caulfield12

QUOTE (fathom @ May 4, 2009 -> 08:04 PM) Ah, the old vote of confidence for Walker. It's like groundhog day. When you have to give a coach a vote of confidence every year, maybe it's time to go in a new direction: http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/wh...-050409.article We had this discussion before. It will be a disaster if Walker tries to make Flowers, Beckham, Allen and Viciedo patented "lift and pull" hitters. They've all consistently shown their best power to the opposite field this season. Unfortunately, there's no "fire sale" to be had with this White Sox team, even if they wanted to. We don't have any outfield replacements for Dye, unless we plan on playing Dayan Viciedo in LF/RF next season. Shelby and Danks are at least 1 1/2 seasons away from the big leagues. So Dye's not really tradeable, because 1) we have no replacement in the minors and 2) his contract is pretty big. Still, he's probably our most valuable player to the opposition. Konerko, if he continues to play as well as he has, would definitely be an interesting acquisition to a team like the Angels, if Morales continues to struggle. There are probably 2-3 teams out there who would be interested, and that could change with a key injury on some of the big market teams. Thome, at $13 million, forget it. Dotel, Linebrink, Jenks and Thornton will all be sought after. 1) Thornton...would it be best to trade him now or make him the closer to replace Jenks? Or could Poreda be the closer? It depends on what the Sox and KW are thinking here. There's always been that question about his ability to close or even pitch with inherited runners. Of course, scouts are in love with his arm and repeatable/easy delivery. Big plus is his contract seems to be a bargain. 2) Jenks, although his contract is going up year after year, will be around $7.5-8.5 million next season. 3) Dotel...an expensive acquisition for all but the big market teams, but our most effective pitcher so far this year and looking healthy, knock on wood. 4) Linebrink...least likely target, two years more to go on his contract, questions about overuse and future reliability

We also now have the very WORST offense in the American League, at least until the A's game becomes official later tonight. I'll repeat, after 15% of the season, we are now ranked last in runs scored per game in the AL. Oakland is behind us in runs scored, because they have played 3 less games. White Sox=4.32 runs per game Oakland=4.36 runs per game Home Runs White Sox=26 Royals=26

Brent Lillibridge, .186 career MLB average, 555 OPS Andy Gonzalez, .188 career MLB average, 549 OPS

Not for losing to Greinke tonight, that was pretty much a given and was one of those bets you ALMOST make but you can't really bring yourself to bet against the White Sox, no matter what. 1) Nix had played in 9 minor and major league games before his appearance at 3B. He threw one ball into the ground that Konerko miraculously snagged or it would have been runners on 2nd and 3rd. He also muffed a double play ball and almost didn't get the out at 1B. 1B) Wilson Betemit is now officially superfluous. This team would be better off with Uribe as the back-up across the infield. If you can't trust him to play 3B against Greinke, then you might as well just release him or wait for Thome to go down again so he can be the starting DH. Playing against tough RHP was SUPPOSEDLY the area where he excelled, at least last year. 2) Lillibridge has no business near CF (see yesterday's boot) or in the White Sox line-up, PERIOD. He hasn't hit a ball to the left of second base all season long. He has taken feeble/anemic swings 3-4 times already this season, getting baserunners like Anderson and now Pods thrown out easily on botched hit-and-runs. He makes almost as little contact as Josh Fields, and it's borderline nauseating now to watch. If you're not going to play Pods in CF, you might as well stick Nix out there, since he's NEVER even played the outfield in a major league game...still, he managed to look better than both Pods and Lillibridge respectively. Imagine if we lost a one run game because of Lillibridge and Pods being out there. 3) Pods playing AT ALL in RF is a permanent stain on all ML RFers. He can't judge flyballs (he never took good routes), he has to have the worst arm in the history of those who have ever played RF for even a single game (as a starter) and he's no longer a threat on the basepaths. The only thing he does (now) is work the count a little bit and get a few walks. It would really be better if KW just was honest that this team wasn't constructed to repeat in 2009 and that he wanted to build a team capable of winning and going deep into the playoffs in 2010/2011/2012. The fans are smart enough to know that players like Jerry Owens, Lillibridge, Corky Miller, Jack Egbert and Lance Broadway aren't really major league quality contributors...at least on winning teams.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 4, 2009 -> 04:37 PM) Brian Anderson is going to be in a movie, as will Brandon McCarthy. http://www.sportsbybrooks.com/mlb-players-...hollywood-23655 Apparently he didn't have time to play in Winter Ball because of the scheduled shooting times. Just kidding.

One thing Poreda needs to do is work a big faster and not throw so many pitches. He's like Scott Kazmir right now....the idea of our bullpen having to enter the game consistently in the 5th and 6th innings doesn't exactly build confidence. Although anything is better than being out of the game in the 3rd or 4th and having to go to Broadway then.

Flowers got credit for a caught stealing...but what happened was the runner came off the back after being safe. The throw beat him, but it was a bad tag apparently. Still, Flowers has been more successful than the major league catchers. Of course, they don't have to deal with the likes of Floyd, Contreras and Jenks not holding runners on base.

Hensley, the starter for the Diamond Jaxx, jumped all the way from the first month with Clinton (Midwest) League over their High A team all the way to a AA start tonight... Pretty unusual move so early in the year for an organization (in this case, the M's and their new GM Jack Z) to jump a guy all the way up two leagues. Wonder if they think he can help them in Seattle as early as this season? Or maybe they just wanted to see how well he could do against Birmingham? Well, it makes for an interesting storyline, I guess. So much for Hensley. Gave up his first earned runs of the season, 3-0 Barons going to the 2nd. Tyler Flowers with a two-out RBI single, Viciedo doubled (down the right field line) in Flowers and Brandon Allen, who'd walked. Beckham grounded out. Poreda supposedly throwing 98 on the Birmingham stadium gun. Actually got a strikeout with curveball.

For that, you'll have to refer to "The Girlfriend Experience," probably. New Soderbergh movie starring Sasha Grey.

QUOTE (Jimbo's Drinker @ May 4, 2009 -> 12:51 PM) The Sox have been home run or naught for 5 years(or so). We have had pretty good pitching to at least save us in some instances. Now, we are stuck with 2 young and getting better kids, one solid foundation, and 2 pitchers who have already had their 9 lives. It is amazing that this management can widdle away so much money and try to sell us on an improved product. I cannot even imagine how we will ruin next offseaon with a ton of money off the books. Besides MacDougal and Contreras, where would you have cut away from the team to be more "payroll efficient" like the $65 million 2005 World Series champions? Konerko? Thome's option vested, and we couldn't have deliberately prevented him from getting to that mark without a huge fight with the union. Of course it's silly to spend $13 million on a DH, but we also received $22 million from the Phils, so a good part of it was subsidized. There's even rumors of a "handshake" agreement between Gillick and KW that the Phillies would kick in money if the White Sox 2009 option for Thome vested. Besides jettisoning Swisher (which looks debatable now), Cabrera, Uribe, Crede and Vazquez, what could we have done realistically? Nobody was going to take Paulie's contract unless we sent them money, and probably no AL team would take Thome for $13 million. If Thome wasn't around, our best DH candidates would be Betemit and either Kroeger, Flowers or Brandon Allen.

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 4, 2009 -> 12:49 PM) Nix can also play 3B as well as SS. http://www.thebaseballcube.com/Fielding/N/Jayson-Nix.shtml Jayson Truitt Nix has played all of 9 (yes NINE) games at 3B in his entire career (majors/minors). He was playing SS and 2B in our minor league system. What do you base your comment upon? Chris Getz has more experience at 3B, actually. And Betemit.

There's overly optimistic, there's realistic/pragmatic and then there's overly pessimistic. As far as 2009 goes, there has been no reason to be optimistic, other than the fact that the warm weather is ahead of us and no team in the division has run out in front like the Tigers in 06 or the Indians in 07. Arguably, this is the weakest year for the division (winner) but the most parity and overall depth, top-to-bottom, since the current version of the AL Central was formed. Think of it like the 08-09 Big 10 Conference in BB. I am very optimistic about the future, even as soon as next year, IF we can find at least one more starting pitcher. I am very pessimistic that pitcher will come from our current minor league roster of pitchers. This argument (really a war) raged on in 2006 as the hopes for the season faded and then those who felt the White Sox were still as good as 05/06 finally gave up the ghost or disappeared in that dreadful 2007 season. The difference is, at that time, the hope for the future was Wasserman, Fields, Owens, Brian Russell and Andy Gonzalez. The future, due to the reinvigorated farm system, looks a lot brighter at least. Thankfully the Tigers traded away Maybin/Jurrgens and Robertson/Willis/Sheffield/Renteria all went into the tank, or the Tigers would be the best team in the division. Now, with Magglio/Guillen/Polanco aging, they're up against the same issue the White Sox have. OTOH, with Granderson, Cabrera and Inge, they still have a nice, younger core of players to build around.

QUOTE (Jimbo's Drinker @ May 4, 2009 -> 12:36 PM) Have you seen the White Sox approach at the plate. Pull the ball and fly out, every f***in time. Just for once, can we find someone to get some solid singles!!! You've just diagnosed the main problem (right now) with Carlos Quentin, although nobody seems to have a problem with it, as long as we're winning. The only hitters who have consistently sprayed the ball all over the field have been Konerko and Getz, and AJ, when the mood strikes him, but not consistently, as he'll go through lulls where he'll roll over and pull almost everything to the right side. Dye just is very streaky, but he can hit the ball anywhere when he's going good. Alexei is really pull-happy right now. Corky Miller can't even manage to hit the ball to the right-side of the diamond to advance a runner, but he's never been asked to contribute anything with the bat in his career. I think the biggest concern has to be with Fields, Pods, Ramirez, Anderson and Lillibridge. If they're not power hitters (in the case of Alexei and BA), are they doing enough of the "small ball/fundamental" things to help the team win??? And answer has been pretty muddled or unclear so far. I also noticed that Alexei looked up at the scoreboard right away last night to see if he had been charged with an error. It's a natural tendency for many players, but it's annoying and reminds me of Cabrera from last year. He should be more concerned with hitting at least .260-.280 in order for his power and low OBP to be worth anything to the White Sox this season.

Rowand, Crede and Ray Durham are the answer to your question, that's pretty much it. Of course, Ordonez and Lee were non-drafted, so you have to give them credit for having a Latin American pipeline in the 90's. I wouldn't be comparing Getz to Ray Durham just yet.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 4, 2009 -> 12:28 PM) Pujols hit .200 in the 2006 WS. Okay, I'll ask this question. Can the argument possibly be made that we (2009 White Sox) are better or even with that 2006 Cardinals' team?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 4, 2009 -> 12:23 PM) If the White Sox win 75 games this year and win their division they have a chance to win the WS. If they win 85 games and come in third they have a zero percent chance of winning. I would take the winning the division. BTW the pct. of WC winners and not so good team winners of the WS is ALOT higher than the pct. of White Sox winners even after being awful for many years, so I'm taking the Lloyd Christmas approach "So you're saying there's a chance." As for 2005, I mentioned the ball rolling through Grafinino's legs. That was game 2. Iguchi homered next for the White Sox lead and their final runs of the night. If the ball doesn't roll through his legs, once again, a much longer shot than a WC team or the playoff team with the worst record winning the WS, the series is 1-1 And if El Duque isn't around to save the day game 3, there's a very reasonable chance the Sox would be down 2-1. Who knows what happens after that, but the odds would be against them and even if they came back the pitching rotation could be screwed up for the next round. I'm not saying that is what the Sox should shoot for year after year. I've bashed them for the first time ever this year in regards to going cheap. Their roster is far from what I had hoped it would be, far from the aggressiveness the GM always chirps about. But they aren't going to spend money so we just must try to enjoy what we have to look at, and thank our lucky stars the AL Central is pretty weak. Come October, I'd rather be the first place team in the AL central than the 3rd place team in the AL east, and that team or even the 4th place team probably is better. I'm assuming you are talking about the "awful" time from the mid 60's through the 1980's (of course, 1967, 1977 and 1983 were nice, but blips on the radar) and not the last 20 years. If you compare our records with any team in baseball from pretty much period in baseball (for a ten year period) starting from 1990 through 2008, we trail only the Yankees, Braves and, in some comparisons, the Red Sox. We've been remarkably consistent in terms of putting out decent/good to very good/great teams over that time period, with the Bevington/early Manuel years being the only "lull" period.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 4, 2009 -> 12:18 PM) Agreed, nicely put. Also... If all a fan gives a damn about is championships, and everything else is irrelevant, then that fan (for basically any team) will go through life very disappointed. Having a team make the post-season is way better than not, and making a run at a division title is way better than being in the basement all year. See Braves and Indians fans from the 1990's, Browns, KC Chiefs and Buffalo Bills fans from the 80's and 90's and Susan Lucci fans hoping for a daytime Emmy award for her. We all know the answer, but do A's and Twins' fans feel more of a sense of accomplishment because their teams consistently competed in the playoffs more often than not? Of course, Yankees/Cubs/Red Sox fans are in a different category, but I think we have almost reached the point where we could compare our franchise to the Cardinals, although they own the city of St. Louis in terms of fan support. I'm thinking more in terms of attendance and payroll, although I can't imagine we will come close to their attendance numbers this year.

2003 Marlins, 91-71 1997 Marlins, 92-70 1990 Reds, 91-71 1987 Twins, 85-77 2001 Diamondbacks, 92-70 Those were the teams, that, looking back over the last 20-30 years, along with the '06 Cardinals, seem the most "anomalous." However, they all won 90+ games, with one exception, the Twins, who had a simply incredible homefield advantage. The D-Backs had amazing starting pitching, the Reds had a lockdown bullpen, and both those Marlins teams were incredibly talented. The only comparison and hope for the White Sox is the example of the Cardinals, but we certainly don't have a player as singularly good as Pujols.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 4, 2009 -> 11:48 AM) Maybe I just remember the 1987 Minnesota Twins and the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals. I will never get sick of the White Sox making the postseason where anything can happen. Who knows, if Quentin doesn't get hurt and the White Sox are able to align their rotation correctly in the playoffs, what happens last season. You don't have to lead everyday like the 2005 White Sox. If the ball doesn't go through Graffinino's legs in 2005 and El Duque is left off the playoff roster like KW wanted and most of Soxtalk wanted as well, the White Sox probably don't make it out of the first round then. Anything can happen, any team can get hot. I don't think this team is good enough to win, but if they get there its not like the NBA where only a couple teams have a realistic shot. Look at how many wildcard teams have won it all. If the WS title is the only thing that floats your boat, 1 in 92 years must make you very ornery. I know a quick exit sucks, but at least you have a shot. There is nothing to indicate the White Sox are on the verge of a long run of winning WS. There is a lot of luck involved. Yes, true. But, if you remember, those Twins teams only won the World Series because of that tremendous home field advantage. Everything really has to fall your way. Yes, the White Sox had all the breaks go their way in 2005, but, then again, having someone like Albert Pujols (no, Carlos Quentin isn't close to him in terms of overall hitting ability and going to the opposite field consistently) and the Tigers' entire pitching staff collapse in terms of errors also helps. It's kind of like small market teams who can point to the A's, Rays, Twins and Marlins as "success" stories or reasons for hope. Then again, if you remember that 2003 Marlins team, they had just about incredible pitching...while the 97 Marlins' World Series was bought with free agents, largely. But their pitching wasn't bad, either. The Red Sox approach seems the best for now....albeit we will always be $40-50 million below their payroll. Continuous development and nurturing of the farm system, occasional international stars (Dice-K, our "Cuban" connection) spliced with "value" acquisitions where you are "rolling the the dice" with minimmal, low risk/high reward deals that are quite unlike the Yankees (Colon, Baldelli, Kotsay, Smoltz, Penny, Saito).

Has anyone see "Man On Wire"? I thought that movie was very bizarre/strange...it won so many good reviews, but I would watch Borat, Bruno, American Movie or Waiting for Guffman about 100 times before watching that movie again.

4.37 if Contreras had an ERA of around 5.50, and SIXTH in the AL. However, even at 6th in the AL, we have one of the worst offenses (currently) in baseball. Yes, that will turn around and come back to at least league-average (barring any more injuries, or Quentin/Thome/Dye/Konerko missing extended time), but that won't be good enough. Assuming (a big one) that Contreras had 3 quality starts in a row, then you're also going to expect Buerhle and Colon to continue pitching so well? That Colon won't miss a start for most of the season? It looks like Floyd will be inconsistent and around .500, and that Danks is starting to press a little bit because of the lack of offensive support. It will be VERY interesting to see how this team responds psychologically to the challenge of facing Greinke and Davies (Sox killer since 08) on the road. KC's back in first place by 1/2 game, along with the Tigers. Will we get any clutch hits or continue to struggle?

Jenks isn't worth that kind of money, although I think he'll probably end up closer to $8 million next year in arbitration. This is just going to be a "muddling through" year, which is unfortunate, but necessary. Nobody is going to run away with the division, because all of the teams have numerous weaknesses. In all likelihood, the team that gets that best starting pitching (probably KC or DET) will take the division. Having watched a game in DET this past weekend (versus CLE), I have a sense that the Tigers will win it, because their bullpen is much improved with Zumaya back, Seay has been very effective, and then they have Rodney, Perry and Dolsi in the minors has a great arm, too. Verlander is finally starting to get himself straightened out, and they still might get contributions from Robertson, Willis and/or Bonderman. What we DO need to find out this year: 1) Are Fields and Anderson everyday, reliable players? Ditto Getz. 2) Can Ramirez be effective at SS? 3) Where will Beckham end up playing? 4) Do we have any starters capable of solidifying the back end of the rotation next year? Poreda? Richard? I've given up mentioning Marquez, Egbert and Broadway. Replacing Contreras won't be difficult at all (hard not to improve on his numbers), but getting Colon's numbers (so far) from one of our minor leaguers, doubtful! 5) Can Viciedo field well enough to stay at 3B? 6) How can we blend playing time for Allen and Konerko...since the Sox don't want a rookie like Brandon to be the primary DH, do they? 7) Is it too soon to add Shelby and/or Danks into the CF conversation, or will KW have to make another move? Is there a future for Jayson Nix with this organization, and where would it possibly be?

2000 4.67 ERA, 4th in AL, 95-67 2005 3.61 ERA, T1st in AL, 99-63 2008 4.06 ERA, 6th in AL, 89-74 2003 4.17 ERA, 4th in AL, 88-74 (arguably one of our best teams this decade) 2006 4.61 ERA, 10th in AL, 90-72 (3rd in AL runs scored, but not enough to make up for pitching) 2001 4.55 ERA, 8th in AL, 83-79 2002 4.53 ERA, 8th in AL, 81-81 2004 4.91 ERA, 12th in AL, 83-79 2007 4.77 ERA, 12th in AL, 72-90 2009 4.71 ERA, 8th in AL Conclusions: 1) Recent Sox history would indicate we're a team that will top out at 83 wins. 2) We're an abysmal 13th in the AL in runs scored, and we are leading OAK only because they have played 2 less games. Not to mention the fact that we simply don't have the type of offensive firepower to compensate for below league-average pitching like we did in 2006. KC and Detroit are the two teams most likely to win the division, IMO, unless Minnesota sees a dramatic improvement in their starting rotation (Liriano/Baker). One could argue that 83 wins will be enough to take this division, but that hasn't typically been the case that a team in our division finished first with less than 85 wins, maybe it was the Minnesota Twins one of the years they won the World Series (1987/1991). Realistically, we're very fortunate to be at .500 when you consider Contreras, Ramirez's struggles, injuries and all the line-ups with Lillibridge, Miller, Owens and Pods. We could just as easily be 11-13 or 10-14.

The problem is, you sacrifice a lot defensively with Betemit. OTOH, Nix has very little experience at other positions...and Betemit was pretty good against RHP last year. We just don't have very many complete offensive AND defensive players on this team. Betemit was one of the few players to look good batting yesterday (even against a LHP), and yet he's going to sit again tonight against Greinke, unless Thome doesn't play again. Then you have the "benching" of Getz against all LH starters, which isn't terribly logical either, especially with how ineffectual Lillibridge has been offensively (yes, I realize he slapped two more singles to RF last night, but that's all he can do).

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...,0,254400.story Kind of an interesting move, as Getz has a lot more experience at that position over his recent career than Nix...Fields will sit one game as a precautionary move due to swelling throughout last night's game. Also, possibility that Dye might come back today...