BearSox

QUOTE (VAfan @ Jun 6, 2009 -> 02:40 PM) What's the biggest flaw in your argument? Trying to make the case that the Pirates know WTF they are doing. And that's a HUGE flaw. Pirates haven't had a winning season since 1992, Barry Bonds's last year with the team. Remember Jason Bay? What did the Pirates get for him? They got failed prospect Craig Hansen who hasn't done anything in the majors and has been on the DL for well over a month. They got Brandon Moss, who could turn out to be decent. Wasn't really impressed with anything I saw from him. They got Bryan Morris, who is ranked as their number 5 prospect and a former 1st rounder, but his numbers don't look that good. And they got Andy LaRoche, who from what I've seen, looks pretty legit. Solid player at 3B, and was a top prospect. Overall, it was a decent deal for the Pirates. Bay only had 1 year left on his deal, and there's no doubt his numbers have benefited from the Green Monster.

Astros aren't trading Pence. They'd be stupid to do so, there's really no reason to trade him.

QUOTE (joesaiditstrue @ Jun 6, 2009 -> 02:32 PM) Just putting this out there Do people here really think Jordan Danks is going to be some kind of stud MLB CF once he's brought up? This guy was, essentially, brought to the Sox because of his relation to John Danks right? I mean, I'm sure they thought he was decent based on his college stats but This was a 7th round (Late 7th round if i recall) pick, that every other team but the White Sox passed on for other players I'm not saying he will not be good, or great, but I think it's silly with all the talk about him being ready to contribute in a year or year and a half, given how deep in the draft he was selected He fell to the 7th because he had Boras tell all the teams he was looking for a 7 figure signing bonus. He was a definite 1st round talent who didn't produce like one. If he didn't have the huge bonus demands, he likely would have gone in the 2nd or 3rd. In fact, we drafted Jordan out high school before we even brought in John. So, there's no doubt we've liked Jordan for a while now. The guy has serious talent. He definitely has potential to become a Grady Sizemore type of player. But that's not gonna happen over night, it's gonna take a couple years. Also, it wasn't a late 7th round pick. We had the 8th pick in every round last year (besides the second round, we lost that when we signed Linebrink).

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 6, 2009 -> 02:26 PM) Isn't Smoak out with an injury? Checked, he's on the 7 day DL right now... I guess it isn't considered serious though. He's been raking in AA though.

Mark Reynolds is a good hitter, he just K's a ton. Plus, he makes some of the most amazing plays you'll ever see at 3B. However, he seems to pile up the E's... but I'm sure some of those are a result of him getting to balls regular 3B wouldn't get to. But he's a solid player, he just really really needs to cut down on the K's. How much longer until we see the Rangers bench/send down Davis and call up Smoak?

Will Gibson be this year's Tanner Scheppers?

A logical lineup for today would have been... 1. Podsednik, LF 2. Ramirez, SS 3. Thome, DH 4. Konerko, 1B 5. Castro, C 6. Fields, 3B 7. Nix, RF 8. Beckham, 2B 9. Anderson, CF Of course, that'd make too much sense... However, after the 4 spot, that was a tough lineup to put together. Our options for CF, RF, 3B, and 2B are crap right now. Besides Beckham, who's a rookie and would be silly to expect a huge impact from him, we got nothing. Dye is suspended, Wise and Anderson have had like a total of 2 good AB's, Nix thinks he's the greatest home run hitter of all time, Fields doesn't know what he's doing... yuck. I'm hoping for next year, if we don't have Figgins at 3B and leading off, we can get someone like Rolen for 3B who can hit and provide us with a solid option in the middle of the lineup if we're ever in a situation with two big hitters out (Dye and Q)... Beckham would be at 2B.

One thing I don't get is the Jordan Danks is almost ready, McLouth doesn't help us in the future logic. That's bogus. Even if Danks is ready next year, we still need another OF. I highly doubt we'll go into next year with both Dye and Thome still on the team. Plus, McLouth is averaging around 5 million for the next two year, and for 2012, he has an option for around 10 million. If McLouth keeps improving, that 10 million isn't really that bad of a deal. After all, by 2012, McLouth will be 31 and still in his prime.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jun 6, 2009 -> 01:49 PM) the better question is, do you really think McLouth will ever match his 08 totals again? Then you're smoking crack. Why not? He's still young (28) and about the enter his prime. In fact, this year he is on pace to increase his HR total to 30 and his RBI total to 114 runs driven in. That would be an increase of 4 homers and an increase of 20 RBI's, in one year. His AVG, OBP, and SLG% are down, but I think that's mainly because he had really no protection in Pittsburgh and he was the guy pitchers were pitching around and trying not to give good pitches to. Now that he's in Atlanta with Chipper and McCann to protect him, I wouldn't be surprised to see his AVG, OBP, and SLG% go up now. There's no reason to think why McLouth isn't gonna be as good, if not better than his 2008 season from here on out. And, he's cheap for the next 3 years. Before, I really didn't care that we didn't trade for him, but I'm kinda upset now. You plug him into either of the OF spots with Danks and Q next year, move Dye to DH, and you allow yourself to let Thome go without losing a whole lot with McLouth as the lefty in the middle of the lineup. Plus, even this year he'd look good in the lineup and might provide a boost... w/o Q: 1. Podsednik, LF 2. Ramirez, SS 3. McLouth, CF 4. Dye, RF 5. Thome, DH 6. Konerko, 1B 7. Pierzynski, C 8. Beckham, 3B 9. Getz, 2B w/ Q: 1. McLouth, CF 2. Ramirez, SS 3. Dye, RF 4. Thome, DH 5. Konerko, 1B 6. Quentin, LF 7. Pierzynski, C 8. Beckham, 3B 9. Getz, 2B I don't care what anyone says, having McLouth in the lineup would provide quite the upgrade.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 6, 2009 -> 01:48 PM) Link contains Ozzie's "excuses" for not playing Beckham. What a load of crap. http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune....p-saturday.html I guess Beckham can't play 2B...

Today seems like a perfect day for Castro to start. Lefty pitcher on the mound, afternoon game after a night game, Floyd pitching, so at least with Castro's arm we have a slight chance of throwing runners out... I like Ozzie, but he's a dumbass a lot of the times. However, if we keep sucking, I wouldn't be surprised just to see him step down, he seems like the type that would do that.

Maybe. Buehrle seems to be in the same boat where he is struggling to decide whether he should keep playing, or retire to be with his family after 2011. It's a tough decision, but I bet neither retire after their contracts are up.

lol, you must hate NBC, the New York Times, and Newsweek then.

QUOTE (SoxFan101 @ Jun 6, 2009 -> 03:48 AM) Why would the Rangers want AJ? They traded one catcher this off-season and have 3 more that could be starters on a lot of teams. Speaking of Texas and catchers... if we keep sucking and decide to do a re-tooling, and decide to move Dye, Texas could be interested... I'd love to get Salty or Teagarden (preferably Salty) in return.

I'll be pissed if we go with Mitchell at 23. There's likely gonna be quite a few of players that would be better picks. At pick 38 though, I wouldn't mind getting him. The potential is there.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jun 6, 2009 -> 01:30 AM) He was drafted in the 1st round TWICE in back to back years. He was really good for a long time, once a highly touted spect not really cuz of his stuff, but just being a really smart pitcher, competitor, etc.. (also hardly gave up too many homers) He actually was suppose to be the better version of Buehrle, but he just never figured it out. At this point, he might have a hard time being a poor man's Buehrle actually. Well, he turned out better than McCulloch, and has been a AAA ace.

I like Beck. He really dislikes both sides, and he has done some good work with showing how big of a scam acorn is. He's over the top a lot, and quite crazy, but he's a true conservative, and he doesn't play the fence like O'Reilly does a lot.

IIRC, even we have hit Sowers hard in the past. The guy has nothing. I have no clue how this guy got drafted in the first round, let alone the 6th overall pick.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jun 6, 2009 -> 01:17 AM) I'd rather us suck in 2010 then if that's the case and draft Bryce Harper in 2011 than suck this year. We wouldn't draft him. That kid is probably gonna get more money than Strasburg. Also, he might be elligible for the 2010 draft, depending on what he and his family decides to do.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jun 6, 2009 -> 12:58 AM) Yeah, I really don't get this one either. I mean, even Fox isn't talking about it, WTF? Beck hasn't talked about it at all... all he talks about lately is acorn. O'Reilly has talked about it the past couple days though.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 5, 2009 -> 10:00 PM) It's ridiculous how many innings Hillman has had him throw already this season. You could tell last Sunday that this was bound to happen soon. Puh-lease. Not counting todays game, he's averaging 107 pitches a game. If you're saying that he's been overworked, your crazy. Maybe his arm has gotten tired, it happens, but he hasn't been over worked. Also, he's still only 26, so his arm can handle a heavy workload (which really isn't heavy). He's been dominating in 90% of his games, there's no reason why he shouldn't have had a lot IP piled up already. For reference, Justin Verlander (who's the same age) has pitched in the same number of game, but in about 10 less innings. Yet, he's averaging 108 pitches per game. Is he being overworked to?

If the Marlins decide to give up on Andrew Miller, I could see us buying low on him and trying to turn him into another "Coop can fix him" guy. Even if starting doesn't work out, he's got the stuff to be a good pen arm.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jun 5, 2009 -> 09:46 PM) Every bad post in here has been sarcastic, but it would be quite funny if after a couple months people started freaking out for real. Gotta love it. I know that, but I have a feeling we'll be having some serious ones.

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Jun 5, 2009 -> 09:49 PM) Ok, so when he first walks up to the plate, never having seen Pavano before, you believe it was a good idea for him to swing at Pavano's high 80's fastball before even gauging it ONCE? And after the second Ab, if I'm Beckham, I know I would have thought "hey, maybe I should work the count on Pavano next time. He has a low pitch count and I haven't even seen his secondary pitches yet." And you're right, I probably wouldn't have been as tough on him if he went 1-3 on three pitches. But he didn't, so we'll never know. All I know is, good players don't do that. Sure, Vlad Guerrero is known for his first pitch hacking, but he also has great plate coverage and power. The result of Beckhams first three ABs were Chris Getz like outs -- flyout to right, groundout to SS, and a flyout to shallow CF. I'm pretty sure he wasn't successful through the minors first pitch swinging. I never said it was a good idea. But I'm not going to be overly critical of a top prospect in his second MLB game being a bit antsy at bat, trying to get his first hit and get the monkey on his back. Beckham ain't stupid, he knows there's a lotta pressure on him by the fans. I have a feeling after the first hit comes, we'll see them start coming in bunches, and him having some very good AB's. At least the pitches he swung at were hit-able pitches and not balls way over his head or a curve in the dirt.

If Beckham went even 1-3 on 3 pitches, people wouldn't be complaining. I'm not saying it's a good practice or approach to have, but when you see that high 80's fastball of Pavano's coming right over the middle, it's not a terrible idea to take a good cut and hope to hit the ball hard somewhere.