witesoxfan

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 03:26 PM) Lilly pitching tonight so Dayan may not play for some time. Sox to get Dempster, Zambrano and Silva if he is healthy. I have virtually no doubt in my mind that Viciedo plays tomorrow.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 03:12 PM) BTW Sox fans don't overvalue AJ, at least not here. They underrate the s*** out of him and overvalue that stupid roid monkey in Charlotte. AJ is a slightly above league average catcher with solid but not spectacular defensive skills who is in his age 33 season, which is generally around the time when catchers begin to break down or are forced to a different position if their offensive game is good enough to translate. For examples' sake, here are some OPS's of the best catchers of all time from ages 32-35... Mike Piazza 32 - .957 33 - .906 34 - .860 (64 games) 35 - .806 Johnny Bench 32 - .810 33 - .858 (52 games) 34 - .716 35 - .741 (final season) Ivan Rodriguez 32 - .893 33 - .735 34 - .769 35 - .714 and there's plenty more where that came from. It's just not reasonable to expect Pierzynski to maintain any type of success or health beyond this season, and people who want to see what Flowers can produce are not in the wrong at all.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 03:01 PM) He lost something like 10+ pounds in April/May on a stomach illness regimen. Now THATS the kinda diet a guy can go for.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 03:07 PM) Yeah, and it's in Canadian, called loonies by the locals. SoxAce, you need to stay the hell out of this. LOL, this seems a little overdramatic, don't you think? It's on a public message board, I'd like to think that anybody can comment on anything that they want. --- In regards to Teahen, I think he can be a valuable player in the right role. That role is not as a starting 3B. It might be as a super utility player, it might be as a stopgap corner outfielder, it might even be as a DH. I think what might be best for the Sox is if Teahen comes back and can put up a line similar to that of Chris Burke in 2006 when he put up .276/.347/.418/.765 playing all over the diamond. Hell, I would even say that if either Viciedo proves he can actually hit a bit and sling enough leather to stick or the Sox go and get a decent 3B, it would leave Kotsay with little to no value on this club. Teahen can then fill that spot on the roster while also having the versatility to play a bit of 2B and 3B if absolutely necessary (and with Vizquel on the roster, I would hope that "if necessary" never comes to fruition).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 02:27 PM) And if we're not able to spend much money next year...dealing Hudson right now is crazy, because he gives you the ability to start next year with a rotation equal or better to this one's for basically the same money. Otherwise, you have to replace Garcia, who has pitched like a $5 million/year pitcher so far this year. The Sox have gotten ridiculously lucky with how well Garcia has pitched this year.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 02:09 PM) How about Kotsay and Beckham? Kotsay's last 10 games - .269/.367/.423/.790 in 30 plate appearances Beckham's last 10 - .189/.205/.270/.475 in 40 plate appearances You can cherry pick for a while with Kotsay...if you only do his last 9 (26 plate appearances), his OPS is like .840, but over his last like 15 or 20, it's like .725. Beckham's just been all around bad, and getting him a night off somewhere would be good. However, an infield of Vizquel-Ramirez-Beckham is about the best defensive infield the Sox can arrange, and when Buehrle and Garcia are on the mound, you want to run out the best defense you can. Tomorrow might honestly be a good time to get both Viciedo and Lillibridge in the lineup with Floyd, who has the best K rate of any of the pitchers, on the mound. (I'd say it's an unfortunate break for him considering he'd be left without much offense again, but, even with Vizquel hitting well, I don't think putting Viciedo and Lillibridge in is that much of a downgrade offensively from Vizquel and Beckham)

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 02:01 PM) I agree 100 percent. Should be interesting to see Stone's take on this one. Doesn't he need to show some balls and attack Ozzie on this one like he attacked Lou? At least there should be some article explaining Oz's use of Viciedo. There probably has been one and I missed it. Viciedo hasn't shown anywhere near the success Colvin did when Stone ripped Piniella's use of him. It's hard to build up success when he's played only 5 plate appearances. Beyond that, Vizquel has been playing very well of late. Viciedo should play tomorrow, since it's a day game after a night game.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 01:58 PM) Looks like Alexei's fine. I was hoping that he wouldn't be, so we can play Viciedo at 3B and Vizquel at SS. I'm actually really happy just to know that Ramirez is healthy. Beyond that, Vizquel is hot, he's playing good defense at 3B, and he's hit Hudson a bit in the past - .303/.395/.424/.819 in 40 PAs. Naturally it's a small sample size, but playing Vizquel and having Ramirez in the lineup is the right move.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 01:16 PM) Really? I thought he put that up on the 89 squad. My mistake. its all good

Mark Kotsay in his career had started one game in which Tim Hudson was the opposing pitcher, and he went 3 for 3 with 1 2B and 1 HR. That came in back in 2001. Since that point in time, they've either been on the same team (2004 and 2008) or have been in different leagues (99-03, 05-07, 09-10). They still should have faced off in interleague atleast once, but instead, the other has been hurt when the opposing teams met (2009, Hudson was hurt), Kotsay has missed Hudson's turn in the rotation (2005), or they simply haven't been scheduled to face each other (which includes the remaining years). Just fun facts about one of our least fun players. It's a bit fascinating considering Hudson has started 324 games in his career and Kotsay has appeared in 1565 that they hadn't seen faced each other more than once.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jun 22, 2010 -> 11:02 PM) Rich Poythress. That's the guy that batted behind Gordon Beckham at Georgia, right? He either played with Becks at Georgia, or Mitchell at LSU..... Drafted in the 2nd round in 2009 out of the University of Georgia. Looks like he's a pretty solid prospect.

QUOTE (sin city sox fan @ Jun 22, 2010 -> 11:05 PM) Bobby pitched like an all star once again this evening....it really will be a shame if he's excluded from the All Star game. No, it really won't. In fact, with how vulnerable he has been to little injuries this year, I'd prefer he not make the team and get 3 days of R&R. I think the only 3 players that a case can be made for are Rios, Konerko, and Danks.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 08:16 AM) My annoyance with him was that I was arguing in 2004 that the Sox could easily win the Central with one of my officemates, and 2 of my arguments were "Look at who Loaiza is now" and "the Sox have the best LH reliever in baseball" and then Marte melted down a couple times in April of that year. And then Loaiza reverted to what he had done his entire career...great in April, tank the rest of the season.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 11:06 AM) If you trade Flowers, are we really sure we want to take a chance with AJ for one more season at his age, and at that salary range? I just think you have to get solid contributions from Dayan, Beckham, Quentin, Hudson and Flowers for us to have any chance in 2011 and beyond. Maybe we can afford one failure out of those five, but that's about all the breathing room we have with the Twins really starting to get contributions on a consistent basis from Delmon Young finally. I just doesn't see Ozzie and KW going away from Pierre at this point...unless someone amazing comes on the market that's totally unexpected. Dunn would be great as the DH, as long as he doesn't play OF (as many have mentioned), but is he worth Flowers and Hudson for a half-season rental? I guess it depends on what we can do with those draft picks and how much we're willing to spend, but we can't wait 2-3 more years to find a catching replacement, Gonzalez and Phegley are far, far away and Donny Lucy is quickly disappearing in the rearview mirror. I don't think the Sox have any visions of dealing Hudson whatsoever.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 08:19 AM) Well, it's not the record any more, and that wasn't a very good team either. The 1990 White Sox won 94 games, which was good for 2nd most in the AL that season and 3rd best in all of baseball, and were led by a great pitching staff. Alex Fernandez (as a 20 year old, having just been drafted that year) and Jack McDowell had solid seasons, Eric King and Greg Hibbard had great seasons, and the bullpen was phenomenal, which was led by Thigpen, who put up a 1.83 ERA and 1.04 WHIP. It's not their fault that the A's won 103 games and that the Wild Card hadn't been invented yet.

QUOTE (chimpy2121 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 09:43 AM) http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5318111 Also got rid of their bench coach and hitting coach. Edwin Rodriguez named interim manager. I respect Fredi for how he stood up to Hanley. Like others said, the owners expectations are so high yet he won't allow his team to spend any money. John Heyman said that Bobby Cox is the early favorite to replace Bobby Cox next year. o rly

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 10:38 AM) Okay, Ed Wade's dumb but he's not that dumb. The Astros get maybe one good player in that deal. Yeah, it was just something off the top of my head. I'm just looking at it and thinking that the Sox either don't want or can't trade Flowers, Hudson, or Viciedo. If that's the case, it doesn't leave a hell of a lot in regards to value throughout the system.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 10:39 AM) Nice. Where do you find those splits? B-R is amazing. http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/...L&year=2010 http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/...B&year=2010 what's even better, that I'd never noticed before, was if you click on the position itself ("as SS"), it lists the teams in order of offensive production. Only 3 teams have a SS with an OPS over .800 - the Rockies, Marlins, and Giants, and only 6 have a SS with an OPS of greater than .750 - the Blue Jays, Dodgers, and Yankees join the group. I haven't looked at his WAR, but I would imagine that Alexei Ramirez is the most valuable, or very close to the most valuable, shortstop in the AL right now. EDIT again: I suck. Marco Scutaro, followed by Derek Jeter, followed by Alex Gonzalez.

QUOTE (T R U @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 02:26 AM) lol right and we still have like 10 more games against the Nats, I think like 8 against Pittsburgh.. we get the Cubs about 7 more times.. this thing aint ova yet!!!!! Dude, you're acting like the emotionally distraught dude at a party who can't stop talking about why his ex-girlfriend broke up with him and how he can get back together with her and what he should do to change. TOTAL f***ING BUZZKILL. They started this streak by beating the Tigers 2 out of 3, they won a game in which Zeus's other son started, and they just destroyed one of the better young starting pitchers in the NL last night. They haven't won simply because the other teams they were playing were full of minor leaguers (with the possible exception of the Pirates). They've been playing good baseball. Regular season football doesn't start for 2 and a half months. Lighten up and enjoy the ride, atleast for the time being.

MLB SS's splits - .262/.320/.371/.691 AL SS's splits - .259/.316/.360/.676 Alexei Ramirez - .262/.294/.393/.688 He looks like an average shortstop offensively to me.

I will say that if and when Williams is to acquire a player, who will likely come with a high salary, I'd look for him to include one of Linebrink or Teahen in the deal to help offset some salary. Obviously this wouldn't happen in the case of LaRoche, who is cheap and only under control for 1 season, but with either Dunn or especially Berkman, dealing away a contract or two to offset some of the financial burden will help matters greatly. And, in the case of the Astros, McLane is reportedly willing to include money to help facilitate a trade of Oswalt, so I see no reason he wouldn't do the same thing with Berkman. It might be reasonable to think that he'd rather get something back for $5 million over the next two seasons than nothing at all. If you can package together, say, Linebrink, Danks2, and Morel for Berkman, you immediately add Berkman's bat to your lineup and can bring a legitimate long man up in the form of Carlos Torres. Just a thought.

Atleast we should get more Dayan now with Omar moving to SS for the time being.

Also, Dan Haren, as of this second, is hitting .439 on the season with a .439 OBP.

Speaking of 3 run homers, Casey McGehee just tied it up in Milwaukee.

Jose Bautista is the first to 20 homers, and is back in the MLB lead. He has 2 tonight.