caulfield12

Well, we know the Nationals have extra pitchers available (Gio, Zimmermann, Fister)...but that's a highly improbable option. The Mets supposedly are looking to shore up their starting line-up. So the obvious one is trying to trade Noesi or Danks. Of course, there's P. Maholm out there for free, Aaron Harang, Kyle Lohse...the Cardinals aren't likely to take on Danks' contract, but you never know. Matt Garza, maybe? Yovanni Gallardo, although the Rangers needs to at least try to compete the first 2-3 months (if possible). The Cards keep getting asked by Amaro for Carlos Martinez AND to take on that huge contract for Hamels, so that might be a non-starter for Mozeliak. They're not going to get anywhere asking for Cueto, David Price or Jeff Samardzija, either. The Cubs won't just give them Edwin Jackson....not where it's going to backfire against them. And the Cards can keep saying they're willing to wait on Marco Gonzales and their overall record's just fine.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Apr 27, 2015 -> 04:29 AM) You two realized he's talking about Engel, Adam, right? I am excited about his prospect status, and will point out again that Stoltz compared his athleticism to Mike Trout. Hopefully he sees Double A soon. http://www.gocards.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/engel_adam00.html He definitely has the neck to match him. That said, he's going to have to maintain that 800 OPS until the Carolina League All-Star break in all likelihood. It's quite possible they dump Mitchell, soon, and promote a AA outfielder, creating a vacancy in need of filling....but he's (Adam) only had around 150 AB's at High A, and he didn't exactly light Kannapolis on fire (he had a "solid" season there, but far from dominant). Work in progress. That said, his K's seem to be coming down to a more manageable level considering he's hit only 12 homers from Louisville through this minor league season.

Personal attack.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance Passed two teams (CLE and Miami) to pull into 27th place with 23,317 yesterday. Now averaging 20,370. A bit surprised by the numbers in AZ, Houston, Oakland and Minnesota.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CH...le-scores.shtml We had the same exact record last year after 19 games. 9-10, 4th place, 2 games back (not 3 1/2 - 4).

Allen Craig has fallen off so far they're probably willing to do a deal similar to the Angels/Rangers for Josh Hamilton.

QUOTE (Brian @ Apr 26, 2015 -> 07:52 PM) Just hope Joe Morgan keeps his mouth shut. Any Sox fan knows when he gets too confident, bad things ALMOST ALWAYS follow. In 2005, I think everyone was breathing such a sigh of relief to make it and not choke away one of the biggest leads in history that it was just a completely relaxed feeling...so different than all of the past battles with the Twins where you'd want to throw Bobby Jenks or Carlos Gomez off a bridge after a bad loss, or Matt Thornton. It's almost like playing other teams like the Red Sox and Angels allowed them to get into that zone and away from all that Piranha-Mania and Ozzie allowing those guys to get into his head. When expectations start to rise, performance has always suffered...so I tend to just hope for the best and not be surprised by the worst. Pragmatic/realistic. And it's MUCH easier having been through 2005 and also getting married and starting a family. Back then, when you're younger, those games are nearly life and death.

For the record, it was for teams starting off 0-4, not 0-3.

I would be more than happy to come back to this argument in the two weeks before the trade deadline in July. There will be enough of Hawk's sample size to start drawing some real conclusions about this pretty unpredictable team.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Apr 26, 2015 -> 07:34 PM) THEY ARE 5TH IN THE AL IN ERA AND 4TH IN OPPONENT OPS. They play in a hitter's park. Jesus man, wtf else do you want? And who cares about the NL can't compare the stats no DH. They are upper tier in the AL after being arguably the worst pen in the AL last year. What has the weather been like in April? The ball carries in USCF a lot differently in the summer months (June-August) than April through mid-May and mid to late September. Many of those balls coming up just short at the fence, like the one Melky Cabrera speared, are going to be homers instead.

Well, it should tell you a lot when the Rangers, a team desperate for outfield help...desperate enough to pin their hopes to Josh Hamilton's fading star....that they don't value him very much to let him go for nothing. They already have a similar player in Leonys Martin, and former Ranger Leury Garcia is the infield version of Engel Beltre.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 26, 2015 -> 07:31 PM) There it is A Gordon Beckham mention. The Royals drop 2 in a day and Caulfield is in full meltdown. Seriously, this is enough. Please PM Marty or TUC or something. There's no point in even trying to discuss anything in a sane or rational manner with you anymore. Good luck.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 26, 2015 -> 07:27 PM) 11 IP 8 hits 1 run 0 walks 15 strikeouts If the Sox bullpen is as bad as you say, good night Royals. Once, again...hyperbole. I didn't say they were bad...they're above average. But to say they're anything close to "nails" or elite or whatever other adjectives you'd like to throw at their description, that's far from accurate as well. Other than David Robertson, who, exactly is it that you're describing in the bullpen as being "nails"? Maybe Putnam for stretches last year...but we're in 2015 now. Duke had a great stretch last year as well...but that was 2014, and in an entirely different league.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 26, 2015 -> 07:16 PM) You don't enjoy White Sox players. When you talk about WAR, you can mention 25 failed prospects but totally forget the most successful. Once again....what gives you the right to assume what other posters do and do not like? The list I made, at least 10-12 of those names have had quite solid MLB careers, so how are they all failed prospects? I don't get your point. Did I not predict Gordon Beckham would hit over .270 this year? I notice you didn't say anything about that, or when I was right that he would continue to struggle with perceived pressure to perform on him in a "make or break" contract year last season (if he wanted that $5-6 million deal for 2015 from the Sox).

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 26, 2015 -> 07:15 PM) Just post White Sox bullpen is nails and Caulfield gets upset. Of course, for the 10 millionth time, you don't address the fact that even with David Robertson's incredible start, the overall team bullpen WHIP isn't even in the top half of major league teams...we're on the outside looking in at most of the top 10 bullpen categories....so you just say something inane like "it's true because I said it's true" and then expect what? We should just take your word for it because of David Robertson's incredible pitching performance today being extrapolated well beyond into something it is not, at least not yet? It's not about getting upset. It's simply the fact that we're not even 20 games into the season...it's like someone said in a thread before the Sale start, guaranteeing a win, you just can't afford to take anything for granted. Because, as Hawk Harrelson says, as soon as you start to do that, it will come right back up and bite you in the butt.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Apr 26, 2015 -> 06:47 PM) On the day Puig hit the DL this is not cool. Sorry for actually watching and enjoying other teams and players outside of the White Sox. I guess I should be crucified by the D.A. Witch-Hunting Brigade. It's great to have so many knowledgeable and passionate fans who can rate the "fandom" of others...and that always goes over all so well when accusations get thrown around back and forth...which leads to tagged threads at the top of the page warning about personal attacks. (Note, this board is going to be really really boring this season if DA has to interject an anti-Royals screed into every thread. If a baseball fan and fellow competitor can't appreciate a historic bullpen start by another team, the best since 1969, I don't know what to say or think.) http://nbcchicago.csnchicago.com/white-sox...t-hell-out-team "I respect the hell out of that team, I really do," Eaton said. "I think they play the game the right way.... What happened, two competitive teams scratching for the same goal. Sometimes it gets the best of you. Ventura is a heck of a competitor. I respect the heck out of him and everyone behind him. I’m a competitor as well...They are a young group of guys who go about their business in an exciting and aggressive way," Eaton said. "And that’s why we have the utmost respect for them. They’ve earned everything they’ve gotten and now they want to keep it. You don’t expect anything less." Luckily, the Salem Witch trials and the time of the Scarlet Letter passed a long time ago...or did it?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 26, 2015 -> 06:49 PM) I just wonder why anytime you post positive comments about the White Sox, Caulfield opposes and always seems to mention the Royals. I womder if it will be another 30 years until their next playoff appearance. Because they're our divisional competitor and happen to be well ahead of the White Sox in every single bullpen category. If the White Sox had the bullpen of the Twins or Indians or even the Tigers (outside of Soria), then there would be no need to mention them at all.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 26, 2015 -> 06:46 PM) Petricka and Rodon are new additions. The bullpen stats are out of whack because of Drabek. Your Royals had a ton of trouble., bit did score a run. The Royals fade has started. My condolences. Fine, you take out Drabek and Robertson (the two outliers/anomalies) and see what you're left with, lol. (This whole cherry-picking of stats thing is reminiscent of arguing that Danks was really effective last year if you erase all of his atrocious starts.) Robertson can't pitch in every single game. The front end of the bullpen has to come through, so does the defense as well. It's going to be pretty surprising to me if Carlos Rodon (with his control issues, which will be exacerbated by the trip to the pen) is close to as effective as Chris Sale was in 2010 and 2011. The fact of the matter is that we're fine with Jennings and Duke. Rodon should and will be starting eventually....so saying Rodon has pushed the pen into "elite status" is basically the same argument as saying that adding Montas, Sanburn or Danish late in the year will have the same effect. By the way, you're also making a huge assumption that he's going to be utilized correctly by Ventura. Time will tell.

Another thing, maybe we want to actually get to .500 before we start considering any aspect of our team "elite" maybe. http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/pitching/split/128 Maybe when we enter the Top 10 in the majors for bullpen ERA, for example...or top 3-5. http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/p...ded/order/false Opposing OPS, 9th. http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/stat/p...ded/order/false WHIP, just 17th. Not nails. At least not yet. Once again, if they put up KC's numbers for the next 15-20 games, we can revisit this thread again. Let's not confuse ROBERTSON is the truth and conflate it with the rest of the pen, because if you strip out his numbers we're a bottom 1/3rd bullpen surely.

If Putnam keeps the ball down and lets his 2 seamer work naturally, he might have the most effective pitch. But best stuff, not unless you consider that 86-89 MPH sinker a plus plus pitch.

QUOTE (Mike F. @ Apr 26, 2015 -> 06:01 PM) I thought Petricka was going to be the 8th inning guy? In an ideal world, it would be healthy versions of Crain or Nate Jones. In the current White Sox world, it's Petricka/Guerra/Putnam/Duke. Most would argue Albers and Guerra should be behind Petricka, although Putnam definitely has his doubters/skeptics about another repeat performance.

Please, delete this thread. Every time....and I mean every single time, someone says something like this, it backfires. Remember all the accolades in 2003? And I wouldn't be penciling in Jake Petricka as a future All-Star just yet. If the White Sox can go the next 15 or so games and only allow 3 ER from their entire bullpen over 60+ innings, then, and only then...should this thread have life. If they can have an entire series without the bullpen giving up runs to the Detroit line-up (especially at Comerica in a tie game late), then we'll be much more likely to be convinced.

Maybe if Getz, Josh Fields and Borchard make comebacks, along with Lance Broadway as a porn star, they can outproduce Trout. Or there's probably a higher probability Ventura kills him with a 99 MPH fastball in their next meeting.

QUOTE (LDF @ Apr 26, 2015 -> 07:22 AM) just saw Tracers, premise> fast and furious meets parkour or free running. the actress is absolutely beautiful. that sport of Parkour is crazy.... i wish i was a teenager, i would have love to try this stuff. i really like it in the james bond movie Casino Royale movie. No mention of Taylor Lautner/Jacob from Twilight and his six-pack abs, lol?

Furious 7 will pass Harry Potter and the The Deathly Hallows Part II sometime this week for 4th all-time (domestic and international).... Will probably end up in the $1.3-1.35 billion range. No chance to threaten Avatar or Titanic, though. Avengers 2 has already booked over $200 million internationally and is expected to end up higher than Furious 7 by most experts.