caulfield12

Can't believe 37 of Hawkins' 55 AB's (not counting walks/hbp) have ended up as K's. The funniest part is he still has a 720 OPS. I remember the days when we would have been "pleased as punch" for Brian Anderson to be able to put up a 720 at the major league level. Now we have BrYan Anderson and Lars Anderson at Charlotte. Wonder what happened to the real Brian Anderson? And how much of his original signing bonus is left? With Joe Borchard, surely the family was smart enough to invest that $5.3 million...they seemed to be a very down-to-earth, modest, blue collar labor/farming family.

Not sure DeAza, Wise (at his age now) or Jordan Danks could have made that same play.

Why would Rienzo be ranked over Snodgress? I would think with the fact that Snodgress is a lefty and doesn't have the PED's concerns surrounding him that other organizations would be higher on him than Rienzo (unless they're acquiring to market him to that tiny niche of Brazilian baseball fans, haha).

Want to see no part of Keppinger in the outfield...

The downside is the bullpen being pushed to get 12 outs isn't exactly a recipe for success. Let's just hope we don't see Thornton or Veal...but the odds of that happening are about 1.8%

Last year, the White Sox were very effective at limiting the running game against opponents. Even AJ was decent throwing out runners, and Flowers was really good, especially the first half of 2012. What changed? It's like every opponent has a license to run wild on us. It's not like we have Contreras and Garcia out on the bump every inning, or Jenks.

Not to mention you're sort of rewarding him with a start after making a base-running move that might have cost the team a game. Kind of reverse psychology...if you want to hold players accountable for mental mistakes, you think Ventura would start with the last player on the team roster.

Of course, it's almost AS BAD that our best player isn't thinking at all about the situation... Knowing how Dunn has been going, and Ramirez? Ventura commented about "cleaning things up," and yet if he's not going to play "kindergarten cop/teacher," what's going to be his response to obvious mental mistakes? Sure, we don't want to take away Rios' aggressiveness and confidence, but what about all the other base-running mistakes and mental lapses in the last 13 games? We always make fun of Ozzie's Camp Cora and the few times during the season where they read the riot act and made them come in on offdays or doing extra work in the morning or before games (bunting practice, for example), but this problem extends far beyond Rios' ill-advised decision.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 24, 2013 -> 05:50 AM) You mean for the Floyd you just gave up one run in his last start? I'll give him credit, he didn't blow up with the bases loaded after walking in a run. He got Doumit. The start before, Santiago had to bail him out with the bases loaded or things would have been a lot worse. We still are talking about an 0-3 pitcher here. Overall, Axelrod has kept us in more games. That said, they're never going to skip him over Axelrod in a million years. But...personally, I would love to see his reaction. To see if that makes him pitch better or worse. Could go either way. We've never really shaken him out of that pattern of inconsistency he has been since 2009.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Apr 24, 2013 -> 03:34 AM) Fire sale in early May! Genius! Well, as someone noted...they need to time things right, and yet they can't hold onto all their pieces waiting for the perfect offer and getting nothing back in return at the trade deadline. But yeah, might want to wait until the last week of May or the first week of June to start really getting serious about going in that direction. Everyone remembers what happened in 2010...we were about one or two weeks from a massive sell-off before going 26-5 and taking over first place.

What about Byron Buxton?

QUOTE (joeynach @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 09:54 PM) For a one year contract, yeah I miss AJ. And OMG I couldn't agree with you more on Manto. Where does he get off thinking he is above and beyond modern intelligent thinking when it comes to hitting. From day one there was a red flag. I remember him on 670 the Score essentially trashing the see more pitches, work more counts, value player and team OBP theory of offense. Nevermind, the ancillary benefits of such an approach such as driving up pitch counts, tiring the pitcher earlier (elevated pitches, bullpen earlier), or of course the idea of placing hitters in more predictable hitting friendly counts. I was dumbfounded KW approved this hire. Look at what his approach has done to Dunn in just three weeks worth of playing time. But wasn't Manto also Dunn's hitting coach last year when he made his miraculous recovery from Greg Walker/Ozzie and 2011? Why would you try to change what has worked with Dunn for over a decade? It was like Walt Hrniak trying to get Sosa to hit like Frank Thomas...sometimes, you don't tinker with things. Or force everyone to adopt the same style or approach.

Rainout comes at poor time for White Sox By Jerry Bonkowski, The Sports Xchange | The SportsXchange – 1 hour 58 minutes ago Email Recommend3Tweet CHICAGO -- Did White Sox manager Robin Ventura accidentally break a mirror at the end of spring training and not tell anyone about it? There isn't much other explanation why everything seems to be going against the Chicagoans these days. The most recent incident of bad luck for the White Sox was the postponement of Tuesday's scheduled night game against the Cleveland Indians at U.S. Cellular Field due to a driving rainstorm that began in the morning and would not let up. No makeup date has been announced, making it the second home game the White Sox have postponed in the last five (last Friday's contest vs. the Minnesota Twins also was not played due to cold weather, with no makeup date yet). But weather is probably the least of Ventura's concern right now. Rather, he's trying to figure out some way to light a fire under his struggling team. With Monday's 3-2 loss to the Indians, the White Sox have dropped to 7-12, including having lost their last four games and 10 of their last 13, their worst season start since 2001. Ugh! "You work on all of it and do it, it's just you have to execute it," Ventura said. "Until we clean it up and get consistent with it, it's hard to win a lot when you keep giving opportunities away." The White Sox held a 2-1 lead heading into the top of the eighth inning thanks to a strong seven-inning outing from starting pitcher Dylan Axelrod, who allowed just one run on three hits in six innings. But then the roof caved in. Reliever Matt Thornton allowed two runs -- one unearned due to a throwing error by Thornton trying to pick off a runner at second, with the ball bouncing into center field -- capped off with a two-run single by Asdrubal Cabrera. "As far as us playing defense, you don't see this coming," Ventura said. "Every night, you're making that one mistake, and at this level, it's going to hurt every time you do it. And it can go on for a period of time, so until you clean it up, it's pretty simple." Thornton earned the loss (0-1), while Axelrod did not figure in the decision, which is a shame because of the effective outing he had. "We're in a tough time right now, but we've been in games and it's going to turn around," Axelrod said. Added Thornton, "If we've been winning games, it doesn't hurt as much and stuff. But when you have a string of losses going together and you make a mistake like that (his throwing error), it costs you the game. So, it's frustrating and disappointing, but we move on and get ready for tomorrow." As bad as the White Sox pitching and defense has been, even worse is White Sox bats are seemingly in hibernation. The White Sox are last in the American League with a .170 average for runners in scoring position (17 of 104), including 0 for 10 in their last four games. It gets worse: The White Sox are 11th in the A.L. in slugging percentage (.380), 13th in batting average (.229), 14th in OPS (.651), tied for last in runs scored (63), and last in on-base percentage (.271) and walks (35). In the current four-game losing streak, the Sox are hitting .161 (20 of 124) with just seven runs scored in that time. Power hitter Adam Dunn has little power of late: he's 2 of 45 (.044) in his last 11 games, with just a double and home run, a solo effort that came in Monday's game and snapped a 0-for-31 hitless stretch. The news was a bit better for second baseman Jeff Keppinger, who came into Monday's game batting 0-for-24 before finally reaching base on a single in the first inning. "We're a little upset, but we have to put it behind and come every day positive and ready to work, prepare for every game," said White Sox catcher Hector Gimenez. "I feel we're going to start winning some games." NOTES: Wednesday's final game of the series is an afternoon contest, with Tuesday's scheduled starters being pushed back one day. It'll be Cleveland's Zach McAllister (1-2, 3.12) facing Chicago's Jose Quintana (1-0, 2.55. ... Corey Kluber, who was originally scheduled to start Wednesday, will instead work in a long reliever role over the next few years, said Indians manager Terry Francona said, who turned 54 on Monday. As for Chicago, Wednesday's originally scheduled starter, Chris Sale, will pitch in the series opener Thursday vs. Tampa. ... Here's an irony: Wednesday's game is the White Sox's annual "Weather Day." ... The Indians are now 3-1 against the White Sox thus far this season, having won two of three games during last week's series in Cleveland. ... Even though they've started the season 8-10, the Indians still have the AL Central's best road record at 6-4.

Snodgress had another good outing. Trayce Thompson and Walker though....ouch. Hitting 191 and 182, respectively.

QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 07:52 PM) Just for giggles, why not lead off Gillaspie? Maybe go: Gillaspie, Keppinger, Rios, Konerko, Dunn, Ramirez, Danks, Flowers, De Aza Just mix it up a little. I would guess they won't do that simply because Gillaspie's a relatively inexperienced rookie just getting his feet wet...and putting him in the leadoff spot would put more pressure on him. It's not for everyone, as we learned with Nick Swisher. He's not exactly a fast runner, and I think they would prefer to keep him 6-7 in the line-up so he doesn't have to feel so much pressure to create offense. As soon as he starts to press, he's going to get out of his offensive game, whatever's working well for him now. Better to leave him alone. If they want to change things up, then lead off with Danks or Wise or Tekotte or whatever.

Seriously, maybe having a start skipped for Axelrod MIGHT actually wake Floyd up... Couldn't hurt. If he goes into a "mental shell" because of it, then he doesn't deserve to get the start in the first place...we always are worried about how fragile and vulnerable he is mentally, at some point he needs to man up and pitch more consistently like he's capable of doing.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 07:00 PM) Not sure where to put this. Via Sickels: http://www.minorleagueball.com/2013/4/23/4...ameday-april-23 It's going to take a lot more performances like this to put him on the Top 100 list. Seems there is so much skepticism out there now about any Sox prospect being legit. It will take 2-3 more years of rebuilding the system to overcome that. Even the praise we receive is begrudging.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 06:57 PM) Chris Bassitt was Fangraph's sleeper White Sox prospect. Sounds like he's throws pretty hard, so he's definitely one to keep an eye on. Maybe we can flip him for the next Conor Gillaspie to come along.

QUOTE (BigEdWalsh @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 01:53 PM) Couldn't agree much more. I've felt this way for some time but then I'm old, so what you expect? Computer graphics look incredibly fake and 3D effects though sometimes visually stunning (Avatar) bore me. Life of Pi was the closest to Avatar in terms of visuals (I think that was intentional, and recall someone working on both projects?)...and, that said, it still was missing SOMETHING that's hard to put a finger on. From Alice's Adventures in Wonderland on, it's been disappointment after disappointment. I would still argue that How To Train Your Dragon is the 2nd best 3-D movie since Avatar.

QUOTE (Knuckles @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 11:46 AM) Has anyone seen Oblivion? Thoughts? Visually, it's impressive. Beautiful cinematography, definitely an IMAX experience. However, the plot has so many holes, it's almost impossible for me to explain even if I wanted to intentionally spoil the movie. Cruise still has it at age 50+, and Olga Kurylenko is easy on the eyes (she wasn't at her best in Quantum of Solace, and she's also in the new Terence Malick film "To the Wonder" with Ben Affleck)...but there's just that "soul" or rooting interest that's missing from the film. It's interesting to watch, but impossible to really get invested in the characters.

The way they're playing right now has to be given at least SOME thought. I doubt the #1 consideration is avoiding a crowd below 10,000 and the resulting articles that will come with it. Isn't it the team's decision 100% to call the game....and from the time of the game on, it's at the head umpire's discretion? At least that's the way it used to work in the minor leagues.

QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 05:21 PM) I'm rooting for Zaleski to get a call this year. That would be a nice story. Well, we had Santiago and Axelrod and Quintana (especially) last year. Why not? Although I'd guess 90% of fans would rather see Johnson or Snodgress get some September starts.

Courtney Hawkins not in the starting line-up two consecutive days. Have they sent him to Kanny or extended spring? On a side note, kind of sad to see Freddy Garcia pitching in AAA...wonder why he's still hanging on. Guess an athlete at that age hasn't figured what else to do with his life and future, so you keep playing until you don't have that option anymore.

All these predictions are fine....but it doesn't matter a lick if Dunn and Konerko aren't close to the same hitters they have been historically. Everyone knows that. Heck, teams are already pitching around Rios, and over time, that's probably going to take him out of his offensive game and cause him to start pressing...right around the time that DeAza and/or Keppinger get hot. Then when you take out AJ's production from the 6 hole, there's either Viciedo or Ramirez there, which also hasn't been/isn't enough protection for Konerko even if he is white hot again (crosses fingers).

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 23, 2013 -> 08:52 AM) -7 run differential. Starting pitching doing very well, bullpen is mostly fine, though the lefty specialist crowd scares me, particularly Thornton. Only a few games back, and it is late April. Detroit isn't looking that great. The Royals are an artifact of offense, their pitching is going to suck. Let's all calm the hell down. There are a few specific problems to focus on here - and it isn't Flowers (who is doing OK), Ventura (who we don't see enough decisions from yet to form any useful opinion this year), the Front Office (who did quite well with the constraints they were working within this offseason), or a lack of Santiago starting (since Axelrod has done damn well so far). 1. Lineup is well below .200 w/ RISP - and worst in baseball. 2. Dunn and Keppinger are, so far, terrible at the plate 3. Team is playing bad defense, which is surprising given they were among the best last year Those are the three reasons that are responsible for like 80-90% of the suckage. Blame? #1 and #2 might fall on Manto et al, #3 maybe on RV... but really, 1 and 3 are probably a bad luck factor as much as anything else. There is a good chance these things reverse themselves, even if nothing is changed. Also, Beckham (who was hitting!) comes back, and Danks comes back. Basically, let's see what happens in May. See where we stand on Memorial Day. If the team is still seriously bad like this, then it is time to trade off parts for prospects. And by the way, yes, I know it is frustrating as hell. We all feel it. We were shredded by the Nationals, and didn't belong on the same field with them in terms of talent. We're 3-6 against the AL Central and haven't played the Tigers yet. Once again, we're not defending our home field. There is no home field advantage. And we've only played decently against the Mariners, Royals and Blue Jays. The Mariners just plain suck...and the Blue Jays were missing Reyes and Bautista, among others. Chris Sale has pitched decently, but hasn't come out of the gate as strong as he did last year. To win this division, Sale needs to be a 20 game winner, because you can't expect Peavy to be any better than last season (and he lost almost all of his "big" games and all the match-ups individually against DET).