caulfield12

I really think Gilmore would be more of a threat up at the plate than Kotsay right now...sad as it is to admit. Second the notion about Hudson...never really saw him as "special" pitcher or even in the same league as Brandon McCarthy, and the prospects ratings have similarly "dissed" him. Not a great start to the minor league season, except for pleasant surprises like Gilmore, Nathan Jones, Shelby, Salvador Sanchez...the only REAL positive is the Trayce Thompson development process, which will end up being more interesting than the major league roster unless KW guts it. Morel, also has looked very solid from everything I've read and heard. And Danks has started out hot again like he did in 2009, but EVERYONE's convinced he might strike out too much to ever be more than a 4th outfielder, or better hitting version of BA with a little bit more excitement/athleticism to his overall upside. Hopefully Dayan starts to get on a little tear after the breakout game. Escobar's a field gem but we'll have to wait and see how his bat holds up at the upper levels of the system. Mitchell is down and out, Phegley, Hudson is struggling mightily, Gonzalez around .200, Johnny Nunez has fallen off the map, Santeliz is hurt...Flowers, half of the die-hard prospect people are convinced his swing's too long (the Josh Fields/Brian Anderson AAAA bat) and defensively....well, with AJ not hitting a lick, not ever throwing out runners and soaking up payroll AND the supposed best rotation in the AL looking pretty mediocre so far, there's nowhere but up as far as Flowers goes and our present level of performance from that spot.

6 games back again. Minnesota's not conceding any ground in the early season. They blow a save, they still win. Face Verlander on the road, Liriano looks almost as good as 2006. It's REALLY just what it is...and the more times this happens, the less energy anyone will have to care anymore. We could be alone in last place if KC and CLE win tonight.

Game on, Kotsay's pinch hitting. We will win for sure I feel. It's always nice to have those fast games when we lose and look egregiously bad in the process of doing so.

Feldman will beat us for sure, guaranteed. Peavy, this is why you weren't so excited to come to the AL....facing this line-up in Arlington. Lucky it's not June/July or the ball would really be jumping out of the park. And we're seemingly the only team to make Francisco look like a real MLB closer this season.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 27, 2010 -> 09:12 PM) Two different zones tonight...keep sitting there coaches! Even they are bored with this season already. Has a team ever led the AL in solo homers and stolen bases and finished in the bottom 3 in runs scored? Orioles might actually beat the Yankees (up 5-2) and Liney's "A" fastball is nowhere to be found...sitting at 92. But he's getting outs and feeling som success, so maybe that will start to feed off itself and be sustainable. Hopefully it will actually matter to something with the Sox and not just dumping his contract at the deadline like we did with Ray Durham, Howry, Alomar, Lofton and James Baldwin in 2002 (all of those trades worked out so well in the end for the Sox...NOT! in Borat voice).

That went well. We never seem to play well in Arlington on that super fast surface. You always breathe a sigh of relief if we can get 1/3 instead of getting swept out of town.

Liriano is officially for real, Twins blank the Tigers on the road, Rauch with yet another save. I was monitoring that game and he was consistent with 94 MPH fastball (up 2-3 MPH from before) and he's toned down his slider, it used to be a hard 87-88, now it's sitting at 83-84-85. Despite the M's sweep, the news is almost all bad in terms of our being able to stay with MINN this year. I think DET will end up having the same problem, but they'll fall off after we do. And we have only Danks and Garcia (who'd a thunk it?) pitching fairly well, although how long that lasts with Freddy is anyone's guess.

Well, he was definitely wrong about one thing, Kenny Williams being on the way out....funny now, looking back on those days when we'd debate Ritchie for Wells/Fogg/Lowe and Valentin versus Clayton over and over again. I actually got to know ColSat46 (I think he's died since then) and baggio pretty well over there, both great guys. However, I drew the line when he made personal threats relating to my family and lots of other over-the-top things....I never could understand how he could get me banned so often, it's like he was the one moderating the board. Quite mysterious. So I was saddened and both relieved when I found out about his eventual demise on the SOX boards.

Because SouthSider, as much as I hate to admit it, he was right sometimes. You can't draw any conclusions 3 weeks into the season about Frank Francisco OR Dayan Viciedo, Pods versus Pierre, etc. In football terms, we're 1-1 to start the year and still have 14 games to make up ground on the 2-0 team in Minnesota. I fought with that guy as much as anyone on the Internet, but that's the one quote I always remember...and I should reference back to it from time to time, it would prevent me from being a Dark Cloud and starting numerous threads micro-analyzing the Sox after every loss and still finding things to be concerned about after even some wins.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 27, 2010 -> 04:24 PM) I like it. Lets get the guy with the 7.88 ERA & 1.88 WHIP who already lost his closers role and was on the DL 3 times last year. He can throw a chair with the best of them too. "Look at the back of his baseball card, stats don't lie..." Ozzie Guillen, March 2010 "Premature evaluation." ncorgbl, chisox.com every year in 2000-2004

SouthSide, will you join my I love Juan Uribe fanclub I'm starting...? Thanks, Holden

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Apr 27, 2010 -> 01:16 PM) they give rings for division championships? What about Wild Cards, are those like promise rings? For the Jonas brothers, they might be....

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Apr 27, 2010 -> 03:13 PM) Worse case scenario you may have a 30 year old reliever on the decline after 2011. May or may not be good enough to net Type B status which gets us a supplemental pick I think. Who KW will then turn around and say they can't afford to pay his signing bonus because of the electricity bill at USCF and the money we already invested into Viciedo and Dave Wilder's bar in metro Phoenix.

The same way KW scouted Iguchi and decided to sign him before having seen him play in person, based on recommendations of other players who'd been around him in JAPAN....for Alexei and Dayan, stolen digital camera videos pirated out of Cuba and/or Cubano's blog. Or a long conversation with that Peter dude with the "historic" Cuban baseball blog who was always underselling Viciedo constantly in the weeks before we signed him in any national interview about the Cuban influx of talent into MLB.

Peace of mind and restful sleep. No thoughts of suicide when he comes in against the Twins (or Brew Crew) and Carlos Gomez is due up in the 9th. Two other possible answers. YES, I KNOW, WE HAVE TO KEEP HIM. Sorry, need the teal or green I suppose.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 27, 2010 -> 03:06 PM) Olivio Pallazo. Wasn't that the umpire Leslie Nielsen played in THE NAKED GUN? I know it wasn't that EXACT name, but similar sounding Italian...

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Apr 27, 2010 -> 02:59 PM) Miguel Olivo is a catcher only in the loosest definition of the word. He's a catcher in the same way Vizquel or Pierre are a threat to go yard (boo-yah!) in any given at-bat. Great arm...the mental/strategic side of the game, preparation, working with pitchers, calling pitches and setting up opposing hitters....TOTAL FAIL. And it's sad, he has some great physical tools, speed for a catcher, etc.

I think the thing with Carlos Lee and Ordonez scaring everyone off is their contract numbers....they wouldn't fit now, they didn't fit in 2005, either. Ray Durham out of retirement to take Kotsay's spot so Harrelson can say "I love to watch Ray-Ray run..." on a triple into the RCF gap. Willie Harris for the Kotsay/Vizquel super-utility role. But seriously, imagine all the other MLB boards missed HAVING Quentin, Danks, Floyd (think how much better PHIL would be now), Konerko, missed drafting Beckham, Teahen, Rios (well, SOME!!!), Andruw Jones (Rangers could use some "O" now), Thornton, Sergio Santos, Jenks, Pena, etc. The PINAR DEL RIO BOARD AND CUBANO MISS ALEXEI. And another shout-out to EL GRAN TITAN DE BRONZE and my 2010 avatar....the only White Sox jersey I ever considered buying after the age of 25.

Good points Balta, although I wasn't being super serious about it. I do feel we need a change-of-pace guy to offset the FB dominance....a Neshek, Takatsu frisbee, Arnie Munoz rainbow curve, some dude on the Reds who used to average about 79-83 on his FB a couple of years ago out of the pen, Chad Bradford, type. Charlie Haeger? The Japanese girl who just signed recently, Wakefield has worked with her diligently on perfecting a knuckleball? There's another ex-Sox name for our other thread. Chad Bradford, the monster with the A's version of 5-7 years ago. (Not the Seattle 2000 ALCD version).

Javy Vazquez and Orlando Cabrera feel no love in this thread.

Humberto Quintero. Just kidding. I'll go with Frank Francisco and Chris B. Young or Ryan Sweeney. Because Francisco makes our pen that much better, and Sweeney/Young don't soak up all of Rios' contract dollars. Nobody could argue that Matt Guerrier wouldn't improve our pen. I'd STILL take Damaso Marte over Williams in a heartbeat and reunite him with Don Cooper. Some would say Chris Carter as part-time DH (Jones would be playing OF) or Gio Gonzalez in the fifth spot OR long reliever/Williams' role. Jon Link or Josh Rupe, nope!! Uribe of course, have to get a shout out to him. He's the ONLY member of the franchise I've ever heard that Mark Buehrle would donate part of his own salary to keep in the fold. You didn't see him doing that with Thome or Dye. Juan was probably the most popular "across the board" (with white/black/Hispanic/Asian) player we've ever had in terms of how well-loved he was in the clubhouse. He was always in the middle of everything, smiling, having fun, loosening up the environment...he loves to play the game of baseball almost as much as Guillen does, it's never seeming like work for him, even at the end of another K resulting from an akward HR pull swing on an outside breaking ball. Great arm, strangest defensive mechanics that worked....Mr. Clutch RBI, Mr. RBI w/ Runner at 3rd and less than 2 outs, and a capable bunter as well. Remember Toby Hall and the pie incident? Uribe does that to Dye, you never hear a word about it, 100%. That's why I like Uribe, for those who keep commenting on it. DAVE WILLS OR JOHN ROONEY. Joking with you Ranger, you're going a good job, youngster! Keep it up...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 27, 2010 -> 02:25 PM) Because in a tough situation, any manager worth his salt is going to send up a RH hitter. Do you think we'd all feel differently if Williams was say a 23 year old rookie (let's say his last name was Wasserman) versus a 30+ journeyman/veteran pitcher who has experience in more than half the minor league and semi-pro systems in the world?

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 27, 2010 -> 01:52 PM) I can rarely get through a Caulfield post without saying "f*** it. I don't feel like reading anymore." Isn't there some type of ignore feature available to ease up the great burden I am causing you? If I really cause you that much duress, I'm sure you could work out something with the mods where all my posts would be blacked out like I'm giving away a key plot point to a new blockbuster movie in the FILMS THREAD. Sound cool to you? That would be better than sniping back and forth with you about how I post in 25% of the threads.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AmXQ...relievers042610 I thought this was an excellent article, and was going to stick it into MLB Catch-all, but then had a second thought. Especially since one of the biggest complaints about Guillen by many Sox fans is his use of the bullpen... So the question is this: 1) How does Ozzie differ in any way from how the Twins manage their pens with Gardenhire? 2) Is there anything in our minor league development that has led to a dearth of quality bullpen arms, compared to other teams in the division? (I'm thinking of names like Wasserman, Sean Tracey, etc., we just haven't incubated many relief arms that had success for us....we have, on the other hand, developed a plethora of arms who ended up succeeding with other teams. The one reliever we've taken high, Royce Ring, was a complete bust. Poreda and Richard were considered by most scouts to be bullpen arms as well...so I guess Richard might be our one true success story?) 3) The clamor (I was one of them) for Jenks to be pulled for Thornton against KGJr. led ultimately to another question, how does yanking Jenks out of games where hasn't yet blown the save affect his psyche? How well defined is our pen right now? What are the roles? Should Ozzie be clearer, or is that impossible to provide because of all the "X" factors with the pen? Do you do like the Tigers and use Zumaya in the 6th, 7th and 8th in high leverage situations? Would Zumaya be better off if he knew he was the man for the 8th and would never pitch before that inning? Jenks=closer Thornton=LH set-up, capable of closing in an inning with 2/3 lefties coming up RH set-up for 8th=who will it be, Putz/Santos or Pena??? Does it matter if Ozzie uses Putz in the role one game and Santos the next? Also, what is Linebrink's role as he continues to show signs of progress? Basically, we have Putz/Santos as TIER 1 and Pena(5)/Liney(6) as TIER 2 of the set-up guys to go with THORNTON. Also, should we have a defined long man (Hudson incubated like Buehrle in 2000 for an eventual starting role) or just go with Pena/Liney/Williams in all of those situations? Is it wise to burn Linebrink's arm on blowouts if want to increase his value to other teams? Is it fair to put Pena in this role when he's really pitched excellently? How much longer can we go with Williams? Does KW make a move to acquire someone like a Carrasco or promote Torres/Elarton, etc.? How long will Threets be out? Does he have to pick a 2nd lefty? Does KW find another veteran in the Jeff Nelson mold or promote someone internally like a Clevelan Santeliz? Should we use Santos like the Tigers use Zumaya, or keep him strictly for the 7th and 8th when we're leading by 1-3 runs? Is he ready for that? Will he go all Aardsma on us when he suffers his first failures in pressure situations? 4) What are your specific issues with Ozzie's use of the pen? What does he do differently from the likes of "intellectual" managers like LaRussa/Scioscia/Maddon cited in the article? YES, I know some will think it's a PRO TWINS article. FINE. The topic is an interesting one, hopefully a good discussion can come out of it?

QUOTE (qwerty @ Apr 27, 2010 -> 10:40 AM) Hard headed on the part of peavy. Just how i see it. Their terrible approaches stem from terrible scouting of opposition they are not familiar with. No other case can really be made as far as i am concerned. If someone has a better explanation, i would love to hear it. This aspect you are referring to is huge in the grand scheme of things... yet it appears to be no big deal to them, much like scouting for the draft. This is far from all on the hitters. Someone higher up, as in not solely the players, is not up to snuff with the task at hand. Major League Computer Scouting Analyst MIKE GELLINGER Start there....