caulfield12

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 02:06 PM) But a lot of the list for Cooper wasn't really reclamation except the names I mentioned. Dye and Thome and Konerko were reclimations as much as most of the Cooper list. (The difference is that Thome was already on a clear path to the Hall of Fame, whereas Jose had a HOF arm and zero career results with the pressure cooker in NY. He became the best pitcher, the most dominant in baseball, for a good 4-5 month stretch until getting injured in Cincy in May, 2006.) Cooper doesn't get scrutinized for guys failing nearly as much as the Sox hitting coaches or manager have. That's just a fact. If Darin Erstad is horrible and Andy Gonzalez doesn't hack it in the 3 spot, Walker was an idiot. If the Sox botch a rundown, Ventura hasn't shown them the proper way. If the bullpen walks 5 out of 6 batters, the pitchers just suck. Several guys weren't so good with the White Sox but had pitching success later elsewhere. Other than Nick Swisher, I don't think there is any White Sox who had far more success offensively after sucking it up with the White Sox. Of course, many of the White Sox hitters were veterans who were either done or nearing the end of the line, but no one was able to "fix" the other guys. One of the main reasons that Cooper is assailed is because the John Danks and Gavin Floyds of 2008 regressed. Floyd, we all know his mental fortitude issues, same with Javy. And then Danks had the injury, so it's hard to say how good he really could have become without that.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 01:41 PM) Frank Thomas, Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Lee, Aaron Rowand, Jermaine Dye, Paul Konerko, Jim Thome, Joe Crede...... Just some names Greg Walker coached. According to most here, he was turrible. Walker started with the White Sox in 2003. It's also about expectations. Thomas, Ordonez, Lee, Konerko and Thome were all established major league players, some HOF or All-Stars...even Jermaine Dye. So Rowand and Crede, sure (but then you have the noted failures of Borchard, Brian Anderson, Josh Fields, Gordon Beckham and many others to go along with that...Alex Rios pre-2012, Adam Dunn's 2011 mystifying fall off, Nick Swisher's anomalous 2008 season). And you can give Walker Carlos Quentin of 2008. Or you can say that he was simply healthy for one good chunk of a season and was provided the opportunity to play full-time. And AJ Pierzynski was always a top hitting catcher, for example. But from that list of pitchers, they have some big-time pedigrees, but most of them came to the White Sox as reclamation projects, with Contreras being the quintessential example of all. Talent, but lack of results with previous teams for a plethora of reasons. Javy always gets thrown out as a Cooper failure, but no pitching coach every really had consistent success with him, despite his success. Trading away Daniel Hudson and Brandon McCarthy and Gio gets blamed on him too, for some reason. Or Ventura's bullpen mismanagement.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 11:02 AM) 48% Cubs, 34% White Sox, 7% Yankees That's saying there are 41% more Cubs fans, but it's not nearly double or twice, which many would assume (2 to 1 split). If you took our 16,959 average attendance, the Cubs would be averaging around 23,900 per game (just looking at it from purely a numerical standpoint, not taking into account 8 year Sox attendance slide, horrible Cubs' rebuilding years, etc.) The Cubs are actually at 30,645, so they're still generating an "extra" 7000 fans per game pure from out of state/touristic/Wrigley Field environment/catch one ball game per season on the family vacation fans. What is really crazy is that the Rays are 28th in attendance, having drawn 277,511 after 14 games. We're going to be have to be extremely lucky to be at the 230,000 mark after 14 games (60,000+ for the four game Rays series). To be trailing the Rays by nearly 20% nearly 17% into the 2014 home season is pretty incredible. Those who were predicting another $40 million in 2015 in payroll increases are already beginning to walk back those statements, feeling that spending level isn't so automatic anymore.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 01:27 PM) Right there shows a big problem right now...no names from the past two years. Quintana, that's it. And however much you want or are willing to credit Cooper with Chris Sale and their treatment of him. If Danks can hold up at 87-90, surely some of the adjustments made in reaction to losing 2-3 MPH off his fastball are related to Coop. Johnson...? Who really knows, too early to tell. Has had some really impressive starts, but the first 2-3 outings this year were borderline abysmal. Let's see where we are with him in a month, and where his velocity readings are when the temperatures get into the 80's.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 12:19 PM) He's trash, but so are Francisco, Guerra, Boggs, Hanson. Maybe they will get lucky but it is obvious they are desperate for someone. Anyone. The one who has actually put up the best numbers in AAA/AA is Frank De Los Santos, who we acquired from the Rays quietly in the offseason. Started the year in BIRM and quickly got the call-up to Charlotte. Anything is better than Heath, Omo, Bruney, Sean Tracey, etc. Well, ALMOST anything. Who's next, Phil Humber? Brandon McCarthy? Daniel Hudson?

It seems the argument isn't whether Jones COULD get to 40/48 with that many SVO. It's simply the fact that he (argumentatively, and nobody knows for sure how he will react) would go all Lindstrom in the closer's role and have the position taken away from him before he could get even close to those numbers.

Danks pre-injury, especially 2008-2010 Thornton Edwin Jackson Humber for one unexpectedly good season before regression all the magical reliever seasons in 2005 (Hermanson, Cotts, Politte) Gavin Floyd Loiaza Jose Contreras Jon Garland became a much better pitcher from the time he was a 20 year old rookie JJ Putz had a great bounceback season his one year here Mark Buehrle Jose Quintana Bobby Jenks Sergio Santos Keith Foulke

Silence from our resident critic? Golden. Now. Who do we want to attribute this new Viciedo to? Steverson? Abreu's calming presence? The fact he can "relax" with the Garcia injury and not have to worry about losing at-bats on a daily basis? Paul Konero working with him? Would be curious to see Dayan's answer as to what has changed in his approach.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 06:35 AM) Are Alex Jackson's high school numbers available? http://www.perfectgame.org/players/playerp....aspx?ID=288713 Found this.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 05:45 AM) I agree entirely with Caulfield regarding the issue of another LH Starter. Sale, Quintana and Danks are now all locked up, and young enough to be around for the next Sox Post Season run. Moreover, the roster is not likely to produce a RH top of the rotation guy. The last thing this team needs is another LH Starter. This team is being built "backwards"; too many RH hitters and too many LH Starters. How the front office ever got to this point of not having a single impact left handed hitter, and the top 3 starters all being southpaws, is simply baffling. You can trace it back to the failures of Joe Borchard, Nick Swisher (SH) and Adam Dunn. Can't find anything more specific on Hoffman, just a "sore arm" and missing the next two scheduled starts. http://acc.blogs.starnewsonline.com/41865/...ext-two-starts/ ECU pitcher Jeff Hoffman is experiencing soreness in his throwing arm and is expected to miss his next two starts according to sources close to the Pirate program. Hoffman began experiencing pain during Wednesday's practice and was scheduled to pitch this Friday in game one of a three game Conference USA series at Florida Atlantic.

The Amazing Spider-Man was just really flat and non-cohesive...something was just a bit off, it's hard to put it into words on first viewing, but it's going to be considered a disappointment and pale imitation of the Tobey Maguire/Franco/Dunst version.

Next in terms of the relief corps... Guerra and Frank De Los Santos (acquired from Rays in offseason) Purcey Kevin Vance and Nelvin Fuentes (Barons)

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 10:04 PM) Arnie Munoz? Munoz only got one start, the one against MON where Uribe had about 10 RBI's and Willie Harris screwed up a bunt attempt in extras. Diaz at least beat the Cubs, although he never had the reported 95 MPH heat...more like 89-92.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 05:45 PM) Micah Johnson has doubled and homered within the first 2 innings Where will he play?

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 05:52 PM) Then why not start Semien every day at 2B and let Beckham play 3B until Gillaspie gets back? Because Beckham hasn't played much 3B since 2009, whereas Semien has shown the ability to play all three positions recently. Maybe if a team looking to acquire Beckham asked Hahn to see him there a couple of times, but the risk of reinjuring the oblique/strain (at another position) is probably a couple of degrees higher than at the one position he's most comfortable and familiar with. There are lots of faster/reaction/quick twitch plays at 3B, and then he would also have to make the throw across the diamond and against his body coming in on the bunt. That's a good way to get hurt again. Semien also has the better arm for 3B...although Gordo's is decent.

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.jsp?s...mp;ymd=20140424 Kussmaul McNully Braulio Ortiz Leyer

And it's looking like Scott Downs is this year's version of Jeff Keppinger, without the long-term payroll ramifications.

With Peavy and Santos/Reed, it's an 82-84 win team, maybe maybe maybe 86. And still probably 2-3 games short of the wild card. But that means no major injuries, so knock that back down to 80-82 with the injuries they've already succumbed to (and with everything riding on a healthy Chris Sale returning). Obviously, long-term, the Garcia move will probably turn out to be the right one, crosses fingers. And whether we could afford Peavy and Santos, well, we COULD have afforded Tanaka...but an 82-84 win team puts us right back in the middle of 2009-2013 mode, and 2012 showed that's not even enough to boost attendance or even keep it falling again year on year after a terribly disappointing "all in" 2011 season (Dunn acquisition).

Oh well. We showed resiliency again. No matter what our bullpen does to screw us over. Danks/Semien/Abreu in the 9th. Hopefully Abreu actually gets an opportunity to hit from the umps. Nathan's been more than human. If we can keep the lead at 1, far from a sure thing.

Sigh. Just go away with your hot wife and have some kids and spit tobacco in Georgia with Hawk.

HAHAHA. Too funny. Odds of Beckham tying the game here???

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 01:49 PM) I'll let you in on a not so secret, Coop pretty much runs the pitching staff. So when you are upset and are blaming Robin you may want to know you are actually ripping Coop. That is a no no. Yeah, and KW is making all the of the trades still.

If DeAza pops up a bunt or into a DP.... Should have been a double play, but Kinsler bobbled it. Tailor made. Tigers' defense.

Viciedo up to .377. Hanging breaking ball clubbed. Time for the Uribe-O-Meter from early 2004. Tigers have given up 13 runs in the 7th, and 16 in the 9th inning. SOUNDS LIKE THE WHITE SOX, haha.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 01:42 PM) Yeah it's Robin's fault Cleto walks everybody and Webb gives up a hit. What role did your boy Coop play? None. You get behind in the count to a Miguel Cabrera and you're dead in that situation. Even one playing at 80%.