iamshack

QUOTE (gatnom @ Jul 17, 2011 -> 03:53 PM) It sounds to me like you're making more of an argument as to why Buehrle isn't great than as to why Jackson is. Also, Your last statement goes both ways, shack. He is just as likely to have his dominating stuff as he is to throw 100 pitches by the 5th inning. Not at all...I'm just saying that for as much as Hawk never complains about the hits Buehrle gives up, he is a broken record of criticism about SP's who walk guys. All in all, many times the guy who frustratingly walks guys isn't giving up as many runs as a guy who gets hit around instead of putting guys on.

I really think Ozzie has a little bit of bravado and machismo going on against some of the Latin American players he knows well...he never seems to put any of them on...always challenges them. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jul 17, 2011 -> 12:50 PM) why didn't he turn him around with Sale? I don't think Sale was ready.

Now walk VMart.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 17, 2011 -> 12:42 PM) Sadly, I just don't see how you can pull him after 80 pitches, even if this may be the worst possible situation with Cabrera up. Agreed. This should probably be his last inning though, whether he gets out of this jam or not.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jul 17, 2011 -> 12:43 PM) this guy should be walked No. Do not put the tying run in scoring position.

It's essential we get Humber out of this game in time today, instead of waiting a batter or two too late as has happened several times thus far this year. Otherwise, we're going to lose this one 4-3...

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 17, 2011 -> 12:14 PM) Which means Buehrle doesn't allow his runners to score and Edwin does. No, look more closely at the post. I said Buehrle last year. Not this year. Last year Mark had a slightly lower WHIP and a slightly higher ERA than Edwin has this year. Edwin allowed less of his runners to score than Buehrle, possibly because Mark's WHIP was more heavily influenced by hits allowed and Edwin's walks allowed.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jul 17, 2011 -> 12:00 PM) Edwin has 8 quality starts in 18 outings this season which is just brutal, hell Danks has 9 in 15 outings and he's having a down year. QS may not tell you how dominant a starter is but it gives you a good idea of how often he's giving your team a chance to win and Edwin's inefficiency, lack of a third quality pitch and Javy Vazquez-esque blowups have been a problem. It's real easy to fall in love with him after an outing like yesterday but he's such an incredibly flawed pitcher. Yeah, but that depends on your definition of "quality start" and "giving you a chance to win." He's had 5 starts where he's given up 4 runs. Not exactly blowups. In 3 of his 18 outings, he's given up more than 4 runs this year. I'd say that is giving us a chance to win. Danks has given up more than 4 runs in 3 of his 15 outings, and now he is injured, so clearly he is not giving us a chance to win. Gavin has given up more than 4 runs in 5 of his 18 starts this season. Jake has given up more than 4 runs 3 times in 9 starts. Mark, who has been outstanding, has given up more than 4 runs only twice in 18 starts. Humber, only once in 16 starts. So yeah, the definition of a quality start is 3 runs or less in 6 or more innings pitched, but saying Edwin didn't give us a chance to win because he's given up 4 runs in 5 of his starts is skewing the context quite a bit.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 16, 2011 -> 03:41 PM) James Shields falling back down to earth against the Red Sox today. It seems like many of the guys who were forbidden to pitch in the ASG were hammered in their first starts back...Verlander/Hamels/Shields...

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 17, 2011 -> 11:42 AM) ^^ There's "the dreaded leadoff walk" he always talks about but I don't like "the dreaded leadoff hit" very much, either. You have the give credit to guys like Contreras and El Duque and Edwin for limiting their hits allowed if you're going to be on them all the time for walking guys. And while you hate to give guys free passes, last time I checked free passes are limited to one base and do not all a runner to advance from 1st to 3rd or score from 2nd. Edwin has a WHIP of 1.42 this year. Mark had a 1.40 WHIP last year. And while Mark may pitch quick games and keep his defense a bit more on their toes, you'd never hear Hawk lament about the hits Mark gave up last year in a similar fashion as he'll complain about Edwin's walks. Again, yes, it can be frustrating for a viewer, but you can't lose sight of the bigger picture. Edwin has struggled for much of the second half with command issues, which has led to his overall struggles; but get him on track going into the postseason, and he's as dangerous as any pitcher we have. That is where giving up Dan Hudson might finally prove worth it.

You have to take frustration out of the equation though. Something that has always driven me crazy about Hawk is how short his patience is for guys like Jose Contreras and Edwin that walk people. Yes Hawk, watching a pitcher walk people is frustrating, but so is watching Buehrle give up 15 hits. Yes, Edwin is going to have some frustrating starts where he throws 115 pitches in 5 innings, but the numbers are the numbers. He's on pace for 200 innings of 4.00 ERA ball. That's not worth what it has been in recent years, but it's still worth a lot. Especially come the postseason, when stuff like Edwin's tends to play very well...

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 12, 2011 -> 01:29 PM) Atlanta seems to be a significantly better trade partner for Rasmus. However, if you can trade Danks for Rasmus and Quentin for Beachy, then sign me up. The Braves are looking for a RH bat I think...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 11, 2011 -> 02:39 PM) Have you ever had to make a split second decision between leaning 3 inches more and missing a foul ball? I'm not saying we are right, but I agree with you here. One of the best players in the game threw a father a ball he was trying dangerously hard to catch both to impress his son and so he could give the ball to his son. This is no one's fault...but I could see how it could happen and it is just an unfortunate and terrible accident. I am sure a memo was circulated around baseball for players to not throw balls into the stands anymore.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 10, 2011 -> 12:54 PM) i dont know, for a while there they had the best pitcher in the majors in Johan Santana anchoring their rotation, and they couldnt get over the hump on short or long series. it is weird how bad they have been in the playoffs with some of the seasons they have had going into the playoffs Santana was the exception, and he was not drafted by the Twins, but selected in the Rule 5 draft. And when Santana was anchoring their rotation, they at least won playoff games. They weren't able to get over the hump, but those teams at least had a chance of winning. Since Santana was traded, the Twins have been made short work of in the postseason.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 10, 2011 -> 09:36 AM) He said in the Trib today that The Twins are always built to win the AL Central and not the World Series, while the Sox are always built to win the World Series and not the AL Central. I couldn't agree more. There is a reason the Twins never win in the playoffs. They develop pitchers that throw strikes, but aren't necessarily "stuff" pitchers. And there is nothing wrong with that, because they will always be consistent and keep you in games for the most part. They also develop position players that are fundamentally sound and put the bat on the ball. Over the course of 162 games in the Central Division, that oftentimes, will win 85-95 games, assuming you have a quality roster. Meanwhile, the White Sox, and KW in particular, seem to be lured in by the potentially dominant SP, the guy that can shut down any offense on any given day. However, by nature, these pitchers also have days where they are unable to harness their stuff and this leads to inconsistency. Mark Buehrle is the obvious exception to this, and to a lesser extent, Johnny Danks. From an offensive perspective, Kenny has brought in power hitting players who will have 30-40 home run seasons, but also will go through extended periods where they are practically useless, such as Carlos Quentin. What this has lead to, especially in the last 5 years or so, is a team that can beat the Red Sox and the Yankees (and that has), but will struggle with lesser opponents within the division quite often. The end result is a team that is much more capable of beating the AL powers in a 7 game series, but will struggle to win the 85-95 games to reach the postseason due to their inconsistency. For all you guys saying Rosenbloom is a fool, I don't necessarily disagree, but on this point, he is spot-on. I don't think a more accurate assessment of our club over the past several years could be made.

QUOTE (spiderman @ Jul 9, 2011 -> 05:20 PM) So, a free agent manager gets a call from Williams, and he then calls Guillen to let him know? I'm not buying. Jeff Torborg?

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 5, 2011 -> 08:36 AM) How much money does McLouth have left on his deal? I'd rather just trade Rios for him, but I don't think the money is nearly equal. $6.5 million this year and then a club option for 2012 at $10.65 million with a $1.25 million buyout.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 5, 2011 -> 08:35 AM) Lowe for Rios? Mmmhmmm.

QUOTE (Disco72 @ Jul 5, 2011 -> 08:28 AM) If the Sox take Lowe (and his salary), they'd better get rid of Rios in the deal. That's what some Braves fans are speculating the deal might be.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 5, 2011 -> 07:47 AM) Weakening your weakest spot on the team (offense) for something you don't need at all right now (starting pitching) makes no sense at all on the surface. Right now at best, Dayan would give you what Carlos did. Odds are with growing pains and his defense, you aren't even going to get that much. I agree...I'm just looking at the same thing you are....figuring Q is setting himself up for a payday we can't afford, we have Viciedo ready to come up, a manager in love with Pierre, Rios is not tradable...Quentin is basically the only guy that can be moved to make room for Viciedo... I can't see even Kenny having the stones to do this just to get value for Quentin and to capitalize on the strong pitching market, but you can't put it past him either.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 5, 2011 -> 07:43 AM) Extremely risky sounds very Kenny-ish The un-Kenny-ish part would be trading a guy like Q at this point in the season for a younger player.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 5, 2011 -> 07:35 AM) I don't think it is something that simple. Carlos doesn't make any sense to deal if you believe you are in a pennant race unless there is something really wrong. Dealing your second best hitter, especially for a pitcher, when your offense has been awful? It doesn't pass the smell test. If Kenny really wanted to open a spot for Dayan, he would find someone to dump Pierre on, and pick up most of his salary the rest of this year. If he is looking to deal Q it means he is looking for an insane amount of money on an extension, having issues in the clubhouse, really worried about an injury problem, or something worse that none of us have heard about (and in this day and age, speculation would always begin there with juicing or worse). Or maybe Quentin is his only tradable assett and he has a ton of faith in Viciedo. He could certainly dump Pierre if he really wanted to, but you know Ozzie is not going to let that happen. Agreed that it would be incredibly risky, but we've seen this inconsistency play out with Quentin before and maybe he's just trying to get top dollar for him. Again, agreed that it would be very un-Kenny-ish and extremely risky, but if Kenny has his eye on doing something with Cashman, this would probably be one of the ways to do it, while getting Viciedo out of Charlotte and on to the big league club, where Kenny has said he is confident Viciedo is ready to be on several occasions now.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 5, 2011 -> 08:19 AM) Wow. There must be something behind the scenes we don't know about. Yeah, it's called Kenny being restless. You know he is dying to get Viciedo out of Charlotte and he knows now it won't be at the expense of Pierre.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jul 5, 2011 -> 08:14 AM) It's worth noting that Steve Stone floated the idea of trading CQ to Atlanta on the Score just now. Such a trade doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense IMO but Steve Stone doesn't just say things to say them. I would have no problem trading Q, especially while he is basking in his all-star status. Trading him for a starting pitcher would be interesting, however, and would clearly point to us moving another of our own starters to the Yankees, as was pointed out above. I would be much more excited, however, were we to be known to be scouting Gwinnett, as opposed to the big league club.