beck72

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Feb 25, 2006 -> 11:50 AM) They may as well keep the best strictly outfield option now and that would be Borchard. If the sox were looking for the best 5th OFer option, no doubt it would be Borchard. But if they were looking at things besides someone who may once a week in the late innings [like as a backup 1b man, pinch hitter, pinch runner for Thome/ PK] Gload may get the nod. We'll see the quotes and the reports as ST progresses.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Feb 23, 2006 -> 10:28 PM) Well, for me, I don't want Thome playing first base. Anything that can increase his chances of playing a full season is good. He should strictly be a DH. So Gload could be the back-up first baseman. Let Mack handle all the other positions. I completely agree. Thome needs to be healthy for the sox to repeat. Having him play 1b increases his chances of getting hurt. Gload could play 1b, being the primary backup to PK. Mack would be the 4th OFer.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Feb 25, 2006 -> 10:22 AM) The only way we will see him is if either Konerko or Thome get hurt. Let's hope that doesn't happen. But I think YASNY is right though. We now have a decent 1B/DH option at Charlotte. I think Gload is as good as gone and Borchard will get the last outfield spot. I'd say he's more of a DH option. 1b he has to show he could handle the defense. The Sox could get a good look at him in AAA to gauge that. Esp after being hurt all of '05. I don't see this affecting Gload's chances of making the team.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Feb 25, 2006 -> 08:26 AM) I'm not making the connection between Crede's status and Gload making the team. I was. A healthy Joe means Mackowiak won't be playing much 3b if at all. Crede is at the age where he could play all 162 games and not miss a beat. Rob will play all 3 OF spots [as the 4th OFer] and 2b to give Tad time off. So instead of having another bench guy who plays the OF, the sox could afford to carry a guy like Gload. Gload won't play much OF. But he'll get AB's at 1b [as both Thome and PK will get days off, PK--going to Dh on days Thome is off], play late innings at 1b, and pinch hit. I see Thome being strictly a DH so he doesn't get hurt playing the field. Borchard is the better OFer by far [Gload can only play an average LF]. But Gload has shown the ability to hit and produce in a part time role. Joe B could only give the sox average defense as the 5th OFer, and would probably hit around .200 off the bench.

If GLoad sticks, it must mean Crede's back is pretty healthy. Then Mackowiak would get most of his ab's from the OF and 2b. That and Ozzie probably doesn't want Thome playing much 1b. Why put Thome out there when his bat is so, so valuable at the DH?

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Feb 19, 2006 -> 12:47 PM) And this is another plus for the Vazquez acquisition. The guy's a horse. You know you'll get 200+ innings from him. Let's hope Coop can work his magic on him. Replacing El Duque with Vazquez was a work of magic. If not just for the fact that he could give the sox those 200 innings. But esp. if the sox can get those innings and an under 4.00 ERA from him. The rest of the rotation and bullpen will be that much fresher.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Feb 19, 2006 -> 11:48 AM) Mr. B!!!!! Guys like AJ will torture him over Mr. B!

QUOTE(kevin57 @ Feb 19, 2006 -> 12:04 PM) Of course, with our starters going deep into games as they did much of last year, maybe none of our bullpen will be needed very often. I don't think the starters will go as many innings as they did last year. It should be a preventative type thing to keep them healthy and fresh. If Bmac could give the sox 80-100 innings, think how strong the rotation will be in August and Sept, and leading into October.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/sports/cst-spt-sox19.html For those people thinking BMac will rot in the pen waiting to get some work in during blow outs think again. It's nice to hear Coop plans on getting him a lot of work. I ultimately envisioned BMac pitching in the 7th and 8th along with Cliff, Neal and Dustin. There should be a lot of days Bmac could take the ball for both the 7th and 8th and give those 3 other guys the day off. Kind of like the Scot Shields role for the angels.

A healthy Hermanson will put up good numbers and be a leader of the bullpen. He was the one who groomed Jenks for the closer role, giving him advice on how to approach the role. If he stays healthy, he'll play a huge role for the sox in '06 because he can lead by example and bring his bulldog attitude to the park everyday. Even if his numbers rise a little, Dustin will play a big part of the sox success by staying healthy

QUOTE(chitownsportsfan @ Feb 15, 2006 -> 10:51 PM) Smart pickup by KW here. Classic low risk high potential signing. It's good that the Sox have room on the 40 man roster right now, but it might just mean a lack of organizational depth. It's more the sox got rid of some dead weight AAAA guys like Diaz, Adkins etc.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Feb 15, 2006 -> 01:12 PM) Since it was the White Sox who claimed him from an NL team, that means every other team passed on him, correct? Yes. I also read an article that the sox were one of the only teams who had spots left on their 40 man roster. Any team making a claim of a guy off waivers must make room for him on the 40 man roster. That's why Jenks was let go by the Angels--to make room on the 40 man roster.

Here was Tucker's 2004 write up from BA's Prospect Handbook: The Pads #12 prospect "After a breakthrough in velocity in 2002, Tucker continued to pitch well after a promotion to AA last season. He continued to throw in the mid 90's, an astounding fastball for a short lefthander, and blew away Southern league hitters. But he lost some velocity and started to get hit in July, then felt a pop in his elbow when he threw a pitch in early august. He had Tommy John surgery shortly thereafter and probably won't pitch during the 2004 regular season. The track record with that operation is very good, so Tucker should be able to regain his fastball after diligent rehab. When he comes back, he'll need to continue to tighten a hard, slurvy breaking ball into a true slider. Tucker was starting to learn that there's more than pitching to sheer power, as he mixed in more two seam fastballs and changeups than in the past. His four seamer lacks much movement and he'll need to find something he can use to shutdown righthanders. They hit .256 and slugged .372 against him in 2003, compared to .188 and .250 by lefties. He'll also have to improve his control"

At least the guy has some upside. If he gets back a little more velocity [to the 92-93 range] along with the control he had pre-surgery, he could be more than a LOOGy guy

IIRC, I think it was Dave Wilder who was quoted last year that both Jenks and Jerry Owens were ready to play in the majors last summer. That's not to say Owens could play CF better than Anderson. But the sox will want whoever is in CF to be able to catch the ball. Right now Anderson is the better CFer by all accounts and his main focus will be on playing the best defense possible. But an injury could slow Anderson or Pods and Owens could be pressed into duty. To say Owens should start over Anderson is a huge leap. But the trade of Chris Young tells me Owens isn't as bad as people are making him out to be. Looking at the depth chart, Owens would seem to be the first choice if an injury happened in LF or CF. Unless Mackowiak could play well enough D in CF to be a regular.

QUOTE(aboz56 @ Feb 12, 2006 -> 02:37 AM) Also he refuses to talk about the ESPN the Magazine story and there is some information about what exactly led to the Angels getting rid of him. Didn't ESPN magazine write a very negative piece on him a year or two back? If so, I could see why he wouldn't talk to them after he's had some success

Here's BA's Report on Carlos Torres from its 2006 Prospect Handbook: #24 Sox Prospect: "An unheralded 15th round pick in the 2004 draft, Torres used a strong senior season at Kansas St. to catch the White Sox' attention. He pitched at four colleges in four years....He has benefitted from the stability provided in the Sox system, where the pitching coaches work well together. Torres began 2005 in extended spring training and ended the season with nine strong starts in low class A including a win in the SAL playoffs. He finished up with a strong showing in instructional league, where he went back to a full windup after working exclusively out of the stretch during the season. Torres as a live arm that delivers 92-93 MPH fastballs. He also has a solid slider and an improving changeup. Very disciplined and possessing a strong work ethic, he'll move up to high class A in 2006.

QUOTE(BamaDoc @ Feb 11, 2006 -> 09:00 PM) Beck, I think you hit the nail on the head. Ozzie has seen this guy over a period of time and knows what he can do. At the least, Oz is doing him a favor and giving him a showcase opportunity. At best, he fills a need. Low risk some reward potential. At the least, he sounds like a guy who is at the level of the other guys. Maybe others have a higher "ceiling". But this guy sounds like the "floor" that the others need to beat--being tough vs. lefty hitters.

It's interesting that he gave the Marlins 50 innings in 2003 when they won the WS, with Ozzie. So Ozzie should be familiar with him

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Feb 6, 2006 -> 08:59 PM) Read the article. Ozzie doesn't think that way. And it's pretty obvious if you watched the way he used Cotts and Marte last season. Ozzie really buys into the lefty vs. lefty strategy. I'm hoping we can either find a diamond in the rough or that KW can swing a trade for a lefty in ST. I hope he doesn't have to resort to signing Felix Heredia or Buddy Groom. But manager Ozzie Guillen has one item left on his wish list. ''Right now'' Guillen said, ''it's the left-hander.'' --------------------------------- Thanks Jabroni, I didn't see Ozzie's one liner. While a LHP would be nice, a good RHP pitcher might be fine.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Feb 6, 2006 -> 07:28 PM) Sox seek lefty to get things just right http://www.suntimes.com/output/deluca/cst-spt-deluca051.html Anyone who thinks that we won't have a second lefty in the bullpen come opening day has another thing coming. Not if the sox have a righty who can get lefties out. If Tracey or Baj can get outs, and do well vs lefties and righties, they'd be better options than one of those lefties with a spring ERA of 10.00

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Jan 31, 2006 -> 09:53 AM) I still think the Twinkies rotation will be better in 2006 though. They're subtracting Lohse and Mays who had ERA's of 4.18 and 5.65 respectively. Baker had a 3.35 ERA in about 6 or 7 starts, and Liriano could be another Santana, even though he may initally struggle depending on how many hits he gives up (19 hits in 23.2IP, with 15 scoring (also only 7BB's)). I agree. The Twins will have solid young rotation for years to come with Liriano and Baker teaming with silva and Santana [26]. Liriano sounds like he could be another unhittable LHP like Santana. Not to mention the bullpen will be young too with Crain, et al. I thought Crain was a strikeout guy but he only had like 29 in over 80 IP's. The AL Central's going to be a dogfight for years. The AL West and East aren't going to like to see central teams coming into town.

QUOTE(TLAK @ Feb 5, 2006 -> 01:58 PM) Felipe Alou, Frank Robinson, Joe Torre and Bob Melvin must be pretty dumb for not being able to see this very correctable problem. They had Vazquez for 8 years and I guess it never occurred to them that all you have to do is whisper in his ear and everything will be better. The White Sox have very good coaches but to just assume they will turn him around is drinking kool aid. I hope he does well but if he gets blown out 10 times again the team won’t make the playoffs. Drinking kool aid is expecting the staff to turn a scrub journeyman with few tools into a 20 game winner. Vazquez has always had the stuff, and has had some good seasons where he's put it together. We'll soon see how Vazquez does with the sox. Who exactly knows the issues surrounding Vazquez. But when he's on, he has the best stuff on the staff. Whether he can put it together consistently for the sox is the question. But the sox playoff hopes shouldn't be pinned on how Vazquez does. He should be more than a decent upgrade from El Duque, and then some

On Vazquez---"If he doesn't have it all working, he can really fall apart mentally, and that scares you,'' said a scout. "He has three or four good pitches and good command. But sometimes he'll nibble or give up on certain pitches, or fall in love with a certain pitch. And when he's not right, his ball can flatten out. He's definitely underachieved.'' Who else thinks AJ, Ozzie and Cooper will have the same advice for Javier they did with Jon and Jose----'Don't think-- just throw to the glove'? I really haven't followed Vazquez's problems and why he's underachieved. Yet this does sound very correctable--Get the guy to trust his stuff, throw what he's told when he's told, pitch with confidence. With Vazquez's quality pitches, command and high K rate, I wouldn't be surprised if he think he turned into the sox ace this year. He certainly is coming in with less problems to correct than both Jon and Jose did. And his control has always been there. Not bad for a #5 SP [or #4 if Jose is traded]. If Vazquez doesn't turn it around it'll be because of what's going on between his ears and not his arm.

QUOTE(fathom @ Feb 4, 2006 -> 04:05 PM) Am I the only one who thinks that the White Sox would be the team who's easily getting the best end of this deal? Personally, I don't think there's a chance in hell that Philly will make this deal. I guess it depends on the market for a SP like Contreras. With Weaver having like 8 teams fighting for him, the sox could do better than this deal with Philly. Philly would get out from under Abreu's contract and have a very capable RFer in Dye under contract for 2 yrs [the 07 option is pretty reasonable IIRC]. They also would have money in 07 and inside track to sign Jose to a good deal. With Abreu having a no-trade clause, their options are limited in where and when they can deal him.