caulfield12

Was it Morrison or Manzarek that named the group? I remember the quote being from William Blake, about "once the doors of perception are removed...yadda yadda" Have to get my copy of my favorite high school book of all-time and look it up...the Morrison biography that was turned into The Doors movie by Oliver Stone (and gave us Meg Ryan's first nude scene).

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ May 21, 2013 -> 08:23 PM) Micah Johnson on base 3 times today (2 hits, 1 BB), but only stole 1 base. He now has 40 SB. Yet Michael Johnson has an OPS nearly 100 points higher and I can't recall more than a few mentions of him.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ May 21, 2013 -> 09:40 PM) What does it have to do anything at all? You pull the most random things out sometimes. Is there anything against Colombian pitchers we don't know about? 6 years, hell, two of those years he didn't do anything. He was only 19 years old when he pitched his first full season in DSL. The fact that he made such a smooth transition to the majors can even tell you the Yankees were too safe with him. I would like to pull up some old posts, because I am positive people were surprised Yankees released Q, and he has some potential in him. No one expected the quick promotion and success that he has had, but you made it sound like he was some over aged scrub who struggled to make it out of A ball. but you made it sound like he was some over aged scrub who struggled to make it out of A ball. If there's a long list of current major leaguers who were in A or lower (short-season/summer league) for years 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 and then suddenly blossomed at that time and became the equivalent of an All-Star, I would love to see it Because that's the way baseball works. For the longest time, it took convincing that a Mexican position player could make it successfully at the major league level. It's like an African-American quarterback....as soon as someone proves it can be done, then it's not an issue. I'm not saying that's WHAT I believe...just the way a lot of the older scouts that I used to be around looked at things back in the 90's. Maybe it has changed a bit (but, for an example, I haven't seen an influx of women as Assistant GM's or even running minor league organizations...it takes decades to change that good 'ol boys network). I remember in 1994, one of the scouts saying Ordonez is going to get fat or doesn't project as a major leaguer because, at that time, his only plus tool was hitting. Or that players from Mexico all eat too many tacos and burritos and enchiladas, don't stay in shape, whatever. It was silly and fed into some of the worst stereotypes. All of the minor leaguers from the Dominican back at that time...90% of them were rail thin (like Alexei) or were built like Ricky Henderson or Jose Canseco.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ May 21, 2013 -> 09:25 PM) Way to skew the statistics. He only pitched like 5 innings in 06, got injured and didn't pitch in 07, 2008 was his first year legitimately pitching. He only spent 4 years below Double A, and two of which are in DSL. He was on his way to Double A at age 23, nothing wrong with that. There were plenty of people, this board included, puzzled by the Yankees move to release Quintana, because he had some potential. I am glad it worked out for us. BTW, Reed with 16 saves in 21 wins for us. Baseball has been pretty fun this year. If you go back to the day of the acquisition, I don't even think ANYONE knew what to make of it. He's one of, if not, the first, Colombian pitcher to make it successfully. Orlando Cabrera and the Renteria brothers were the others, but were all position players/hitters. I just meant he was in the Yankees' system at the A Level of lower for a good six years. That doesn't scream someone who's going to spend a month in AA, skip AAA and pitch like an All-Star for 3+ months in the majors. In fact, I would guess that has never happened before that someone spent most of the previous year in A ball before being claimed by another team and making that jump all the way to the majors the following season. Maybe Liriano, but he was part of a trade, not a roster claim.

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 21, 2013 -> 09:16 PM) Come on Astros bullpen, stop sucking. We can be in 3rd with a Royals loss. Not going to happen. Although Cain striking out with no outs, bases loaded...almost expected another K or DP ball from Moustakas but he actually came through there and Kottaras just walked in the go-ahead run. That Kottaras is an UNCANNY WALK MACHINE. Maybe the new Greek God of Walks. 7 walks, 16 official at-bats. Already has won one (and if this one holds up, two) games with walks this year. Royals blew it open. More bad Astros fielding. They're going to be lucky to win 40 games this year. (Actual pace is 46-116).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 21, 2013 -> 09:10 PM) That's just it. You aren't creating a weakness. Winning games is what creates value. Value is worthless if we are giving away games. Developing a Johan Santana Lite starter over a long man or lefty specialist creates 5X more value for the long-term prospects of the franchise. But back to Fathom's point. Those 5/6 games he pitched in, the Sox lost. It's almost like you're envisioning him being used properly, and that could PRODUCE wins for the bullpen, but that's not squaring with reality. Even if he was the best long reliever in the game, we don't have the type of offense to come back very often in those game he was sporting a 0.00 ERA....over however many innings he pitched the first couple of weeks. You would have a point if he was like Zumaya with the Tigers in his prime and he could be trotted out there to put out fires any inning from the 5th through the 8th...and was equally difficult for lefties and righties to match up against.

Was going to say we'd be in a tie for 3rd place...but the Royals just loaded the bases with no outs and down a run in the top of the 8th against the Lastros/DisAstros. Moustakas, Francouer, Escobar and Perez aren't the same offensive forces they were last year, or the prior year in Frenchy's case.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ May 21, 2013 -> 08:59 PM) Imagine if we had let go of Quetzalcoatl like the Yankees did? Everyone one on this board would be livid. I'll trade for their payroll and 26 or 27 or whatever number of World Series titles, lol. I'm sure it rankled Cashman that Contreras won a World Series for us, too...but it's just a blip on the radar for Yankees' fans, like Hideki Irabu or Kei Igawa. Keep in mind, Quintana was in his 6th minor league season and still in A ball. BTW, trade Reed and Crain, NOW. 75% joking.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ May 21, 2013 -> 08:58 PM) I thought it was Danks, but it definitely could have been Gio. We can look back now and say a package of Fields, Gio/Danks (who was disappointing in 2007 and wore down at the end) and, let's say, Jerry Owens, should have been competitive. (But Maybin and Miller were consensus Top 50 prospects...Gio wasn't quite at that level...and Fields had some pretty obvious holes, both offensively and defensively, in his overall game). In the end, Gio still had his doubters whether he had the frame/durability to be a big league starter...and Danks had a lot of question marks coming out of the 2007 too, if I remember, they even shut him down at the end of the season because his ERA was ballooning upwards at an alarming rate.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 21, 2013 -> 08:52 PM) What was the Sox offer? I don't think anyone knows 100%...just rumors. They weren't good enough (as rated prospects at the time) to overcome Maybin and Miller. What they later became (or didn't) is pretty irrelevant. The simplest answer would be to look at our Top Ten prospects going into 2008. We didn't have Beckham or Viciedo yet. Quentin, Ramirez, Danks and Floyd didn't have the value they established that season. It was a very bleak list. Don't even want to remember it. But surely it would have been centered around Josh Fields that offseason, with Crede coming back in 2008.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ May 21, 2013 -> 08:50 PM) niiiiiiiiiiiiintendo stuff! From Miller? I guess you're referring to Wilson...haven't seen him pitch before.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ May 21, 2013 -> 08:45 PM) ELLLLLL CABALLLOOOOO! That's just horse...but not defining the "stud-like" qualities quite as well as a word like stallion. Principal Translations stallion n (male horse) semental nm garañón nm caballo padre loc nom Cono Sur padrillo nm

QUOTE (fathom @ May 21, 2013 -> 08:39 PM) That doesn't take into account passed balls, right? Nope. That's 7 already on Ramirez. Nobody else has more than 5. Flowers has 2 for throws. http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/stats/fielding...icago-white-sox

QUOTE (fathom @ May 21, 2013 -> 08:39 PM) That doesn't take into account passed balls, right? Nope. That's 7 already on Ramirez. Nobody else has more than 5. Flowers has 2 for throws. http://espn.go.com/mlb/team/stats/fielding...icago-white-sox

We're TWO clear of the Angels now for the most errors in the AL and also sporting the worst fielding percentage nearing Hawk's dreaded 54-60 game mark...where the team "is what it is" traditionally.

LOL. wut? How many times does that happen, that you use Lindstrom against Ortiz in a key situation in the 8th inning and he comes through?

Defense...the broken record of the early season, along with offense. Basically we suck.

Feels like this team has so many issues that aren't easily addressed at the moment. Catcher....Dunn/Konerko....reliable RH relief pitching...reliable LH relief pitching. Is Ventura really going to use Veal against Ortiz? Gordon Beckham 0/5 with 2 K's. Down to .333 AVG.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 21, 2013 -> 08:25 PM) Why bring in Thornton, why! Spoke too soon giving credit to Ventura with the Crain move to end the 8th. What now? Reed to go 2 innings? Thornton's WHIP is at 1.36 and rising...

I don't care if Matt Thornton's ERA is close to 2.00 (well, it's actually 3.29). That has to be the most deceptive stat in baseball.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ May 21, 2013 -> 08:20 PM) who's taking the 8th? Saltalamacchia, Ellsbury and Gomes. I hope it's not Thornton again.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 21, 2013 -> 08:14 PM) Simon Castro a future reliever? That's where I stuck him on my list, simply because I think our depth is strong enough we don't need him. He's more like the second coming of Felix Diaz (who at least beat the Cubs). Right now, he's insurance behind Axelrod, Jason Berken and Erik Johnson. Phegley still in the 1000's for OPS, Jordan in the 900's...even Morel in the mid 700's. Brandon Short has disappeared completely from prospect status. Weird to see Ricky Romero pitching in AAA. His career went downhill in a hurry.

That's a great job of managing there by Ventura. Maybe it's obvious to all of us that you don't save Crain until the 8th when there might not even be an 8th if you put Lindstrom or Jones in there...but at least he's showing he realizes that those 2 batters just might be the two most important of the entire game. No second-guessing here, even if the lead gets away in the 8th or 9th. It was the best possible move under the circumstances. Crain might be the 2nd most valuable player on this team right now...the only one holding the pen together to get the ball to Reed for the save eventually.

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.jsp?s...mp;ymd=20130521 Simon Castro ripped to shreds. Bassit with another very good start. Brent Morel the 1B of the future, haha? And Angel Sanchez hitting well so far for the Knights.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 21, 2013 -> 08:05 PM) Someone want to wake up Ventura? As soon as Dunn's ball didn't go out...Harrelson's "just missed it by a eighth of an inch."