caulfield12

Leave it to the White Sox to be the only team in baseball who could replace a .100 hitter with someone on a current 1 for 33 tear... Can't do much but laugh. You know you're getting older when you can remember almost every time when Michael Milken has shown up to talk prostate cancer around Father's Day....20 years now he's been visiting MLB radio and tv booths. Farmer absolutely loves that guy, despite his junk bond sins back in the day. Wants his house in Malibu, lol. Don't switch to the Cubs' game, haha. More facts, Janet Jones Gretzky was clocked at 65-70 MPH on the speed gun at USCF (they brought Wayne Gretzky along for the prostate testimonials once upon a time)...which led to a reminder that Gretzky's daughter is married to Dustin Johnson, who was leading the US Open earlier.

Can we take credit now for "developing" Chris Stewart and Phegley, lol? And one thing's for sure, we are better off with LaRoche than Corey "Sunglasses at Night" Hart. So there's that.

2 runs scored in the last 34 innings now.

QUOTE (Big Hurtin @ Jun 18, 2015 -> 04:00 PM) Actually, he "liked" some photos of a women with big boobs while in the bathroom. I'll let the obvious inference speak for itself. Oh, okay...that's even worse. The original story was that he was sending out pictures on Instagram from the clubhouse during a game, but the announcers (it was one of the earlier games today) didn't even know what Instagram was, so it's no wonder the specifics got twisted around. http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/06/...jgjL/story.html The old "I pushed the button at the wrong time" excuse. That's a new one. Funny they included the woman's instagram profile, she's going to get a lot of attention out of that.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 18, 2015 -> 02:13 PM) I don't know what that has to do with it. But have fun praising other teams' crap. The point is that it IS POSSIBLE for other teams to help their players improve defensively once they've reached the major league level. Instead, most of the White Sox players have been getting worse, by defensive ratings and/or the eye test. Explain what has been done by the staff to address that.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 18, 2015 -> 02:03 PM) Man in San Diego who just was removed. Gonna guess sox down 7-0 in first inning, offense will continue to rival the Phillies for its putridness. We thought we were hanging around .500 until we put it together, it was actually hanging around until the inevitable collapse. One of the worst teams I've ever had the privilege of watching (not worst in record, but certainly worst to watch). 07 when Jerry Owens came up was more fun. I'll never be fooled by shortcuts in offseasons again. The difference is that the Padres had lowest quartile payrolls after getting rid of Peavy in 2009 and still had respective/competitive teams (two late-season collapses, but close a lot of times until the Dodgers/Giants dynasties took off) for most of that time until the deck was completely stacked against them (giving away their best players to the Cubs, for example). At any rate, the White Sox in 2013 and 2015 had bigger expectations than every one of those teams except for maybe THIS year's San Diego team...and the reason for the failure this year is 1) injuries and 2) the fact that Preller made some of the same mistakes Hahn did, like thinking he could expect Kemp to be at MVP/All-Star level again (he parallels well with Melky). The White Sox have been more or less healthy for the entire season, with a couple of exceptions like Sale at the beginning, Avi for a week...Abreu for a stretch, but no major injuries.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 18, 2015 -> 01:14 PM) Beckham being 5th was due to his in season call up. After 2010 Viciedo was done as a 3B. He played RF and LF, something hundreds upon hundreds have players have done, and got some 1B last year. It wasn't the position changes, it wasn't impatience. In fact, most here thought they were too patient. As for the Tigers, Castellanos sucks. You're right, Castellanos sucks, he's even 0.25 OPS points behind Gordon somehow.

Pablo Sandoval had enough time during yesterday's game (when he wasn't going 2 for 4 with two singles) to send out some photo on Instagram. Benched today...had to apologize to the team. Quickly becoming a difficult player to like, if he wasn't already. Another repeat of the Chicken and Beer/Terry Francona fiasco, didn't see that coming.

The Rangers gave up on Noesi because (even though they were going to find themselves in a rebuilding situation soon enough)...they believed they had numerous better starting options in the minors and felt they needed immediate results.

Twins, first comeback all season when trailing after 7 innings....were 0-24. Cardinals, first loss all season when leading after 7...were either 31-0 or 34-0, need to look it up again to make sure I heard correctly. Kennys Vargas, walk off homer in the 9th with 2 outs, tied up by a Joe Mauer oppo field shot to LF off Siegrist in the bottom of the 8th.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jun 18, 2015 -> 01:12 PM) Who in this org. evaluates Scott Carroll as a major league player? Oh, he's so good in the clubhouse. The clowning never ends. Hey, he has that "cool hat marketing thing," he played QB for Purdue, he's a good "human interest story" and has a sense of humor to boot. What more can you ask for with this organization? Results/performance, too?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 18, 2015 -> 01:10 PM) HIs .600 OPS this season doesn't suggest they're working. Haha...he's spent so much time working on his defense that he has forgotten how to hit. Sounds like the history of the White Sox 3B position (other than Crede) for the last 20 years or so.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 18, 2015 -> 01:07 PM) So we package Sale with Melky and Danks? Let's hope it turns out better than the Teahen/Edwin Jackson return...the last time we tried to do something like that.

First of all, Beckham was actually FIFTH in the REAL voting that everyone considers most important. Beckham was moved from SS to 3B to 2B. Viciedo went through, let's see, five position changes by my count (3B, 1B, LF, RF, DH). To think that moving those two guys are all over the place didn't affect their eventual development at all...I'm not buying it. We also did the same thing with Marcus Semien (2B, SS, 3B). So we're either bringing in incredibly limited players defensively (also, Micah and Anderson) or we don't know how to improve them. There's a long article about Nick Castellanos and all of the things the Detroit coaching staff has done (since the beginning of the offseason last year) to get him to major league average or a notch above...I'd have to hunt it down again.

QUOTE (LDF @ Jun 18, 2015 -> 12:55 PM) that is 120 - Aelxia salary for next yr = 110. +/- btw, there is no replacement in the minors for the ss position, and i am not counting Anderson unless the sox say so. Sounds like a new Alzheimer's drug....if only there was such a medication to erase the first two months and reboot.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 18, 2015 -> 12:42 PM) Please no more giving up resources to add pitchers to this roster while also drafting pitchers non-stop. I'm begging here. This is the logical corollary to "must trade Sale/Quintana," which is, instead of blowing things up and taking a step back, turning around and giving $200 million to Cueto/Price in order to "fix everything" (which of course doesn't address the offense/defense/baserunning/overall lack of fundamentals at all). Of course, history teaches MLB franchises that moves like this one have about a 10-15% chance of long-term success and almost always go bad.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jun 18, 2015 -> 12:35 PM) KC has the second oldest team in baseball, we're actually 8th youngest (though I know that doesn't mean we're brimming with young talent). I know that doesn't tell the whole story obviously (because Perez, Hosmer, and Moustakas are still in their mid-20s), but that pitching staff is pretty old. I'm not sure they have such a bright future. That changes quickly when they get rid of Infante (probably Top 50 MILB prospect Raul Mondesi, Jr., who will be moved to 2B and come up in the second half). Rios and Morales are obviously older, but Kendrys is a key contributor and All-Star. Rios will be replaced soon enough. When you look at the rotation: Ventura Duffy (when healthy) Vargas Chris Young Guthrie Blanton So, yeah, right now.....their pitching staff (back end is older). On the other hand, they've got Hochevar, Medlen (on the mend), Finnegan, Manaea, Zimmer....three more pitchers at the back half of their Top 10 prospects list, and a lot of scouts really love the kid (Ashe Russell) they took from Indiana and the second pitcher they drafted just recently. The next thing is that the Royals are really doing well from an attendance standpoint (Top Ten) this year again and they'll have the financial flexibility if they want to make one-year/band aid moves to improve 2B and possibly RF, as well as adding one more starting pitcher. I wouldn't even be completely shocked if they brought back James Shields. Well, a little shocked. But they're going to go after every top starter that's out there and they have the farm system to send back young pitching (and 2-3 guys) in the other direction. Imagine how scary they would be adding Aroldis Chapman to that bullpen, for example. In that case, the starting pitching would just have to get them through five innings...but everything I've been reading points to a starter.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 18, 2015 -> 12:30 PM) I continue to point out that our bad contracts for vets really consists of 2 players and given the better contracts we have, they ultimately negate each other (if not move us still to being in a positive position from a standpoint of "wasted" money): 1. John Danks (closer and closer to being gone) 2. Melky (still too early to fully write-off) On the counter, we have 2 to 3 of the better contracts in baseball (which helps to off-set) 1. Sale 2. Q 3. Abreu Note: I do not think Roberton's contract is a bad one (little upside to be a great one but if we wantd to trade him, someone would take him and that contract from us based upon his current production). Similarly, I don't think the LaRoche contract is a terrible one either. Hard for 2 year deal to set you back and LaRoche is notorious 2nd half player (and his OPS compared to historical norms through this part of the season is nothing to snide about). I also won't get worked up about contracts like Duke or others. If it is I won't discuss Ramirez / Shark as it has no impact going forward at this point. But, assuming no new contract for Shark and not picking up Alexei's extension... Back to Balta 101....how much "new" spending do you honestly expect in the off-season (assuming they finish something like 10-15 games under .500 again and season tickets are down another 25%)? This is where it keeps going back to the trade Quintana scenario...since there's no way to spend ourselves out of the problem, and signing Alex Gordon or Heyward for $100 million isn't going to move the bar enough since it's not the NBA and one player can't change the entire complexion of your team enough (and that's assuming they both hit, which is far from certain with Heyward). That puts us back in the box of going after guys like Zobrist and Chris Davis (cheaper options, but not without their flaws and risks) or rolling all the dice on Justin Upton, which would make a splash but still not really "FIX" anything, either. Would they make a play for "aces" in Price or Cueto...? JR in the past said he would with Tanaka, but are Price/Cueto too risky because of their respective ages and more wear and tear?

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 18, 2015 -> 12:20 PM) He was projecting into the future though. I think the Royals are a strong team and respect everything they do, but I don't see them as some unbeatable juggernaut with tons of talent coming to make them better. No one knows what will happen but no reason other teams can't contend with them. Very good team though and Caufield points out Twins / Indians as teams to be most scared of. I have little concern over Tigers (long term...this year, yeah, still relevant, but long term, they are a mess) and still think we are in as good a spot as Twins / Indians going forward (if not better). Royals are better then us, but we have benefit of larger market and potential to increase payroll (unless Royals decide to play at our level which is always possible). There's the Lindor and Aiken become superstars and one of Rodon/Fulmer fall on their faces and/or get hurt thing. Cleveland has a younger (position player) core in Kipnis (probably the best 2B again in the AL) Brantley and Santana that are more proven than anyone from the Sox younger core players (Abreu is obviously the exception). I'll just put it this way, if you're Antonetti, would you trade Kipnis/Brantley/Lindor for Abreu/Eaton/Garcia? You could substitute Carlos Santana for Lindor, I still don't think you make that deal if you're CLE. Actually, based on Brantley being a near MVP performer last season, I know you don't make that deal because Kipnis and Brantley play more important defensive positions than Abreu. I am also sure they wouldn't trade their Top 5 starters for our Top 5...and I mean Carrasco (who's out) instead of Marcum.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Jun 18, 2015 -> 12:11 PM) That's hard to ignore. For years we heard how great their farm system was. There is ONE valuable lesson to be learned from the Royals. They didn't give up on their players....Alex Gordon went through a position change and banishment to AAA (which had to hurt even more because he was born, raised and had collegiate success there)...but he came out even stronger. A lot of teams would have given up. Cain couldn't stay healthy to save his life but they didn't trade him. Moustakas and Hosmer were described as busts or disappointing for going on 2-3 years. The point is that they didn't panic. Those players were open to instruction (Gordon with Rusty Kuntz, improving every day in the OF, Moustakas learning how to hit to the opposite field, Hosmer learning how to drive the ball, etc.) Of course, they had other players like Sal Perez and Escobar who made immediate impacts and hit the ground running...all things considered. The White Sox are NEVER patient with their young position players...you can look at the Borchard/Anderson/Josh Fields era, or the more recent disappointments like Beckham, Viciedo, Morel, Semien, Micah Johnson, Sanchez, etc. So why are other teams patient with their young players? How did we get away from that same patience we showed with the likes of Crede and Aaron Rowand? Oh, it's because White Sox fans are the only ones in the majors who get impatient and can't stand rebuilding and won't get behind a complete teardown.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 18, 2015 -> 11:28 AM) Haven't you read his posts? Be like the Royals, and get into the Wild Card once every 30 years. Well, the Astros, Nationals, Rays, Rangers, Cubs and Twins all have the wrong idea, too. Must really suck for their fans to be playing better than expected and in the playoff hunt. What do all those teams have in common? Well, they all have (or recently had) exceptional farm systems that develop competent and well-prepared players ready to contribute when called upon when players get hurt on the major league roster.

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jun 18, 2015 -> 11:54 AM) Jamie Carroll pitches now? There was a rumor he/Noesi were going to take Rodon's next start (against the Rangers) and let him take a breather. Unconfirmed, but logical.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 18, 2015 -> 11:49 AM) I feel like anytime Hahn has spoken, changes were made. I can't imagine this is the last change. I presume we will move Sanchez but I still get really irritated at the impatience our front office has with young players. If we were to have Micah start the year, we should have known that he'd have defensive lapses, etc, and been ready to deal with it and work through his development. We weren't and got overly impatient then turned to the next savior (who was on fire for so long that no matter what he was due for a poor stretch and clearly he's struggled) but again, I feel like their is no vision in our moves and how we run things. Maybe I'm overthinking but this organization just keeps going downhill. I got excited about Melky and that was my mistake but I also kept talking about how with someone like Avi and with our team D, we had to be aware of our defensive limitations and make sure whomever we brought in for the other OF spot had to be a good defender (unless of course we were going to have room at DH and that went out of the equation as soon as we signed LaRoche). When we signed Melky, we became stuck with two awful defensive outfielders to go along with an awful 2B (Micah is an awful defender at this point...not saying he will be forever, but his D was raw and bad and no one should be surprised with that or had expected anything else), an older Ramirez, and Connor who is a total butcher (and has been pretty much his entire career at 3B). I don't get as worked up over 1st, because its first, but we basically had one plus defender in Eaton (and you could have argued to start the season Ramirez being slightly above avg...but we've all talked about his age, etc, and potential declines their). That is freaking terrible. Oh and did I mention, a lot of those guys that were bad defenders, weren't well above average hitters either? Recipe for disaster. One thing if you are a bad defensive team with a good offense...another thing when you built your team around pitching and have a lousy offense to also have a lousy defense. I realize hindsight is 20/20 but it is just alarming short-sited and poor. I should have stuck more to my guns in the off-season at how stupid this franchise was for continuing to ignore defense but I do admit, I got caught up in the hoopla with the Melkman thinking he'd hit well enough to off-set that defense. You're finally coming around. The problem is getting one or both of Garcia away from the outfield and to 1B/DH, but you STILL have to keep one of them in LF/RF, even if you do end up trading LaRoche this mid-year or in the off-season (which is still looking quite unlikely because Hahn would be basically admitting defeat for next year as well). Looking at internal solutions, the best defenders are probably Thompson, Sanchez and C. Rondon, and most scouts are dubious about their ability to hit consistently and get on base enough to justify their defense. What sucks is all four AL Central teams...you can examine their major and minor league rosters, see their strategy/plan and understand that they have bright/er futures than the Sox, especially the Twins and probably the Royals as well. In the process of focusing so much on beating the Tigers, they just got old...but we've gotten out-GM'ed by everyone in the division for the last five years. We've seen Viciedo play better than expected in 2012, Eaton in 2014, Avi in 2015...but then it turned out to be unsustainable either offensively, defensively or both. How do you explain that? Ramirez, we can surmise he just got older (and is older than his birth certificate)...but even guys like Flowers, Gillaspie, LaRoche and Abreu are all worse defensively than last season...it's an endemic affecting every single player on the roster other than Beckham and Sanchez, and neither of them can hit. Our two most promising hitting prospects, Anderson and Hawkins...neither one of those guys projects as being above-average (defensively) at the next level. They've gotten wonderfully fortunate with Rodon and Fulmer falling into their laps, too. Some things have gone well. Perhaps the scariest thing to me is how HEALTHY we've been, all things considered, this season. We can look at the teams like the Rays, Rangers and Cardinals playing well despite replacing 2-4 starters at the major league level because of their strong systems and can't begin to imagine what our record (or future) would be if we had an injury to Sale, Quintana, Rodon or Fulmer...or Abreu, for that matter.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 18, 2015 -> 11:39 AM) I didn't take a shot at Cooper here. You did by saying the Sox are failing at reclamation projects worse than any other. It is amazing how many times you actually argue with yourself. No, I said failing to derive any long-term value from them. That's different. For example, Nestor Molina, Matt Davidson and Zack Stewart. Not bringing back value in return...for example, if we had Josh Reddick instead, we wouldn't have had to sign Melky Cabrera, but that's just one example. Don Cooper at least has Sergio Santos, Humber, Noesi, Putnam, Quintana, Hector Santiago, Petricka, Addison Reed (any time someone after the 2nd round makes a big impact that's a success), Nate Jones, Edwin Jackson...that he can claim as recent successes (to some point), not going all the way back to the 2000-2009 decade. What do the White Sox have that's similar from a position player perspective, players that were acquired via waivers or for next to nothing and turned into assets? Alejandro DeAza? Conor Gillaspie? I guess some out there might even want to blame Don Cooper for Paulino and Scott Downs...as for John Danks sucking post-injury, and for Jeff Samardzija this season, he's too old to play defense for the White Sox in 2015.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jun 18, 2015 -> 11:36 AM) Where's that long-term solution? At this point, Montas and Fulmer are the best options...but many, even a majority, believe Montas and Danish are destined for the bullpen. Which puts all of the pressure on Carson Fulmer, and maybe, just maybe, Erik Johnson.