iamshack

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 27, 2010 -> 03:44 PM) I'm not stating that those guys would necessarily impact others minds, but Orlando Cabrera is Vladdy's best friend and Vladdy is a pretty popular player. Torri Hunter is a pretty popular guy as well and he might have heard stuff. All it takes is a few guys to have friends that are big time players and quickly it isn't just some misguided myth, it is the league perception and that is not an easy thing to run away from. And Jermaine Dye is a well well regarded player in this league. Whether legitimate or not, he left on a sour note. That said, Ozzie has always said good things about JD and I think JD genuinely likes Ozzie, but I've heard plenty of grumblings over the last year or two that a lot of people in our clubhouse pretty much tune out Ozzie. And that is not a good thing. And OCab calls up to the official scorer to complain about errors and Torii Hunter comes out every year and says that white players shouldn't be wearing Jackie Robinson's number on Jackie Robinson day. Neither of these guys are infallible either. I just think that baseball is like any other industry or collection of professionals. Everyone has some people they like and some people they don't particularly care for. My feeling is some people think Ozzie is a loud mouth and others think he is freaking hilarious and would be a joy to play for. Just depends on what you enjoy about a leader.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 27, 2010 -> 03:41 PM) Not at all. Oh, chalk another player onto my long list of players with potential reasons for grief: Orlando Cabrera Nick Swisher Brandon McCarthy (a good kid) Sean Tracey (who is an amazingly good guy) Ryan Sweeney Brian Anderson Jermaine Dye That is a decent list of players. Some might have BS reasons for being upset but regardless it is a list of guys. Once Jenks is gone, I think we will see him on the list as well. It is no secret that Jenks has had some heat with Sox management (including Kenny). I can't agree with you about Jermaine and Jenks. Jenks loves Ozzie. They hug each other after every game Jenks finishes for us. I think that's why Jenks has such a long leash - because he has taken Bobby under his wing since 05', even if that means giving him some tough love from time to time. Ozzie has done the same thing with Freddy and MCab as well. I really think they get what Ozzie is doing, more so than disliking him for it. As for Dye, Ozzie let the guy play nearly every game in the second half last year, even though he was one of, if not the absolute worst hitter in baseball from August onward. I don't know what JD would have against Ozzie for that.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 27, 2010 -> 03:40 PM) The thing is, if you have someone like Swisher absolutely ripping Ozzie with his Yankees teammates, what's to stop them from voting that they wouldn't want to play for Ozzie? The poll isn't what concerns me, it's the fact that a Sox beat reporter who never creates controversy is reporting that there's a handful of players that feel this way, and one or more is still on the team. The Yankees have a collection of some of the more professional players in the league on their team. I just really don't believe that Derek Jeter gives a s*** what Nick Swisher says, especially if he knows what Nick Swisher has been known to do in his free time. These guys are not naive.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 27, 2010 -> 03:37 PM) There's a whole group of minor leaguers that didn't just dislike Ozzie, they HATED Ozzie. We've talked about this in detail on this site. I don't buy the nightlife scene either entirely, as there's some veterans that were heavily involved in that as well that Ozzie was fine having on the squad. Ozzie is quite the partier himself, both now, and when he was a player. So he doesn't hold it against players if they want to go out and enjoy themselves. That would be incredibly hypocritical of him, and I think he recognizes that. What he doesn't care for, IMO anyways, is players that are out there partying it up every other night but not bringing their "A game" to the ballpark every day. It's probably true that one of Ozzie's weaknesses as a manager is his handling of young players. He much prefers his veterans, sometimes to a fault, but I can live with that. A lot of great managers have won a lot of games with the same approach. If it pisses off some burn-out prospects along the way, so be it.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 27, 2010 -> 03:23 PM) Whether by trade or FA, etc. I think it is a bad thing if players around baseball are against playing for our manager. That negative perception isn't a good thing and it will make people less willing to join our front office. What happens when we offer the same amount of money to a player who has 3 other teams interested, well, we lose out on said player. Whether that happens or not, I don't know, but it is a really really bad thing if players don't want to play for our manager. I got a feeling that Swisher/Brian Anderson/Brandon McCarthy/Sean Tracey all have really terrible things to say about Ozzie. Whether warranted or not, I don't know. The next question is what does Jermaine Dye think of Ozzie? I respect your opinion Jason, but I find it difficult to believe that this particular collection of misfits having a negative opinion of Ozzie really means jack s*** to anyone worth a damn as a player. I think Ozzie's reputation amongst the latin community of players, as well as his experience managing the AL All Star team in 06' has a lot more affect on what the good players in the league think about him than what BA, BMac and Sean Tracy think of him.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 27, 2010 -> 03:26 PM) Perception is reality. Whether we like it or not, that is the case and eventually having a manager that polarizes people in the lockerroom you will get in trouble. Just look at Byron Scott. The guy rubbed so many people the wrong way and because of it he has gotten fired at two different places as a head coach. Coaching basketball is sooooo much different than managing baseball. Basketball is a hands-on sport from a coaching perspective. It's about x's and o's and minutes as opposed to managing baseball, which is basically throw the guys out there and let them do their thing. I agree that you don't want to be known as a controversial basketball coach, at least in terms of clashing with egos and the like. But in baseball, you put the guys out there for 9 innings and whatever happens, happens. Any baseball FA that we care enough to actually be upset about not wanting to come here is certainly not going to be left off the lineup card by Ozzie. He may have his issues with fringe players, but he puts the guys that produce out there on a regular basis. The only player I can think of that had any kind of a case for how he was treated by Ozzie is Nick Swisher, and it's not a big secret that he was not only not producing on the field, but there were issues in the background there as well. It should come as no surprise to anyone that the three guys Ozzie really had a problem with were underperforming on the field and overexposing themselves in the Chicago nightlife scene simultaneously. Not a good combination.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 27, 2010 -> 02:01 PM) agreed I hope so...he didn't show any signs of being injured towards the end of the game.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ May 27, 2010 -> 01:26 PM) Based on what? just a hunch? Yesterday he sort of landed or ran through first base awkwardly in the 6th or 7th inning I think. He didn't appear to injure himself, but it certainly looked scary to me. I hope it doesn't have anything to do with that. I immediately thought, oh crap, not the turf toe again...hope he didn't rip it again...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 27, 2010 -> 12:53 PM) That'd be one way to give JP an extra break. Stone brought that up yesterday in the middle of the game. Pitching Mark on Sunday and giving Jake an extra day.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 27, 2010 -> 12:50 PM) I'd probably be in favor of robo-umps. Personally, I don't have much use for the non-talents who are only there as a necessary evil blowing calls and deciding games because they don't know how to get into position for a play at the plate, the whimsy created by the incompetence of umpires is lost on me. I still think the umpires are needed, but yeah, some system like in tennis where you have a certain number of challenges you can use would be sort of interesting. I don't know what the technology is that they use to determine where exactly the ball landed, but one would think it could be applied to baseball on balls and strikes, balls hit down the lines, maybe even force plays at a base.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 27, 2010 -> 12:41 PM) That is the day my interest in baseball is reduced to almost nothing. A tech Ump would suck. human error and judgement is part of the game and makes it so anythign can happen on any given day. I dunno, those challenges they can do in tennis are pretty sweet...

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 27, 2010 -> 12:35 PM) Could people be speculating at the Sox changing managers at some point this season if all goes wrong and this be a devised move to try and start putting out some ammo for why they could be getting rid of Ozzie. As if there is not already enough ammo for getting rid of Ozzie? I'm not too concerned if the frat boys are upset that they didn't get enough playing time. It's not as if Brian and BMac went on to become superstars elsewhere or something. All Ozzie wants is for the young kids to take playing in the big leagues seriously, and try to have a little fun while doing it - just look at his treatment of Gordon. I think the entire league knows Ozzie plenty well by now. Something some agent said is not going to change anyone's mind about him.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 27, 2010 -> 12:27 PM) Wow, the time to make a change with the manager is after this season, unless things turn around. That's pretty damaging comments posted by Gonzales. Oh give me a break. Ozzie is a polarizing figure. There are simply going to be those that love him, and those that hate him.

Sorry I am late guys, but I hope you enjoyed your day!

Nice to see the tide starting to turn a bit around here...

F you, Joe West

Laughing at the Marlins broadcast team poking fun at the Brewers for being down 13-0 to Minnesota. Umm, hello?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 21, 2010 -> 07:44 PM) Give Greg Walker a lifetime contract!!!! We're 18th in MLB runs scored with only two players in our line-up tonight with an OPS of over 700. How is that possible? Lots of home runs....maybe the stolen bases?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 21, 2010 -> 07:48 PM) One way or the other, KW's hand isn't really forced. If AJ can get on a hot streak the next 2-3 weeks and/or a catcher goes down to injury with one of the major contenders, we can actually get something back besides salary relief (not Santana, Nathan and Bonser, though, haha). If he's traded, we can 1) play Flowers or 2) play Lucy and Castro. If Flowers is put at DH for 2011, then they'll know exactly what they have in Lucy/Castro/Armstrong at the big league level. You mean Liriano.

Just did Back and Biceps after going 5 days without working out due to my mom being in town to visit. Oh my. My arms are like jelly. Could barely lift the blender to make the recovery drink... So how is everyone coming along? Looks like Rock is doing his Insanity/P90X/One-on-One hybrid, LZ and the Gooch are still hanging with the program, and Gerry is kicking some ass on the Insanity. Everyone sticking with it pretty well? We need to continue to encourage eachother! Keep up the great work, fellas!

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 21, 2010 -> 04:01 PM) So here's what those chemical dispersants do to marine life.... That's a turtle in case you couldn't make it out. Wow, that kind of looks like the girl I had drinks with last night...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 21, 2010 -> 03:47 PM) I guess I rejected that idea because of the next step of thought...how much does it cost to get you to June of next year to bring him up? Now, we're not just talking about the $4 million that we're spending on AJ...we're talking about having Donny Lucy as our only catcher next year until we're ready to bring Flowers up. In other words, we're probably out on the market trying to find at least 1 catcher, probably 2, just to give us a reasonable start to the year. Miguel Olivo's contract with the Rockies was a $2.5 million deal last offseason, Jason Kendall's deal was 2 years/$4 million, so the going rate for a veteran catcher of AJ's caliber is at least going to be around $3 million. So now we're talking a cost of $7 million+ to keep Flowers in AAA until next June. By my Math, I figured we might be having on the order of $10-$15 million to spend on FA's next offseason to fill holes, assuming no savings from dealing anyone this year. Keeping Flowers in AAA looks to me like the difference between having $15 million to play with and perhaps around $8 million to play with. Or $17 million and $10 million. Whatever. If we're going to suck anyways, why not just let Lucy and Castro split duties? What do we lose out on?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 21, 2010 -> 03:34 PM) There is essentially zero difference in service time between bringing Flowers up on June 2 and breaking camp with Flowers next year. Once you get to the start of June, you've saved yourself that arbitration year in all cases. (That's why cheap organizations like the Sox and Nationals wait until early June to bring up guys like Beckham and Strasbourg) The only reason to keep Flowers down after June 1, for financial reasons, is if you don't think he'll be ready until June 1 of 2011. If you think he's that bad right now, then yeah, hold onto AJ and be prepared to spend money on another catcher next offseason. I guess I didn't write it clearly enough...but that's what I meant when I stated there would be no far-reaching implications for having him on the roster the entire year next year. What I am advocating is that if you don't think he is ready this year, you wait until June of next year to bring him up....

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 21, 2010 -> 02:22 PM) Frankly, I'm pretty sure he's not yet ready, but I'm not willing to spend another $4 million to keep him in the minors after June 1st. Well, you may end up spending that money indirectly by bringing him up early then. Bringing him up this June, if he's indeed not ready, and starting his arbitration clock, might well cost you $4 million or more in the future. My guess is those that advocate trading AJ this year are not expecting huge things for us next season. So it isn't as though having Flowers on the roster for an entire year next season is going to have any far-reaching implications on our success next year. By bringing up Flowers before he is ready, you are inefficiently managing his service time, which can be far more devastating financially than paying AJ to stick around this year...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 21, 2010 -> 03:12 PM) There's one other thing you have to keep in mind...he's a free agent at the end of this season, unless we want to offer him another $6 million+ next year before the season starts. So when you say things like, his knowledge of the game will be missed and his fire will be missed... You may well be right. But that was going to happen anyway. Yeah, absolutely. But I think the implications are a bit different if you trade him away early in this season versus making some small effort to bring him back next year, but ultimately let him walk away. Regardless, he will be missed for his contributions, but if you truly believe Flowers is ready, than you've got to move on, especially considering the difference in salaries.