iamshack

Guess what guys? EVERY team outside of the Yankees/Red Sox and MAYBE the Rays has these kinds of questions to answer. These kind of holes to fill. These kind of problems that lie ahead in the not-so-distant future. EVERY darn one of them! Look at the bullpens around the league. They all have 2-3 good arms and 3-4 what-ifs. Almost every offense has players that will be leaving via FA or guys that may or may not perform to what they have in the past, or to what their pedigree might suggest. The only thing a GM can do is put a roster together that has a reasonable potential at some point in the near future to possibly win a World Series. He can't play the games for them. He can't prevent them from being injured. He can't will them to produce at or above career norms. All he can do is go off what they have done in the past, or what his scouts firmly believe he will do in the near future. I believe Kenny has done that with as much or more skill than just about any other GM in his tenure. Nearly every season, with the exception of 07' I guess, Kenny has put together a team that had the reasonable potential to be a playoff-caliber team. Take a look around at your organizations with the best farm systems, and point out to me those that have experienced sustained success from the pieces coming out of their system. The Rays? I'm certainly not saying a good farm system is a negative thing, absolutely not. But it's not necessarily such an answer that suggests any more competitive certainty than the method we currently have been employing.

Still waiting for someone to address my question about those other rosters that are winning for such obvious reasons right now...

QUOTE (fathom @ May 19, 2010 -> 11:21 AM) Agreed, he's been an amazing contributor for the Sox, but the time is right to go with new blood behind the plate and hope Flowers makes it so you don't have to sign another catcher this offseason. That's fine. But please, please, please don't tell me the date that AJ's 10/5 rights kick in is the date we decide the fate of this entire roster. That is simply not some point at which we can no longer turn back.

All one needs to do is look around at the talent on the rosters that are winning games right now. Truly look at the rosters and see if you can tell the difference in talent between who is playing well right now and who isn't. We can all sit here and try and be Colin Cowherd and explain why some teams are winning and some aren't, but the fact is, after 40 games you really can't explain everything. More time is needed. Some teams can be explained...the Yankees and Phillies are just so talented from top to bottom. And their players are actually producing. But teams like the Nationals, Reds, Tigers, Marlins, Blue Jays, Padres, Rangers, A's, Giants....those teams have no more talent on their rosters than we do. And in many cases, they have less talent. And yes, their managers also make boneheaded decisions, so don't tell me the difference is OG either. Sometimes baseball is just a funny game. And it takes a long, long time for the talent to win out as the most recognizable force of a ballclub. Say blow it up all you want, but IMHO, rebuilding will most likely not yield any better chance at competing for a World Championship than the roster we currently have, and many, many years down the road if so.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ May 19, 2010 -> 10:52 AM) In regards to that first paragraph, I really can't stand pseudo insults like that. I believe in rebuilding because I don't believe in your opinion stated in the second paragraph. I do not think that this team is a small piece away from being a real contender. Ok, I can respect that response. But what I want to see other than "trade away all of our valuable pieces for prospects" is some sort of long-term plan suggested. What is your goal in rebuilding? How would you like the team/franchise to be built? What kind of pieces would you like to acquire? What kind of organizations win in this league? What have they built that we have not? If you look at the recent history of championship teams in MLB, it becomes clear that they are teams built with a balance of a strong starting rotation, a solid bullpen, and a strong top and middle of the order on offense. As far as I'm concerned, the bullpen is pretty much a matter of having a dependable closer and 1-2 decent setup men to start the season, then fortifying that during the season with whomever steps up from within the organization combined with acquiring 1-2 arms at the trade deadline. I don't feel that we need anything other than another LH to solidify our bullpen, and maybe shuffling the closer's role. But the arms are, for the most part, in place. The starting rotation is also in place, as far as I am concerned. Peavy and Danks are probably our most dependable arms at this point, with Mark and Gavin struggling, but with a history behind them. Gavin has been a historically slow starter, while Mark has gone through periods of sustained struggles before. But to be completely honest, you're never going to be able to throw 4 arms out there that are really any more dependable and talented then these guys, unless you want to start pointing to the Braves' rotations of the early-mid 90's. Any rebuilding effort is MOST LIKELY not going to produce a stable of arms with any more potential and talent than what we already have there. The offense is clearly an underwhelming facet at this point in the season, but as we have discussed, there are talented pieces in that lineup that are simply underperforming right now. I think it is simply difficult to make a solid argument that 3-4 of these hitters are going to continue to float around the mendoza line. It just doesn't happen with professional hitters, especially those with the talent these guys have. I guess what I'm saying is I don't see a rebuilding effort yielding much better talent and potential than what we currently have in place. If I truly believed that this offensive core of Beckham, Quentin, Jones, Konerko, Ramirez, Rios, and AJ simply had no hope or no potential of hitting enough to win ballgames, I would concede and say overhaul the entire thing. But we have the arms in the rotation, we have the pen to hold leads, we have the talent there on offense - we just need the production to occur. And the production is ALWAYS the most difficult thing to predict. The way I look at things is, if things go fairly well with this roster, do we have a chance to win the whole thing? In my mind, yes, we do. And that's really all one can ask for. If I didn't truly believe that, I would say blow it up.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 19, 2010 -> 11:42 AM) Saunders will be soiling his pants tonight. Doesn't Nix have like 4 homers in 10 at bats off Saunders or something?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 19, 2010 -> 10:46 AM) The thing that makes it for me is that this really is built as a 1 year roster. Counting Jenks, there are 6 guys I wouldn't expect back next year who are either highly paid or high performers. Jenks AJ Konerko Jones Putz Garcia Add in Kotsay, Vizquel, and Castro, and you're talking about overhauling 40% of your roster in the offseason just to tread water. That's a lot easier to do if you turn some of those guys into useful parts beforehand. If they fall too far out of it this season for a small piece to be important, then next offseason, there's still a huge overhaul coming. There's really no way around it. With the current economic landscape of baseball, I don't think that's the worst thing in the world, honestly. The market is vastly undervaluing veteran talent, allowing teams have a bit more turnover with less of a financial impact. The key to me is building a strong, relatively young core, and supplementing that with inexpensive spare parts from the marketplace. Replacing Konerko is a big task, but other than that, I don't view any of those losses as devastating or anything (although I sure wish there was a way to keep Andruw).

For those of you demanding big-scale changes, let me ask you this: Are you guys identifying actual benefits to making these changes? I just don't see the point of dismantling a team with a relatively young, solid core for unproven, far away prospects. Or firing a manager that most of the town loves, the press loves, the owner loves, has a solid career winning percentage, etc. Are these just changes to satisfy your impatience? To make a change for change's sake? I'm not ready to make massive, wholesale changes after less than 40 games with this team playing together. Maybe you guys are, because you're accustomed to your video games or whatever. But remember, you start trading everyone away, you can't get these guys back. You can't erase your memory card and start the season over. I'm of the opinion that when these guys start playing like they damn-well should, we may be a small piece or two away from winning something rather than a piece or two away from blowing the whole damn thing up.

I think our lack of sacrifices is because of our lack of men on base. You can't sacrifice when no one is getting on base. There has to be an actual belief that a hit may occur...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2010 -> 04:42 PM) Take a moment to read the stuff about how he's abused Meche from this post. That's some crazy stuff there...

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 13, 2010 -> 02:50 PM) Problem is, even when Hawk is at his best, Stoney and Hawk work poorly together because they are both color guys. Neither are good at PBP. My hope is that Hawk retires after this year, and they bring in a good PBP guy to go with Stone. Blasphemer!

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ May 13, 2010 -> 03:28 PM) Just bring back John Freaking Rooney!!! I cringe everytime I hear one of his calls...

Thanks

QUOTE (docsox24 @ May 13, 2010 -> 03:17 PM) because we have the day off?? i sat up in the booth with hawk and dj back when they were partners. dj was very cool and talked to me a lot between innings. hawk pretty much ignored me. another time we were at a team party in the offseason and i introduced my girlfriend to hawk. he proceeded to slobber all over her face. she is still traumatized by it. Are the two of them going to be back in the booth again for some reason or other though?

Why is this coming up again?

Watched In Bruges last night...loved it.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 13, 2010 -> 01:19 PM) went to HS together, and played little league. Ahh, funny. I worked with him several years ago.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 13, 2010 -> 01:00 PM) im in Hey Rock, you know Conor Donaghue?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 13, 2010 -> 12:00 PM) My goal is lean and a 6-pack, its coming along. I've been working at this for years and years and finally I think I've found the solution to this and it feels great. I would recommend hitting up one on one with Tony to change up your P90X maintenance though. Ooohh....tell me, what is the solution?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 13, 2010 -> 09:56 AM) Not a ton, but some. I am doing a hybrid program now. For example: Monday: Insanity Tues: P90 resistance workout wed: plyo thurs:P90 resistance friday: insanity sat: insanity yoga Well keep at it, buddy...good work!

QUOTE (docsox24 @ May 13, 2010 -> 09:18 AM) haha. i do most of the cooking and shes never been to a strip club, maybe this next vegas trip... Well, I am happy to know she will soon be Mrs. Docsox24

QUOTE (RockRaines @ May 6, 2010 -> 06:31 PM) Alright, I wanted to post this in here because I'm betting nobody really reads the insanity thread. P90X is for p*****s. Insanity is the real deal. Hah...look at you, a full convert now...how much resistance training is there in Insanity, Rock? I'm losing a lot of my bulk...still toned, but going at this just once or twice a week is not going to cut it...thinking I need to do this at least 4 times a week.

QUOTE (docsox24 @ May 12, 2010 -> 04:34 PM) how could you not be pacified by a lemon chill? lucky for me my fiance loves going to games and wants to get there early and keep score every game. she even tells me when i get pissed off that we have to stick by the sox even when they are bad. Next you're going to tell us she is an amazing cook and loves strip clubs...

QUOTE (fathom @ May 12, 2010 -> 02:16 PM) When he's Johan-esque. The fact he's avoided the terrible games when his stuff hasn't been sharp is very promising. My point is if his stuff isn't sharp 80% of the time, then that's a problem.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ May 12, 2010 -> 02:10 PM) Danks was all over the place and still held this team to 3 runs. The guy is just a stud. come on white sox, wake the f*** up and reward him!!!! He's been all over the place for about 4 games now though...when is he going to be "not" all over the place?