caulfield12

Didn't Cabrera say the problem wasn't calling the scorer but contacting someone in the White Sox FO to take up the case for him? That sounds a lot better than for a player actually trying to call the press box to me...still, glad we've moved on from a financial standpoint and we can't help but be excited about Getz, Ramirez, Lillibridge and Beckham.

Guess the Big 10 wasn't so horrible this year, after all. Dare we say (knock on wood) it, but Lillibridge seems to be waking up a bit offensively. Maybe his game the other day (2 doubles) will get him kick-started and carry over into the regular season. I think there was another play in the last ten minutes that the error was ruled on?

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2007/11/white-sox-sign.html Reaction to the Linebrink deal at the time...funny to look at now. People were really aggravated we were missing out on M. Cabrera, Hunter, Rowand, Fukudome...all of our targets.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/wh...T-sox29.article Decent article by Cowley starring two of his favorites, Thome and Konerko... Q: Carl Everett said after he left that the club was missing an in-your-face leader. That perception is still out there. How accurate is it? JERMAINE DYE: ''OK, I see I'm not included in this ... OK.'' PK: ''Well, if 'Truth-asaurus' said it, it's gospel.'' JT: ''Here's the thing: There's 'rah-rah' leaders, there are leaders in performance, there are leaders in seniority. I think the misconception on what makes a good leader is, 'Oh, he might not say a whole lot, so he's not a legitimate leader.' Sometimes you don't have to be vocal and 'rah-rah.' You can pull a kid aside and kind of throw him in the right direction. You don't have to call a meeting and be like, 'You need to do this, you need to do that.' That's what makes a good team, when you have everyone working together. When guys aren't afraid to ask a veteran a question.'' PK: ''You have some

I don't understand entirely why we had to give him 4 years...? I think 3 would have been plenty. Two should have been fine, like Dotel. Sure, 3-4 seasons ago he was definitely the best/most-reliable set up guy in the big leagues along with Scott Shields. But I think Linebrink had a very "down" 2007 season, and there were lots of concerns about overuse/abuse and innings and appearances taking their toll on him. Plus he was going to the much tougher AL. His velocity was also well below normal in 2007. One of the riskiest moves KW has ever made for a "non-star" player, yet an integral part of the team nonetheless. We definitely couldn't have won without him last year...there's no arguing that. Someone like Russell, MacDougal or Wasserman just weren't capable of taking on that role. Really, Dotel wasn't either...not consistently. If he pitches like he did in the first half of 2008 for at least two more seasons, then the contract was still a very good deal. I just can't imagine that happening, nor can I imagine him going through 3 consecutive injury/pain-free seasons at this point in his career. Speaking of injuries, what's the latest with Mark Mulder? Has anyone heard anything about him recently?

One of the most experienced scouts working the Cactus League raves about hard-throwing Cuban left-hander Aroldis Chapman, whom he watched in Mexico City. He called him "one of the best I've ever seen," citing Chapman's makeup and ability to speak English as major assets. Phil Rogers Any word on Bell, their Olympic star who was hit (I think in the face?) by a thrown ball and isn't yet able to play? Is it a story similar to Juan Encarnacion of the Cardinals/Tigers? Hopefully not...

Is Danks pitching or Floyd? Charlie Steiner just realized...I guess it's normal to confuse a lefty and right if you never see them pitch in the other league.

I don't know, MacDougal and Williams are both closing fast...

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 28, 2009 -> 07:16 AM) Just because you know what you're doing wrong in baseball, doesn't mean its easy to correct. Well, yes and no...part of it is natural aptitude...Ventura, when he came up, over time and with lots of hard work, became a great 3B, well-rounded both offensively and defensively. OTOH, you can show Jerry Owens or Taveras video of Ichiro Suzuki or Tony Gwynn/Wade Boggs/Luis Polonia and tell them to slap line drives to the opposite field and/or hit the ball on the ground the other way and it will never take hold...or you can show Ken Griffey Jr. or even Mike Cameron videos to DeWayne Wise and he likeWise won't be capable of replicating it. You have to think that, as was the case with Owens and Borchard and many other former prospects with college football backgrounds...that he simply didn't have the year-round baseball play/experience and he missed out on a lot of coaching and simply made up for it with natural ability and/or simply was that good of an athlete/hitter he could dominate at the collegiate or even minor league level.

Well, the only real competition that he had was Nix and Eider Torres, so obviously we have a lack of depth in this area. Josh Kroeger can make a legitimitate argument that he deserves that spot overall based on his play, but the problem there is he can't play CF or SS adequately, and he's looked very shaky (at best) at 1B, so that kind of nullifies one of the arguments for keeping him around. Not to mention the fact that Betemit is also better at 1B than Kroeger and has a track record of pounding RHP at the major league level the last couple of seasons. OTOH we don't, as Beckham simply wasn't going to make this team to sit on the bench at any position. Basically, Lillibridge can be sacrificed to the bench, a real/legit prospect cannot.

He was ripped in Chicago for twice asking to have scoring decisions changed, and he and White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen wound up spatting about that when Cabrera suggested that coaching staffs should back players who dispute calls. Then Cabrera was criticized for a radio interview late in the season in which he opined that the team should be more serious as they tried to wrap up the division. "Right message, wrong messenger," declared one reporter whose relationship with Cabrera had soured after the first official-scorer flap. The end result, Cabrera believes, is that after 10 years in the majors, he suddenly developed a bad reputation over minor incidents and mischaracterizations. That hurt him as he searched for a job, potentially costing him millions. "I'm not a guy who goes to the media to fight with people," the shortstop said. "I just did what (Chicago) wanted me to do every day. They wanted me to be in the lineup every day, and I was, they wanted me to hit leadoff, I did. Everything they wanted, I did." Cabrera believes the official scorer business was blown out of proportion, and it should be noted that in both instances in May, the calls were changed. He also did not call the scorer directly, he called the team's PR person in Toronto and had a clubhouse attendant call the PR person in Chicago, which is not unprecedented. The Chicago error came on a high throw on a stolen base attempt; the ball hit off Cabrera's glove and he was given an error. He felt it should have been ruled a stolen base because it was a straight steal - instead, the error was assigned to catcher Toby Hall. That earned Cabrera more condemnation, with charges that he was a selfish player who cared more about his own numbers than his teammates. "I'm a guy who takes great pride in my defense," Cabrera said. "Yeah, I'm selfish. I show up 162 games a year for my team and I want to win, but I care about my numbers, too. In that case, that guy deserved a stolen base, too, and it was taken away from him. Toby went nuts when it was changed, and I said, 'Toby, I was fighting for both of us. I wanted the right call.' "It was my mistake to say that everywhere else, the managers and coaches take care of that, but on the other teams I'd played for, as soon as they saw a hit that was ruled an error, they'd say, 'Don't worry, I'll take care of that.' " In a late-season interview on the Score, he said that some players were clowning around too much, and, he said, "We don't come out every night as the winners. We come out hoping to win a ballgame. I don't think that's the right attitude." Cabrera doesn't understand why he was taken to task for that, saying he was including himself and he didn't name anyone in particular. And he remains hurt about an ESPN the Magazine article in April that had been pitched as a celebration of baseball in Colombia. Instead, it detailed the breakdown of a business deal between Cabrera and Edgar Renteria's brother over a team Cabrera owned in the Colombian winter league. Renteria, the Giants' shortstop, said in that story that Cabrera is jealous of him because he is the more popular player in their home country. "I was baffled. I was on the floor," said Cabrera, who heard the comments straight off the reporter's tape recorder. The White Sox offered Cabrera arbitration after the season but made it clear to him he wasn't in their plans, and he didn't find a job until the A's signed him this month. Some teams steered clear because Cabrera would cost them a draft pick, but Cabrera, 34, thinks it is also because he got a bad rap last year, despite the fact his teams have gone to the playoffs four of the past five years. "It was really disappointing because you start to see and hear bad things, and it's like, 'Oh, my God, how did that happen?' " Cabrera said. "I was surprised teams even believed that. It's not fair, not because of the money, but because of my reputation. Every team was asking my agent, 'Is this going to happen in my clubhouse?' " Assistant general manager David Forst confirmed that the A's did check things out. "It's something we considered, certainly," he said. "We looked into it, but there was nothing that superseded the fact that he's a good fit baseball-wise." Guillen might not have been thrilled Cabrera disputed calls on his own, but said that he never had any problem with Cabrera when it came to performance. "Cabby did a great job for us on the field and we wouldn't have won without him," Guillen said. "He had some problems with the media here, that's part of the game, but I only judge players on how they perform on the field and I have no problem with him. He plays hard, he plays every day." Octavio Dotel, the ex-A's reliever, became friends with Cabrera in Chicago and he said, "You know how the media are, sometimes they can be nice, sometimes they can kill you, and people read that and believe it's how you really are. I can tell you that Orlando is a great friend, a great guy and a great teammate. "I've seen those negative comments and I don't think any of them are true. And they are never about what kind of player Orlando is on the field. He plays hard like no one else and he wants to win every day. Maybe some people don't like him off the field, but he plays 162 games a year. That should tell you what kind of guy he is." from sfgate.com

I am pretty shocked that Oklahoma's program has done so well under Capel, although Griffin was a Sampson recruit...but when Crocker's on, that team is almost unbeatable. Wished that Iowa had landed Mike Anderson instead of Lickliter two years ago, because that system (pressing) was so similar to Tom Davis' and was loved by most of the fanbase...and I think Anderson would have a slight edge in recruiting players into that type of system. Iowa just doesn't have enough athleticism right now to compete with the MSU's of the world. MSU/KU game was a good one...unfortunately, most of the games so far in the tourney have been disappointments. I guess Louisville and UNC would be the two favorites in Vegas right now. Gillespie just goes to show that hiring the "hot" coach isn't always the right move. Alabama swooped in quickly on VCU's Grant, I guess Travis Ford will be under consideration for the UK job for obvious reasons. It will be interesting to see who does end up taking that job. I wonder if they can pry Mark Few loose from Gonzaga or Sean Miller from Xavier? Paul Hewitt maybe? Bryce Drew? Gillespie's quick rise and fall reminds me of Quin Snyder, Franchione, Barnett (CO/NU), O'Leary, Amaker, Alford, etc.

The '09 squad will be appreciably different, especially the offense. How will they compare to the 4.98 runs per game scored last year? CHONE projections and the Baseball Musings lineup analysis tool suggest 5.07 runs per game, which would again rank 5th in the AL. This simulation has Chris Getz leading off and DeWayne Wise splitting time evenly with Brian Anderson. Gone are the 2,075 ABs given to Cabrera, Swisher, Crede, Uribe, Griffey, and Hall. If the White Sox score 820 runs and hold steady at last year's 729 allowed, they'll be projected to win 90 games. Is that level of run prevention (7th in the AL) possible again? Last year's rotation posted a 4.09 ERA in 998.3 innings, 4th in the league. Vazquez contributed 21% of those innings, but at a 4.67 ERA. Once again, the White Sox will have to prove projection systems wrong. CHONE sees a Buehrle/Danks/Floyd/Contreras/Colon/Richard/Marquez rotation posting a 4.91 ERA in 934 innings. There is a good case to be made that projection systems are selling the newly-locked up Floyd short by calling for a 5.00+ ERA. And based on gut feel it's hard to believe no one gets under Buehrle's projected 4.57 mark. Still, it would've been nice to see the Sox add more starting depth or hang on to Vazquez. Logan's 5.95 ERA is gone from the bullpen; the core group returns. Projections suggest that as a whole, the pen is capable of repeating its 4.13 ERA. Defensively, the White Sox ranked 12th of 14 AL teams according to The Fielding Bible II. The book says the poor fielding was spread across the diamond, with above-average work only at shortstop, third base, and left field. Fields can't match Crede at third, and the Getz/Ramirez middle infield is an unknown. Not having Swisher and Griffey in center should help. (Unless it's Wise or Owens!!! Also, didn't know that any ratings system had Quentin at "above average" last year in LF) GM Ken Williams took a gamble dealing Vazquez, as the '09 rotation is not necessarily a strength. As presently constructed, even with a quality offense, this team seems destined to win 84 games at best. The standard disclaimer: the Ken Williams' White Sox have never been predictable. Bottom line: The White Sox will again need multiple unexpected performances to repeat their 89 wins of '08. mlbtraderumors.com

Well, then I'm curious, because he could have been extrapolating Ozzie's individual comments to mean "coaching staff" (plural) or he actually had some "off the record" conversations with Cooper (not for print) where this concern was expressed... Obviously, from Ozzie's comments, Guillen doesn't have a problem with him. So you wonder if the coaching staff will be more careful with Gonzales in the future if he really twisted that one, singular quote around so much and spun a mountain out of a molehill. http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/artic...sp&c_id=cws Good article on Broadway, Williams and Lucy. Williams could completely fizzle out and never be heard from again, but I like his honesty, candor and perseverance. It's much easier to root for a guy like him than Boon Logan.

Marquez's status is more curious. After pitching five scoreless innings against the Cubs, Marquez has allowed 10 earned runs on 17 hits in his past 10 1/3 innings, and the coaching staff bluntly knocked Marquez's inability to get ahead in the count. With seasoned right-handers like D.J. Carrasco and Mike MacDougal, who has struck out 18 in 11 appearances, batting for a spot, the Sox recently have been hesitant to declare Marquez a member of the opening day staff. And if Colon or Contreras suffer a setback in any of their next two outings, the Sox could be scrambling for a replacement to give them five innings. www.chicagotribune.com/sports Let's just be thankful we didn't have to start the season with CR/AP as the 4/5 or Mr. Marquez. KW got a little lucky with Contreras returning miraculously to health (seemingly), so you can see his rationale for not making another pitching move except for the bargain-basement Blue Light Special Colon. Hopefully one of our AA hurlers emerges this season as a legit Top 10 prospect (I know Ely has been on the list, but I need more convincing) and is ready to make the jump to Chicago in 2010 to replace Jose or Bartolo.

That was really Clayton's first disastrous outing of the spring. The one thing with Richard, he can be really effective when he keeps the ball down, but he was getting behind in the count with almost every hitter. To be successful, you need to have your defense pick you up occasionally too...there were 2-3 plays (in the OF and Josh Fields at third) that might or should have been made by above-average defenders, so the inning kind of snowballed on him. "The first inning was pathetic, bad," said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. "He couldn't find the plate, and when he found the plate, he got hit. With the combination of those two things, you're not going to have a good outing. It was the first outing he struggled all spring. We'll see if he can come back and take care of business." www.dailyherald.com

How good is Brandon's defense at 1B? Well, it would be nice to have a left-handed first baseman for a change...I just can't really make much of a comment on his level of defense from a couple of ST games. I guess Fields at DH would make the most sense, but you hate to "stereotype" a player like Fields, Viciedo or Flowers at this point in their careers. Theoretically, you might also see Viciedo in RF, because less balls are hit there, and he would have by far the best arm in the outfield. Don't think we'll ever see CJ Retherford in a White Sox uniform, but stranger things have happened.

I'll agree with that...we don't know exactly what we have on our hands with Alexei at SS yet, but I doubt he'll win the Gold Glove this year. Then again, those "spectacular" Aaron Rowand plays in Yankee Stadium or Icuchi's throw while parallel to the ground and some of Alexei's more amazing playoffs (did he just do that??) tend to cement a reputation more than the actuality of play. I would hope that Alexei and Getz would give us at least an average to slightly above average ML double-play combination up the middle. That's why Tyler Flowers mystifies me a little too...I just can't get past what I saw out of him defensively this spring, but hopefully he'll make rapid progress the next 18-24 months at that position. Otherwise, we'll have a Jr. Mike Piazza or Victor Martinez essentially playing out of position.

Well, the argument for the Sunday-Special line-ups is always going to be 2005. Because the bench players got regular playing time that season (compared to many teams), players like Ozuna, Blum and Willie Harris were ready and able to make key contributions in the playoffs and World Series. That all kept our regulars fresh and allowed them to get a "second" wind in the final weeks of the season, and carried right over into the playoffs. Sometimes there is a method in Ozzie's madness. It worked last year, even though it's incredible looking back how it all played out and how just about everything possible went right for us the final five days of the season...and wrong for the Twins.

Farmer and DJ said that Ozzie was talking about this and he had told them Fields could be "great" defensively if he could keep his legs squared with his shoulders...that, basically, his "base" or legs were too wide and it was limiting his range. Of course, one wonders why if Ozzie notices this, and Cora worked with him a little in the offseason...why he's still struggling down there. Of course, if he even hits .300 in the regular season, he would be a huge asset unless he made 35-40 errors defensively, but what are some of the theories? That he's thinking about it too much because he knows everyone is examining his defense with a fine tooth comb? That it's the sun/glare in Arizona (explaining his slow reaction time)??? The funny thing is that he has very good (for 3B) speed on the basepaths, or at least above average, but Viciedo and certainly Crede had much faster instincts and better range down there (from when I watched Dayan)...I guess this is kind of like Anderson not being superfast, but being but much quicker to balls in CF than Wise and Anderson. Same idea. Or Jerry Rice never running faster than a 4.6-4.65 forty time, and yet you almost never saw him get caught from behind when he was eyeing a touchdown and had open field. Maybe we'd just be better off with Fields moving to 1B to replace Konerko and Viciedo at 3B eventually.

The question is if BA could put up a 740 OPS playing on an everyday basis. That's about the "break even" point for him...otherwise, it might make more sense to play Wise against some tough righties if he can close to approximating an 800 OPS against righties that Anderson has struggled mightily against. Let's say the Anderson/Wise platoon can give you a 770 OPS...or even 800 OPS. Is that worth it to sacrifice Anderson's defense for 30-70 OPS points? That's where the argument becomes a very interesting one. With Dye becoming ever more limited in terms of range in RF and Wise a defensive nightmare in center, I tend to favor the argument (and this is basically based on the idea that last year was a fluke for Wise, or anomaly) that playing Anderson everyday would be best, as long as he's nowhere need the leadoff spot and Getz and Ramirez are at the top of the line-up and not Wise/Anderson/AJ.

Knowing 2.25 (2.75-3 before the last 30 minutes) Marley & Me 3.25 (I'm a former Lab owner) Rachel Getting Married 3.5 (very good "dark" performance by Anne Hathaway) Yes Man 2.5 Dragonball Evolution 2.5 Confessions of a Shopaholic 3.0 Valkryie 3.25

But can anyone really say this team looked better heading into 2008? I mean, of course, CF is an issue...but KW obviously passed on Taveras and some of the other options out there (like Pierre or Andruw Jones), so there's certainly the possibility he will make another trade at mid-season or that Edmonds might come here and be paired with BA. There's Cabrera, GMJ, none of them are "obvious" solutions, but it's not easy to trade for Nate McLouth or the develop the next Grady Sizemore/Curtis Granderson. I think if Chris Young had been here in Chicago playing, we might have been more appreciative of his overall game, but I still think at least 50% of the fanbase thinks we're better off without him or that we somehow won the two Vazquez trades in the long-term (that all depends on Flowers, and, to a lesser extent, Gilmore/Rodriguez) I really think we have to find out what we can get out of BA with regular playing time and then if things don't work out, we cut our losses and move on.

Lillibridge is just at the right place at the right time. He happens to be lucky that there are two LH OFer's fighting for just one spot and that he's one of the most versatile players on the roster in terms of where you can put him on the field and having some pinch-running opportunities. That said, he hasn't shown a knack for stealing bases or playing even above average defense yet this spring. Those are two huge concerns, because nobody expected much out of him offensively. If you look at all of our other players, Crede/Rowand and now Anderson/Fields have really had to wait their turns. I think the same thing will happen with Richard, Poreda and Marquez. I'm assuming they still take Richard, but I think he needs to show something his final times out or there will be some question marks. Clayton had been very good until today's shellacking. In fact, the White Sox have had a hard time developing players because they're always in a "win now" mode and can't often wait or be patient with players like Borchard or Anderson. Perhaps time will tell us a mistake was made with BA if he goes on to success elsewhere, but I don't think Borchard was going to make in anywhere in baseball with all of his swing deficiencies. From the looks of it, Lillibridge is going to be severely limited offensively...in other words, he's 2009's version of 2007 Andy Gonzalez, but we won't have to play him all the time, and the major difference is we have players like Betemit, Nix and Beckham so it's not like he is the only middle infielder we possess and there are no other options. If he can hit, Escobar might be the best of them all at SS, assuming Beckham ends up at second. Of course, that all could change if they decide to move Alexei or make a trade. Jordan Danks is certainly not a guaranteed stud in CF at this point, and Shelby might be better suited for one of the corner spots than CF. The main reason Lillibridge makes this team is simply to play SS instead of Betemit, to PR in late game situations and possibly as a CF back-up as well. He would be the final player on the roster, unless you think of Miller/Lucy as that player, or MacDougal/Williams. I wouldn't be entirely suprised to see them take Williams over Richard if Richard becomes unglued the final week or so of ST. I think the odds are definitely against Marquez making the roster at this point, too. The interesting battle is with Broadway, MacDougal and Carrasco.

But is that the "real" Nix though...? He only had about 15 at-bats, right? I was actually favoring Nix over Getz at the start of camp, because of his defense, but Getz has been perhaps the most impressive player in camp (not counting Fields' offense) so far. One thing Farmer and DJ mentioned about Getz. That he's really good going to his left, but not so good at balls up the middle. So he positions himself a little more towards 2B to protect that side and because he feels more confident getting that ball heading into RF than the does making the really athletic plays against his body on balls up the middle.