caulfield12

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 17, 2012 -> 08:01 PM) What makes you think I don't pay for season tickets? It's beyond ridiculous to think that a failing GM has no effect on ticket sales. Just a feeling. Even if Hahn was the GM this year, a 14-22 start would destroy any "bounce" we got out of a regime change. Heck, you can argue that nobody shows up to a White Sox game because of who the manager is, but I'm sure a few VOLUBLE posters would disagree and argue Ozzie's departure is costing 100,000 in attendance, with nothing scientific to back it up.

He had to at least be in the lower 90's, because nobody was pulling the ball on his FB. The question is not whether he can throw 93-96 ever again (he did that a number of times last year, like the Cubs' game), it's whether it is wise to do that and how much movement he gives up at that velocity.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 17, 2012 -> 07:44 PM) You don't understand that: 1. Virtually no one buys tickets based on the GM 2. Virtually no one ever has confidence in a team's GM, especially in Chicago. Bulls have the best record in the league and Forman gets ripped for standing pat. 3. People had "lost confidence in KW" in 2004, 2008, and many other times too. 4. Kenny Williams's job security right now has to hang on where Viciedo, Molina, Castro, Beckham, and a couple others are in 2-3 years. Milkman and Marty, although I don't think Marty pays for season tickets, regardless. Dick Allen, perhaps. But isn't he sticking it out this year? The fans at Applebee's in Lawrence are getting fed up with KW playing his son in spring training games, though.

If there was no 2005, everyone would agree with you, Marty. He would never have lasted this long, not through the last 3 years, and realistically, the Twins choked away 2008 to us, although we had to go out and win those last three games. What rebuilding can there possibly be next year? Peavy will be gone. Doing a Zambrano/Volstad trade and eating all of Dunn or Rios' salaries? Any intern could come in and do that. Luz Garcia from Orgullosox.com could do that. Realistically, the only position that's completely up for grabs in 2013 is catcher. Other than that, the pieces are mostly in place. The only question is what we can get back for Floyd and Thornton, how much we have to eat to get rid of AJ and whether to trade Ramirez and Konerko. And realistically, we don't even need a GM to decide those last 2, in all probability, JR will make those decisions if we were to hire a new GM. The new GM would be like Hoyer to JR's Epstein.

Crean's gone through some very tough rebuilding years and lots of unfortunate injuries. Never really liked the guy, but he deserves his success, if for no other reason than to stop the Shaka Smart bandwagon. That KY team is so loaded, if Indiana beats them again, it's the equivalent of KU beating Oklahoma in the NCAA Championship game. 95 times out of 100, Kentucky wins on a neutral court, especially without Verdell Jones. This year, the coach who is expected to win more than any other has to be Calipari, especially with Fab Melo out and Henson hurting for UNC. I'm going to laugh if New Mexico goes into the Sweet 16 and Illinois hires Alford. Few, Stevens, Smart, A. Grant, Buzz Williams, Frank Martin and Drew seem to be the current favorites. Brad Heslip show, 18 points on 6 three-pointers in the first half. Almost at a career high. Perry Jones is doing his disappearing act again, how he can be a lottery pick, not sure. Potential.

The only argument we're not rebuilding this entire offseason is re-signing John Danks. That's it. And not trading away Thornton, Floyd, Crain, etc.

It's rebuilding for the team and organization, but financially, the White Sox can't easily afford to give that perception. That's why KW walked back that "rebuilding" phrase the first time it came out of his mouth. Rebuild usually means 2-3 years. White Sox fans historically haven't had that much patience. Even if the team is a failure this season, they can cut another $20 million from the payroll in 2013 and be roughly in the same spot competitively. The fact is, if the Tigers become a superpower/dynasty type of team the next couple of years, the White Sox have little choice but to position themselves to compete in 2014-2015 and hit the spending/timing of that cycle exactly perfectly.

Except the M's don't have many of their starters going today. Melton calls an M's player "Morsaka" or Norsaka, discovers thanks to Merkin that he's Noriega, then comes "I thought that guy was in prison." Priceless.

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 17, 2012 -> 04:23 PM) Could be. If Lillibridge can play a decent infield, I don't know if Escobar fits in. Dan Johnson may be a little better off the bench. The wildcard is if Viciedo just doesn't do anything the spring, in addition to bad defense. Then you may go Fukudome, De Aza, Rios, with Lillibridge as the 4th outfielder, and Escobar as the backup infielder. That seems like a big long shot though. Viciedo will probably break camp no matter what. I'll believe it when I see it. Plus, then you're going to have to shift Brent back to the outfield again just when he's getting reacclimated to the infield again.

LOL at Melton. Not the kind of guy who's going to hurt you or drive the ball (Escobar)...Melton's making the excuse that the wind blew it out and the Arizona weather, lol. Escobar's definitely earning his place on this team. Beckham pulled an inside pitch for a double down the LF line and Mitchell had a perfect sac bunt to the right side that was so good that Ackley didn't have a play at 1B. Then the Escobar bomb. Lillibridge with another steal, that's 12/22 in that category for the team (SB/opp) this spring. Olivo throws wildly and Brent ends up at 3B. Of course, Rios hits the ball the one place NOT to hit it, 3B. Brain cramp. Looks like Paulie drove him in. Dunn with the match-up against a LHP, almost drives it through 2B. At least he's making consistent contact this spring.

Peavy has looked much better today. Rios with a solid approach on the RBI single. Lillibridge and Escobar continuing to get on base. Escobar=38=Ozuna, we'll take it, if we can get that Pablo kind of offense to go with his defense...all he needs to do is throw the "safe" sign up on every infield play at 1B as he runs across the bag

QUOTE (YASNY @ Mar 17, 2012 -> 01:13 PM) KState ran out of gas. 'Cuse had too much depth. Just not enough scoring options, after Henriquez. This has been Martin's most offensively-challenged team, just lacking in experienced playmakers like they had with Pullen. God, I hate Syracuse. They've almost reached Duke status with me.

First time I've been able to watch any of these teams play this year. D. Thomas from OSU is very impressive, he's completely taken over the game against Gonzaga. Still, 13-2 advantage in second chance points (that won't keep up) keeping the Bulldogs in it. 14 straight NCAA appearances for Few/Gonzaga Ohio State really played well for the last five minutes after sleepwalking and Sullinger foul issues.....16-7 run to end the half.

Well, it's nice to see Iowa basketball in one shape or form back in the news, with Creighton and ISU. It has been a pretty dead and disappointing 10 year period for the sport. In the late 70's, 80's and 90's, guess both ISU and Iowa fans got a little spoiled. Actually, you could go back about 10 years when Iowa (flopped with Recker and Evans) and ISU (Hampton loss) both had teams in the Top 10...and then Iowa in 2005-2006 with Brunner, Jeff Horner, Haluska and Tyler Smith. Sad thing what happened with Eustachy, but if you read some of the stories about the USM program this season, it seems like he's in a great place...too bad they lost or his redemption story would have become a lot more prominent in the national press.

My Week With Marilyn, pretty darned good flick, better than I thought it would be. To Hell and Back, one of the best documentaries you'll ever see about the Afghan war and a soldier's struggles to return to a normal home life in the States after suffering a debilitating hip injury. Gave me a lot more appreciation for what grunts or Devil Dogs do, but the attitudes of some of those guys is pretty darned scary. After the shooting tragedy/murders last week in Afghanistan, and seeing this film, you're surprised these type of incidents are not even more common when you have 3-4-5 deployments.

Yeah, I couldn't honestly say I expected Hoiberg to get that team to the Big Dance so quickly, but they've got a lot of talent. The question is always going to be about sustaining success and long-term recruiting at both ISU and Iowa. Iowa is finally trending upwards, there's a very strong recruiting class, but we do lose Gatens and Cartwright. On the other hand, Aaron White is an emerging star and Basabe can't play any worse in comparison to how good he was as a freshman, assuming he doesn't transfer out of the program and head back east. Would have loved to see what would have happened this year had we been able to keep both Ben Brust and Cody Larson (Florida). For the first time in about 6-7 years, there's reason(s) for optimism in Iowa City. Maybe that makes me feel better about Robin Ventura, that someone like Hoiberg could come in and have (relative) success so quickly without much experience.

Okay Marty, I'll play along. Other than keeping Konerko around and jettisoning Alexei Ramirez, what would you do? Who do you ACTUALLY want to be the GM, besides yourself? What will you have to criticize after KW is gone? You'll extend your campaign to Reinsdorf?

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 16, 2012 -> 09:59 PM) If the Sox aren't contending in '12 they won't contend in '13 or '14. If some of the key additions like Gustavo Molina or Simon Castro have standout minor league seasons, that's going to be the argument for staying the course. 2/3rd's of it (as far as 2012 goes) is the major league results, but there will never be more focus on our minor league seasons and the draft. If someone like Mitchell and/or Thompson emerges as a Top 50 prospect, then KW will get 2013, too. And if Beckham, Morel, Viciedo, Sale and Addison Reed all look good and perform well, same thing.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 16, 2012 -> 08:46 PM) Cowley isn't the story. The story is if Kenny is right about this team they will contend. If he is wrong, his tenure as GM is essentially over. There's just a difference of opinion between those believing we have to contend in 2012, 2013 or 2014.

Also, Hampton and Norfolk State are BOTH MEAC teams. Weird. In the last 15 years of NCAA play, 2 upsets out of 60 possible happened between the 2 and 15 seeds, and both of them MEAC schools involved.

Second fun fact, first victory ever for that program over a ranked team. 0-10 prior to this match-up. Down goes #3 Missouri. Feel sorry for Frank Haith, great season in Columbia after all the preseason issues/scandal. The only thing that will make Tigers fans feel better is KU losing to Detroit now.

It didn't even feel like an upset, as Hampton over ISU did in 2001. NFSU, as mentioned, only shot 30 or 31% coming into the game, and they severely outperformed that stat. Missouri has been vulnerable all season long to big teams (they lost both games to KSU), when you play four guards, that's the danger. Kim English was terrible, and Denmon had a huge brain cramp to just launch a bomb from 30+ feet when he didn't need to. The other upsets in history were Richmond/Syracuse (91), Santa Clara over Arizona (93), 1997 Coppin State over S. Carolina. There wasn't a huge talent/athletic advantage to the Tigers at all. You had a feeling for most of the second half (although the Tigers did rally to tie, 2 bad breaks went against them, the airball going to O'Quinn and the long bounce off the missed free throw that also went to O'Quinn). Three guys scored 20+ for the Spartans.

Offense sucks. 11 K's. The only RBI's came from John Danks. Defensive miscues continue to haunt the Sox. Santiago, Bruney and Stults would get the last 3 bullpen spots, based on performances so far. Yuck.

Offense sucks. 11 K's. The only RBI's came from John Danks. Defensive miscues continue to haunt the Sox. Santiago, Bruney and Stults would get the last 3 bullpen spots, based on performances so far. Yuck.

“Obviously, the players come and go,’’ Konerko said. “I mean myself and A.J. [Pierzynski], we’re going to be gone here at some point. But the people that head up the team, they have a much better chance of being here a lot longer than us. So they should expect to see a certain way of people going about their business. “And when you have success as a team on a major scale, whether it’s winning the division, making the World Series or winning the World Series, yeah, it kind of buys you some freedoms. That’s the same in almost every workplace in the world. You go out and do the job, and no one says anything if you have little quirks on how you want to get your work in. “When it all comes crashing down, it doesn’t work and you’re not doing the job, then, hey, man, they’re going to batten down the hatches. I certainly don’t take offense to it. If you didn’t see it coming, then you weren’t paying attention. That’s the way it works.’’ But get away from the field and take the elevator up a floor to the front offices, and that’s where the difference between the way the Cubs and Sox are doing business can be felt. For the Cubs, it’s very businesslike. It’s almost like watching surgery. General manager Jed Hoyer is the anesthesiologist, Theo Epstein is the surgeon and Sveum is the bald, tatted-up rehab specialist, waiting outside to beat your body up on the road to recovery. It has a white-glove feel to it. Clean, very little mess. The Sox’ front office seems to be more on a crusade. Decisions are random, confusing at times. More from the heart. Almost a “we’ll show you who’s smarter’’ mentality. Then again, players such as Konerko aren’t really concerned with front-office mentalities at this point. They don’t dictate the workload of mid-March days. “We lost the liberties we had when we didn’t get it done as a team,’’ Konerko said. “I’m not saying they’re overdoing it with us. It’s right on for what we’ve earned.’’ I don't really see anything wrong with the story, other than the over-worshipping and genuflecting everyone in the local media is doing with Epstein. And that will last only for a couple of months before fans start to become impatient. It's the nature of professional sports today. And for having something resembling a "boot camp" atmosphere, it sure hasn't helped to clean up a lot of the White Sox mental/physical errors on the defensive side of things. We've been sloppier than I can ever remember...although 50% of that is related to players who won't even be around come the first week of April. That line about proving themselves to be smarter has to be a shot at the Hudson and Santos/Molina trades, but, whatever...