caulfield12

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.

2-0 change-up?? Swisher coming up next. Doesn't want to have anything to do with Kipnis. Of course, Nick Swisher...are they going to walk him too to face Reynolds?

Won't go with Veal against Kipnis, lol.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 07:21 PM) Yeah, he packed on some pounds in the offseason. But he still made a very good defensive play in LF tonight. It never kept Tony Gwynn, Prince Fielder or John Kruk from hitting or David Wells from pitching.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 07:19 PM) Sample size. Maybe...but there's a bad trend setting in again...or at least not reversing the trend from last year, it's carrying over and become even more pronounced, if that's possible.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 07:17 PM) Why are you even bothering to count the starts at the end of last year. We all know he pitched a lot more innings in a season than he ever had before . Because he looked horrible in his first start this year as well. You just hope it's not part of a general trend, versus simple "tiredness." We still don't know exactly what we have, because of the horrible weather tonight. One month in AA, never pitched in AAA...who knows what Quintana's final line will look like? Nobody could predict it.

Last year, for 4 1/2 months of the season, we led the AL, maybe all of MLB, hitting with RISP. How can we have gone from first to WORST in that time frame? I wonder if a team has ever gone from Top 5 with RISP to bottom 5 from year to year...?

Francona's gamble against Dunn pays off. The situation that always seems to come back and hurt us...relievers in tie games late, especially Addison Reed.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 07:08 PM) Yes sir, in the long run, probably more important than the final result tonight. Now 2 quality starts in his last 9, the other against DET on September 10th. Masterson coming out for the 9th with over 100 pitches. That's a bit of a shocker, in this weather. Hill will likely face Adam Dunn. Have to love Francona's confidence. 108 pitches. Ace vs. the other team's best power threat, RHP vs. lefty batter. Typical manager pulls Masterson and prevents the possibility of a win for his pitcher.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 07:07 PM) Not living in Chicago makes it hard for you to sense just how little buzz there is about the Sox this year. The Nats announcers seemed pretty amazed that we led the division almost the entire season last year and our biggest off-season move was Jeff Keppinger.

Gimenez did have a 764 OPS at Charlotte last year and double digit homers....but he's usually been a sub 700 OPS guy even in the minors. Plus, the weather's absolutely terrible and he has been sitting on the bench for most of the season. Knowing your personnel, if you have that move to make 100 times, I'll cross my fingers and let Ramirez hit away...and take 3 chances at it, rather than putting all the pressure on Hector. It's not a HORRIBLE play, but with Ramirez's inability to execute and Gimenez following him, it's not nearly so logical.

Nobody on this team deserves to have any fan support tonight other than Rios, Gillaspie and Quintana. God, this is awful baseball and managing. Just pathetic. The marketing department has to be cringing and hoping nobody's paying attention. By the way, Masterson has beaten the reigning Cy Young winners in back-to-back starts. Although RA Dickey's not your typical winner and might...will more likely regress to his career norms.

QUOTE (Capn12 @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 06:58 PM) Clearly, someone needs some bunt work in the cage. Ramirez has been horrible sacrifice bunting since 2008. No news there.

TYPICAL. White Sox Baseball. YAY! Why do we want to put the pressure on Gimenez to drive in a runner from 3rd in the first place??? STUPID STUPID BASEBALL. .155 with RISP this season. Great! Going down even more with the 0 for 3 tonight. 3/13 with RISP last night.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 06:52 PM) Dude, we have Rios under contract for another year plus a team option. You are looking way too far into the future. A lot of things could change between now and then, no reason to worry about an extension anytime soon. Forgot about that option year. Always thought about trying to get out from under that contract, not retaining him. It's a very interesting question...letting him walk seems crazy, with how good he has been. But spending that type of money on an aging veteran in the outfield is also a tough call. Odds are many situations will clarify themselves in the next 15 months. As they always do. Great approach by Gillaspie. Absolutely have to score this run...I'll go as far as to predict that we'll lose if we don't score here.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 06:49 PM) Holy f*** Rios! Let's just give him AL MVP right now! If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it... Can't imagine what the weather's like there for the Mets/Minnesota game. Snow everywhere in the area over the last couple of days. TOR at KC is a pretty huge "where are they now" series for the Royals.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 12, 2013 -> 06:47 PM) Too late to try and use him as a significant trade chip, IMO. He's more valuable to the Sox than he would be on the market. With Konerko likely gone and Dunn gone after next year, gonna need to have some source of power on the roster. And they're in a predicament with Rios. He's our best player, by far. Not even close. Except with his age, his career history (2009 and 2011)...do you dare sign him to a 2-3 year deal? I can't imagine a team completely rebuilding almost their entire line-up would be in a position to keep him in his mid 30's. Just doesn't make sense. As good as Gillaspie has looked, at some point he's going to have to show some power.

Well, if we can't count on Viciedo to hit RH'ers ever....we are getting closer to the Marty Plan time.