caulfield12

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ May 26, 2013 -> 09:28 PM) In the next 1-2 seasons we are going to need a new 1B, a new DH, we don't know what is going to happen up the middle with the C position/Beckham's development/Alexei getting older and more expensive, and then of course we're always going to have to fill holes due to trades, injuries, fall offs, etc. like any other team. I want the Sox to use this season to address more long-term needs, and then hopefully answer a couple questions heading into the offseason. I think we need to continue to build to do that. I think we need to deal some pieces and play guys like Flowers and Beckham no matter what they're doing, because it is make or break for them. If however we try to contend then we had better win, because otherwise we'll have gained no ground, and in the process, we will have probably just used up a pre-arb year on some of our new core players while pushing our contention window back another season and making it more expensive. I think we should put players on the block and look to sell. DeAza, Alexei, Thornton, Crain, and if the deals are right then Rios and maybe Peavy if the organization really gets a hell of a deal. There's no reason to tear down the walls and try to play horrible baseball, but getting caught in the middle could really set us back. Also, our starting staff is great but I'm not sure I'd believe in them in the playoffs this year anyway. That would be a long way off and both Santiago & Q will probably be at new innings highs, while Danks is still recovering, and Axe still has more to prove in the Majors IMO. We'd have Sale & Peavy leading a spotty offense with a ton of holes in it plus a reasonably good pen which should improve beyond where it is. We'd be dangerous if we were able to start Sale in Game 1 of the playoffs should we get there, but I'm not confident enough in this team as it is currently constructed to risk a better 2014 on it. I think that's stupid, because I really don't think we're far away from a longer contention period where we can look to add *vets* around a young core, not the other way around. It's a whole lot easier to patch together a winning team when you can trade unproven prospects that are probably going to bust/underwhelm anyway & hand out free agent money in order to acquire players with track records, but you can't do that when you don't have the youth & payroll space, and I don't think we're quite there yet. The last paragraph hits the nail on the head. If you go with Flowers/Gimenez all season long, even in the heat of a pennant race when they're still flailing...history would say they would acquire a veteran, then you're left with the dilemmas of going into the offseason wondering if, for example, Phegley, could be the #1 or if Flowers had enough time to prove he COULDN'T get the job done. Crain would give you the highest rate of return (obviously not including any of our starting pitching), and yet you'd be completely shooting in the foot almost any chance of competing in 2013 out the window with that deal. Santiago becomes the long man/loogy or even bridge set-up guy along with Crain, then you're going to have a very hard time getting him into a high IP territory in 2014 without having to worry about the Verducci Effect the following season (what Sale, Quintana and Peavy are expected to weather this year)... I'm not sure what DeAza, Lindstrom, Thornton, Axelrod, etc., being traded could get you back....probably not enough to FIX the current offense. Dump Thornton's salary, you almost have to keep Santiago in the bullpen, which probably isn't his best role with the full repertoire of pitches he has. (I'm not even sure how DeAza going would help unless we had another leadoff hitter hidden somewhere or could acquire one who would put up a 800+ OPS, and that's more likely to happen ONLY if Alejandro stays....and then you have his high strikeout/defensive/base-running woes combined with his high WAR, nobody could tell you what to do with him and be 100% accurate). Everyone agrees trading Peavy, Rios and Ramirez this year would pretty much cripple our chances for 2013....probably, you could add Crain to that list as well. Or you roll the dice on being able to bring in McCann, Morales, Utley, Granderson, et al, in the offseason free agency period...but not making the playoffs again gives you limited payroll flexibility. It's a Catch 22. The only way to guarantee an increased payroll or attendance is making the playoffs in 2013.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 26, 2013 -> 07:14 PM) Except the White Sox have already played six games over .500 since May 13 without being in the cupcake part of their schedule Tough to call that a false positive. It's also hard to read much into sweeping the Marlins, one of the two worst teams in baseball, at home. We also didn't have to face Jose Fernandez, FWIW. We beat up the Twins just as they were just starting to go ice-cold, we faced the Angels when they were in last place and split and we beat up the Marlins, although all three games were nail biters. That said, the way we played against Boston was encouraging. We're also still sitting in negative territory in the RS/RA stat.

QUOTE (Jake @ May 26, 2013 -> 06:12 PM) What would we have to give Atlanta to get Evan Gattis? Haha.... Johnson, Snodgress, Webb, Thompson + one more A player who'd probably turn out the best of all

What's the commonly-accepted "must be at least this rate of success" rate for stealing where the statistics say it's not worth giving up the outs? About 75-80%? For the minors, you'd like to see it at 85% or higher, because that's certainly not going to hold up at the major league level.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ May 26, 2013 -> 06:46 PM) H) Wait until it's actually close to the trade deadline and then see where the Sox stand. This whole scenario is predicated on the VERY HIGH likelihood we are contenders heading into the trade market. With our pitching, the weather heating up, the crowds growing in the summer months...it's just hard for me to believe, without a major injury, that we're not 5-13 games over .500 at the end of June and still very much in the thick of the race.

And there's just no way we can get McCann (this year) or Gattis....we're going to have to wait until the off-season, or give away most of the best pieces remaining on our farm to rent McCann for 2-3 months. And Atlanta's scouts would pick our system apart. Don't like that option for the catching problem.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ May 26, 2013 -> 06:21 PM) McCann & Morales aren't even 30 yet. No doubt Utley is old, but he can help on a short-term deal. Same goes for Granderson. You've been b****ing for over a year how the team won't spend money in free agency. I'm not sure who you expect the team to sign. The guys I've listed are solid free agents. If you expect us to sign the Robinson Cano's of the world you'll be real disappointed. For the White Sox, it's always better to spread that money over 2-3 guys than one huge contract. Always. You would think we would have learned our lesson with Dunn. And we were fortunate to get out of the Belle deal before he became a salary albatross for the Orioles.

These 30 games (27 upcoming) 3 over Miami (Last place, 20 games under .500) 2 CUBS (Last place, 11 games under) 2 at Cubs 3 at A's (2nd place, 5 games over) 3 at Mariners (4th place, 10 games under, 8 game losing streak) 3 A's 3 BLUE JAYS (Last place, 8 games under) 3 at Astros (Last place, 22 games under) 3 at Twins (Last place, 9 games under, just lost 10 in a row) 3 at Royals (4th place, 9 home losses in a row, 4-16 streak) 2 METS (4th place, 12 games under) The schedule-making Gods couldn't have handed us a better late May/June schedule. The teams we are playing are a combined 86 games under .500. We'll play 5 of the 6 last place teams in baseball (the only team we don't see is the NL West doormat). This doesn't even account for the fact that we faced the Angels twice when they were in last place (3-4 against them, but now winners of 8 in a row, including the first two against the Sox). The only team above .500 we'll face is the A's, and they're a mirror image of the Sox, with limited offensive ability but very strong pitching, so those are games we should be in, as well. So I'll take a cue from Flavum's "quantitative analysis" that we go 19-8 in our next 27 games to pull to 11 games over .500. Then what do you do, remembering the Daniel Hudson trade from 2010 (including a 26-5 stretch against much better competition, including the Braves) and the team's fade-out in 2012 despite adding Myers, Liriano and Youkilis. And also assuming we're in 1st or 2nd place, heading into the June 28th-30th home series against the Indians (4 games, including DH). The only opportunity we really would be missing is NOT trading Jesse Crain...all the other players like Peavy, Rios and Ramirez could be traded at other times, albeit for not as high of a return. Crain might be the most valuable set-up guy in baseball, and he's not likely to stay THIS HOT for the rest of the season, and he's only due $3 million for the next 4 months...but he's also the only glue holding the bullpen together. If Santiago can actually slide into a 2nd lefty role (but not just LOOGY), pitching in games where we are ahead in the 5th/6th/7th, like Zumaya used to do with the Tigers...then we might just have enough, as long as Lindstrom OR Nate Jones are serviceable, and there's always the possibility of recalling Daniel Webb two months from now to replace Jones. Conclusion: Find a veteran salary to take on, someone like Charles Johnson in 2000 (well, he was an All-Star)...maybe more along the lines of Carlos Ruiz of the Phillies that the entire pitching staff would respect and with playoff experience. If you find the right reliever, buy his salary, but don't overpay with Erik Johnson or a minor leaguer we're really going to need in the future. Beckham can play occasionally for Ramirez...just so he doesn't wear down. If you push Flowers back to the bench, that gives you a RH power threat against LHP to go with Wise and Keppinger/Gillaspie, whoever's not playing.

QUOTE (Lillian @ May 26, 2013 -> 06:03 PM) Given the need for a lefty set up man in the pen, if Axelrod does falter, it wouldn't be surprising if the Sox turned to Erik Johnson to replace him. Daniel Hudson II, without quite as much hype. Then we can trade him for some random veteran, blowing up our payroll even more (because we need experience down the stretch in a pennant drive!), and limiting our flexibility to improve the offense in the off-season, leading to the eventual trade of aforementioned veteran along with Jeff Keppinger for the likes of Zach Stewart or Nestor Molina coming back in return.

Wow....Indians collapsed. Double by Ellsbury wins in as they score 4 in the bottom of the 9th. 2 1/2 behind Indians, 4 behind the Tigers. 9 series in a row against teams that are a combined 72 games below .500, including 5 of the 6 current last place teams in MLB (Houston, Miami, Cubs, Twins and Blue Jays) 2 series against the A's the only above .500 opponents...and the A's are pretty much a mirror image of the Sox, with great pitching and so-so hitting. Looks like the Royals are going to lose yet again...that would be 9 losses in a row in KC and 4-16 overall in their last 20.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 26, 2013 -> 02:47 PM) Chris Perez trying to blow a 3-run save in Boston. How in God's name do you let David Ortiz steal 3rd?

LOL. Poor Royals. Butler was ejected in the 6th, so they walked Gordon to face Francouer (PH for Billy). Pop out. Had a chance to tie with Getz on 2nd with one out against Jepsen.

Viciedo hitting .359 in his last 19 games, not counting the 2/3 today.

Pretty amazing Dunn's on a pace for nearly 100 RBI's with a batting average under .160.

19 one run games for the Sox. 38th or 39th time so far this season a game has been settled by 3 runs or less...that's actually a good thing, even though it's putting a lot of stress on the pitching, we have depth there at least. Didn't know that Rios wore #51 for Bernie Williams (Puerto Rican hero/flamenco guitarist). Another hitting streak for Alex. Leading the team in RBI's, with Dunn second at 27.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 26, 2013 -> 01:15 PM) Wasn't that done so Boston and the Yankees could play 18 times? Sox-Cubs should still be the biggest crowds of the year in the Cell, right? So it's good for something. After Opening Day, yes. This year might be an exception, if the White Sox can get really hot in June, they might top the Cubs' series at some point over the rest of the summer... I would guess...it might be the Tigers.

Wonder who the best young prospect out there that Jesse Crain would fetch right now? It will never happen in a million years, but it would be interesting to hear some of the names. White Sox haven't had a baserunner since the 3rd. 12 in a row retired. Cishek, part-time closer for the Marlins this year. Pretty rocky season.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 26, 2013 -> 02:26 PM) Sox have a great shot to get well over .500 in June. It's June 28-August 4 that has me concerned. Once again, between a rock and a hard place at the trade deadline...what new?

QUOTE (bbilek1 @ May 26, 2013 -> 02:27 PM) I love the way Hectpr Gimenez plays. He lacks talent but there is NO shortage of heart.

White Sox have 9 series (including the Marlins) against teams that are a combined 72 games under .500. Only 2 of 9 next opponents currently over .500. Cubs, A's, Seattle, A's, Blue Jays, Houston, Minnesota and KC. 5 of the 6 last place teams in MLB. Now or never for the White Sox. Can't believe Hochevar got both Trout and Pujols with runners on base. 3-2, Angels. Crain has the most wins in the AL for relievers, career-wise. Thornton, 2nd.

You know it's not good when you have a 2-0 lead against the Angels and are using Bruce Chen and Luke Hochevar to hold the lead. 3-2 Angels now up and threatening for more. This might be the end of Yost if he loses today.

QUOTE (DukeofChicagoA1 @ May 26, 2013 -> 02:19 PM) C'mon where's the offense? It would have been nice to tac on at least one or two more runs by now. Tic-tacs are awesome, Stone Pony. Well, at least Thornton had an uneventful inning...

Cole Hamels. From 18-6 to 1-8. He's not even talking to the media anymore....rumor is that he has been frustrated with the Phils' offense/lack of run support, among other things. Interesting to see whether the Phillies will trade him or not.

No Micah Johnson SB's yet, lol.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 26, 2013 -> 02:12 PM) He made Carlos Lee look like a gold glover He had those pimp glasses...and crushed a ball to RF about as far as I've ever seen in my lifetime. He actually split PT with Darrin Jackson.