caulfield12

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 29, 2014 -> 09:08 AM) I believe much of that had to attitude and off the field issues, not effectiveness. Well, I guess they're interrelated, the DUI and cocaine use, etc. Change of scenery guy, wasn't totally reliable last year....lot of appearances and mileage on that arm. An ERA of almost 4 is pretty high for a relief pitcher in the NL West, where you have those huge ballparks.

Any talk of a long-term deal for Gordon Beckham is at least two months too early...and there's just no compelling reason to do it, other than to give him more confidence about his future with the organization. Do we need yet another Teahen/Keppinger situation? For whatever reason, having the competition behind seems to be pushing him to elevate his game to another level (for now). If there weren't 3 prospects right behind him that could all play 2B, then it would be more of a consideration, but that's not the case.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 29, 2014 -> 09:30 AM) A lot of these guys will have options picked up, have retired, or are simply bad, but there are plenty of interesting names on the list that there will be options. Brett Anderson * Josh Beckett Chad Billingsley * Joe Blanton * A.J. Burnett * Chris Capuano Bruce Chen * Wei-Yin Chen * Kevin Correia Johnny Cueto * Jorge De La Rosa Ryan Dempster Scott Feldman Gavin Floyd Yovani Gallardo * Jason Hammel J.A. Happ * Aaron Harang Dan Haren * Roberto Hernandez Luke Hochevar Hisashi Iwakuma Josh Johnson Kyle Kendrick Hiroki Kuroda John Lannan Colby Lewis Jon Lester Paul Maholm Justin Masterson Brandon McCarthy Brandon Morrow * Jeff Niemann Ross Ohlendorf Felipe Paulino * Jake Peavy Wandy Rodriguez Max Scherzer James Shields Carlos Villanueva Ryan Vogelsong Edinson Volquez Jerome Williams From this list, only Iwakuma (and he's not going anywhere), Shields, Scherzer and Lester would push us into playoff contention just by their signing. Masterson, a lot of the glow is wearing off of now. Vogelsong, maybe...but then going from the NL to the AL, USCF compared to PacBell, etc.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ May 29, 2014 -> 09:25 AM) I don't think Viciedo is close to his peak yet. I also wouldn't make moves that hinder long term development for the sake of possibly competing for a WC this year. This staff is not good enough to advance in the playoffs. I want to compete for World Series, not wild cards. Unless there's another 2009 version of Jake Peavy out there, or 2004 Jose Contreras...a seemingly bad contract that only requires a little bit of talent in return and not a megadeal like the Freddie Garcia one for Reed/Olivo/Morse. Another quality starter to go along with the Sale and Quintana, all bets are off in a playoff series which also involves Abreu's healthy bat.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 29, 2014 -> 09:15 AM) A scout in Charlotte is more likely to have two things... Knowledge of the White Sox organization, and first hand accounts of scouting these players. Lakso didn't have to have a question asked or answered to hear someone talking about who the Sox are looking at, while in the pressbox thinking that no one is listening. It could also be a complete misdirection. There is no way of knowing for sure, but I like this source better than many. Or, he simply knows a lot of scouts and was spitballing to see if any of them would go "off the record" with what they've heard the White Sox were going to do...OR, they deliberately are putting bad information out there to throw other teams off, although having Nola in the Top 4-5 corresponds to a lot of independent reports out there recently. In the beginning, we always heard they weren't as high on Kolek, but then a lot of contrary accounts have been introduced. What was Bowden's draft (ESPN Insider)?

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ May 29, 2014 -> 09:14 AM) A+: Alexei Ramriez A: Jose Abreu, Jake Petricka, Chris Sale A-: Conor Gillaspie, Zach Putnam B+: Jose Quintana, Daniel Webb B: Gordon Beckham, Tyler Flowers, Dayan Viciedo B-: Adam Dunn, Adrian Nieto, Hector Noesi, Andre Rienzo C+: John Danks, Adam Eaton, Matt Lindstrom, Marcus Semien C: Scott Carroll, Leury Garcia C-: Moises Sierra D+: Ronald Belisario, Erik Johnson D: Maikel Cleto, Jordan Danks, Scott Downs, Paul Konerko F: Alejandro De Aza, Felipe Paulino How can Sierra be lower than Semien or L. Garcia? What did you honestly expect out of Nieto, when he was in High A last year? Belisario a D+ when he was one of the best/most consistent middle relievers in baseball for six weeks?

QUOTE (bmags @ May 29, 2014 -> 09:07 AM) Greg said a point I agreed with yesterday, it seems like this team has been way more successful than 1 game over .500. I've enjoyed this season more than any other run since the 2010 24-7 run (my favorite sox team that did not make the playoffs). Grade As: Sale, Abreu, Eaton, Gillaspie, Ramirez, Petricka, Dunn Grade Bs: Beckham, Viciedo, Quintana, Webb, Bellinelli, Flowers, Grade Cs: Sierra, Danks, Nieto, Rienzo, Carroll, rest of bullpen Grade Ds: De Aza, Downs, Francisco Have we joined the NBA? He might get two or three grades....a B+ overall, a D for his first two weeks, an A for the last 5-6 weeks as a 7th/8th inning guy and then the last week as a closer (C-), which he's ill-equipped for. Sierra's at least a B- because he was the worst hitter in baseball his first 40-50 AB's and has been at least semi-productive (700ish OPS, GW RBI, good arm and growing more comfortable defensively by the day in Chicago). Francisco is about as relevant as Leesman's ill-fated start. In fact, Cleto's a lot more interesting to discuss than Francisco. Considering what was expected, and that the Cardinals and Royals gave up on him completely, I could give him a B-/C+. Lindstrom's hard to grade, too...since I never thought he should have been the closer, either. I guess a C/C-.

Rock/Bucket, etc. Did anyone hear of the White Sox looking at the 2nd tier of FA starters (Tim Hudson, Kazmir, Phil Hughes, Feldman, Haren, Josh Johnson) in a serious way? Nolasco was discussed a bit, I know...at least around here.

What's more troubling is his reaction to pitching without any days of rest. As a closer, you just have to be ready to go back to back...and even back to back to back. With 77 appearances last year, and the Dodgers basically letting him walk, you have to know that durability/stamina is a concern. Runners in scoring position, 2 outs, opposing batters are 8/17 with a 1.056 OPS. Pitching on 0 days of rest, opposing batters are putting up a 946 OPS is almost 50 AB's.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 29, 2014 -> 08:48 AM) The draft isn't supposed to be all that strong, and is high school heavy. I got in trouble for pointing out taking a HS kid in the second round, chances are he won't be able to help you , if at all, until 2019 or 2020. The Sox compensation for signing a QO free agent, wasn't going to be much lower ever. To get one next offseason, they probably will have to give up a first round pick. They gave up a first rounder for Dunn. Or they could sign Kendrys Morales, after the draft. The problem is they would have to sign him to a deal through at least 2015, if not 2016 (with the idea of Dunn being traded and Morales replacing him). But then how much are you willing to pay Morales? He already turned down that $14.1 million/one year offer from the Mariners, so you're looking at paying him essentially the same as Dunn, albeit on a 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 year deal instead of 4.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ May 29, 2014 -> 08:37 AM) Johnson could be, but if that was the Sox line of thinking you would think that they would have started the process of working him in the OF. If you move Semien to short, that adds Carlos Sanchez into the mix as being an extra asset. Johnson didn't even know about this POSSIBLE plan, until a reporter told him that Hahn had hinted at it...but only when the organization felt he was completely comfortable offensively (which kind of makes no sense, because once someone's comfortable in ONE position, why would you want to run the risk of moving them somewhere else unless it would be a clear upgrade?) Is Johnson/Eaton/Garcia (or Eaton/Johnson/Garcia) a more productive outfield than Viciedo/Eaton/Garcia? Where's the power going to come from, besides Abreu and possibly Viciedo at DH? Can Viciedo even be effective as a DH/1B? Or Davidson, for that matter.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ May 29, 2014 -> 08:20 AM) Again, awful analogy. Someone articulate what law could have been passed to prevent this shooting. The only answer is a complete gun ban, which is never going to happen. So continue arguing in hypotheticals if you wish, but down here in the real world it seems to me this particular shooting could have been avoided if the police/family did their jobs. And even then I dunno if that's 100% true. I'm fine with nearly all the restrictions that CA has passed. I'm not sure what else could have been done here. In the end, in our society, we tend to give the benefit of the doubt (innocent until proven guilty)...because we just don't want to believe that there are so many monsters out there. In retrospect, we can blame his psychologist, his parents, some of his best friends (particularly James Ellis, who say many glimpses of his Day of Retribution and simply chose to end the relationship/friendship)....and then he had three contacts with the police. Once, when tried to knock partygoers off a ledge in 2013 and ended up being pushed down himself and breaking his ankle, pushing his initial plans back from Halloween, 2013. Next, when he reported his roommate (citizen's arrest) for stealing $22 worth of candles. Finally, when some of his disturbing youtube rants were online in late 2013 (anonymous tip, he believed it might have been his father or mother or stepmother) and seven police officers came to his door, but they didn't check his apartment or search because there was no probable cause of an imminent threat...plus those handguns were legally registered. He was more concerned about his diary/plans falling into the hands of the police, and that would have required a fairly extensive search. I do wonder how many of those officers (if any) that were called out that day saw one or all of those videos, and, looking back on all of them now, if they missed anything that could have pushed them into action that day. Obviously, a lot of lawsuits against the police will be forthcoming, due to that particular situation and the fact that he escaped by calmly talking his way out of it.

It's worthwhile to remember we were willing to commit around $150 million or so to Tanaka, at least $125-135 million. Young and potential ace >>> Solid #3 starter. At least out of that position in the draft. That said, if you can project him as "undervalued" and having many similarities with Wacha, that's one thing. The problem is that if you pick him THAT high, you better be able to save a ton of money to use later in the draft or you're not exploiting any advantage at all. It's when you get a Wacha at 19 that you're really "stealing" someone out from underneath everyone.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ May 29, 2014 -> 08:18 AM) I wonder if the Sox prefer Johnson or Semien, they both are both in play for the same roster spot down the road. To me, it seems they prefer Semien, otherwise he would be in AAA being showcased for a trade as I think they are doing with Micah at this point. They have three MLB or near MLB ready 2B and really only room for one, so I think there will be a couple of deals involving Beckham and Johnson before opening day 2015. Yes, EJ has a much better shot at rejoining the rotation, but I was never as high on him as some around here, but I think he can develop into a capable back end of the rotation starter. I feel like the key is to not panic and push too many chips in to compete at a fringe level this season. Keep building up the system with astute pickups like Rondon, Montas, Danish, Michalzewski, and such, and build the depth of the organization to a point where it is able to produce ML talent on an annual basis and allow the team to trade off veteran assets to fill gaps like bringing in Avisail last season. The problem is that our only (current) asset which gets you the aforementioned/highlighted players is Alexei Ramirez. If the White Sox really know who they're projecting and where out of the Micah Johnson/Semien/Carlos Sanchez group...you can package one of those guys with someone else, but you're obviously going to be selling low on Marcus. Gordon Beckham's only 27 and COULD be in the prime of his career...although many times hopes have been raised, only to be cruelly dashed against the rocks of despair/frustration with him.

BOSTON — The Yankees may be targeting Masahiro Tanaka as their big free-agent splash this winter, and they may be doing so at the perfect time. Yankees assistant general manager Billy Eppler spent time in Japan last month (September, 2013), getting a look at Tanaka. According to reports out of Japan, the Rangers, Red Sox and Diamondbacks were among the other teams that have scouted the righthander in person in recent months. So at the latest, August/September last year. http://www.thegreedypinstripes.com/2013/05...iro-tanaka.html Here's an article from last May.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 29, 2014 -> 08:05 AM) The combined salaries of Downs + De Aza are comparable to what the White Sox ate with Jeff Keppinger. They're nothing. What I mean is how patient will Hahn/FO and Ventura be with them...neither of them are part of the long-term future of the team, as you can make an argument both ways about Beckham (who additionally has Semien/Sanchez/Micah Johnson all thundering up behind him).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 29, 2014 -> 08:11 AM) By that logic, he won the game, so he did his job. This is starting to sound like all the arguments about Bobby Jenks his last couple of seasons with the Sox, lol.

Look at the Tigers/A's game last night... Nathan basically threw his rookie 3B (Castellanos) under the bus, and so did his manager Ausmus. It's Nathan's job to pitch over mistakes or "could have/should have" been outs. In the end, a closer is defined by his performance in those situations, like it or not. The fact of the matter is that even though Belisario's pitched in some difficult circumstances/situations, and that's uncontrollable on his part...his performance after a mistake happens is controllable. The White Sox won the game, everyone went home happy and Sierra had a nice "comeback/redemption" moment, but both the defense and the pitching needs to be better for this team to make it to the next level. Granted, it's a bit unfair to get all over Belisario, he was never expected to close a single game for the White Sox when he was signed as a bounceback candidate, but that's the current situation that he's facing, like it or not. There's probably not a small amount of trepidation about putting Webb or Petricka in that position already, combined with the HOPES that Belisario can get on a really hot streak and make himself a "sell high" candidate at the deadline.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ May 29, 2014 -> 07:57 AM) We really have no payroll issues at all. We have only one bad contract (Danks), and he's managed to remain effective enough to at least hold down a rotation spot. That we could simply cut Keppinger is evidence that the front office agrees. Anyway, the effect of that should be that the front office should NOT feel pressured to eat salary. It should all about maximizing talent this year. We'll see. We have a ton of games on the road in the month of June, with Abreu back starting on Monday. Downs and DeAza, in particular, are the ones under the most scrutiny for the moment.

QUOTE (LDF @ May 28, 2014 -> 03:59 PM) it was a good gamble that failed, and it was expensive. but ...... what happened if it worked? 1 thing I noticed is with the cupboard is bare, all this minor little gambles will look huge. with ref to his visit to the dl ... I remember a player, I believe we got in return for the kip wells trade lost something like 10+ games and he mysterious went to the dl as well. to save him the embarrassment of losing more. Todd Don't Call Me Lionel or Nicole Ritchie

4 GB 2nd place in ALCD tied for 3rd, 1 1/2 games behind the Yankees for 2nd WC Tigers have lost 7 of last 9 Anibal Sanchez and then Joe Nathan blew a 1-0 lead and 2 hit shutout when Crisp doubled, Jaso singled and Josh Donaldson (top 3 AL MVP candidate) homered to LF in the bottom of the 9th.

QUOTE (bmags @ May 28, 2014 -> 09:34 PM) I thought game was over when Sierra whiffed on 3-1. That was actually a damn good sequence. Everything was away away away, and he went with the pitch. You mean you also thought Eaton would make an out and our bullpen would proceed to blow it in extras?

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 28, 2014 -> 09:04 PM) I agree with you mostly. Thing is in a 140-page manifesto, which I read, there was plenty of prejudice of all kinds of people to go around. I'd like to know what happened with his original plan of first going to kill stepmom and brother. I'm thinking it may have been as simple as the moron didn't want to make the drive to their town to get it started. Just went with the roommates first. Who knows? And the poor roommates. I didn't quite understand why they all were living together. It wasn't a dorm. It sounds like the killer didn't want roommates. He had money; why didn't he live alone somewhere? Weird. These 3 roommates happen to be living with a f***ing loser moron and their lives are cut so short because of that. In fact, one of them was accused of stealing $22 worth of candles (from Rodger). The killer actually called the police and made a citizen's arrest and the police backed it up when they found the candles on his roommate's bed (I wouldn't doubt he planted them there). This incident wasn't even mentioned in the manifesto, curiously. He actually wasn't threatened very much by these last Asian roommates because they were geeky and nerdy and socially-akward like him. The only threat they really posed was getting in the way of his collecting all of the bodies after he'd flayed them and decapitated them in his apartment building before he took off in his car and tossed all the heads out of the window of his car in the middle of the downtown Isla Vista part of the rampage...he did at least attempt to run over 4 people, but luckily wasn't able to plow into a multitude. And, if nothing else good comes out of this, all of those women he named (and especially the girls at that sorority house) might pause and think about how everyone treats each other...yes, he was surely crazy and narcissistic (thinking he could will himself a megamillions lottery win). As for Greg's point about going to a prostitute, he did have a counselor towards the end (Sasha?) he actually enjoyed spending time with, but felt guilty about the idea of enjoying her company simply because she was paid to listen to him. He was too proud to pay for sex, even though he wanted to win over all those beautiful blonde girls with stacks of money and immense beach mansion.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ May 28, 2014 -> 03:24 PM) So everything 'worked' until you get to your point #5. Then it was either the cops who missed something and/or were lazy and didn't want to do the paperwork, or the parents who didn't go far enough when they called the cops. Perhaps he wasn't investigated more because he was from a rich family? So perhaps 'money' got him out of some of the rules the little people have to follow? They nearly caught him. Nobody knows for sure, if it was his mother or someone on the internet that warned the police because some of his youtube postings. 7 police officers actually came to his door. He was a great actor in convincing them that everything was okay and calm when he was scared out of his mind they were going to search his apartment and uncover his diary and growing manifesto. He never mentioned religion or religious beliefs once in the whole manifesto, just that he knew he had to die and couldn't/wouldn't go to prison. In fact, along with having multiple guns, he also had a plan of overdosing on different drugs and then shooting himself to ensure he died. Not sure if that actually happened in the end. As far as the kid brother, the only reason he lived is because of the fear he wouldn't be able to go through with killing his father if he wasn't out on town on movie business and got in the way...as he hated his stepmother Soumaya probably more than even his dad (who he hated for always giving in to whatever she wanted). James Ellis, his best friend, had numerous chances to turn him in and is probably now feeling incredibly guilty about it. As far as the dating part goes, he was half Chinese/Malaysian, but he was more proud of his father's elite/upper class background dating back many generations in England (even though the money was squandered). He would get upset anytime an African-American, Hispanic or "non-cool" (like himself) kid was dating a hot blonde girl (that was clearly his fetish). In fact, he even hated one of his roommates for sleeping with a girl, but didn't hate him SO MUCH because the girl he slept with wasn't that pretty (and the buy was kind of schlubby/nerdy/akward)...so that wasn't so bad a crime to him. He blamed his father's movie (Oh My God?) for flopping and his mother many times for not (re)marrying a multimillionaire and giving him an easy life. He must have started and dropped out of classes 4-5 times but couldn't handle seeing pretty girls with their boyfriends or even knowing they had a b/f (especially a typical jock/arrogant bastard type). I think one of the missed points here is how addicted he became to World of Warcraft...in the end, he never finished one real day of work, but lived off all the money his parents and grandparents gave to him, including a BMW 3 series which still didn't get him a girl.

Sierra 12/44 (.273), 1 HR, 4 RBI's (GW), OPS a notch below 700 That's a lot better than DeAza has produced, at least.