caulfield12

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 10, 2009 -> 07:42 PM) Crede with a bad decision there, as he would have easily got Thome out at home. Oh, and I just got a call that Colon's fastball was at 84 mph yesterday. AKA a Charlie Haeger fastball. As slow as Takatsu would throw the frisbee, somehow at his age he could still get the fastball up there at 88-91.

I thought AJ was Anthony James?

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 10, 2009 -> 07:39 PM) Must be nice to have a SS that has range to his right. Very nice play by Harris. Blackburn's going to get 20 grounders today it seems. Ironic. The rap on Harris is that he sucks on defense, which is why they signed Punto to "secure" the position defensively with his -600 OPS. So Danks has a fullblown mental meltdown like Sam Witwicky and we transform horrid defenders into Gold Glovers just by playing them in the HumptyDOOM.

Is Blyleven still doing that stupid "Circle Jerk Me, Bert!" stuff after all these years?

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 10, 2009 -> 07:35 PM) pitching Richard on 3 days rest was absolutely idiotic It does seem if we brought up a random minor leaguer like Ely, Cassel, Harrell, Omogrosso, etc., they couldn't have done a whole lot worse yesterday than what Clayton came up with.... I still won't equate the rotation juggling with the level of anger I had not letting Buehrle start at Yankee Stadium in the late summer of 03.

Ascencio did it with 16 pitches for the Royals, but not to start a game. UMM...mixing the rotation to let Danks (who was pitching so well) face a team he SHOULD have a bit of confidence against isn't the problem. We changed our rotation around down the stretch last year and had starters going on 3 days and we somehow made it to the playoffs. It's not Ozzie's fault Danks has morphed into Rick Ankiel or Dontrelle Willis.

I dare you to give up a Grand Slam here Danks....

Pull dee strings, Eddie... Martin Landau in Ed Wood.

Thank God for the coin flip rule last year or we would have been toast.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 10, 2009 -> 07:17 PM) It just makes no sense for the Sox to trade for Halladay especially with the offensive departures we're likely to have after this year. But isn't it equally feasible they would offer Dye a one or two year contract, not offer arbitration to Thome and work out something with Jimmy on the side to bring him back April 1st...? With Thome's salary number sitting where it's at, you obviously can't even offer him a 20% paycut, but what other teams would fit the bill in terms of location/proximity, comfort level with teammates and manager, and need a DH and be a competitive club that could potentially make it to the playoffs or World Series? Yankees, Red Sox, TB, Detroit, Minnesota, Texas or the Angels? Does anyone see Thome playing in DET or Minnesota? Seriously?

Whatever happens, we should start off the series pleased to take one out of three and get out of Dodge ahead of the Twins at the ASB. Until the players start to expect to win there, it's hard to get upset as a fan when they don't even believe they can win in that place.

Throw in the "Drum Guy" from the outfield bleachers (does he have to pay for two tickets when he brings that thing into the stadium?) and you've got yourself a deal.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jul 10, 2009 -> 03:45 PM) I wouldn't move Poreda. Poreda + Thornton from the left side Jenks as the closer Hopefully get good value out of Richard, Dotel, Linebrink Pena from the right side Call up a reliever Trade for a lesser veteran arm who doesn't cost much but can pitch in the 7th inning (Danys Baez maybe?) Carrasco stays in LR Yes our pen would be weaker than it is right now, but we're not getting anything for Dotel unless we offer arb, which we won't do because he'll accept. And now might be the best time to try and clear out Linebrink's contract. And Richard we don't have to deal, but I take offers because I'm happy with Thornton + Poreda as the lefties. They are our best options. Danys Baez is making almost $7.2 million this year, more expensive than Dotel even. He also played for Pinar del Rio, Alexei's team. I am sure they would give him to us for free if we agree to pay the remaining money on his contract...the odds of clearing out Linebrink's contract in this economy are about 5-10% at best unless we leverage him with a premium player like Jenks/Alexei/Quentin/Danks/Floyd/Beckham, which simply isn't going to ever happen with KW and JR at the helm of this ship.

There's a lot of concern Teahen will be traded, that Aviles will never be the same player he was last year and that Pena will NEVER hit. I remember the Royals making a desperate move for Rey Sanchez when they had the same problem almost a decade ago....and then, of course, Berroa never solidified that position after the great rookie year. Wasn't Cortes listed by many publications as a Top 45-60 prospect in all of the minors not so long ago?

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/?p=1303

QUOTE (daa84 @ Jul 10, 2009 -> 08:29 AM) ah yes...the game that got jerry manuel fired Disagree. It was the late August/early September home game that we had a huge lead and Jose Paniagua came in and almost single-handedly pulled the Twins back to life after we had the first two games in Chicago. I don't think we beat the Twins in late 2003 after that game, I'm pretty sure we were swept at their place and that was all she wrote. That was the tipping point in that season...although some point to Torii Hunter/Jamie Burke (think that was 03 or 04).

I want Bip Roberts (the Chone Figgins of his day) back!!!

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jul 10, 2009 -> 11:31 AM) C: Kark 1B: Squires 2B: Cora SS: Guillen 3B: Ventura LF: BA CF: 1Dog RF: Baines P: Buehrle I think Squires and Lamar Johnson (etc.) go too far back into the 70's/early 80's for the purposes of this poll....haha! What's next? Worst Sox defensive players of the last 20 years? You know that Wilson Betemit would have to be on that list along with Dan Pasqua and Carlos Lee.

I don't see the Marlins giving up Hermida or Ross for Dotel. We'd either have to subsidize the leftover $2-3 million on Dotel's deal or send another prospect or two along to sweeten the pot, like a John Shelby III and Omogrosso/Santeliz/Ely/Nunez/Harrell caliber of pitcher.

Well, at least Ken Hill used to be a REALLY good pitcher in his prime with the Expos and Cardinals. Heck, I remember Steve Carlton starting games at the end of his career with the White Sox. Dale Sveum. Cory Snyder. That was REALLY desperation time. I forgot Spanky Lavalliere from my earlier list of defensive catchers.

Would much rather take Rios' contract and give up more than an aging Wells, whose contract dwarfs Michael Young and some of the Cubs' long-term deals in stupidity factor. As far as Halladay, look at the discrepancy in attendance for his home starts. It might be the biggest of any single player (certainly pitcher, which is easier to measure and more obvious) in all of baseball. Trading Halladay probably DOESN'T make sense short-term economically, but does long-term if they end up with a much better overall team (think the Herschel Walker trade for the Cowboys) that can legitimately compete with TB/NYY/BOS.

QUOTE (daa84 @ Jul 10, 2009 -> 12:15 PM) C: Charles Johnson 1b: Paul Konerko (although its really only him and Thomas) 2b: Jayson Nix SS: Juan Uribe 3b: Robin Ventura LF: Tim Raines CF: Mike Cameron RF: Brian Anderson Charles Johnson in the prime of his career, but not for that short half-season in 2000. He was actually much better offensively (especially that season) and more so-so defensively than I expected. That reminds me, Miguel Olivo has to be considered a close 2nd to Karkovice/Skinner. Sosa was awesome defensively when he first came up...with the only exception that he had so little control of his arm/throws, but he had an absolute rifle before he started getting bigger (a notch below Guerrero, Larry Walker, Dwight Evans and a bit better than Dye when he came up with ATL...maybe equal to Jose Guillen in the 1995-2000 time frame).

Agreed, although I'll be encouraged when Beckham comes out of his mini-slump offensively and defensively. These Twins' games on the road are definitely going to be a test psychologically for an inexperienced rookie. The week spots will continue to be Beckham (moreso defensively), the health of Pods and CQ and Getz. Still, those are MUCH less challenging problems than Fields/Lillibridge/Owens/Wise/Anderson/Miller/Betemit getting playing time. Another thing to mention is that Nix and Ramon Castro are much more potent threats offensively than what we began the season with...both "under the radar" moves that many in baseball were probably scratching their heads at when they were announced (KW at his best, like the Jenks/Thornton/Marte moves....if JVB ever does anything, then KW has to win Executive of the Year).

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Jul 10, 2009 -> 09:56 AM) Caulfield...you have dropped a couple of notches... Sean Lowe...? No love for my boy Sean Lowe...??? 2001: 11 Starts 9-4 3.61 ERA? I'm very disappointed in you..... I thought Lowe was a prick...for some reason, I never liked that guy. Rick White was another guy who drove me nuts. Actually, though, Lowe was one of those guys who seamlessly drifted back and forth, didn't complain...kept getting bumped because KW thought he had pitchers who would turn out better over the long-term but he was the definition of a "battler" (like Greg Hibbard) out there. Being a Sox fan from 1978 until the Thomas/Sosa/Ventura/McDowell/Bere/Fernandez/Alvarez talent infusion was a very LONELY place. Looking back, Calderon and Melido Perez, along with One-Dog, those were my 3 favorite players from that time span. Although I have to admit I was VERY excited when Sosa first came up about his ability to be the next Roberto Clemente (my all-time favorite). I know I am getting old (39 now) when I start to sound like "colsat46" at the older chisox.com reminiscing about 80's and 90's Sox players!!! Those guys loved to talk about Fox and Aparicio almost on a daily basis, just like my uncle when I was growing up.

And trading Ramirez makes much less sense 1) because of his super-affordable, bargain contract status for the now more budget-conscious Sox AND 2) nobody really knows for sure how well Beckham could handle the position over an entire season, compared to 2B. There's a lot more depth at every position in our organization than SS...although I suppose we could now push things a bit and consider Nix as someone capable of playing it defensively, but hitting everyday against lefties and righties? MAYBE.