caulfield12

John Shelby III, if he really has a good season this year, could force his way into the club's plans for 2010 too...there's no solid consensus that Jordan Danks is actually a better prospect than Shelby. Many scouts think Shelby might have an even higher upside, they're probably the two most athletic players in our entire system.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 20, 2009 -> 07:41 AM) 1. Using RBI's as a measure of performance is silly, since it is dependent on others. 2. Brian has plenty of power, but right now is focusing first on making good contact and being selective on pitches - which is EXACTLY what he should be doing to get himself into a rhythm. Once that becomes natural, the power will return. This is sort of basic hitting stuff - you cannot power your way into contact, but you can contact you way into power. 3. 740? He has to have a 740 OPS to be valuable? Where do you get that magic number from? And further, since most of his competition (Wise, Owens) would be lucky to get a .700 OPS much less .740, and Brian has superior defense, I'd say he's valuable even at a much lower level. Then how do you explain Uribe's consistent performance in hitting about 20 homers and 70 rbi's? Or AJ Pierzynski's numbers? As far as the 740 OPS, I think that is based on not being in the bottom 25% or 33% of ML CFers....break even point for a CF to be considered below average offensively.

Dye and Thome...maybe one will be back, as the primary DH, but at a much reduced price...certainly not $12-13 million. If Dye is back, it should be as a full-time DH, and I'm not sure he is quite yet ready to give up OF play. Maybe the idea situation would be for him to share/split time with Brandon Allen next year and also some time in the outfield as a "transition" year in his career. Konerko could DH and/or Allen could play 1B against the really tough righties. Dotel...10-15% chance of return, with his contract not looking like much of a bargain, the odds are we won't offer arbitration...unless he just has an incredible year and stays healthy. Contreras...5-10% chance of return MacDougal...1-2% (you can never rule anything out 100% with this guy, they seem bound and determined to keep giving him chances, so there's always the possibility he figures things out for at least a half season, like Politte did)

Every player thinks they should be starting and/or are good enough to start, or they wouldn't have made it the majors. The problem is, just like Toby Hall, is that there's a time and place for everything, and Swisher didn't know when to draw the line. When you're playing horrifically, that kind of act wears thin pretty quickly. Then, when you pout, at a time when the White Sox are struggling for their playoff lives...and the manager is depending on a 30+ year old journeyman for a spark when you have a guaranteed four-year contract, well, that just doesn't sit well with too many people in a clubhouse. It just came across as a "me first" attitude. Thomas could be that way about his stats, every player is to an extent (like O-Cab with his errors)...but there's a time and a place for putting the team first, at least openly. You can think and feel that you're being treated unfairly or even ostracized, but suck it up. You're an adult, or should be. I think the Cabrera thing was a bit overblown (and he learned from 09, Cabrera realizes/ed what a closed fraternity baseball is and how it really made things difficult in the FA market this offseason, just like AJ coming off his 04 SF season) with Ozzie, and EVERYONE got frustrated with Vazquez (and MacDougal now)...but Swisher going was a case of addition by subtraction, just like the Tigers and Gary Sheffield.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Apr 19, 2009 -> 09:21 PM) First off, Ramirez has been awful so you can't use that argument right now. I'm sure he'll bounce back, but you are complaining about 0 RBI from Brian when the guy that is right in front of him in the lineup hasn't done anything. And, yes, I believe a player with a .400+ OBP is an asset to any team. Anderson has scored 5 runs in the last 4 games. He's been valuable despite not meeting your OPS requirement. Quit playing the race card. I liked Uribe and I like Anderson. Uribe versus Anderson has nothing to do with race actually...we lived with Uribe's "horrific" offensive numbers for half a decade. If you average out 2004-2007, Uribe gives you 20 homers, 71 RBI's (out of the bottom of the order, nobody can say that Uribe wasn't sometimes "clutch" or that he wasn't one of the best on the team in driving in runners from 3rd with one out with a sac fly). 492 hits in 1959 AB's, a .251 batting average. An OBP of around 280-290 and SLG between 425 and 450. OPS 04=713 OPS 05=698 OPS 06=678 OPS 07=682 So I'll set the bar even lower with my expectations...even though Anderson should walk more. Is it fair for me to expect a 680+ OPS, OBP of 300+, 400+ SLG and a final line of 250, 20, 70 out of BRIAN ANDERSON? I don't see why not? Plus, with baseball changing, I would expect GM's to look for more offense from an outfielder than the most critical defensive position on the field. A decade ago, you might have gotten a different answer from GM's because of all the young offensive stars in the AL, but why shouldn't Anderson be able to drive in 60-70 runs from that spot in the batting order?

QUOTE (danman31 @ Apr 19, 2009 -> 08:20 PM) He has 6 starts including today's effort. Anderson is the 9 hitter. 9 hitters don't drive in runners. I'm ecstatic he is getting on base at a superb rate. There is more value to that than slugging .385. If Getz or Lillibridge had only 25-30 RBI's batting first, we could live with that. If you look at the type of the hitters we should have in front of BA....AJ, Ramirez, Fields...he will have quite a few chances to drive in runs over the course of a season. He has to be at least occasionally successful at that. Do you really believe BA would be an asset on this team with a sub 700 OPS and 8-12 homers and 40 RBI's? We might be able to survive that (like the first half of 2006), but he would still be in danger of losing his job. An inarguably better player, Aaron Rowand, was constantly doubted by KW. There's no reason to think that would change with those type of numbers. Sure, if he hits 20-25 homers with 60-75 RBI's, you will never hear me say a bad thing about him (by the way, those are numbers that Uribe reached every year from 2004-2007), but only time can tell. People were constantly trying to get rid of Uribe over the last 3 years, and he was a Gold Glove-caliber defender, so if Brian's numbers are similar to Uribe's, KW will try to replace him.

QUOTE (BobDylan @ Apr 19, 2009 -> 04:33 PM) Agreed. Anderson's walk rate will start to fall, because opposing pitchers will see he's not swinging early in counts and put him down 0-1, 0-2, and then it will be sayonara (if they have good control, which most MLB pitchers do). So, in the next weeks, he needs to start squaring the ball up better on the bat (driving the ball into the gap, most of his hits haven't been liners exactly...like the play today that Garza makes 9 times out of 10) and he also needs to become at least somewhat dangerous with RISP. Most of Brian's hits have been "Getz-like" so far...in fact, Lillibridge actually is hitting the ball with more authority the last 2-3 games than either Getz or Anderson. Summary: he hasn't done anything to lose his job, far from it, but a little bit more will be expected...some doubles and timely RBI's, for example

I said this in all threads we've had about BA. He has to get his OPS to 740 to be an effective player for us, that's not unreasonable to expect. Second, he has to start driving in runners (at least occasionally) when they're in scoring position, which he hasn't done (he did hit the ball hard but AJ couldn't score from 2nd last night). Right now he's at 701. As long as he's in that 720-760 range, then I'll never have any complaints about Anderson because of his defensive abilities...and I'm sure Ozzie won't have any problems either, even if he's in the 650-700 range, AS LONG AS we're still winning games. DeWayne Wise had a .385 SLG percentage after being taken out of the starting line-up...Brian is still struggling to get close to .300. As I said, we'll have some real numbers to look at with BA after he faces Balt, Toronto and Seattle, especially as those home games will be in cold/er weather with teams sporting pretty solid pitching.

Porcello tears through the Mariners, continuing the Tigers' string of very decent starting pitching...only one ER (homer) in 7 IP. Three way tie for first in the AL Central.

Brent Lillibridge=Jason Tyner Speaking of Tyner, Abreu has seven stolen bases already.

Because Owens has no experience playing RF and Brian has a much better arm...it's logic. Looks like the Indians are finally going to lose to the Yankees and the Twins will sweep the Angels.

BA trailing .646 to Betemit's .669 OPS...Lillibridge almost up to 600.

He was always a good field/no hit guy until recently... July 12,2006 - Traded by Astros with Mitch Talbot to Devil Rays for Aubrey Huff and Cash considerations

It seems like we've led almost every inning (except for 7-8-9 in Game 2) in this series...pretty close to dominance. And the Yankees (hard to cheer for them) have taken the lead over the sorry Indians' bullpen 4-3. But good start by Pavano. Of course, when we face the Angels...it will be against their Top 4 healthy starters. Sucks that Minnesota always seems to get the breaks with scheduling somehow. Perkins with a 1.57 ERA so far on the season.

Prediction...Anderson HR here. Or not. It would have been a homer at the "Little K" in Kansas City, though.

I think it was just that freezing cold weather that messed with Floyd's game Monday. Otherwise, he has fairly decent control, although he did come unhinged a couple of times last year (especially in the 2nd half) where he would just completely lose his touch for the curve. CB Bucknor looks a little bit like Obama.

This game gets scary if they bring in Carrasco or MacDougal at any point today. C'mon Gavin. I'd almost rather he gave up a 3 run homer and got out of the inning than seeing MacDougal anywhere near the game. Longoria has caught Alisayitis.

Lillibridge is a hitting machine. Break up the 1929 Yankees...er Sox Sunday line-up. At least Brent is getting on-base and keeping the ball lower instead of popping up into the outfield. They're our version of the Piranhas. Albaladejo gets out of bases loaded, one out situation for Yankees...still 3-1 Indians leading. Try saying that name fast three times. Cubano is celebrating Michel Hernandez shank into RF, since Alexei has been put on the pine for today.

That was definitely a FO at 2nd and maybe even a double play...BA fortunate that Garza misplayed it and then compounded it with the wild throw. Still, we'll take it. And with Anderson running, it helped cause the wild throw. Attaboy Chris Getz.

Looks like we're going to be catching the Orioles as they're really cooling off. We have Guthrie, but two other starters we should be able to beat for sure. Yep, Gavin's 85 MPH change-up is starting to become a really devastating part of his arsenal, as he has better control of it than the curveball.

He's mixing in more curveballs, but he's primarily going with the two seam sinking fastball at 90-91 MPH. He doesn't really seem like he's dominating, but he's certainly pitching effectively against Pena, who is the one batter you don't want to beat you in their line-up...and it would have been nice had Matt Thornton had the time to study the way they're attacking Zobrist, but he's not as dangerous as a LH hitter. Swisher K's (hat trick) with the bases loaded against Pavano in the bottom of the 6th.

Nick Swisher falling back to earth...hitting .325 and 2 k's today against Carl Pavano, but Yankees threatening.

Lillibridge with Pods 2005 leads...nice to see us disrupting the opposing pitchers a little bit for a change. Brent, you've gotta go there, they have a once a week back-up catcher, have to stay out of DP at all costs.

I guess we have to acknowledge CLE isn't dead after all if they sweep the Yankees in the Stadium. Who'd a thunk Ryan Garko would be a slugging RF? I still don't think Cleveland's middle relief can hold...or the back of their rotation. Lillibridge with the BA/Little League approach of waiting to get walked. That's probably his best idea for his size.

Well...if you're going to get on Betemit, you have to get on Brian Anderson for never picking up a runner from scoring position. But it would have been nice to add a run or two. You don't expect Floyd to pitch a shutout in the Dome.