caulfield12

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 11, 2013 -> 09:11 AM) If you can get anything for Ramirez, by all means they need to do it to get rid of that contract. When you have Danks and Dunn's contracts having Ramirez "not that bad of a contract" is a luxury they can do without particularly because they are not going to win anything with him. De Aza can play a passable CF, hit a little, and most importantly is cheap. Any team in MLB can afford him that's why he has more trade value than Ramirez. Like Ramirez though, De Aza will be in decline by the time the Sox are good enough to win again. I don't think Danks and Phegley are starters, but given they are the two best options the Sox have in Triple A there is nothing to lose at this point in giving them a chance. Same goes with Morel. SS for Morel? While we're at it, we should just let Phegley be the DH for the rest of the season with Black/Wilkins. Are we deliberately trying to lose 110 games? While we're STILL at it, why don't we just convert Micah Johnson to CF and he'll steal 100+ bags and be this year's version of John Cangelosi/Rudy Law/Ron LeFlore? If you don't trust Buddy Bell, how do we know we won't ruin the 2nd or 3rd pick in the first round of the draft? (assuming that, no matter what you tried to do to the roster, you couldn't make them worse than Houston. And you couldn't get Hahn fired, who's a big supporter of Bell's.)

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ May 11, 2013 -> 08:51 AM) Fair point. I should clarify. When I said "And they ARE going to be the Astros in 2 years" I simply meant easily one of the worst teams in baseball. The Astros before this season were an org with little impact minor league talent and little major league talent. That's what I think this club is going to be in 2 or 3 years. Their minor league system is a LOT better than it was, with all the trades over the last couple of years for guys like Hunter Pence and Wandy Rodriguez. They had the first pick in the MLB draft last year. They have the first pick again this year. They're ranked around 8th-10th now, right? Plus, after 2014, the Dunn contract will be off the books. That will leave POSSIBLY only one bad contract in Danks, and that's under the pessimistic assumption he'll never be the same pitcher he was pre-surgery.

This thread should be more appropriately titled: "What I would do if I was kidnapped and my family threatened by sleeper agents of the Detroit Tigers and forced to destroy the White Sox organization by any and all possible means from inside..."

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ May 11, 2013 -> 08:40 AM) 1- I actually think Bell has improved this system a lot. These things take time. And this is coming from someone who isn't impressed with 8 rookies playing last year. 2 - Whatever. I'm not going to argue about the 24th man on a roster. Long term I think Phegley is an NP 3 - Why? Ramirez has trade value and it's not like his contract is awful 4 - How does Ramirez not have trade value but De Aza does? IMO, De Aza has been flat out awful this year. Danks is another NP. I have never bought into the Viciedo is an impact bat that seems to go around here. I mean I get what you're trying to accomplish here. I agree with you that this thing is over. And they ARE going to be the Astros in 2 years. The Astros started the season with Lucas Harrell and Phil Humber in their starting rotation. Let's not confuse terribly struggling (White Sox) with just plain terrible. Any team with Sale, Peavy, Santiago and Quintana in the rotation can at least be close to .500...with one of the worst offenses in baseball and making 2-3-4-5 mistakes per game. This team isn't going to compete with DET, but they easily could be something like 17-16 if it weren't for all the defensive blunders. The Astros are on a pace for around like 115 losses.

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ May 11, 2013 -> 08:40 AM) 1- I actually think Bell has improved this system a lot. These things take time. And this is coming from someone who isn't impressed with 8 rookies playing last year. 2 - Whatever. I'm not going to argue about the 24th man on a roster. Long term I think Phegley is an NP 3 - Why? Ramirez has trade value and it's not like his contract is awful 4 - How does Ramirez not have trade value but De Aza does? IMO, De Aza has been flat out awful this year. Danks is another NP. I have never bought into the Viciedo is an impact bat that seems to go around here. I mean I get what you're trying to accomplish here. I agree with you that this thing is over. And they ARE going to be the Astros in 2 years. The Astros started the season with Lucas Harrell and Phil Humber in their starting rotation. Let's not confuse terribly struggling (White Sox) with just plain terrible. Any team with Sale, Peavy, Santiago and Quintana in the rotation can at least be close to .500...with one of the worst offenses in baseball and making 2-3-4-5 mistakes per game. This team isn't going to compete with DET, but they easily could be something like 17-16 if it weren't for all the defensive blunders. The Astros are on a pace for something like 115 losses.

#2 doesn't even make sense, YET. At the very minimum, Flowers deserves at least 3 months to prove himself as an everyday player, if not 4 or 5. Phegley's RH as well, there's no reason to rush him up to the big league club. Maybe he can be a decent "internal" candidate for DH/1B next year, if he doesn't profile as a full-time catcher (along with guys like Black or Wilkins that are probably not in the long-range plans). #3 You want to take one of the 3 worst offensive players in baseball, and put him at the most important position on the field when he can't even play 2B that well? And he hasn't even played SS since 2007-08? Jesus. Playing Beckham at SS was 10X better as idea than Keppinger there would be. http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/pro...=Jeff-Keppinger Next, why would you have to put him on waivers (Ramirez) and embarrass him when it would be a lot simpler to see what offers are out there? If you put him on waivers, then the only leverage you have is the team claiming him against itself. That's not prudent. #4 What makes you think there's a huge market for leadoff hitters who are marginal in CF and have an OBP between 290-300? Danks IS NOT AN EVERYDAY PLAYER. Nobody here, to my knowledge, at this entire website STILL thinks of him as being an everday major leaguer... Finally, why is there a need to give up on the season the first week of May instead of letting the season play out for at least one more month? What advantage to you get out of doing that? To find out Keppinger can't play SS, let alone any position, on an everyday basis? To find out that Danks can't hit well enough to hold down CF as an everyday player? To put yourself in even more of a position of desperation where every team in baseball knows you need a starting catcher, instead of leaving Phegley down in the minors longer, where you keep him as a valuable bargaining chip to walk away from any deal for a catcher that's not favorable enough. So, to summarize, you've managed to completely destroy Keppinger for the rest of his Sox career, deal DeAza and Ramirez for almost nothing in return, give up on Tyler Flowers after one month and promote Phegley before he's 100% ready (he is the streakiest hitter in our minor league system, with the exception of Mitchell perhaps) and will fall flat on his face. Just because he's hitting well now (and his OPS is around 1000) doesn't mean there aren't holes in his game that the coaching staff and minor league hitting instructors realize will get exploited in a week at the major league level. On top of that, you've alienated whatever season ticket holders are left and any free agent interested in coming here in the next 2-3 years by trying to dump Peavy at the drop of a hat. One can only wait with bated breath for your next strategic moves. And there's not any incentive to deal Peavy until the mid-season market for starting pitchers emerges with 10-12 bidding against each other, instead of just a few teams willing to make a commitment at this point in the season to a higher salary veteran.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ May 10, 2013 -> 10:01 PM) Not a Bears fan, but yeah, I got July and 2 weeks of August to entertain myself before I go back to school. 6-7 long weeks without sports. where were you in 2001, 2007, 2009 and 2011 during that time of the summer? if flavum's giving up his optimistic numerical projections for the rest of the year, I'm afraid all hope is lost

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ May 10, 2013 -> 09:26 PM) Same. I don't want to see a OF picked until we take a few LHPs, 3B, and SS's. I wouldn't say LHP should be a priority with four (theoretically) in our rotation and Snodgress. Just find the best pitcher availability. We have Erik Johnson and Beck, but another one would go a long ways to stocking up on this invaluable asset.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 10, 2013 -> 09:47 PM) Another memorable at bat by Keppinger. What a truly awful team so far this season. They're going to either wake up on this next road trip or be buried for the rest of the season.

BOO!!!! Good thing they cut from the live feed on the radio, lol. Nothing like poor offense except for one inning, non-existent hitting with RISP, more bad defense, passed balls, pitchers not covering home plate, 3 1/2 hour long games that must have seemed like 4 1/2 or 5 in the cold (imagine being in the upper deck tonight?)... Just more general badness. We don't have any threats off the bench (from the RH side) to counter someone like Frieri. Kahn or whatever his name is was throwing some nice and easy GAS, that's for sure. "Be mindful of this, folks, the White Sox will play hard tomorrow." Nice ending there, Farmio, as you signed off.

Would be nice to not have 2 lefties in a row and our worst RH hitter in Keppinger up here. SIGH. EDIT: Flowers might be worse, but not by WAR or when you include walks and big hits this season (including the tying RBI tonight). Not a surprise Wise and DeAza both K'ed there, lol.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ May 10, 2013 -> 09:03 PM) I envy the Cardinals organization. They never rebuild , yet they never spend in free agency. They just constantly produce winners either with guys from their system or very shrewd FA signings. And that huge decision to part ways with Pujols was definitely the right one.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 10, 2013 -> 08:58 PM) Did they call it an error? I hope they did. Yep. Saved an earned run for Axelrod. Sox go down 1-2-3 after the runs put on the board by the Angels. After the Bulls' loss, can you hear a tree falling in the forest if nobody is there to witness it?

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ May 10, 2013 -> 08:50 PM) Gillaspie is very good on those short picks off to his left. Not so good on cue shots or balls hit with sidespin on them.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ May 9, 2013 -> 09:08 AM) They also don't pick high school hitters with 1st round picks. But that changed last year. And for what it's worth they had picked a high school pitcher much more recently than a high school bat. Gio was 2004, but supplemental if you want to get picky. Honel in 2001 was a 1st rounder. As for hitters, the last Prep Bat the White Sox popped with an early pick was Brett Caradonna in 1997, and that was supplemental. The White Sox are also very much linked to Trey Ball this draft, another prep arm. The outlook seems to have changed a bit recently, so I wouldn't be so dismissive. Jason Stumm, too.

Back to tied for 2nd in the AL in errors. Worst fielding percentage. Lindstrom way too late covering the plate. If Lindstrom covers the plate, the runner doesn't leave from 3rd. Basically like 3 errors there. Then what will probably be called a Passed Ball on Tyler Flowers. So 4 errors, essentially. 5 passed balls 2nd most in the AL. Not the first or last boo-birds we'll hear this season at USCF. Lindstrom has ZERO confidence right now. Twins blew a 6-0 lead to BALT, now tied 6-6.

The dreaded "warning track power."

3 theories why Trout isn't doing as well this year. 1) Angels screwed him over in contract negotiations in the offseason. 2) Sophomore slump/baseball is tough and scouts will always find your weaknesses 3) Getting a lot more off-speed stuff than last year Royals rally against the Yankees, tied at 5-5 in KC, top of the 6th. Oops, just gave it back again. 6-5 Yanks and still threatening. Minnesota's still playing well, up 6-0 over the Orioles and about to go 2 games over .500.

Linebrink soon to enter the game, according to Farmer. Actually, Lindstrom. Not having Santiago or a 2-3 inning long reliever really shows up in games like this one.

47 minutes and counting for this inning. 9 batters for the Sox. Crooked numbers, it's all good. Desperately needed, a #2 hitter. Marcus Semien might be a better option, lol.

Marty, you should be thankful they didn't try to sign Josh Hamilton. Imagine having Dunn, Danks and Hamilton on the payroll. LA TIMES/TJ Simers HOUSTON — Uh-oh, we've got another smiler. This catches on and we won't have any athletes around town who appear as if they give a rip. Dwight Howard, meet Josh Hamilton. "I've had people screaming at me when I'm at the plate, 'Wipe that smile off your face,''' said the Angels bust. "If I'm not smiling, you don't want me out there. I want to play the game how I've grown up my whole life playing it, and that's with a smile. You do your best when you're relaxed.'' Hamilton gets any more relaxed and he really will be an automatic out. He stands casually in the batter's box holding his bat like he's waiting for the next slow-pitch softball to arrive. At least Howard works up a sweat. Worse yet, and you would hope there is a competitor brewing down deep there, Hamilton comes across like the poster child for every athlete who knows he has guaranteed money coming. It's never good when the fans seem to care more than the guys competing to win or lose. Meet your 2013 Angels. "I know this is going to sound bad, and you can spin it whatever way you want, but when I was able to take the result part of the game out of it I learned something,'' Hamilton said. "I know the game is based on results and the world wants to see results. But if I can take that out of the equation, play hard and prepare to the best of my abilities, the results are going to be there.'' He's right; it sounds bad. "I don't live day to day by those results, which allows me to live a less stressful life,'' he said. (FWIW, those are the same type of words spoken by Don Mattingly recently about losing 3 in a row to the Giants which will probably get him fired.) I would hope getting paid $125 million over the next five years on top of the $24 million he received the last two seasons with Texas would take all the stress out of life. I'll never know. But I do wonder why he's not more thankful. We talked before Wednesday's game and I reminded him how inept he has been in driving the ball out of the park the opposite way. And I suggested he do better. An hour or so later he homered, but before Thursday's game he refused to say thank you. "I'll need to do it again,'' he said, as if he did it himself in the first place. Then he went out and hit another home run, two homers in two days with Page 2's help after having two in the first 31 games. I appreciate the offer, which I'm sure will be forthcoming, but I have no desire to replace Mike Scioscia. I just found a way to make Hamilton care enough to prove himself after he repeatedly told me, "You cannot push my buttons.''

QUOTE (fathom @ May 10, 2013 -> 07:38 PM) I have a feeling that's the last pitch Enright will throw in the majors for a very long time. Don't know who looks worse, DiPoto or Scioscia. Hamilton saved them recently, but he's been absolutely terrible.

Have you heard of SoxTalk? Do you ever finding yourself reading comments about you on message boards, lol? Is Cal-Berkeley as difficult as its reputation? What was your major? If you weren't playing baseball, what would you be doing career-wise? If you could describe yourself as a car, what type of car would you be?

QUOTE (fathom @ May 10, 2013 -> 07:36 PM) Way to go Tank! Nice adjustment by him during this AB. Showing some discipline to lay off those curveballs. We'll take it.

Hey, what do you know? A clutch hit. Enright simply couldn't get his curveball over in that at-bat. When you have an "average" fastball and can't get your secondary stuff over, you're dead.