caulfield12

The Royals tried to battle back but just couldn't come up with the timely hit. Saunders was just better than Greinke. We have to be thankful the Angels have awakened and are playing much better than they did against the Twins a couple of weeks ago.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 10, 2009 -> 11:27 AM) Ozzie says Richard isn't developed enough to be a starter, then 2 weeks later, puts him in the starting rotation. Great job this past offseason KW. He also said he didn't think it would help Jose any to go to the bullpen, lol. Our roster has so many issues, it's a miracle we're only 3 games back and still plodding along, with the same exact record (14-15) we had last year after 29 games. We should learn a lot more over the next two weeks as we go back into the AL Central. 1-4 against the Royals is not going to cut it, we'd have to go 11-2 the rest of the season to equal our mark of 12-6 from last year against them, when it seems we had a really tough time beating them or putting them away in games. Cleveland actually outdrew us by quite a bit on an equally cold (maybe colder) night at the same time the Cavaliers were playing against the Hawks. It was Cliff Lee bobblehead night, but the attendance numbers are never good at USCF unless the team's playing well or it's the summertime. Of course, that all could change with a winning streak of 8-2 or 7-3 (somehow, we'd have to beat TOR), but the casual White Sox fans are rightfully skeptics this year.

I think it might be a very different Indians ballclub. Seems that Wedge will be fired today if they get swept by the Tigers at home and fall to 10 games under .500.

Choo, Sizemore and Delucci are all left-handed, and then you turn around Martinez and Asdrubal Cabrera to the right side....it makes sense to use either Richard or Poreda here. Although, in the long-term, they should stick with one guy for at least 3-4 starts in a row to see what he can do, unless his ERA is plus 8 or something ridiculously high, like Arnie Munoz after one game in Montreal.

I don't know where Hawk got the idea that Brandon Allen got off to a disastrous start this season. I think he must have been confused with Viciedo. Kroeger=Betemit, and Betemit doesn't have a place on this roster. The only difference is that Kroeger could play both corner OF spots, so I wouldn't be against him taking Lillibridge's spot, just because Lillibridge is atrocious. I'd rather have Kroeger trying to play CF and getting the advantage of his bat than watching Lillibridge flail away. Then again, Kroeger and Pods would be hitting against RHP only, so who knows. Pods is already coming back to reality.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ May 9, 2009 -> 11:23 PM) I don't know what you mean by that. Cruz is 3 years younger at 30 than Dotel is, and he has a much more favorable contract, but it's really no contest who has been the better pitcher over his career, and that is Dotel. Cruz: 31-31, 3.95 ERA, 309 G, 528.1 IP, 453 H, 232 ER, 54 HR, 273 BB, 545 K, 14 WP, 7-7 H/9, 0.9 HR/9, 4.7 BB/9, 9.3 K/9, 1.37 WHIP Dotel: 44-36, 3.71 ERA, 511 G, 717.1 IP, 569 H, 296 ER, 92 HR, 319 BB, 877 K, 32 WP, 7.1 H/9, 1.2 HR/9, 4.0 BB/9, 11.0 K/9, 1.24 WHIP And Dotel missed a bunch of time from 2005-2007 after recovering from surgery. If he's pitching those years, then Dotel completely blows Cruz out of the water. Dotel BTW has only spent parts of 2 seasons in the minor leagues after making his MLB debut, and that was during his recovery. OTOH, 2004 and 2009 (so far) are the only years where Cruz hasn't at least gone to the minors in a rehab stint. I don't get the lack of overall respect for Octavio around here. Yes he has his moments, but the guy is about as good as they come as far as setup men go. I'm a big Juan Cruz fan, but to say Octavio isn't in Cruz's category (like he's worthy of having his own category or something) is absurd. This is Dotel's last year here in all likelihood, and trust me, we're all going to miss him once he's gone and we're going to some minor leaguer in the 7th and 8th innings when Linebrink and Thornton can't pitch. It's not as much about their past histories as it is about who will perform the best this year...Octavio Dotel will continue to have his disastrous outings like he did against the Royals this week. Overall, Cruz is more valuable because he pitches the 8th (rather than the 7th) and he's more likely be to be consistent this season. Octavio really, really struggled when they had to change roles around with Linebrink's injury last year. I agree, he's looked very good (especially his offspeed stuff) so far this year, and has only had one major hiccup. He's definitely pitched better than Thornton in crucial situations and better than Linebrink as well. With all that said, I would rather have Cruz than either Dotel or Linebrink (because of his contract and also age/wear and tear).

Masterson would cost us more than Josh Fields right now...no way they'll part with him, he's a key member of their bullpen if he's not starting. Odalis is a possibility. Looking back, in retrospect, the best approach to the off-season would have been dealing for Jackson (strictly a salary dump for Rays) and NOT signing Floyd to that three-year guaranteed contract. Colon has worked out beautifully so far. Jackson would still be eligible to become a FA after this season, but the White Sox would have had just as good an opportunity as anyone to keep him in the fold.

Why did they take Flowers out of the game? Hopefully not another injury, although Beckham will be back on Monday at least.

Laughing at Harrelson saying he was just under a face-high pitch...no way he can hit that ball.

QUOTE (santo=dorf @ May 9, 2009 -> 08:34 PM) I was just looking at the HBP leader board when Quentin got hit. How does it happen so often? Is he getting drilled? Nope, he just doesn't give up an inch around the plate and he doesn't move out of the way unless it's right at his head.

Ozzie will have a heart attack here if Konerko hits into a DP.

Hawk has had one full season's worth of "dad gummits" so far already... Poreda down to a 1.42 ERA now.

If he can learn to be a leader like AJ and build a repoire with the starting staff, there's no reason he can't play the position...he won't be any worse than AJ or Victor Martinez throwing. Let's give him 18 months in our system before we declare him a DH or 1B.

Didn't help Rob Valido so much...

Josh Fields almost hit 25 in 60-70% of a season, Tyler will easily do it with 81 games in USCF. Scary that we only have 28,000 fans for a mid-May fireworks game against one of the most exciting offenses in baseball...albeit without Young and Josh Hamilton. Flowers has power to all fields just like Quentin, but he's not so aggressive...he had 98 walks last year. Very patient hitter.

It won't be Tyler Flowers, but he'll give us Thome-like numbers at catcher with less homers and higher batting average.

Poreda's pitching well so far tonight, but he would be on three day's rest and wouldn't be able to go Wednesday anyway. Will have to be Broadway, Richard, Carraso or Omogrosso (I hope). Vince Coleman or Henderson would steal 200+ bases in the AL Central with AJ and Victor Martinez in the division.

This has been a great game. We've cost ourselves 2-3 runs on the basepaths. Ramirez might as well go down to Charlotte, and Josh Fields will be there a week behind him.

We don't know for sure what we'll get out of Quentin, Ramirez, Danks or Floyd this year, either. We certainly can't say that Viciedo will take 2-3 years or 2-3 months based on five weeks in AA ball, for the same reason they haven't promoted Aaron Poreda, Beckham to play SS or Flowers/Allen to DH. KW would look a bit silly signing a player for 4 years only, with the thought behind it that he would only be able to get 2 years out of him. At worst, KW expected Viciedo to contribute something in 2010, but there are many (including KW) who probably felt he could give the team something this year with his bat. He's still leading Birmingham in RBI's, so at least he's been pretty clutch in terms of getting sacrifice flies and making contact most times with RISP. By the way, I cited his 2 errors as well...so, suffice it to say...he's also in the top 1/2 of SS's in terms in terms of fielding percentage as well.

If there was ever a time to market Dye to the Dodgers (and he's a California kid), it would be now. However, it won't happen for 4 reasons: 1) The biggest, KW won't give up on the season in May, and rightfully so 2) A lot of insiders say the Dodgers are actually happy to save $8 million (which they'd then have to pay Dye) and they still believe they will be in first in the NL West when Manny returns on July 3rd 3) There's no place for Dye when Manny returns 4) They still need to see what they can get out of Juan Pierre, who has that ridiculous contract What contending teams could potentially use a RF or 1B I hope it can bring us something but my guess would be Dotel gets shipped before anyone else. Dotel's still a pretty expensive acquisition for many teams, and he's not up there in that "Juan Cruz" territory as a set-up guy. Trading Colon, when/if they do decide they can't legitimately compete this year, makes a lot more sense...in terms of being able to get back a real prospect from a team that's one 4/5 starter away from winning a division.

We're fine with the Danks brothers. Ryan Freel would have made as much sense as Nix, as he could have taken Lillibridge's spot. No matter how I feel about Anderson and Fields, they both deserve the chance to determine their fate this season by their play on the field and sitting on the bench...and obviously Ramirez will be back out on that field as well. If they keep playing Thome, Fields and Lillibridge, they shouldn't sit Alexei as if he's the ONLY reason the team is struggling...it's as illogical as making BA the scapegoat for the team's pitching struggles in 2006.

And no runs in 14 innings against Harrison, who had a 6 or 7 ERA (still) heading into last night's game.

Fields is pretty close to a 35% strikeout ratio, which is WAY too high for the kind of power he's shown so far. And about the same as 2007 when he hit 23 homers in 300+ AB's.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/fieldi...lumn=zoneRating Ramirez has only made two errors...I think everyone is just down on him because of his offensive struggles. He certainly, with the exception of one game, hasn't hurt the White Sox at that position. He's in the top half in fielding percentage and #2 in zone rating. I'll just say he has been at least average for the position and maybe above average for an MLB SS. The one thing I've noticed is that he has a hesitation about diving for balls that's alarming. I'll also add that defensive ratings don't mean much to me until they're bettered, but to move someone who has played 40 games there 8 years ago....I need to see a lot more, because Nix was very rough the other night at 3B.

Batting Pods first with Getz 2nd, or Getz 1st, with Pods 9th, those are the two best options. If it was 2005/06, I would agree Pods should clearly hit leadoff, but we're living in the past with Scotty. He has contributed offensively so far, but it won't hold up over a month or season. Getz is doing the best job he can at the position, and far better than Cabrera or Swisher, veteran ML hitters, did there. The most logical thing to do is to put Alexei 2nd to try to get him a steadier diet of fastballs and hope to catch lightning in a bottle like May/June of last year with him when Uribe went down to injury.