caulfield12

QUOTE (iamshack @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 10:24 PM) I am usually as optimistic as anyone here, but this team has lost its mojo...they know the Royals and Tigers own them, and they aren't focused. I hope they prove me dead wrong. Dead wrong. But I don't see them heading to the Postseason. And as Fathom said, the manager is not helping the cause. 4-9 against the Royals now. 6 losses in a row. 7 losses in a row to the Tigers. So 8-19 against both teams, combined. 13 consecutive losses.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 10:24 PM) I am usually as optimistic as anyone here, but this team has lost its mojo...they know the Royals and Tigers own them, and they aren't focused. I hope they prove me dead wrong. Dead wrong. But I don't see them heading to the Postseason. And as Fathom said, the manager is not helping the cause. Or some miracle will have to occur with the Tigers just collapsing down the stretch and handing it to us, like the Twins in 2008. Liriano has gone from a very good acquisition to the enigma he usually is...and he's also exposing the bullpen to 4 innings of stressful pitching.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 10:23 PM) Well, if you look at the whole picture (stats on the year), you'd see that something killing the Sox is their bullpen management. It really feels like 70-75% of the bullpen decisions Ventura has made since the start of the Orioles' road series have backfired.

Ramirez rips a homer to tie the game the previous AB. Notorious fastball hitter, Mr. Ramirez. Beckham, all season long, has been hitting about 0.050 against anything over 95 MPH. Herrera, 96-101 MPH fastball. Beckham, DEAD. Surprise? Shouldn't have been.

LOL at announcers on SECOND Cain homer. "That's why you don't bunt."

Jackson, Cabrera, Fielder, Verlander, Scherzer and Leyland.... Too many advantages for DET. Any one run lead with Addison Reed the remainder of the season has a 40-70% opportunity of being a blown save, pretty much.

Dear KW: Please JUST BUY the entire Royals' bullpen this offseason. That MIGHT work for 2013.

September 7th with a one game lead in the pennant race. Great time for Ventura's "on the job" training program.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 10:03 PM) You worry too much about velocity. Reed's fastball is almost as straight as Thornton, Koch and Jenks (09-10).

And a breaking pitch to wipe out Wise. Please take some notes there Reed.

Wish Reed could throw his fastball past hitters without them fouling it off.

4-10 versus DET. 7 losses in a row. How many losses in a row against KC? Just 4, if they go on and lose tonight?

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Sep 7, 2012 -> 09:58 PM) His fastball is, but his slider doesn't have any tilt right now. Nathan Jones gets tattooed at 97-100. Reed has even less of a chance at 93-96 without having a second pitch. It's obvious when you look at his WHIP numbers he has been Jenks 09-10 like.

Or Axelrod. Sweeps by the Royals and Angels this weekend would be a fitting set up to what's looking like the end of 2008 all over again... Glad I turned it off after the first two blown scoring opportunities in the early innings. Beckham just can't be a starter next year. You can't have a 2B who has no prayer against an above average fastball.

And Myers will finish this game, lol...

Reed just isn't that good....plain and simple.

93 MPH Billy Koch-esque fastball.

Odds of getting out of this inning with the tie? 25%

Tigers and Angels tied 2-2. Not a surprise with Santana out there instead of Weaver.

Hitting with RISP. NOT GOOD. You have to put these games away when you have a chance. The more our bullpen is exposed, the more the Royals have a chance to win this game.

Should have let Alexei, who can actually handle a fastball and just homered...hit away. Gordon was OVERMATCHED.

You're... 1) Deliberately ignoring all the time he has missed this season...who would have played his position, Viciedo? Danks? Fukudome? You're severely UNDERESTIMATING the negative impact it would have on Dayan's development to just jerk him around between AAA and the majors, from position to position, you just don't do that to your premiere upper levels hitting prospect. Who's to say that Dayan wouldn't have been hitting great the first two months and then you would have just benched him? If you can imagine Quentin putting up the same numbers for the ENTIRE season without being injured, well, we might as well pretend Dayan was lighting up the majors like he was hitting in Charlotte in May/June 2011. 2) Danks, Ohman, Thornton and Crain...those salary dollars have hurt us a lot more than Dayan, Beckham or even Morel...because we found YOUK to replace Brent, for one thing. 3) You keep overestimating Ramirez's trade value or seriously underestimating how important he is to the White Sox, or both. By your logic, we should be trading Konerko, Dunn and Rios as well this offseason, right? Especially Dunn and Rios. Let's say we had to trade AJ's salary in order to keep Quentin on the roster. That's a legitimate possibility. Obviously, Tyler Flowers wasn't going to put up those same numbers, so no matter what you argue about Carlos vs. Dayan, Flowers vs. AJ is going to undercut ANY benefit you might have gotten from getting Viciedo out of the line-up. Finally, when you do have a lower cost player that you've spent 3+ years developing in Viciedo, it makes ZERO sense to hold on to the much more expensive player...because for the 100th time, Quentin CAN NEVER STAY HEALTHY. If you could guarantee CQ was going to put up 2008 first five month numbers for the remainder of a 3-4 year contract, I'd say sign him tomorrow for $20 million per season. But we all know that's not the player we would get. It's another version on a smaller scale of the problem every team considering Josh Hamilton would have...CQ, because of injuries and streakiness, Hamilton because of his off-field issues, health and age.

FWIW, Silverio has also been playing in the outfield recently.

Hawkins continues to impress, 6 for his last 19. 8 homers and 33 RBI's in 200+ AB's at 3 levels. 900+ and 800+ OPS numbers at Kanny and W-S. Morel has had a good game tonight, but was in a 1/23 stretch after going 7/14.

Of course, Marty will say we should have traded Matt Thornton and not re-signed John Danks.