caulfield12

Bring back Swisher!!!! Joking. I mean, I bought into the hype too....and then disengaged a bit. I was even thinking he could make the team in 2009. It was the Alexei Ramirez Effect! I should have known when we spend more than $5 million on amateur talent to watch out....of course, Borchard is the only other time we did that. Better when we find players like Dye, Santos, Jenks, Quentin, Iguchi and Ramirez that are more "known entities" flying under the radar. Well, maybe the last two would be considered reaches by other organizations, that's why KW has gotten the reputation he has, for leaving no stone unturned because he has no choice with our dearth of legit prospects. It's also how you end up with the likes of Aardsma, Sisco, Grilli, Masset, MacDougal, Floyd, Danks, Rios, Teahen, etc....KW COLLECTS FORMER FIRST ROUNDERS that he couldn't afford to sign when they were originally drafted by other teams.

KW is a gambler...maybe this one doesn't turn out well (big-time pitchers at that time frame in career with huge contracts RARELY pay off), but you have to admire the effort and desire to win. It's rare that we have invested that much in a pitcher outside our organization. You have to go back to David Wells or Jaime Navarro, I think. And Wells was only a one and done deal, not a HUGE long-term commitment of present and future dollars. But then you look at ZITO, he's gone from the worst contract in baseball to MEH, enough to make a valuable contribution to SF.

YET, reading the tea leaves with the "firing" of Boras and the future of his brother in the organization...LV odds would be 60-75% or so that we can keep him in his first or second year of FA, that's my guess, based entirely on conjecture and anecdotal evidence. I just think back to Contreras, Garcia, AJ, Jermaine Dye, Konerko, Buehrle, etc. We find a way to keep the most important players....when it really comes down to it, very few of them can escape KW's BIG BOARD to another organization unless he and JR want to cast them adrift (like Ordonez/Lee/Robin Ventura/Fisk/Durham/Foulke/Valentin/Big Hurt/Crede). Undoubtedly, Jenks is living on borrowed time. So is AJ's White Sox career.

Let's not ever start sucking each other off!!! Please, no! Not even for another World Series. Only 2005 would have been debatable for me to stoop to those lengths....!!!! To preserve "OUR" championship. LOL.

SS, the longer we wait, the higher the price tag...every start, he becomes more and more expensive to retain in the future. Just like Andruw Jones...but we'll worry about that bridge being crossed in August/September undoubtedly. Combine that with uncertainty over Peavy/Floyd and Mark Buehrle's pronouncements you ABSOLUTELY have to keep him, like the Twins did with Mauer, although I'm not going to say they are quite equal...Mauer's a once a generation hitter....Danks is one of the top 3-4 lefties in all of baseball, but you get the point. And yes, there's a extra 10-20% premium because of his age and being left-handed and not a soft-tosser by any stretch of the imagination when he's on.

You don't take Clayton Richard, who only looks better because he's in the NL, over a Cy Young award winner. You just don't....it's high risk, high reward....but having a rotation of Richard/Hudson at the back end isn't going to do it for 2-3 years. We don't have time to "develop" our young pitchers, they usually have to produce right away, simple....we're not a rebuilding organization, never have been under KW, never will be under KW, period. The point about financial flexibility, though, is very valid. You can come up with 100's of theoretical rosters with Richard/Hudson and allocating the money from RIOS/PEAVY to about construct much deeper/stronger overall teams, like we did in 2005 when we divested ourselves of Ordonez, Lee and Valentin to spread the money out over a broad swath of veteran components.

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Apr 26, 2010 -> 12:23 PM) HOF? now thats kinda silly If he continued for the last 8-9 years of his career, what he did in the first 8....definitely. I don't know how old you are, but he was an absolute beastly monster on the mound before he got hurt seriously and lost his stuff.

Angels' 3B perennial prospect/non-performer now nearing Dallas McPherson status, Brandon what's his name? Walk can fix him. Trademark/patent pending.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Apr 26, 2010 -> 10:15 AM) Yeah no need to rush him just yet. If he has a good first half maybe he can move as he is one of the better young lefty prospects in the system. Thing is TB I don't see when the Appalachian league starts. Or if he needs to repeat it. Usually it's right around the week or so after the amateur FA draft in June....

Has anyone seen Santos Rodriguez pitch this season? How legit are the reports on his stuff? Projectable path to majors in a Boone Logan/Radinsky way, or very long term, year by year? Any thoughts?

Didn't the Cubs try to do the same thing with Kerry Wood and they gave up trying? Kevin Appier, very ugly/violent motion, same thing? Eventually injuries ruined his career, the first half he was a borderline HOF track...

We have a long history with Wilson (and also Padilla, although he's gone now finally)...he made quite a few comments that really got the White Sox riled up when he was in their bullpen. What did he say exactly? Maybe it was somehow connected to the Sean Tracey incident, or a separate one?

QUOTE (TitoMB @ Apr 24, 2010 -> 01:46 PM) Just heard his interview. Basically, Jake said that when he got to Spring Training, Coop and the staff tried to "fix" his mechanics. He said that he tried to do some new things in the first few starts that weren't working out, and after watching some tape, Coop and him realized that he just isn't the kind of pitcher that uses perfect mechanics. He's going to try to go back to what he did in '07 and his 8 years with the Padres. I guess he's the Favre of baseball. Awesome at what he does, but no one should try to emulate his mechanics. Tim Tebow=Jake Peavy??? Minus the worshipful comments from Jim Grey...

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Apr 26, 2010 -> 09:04 AM) Hate to think where the White Sox would be right now without John Danks. KW's been criticized a lot for some moves that he's made, I think you can argue that selling high on B-Mac and getting back Danks could be his best ever move as a GM. Not to mention Sosa/Alvarez/Fletcher for Baines, the best trade in franchise history. I'd argue Jenks, Sergio Santos, Borchard/Thornton, Freddy Garcia for Morse/Reed/Olivo, Floyd for Garcia, Quentin deal (depending on how things end up with Carter a bit, still have to look long-term as well as short), Alexei Ramirez find and contract for 2008, Jose Contreras for Loaiza, there's a TON of very good ones. Signing Esteban Loiaza b4 2003, turning him into Contreras, which was basically the key factor for 2005, IMO. We rode that guy for 4-5 months, never have we had a better pitcher who was THE best in all of MLB (4-5 month stretch) in my White Sox memory.

We probably did wait 2 years too late. Last offseason there was a glut of relievers. It does beg the question, was Matt Thornton or Dotel capable of being the closer in 2008? Linebrink? I don't think so....without Jenks, no ALCD crown in 2008. I feel they did look at and serously consider what options there were out there as far as trades...after 2008, but nothing overwhelming came up, and then you had the fact his salary really started to jump up in ARB years, as well. He would be tradeable, but that salary is going to scare off 18-20 clubs, and the high budget teams mostly have expensive closers already. You don't pay $7.5 million for a nasty set-up guy that has a high WHIP and screw in his arm.

Those numbers sound a lot like what we'd expect from Teahen, although 80 RBI's a BIT reaching perhaps...I think most would expect 60-75 to be honest, with our offense. Randa is interesting, you'd be absolutely delighted if he (MOREL) put up those same numbers Teahen recorded with the Royals' high powered offenses a decade ago (albeit no pitching)...I think there was one year he had over 100 or close to it and around 9-12 homers, if memory serves correct.

8 sections. LOL. We've played two football games in the regular season, basically. And started 1-1 (if not for those two Indians' series that will haunt us for the rest of the season, unfortunately).

Well, he also has had one "escape by the skin of his chinny chin chin" save (can't remember the specific game, I think it was last week against TOR though)...the 2-2 lead that was blown, and also the Minnesota game, that could easily have ended up very differently except for Scott Ullger getting so excited he drifted into the Twilight Zone and allowed Hardy to go.

Just curious, what is the ABSOLUTE best possible offensive upside of Morel? Someone like Kouzmanoff or Teahen? Or better? What are some current major leaguers you would make a comparison to...?

Morel, Sierra (from Shakira's hometown) was 4/5 with two doubles, Gilmore and Kenny Williams, Jr., with offensive honors. Trayce Thompson 1/3 with another 2B. Batting .344, did make a fielding error. A catcher (Sierra) that weighs 150 pounds? Is that accurate?

Ozzie saying he can't lose confidence in his players....that he has to stay with Jenks until he proves to the coaching staff that he can no longer get the job done. Danks changing speeds and throwing strikes, wouldn't take the bait he was one of the best lefties in baseball. Complains Paulie doesn't show up until we're trailing or tied in games, haha. Making mistakes on the "little things" will knock us out of race quickly...all the execution failures in the late innings were REALLY REALLY bugging Ozzie. Have to do it, no matter how, you have to do get the job done in order to compete, etc. Also couldn't come up with the big hit in the first inning, run scores only on a wild pitch. Very little clutch hitting so far with this team, just solo homers and late inning heroics. 2nd, 6th, 7th situations, as well as first inning, all big disasters in terms of fundamentals execution and hitting (solid base hits) with RISP. Might move Teahen up to AJ's spot....Ozzie seriously thinking about what to do about AJ's slump.

Congrats Ozzie, you needed that...to prove your decision-making process (by gut, not by the book) to stay with Danks against Gutierrez and not to pull Jenks for Thornton against Ken Griffey, Jr. both worked out. Of course, you were really DUMB not to have Thornton warmed and ready for a LH PH. Then again, it's going to kill Matty if we have him warming up or pitching in 120 games. No matter how easy/repeatable his delivery, he can't take that kind of stress/duress all season long. It's only April 25th, after all. Konerko: April Player of the Month A. Jones/Alex Rios: April Comeback Player of the Month AJ/Ramirez/Pierre/Becks=FAIL...FAIL...FAIL

Mauer and Morneau with back to back doubles off Soria. 4-3 Royals, 1 out, runner on second. The Twins are never out of any game, even against any elite closer, not with the middle of that line-up looming. Thome up, now 2 outs, chance to tie or take the lead. K's on 3-2 count, 86 MPH change-up low and outside, nice pitch Joakim. PHEW!. 5 game lead now.

Got away with it. We might have the most nail-biting closer in my memory now since THIGGY.

Ozzie got played by Wakamatsu since he didn't anticipate KGJr pinch-hitting or warm up Thornton.