iamshack

QUOTE (qwerty @ Jul 28, 2009 -> 03:15 PM) Both have 122 home runs since thome first got here in 2006. Dye has more home runs since the beginning of 2008 than anyone in the AL other than Miguel Cabrera, who was 1 ahead of him heading into Friday evening's game, according to the Tigers broadcasters. Dye is the better hitter, which leads to more home runs. However, Jimmy is still a very professional hitter and probably has more natural power than JD. JD just squares up more balls than Jimmy.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 28, 2009 -> 03:14 PM) After they failed repeatedly and questioned Ozzie about it... That would be a little different. I think it's more a coincidence. I think it has to do that when players fail over what he deems to be a long enough period of time, Ozzie calls them out and says they better play better or they'll get sent down. He does it with all the young kids, whether they open their mouths or not.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Jul 28, 2009 -> 03:12 PM) Keeping Beckham at the bottom of the order and taking pressure off of him (when he must be here out of sheer necessity) is part of that development process. Beckham's only 22. How many 22-year-olds are in the bigs? How many of them hit at the top of the lineup? I have to agree with whomever said Beckham doesn't look like a kid who feels a whole lot of pressure. I don't see how moving him to the 2-hole would affect him. My concern with this move has more to do with its affect on Alexei than on Gordon.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 28, 2009 -> 03:10 PM) Ozzie said that because he wanted the guys in the clubhouse to not worry about looking over their shoulder everyday, and so that they wouldn't have to worry about the manager undercutting them. Its to keep the clubhouse in tact, nothing else. He did? Doesn't that sort of contradict all the stuff he said to guys like Fields and Anderson then? He threatened those two all the time...

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Jul 28, 2009 -> 02:55 PM) Yeah but most of us agree that the majority of stuff you hear is crap these writers make up or really is not true. Possibly. I think a few do a really great job - namely Ken Rosenthal. Jon Heyman seems like he has good sources as well.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Jul 28, 2009 -> 03:07 PM) His track record as a manager disagrees with that. So does his development of Jenks, Danks, Floyd, and now Beckham. I'll give you the fact that he is good with players. That may help the development of young kids. But he didn't want Beckham even here. He pencils him into the lineup every day out of sheer necessity. I don't see how that is showing great developmental skills.

Guys, this argument is silly. Thome hits 4th to break up what would otherwise be a procession of power hitting right handers. Secondly, the guy is a run producer for 15 years. You're not going to bat him second all the sudden because his OBP is .400. It is important for your leadoff hitter to get on base. We all know that. It is important for your second hitter to move that runner along, whether that be with the bunt, hitting the ball to the right side, whatever. It is also important that he be a good fastball hitter, because, presumably the middle order hitters are your run producers and so your table setters are going to see strikes, which most pitchers happen to throw most commonly with their fastballs. It's not rocket science, certainly not in our dugout anyways. So don't try and turn it into that.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Jul 28, 2009 -> 02:44 PM) It is pretty much like most trading deadlines. He lays low and then boom he does something. But maybe this year much to our disliking he really is planning for next year. Hard to imagine he is happy to say this team will win the division in it's current form. I don't know about that. Despite the fact that the things that get reported do not seem to come to fruition very often, we are usually included in nearly every big deal that gets talked about...the only real credible thing I have heard in the last week is the stuff about us trying to get Matt Holliday.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 28, 2009 -> 02:25 PM) That would be an intelligent move by the Rays. Simple fact is though; they're not letting him walk for nothing. Oh absolutely. If they were really intelligent, they would move him NOW. He is in the midst of his best season since 2006, and I have a very hard time believing they will be able to keep him in Tampa after next season. Unfortunately, the price would be prohibitive for most contending teams. Tampa is going to want back a big bat and a front end arm, and the only way that happens is from a non-contending team such as the Indians. However, I suppose it would be possible to trade Tampa the prospects the Indians want, and then they move them to the Indians for VMart and Lee. All seems a bit too complicated to me...

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 28, 2009 -> 01:28 PM) He has also supposedly been turned down for Dan Haren as well. I don't believe a thing Cowley or Levine say. I have a hard time believing Kenny could have been trying that hard to get Haren and the only guys that get a whiff of it are these two hacks? I dunno....seems funny that everything the Red Sox are doing and the Rays are doing is all over the media and a play like that by Kenny falls on deaf ears....hard to believe, that's all...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 28, 2009 -> 01:59 PM) 2011 offseason. 1.5 years remaining. Well, not exactly. Next year is a club option at $10 million with a 1.25 M buyout. Now undoubtedly that will be picked-up pending some unforseen circumstance, but he could technically be a free agent next offseason. It seems that many believe the Rays could exercise the option merely for the purpose of trading him. We'll have to see.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Jul 28, 2009 -> 11:08 AM) I gotta believe somewhere in all this mess KW made a qualified offer for Halladay (On his terms obviously) based on the same prospects we offered for Peavy and a little more maybe. But there has been no mention of the Sox making any substantial offers ad that is the confusing part. I tend to think our offer is on par or a little less than what the Angels or Hpillies will ultimately offer. Who knows though. To be quite honest with you, we have not been linked to hardly anything by the national media thus far this deadline. We have gotten a little play from Rosenthal, and a few sparse updates from the Chicago media, but usually the White Sox get linked to nearly every major deal in the works. That has not happened this year. Perhaps Kenny has learned who was leaking things before...

Ok, enough about the murdering nonsense. In other news, the DBacks are definitely not giving up Haren, per Rosenthal: http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9863582...day%27s-edition D-backs official: Haren staying — 12:29 p.m. Lest we start wondering if another ace might be thrust into the midseason swap meet, one senior Diamondbacks official said emphatically Tuesday morning that Dan Haren isn't going anywhere. Haren is under contract through 2013. He's been among the best pitchers in baseball this year — 10-5 record, 2.14 ERA, 141 strikeouts in 143 innings — and figures to be entering his prime at age 28. "We're not trading him," the Arizona official said. "We don't want to change our core."

QUOTE (spiderman @ Jul 28, 2009 -> 09:19 AM) Why? Are you suggesting that Riccardi should take what he considers to be less than his full worth just to make a deal? Halladay is worth, to the Blue Jays anyway, what the market will bear. He is not going to win anything for them this year, most likely will not win anything for them next year. So he's basically worth 50-ish starts to them. In contrast, he's worth a chance to win a title to several other teams, and they are willing to pay for that chance. And that price is much better for the Blue Jays than keeping Halladay. Riccardi is simply trying to extract that precise maximum price he can and he is paying for it in terms of relationships and reputation (or at least it appears to from everything that is being printed in the media).

QUOTE (rangercal @ Jul 28, 2009 -> 12:03 AM) http://blogs.suntimes.com/whitesox/2009/07...ez_go_at_i.html Some pretty funny quotes attributed to Ozzie for the sophomoric types...

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 27, 2009 -> 09:02 PM) I really wish we were sellers right now with the huge prices teams seem to be paying for average players. The Giants #9 prospect could be top 5 in many systems. I understand what you're saying, but I think the value of prospects are getting a bit out of hand right now. The entire reason they became so valuable over the last several years is because of the STEEP financial cost of proven quality veterans. However, now that cost has decreased. If quality veterans are available at reasonable prices, then the value of prospects correspondingly decreases, and the best move becomes to trade some of these kids you're not particularly high on...

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 27, 2009 -> 11:01 AM) I think it would be pretty funny if he got traded, developed a batting routine for in between pitches, and became a .320 hitter the rest of his career. Hah...if it were only that easy... I don't know why, but I got a big chuckle out of these last two posts....probably still drunk...

QUOTE (joejoedairy @ Jul 27, 2009 -> 02:02 AM) this thread is borderline blasphemous Couldn't agree more.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jul 26, 2009 -> 12:18 AM) There are three places this rumor could have come from: 1. MLB Trade Rumors posters 2. WSI 3. A butthole (probably residing in the Seattle area) Have to call major bulls*** here. Why would Lee be enormously cheaper than Halladay? Why would Seattle be able to get Kazmir and Brignac for Clement and Morrow? Why would this deal be "on hold" if all three teams wanted to do it? Yeah, Cleveland is so set upon getting ripped off that they're hanging on to this offer in hopes of Seattle winning a couple more ballgames before the deadline. The "among others" part btw is way too vague. And why would Cleveland want Clement as a centerpiece when they have a logjam already at 1B/DH? Even if they deal VMart, they still have Shoppach. Morrow is more of a complimentary piece in a deal for an ace, not a centerpiece, like Poreda would be for us IMO. Just a ridiculous rumor. So again, Sox are reportedly prepared to part with Gavin Floyd for an ace. Yanks could part with one of Hughes/Chamberlain for an ace. Angels are offering Jered Weaver for an ace. So now Cleveland sends out Lee for Morrow and Clement? Sure... Agreed. Bulls***.

I can't imagine us trading for one of their prospects, and the Braves are not going to move one of their young pitchers. I am hearing conflicting information on Escobar...I hear one day Bobby Cox really struggles with him, and another day I hear he loves him. So I am really confused. I agree it probably isn't a reliever either. I really don't know what we need from them...our only true need is SP and possibly 3b, but even those aren't urgent needs...

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jul 22, 2009 -> 03:36 PM) It’s the other way around. Law has consistently ripped J.P. over the decision to draft Ricky Romero over J.P. Riccardi, in fact, their confrontation in the draft room is pretty famous around sabermetric circles. It’s one of the reasons Law “left” (was fired) from the organization. Also, say what you want about Riccardi’s demeanor, you can say a lot, he’s a liar, and a bit of a jerk, but it takes a lot to win 80 games every year in that division. To draft Romero over whom?

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jul 21, 2009 -> 05:43 PM) Clayton Richard's average fastball this season is about 92 MPH. According to PitchFX he's topped out at about 95. There you go again, ruining things with your actual data.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 16, 2009 -> 02:24 PM) I think that was rumored. If the Sox offered Dye and we didn't get Jackson than the Rays GM is the dumbest GM alive. Because what they got was a lot less than Jermaine Dye for Edwin Jackson. I'm sure they'd be loving his production right now...however, they may have thought signing Burrell was the better solution given that they could pay him less and not have to give up a guy like Jackson for him... But you're right...who knows if that discussion actually took place or not...

There is no rumor about David Price from the Rays. I think Heyman meant THE price, or in other words, the cost, of acquiring Halladay. The exec mentions Joba Chamberlain and Rick Porcello. I don't think this has anything to do with the Rays or David Price.

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Jul 16, 2009 -> 12:20 PM) But probably more expensive in terms of what the Sox would have to give up. I'll gladly give up a few more B level prospects if I don't have to commit to a $90 million deal...