caulfield12

QUOTE (Whitewashed in '05 @ Jun 3, 2012 -> 10:27 PM) I'm surprised Hawk has gotten so much media attention after going off about the umpire. He's done it before and in that fashion as well. Thought I don't have a chance to listen to him much I remember he went off the same way about Brian Gorman for ejecting Buehrle ending his 46 game 6 inning streak. Didn't he also go off about an umpire (forgot his name) because he called 2 balks on Buehrle for his pickoff move? Joe West...the same one who called Santiago for a balk in Game 2, and has that idiotic Country & Western album he recorded

QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ Jun 3, 2012 -> 09:24 PM) That's kind of what I figured - a dip in revenue per person. Still, selling (practically giving away) the upper deck seats for $5-10 per game is a decent idea just to fill up the park even if there isn't an uptick in concession sales. Creating an atmosphere in the park, maybe making new fans who come more often/upgrade to better seats in the future - not bad things. It's definitely true with the minor leagues. With a big market like Chicago, where there's not quite as much repeat attendance as the minors (the 80/20 rule still applies, though), maybe it's not so cut-and-dried because when you spend X amount of money to go, which is a lot higher than at minor league games, for a one-time event, maybe you're more likely to spend another 15-30% on top of that...AND, at some point, though KW and JR know that to build a true homefield advantage, that crowds in the low 20's really don't cut it. It just gives the park an added "buzz" and different feeling when the upper deck is at least partially filled, particularly behind home plate. Even if the discount night/s are revenue neutral, the advantage to the team....the feel in the stadium...the ability to attract or entice free agents (one of the reasons that Chris Perez said Beltran refused to go there was the lack of crowd support compared to what the Cardinals consistently draw), these are all intangible factors that do have a real impact outside of the bottom line.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 3, 2012 -> 10:36 PM) Except none of them are left-handed. We still have Santiago/Ohman/Quintana. That's already better than most MLB teams, in terms of the LH relief department.

QUOTE (High Mileage @ Jun 3, 2012 -> 10:25 PM) Royals uber-prospect Wil Myers is dominating Triple-A with the Omaha Storm Chasers. In 18 games, just 67 at-bats, Wil is hitting .343/.389/.716 with 6 homers and 18 RBI. He's playing a fine centerfield as well. And someone at I-70 or whatever the Royals fan/blogsite is wants to trade him before he loses his value. Because they have Butler, Hosmer, Moustakas, Gordon signed long term, Cain for CF (when healthy) and then Francouer in RF, and Dayton loves Frenchie!

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jun 3, 2012 -> 08:46 PM) Watching J. Edgar right now. Really odd movie. And the makeup is kinda awful. I thought it wasn't bad. But Eastwood's had some clunkers recently, Hereafter didn't do well, either. Gran Torino is one of my all-time faves, though, of his more recent work.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jun 3, 2012 -> 09:47 PM) But we hate AJ's and Ale's. Ale's? Pale Ale? Pilsen?

In the last 12-13 years, the only "boom or bust" athletic player that KW targeted who really made it was Chris Young...unless you count Viciedo, and because of his lack of speed and fielding prowess, I don't really think of him in the same way (4-5 tool player) as I would Mitchell/Walker/Thompson. Sweeney, I suppose. But he's more of a 4th outfielder and never developed the power envisioned with his frame. That's not a great track record, at least compared to their ability to identify pitching.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jun 3, 2012 -> 09:16 PM) I don't think parking is a big issue. The Sox do allow tailgating two beers in the lots and you're roughly breaking even. Let's say the White Sox have the "average" parking price for majors, $15.00-17.50. You don't think that would have an impact? I'm always thinking they WANT to have fewer people parking, but charging MORE for parking...giving those people who do park the "premium" experience getting in and out. Let's say the parking price was $12.50 instead...then wouldn't those people who loved having to fight with fewer and fewer people complain, or would they be made happier by the experience of watching the game in a stadium that was filled with more fans rooting for the Sox? And if they had 5000 parked at $12.50 or 2500 parked at $25; wouldn't you still prefer to get 5000 out to the game because of the additional revenue you'd derive from concession and souvenir sales? Or does half-price/discount night lead to much lower sales in concessions/souvenirs and not offset the negative experience of the fans who might have to fight longer lines, more crowding in bathrooms, harder to park, etc. For discount/half-price nights, is there is a 50/50 split between upper and lower deck seats sold? Or is it 75% upper deck and 25% lower? Just curious. When I worked for a minor league team, the assumption was always that free/discounted tickets led to lower sales of souvenirs and concessions...but I'm not sure how applicable this is to the Sox, in the 3rd biggest market in the US. However, one always gets the idea their market isn't "families" or "cheapskates" or "blue collar" workers like it traditionally has been. I mean, they do target families and groups on the weekends, but not as much as lots of other teams do.

QUOTE (SouthSidePride05 @ Jun 3, 2012 -> 09:09 PM) Well, assuming we win the division this year, it's a 50% chance at least 1 of the remaining regular season games will be a sell out... If the clincher is at home, it'll most likely sell out. I'm predicting that game will be the only sell out before the playoffs. Cubs series won't sell out; they didn't last year and they won't this year. They'll average 33K for that series. Overall, the attendance won't drop much from last season. Last season, we sold just over 2 million. This year it'll be just under 2 million, averaging just over 24K per home game. Next year all depends on advance season ticket sales. I study trends and numbers for a living, so this is how I see the attendance figures panning out. Financial analyst or something to do with insurance/actuarial science?

QUOTE (Cerbaho-WG @ Jun 3, 2012 -> 08:53 PM) I think Strasburg will be this year, and that's the only example that comes to mind. That being said, the Sox could think outside the box again and implement a six man rotation for a few weeks. If you implement one for five weeks you save Sale, and everyone else, about 10-12 innings. I don't think Sale's mechanics right now are all that problematic. I'm afraid of him running out of gas in late August. Therein lies the dilemma. Do you want to try to run away from the Tigers and Indians while they're both very vulnerable and beaten up injury-wise, or do you want to take the "long haul" approach and sacrifice victories in the middle of the season to fortify yourself for the pennant drive? To me, it depends on our financial resources to add another starting pitcher. The longer we hold onto first place and maximize our advantage, the better our attendance will be and the more likely it is that JR will be willing to authorize further spending, like in the case of Manny Ramirez in 2010 (hopefully that won't be used as a reason NOT to do something, because of that fiasco/failure). You have Sizemore, Carmona, Hannahan, Hafner, Carlos Santana (he'll be back soon), Dirks out now, Austin Jackson, Fister, Avila (banged up), Victor Martinez, Albuquerque, Raburn (AAA), Inge (waived), Worth and Santiago at 2B...Gerald Laird is their best RH hitting DH candidate. The time to strike is now.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 3, 2012 -> 07:42 PM) I think Gavin is just inconsistent mechanically. This means when he is off, it is not easy for him to just "recalibrate" and start throwing like he wants. This might make him seem nut-less, but he's just streaky...there's lots of pitchers like this. I'd say we don't know much about him as a big game pitcher because there haven't been a great deal of big games since he's been here. Except for 2008 down the stretch, the 2008 playoff start, 2010 when we were near or in first place....and this year, but not a HUGE record of "big-game" failures, it's mostly just perception. Same way John Danks will ALWAYS be thought of as a big-game pitcher due to Game 163, it tends to skew our perceptions one way or the other. Frankly, between the two, you couldn't trust either guy right now. Or Humber. Just Sale and Peavy, and Jake has those two "collapses" against DET and CLE now appended to his sterling results this year.

Both Floyd and Danks have never quite measured up to their 2008 success. Instead of improving, they "maintained" or arguably regresssed a bit. Second, the "stuff" argument, which is reminiscent of Javy. Cue Hawk: "I've never seen a pitcher with Javy's or Gavin's pure stuff have a career .500 record." Third, as fathom has noted, he really really struggles with runners on base. Out of the stretch, he tends to elevate all of his fastballs up in the zone, and his offspeed stuff flattens out. If anything, Cooper really should be working on getting more explosion/leverage and on his mechanics in these situations. Of course, Gavin's been on our roster for 5+ seasons, if it was an "easy" fix like he had with Matt Thornton, then Guru Don already would have fixed him by now.

When is the last time a pitcher on the AL All-Star roster was shut down (or moved to the bullpen) in the 2nd half of a season, in the middle of a pennant race, for "injury prevention" concerns? Just curious what other examples are out there in recent history.

Why don't they try an experiment ONCE..."fan/customer appreciation day," on a Monday-Thursday game??? FREE PARKING. And just analyze the total revenue increase from those games in tickets sold, fans attending, concessions and souvenirs, etc. Maybe it wouldn't be worth it...and they would lose money, but there's no other way to study this specific market (Chicago White Sox ticket demand) without at least trying it once to see what the effect is. I don't think the season ticket holders who pay for parking as part of their packages would all threaten to burn down the front office. Maybe you can give them a preferred parking area that's closest to the stadium, some kind of giveaway (all you can eat those days for free, or all you can drink, or whatever, be creative!!)

Cue the next Rosenbloom article on the pitch count (by the way, was he also there with Prior and Wood every start a decade ago criticizing Dusty Baker?)... Not so much pitch counts, total pitches and innings pitched, but HIGH LEVERAGE pitches, pitches which put maximum torque on the elbow (slider), pitches thrown at 95 MPH and above...the 9th inning of today's game, for example, the Olivo at-bat, when he was fouling off pitches and had already homered earlier in the game and thought he had him put away at least once. You can't compare Sale to Randy Johnson, Verlander, Prior, Wood, Strasburg...everyone's unique. FWIW, I think the risk/upside is worth it, and if he does go down to TJ, that's actually improved or aided the careers of many pitchers, as opposed to the career death sentence that elbow injuries were in Hawk Harrelson's time. As long as it's not the shoulder or labrum...and Johan Santana provides some encouragement in that area, even.

We were talking about successful big league starters at the 5'10" or 5'9 mark. Whitey Ford of the Yankees would be another example, or Ron Guidry, come to mind. Fernando Valenzuela, Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine, Tim Lincecum, Billy Wagner (for a reliever)…Gio Gonzalez.

By my count, Chris Sale has already thrown 1,064 pitches this season. In his next start, he'll pass his entire 2011 major league workload at the 1/3rd mark of the season. Three starts from now, he'll pass his entire MLB career (1,477 pitches) in 2 1/3 months (yes, this doesn't take into consideration Chris' amateur career before he joined the Sox). The question I would have is does the fact that does the fact that Chris has let up quite a bit with the fastball (except when he really needs to dial it up into the 95-97 mph range) help his elbow's longevity, or is the biggest concern still the slider? In the 15 K game, the majority of the K's came on sliders, although he is throwing it statistically less often than he did in 2011 and 2010. Is there any way to measure the torque on an elbow...vis a vis someone like Liriano, who threw his slider in the 89-92 MPH range at the height of his success in 2006. One would think that because Chris doesn't throw his slider nearly as hard as Liriano that, heaven forbid, if he ever did suffer an injury or need surgery, he'd be much more likely to bounce back compared to what we've seen with the Twins' pitcher.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Jun 3, 2012 -> 10:58 AM) Youks batting .314 since coming off the DL, raising his BA from .219 to .253, raising his OBP .032 points to .324, and his OPS .103 points up from .635 to .738. His back was clearly holding him back, but then again perhaps the same could be said for Brent. If Brent doesnt come back and perform and Youks still available for Thornton and lower level prospects you do that deal. IMO adding youk moves the sox from a playoff contender to a WS contender. Is the "WS Contender" factoring in acquiring Youkilis without giving up Floyd, Thornton or Crain? Just taking on salary...or sending prospects their way? The problem is the better Youkilis starts to play, the more likely they are to hold onto him...and Middlebrooks, like all rookies, will go through a down period where a team in a pennant race will be tempted to go with the veteran leader, just like they did with Mike Lowell in the past. With the AL East being such a logjam, this trade becomes less and less likely the better the Red Sox play, especially with all the issues in Boston's outfield offensively.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 3, 2012 -> 04:36 PM) SUCK IT SEAMEN! At least Hawk didn't say "Saunders took a facial" in Game 1. Although maybe Stone Pony did...

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 3, 2012 -> 03:57 PM) 6 up on Detroit. Believe it or not, the Tigers are just 1 game better than Kansas City. Oy. The same Royals who were 6-18 at HOME this season coming into Sunday's play. WOW.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jun 3, 2012 -> 08:02 AM) The flip side of the attendance issue is, taking last year as an example, they had the highest payroll in their history and according to Forbes made money averaging only 25,000. It shows a pretty strong franchise with room to grow. One of the neat little statistical comparisons between this year and last is that we're almost exactly 100,000 behind last year's attendance pace. Through 27 home games in 2011 (cutoff is June 8th game with SEA), we had drawn 661,813 fans, for an average of 24,512. Through 27 hom games in 2012 (cutoff is June 3rd game with SEA), we've drawn 561,934 fans, for an average of 20,812. The net difference is 3,700 fans per game. However, when you take into consideration we lopped off roughly 20% of our payroll (more or less $25 million), a 15% decrease in attendance is clearly offset by the highest prices in baseball for parking, top 4-5-6 for tickets, etc. So we're just as profitable, it not a tick or two more profitable, than 2011. If the dynamic pricing model wasn't making them MORE profits, they wouldn't be sticking with it. Perhaps actual attendance and announced attendance would show a disparity (one could assume more fans were using their tickets in early 2011 and less as the season wore on, as opposed to the opposite effect this year).

This is all fine and good until Konerko suffers a season-ending injury or pulls a hammy lunging to his left or right or trying to come in on a bunt and throwing across his body in a way he's not used to doing. Viciedo...okay, he's played with position as recently as 3 years ago. Konerko, no way.

Actually, Nathan Jones now is in the pen...maybe Quintana just getting in work for his next start depending on Danks' status.

Quintana warming up. What? That's interesting. Guess RV is in love with LH relievers this year...

Would have to guess Sale at least gets to go out and start the 9th. Off-day tmrw. Hate to bring in a reliever with a runner or runners on base, but he's earned the shot at the CG if he can keep his pitch count down. This is going to be the problem all year long. He's so good, you keep telling yourself you have to protect him, even though it's so tempting to leave him out there. He does have that extra day of rest, right?