caulfield12

1) Ozzie Guillen ALWAYS defends his veterans over the younger players, see Pierre/Viciedo or playing Rios all last season or Dunn over Lillibridge. Already publicly defending and then simultaneously not defending Bell is going to get him nowhere in the clubhouse. 2) Greg, how can you explain why the White Sox have the best outfield defense in recent years when last year it was probably the worst? 3) Greg, how can you explain why the White Sox are actually having very good success throwing out and holding on opposing baserunners? 4) Greg, how can you explain why the White Sox actually having a consistent line-up from day to day hasn't been a stabilizing influence? 5) Greg, how can you explain why some of the players like Peavy, Dunn and Rios who have been pretty bad in recent seasons with the Sox (to the point where a lot of fans wanted them waived/released/salaries dumped) are suddenly playing the best and carrying the team this year? 6) Greg, how can you explain why Ozzie and Cooper are now dealing so well with 10+ rookies on a team when Ozzie struggled to deal with 1-2-3 on a roster? 7) Greg, why have Robin's "Sunday line-ups" been working, whereas that strategy hadn't worked for Ozzie for YEARS? 8) Greg, why are we now having some decent success against journeymen/left-handers/soft-tossers/AAAA pitchers? 9) Greg, why are we hitting so much better with RISP this season?

QUOTE (RZZZA @ Jul 6, 2012 -> 10:47 PM) The pitching and fielding on this team is so awesome! How does it all come together like this? It amazes me. Even the rookies who nobody expected anything out of are coming up and pitching beautifully. When things come together like this you can only say...championship? Hold on. We still have to get Sale, Quintana and Peavy through August and September. We still have to get another starter and probably one more piece for the bullpen. That bullpen is doing fine for now, but they're all ntested in the heat of a pennant race. Who knows, that might actually work in their favor, but not counting on it.

Maybe they just want someone with more experience over Septimo or Omogrosso? Not sure. Their bullpen could use another veteran, especially if Crain's out an extended period of time.

3 years is just crazy, unless it's a team option only, like with Gavin.

Remember John Van Benschoten, lol...? That didn't work so well. Yet another relief candidate for our deep pool. Obviously, at some point, he was highly thought of by at least ONE GM, haha. This is the pick that got Littlefield axed. The Pirates selected Moskos with the fourth pick in the 2007 draft. Although Baseball America rated him as the 8th best player in the draft, there were better players available, including several potential impact hitters. The Pirates, however, were unwilling to pay the money needed to acquire Scott Boras client Matt Wieters. For some reason they also passed over Georgia HS prospect Jason Heyward even though scouting director Ed Creech lived in Georgia. Instead, they fell back on their Littlefield-era default choice of college pitching. Moskos signed in mid-July for $2.475M. Moskos’ high rating by BA and other observers was a little puzzling all along. He was Clemson’s closer in 2006, but converted to starting partway into the 2007 season. He threw in the low- to mid-90s with a lot of life as a closer, but only 89-92 when starting, and by the end of the season he was down in the high 80s. Moskos supposedly had a “wipeout” slider that served as his out pitch, along with a curve and change that were not as well regarded. BA described his command as average. He has a high-effort delivery and had little projection at the time of the draft, so he was probably about as good as he was going to get. His college numbers were good but not overwhelming; for one thing, he allowed far more baserunners than the typical dominating college hurler, especially one pitching mainly in relief. As a starter, scouts projected him in the middle, not the front, of the rotation. Many observers thought he’d return to the bullpen as a pro and, in fact, the Pirates said after the draft that he’d be a closer. It’s difficult not to draw the conclusion that, aside from money, the Pirates were influenced by two other factors in making the pick: Salomon Torres’ struggles as closer shortly before the draft and the desire to get bullpen help for 2008, when they figured to be trying to avoid tying the record for consecutive losing seasons. If so, the selection belied former GM Dave Littlefield’s statement, made shortly before the draft, that the team would take the best player available regardless of specific needs. As if the questionable ceiling wasn’t enough, Moskos had to face the ominous prospect of being a first round Pirates’ pitcher. At the time of the selection, the Pirates had taken pitchers first seven times in nine years. Five of the seven saw their careers derailed by major arm surgery and one other went nowhere due to arm problems and poor command. Two of the seven were relievers in college yet still ran into major health problems as pros, so the fact that Moskos had less wear than some college pitchers did little to reduce the risk factor. His high effort delivery also contributed to the injury risk. For all kinds of reasons, this was a baffling and frustrating selection. It also created a furor among Pirate fans that seemed to catch management off guard. In fact, the best thing that could be said about the selection is that the resulting, and justified, criticism probably contributed to Littlefield’s long overdue firing. 2007 R: 0-0-0, 0.00 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 3 IP, 0.0 BB/9, 9.0 K/9 A-: 0-0-1, 4.26 ERA, 1.97 WHIP, 12.2 IP, 4.3 BB/9, 9.2 K/9 Moskos’ performance after signing didn’t help quell the uproar. After a couple warmup outings in the GCL, he went to State College and pitched poorly. A .328 opponents’ BA in short season ball is not exactly what people expect from a guy taken fourth overall from a very strong draft pool. There were conflicting reports about Moskos’ velocity, but most indicated it got into the low 90s at least some of the time. 2008 A+: 7-7-0, 5.95 ERA, 1.51 WHIP, 110.1 IP, 3.5 BB/9, 6.4 K/9 Opened in the Lynchburg rotation, as the team’s new management believes that pitching prospects should at least initally be brought along as starters to get increased work. Unfortunately, Moskos pitched poorly from start, getting hit hard, struggling at times with his control, and posting a K rate far below league average. He regressed over time, culminating in a horrid July with an ERA of 11.81 and more walks than strikeouts. The Pirates blamed the July collapse on fatigue, but Moskos wasn’t pitching well even before then. His offerings left scouts thoroughly unimpressed, as his fastball was generally only in the high 80s and his slider bore no resemblance to a “wipeout” pitch . Scouts also questioned his conditioning. The only positive was better pitching after Moskos moved to the bullpen in August, posting a 2.61 ERA and fanning 20 in 20.2 IP, with 17 hits allowed. For the year, his problems came mostly against RHP hitters, as he was effective against LH hitters. He also had a high groundout to air out ratio of 1.89. 2009 AA: 11-10-0, 3.74 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 149 IP, 3.5 BB/9, 4.7 K/9 The Pirates promoted Moskos to Altoona and put him back in the rotation. He showed improvement from the start, but for much of season his walk total was higher than his K total. He survived by inducing large numbers of groundballs, as he had a 2.10 GO/AO ratio for the year. Late in season, he started putting up better numbers. He fanned 27 while walking only six and allowing 31 hits in his last 33 IP. Moskos’ stock took another hit, though, in the Arizona Fall League, as he struggled there and generated abysmal scouting reports. 2010 AA: 3-1-21, 1.52 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 41.1 IP, 3.5 BB/9, 9.4 K/9 AAA: 0-5-1, 10.38 ERA, 2.65 WHIP, 17.1 IP, 10.4 BB/9, 9.3 /9. Back at Altoona in 2010, Moskos opened the season as closer and seemingly turned things completely around. His fastball was in the mid-90s regularly and his slider was effective again. He dominated both right- and left-handed hitters, fanned more than a batter an inning, and got a lot of groundballs. At end of June the Pirates promoted Moskos to Indianapolis and he seemed finally to be on fast track to Pittsburgh. Unfortunately, he completely imploded in AAA due to an inability to throw strikes. He struggled in pretty much every outing and eventually went back to Altoona, where he picked up where he’d left off before the promotion. It’s hard to understand how he could have such different experience from moving up just one level, but evidently AAA hitters weren’t chasing pitches that AA hitters were chasing. Even at Altoona the one, seemingly minor flaw in Moskos’ pitching was somewhat shaky control. 2011 AAA: 1-1-3, 3.43 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 42 IP, 2.4 BB/9, 6.2 K/9 MLB: 1-1-0, 2.96 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, 24.1 IP, 3.3 BB/9, 4.1 K/9 The Pirates added Moskos to the 40-man roster after the 2010 season and sent him back to Indianapolis to open 2011. He pitched well in April and got called up late in the month. Except for one brief spell in May, he stayed in the majors until July. He continued pitching well in AAA until August, when he struggled. His numbers in AAA were good except for the low K rate. He was very tough on left-handed hitters (.533 OPS), just decently against right-handed hitters (.729 OPS). As the WHIP shows, he didn’t pitch as well in the majors as his ERA indicates. He tended to fall behind hitters and didn’t show the stuff he supposedly had in 2010. His fastball sat at 92 and topped out at 94, and his slider wasn’t very effective. He had a huge reverse platoon split that was probably a fluke. He did continue to be a strong groundball pitcher and allowed no HRs. The Pirates generally tried to use Moskos in low leverage situations, in contrast to Tony Watson, so it’s clear that Watson has surpassed Moskos on the depth chart. Moskos adapted much better to AAA in 2011 and pitched decently in the majors, but he didn’t show the outstanding stuff that he supposedly had as a closer in college. Combined with his shaky command, it’s hard to see him as more than a middle reliever unless his stuff takes a step forward. He did have a good spring in 2012, but lost out to Tony Watson for the one lefty spot in the bullpen. He’ll open in AAA and will probably appear in Pittsburgh at some point. UPDATE: Moskos continued to get uninspiring results in AAA in 2012 and, in late June, the Pirates designated him for assignment to clear 40-man roster space. It wouldn’t be surprising if he cleared waivers. piratesprospects.com

They had the guy from Baseball Prospectus, Kevin Goldstein on 670 around noon. Said that basically none of the White Sox rookies were "impact" guys, except for Reed. Made the comment that if the Cubs brought up their Iowa roster, they would have 13 rookies but that wouldn't make them good. He had actually predicted Sox for 2nd and around 83-87 wins. Expressed surprise about Quintana and Nathan Jones. The question was raised....how long would it take for Quintana to be considered as more than a fringe prospect or back of the rotation/long man...and the reply was that command and control guys, even left handed, who throw 88-91 are a dime a dozen. Then one of the radio guys asked....well, when do we start saying he's actually maybe better than that, project him as a Danks/Buehrle/Glavine type? And the response was...how many young pitchers with similar stuff are compared to those HOF type pitchers and how many actually come close to delivering those results? Beckham also said that Manto/Ventura had them do a "ghost infield" drill and that it was "cool." No balls hit, caught or thrown. Just simulated...as if the ball was being hit and throw, turning a DP, etc. Diving and getting up and throwing. Said that Viciedo was the only one who didn't get it. That McEwing was stronger than Canseco with the way he was reacting so quickly to the ball being put into play and that they had to keep yelling at him he was using his imagination so poorly, lol.

What contract do you offer? 1 year, $7.5-8 million? 2 years, $14-15 million? Long time to go before the end of the season, but it doesn't seem likely Flowers can hit over .200 at the major league level. He has HUGE pop in his bat, but a big swing and just not enough contact.

You can make strong arguments for Peavy, Rios and AJ.

Okay. HOpe you didn't get your name from John or Joe Carter. Will try Savages today, looks like a "good" Stone movie and better than most of his recent claptrap. Moonrise Kingdom is the other possibility. I'm going to have to vote no on the new Woody Allen, although Midnight in Paris was excellent. Allen's doing all of his movies with European settings recently.

Yep, and Marty34 unconditionally doesn't like KW. Other than that, all shades of grey (not to be confused with the novel).

1B-Konerko 2B-Craig Grebeck or Sugar Ray SS-Guillen or Uribe 3B-Ventura C-Fisk or AJ LF-Jose Canseco or Ron LeFlore CF-Lance Johnson or Brian Anderson RF-Jermaine Dye or CQ DH-Albert Belle or Dunn P Buehrle P McDowell P Radinsky P Contreras P Jim Parque P Jenks (well, maybe not) Hermie, Hard Art Kusyner, Don Wakamatsu, Greg775 Note: Does going to Hooter's with Gene Lamont count?

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 6, 2012 -> 12:52 AM) He can hit a little, you just have to take the good with the bad. He's a .220 hitter who won't walk much but will hit you 15-20 home runs. If you can handle that at 2B, then he's perfect. Which is actually a lot like Beckham, unless he can ever learn to consistently drive fastballs or lay off them out of the zone.

It's very apparent Ozzie can't deal as well with 1) players who are exactly like him, publicity hounds or perceived as selfish or 2) players who are the exact opposite. In the first group, you have the likes of Swisher, C-Lee, Maggs, O-Cab, Beckham, Brian Anderson...but he mostly hates or hated players who sulked or got down on themselves too much and pouted. I think that's why he and Beckham always had a difficult relationship. He finally came to an understanding with Konerko because Paulie's basic argument is that he was "just" a two-tool player, hitting and hitting for power...and that the reason he took his offensive struggles so hard was because that was his livelihood, nobody was paying him to play defense or run. Ozzie never cared as much about his offensive game because he was paid more for his fielding and complementary skills, like bunting and base running. Then you have the second group, the Quentins, Pierres, Dyes, Alexei Ramirezes and Brent Morels. Sometimes, he worked well with this group, Jon Garland being a prime example. In some ways, Morel is so quiet and unassuming....he drove Ozzie crazy because he seemed to play with little feeling or emotion. It seems they wanted him to come more out of his shell and it was a constant task to get him not to be what he perceived the Sox wanted him to be but to come into his own and develop an identity he was comfortable with on and off the field.

Speaking of Garland, does anyone know how his comeback is going, if at all? I saw where the Indians signed him in the spring, then he didn't take a physical. Know that he had surgery last year....or a season ending injury with the Dodgers. Would be a no-risk pickup for Charlotte, if he wants to pitch again, and needed insurance for another injury.

Yeah, it's just THE WATCH.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 5, 2012 -> 07:38 PM) If other teams value Mitchell as an above average prospect, he's easily our #1 trade chip. And question is, who's our #2? (There's just no way we can trade Nathan Jones with Crain's future uncertain). If you were an opposing GM, surely you wouldn't want to take a risk on Trayce Thompson unless he was the 3rd or 4th player involved. Castro's on the DL now. Molina's stock is way down, Saladino has struggled and could just as easily end up a utility guy or Morel as a starting infielder. Morel would be someone that another team might really be interested in if he was the final piece, as a speculative acquisition. Beck, Barnum and Hawkins aren't going anywhere. Soptic is going to be drawing raves, but he's a reliever and way down in A ball.

Soptic will be in our bullpen before the end of the year...haha. Why not, the way this season's going? Who needs the veterans? Well, might be singing a different tune in August/September.

Damn, Tomlin picked a good time to pitch a great game. Hafner's back, too. Still have that huge weakness with Damon in LF, and Hannahan's not going to give you what Chisenhall was delivering from 3B offensively. Twins had the Tigers down 3-2 and then Detroit blew them away late. 2-2 split at DET was a great result for us, though.

2000 team surely.... That team, top to bottom, could rake. Perry, Durham, Maggs, C-Lee, Konerko, Thomas, Valentin. Singleton was probably the weakest hitter that year, Fordyce at catcher, but we added Charles Johnson in trade, who was a monster that season with the O's. That's probably the most impactful in-season move made for a position player b4 Youkilis.

Neighborhood Watch with Stiller, Vaughn and Hill looks like it won't be that good...we'll see. Didn't they change the plot around after the T. Martin case, or was it simply the release date? Armaggedon and Deep Impact, two movies that get confused as well because of their respective release dates.

Hard not to see Buehrle on the mound and wish that we were somehow able to have him around still. Maybe...at some point...the Marlins will decide they have to dump that contract when their attendance falls next season or the year after.

Jared Mitchell cratering....0/3, 3 K's, .248 Hawkins 2/4, 2B, 2 RBI

The best 2B he'd ever seen in the minors, according to Carney Lansford.

I don't think we exactly "won" the Javy trade. Javy for 3 years (inconsistent at best) It will look a BIT better if Flowers does something, and Lillibridge was part of the Youk trade, but it certainly wasn't a steal by any means. And it led directly to the BA in CF disaster in 2006.

Youkilis fouled off something like 8 pitches in a row. His at-bat was nearly 8 minutes long against Adams. DeAza's at-bat was a little short of 5 minutes, including the time down on the ground for the foul off the right knee. All told, 13 minutes, no outs, two great AB's.