witesoxfan

QUOTE (NorthSideSox15 @ May 14, 2008 -> 02:48 AM) I don't deny that nearly everyone on this site (myself included) often freaks out after a loss and calls for the firing of KW or Ozzie and trades of various players or benching some guys and calling up others. People fall into panic mode far too easily. It is only May. Funny enough, all is glorious and we are playoff bound when we string together some wins, sometimes even predictions of 800 runs scored. Things can get a little goofy, and in many ways thats just the nature of being a fan and posting your emotions at that particular moment. Some of the wiser posters remind the rest of us that hindsight is 20/20. Sure Paulie, JD and Thome had a great year in 2006, and they have been pretty mediocre since. We would have been livid if KW traded them after that season, and he would have been crazy. For me, and I think for most Sox fans, our anger stems from the fact that this offense just hit a wall and no one seems to know why and it seems like not enough has been done to fix it. You can't say nothing has been done, because KW brought in guys with good track records (Swish, OCab) who also seemed like despite how they performed, they wouldn't let the team go through the motions like they did in 2007. However, though it is only May, things in 2008 seem all too familiar and look eerily similar to last year. Which for me was one of the worst seasons I have ever had to live through as a Palehose fan. And thats what I love about being a White Sox fan. We will not and do not accept mediocrity. Erstad and Podsednik are not in White Sox uniforms in 2008. Carlos Quentin is in a White Sox uniform in 2008. It's not eerily similar.

I hate to be the guy that was so negative in the offseason but tries to look at the season with Sox colored glasses on, but I seriously think this offense is a move or two away from turning it on offensively, and the pitching is here to stay. Honestly, replace Juan Uribe with Brian Roberts, Alexei Ramirez with Juan Uribe, and just fire Greg Walker and just see what happens. I have a weird feeling it would work. You'd see a slight regression defensively, so thus, a slight regression in the pitching department, but having just one more guy in the lineup getting on base and getting on 2B consistently would do wonders for this lineup. I've long preached slugging percentage, but what's a bit underrated is just XBHs period, and too many of the Sox XBHs are homers (that sounds terrible, but it should be much more dispersedly spread out). Seeing how the Sox have scored 26% of their runs from the player hitting a home run himself (HR/R), it tells you that they do need to diversify the offense slightly. I feel the 2 (or 3) moves I suggested above will do that.

The Sox trading Konerko or Thome right now is completely unrealistic. You won't find the power/production (whatever the hell you want to call it at this point in time) anywhere else while being able to attempt to compete at the same time. I also strongly doubt you can find a SS as good as Cabrera too. Crede's a touchy subject because currently, Fields is on the DL and he was playing pretty poorly in Charlotte too. I like Fields because I think he is the one prospect (if you want to call him a prospect after he hit 23 homers last year) that will have an impact on the future and because he just mashes lefties, but even as poorly as Crede is playing right now, I'm not sure Fields is a better option at all. The only position that leaves is 2B, where Uribe is, and I think the perfect target is Brian Roberts. What you'd have to give up is an entirely different story. It'd have to start with Richar and Broadway certainly, but Richar is more of a throw in piece currently simply because he's been injured, and while Broadway looks fantastic right now, that's obviously not enough. Add to it that Baltimore is actually better than the Sox right now, and it makes any idea of such a trade a bit harder. At this point in time, I think all we can do is hope that the offense turns around atleast for a while, Baltimore goes down the s***ter really quickly, and that Richar recovers quickly. There is a ton of potential in this lineup, but it's severely untapped. Another option is Ryan Freel, but I always get a bit sketched out when we talk about guys with friends in their heads.

I'm feeling fine and walking past cops with liquor/when drunk is fun when underage too. Didn't do it tonight, merely replying to Felix

QUOTE (ChiSox35 @ May 13, 2008 -> 11:25 PM) I like Barry. If he gets snagged and the other cheaters don't, then it's a shame. It puzzles me (no it doesn't) how the legal spotlight shines on Bonds and Rog. Yeah it's really not puzzling at all. I mean, what player reflects more on the history of baseball, Jorge Piedra, Ricky Bones, or Barry Bonds?

What's absolutely awesome in all of this is that they showed the Family Guy episode tonight where Jimmy Fallon gets the s*** beat out of him by Peter. Amazing.

Andruw Jones = teh sux0rz Doesn't care about the fans...shows up to camp overweight...and apparently is lying (in some way, shape, or form) to everyone. I wish the Sox had signed him!

the loss of Aaron Rowand being the main reason why the Sox lost in 2006 and that the Thome trade was absolutely terrible because of that Thankfully, he signed with San Francisco.

I don't like the Padres team as currently built, but generally, if they get to the 7th with a lead, you'll lose.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ May 13, 2008 -> 05:23 PM) What move would you suggest for our boys? Trading for Brian Roberts

Jason Marquis = bad

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2008 -> 04:50 PM) I disagree with that. I think back when he struggled in 06, the fact that his fastball seemed a little slow was certainly a part of it. The less difference there is between his 4 seamer and his other pitches, the weaker his secondary stuff is. But yeah, the difference between 88 and 91 for him is no where near as big as the difference between nailing a spot and just missing it. He was also leaving those pitches over the fat part of the plate. That, as much as anything, was the main cause of his inflated ERA.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 12, 2008 -> 11:57 AM) I bet someone about a week ago that the winner of the ALC would have 90 wins... It was an interesting discussion. I have a feeling that one of these teams is going to emerge as we all play more games against each other. I agree. I'd almost go as far as to say that all 4 teams, and perhaps even all 5 teams, are one move away from turning it on and going on a run.

The #8 pick is the biggest draft pick for the White Sox this decade...seeing as how they only have one pick in the first two rounds, and that it's a top 10 pick...yeah, no pressure.

one thing that hasn't been covered enough is how badly Erstad sucks. I mean come on

Uribe's 9th inning in game 4...not sure which was his best move, but that was definitely his shining moment. Sadly, it doesn't get enough credit. It's fantastic how much ESPN will slurp Jeter's two fantastic plays - the Giambi cutoff throw where Giambi is safe at home yet is called out and his diving into the stands play - yet both of Uribe's plays in that 9th inning are far superior defensive plays to Jeter's given the moment and the difficulty. Uribe actually went into the stands to catch the ball, whereas Jeter just decided it would be cool to jump into the stands for visual effect, and Uribe's throwout of Palmeiro defines the perfect play defensive fundamentals...he charged the ball, made a very quick exchange between glove and hand, and threw a perfect missile to 1B. I don't think there's any other SS in baseball that could have made that play (in 2005 atleast).

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ May 13, 2008 -> 12:29 AM) Why are these Cubs threads so popular? I just don't get it. Because it's fun as f*** to see the Cubs lose

He's intriguing...I've always kind of liked Eldred, but I usually like guys that can hit the ball 5000 feet. If he can keep up anything resembling his May production thus far - .400/.481/1.022/1.503 with 7 homers and 7 doubles already - and be a 1.000+ OPS guy in the minors, I'd see him having a legitimate shot in the majors. He's a longshot to say the least and is a AAAA player, but he could have his value in the majors.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 12, 2008 -> 10:26 AM) Trading Thome would be the best thing the Sox could do. Don't tell me his amazing stats, tell me what he does to win. Tell me what he does when the games are on the line. Tell me how he will go with an outside pitch when he has a huge f***ing hole due to the Thome shift (and there are runners on base and the club is in dire need of a run). Oh wait, he doesn't do any of those f***ing things. I'm not excusing what he's done this year. He's been terrible. However, to suggest the Sox don't win games when Thome's in the lineup is absolute bulls***. In 2006, when the Sox team ERA rose an entire f***ing run from 3.68 to 4.68, there was only a 9 game drop off in wins. There were two major changes made to the lineup, and one of those was a colossal failure. The other was adding the bat of Jim Thome, and that alone saved the Sox an even bigger disappointment of a season. And even suggesting that anything had to do with Thome last year is absurd - the Sox had Erstad and Podsednik in CF and LF, a mediocre starting rotation, a terrible bullpen, and a banged up team in the first half of the year. If the Sox didn't have Thome, they probably would have lost 100 games (which would have been just fine in some circumstances, but the point remains the same). He's terrible right now, but if you are just going to assume that a hitter of Thome's pedigree just falls off the face of the earth like this and doesn't figure out a way to fix himself, then you're wrong. I quite frankly don't give a s*** if he's all or nothing because he's been on base more than anybody in the Sox lineup in the past 2 or so years. What's wrong with either killing a ball, taking a walk, or striking out? He's turned in a Hall of Fame career doing just that and he's been the biggest home run threat in the middle of some of the best offenses of all time. And suggesting that you'd rather have Uribe up than Thome with runners on base late in a game is probably only because you're assuming the opposing manager will merely walk Thome to get a force at every base. Uribe's just as prone to striking out, less likely to hit a flyball or homer, and least likeliest to actually get on f***ing base. You're better than that. What's really funny to consider is that Thome actually hasn't been that bad this year - he's only hitting .214, but he's been on base 54 times in 36 games, half of his hits have gone for extra bases, and a quarter of his hits have been round trippers. If his average creeps to even .250 (and considering that he's a career .280 hitter, hasn't hit below .270 since 2003, and has never hit below .260 in a full season EVER), he'd be a damn good player and he'd probably end up with .250/.375/.550/.925 line, which is almost assuredly going to be better than any hitter on the Sox and could potentially be the second best OPS in the AL Central next to Miguel Cabrera. I overrate Thome a bit but that's only because so many people absolutely hate him, when all he has ever done is produce. I don't understand it and I never will. The same applies to Jermaine Dye too, quite frankly. Not to open a can of worms (but I'm sure it will), it's quite odd to me how Thome and Dye are scapegoats while Crede is given a free pass by many. Maybe I just haven't read around enough, but it's crazy.

Pierzynski leading off would be hilarious at the very least. It'd make the game entertaining.

for f***'s sake

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ May 12, 2008 -> 11:28 AM) How about Cy Young's career losses 316. Who the hell would break that? Jamie Navarro

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 11, 2008 -> 10:20 PM) Remember how everyone was saying how bad of a pick that Ben Reveere guy was last year by the Twins? Right now he is tearing the cover off the ball and looking like quite the prospect... God, I hate how the Twins actually have good scouting and plan long ahead of time. I bet the Twins minor league coaching is pretty damn good too. People give way too much credit to merely scouting and not nearly enough to minor league coaching. That being said, I'm not tipping anything to Minnesota yet. As far as I'm concerned, they're playing way over their head right now. Let's see how their pitching staff fares as the year progresses. They're pretty solid, but I wouldn't say they're anything real good yet.

Joe Popup is still here

QUOTE (forrestg @ May 11, 2008 -> 03:21 PM) Thome might not have Seattle on his approved teams but they are in dire need of a DH. We are in dire need of a catcher we currently have none unless Lucy can come back from a dislocated knee cap.. Timing wouldn't be better for us to try and trade Thome for Clement.. Besides Johima the Mariners have a very capable catcher by the name of Burke so they could afford to trade Clement. Clement is a good defensive catcher is patient at the plate and hyas a terrific upside. We on the other have many hitters that could step in to replace Thome......Oh we could also throw in Hall, and pablo. The Sox are not in dire need of a catcher. AJP isn't the greatest in the world, but he's fine, and Hall has actually proven to be a capable backup this season. I'd also like to think that the Mariners wouldn't trade Cleveland for a year and a half of Thome, but I can't be certain of something like that. Bavasi isn't exactly bright. Trading Thome is also a terrible idea if the Sox want any hope of competing this year. He will be the biggest reason the Sox do anything against RHP this season.