caulfield12

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Apr 29, 2013 -> 06:31 PM) Simon Castro still sucks. Saladino 2/3, BB, SB. Average slowing creeping up. He's got 3 straight multi-hit games now. RP Ryan Kussmaul looking like our next reliever to throw in the fray in Chicago. 0.53 ERA, 17 IP, 7 H, 5 BB, 19 K. Very sexy ERA, WHIP, K/9. Deck chairs on the Titanic being rearranged.

Discuss... I was thinking of making a separate "comedians" category, but, nah... Ferrell/Stiller/Carrey/Carell/Sandler/Zach G./Owen Wilson, etc. Just thought it was sort of an interesting topic, since word came out that The Rock was Bay's first choice for Transformers 4. Seems that he's brought into every series to revive it: Fast and the Furious, GI Joe, the "Journey" series, etc. Plus, he's playing side-by-side with Wahlberg in Pain & Gain now. I realize there were some pretty good actors who I didn't list in the Top 10. Two that came to mind right off the bat were Hugh Jackman and George Clooney. Denzel Washington would be another.

http://www.milb.com/scoreboard/index.jsp?s...mp;ymd=20130429 Of course, Hawkins has homer #7. Would love to see some doubles and triples... ONLY one K tonight. Sitting at .167.

Cue same article in 2001, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, etc. Really, the guy has no choice what to say if he's going to keep his job. It's not like he can tout any of our minor leaguers coming up and making much of a difference, so it's logical enough to say when Beckham/Danks/Viciedo/Keppinger and Floyd are back, they should be a much more competitive team. It's logical to at least believe that Dunn and Konerko will be better than what they've shown. With Flowers, it's more of what you see is what you get... The main problem with this "patience" line is that this is Ventura's SECOND year now. He should have learned something from last year. When you are outgunned from a talent standpoint, sheerly from a comparison of the starting line-ups on a daily basis...then you have to make up for it somehow with execution, hitting the cutoff man, limiting the opposing team's running game, hitting with RISP, advancing runners, bunting, errors across the field (going from 1st in defense to near the bottom), etc. We've been horrible in almost any "eye test" category you could make up, and surely the SABR numbers back that up. That said....how much of it is just a matter of lacking talent or just not being very good vs. lack of preparation/execution/mental mistakes?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 29, 2013 -> 08:29 AM) Paging caufield... With the deep discounting, that means they're either standing still, at best, or going backwards/getting passed. You'd also have to look at the trend of baseball in general. Is April attendance (other than Miami) up or down year-on-year vs. 2012 for MLB?

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Apr 29, 2013 -> 11:49 AM) Part of the problem is drafting by who are their agents. Better players will get better agents. The strength is pitching but it doesn't seem to last long. Coop's results are not long term. The last time I seen Sale pitch makes me wonder if he will have arm problems from throwing junk instead of a fastball. I did not see a pitch clock past 92. Hence, the big long discussion between Harrelson and Steve Stone about why Joe Maddon hates the cutter...because it leads to gradual loss of velocity over time. Claimed that was the biggest reason the Rays ditched Shields, because their organizational philosophy has always been to teach the repetition of good fastballs and building up arm strength, change-up #2 always, then overhand curve #3...and that they would live with the slider but absolutely hate fastball pitchers losing velocity over time throwing too many cutters. Felt Shields was a big influence in the clubhouse and didn't want him to influence any more of their young/up-and-coming pitchers. At least that's Stone's version. FWIW, the start before, Sale was at 91-95 with the FB. I think it's just that April dead-arm period, where he's been inconsistent...pacing himself, and the bad weather for some of his starts, especially the one in CLE where he got hammered.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Apr 29, 2013 -> 12:55 AM) I like John Danks, but when has John Danks ever pitched like an ace? 2008/2009...other than Game 163 and a few memorable moments, he's a 2 and possibly 3 on the top teams in baseball. Maybe his salary/contract extension caused raised expectations?

Detroit just beat Atlanta three games in a row. Unless Scherzer's and Verlander's arms fall off, they will win 88-94 games and be the class of the division again.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Apr 28, 2013 -> 05:46 PM) Why would they be forced to make moves of there wasn't going to be a post season? So we can live up to the penny pinching but at least we're competitive image that so many fans who never enter the park believe? The guys like Floyd who were going to be the first to go haven't done anything to increase their value. Konerko? Nothing back in return, probably a salary dump at this rate. Crain/Thornton/Lindstrom? Meh... Alexei Ramirez will have value to a contender whose everyday SS goes down for the season. It's going to be more like those Adkins for Durham, Lofton for Felix Diaz, Sandy Alomar for nothing, Baldwin dumped....just saving money, but not really getting any legit prospects in return.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 28, 2013 -> 03:10 PM) This has all the making of 2007 with so many AAA players on the roster. This team needs to get healthy and fast. Or the start of 2011, when Thornton was named the closer and it didn't take... Or 2009. The curse of the odd-numbered years since 2006. 06/08/10/12 good or decent 07/09/11/13? bad or miserable Let's just hope that it doesn't get so bad that "TWTL" t-shirts start popping up at USCF, mocking the Sox organization at some point this season. Of course, the type of fans who wear a t-shirt like that don't want to give their money to JR.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 28, 2013 -> 10:39 AM) No problem with it against a lefty. However, 4 lefty hitters against Price is just insane. Needed, RH outfield depth and Keppinger/Viciedo/Beckham back in the line-up... With the way Flowers has been going, he might as well be hitting LH these days. And then you have Dunn, the man, himself. It's crazy to think he is probably one of the top hitters to have a shot (solely based on the past week) against Price. Get well, Angel Sanchez! (Or not.) Thought J4L would love this one...saw it at one of the Chris Nelson DFA'ed sites in the comments section... The Bluejays are 9-16 and already 8 1/2 games back, they are 29th in team batting average with a pathetic .229 ba. and 28th in team era with a 4.50 ERA. They do however lead the American League in errors with 16 so to sum it up, they dont hit, they dont pitch and they dont field. Good team AA!!!

Somehow, "How much rope do Wise/Danks/Tekotte have?" isn't going to be much of a thread... Other than another examination of our lack of minor league production in this area.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Apr 28, 2013 -> 10:33 AM) More Flowers. Great. Well, at least he has a shot at a lefty, theoretically. Gimenez against Price? We're reaching the bottom of the barrel if we're hoping to eke out offense from either one of these guys...or Wise/Danks/Tekotte.

Ventura said it's more of a muscle issue with Floyd...similar to last season, 15 day DL, will miss 2-3 starts. Probably going to DL. Heath back up to take Hector's spot....Santiago to the rotation.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Apr 27, 2013 -> 08:50 PM) You cannot have 2 guys hitting under .230 in Dunn and Flowers and expect to win many games. Unless you have Konerko/Thome/Dye/AJ, etc., in the middle of the order. Our complementary players like DeAza, Keppinger, Danks/Wise/Tekotte, etc., just aren't getting it done, either. Gillaspie's about the only one you can't criticize, and Rios. And even Rios was due to come back down to earth. Greene has been a bit of a surprise, too.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Apr 27, 2013 -> 08:49 PM) Micah Johnson, 1/2, 3B, 2 BB, 20th SB of the year. Helium alert officially announced. He'll get a lot of attention for those stolen bases, just like Billy Hamilton, but it's not like he's suddenly even one of our Top 5 prospects. If he can repeat that success in High A, that's something to get excited about. Low A to High A is a big jump...and college/university hitters should do well until they hit a wall in Advanced A/AA.

"My theory, if you're going to play this long, win." Farmer "The White Sox just fell off the wagon tonight." DJ

It's fine if he hits .230, but he needs to better than his current level of an absolutely abysmal hitter with RISP.

The Blue Jays aren't exactly world-beaters this year, and they took the best remaining players from the Marlins, other than Stanton and Fernandez.

Not sure what winning the pennant in 2007 has to do with passing on Longoria and taking Greg Reynolds. Stewart was in minors when that draft occurred, and O'Dowd said that he did not want to upset him, or words to that effect, making O'Dowd dumber than a rock. There's a million bad decisions Epstein has made, but most baseball fans believe he's a very good GM because of the two World Series titles. Reaching a World Series at least buys you another 2-3 years, no matter how bad your drafting history is.

This RISP issue is going from a blip or anomaly to a 2 1/2 month long trend carrying over from 2012. That, and our hitters just suck or aren't talented enough, lol, or don't have "the will to win" anymore.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 27, 2013 -> 07:47 PM) Flowers with the worst at bat you'll ever see. He's in another one of his slumps where it looks like Jim Parque could still get him out easily. Maybe even Arnie Munoz or Josh Stewart. Paniagua? Farmer raving about Moneyball, about his "good friend" Billy Beane and how Brad Pitt did such a good job portraying him. Of course, Farmer's friends with George Bush and half the celebrities in America, from Michael Milken to anyone associated with Notre Dame to the Cog Hill groundskeeper. DJ, amazingly, hasn't seen it. Not sure if he's read the book...

They drafted Greg Reynolds instead. But if you remember, that was right around the time the Rockies were in the World Series, 2007, against Boston. Our hitting with RISP isn't exactly improving tonight.

Willie Loman is sad.

QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 27, 2013 -> 07:37 PM) Johnson's line: 6 innings, 4 hits, 3 r, 2 er, 4 bb, 7 k 82 pitches, 53 strikes. Rough 6th inning probably the reason for coming out with a low pitch count Or is it? They might have pulled him just to have Johnson as ANOTHER option to go with to replace Floyd. It's either Santiago, Castro, Johnson or Berken, arguably.