caulfield12

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ May 6, 2013 -> 12:53 PM) Alex Gordon could've been had pretty easily a few years ago, right? Before they moved him to left? Not sure about easily, because he was the franchise player when he was drafted out of Nebraska....3B....the heir-apparent to Brett's legacy, etc. It's kind of like the Tigers with Porcello. They weren't just going to give him away...but his asking price would have been at an all-time low when he was taken off 3B to ease the pressure and stuck in the the outfield at Omaha. 3 hits against lefties today (two by Gordon). Only one all season before this game. 56 pitches....5 outs. Fastball was hammered. That tends to happen on 3-1 counts when hitters are sitting on it. 57 now for 6 outs.

Can't get a curveball over to save his life today.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 6, 2013 -> 12:47 PM) I read the other day the Washington Nationals had a .227 team average if you took away Harper's numbers, so maybe the Sox are one star away. Except their starting pitching (even with Strasburg ouchy) is better. And Harper might be the 2nd best player in the NL after Justin Upton. Other than Rios, we might not have another hitter in the Top 100.

4 hits, 4 outs for Sale. 40+ pitches.

What new? More atrocious Alexei Ramirez at-bats. What else can go wrong?

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ May 6, 2013 -> 12:39 PM) we gotta get Konerko going Not going to happen the next 2 games. 4/29 against Shields and not a good match-up with Harvey, either.

Konerko now 4/29 lifetime against Shields but no choice but to play him with our current roster. If nothing else, you'd think Konerko would take a couple of pitches and try to gave Chris Sale more of a breather, even if he's unlikely to hit Shields. Gillaspie now down into the .270's. (Check that, .286) Ramirez 0 for the series so far. Team average at .227.

Not many swings and misses. 36 pitches to survive the 1st inning. Sale must feel he's pitching in the 5th already. Making him work.

Sale now reduced to a one-pitch pitcher. Not good. 28 pitches over just six hitters. 32....33. Turning a game over to our middle relievers....not a good idea, with no Santiago to fill in the breach.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 6, 2013 -> 12:26 PM) Fathom said it earlier but the disparity on the talent on these two teams is amazing. Sox have no chance in Kauffman this year. p.s. Sale's velocity sucks. What is going on?? A loss today would be 14 in the last 18 (4-14) in KC. 1-8 over the last 9. Great, more defensive lapses. This is getting to be almost unbearable. "The White Sox have been atrocious defensively. It has been true in this series, it has been true since the very start of the season." Eight errors in the last 7 games. Should be another error there on Alexei if not for the homer scorekeeper.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 6, 2013 -> 12:24 PM) Why would a game against one of the worst teams in the AL with an injured roster matter so much for the rest of the year? It's not like they have some awful pitcher going for them either. For the first time since the 2003 season, there's light at the end of the tunnel for Royals fans. You can just pick up on a certain vibe about a team and organization when they're starting to turn the corner. And because beating Chris Sale still means something.

3 of Sale's 8 losses last season were to the Royals. 5-5, mid 2 ERA career-wise against KC. Sale getting hit hard....not really fooling anyone. Two buggy-whipped balls that were absolutely teed off on. The fastball is getting hammered, a bit slower and too straight. Even left-handers are getting good swings. Before Gordon's at-bat, only one hit by a lefty batter this season in the early going.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ May 6, 2013 -> 12:15 PM) Bad start. Please get Kepp out of the 2 hole. Broken record.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 6, 2013 -> 12:12 PM) LOL, they could lose this game and still do that. You're evading the question. You said they could easily lose 10 games in a row. (That happened last year, at home, in April). I don't believe it will.

We keep hearing how there's no "momentum" in baseball, but there's certainly some type of carryover effect in play here.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 6, 2013 -> 12:05 PM) The Royals could win today, send this huge message, and then go on a 10 game losing skid and no one would think anything about this game. I'll make you a bet right now. If the Royals win this game, they go on to finish at least 5 games over .500 and in 2nd place in the AL Central this season. Care to wager?

Shields facing his sixth former All-Star (Sale twice) in seven starts early this season.

HUGE GAME. Royals have won 7/8 and 13/17 in Kansas City. They're largely responsible for knocking us out of the playoffs in 2012. If Shields beats our ace in Sale, they're sending a message to all of baseball they're going to be a force to contend with (especially at home) all season long. Likewise, a Sox loss puts us 7 GB and in serious jeopardy of the entire season going south with Harvey looming tmrw night...licking his lips simply savoring the chance to face one of the worst offenses in MLB. A buzz is starting to emerge around the Royals. They had six different media outlets at a game last night for the first time in ages. The Chiefs are terrible...and fans are starting to believe in them.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 6, 2013 -> 11:23 AM) That post confuses me so much. It just seems so off-topic. The Twins are not poor TODAY. I don't care what they did in 2004. The Twins outdraw the White Sox TODAY. I don't care by what percentage the White Sox outspent the Twins in the early to mid '00s. The White Sox still outspend the Twins TODAY so, comparatively speaking, attendance is not a big issue for the White Sox. It would be nice to draw more, but it's best to get the team winning first. Oh, and frankly, from a marketing perspective, the teams are nowhere near equal. The Twins have one of the most marketable players in baseball in Joe Mauer as well as a still relatively new stadium. The White Sox have virtually no marketability at all and play in a stadium that was known as being the last cookie-cutter stadium in the majors. From a major league talent perspective, I'd still say the White Sox are better, but if chickens*** is better than horses***, does either party really win? If we had prospects we could trade, we could fix our starting line-up...or "reload" instead of rebuilding. If we had position prospects who were ready to contribute to our team at the major league level, we wouldn't have to sell off contributing parts of our team or cut veteran salaries. (And we could have outbid the Tigers' offer of Maybin/Miller for Cabrera and everything would have turned out differently). As we learned during the KW years, it doesn't matter if those prospects PAN out. It only matters that we were able to find willing trade partners who believed they would. Part of it's marketing/reputation....the Callises, Keith Laws, Gammons, Jayson Stark, Baseball America, BP lists, etc. Right now, other than Erik Johnson, the cupboard's pretty bare.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 6, 2013 -> 11:03 AM) Well, #1, the Twins are not a poor team. There is plenty of money within the organization and they can maintain a $90-100 mill payroll pretty easily. And #2, this pretty much gives you no reason to ever bring up attendance again considering the Twins outdraw the White Sox by a large margin yet they can still outspend the same Twins team. Not exactly. I wouldn't have to bring up attendance if the two organizations were actually equal. The fact of the matter is we've typically had to spend 25-35% more money to compete with them, with the exception of 2005. They won six division titles in nine years spending half of what were spending during that time...now, with the Mauer deal, it's closer to 75-85%. We're not close to being efficient like they were from 2002-2006. Williams won two divisions (one World Series) in 12 years on the job. I'll even give you 3/13 if you want to count 2000 in KW's column and not Schueler's. Just staying even means death for the Sox. While we've been treading water, they've added Sano, Buxton, Hicks and a slew of upper echelon prospects to replenish their system. They've taken their lumps for 2 years and are still having pitching issues (and will continue to have them), but they're a lot closer to turning the corner and being competitive than we are looking at the immediate/short-term future of 2014 or 2015.

It's not like we're really going to enjoy HUGE advantages in media contracts for another half decade...and the Twins are making more money from their new stadium, but not by much....with their lower average ticket prices, concessions, parking, etc. By Darin McGilvra | Yahoo! Contributor Network – 1 hour 27 minutes ago COMMENTARY | The Minnesota Twins have a rich history and tradition that includes a pair of championships and many great ballplayers, including four Hall of Famers. They have brought much joy to their loyal fans. That doesn't mean fans don't have any reason to complain. They usually will regardless of the circumstances, but the Twins still can make it difficult and frustrating to be a fan. Here are just the top five. 5. The last two seasons. It's bad enough when a team is trying to avoid 100 losses in a season, but when they are at their absolute worst at the beginning of the season, they crush all hope and leave fans with little to look forward to over the last months of the season. The Twins did this effectively in 2011-12, going a combined 15-33 in April of both seasons. On June 1 of 2011, the Twins were already 15.5 games out of first place and in 2012, the Twins weren't much closer. They were 10.5 games back on June 1 of last season. 4. Old-school thinking. The Twins are nothing if not consistent. They don't fire people and they don't try to do things in new ways. Keeping their leadership structure in place does give the franchise a high level of stability, however, it can lead to stale thinking as well. Manager Ron Gardenhire has been at the helm of the Twins longer than any other manager except for Mike Scoscia, the manager for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Gardenhire is not one to think outside of the box, which can be real frustrating to Twins fans, especially when he refuses to look at options that would make sense if he actually took the time to look at them. Instead, closers continue to close and are unable to pitch for more than one inning or in any other situations, such as on Friday, May 3, when the Twins lost in extra innings with closer Glen Perkins not throwing a single pitch. This is because Perkins was being held out so he could pitch in a save situation that never came. Another frustrating issue was when Perkins was not brought in with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth inning when a strikeout was desperately needed to preserve a one-run lead. Setup man Jared Burton has been terrific, but he was clearly off his game Friday. He did get a ground ball to second baseman Brian Dozier, but Dozier bobbled the ball and could only get an out at first base while the tying run scored. 3. Always a sabermetric step behind. The Twins have a well-earned reputation as a team with excellent scouting. The Twins rely on drafting and developing players and the scouting department is integral to that success. However, the Twins have been extremely slow to take advantage of more advanced statistics that can only help a team in player evaluations. For example, the Twins were one of the last teams to hire someone to exclusively do statistical analysis. While it was great that the Twins finally took this necessary step, the Twins are still understaffed when compared to the vast majority of other major league teams and it is doubtful this analysis is taken as seriously with the Twins as it is with most other teams. 2. Playoff win drought. It is difficult to remember that the Twins actually had a five-series winning streak in the postseason. It began with the American League Championship Series in 1987 and continued through the 2002 AL Division Series. That streak was ended by the Angels in the ALCS and the Twins haven't won a series since despite winning five division titles in that time. In fact, the Twins haven't won a playoff game since winning Game 1 in the ALDS against the New York Yankees in 2004. They lost the final three games of that series and then were swept by the Oakland Athletics in 2006, not to mention being swept twice by the Yankees in 2009 and 2010. The Twins also have lost 10 consecutive home playoff games since winning Game 1 of the 2002 ALCS. 1. Revenue inequities. The biggest frustration for Twins fans is knowing the team has always had a disadvantage going into every season. This is because they just cannot generate the same kind of revenues as the big-market teams they compete with every year, including their own hated rivals, the Chicago White Sox. Thanks to beautiful Target Field, the Twins are in their best shape financially since the franchise moved to Minnesota in 1961. However, the Twins just won't ever be able to land the mega television deals like teams in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. This doesn't mean that the Twins can't ever compete with these teams, but it does mean that the Twins have to be that much better than those high-revenue teams in maximizing their own revenues and doing the little things right, especially in drafting and developing players. Darin McGilvra has been a professional sports writer since 1997 and has been a Twins follower since Kirby Puckett's breakout season of 1986. He has been published in The Californian, a newspaper covering Riverside County, and multiple websites.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 6, 2013 -> 10:13 AM) I think Gillaspie is getting too much credit on this board. Show me some RBIs and runs scored. He and Reed (before yesterday's debacle) are the only ones performing above expectations. And Axelrod/Santiago.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 6, 2013 -> 09:39 AM) So you have been arguing SOMEONE HAS TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE, even starting a who should we blame thread, and then moan when Ventura held Ramirez accountable about showing up late, and complain about Ventura, yet post he doesn't have any options. What's with all the flip flops? You constantly switch to what ever side of the argument appears to be correct that particular moment, and insunuate these problems have been clear for a long time. Pick a side and stay on it. If it turns out you are wrong, so what, it's a message board. Everyone here is constantly wrong. People who get paid millions are often wrong. It's indisputable the lack of talent has to be laid at the feet of KW and Reinsdorf for supporting him. Hahn bears some responsibility for overpaying Keppinger, but he didn't have money or talent to go out and trade for Chase Headley, did he? And he did a decent job of finding a decent prospect in Gillaspie who's at least held the season from getting totally out of control...for now. That said, many others, and Fathom has been even more prominent, have noticed strategic mismanagement and in-game decision making that's become worrisome and is showing no signs of improvement. We knew there would be a learning curve, that this was "on the job." My biggest fear is that Ventura took the job out of loyalty to JR and his heart is not 100% into it...to many, he still represents that symbol of Sox greatness of the recent past. He was such a popular player, fans won't start to blame him until next year. KW and JR knew exactly what they were doing. It took about five years for the Ozzie Show to wear thin, too, and it might never have if the team wasn't so disappointing that there was no choice but to blame the manager. Maybe Ventura was perfect for the transition period "After Ozzie" but nobody's quite so sure if he is the man to lead this team out of the wilderness, either. And Dick, you've followed baseball long enough to know there's more than one person responsible. You defended Greg Walker to the end, and you might have been right about that, but it's impossible to blame this currrent malaise of a situation we're in on just ONE person, not 100%. It's much more nuanced that that, and everyone knows it.

QUOTE (ChiSoxJon @ May 6, 2013 -> 04:41 AM) Your formula interests me quite a bit, I'd still rank them prospective wise, but I like the formula. You can level it further by essentially making it WHIP/9 divided by ERA as well. It's very simple formula, and it gives you a good idea before looking at any of the other peripherals that have come about in the last decade or so how well a certain pitcher is doing at any given point in time of the season. Now most would consider Snodgress our 2nd or 3rd best pitching prospect, but he's not pitching as well as some of the others right now, especially Bassitt and Jaye. That said, when guys like Bassitt and Jaye can get it done in AA, that will start to put them on the map as legitimate Top 6-12 prospects in our system.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 6, 2013 -> 09:31 AM) He's been a lot better thus far this year than last...as a whole, I think it is fair to say that Addison never makes it easy...how many times does he get a 1-2-3 inning? He was getting the job done in classic, Bobby Jenks 2009-2010 style. 16 consecutive saves in a row isn't something to sneeze at. That said, the majority of them have been far from comfortable. When Sergio was on in the first half of 2011, he dominated opposing hitters, until he had a few big implosions and started to doubt himself as that season came to a close...