caulfield12

If you look at the Twins, look at all those guys they developed internally... Bartlett, Casilla, Morneau, Mauer (yes, we know about Prior and this was the ONLY pick they could have made), Garza, Blackburn, Baker, Slowey, Perkins, Liriano (the trade of the century), Span, Cuddyer, Crain, etc. Then you have the likes of Duensing, Swarzak, the list goes on and on...and they ALWAYS seem to unearth bullpen gems like Rincon (steroids), Reyes/Mijares and Neshek that can dominate the 7th-8th to bridge to Nathan, although Guerrier/Crain was A BIG HOLE last year. We have had to go out and BUY talent, the likes of Dotel and Linebrink. Our answer? Wasserman? Maybe Santos will help out, but it's ironic that someone drafted at another position becomes our best young reliever in five years. They teach their pitchers how to value first pitch strikes and the best possible IP/BB/K and WHIP ratios. They maximized "value" when they got Garza look in the first, whereas we have targeted the likes of Royce Ring, Broadway and McCulloch in the same areas of the first. They have a slew of athletic young outfielders, most notably Revere and Hicks. The scary thing is they completely whiffed on the Johan Santana trade (Gomez did net Hardy eventually, who's solid) and on the Bartlett/Garza deal, although Young is getting more consistent PT and producing finally. Then you have the annoying Piranhas like Denny Hocking, Koskie, Rivas, Mientkiewicz, Blanco, Punto, Redmond, Jason Tyner, Lew Ford, et al, that have killed the White Sox over the years. AND YES, I KNOW THEY'VE ONLY BEATEN THE A's ONCE AND WE WON IN 2005. TIRED OF THAT ARGUMENT.

The same division we're 2-6 against...if recent history has taught anything, the White Sox have good seasons when they dominate in the ALCD intradivision games and they play well at home. Last year, we completely lost the home-field advantage we'd have for most of the decade, with the exception of the 2007 disaster/debacle. Something needs to be shaken up, no more tinkering....the engine needs to be totally overhauled and rebuilt with a better BLUEPRINT.

Hudson was just so-so yesterday...decent. But it wasn't one of those "look at him go" starts that begs a promotion yet, either.

We can't have a consistent line-up simply because we don't have enough major league regulars. Simple as that. The ONLY players who deserve the right to play everyday are Konerko, Beckham, Rios and Quentin. The jury's still out on Jones, but he's earned the right to get MORE consistent playing time. That's only FOUR or five PLAYERS out of 9. AJ is another mystery...right now Lucy is more dangerous.

If Kotsay and AJ don't do anything today but roll into GIDP's and weak outs, Ozzie will really be under some media and post-game call-in fire. I really think he's trying to get fired. He keeps playing Vizquel 10 years too late. Andruw Jones is our most dangerous hitter, and he's nowhere to be found for 2/3 games. Right up there with Jones is Quentin...so great, let's take Jones, Quentin, Thome and Dye and replace them with: Pierre/Kotsay/Vizquel/Teahen I've never said this as a White Sox fan, but we DESERVE to lose if we're going to make completely ASININE line-ups. I know it MIGHT work, then Ozzie will be a genius for "shaking things up," but he's lost his marbles, his ego knows no bounds. And Jayson Nix is just sitting there rotting away. It's 10X worse than what he did to Brian Anderson, Sean Tracey and Jon Rauch.

Dick Allen, just be happy (or not, this year) you can actually watch the games on TV. Here in China, the broadband strength isn't close to strong enough for MLB TV. Since 2005, the only games I've seen were all the playoff and World Series games in 2005 (various sites in Colombia), the disastrous 2nd half collapse in 2006, the 2008 playoffs (somehow Thailand ESPN carried them) against the Rays and the first two months of the 2009 season. I've really come to love listening to all the other teams' radio broadcasts through Gameday Audio and AT BAT now this year...in this day and age of technology, it feels old school/retro but it's the best way to experience baseball, IMO. It's probably the best investment I've ever made of $9.95 or $14.95 that I can ever remember in terms of the entertainment value derived. Just going to Alice in Wonderland in 3D here in China costs that same amount of RMB.

Teahen can't be considered a plus offensively simply because of his walks...because getting on base for Alexei or Juan Pierre doesn't really do much good these days. Beckham's come up short in a lot of RBI situations too so far, although it is only 12 games, he and Pods were nails with RISP last year. Konerko is Konerko. He is what he is at this stage of his career, a slightly above average offensive 1B and slightly below average defensively who's making about $6-8 million more than he will on the open market in 2011. He did ALMOST tie the game up yesterday...he's certainly far from being anything resembling a problem compared to our other pressing issues. It's really Pierre, AJ and Ramirez that are damaging the offense the most... FINAL THOUGHT: Pick a philosophy and stick with it KW. SEE MARINERS, SEATTLE. Teahen is not and never will be a good defender, see Fields, Josh. If the White Sox had an infield of Uribe, Ramirez, Beckham and Orlando Hudson, we'd at least be a .500 ballclub, GUARANTEED. It would give us at least a 50-75% chance to hang with the Twins all season long. (One other problem...the Twins have the resources now to go out and address any flaw in their ballclub, which means they can easily add a 3B and middle relief or even closer at the break. We simply cannot make a significant, $5 million plus or more, addition...) Plus we'd have the flexibility to rest a struggling player. We can't really sit Alexei because neither Vizquel nor Nix are long-term options at that position.

And for Gavin to pitch better than the norm on the road...not that playing at TOR, KC, BALT or CLE can truly be considered road games anymore.

Well, of course. The Red Sox had a bases loaded situation with no outs and a chance to win and didn't score and got swept in a DH (at home) by a very very talented Rays team, one that we see soon. And the Cardinals must have had 4-5 bases loaded situations in their 20 inning game yesterday. At one point, they were near 20 runners stranded and climbing and were 0 for the day with runners in scoring position. Every team has bad days...it's just that we have now managed TWO 3 game losing streaks that both times have incorporated one of the five worst teams in all of baseball. That's not easy to do in the span of two weeks. You really have to wonder, besides the Royals, who might be capable of losing at least two individual series to the Indians in a row??? Well, technically we're only ahead of BALT and HOU, but that can change relatively quickly at this point in the season.

Which year did Joe Morgan say (in the early stages) that we had one of the best bullpens he'd ever seen on the Sunday night ESPN broadcast? Seems it was in 2008, when Linebrink was going really gangbusters in the first half.

Well, the ALCD can be proud of one thing. Four of our teams are in the bottom 10 in the majors in attendance. Looks so strange to see Minnesota in the Top 8. Looks like Phil Rogers will be writing a "pro-Twins" article every weekend this season, since he can't write about Vazquez-Chris B. Young anymore...maybe he'll revisit the Swisher trade, just to annoy us. Or spotlight Chris Carter's progress this season.

There's no way this team can lose 90 games. That said, I'll stick with my original prediction of 78-84 wins. The scary thing is that the Mariners and Rays are playing as well as any teams in the majors...whereas the Twins are coasting now after starting out on the West Coast. Yes, it all evens out...I get that, it's early, yadda yadda...but has a White Sox team ever recovered to make the playoffs after being 8 games or more back in a season?

"I'm going to sleep like a baby — wake up every (bleeping) two hours and cry," Guillen said after the Indians scored two runs in the eighth inning to pull out a 3-2 victory and drop the last-place Sox five games behind in the American League Central with their third straight loss. Classic Ozzie.

Basically Ozzie said there's no need for the White Sox to even have a hitting coach. Unless Viciedo, Danks and Flowers are playing regularly at the big league level. That's brilliant Ozzie. I'm sure Mike Gellinger enjoyed your comments as well. So it seems he's acknowledging that at least some of the hitters just aren't listening/preparing or they're just completely tuning out and doing their own things up there with no consequences to their playing time.

TOR, but we get to face Seattle at home this week. That should be interesting. But Tampa Bay will absolutely destroy us. (Which means the White Sox are actually due to win a series, and it will be that one).

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Apr 17, 2010 -> 08:52 PM) Ozzie just gave an interview that not only deflected blame from Walk, but threw Jayson Nix under the bus. What a lovely human being. "It's not Greg Walker's fault," Guillen said. "(Bleep) it. I'm not going to fire a guy that has nothing to do with this thing. Look at (Mark) Kotsay, (Omar) Vizquel and (Jayson) Nix, they don't need a hitting coach. They need to (bleeping) get hits. "Every time I have a problem with my coaching staff, I'm the first one who fires them. This is like a chain, bro. If they don't hit, they blame the hitting coach and then the manager. If they are not pitching, they blame the pitching coach. It's about blaming people." "I take the blame. I don't want Walk or Coop (pitching coach Don Cooper) or Joey (Joey Cora) to take the blame. All of this thing, blame it on Ozzie. Don't blame Kenny (general manager Ken Williams) or Jerry (chairman Jerry Reinsdorf) or anyone else. Don't put anyone in the middle. When we are not hitting, not pitching or not winning games, my name is out there. That's why I'm the manager. "I'm not afraid to get blamed. I don't give a (bleep) to be blamed." And Later we get this gem: “There’s too much freaking information in baseball now,” Guillen said. “There’s too many (bleeping) guys on the computer. It’s simple. I say that. Pete Rose never watched a computer. Rod Carew never did. All those hitters, they go out and see the ball, hit it and move on.” I'm about ready to cut the cord with Ozzie. http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/...kers-fault.html Nix didn't deserve that at all, he actually got a hit this week. Like how Ozzie cites how Cabrera was a much better match-up for a RHP than a LHP, and how afraid he was of fat guy MaTola (LaPorta) and Kearns facing Thornton. Really? What's the difference between using a laptop and index cards? Ozzie is/was using Twitter before, he should have some growing intellectual concept about the possibilities of technology applications. It's like that stupid argument all over again in Moneyball, the Fuson School and the DiPodesta/Ricciardi one. YOU HAVE TO USE BOTH...embrace the future. I think Ozzie knows he's "old school" and he sees all these guys like Epstein, Bill James, Daniels and Jack Z. and the writing is on the wall, TO HIM. We wouldn't want to threaten the "good 'ol boys" school of Baines, Walker, Cooper, Cora, Raines, etc., in the dugout, would WE? I mean, it's not like it's EASY for someone without a background in playing (at the very least, minor league professionally) to get into coaching at any level with a major league team. It's next to impossible. Old traditions die hard. I think what would scare Ozzie even more is the kid in "Little Big League" or someone from Ranger's call-in show or one of the Sox message boards managing the team better than he does. Because he's always arguing about how uneducated the fans are about the game and how they have to go to work at 4 a.m. (I guess we're back to the all White Sox fans are blue collar factory laborers in the 1970's) and he's Ozzie so he can say whatever he wants with absolutely no consequences or accountability. Thanks for 2005 and 2008 Ozzie, but that doesn't get you a lifetime pass...not with the paying fans. Maybe with JR.

Still, I think ONE move needs to be made before this thing gets out of hand. Flowers seems like he would need to play everyday...Ozzie's not going to bench Pierre yet or play DeAza over him...or give Nix playing time. Danks isn't ready quite yet...it's like every possibility is a Catch-22 with Ozzie managing this team. But SOMETHING needs to be done to wake this team up. I would settle for giving Danks at-bats over Kotsay, but Ozzie would never do that either. I also don't think Ozzie and KW want to deal with the distraction of AJ's contract status and Flowers getting AB's against LHP quite yet... But letting Flowers play catcher part-time and DH part-time would be the best way to inject some life into this offense internally.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 17, 2010 -> 06:57 PM) Matt LaPorta is now MaTola, hahaha. Ozzie, you should quit this job if you don't even know who's on the other team. Jesus. I'm 98% sure he was thinking of former MLBer Chad Mottola.

No ONEY. Your dad was afraid of Matt Freakin' Thornton having to face Austin Kearns and fat guy...er...LaPorta, whose name he doesn't even remember.

If our offense continues to be this abysmal, we might have a "Puke on the Field To Show Your Displeasure" promotion. Although Roger Bossard would not be in a favor...

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 17, 2010 -> 07:04 PM) The Konerko thing I agree with completely. If he would have walked away after the WS, it would have been a huge PR hit, and even if he is slightly above average to average, what is the probability the Sox could have filled his spot with someone more productive? Doubtful if you ask me. This team is just currently finding ways to lose. They will start winning some games eventually. How many they win is a good question, but I don't think we are looking at a 2007 situation here. Like was stated before, boring baseball and especially losing boring baseball isn't going to work at the box office. I think KW relaxed way too much this offseason. Its time to do something. But those moves are not Hudson (for Garcia), Danks (for Pierre) and Flowers at this point. We have no replacement for Teahen, except Nix or Vizquel, and we know neither of those are good long-term moves because Nix isn't an everyday player. Well, maybe we'll find out...but Ozzie will go down with Omar (as long as he's manager) while Vizquel is still on the roster before he gives Nix an everyday job again. Maybe Hudson for Garcia, but we'll stick with Jones...and, as KW has proven beyond a reasonable doubt, it's close to impossible for him to find a leadoff hitter from outside of the organization. Wise, Owens...Pierre? Swisher? Cabrera? I'm going to keep harping on him not looking at Orlando Hudson coming into 2009 OR 2010. You have to pick between Rios and Beckham for leadoff, neither are ideal. Of course, it's ironic that Chris Young and Pods are playing so well...but they're no longer in our organization. I'm still thinking that losing Juan Uribe was the biggest mistake...even though it received the least amount of attention.

I'll give Ozzie this much, Cabrera (VS RHP 214 and 276 over 3 year) and (VS LHP, 313 and 318 over 3 years) was arguably a better match-up for Peavy than Thornton. However, it would have made a ton of sense to bring in Putz or Santos (two live arms) there instead, and also keep Peavy in a position to get the win. And Ozzie's excuse about not wanting to have Thornton face LaPorta or Kearns (REALLY?) is crap. Thornton is one of the 2-3 best lefty set-up guys in baseball, we don't run in fear from those two guys. It's not like LaPorta is Travis Hafner from 2002-2007. Ridiculous Ozzie.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 17, 2010 -> 05:21 PM) Gene Lamont won 86 games his first year managing the White Sox then had 2 first place finishes. He was canned 31 games into his 4th season with a career winning pct. a lot higher than Ozzie's and replaced with Terry Bevington, perhaps the biggest joke of a manager in MLB history. I guess what I'm saying is, even though I wouldn't do it, its not unprecedented for a guy like Ozzie to get canned fairly early if things don't turn around, even if there really isn't a better alternative around. Its one thing to be 4-8, but with 8 of those games against Cleveland and KC and the others against Toronto, there has to be a little concern. Agreed. Except you're thinking of KC and not the TWINS. We haven't played KC yet. That will only add embarassment when Pods outplays Pierre. At least BA is basically done and Fields and Getz are injured. I'm sure KW would be really annoyed if they beat us with all four of those guys starting for the Royals after we discarded them. You can add Rupe to the list of ex Sox on the Royals

The Konerko move was the right one at the time. Maybe KW went one year too long with Contreras AND Paulie, but nobody was disagreeing at the time, not after all the pride we had when JR welled up and Konerko handed him the baseball. If you want to make any argument, it's not that we built around Konerko. He has always been merely an above average, but not great, 1B. The problem is that the offensive firepower provided by Thome and Dye has been replaced incorrectly and ineffectively. It wasn't necessarily wrong to let them go, it's the moves that KW made that were horrible. Our offense would look a lot nicer with Nick Swisher in the line-up, of course, that ship sailed when the relationship deteriorated with Ozzie and the FO...but losing Swisher and giving up all that talent really was a set-back. That said, Ryan Sweeney, Chris Carter, Chris Getz or even Chris Young the way he's playing now for ARIZ wouldn't make or break this Sox team. But our lack of minor league development has forced moves like Pierre, Rios and Teahen that have hamstrung our payroll to the point where we were basically helpless to sign Matsui, Damon or Vlad. Or O-Dog. BTW, AJ is not doing as expected, he's been pretty close to horrendous. His offensive output was always the most predictable, along with Juan Uribe.

Fathom, that's all you can really do. I don't want to give up on this team, I love baseball too much. The only time I've really ever mentally checked out on a season was 2007. I'm willing to accept this team might not be capable of overtaking Minnesota or Detroit, but there's no excuse at all for us to be inferior to the Indians or Royals. This whole "veterans first" thing will have to go, and there's no way that KW will sit on his hands for a whole season in front of crowds of 12-15-18,000 and not do something. If 2008 proved anything, it was that you could have an instantly credible team going from an atrocious year to the next one, because of Danks/Floyd/Quentin/Ramirez. Beckham's obviously a keeper, too. Whether you call it reloading or rebuilding, we need more CJ Retherford types who bleed baseball and will take the field every single game and give a 100% effort and be upset when they lose. This team just doesn't have to seem any fire or "competitive" moxie like we've had in the past. (The Rowand/Everett/Crede/Uribe Effect). Yes, winning creates chemistry...maybe 2008 created this illusion that we were closer than reality, and now we've simply regressed to mean, where we belonged in the first place.