caulfield12

QUOTE (fathom @ May 19, 2016 -> 08:27 AM) Jennings has been great this year (2 ERA). 10 days of struggles for a bullpen doesn't make them the worst bullpen ever. Yes, Jennings was great in the Rangers' game (the double play ball was a bit lucky but better lucky than good)...he's been MUCH better than Zach Duke and should probably start taking some of those 7th and 8th inning opportunities against left-hand batters if Duke keeps giving up key hits in those situations. That said, we don't have many true power arms that will line up with some of the better teams' pens, other than Nate Jones.

Once again...I'll take 1 Tim Anderson and you can have 50 Courtney Hawkinses or Gordon Beckhams.

I was talking about BULLPENS. "The Reds may have the worst bullpen in the history of the world." That was the quote. Geez. Before I get bombarded with bullpen stats, yes, I just cited an article that argued the Reds were on the way to being one of the worst bullpens in the history of baseball.

Obviously, I'm being hyperbolic, but Jennings, Putnam, Petricka, Duke and Albers wouldn't exactly be highly coveted at the moment. For the last ten days, we've had far and away the worst bullpen in the majors. http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/cincinn...s-rumors-051816

Just shut up and play...then you can talk. We heard so much talk out of Jake Peavy, but he never backed it up on the field. Let your stats speak for you.

Would be much better if Anderson played like Jeter, unlike GordonBeckham, who said he wanted to be Jeter before he'd ever proven a thing in the major leagues. That kind of talk, about being the captain, face of the franchise and future of the organization, I think it took its toll and turned into a burden over time (I saw it happen with Alex Gordon when I lived in Kansas City as well, it was "this guy's going to be the next George Brett" from the day he was drafted out of Nebraska). It also caused some friction because Ozzie didn't like the young/er guys getting too much attention before he felt they deserved it. Of course, lots of White Sox fans to this day blame the Sox for moving him from SS to 3B to 2B and attribute that as part of the reason for his eventual downfall. I think someone else made a comment about Anderson bringing more and more African-American fans to the game...that he would be that kind of electric presence. Well, I hope it's true, but I also hope we don't put too many unrealistic expectations on him early. He sounds like a great kid who's confident but never forgets his roots and won't let being a big leaguer get to his head. Character issues have never come up in any discussion that I've seen about him online, and that's always an added plus.

Fine, let's talk about how the White Sox emulated the Royals' plan and how they didn't at this point (since Dick Allen wanted me to talk about them by bringing up this thread from where it was buried): 1) Major improvement defensively at 3B and CF, which led to the biggest improvement (perhaps by accident) with Eaton in RF. 2) Better leadership at the catching position, although both Avila and Navarro are disposable and not part of the long-term plan. 3) At least until a week or so ago, they had an offensive approach of "keep the line" moving...especially from the 7th inning on. As we've seen with Lawrie and Rollins recently, we have a lot of issues with making contact (although better at taking walks by far). 4) Signing "cheap" free agent pitchers like Latos, Gonzalez and Jacob Turner...the Royals did the same with Chris Young, Blanton, Dillon Gee, Chien-Min Wang, Mike Minor and Ryan Madson. (One obvious weakness right now is the set-up area for the White Sox, the Yankees are the ones who most copied KC with their three-headed monster...KC has been relying on Hochevar, Herrera and Davis again, with Soria the biggest disappointment and Madson turning into YET another closer Beane will flip for prospects). 5) Still trying the "sacrifice bunting" approach to scoring runs...just not very effectively. Work in progress. The best move the Royals made in the off-season was the worst-received and most ridiculed, Ian Kennedy. Alex Gordon, Joakim Soria and Chris Young have been pretty big disappointments so far. They're also stuck with one of the worst contracts in baseball in Omar Infante for the next two years...and just had to send Christian Colon down because it's a numbers game with Moustakas coming back and Cuthbert also on the roster. So they have the unforgettable Whit Merrifield, aka the poor man's Ben Zobrist (can play OF and 2B) up as well. The farm's a mess with Starling struggling, Mondesi suspended and Zimmer still struggling with his health. So, like the White Sox, their deadline moves will be more about adding to payroll than giving up talent (most of it was expended trading for Cueto and Zobrist last year).

Jackson is very good...stellar is pushing it. But Eaton definitely has been beyond stellar in RF so far. The only misplay I can remember was Hicks' ball over his head in the Quintana start, and anyone can make that mistake playing just once a year in Yankee Stadium because there's a jet stream carrying out there.

That's a hard one to call. On one hand is JR's noted loyalty, which is a double-edged sword at times. On the other, 7 years and counting without a playoff appearance. If the organization decides Renteria's the better manager to get them to the promised land, then they'll make the move, but with a heavy heart. Ventura's currently a lame duck manager (like Brad Ausmus) and doesn't have a contract for 2017, at least for now.

Greg, there's nothing there of substance to respond to. Kass has a right to an opinion, but that's all it is. Nothing more, nothing less.

If there were any easy answers at catcher, they would have been utilized. They might have missed on Saltalamacchia, but there just weren't many options on the trade market. Kevan Smith isn't going to be the answer with "on the job" training for a first place team. Erik Johnson doesn't have the faith/belief/trust of the organization. They trust Gonzalez's track record in the big leagues more than any potential that Johnson might have, and Gonzalez has done his job, more or less, keeping them in every game he's started. Same thing with Latos, who is/was a huge bargain for that price tag no matter what happens from here on out. Winning organizations don't release guys like Jimmy Rollins (especially when he's been one of your new leaders) and panic when the team's 2 1/2 games out in first with Chris Sale going tmrw. Saladino's unlikely to be a big league regular. Anderson needs more seasoning, if we've learned nothing from the trail that starts with Joe Borchard, Brian Anderson, Gordon Beckham, Marcus Semien and many others, it's that you have to be patient with your young players...it's just not the right situation to throw him into right now. Maybe, just maybe...in July or August. One thing we know, though, is that advanced scouts for other teams will pick apart his every weakness and expose it. The key will be making adjustments. It's hard to be patient. There are only 3 other teams in the majors that have gone longer than 7 years since their last playoff appearance. 5 of those 7 years have been bad/terrible/forgettable ones. Davidson isn't coming within 1000 miles of this roster. If anything's going to happen, it will be adding a LH bat for outfield/DH. They're definitely not bringing back AJ Pierzynski. In other words, no to all of these moves...for now. First place teams can't afford to panic, or the season's already lost. There's too much veteran talent in that clubhouse and Chris Sale's smelling his first Cy Young. They should be able to keep it together, or Ventura will be shown the door.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/the-whit...e-some-options/ Rick Hahn prepared to make a big move today!!! Oh my god, he didn't make a big move...last week he didn't either, when the lead was 6/7/8 over the Indians/Royals/Tigers. ERGO, nothing can ever change. We might elect a president whose positions change every day to the point where, according to research/tracking, 82% of his statements have turned out to be categorized as "lies" or, at best, "half truths." The situation in January (the time of my original post) for free agents also isn't QUITE the same as the end of March. The price for Ian Desmond at that time was expected to be $15 million per season, around the same as the qualifying pick. Ian Desmond eventually signed for $8 million, which was about half that. Not to mention the White Sox could, from an accounting standpoint, look at it as a "savings" of roughly $2 million or so on draft spending if you wanted to spin it in that way, so the real cost to this year's overall organizational budget would have been $6 million. IMO, there's a huge difference between $15-16 million for one year of Ian Desmond AND losing a compensation pick (which would then be regained in all likelihood)...versus just $8 million for one year. At that price, the reward outweighs the risk. PLEASE NOTE: DICK ALLEN BUMPED THIS THREAD, I RESPONDED TO HIM AND HIS POST DISAPPEARED. I WOULD ADVISE THE MODS TO JUST BURY IT AGAIN, BECAUSE THE LAST THING I WANT TO DO IS HAVE TO HEAR HOW I'M NOT A WHITE SOX FAN OVER AND OVER AGAIN...NOT A SURPRISE, SEEING WHO OUR NEXT OPPONENT IS ON THE SCHEDULE.

Sure, but he's averaging 5.65 IP per start over EIGHT starts. That needs to be increased to 6.33-6.5ish.

If you remove David Robertson from the equation, the White Sox might not be far ahead of the Reds.

QUOTE (Dunt @ May 18, 2016 -> 09:35 PM) 2 ER over 6 innings with 7 K's and 1 BB? Ya, I'd say that's "pretty good" Rodon HAS to get his pitch count to a more manageable number where he's getting the ball to the bullpen in the 7th. We have to start using our relief corps in the 6th or earlier, it exposes all the problems, as we have already seen repeating itself as a theme in the last 10 days.

At any rate, it was difficult for the White Sox to react so late to both the LaRoche and Danks situations catching them off guard. That said, they probably didn't expect to be in the position which they are now in...just hoping to be in the mix. Desmond/Alvarez/Jackson would have dealt with two pressing issues (SS production and LH power). It still would leave us potentially two starters short, as counting on Danks/Erik Johnson was probably the most foolhardy part of the off-season. They kind of lucked out with Latos' first three starts, but that mirage disappeared. Now we have holes at SS, CF (offensively), catcher, LH power, bench speed, bullpen and 2 starting pitchers (assuming Rodon will recover and be an above .500 pitcher the rest of the way). And the jury's still out on Lawrie and Avisail Garcia. Having the "real" Jose Abreu show up would be a huge lift.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 18, 2016 -> 09:25 PM) They cared way too much about saving the comp pick this past offseason YEP. Which is pretty amazing considering how "short term"-oriented the White Sox always were under KW. You plug Ian Desmond in at SS, you have a MUCH more potent offense and basically the same or likely better overall defense (certainly range) compared to Rollins. Saladino fits perfectly in that super-utility role. I don't think there's any way they were going to sign Desmond and Fowler, buy they still would have had plenty of money left to bring in Pedro Alvarez as part of a DH platoon. Other than Eaton and Cabrera, and those guys are gap hitters...we just don't have any LH power that opposing managers have to respect in late-game situations. One certainty, though, is that the White Sox aren't going anywhere if we don't see the same Rodon who started the last 10 games or so last year. Last night, he was "pretty good," at least his stuff looked appreciably more lively.

To add insult to injury, it was Rajai Davis who tied the game for CLE, yikes...Kipnis just made a highlight reel play, 2 outs for the Reds and nobody on base. At any rate, Quintana vs. Dillon Gee strongly favors the Sox, Gonzalez vs. Duffy (on a pitch count) is a toss-up and then Rodon/Ventura could go either way. We miss Volquez/Kennedy entirely, so there's no excuse for not taking 2/3 against KC this weekend. KC is going to be on a bit of a high since they're back to .500, playing much better defense and Moustakas is returning on SAT.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 18, 2016 -> 09:18 PM) Sox doing a poor job of bouncing back after tough losses. Bad game tonight. A pessimist might say our starting pitching suddenly stinks with just two excellent starters and three so-so starters (at best). Obviously Rodon will be excellent some day. Bullpen, as has happened ever since Joe Morgan said it was the best in baseball, gets off to a red-hot start now looks average (cept for the lockdown closer). I'm hoping Putnam will continue putting up zeros cause in theory he's a better prospect than Albers IMO. Sox are catching the Royals at a bad time. This team blows right now. Putnam isn't close to being a "prospect" anymore...he's more of a journeyman veteran who seemingly has found a home in our bullpen but hasn't been AS effective as he was in 2014. He's fine for a "second unit" in the pen, but he's not currently the guy who can blow away guys (see Giles yesterday) and tends to pitch to more contact...which is fine as long as those sinkers and forkballs are hit at fielders and not elevated. Btw, your OKC obliteration of the Warriors isn't working out so well.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 18, 2016 -> 09:06 PM) I just don't get how our scouting of MLB players that we bring in via free agency can be so bad And the future best infielder in the AL Central, Francisco Lindor....just went yard. Two problems: 1) Budget constraints 2) We can't scout at the major league level nearly as well as we do the minors...and we can't even scout our own division as well as they've counter-scouted us over the last decade, with a few exceptions.

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ May 18, 2016 -> 09:08 PM) I don't understand how a team that was once 13 games over .500 have somehow managed to look so poorly in the past 7 games... 4 in a row now. We were 6 outs away from 14 games over...and actually rose to 2nd after this weekend (behind the Cubs) in ESPN's Power Rankings. If the Indians rally to win this game, they'll only be 2 1/2 GB, having picked up 3 1/2 games over the course of 10 days. Allen pitched TWO perfect innings...on to the 12th.

Indians using closer Allen here in the bottom of the 11th in Cincy... Stupid Reds, can you win ONE game at home?

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ May 18, 2016 -> 08:09 PM) Would be a shame if Abreu's rookie year turns out to be the best year of his career. See Carlos Quentin 2008, Gordon Beckham 2009, Dayan Viciedo 2012.

Boston leading KC 4-1 behind Price and Cincy finally takes a lead to the 9th against CLE.

Jesus, getting the runner in from 3rd and less than 2 outs....we must be in the bottom 5-7 teams in all of baseball. Still lacking in contact hitters in clutch situations. The Astros can get away with it due to overall power across their line-up.