caulfield12

Rob Deer hit below .200 with huge power and K's one year. Beckham has Alex Rios-itis (2009 version) and Alex has switched hitting ability with Gordon, sort of like Freaky Friday. I don't know if he's going to get things figured out in the heat of a pennant rate....this is becoming like Brian Anderson in 2006, except we have Vizquel that can play 2B with Viciedo plugging in at 3B. Right now, there's no other choice for Guillen until KW can make a move.

Gordon back below .200 and hovering around a 520 OPS, which might be the lowest of all qualified MLB hitters. They have to pull the plug on him for now and see what a new environment in AAA can do for him.

FWIW, KW not tearing down the team in 2007 and then giving up on 2010...turned out to be the right decisions, although this year I don't know if he had an opportunity to do anything but dump AJ, and even that was a bit premature. Just lucky timing for KW to have the interleague schedule solve the question for him and JR.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 10:45 PM) I miss that guy! It's not too late to name my son Quentin! I think he's really pissed off SOXTALK removed him from the banner, from what I've heard. Fortunately, he's taking it out on the baseball for now.

Well, JJ certainly qualifies as KW's best offseason move, along with Vizquel (now) and Andruw Jones for 6 weeks (he really kept us in there offensively so we didn't get totally buried, and he can always play D). Pierre and Teahen, not so good. IS CARLOS QUENTIN BACK? Is it possible? He's really locked in now...

Wonder how much Putz will get on the open market? He's back up to 95-96 with the fastball, along with the nasty splitter. Does KW dare make a play for him? Does he dare bring back Jenks? Personally, I think we're better off with Thornton in his current role.

Poor Cleveland blew another 9th inning lead, this time to the Phillies. I think the only team who hasn't touched up their bullpen this year is the White Sox.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 10:32 PM) Have I mentioned how much I love Omar Vizquel and just how happy I am that he's succeeding? I think if he ran against Chavez today he could become presidente. Who doesn't love Omar?

Interesting bullpen decisions coming up from Guillen....

Morneau K's. 4 games back. Sign Vizquel to a 3 year contract extension.

Typical Buehrle. 2 outs in the 9th, 5-3 Brewers lead, tying run coming to the plate after Mauer RBI double off Axford. I know it's crazy, but I walk Morneau here and put him at 1st. We'll see.

Huge out. Now what?

I would rather have Vizquel than Grudzielanek, not even close. We have to move Omar to 2B and try Viciedo at 3B and live with the errors if he can hit. Buehrle is really on the edge in this ballgame...sucks that those two plays at the plate both went against us or we'd have some more breathing room. Well, that's baseball. And Mark came through with a huge pickoff, as he always does the little things to battle through games. 5-2 Brewers, UH-OH. That's not good. Does Ozzie leave in Buehrle?

Starting off as a pitcher's duel.

Liriano down 1-0 in the 4th, but could easily be trailing 3-0 but has dealt very effectively with Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun. Mets continue to be the hottest team in baseball, up 3-0 over Bonderman and threatening for 2 more. Could be 2 behind the Tigers and just 3 1/2 behind the Twins if everything breaks perfectly tonight. Pretty amazing turnaround.

QUOTE (bschmaranz @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 07:17 PM) Yes, the story of the 2000 White Sox! What, rain delays or fights with Fick/Weaver/Samuel?

Which still was still good enough to get us Contreras and a cash subsidy from the Yankees, perhaps the biggest single key to the 2005 season....and post-season. You know it had to eat a bit at Cashman to see El Duque and El Gran Titan de Bronze both dice up the Red Sox in the post-season. Speaking of blasts from the past, how long will Alan Embree's career last?

Threets has the arm and the pedigree, the only questions (and they're big ones) are his health and command/control.

Agreed. Now if we see the likes of the rest of the Charlotte roster (including Jordan Danks, Lucy or Morel) trying to man any roles in 2011, then you know we're in serious trouble. But it's really limited to Viciedo, Hudson, Flowers and the very unlikely possibility Mitchell catches fire and can replace Pierre next season, although that's looking like a 5-10% likelihood at best. Perhaps you can add Sale into that mix. We'll just have to wait and see, as well as Threets for Williams. Other than that, it's just a few pitchers like Santeliz, Torres or Nunez possibly trying to replace Jenks/Pena, but we might have to go outside of the organization via trade or FA, like we did with Putz (one of KW's better offseason moves).

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 05:26 PM) Dunn isnt being traded. Whats your next thought. Frodo? I think he reminds me more of the scarily sinister character from "Sin City," lol.

I was thinking about this one, would I rather have Teahen or Willie Bloomquist? It was a tough call, but I chose Teahen simply because of his his 4/6th's of a season of pretty good success, although Bloomquist is undoubtedly more versatile, a better defender wherever you place him and can be used as a pinch runner. In the past, players like Craig Grebeck or Pablo Ozuna filled that role more as how I envision it, or Vizquel today. He doesn't have to be Jose Oquendo and play every position, because Teahen doesn't really have one "plus" asset on the field, maybe he has a decent arm, but I would still rather stick Dayan Viciedo in RF than Mark Teahen because of his upside/potential. So for 2011, Teahen for 25th man and a huge waste of salary, why not? KW has no other choice but to hope he catches fire and can deal him. I suppose the organization soured on Viciedo's defense, got impatient based on 2009 and KW (or HAHN) offered that stupid extension which has hamstrung us going forward....well, and we just don't DFA players like Linebrink, MacDougal or Teahen very often. There's certainly no doubt that Viciedo has MUCH more value at 3B than 1B...no argument can be made there. Balta, your quotes about only $10-15 million being available for next year, is that with Jenks off the team? Losing Konerko, Castro, Vizquel, Andruw Jones, Nix, Kotsay, JJ Putz, AJ, Garcia, Jenks, Williams, yes? Also, why the heck is Threets not up over Williams? Well, I haven't read it, but I'm sure the other thread already reiterates this point ad infinitum, yes?

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 09:47 AM) Well I don't think the Sox would have to part with any of those guys to land a Ryan Spilborghs or a Reed Johnson for example. Improving over Juan Pierre's offense isn't exactly the toughest thing in the world to do. I've been 100% pro-trade Morel in the past, but now I'd like to hang on to him at least until we can find an MLB solution. As for the other guys, I'd deal any one of them for the right bat. We probably wouldn't be able to land that right bat, but if a Flowers deal gets you Dunn then you wake up and do it. He's a guy we could probably extend too. But keep Hudson and Viciedo if you can IMO. Then who's going to hit leadoff? Reed Johnson? In the AL? That's a clear improvement? I just don't think that Morel is worth that much to very many teams....he's struggling mightily in AAA, and what's his OPS upside in the majors, around 725-750? Unless he plays near Gold Glove defense, he just doesn't have enough pop to play everyday at USCF. We already have Juan Pierre, Teahen and Vizquel with limited power, I can't imagine adding another corner spot with someone whose upside at the next level is 8-12 homers.

If you trade Flowers, are we really sure we want to take a chance with AJ for one more season at his age, and at that salary range? I just think you have to get solid contributions from Dayan, Beckham, Quentin, Hudson and Flowers for us to have any chance in 2011 and beyond. Maybe we can afford one failure out of those five, but that's about all the breathing room we have with the Twins really starting to get contributions on a consistent basis from Delmon Young finally. I just doesn't see Ozzie and KW going away from Pierre at this point...unless someone amazing comes on the market that's totally unexpected. Dunn would be great as the DH, as long as he doesn't play OF (as many have mentioned), but is he worth Flowers and Hudson for a half-season rental? I guess it depends on what we can do with those draft picks and how much we're willing to spend, but we can't wait 2-3 more years to find a catching replacement, Gonzalez and Phegley are far, far away and Donny Lucy is quickly disappearing in the rearview mirror.

Simple. Beckham down for at least 2-3 weeks to try to catch fire at the plate and then come back up. Vizquel at 2B, Viciedo at 3B.

Twins lose, 4 1/2 games back now, 3 behind the Tigers. BTW, you might want to pick up Axford from the Brew Crew if you want a new ROTO closer.