice's word on this. And Webb may eventually get moved, but at this point, you'd like to think Tice, who has a very good reputation as a O-line coach, knows what he is doing.

QUOTE (Wanne @ Aug 14, 2011 -> 12:29 PM) How can Ozzie even remotely justify playing Dunn over Lilli when he comes back?!? We are quickly approaching the point in which you simply stop trying to allow Dunn to come out of this for the sake of the long-term, and simply right off this entire year for him as a disaster. We just don't have enough games remaining to allow Dunn to be a black hole anymore. PK will most likely be back at 1st on Wednesday or Thursday, which will allow Ozzie to play Rios/Lilli/De Aza/Dunn at DH depending on matchups, and then Viciedo come September.

Jeesh, poor Alex

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 14, 2011 -> 11:50 AM) Some prospect named Randall Delgado is supposed to take Hanson's next start, then he should be back in under 10 days. Oh, lame. They are putting a lot of stock in Derek Lowe's performance down the stretch last year, trusting he'll get it together instead of bringing up Minor or Teheran to replace him. Teheran is freaking 12-1 down in Gwinnett.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 14, 2011 -> 11:45 AM) I wouldn't be mad if he spent a chunk of next season in AAA though. Just don't do the bullpen game with another guy who could benefit from building up innings. Well, he's at 145 or so right now...you figure they won't want to push him much more than 180-190. If you can get him to 175 or so, I figure he'd be fine to go as a full-time starter next year. I really will be interested to see what they do with Sale. A rotation of Sale/Humber/Peavy/Mark/Stewart could show you a lot of different looks over the course of a couple series. I guess I agree with Flavum, who advocated dealing Danks and Floyd in the offseason. We could restock our system with a few good arms to eventually replace Peavy and Mark down the road, and hopefully add a quality few position players into the system. Of course, you could always keep Floyd and leave Stewart in Charlotte and see what Peavy and Humber do and then if they prove healthy/effective, move Floyd at the deadline.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 14, 2011 -> 12:42 PM) Tommy Hanson hits the DL. Oooh, I wonder if we'll get to see Teheran...