witesoxfan

With PED use down and the league looking into maple bats, I really think the game may be going into a bit of a pitching dominant era.

QUOTE (hi8is @ May 26, 2008 -> 02:22 PM) Think about it... if we didn't give Arizona their surplus of outfielders problem... we would have never had the chance to trade for Quentin. The Sox didn't give Arizona their surplus of outfielders. Arizona gave Arizona their surplus of outfielders.

QUOTE (gosox41 @ May 26, 2008 -> 10:36 PM) People have said they have seen signs of Thome breaking out of his slump. What signs? The HR's? His average hasn't risen lately. What are people seeing in this guy. It seems like a lot of his HR's are against his former team. And while that's all well and good, I don't see why he is batting 5th and people are getting excited about this guy 'breaking out'. Thome is more like Dave Kingman right now. In terms of former Sox, he reminds me of the 1984 version of Luzinski. The season is 30% over and this 'great hitter' has managed to piss it away. I don't recall great hitters slump for almost 1/3 of the season. If we're stuck sticking with this guy, 8th seems like a good spot to bat him. And outside of facing CC, don't start him against lefties. I can see where this is going. The Sox will continue to contend and keep putting Thome out there day in and day out He'll hit .220, 30 HR's and 160K's (with a very good OBP) and we'll be stuck with him next year when his option kicks in. So, someone give me a reason to have faith that he'll be a productive hitter this year. Time is running out. What precedence is there for Thome ever hitting .220 while healthy? A weird/good sign is that he's hitting righties at a sub-.200 clip.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ May 25, 2008 -> 11:32 PM) Wow. How far from Parkersburg are you? its 70 miles, give or take In other news, I'm a bit of a creeper

QUOTE (daa84 @ May 24, 2008 -> 04:59 PM) i saw a video of terrorists slicing a guys throat and cutting his head off...it was burned into my mind for a couple days I can replay the 2 minutes of the Nick Berg video in my head. I watched it just shortly after it game out, whenever the hell that was.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ May 25, 2008 -> 11:35 PM) He could possibly maintain something close to that K/9 ratio IF he's used primarily as a righty specialist. He has excelled in that capacity. Very correct...those splits are gross. .208/.311/.226/.538 vs RHB .300/.462/.500/.962 vs LHB ewwww

QUOTE (hammerhead johnson @ May 26, 2008 -> 12:07 AM) Also, if you know about stuff like BABIP and LD, you have most likely never had any contact with a vagina. Right QUOTE (BearSox @ May 26, 2008 -> 12:10 AM) What if you're hitting hard grounders up the middle? Or how about a fly ball of the fence for a double. Who actually decides if a ball hit is a linedrive or not? I'm not sure exactly who does the line drive percentage, but I'd imagine it's a pretty reputable source, such as Elias or STATS Inc or MLB. To answer your question, it's harder to consistently hit hard grounders up the middle, because it's flat out hard to always hit hard grounders period...depending on the infield you're playing on or where it hits on the bat, the ball will speed up/slow down accordingly. Quite a few members of the Twins hit for pretty damn good averages over the years simply because of the astroturf. Furthermore, teams will adjust to grounders up the middle and you constantly have to change your swinging style. If you hit line drives 10 feet in the air, you're gonna get a hell of a lot more hits and have to change your game a hell of a lot less often. It's also hard to consistently hit balls off the fence...they are than likely going to be homers or fly balls rather than just fly balls off the fence. They happen, but so do seeing-eye singles and so do 120 MPH line drives right at a defender. It doesn't change the laws of probability.

I'm honestly unsure as to why this is even being considered. I understand the need for general conversation, but the Sox are 2.5 games up in the Central on the first day you should even think about looking at the standings seriously and Contreras is pitching quite well on the year.

QUOTE (SoxFan101 @ May 24, 2008 -> 11:23 AM) I dont know about that, Volquez still has control issues at some point this season he can very easily explode. Hamilton on the otherhand is going to be a beast at the plate as long as he stays healthy, he might just be the most talented player in the majors right now. And Hamilton could very easily get hurt and miss a month too. Personally, I like Volquez over Hamilton, but they're both fantastic.

yeah, I really think that the only player on that list that has a real chance is Kapler and no, I couldn't see Zambrano being a manager some day. I could most definitely see Jose Valentin being a manager though, and that's completely honest, even considering my manlove for the stache.

QUOTE (shipps @ May 25, 2008 -> 09:39 AM) Seriously, what's so funny about it? Batting average on balls in play is just that...if there is a play made on a ball, it counts towards this. Homers and strikeouts don't count. Line drive percentage is exactly that...the number of balls that are judged to be line drives, rather than ground outs or fly outs. If you are hitting a fair amount of line drives, you're making pretty good contact with the ball and should be getting a few base hits...if you aren't, you are flying out or grounding out, which are, more often than line drives, going to be outs. It's fundamental baseball understanding, and I agree with everything Kevin has stated in this thread.

QUOTE (Brian @ May 25, 2008 -> 07:21 PM) I've always suspected him. Look how ripped he was for such a small guy and just totally broke down. Friends with Caminiti as well. It's sad because he seemed to be generally considered a good person, atleast to me. Looking at it now, it really isn't as surprising as it should be. This does, however, make 2005 much, much sweeter. Everyday that passes makes it sweeter.

I'll take as many injuries to that Indian pitching staff as possible.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ May 25, 2008 -> 02:33 PM) The real question is how many top prospects can the White Sox trade for Dave Weathers... Yeah, that's reasonable. Ken Williams just loves to trade prospects away for absolute garbage players every time he makes a deal. QUOTE (Princess Dye @ May 25, 2008 -> 05:17 PM) EDIT what if he could net Ryan Freel to play 2b perhaps w/ a third team involved There's no way I'd deal Contreras for Freel. In my mind, Contreras's value is higher than that of Freel. If you trade for Freel, it's a simple prospect for player trade because he's not good enough to trade a legitimate starting pitcher for.

QUOTE (joesaiditstrue @ May 25, 2008 -> 03:43 AM) trying not to overreact w/ these last two losses. at least we're not losing 13-1 or 8-0. pitching is still there. even octavio had one hell of an inning yesterday. and friday's game had us hitting against a guy with a sub 1.4 ERA on the year, we just got beat that day. it was hard to swallow yesterday's loss (getting shut out is painful), but I don't see that much of a difference in production between us and the Angels to be quite honest. in fact I think our starting rotation as a whole is better than theirs, just wondering when these guys will start hitting. after 2007, i will not hop on the bandwagon necessarily that "They'll come around", though i think warm weather will help even Dotel? Not sure why you say that...his WHIP is ugly at 1.58, but his K/9 is 14.7 and he's been a bit more wild than he generally ever has been, so I expect that to go down...he's been filthy. Barring injury, Dotel's going to have a great all-around year.

I would very much like to have a sexy time with Carlos Quentin. I don't think it's an impossibility to think that he could be the best offensive prospect that the DBacks had in their system...at this point in time, the only other player you could make an argument for is Justin Upton.

QUOTE (joesaiditstrue @ May 24, 2008 -> 08:40 AM) i think it would be somewhat (i said somewhat!) naive to believe the weather isn't playing some factor into how some of these guys are hitting right now and pitching

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 24, 2008 -> 01:37 PM) I tried this already, don't bother. Apparently he is "lucky" and has "no potential." Quit putting words in people's mouths.

gamethread streak over QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 23, 2008 -> 09:00 AM) Well that and a $150 million payroll helps... just curious...how many other $100+ million teams have won the World Series? $85+ mill? Now how many of them have won two? And how many of them have replenished their minor league system during the same time period like the Red Sox have? Anyone that says Bill James hasn't had an effect on the Red Sox is fooling themselves. The Yankees haven't won, the Mets haven't won, the Angels haven't won since they started spending, the Rangers sure as hell haven't won, and the Sox haven't been successful since they started spending either. Money doesn't guarantee success - you have to do something right, and the Sawks have figured it out. So yeah, sure, you can tell everybody that it's the money that's doing it, but there's something more to it than just the money.

Why burn an option on Getz? Why call up Jerry Owens when his OPS is sub-.600? The call-up is easy. After Uribe is activated, you hope Wise has either shown he's a capable 4th outfielder and you can trade Anderson for a 2B-leadoff type, that he's bad enough that you can DFA him and he'll accept an assignment to AAA, or he's shown enough that you can get a piece, any piece for him. Period. I'm not really for a Durham trade that involves Anderson because I love the s*** out of Anderson and I think there are a few other pieces the Giants would like more, but it is what it is. Anderson's not nearly as untouchable to me as Fields is, so you do what you feel is necessary. I'm not for it, not against it.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 23, 2008 -> 08:27 PM) I hope Jim Thome retires after this season. I think a DL stint in a week, if he still hasn't improved much other than the '1-4, HR,' would be OK. A time to rest wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for big Jim. Let him sit down and figure s*** out for a while. QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ May 23, 2008 -> 09:09 PM) Yeah, but my pipedream would never work anyways due to how bad that defense would be. Plus, I think we're going to move Swish to 1st and DH Paulie as soon as Thome is gone, so that means we'll have a need in CF too, and I don't think we have anybody in our organization to fill that void right now. Of course, we could just move Swish to LF too, keep Paulie at 1st, and DH Dye. First of all, Anderson, to me, looks like a perfect candidate for CF next season. Fantastic defense, a developing bat, and he's cheap as hell too. The problem then becomes Swisher and his value to the team...he needs to start hitting or he becomes a liability anywhere he plays anywhere other than the bench but especially if he plays LF (which seems to have become the place where the Sox have placed their worst hitter in the past 3 years or so) or 1B. Perhaps he isn't fit for USCF because the Cell almost always hurts a player's average when he comes here, and Swisher, at this point in time, appears to be no different. I hope he can turn it on at some point, because if he heats up, it would be just like adding another bat to the lineup. QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 23, 2008 -> 10:54 PM) Honestly, why would you want Thome to go only to replace him with Dunn (who is no freaking different). On a sidenote, DH'ing Dunn does not hurt the defense. Dunn is quite possibly the worse defensive outfielder in baseball, hell, he makes Pods look good in the field. For once, I agree. As much as I love OPS, I think Dunn's a bit overrated. He doesn't hit doubles, he doesn't steal bases, and he doesn't play defense...if you can sign him to a 4/$50 deal, I'd be for it as a DH replacement, but I imagine he'd be more expensive than that. I love Dunn, and I really do, but he should never be the centerpiece of your offense...he could even be your #4 hitter, but that does not mean he's the man offensively. If the Sox were a big power bat away (HA) from competing, I'd be for bringing him in...they aren't, and so I'm not for bringing Dunn in at all. QUOTE (feistyboy @ May 24, 2008 -> 12:39 AM) I have confidence the White Sox will be back with the win tommorow with John Danks back on the mound. I have alot of confidence in him. Wrong thread, right site...welcome aboard.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 23, 2008 -> 07:19 AM) Also the Sox are 12-5 since the blow up dolls made a visit in Toronto... SHHHHHHHHHHHH

Gavin Floyd is still leading the league in arm angle. And Carlos Quentin is leedin leeg in steelin heartz

QUOTE (hammerhead johnson @ May 22, 2008 -> 09:18 PM) Josh currently leads the AL in all triple crown categories: .335 BA 12 HR 53 RBI He probably could win the Triple Crown too

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 22, 2008 -> 04:21 PM) Crede for Figgins probably isn't enough, but would Thome for Figgins work? I'm not saying it is ideal for those that really like Figgins, but the Sox could than rotate the DH spot and utilize Fields. Jim Thome is hitting .214 and still has a higher OPS than Chone Figgins. No. Thome looks like he's just starting to heat up, and doing anything to drop him from the roster at this point would be foolish.