caulfield12

It's like Atlanta Braves fans in the 90's and early 00's. Getting complacent, assuming Sale will win every start now and not so excited unless he records 10+ K's. Maybe when the score got to be 6-0, everyone turned their attention to the Heat/Celtics, the Belmont Stakes, soccer games in Europe, the fights in Vegas, etc.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 10, 2012 -> 11:26 AM) f*** the rangers!!!!!!! They're back to back AL Champions, and honestly should have won a least one World Series title. They deserve everyones' respect, until someone knocks them off. Not as much as we gave the Twins, but healthy respect for their accomplishments and front office acumen under Daniels/Ryan. Can we compete with all the teams in the AL East, the Indians/Tigers and Angels? Sure, probably...as long as Peavy and Sale continue to pitch like aces. Although, all things considered, it's hard to place a team with 3 starting pitchers in the 5.3+ ERA range as the best team in the AL. We're also quite unlucky to get the Twins so many times now that they've risen from rock bottom. Two weeks ago, they were one of the worst teams in baseball. Now they're back to respectable and rising.

QUOTE (Jillian Michaels' Abs @ Jun 10, 2012 -> 10:21 AM) Uncle Jerry will probably demand that Chris Sale be shut down so he won't pitch the last month of the season and not win the Cy Young, so they won't have to pay him like a Cy Young award winner. He's (Chris Sale) under team control through 2016, and won't be eligible for arbitration until after next season...however, they very certainly might look to buy out one or two years of free agency, like the Rays and Indians have typically done with their younger players. Of course, the danger posed by not taking his contract on a year by year basis is that he'll lose at least a season or more to Tommy John surgery when/if his elbow goes out. So all things considered, the White Sox are probably best off waiting until at least the end of 2013 before offering a long range deal to Sale...and that also gives them some time to see what direction the franchise and the Danks contracts are going. I think the front office is much more afraid of an injury than having to reward Chris with a new contract or more money. JR doesn't mind paying performance at all, it's underperformance of free agents which tends to gall him the most.

It should read best team in the AL CENTRAL, but I couldn't edit it later, only a mod can do that. It also should read "inevitably" as the fourth option. Obviously, the White Sox are not better than the Rangers, that's a given. I never said 4th or 5th place or the worst team, although the Royals and Twins (recently on an 8-2 run) are both back to being out of contention for the 1st pick in the draft next June.

Discuss/analyze.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 10, 2012 -> 09:10 AM) Yeah, Nestor Molina. Whatever is right. You are making yourself look like an even bigger fool. And I don't think there is any link to Chris Sale returning to the rotation and Dunn, Rios, Konerko, Beckham, AJP and De Aza hitting well. None. Sale doesn't even appear in 80% of White Sox games. The link is Chris Sale is the best pitcher in the AL right now. Jose Contreras was the best pitcher in baseball as well in 2005-2006. You believe the White Sox can just trot out any minor league journeyman and would have won those those same starts...and had the same record, or a nearly identical one. If that was the case, the 2002-2004 White Sox just won three more AL Central championships thanks to your logic...because those teams had all the offense in the world and still lost to the Twins. How can you explain that, when the Twins were clearly inferior, and the White Sox were much better offensively in those years than they have been in 2012. If Chris Sale wasn't in the starting rotation still, the White Sox wouldn't be in first place and would still be a lot closer to rebuilding than adding pieces for the stretch drive. Who would you have started in those 5 games....this pitcher who was going to go 5-1 or 4-2? Should be an interesting answer.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 10, 2012 -> 08:30 AM) Again with Greg Walker. You do need help. Obviously Chris Sale is the reason the Sox started scoring runs. I'm agreeing with you. We'll just ignore April when they couldn't score at all and he was in the rotation. You're truly a baseball genius. Obfuscating again. So Nestor Molina would be 4-2 or 5-1 if he took Sale's starts, too? In your idea, yes. It's the same reason you're going to argue that the White Sox could have just trotted out any minor leaguer in August, September, October, April and May in 2005/2006 and won all of Jose Contrera's starts as well. You believe there's no link to who the starting pitcher is and how the team performs independently. I believe there's a synergy between the two. But whatever.

And Beckham's even showing flashes of returning to his previous glory. Crosses fingers.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 10, 2012 -> 08:16 AM) The answer to question 1, what does that matter now? Question 2, Yes they would. The Sox scored 6,6,4,2 and 10 runs in those starts. They didn't need shutouts, but I'll take the offense riding the inspiration of Chris Sale returning to the starting rotation as the reason they scored these runs. GMAB. You defintely are the Soxtalk version of Mitt Romney. As Frank says, no doubt about it. Just flip flop. Don't try to justify it with things that aren't connected. Coming from the same person who says there's no connection between the results of the offense and who the hitting coach is, then tries to act like Greg Walker miraculously transformed the Braves single-handedly from this offseason's sense of desolation, lol. The White Sox would be 3rd in the AL in runs scored if he was still the hitting coach, too. Sure. You can believe that if you want. It can't be proven to be true or false subjunctively. I'll believe that the White Sox play better when Chris Sale is on the mound, expect to win, and the results would have been dramatically different with any of our minor leaguers out there in his place. But I'll take the Romney comment as a compliment, since Bill Clinton was also commonly accused of the same thing and will go down as one of the most successful presidents in recent history. It's called adjusting your viewpoint/goals/expectations as a result of new evidence.

Jaime Garcia's out for 1-2 months for the Cardinals. +56 RS/RA differential but only a 30-29 record. Talk about Pythagorean not evening out. Crazy.

Well, Molina's given up 90 hits in 69 IP. That's not going to work, no matter how good his control is. Single, double, double, single, 3-0 now against the Barons...still batting in the 1st. 7 hits/15 AB's. ERA back up to 5.06 after getting down to 4.74 entering today.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 10, 2012 -> 05:28 AM) Can anyone give me a guess about how the Barons starting rotation shapes up right now? Trying to plan pitching matchups for when they visit Tennessee Next weekend, catch a game or maybe 2. Hernandez is out for now, and Wickswat is about to be dropped from the rotation. The past three nights, it has been Castro, Bayne and then Molina going Saturday night. Tuesday is an offday. If they stay on normal rest, Castro would be Tuesday and Molina Thursday. Theoretically, you could catch Simon Castro on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. No idea who they'd be starting Friday or Saturday, Sat would be Wickswat's turn, though, Friday, Hernandez's spot.

http://www.boxoffice.com/latest-news/2012-...-midnight-shows Prometheus expected to make $53.5 million for the weekend. Pretty successful start, will finish 2nd to Madagascar.

Well, you have to do it with Quintana. Volquez does have enough upside to make it worth it, and that allows you to dump Gavin Floyd if you want. It's a crapshoot. Floyd will get turned around eventually, the question is how long. Always tempting when a pitcher with Edinson's talent becomes available to test the "Coop will fix him" theory.

And it has taken KW about 12 years to find two good leadoff hitters, Pods and DeAza. Mitchell's a valuable commodity, especially if he can learn how to steal 20-30 bases. Pair him with Maybin, and you'd have the type of athletes who can cover the gaps defensively and plug the gaps offensively with doubles and triples. Pitching/speed/defense. That's what you need to win in PetCo, and examples like Clayton Richard prove it's fairly easy to find random pitchers who can record sub 4 ERA's in that graveyard. Volquez would be like Edwin Jackson, minus the expectation of being an ace or eating lots of innings. Last fully healthy season was 2008. Padres in the overall scheme of thing don't want to pay Carlos Quentin and Volquez anyway...they'd be much better off with Mitchell for six seasons.

The punchout on the previous AB for Danks was a joke though, the base umpire couldn't even see what happened with the shadows/light playing tricks on him. Tigers with 2 out rally in Cincy to take the lead in the top of the 8th. Double by Boesch, Cabrera walked intentionally, Fielder tattoos a Marshall pitch into CF and Boesch slides through the catcher on a very close play at the plate. Still, the Tiggers' bullpen is beatable this year, two more AB's for the Reds. Verlander with ND, threw a ton of pitches again.

White Sox just passed TOR for 3rd in AL runs scored again. 282-281. 4.78 RPG, on pace for 774 for the season.

19 homers and 45 RBI's for Dunn now on the season. .226

What's the record for most hits without a double/triple/homer? 14 singles now. At least they can't be blamed for swinging for the fences today.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Jun 10, 2012 -> 05:54 AM) So they should sell each seat for a nickel, as it's worth more than a butt not in the seat. Well, the Cubs have some seats going for a penny, as do the Yankees. When you consider the person is more than likely going to buy a concession item of some sort, that nickel seat is worth a lot more than $0.00. Some of them are going to buy a souvenir item or pay for parking.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 9, 2012 -> 11:00 PM) At worse. 1 game worse which would leave them a half a game out clearly not the nowhere near first you claim and if you haven't noticed they are rebuilding. Sale should make you his agent. What was the record of White Sox 5th starters from 2001-2004? So Dylan Axelrod, Terry Doyle or Eric Stults was going to go 4-2? Really?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 9, 2012 -> 10:18 PM) Yeah you're right Konerko,Dunn,De Aza, Viciedo and Beckham and Rios decided fo hit when Sale was returned to the rotation. No chance they would have hit otherwise. We should just ignore the thread you started earlier this season bashing 4 of these guys for not hitting when Sale was in the rotation. Once again, you believe we'd STILL be in first place had Chris Sale missed his last 5 starts and been posing as the closer instead? True/false? You believe the White Sox wouldn't be in rebuilding mode with Chris Sale in the bullpen for the entire season and foreseeable future?

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jun 9, 2012 -> 09:29 PM) No, I don't think this is true. Wasn't your argument earlier in the season that if attendance fell to 1998 levels...or at least below 22,000 per game, that KW should be fired?

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jun 9, 2012 -> 09:29 PM) No, I don't think this is true. What do you want to do now? Move Rios back to CF? Trade Viciedo? Name KW Executive of the Year in the AL up until this point in the 2012 season? After all, how amazing is it that the White Sox are tied for the AL lead in blown saves, can't win at home, can't win 1 run ballgames, can't win in extra innings, have used 4 closers already, have 3 starting pitchers with 5.3+ ERA's, have one player on pace for 300 K's, have gotten 1 homer from the entire left-side of the infield all season and are STILL in first place on June 9th? Their third best starting pitcher is a Colombian who maybe only 5-10% of SoxTalk even could identify about 2 months ago. Kenny Williams has has a stunning 12 homegrown players on his roster this year, tied for 2nd in all of MLB. They should be building a statue for him, yes?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 9, 2012 -> 07:06 PM) So you're saying the White Sox hitters went on a hot streak because Sale remained in the starting rotation? How come they weren't hot when he was in the rotation earlier? Put down the bong. If the BAD 5th starter is condusive to bad offense, how do you explain the White Sox still winning and hitting with Floyd 5.38, Humber 5.68 and Danks 5.70? And the Sox hit pretty well during the time period you mentioned. If you have good hitters, you'll probably have a good offense. And more Greg Walker? Really? None of those pitchers were AS bad as the stats you're throwing out there three weeks later look. When's the last time Danks pitched? Why didn't you include Quintana in there, who has pitched more innings that Danks recently? Yes, I'm sure there was a psychological effect on the team knowing that Sale was going to be a part of the rotation again. When the team knows it has a chance to win nearly every game a starter's out there, it helps the offense to relax and not put so much pressure on themselves. You can argue all you want that the White Sox would have gone 4-1 and would still be in first place without Sale, but you should put down the bong yourself if you actually believe that's true. He was the best pitcher in the AL this past month, no way we could have replaced that. With Sale in the bullpen, 75% of the talk around here would still be about rebuilding. Now we have good hitters? Why weren't they good last year? Which is it?