caulfield12

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 08:56 PM) Completely false. You are saying his lack of feel for his pitches was mental and not the huge layoff from rehabbing a career threatening injury? Seriously, sometimes I wonder where people get this stuff. I especially like the use of a statistic there pointing at something you have looked at subjectively. You're discounting the fact that he doesn't have a 95-97 MPH fastball to work with anymore. That will give any pitcher a lot of confidence, just like when Bartolo was dominant....you could see it with Bonderman in the low 90's/high 80's instead of mid 90's. Yes, a large part of it was/is mechanical when you come back from that kind of injury. You lose your consistent release point...and then when you jump around from different arm angles, it becomes that much more difficult to get a feel. Jose just has to be more precise with location and not pitch from behind in the count. Easier said than done. Ahead in the count, dominant with the forkball as a strikeout pitch, as long as it's close to the zone and the hitters don't lay off it. One of the things Jose hasn't done well since 2006 was knock hitters off the plate. When he misses inside, it's almost always center cut/inner half of the plate, not as much movement (backing up a bit). And he can't throw 90% fastballs from the side either. When he throws that slurve out and away, slicing across the other side of the plate on RH hitters, he's MUCH more effective because that gives them almost another pitch to think about, when he's basically a two and sometimes one pitch pitcher.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 07:51 PM) Or maybe the guy is such a f***ing gamer he hurried back from what many of us thought was a career ending injury so he could play for this team again which led to a small mechanical flaw and a lack of feel pitches. Or maybe he just doesnt have balls like alot of the people on here say about Floyd....at least when he is losing. No, he just gets a little bit afraid of contact and starts nibbling...but I wouldn't say it's a lack of balls. Like most pitchers, it's 90% confidence in his stuff. He needed to prove to himself that he could go out and win a key game and be a "stopper" again. He's just not as good since 2007 at battling like John usually does without his best stuff, and Mark almost always does...keeping the club in the game the 60-70% of the time he's not feeling great out there. Ramirez at his high water mark, .261 and 662 OPS now.

QUOTE (That funky motion @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 07:46 PM) I was watching game 5 vs the Halos, on MLB the other day. I forgot how good the count was and was just glued to the TV. Maybe getting sent down woke him up. Well, I thought the situation was that he went to Ozzie and asked to start in AAA to work on his control and conditioning (not to mention his forkball) rather than going to the bullpen in Chicago. There were always concerns from Ozzie and KW whether he could ever be effectively pitching out of the bullpen, although he did do it for a few games a couple of seasons ago, then went back into the rotation again for the remainder of the season. Wow, the Tigers are 1 for 21 today. Pretty good time for Jose to break out a decent game. Managed to lower his ERA to 6.69 in one game.

Well, if Ventura can survive it (0 for 41, Gordon only has 29 more to go), I think Beckham can too...although I would be genuinely surprised if Beckham ended up having a better career in Chicago than Robin. So I guess the next question is what happens with Jose and Bartolo? Do we move Colon to the bullpen? Seems pretty logical...KW can shop him to an NL team, but not sure if he could get much of anything back in return. Probably like one of the many Sandy Alomar trades, a fringe pitcher ala Emenencio Pacheco.

Shades of the 2005 post-season. MVP of the White Sox the past 4 weeks, never would have thunk it. At least among the position players. And Jose has usually pitched at least decently against the Tigers over his career, so I think we have a 50/50 shot to win.

Guess the Anderson defenders will never know now what would have happened had he not had the oblique strain and Pods been added to the roster down in TB. Looks like he has returned to mean at a 632 OPS, behind Fields and Ramirez.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 04:21 PM) I posted this in the gamethread, but I probably should have posted it in here: I got no idea what Ozzie was thinking in the 8th inning. First, you bunt with Getz? A 100 mph fastball is probably the toughest pitch to bunt effectively. And you bunt with Pierzynski on 1st? WTF? With Zumaya pitching, even if Getz does get the bunt down, it's gonna basically be a hard grounder because of the velocity of the fastball. STUPID!!!!! Then, you leave Fields in to face Zumaya? Fields can't hit a 90 mph fastball, let alone a 100 mph fastball. That last swing by him was pathetic. I'm pretty sure the ball was already in the catchers glove by the time Fields swung. Why not bat Nix or Beckham there? Even if they strikeout, they provide a pretty big defensive upgrade at 3B. And guess what, Josh Fields playing 3B in the 9th cost us the deciding run. f***ING AWFUL. Ozzie needs to go. Usually, I never had much of a problem with Ozzie, but he's lost his f***ing mind. He's not even the same guy from 05. Seeing him in the dugout, he's got the same mood as the players. It doesn't even look like he wants to be. It's not a horrible move if AJ wasn't on 1st base (PR with Nix/Anderson/Beckham, then put in Castro). Of course, AJ WAS on first base, lol. LH batters usually have a much easier time getting down a bunt against a hard-throwing righty, and Zumaya has almost zero movement on his fastball....now bunting Jenks when he's on and throwing 96-99, that's much tougher because of his movement.

QUOTE (watchtower41 @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 04:13 PM) and who's to say we even have 1 decent Major Leaguer in our Farm System? We won a WS without a farm system, we re-built another division winner without a farm system. Why is trading the farm such a bad thing if you can contend in a s*** division? Have we honestly lost anyone that will be a All-Star from a farm trade when we trades the pieces in 2005 through now? Everyone cried about Chris Young. He Blows. Everyone cried about Gio. BLOWS. Who is to say Poreda, Beckham, DanksII won't be much of the same. This board falls way too much in love with prospects. They don't win games today, and they don't win games tomorrow, but I guess they are cool to brag about on messageboards. whoa, a lot of rambling there. I'd imagine there will be a lot of fights at Sox/Cubs this year, as we both suck and will struggle to find fodder to hate with against fan foes. Because that type of approach doesn't lead to any type of long-term consistency. The only way to build a winner along the lines of the Braves is with starting pitching. We have the pieces, seemingly, and Richard has looked pretty darned good, but we're not close to competing with that Tigers' rotation. They have three possible aces in Verlander/Jackson/Porcello...you might even put a healthy Bonderman in that conversation, not to mention Dontrelle Willis, who has so much more ability than a Colon or Contreras. Galarraga is VERY solid too, when he's on. The problem is that we probably have too many holes for Peavy to make a significant difference because the offense is just lifeless without Quentin and relying almost 100% on the middle of the order veterans for production. If we trade away that future pitching in Poreda/Richard, then we still come up short...the team's at .500 or around that mark, attendance and season tickets sag and we end up not adding the pieces from the FA market but instead waiting for all the Barons players to make it up to Chicago and have an impact.

Overconfident GM.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 04:06 PM) my biggest fear is in 2-3 weeks when Manny comes back and Pierre starts grumbling about riding the bench KW trades for him. I will flip OUT if KW wastes the payroll flexability on Pierre, absolutely go ape. There's zero reason to trade for Pierre with Pods playing as well as he has...unless you can replace Colon with a significant upgrade, assuming they don't believe that's Poreda in 2009, then there's just not really any way to compete with the depth of the Tigers' starting rotation. Not to mention they have a better offense and a decent bullpen this year, too. Even if CQ was out the entire season, there would be no reason to trade for Juan Pierre. We need someone like Dunn (gasp!) to pick up the offensive slack, not another punch-and-judy hitter well past his prime.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 04:03 PM) Tito...I usually like you, but I would likely to politely tell you to just take a step back and relax. Wise is on the roster right now cause we have no one else to call up. You do realize it would be Lillibridge most likely? Hopefully CQ comes up on Wednesday, and you will see Wise DFA'd. Just give Kroeger or Restovich a chance for awhile. Neither of them will be here long-term, but GOSH, I thought the days of Matt Merullo and Shawn Abner in the OF were sad, or the late 80's teams...this might even be worse, if not for the influx of talent we're all waiting on to deliver. Heck, I wouldn't even care if they gave someone like David Cook or Gartrell a chance, anything different would be nice at this point.

QUOTE (TitoMB345 @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 03:59 PM) I hope there are a lot of boos at the game tonight. The fans need to start showing they won't put up for paying full price to watch some AA team play ML ball. Beckham SIMPLY HAS to be starting tonight at 3B (or Nix, with Beckham at 2B)...or the fans won't be booing Ozzie when he takes Contreras out in the 2nd or 3rd, it will be the first time in many many years that they will be booing his managing, and rightfully so. We can't boo KW as easily, or target him in the owner's box, but he's at least 2/3rd's responsible for this debacle, but Ozzie isn't helping matters a bit.

QUOTE (TitoMB345 @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 03:58 PM) Wise, Fields, and Anderson all should be gone by tomorrow, but will probably be here til next year. There is no reason for Dewayne Wise to exist. Last year was great, thanks for the game-saving catch earlier this season in Motown, but you're not part of the solution, you're a part of the problem, especially if Ozzie continues to play you like a regular. But that's back on Kenny again...no major league roster was more gutted/decimated than the 2008 White Sox going into the 2009 season.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 03:56 PM) But Josh Anderson sure does look good... What did they trade to get him again? Looks like Kenny missed out. We missed out on Jackson, Josh Anderson and Pavano, although nobody could have seen that last one coming. I'll add Porcello to the list, just because the White Sox were clearly outspent by a mid-market team in our own division that was more committed to winning than we were...even this year, when the market's so down for Detroit because of the economic downturn. I'm sure Jackson and Porcello will both beat the White Sox a couple more times this season.

Fields and Anderson should both just be sent packing. It's obvious 1) we won't get anything in return for them at this point, 2) they both need a change of scenery and/or a new hitting coach. It's just not going to happen for them in Chicago, two more blown first-round draft picks in a streak of almost 15 years of bad ones. Not an Ozzie basher, but NO F'IN reason not to PH for Fields there with Zumaya on the mound, no reason not to use Nix/Beckham/Anderson defensively in the top of the 9th and NO REASON WHATSOEVER to leave Thornton on the bench as well in the most critical game of the season up to that point. Actually another point, absolutely ZERO REASON to let Wise bat there too, he's obviously not 100% and has ZERO TIMING, and yet Ozzie expects last year's string of luck to continue and for Wise to get a miracle hit against a 98-100 MPH fastball.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 02:31 PM) Any team that wins their division can be classified as a contender, I guess. But even the most optimistic Sox fan knew that team was so not built for October. They had a chance if their pitching was aligned for the post-season and we didn't have to use Javier Vazquez in the first 3 games. Healthy Quentin, Crede, Linebrink, etc., also would have made a huge difference.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 03:45 PM) Ozzie Guillen is proving to be a brutal in game manager. Why are defensive replacements never an option? Wise and Fields suck there is no reason why Anderson and Nix are not in there for defensive reasons. They each should have hit in the 8th as they can hit fastballs they can not hit breaking pithces. Anderson wasn't going to hit Zumaya, but Beckham and Nix have compact enough swings to get to him, Gordon especially, despite the 0/12 start.

I really hope it's worth it in 2010 and 2011 what KW has done to our major league team this year.

Pods leading off innings five times now this game.

This feels like the game that was the official tipping point to the season...with Contreras starting tonight. If Josh Fields is in the line-up again tonight, Ozzie should just go home to Florida and turn the team over to Cora.

Forget Nix for Getz, he or Beckham should be in there for Fields. What a pathetic way to screw over the team this year...thanks Josh. Horrible. Atrocious. Egregious. Way to let all of the air out of the balloon there after we managed to tie it against Zumaya.

QUOTE (TitoMB345 @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 03:31 PM) WHERE THE f*** IS BRIAN? f*** you Ozzie. I hope you don't want any piece of Brian against Zumaya. Nix and Anderson should both be in the game as defensive replacements right now. There's no reason for Wise to be on this roster right now, he's just atrocious. Great job, Fields!! No excuse, not even a fast runner, and now we've just put Josh Anderson at 2B.

Beckham or Nix would have had a better chance there than Wise....he's really, REALLY struggling. Beckham has the perfect inside-out swing to take Zumaya to RCF but maybe Ozzie hesistant to pinch-hit him there on his 0 for 12 string, but still pretty silly. We all know Fields doesn't have a chance to line up a FB.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 11:46 AM) It also led to the pitching staff throwing more pitches and more stress on their arms. Eldred, Baldwin, Sirotka, and Parque all were never the same. I'm not blaming Valentin, he was a good player when the Sox acquired him and got a little worse every season, but it certainly didn't help them. And every ball that flew through the infield unmolested by Royce (Range of Josh Fields at 3B) Clayton led to additional pitches as well. If you asked any of our pitchers who'd they rather have playing SS everyday, privately, they all would have said Jose Valentin. Not to mention the fact that he was a really smart ballplayer in terms of instincts...we don't even have a baserunner with close to his aptitude on this current Sox team. We just have lots of low baseball IQ players, and that goes back to drafting. We can't blame the injuries to Rauch, Barcelo, Kelly Wunsch, Rocky Biddle, Bobby Howry, Jason Stumm, Danny Wright, Corwin Malone and MANY others on Jose Valentin alone, that would be silly. Eldred had a long history of injury problems before he came to Chicago...

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 8, 2009 -> 11:43 AM) I don't know what everyone can realistically expect out of an offense that was so poorly put together, Dewayne Wise and Brent Lillibridge led off multiple games. Their best hitter has been hurt. Dye and Thome have missed time. A rookie is at 2b. The C and SS while decent hitters are low OBP, the 3rd baseman is a low OBP high K guy coming off a horrific stint in AAA, but yet when the Sox lose 8-4 the when will Greg Walker be fired thread begins. It is ridiculous. Again, be careful what you wish for. Everyone wanted Uribe and Crede out, you got it. Here's Lillibridge and Fields, what an upgrade. If the White Sox get better hitters, they will hit better. If they continue to trot out mediocre line-ups, mediocre results will follow. Buehrle offered $1 million of his salary to keep Uribe. I would have loved to bring him back, but at a minimum of $3.6 million (20% cut), he would have been pricey for a bench player. Then again, he might have ended up becoming the starting 2B or 3B on this team and really shoring up the infield defense, particularly at third. All I know is we won in 2005 and 2008 with Juan Uribe, for whatever that's worth. In fact, I would have kept Uribe OVER Crede simply because Joe seemed done and Boras wanted him out of here anyway...not to mention the injury probability. Uribe was the one "glue" that everyone in the clubhouse seemed to love, white/black/Hispanic...and he cracked everyone up on a daily basis that was around the team. His presence is sorely missed when the team is going through these "blah/down" spells. My favorite Uribe story is the time he was going up and down the bench pointing at players, "white guy, black guy, white guy...then he came to JD and made a smirk and said "white guy." Gotta to love Juan and his blonde goatee, it was so much better than Jenks'. Now we have Nix, Getz and had Betemit when we really would have been better off with Uribe all along. Ironic.