caulfield12

Tigers' radio guys are absolutely convinced Castellanos was tagged on the foot. With how hot Iglesias has been this season....you dont walk him to set up the DP? Iglesias is a contact hitter, geez. And now Gordon Beckham will be the starter at 3B for the rest of the year and once again the defense lets the pitchers down (twice).

QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 05:22 PM) I agree. I was more guessing they might call him up, thinking they can work with what he has and try to refine it on the fly. I hope he stays in Charlotte for at least 8 starts, and if they need a guy, bring up Carroll or Beck. E.Johnson seems more likely if he can sustain his velocity...

At Alvarez's advanced age, he's going to be hard-pressed to be much more offensively than another version of Leury or C.Rondon.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/118758216/ch...ppears-imminent

The asking price for Cole Hamels is going down by the minute.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/118486902/ph...aft-kris-bryant Phil Rogers' nauseating Bryant puff piece (about how the Cubs came to prefer him to Gray, Appel, Austin Meadows and Clint Frazier)...they should probably just put him in the HoF with a unanimous "pre-vote"

Rodon ERA now at 3.6, pitch count at 87 through 5 IP so might get one more inning and/or pulled at 100 pitches. (And Jake Petricka's in for Rodon now). Thompson's off to an unbelievable start for CHAR. Saladino and Sanchez doing well, too. LOL at Jared Mitchell's 0.095. Please Buddy Bell, never bring up his name again, EVER.

QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 03:32 PM) I say we go in there and sweep their asses. When's the last time we pulled that one off? 2012 early? 2010? 2008? 2005-06? 2003? 2000?

LOL, it's fine to be sarcastic...but we still need to take care of business and win at least 1/3 in DET (likely the Sale start). And Chris has had his share of struggles with the Tigers in DET as well, but maybe this is a case of selective memory from watching one particular Saturday national game start. Also, recently heard the White Sox are 10 games over since 2012 in Chris Sale starts and something like 40-45 games under in games started by all other pitchers.

Baez, for sure, is the odd man out (but how devalued)? Rizzo's not going to be traded...they're much more likely to package guys like Baez, Schwarber, Alcantara, Almora or even McKinney (although they need another "true" outfielder at some point). If Bryant moves to LF, then you put Baez at 3B, Castro at SS and Russell at 2B.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 03:18 PM) Bad idea IMHO. I also think they're going to be leery of having another Strasburg situation like 2012 (of course, just to be in the playoff conversation then would be a really nice problem to have, too) where they feel they have to shut him down in September because of the elevated number of innings pitched. Most of us guessed somewhere around 22-26 starts and 130-160ish IP.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 02:57 PM) He's still the same Buehrle. He can throw a fastball by a guy or catch a guy looking when he needs to. I just find it odd you'd single out him in such an analogy when he's still in the top 1/4 of pitchers in the league. Jamie Moyer

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 03:08 PM) Danks goes to the pen where he hopefully can hit 93 -95 on a regular short stint. Would make a nice set up man. Just don't see that happening...he's going to be stuck in the lower 90's, which is okay. Look at Zach Duke, he doesn't have to throw 96 to be effective, even as a reliever. With the labrum surgery, I doubt he would even have the confidence to consistently amp his MPH up like that anyway.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0415-story.html Ramirez injury/bullpen depth issue could push back Bryant's debut from Friday.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 16, 2015 -> 09:10 AM) While we are criticizing it, does anyone KNOW the Vince Coleman philosophy? Sure. http://m.mlb.com/cws/video/topic/67608260/...ining/?c_id=cws

How are C.Rondon and Barnum doing? Sanchez is back in AAA, so that's another guy to monitor as well. Adam Engel?

QUOTE (shysocks @ Apr 15, 2015 -> 08:21 AM) Yes, I feel like in a vacuum Eaton getting burned at third last night wouldn't have been frustrating at all. Just a speedy guy trying to make a play and the other team made a better play. But since it happened in the same game as LaRoche trying to take third on a grounder hit to the left side, it just inspired a here-we-go-again feeling. Same with Micah out at home on the contact play - it really wasn't his fault but it seemed worse in light of his other mistakes. So far the aggression hasn't paid off but the luck is bound to level off a little. That said, there have still been far too many blunders. It's staggering just how many runners we've lost on the basepaths in one week. Another one that sticks out was Abreu getting thrown out at 3B or home to help stop a rally. Then the time Eaton tried to score when down 6-0 and was he out by 20 feet and playfully clowned the ball and glove off the catcher, etc. Micah's problems all over the place (not unexpected, right Balta?)

"I tell 'ya Stone Pony, 'ol buddy, you can't win a pennant in April, but you can DEFINITELY lose one." Hawk Harrelson

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 15, 2015 -> 09:16 PM) It's happened before, when was it 2010 or 2011 when they nearly made the playoffs simply based on interleague success? 2010 We had a 26-5 run to briefly take over first before the Twins mowed us down during the stretch run, just like 2003.... I think from 2003-2010 we had the 2nd or 3rd best interleague record in MLB.

Royals' first loss against an American League opponent after 16 consecutive victories. 19 1/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen to begin the season. Univ. of Missouri's Kyle Gibson against the Royals career-wise, 4-0, 1.38 ERA, just 4 ER in 26 innings. Against the rest of MLB, 5+ ERA. Seems the key to stopping KC is a sinker/slider combination down low in the zone, inducing lots of groundballs and double play balls.

And obviously with Stroman, he wouldn't be helping this season with the season-ending ACL surgery. They (White Sox) were perfectly willing (twice) to take the risk on Gio Gonzalez, who was a similar, undersized lefty who fell due to durability concerns. Finally, fwiw, you also have to count Crede, Rowand, Durham, Chris Young and Chris Carter.

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tige...igers/25828469/ Verlander detailed update. Will miss his next start Tuesday (Lobstein filling in).

Rizzo with his first homer of the season, Cubs off to a big early lead. What's the latest Chicago media buzz (Will he or won't he?) on Bryant coming up Friday?

Seriously, Scott Merkin or even Rongey could do Buddy Bell's "rah rah" PR spiel once or twice a week. And it's not that hard to hype up Rodon, Anderson, Montas, Hawkins, Danish, etc.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Apr 15, 2015 -> 05:19 PM) It's also time we consider that the TV deal expires in in 2019. If Samardzija or free agent X signs a long term deal at least a year of it will be in a year where there's a lot more money to play with. Or we'll start to see an erosion of those deals as the Dodgers' situation falls apart (if it's not renegotiated) and the contracts at that time will be falling off roughly 25-35% from their peaks (Rangers/Mariners/Phillies/Dodgers). Look at the collapse in Houston (bankruptcy) of their RSN. The Cubs will be getting the lion's share of the money in whatever competition goes down as well...unless all their prospects tank, they go through 4-5 more sub-.500 seasons and the White Sox make the playoffs at least 2 times between now and 2019.