caulfield12

QUOTE (fathom @ May 1, 2013 -> 06:42 PM) 6 HR in 34 innings for Sale...righties are hitting him very hard this year. Have they all been on "slower" fastballs or offspeed stuff? God, if Soto and his .158 average gets a big hit. Well, maybe this is another version of the 2006 season for Sox hurlers...the Verducci Effect for Sale/Peavy/Quintana. Too early to tell yet...he has been pretty inconsistent. If you take away that awful start where he gave up 8 against the Indians, he's been very good, but definitely not great.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ May 1, 2013 -> 06:41 PM) Baker was a monster last night and just missed homers 2/3 in that game against Sox pitching. Can't say it's a surprise after the Flowers GIDP.

Which Sale fastball are we seeing so far tonight? The good one or the Jim Parque on PED's one?

QUOTE (fathom @ May 1, 2013 -> 06:37 PM) There's no way our scouts really thought he could be a full-time starter and perform well vs RHP. Everything about him screams platoon catcher. At one point, Gimenez was a top prospect with the Astros. Of coruse, that was 5-6 years ago, haha. He has some physical tools, good arm, decent pop for a catcher...I wouldn't be surprised to see him start to receive more playing time. There's just no other choice, other than Bryan Anderson, but that would mean demoting Flowers or benching him, and they're probably not ready to do that, either. At least not yet.

If things play out according to the Sox history this year, Sale will give up runs this inning... Should have blown the game wide open there. Where's our GATTIS? The Braves gave us the wrong catcher, haha. http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/b...majors/2122585/

Beltre now something like 4/31 with RISP. Seems we don't get that many chances in a single week.

At least someone in our organization can play some defense, besides Alexei Ramirez.

Only one base-running mistake so far this game. Rios has been making more mental mistakes on the bases or defensively (missing the cutoff man) in the first month than all of last season. Still, he's our best player, and there's no argument.

What about a teacher yelling back? Tex talked about it. Have always had the idea once you lose your temper, get upset or let a student get to you...no matter what happens, you've already lost the confrontation before it has even ended. Although the police officer analogy is better. Once students know they can upset a teacher or get them to stop teaching the content/material and instead argue with the students, then they've "won" and know they can continue to get the teacher's goat until he cracks or does something really crazy, like throwing a chair (saw this many times in public schools) or something even worse to show that they were not to be messed with... Of course, you can only go to this well so often, or it loses it effectiveness. There's a saying in teaching, you can either be feared and loved, but it's very hard to be both. Of course, respected and loved would be the ideal...

At least we're better than the Blue Jays, Mariners, Astros and Angels (for now). Small consolation...just hope they can stay competitive for as long as possible or do go in a dramatically different direction at some point and look to the future. No more "in betweens" where they don't make any moves at the deadline or they try to convince the fans they're just a couple of moves from contending...because they're not in a position to add to the major league roster without subtracting Rios/Peavy/Ramirez. If they think Sox fans are going to be convinced that trading Gavin Floyd is the magic solution...well, not even Chris Rongey can sell that one. You can even make a legitimate case that Axelrod and certainly Santiago/Quintana have a lot more trade value than Floyd or Danks.

QUOTE (Benchwarmerjim @ May 1, 2013 -> 05:42 PM) should have built a roof over Kaufmann Stadium!! - Anibal Sanchez threw 115 pitches today (40ish in the first inning). he threw 122 in his last start. During the Twins series, all the starters went over 110 (Scherzer 115, Verlander 114). Seems early for Leyland to let his starters throw so much, but I guess with that leaky bullpen you do what you gotta do. Their middle relievers and set-up guys aren't so bad at all (haven't looked at stats recently, Villarreal was the one struggling the most in the beginning, and Benoit making adjustments to pitching at the end), you often hear them called a "bad bullpen," but 90% of this is the uncertainty at the end of pen with Papa Grande/Rondon.

Control/confidence with Veal. He was automatic almost all season long...to the point where you were shocked when he finally gave up a hit against a lefty, I can't remember who it was, I think it was the Tigers that broke his streak (or retiring X number of LH batters consecutively) but it could have been the Indians. As far as Omogrosso vs. Heath vs. Purcey vs. Moskos, they'll have to leave it up to the AA/AAA pitching coaches. They might do something surprising and bring up someone like Taylor Thompson. Or, if they need a long man, maybe Berken or Simon Castro, although Castro's been hard hit recently.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 1, 2013 -> 04:44 PM) I hope he does too. I've been right about a lot more players than I've been wrong about though. The jury is still out on Dayan Viciedo. It's way too early to make pronouncements about his career or future. Alexei Ramirez started off better than in 2012....he is what he is, but he's definitely not "done," has been one of our better offensive players in the first month and you could easily find a contending team to at least assume his contract if they lost their regular SS for an extended period of time or just needed an upgrade. As far as saying the John Danks deal was a bad one, are you on record the day that extension was announced saying it was a terrible decision? Or did you predict his injury?

Except Axelrod's not going to fetch much of anything in trade. Other teams would be much more likely to target Peavy, Quintana and Santiago. That's obvious, especially Peavy. Quintana has done pretty well this season, but he still has his doubters. And there are definitely plenty who feel Santiago will get exposed after seeing opposing batters 2-3 times per game or throwing 75+ pitches. However, he did well as a starter in September after we were out of it and he was great until being forced into the game for Floyd the other day. Peavy, Rios and Ramirez are the best trade chips at the moment. However, trading Rios or Ramirez means we're surrendering completely.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 1, 2013 -> 06:50 AM) Playing Flowers is giving up on season. And who are you going to trade to get a legitimate, affordable, Top 5-10 catcher in baseball? Remember, if he's a veteran, he likely will get too old and expensive to figure into your plans to compete in 2016.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 1, 2013 -> 06:42 AM) Biggest problem facing the Sox is there is very little upside to the team they field on a regular basis and that's when Beckham and Viciedo are in the lineup. And your suggestion is to do what? Give up the first week of May and trade Rios and Ramirez? Then you're not even letting a market begin to form for those players...as most of the teams aren't going to be looking to make any acquisitions until June or more likely July when a more complete picture of the competitive/non-competitive teams emerges. You've gotten your wish of Danks playing a few games and the results are still the same. Whether you like it or not, they're going to have to ride it out for another 30-40 games (minimum). Remember, and while it's not likely to happen, they were a matter of 7-10 days from completely blowing the 2010 team up before it went on that miraculous 26-5 run. History is not likely to repeat itself, but even the most pessimistic fans would see no point in punting on the season before June/July. They still have to make determinations on Gillaspie, Flowers, DeAza (if he's not a CFer, he's not going to be a part of the long-term plans in all likelihood), Viciedo, Beckham, etc. They probably can take their time rushing John Danks back...because he's going to be a part of the team in 2014/15/16 weather we like it or not, so we need him to be fully productive those years.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Apr 30, 2013 -> 11:47 PM) 2/3 for Phegley. His AVG up to .294, OBP almost .400. Jesus, he may compete for the job next year if Flowers still sucks. Make it THIS year. If the team wants to look at their options before acquiring players in the off-season, it would behoove them to look at what Phegley can do for the last 2-3 months of 2013.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 30, 2013 -> 09:16 PM) DJ Peterson has some sensational hitting stats. Judge's stats are far less impressive. Two DJ's with the White Sox organization? How will we be able to tell them apart?

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Apr 30, 2013 -> 08:55 PM) Sorry, just had to blow off some steam. Unfortunately, going from the high that was Wise's homer to the low that was the entire half inning that followed was too much for me to endure without sounding off. I will say this though, Robin needs to rip this team to shreds in the post game. He can't just be passive Robin tonight, he's got to give this team some tough love. Maybe a little spanking will make them come more focused tomorrow. He sort of benched DeAza, lol. Although he'll say he just needed a "mental break" with all the defensive issues tonight.

QUOTE (Jake @ Apr 30, 2013 -> 08:48 PM) Following the 4/23 offday, he's been a changed man. Good to see some (presumably) coaching going on. Too bad McEwing's team defense session today didn't have the same positive effects. Did he actually have one? I guess with the defense now the worst in the AL, they'll have to focus on that now, too. At least we're keeping the beat writers occupied with negative categories to research when documenting this team's numerous issues.

Baker 2 for 4 with the two outs equaling 800 feet. That's 12 career homers for Dunn against the Rangers in only 20 something games.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 30, 2013 -> 08:44 PM) It's scary. I agree statistically things could be pretty bad after the KC series this weekend. The Rangers announcers were just ripping the way he throws. I despise his motion the way he slings his arm. He was embarrassingly bad tonight. For someone throwing 97-100 MPH, his fastball is arrow straight most of the time and easier to pick up with that motion. Like Reed, he can only be effective getting ahead of counts and getting his off-speed stuff over to keep hitters honest. Without the slider, he's dead in the water. Who called the useless Adam Dunn homer? LoL.

8 strikeouts for Rangers' pitching. You know it's bad when Ian Kinsler is looking like a Gold Glover defensively.

QUOTE (Jake @ Apr 30, 2013 -> 08:37 PM) No. Our bullpen is fine. The Tigers' bullpen has more depth right now. Downs and Smyly...Smyly could be a 4th/5th starter on 20 MLB teams, if not more. Coke was bad but very good in the late season and playoffs. Alburquerque is nasty when healthy and feasts on the Sox. Villarreal has been a disappointment, but his stuff is quite similar to Nathan Jones. Benoit....and then Rondon and Papa Grande. We have a huge weakness now with Veal and Thornton. Crain, Lindstrom and Jones are all struggling. With Santiago starting for awhile, we're even weaker.

DeAza acting like he had a play on that ball. HA! "All four wheels going in different directions for the White Sox. One of the worst innings of relief pitching by any team this year!" Rangers' announcers By the way, Beltre was a sizzling 3 for 29 with RISP before that AB. Two and one half hours in, and we're only in the bottom of the 6th.