witesoxfan

At one point in time (and maybe it's still true) I believe there had been more no-hitters thrown in MLB history than players hitting for the cycle.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ May 26, 2010 -> 08:08 PM) He's never thrown a no-hitter, so that's not true. Actually, wouldn't being totally unhittable mean that they can't even hit the ball? There's only been one man who was able to do that - Steve f***ing Nebraska

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 29, 2010 -> 05:06 AM) For whatever reason, the Rays did not give him a steady diet of breaking balls. It's as if they did not advance scout us or something...Gordo was lost against the Indians' pitchers, who fed him a steady diet of sliders, and Tampa came right out and threw him fastballs for the most part. Hopefully this will get his confidence up, which is the most important thing for us all... Fangraphs actually says that the only pitch that Beckham has really been able to hit with any authority this year is a curveball. A steady diet of sliders would work on him, but Tampa atleast thought they knew what they were doing.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 29, 2010 -> 12:12 PM) Why would you even have a rule like that's so easy to manipulate (and in most cases blatantly so)? It's really just stupid. I imagine the entire point of the rule was to get young players paid more quickly, but instead of helping them, it's just hurting them. The problem is, you have to have some set guideline for service time that these guys do have to get more than the minimum raise. If you say it's 3 full years of service, teams can simply keep a player down for like the first 5-10 days of a season, and then call them up, and they'll fall short. Maybe you can go to some sort of arbitration case, but that gets messy and creates bad blood between the player and the team. It is definitely something that needs to be taken into consideration during the next CBA.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 29, 2010 -> 12:36 AM) Miguel Cabrera had himself a night. He and Evan Longoria have been the clear-cut best players and leading MVP candidates to this point. Justin Morneau's OPS is almost 100 points higher than Miguel Cabrera's, and he has played good defense this year (opposed to Cabrera's terrible defense). I'd say Justin Morneau is the leading candidate for MVP, and everyone else is trying to play catchup.

They really need to do something about that Super-2 rule because it truly has gotten to the point where teams aren't bringing up their best players to retain a year of service. It's stupid and I really don't think it's good for the game at all.

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 29, 2010 -> 01:57 AM) I was being sarcastic. And yes, I think everyone has established that they are pretty much the same player, and everyone would pefer a different option oppossed to those two. However, this thread and argument is about who is better for this team, Pods or Pierre, and I'll stick with Pods over Pierre. Some men prefer Caucasian women to African-American women. It doesn't make them wrong or right. It just is. Now, when you are stuck choosing between Rosie O'Donnell and Whoopi Goldberg, you should probably choose abstinence; it's just too bad the White Sox have had both.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 28, 2010 -> 10:41 PM) I love when we beat good teams and look like a good team. Beckham! Cmon, keep breaking out of that slump. Nice job. Rios is a god. All of you who stuck by him last year deserve credit for loyalty and knowing what you are talking about. Freddy! All you can say and great job by the relievers. Can we win again and make it a good road trip? Guys (generally) don't go from All-Star caliber players to garbage in a year. It wasn't that much of a stretch to think he'd be a good player for the Sox, considering that's really all he's ever been.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ May 28, 2010 -> 10:43 PM) He teased us just a few days ago when he went 2-4 against Cleveland then went 0-7 2 K's the next couple of games. Like the above posters said, give him a few games (maybe when his average is up 30+ points, or a 7-10+ game hitting streak) then I'll be sold. I don't jump on Beckham like alot of posters do here since he gives the sox a very good BB rate on this team. Seriously. If anything, I commend Beckham. Players, especially young players, go through funks. The fact that he was doing whatever he could to not only try and right himself but also to try and help the team is all you can ask for sometimes. This is a guy that people felt in the offseason was going to be the face of the franchise for the next 10+ years (and they still should feel that way, because I know I do). To jump on him and be completely and totally down on him after a bad month and a half is pretty short-sighted.

Scott Podsednik WAR - 0.4 Juan Pierre WAR - 0.5

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 27, 2010 -> 05:15 PM) I really hope DLS doesn't come up soon and just dominate as a set up man. I should be wishing for him to have success, but if he just tears the league up (which is a legit possibility if his arm is healthy), I might have to jump out of a window. Hell, seeing Ely dominate is making me sick too considering we got garbage in LF. I said before, I don't think Ely will ever be anything to write home about, but his combination of a great change and fantastic command could lead him to being a very solid starter in baseball for a while. Plus, it would have been nice if he could have made his major league debut with us, that would be a great story. Local kid who despises the cubs makes debut with team he grew up idolizing. I wouldn't be made if we got something decent in return, but we got s***. Some trades bite you in the ass. Given Williams' record with dealing minor leaguers, odds are a few of them will eventually be successful. Considering both Gio and Sweeney's games, it's entirely likely and maybe even possible that they'd never be successful in the Cell. Gio is short, which helps flatten out the plane of his pitches and leads to more flyballs, which doesn't work well at USCF. Sweeney is pretty much a gap hitter, so while his defense would play well, his game would be cut down simply because some of those doubles he hits in Oakland turn into singles or even outs in Chicago. Again, Williams and company f***ed up the scouting report on Swisher and thought they were getting a different type of player. You win some, you lose some. I'm just glad he realized that the Sox were going to need a replacement for Thome in the near future; he just got the wrong guy. QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 28, 2010 -> 08:58 AM) Ka'ahuie not far behind at .327/.496/.614/1.110. Its amazing to me that those two guys are in AAA. He was up in the majors briefly this year. The Royals clearly need to move those two, either to Kansas City or somewhere else to gain on that value, because those two tearing apart AAA isn't going to do them any good at the MLB level.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 28, 2010 -> 03:04 PM) The Dodgers disagree. Link hasn't been great in AAA (his peripherals aren't bad, but that's about all there is) and John Ely has made 6 career starts. They can disagree all they want, but you can't turn a dog into a wolf.

To get back to the point in question, there's no way you give up a player of Quentin's talent level for Fukudome. I understand he's struggled quite a bit this year and last year, but he's still got 30 HR power. Fukudome doesn't have anything near that.

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 28, 2010 -> 11:32 AM) If we are going based on just that fact, sure. But he's also rushed into moves, with the two most recent being trading Swisher for garbage. Also, trading a solid pitcher in Ely for the expensive Pierre (8 million is too much for him) before letting the market play itself out with Pods. Most legitimate scouting publications suggested that Ely didn't have the stuff to make it in the majors. If there is ever a question of whether someone's stuff is good enough, they immediately lose value. Beyond that, if his stuff really is mediocre but his control is good, then he's much better off in the NL where a pitcher can get away with that sort of thing. There's a reason Carlos Silva got absolutely destroyed in the AL and is pitching his ass off in the NL. I don't like that he traded for Juan Pierre, but I'm not mad that he traded away Link and Ely. Both are mediocre prospects. The last time I looked, both Dye and Jenks were huge factors in the team winning the division in 2008. You are seriously telling me that you would have traded both of those two in 07, full-well knowing that the team was going to win the division in 2008? They didn't win, but any time you can get a team to the playoffs, you do it. Dye looked like s*** in the second half last year, but he was great in his 5 seasons with the White Sox. Jenks is always debatable, so I'm not even going to touch that one. Williams' M.O. has always been to deal prospects for veterans while plugging a few guys in here or there. Those guys didn't look like they could cut it, even when most people felt they were legitimate prospects. But John Danks was never apart of the White Sox farm system, and he's been absolutely stellar with the Sox. Gavin Floyd was never a prospect in the minors because he'd used up his prospect "status" but, aside from this year, he's been a very good #3 starter for the Sox. Jake Peavy was picked up for a package of mediocrity. Alex Rios was picked up for free. I understand a few prospects failed, but some of that is development too...you can't tell me that neither Josh Fields or Brian Anderson were talented, but character or developmental issues came into play with them. The McCulloch pick was bad, but Broadway was a safe pick because they thought he'd reach the majors quickly. I recall him doing that, but they thought his velocity would increase a bit, and it never really did. Sometimes, that's just how luck goes. Beyond that, the Sox are trying to fix their baseball academies within Latin America. I think if Williams knew that Wilder was corrupt as s***, he would have put an end to it sooner than he did. I can pretty much agree with this, though it's hard to quantify his, for lack of a better term, balls. It seems as though there is a gluttony of GMs who are afraid to make a big move due to fear of being wrong or getting burned or backlash from the fans or whatever, but Williams has never feared that. When he's felt that a move was necessary, he went out and made that move. In 2003-06, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a GM that did a better job than Williams when it came to actually making fiscally responsible moves while also looking out for the present and future of the team and he really got unlucky to only get one division title out of those 3 years. As I recall, the Sox were the 2nd best team in the AL in the second half of the 2003 season, with only the Twins being better. And in 2006, I don't think anyone saw the Tigers going from a 72 win team to winning 94 games and the Wild Card. And, in 2004, they didn't have a huge amount of resources to go grab some players, but he found a bit of a gem in Uribe, went out and acquired Garcia, and got Jose Contreras for Esteban Loaiza, who'd been a monstrous disappointment for the Sox all season long. At this point in time, if there is a changing of the guard, I wouldn't be opposed to it...that's about all I can say.

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 28, 2010 -> 10:48 AM) Nick Swisher and Todd Ritchie are the two that come to mind right away. I'd say 2 guys in 10 years is a pretty good track record, wouldn't you?

QUOTE (ptatc @ May 26, 2010 -> 06:33 PM) I disagree. When it really comes down to it the only thing that matters is winning. Granted if Bobby keeps up his performances the odds are that he will lose more games. I couldn't care less about the stats he puts up as long as they win. I know if had this discussion about starting pitchers as well but all I care about is the win. It's like managing people. Do you give your group a goal and then micromanage them and check on the progress hourly or do you let them do what they need to do to accomplish the goal. I for one don't care how they do it as long as the job gets done. Again, if he starts losing the games the situation changes. QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 26, 2010 -> 05:54 PM) When that volcano starts rumbling and spewing smoke do you maybe think about making your move or do you wait until it incinerates your home? Exactly. Statistics are essentially a measurement of predicted future success, so while it's cool to look at amazing statistics, the reason they are recorded and people look at them is to see how successful teams and players have been or will be in the near future. A lot of them are very raw and can't tell you a whole lot about future success (simply due to the fickle nature of the game), but if you use a combination of them and what you actually see with your eyes, you can make certain judgments. ERA and WHIP are much better indicators of future success than SV%, and Bobby fails both the eye test and the statistical test. It would be better to get him on track right now and let someone who has been more effective in getting outs efficiently close out games than let him allow 2 runs in a 3-run game and barely get out alive, because sooner rather than later (if he doesn't get on track), he is going to allow 4 runs in a 3-run game, and it will demoralize this team.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 26, 2010 -> 03:45 PM) I can't argue the numbers. He just doesn't appear to be throwing that hard. I tune into Dodgers/Giants games whenever they're leading after 8. You don't need any gun to see that Broxton and Wilson are consistently hitting 98 MPH. If not for a gun, you would think Bobby was topping out at 93-94. I remember seeing Politte live in 04, and he was hitting 98 on the Metrodome radar. He looked like he was throwing about 92. Just as some guys appear to be throwing harder than they are for whatever reasons, some guys also appear to not be throwing as hard as they really are for whatever reason.

QUOTE (qwerty @ May 26, 2010 -> 02:45 PM) I just reread your conversation with northside. You believe the opposite of myself. You don't think chemistry has a big impact either way, and i believe it potentially could. As i said, i disagree. Northside's point, and mine, is only logical. Emotions are very real. I don't ''know'' as you said, but i base my belief off of the average human beings emotions. Players bring their emotions up to the plate every at-bat, to the field every inning, there is no way around it coming into play. I would imagine emotions run hotter in clubhouses than we are led to believe. Even the worst player on a major league bench was one of the best players in a league at some point in time, or was atleast told he was one of the best by someone who had power, and as a result, every player has some type of ego and inflated view of themselves. Some people know how to control that ego and contain their emotions, and you never hear of it. Some people have no idea how and they blow up mentally, like Milton Bradley. But if it's nothing crazy, we as fans generally don't hear about it anyways, even if there is something brewing. That, of course, doesn't mean these things don't exist and don't hinder production. To compare it to anything in real life where you have to have some type of cohesiveness amongst a group of people (meaning, a team)...if you don't like someone on your team, you can work just fine. But if there is any sort of emotional friction or pressure between you and someone else, your production is likely to suffer as a result. And, if you and the members of your team get along great and there is absolutely no friction or pressure whatsoever, you may work beyond your normal capabilities. I believe chemistry is a very real part of baseball, and really, any sport in general. It is hard to bring in 25 guys that get along well and are very talented though at the same time, which is why having a manager who can control those egos is the best thing you can do, which is why I believe Ozzie is a great manager. (that still doesn't change the fact that I disagree with his offensive philosophy and that I think a lot of his in game decisions are absolutely terrible)

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 26, 2010 -> 03:18 PM) You guys that hate Jenks fail to consider the fact he normally gets the end result, the game saved. His track record seems to suggest he ain't so good when provided a tie game or huge lead. He did finish the f***ing game, right? We won, right? Why not look glass half full for a change? We are Greg - people are praising Pena, Teahen, Kotsay, and others for performing well - but Jenks was awful. His track record this year has not been good, period. That's really all that matters. Sure, the game was "saved," but allowing 6 of the first 7 guys you face to reach base is no way to save a game. With his performance today, he would have blown any type of save opportunity that was presented to him. Thankfully, he wasn't presented with an actual save opportunity, and he was able to get out.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 26, 2010 -> 10:40 AM) The sky was awful though huh? The EXPO was pretty amazing though wasn't it? I can't believe they spent that much money for something where everything but a few buildings will be demolished in the next year or so. The sky was horrendous in Beijing. There were only 2 "clear" days in our 5.5 days there, and even on those clear days it was pretty bad. It wasn't great in Xi'an either, but we were only there for a day and a half, and our visit to the Terracotta Warriors took up the entire first day (getting there and back, plus actually visiting the site and the surrounding shops probably took 4 hours), so I wasn't paying much attention there. Shanghai wasn't great on Friday or Saturday, but the sky did clear up on Sunday and that seemed like the cleanest air of all 3 of the cities, and it was definitely the clearest sky. Beijing was probably my favorite city from a purely cultural aspect in that felt to be distinctly Chinese. That said, it was also a pretty filthy city all around too, and I'm not sure I would ever be able to live there, though visiting it would be a completely different story...like it was so dirty that my boogers were gray. I wasn't in Xi'an long enough to get a really good feel for the city, but it was a fun place, and the Muslim Quarter at night was an absolute blast (though we really didn't want to stick around the narrow roadways much longer). But yeah, the Expo was incredible. My friend and I agreed that at the very low end, there were atleast 100,000 people there and I figure that there may have been upwards of 250,000 people there at the highest trafficked hour, and I'm sure it could rise even above that. It was just so vast, and the buildings themselves were amazing. We were only there for about 6 hours and I only got through the Chinese Pavillion (which seemed to be a s***load of propaganda, but it was interesting nonetheless), but just walking around and looking at the buildings themselves was amazing. A couple of the people from our group stayed back and went through a few of the other pavillions. They said USA's was cool but nothing mindblowing and that Israel's was amazing. They also got into Iran's (why, I don't know), but they said they were getting dirty looks from quite a few people and instead of going upstairs to look around a bit more, they decided it would probably be safer to just leave.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ May 26, 2010 -> 09:57 AM) This is dumb. The two best teams should have the best field available so they can showcase their skills. The more random luck/shoddy field conditions involved, the worse it is for everyone. Watching a game in snow is cool for about a minute, then you realize it's a terribly played game and it's just garbage football. I want a football game to have the athletes running, jumping, hitting, and cutting to the best of their abilities in the most important game of the year. I agree completely with this. In fact, I would have no problem with the Super Bowl being held in a dome every single year. Playing football in extreme conditions is cool and entertaining not because you see these players playing to the best of their abilities, but because it's a spectacle. It's like going to the circus.

Hahahaha, rotoworld with the first use of it... That's like working in a restaurant and sending out a dish an hour after it was ordered burnt to a crisp. But atleast it got the job done!

Honestly, if we are going to talk about clubhouse disruptions, one of the biggest ones I can think of in regards to the White Sox was Royce Clayton sleeping with Frank Thomas's wife (or ex-wife, not sure which she was at the time), and I'm sure that wasn't the only incident of infidelity within the White Sox clubhouse.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 26, 2010 -> 02:15 PM) He actually put those 6 runners on base on purpose just to show dominant he can be in the clutch. I know I was impressed. He needed to get to the top of the order to prove that he can get good hitters out while letting hitters at the bottom of the order and off the bench get a little confidence to make them feel better about their baseball abilities and maybe make it someday in this sport. Not only is he a great reliever, but he's a great philanthropist too.

Who knew that, at one time, Bostonians cheered for the Yanks? Learn something new every day.