caulfield12

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 24, 2012 -> 05:21 PM) Isn't Bard in the bullpen now? He had a tie game in the bottom of the 8th, a runner on 3rd with no outs and Mauer coming up, and he managed to get out of it. Got Mauer to ground out on the infield, later they walked Morneau and got Doumit for the 3rd out. Then Ross homered for the 2nd time in the top of the 9th. Aceves got the save in the 9th.

What about AJ? Is he also taking more pitches and going with them to LF, as well? Or most of his hits have been pulled to the right side? It seems like he's serving/flipping a few more outside pitches the other way than in recent years, but maybe it's just what our eyes WANT to see with a new hitting coach and there's no new trend. That's mostly the case when DeAza hits the ball on the ground (pulled) for single and doubles/triples down the RF line, but he's also gotten a few balls up and in the air to the opposite field (one almost went out).

Some team will pick up Whisler, stick him on their major league roster for one game, and start him against us. And we'll end up with 3 hits and 11 K's.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 24, 2012 -> 03:57 PM) I'm looking at Sale, Reed, Jones, Santiago, Morel, Beckham, Viciedo, Flowers as developmental guys. That is about 1/3 of the roster. If you want to go really crazy, you can include Lillibridge, Escobar and DeAza, although DeAza's 28 and more of a finished project. Humber's "only" 29 and still developing at the major league level, too. Include Zach Stewart (or whoever's in that spot this year, whether it's Axelrod/Doyle/Castro...as long as it's not retreads like Stults or Bruney), you're saying half your roster is close to being in development stage. Which leaves Ohman, Crain and Thornton AJ Alexei Paulie Rios and Fukudome Dunn Floyd, Danks, Peavy

I found it. This year, our WCIU games are up by 7 (25 appearances). We've also lost 2 WGN games, and 11 CSN, our biggest moneymakers. So, theoretically: 25 WCIU X $200K=$5,000,000 30 WGN X $350K=$10,500,000 101 CSN X $450K=$45,400,00 TOTAL=$60,900,000 PLUS the shared pool money from FOX/ESPN/TBS/TNT But we have lost about $4-4.5 million compared to previous years with more WCIU and fewer CSN games as well. Or one Mark Teahen/Jason Frasor.

Except every time we "sacrifice" a win for projected future innings and contention in August/September (with Axelrod/Stewart/Doyle starts), it's going to a very unpopular move. It's a tough call....we were within a few games of the Tigers going into August (something like 4 1/2 or 5 1/2) and then they just annihilated us and nearly everyone else down the stretch. This isn't like 2005/06 when we really had SIX legit starters with El Duque/McCarthy and then Javy/McCarthy. Unless there's a significant percentage of our minor league experts who have watched Axelrod and really believe he's going to be a legit major league pitcher. We probably can't say that about Doyle, if they were willing to leave him unprotected. Theoretically, we could catch lightning in a bottle yet again with pitching (last year Humber) and someone like Simon Castro could re-emerge from the minors and tear it up, earning a legit promotion. In the end, we've beaten Mariners and A's teams that just don't have much offense in pitcher's parks. We absolutely own the M's the last 3 seasons. Can we win at home? Can we start drawing more crowd support and home field advantage at USCF? Can we beat the Twins, Indians and Royals consistently this year? Yes, we've played better than expected. Yes, we could have won 3 or 4 games against the Orioles and expectations at this point would be even higher than they are now. We've played 2 of the 3 best teams in the league to a standstill (Rangers/Tiggers). We're playing better within our own division, etc. We've had a lot of "false starts" with these Greg Hibbard "great expectations" threads the last 2-3 seasons. Hopefully this one is more sustainable.

completed an almost unfathomable 0-10 home stand, which now occupies a slice of big-league history. Only one other team has opened the season by losing its first 10 home games — and that was 99 years ago when the New York Yankees did it when, heck, they were in their first year of being known as the Yankees. Those Yankees, previously tagged as the Highlanders, lost their first 10 home games before managing a tie (yes, really) against Boston. New York then lost its next seven home games before breaking through with a 3-2 victory over the White Sox. So while those Yankees didn’t win until their 18th home game, they only lost their first 10. Now, the Royals are at 10 losses and counting after a series of crushing failures to execute with runners in scoring position. Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/23/35725...l#storylink=cpy

One big difference from last season is he's throwing more sliders and less change-ups. That might mean he's feeling healthier or more confident in his arm/shoulder. His FB velocity is up by about 1/2 MPH from last year. Seemed that OAK had a slow gun last night. In other games, he's been in the 92-93-94 range...maybe once or twice this season at 95, not positive. I remember that Cubs game last year, most of his pitches were in the mid 90's, then he was never the same again after that.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 11:38 PM) Agreed. It's the worst of the avenger movies. I take it you're not counting the Bana or Norton Hulk movies.... Iron Man > Captain America > Thor > Iron Man 2

OPS Ranks in MLB this morning... 6. Ryan Sweeney 10. AJ 16. Paulie 26. Rios 32. Dunn 36. DeAza 167. Alexei 177. Beckham 185. Morel 188. M. Byrd Viciedo doesn't have enough AB's to qualify officially, but he's close to Alexei, leading him by a bit, at .570 Seems like just a week or so Alexei and Viciedo were both close to .300 hitters.

If he finished anywhere below a 3.00 ERA, do you think there's really a change he would only ask for $7-8 million for two years? That's less than Mark Teahen made with the Sox. When's the last time you've ever heard of a star player just giving his team a blank contract? I think it must have been Andre Dawson with Cubs over 20 years ago. There's another thing to take into consider. The White Sox got back some form of insurance compensation for all the time Peavy missed in 2010 and maybe the beginning of 2011 too...so it's not like it was a total loss for them in terms of the money they've spent on him. It's like when corporations take out "death insurance" on employees, and the employee actually does die...does ANY of that money go to the family? Nope. It all goes to the company that took out an insurance policy on their employees. Athletes look out for themselves. It's not his fault he was hurt. Many would argue the White Sox are to blame, for pushing him to pitch in 2009...which forced him to change his mechanics, which led directly or indirectly to his lat injury. If you were Peavy, you'd probably feel that they actually TOOK money that you were going to earn in the future away because he's probably never going to get that 95-96 MPH fastball back for the remainder of his career.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/cowley/1207...-4-12-team.html With the Humber perfect game and winning 4 games in a row, first place tie, 7-2 road record....he has to pick on the Cubs now. Unless he wants to write an article about Sox attendance. But even then, he can't really write about that, because his whole premise is Cubs fans should be paying discounted rates for an inferior product. With the Sox playing well, he's certainly not about to criticize the fans for not coming out...unless it's after this homestand.

In one article I read, it was 30% White Sox, 25% Cubs. Then the wikipedia and a couple of other entries have it at: 20% NBC/Universal 40% Reinsdorf (Bull/Sox) 20% Ricketts/Cubs 20% Blackhawks/Wirtz

QUOTE (kev211 @ Apr 24, 2012 -> 02:08 AM) Honestly, who cares. I'm sure the sox are doing just fine. Any fan of a baseball team should care, because of the expected financial impact on the game of baseball. The Royals care. The Reds, in a similar market to KC, can give $225 million to Joey Votto, but the Royals are already resigned to losing Hosmer and Moustakas after year 6 of their contracts, or even $30 million for Aroldis Chapman. The Rangers were technically in bankruptcy and now they're one of the wealthiest teams in the majors five years later and able to spend over $100 million for Yu Darvish. Dodgers, similar situation now. Without all that money from their new TV deal, the Angels wouldn't have been able to go out and acquire Pujols and CJ Wilson.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...-155328751.html

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 24, 2012 -> 01:37 AM) If you think Ozzie is (was) bad, what do you think of Ned Yost? Even in our worst years, Ozzie had the Sox with a decent record. He's one of the best managers in Sox history if not the best IMO. Comparing Ozzie to Ned Yost or Terry Bevington isn't the best possible argument. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...-155328751.html You prefer your managers to be involved in scenes like this which detract from the team's performance on the field? You won't ever get that with Robin Ventura.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 24, 2012 -> 01:36 AM) Cmon. Do u realize how bad Dunn was last year? Right now you cut your losses as soon as some team wants him. We can find some other DH. Again, that said, good job so far this year, Dunn. Think if the Red Sox did that with David Ortiz in 2009 or 2010, where would they be now? Many Red Sox fans were in favor of it, at that time. We would have something like Fukudome/Lillibridge/Dan Johnson/Conor Jackson as our DH. Greg, does it really matter to you how they spend their payroll? Do you think they would discount tickets 15-25% if they removed Dunn from the roster? You should be happy (for the time being) that Peavy/Dunn/Rios are producing and we're in first place. Would you really be happy with those four guys listed above, or Viciedo, or Dallas McPherson, as the DH? Or you're just operating under the automatic assumption they would invest that same amount of money into another LH hitter? And who would that be? Keep in mind, we're probably going to lose AJ after this year, we'd pretty much have ZERO LH power for 2013, except for DeAza, and we don't want him to become so homer happy at leadoff that he gets out of his game.

THUR. Humber vs. Doubront FRI. Sale vs. Bard (two of the most promising young pitchers in baseball, Bard came out of pen Monday night vs. MINN) SAT. Lester vs. Peavy (great test for Jake) SUN. KFC Beckett vs. Floyd No Buchholz. He pitched very well against us last year, but he's been getting rocked in 2012 so far.

RS/RA 1. Rangers 2. Cardinals 3. Yankees/Braves 5. White Sox Dodgers are 13-4 with only a 15 run differential, so clearly playing above their statistical results so far, Pythagorean expectations, etc. WHITE SOX PITCHING RANKS IN AL 1st WHIP 1st BAA 1st K's 2nd ERA (to Rangers)

Then you factor in 20 something games played at Oakland and Seattle (18, and 3 at PetCo), which are definitely pitcher's parks, by any definition. Not sure which deal is crazier, the Pujols or Votto contract. Maybe Albert's, because of his age and the expectations that have been raised out in LA.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/201...ot-for-cubs-sox http://www.forbes.com/sites/christinasetti...st-cable-deals/ http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/st...lent/53032284/1 http://bizofbaseball.com/index.php?option=...&Itemid=155 http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/05/35388...urt-royals.html Greg, don't read this article unless you want to be further depressed, along with all the denizens of KC and Lawrencians 20% owned by Comcast (NBC-Universal), 20% by the Sox, 20% by the Bulls, 20% by the Cubs and 20% by the Blackhawks. According to the Sherman article, all our TV rights are controlled through 2019 by both Comcast and WGN. The Cubs' deal with WGN expires after 2014. Does the ownership group/Board of Directors get any profits back directly from Comcast or is stricly "paper wealth," explained by the franchise jumping in value to #10 on the most recent FORBES list, at $600 million? Are the profits generated by Comcast plugged back directly into the ballclub? With all these MLB teams signing new deals with numbers going into the billions, aren't we in a position of disadvantage moving forward, or is that mitigated somewhat by our ownership stake in Comcast? While the ownership stake in Comcast inflates the franchise value, does it really put us in a better position to generate more revenue for the major league payroll before the year 2019? I know the Tigers are getting $33 million from their cable deal, the Reds $40 million...the Kansas City Star article has the Royals locked in for around $20 million per year. The Indians are part owners of their own broadcasting network/RSN. Are we in a bad position now, because we seem locked out of a new contract or renegotiating for at least 7 more years, or are we actually likely to benefit when rates and deals skyrocket even higher in the future? Are all these t.v./broadcasting/media rights deals another form of a "market bubble" or will the number continue to go into the stratosphere moving forward, where some of the contracts signed by teams like the Dodgers, Angels, Rangers and Astros will seem like bargains? With cable and satellite prices going higher and higher...with the economy still being in a precarious state, how long will these types of billion dollar packages be available? Or are they just the tip of the iceberg, in your opinion? (Yes, these last 3 questions are "teacher-speak" for asking the same question in a different way, lol)

Baseball hell is a gorgeous night and mostly empty stadium for a team everyone figured would at least be interesting and entertaining and occasionally promising. These Royals are none of those things, of course, at least not yet, and the effect is something like your car breaking down on the way to the party. The sound bite for now is that the Royals just became the first team to lose 10 straight games at home since 1913, the same year a new constitutional amendment allowed the government to collect federal income tax. Building the Greatest Farm System In The History of Upright Man is apparently no cure for historic stink, and the Royals deserve every bit of venom you can muster for a franchise that’s been a ubiquitous letdown for most of the last two decades. Ned Yost says this is “phase two,” when player development makes way for winning, and the marketing folks sure haven’t helped with an #OurTime campaign that’s grown to be embarrassing. This is the team we’ve been waiting on for six years of Dayton Moore’s planning, the one we’ve thought about watching for the next six years, and the one that right now looks a whole lot like 2006. Only worse. The Royals are again the laughingstock of baseball and the sport’s worst team, and for now that hurts more because this year was supposed to be different. It’ll hurt much more later because these last two weeks of failure have consequences far greater than making a push at .500 this summer. The first snapshot of baseball hell is Eric Hosmer — long face, straight glare and no smile — getting ready for a players-only meeting with a group of guys who haven’t won together since a rain-shortened game in Oakland two weeks ago. Hosmer says he quit Twitter because “it’s just not important” and he only wants to play baseball. But a meeting is about to start, one where Jeff Francoeur will do all the talking and tell the guys to just keep playing hard, so Hosmer has to get going. “This is something we’ve talked about in the clubhouse,” he says. “We’re focused just on winning games. All that other stuff, that’s something we can’t control.” Hosmer does his part, actually. He homered down the left-field line — scouts always loved his ability to hit to the opposite field — and beat an infield shift with a bunt single. Mike Moustakas, Hosmer’s brother in Mission 2012 arms, hit a double and a single and made three highlight plays at third base. The future may well be bright, still. But right now, it’s tough to see through a windshield covered in manure. “These last 10 or 11 games have felt like a lifetime, I’m not going to lie to you,” Yost says. “It’s felt like three summers, this home stand alone. But you can’t get caught up in 10 or 11 games over the course of a 162-game season.” The second snapshot of baseball hell is a man you’ve probably never heard of trying to take blame for the marketing campaign that’s gone straight into the sewer. “I’ll own it,” Joe Loverro is saying. He is the producer for the Royals’ television broadcasts, and maybe this is part of the job description. “Our Time” wasn’t his idea. Someone in marketing thought it up before Loverro came to Kansas City, but, as he says, “I definitely took some license and ran with it.” The TV broadcasts have pulled back some on #OurTime, you might’ve noticed. Loverro says he doesn’t want to lose credibility, but the damage is done, especially as the club continues to roll out the videos at the stadium and the commercials on the broadcasts. The whole thing might’ve worked just fine, in an alternative reality where the Royals weren’t playing the role as one of the city’s all-time sports buzzkills. “Our Time” was supposed to be a rallying cry. Now, it’s more like a reason to cry. “The Our Time stuff,” Francoeur says, “if I could go back, I’d try to nip that in the bud.” The third snapshot of baseball hell is a game that might best be summed up by the man sitting in perhaps the stadium’s best seat behind the plate reading a book. Out in the right-field seats, someone dressed up as a character from a video game starts the wave. In the upper deck, a group fills a nearly empty stadium with organized and loud chants about bananas, and can you blame people for finding ways to entertain themselves? On the field, the Royals’ performance is best represented by a failed sacrifice bunt in the third inning, a bad idea executed poorly, and there’s a pretty good metaphor in there somewhere. The Royals went zero for 10 with runners in scoring position. This is a group of winners, we’ve all been told, guys who won’t stand for failure, who’ve won at every level they’ve ever played but must be feeling a bit like adolescents sent to fight grown men. It wasn’t supposed to be relevant that Hosmer and Moustakas have never lost this many games in a row, not even close. “We’re going to figure this out,” Moustakas tells reporters in the same clubhouse where many men have stood before in front of reporters and spoken optimistic words during long losing streaks. The last snapshot of baseball hell is general manager Dayton Moore in a bright white shirt and Royal-blue tie standing in front of the cameras trying to preach optimism. He knows a lot of you have tuned this team out. The Royals are clinging to what is either unshakable faith or outright denial, one of the two, and nothing tells the story quite like the moment Francoeur interrupts my conversation with Moore. The general manager is talking about the benefit of a young team working through adversity, and how he told owner David Glass back in December that the team might get off to a slow start. He’s even saying that if I could talk to Mrs. Moore, she’d tell me her husband is handling this losing streak better than any they’ve had in Kansas City. That’s about when Francoeur walks by. “I’ve got something good for you,” he says. “Wait and see where we are at the end of May. That’s my quote.” These are the kinds of things you hear around this team, faith or denial, either way, and this is how they will try to keep this from being the most disappointing season in the history of a franchise that’s taught its fans to measure such things. We’ll see soon enough if it works, but for now, there’s a bigger point. Because no matter what happens the rest of the summer, the Royals have lost something very real and completely irreplaceable. They had an opportunity here, one for which they’ve spent millions of dollars on amateur players and waited six years of drafting and developing to seize. That opportunity is largely gone now, an April party of anticipation that turned into anger and frustration with shocking speed — even by the Royals’ standards. What we’re left with is more than bad baseball, more than an awkward marketing slogan and more than a mostly empty stadium booing the home team off the field. For a lot of reasons, this franchise relies more heavily on ticket sales than most and with Mission 2012 and the All-Star Game the Royals expected more than 2 million fans for what would be the first time in 1991. Losing the first 10 home games is an awfully good way to keep from doing that, and if the Royals can’t take advantage of a precious chance to generate revenue along with what already feels like old excitement, then they’ve lost much more than a few games. They’ve lost an opportunity that isn’t coming back. “I said that very thing to (a fellow team executive) the other day,” Moore says. “We’ve got to win games. Because we can’t lose our fans for the summer.” Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/23/35726...l#storylink=cpy

If there was to be a pick-up, it would be a veteran type of player like Edwin Encarnacion or Rolen (just examples) finishing their contract out this season...and playing for a non-contending team, but we're at least 2 1/2 months away from that discussion. Maybe they're discussing it internally a bit, but surely Ventura and KW will give Morel, Beckham and Viciedo every opportunity to prove themselves the first 3-4 months before any moves are made.

Dreaded bases loaded situation for the White Sox. Just pray that Paulie doesn't hit into a double-play, would like to break this one wide open here.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 10:14 PM) I'd rather have him leave on a positive note. Why risk it? I really don't care what Jake wants. It's also a pretty cold night there, although I'm sure Jake has already worked himself up into a full lather (Hermie reference). But you don't want him sitting on the bench for 20-30 minutes and going ou there again, either.