caulfield12

This is just dumb. If you want to trade anyone, it should be Fields, but then you'd be dumping him at pretty much his lowest possible return. Anderson has ZERO value...below even Joe Borchard when he was traded for Thornton. With the uncertainties about Viciedo's defense and CJ Retherford looking more like a utility guy at the next level, you have to hold onto Josh "just in case." Trading Anderson, as much as I dislike him as an everyday player, is silly AND stupid. KW's not going to stick Danks, Shelby III or Mitchell onto the major league roster in the heat of a pennant race. It's just putting way too much reliance on the health of CQ and Pods...

QUOTE (RME JICO @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 08:34 AM) Not LH, but Matt Holliday? Holliday is such a huge question mark because of his production outside of Coors Field. Now, you could argue Coors and USCF are comparable and that he could put up those same numbers, but the trade cost is going to be a pretty good ransom...and who's to say some of our own internal options (Danks/Mitchell/Shelby/Gartrell/Cook) won't be much better options from a cost/benefit perspective, giving us the financial flexibility to finally go out and get a legit CFer after four years of malaise?

If Danks/Mitchell/Viciedo/Flowers/Allen can develop (two or three of those guys), we get some off-the-bench contributions from Retherford or Shelby and one of the relievers with a big arm like Omogrosso, Nunez or Santeliz catch fire, we should be in great shape. We are still short legit starting prospects at the AA/AAA level, with D. Hudson being perhaps the most closely-scrutinized these days.

Nix STILL has a .685 OPS against RHP...which is a bit better than Getz. We're talking small sample sizes in his career...although the minor league numbers could be SOMEWHAT indicative. We should also keep in mind he was 0 for 17 in his career against LHP coming into this season and 7 for 39 against RHP. Nobody can argue Jayson doesn't play better defense...so I don't think it's quite so clear why we are giving 65-75% of the AB's to Getz over Nix. Amazing how fan perceptions change when a guy has a few good (or bad) games. But is ANYONE calling for Josh Fields to get more AB's after his two homer game or solo homer this past week? I think this phenomenon is especially true in the case of Alexei Ramirez defensively and many posters wanting to move him off SS. He's still projected to have "only" 20 errors at SS, which isn't close to as many errors as Jose Valentin committed on a yearly basis.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jul 3, 2009 -> 01:00 AM) I agree, but Ozzie already stated he ain't moving Alexei. But he also stated that Pods would never play CF either...in 2006. Getz had a decent enough June after a bad May, so I don't think there's a major reason for him to be benched ATM. But isn't more than half of his hits going for extra bases (six homers in under 100 AB's), better defense and an OPS 200+ points higher a pretty compelling reason to start Nix over Getz? It isn't like Getz has as high of a ceiling as Jayson if they were to both reach their potential...and the age difference isn't huge. I understand Chris came up through our system, but at a certain point it's hard to overlook that level of production. Especially when there are still two line-up holes (Anderson/Getz) at under a 650 OPS.

Well, the thing that doesn't make much sense about playing Jayson in the OF or 3B is that he's the perfect middle infielder, Gold Glove caliber at 2B and above average (probably better than Alexei or Beckham) at SS as well. But I do get why Ozzie might choose to play him as a DH/LF/3B/RF/SS over Josh Fields if he's trying to get more offensive punch in the line-up.

Unless Nix "Wally Pipp's" Ramirez...stranger things have happened in baseball. But we obviously can use Alexei's bat somewhere in that line-up....SS/2B/CF.

Seems like a good idea to have Jayson Nix playing everyday at 2B if he's going to continue to put up a mid 800's OPS, especially with Getz and Anderson stuck between 625-650 OPS for weeks. Of course, maybe that high OPS is because of favorable match-ups created by Guillen...but then the reverse is also true, he hasn't gotten into a rhythm and had the opportunity to get consistent AB's but he's still producing, unlike BA, who seems to need to play everyday with his bigger swing. Pro's of Nix: better power, better defense, better arm and range, could make Ramirez better? Pro's of Getz: LH hitter, balances line-up, always hustles, grinder, better #2 contact hitter/execution/fundamentals, better speed TOO BAD we can't combine them into one switch-hitting player and build the ideal 2B.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 08:22 PM) They took away Anderson's stolen base in that one inning. Called it WP. Well, we can't blame that on either Rosenberg or the Guillen/anti-BA conspiracy. Maybe they will call the press box to get it changed, lol...shades of Cabrera last year.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 08:21 PM) How many grounders up the middle can we hit in an inning? "Grounders up the middle are generally better than one run homers." Greg Walker, 2004

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 08:14 PM) Not if Farmer's correct about Quentin starting a rehab stint soon. The irony is that Scott Podsednik will be our starting CFer three years after Ozzie said there was no way he would play there...and almost no one will even question it. Not even BA's biggest fan club members...although BA will get some AB's against tough righties still in all likelihood. Then Wise really becomes superfluous. Of course, that's assuming Carlos can stay healthy. Baseball, so mystifying. Konerko career OPS 843, at 841 right now...interesting. Jayson Nix is well into in the mid 800's. Could be the pick-up of the offseason if he continues like this. Even more interesting is how this all shakes out with Fields and Getz, Beckham and Ramirez. And Viciedo/Retherford (although probably another utility guy).

Who would you want to add, Kroeger or Ward? One interesting thing, I bet a movement to start Nix at SS, Beckham at 3B, Getz at 2B and Ramirez in CF starts soon...

BA 641 OPS, career 653 Not exactly winning the hearts and minds of White Sox fans yet again.

Jesus....Beckham is absolutely EN FUEGO. 8 hits in a 3 game series, retired ONLY one time. Did anyone think a 774 OPS from Beckham was possible in the 2009 season after the start he had?

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Jul 1, 2009 -> 07:27 PM) Castro is a good acquisition by Kenny. Totally overlooked. Lance is nothing. And you do have to give Reinsdorf credit for allowing Williams to add a couple more million to the payroll. That's the type of trade the Twins can never make in mid-season historically, where they add salary.

But isn't Jose a much better option than Glavine/Mulder/Schmidt/Colon/Penny/Smoltz/Pavano type pitchers as a #5??? Now if we're going to spend money, it would be great to have another frontline starter, but there aren't very many Peavy's out there, and we would have been in even more trouble for 2009 had that trade been agreed to...with Richard out of the rotation, no Poreda and god knows who else (the other two) missing from our minor league depth chart. Thanks KW, your Castro signing is finally paying off with him hovering around the .100 mark. Corky Miller was never going to homer...that's his second now with the Sox. Would anyone dare go after Edwin Jackson as a FA??? Or is he going to have a difficult time sustaining this year's success...not unlike signing Beltre after his huge season in LA.

By the way, Brian Anderson....please try to have a decent AB with RISP. Even the Indians' announcers were amazed at how bat that approach was by BA. At least he caught that ball the next inning...but geez. Ramirez has reached .270 AVG for the first time this season, and now at 723 OPS. That's more like it offensively.

Contreras has owned the Indians for almost his entire career. We've beaten Sowers twice already this year, we have the advantage with our bullpen...hopefully we can get the lead and turn it over to the pen. Jose "making up pitches on the fly" seemingly, this is when he's at his best. Would anyone sign him for $4-6 million for the 2010 season (with maybe 50% of the contract coming via incentives)? Even more impressive, only 64 pitches through 5 innings...quite unusual for Jose.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 1, 2009 -> 12:02 PM) The Royals and Sox have actually traded sort of frequently in the last couple years. Off the top of my head, MacDougal, Ramirez and Sisco. I wouldnt completely discount trading for Teahen at this point Scott Sullivan also comes to mind. DJ Carrasco didn't come directly from the Royals, but he spent most of his career there. Same with Gobble. Dotel, etc. Teahen? He's not much more than a career 700-725 OPS type of player, and his defense is very shaky at 3B...but he doesn't hit for enough power to hold down 3B or RF. Trading him to the White Sox, they would ask for a "premium" return. Perhaps if it was a one or two year "band aid" and we'd given up on Josh Fields entirely, in which case you'd be putting Getz on the bench, moving Beckham to 2B, or moving Ramirez into CF with Getz at 2B and Gordon at SS. If KW had done something logical in the offseason, it would have been to go out there and get Casey Blake. As far as the OP goes, trading your best offensive player for what? Someone that can actually play CF on an everyday basis? Beckham and Ramirez have to be considered average to below average at their positions now, Getz average or a bit above, Konerko average (range made up for by scooping so many balls out of the dirt, but he can make some bad defensive plays, too)...the only one in the outfield better than average is Anderson, although lots of metrics had/have Quentin as average/above average for LF, especially this season, where he looked like he had adjusted a bit. The only player on the roster that can really play D is Nix, along with Brian. Unfortunately, the jury is still out on both of them being capable of producing enough offense to be starters on a consistent basis.

QUOTE (Special K @ Jul 1, 2009 -> 10:35 AM) I agree. That comment was more of a criticism of Ozzie's ability to judge his players sometimes, or his inability to know who should play where, or when they hit in a lineup. I think Ozzie is very mediocre when it cmoes to doing those things. There is a laundry list of examples like MacDougal, Lillibridge playing over Nix, Fields hitting in the 2 hole, Wise leading-off, Richard not starting, etc. I mean, even Lexi batting in the 2 hole was a product of Joey cora in Guillen's absence. I know there are times when he makes the right move as well. I was just saying that I question his judgment sometimes. 1) MacDougal had pitched pretty well in ST, nobody ELSE was stepping up (like Link/Russell/Wasserman) and KW had the hope that perhaps they could get another team to take this contract off our hands if he could show something again in the big leagues...did it work? No. Was it a horrible move? Nope, not when you have a pitcher with that talent and arm, there was a 5-15% chance he could click again. 2) Nix had a strained quadriceps muscle and was hurt coming out of ST or he very well might have taken the slot that Lillibridge won. Hard to blame that one on Guillen. And Lillibridge was our only option sometimes for CF...unless you want to argue that Nix could also play that position, too. 3) We don't have any ideal 2 hitters except for Getz, and Ozzie wanted to take the pressure off Chris and move him down. We also needed him even more at the top spot in the order. AJ, Fields and Ramirez all have their flaws at this spot, but at least Alexei is becoming more patient. 4) Do you really think that Cora made a line-up change without first seeking approval from Ozzie (Ramirez)? 5) Is it still so clear after this much of the season that Brian Anderson is the everyday, starting CF for the White Sox in the future??? I don't think so, sure, he had a good game yesterday, but he's been his typical inconsistent self, when playing everyday or when platooning. We had LONG/PROTRACTED/CONTENTIOUS discussions on this topic, and to accept a 650 OPS out of a starting CFer just isn't good enough. Beckham is already well over that mark, the one BA has for his entire career. 6) If not playing Wise, you would have kept Josh Kroeger? KW was the one who let Uribe go and swapped him out for the anti-Uribe in Betemit, a player with zero defensive ability at all four infield positions. 7) See comments on Josh Fields above. After his 2007 season, with Crede gone, with health (vision/knee injuries supposedly cleared up and him our best hitter in ST along with Betemit), how could you NOT start the season with Fields as your everyday 3B? 8) Wouldn't you agree that about 75% of the people who post on Sox message boards thought Richard would be a failure as a starter coming into 2009???

http://www.weather.com/maps/maptype/dopple...mile_large.html Don't know how small that delay will be...we shall see.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jun 30, 2009 -> 02:41 PM) I prefer to be optimistc about our chances. But, every other game or so we still have the naysayers calling for wholesale trades involving Sox veterans and asking for second tier prospects in return just to dump salary. I think they forget all we have to do is finish 1st in OUR division to get into the playoffs. In 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2008, I would agree that we really went for it (as much as possible) to win those seasons, although if you'll recall, the big moves those seasons were adding Blum and Griffey, Jr. Injuries killed us in 2001, 2004 and 2007, and chemistry/clubhouse issues were the biggest issue in 2002 with Lofton/Jimenez/Lee/Ordonez/Thomas. This might turn out to be another 2004, when injuries/youth/inexperience derail our chances, but we add a few pieces to the puzzle (like Garcia and Contreras back then) and position ourselves for this year and beyond, like the Peavy trade theoretically would have done. We do have the pitching to compete (2nd in the AL), which is a lot easier as a starting point than adding higher OPS hitters. The problem is that 1B/DH/LF types are pretty easy to find or acquire, it's finding someone for CF and 2B/3B that has proven to be a huge challenge for KW, particularly CF. It seems for the moment we're set with Beckham at either 3B or 2B...the only question is do we replace a rookie (Getz) who seems to be playing better recently or a CF platoon that will be forever limited (but perhaps the harder of the two positions to find someone)? Hopefully Konerko/Thome/AJ/Dye will remember 2006 when KW asked them if the team needed additional reinforcements and they said no...this year, it's quite obvious where the needs are.

Who will have the better/longer career in the future (after they leave the White Sox), Fields or Brian Anderson? It's a good argument simply because of the 81 games played per season at USCF, and the fact that our offense is what's been holding us back....largely. Of course, the main question can Fields put up an 800+ OPS or could Getz put up a 725-750-775? It seemeed a lot of posters felt Getz was just going to go out there and be this 350-375 OBP type of player with little power and the ability to steal you 15-25 bags per season. Maybe he is...maybe he isn't. It probably would be easier to find a veteran 3B (thinking along the lines of players such as Joe Randa/Herbert Perry in the past or Tyler Wigginton today) that will give you 20-25 HR power, a 250-275 average and decent RBI numbers. It helps a lot that Getz is LH...and he's perhaps the fastest player on our team down the line, along with Pods. And he hustles a lot (yes, grinderish...lol) but there's always a role for a player like Getz or Nick Punto, the question is whether it's with the White Sox and whether it's as a starter of bench player. Another question is who would you rather have to play out the remainder of the season? Uribe/Ramirez/Beckham as your infield or Beckham/Ramirez/Getz-Nix?? Of course, Uribe wouldn't be a long-term solution, but he's proven time and time again to be a winning player, clutch with RISP, great defender, etc. We all know his offensive inadequacies.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Jun 30, 2009 -> 09:51 AM) There were at least four pitches he threw last night where I exclaimed "holy s***, where did that come from", sweeping curves for third strikes, dotting corners. I honestly never knew this guy had this in him based on April and May and his career numbers, despite the relatively less amount of success he was able to have. I don't think at any point during last season he was close to this dominant for this many starts in a row. This is the strangest turnaround I've ever seen in one season from one player. Can anyone else think of a player who put such bad numbers up for six weeks, and then incredible numbers? I guess Paul Konerko 2003 comes to mind. I remember JD started out really slowly in 2005. Tim Raines had one season where he was under .200 into mid-May when he was expected to be one of our best players, then turned it around. Juan Uribe the first two months of 2004 was incredible, hitting around 400+ most of that time. Of course, Contreras (05-06) and Loaiza (2003) also come to mind from a pitching standpoint, in terms of their dominance seemingly coming out of nowhere. Felix Diaz beating the Cubs once at Wrigley, lol.

QUOTE (Frankensteiner @ Jun 30, 2009 -> 08:57 AM) Sox already beat Greinke this season. His first loss on the year. But he also dominated us at least once and I think it was twice...