caulfield12

If you add Pierre's complete disappearance as a credible base-stealing threat, that's yet another. Maybe not completely unexpected, but he's dropped off a cliff in the speed side of the game, as well as defensively (although solid in June-July compared to April-May). Peavy, I don't think anyone can be 100% surprised coming off an unprecedented surgery and long layoff. His arm strength/stamina just aren't there... And then there's the Gordon "Bermuda Triangle" Beckham. Where did his 2009 bat and approach go? It's almost like they were swallowed by a fog and a "ghost" player has taken his place, or zombie.

Surprisingly, manager Ozzie Guillen wasn’t overly upset with the play. “I’m not going to throw the towel in; I’m not going to protect him like everybody thinks I am,” Guillen said. “I think that guy (Reddick) should be at third base, no doubt. The bad thing about that play was the bad throw to second base. “He made a bad throw to second base and that’s why he scored. If he threw the ball right there, there’s going to be a play at the plate. But the guy was running with the pitch. I think if he made a good throw to Gordon it’s a different thing.” Guillen has remained in Rios’ corner through all the turmoil this season, but the manager does wonder why a guy with a $70 million contract has simply shut down the engines. “I’m not down on him,” Guillen said. “Just go out there and play the game right. You’ve got your money, you’ve got a beautiful family, everybody’s healthy, you’ve got everything you want. Why do you let this game bother you? “Why not have a little more fun playing the game? If you say you really enjoy this game … I don’t see that in him. I think every at-bat is killing him. Every at-bat, he worries about it.” Rios declined to talk about his situation Friday and again after Saturday’s loss. General manager Kenny Williams — the man responsible for claiming Rios off waivers from Toronto almost two years ago — also was the one who said the outfielder should be on the bench. “My message was not so much directed at Alex Rios, in terms of giving him a kick in the pants,” Williams said. “My message was more so a message to everyone that we’re here to win. “We’re here to put the best players out there, who are going to fight the hardest, bust their tail the hardest, regardless of contract size, regardless of their history in the game, just play to win from here on out.” Read more: http://www.dailyherald.com/article/2011073.../#ixzz1TbbKf5VK

1) Because Ozzie already committed to play him against lefties Lester/Andrew Miller/Sabathia 2) Because he wanted to give Juan Pierre the day off tmrw and play Lillibridge in LF 3) Because even though DeAza hit over .300 against lefties in Charlotte, he doesn't believe any LH hitter except Dunn/Pierre/AJ should ever start against a LHP 4) Because he wants to make KW look bad...or himself...not sure which "I'm not going to throw in the towel (on him)," said manager Ozzie Guillen, who plans to start Rios again Sunday. "I'm not protecting him like people think." (sure you're not!) "That (Red Sox runner, Reddick) should have been at third, no doubt. The bad thing about that play was (Rios') throw to second base." "I know it's not easy when you're not playing well and people are on you every play, every at-bat. But this is Chicago. You have to be tough. You have to perform."www.chicagotribune.com/sports KW's "Chicago Tough" quote rears its ugly head again.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 30, 2011 -> 08:45 PM) If we could clear $5 million of the $7 million or so remaining on AJ's deal, that's money that could be used to grab a decent offseason catcher. * = 2012 option. Good Lord, that was a horrible list of catchers. There's maybe only 3-5 on that list I would peremptorily give consideration to.

So we've got possibilities. Jason Bay Chone Figgins Carlos Lee (bringing him back to Southside) A. Soriano Todd Helton (super unlikely) Barry Zito (perfect match, he's owed at least $50 million and they won't want an extra year to vest) Jayson Werth Carlos Zambrano Michael Young Rafael Soriano Dice-K Aaron Rowand and Aubry Huff Vernon Wells John Lackey (possibility) I saw a list of the 50 worst contracts (it was done in May) and we had Juan Pierre, AJ, Peavy, Paulie (that was a miss so far, but still could turn against us eventually), Adam Dunn. Funny enough, no Alex Rios. Teahen and Linebrink must have been considered to be too small fry for the list.

In all fairness, the runner (Reddick) was going on the pitch and has good speed...but ZERO excuses for the lackadaisical effort. Ozzie criticized him more in the post-game for the throw itself (which Gordon also dropped), but the maddening part was the way he took about 4-5 steps and then made the most casual throw in the world, taking his time like he was playing soft-toss catch with his 8 year old son in Central Park or on the beach.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 30, 2011 -> 08:26 PM) I was talking regular season. You don't have to be good to get into the playoffs in basketball and football. You can be under .500, actually. That doesn't happen in baseball. The Padres didn't do it once? Thought they were very close, or maybe exactly .500.

Yeah, because of Miller and Sabathia. But UNPLAN it before it's too late and the entire season is wiped out.

Real, you can potentially make those arguments about Borchard, Fields, Anderson, Morel and Beckham, to name five. But a lot of questioning is going on about the "mental make-up" of both BA and Gordon, that's for sure. Scouts missed out on that critical component.

I don't know, at least he was okay on ED. Tom Green, Orlando Bloom or Freddie Prinze, Jr., I'd have to agree with you. The irony, of course, is that it would have been seen as one of the most brilliant/daring GM moves ever if he actually had traded Rios this past offseason like the Jays managed with Vernon Wells and gotten anything of value back in return. That would have been the ultimate "in your face" GM move. This is just bad karma/payback for Mike Sirotka. David Wells ended up destroying the 2001 team...now Rios is succeeding with the 2009-11 squads. I really wonder when JR turns off the tv or goes home from games like this who he's really more upset with...it has to be KW right now, with Ozzie close on his heels for not benching Rios right away and then turning around and starting him tomorrow. That's disrespecting the fans, the entire White Sox organization, the game of baseball....Ozzie and KW are both locked in an insane power struggle and it's going to end with assured mutual self-destruction of not only themselves but the entire goodwill this team has built up with the city of Chicago since 2005.

There should be a complete boycott of this team for any game that it's known/posted beforehand that Alex Rios is in the starting line-up or even within 30 miles of the stadium.

There are some troubling signs already with Escobar. Today he really "lollygagged" to 1B and got thrown out by an eyelash. Instead of being embarassed he got thrown out when he wasn't busting it down the line, he ends up getting tossed by the first base umpire after about 5 seconds of argument. That's not the kind of play or example which was acceptable to the Braves organization. Look what has happened with the White Sox, KW and Guillen accepting/empowering/enabling Alex Rios for the past 12 months? There's just no way he can have the respect of any veteran in that clubhouse. Any goodwill or reserve he had left remaining in the tank was eroded tonight. And yet he's going to trot Rios out to CF again tomorrow. Is he really insane? The fans will eat him alive after tonight. There's no going back now. What a trainwreck.

Opens up the position 100% for Kipnis, one would guess. So it's Chisenhall/Hannahan, Cabera, Kipnis, Hafner/Santana/LaPorta....Marson/Santana Choo and Sizemore injured but eventually returning....Brantley, Carrera, Ludwick, Fukudome, Kearns (Shelley Duncan) Too bad he's not Orlanda Bernadina. Or Tony Orlanda. Orlanda Bloom. Former Sox prospect from Brazil, etc.

EncoreBaseball Les Jays ont eu raison de laisser aller pour rien Alex Rios après qu'il a signé contrat de 70 millions $ en 2009,... http://fb.me/MyU0HJIV 8 minutes ago rockwithjdt RT @spacemnkymafia: Don't worry, White Sox fans. You only have to pay Alex Rios for... FOUR AND A HALF MORE YEARS HAHAHAHAHAHA (well, actually 3 1/3rd with buyout) 9 minutes ago CSNChi_Beatnik Ozzie supporting Rios to the bitter end; Alex is in the lineup, in CF, on Sunday. Pierre gets a breather, Lilli in LF. 15 minutes ago CSNChi_Beatnik The Alex Rios Experience scores a hit with five media awaiting him for five minutes while he slowly dressed post: "I'm not talking tonight." 18 minutes ago rebaldacci “@richardroeper: Alex "Blame it on" Rios: grab some bench.”one of his 5 tools is Lolly-gagging 40 minutes ago HoosierTom1985 Alex Rios is a walking talking s***bomb! #WhiteSox 40 minutes ago onekevinmiller Congrats alex rios on surplanting eddie robinson as my least favorite player to wear my favorite teams uniform

Just wait until Escobar, Lawrie and Rasmus all blow up in your face, J4L. It's too much like the KW philosophy. Taking talented players who may or may not fit together (and, who, for some reason are available because of injury concerns, nonperformance, attitude, stuck behind a player)...sometimes it works wonderfully, but it can also have disastrous results as we're seeing with Rios now. Unfortunately, all the good GMing that's represented by Danks/Floyd/Viciedo/Ramirez/Quentin/Humber/Santos has been completely undercut by Teahen/Linebrink/Dunn/Peavy/Rios, and, to a lesser extent, Juan Pierre. Combine that with both Swisher trades, Javy and E-JAX/Hudson. And the complete enigma that is Gordon Beckham....whoever you want to blame there. Lastings Milledge, for example....although normally KW would be a team prior to where we eventually ended up picking him up. At this point, Milledge and DeAza were super low-risk moves, but normally he's given up talent.

Unless we're planning on bringing back Buerhle/Floyd/Danks for one last shot at it. Then we need to stick it out with AJ for at least 3-4 months into 2012.

Is there any way to search and see if you posted in a thread? I'm curious what I said, but not sado-masochistic enough to read through 60+ pages of mostly optimism or bemusement or KW-worshipping.

And Span's going to be getting more and more expensive. His cost/benefit analysis as a "positive" member of a line-up is quickly waning...

So it seems it's either Jason Bay or Chone Figgins...

Of course Lilly finally gets a hit. Maybe that will give Ozzie the impetus he needs to play either Brent or DeAza tomorrow. Ozzie must know that so many questions will come his way in the post-game and if he dares to start Rios again tomorrow, he'll never have the respect of any veteran Sox player again (if he's still tenuously holding onto it by the skin of his teeth).

Congrats for finding this old thread. Rios cyber-ripping will hit an all-time high. Might even put him on some of those TOP 10 search lists.

When it rains, it pours. LaFatta hit a walkoff homer against the stumbling Soria. Indians 1 1/2 games back and flying high with Jimenez/Ludwick on the way. Twins could only be 5 games back, too.

He's getting bombarded by fake ham and/or e-mail carpet bombing into his account?

In case you were wondering, the biggest salary hit ever taken by a team was the Arizona Diamondbacks for pitcher Russ Ortiz, whom they still owed $22.5 million when they cut him in June of 2006. That occurred barely a year after the D-Backs gave Ortiz a four-year, $33.5 million contract, for which he produced a 5-16 record. Kevin Appier was owed $15.7 million by the Angels when they cut him in July of 2003. During spring training this year, the Mets cut Oliver Perez and had to pay him $12 million for 2011 -- after already absorbing $6 million from cutting Luis Castillo earlier in spring.. Other notable salary dumps include Gary Sheffield (owed $14 million by the Tigers when they axed him in 2009), Geoff Jenkins (owed $8 million by the Phillies in 2009), Damion Easley ($14.3 million by Detroit, 2003), Jay Gibbons ($11.9 million by Baltimore, 2008), Greg Vaughn ($9.25 by Tampa Bay, 2002), Frank Thomas ($7 million by Toronto, 2008), Matt Williams ($6.6 million by Arizona, 2003). Some other recent examples are Milton Bradley, Richie Sexson and Carlos Silva. By my calculations....we owe Rios around $43.5 million from now through the buyout which mercifully ends his contract. In all seriousness, what can/should KW do? Can they put him on the physically/mentally unable to perform list? Does that even exist in baseball? Ask him to check into counseling? Send him home (bereavement list for his 433 OPS on the road) and pay his salary but ask him not to come back until Spring Training 2012? Ask Bud Selig to suspend him (using the JR connection) on the basis that his play on the field "is not in the best interest of the game of baseball." Have a fan lawsuit against the Sox and/or the anti-trust exemption to have their tickets refunded because of his play this season isn't representative of major league baseball or professionalism? Can you even afford to have him around Sox youngsters or the clubhouse ever again? How can Ozzie or KW justify not pulling him off the field immediately after what happened earlier this season?

Can the same guys who tried to kidnap/ransom Juan Uribe be hired for Rios?? FARC from Colombia? Abu-Sayyaf? Hamas? They can hide him out for the entire 2012 season, ask for a $5 million payment from the White Sox and then we'd save $7.5 million on the deal and keep him away from the rest of the players and out of the clubhouse.