caulfield12

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 5, 2010 -> 10:13 PM) Teams are really going to give up that much for Thornton? Say a team wants him to be a set-up man, they're not going to give up ultra-prospects for him. Thornton has more value to the Sox than he does other teams. Who can bring us the most back in trade over Matt? Danks, of course. Who would be #3? Putz? Pena? Alexei Ramirez? We have no idea what we'd get for Rios or Peavy...Buehrle, Floyd, Konerko, etc. Trading Quentin or Beckham would be the definition of insanity, especially Gordon.

This was my pet peeve at WSI. The "faithful" fans who ripped on Dark Clouds but who disappeared whenever the team wasn't playing well...I'm not saying you have to follow every inning of every game, that's ridiculous, especially when the Blackhawks are playing (understandable), but it seems a little hollow to blast posters for giving up or not being optimistic when you're not really following the team as much either. Actions speak louder than words, as they say.

Maybe we really do need to look at trading Thornton. The odds of him becoming a successful closer are 50/50 at best. Sure, he's pretty cheap, but he's had a lot of wear and tear on his arm the last 2-3 seasons....and, once again, I'm not convinced he would be a closer who would end up with an 85% or above save conversion rate. We have to listen to any offers out there for Buehrle, Peavy, Danks, Floyd, Thornton, Jenks, Putz, Pena, Konerko, Quentin, Ramirez, etc. However, the only players close to "peak" value right now are Konerko, Thornton, Danks and Rios. We'd be selling "low" on almost every player on our roster....maybe Jones and Putz would get some interest as well, just Jones has done another nosedive like 2009. Ramirez could be intriguing to a number of teams, but then we can't put Beckham there (at SS) unless we want to have Lillibridge/Vizquel/Nix/Retherford (two of the four) playing 2B/3B everyday. Teahen either sits or is 1B/DH and takes Kotsay's role as 25th man. We also have to seriously consider the possibility of selling high on Rios, even though it seems anathema and a bit illogical, since he's currently our best player. Unfortunately, it's hard to trade Buehrle, Peavy, Jenks, Konerko....which means, as the Tigers learned, you have to cross your fingers and trade players like Granderson and Jackson and hope to get the best of those trades (as DD seemingly did).

I hope Pierre bunts into the final out of the game on a pop-up to the pitcher or an infielder.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 5, 2010 -> 07:45 PM) The pitch to get out Marson was a terrible hanger, but thankfully Marson is a terrible hitter. Wasn't he (Lou Marson) the manager in MAJOR LEAGUE? I have to correct myself, I guess we'll be 3-8 against the Indians (3-9 if we lose tomorrow). I forgot that series we took 2/3. The point remains that it's inexcusable to lose 9 of 12 against the Indians. Talbot is 3-0 against us.

I would rather watch UT and UK play in football or basketball than watch this game. UT/UF or UT/UGA would be fine, too. And I hate the SEC.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 5, 2010 -> 07:37 PM) Greg Walker should have been fired like 3 years ago, and if JR was as pissed about the performance of this team over the past few seasons as he's said he is, then other changes should have been made. JR wasn't even happy in 2008. How did he feel about 2007, 2009 and 2010? Something's gotta give. THREETS with the save, perfect inning with a strikeout. Williams should be out of here ASAP. Rios misreads the ball, doesn't always turn well and go back on balls hit over his head. Shouldn't have been tracking the ball with his eyes..."drifting" with the ball if you don't turn and go run to where you think it has to end up and then readjusting.

Jenks, undoubtedly, will either get rocked (give up an additional 2-3 runs.) or pitch a rare 1-2-3 inning. Cue booing of Jenks off the mound if that happens.

If we go into Monday with a 10 1/2 - 11 1/2 game deficit and are 1-9 against the Indians this season, something has to be done. (That would mean something like 9 of their 21-22 victories, nearly half, would have come against one team). There will be no choice. (Crosses fingers) Arguably our best overall player (along with Rios and Konerko) Thornton wets the bed. Great. Mitchell will probably reinjure his foot while rehabbing and Josh Phegley will develop a herniated disc while sleeping on throw thread-count sheets.

Yeah, you can't really blame Walker for Owens (largely terrible and one-dimensional), Fields (slider speed bat), Anderson (he's been dissected endlessly) and Andy Gonzalez (terrible). Cooper always said his lack of success with Aardsma, Masset and Sisco was directly related to their inability to 1) work on their secondary stuff or 2) get them to feel any confidence in going to it regularly, the same could probably be said for Aaron Poreda. I do think it's interesting with Contreras. He was throwing 96-97 MPH regularly in 2005/2006. He was devastating when his forkball was 80-82, but he was always basically a two pitch pitcher, even at his best. I do think that with Jose's health problems, probably Jose made an adjustment himself to ease pain and discomfort and ended up losing some of the velocity/stuff. Pretty amazing he's still throwing so hard at his age, almost like Nolan Ryan when you think about it. Jose might be 42-44 years old. I'm especially concerned about trusting Walker with Danks, Retherford, Flowers, Mitchell, Morel and Viciedo. OTOH, we don't have so many internal options. Gary Ward was run out of town on a rail and I have no conception of why he was brought back into the organization. I'd rather have Chambliss as our hitting coach than Ward. Another thing, the 2006 collapse was basically blamed on the 2005 workload catching up with the starters, and maybe Jose's decline was an equally important part of that. Cooper wasn't able to "cure" Vazquez, but no pitching coach has had sustained success with him. And we should thank Cooper for getting Javy to the point we could get Flowers/Gilmore/Rodriguez back in return.

With Andruw Jones struggling, we're seeing the worst possible offense that we all imagined/predicted in the spring. Nobody was sure about Rios coming in and Konerko was expected to tail off, and while Quentin's numbers overall look so-so (like Peralta) it keeps coming back to CQ and Beckham (along with the pitchers and AJ) looking like shadows of their former selves and not being able to get on sustained hot streaks.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 5, 2010 -> 08:10 PM) Really, bunting on 3-2? STOP BUNTING, you suck at it Pierre. Seriously, what more has to happen to get people fired? You have a pitcher called for a balk, not backing up 3rd, and now that? Who failed to back up 3rd? Peavy? The catcher?

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Jun 5, 2010 -> 08:06 PM) Anyone surprised by 30K+ crowd? Is it a special KW fundraiser to pay for AJ's, Buehrle's, Jenks', Peavy's, Konerko's, Linebrink's, Pierre's and Teahen's contracts? Idiotic decision by Juan Pierre to bunt there with 2 strikes when he's been swinging the bat well and hasn't beaten out more than 3-4 bunts the entire season. How many brain cramps can you have in 1/3rd of a season? 3-4 successes out of 20 bunt attempts is atrocious. Pods was/is really much more successful in this area, whatever you say about him.

I guess they still have to get 20,000 in attendance with the ever-popular fireworks show tonight. But it will be interesting to see the numbers on a Sunday if they've somehow managed to start the season 1-8 versus the Indians.

Tyler Flowers with his 9th HR and 29th RBI, .212 average currently.

Well, I'm glad I slept in and missed the first 5 1/2 innings, although I did get to witness another failed bat (Nix) with RISP. Our fattest, most out of shape hitter is also our best hitter in this game. I guess the only positives are Beckham actually attacking the ball instead of feeling for it and Peavy pitching well against a AAA line-up, although still positioned for another loss.

Yes, I was saying in my "alternative" universe theory where we stood pat last season (minus the Rios addition), somehow I have a feeling Mitchell would have emerged as a breakout star and our top prospect while lighting up the Southern League. But alas, everything has gone wrong that could go wrong, almost.

Lucy has really come back down to earth, at .208 now. Maybe, just maybe he can stick as a back-up (like Corky Miller), but we're in huge trouble if he's ever the everday catcher. Mark Johnson looks like a slugger compared to him.

Simple to say we should have stood pat: 1) Kept Thome for DH (although Jones has been about the same production for similar price)....but Kotsay's at-bats would have been lowered, although TMK has been one of our better hitters as of late 2) Reverse the Ely for Pierre trade...Pods stays in LF, we're not stuck with Pierre in 2011 3) Reverse the Peavy for Richard/Poreda/Russell/Carter trade 4) Never traded for Mark Teahen....Anderson/Fields/Getz don't really matter in the overall scheme of things, though Our rotation would be Danks, Buehrle, Floyd, Richard and Ely/Garcia Mitchell would be banging on the door with an MVP Year in the Southern League. Flowers would be ready to replace AJ at season's end, Viciedo for Konerko and Hudson could be brought into the back of the rotation or long man. The money saved on Peavy, Teahen and Pierre (not to mention Vizquel) could have been used on getting a real DH if they didn't want to go with Thome or Andruw Jones. They also could have signed Orlando Hudson for 2B, kept Beckham at 3B and never traded for Teahen. That would have been my move. Or bringing Uribe back.

Alexei The Cuban Miscue Ramirez Mark Leaning Tower of Teahen Gordon Hopefully I'm not the Second Coming of Caruso Beckham

At least Caruso could steal some bases. He didn't have Slayer's (what happened to that ridiculous nickname) "hunnies" like BA, though...or a radio show.

At least Acta knows when to pull Masterson. That's probably why he's 6-1 against us this season with an absolutely putrid team despite Ozzie saying he doesn't deserve an MLB managing job. Greg, I feel very confident you could manage the White Sox to a 2-5 or 3-4 record against the Indians this year. Harvard ECON major in. For sure, he'll get Beckham out. Major league debut. Only 1 run given up in AAA, in his first appearance....18 games without a run given up after that.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 4, 2010 -> 09:08 PM) I said I want you guys to get your wish. You'll be happy the rest of the year because the new manager will be an interim so he'll be blame free. And then you'll have the whole offseason to look forward to the new manager and you'll give him to the all star break the following season before you turn on him. By all means fire Ozzie. I'm all for it. Now you're just arguing for the sake of arguing. It's like Dick Allen defending Walker. Sometimes a change just has to be made.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 4, 2010 -> 09:02 PM) I really do hope they fire Oz so you guys will be happy. It's grown so old to hear the same ol b****ing about a horses*** team. Please fire Ozzie so you guys can complain about the next guy. I'm in a s*** mood but not because of Danks imploding in the sixth inning. My god if he can't go six, he deserves to stay in and get f***ing rocked. Ridiculous. But you guys blame the manager instead of Danks. Amazing. I'm mad because the Hawks are getting their asses bludgeoned in all phases of the game. Hopefully home ice will fix what ails the Hawks. PLEASE FIRE OZZIE! 1) Danks' velocity was down 2) He was facing a hitter who was 2/2 against him despite entering the game below 150 3) Danks' pitch count was way up 4) He was almost destroyed twice by Peralta, who was also in a super-slump like Hafner, Valbuena and Andruw Jones 5) Danks is horrible against LHB After the ball hit hard by Hafner right back at Danks that somehow resulted in an out, 95% of MLB managers pull their starter there.

OZZIE, ONCE AGAIN. YOU should just quit if you care about this franchise you supposedly love so much. You're destroying this franchise and its fanbase.