JohnCangelosi

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Apr 25, 2011 -> 05:14 PM) that was easy As usual

And lets fire that rather large gray haired security guy who opens the door and fist bumps the reliever before shutting it again. I mean, really, the guy hasn't delivered either this year.

I say we put all of their nuts on the chopping block and castrate them all

It's about time for this thread to appear this year, surprised it didn't happen earlier

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Apr 24, 2011 -> 02:43 PM) I have to disagree with your assessment that his outing today meant nothing. You could see the return of that slider and his fastball was exploding. Bodes well for our pen I'd like to see it in the 9th inning in a save situation before I got excited about it. No doubt he looked good, however.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Apr 24, 2011 -> 02:32 PM) Watched the game on WGN today. What a pathetic offensive show AGAIN! Only good thing I saw other than Danks pitched well was the Thornton was loking more like his old self. That could be a good sign. The fact that Thornton pitched well means nothing. He's pitched a few good innings this year in non 9th inning/save situations.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 24, 2011 -> 02:23 PM) Exactly. What are they going to say if they lose 4 in NY? One of the worst stretches in modern team history with this payroll? Wow. I was thinking the same thing. I don't remember a worse stretch in a long time. This team looks defeated, beat, whatever term you want to use, that's it. I don't see any fire under anyone's belly its the same old s*** every year now it seems. Big expectations and a big let down. We scored 3 runs this series and all of them solo shots. Where is the fire Greg Walker thread????

QUOTE (SpainSOXfan09 @ Apr 24, 2011 -> 12:35 PM) It really seems like the team´s collective pysche is shattered right now. They are just standing there and taking called 3rd strikes. Along with everyone in this thread, weather must be nice in Chicago?

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Apr 24, 2011 -> 12:19 PM) Intentional walk in the first inning? I wonder what does to a pitcher's confidence. I'd go around Cabrera every time we have a chance, I completely agree with it

Man Adam Dunn is an easy out right now, that was WAY too easy...

On another note, I am surprised no one has started the annual fire Greg Walker thread?!!?!?!?

I feel like I just got called on my ALL IN and I am holding bottom pair right now...

I realize it's early but when you lose games the way we did by blowing leads in the 9th time and time again, a losing streak like this was bound to happen. Last nights loss is particularly disappointing. In any event, it's not over, but it's just plain unacceptable and we need to turn things around.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 14, 2011 -> 08:08 AM) A lot of Little League coaches have developed and morphed the idea to have their two best starters go 3 innings back-to-back each game I remember most leagues had a 10 IP limit per week, something like that. It's kind of like battling the teachers' unions over tenure. As soon as a single pitcher went down with injury who was a part of your revolutionary system, it would be scrapped. Heck, the World Baseball Classic has been put in jeopardy (and certainly in terms of full participation by all the best American-born players) due to the extra wear and tear of adding 10-14 more days of pitching and injury risk into the season. I think the only way it could be adopted would be if you could find a battery of surgeons like Jobe and Andrews who supported the idea that allocating pitches thrown in this manner would lead to fewer or the same amount of arm/shoulder/elbow/labrum injuries, not MORE. While I agree with the fact that any team picking their 6 best pitchers out of 12, from a statistical probability theory, has some credence...it also falls to pieces when you consider all those starts where the pitcher gets knocked out in under 3 innings pitched. If one of the two guys simply didn't have it, you can't radically recalibrate their pitches thrown allotment without seriously having to rearrange the entire "rotation" from week to week. Then you run the risk of a pitcher coming out of the top 6 or entering the top 6 having an injury because he hasn't fully adjusted. It's hard to imagine your #7 guy getting the kind of work he'd require (it would be all mop-up/blow out) on the major league roster. He'd probably have to be waiting in AAA getting a regular and consistent workload of pitches so he would be ready to jump into the "rotation." So then you'd have agents for pitchers 7-9 on the roster feeling their clients were getting buried in AAA because their workloads were less (not being able to accrue service time and get to arb/FA) or not having the ability to showcase their talents, like in the 50's and 60's when players like Roberto Clemente were "hidden" in the minor league systems of loaded major league teams (in that case, the Brooklyn Dodgers). If you remember the beginning of the 1990 season, there was a shortened spring training due to an owners lockout if I recall correctly and it forced us to pitch guys for like 3 innings max to start the year....and we got off to a great start and pretty much carried it through the entire year. Too bad there wasn't a wild card that year as we had a special team in 1990.

If we're truly "all in" we need to go and trade for a closer ASAP...not sure if it's going to be possible but someone should be out there by the All Star break hopefully

I miss Bobby. But I do agree that eventually Thornton and Sale will get their act together. 4 blown saves in the first 12 games of the year must be a MLB record. I think the best thing we can do now is make Sergio the closer if we can get into that position on Friday night and put everyone underneath him. Will be a good test to see if he has the mettle as he has closer like stuff.

If Matt can close the door here maybe it would be a turning point for him and he can get the monkey off his back and we can have a legit closer...

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 13, 2011 -> 02:34 PM) Really should have gone Thornton. I can't believe I am missing Yellow Beard. I wouldn't have disagreed with Thornton there either, primarily because he didn't pitch last night and 3 runs should be enough for him, LOL. This is ugly though, I hope Sale was just tired from last night, because we need everyone we have in the Pen

Looks like Sale, which is fine by me but we should have double barreled action going on just in case he's a bit worn from last night's 2 innings... And I hope this means that generally speaking Sale will close for now. I really like Matt Thornton in the 8th and I agree we need him back to his old self if we're going to do anything this year. Let's keep him where he's been great.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 13, 2011 -> 02:24 PM) Matt Thornton for his first save of many this season. I hope 3 runs is enough cushion for him, but I would not disagree with putting him in there right now, hopefully he can get some confidence from it...

Who is the best call for the 9th???

Ok so it appears Danksy is done for the game. Who do we bring into the game in the 9th?!?!?!?!!??!?!?

So if Danks gets in trouble here who do we want to see?

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Apr 13, 2011 -> 08:05 AM) Yes, it was completely ridiculous he dropped that ball. No argument. But he's been a pretty good defensive player throughout his career. Giving Thornton the benefit of the doubt and refusing to do so with Juan is kind of hypocritical. I mean I doubt he lost the ability to catch or track a fly ball over the course of the off-season. He also doesn't look as if he's lost any speed. I'm still dismissing it as a fluke unless it happens again. I think the fly ball that Juan dropped in the Tampa game was ridiculous, but the other night against the A's, that wasn't a "simple" catch. That ball was smoked (just like every other ball was off Thornton) and the wind was playing havoc with it as well, so I still give JP the benefit of the doubt. I thought generally speaking he played pretty good D for us last year in LF so let's hope the worst is behind him.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 12, 2011 -> 02:19 PM) First of all don't break your arm for patting yourself on the back. You were far from the only one who said that. As a matter of a fact all you have to do is look at the bumped closer thread to see that only 30 out of 104 votes were even for Matt as closer. I was talking about my statement that MT doesn't have what it takes to close. That's what I was flamed about. I was NOT talking about WHO we "wanted" as a closer. BIG difference. A lot of people just wanted MT to continue in his setup role not to mention Sale did quite fine last year during his short stint with the job. So this HARDLY means that people didn't think MT couldn't close. People on the board are questioning his makeup now, but I got flamed for questioning his makeup for the role after the first blown save, because I actually questioned it last year when he was filling in for Bobby. To me even last year he didn't seem right to me in the 9th with the lead. But I don't expect you to understand the subtle yet large difference between the two. Just continue to support Ozzie no matter what decision he makes, because at the end of the day it's all on the players. If Ozzie decides Konerko should play center field, then PK should do it and do it well. If he cannot it's on PK, not Ozzie, right?