caulfield12

I just think they're playing loose and relaxed, there's not the pressure on the team there was in 2011, there's not the stress between Ozzie and the front office, first year manager with zero experience...we'll see how they handle being in first place, particularly against the Dodgers and Cardinals. Should be fun. FWIW, Ventura has been loosening the reigns and let them fly to Tampa with shorts, shades, flip-flops and t-shirts as the apparel of choice. Those little things that add to comfort level and increased team camaraderie really help. Perhaps the funeral did help to bring the team together as well, but emotion doesn't last so long as a catalyst...you'd have to say it's more positive momentum. Viciedo and Beckham starting to hit...Sale's return to the rotation, the back end of the bullpen being solidified, these are the main reasons they're playing so well.

QUOTE (G&T @ May 29, 2012 -> 08:16 PM) Looking back at it is unreal. Ray Durham, Frank Thomas, Paul Konerko, Magglio Ordonez, AND Carlos Lee in the same lineup. They hit .286 .356 .470 .826 as a TEAM That was the line-up that everyone playing had the ability to hit a homer at any time, except for Mark Johnson. Charles Johnson was added late in the season, and his OPS with us was well over 1.000. Valentin was a force, as well. Herbert Perry put up over an 800 OPS, and Chris Singelton/C were the only weak line-up spots. You had 6 players hitting over 17 homers.

Mitchell back up to .295. 2/3 HR, 2 RBI's 4 HR, 33 RBI's on the season, hitting 2nd now in the line-up. WHERE DOES HE PLAY, haha? Axelrod got hit hard tonight, but overall ERA still 2.36, which is great. Our old friend Nick Blackburn starting...sporting a 7.36 ERA Sean Burroughs, Valencia, Parmalee and Clete Thomas the only familiar names on that roster.

Only five teams in baseball (Orioles, Rays, Rangers, Nationals, Dodgers) have better records. Make that 6 if the Reds win their game. Next week will be a good test. 15-5, "only" 11 more games to go in order to equal 2010, haha. 10-6 3-11 15-5 Streakability. And, just as importantly, the Tigers will be a full 5 games back.

QUOTE (JoshPR @ May 29, 2012 -> 08:04 PM) Didn't fick sucker punch someone http://www.google.com.hk/url?sa=t&rct=...W2w&cad=rjt not sure if this is the right video or not, i can't watch youtube here in china

Almost June and the 1/3rd of the season pole has nearly been passed... That's traditionally been the barometer for measuring whether a team is in contention or not. +36 runs scored/runs allowed differential. Win #2 for Phil Humber, great comeback outing for him, had an especially crisp breaking curveball today...since the Seattle game in his second start of the year.

QUOTE (JoshPR @ May 29, 2012 -> 07:55 PM) 2000 team was hard hitting, they came together after the brawl with the tigers when dean palmer came after parque Yeah, the infamous Rob Fick (obscene gesture, beer shower), Jeff Weaver, Juan Samuel fight... Was in the LF bleachers at that game. Good memories. The 2006 team was 26 games over .500 at the break, ending with that crazy 19 innings game (tied it against Papelbon) that went on forever. 57-31. Then 8 games under .500 at the break and the disastrous 2007 season.

804 OPS On pace for a .280 average, 36 homers and 88 RBI's (and that's not considering the fact that he sat quite a few times in April and early May, so his overall numbers COULD be even higher with everyday playing time from here on out). 3 months of el perfecto Cubano weather, too. He didn't play in 4 games.

1. 1990 final season in USCF...McDowell, Thomas, Ventura were just starting to show their potential, underdogs all the way 2. 2000 3. 2005 4. 1984 4.5 1993/94 5. 2008 (last two weeks of season, and any time Quentin and Ramirez were hitting) 6. 2006 (first 3-4 months of offensive dominance) 7. 2010 (26-5 stretch) 8. 2009 (watching Beckham the first 3 months, adding Peavy/Rios, Wise catch for Buehrle game)

Viciedo now on a pace for the entire season for 36 homers and 87.5 RBI's Quentin-esque numbers. Minus $7 million and all the injuries.

Pierzynski really spiked Zobrist there with his left cleat. Will be interesting to see if there's any payback for AJ.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ May 29, 2012 -> 02:23 AM) Come back when have had 9 players on the DL this season. NINE. See Brewers, Milwaukee. And watch out for falling suitcases.

QUOTE (VAfan @ May 28, 2012 -> 11:46 PM) I can't see KW moving anyone until he sees where we are in early July. At our current pace, which includes our last 20 games, the Sox are certainly playoff contenders. We're much stronger than the Indians, with only the Tigers as legitimate rivals. And if the Sox are playoff contenders, KW's history is to do everything he can to add, never subtract. Some of the suggestions on this thread strike me as crazy. Trading Ramirez? His offense will come around, but his defense makes him worth his contract regardless Trade Dunn? That's been mostly shot down, as Dunn has returned to his regular form. Trade Rios? Possibly, but who would really take his whole contract, and who would replace him? Trade Thornton and Crain? Our bullpen has already cost us this season. KW won't dump bullpen vets the team will need when game pressure gets more intense. People didn't think this team could win because a lot of things had to fall in place. Dunn and Rios had to rebound. Viciedo had to hit. Beckham or Morel had to hit. De Aza had to hold up in the lead off spot. Peavy had to stay healthy and be decent. Sale had to make the transition to starter. Danks couldn't melt down like he did last year. Humber had to be okay. Floyd needed to be over .500. We needed to find a closer. Just about all the things that needed to happen have happened. The offense, which was pathetic last year, was tied for 3rd in runs scored going into today's game. Peavy has been the pitcher KW thought he was buying years ago. Sale is an ace already. Danks and Floyd don't have to be 1-2, but just 3-4. Humber has been ok. Quintana made a nice spot start, showing we have some depth. Reed has given us a solid closer, which lines up the rest of the bullpen. From this point forward, I expect things to get better in some areas, and to tail off in others. Offensively, I expect De Aza to stay about the same, Beckham to show considerable improvement, Dunn to end up his normal career numbers -- about 40 HRs, 100 RBI, .240-50 average, with enough walks to keep his OBP high. Konerko will tail off, but remain solid. Rios will be up and down; not fantastic but not terrible. AJ will tail off too, but will have an above-average year. He's already way ahead of norms for HRs and RBI. Viciedo will continue getting better. Ramirez has been worse than normal, but should improve. Hudson is a reasonable stop-gap at 3B. Even if his hitting isn't great, he walks and can still run. This is an offense that can compete. We have fewer automatic outs in the lineup, and more HR power. I actually worry more about the pitching, esp. the starting pitching. Danks has a sore shoulder. Floyd has bad stretches. Humber is not as steady as he was last year. Sale briefly had arm issues already; can he hold up for a full season? Peavy hasn't stayed healthy for years. I think the bullpen is good now that Reed is closing. If I was going to make a move, it would be for the starting staff. Maybe if you moved Floyd you could take on another starter. But I wouldn't do anything now. Floyd has had great stretches in the past -- the 26-5 stretch, e.g., and might easily again. Other than Texas, there isn't a dominant team in the AL. So, if the Sox make the playoffs, we could compete. Ventura's philosophy is one-day-at-a-time. I think that's where KW should be too. If we can compete now, which we are doing, don't sell out for the future, and don't mortgage the future for a marginal improvement this year. Sit tight and re-evaluate in early July. Looks longer than one of my posts, haha. I think you're probably right, Floyd at some point (if you look at the back of his baseball card) will go another hot streak, at which point if you get some serious offers in June/July, you'll have to consider them, based on the payoff. Only KW knows how seriously he regards any of the back-end starting candidates for next year (Stewart, Axelrod, Doyle, Castro, Molina, Hernandez and possibly Santiago). At some point, they'll have to decide if the payroll can bear the price of exercising Floyd's 2013 option, should they choose to go down that path. All four of our bench players are well under .200 and none of them are what would you would describe as "dangerous" right now, largely because of inconsistent playing time, but also because they just might not be very good (Lillibridge, Escobar and Fukudome). Flowers has huge power potential, and has made tremendous strides defensively, so he's not going anywhere. The reason Crain and Thornton (specifically) are mentioned are because Matt's being paid as a quasi/pseudo closer and we already have Santiago, Ohman and Quintana for depth there, not to mention Hernandez in AA. In an ideal world, you can use all the depth (especially two experienced veterans) you can get in that bullpen because rarely will an entire pen stay lights out for a full season...so quality depth is a godsend. Can we afford to hold onto both those guys when in a world of scarce resources (not enough quality relievers) to go around, they're probably the two most valuable pieces we can trade off our major league roster without crippling it, it would clear payroll space and it would get us even more young talent for the future. I'm okay either way they go, and sure, you can make an argument that as good as Nathan Jones looks right now, he's going to go down a down period and not having Crain as well could definitely hurt. We have already blown 7 saves (5 resulting in losses, although the Ohman/Peavy one wasn't your typical blown save with the 6-0 lead against DET). Only 7 teams in the majors have more blown saves, ranging from 8-10. The average is 5 or 6. On the other hand, this is the first stretch all season where we had the bullpen roles pretty clearly defined (Reed as closer, Thornton/Crain set-up, Ohman/Santiago interchangeable with Santiago trusted more in the later innings, Stewart for long relief)...we went through 2 Santiago implosions, 1 from Sale and 3 from Thornton in a 2-3 week period but are trending positively there. Overall, the bullpen ERA is right around 3.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ May 29, 2012 -> 12:30 AM) Well, I am on track for maybe 1/2 of these. Sale looks like a legit ASG contender, Peavy is on pace for well over 180 innings, and Reed is probably competing with Yu Darvish and Drew Smyly for ROY. Reed would have to be at 10-12 saves at this point to be under serious consideration. It's Darvish's to win or lose. If the Tigers were playing better or in first place, that would help Smyly. He's not the kind of guy who blows you away with awe, he's one of those "under the radar" guys who quietly puts up very solid numbers, like Fister.

Can anyone argue that Doyle has more upside than Axelrod or Stewart? And if so, why?

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 28, 2012 -> 10:59 PM) I said he's leading contender in the AL. Why would it bother me to have him win it? It'd probably mean the Sox are division champs at the very least. See Mark Shapiro, 2005 AL Executive of the Year over KW

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 28, 2012 -> 09:49 PM) My perspective is that relievers don't win you that many games (per say), but they sure as hell can lose you a bunch. It doesn't mean that they're not valuable, it just means that I'd rather have a good starter or position player instead. per se Since we're all about eradicating incorrect spellings here at SoxTalk. There was a poll at chicagotribune.com/sports and a full 65% of the respondents wanted to limit Chris Sale to 110 pitches or fewer in every start. Interesting.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 28, 2012 -> 07:09 PM) Look at the prices for this Saturday's game against the world beater Seattle Marinerss. If a family of 4 wants to go to the game, its over $200 to sit in the bleachers. Its $160 to sit in the upper deck. Its ridiculous. Its almost as if they don't want to sell tickets. Its $90+ wilth fees per ticket for a premium lower deck box. Then you add gas, parking, food...............There will be 10,000 empty seats and they wonder why. You and Greg, I guess we're all broken records on this topic. The back and forth will always be about the discounted games, half-price nights, etc. For whatever reason, they treat their fanbase like an almost completely inelastic market that will bear any price burdens. And they protect those lower box holders/buyers from the upper deck crowds as well as protecting the value of their ticket prices by not offering so many discounts nights and also increasing the "premium" experience as much as possible. But that's nothing like what the White Sox were in the 50's/60's/70's/80's in terms of their typical fans/fanbase and crowds. However, since the new park opened, they've seemed content with the transition to a corporate crowd and largely away from anything resembling "blue collar/South Siders" of the days of yore. From two years working for a minor league team, I've always felt you had an obligation to get fans in the seats and expose them to your product...and give them a great experience, something that will make them want to come back again and again. Granted, there's a huge difference in pricing structures, the entertainment vs. "winning" mix isn't as significant a factor in attendance at the big league level... It's almost like they want fans to stay home so 1) they can complain about the attendance, and 2) maybe somehow having more fans at homes means higher ratings for the broadcasts and more advertising revenue, lol. But obviously KW is aware of the connection between the impact of the big, high 20's/low 30's home crowds and what we've been playing in front of for more of this season.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 28, 2012 -> 06:27 PM) Which is something of a trend for the Sox. In 2007, they had nothing in the system, they had no future, then Quentin, Danks, and Floyd snapped off seasons that carried them to the playoffs. One might think that the Sox's system is being regularly underrated based on this pattern. I believe the Sox have the most WAR out of their 2008-2010 drafts out of anyone in baseball. Dave Wills pointed this out, that no other team has come close to having the major league impact so far of Reed and Sale at the major league level (from the 2010 draft). Then you add in Viciedo, and if Mitchell had stayed healthy, you'd have four impact players arriving almost simultaneously.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ May 28, 2012 -> 06:20 PM) That is true, but the last three years at the big league level yielded no post-season appearances. We could have used some help. Marty, you're going to have to lie back and wait in the weeds to strike again. Not even bringing up Molina's struggles are going to help your cause when they're on a blistering 14-5 run and Chris Sale's (for now, while healthy) drawing comparisons to Randy Johnson, and doing it more successfully at a younger age.

"It’s a heck of an advantage when you have that kind of support. But absent of that, we’ll just go through our day-to-day grind, and hopefully at some point in time, we’ll get people’s attention.” "Every day that you don’t fill the seats, at least to a greater degree than we are, is a day it hurts," Williams said. How about doing a better job as GM?

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 28, 2012 -> 04:52 PM) My question is, why the hell did Joe Maddon sit 3 of his best hitters today? I know that Sale's lefty and those hitters are lefties, but you shouldn't take 3 of your best guys out of the lineup. That just seems a little excessive. Maybe he was trying to give them Memorial day off or something, lol. Which hitter besides Scott and Joyce are you talking about? Keppinger wasn't available today, neither was Jennings/Longoria.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ May 28, 2012 -> 03:35 PM) I don't understand when people complain about Alexei's lack of upside. He's a top 5 shortstop, what the hell kind of upside are we looking for? Because he was so clutch and carried the team for many games when Quentin didn't in 2008, hit all those grand slams...maybe we were all thinking he would continue to improve from there offensively. That clearly hasn't happened, but even if he's in the 675-725 range OPS wise, he's one of the most valuable players on our team. In the low 500's OPS-wise, you're selling way too low on where we all expect him to be at the end of the season. You don't trade a Gold Glove SS in the middle of a 14-5 streak when you're in first place. You just don't. Especially when we have no suitable replacement for him.

Haha. I just like arguing with you. Scott Fletcher has been away from the team due to a personal leave for the last 10 games. (Joking).

First place, at least a tie for now. Great 1-2-3 inning for Addison. This team now has all their parts jelling at the same time. This time, dominant starting pitching, Beckham and Viciedo hitting, the Dunn bomb, a great defensive play by Hudson that may have save the game and the lockdown bullpen. Paul Konerko with a 13 game hitting streak, barely made it but flipped another ball into the OF. The Rays can feel they could have won this game with Longoria, Jennings and Keppinger...but even they realize how good Sale was today. One off the all-time Sox strikeout record, breaks the Trop Dome record of 14 by the inimitable Pedro Martinez. Matt Moore's best game with the Rays so far this season. Drops to 1-5.