caulfield12

It's very apparent Ozzie can't deal as well with 1) players who are exactly like him, publicity hounds or perceived as selfish or 2) players who are the exact opposite. In the first group, you have the likes of Swisher, C-Lee, Maggs, O-Cab, Beckham, Brian Anderson...but he mostly hates or hated players who sulked or got down on themselves too much and pouted. I think that's why he and Beckham always had a difficult relationship. He finally came to an understanding with Konerko because Paulie's basic argument is that he was "just" a two-tool player, hitting and hitting for power...and that the reason he took his offensive struggles so hard was because that was his livelihood, nobody was paying him to play defense or run. Ozzie never cared as much about his offensive game because he was paid more for his fielding and complementary skills, like bunting and base running. Then you have the second group, the Quentins, Pierres, Dyes, Alexei Ramirezes and Brent Morels. Sometimes, he worked well with this group, Jon Garland being a prime example. In some ways, Morel is so quiet and unassuming....he drove Ozzie crazy because he seemed to play with little feeling or emotion. It seems they wanted him to come more out of his shell and it was a constant task to get him not to be what he perceived the Sox wanted him to be but to come into his own and develop an identity he was comfortable with on and off the field.

Speaking of Garland, does anyone know how his comeback is going, if at all? I saw where the Indians signed him in the spring, then he didn't take a physical. Know that he had surgery last year....or a season ending injury with the Dodgers. Would be a no-risk pickup for Charlotte, if he wants to pitch again, and needed insurance for another injury.

Yeah, it's just THE WATCH.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 5, 2012 -> 07:38 PM) If other teams value Mitchell as an above average prospect, he's easily our #1 trade chip. And question is, who's our #2? (There's just no way we can trade Nathan Jones with Crain's future uncertain). If you were an opposing GM, surely you wouldn't want to take a risk on Trayce Thompson unless he was the 3rd or 4th player involved. Castro's on the DL now. Molina's stock is way down, Saladino has struggled and could just as easily end up a utility guy or Morel as a starting infielder. Morel would be someone that another team might really be interested in if he was the final piece, as a speculative acquisition. Beck, Barnum and Hawkins aren't going anywhere. Soptic is going to be drawing raves, but he's a reliever and way down in A ball.

Soptic will be in our bullpen before the end of the year...haha. Why not, the way this season's going? Who needs the veterans? Well, might be singing a different tune in August/September.

Damn, Tomlin picked a good time to pitch a great game. Hafner's back, too. Still have that huge weakness with Damon in LF, and Hannahan's not going to give you what Chisenhall was delivering from 3B offensively. Twins had the Tigers down 3-2 and then Detroit blew them away late. 2-2 split at DET was a great result for us, though.

2000 team surely.... That team, top to bottom, could rake. Perry, Durham, Maggs, C-Lee, Konerko, Thomas, Valentin. Singleton was probably the weakest hitter that year, Fordyce at catcher, but we added Charles Johnson in trade, who was a monster that season with the O's. That's probably the most impactful in-season move made for a position player b4 Youkilis.

Neighborhood Watch with Stiller, Vaughn and Hill looks like it won't be that good...we'll see. Didn't they change the plot around after the T. Martin case, or was it simply the release date? Armaggedon and Deep Impact, two movies that get confused as well because of their respective release dates.

Hard not to see Buehrle on the mound and wish that we were somehow able to have him around still. Maybe...at some point...the Marlins will decide they have to dump that contract when their attendance falls next season or the year after.

Jared Mitchell cratering....0/3, 3 K's, .248 Hawkins 2/4, 2B, 2 RBI

The best 2B he'd ever seen in the minors, according to Carney Lansford.

I don't think we exactly "won" the Javy trade. Javy for 3 years (inconsistent at best) It will look a BIT better if Flowers does something, and Lillibridge was part of the Youk trade, but it certainly wasn't a steal by any means. And it led directly to the BA in CF disaster in 2006.

Youkilis fouled off something like 8 pitches in a row. His at-bat was nearly 8 minutes long against Adams. DeAza's at-bat was a little short of 5 minutes, including the time down on the ground for the foul off the right knee. All told, 13 minutes, no outs, two great AB's.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jul 5, 2012 -> 06:07 AM) (A) Hope none of the fans die (especially me) (B) Hope the Sox win! I'm not sure if this is a good reference...the first thought I had was the father/firefighter at the Ballpark in Arlington that Hamilton threw the souvenir ball to. But I'm sure you didn't mean it that way.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jul 4, 2012 -> 05:31 PM) So this guy got the bonus slot for the 106th pick. Notable, but nothing exciting. Considering Chris Beck was drafted about 40 spots ahead of that and many are calling him one of our Top 5-7 prospects already, I'm not sure it can be discounted SO easily. If nothing else, it's nice to be back in the game in the Dominican, if not a major player as of yet. Paddy was also involved with the $250,000 deal for Luis Martinez, the pitcher from Venezuela. And Molina, obviously, although the jury's far from out on that one from both sides. Small steps.

White Sox Agree To Sign Dominican Shortstop Johan Cruz Posted Jul. 4, 2012 5:57 pm by Ben Badler Filed under: International, News The White Sox have agreed to terms with Johan Cruz, a shortstop from the Dominican Republic. Cruz, 16, is 6-foot-1, 175 pounds and has stood out in the field with good hands, footwork and arm strength. He's a righthanded hitter from Puerto Plata who trained with Victor Baez. Baseball America subscribers can read a longer scouting report on Cruz.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Jul 5, 2012 -> 12:05 AM) Clearly you're in the right thread. In all fairness, it's "films thread." Not defined as going to the theatre, IMAX, internet, cable, free/network tv. Otherwise, we'd have a specific thread for "theatre movie experiences," wouldn't we? And I do think most of us are pretty good about mentioning whether a 3D movie is worth the upcharge, vs. 2-D. Joe didn't tell anyone to go to the Dollar Cinemas, or I guess they're $2-3 or "super savers" now. Sometimes in China, in Shanghai, you can pay $15-20 for a non 3D movie, and nobody bats an eye. It's all based on how important you view going to a movie versus the convenience of downloading and watching on the internet with a smaller screen and diminished audio effects.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jul 5, 2012 -> 01:25 AM) You don't get it. Ozzie's act is new and fresh. He keeps the clubhouse loose and fire off his players so they can go out and perform 100%. If they don't, it's because they're too serious and not listening to Ozzie. After all, he has a ring, so who are they gonna listen to? Him or some no name like Jack McKeon? OZZIE IS GREAT! I will laugh at some point in August or September when the White Sox pass the Marlins in the attendance race. Sincerely doubt he has had anything but a negative effect overall on their crowds this season, particularly after the Castro Fiasco.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jul 5, 2012 -> 01:24 AM) Axelrod deserves some credit too. After all he is our 7th starter. His 2 starts have been against the Yankees and Rangers and the Sox have won both of them. He's kept the Sox in the games while mixing up his pitches. He started one other game earlier in the season I think (along with Eric Stults), but the point is well-taken.

The main goal is to get the heck out of here," Youkilis said. "That was way too hot of a game, we got a day game (Thursday) — it's time to go home. That's always my approach. Easier said than done, but it was great and fun. "I'm having a great time with this team. It's always a lot more fun when you do stuff like that, so hopefully we can continue and have a tough game (Thursday), and we've got to finish out the series." "I was a little jumpy on the slider and out in front of it," Youkilis said. "I saw it good, and the last time I told myself to stay back a little bit as much as I can. If there's a fastball, throw the hands in as quickly as I can. "So that happened, I got the pitch (a fastball) and I was very fortunate to get it over Elvis' head." Youkilis charged to make a barehanded throw to retire Andrus to start the fifth, and he made a diving, backhanded stop across the third-base line to retire Adrian Beltre to end the inning. "I don't have the greatest arm or have the fastest (feet), but if you get your feet under you, get yourself in the right spots, you make good plays," Youkilis said. In two games at U.S. Cellular Field, Youkilis has delighted Sox fans with a 5-for-10, five-RBI effort. Since joining the White Sox from the Red Sox on June 25, he is batting .305 with nine RBIs. www.chicagotribune.com/sports "For me you try to describe to people the importance of Youk coming over. That at-bat really describes it the best, he is 0-2, he is grinding and it's just continuous and that is the kind of stuff is infectious throughout the lineup for us, just grinding out at-bats," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "It's good for everybody to see that. We have a lot of young guys. It's good for them to see it, but it shows just how good of a player he is." In his first two games in Chicago, Youkilis is becoming as popular as he was in Boston. "I'm having a great time with this team," Youkilis said. "It's always a lot more fun when you do stuff like that." Youkilis was 3 for 6 with a home run and four RBIs in Tuesday's win. " I had a little rut baseball-wise and statistically and a funk and hopefully this will be a thing where I can keep going forward and playing better ball," Youkilis said. www.dallasnews.com/sports

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Jul 4, 2012 -> 11:15 PM) For the life of me, I cannot understand why Matt Wickswat hasn't been released. He is an absolute tomato can, I think he's good for at least 6 earned every start. They're probably holding him in reserve for that big Greinke/Hamels deal. He can be the Jon Adkins of his generation.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 5, 2012 -> 12:07 AM) Hey this is the world of the anonymous Internet. You either speak forcefully or don't speak at all. How does that explain the success of Ventura? Ozzie speaks to the media, to the public....Ventura choose his words carefully and speak in a way that commands respect from the players and coaches. He's not loud or controversial or charismatic in the way you wish him to be, but it has worked. Let's look at another example of in the Ozzie School, Bobby Valentine. Has his "act" worked in Boston? Not at all. This whole idea of "speaking forcefully" is why our country has become so polarized. There's no reasonable people left. Greg, how many times this season has Robin Ventura thrown anyone under the bus? Greg, how many times has Ozzie thrown his own Marlins' players under the bus this season? Let's see, we have Logan Morrison, Bell, Zambrano, Gaby Sanchez, Bonifacio....the team makes a HUGE comeback in that game two days ago, Bell blows yet another save when that's expressly what he's paid to do, the guy's clearly not in 100% good shape or condition (similar to Jenks his last 2-3 seasons) and it's the whole team's fault, but NOT Bell's? Even Bell has to think that is asinine as the closer. Think its a coincidence that Ventura has been nothing but supportive of every player on the team, most especially Dunn, DeAza, Viciedo, Beckham and even the likes of Morel and Ohman?

QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ Jul 5, 2012 -> 12:04 AM) OK - Peavy might just feel like the Sox are the best team for him because they successfully helped him back from a major injury that really had no precedent in baseball. He's owed about $22M next year, but if the Sox feel he's healthy, they could buy him out of next year's contract for $4M, and negotiate a competitive 3 or 4 year deal with him. If the market is $15M/year for a guy his age, they could offer him $14.5M/year + the buyout, and he'd still be ahead. Well, maybe. If they let Floyd go, they would be saving $9.5 million next year. But there's the probability they'll have to pay AJ $7-8.5 million (there will be no better catcher on the market, despite his age) and they very well might want to keep Youk around. All depends on the insurance on the Danks deal, too. They might be better served putting that money into Sale for a long-term deal that buys out a couple of years of FA. Many here will argue they have to go year to year with Sale because of the injury concerns...but can you risk losing one of the 2-3 best young pitchers in all of baseball to keep Jake Peavy around? Lots of interesting questions to debate. 4 months ago, you would have said that Molina would be lining himself for that Peavy spot, but right now it's Quintana/Axelrod/Castro.

Trade Youk back to Boston for Lester, lol. Exercising the option on Youk and bringing back AJ are looking more and more likely....as for Peavy, the numbers just don't make sense. And quite ironic that Middlebrooks is now out and they might have to play Lillibridge there.

Back to .500 home record, will be tested mightily tmrw at the launching pad in a day game. Harrison, their best pitcher, against Quintana, coming off a "survival mode" outing in the Bronx. 3-5 now in extra inning games. A couple of memorable walkoff wins after not having any for a long time (Hudson/Youk)...and the Viciedo win was almost like a road version of a walk-off win considering we were down 3-1 and looked dead in the water. Smoltz said we're just one more starter away...the question is, what we do have left to trade for that piece? It's going to have to be more of a deal where we take on salary, than giving up talent, one would think. Note to Beckham and Viciedo...please learn how to 1) hit a high fastball or 2) lay off of one. Two great, professional at-bats by DeAza and Youk. The complexion of this team really changed when he was added to the top of that line-up, much more dangerous than at any point since CQ and Alexei were terrorizing the AL in 2008.