caulfield12

Cabrera 9/15 on his short career against Buehrle. Great defense by Brastings Millibridge. Ugh. It's like the really bad version of Pods out there, paired with Quentin? Not good.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 6, 2011 -> 10:20 AM) For the season though he put up a 1.47 WHIP. More baserunners per inning than he gave up any other season of his career. That ERA isn't telling the story there. He'd come in, get a couple outs, and leave 2 men on for Cotts to clean up. He was better with Milwaukee, no doubt. But you'd have to expect the ERA to elevate a bit after three years in the relatively benign and often punchless NL Central. Before that, in the AL West, even more pitcher-friendly. I will agree he never showed that dominant slider, probably from overuse and overthrowing it for 3 years there and with OAK. And, for most of his post-Brewers career, he's been a pretty consistent 3.40-3.50 WHIP guy. Not much of a deviation. I would bet that ends up trumping what at least 3 of our main bullpen arms do this season.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 6, 2011 -> 08:59 AM) Vizcaino was actually pretty decent that year I thought. I mean he wasn't exactly thrown in a lot of high leverage situations, but his ERA was 3.73. That includes the early 11-inning game vs. CLE where he took one for the team and threw 60 pitches, giving up 6 runs in under 3 innings. An impressive 3.06 ERA for the season if you subtract those 2 1/3 IP and 6 earnies.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 6, 2011 -> 07:53 AM) Really, I'm not sure about that. Vizcaino had his ups and downs too...Pena at least is likely to have some good outings as well, and does the same sorta thing in being the 2+ inning eating guy every now and then. Marte was almost unusable in the 2nd half. Both of them had better ERA's than how they were actually pitching because Hermy/Politte/Cotts would come in and bail them out when they got in trouble. The other problem looming is we don't exactly have another El Duque available to shift into the bullpen anywhere on a Sox major or minor league roster. With the payroll already at $128 million, what are the odds that JR would take on another $2-3 million for a veteran middle reliever/5th starter type at the ASB? Hmmmm....

QUOTE (WCSox @ Apr 6, 2011 -> 07:07 AM) Our bullpen looks like dogsh*t right now. Pena and Ohman both suck and have no business being on our roster. Due to their relative lack of experience, it's difficult to tell what we're going to get out of Sale and Santos going forward (though both looked great at times last year). I imagine that Crain and Thornton will be fine going forward. So until these guys get it together, we'll be seeing more disappointing losses to bad teams. We don't have the depth of the '05 bullpen to overcome an ailing Shingo. As bad as Vizcaino and Marte SEEMED that year, they were head and shoulders above Ohman, Pena and Humber/random minor leaguer. Someone's going to have to break through from our system ala Scott Radinsky or Boone Logan (I'd take Cotts or Jenks 05-08 about right now, too). Santos Rodriguez? Doubt it.

Some interesting stats from the 2005 season in the first half (through 86 games)... 57-29 record Sox lost only 8 games during that entire eighty-six game stretch when they were leading after 5 innings, and 6 times when they were leading after six innings. Another way to look at is that the probability was 93% if the Sox were leading after 6 they'd go on to win that game, pretty amazing!!! Perhaps even more impressively, during that same first half, the SOX only coughed up two 7th inning leads and two 8th inning leads (once was against San Diego, a 2-1 game we led the entire time until giving up 2 in the bottom of the 9th, ironically Linebrink was the winner with Hermanson taking one of his few losses that season...the only other blown save that resulted in a loss was Takatsu giving up a 5-2 lead in the 9th, an April 7th game which the Indians ended eventually winning 11-5). So far already, we've managed to blow a 5th inning advantage and then yesterday's 5th-6th-7th inning leads. And the weird thing about that time period is Takatsu was REALLY struggling, enough to lose the closer's spot to Hermanson.

Dammit, Ozzie. You have the AL Silver Slugger struggling to get the bunt down and Vizquel after him. Stop it, please.

C'mon Rios. Only one without a hit still, 0/10. Hopefully he'll get on the board later. Sox 1/4 with RISP.

This was our 5th or 6th win in a row in Cleveland....let's keep it going. Can't afford to let up and give away those series sweeps that mean so much when we're playing higher competition and hoping for splits. Especially since this series is on the road and helps set the tone for a "hot" April hopefully.

5th in MLB payroll entering the season, almost $128 million wow... 36 pitches for Carmona, thaaaats's goooooood

http://www.justin.tv/dwertsports23#/w/1031789984 that's a link for video, but they're still in intros for the Indians' opening day line-up

At least Kotsay and Erstad aren't around to predictably ground out to 2B anymore.

what's the link to chat again? We got owned by Carmona last year, 0-3....not unlike the Sabathia days. 9-9 overall, definitely died with our record vs. CLE, KC and 5-13 vs MINNY in 2010.

I wouldn't give it to him...at least not the contract witesoxfan quoted. I know, I know, we don't have (at the moment) any pitching prospects in our system. Daniel Hudson's gone, etc. For some reason, I just have a sneaking suspicion either Edwin Jackson or Buehrle will end up staying, and that Sale will be successful in the rotation. Now it's hard to imagine what kind of salary cut Buehrle would not be insulted by, not to mention actually wanting to have Jackson back at the dollars he might command if he pitches as well for ONE entire season as he did with the White Sox (with Boras as his agent). There's also no doubt that Floyd could end up pitching like anywhere from a 1-5...for indeterminate lengths of time in the season. I guess I'd rather pay Buehrle $8-10 million for 2-3 more years than Danks a contract averaging $16 million. I don't dislike Danks at all...I'm just not quite sure he's going to get significantly better (anything more than a 5-10% uptick) from what he's been from 2008-2010. He's pretty darned consistent, but I just don't quite see him as the type of pitcher you build your staff around for the future. Maybe it's because he's really wet the bed in a number of starts against the Twins. Yes, there was the now-famous Black Out Game 163 victory in 2008, but since then it's been, at best, a mixed bag against Minnesota and certainly not a positive trend line. Maybe if we weren't stuck with Peavy's contract going forward, we'd be able to feel a LOT more comfortable allocating that money to Danks for a long term deal extending in free agency.

How the heck is Viciedo making a portion of his $4 million signing bonus this year? Did they spread that bonus out over 4 years as well? I thought it was a once-off bonus that he received before the 2009 season?

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 12:37 PM) link I would love to have Jose Reyes and Alexei Ramirez playing up the middle for the next 2 1/2 years, if Jose is examined and found to be 100% healthy. The question is whether Reyes could play LF or not and take over Pierre's role?? Probably too big a risk on a position move at this stage in his career, but I'd love to have Reyes as a Chone Figgins type who could play LF/CF/3B/SS/2B. You don't want to change Beckham back to 3B and unsettle his career trajectory and fielding again. Reyes fits if you eliminate Quentin and AJ from the line-up/payroll and plug in the likes of Castro/Flowers (platoon) and Milledge/Viciedo in RF. But what would we have to give up? Some prospects are going to have to emerge ala DeLosSantos or Daniel Hudson in past years. Reyes Ramirez Beckham Dunn Konerko Rios Milledge/Viciedo C Morel 1-7, that might be the best offensive line-up in baseball. Imagine if Flowers ever got his act together? Yeah, yeah, a HUGE HUGE if if if. “There is no guarantee that Jose Reyes will be a Met beyond the 2011 season, he says. In fact, it would seem the odds are pretty good that Reyes won’t be a Met in 2012, and if the team struggles in the first half — without Johan Santana — then Reyes could be a nice chip on the trade market.” ~ Buster Olney, ESPN.com On Wednesday, Mets GM Sandy Alderson said he wouldn’t be opposed to signing Reyes beyond 2011, but according to the New York Post, the two sides have not spoken about a long term contract. I feel it’s a fair approach to see if Reyes can stay healthy and produce consistently before committing long term to him again. I mean, I think he’s great, and the Mets will struggle to find anyone to replace a “healthy” Jose Reyes should they not sign him to an extension, but it’s also not unfair to worry about his durability and having him consistently on the field. I can’t imagine that if he proves he can stay healthy in 2011, the Mets won’t work to secure him beyond next season. It certainly becomes less of a sure-thing as time goes on that he will be re-signed, but he has indicated on numerous occasions over the past few months he wants to remain with the Mets, so I don’t think him remaining with the club will ever be out of the question. metsblog

Paging Hugh Hefner...

Winter's Bone might not be a GREAT movie, but definitely great performances by the lead actress, Jennifer Lawrence, and her uncle, the meth addict. They definitely deserved all the personal accolades they received. Grim and depressing, yes.

Every "Dark Cloud" has a black and silver lining?

That does it, ANYONE who doesn't get at least a bit emotional at that scene when Kevin Costner's younger father comes back to "have a catch" with his son doesn't belong as a White Sox fan. Just kidding. I know a lot of guys who don't like that movie. Just like everyone has their own style of fandom, you'll find a compelling argument that Bull Durham, The Bad News Bears, Major League or Eight Men Out is the best baseball movie ever made. Five or ten years ago, I might have posted the same kind of thread about JR and the payroll being unrealistically too high. Well, in the end, does it really matter how much a bunch of rich guys want to spend on the White Sox? In the end, we have pretty minimal control as individuals about how much they spend. Although with groupon now, maybe fans can work together through social networks and will have more of a voice than ever before.

Another thing. I think the fact that coming into the last two seasons, there were those obvious needs to address....in 2009 with D.Wise beginning the season in CF and 2010 with no DH, we're conditioned to pick apart the roster in the pre-season looking for flaws that weren't ultimately addressed either adequately or until it was too late in both years. Now you can argue that you should have a FLAWLESS roster b4 the season starts....which will inevitably lead to the argument that no team, not even the Yankees or the Red Sox has that kind of depth. Which will lead to the follow-up debate, many of those big market clubs have much stronger farms systems than we do, so they have the bit and pieces to replace and/or trade during the season while we're handcuffed. Fair enough. It's pretty clear that Viciedo might be our only bargaining chip at the current time to actually add to the current roster during the season, unless Mitchell can regain his form. Anyone who went to a game in the 1980's in Old Comiskey remembers how small those crowds could be....and the late 60's/early 70's period was even worse. As a kid, I thought it was cool. You could explore the whole stadium....hang out in the picnic area behind LF and chat with Carlos Martinez or Sammy Sosa or Scott Radinsky. That's why that final year in the old stadium will always be my favorite, even moreso than the 2005 team. In your teens and early twenties, you're more attached to players than you are as an adult. As you get older, it's easier to become more cynical about the business of baseball, steroids, cheating, etc.

Being older has nothing to with being smarter...although, good judgement is a result of experience, and experience is usually a result of bad judgement. Well, you get the idea. The idea of some kinds of "means testing" of Sox fans is a little bit ridiculous. So automatically, the best fan is the one who has attended the most games in person? I guess that guy who has gone to 1,500 consecutive Kentucky basketball games since 1947 is the greatest sports fan in the world then. It's about as logical as requiring only the fans here who can afford to send $100,000 to Jerry Reinsdorf to become "minority owners"...and creating a website where only those fortunate fans could post. Let's face it, in this economy, reality is that making any Sox fans feel guilty (many of those with families) for not buying season tickets or supporting the team as they deem fit, that's a little messed up. I listen to as many Sox games as I can, and a lot of the games I've listened to have started between 1 am and 3 am in the morning. I would actually prefer to subscribe to mlb.com for the entire baseball package, but the countries I've lived in (until now in South Korea) wouldn't support the live streaming because of bandwith limitations.

Unfortunately, I'm in this City Slickers/Space Cowboys club, lol. 41. For someone who suffered through the 80's and half of the 90's after the strike, I've become a lot more tolerant, for lack of a better word, than I used to be about the White Sox, and 75% of it's related to 2005 and the World Series championship. Sports fans, in general, are definitely becoming more and more impatient. It's all a matter of perspective. Seeing Yankees and Red Sox fans upset because their team has "only" won one or two in the last decade pretty much amuses me. Maybe it's because I don't have children, sometimes it takes that for some here to get some perspective about the bigger picture in life. One doesn't have to spend 14 months in Haiti like Sean Penn to appreciate the world at large, but sometimes taking a step away from things can be helpful. I've found that in recent years, I've posted a lot less in the offseason than I used to. Part of it's simply my dislike for arguing with people who throw 25 different abbreviations and acronyms for statistical formulas that have made baseball forums more and more combative over the last decade or so. Baseball, of all the major sports, is more driven by the numbers than any other, and yet I've found that stories and memories are what make it wonderful...remembering the sound of the ball off Bo Jackson's bat or Old Comiskey Park, the way it just felt so big when I was a little kid. If it wasn't for the Minnesota Twins, I would have had a much happier life this past decade, haha. For some reason, I've never been able to be AS happy when the Cubs lose (although 2003 was sweet) as when the White Sox win. In the end, this is the greatest time of the year, with hope springing eternal and the Final Four approaching along with the NHL and NBA playoffs. I really hope we can win the ALCD, simply because failure PROBABLY means some time of inevitable rebuilding project which Ozzie, KW and JR might not have the patience for. In reality, I wish I could feel as optimistic about the future of the United States as I do about the White Sox. I would gladly sit through another 90 loss season IF the trade was that unemployment would return back to 4-5% and there was some sense of hope that the kids graduating from universities these days would have a better life than their parents and grandparents enjoyed. Having lived outside the US for much of the last five years, I've definitely gained more appreciation for how much I miss baseball (that's why I have subscribed to MLB Gameday Audio during that time)...but also how beautiful the game is, how in sports something new can happen every game that you've never seen before (thinking of Gonzaga/Pitt last weekend). When things don't go well, my escape has always been movies or books. The most important thing in life is to have things you feel passionate about, and the White Sox have definitely been there in the Top 5 throughout. The only thing I would share is that dying with wins and losses over a 162 game season....it's just not worth it, not when you can spend time with your family, travel, go to church, take care of those less fortunate (or just read a Joe Posnanski article). We can always be thankful we're not Cubs fans! But maybe I'll be a little jealous for that feeling they might all experience one day when their team finally wins a World Series...at least I experienced that in my lifetime, and how many family members (I'm thinking of my Uncle Frank who introduced me to the White Sox in the late 70's...my other uncle on my mother's side was a Cubs fan) never lived to see the White Sox win it all.

Sucker Punch has been absolutely ravaged by the critics and is hovering around 20% at Rotten Tomatoes. Some of the most scathing reviews I've ever seen, most of them directed at Zach Snyder, naturally, and a few at Emily Browning, the lead actress, if you can even use that term in this movie. The only kind words have been for Abbie Cornish. Saw Battle LA and was actually suprised it wasn't QUITE as bad as some have stated, Aaron Eckhart's not a bad action hero type at all and I always like Michael Pena, even though he's only a bit player here. And Brady made the right choice on Bridget Moynahan....she's not nearly as appealing as she used to be. Win, Win looks like one of the few movies on the scene I'd like to see...and I suppose I'll give Limitless a look on DVD. Thankfully we're only about another month or so from an uptick in summer movies, because the box office is down nearly 20% from 2010 and sinking even further after this weekend, when How to Train Your Dragon dominated a year ago. It will be interesting to see if Sucker Punch or Diary of a Wimpy Kid wins out.

I don't think you'll see any more of those McCulloch and Broadway types simply because KW has gone back a bit to the "best athlete available/highest upside" theory in the last couple of drafts. Even someone like Poreda, theoretically, if everything came together with his offspeed stuff, had the ability to be more than a back of the rotation starter. I guess when you look back at all those first round busts, for some reason Royce Ring is still the most mystifying and the biggest reach, even moreso than Broadway.