caulfield12

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 1, 2015 -> 08:53 AM) He also has had 6 top 8 picks as a GM. And Moore totally flopped for 6 straight 90 loss seasons. Even the 2014 White Sox didn't lose 90 games and think how horrible you think they are now and how horrible you have pegged their future. The FACT is the Royals got lucky winning the WC game, now they are some sort of model. Bubba Starling says hi. Then we should subtract the 2008 White Sox playoff appearance because we got lucky that Hahn's son chose heads over tails? You didn't answer the question, of course. Should Luhnow and Theo Epstein both be fired because of the record of the Astros and Cubs for the last five seasons prior to this one? The fact of the matter is that the last time the Royals had a playoff appearance was 29 years prior to that...the White Sox had a "playoff caliber" (and Top 10-12 MLB payroll) team as recently as 2012, and then proceeded to one of the worst two-year performance records in team history to follow that up. Yet in the middle of that stretch you just brought up, the team president of the Royals gave Moore a contract extension. Is JR about to give one to Rick Hahn and we just don't know about it? Sal Perez, Yordano Ventura and K.Herrera, FA Latin American signings (Rene Francisco, came over from Braves) Jarrod Dyson, 50th round Danny Duffy, 3rd round Greg Holland, 10th round Terrance Gore, 20th round

As soon as they have a game scoring 5+ runs against someone without two different names (Roberto Hernandez/Fausto Carmona)....then we can start getting (somewhat more) excited. If not for the Feldman injury, his final start in the rotation would have been yesterday against the Sox.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 1, 2015 -> 07:52 AM) Dayton Moore author. If KW wrote a book on how to judge players, many here would laugh. Yet, Dayton Moore's Royals made the WC last year now he's a genius. He has been KC's GM since June of 2006. The Royals record: 2007 69-93 2008 75-87 2009 65-97 2010 67-95 2011 71-91 2012 72-90 2013 86-76 2014 89-73 Not really all that impressive. First 6 full seasons lost 90 + each time. By this same definition, Theo Epstein and Jeffrey Luhnow with the Astros should both be fired. They've done nothing differently than build the best farm system in baseball, something Moore and the Royals did 5 years ago. Basically, the only players that the Royals/Moore inherited were Alex Gordon and Billy Butler. (Not to mention the fact that they had to go through a complete rebuilding process of Alex Gordon because of the position change to LF, mostly through the help of former White Sox OF Rusty Kuntz). Then you had Zach Greinke (who they traded for Alcides Escobar and Lorenzo Cain). And that was basically it. Ever heard of Jeff Austin, Kyle Snyder, Mike Stodolka, Colt Griffin and Chris Lubanski? All of them were Top 10 draft picks from previous GM's that flopped.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 1, 2015 -> 08:01 AM) Al Goldis was the scouting director, and he has had a nice record drafting players. Not just his brief stint with the White Sox which got him McDowell, Ventura, Thomas, Fernandez, he also drafted Durham, signed Magglio. When he went to the Cubs, Kerry Wood. I think he was with KC when the got Bo. Was with the Angels when the drafted Devon White and Dante Bichette, and was instrumental in the Sox acquiring Roberto Hernandez as an Angels farmhand for junk. He and Himes were about as successful a duo as can be with the most limited budget in baseball. The 1990 Sox won 94 or 95 games with the lowest payroll in baseball. I think Adam LaRoche alone makes more money this year than that team made total. Art Stewart was responsible for Bo Jackson.

QUOTE (LDF @ Jun 1, 2015 -> 07:43 AM) the biggest problem is or has been the ability to recognize talent esp in the area of drafting. lets take a look on who drafted Big Frank and Robin for starters. it goes back to the FO and lets see how that really worked? next, with the FO lack of ability to drafting, how can anyone judge the coaches, if the product is not there. the one thing that i did like was the hitting coach, when he went to the minors and talked to the other coaches. the coach Todd Steverson made it a point to see if the coaches are on the right page. now whose idea was that?? this is a great way to develop a cohesiveness thru out the whole system. great idea. before i started my campaign against the FO, i mention that i am not going to look the other way. this team with the pitchers and Jose A, was too good to waste. i was going to be truthful and critical. Larry Himes

AL CENTRAL: It might be anybody's game here, too. Minnesota, the only team utterly disregarded as a contender for the Central crown, is, naturally, sitting alone in first place at the start of June. And don't forget: The Twins will add Ervin Santana to their rotation at the midway mark. The Royals and Tigers remain elite, but Kansas City could use a rotation reinforcement and the Tigers need to get Justin Verlander and Victor Martinez back on the field. The Indians' power-armed rotation can take them far, but their defense remains a big issue and their bullpen has been shakier than expected. The White Sox have nowhere near as dynamic an offense as anticipated but still have the talent to make a charge (and if not, look for Jeff Samardzija to be dangled in trade talks). Baseball Prospectus says … Tigers (36.5), Royals (32.2), Twins (14.0), Indians (13.4) and White Sox (3.9).

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jun 1, 2015 -> 05:46 AM) It's a bad sign. Run differential is generally the best indicator of future performance and it tends to correct itself as the season plays out. Which is what's going on right now with the Indians surging forward, and the Tigers falling back. Minnesota +21, 27-22 EWL (+3) KC +49, 30-18 EWL (-1) Detroit -1, 26-26 EWL (+2) Cleveland +4, 25-25 EWL (-1) CHW -42, 19-30 EWL (+4) Right now, not surprisingly, the Twins and White Sox have the biggest spreads between expected and actual records.

side.... The Fearful Player: This player won't trust the development process. He's a poor self-evaluator. He blames his coaches and teammates for his failure. He's often insecure about where he was taken in the draft. He can often be uncomfortable with baseball's diverse cultures, and he's always making excuses. He's consumed with self and doesn't know how to be a good teammate. Because of the importance of being able to manage failure (in baseball), his spirit will eventually be crushed. Even the player who Jim Beauchamp (Atlanta Braves' scout) would call "chosen" ends up being miserable later in his career and throughout his life. It's not about the team. There are plenty of examples of talented, producing major league players who are in the "fearful" stage. They put up great numbers, but their teammates and coaches don't respect them because because it's all about self. It's difficult for teams to win championships with players who possess these traits because they usually bring the team down. The Overcomer: The Fearless Player: This player is a great teammate. He intuitively does whatever needs to be done to help the team win. He never lets a situation, a circumstance, or an event drive a wedge between him and what he loves to do. He especially doesn't let the circumstance or situation affect the team. He understands that everyone's success is tied together. He's accountable; he doesn't make excuses. He always answers the media's tough questions. He is completely focused on what he has to do to prepare and give his best for the team each day. The bottom line: he always plays for something bigger than himself. from "More than a Season" by Dayton Moore Reading this book, it made me realize that it's not really anything wrong with Buddy Bell specifically. It's simply the fact that there's a huge disconnect between the talent level of the players we've been drafting and their make-up or moxie. Ken Harrelson kind of had it right, that will to win...the desire to outwork your opponent, to perfect your craft, to never be satisfied and constantly be looking for ways to improve. We've brought in so many talented athletes, but often they didn't have the mental/psychological acuity to adjust and deal with failure. Or they'd never experienced failure before becoming professional baseball players, so we didn't have a system in place to help them overcome struggles until it was too late and permanent "confidence" damage had been done (some critics would say inflicted). It's easy in hindsight to say it was simply poor scouting with guys like Joe Borchard, Brian Anderson, Josh Fields, Gordon Beckham, Dayan Viciedo, Jared Mitchell, Trayce Thompson, Keenyn Walker....because so few position players have gone on to success with other organizations after leaving the White Sox. Even someone like Carlos Quentin, who experienced near MVP level results but then couldn't overcome the mental side of the game and eventually succumbed to physical problems as well. I would suggest that it's not quite that simple...since we don't know how any of those guys might have turned out differently had they started their careers in other organizations, beginning with rookie ball or extended spring training. I still believe we've had as much or more talent than many organizations, but we just have a much harder time getting them to "buy in" because they tend to bring baggage with them from so many other organizations. We don't have any type of identity as an organization. Lacking in "homegrown" players who are drafted and advance level by level and learn how to win together and trust in each other just seems like it's continuing to have a "trickle down" consequence at the big league level, even with Kenny Williams no longer making the day-to-day decisions. The success stories that we do have are guys like Alexei Ramirez, Abreu, Sale and Rodon who hardly spent any time in our minor league system...and you're still seeing the lack of fundamentals in Alexei and Jose well past the time they left Cuba, because it seems like so much of major league coaching is "maintenance" and they just skipped over all the important lessons they should have learned because their sheer raw ability overcame it (or compensated for it). But certainly not enough to allow us to give up 1-2 runs every game to the opposition when the margin of talent differential has never been thinner, and every single run counts (especially in the early innings). How do you "retrain/untrain" those two or Avisail...how to improve Conor's footwork or Eaton's throwing and baserunning (mostly decision-making in both areas)...what can be done with Flowers and Soto at this point in their careers? There aren't any simple answers, but I think it has to be fixed/addressed for this team to ever be a serious pennant contender again. It worked in 2005 because Iguchi, Pods, Uribe, Crede, Rowand and Everett were all were leaders and brought out the best in their teammates. Going back to the "unselfish" idea, those were guys who weren't into their stats but mostly just wanted to win, above everything else. Buehrle, too. We were told in the offseason that LaRoche and Robertson had those same qualities, but it seems like there's just too many players who are struggling with their individual situations for it to make much of a difference from a team perspective.

The Tigers need a bullpen... David Price can't hold that rotation together singlehandedly. http://www.freep.com/story/sports/columnis...oledo/28278097/ Verlander doesn't look ready to rejoin Tigers

Any type of a fire-sale is basically an impossibility, anyway. Other than Samardzija (who everyone realizes can pitch better than he has, meaning you'd be trading him lower than his value)...Alexei's in the same exact boat of "selling low" not making any sense in present or future terms unless you had a suitable replacement waiting to take his place. The fact of the matter is that they undoubtedly need Ramirez to be the player he was for much of the last two seasons to have a realistic chance at competing in 2016 anyways. Trading Cabrera, Robertson or LaRoche just isn't going to happen. The statistic that scares me the most is the fact that we're outplaying our expected wins and losses by at least three games. On paper, we should already be out of it, almost. So that's either a window of opportunity or all the late game comebacks have hidden to some degree the numerous flaws in the construction of the team. Probably a little bit of both. In the end, with such inconsistency from Rodon/Danks/Noesi, a regression from Quintana/Eaton, the terrible baserunning, defense and fundamentals, this whole situation screams +/- 5 games over or under .500 team. Another concern is simply the fact that there hasn't been much progression from some of the big pitching names in our minor league system, guys like Montas and Danish (although Adams has come on recently, he's not a factor for 2015)...in the back of your mind, you're hoping one of them (or someone like Sanburn, Crain or Nate Jones) could take a step forward and help to solidify that 7th/8th inning issue currently undermining the bullpen. With the financial resources stretched thin, it's hard to imagine adding much there. So basically, the classic definition of no-man's land, where a Samardzija deal becomes another White Flag Trade but it's also the best possible means of improving the product on the field for next season.....Catch-22.

QUOTE (bmags @ May 31, 2015 -> 03:03 PM) If you are bad at something that's important you better be excellent the other important things. The sox had a great run with free agents, now they have not. The sox had a good run of acquiring pro ready prospects and plugging them in, they have still done pretty well here. The problem with relying on FA is obvious, when you are already paying players full value you get much less when you try to trade them. Drafting and developing players just makes everything easier, and the sox who are good at pitching but horrendous at hitting, are seeing what happens. And that's pretty obvious, because just think of all the big contracts we've given out (or taken on) and how easy they would have been to dump (that answer being not very): Konerko Buehrle Magglio Ordonez Jose Contreras Peavy (original deal with Padres) Rios Dunn Robertson LaRoche Me.Cabrera Danks In that category of not so big but not super easy to unload nevertheless, you have the likes of Duke, Bonifacio, Teahen and Jeff Keppinger. The one example of someone who who was pitching well (in Edwin Jackson), we still didn't get anything back in return because we had to dump Teahen. The only counter-example is the Jake Peavy deal...which worked out almost impossibly well. We also got away with one other bigger contract, being able to dump Freddy Garcia on the Phillies. So two. (Thankfully, Albert Belle opted out of his deal 17 years ago or we would have ended up with the Orioles' problem/s).

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ May 31, 2015 -> 04:15 PM) I thought it was great as a utility infielder. It's probably their best FA signing. And that tells you everything you need to know about the White Sox this season. For the money involved, it's hard to argue Robertson over Beckham, although the save conversion rate doesn't come close to telling the story of how valuable David actually has been to solidifying the back end of the bullpen.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ May 31, 2015 -> 05:52 PM) With us beating the Astros the Twins have the best record in the AL right now. Who would have thought that entering June? Even more points for being able to name any of the Twins' starters after Mauer, Plouffe and Dozier. For predicting that Torii Hunter and Kendrys Morales would be the most important FA adds. Or that Dee Gordon and Prince Fielder would be leading their respective leagues in hitting.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 31, 2015 -> 05:03 PM) It is just sad that how many people can't enjoy anything positive, ever. I think many would be more excited if they believed it would be enough to allow another team to assume Danks' contract. He had much longer streaks last year of solid pitching, but, even then...it wasn't enough because he slumped right around the time in mid-season when other teams would have been most interested in a starting pitching addition. Right now, it just feels like we're stuck in that "dead zone" between being competitive and being out of it. And that might be the worst place of all for a fan base, because that's when apathy sets in. People start tuning into other events or summer activities, and the Black Hawks are going to soak up all the attention in the city for the next two weeks.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 31, 2015 -> 04:56 PM) I can't figure out why the word "fickle" keeps coming to mind... Are you saying that you believe that John Danks is going to have a sub 4 ERA for the remainder of the season? Fans expecting any consistency out of this team will be waiting a long time. We're still, for the moment at least (CLE and SEA are tied late), in last place out of 5 teams.

Verlander might be pitching next weekend against the White Sox. Made his first AAA rehab start and was shaky and seemingly emerged with his health...was around 92-94 consistently, topped out around 96 MPH. With Lobstein out, the Tigers desperately need more pitching with Greene and Simon inconsistent.

QUOTE (raBBit @ May 31, 2015 -> 11:34 AM) Channeling my inner Dick Allen, the Sox lineup in the 2008 playoffs featured zero players the White Sox drafted. Alexei was the only player that had played only for the Sox. And how sustainable did those line-ups in 2005 and 2008 turn out to be? It's not really something to brag about in a current baseball paradigm where there's a premium on producing and controlling star-quality young impact players/pitchers. The example of Ramirez, of course, is fitting...a player who didn't spend any time at all in our minor league system.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 31, 2015 -> 11:52 AM) I read something yesterday where they are crying in Boston hoping this new guy they called up is goodbecause it has been since 2007 they have brought up a sarting pitcher that has been good for them. And that includes years with the great Theo in charge. Proving that fanbases with three World Series trophies in just a single decade are even more demanding than White Sox fans.

The irony is that being mediocre year after year for a decade is much worse than rebuilding. The issue isn't rebuilding...it's finding someone we can actually trust to develop young players, especially position players. How can we rebuild when we can't even successfully produce one player over a full decade...unless you want to "credit" someone for Gordon Beckham? Or Marcus Semien...but would Marcus have a 750-800 ops if still around? Doubtful. It's not about being impatient with young players and giving them time to develop. It's about being stuck with players like Beckham and Flowers year after year...players who don't improve and often regress over time. If Carlos Sanchez or Conor Gillaspie had the ability to be Top Ten players at their position (like a Joe Crede)...sure, but they max out at 15-18 and that's absolute ceiling if everything goes perfectly like with Conor last year. More than likely, they're botton third guys and you can only have 2-3 in your line-up like that, not 5-6. Obviously, that's counting on Eaton and Avi, and the jury's still out on those two. If the White Sox fans had Bryant, Russell, Soler, Baez and Schwarber to cheer for...at least they would be excited like Sox fans when Ventura, Sosa, One Dog and Thomas came up...or later when Durham, Magglio, C-Lee, Cameron/Konerko, Singleton, Rowand and Crede debuted.

Is ISU seriously considering TJ Otzelberger? Hmmmm...

Roberto Hernandez's spot in the rotation could be tenuous if the doesn't pitch better. The veteran was rocked for seven runs and nine hits in his last start and has failed to deliver a quality start in three of last five outings. John Danks , #50 LHP 2-4, 5.69 ERA, 37 SO Danks gets yet another chance to establish his place in the rotation. He's in need of a good outing after allowing 11 runs combined over his previous 2 games. The lefty has allowed fewer than 3 runs in just 2 of his 9 starts.

http://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/7/71/64...ing-ben-zobrist Cubs targeting Zobrist...still. Beane not ready to sell, yet. Dexter Fowler experienicing his annual swoon.

Outside of the obvious names, Beckham is arguably easier to deal than Bonifacio due to their contracts, but they're essentially stuck with possible Samardzija and Ramirez moves. None of the top 10 or so minor league prospects have elevated their value since the end of 2014. Dealing Ramirez means you have to replace him to compete next year, but with who? Stephen Drew? Tim Anderson? Sanchez...Saladino....Leury? Hard to sell a competing team with two gaping holes up the middle, at catcher, 3B, LF and still short at least one 8th inning guy in the bullpen.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ May 30, 2015 -> 10:52 PM) Nor should they. They have guys that they trade on the active roster right now and get solid returns and still be in the playoff mix in 2016 And who will play SS and 2b for this playoff contender after you deal Ramirez? Other than Jeff and Alexei, there are no other players to deal and expect anything near major league ready (like Avi or Davidson/Eaton) in return. LaRoche, Robertson, Duke and Bonifacio would just be salary dumps. Beckham might have more value due to his versatility and improved offense this year.

He doesn't.