caulfield12

1.409=Andruw Jones' new OPS

what got into Andruw Jones? note to Ozzie: it's okay to play Jones against RHP, thanks for listening

Ummm....no thanks, we had Corky Miller last season, that didn't last very long, predictably. Castro is a fine offensive catcher if healthy, and he's certainly far better than Lucy. That said, it's a nice opportunity for Donny. Here's hoping he takes advantage of it.

You also have to consider how mightily the Twins have struggled when Punto had to be the regular SS...offensively, he's just not a regular, at 2B, 3B, wherever you stick him, it creates a pretty big hole. Then finally covered it up with Orlando Cabrera for a half season. Hudson will really solidify 2B if he can stay healthy, although you have to be concerned about the back end of the pen more than anything at this moment. The left side of the infield and Rauch are the only weaknesses that are obvious with the current Twins' squad. Now with the Twins' offense these days, they can afford to have Punto/Harris in the line-up and not suffer too greatly. Surely the Twins would have won the division in 2008 and 2009 with Garza and Bartlett. They almost did without them. And Twins would have had a really nice infield had Bartlett stuck around and Alexi Casilla become the player it at one time looked he was capable of becoming.

Even today, we won, but it's that winning with a "gasp" or sigh of relief at the end because of a mistake made by our opponent. Usually, that's the way the Twins would beat us, unforced errors. There still continues to be something of a cloud over Jenks. He did get some of his pitches in the 95-96 MPH range, but he's just not as intimidating a presence as he once was...then again, he's better than any Indians reliever (except when they're pitching against us). It feels a heckuva lot better than being 1-5, that's all I know. Huge psychological lift before the team flight to HELL (aka Toronto). I'd be very happy with just winning 1/4 there and then taking 2/3 from the Indians at Progressive to even things up with them.

Rios has actually been hitting a lot of line drives and "at 'em" balls....last year, there was nothing positive to say about his average. Plus he had a homer and another big RBI double in a key situation, the bar's been set VERY low with what can make us encouraged.

That just earned the Kotsay/Jones Experiment another two weeks, until May 15th.

We do have at least 2 GIDP's that have scored runs, lol.

At least the 2007 season, we didn't tune out until about the halfway point. This year might set some records for lowest attendance in the decade. The only thing that will be intereresting is to see what our 25 man roster will be on Opening Day, 2011.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 11, 2010 -> 12:48 PM) No reason to complain. It's still early in the season. I'm sure we'll come around. Mayne in June. I don't think starting 7 1/2 or 8 1/2 games back after 2 weeks will do much to build confidence in the fanbase. Minnesota hasn't even opened up their park yet. KW and Ozzie will have some explaining to do, as to why anything but the most sado-masochist White Sox fan would pay hard-earned money for this crap.

Konerko with the brain cramp, not cutting off the throw. Lots of confidence that our offense will counter in the bottom of the 3rd. NOT.

Here we go again. The Mark Buehrle that had a 6+ ERA against the Twins last year. Is it possible that the Twins might really beat us 14 out of our last 16 games? OUCH.

It wouldn't be April without Alexei hitting a buck fifty something... I think someone needs to do a little research and have updated comparisons of all the AL DH numbers...on the other hand, that might be too depressing. One can only take so much. The only way we get good numbers out of DH is sticking Quentin there...although I have a feeling Tyler Flowers might get the first shot at it before KW makes a trade.

Yes, Blackburn is RHP.

JJ Hardy with two early homers, has batted third in their line-up and he's bunting in the 2nd inning? Gardenhire makes even stranger decisions that Guillen sometimes.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 11, 2010 -> 12:25 PM) Kotsay really grinds the ball into the ground. The Kotsay experiment needs to end...it's sad he actually received a Major League contract. It's sad that we thought he was anything but the last player on the roster...I can't think of very many teams in the majors that would give him this prominent a role.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 11, 2010 -> 12:23 PM) Why pitch to PK with an open base. Kotsay is up next. I'm sure Gardenhire will give very serious consideration to walking Konerko the next time in that same situation. It would have seemed crazy just then, but why wouldn't you do it?

Wow...Konerko with three homers and 7 RBI's already this season. What got into his Wheaties? At least one veteran hitter on our team showed up this season.

Now, can we actually get a hit with RISP and two outs? Seems like Rios is the only one to do it all season long...at least since the first game.

Maybe we can get a good return for Putz, eventually...if/when his live fastball comes back. Jenks, not so much. Rios, you'd still be pretty fortunate to get one of the big market teams to take the contract off your hands for free. There's only one player in our line-up anyone would really want, and that's Beckham. Quentin and Ramirez have a lot of question marks hanging over them.

It's not going to be a good thing to face Toronto's pitching on the road in the offensive slump we're in. And the pitchers are going to start becoming too "perfect" anticipating getting no run support at all from the offense.

Well...this is starting off well. It would be nice to actually beat the Twins once every three games at home at least.

And that team was considered a big failure by everyone...because we didn't make the playoffs and come close to defending our World Series title. By White Sox standards, sure, a 90 win season is a relative rarity, but I don't think many fans felt content that year, certainly not after being 26 games over .500 at the ASB.

That 2005 team was also coming off a World Series championship... Yes, we can always point to the recent Cardinals team or the 1987/1991 Minnesota Twins and make the argument that you only have to reach the playoffs and get hot at the right moment and sustain it for 2-3 weeks. Pretty much a given. But the difference is that team also had the best offense in the major leagues through the All-Star break. Whereas a lot of things have to break right for this offense to be even close to the "average" that was the 2005 team. Not only that, but hitting with RISP as well as fundamentals/execution, something we have only done well for one out of the last 3 1/2 seasons.

Jones hit 158 home runs in 1,038 minor league games, big numbers possible only for a player unwanted by the major leagues. Drafted in 1999 by the Atlanta Braves and released in 2002, he was picked up by the Minnesota Twins and languished in the system behind Justin Morneau(notes) at first base and Michael Cuddyer(notes) in right field. Rochester is a Twins’ affiliate, and Jones was there so long he could have been elected mayor. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire liked his power potential, but others in the organization didn’t think he made enough contact and doubted his defensive ability. Jones’ batting average rose and his strikeout total dropped, but his only taste of the big leagues came in four short stints in 2007. When he delivered a walkoff home run to win Rochester’s season finale in 2008, he figured the Twins would make him a September call-up. He figured wrong, the last in a long line of disappointments, and he left the organization as a minor league free agent. His best opportunity had come and gone a year earlier when it appeared the left field job was open in Minneapolis. But the Twins made a trade they have since regretted, sending pitcher Matt Garza(notes) and shortstop Jason Bartlett(notes) to the Rays for outfielder Delmon Young(notes), who in more than 1,000 at-bats since the deal has hit one fewer home run than Jones has hit in about 325 at-bats with Pittsburgh. “I felt that if I’d had a shot I definitely could have competed for that spot,” Jones said. Instead, it was one more year at Rochester before free agency. www.yahoo.com/sports