caulfield12

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 13, 2013 -> 12:46 PM) #202 in last night's game thread. YOU SHOULD READ WHAT YOU POST CAREFULLY. YOU called Scoscia the greatest strategist in the game. You're right, I should have added PARENTHETICALLY, who most experts/pundits/broadcasters give credit to as being the best...in a way, I was being sarcastic. Because I believe Scioscia gets WAY too much credit for that aspect of the game, just like LaRussa. When he had the personnel to play an aggressive style of baseball, and every player on the team was capable of running, playing small ball, fundamentals....that team was must more difficult to beat, all the players were versatile and seemingly interchangeable parts, because of their attacking style of play, putting the pressure on their opponents. But managers have to adjust to their personnel, not expecting the 25 man roster to adjust to the manager, and that's Scioscia's biggest Achilles' heel, his ego and hubris, (see OZZIE GUILLEN post 2005). With a bunch of stars and huge payroll, what have they done? Underachieved. And he hasn't had the starting pitching and bullpen they had a decade ago. For the record, I continue to support the idea/s of hiring Dave Martinez or Terry Pendleton. Either one.

Why would Ramirez willingly choose something he's TERRIBLE at and has ZERO confidence in doing?? He's been a good RBI guy for most of his career...and clutch, do you really think he would willingly give up the chance to win the game in order to leave it up to Hector Gimenez? Hmmmmm...

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 13, 2013 -> 06:22 AM) So one one hand the Sox have no talent and the manager is so terrible they are 4-6. On the other hand you point to the Angels who have All Stars up and down their line up and refer to their manager as the best strategist in the game and they are 2-8. I know historically it only takes 1 or 2 losses for you to go all Gulliver with the doom and gloom, but depending on the thread, your posts put together make zero sense other than every other fanbase in the world hasit better than us. And that is prett much BS. The thread starter is right. There is no reason to panic There seems to be a contest every season on Sox message boards around the world as to who can call the patient dead the fastest. And then later, when the Sox usually don't win, there are a lot of dislocated shoulders from all the patting of themselves on the back. READ CAREFULLY Scioscia has lost his team, it has been argued over and over again in the LA media...that he is completely disliked by most of the players and Torii Hunter was the only one holding that clubhouse together from rebelling against him. I PERSONALLY never said Scioscia's the best, I said the POPULAR OPINION is simply that. I also feel 80-90% of White Sox fans if they could change managers to Scioscia over Ventura would choose Robin. I would pick Maddon in a heartbeat over Scioscia, (or Dave Martinez, or Bud Black, or Ron Roenicke, all of them would be okay). All of those guys are from the Scioscia school, but much better with modern day players and not so prickly with the media. I'm not going to rank every single manager 1-30 for in-game decision-making, but I would never have put Scioscia or LaRussa as Top Five. Yes, most fan bases in the world do have it a lot better than us because of the way that the former GM constructed this roster....gambling every season instead of building a team "organically" and just hoping and praying he could throw so many disparate elements together and it would magically equal some sort of elusive chemistry. Lightning only hits in a bottle a couple of times...2005 and 2008...when you work in that fashion. I never said I was right last year. I still watch/ed all the games. Nobody gave up. But last season is a HUGE reason why there's already frustration early in 2013. It's because the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013 are mirrors of each other. There hasn't been a change or trend reversal. Ventura's the same or worse as he was before. Tell me what's better about this year's team than last year's? We got handled by a MUCH more talented team in the Nationals...across every position, we were outgunned...there's no point in even getting upset. There's no point in starting rebuilding or trade threads because the GM backed himself into a corner and now we just have to sit and wait and be patient for things to turn around. There are definitely no quick fixes with our starting 9. Every year in April, when the Sox have a bad beginning....someone, like Greg Hibbard, will point out how everything's not gloom and doom...but most of those fans won't still be around in August and September if the Sox go all 2007 or 2009.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 13, 2013 -> 09:22 AM) 1= Ventura had the pen go deep in the last three games, and didn't want to go to the pen early 2= The Sox hadn't been getting hits off of Masterson, and didn't want to have to string 3 or 4 straight hits together to score a run. 3= Crain is your top right handed reliever. Who else do you trust in a tie game? 4= Decisions like that are usually relievers choice for who they are comfortable pitching against. 2 Sinker/slider/heavy ball pitcher on a tremendously cold day in CLE...the last guy you want to get to produce a SAC FLY is Gimenez. This is the same guy who has only surrendered one ER so far in like 20 innings and beaten the last two CY YOUNG award winners in back-to-back starts, yet career minor leaguer Hector Gimenez is your best bet to drive in the run? THAT'S CRAZY. 3 Crain might be your highest paid RH reliever, but if he was the best, why was Ventura favoring Nathan Jones earlier in the season? Why did we sign Lindstrom, again? I'd argue that ANY of those three guys are/were meant to be "equal" options who would basically be interchangeable this season, based on injuries and who's hot/who's not. 4 Kipnis has been ice cold this season. They have three lefties in the bullpen for a reason. If you can't trust Donnie Veal to come in and get the final out, to the point where you have Crain facing a crafty/wily veteran with something to prove to his new fans and against his hated former team, then I just don't know what to say....the Indians' announcers basically said it over and over, they brought Swisher in to be the centerpiece of marketing for the "new" Indians this year. Why tempt fate when Veal/Kipnis SHOULD be a much better match-up on paper?

MLB OBP 1. Detroit, .362 28. SOX, .280 29. CUBS, .265 MLB BB 1. OAK/ARIZONA, 42 2. SOX, 15 MLB ERRORS 3. SOX, 9 30. Tigers, 1

Just when it looked as if the Angels couldn't sink any lower, they hit rock bottom with a thud Friday in a 5-0 loss to the Houston Astros. These are the same Astros who lost 213 games the last two seasons; the same Astros whose $22-million payroll is less than the free-spending Angels pay the right side of their infield. These are the same Angels who started the season with World Series aspirations, then started Friday's game with five All-Stars in their lineup. BOX SCORE: Houston 5, Angels 0 It should have been a rout — and it was, with the Astros scoring three times in the first inning while the Angels failed to get a runner past first base all night. The loss was the Angels' fifth straight, leaving them winless on their first homestand of the season. At 2-8, they not only have the American League's worst record but they've equaled a 52-year-old mark for the worst start in franchise history. And if all that wasn't embarrassing enough, the game ended with Josh Hamilton forgetting how many outs there were, allowing himself to be doubled off first base on Mark Trumbo's foulout. Afterward Angel Manager Mike Scioscia didn’t have to think long to sum up his team’s problems. "It’s pretty simple. We’re not pitching and we’re getting behind early," Scioscia said. "When you get behind early it really gives the other team a chance to match up, to use their bullpen. Gives their starter some breathing room." And opposing pitchers have been able to breathe easy against the Angels who, 10 games into their six-month season, have a cleanup hitter in Hamilton with more strikeouts (14) than hits and runs batted in combined (11). The entire left side of the infield as well as their top starting pitcher are out with injuries, they’ve grounded into more double plays (10) than they’ve hit home runs (8) and after committing two errors against the Astros, they lead the majors in that department with 11. Then there’s the pitching. No Angel starter has gotten past the sixth inning this season, which has put enormous pressure on a bullpen that remains unsettled. That streak didn’t end Friday. “The heartbeat of your club is your starting pitching. And when your starting pitching is not getting to a certain point in the game, it makes it very, very tough,” Scioscia said. Kevin Baxter/LA Times

QUOTE (danman31 @ Apr 13, 2013 -> 02:13 AM) It's been between him and Trayce before the year started. I see Johnson's floor in the Majors. He seems like a lock to pitch in MLB. I'm just not sure of his role yet. I'm almost as confident in Snodgress, too. Knowing the White Sox, he'll be the long man in the bullpen to start out.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Apr 13, 2013 -> 01:35 AM) Oh man, 2007 wasn't that long ago, where were you? 3rd worst in Runs per game, last in AVG, last in OBP. That team had Jerry Owens, Danny Richar, Josh Fields, Rob Mackowiac, Alex Cintron, Daren Erstad, Andy Gonzalez, Toby Hall, oh my god. Jim Thome led our team in average, batting .275, just a god awful team. But even that team was more exciting because of Fields' homers, Owens had some success the last couple of months, Ehren Wasserman was a revelation (for a brief time) out of the bullpen.... There was the excitement of some rookie position players, at least. That team also had Konerko, Dye, AJ, Thome, Buehrle, Crede, Garcia, Contreras, Javy, Garland, Jenks, it's not like they were ALL stiffs. It was also a team only two seasons removed from a World Series title with most of the same components intact.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 11:57 PM) I know the title of the thread paints me as a cheerleader but after being in the game thread and reading some really outlandish comments I had to say something. It's just a lighthearted attempt to say it's early. Hardly a word was said about Quintana's performance which was exemplary. It's simple...I'm not sure how old you are, but if you've followed the White Sox every season since the late 70's/early 80's, you'll know the only time we've started poorly and closed well in a season was 1983. Quintana was very good. I pointed that out...and I'm hoping it sticks, because that's ONE less problem this organization will have to deal with in the future if he can be a legit 4/5 guy at the back end of the rotation. The missed sacrifice attempt, the lack of hitting with RISP, the botched hit and run....every time we have an opportunity to score, we're just not executing. If we had made the playoffs LAST year, nobody would care at all what was going on the first couple of weeks in 2013, because we'd have faith and confidence in the team. Right now, between the team and manager, there's not really very many compelling reasons to have hope, other than Chris Sale's presence on the team. I suppose, given the internal constraints given on spending any more payroll dollars, Hahn has done a very good job (not with Keppinger) but executing the Gillaspie trade or Brent Morel/Angel Sanchez would be playing 3B for us right now. There's THAT, as well.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/baseball/mlb...9.column?page=1 I think this pretty much sums up the attitude of most White Sox fans....and we don't even have Pujols, Trout and Josh Hamilton on our team. Where's OUR Torii Hunter? We are lacking in leadership or direction right now. Maybe it's because he's (Cooper) in the hospital. Haha....Josh Hamilton doubled off to end the game in LA when he thought there were 2 outs already. Fitting, when you try to buy your way to a World Series trophy, and you could say the same thing for the Dodgers, or even the Blue Jays. Things COULD actually be worse, we could be stuck with Hamilton's contract, and Greinke's.

QUOTE (Knuckles @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 10:56 PM) Shin Soo Choo, worst CF in baseball ? He shouldn't ever be playing CF, any more than Nick Swisher for us. He's a very good RFer, with an excellent arm, but not suited for CF because of range/speed/route issues.

Great atmosphere in Oakland tonight. Oakland is absolutely on fire. As for the Tigers, looks like they are leaning towards Benoit for now as closer, but they just re-signed Papa Grande again. 3-0 Tigers' lead off a Fielder oppo homer whittled away finally to a tie game, very similar to the Nats/Braves game in Washington. Houston wiping out the Angels in So Cal. 5-0 Houston. Norris pitching a great game...perhaps one of the first starting pitchers to be put on the trade block as Luhnow continues to rebuild that system. LAA would fall to 2-8. Jason Frasor spotting for the Rangers. Came in for Darvish. Jose Reyes return timetable...1-3 months

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle...icial-breakdown Greinke vs. Quentin Dissected Fully What is South Side Asylum? Lots of background on Greinke's history with the Royals against the Sox.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 10:44 PM) Anthony Rizzo's marketing>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Chris Sale's Heck, Castro >>> Sale Jackson, Baez, Almora, Soler, etc. >>> Sale You came blame SOME of that on media bias, some of that on the history of the White Sox minor league system...the fact that Chris wasn't developed and nurtured in our minor league and just went into the bullpen right away and then was a reliever for two years.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 10:36 PM) This team has the personality of a gym shoe. There are no interesting/exciting players on this team. They have no characters, no spark plugs on the team. In 2005 they had guys like Carl, AJ, Mark, Aaron, etc. Now that they are all gone this is just a dull boring team. The losses don't seem to even bother me much anymore. I'm mostly bored watching them and I'm losing interest. I hope it's just the weather that's making me feel this way, but I think it's more the personality of the team, the makeup of the roster. 1) There's no superstar. 2) The best player on the team is Rios, and most fans felt, at best, ambivalent about him until last season...if not more negatively. 3) No identity. Konerko is soon to be gone, and that follows the losses of fans favorites AJ, Buehrle, Crede, Rowand, Thome, Dye, etc., over the last five or so years. 4) Dunn is an all-or-nothing player who had one of the worst seasons in baseball history in his first season after signing a new contract. 5) Disappointment in Beckham, who was the last bright light among homegrown position player prospects. 6) The White Sox need to do a better job marketing Chris Sale.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 08:21 PM) Rios has the skillset to be a part of the long-term (next 3-4 years) plan. His contract would need to be re-worked, but if Alex can go 2+ seasons in a row without taking a month off mentally, then you can think about that. It's too early though, Alex's head has been in the game for 1 year plus half a month. The team OBP isn't a concern when you are factoring in Dunn, who is a prime candidate for a Linebrink-style exit after the season, and other players like Flowers & Viciedo who won't be on the next great Sox team without picking their games up. The Sox are seeing what they have. You are craaay caulfield, I mean really, what are you looking for out of Robin? He's not a game manager, he's a player's manager. We aren't good enough yet where we need both. Last year's Robin could do what exactly? His team didn't hit the baseball and eventually some of his starters ran out of gas. Robin took that dogs*** 2011 squad, subtracted a bunch of talent, and came up with a much better team. And this year at least we've been in the games. s*** pickles, tonight I thought was a good performance: Rios keeping the hit streak alive, Gillaspie with another hit, excellent start by Quintana. If Veal had made an appearance and found a way to throw the damn ball over the plate I'd have been thrilled. You craaay. Veal was incredible last year. Right now, he's at a point after less than 2 weeks where Ventura's hesitant to use him. As far as Ozzie Guillen (vs. Robin) goes, he had the PERFECT feel for using the bullpen and strategy MOST of the time from 2004-2008...you can't just have "a player's manager" and get away with that unless you have top-tier talent across the roster. Ventura hasn't shown many indicators of progress if you made a checklist and compared his April/May/June 2012 with where he should have been following a normal learning curve. Look at the A's roster. Other than Cespedes and Reddick, there aren't very many "scary" players, and yet they play together so well as a team and complement each other extremely well. It has taken Bob Melvin three different managing gigs now to get to that point, though. If things keep on going like they are with the Angels, every team in baseball will have the choice of the best strategist in the game (Scioscia) who's definitely the antithesis of the modern day "player's manager." Can you honestly say you'd prefer Robin?

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 05:18 PM) If the White Sox would turn down a Quintana-for-Verlander deal because of Verlander's contract this organization is really messed up. They like Drew Smyly more than Quintana, anyway. The White Sox would never take on that contract, and the Tigers would never trade him, certainly not to the White Sox.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 07:57 PM) Good God you f***in people are craaaay First, Robin is a player's manager. Rios has had his head in the game ever since Robin got here. This is why you keep Robin. Secondly, we don't exactly have a world of talent here to begin with. I try to be as optimistic as anyone once the games are underway but coming out of ST it was pretty clear that as an organization we were middle of the pack at best and would need players to take steps and/or need to make outside additions to be a division champ. We're 10 games into the season and are 4-6, and most of our losses are games we could have won. None of this should be surprising, we're pretty much acting like a middle of the pack club. Third, there are potential positives all over the place. Gillaspie is one, Santiago about to "take" the fifth starter role is another (actually he may be about to "take" John Danks' spot in the long-term picture, as we can handle 4 lefties for a couple months after Floyd is traded), and the absolute BEST thing about Tyler Flowers isn't the power or walks, it is the fact that he has had to fail, learn, and rebound/overcome his entire career, ever since the steroid bust in Atlanta's system. Tyler has had to learn how to catch, how to hit a fastball, etc. and he has worked his way into this spot. He may still be a good player since he kind of has been an overachiever, and just like I've said since the getgo, all you people expecting an improvement over AJ are grossly underrating the job AJ did here just as much as always. Catching is difficult. Overall, the Sox need to see what they have at multiple positions and right now they are doing that. The season is 10 games old for f***s sake, there may be light at the end of the tunnel re: long-term talent on the ballclub. Fourthly, as I said initally, yall are craaaay. Stop being so craaay. It's annoying. 10 GAMES!!! ITS 10 GAMES!!!!!!! Gillaspie still has to hit for power to be a regular. We'll see. Santiago, I've been advocating that since Day 1. Flowers, no idea...not encouraged particularly, we've always known he'll be an all or nothing hitter, along with Dunn and Viciedo....the biggest concern right now, besides hitting with RISP, is the OBP (for the entire team and organizational focus, for that matter). As far as the point about Rios...it's hard to say how much of it is simply Ozzie being gone, how much is Ventura, how much is Manto, how much is the position switch back to RF. In the end, Rios isn't part of the long-term/big board plan, either. You're never going to see me saying "Gee, Ventura's done a great job" simply because he's not Ozzie and the team was due to respond to ANYONE who wasn't Ozzie in the first half of 2012. What he have seen out of Ventura in terms of in-game management/strategy/tactics/decision-making has been perhaps the most discouraging factor of all....looking at the results in August, September and now April again. Luckily, it's easier to change managers than on-field personnel. Ventura won't be fired, but you can easily see him walking away if the team struggles again this season.

QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 07:36 PM) Can we just retract the Sox and Cubs, and bring the Rays to Chicago? Solve a lot of problems. At least the Cubs rallied after they blew the save today, lol.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 07:32 PM) Rebuild or no rebuild it is becoming clear Robin is not the guy to lead them. I have lost all faith in him. Leaving in starting pitchers too long. Lack of knowledge about his own roster (Alexei sac bunting tonight when he simply fails 75-85% of the time in that situation). Horrible fundamentals and simple mistakes, some mental, some physical. The team either looks poorly prepared to play or simply lacking in talent across the board (offensively) or both. Everything he has done since August last year has made Ozzie Guillen look quite good again (the 2004-2008 Ozzie). No clue what to do with Hector Santiago. No clue that trotting out Axelrod to get ripped is going to make late season match-ups with DET pointless.

QUOTE (Baron @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 07:29 PM) Oh you can smell the total rebuild posts coming soon. Rebuild from/with what? They don't have anyone to trade... Fathom's point stands. They got away with it in 2008 because they hit with Danks, Floyd, Alexei and Quentin. From that point on, Beckham has been a bust (mostly) and there's just not been enough of an injection of talent. There's been a Santos here or a Quintana there, but those are just band-aids covering up the endemic problem. At some point, the lack of talent in this organization was going to be exposed...

Didn't ANYONE tell Crain that Swisher's a NOTORIOUS first-pitch swinger????????????????

DJ and Farmer don't even seem upset or surprised about this loss. Maybe some of the callers to the post-game show will be upset...if they can round up any fans that still care at this point. Masterson 3-0. 0.69 ERA.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 07:27 PM) So no lefty for Swisher who hits better from the left side . Oh Robin. He refused to use Veal. No confidence in him already. Santiago, there's no way you can use him again and he's not decidedly great against LHB'ers historically.

Put this one in the ROBIN VENTURA hasn't improved a lick as a manager body of evidence.