caulfield12

Any team with elite infield defense would get a ton of mileage out of Putnam...as long as they could keep him healthy.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 27, 2015 -> 09:04 AM) I think his philosophy is trying to find someone who will do well in the 2 hole. Except for Abreu and LaRoche he has tried just about everyone except the catchers and Sanchez. I think he is hoping it could spark something like it did Fisk in 1983 where I am sure if all these numbers were around back then there would have been many calls for his release before moving there. So basically the managers back then were better off? Wasn't LaRussa one of the first to start analyzing advanced statistics on his own...all those index cards that he kept? Fisk attributed his renaissance to the warm weather and the higher place in the batting order. ''Just knowing where you are going to be in the lineup every day helps,'' he said, ''and batting second keeps you aware. You are faced with a lot of situations.'' Previously, he was in the lower third of the batting order. Source nytimes.com

http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/splits/_/id/6219/zach-duke If they can't find a single reliever who can limit lefties to under an 800 ops for under $5 million they're doomed anyway.

John Danks , #50 LHP 3-8, 5.38 ERA, 55 SO John Danks took full credit for a shellacking on Monday against the Twins. He gave up nine runs -- five earned -- and was unable to pitch over a costly Alexei Ramirez error. Kyle Ryan , #56 LHP 1-1, 4.56 ERA, 11 SO Ryan pitched in relief Wednesday on his day to throw a side session, but manager Brad Ausmus said it wouldn't affect his status. He threw his best outing of the season against the White Sox on June 5 with seven innings of two-run ball.

http://www.southsidesox.com/2015/6/24/8837...could-be-bolder Article looking at Alexei Ramirez and Cabrera, bat speed, the #2 spot and Ventura's "philosophy."

http://www.southsidesox.com/2015/6/26/8852...uld-double-down Trade entire minor league system and Garcia for Todd Frazier. Danks for Brandon Phillips. Sign Cespedes for $110 million. Sign Samardzija for $90 million. Decline Alexei, put Sanchez at SS. Surely, that will all work out well. Still no catcher, despite all the new revenues being spent that materialized out of thin air.

KW should also remember who the Front Office Executive of the Year in 2005 was....not himself, but Mark Shapiro of the Indians. Two teams (2012 Sox, 2005 indians) that both came up just short.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jun 27, 2015 -> 07:08 AM) Geoff Blum? Juan Uribe? Jim Thome was decent. So were Dustin Hermanson and Cliff Politte. Blum hardly played for us at all... Hermanson didn't last more than one season...same with Politte, basically. Another couple of examples would be Juan Pierre and Mark Kotsay...although Mark had spent more time with the A's, I think he came over from the Padres and had been in the NL awhile. Rob Mackowiak as well....(I know, don't get Balta started). Andruw Jones was about as expected.

If you read this article about Sandberg and are willing to accept they're pretty similar in their styles...look at the problems with the Phillies and the White Sox, you will see a lot of parallels with the current Ventura/White Sox debacle. http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/philli...t_Phillies.html The only difference is the Cubs passed over Sandberg twice, the Hoosiers passed over Alford, etc. They didnt want to be put in the position to fire a hugely popular former player.

Its very simple....all you have to do is go through the top 30 international prospects lists from the 16-19 year olds in Latin America and look at how many actually made an impact. The total money spent in each signing period, the amount that went to the top 30, how many players had a statistically significant impact, etc.

"[Ventura] understands the gig," Williams said. "His first year, he almost won manager of the year if it wasn't for two bad weeks at the end of the season. You don't go from that to what people are talking about now because you've gotten worse at your job. As a matter of fact, he's gotten exponentially better and more adept in a lot of situations." "With regards to Robin, listen, you only have so much control as a manager on your overall team play," Williams said ahead of his team's game against the Tigers at Comerica Park. "He will be the first to admit they haven't played and they haven't followed the direction as much as he would have liked. But what we have to look at in management is, have we given him the right pieces? http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/...ra-job-security

QUOTE (LDF @ Jun 27, 2015 -> 05:20 AM) using the same chart, it has the sox tied to 2 players only..... while others are more. And the odds for any of them to make the big leagues....roughly the same as a 4th - 10th round pick, with some obvious exceptions at the very top of the ratings where 80% of the resources are being allocated.

QUOTE (LDF @ Jun 27, 2015 -> 05:14 AM) excellent, thought process. i agree, they needed to increase their scouting dept, esp if they will not relieve certain current management personnel. i would also add some of the scout from the Oak org. with a limited budget, they always seemed to identified key moves each season. yup, scouts from the cards and oak. Don't forget the Rays and the Twins...

https://www.yahoo.com/politics/the-reverend...2531605241.html Pres. Obama's eulogy...maybe his best public comments since he ran for office.

“I signed off on all the free agent contracts and the trades and everything else. I happened to think that Rick (Hahn) put together a hell of a club. And a lot of other people thought the same thing." KW This is the specific quote pissing a lot of people off...fwiw. Read the Liptak comments...he didn't include the Samardzija deal as well, which is what really kicked off the whole "we will begin competing starting now" thing.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Jun 27, 2015 -> 12:33 AM) I still like Uribe. He's always on winning teams. I remember Steve Rosenbloom saying Kenny couldn't acquire enough ex Royals and ex Indians which were losing organizations. They need to get scouts and instructors from the Cards. See post from two years ago in The Diamond Club....bumped it

Bumped for relevancy today...

“We’ve faltered, that’s obvious,” Williams said. “And we’ve got our shortcomings. But it’s not with the coaching staff. With regards to Robin, listen, you only have so much control as a manager on your overall team play. He will be the first to admit they haven’t played, they haven’t followed the direction as much as he would have liked. But what we have to look at in management, and it falls no further than my desk, what we have to look at is have we given him the right pieces? “If they are underperforming to this degree as a whole, then I would have to say right now, and I’ve told the Chairman this, no, at the end of the day, it falls on my desk. I hired the manager. I hired the general manager." http://www.csnchicago.com/white-sox/if-whi...already-be-gone “We’ve got to push,” Williams said. “We’re going to have to have a run, and the great thing is, you can imagine that because you run in Chris Sale and (Jeff) Samardzija and (Carlos) Rodon and (Jose) Quintana out there. You can imagine going on that kind of a run, and we do have the pieces. Certainly right now, if I’m being honest, I don’t see any indication of that.” “I’ve addressed that with Jerry (Reinsdorf) directly, and his comment to me was, ‘Listen, I thought we were in a pretty darn good position when we left the winter meetings,’” Williams said. “We felt good where we are, but we felt good about where we are for 2015, ’16 and ’17. So we’re not going to abandon ship right now because of three months in what is a three-year plan.” http://www.csnchicago.com/white-sox/kenny-...ity-clings-hope

I already included Podsednik. Edwin Jackson was terrible in Arizona and pitched quite well for Cooper. He hasn't been as dominant since. Peavy won the 2007 Cy Young...how much of his struggles were the AL (see Tigers) and how much the injuries, hard to say. Definitely disappointing overall. And even Davidson and Vizcaino blow the acquire all DBacks theory. Juan Uribe comg over from the Rockies for Miles would be another. Seems we need to stay in the NL West for our talent.

4th pick, percentage points behind the Red Sox...

It worked with Lincecum, butbhe's a former Cy Young winner, Edwin Jackson's done okay... And we already have one lefty gas can in Duke now, one more won't hurt, and can't be worse than Jennings.

This year, we have Samardzija, LaRoche, Duke and Bonifacio all struggling to various degrees. Dan Jennings ,as well. Everyone remembers Dunn in 2011, and Jake Peavy for most of his time with the Sox. Is it just bad luck, bad scouting or there really is a signicant difference between the two leagues? Thinking back, it feels like only DBacks (Javy V., Edwin Jackson, Quentin and Eaton) have at least held their own in Chicago...along with the Cubans. The only other examples I could think of were Pods coming over from the Brewers, and Thome from the Phils. What gives? It seems this trend goes back a ways, even to Steve Sax and Tim Raines when he first left the Expos.

Duke was very good against righties and lefties before joining us (mid 600's ops-wise). NL to AL switch bites us again. Dunn, LaRoche, Samardzija, Bonifacio, etc. He's about as bad against all hitters this year as he was previously good.

Have we ever had a single minor leaguer come up and execute a sac bunt in a key situation? If slappy middle infielders can't even do it, there's no prayer for anyone else. Ventura's decision-making the last two innings didn't help. Where was Putnam? Why is it assumed Duke matches up equally well with righties and lefties? For an offense that's only scored 50 in their previous 20...with the bottom of the order up, you have to think tie more than big inning, and that the Sox bullpen can beat the Tigers' pen eventually.

Ventura sucks....as does our ability to move over runners/sac bunt.