caulfield12

Paulie is so respected, Rogaine refuses to countenance him as their spokesperson. That's about the only thing you can tease him about, and his greying goatee.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 10:24 AM) Ouch. That hurt. LOL Okay, the odds of Jackson getting 200+ AB's are greater than Cowley winning the Pulitzer Prize.

This is tantamount to saying Andy Gonzalez should have been made a full-time starter in 2007/2008. Let's not get carried away with Escobar too much. Andy has/had a 720 career OPS in the minors, a full 54 points ahead of Eduardo. He's actually still playing in the Southern League/AA, for Huntsville. Escobar can run better, he's a "plus" defender at SS but we can't assume he'll just seamlessly become Alexei's double play partner at 2B when 90-95% of his career has been spent at SS. I put the Escobar as full-time starter at 2B in the same category as Conor Jackson as the platoon partner for Dunn.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 10:48 AM) did i read that right or did Beauty and the Beast just get referenced? Hey, it was the last animated movie to ever be nominated for Best Picture! Just enjoy the implied idea that Cowley thinks of himself as "Beauty/Truth/Integrity" in this situation, fighting a one man war like Don Quixote against the relentless repression of JR and KW and Don Cooper. Yes, now we're to literature references as well. Just heard this line in the Red Sox broadcast. "What do baseball and pancakes have in common? They both depend on the batter. Ha, ha, ha." So funny, NESN.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 10:15 AM) The Sox are not apt to pinch hit for Dunn regardless of the match up. If they did they may as well say they are going to platoon him That very situation came up with Lillibridge last year when Brent was as hot as any hitter in the AL but Ozzie still went with Dunn, to the consternation of 95% of SoxTalk. I think Greg and Rongey were the only ones still defending the decision at that point in the season.

Jose Bread + Water has a point. Cowley providing us free column inches of negative publicity, it's worth its weight in gold. Because he has the effect of galvanizing the fanbase against him in a way that nobody else does. Surely, his agenda isn't going to discourage any casual fans from going to the ballpark. Look at the attendance numbers Saturday and Sunday, probably 3-5,000 more for each game than would have been expected coming into the season. He's not unlike Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. You can't help but root against the guy....even though KW might be the "Beast" in this analogy, Cowley's constant sniping and attacks make him come out as an almost sympathetic character. You combine that with the quiet dignity, professionalism, humility yet a prevailing aura of confidence from Robin Ventura, you have the makings of a one-sided battle, especially after Ozzie's official come-uppance last week. When the best thing you can resort to is attacking Ventura for being too boring/vanilla or quoting Molina's stats every single start from Birmingham (conveniently ignoring both Santos and Santiago simultaneously), it makes for an interesting storyline which will inevitably end up in a bad way for Joe's career.

Poor Ozzie will feel left out. There's a Marlins thread, now a Joe Cowley thread, even a Mark Buehrle thread, but nothing devoted 100% to Ozzie. Wonder how Marty34 will feel about this thread, lol? Probably he will propose we create a similar thread to catalogue all the misdeess of one Kenneth Royal Williams and/or Don Cooper.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 08:13 AM) Of course...at this point in the season, it's worth questioning the type of pitchers the Sox have faced. The Sox have faced the Rangers and Tigers pitching staffs...Detroit is #2 in the AL in strikeouts and the Rangers are #4. Of course, they're also up high in strikeouts because they faced the Sox, but Texas also played the Mariners and you'll note the Mariners appear on your list, and the Tigers also faced Boston and Tampa Bay, both of whom also...appear on your list. It's difficult to say with complete clarity, but outside of 2 games in Cleveland, the Sox have faced some pitching staffs who can strike you out. The Sox also got a game against Masterson, who is averaging 8.3 K/9, so that's not exactly letting up either. Probably need at least 40, maybe 54 games (Hawk's famous 1/3rd mark of the season) to really know what we've got offensively. If anyone would have been told we were 5-3 at this point in the season and 1/2 game out of first place, they would have been "pleased as punch." Except for maybe mcgrad, marty34, ozzie and cowley. Even Marty34 surreptitiously seems like he's happy with the Sox level of play, but it's hard to trust!! We also have to protect the pitching staff, which is why the team slants more towards defense versus offense. Hence, Beckham and Morel, and another reason why you start see more and more of Flowers as the season wears on...granted, AJ looks absolutely great so far.

Yep, Lyndon Johnson and the Kennedy family absolutely hated each other with a passion, but also desperately needed each other simultaneously (the presence of a Southerner on the ticket). Or you can look at Abraham Lincoln's cabinet for the best example, a "Team of Rivals" as the famous book goes (or infamous, depending upon your opinion of the writer after the plagiarism charges). Of course, Joe Biden also faced the same problem when he ran for President, it's one of the strongest reasons against a possible candidacy of his in the future. Hillary might very well have one last grand fight left in her.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20...lb&c_id=mlb Kind of seems like a much smaller version of the Ozzie flap, with Valentine backtracking and claiming he was misquoted or what he said was mischaracterized. If Valentine's actually telling the truth, he has a right to be pissed that someone "spun" his comments into something they were not...or at least seriously took them out of context to "break" a "Red Sox already split with internal dissension" story. That's another refreshing change about Ventura, I doubt we'll see something like that anytime soon. It will be interesting to see how he deals with the fragile ego of Beckham, Morel in the 2 spot, Rios, the idea of Dunn sitting against LHP, etc.

We're also first in the American League in strikeouts. In a hitter's park, if you're not going to hit 15-25 homers per season (like a Uribe or Crede), you can't strike out 10 times already. See Beckham. See Morel. We've struck out 70 times, or 8.75 outs per game. Around 1/3rd of our outs have been K's. Obviously, that's not a sustainable ratio. White Sox=8.75 per game TB=8.0 per game Oakland=7.6 per game (hello Yoenis) LAA=7.56 per game BAL/BOS/TOR=7.44 per game Seattle=6.8 per game

The Green (with Envy) Monster... Well, Ozzie and Bobby found out that their acts can grow tiresome in less than one week of regular season action. Which way does the volatile/combustile John Henry go with his response? Of course, those Red Sox players have so much pride, many of them having won 1 or 2 championships under their watch. A lot of the players are not nearly as good as they were before, Varitek's leadership is missing from the clubhouse, Ortiz is nearing the end of his career (when it looked done 3 years ago and was called prematurely), Pedroia's been hurt a lot, Beckett and Lackey haven't been the same, a lot of wounded pride with how the last season ended so ignominiously, maybe frustration with their closer situation, the addition of Crawford and subtraction of Papelbon....lots of factors there to consider. With the rise of the Rays and now the Blue Jays to a lesser extent, they're getting more than they bargained for.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-07...useum-babe-ruth This thread was QUITE the find. Seems pretty incredible now. Amazing how everything in life comes down to money and greed (see story above). I wasn't a member here, I was just doing a search (the name of the Sox board member Pogofsky) to see if this story was somewhere in the archives...and we have this amazing thread written the year before we spent just $65 million dollars and blew through the playoffs and World Series. Remembering the mentality of Sox fans at that time, the frustration, things have changed so much from back then.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6040100006.html Discuss. I know JoshPR and myself are on-board, since he's my all-time favorite player. Points for... 1) The fact that MLB is now comprised of roughly 30% Hispanic players 2) The fact that Clemente and Gehrig were the only HOFers who had the usual five year waiting period waived 3) His off-field humanitarianism and outspokeness on civil rights issues 4) His exactly 3,000 hits, 12 Gold Gloves, .317 career average and mythological status due to his death Against... 1) Not as famous as Robinson 2) Wasn't the first or perhaps even the best Hispanic player 3) Played for the Pirates 4) Breaking the color line was arguably much more important than being one of the leading Hispanic players 5) He didn't face nearly as much discrimination as Robinson did, all by himself, in 1947 6) He had a controversial and tempestuous relationship with the press/media while he was alive 7) Didn't serve in the U.S. military like Robinson (who was actually court-martialed but cleared of wrongdoing)

"I learned the valuable asset of controlled aggression,'' the White Sox general manager said Friday. "As a football-mentality type guy I didn't know how to translate my aggressiveness into a sport where you have to back off and have kind of a controlled aggression. It wasn't until Cito Gaston pointed something out that it clicked.'' Controlled aggression. Williams stood up in the Sox dugout to demonstrate, swinging an imaginary bat as he reminded himself out loud to contain his emotions until unleashing them at the right time to maximize impact. "It worked,'' Williams said, smiling. "But by the time I got it, it was too late. I was relegated to the bench.'' More of KW's "wisdom"

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 12:45 AM) It would be a cause for celebration if Sox just released him. Somehow the Giants took Jose Guillen off the Royals hands that one year. The Royals, who gave Guillen an ill-advised three-year, $36MM deal in December of 2007, designated Guillen for assignment on August 5th. The $250K is about $138K more than the pro-rated portion of the major league minimum salary. Guillen still has $3.39MM left on his contract, but the Royals are covering some of that, according to a press release. There's a HUGE difference between under $4 million and OVER $40 million.

QUOTE (sunofgold @ Apr 15, 2012 -> 10:35 PM) At his very core, Leyland has White Sox blood. He's always seemed more at home in "blue collar" cities like Pittsburgh, Detroit and Chicago. Denver was a bad fit for him. The one anomaly in my theory is Miami...but that 1997 was just a super-talented of players who he managed to build into a team before it was quickly deconstructed by Huizenga.

Ravelo has 2 hr's in 438 career minor league AB's. 335 and 373 SLG marks when he had significant playing time, 400 SLG average for all his minor league AB's, for a 749 OPS. Unless you play middle infield or CF, those numbers don't translate to more than a fringe player like a Brandon Short (UNLESS he can make the transition to 3B, then he has a much better opportunity). Sanchez (is he Venezuelan or Panamanian, he was born in Panama City) has one homer in his career, 345 SLG average and 709 OPS (still 40+ points higher than Eduardo Escobar's career line and he is one of the youngest players in his league). Found this at Southside Showdown, pretty detailed article about the two in question Ravelo comes with a decent pedigree, having been a sixth-round pick out of a Florida high school in 2010. He hit .254/.291/.335 in the Appalachian League that season, so he had yet to get on the prospect radar prior to 2011. Repeating the level as a 19-year-old this past season, Ravelo got off to a huge start, going 28-for-73 in 20 games, posting a .384/.410/.507 line. That was good enough to get him promoted to Kannapolis, where he continued to rip singles, hitting .317/.368/.373. Overall, he hit .338/.381/.415 between the two levels at age 19. No doubt, that batting line leaves many questions unanswered. First, in just 63 games, can’t anyone hit for a fluky average? Second, there’s not a whole lot of power there; will he develop any? Certainly, Ravelo’s .452 batting average on balls in play in the Appy is unsustainable, but he seems to have the contact skills to hit at least .300. His BABIP dropped to .359 in Kannapolis, but he struck out just 10.9% of the time, with just 19 whiffs in 43 games. He also drew twelve walks, so his K/BB ratio was solid. As far as the power goes, Ravelo certainly looks the part of at least a decent power hitter. At 6’2″ and a stocky 210 pounds, he has a powerful frame, and his swing has some leverage in it, although it does seem geared more toward doubles power than home run power. Power is often the last tool to develop, and while Ravelo may never be a 20-HR threat, he could well be able to develop enough to play at third base. Perhaps he could be a .290/.340/.430 hitter, although he could also evolve into an Alberto Callaspo sort of player if his approach improves and his power doesn’t. Ravelo fielded .942 at third base this past season, which is well ahead of most teenage hot cornermen. He doesn’t have great athleticism, but he makes the routine plays and should be able to stick there. Sanchez is two months younger than Ravelo, and won’t turn 20 until June 29. Like Ravelo, he’s basically an empty-average guy at this point, as he hit .288/.341/.345 in Kannapolis. The Venezuelan switch-hitter had showed ridiculous patience in the Dominican Summer League in 2010 (.269/.431/.346), so the White Sox sent him straight to Low-A after just five games in Bristol. It’s impressive that such a young player was able to actually raise his batting average and keep his slugging percentage basically intact despite skipping two levels. Sanchez doesn’t have as much pressure to hit for power as Ravelo does, as he moved from third base to second base in 2011 and fielded .980 at the position. Like Ravelo, he’s not an athletic freak, but he makes enough of the routine plays that he projects to not have to move down the defensive spectrum. He went just 8-for-18 on the bases, so he’s not going to contribute much in that regard. He’ll need to work on regaining high walk rates once he settles into US ball, as he had a 49/15 K/BB in 63 games. Both of these players have plenty of time on their side, as they have around two years to work on their skills in the low minors before they’ll need to make the jump to Double-A. It’s tough to say what they’ll be able to produce when they aren’t so much younger than their competition, but both seem to have a strong hit tool and decent defensive ability as teenagers, and if they can develop in some other areas, both could find themselves playing significant roles on the White Sox in a few years.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...,0,164295.story Jim Leyland praises the White Sox over and over again and rips on prognosicators/analysts/writers.

Getz has such a low salary. He's a "grindy" player that wouldn't get significant playing time for 25 or so other teams in the majors. Royals' fans really like/d Yuniesky Betancourt or Willie Bloomquist? At least White Sox fans are smart enough to point the blame at the higher-salaried veterans, moreso than the younger players. I wouldn't be suprised if Moustakas doesn't hit 20+ homers that they start comparing him to Mark Teahen. The Royals have been a bit snake-bitten ever since they gave that extension to Salvador Perez and he subsequently got hurt.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Apr 15, 2012 -> 08:25 PM) I appreciate all of the thoughtful comments, as usual. I'm not normally a big fan of platooning players, but when you have combinations of inept hitters versus either left or right handed pitching, and there are capable replacements, why not? A hitter like Dunn is so bad versus LHP, and he has to bat in the middle of the order to be useful, in any case. A hitter like Conor Jackson, who completley dominated LHP when he was healthy, has to be seriously considered as a viable solution to the hole in the lineup that Dunn represents vs. LHP. I'm watching Jackson's daily progress at Charlotte, and hoping that he soon displays his ability to hit, especially vs. lefties. Even then, Charlotte isn't Chicago. Here's the problem with Jackson. Not that he put up a 660 OPS against LH pitching with well over 100 at-bats (0 homers) last year. It's that, even at his best, his #1 ability is walking to 1B. Which is probably Adam Dunn's best skill set against LHP as well. Who is going to drive either Dunn or Jackson in (let's say they're hitting 5th or 6th in the order) at the bottom of the line-up? That's why OPS can sometimes be misleading. A lot of Jackson's is OBP and less slugging...against LHP, we need the opposite, more power hitting and less base clogging. If we had consistent threats up and down the line-up, I might agree that Jackson would fit in better. But it's also been 4 years since he was a productive, everyday player. Stranger things have happened, sure, but the odds of Jackson being in Chicago in the first two months are about the same as Jake Peavy throwing 96 or 97 again.

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/04/14/35545...best-years.html

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 15, 2012 -> 08:09 PM) The Royals pitching just got absolutely abused by the Tribe over the weekend. KC fans starting to grumble a bit about Yost. He was smart to stand up for his players in the bench clearing stuff Sat night cause if KC keeps this up, Yost or GM are in trouble. After losing to Verlander Monday night KC will be 0-4 at home. Royals have embarrassing commercials this year like the Sox "All In" which backfired last year. "It's Our Time" is the motto and KC's pitching coupled with some injury problems make it seem like the Royals may suck again this year. And Hochevar had a ball blasted off his ankle on Friday. I notice his spot in the rotation is listed at TBA/TBD. Anything more on that injury? I'm guessing the x-rays came back negative. Pitching has always been the problem with the Royals, although Duffy has looked promising and has 93-96 MPH heat from the left side, the Royals' version of Chris Sale. Whenever you're counting on Bruce Chen as one of your top 3 starters going into a season, you know you're in trouble (and yes, he did perform well last year, even had an ERA below 4.00 I think). But to count on or expect a repeat season? Look on the bright side. Nobody is this bad. So just how bad are we talking? Pitching meltdowns in four consecutive games. Big innings in the last three games. Allowing the opposition to bat around four times since they played the national anthem on Friday. I said that the first trip through the pitching rotation could not have gone much better for the Royals. The second trip could not have gone much worse. Let’s break the big inning down: there were two errors in the bottom half of the third inning — first baseman Eric Hosmer’s dropped pop-up and first-base umpire Lance Barrett’s missed call. Chris Getz had just made a spectacular play to get Michael Brantley for the third out when Barrett called Brantley safe. Royals starter Luis Mendoza let his frustration show, and, whether the call hurt Mendoza’s concentration or not, the inning ended six runs later. You can’t blame Barrett for all six runs. He may have opened the door for the Indians, but Mendoza let them through. After the missed call, Mendoza gave up a single, a double, an intentional walk, a home run, a walk, a walk and a single. Over the course of the three hour, 20-minute game, the Royals’ pitchers walked seven batters and four of them scored. Pitching like this raises an important question: How come Mitch Maier is not in the rotation? When the Royals get down by a lot early, it takes them out of their game. They can’t steal, bunt or take the extra base. Being down by a lot means they have to play a conservative brand of baseball, which is not their style. The bright side to the bad start at home has been the offense. They have battled back. Hold the opposition down to a reasonable number of runs and they ought to have a chance.By the way, the Royals’ “Our Time” theme is probably going to take a beating for a while. Just remember, Yost and the players didn’t come up with that slogan. They were given copy to read for the cameras, and they read it. Read more here: http://royals.kansascity.com/games/353/#storylink=cpy

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 15, 2012 -> 07:52 PM) He apparently changed up his swing in the offseason so this may be legit. Time for another Phil Rogers article on what would have happened had we kept Young (instead of BA) and/or drafted Curtis Granderson. Or not traded for Javy, etc.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Apr 15, 2012 -> 07:42 PM) The pitching is too good to waste this season, if there is any chance to compete. I'm all for giving the youngsters Morel, Beckham, de Aza and Flowers plenty of playing time, but if there is a way to maximize the offensive potential, why not try to do that? Regarding Escobar, yes I would send him down for Conor Jackson, as soon as Jackson demonstrates that he's back to his normal level of performance. They have Lillibridge to fill in at infield position, if they need it. Removing the "hole" in the middle of the lineup vs. LHP is a higher priority than a utility infielder. If the infield defense were a weak point, that would be another story. However, all of our infielders are superb, and this team does not need a defensive replacement at those positions. Theoretically, Flowers could be the RH half of a DH combo with Dunn. With how hot AJ's been going, he's the only one providing protection to Konerko in that line-up. It's definitely not coming from Rios. So the question is where Flowers is going to get AB's if we're going to give Lillibridge the AB's against LHPers (sitting Dunn). Until Jackson proves himself, and he hasn't really been healthy for a full season since 2008...they will look at Brent as the first option over Jackson and leave DeAza in CF to play everyday because of the lack of another decent leadoff hitter on this team. It could come down to who does Robin want to sit more against LHP, Dunn or DeAza? At any rate, there probably won't be any major changes (except for Morel's role in the 2 spot) for another 2-3 weeks. Then you're probably going to have to move Ramirez or AJ back to the 2nd spot at some point if Morel continues to struggle, with Viciedo moved up. But that doesn't leave Konerko with much protection against LHP behind him. What are Lillibridge's splits as the leadoff hitter again? I'd have to look them up.