caulfield12

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 06:11 PM) Any Sox fan who isn't going to games because of excitement over Cubs prospects isn't much of a Sox fan. I think it's more of the casual fan that's not a die hard and being pulled into the media hype...I'll admit that with the White Sox game already a blowout, I was more interested in the Cubs' game. That's pretty normal. It doesn't matter who it is, top (rookie) prospects catch our attention...whether it's Trout, Puig, etc. I don't follow Puig as much this year, compared to 2013...even though he's arguably a better player this season. Human nature.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 01:01 PM) Why would the Rockies not give him a shot? Well, the Rockies and Rangers are the only teams with a worse ERA than the Sox right now. Is Turner an extreme flyball pitcher?

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 05:54 PM) Of course they are going to try and contend in 2015. Look at it this way, how much did they improve last offseason? Probably about 10 WAR. They added Eaton (3), Jose (5) and Avi (2-4 if he stayed healthy) as major additions. They didn't spend on pitching because they knew they weren't that close. If they bring in 10 WAR on the pitching side of things this offseason and Avi comes back strong then they are in contention for the 2nd WC. Things are going well I don't know why so many fans are complaining this team is way better than last years and all their good players are locked down and young. They somehow got the consensus best player in the draft (Rodon) and the farm system, while still lacking much high end low floor guys, is as deep as it's been since the early aughts. 1) The fact that those same fans know the White Sox aren't going to be bidding on Shields, Scherzer or Lester. 2) John Danks 3) That they are just bad enough to be interesting, but not bad enough to get a high draft choice when it really doesn't matter what happens from now through the end of the season as long as Abreu, Sale, Eaton, Avisail and Quintana stay healthy. 4) Having the third worst ERA in the majors despite Sale/Quintana 5) The fact that if they do address the starting pitching issues, there's probably not going to be money left over for the bullpen 6) The fact that our two best defenders are Eaton and Ramirez, and Eaton can't stay on the field and Alexei has a 50/50 chance of being traded 7) Reaction to all the excitement over Alcantara, Baez and Soler

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 05:30 PM) This team isn't even pretending to be competitive and everyone knows that. GMAB. This team is 5 1/2 games out of the wild card race and has spent the whole season 5 games under .500. I don't care who he brings back, Adam Dunn didn't sell tickets in 2011 because the team was trash and the manager didn't care. Less than a week ago, they were yet another bad bullpen appearance from being just one game under .500. Do you expect the White Sox to at least PRETEND to compete in 2015 or are you willing to concede that the bar for competing for the playoffs realistically is being moved back to 2016, minus some dramatic free agency additions this off-season?

QUOTE (MAX @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 04:38 PM) If anyone did care I believe Jose Abreu, the best new hitter in baseball for many years, would be more of an attraction that some prospects. What's the reason...because he's 27 and doesn't "feel" like a rookie because he's not the same age (20-22) as Baez/Soler/Bryant? Because he never spent time in on our minor league system developing or wasn't drafted? It's hard to figure out why a team with 2 of the 10 best players in baseball is 28th in attendance.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 04:34 PM) Ugh, I leave for a week, move 8 hours, and you're still on this schtick? WIN BALLGAMES AND PEOPLE COME. NO ONE CARE WHO YOU HAVE IF YOU NO WIN. 2012 and 2010 say "HELLO!" If Jose Abreu's the 2nd best player in the major leagues right now, and Chris Sale's a Top 5-7 pitcher and that's attracting a crowd of 19,000+ on a perfectly comfortable August day when then the Sox are still only 5 1/2 games back in the Wild Card race, something's got to be done besides simply discounting tickets. Hahn needs to make another big bet or two of Adam Dunn proportions, and he has to hit on both of them (along with hitting on the trade return for Alexei, if he decides ultimately to go in that direction).

I'm thinking they're eventually going to end up moving Baez to 3B and Bryant to RF. That situation could end up reversed, whichever plays the better infield defense which "frees them up" to think about offense the most and doesn't become a negative distraction (error totals/media focus on this aspect). If Baez can be a notch better (defensively) than Conor Gillaspie, those power numbers at 3B would certainly play well, even if he strikes out at a Mark Reynolds-esque pace, as getting a 750-775 OPS from 3B these days in the majors is pretty huge. We all know Baez has an ultra high ceiling but higher bust possibility, lower floor. That's well documented. Finally, Russell and Castro can play middle infield...not sure if Russell will move to 2B or Castro will give up SS. It will be interesting, either way.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Aug 6, 2014 -> 03:52 PM) I like Sierra I wish they would give him the next 40 games all to himself to see if he can prove something. Bench Tank and De Aza everone in MLB knows what they are anyways not like a hot week is gonna convince any team to try and move for them. Didn't the Blue Jays pretty much already do this at the start of the season? That's how he ended up on the White Sox. If he was the type of guy who was capable of hitting 25 homers per year, but it's more likely a guy with a 769 career minor league OPS number is going to end up in the low 700's/high 600's at the major league level. While that would be "okay," it's not going to get us to the playoffs or be anything beyond replacement level. It's certainly not going to encourage any fans to buy season tickets, and that's half the battle for the organization, building up excitement for the team like the Cubs have now with Baez/Soler and then the addition of Bryant in 2015. The Cubs can put Baez or Bryant in the outfield, then Russell or Castro at 2B, that only leaves them with one more outfield hole (McKinney/Almora) and catcher. We have to replace everyone but Abreu/Garcia/Eaton (if they can stay healthy). Conor shouldn't be counted on to hit .310-.320 next year again, Alexei's our only trade chip and Flowers....sigh.

The White Sox have to lead the majors in just dumb/idiotic outfield play. Eaton's recklessness and decision-making with throws. Avisail's overall awkwardness out there. Tank's lack of ability to do anything well but throw when he has a full head of steam going. DeAza. Enough said. That DeAza play against Minnesota was probably the final turning point in the season...in terms of any prayer for fighting for the Wild Card. Win that game, and the series...things might be different. Instead of 4-2 or 5-1 against two last place teams, we're 2-4 instead. Now we're facing a very tough stretch of games. It was probably just an illusion anyway, to think we had either the rotation/bullpen to go on an extended winning streak (or could actually lose 5-10 games in a row with Abreu/Sale/Eaton/Quintana/Alexei and "compete" for a Top 11 pick that wouldn't be forfeited signed certain free agents).

I would also look at how many runners are stranded..in RISP, and certain situations, like 2 outs and RISP. Definitely not holds. And also how many runners inherited in scoring position and with less than 2 outs were prevented from scoring...that would seem to be pretty obvious, of course.

I'd probably start by looking at as many "failed" closers (the likes of Sergio Romo) I could find via trade or free agency... But I would never buy one coming off a "peak" performance, like an Andrew Miller, Jim Johnson coming into 2014 or Craig Kimbrel or Trevor Rosenthal in the future, etc. The idea of finding guys like Boggs, Guerra, Putnam, Cleto, wasn't horrible...in and of itself. If Lindstrom and Jones were healthy, Belisario and Putnam could have stayed in the 7th where they belonged. Of course, we never would have discovered how good Petricka could be, for example. Or that Webb wasn't/isn't ready yet, and might never take that next step. At any rate, I'd individually go through all that video and figure out exactly why those saves were blown (bad pitches, bad defense, bad "luck," BABIP, line drive/FO/GO and the traditional metrics) and try to find 2-4 guys that Cooper also really likes and targets them for acquisition. Not overpaying for loogies, but looking for a lefty who can pitch at least one inning and without a hugely dramatic split against RHB's and LHB's would be another thing we definitely have to address. Surkamp obviously doesn't belong in that role. He just doesn't have the stuff OR the control/command.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Aug 3, 2014 -> 05:51 PM) Apparently, I need to revise my list of the "biggest needs" for the 2015 Sox. 1) Bullpen, 2) bullpen and 3) more bullpen. I was thinking that with Putnam and Lindstrom back, and maybe one more piece, that they might be OK next season. After the last few games, it appears they may need more than one more piece. They need two lefties; a LOOGY and a solid LH set up man. They also need a closer. I don't know if you need both, you just really need ONE guy you can count on first. As it stands, it wouldn't make sense to spend money on a Miller type (overspending, based on his 2014) or Downs, etc. I actually think that bringing Rodon onto the roster in this long-man/set-up role ala Buehrle or Chris Sale (although Sale had high leverage situations almost instantly) makes the most sense, although I certainly wouldn't push him up to the big leagues until after I made sure he didn't qualify for Super-2, so sometime in June after 2 months of quality pitching in Birmingham or Winston-Salem or a combination of both.

Well....if Hahn knew before the season: 1) Gillaspie was going to be in the Top 10 for AL hitting and at least not terrible on defense (his 2nd error today was attributable mostly to the rain/play conditions as the ball slipped out of his hand) 2) Jones and Lindstrom would get injured 3) Abreu would be THIS good He probably would have approached the bullpen situation a bit different. But hindsight is always 20/20. In that case, we wouldn't have signed Downs/Paulino and would have gone after Scott Kazmir, Josh Beckett, Tim Hudson, Phil Hughes, etc. We could also have kept Thome in 2010 and also not signed Dunn coming into 2011, etc., etc.

Cleto or Molina, just try SOMEONE new...anything would be better than Rienzo or Guerra. Surkamp, if we actually had another legitimate option, should be replaced as well. Ozzie would DFA Rienzo for not at least throwing at a Twins' hitter after the Arcia homer....and would have blown a gasket letting a rookie catcher hit the 3rd consecutive (and first career) homer. Ozzie would have had Fryer down in the dirt dusting himself off, lol. (Reminds me of past incidents with Garland and Sean Tracey, ah, the Guillen Era).

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Aug 3, 2014 -> 05:32 PM) There's the man to fall on the sword after the disaster today. No corresponding move yet. Typical White Sox. Rookie pitcher is the fall guy when one of the veterans (Rienzo, Belisario, Guerra) could just as easily be scapegoated off the roster. Surkamp's been around a bit, too. He's not exactly a spring chicken. NESTOR MOLINA will save the day and validate KW as the all-time smartest GM ever...

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Aug 3, 2014 -> 04:44 PM) This bullpen is the result of a ridiculously weak farm. And there's nothing to bring in. We're a long ways from 2012, when we used, what, 10 rookies from the pen alone and it seemingly worked for most of the year until September at least. That's when we had the WORST farm system in baseball. There was Leyson Septimo, Jhan Marinez (Ozzie comp), Pedro Hernandez (Quentin deal), Axelrod, Omogrosso, Heath, Hector Santiago, Nate Jones, Addison Reed...not to mention Quintana. Let's blame it on Buddy Bell, just because....well, we have to have someone to scapegoat, and Hahn and his Toronto superscout aren't as fun to pick on at the moment. Speaking of Toronto...Nestor Molina might be the next addition to the bullpen, if Zach Stewart's unavailable.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Aug 3, 2014 -> 04:51 PM) Well, FWIW, if Jones didn't get hurt we'd have Jones, Petricka, and Putnam as 3 quality guys to come from the farm. How does Putnam count?

QUOTE (raBBit @ Aug 3, 2014 -> 02:57 PM) Had no idea Nix was an outfielder now? Maybe they're thinking of his brother Laynce? Nix is a great guy though, I hope he smashes some LHP in the NL Central. Nope. He's been playing all over the field the last 2-3 years. I think he might have played OF with the White Sox on at least a couple of occasions, but I can't remember clearly now. He and Lillibridge both had seasons where they showed surprising power....the thing I remember about Nix is how much he was loved by Carney Lansford, who just had glowing comments about him from his time with the Rockies.

QUOTE (Jake @ Aug 3, 2014 -> 05:13 PM) I think Rienzo profiles well as a reliever because he has a good heater and generally is too iffy to see a bunch of batters. I think his cutter would play up against righties too (uses it like a slider). He just hasn't really done it before and is so all over the place he probably won't be right until next year. Surkamp is a sinker baller who has historically been better against righties and never relieved before. There were a lot of reasons to think it wouldn't go well. The sinker won't play up out of the pen and he's seeing a ton of lefties. Tough to quantify the effect of learning to be a reliever as well. Except that's one of Putnam's best pitches. You want to keep the ball on the ground as reliever for the DP ball late in the game, instead of elevating it for sac flies (that's assuming you don't have the ability to get many K's and have marginal stuff for the big leagues). When it's on, Rienzo's best pitch is his curveball. He just doesn't have enough confidence in it to throw it consistently.

6-8 on the season series against the Twins. Has to be better than that against the worst team in your division. LOL at someone who's so positive it's making Rongey going negative....good trick!! Even HE has to admit the bullpen has to addressed due to the poor performance this past month...Petricka, outside of a few outings, and considering his lack of experience as a closer, has done about as well as anyone could reasonably have expected coming into 2014. Same with Putnam. As far the rest of the bullpen...yikes. To me, Webb has been the biggest disappointment, but a lot of that was based on unrealistic expectations.

One would hope that's the last time we ever see Rienzo in a White Sox uniform. But it probably won't be. Arcia's ball landed in the middle of the concourse and bounced over the Section 105/106 sign onto the roof of whatever's behind the concourse.

Lynchburg Top of the 8th Emerson Landoni called out on strikes. Daniel Carroll singles on a line drive to right fielder Jason Coats. David Nick flies out to right fielder Jason Coats. With Levi Hyams batting, Daniel Carroll advances to 2nd on defensive indifference. Levi Hyams walks. Jose Martinez flies out to right fielder Jason Coats. Two scoreless innings today for Rodon. Not the prettiest WHIP, but we just have to hope he doesn't have a TJ/UCL injury the way today has gone.

That ball by Arcia is going to challenge Borchard's for the all-time longest in stadium history. They'll probably give it to Joe, just because he's a home player. McGwire to LF also had a ball that bounced off or right in front of the New Era cap shop, that was the longest one I can remember witnessing personally. Pasqua had a bomb to RF, too.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Aug 3, 2014 -> 11:37 AM) Cavs need to win at least two titles to justify trading Wiggins away. They're going to so regret it otherwise. LeBron and Wiggins on the wings defensively would terrorize opposing offenses. Win just ONE in Cleveland and Wiggins would be long forgotten (unless he turns out to be a Top 50 All-Time great, quite unlikely, doesn't seem like he has the consistent willpower to take over games or impress himself upon a game rather than fading into the background when he gets off to a slow start)...they're that desperate for ANY title in any sport.

Just don't overbid on Miller just because...well, chasing performance in short relievers (see Kelly Downs or Jim Johnson) is just like buying last year's 130% returning mutual fund on a high, only to see it lose 30% the year you buy in.