caulfield12

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 12:37 PM) "Restructure" = "worst team in the league for 3 years and a losing team for 6-7 years?" Nice euphemism. In the AL Central, you're not guaranteed EVER of being the worst team in the baseball or losing for 6-7 years, just because of your examples of the Astros. Or we could also use the Mariners as well, for a more relevant example vis a vis the Sox. Let's just call it "reinvigoration" then. It cost us Brandon McCarthy, Cris Carter, Richard/Poreda, and Freddy Garcia to get Gavin Floyd, Alexei Ramirez, Dayan Viciedo, Carlos Quentin, Alex Rios, Jake Peavy and John Danks. So it shouldn't be that hard....since we ALREADY have the equivalent of that in Garcia (Gavin Floyd), Richard (Santiago/Quintana/Johnson/Snodgress/Beck), Carter (one of the four outfield prospects). Maybe the only thing we're clearly missing is the equivalent of Brandon McCarthy in our minor league system...right?

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 12:24 PM) caulfield, with all due respect, I'm tired of the attendance discussion already. It's far too early to tell anything about how the fans will respond to the Sox this year. Okay, I'll drop that, as long as Balta stops using Astros' tv ratings for one game in September when the Texans were playing to use that as a reason not to "restructure" the roster.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...97630,post.poll

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 12:14 PM) 20,131 - 19,846 = 285, ≠ 2000. It was a 2,000 split 2-3 days ago. The reason it's not still there is because we've lost 2 home games in the last week, and the Astros have been playing at home against the M's. If the Twins and Indians games went ahead as previously scheduled, it would be 2,000 still.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 12:04 PM) They'll still put Astros games to shame. But the Astros have better attendance by 2000 fans a game... Are the t.v. ratings actually more important now? Have they announced any early ratings for White Sox games in early APRIL? Where is that available? Arbitron? Nielsen? Because with the Masters, NFL draft, Bulls, NCAA basketball tourney, Blackhawks, nicer weather, school not out, spring/early summer movie season....there are a TON of reasons for fans not to be watching White Sox games, too. http://blog.chron.com/sportsmedia/2012/09/...low-for-astros/ I looked up the story Balta was referring to. When you're comparing an Astros team in the midst of a second season losing over 100 games in a row...in September....going head-to-head against a Texans game, it's not a complete surprise. I'm sure White Sox t.v. ratings the final two weeks of 2013 after it was obvious they weren't going to catch the Tigers were similarly bleak, especially on the weekend going up head-to-head against a Bears game.

Has Harrelson essentially replaced Ozzie Guillen drama as our national symbol/identity? I wonder if they still have the idea that any publicity is better than no publicity at all? Because you'd have to believe that along with Ventura and Konerko, in the past year, Harrelson's become just as recognized for his broadcasting "issues" than Chris Sale for becoming an elite pitcher.

Nice pitching match-up in Motown for the early start. Verlander vs. Shields for 1st place, Verlander 91-94 MPH in the first inning, averaging 91-92 still. Very strange, never in a million years would have thought of Torii Hunter as an ideal #2 hole hitter. Trying to bunt Austin Jackson over to 3B early. Funny to hear Ryan Levebvre say how the White Sox have issues because they have to jump over 4 teams already, even if they're only 3 GB. Didn't realize Hunter and his agent were the ones who approached the Tigers about him joining their team. Pretty cool for the Tigers to have the type of organization that's known for its drive to get back to the World Series and a winning culture.

Nice pitching match-up in Motown for the early start. Verlander vs. Shields for 1st place, Verlander 91-94 MPH in the first inning, averaging 91-92 still.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 11:35 AM) I can't imagine how bad the ratings will be for tonight's game, but who cares as long as the Sox win! I'm sure the debut of Iron Man 3 will be blamed for reduced attendance soon, or the new Fast & Furious movie. Although this weekend for the TB series, we only have to deal with "Pain & Gain," which is a good title for the Sox season so far...with more emphasis on the pain than gain part, haha.

How does getting stuck with Andre Ethier through 2017 help things? Trading a bad contract that expires in 2014 for another similar contract is one thing...but Ethier is going to be getting older and older, it's the kind of contract you would debate taking over (like Rios) if he was available as a waiver claim essentially for "free", but trading for an 820 OPS (average over the last three years) NL hitter who will be entering the downside of his career is a recipe for disaster. Ethier is owed roughly twice as much as what we owe Dunn. It's kind of the definition of insanity to make that trade...if Ethier's upside was a 900-1000 OPS, and he was a young hitter who could be a breakout superstar, then that's one thing. But this is the same recipe acquiring good but not great expensive/aging veterans that got the Kansas City Royals into so much trouble the past 20 years. Trying to "band aid" their way back into competition because their minor league system wasn't producing in certain areas.

It's a bit ironic, because Frank Thomas was always considered "stats first, team victories second" type of player. More selfish than team/winning-oriented. And yet I'm sure that Harrelson would claim that Frank Thomas was a "winning player" and could have been a dominant hitter in any time period of baseball history, etc.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Apr 25, 2013 -> 01:29 AM) I was looking around on baseball reference at the 1985 Tigers who started the season 35-5. In August of that year, they played a double header on 3 consecutive days. Between July 31 and August 14 they played 6 double headers. Don't you mean 1984?

How many times in the history of baseball has a slugging, low contact/high K DH type totally changed his approach as everyone is suggesting and become Wade Boggs/Tony Gwynn/Ichiro? We've seen pitchers adjust to pitching without their fastballs later in their careers or after injuries, but Adam Dunn bunting and going to the opposite field or trying to hit the ball on the ground? Never will that happen in a million years.

Valverde records a 1-2-3 9th inning as the Tigers beat the Royals. Scherzer hasn't looked the same as he did the 2nd half of last season. Both him and Verlander are throwing noticeably less MPH on their FB's so far this year.

All things being equal, Tekotte has a bit more speed and Danks a bit more power, but it's not like there's a CLEAR difference. Both are mid 20's candidates for 4th outfielder (bad teams) or the final spot on the roster (good teams). Maybe some Sox fans WANT Danks to succeed more or hype him because of his brother, but he hasn't done much (yeah, he had one game winning homer last year) to warrant the hype...if he existed alone in isolation and there was no John Danks we were on the hook for $50 million or whatever, he wouldn't matter so much or be such a hot topic of discussion/debate.

But it's probably fair to say that Beck has the most potential (his status as a potential Top 5-10 pick heading into the last college baseball season), or certainly, hype surrounding him. Snodgress and Johnson are still flying a little under the radar to most unfamiliar with the Sox system.

Everything seems to be going Iron Man 3's way. Gwyneth Paltrow was just voted "world's most beautiful woman" by one of the weekly celeb mags.

Who was Harrelson referring to about getting fired? The old-time Grady Fuson School scouts? Or the new wave GM's like DePodesta and J. P. Ricciardi? (Interestingly, both of those guys are now with the Mets and former A's GM Sandy Alderson.)

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Apr 24, 2013 -> 07:09 PM) I think it was the offseason spent golfing. He finally figured a way out of his own head. Well, it definitely hasn't worked for Gordon Beckham to get advice from everyone, but maybe Rios can help him out. Konerko has tried to advise him, but he's always had his own personal psychological demons to battle in terms of the ups and downs of hitting, just like Quentin.

QUOTE (Jake @ Apr 24, 2013 -> 06:37 PM) Wise has never been a good defender. He literally never played CF until he got to the White Sox (the first time). It is a myth created by Ozzie Guillen. That and the Buehrle no-hitter saving catch.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 24, 2013 -> 07:35 AM) If Courtney Hawkins were hitting .500 in A ball right now, would you call him up to the majors? Same exact story. I wasn't referring to promoting him, referring to the earlier post about Arcia being the 2nd or 3rd rated Twins' prospect. Thought it was Buxton for sure.

Not exactly a pitcher's duel in KC. Geez. Guess you still have to root for the Royals to beat the Tigers, even though we gain a game on first place if the Tigers win...actually, both would be tied for 1st. And what the heck happened with Moustakas? He was great last year for most of the season...now he looks about the same as when he first came up and struggled mightily.

Can't believe 37 of Hawkins' 55 AB's (not counting walks/hbp) have ended up as K's. The funniest part is he still has a 720 OPS. I remember the days when we would have been "pleased as punch" for Brian Anderson to be able to put up a 720 at the major league level. Now we have BrYan Anderson and Lars Anderson at Charlotte. Wonder what happened to the real Brian Anderson? And how much of his original signing bonus is left? With Joe Borchard, surely the family was smart enough to invest that $5.3 million...they seemed to be a very down-to-earth, modest, blue collar labor/farming family.

Not sure DeAza, Wise (at his age now) or Jordan Danks could have made that same play.

Why would Rienzo be ranked over Snodgress? I would think with the fact that Snodgress is a lefty and doesn't have the PED's concerns surrounding him that other organizations would be higher on him than Rienzo (unless they're acquiring to market him to that tiny niche of Brazilian baseball fans, haha).