caulfield12

Yeah, I loved Rooney and Wayne Hagen together, and that REALLY dates me. Rongey is a Cardinals fan and I would trade for the "pressure/stress" of that job in a minute...and no, I don't think it's paid HUGELY well, but I get by on little more than $1000 USD per month teaching in Thailand, so maybe it's a matter of the proper perspective. Of course, who the paycheck is signed by limits your criticism...it's the nature of working for the White Sox (see Hawk). If you are rich or an iconic figure, like Stone (or Santo), you can certainly afford to be a lot more objective and scathing at times. Because of the supply and demand with aspiring young broadcasters waiting to step in for virtually free, the economic downturn and advertising rates declining...if anything, there's a downward stress on salaries. I remember when I graduated with an MS in Sports Admin in 1993 and turning down any internship that was unpaid, even one with the Red Sox paying $200-300 per month. I would guess the salaries at the lower levels of major sports radio aren't incredibly different from working for a team and being lucky to make $2000-2500 per month in salary.

Tyler Wigginton, M. Aybar, Kouzmanoff...someone along those lines? Atkins? Melvin Mora? Figgins won't go anywhere now. Blalock and putting him back at 3B?

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 5, 2009 -> 01:19 PM) Nice break we caught there on the blown 6-4-3 DP. Getz got lucky he didn't get called for interference. Callaspo was nowhere close to the bag. He was waiting on the umpire to make the "in the neighborhood/vicinity/area code" phantom call and held up instead of completing the DP. Gift run.

Ramirez has a bit of a "rangy/tall" frame for SS, there's no doubt about that. I just hope all those annointing Beckham as a "very good" SS are happy with what they get...just like Crede, I can't wait for the "Alexei would have gotten an out there" comments.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 5, 2009 -> 01:02 PM) Why does Alexei play so far up the middle when every pitch is a fastball on the inner half? It's beyond frustrating watching him be so clueless at SS this season. Well, Guillen defended him after the play yesterday, saying that playing deep in the hole was their traditional positioning against Guillen...although why you'd play someone that far away from the bag that you could never get there in time to turn a DP is beyond me.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 5, 2009 -> 01:49 PM) very similar to his start and turnaround last year 736 OPS, he was right around 800 last year despite the low walk totals....heading for 20+ homers and 75-85 RBI's again.

Clayton with a nice change-up with a full count against Olivo. That's encouraging to see that he has the confidence to go to that pitch at 3-2 and not just the FB. And he K's the side.

Well, at least Getz hit the ball really hard, nice approach up the middle....just the "at em" ball and a pretty luck "look what I found" snag by Callaspo. Fields, not so good.

Jeff Cox is about as good as our execution with 0/1 outs and a runner on 3rd base this year. Egregiously, mind-numbingly, inanely bad.

QUOTE (ChiSox420* @ Jul 5, 2009 -> 01:26 PM) Is Clayton really getting up to 97mph? Royals' gun always has been 2-3 MPH fast. I think it dates back to the MacDougal days when he was routinely throwing a legit 97-99...fans love to see that 100-101 on the board, just like Tigers' fans with Zumaya. Clayton has been a legit 92-95 this season, sometimes touching 96.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jul 5, 2009 -> 11:55 AM) Moore really went the extra mile last year with all the money he spent on Hosmer and Melville (both struggling a bit this year, but seem to be coming around). Plus, you guys had a great draft this year with Crow and Myers, and Dwyer is pretty intriguing. I still can't get over how you guys got Myers in the 3rd round when he was a possibility for you guys in the first (you guys gonna spend the money to sign him though). Also, Crow is a stud, IMO. Moustakas has been struggling, and I'd say for the no. 2 overall pick in 07 and into his 3rd season in professional ball, you'd like to see him at least in AA by now. Also, when he is ready, does he stick at 3B? Or go to the OF? And I still have no idea why you guys are still running Mike Jacobs out there all the time. He has no business being in the American League. His best fit is as a pinch hitter and situational 1B in the NL, he just doesn't have the tools to be an everyday player. And why the hell is Ka'aihue still in AAA? Granted he is lighting the world on fire, but I'd say it's about time they gave him a shot. Also, Mitch Maier is a bad baseball player. How was he a 1st round draft pick? Maier and BA have very similar career statlines, in terms of overall OPS. Both first round disappointments.

Probably because they feel Poreda's been on the shelf long enough not starting that Richard would be the better bet, even pitching on 3 day's rest, over Aaron...to go 5 or 6 innings. However, if Clayton gets lit up in his start SUN afternoon against KC, they might change their tune again and at least give Poreda the spot start.

Yeah, forgot about the AFL... Kenny's private stomping/hunting grounds for like likes of Tyler Flowers, Gavin Floyd, Jeff Marquez and many others over the last decade.

A SS in the American League with an OPS of 700+ is not a "D" player, unless you're the '29-'31 Yankees. He's on pace for 20 errors, that's certainly not an exceptional amount by any stretch of the imagination, and far fewer than Jose Valentin committed consistently before being moved for Clayton. Is Valentin a clearly superior offensive player to Alexei? No way...especially against LHP. Could someone please also take into consideration the pending lawsuit which threatens to take away his family's security for the immediate and short-term future? Dotel is B-/B, Linebrink about the same. Danks and Floyd have both moved to the B-/B category, and Beckham deserves a A- at the VERY least. Colon doesn't deserve a D either, it's not his fault he's done, it's KW's. In fact, it's at least a B (compared to expectations, which were pretty low) that he even won as many games as he did with an 85-91 MPH fastball and no other pitches.

QUOTE (High Mileage @ Jul 4, 2009 -> 10:59 AM) 7th-round pick. And his defense was a lot better than he was given credit for. We know Aviles' story well here, of course. No D-1 offers out of high school, went to a small college where he ticked off some folks by predicting as a freshman he'd take an upperclassman's starting shortstop job*, national player of the year by his senior year, and rewarded with a $1,000 signing bonus from the Royals that was so small Aviles doesn't even remember what he did with it. * He turned out to be right. He did win that shortstop job, and quickly started to change some minds. He was one of the best-liked guys on the team soon. Aviles then spent six years in the minor leagues, more than 2,500 plate appearances, with only one of what you could fairly call a down season. The Royals saw nothing in him.* They made him start at Omaha three straight years, baseball's version of, "Well, she's got a great personality." * When we mention this, it's only fair to point out none of the other 29 teams saw anything, either. They all passed on him in the Rule 5 draft, meaning they didn't think he was worth $50,000 and a roster spot. QUICK UPDATE: Twins rally from a 3-2 deficit late (Magglio Ordonez had a 3 run homer and double) to win 4-3. NIck Punto had the go-ahead/GW RBI in the bottom of the 8th and Nathan nailed it down 1-2-3. Edwin Jackson with the bad luck no decision, continues to dominate along with Verlander, Buehrle, Cliff Lee and Greinke in the ALCD. Sox remain 2 1/2 GB, Twins now at 3 GB. C'mon Clayton, we really need you to show up tomorrow afternoon.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Jul 4, 2009 -> 03:45 PM) I´m over that tantrum but passion aside the defense really needs a kick in the butt. Can´t be mental midgets half the time and concentrate the other. Some pluses today. Gotta keep bringin up Beckham. This kid is really tearing the cover off the ball. All his balls in play are line drives and all over the place. Is he eligible if he plays the rest iof the year for ROY? Yes, he's eligible, of course...these are his first AB's at the major league level. The only question is whether he can miss 2+ months of the season and still make a race of it. Remember, Alexei had 20+ homers and almost 80 RBI's and still was soundly defeated by Longoria last year.

QUOTE (JDsDirtySox @ Jul 4, 2009 -> 04:05 PM) Snell is making his 2nd start in the minors tonight since being demoted. He struck out 17 in his first outing. Lets go take him from the Bucs since they don't want him. I know we don't need him, but having a glove like Jack Wilson would be nice too. How about Snell for David Cook. But we already have a player similar (defense first) to Wilson/Everett on our roster in Nix. If we played Wilson everyday at SS, then you'd have to bench Getz and stick Alexei back at 2B or in CF in the middle of a pennant race. Just don't see how a limited (offensively) NL player is going to come over and have much of an impact in the ALCD, but stranger things have happened, like Adam Everett compiling almost a 700 OPS after his career looked more or less dead and buried. It's going to take more than Cook to get Snell. Let's say it will be John Shelby and someone like Omogrosso or Santeliz for starters. I bet KW is still kicking himself for not coming up with something better than Matt Joyce for Edwin Jackson...that one move/non-move could mean the difference in the division this season. Jackson's still at a 2.49 ERA at mid-season and will get a boatload of money after 2009.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Jul 4, 2009 -> 01:17 PM) That last sentence is pure conjecture on your part. Your arguments seem to rely pretty heavily on that. Moving from one side of the infield to the other is not an easy transition. It completely throws off your instincts, as all of your angles and moves are the opposite of what you're used to. One doesn't have to deal with that when moving from SS to 3B. Assuming that reaction time and arm strength aren't issues, 3B is actually much easier to play than SS or 2B. But for some reason, you're foolishly applying it to Beckham's experience in the Majors. I guess you never considered that. Beckham stands to lose tens of millions of dollars (money that could secure his entire family for generations) if he doesn't pan out in the next three seasons. He also stands to lose a career that he loves. I'd say that's plenty of pressure. Nix is also four years older than Beckham, and has played 3B, 2B, and SS extensively in the minors. I'm glad that you're not managing the Sox. Because you don't have much of a handle on how competitive MLB is, how much pressure highly-touted rookies are under (from the team, from the media, from themselves), and how the money involved translates into little patience on the behalf of managers and GMs for poor play. And this is exactly why Beckham didn't join the Sox in April, even after putting up a very impressive spring in Arizona. http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/N/jayson-nix.shtml The only other position Nix played in the minors was SS, and that was a LONG time ago. I'll agree that 2B should be an easier transition for a middle infielder than moving from SS to 3B. The game is so much faster at third than up the middle...even "slow" (running-wise) players like Crede can excel there with excellent anticipation and first step "quickness" whereas some more athletic players (like Fields) consistently struggle and show almost no range over there. Beckham obviously played SS for most of his career...and probably a bit more 2B (especially in Spring Training) than 3B before he was recalled. Uribe and Nix are two of the few players who look/ed like they could play all three positions in a comparable fashion...a lot of it has to do with arm strength, and both those guys had/have really soft hands. You can make up for a lot of mistakes at 2B and 3B with a superior 65/70-80 arm, but it will be interesting to see how all of this shakes out with SS and Ramirez coming close to a "Soriano-esque" tipping point where they might have to put him in the OF. Then again, Ramirez was very good the first half last year at 2B before seriously fading mentally and physically during the stretch run.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 4, 2009 -> 03:47 PM) Garland? For the money, I would rather keep Richard in the rotation and find another bat to come off of the bench. I don't see how KW would be willing to pay Gil Meche $11 million per season when he had a similar pitcher (great "stuff" but average results) in Javy Vazquez. Just don't see how he's in the same category with the likes of Haren/Peavy/Halladay/J. Johnson or even Rich Harden that would tip the balance of power in the division completely in the direction of the White Sox for the next 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 seasons. Maybe there's something "correctable" about Meche psychologically that was a roadblock with Javy, though. Snell's got a nice arm, good "buy low, then resurrect" candidate for Cooper to work with...vis a vis someone like Van Benschoten or Marquez.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 4, 2009 -> 01:11 PM) Between Tejada, Colon, Cruz and Soria, the Royals might lead the league in BP guys that routinely hit 95 MPH with their fastball. With Zumaya, Dolsi, Perry, Rodney, etc., the Tigers have some very nice bullpen arms as well.

QUOTE (SHIPPS @ Jul 1, 2009 -> 02:23 PM) That kid has a s*** load of talent...I hope he comes back strong. Wasn't Michael Aviles an undrafted FA? Or you're referring to another player? I know he was really defensively-challenged at SS (arm/range) but he had a heckuva season out of seemingly nowhere and destroyed the White Sox single-handedly.

Ray Durham, who I would hardly say had excellent defensive fundamentals, but he was fairly polished as an offensive force...and that's going back well more than a decade.

Game on. Soon to be 7-6 Tigers...Span comes through with a huge, clutch triple. Runner on 3rd (Harris) with only one out, two chances to tie. Huge for the Tigers to blow a 7-1 lead in a pivotal division match-up.

However, if KW did get a RH hitting outfielder with pop, that player would be guaranteed 30-40% playing time as the RH DH/PH for Thome regardless of what happens with Quentin and/or Pods health-wise.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 3, 2009 -> 07:44 PM) No way a GM makes a trade right now then has the guy he trades for get benched behind Quentin, even if there's only a 33% chance that Q comes back healthy. But that works both ways, KW has the leverage to say he doesn't HAVE to do the deal as he's not really desperate...with the 2008 AL MVP coming back soon. They don't have him over a barrel, just like when we had six starters in terms of depth in 2005. Then there's the other question of how long Pods can stay healthy, too. Does KW really believe that Quentin can return to form and that Pods can avoid the injury bug looking at the back of his baseball card for the past five seasons?