caulfield12

By the way, Miguel Cabrera is playing on another planet. Almost hitting .400, well over .500 with RISP, 13 homers, 52 RBI's.

QUOTE (Benchwarmerjim @ May 22, 2013 -> 05:59 PM) While there is concern for Hicks, I think more concerning is the starting pitching. They can strike any out and the give up way too many hits. Then it would be the extended slump Josh Willingham has been in. I think they expected Hicks to go throw some growing pains, but his horrid start has really depressed his numbers. Hicks' defense has been pretty good too. The calls for firing Ron Gardenhire are really growing louder (and rumblings of clearing out the whole front office and starting over. To me, that plan in unrealistic because its just not the way the Twins operate. That goes back to the Senators days) , but with what he has to work with for starting pitching, I dont get it. I think there is some patience in the fandom because of Sano and Buxton and a few other minor leaguers, but sometimes it gets frustrating watching the current team knowing that they are already losing 4-0 before the game even starts. But that was the Slowey/Blackburn/Radke model. Pitch to contact. Get ahead in counts. Throw strikes, especially on the first pitch. Let your defense make the plays behind you. The teams with more talent (White Sox, at times) will make mistakes and beat themselves. Grind it out. Slide head first into 1B even though all research has shown it slows you down, it inspires the fans and gets dirt on your uniform (Nick Punto). The Piranhas. ETC. At a certain point, you need talent and stuff to overcome the limitations of an institutional/organizational philosophy. For now, your attendance is in the high 20's....but another year of this and it might be 25,000 or less. Figuring out the position players, however, including how to fill Trevor Plouffe’s spot while he recovers from a concussion, “is the least of my concerns right now,” Gardenhire said. “Our pitching staff is more of a concern than anything else.” As it should be. The starters’ combined ERA is 5.69, and opposing batters are hitting .333 against them. They’ve struck out only 57 hitters in 43 games, allowed 32 home runs, and made some odd choices — such as Worley’s down-the-middle fastball to Evan Gattis with a 3-0 count and the bases loaded in the fourth inning. startribune.com/sports

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ May 22, 2013 -> 09:40 PM) Despite even more misuse by the White Sox, #TeamSantiago is looking good again. Yep, he couldn't have had more obstacles for success thrown in his way...and yet he still persevered and recovered from the shaky start. TWTWBVSTGTO (The Will to Win Before Ventura Surrendered the Game To Omogrosso)

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ May 22, 2013 -> 09:53 PM) Yeah that Molina deal hurt. I'm not sure what happened there. Kenny didn't seem to know much about him, the deal was done quick.... there was a lot going on then. Kenny knew he was stepping away, Hahn was about to step in, Paddy came over & Molina was Paddy's guy... somewhere along the line I think the chain broke down and people didn't do their homework. Personally I believe you should always make the best of whatever resources you are fortunate enough to have. For us IMO no deal for a pitcher should EVER go down without a personal OK from Don Cooper after Coop has seen a good amount of video on the kid. If Coop believes in the arm, the mechanics, etc. and the FO thinks he's a good kid who will work hard and adjust, then I make that deal, simple as that, and if I get burned, oh well it happens. But that Molina deal didn't seem to be the product of a very thorough process. Plus, you factor in the long-term extension being signed...then, to turn right around and trade that player, but then re-sign John Danks to a (for the White Sox) huge extension in years and dollars for a pitcher. It still to this day is a puzzle wrapped in an enigma. They were just incredibly fortunate to get out from under the Santos contract that they shouldn't have given him in the first place with the way that previous season ended for him... TESLA would be another example, from the world of business. They just repaid their $465 million dollar government loan earlier than expected. http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/tes...arly/?src=twrhp

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ May 22, 2013 -> 09:42 PM) What business would be smart to change the marketing message prior to fixing the product itself? You can market all you want, at the end there has to be a product worth selling. But in the meantime, with all the geniuses in the marketing world (see Cuban's online uniform design contest for the Mavericks), certainly SOMEONE out there who loves or cares about the White Sox can come up with something better than "Make An Impact" or "The Will to Win." C'mon. It's called "rebranding."

QUOTE (fathom @ May 22, 2013 -> 09:13 PM) 21,298 in attendance...that's brutal 22nd. http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance No matter what happens the rest of the season, the chances of getting higher than 22nd are about zero. There's such a huge fall-off from the Mets (the New York version of the Sox) to 22nd. Are the Sox still charging "premium/dynamic" prices for the Red Sox games?

QUOTE (fathom @ May 22, 2013 -> 09:12 PM) I disagree. Two thoughts on why: - they thought enough of Flowers' potential to give him a chance at being a full-time starter, so they think it's too early to give up on him in a year where they might be looking to unload at the deadline - if they make the move now, they open themselves up for criticism about letting AJ go Agree with #2. The denial explanation/admitting they're wrong. Not the strength of Hahn or Williams, from everything you read and hear about them (from those who know both personally). We heard KW promoting the idea until the very end that Brian Anderson was going to put up 20 homers and 60-70 RBI's per year with regular playing time...our version of Torii Hunter. Then they just pulled the plug.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 22, 2013 -> 09:18 PM) Problem is the team's going to have to spend money to fill a lot of their holes this coming offseason. There's just nothing in the pipeline in the minors, outside of maybe Phegley/Johnson, that's going to be able to make an impact next year in the majors. You mean you're not on the C. Sanchez/Walker (let's face it, he received more notoriety because of his being the first player drafted that year)/Thompson/Mitchell bandwagons anymore, haha? But yeah, other than Daniel Webb replacing Jones/Crain/Lindstrom....not many internal candidates. Wilkins and Black have hit well, but they're more likely to be organizational filler...although if they don't replace Konerko from outside the organization, they will both get shots at 1B. Of course, the results won't be pretty next year if they did choose to go in that direction.

QUOTE (Cerbaho-WG @ May 22, 2013 -> 08:51 PM) This is stupid. Baseball is a business which is monopolistic because the government exempts it from antitrust laws . All of these examples are in a completely different universe when it comes to the economics in which they operate. The United States currently has antitrust laws in order to prevent businesses from monopolizing a given market. However, throughout its history, major league baseball has monopolized the baseball market, preventing upstart competitors from ever really getting off the ground. And the Supreme Court has upheld MLB’s right to their monopoly several times. In many ways, major league baseball is the only true monopoly in the United States, and has been since its inception. Let's look at the history of how the antitrust exemption came to be. When the National League joined forces with the American League in 1903, the partnership proved to be fruitful immediately. And one of the main rules of business is: success breeds imitation. Thus, it should be no surprise that another baseball league soon had intentions of challenging the AL/NL monopoly. The Federal League started out as a minor league, but it had major intentions. In 1914, in fact, many people considered the Federal League to be a Major League. And the Federal League wanted to make it official. On January 5, 1915, the Federal League sued Major League Baseball under federal antitrust law for interfering with their attempts to hire players that were between contracts (meaning not bound by the Reserve Clause) from the American and National League. The judge hearing the case was Kenesaw Mountain Landis [http://www.library.northwestern.edu/archives/exhibits/alumni/landis2.jpg], who was known for his strict adherence to the letter of the law. Landis, however, just so happened to also be a huge Chicago Cubs fan. He understood that the Federal League had a legitimate case. However, ruling in favor of the FL would harm his Cubs, so he took the case under advisement rather than issue a ruling immediately. In 1915 the Federal League ran into difficulties. Major League baseball had attempted to operate with three leagues in 1884 and 1890 and had failed both times. 1915 was no different. The players and owners in the Federal League were absorbed into the two more-established leagues, and late in the year the Federal League asked Judge Landis to dismiss the case against the American and National Leagues. Landis happily obliged. But not everyone was happy with the collapse of the Federal League. The owners of the Baltimore Federal League franchise attempted to purchase a Major League team, and were rebuffed. They tried to buy an International League franchise (the IL was the top minor league organization at the top) and were once again denied. White Sox owner Charles Comiskey insulted the city when he said that “Baltimore is a minor league city and not a hell of a good one at that.” Dodgers owner Charles Ebbets chimed in by saying that Baltimore was one of the worst minor league cities because “you have too many colored population to start with.” The perspective owners then filed an antitrust lawsuit against Major League baseball, claiming a conspiracy to destroy the Federal League. In April of 1919 a court found in favor of the Baltimore owners, and awarded them $240,000 in damages. The case was appealed in 1920, and the appellate court didn’t rule until 1921. When they did rule, they overturned the lower court’s decision, stating that baseball “was not the kind of commerce” federal law was intended to regulate. On May 22, 1922, the Supreme Court upheld this decision, reinforcing baseball’s antitrust exemption. This exemption remained unchallenged – as did MLB’s monopoly – until 1972. As you know from reading Free Agency, Part II, Curt Flood sued baseball after being traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies after the 1969 season. Flood’s case eventually made its way to the Supreme Court, who let the old decision stand, criticizing it but saying that it was up to Congress, not them, to fix the “anomaly.” Although Flood lost his case, he paved the way for salary arbitration, and, soonafter, free agency. Today, free agency exists, but the antitrust exemption remains law as well. Baseball may not have an antitrust exemption if the owners of the Baltimore Federal League team had been paid off upon the league’s disbanding. Every other team’s owners were given compensation except for Baltimore, prompting them to file the original antitrust suit. The exemption remains suspect, at best, and few observers believe that it would hold up once again in a court of law. However, since Flood’s case in 1972, no case has even come close to going up the ladder to the Supreme Court, and no league has challenged MLB’s monopoly since the failed Continental League in the late 1950s.

QUOTE (Cerbaho-WG @ May 22, 2013 -> 09:06 PM) I admittedly find it incredible that the Sox continue to trot out one of the worst catchers in all of baseball when the catcher in AAA has an OPS of like 1.050. I'd understand if the rest of the offense was setting the world on fire... Unless Phegley's defense is really that bad that the coaching staff is worried about the effect it will have on the pitching staff. Maybe they see him more as a 1B/DH candidate. Hard to say. If they thought it was the right move, they'd pull the plug on Flowers and Gimenez. That they haven't yet shows there are some serious organizational questions about Phegley's defense.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ May 22, 2013 -> 09:04 PM) Not even close, especially since last year's stuff was mostly simple & the focus was on the game of baseball. My guess is you haven't seen the 50 minute long commercial with the pies. It's even worse than Swisher doing the worm. He's too busy in People and US Magazine talking about fatherhood with his celebrity wife, lol...

QUOTE (Cerbaho-WG @ May 22, 2013 -> 08:51 PM) This is stupid. Baseball is a business which is monopolistic because the government exempts it from antitrust laws . All of these examples are in a completely different universe when it comes to the economics in which they operate. The NBA and NFL aren't covered, or NHL. Just because of the anti-trust exemption (which was more about politics rather than the unique nature of baseball as a business) doesn't mean IT'S NOT A BUSINESS.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 22, 2013 -> 08:53 PM) Caufield may be a reactionary but I also dislike your response. I hate the "it's early" type posts regarding our team. It's like the Sox goal is to win the division by one game every year rather than actually play good baseball most of the season and win the fricking division. Greg, I'm still trailing you in these "unofficial" standings.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/fielding/_/po...lse/order/false Flowers with 5 passed balls, Gimenez with an amazingly-high 4 already. So we have 2 out of the top 12 in that dubious category.

Not to mention the fact that there are ZERO signs of Ventura's defensive intervention having any effect. We might be 3 games higher in the standings than our low point, and we should be able to beat the Marlins and Cubs, but a .500 club isn't going to get it done when we currently have only two reliable relievers and the worst defense in the AL. Flowers has been killing us.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ May 22, 2013 -> 08:46 PM) The season is a marathon. Everyone thinks its a sprint. Look at how many errors Ramirez has made this season because he's played every inning. Think that will improve in July/August/September? The only reason we almost won last year was taking a lead into the last 6 weeks of the season. We're not constructed to reel in our opponents from behind in the final 1/3rd of the year. The bullpen will completely implode at this rate. And Reed hasn't even gone through the inevitable rough patch.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ May 22, 2013 -> 08:44 PM) We already won the series and we're losing this game. You don't bring out the big dogs unless its must win or you're already winning. That's how we ended up just kind of floating along...drifting...in the standings. We need that 14-2/13-1 streak, and it's almost impossible with our inconsistent hitting and bullpen woes. You can't get back over .500 is you continue to fall flat when you have opportunities to sweep teams that are back on their heels.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 22, 2013 -> 08:44 PM) 0-4 with a high five ERA. Are we still high on Nate Jones on soxtalk? Nope. But long-term, you have to hope he's part of the solution because we can't afford to find a replacement....you don't trade the likes of an Erik Johnson to fix a bullpen problem.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 22, 2013 -> 08:41 PM) Nothing like waiting until Jones has no breathing room to bring him in. Ventura absolutely got caught sleeping there, and had to waste more time to get Jones up. More evidence for the Ventura Bullpen Mismanagement Archives.

5 base-runners, 4 outs. That's not so good.

Omogrosso USED to have an elite fastball before his injuries. No longer THAT version. Poor Nate Jones, wallowing in the bullpen. Should have just sacrificed this game and started Omogrosso and had Nate Jones/Veal relieve him, lol. If this was Ventura's bold managerial move lurking in the weeds. And the team DOES HAVE AN OFF-DAY tmrw. SIGH.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 22, 2013 -> 08:25 PM) I'm talking literal sports cars...for instance, Audi makes basically its "brand image" model, the TT, yet basically only sells about 2000 of them in the US per year...they pour quite a bit of money into that model despite no one buying it...and it's not because it isn't a wonderfully designed car... So, in other words, what's our White Sox version of the TT, something that we pour time, energy, research and development dollars into, with an uncertain payoff? The closest we have/had is Courtney Hawkins. http://www.audiusa.com/cn/brand/en/about/a...i_in_china.html Au, contraire. Just like with US box office vs. global/international box office, one must look abroad to see the bigger picture. In China Audi remained the clear premium-segment leader at the close of 2012. With 405,838 deliveries in 2012 the Ingolstadt-based manufacturer broke through the barrier of 400,000 cars for the first time ever – having crossed the threshold of 300,000 units only one year earlier. Main drivers behind the 29.6 percent growth rate were the Changchun-built models: Despite a model changeover in March, for the first time ever Audi sold over 130,000 of the long-wheelbase version of the A6 Sedan in China within the space of a year (132,872 deliveries). The A6 L thus remains the top-seller in the brand’s Chinese model range and the most popular premium automobile in that market. 93,030 of Audi’s Chinese customers opted for the Q5 last year, a significant increase of 63.8 percent on 2011. Worldwide, too, the performance SUV was again the unchallenged leader in its segment in 2012 with around 206,000 units delivered. A large number of emerging growth markets likewise became increasingly important for Audi in 2012 thanks to their high growth rates: These include for example South Korea (+46.0% to 15,100 cars), South Africa (+15.5% to 16,771 cars) and India, where the brand’s sales gained 63.4 percent to 9,003 units. The company’s sales in Turkey, too, put on a spurt of 17.7 percent to 14,487 units, making it one of over 50 markets where Audi established a new sales record last year.

Gillaspie sliding a little bit and Keppinger waking up is coming at the right time with Beckham returning.

Here we go again...with the bullpen issues. Survived that one.

Apparently, RV has more confidence in Omogrosso at this point. Jones is rested, is he not?