caulfield12

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 21, 2011 -> 08:02 AM) There was a time when the fact that they clashed was a benefit because it wound up producing a more balanced, capable lineup, rather than the type of 2003-2004 lineup we saw where there were 4 monsters in the center surrounded by 5 weak parts with a depleted pitching staff. For the last few years though, the small quick guy that Ozzie has wanted has not been MLB-worthy. That's the biggest problem...etiher KW isn't getting him guys who deserve to be on a baseball team or Ozzie is asking for guys who don't deserve to be. And those "weak" players weren't so bad...Rowand, Valentin, Uribe, Crede. Nothing like Clayton/Johnson or AJ (although he's looking better now, but for most of the year?)/Rios/Beckham/Morel/Pierre. Any of those four guys I named would be arguably the fourth best (certainly most dangerous in the eyes of opposing pitchers) hitter on this White Sox team. If I recall, that was Juan's best offensive year where he was hitting around .400 near the end of May still.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jun 21, 2011 -> 06:22 AM) Sooo, uhhhhhh.....where is Jerry Owens? Atleast he brings...athleticism? The fact that Viciedo is not on the major league team shows a direct correspondence to the incompetency of the manager in managing a team, which shows a direct correspondence to the incompetency of the GM in not either firing the manager or having his orders be followed, and/or a correspondence to the managing partner having a total incompetency as to what the f*** is going on with his GM and manager. I think there's a bit of all 3 going on. I think "bit" is the wrong term. I think there's A LOT of all 3 going on here. You can add, at this point, probably 2 wins by DFAing Juan Pierre and adding Viciedo. If he's Carlos Lee in left field, then that's an improvement. Something needs to be done, and until it is, this team is going to continue to mire in mediocrity. Having the worst hitter in the entire major leagues continue to get the most plate appearances of anybody on your roster is like trying to build a car out of banana peels and plastic, Don't forget the duct tape, MacGuyver. In all seriousness, you could make a serious case that we'd be better off with either Brian Anderson (defensively) or DeWayne Wise (for some pop and the same amount of speed on the basepaths, maybe 5-7 fewer steals but less caught stealings and a better arm) in LF, three years after their White Sox shelf lives expired. It's almost maddening. One year it's the Thome/Kotsay thing. This year, there's another insane personnel decision that's clouding the entire season. Actually, two. Because the combination of Thornton (when he wasn't suited or prepared to be closer) and Pierre defensively led directly to that 4-18 streak and season-long purgatory, seemingly. I suppose someone will argue that the only reason we're still in this thing is Santos and Humber, and give credit to KW. Which will then lead back to the retort, what about Peavy/Beckham/Dunn/Rios/Pierre/Teahen/Linebrink/AJ?

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 21, 2011 -> 07:31 AM) I'm honestly convinced that if we called up Viciedo today, he would have an +.900 OPS the rest of the way and would not be prone to massively-long slumps like half of these cowards. He's just a pure hitter and our team desperately needs one of those right now. It's just so frustrating and inexcusable that he's not up right now. KW's job could come down to our finish this season, yet he and Ozzie are trying to get every single extra mileage out of a over-the-hill Juan Pierre. 99.9% of people agree that this simple change could have a huge impact on our offense. How can KW not see this? He can't honestly believe that Pierre has something left in the tank right? You can tell from watching him that Pierre has lost a step. I've supported KW for years, but I'm feeling like it's time for a change. We need a new front office and a new coaching staff. The only guy I would try to keep is Cooper. Go after Dave Martinez and let him pick the rest of his coaching staff. As for GM, Rick Hahn is not an option IMO. I'd like to see Reinsdorf offer Andrew Friedman a boat-load of money to take over our organization. While I will not advocate rebuilding unless all hell breaks loose, I want a GM who's got some actual experience building a quality organization from the ground up. We need to start making changes to our philosophy towards player development. I'm not giving up on this year or next year anytime soon, but need to commit more resources to this area. In particular, something needs to be done about Latin America soon, because we are playing short-handed right now and it's killing us. The only way we get Friedman is if we offer him and his father (Kenny) an ownership stake or the rights to buy shares.... Otherwise, you're going to have to use money to attract a candidate, because of the dim prospects in front of this organization minus an incredible run of trades and bad contracts turning around. And even with Ramirez and Viciedo, you can't go 5-7 years without ANY top prospects from the Dominican, Mexico, Central America or Venezuela. We had our moments with Takatsu and Iguchi...but that didn't lead to any more Korean or Japanese imports following in their footsteps.

13 Assassins puts everything but "Seven Samurai" to shame....excellent movie, one of the best action/fight scenes I've ever witnessed. It goes on for nearly 40 minutes at the end, and perhaps the best villain ever. Morning Glory was pretty good, too. Big Rachel McAdams fan. Harrison Ford always plays to his stereotypical, gruff type...but he was excellent in the role as the movie went on and developed substance and a bit of depth. Still trying to decide if Cowboys vs. Aliens looks like an epic flop. Whenever I see the preview, it hearkens back to Wild Wild West. Watched The Adjustment Bureau a second time...another favorite movie from this past year.

Who gets blamed if a single school is failing, the principal or superintendent? Well....in this case, the entire organization is more or less in shambles, so you'd have to argue that Ozzie is the principal of the failing school but KW is CEO of the entire thing, and no less than equally responsible, if not moreso. It's easier to fire the principal of course, but JR might consider the only "fair" thing to do would be to let both go (so as to be perceived as not taking sides) and start over with a fresh approach/perspective.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 21, 2011 -> 06:58 AM) I'm confused. Are the Sox paying JP $3 or $5 million? $5 million this year (Dodgers are responsible for $3.5), $3 million in 2010 (Dodgers paid $7.5 million). This gets back to the "investment of resources" argument. We're already paying $3.5 million of Linebrink's $5.5 million contract....plus Teahen, plus Viciedo. Being stubborn over $2.75 million when we spent a lot more than that on a washed-up Manny Ramirez....not sure what to say anymore about the "spin" coming out of White Sox Land. In reality, this has nothing to do with money anymore. It's about Ozzie's will versus Kenny's, and who will blink first. Will KW give in and trade Viciedo or hold him back to build around with Ozzie out the door? While they're at it, they might as well just send Beckham down to the minors to play everyday and let Lillibridge, Vizquel, Teahen and Morel share at-bats. Not that they'll ever get anything back for Teahen now, but hey, might as well use him if they're stuck paying him millions.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 20, 2011 -> 10:47 PM) This story isn't going to play well on soxtalk. http://www.suntimes.com/sports/cowley/6074...-just-bolt.html Save your time. Comments coming: -- Fire him now. -- Let the big mouth go. -- How much more can Jerry take from this guy? -- I'm sick of Ozzie and his kids. Florida just take him now!! You can have him!! Key the reaction in three, two, one ... Boom sox fans go get Ozzie. This is a little bit like Jeff Skilling going to Kenneth Lay weeks before Enron collapsed and asking for a pay raise, more stock options and a better golden parachute. Just tired of Ozzie thinking he's more important than the team. Seriously, they already gave him an extension through 2012...what are they supposed to do to make him happy, an Ozzie Theme Park filled with statues of him bunting, Venezuelan Night and a tribute song by Dennis DeYoung? Seriously, Greg, aren't you the one always saying "just win, baby" and quoting Al Davis? Maybe if we actually got to .500 for once since the 2nd week of the season, someone besides Cowley would actually listen to him.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Jun 20, 2011 -> 09:24 PM) He will trade Viciedo, because its our biggest splash of talent and gets the most bang for our buck. He will go for a name, a name that will draw fans. A vet. Not young players. He will trade Jackson, and get a small pidence. He will look to move Danks in the offseason. He is not a FA yet. Pittance? Joking. If he trades Viciedo...I'm seriously going to boycott White Sox games until Hahn or a new G.M. is named.

Belle's offensive prowess was at least respected by the fans. While never loved or even liked, I don't ever remember a cascade of boos raining down on his head. DJ: "Whatever Dunn's doing is just not working, period."

Hey, don't put Ozuna on that list. I loved that guy...one of my all-time favorite Sox players.

I think this is one of those seasons we'll just go back and forth between .500 and ten games under...can just never over the hump. Not as bad as 2007, but more frustrating...because we're in it "just enough" to keep from doing anything to change our roster or TRY any younger players on an extended basis.

Well, we better never acquire a "big-name" left-handed hitter again. First, Swisher...now Dunn. How is it even possible both guys could veer so far off their career norms when they came to such a hitter's park? It's the curse of Joe Borchard. (Yeah, yeah....Thome was good).

Plenty of time left this season....basically 90 games to go. The Indians are losing, so this game doesn't really matter. They'll get it together sooner or later.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jun 20, 2011 -> 08:00 PM) Dunn juist amazes me. 3 at bats and 3 k's and Zambrano is a righty pitcxher with nothing on the ball according to you guys And he's crushed him throughout his career too, 7 or 8 homers alone in the match-up. Babe Ruth was fat. John Kruk was fat. Tony Gwynn was fat. Why didn't it affect their hitting?

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Jun 20, 2011 -> 07:55 PM) Our team whole heartedly believes that there is no reason to worry. That they can sail along cashing checks and the rest of the division will just wait around. Its a long season, no reason to worry until September 15th. Look at our lineup. The manager can't control himself and puts a stacked lefty lineup of old and the crappy. He must live in some area where time is frozen. That players dont age, and slappy is better than power. I for one would of liked to see what Viciedo does tonight against Zambrano. But we get the slap and tickle show. Farmer laying into Sox fans for their reactions to Dunn's ineptitude. Yay, he's trying! "I was already booing myself." Some consolation for $14 million. Wow....some action. Ozzie kicked Soto's mask 30 feet. At least there's some excitement finally. For some reason, when one of the teams are REALLY down in this series, they have a way of really making life miserable for the better team. It's like the playoffs for the Cubs. For the White Sox, like another game against the Twins or Tigers. Wonder how many games this season we'll get 36,000+ after this series?

The scariest thing of all is the 50/50 possibility that we just watched our Opening Day starter in 2012 get violated. Other than one inning last night, the White Sox and "crooked numbers" don't go together. We bench Beckham (fine) but we weaken our defense with Teahen and don't think about trying someone over Pierre or Dunn.

Where's the heart with this White Sox team in 2011? We could have stepped all over the Cubs and we let them back into the game. Jesus.

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Jun 20, 2011 -> 07:41 PM) And I know Konerko has a HR, but jesus, he has had about four hangers from Zambrano alone in his ABs that he has just stared at. If we actually had a DH, that might also be helpful. That hanger to Konerko was high to take a legit hack at...not a normal Paulie swing path. Now Gavin's doing his best Edwin Jackson impersonation. Lovely. We should be leading this game by 2-3 runs.

The one guy you don't let beat you and we can't even figure that out. It's not like Cubs' games aren't available for anyone in the Sox organization to watch.

Wow...Carmona just got ripped to shreds. Indians now down 7-4 after leading 4-1.

At other message boards, the answer to that question probably would be yes. That's why SoxTalk is the best site, to me...because there's more tolerance for freedom of expression. If we live in a society where common phrases that were used in the 1970's suddenly became the grounds for firing from a job (or being banned from a message board)....there HAVE to be more important things to worry about in the country and the world, aren't there? I'm sure if you went through lots of 80's and even 90's movies, you would see the phrase "stop acting retarded" or "that's retarded" used numerous times. I suppose, when it's aimed at one specific person, it could be perceived as being more hurtful than just a "generalized" usage, but if you start parsing words, meaning, intention...it's a VERY slippery slope. Freedom of speech has always been one of the most important values.

Tiger Woods and President Obama have both got caught up in this very same debate. I think it was Tiger saying something about acting/playing like a "spaz" after a round at the Masters. http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog...ves/003020.html Then there was the bowling/Special Olympics controversy with Obama, if you remember. If you're African-American, the "n" word will always be the most charged word any non-black person except for Eminem can say. If you have someone in your family afflicted with a physical or mental disability, that's certainly going to be #1 sensitive issue. Gays and lesbians, etc. I remember when I was younger, my mom used the phrase "acting Jewish" and then I heard someone refer to the owner of the White Sox in that manner (because of the "low payroll") and it never really dawned on me until I grew older how hurtful that could be. Then there are movies like Borat or There's Something About Mary that make fun of "political correctness" and are deliberately over-the-top in order to provoke. Can Sascha Baron Cohen be racist or prejudiced if he's making fun of his own religion, for example? We've seen it ourselves with Ozzie, Mariotti and the whole "fa-" debate. If Ozzie was a white manager, would he have still kept his job?

"Your Highness" might be the worst movie ever made with such a strong cast. Don't think Mr. McBride will be writing any more screenplays for a while.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 20, 2011 -> 07:04 AM) I know I say this EVERY year. But if Ramirez or Escobar don't win the AL GG I will do something tragic. I'll do something that will make this board famous. On the plus side, his not winning might mean far less "Lowe's" commercials that we'd have to be pounded over the head with. The one with Farmer and Alexei has to be the worst one I've ever heard in my life!!! I think I would rather listen to Rongey extol the virtues of Pierre, Ohman and Teahen in the clubhouse than hear it again

Saw in the paper this morning that Ozzie was second in a poll to Jeff Conine The Barbarian for who fans in South Florida wanted as their next manager. 38% tracking/Q number for Ozzerroo.