caulfield12

Was Edwin Jackson available? Obviously he was, he was traded.

Well....then we would have had to trade them Dye and they wouldn't have signed Burrell. With that additional money, we would have signed Abreu for RF. We know he was available because the Tigers' "dumped" a lesser player on the Rays. I think it's pretty logical that they knew they had the cheaper Niemann and Price in the pipeline and Jackson, from their perspective (both salary and performance in 2008) was the one to go. Burrell is RH and he was changing to a new league (which has obviously been a difficult transition for him). Dye was only $2 million higher in salary. So the White Sox get additional insurance for the back of their rotation...since...at the time, it wasn't 100% clear that Jose was going to come back effectively. One must assume Williams knew Jose would be back this year, but being back and being effective are two different things entirely. KW also must have known we had "depth" issues behind Contreras...Marquez, Richard, Poreda, Egbert, Broadway...none of them could be counted on to put up .500 or better records as a 5th starter. PLUS, Cooper usually loves to take on talented projects that have tools, a willingness to learn and at least competent secondary stuff to go with a "plus" fastball (Jackson is usually 93-97).

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/gamelog?playerId=5842 We'll see how long it lasts, but this guy has been their version of Gavin Floyd so far...he has another start today. The consensus was that Edwin would never turn it around, realize his potential, and become a consistent starter. KW can't be right 100% of the time, and Jackson might falter (starting today), but there's no doubt we would be better off with him rather than Jose as our #4/5 guy. I know he was one of the more talked-about names on the boards in terms of targets to fill the back of the rotation.

"While his 1990 rookie year was marred by an 0-for-41 slump and 25 errors" Wikipedia.com

That's exactly why you should fear the Tigers. Because Verlander is pitching horribly and they are still in first place, the longer they hang around, the more dangerous they will be. They rallied late and the Angels gave up another huge crooked number in the 7th (Shields/Arredondo) and the Tigers took the win. There are a lot of "ifs" with this team...health of veteran hitters, Porcello's progress and number of innings pitched, Zumaya...but if either Robertson or Willis can ever figure things out and Bonderman comes back at midseason, they're at the very least, extremely dangerous. With Perry, Lyon, Seay, Zumaya and Rodney, they have the makings of a bullpen that's a notch or two better than ours. A big if, sure, but not impossible or entirely implausible. Galarraga is their version of Danks, Jackson has been better than advertised and Verlander will probably come around eventually...and we simply can't get any better pitching from our Big 3 and Colon. The only place we can realistically look for improvement is from Contreras' spot in the rotation. You can take the approach that the Angels suck without Vlad and most of their rotation, but the fact is that winning at Anaheim and rallying late is still a big confidence boost for a team that underachieved and never really was in it for the entire 2008 season.

That strikeout percentage for Danks needs to decrease from 1 in 3 to the 1 in 4/5 range for him to be really effective. I don't know what kind of power he will eventually develop, but those are Curtis Granderson (or Chris Young) numbers...the year he struck out 174 times.

Liriano with a 7.06 ERA now. Baker is also way up there. Perkins has really been the ace of their staff, and Blackburn and Slowey have pitched decently. They are going to have to get better starts (obviously) out of those two "aces" if they're going to do anything. More troubling, Cuddyer, Young and Gomez are all struggling mightily...and Punto/Crede on the left side of the infield don't give you much, either. They're going to have to start using Brendan Harris, and maybe Tolbert to generate some offense. It looked like Casilla was going to be a really pesky/dangerous offensive player like Asdrubal Cabrera with the Indians but it hasn't happened yet. Still, they're the freakin' Twins and they are only 2 games out of first, despite everything (and partially thanks to the anemic Angels).

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Apr 22, 2009 -> 07:54 PM) I'd like to see Contreras get those starts down in triple-a. He obviously needs more time to work out his kinks.... I'd like to see one of these guys up here getting some MLB experience: Charlotte (AAA) John Van Benchoten (1-1, 2.65 ERA, 17 IP, 13 SO) Wes Whisler (1-1, 2.20 ERA, 16.1 IP, 7 SO) Birmingham (AA) Kyle McCulloch (2-1, 2.37 ERA, 19 IP, 9 SO) Aaron Poreda (0-2, 3.00 ERA, 9 IP, 6 SO) It took a long time for them to give Egbert a shot in the bullpen...Whisler, you'll see the same thing. Van Benschoten and Poreda would be more likely to get a spot start than the other 2. Most see Whisler as "organizational filler" or merely a AAAA pitcher. A lot depends on Cooper's perceptions of JVB and Poreda. Poreda seems like he has another half year (at least) to go before they throw him out there for a start.

QUOTE (SoxFan101 @ Apr 22, 2009 -> 05:43 PM) Its been hard to watch so far, but to be fair Baltimore has a pretty good offense and he was doing fairly well till blowing up at the end. Im willing to give the Count 3-4 more starts before i start jumping off the cliff. He was facing a line-up without Jones and Mora, on the other hand. Still, they're a pretty strong left-hand dominated line-up, not a good match-up for Contreras.

http://www.weather.com/maps/maptype/curren...om=hp_main_maps Looks like there might be a "window," but it's not going to be a very long one.

Well, whatever it is he's throwing, it acts more like a slider/cutter, because it breaks on a diagonal plane from 2 o'clock to 8 o'clock. It doesn't have the action of a typical sinker or two-seamer, that's more downward. Sometimes it's very hard to tell though...if you watch Colon, he has so much natural movement on his fastball, you would swear he's throwing a screwball.

D. Cortes (AA) 0-2, 7.71 ERA 11 2/3 IP, 18 H, 5 BB, 13 K's F. De Los Santos (California League, High A) 2-2, 5.87 ERA 23 IP, 29 H, 11 BB/26 K's Aaron Cunningham (AAA-Sacramento) 4/12, 3 2B, .333 C. Carter .300, 1 HR, 16 RBI's (50 AB's) Gio Gonzalez has started two games but only has 7 IP.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Apr 22, 2009 -> 02:26 PM) This is so stupid. There shouldnt be voting 15 games into the season Predictions: C - Posada 1B - Teixera 2B - Pedroia 3B - ARod SS- Jeter OF - Ichiro OF - Vlad OF - Swisher (Yankee fans seem to be enthralled with him right now) Doubt Guerrero will make it this year...unless the Angels' attendance can carry him over. It doesn't help much that he's injured now. Someone like Matsui or Damon could just as easily get in, just because of the Yankees'/Bristol bias. Swisher is almost down to .300 now, although still looking much better than Ryan Sweeney's 600 OPS. There's no way Rays fans can carry Longoria over A-Rod...although hopefully the rest of the country will do the right thing and be more knowledgeable about the fact that A-Rod hasn't even played yet. Seems like Quentin and Danks will be our two representatives.

Contreras was showing signs of being very effective with that cutter when he'd drop down to sidearm and throw it across the outside front corner of the plate against righties...virtually unhittable. The problems are obvious. He has no control or feel for the forkball yet. He's essentially a one-pitch pitcher, the fastball, which is only at 89-93 MPH and nothing like how hard he was throwing in 05-06, which was 92-97 consistently. If you get behind in the count with an "average" major league fastball and you leave it out over the plate, which he did consistently last night, you'll get killed. And he did, especially by Markakis, Huff and Scott. He also hung a couple of non-moving forkballs. As Cubano mentioned, sometimes he's very tentative about pitching inside, almost like he's afraid to hit someone. The other problem is that he wasn't showing a variety of pitches from the "drop down" mode and he was throwing inside backing-up fastballs to RH batters that were getting walloped all over the park. If he can throw the fastball, a cutter/fast slider and the forkball, he'll be fine. If not, he probably will end up in the bullpen with another 2-3 starts like the 3 he's had so far in 2009.

Actually, one could say the same thing about Brandon Allen...it's been pretty remarkable how Brandon and Gordon have tracked up and down together like Nasdaq stocks. Both are still over .300, so I am not sure if anyone is "in a lather" (favorite Whimpy saying about Tom Kelly) yet in the Sox FO. Doubt it. Beckham is 1 for his last 12, 2 for his last 14.

Well, I can't speak for the Nationals, but I think things are probably a little bit unsettled there with all the Bowden/Rijo fallout. I know they gave Zimmerman that huge contract, but the Perez situation now seems to have unsettled the teams dealing with Jamie Torres. One would have to assume that Marti would sign with SOMEONE once he's been cleared by MLB and the State Department. Have you been following Viciedo? What is your theory as to his early season struggles with BIRM? Have you heard anything? Ruiz is a 1B/DH type? Kendry Morales hasn't exactly been on fire this April, and Alexei finally MIGHT have shown some signs of breaking out of his 5/40 start.

What are the scouts saying about Pérez? "He had a developed body, with some stiffness," said one international scouting director (about) Pérez, echoing the thoughts of others. "I never saw the speed that he is supposed to have in his swing and was a bit harsh. I saw him with no ability within the range in which we speak." Cubano, can you explain that quote to me?

Wise was good last year against RHP. He had a 797 OPS in over 100 at-bats against RHP in 2008, but that seems to get thrown out/dismissed/overlooked conveniently. Nobody said he was an All-Star or the next Eric Ludwick. As far as Anderson goes....let's revisit all of our evaluation on May 30th. Agreed?

Okay. Brian Anderson is 3 for 13 with 6 K's when he starts out with an 0-1 count. He's 3 for 10 with 6 walks when he starts out with a 1-0 count. In those situations...he's getting a ball 43.5% of the time. That ratio (first pitch balls to strikes) will even out eventually. No quality big league pitchers throw anywhere close to 45% first pitch balls, especially to #9 hitters in the order.

That's my point...they were SO far out of the zone, not even Anderson, Ramirez or Vladmir Guerrero would have swung at them. That won't continue...looking at his at-bats, you would think opposing pitchers were seeing Pujols or Hanley Ramirez at the plate. Eventually it will even out and he'll have to hit his way on base with some authority.

That's not what I said at all. I never said he should swing at balls out of the strike zone. He does enough of that without my advising him to do so. What I said was that he was seeing a disproportionate number of balls on the first pitch...or even the second pitch, and that this would turn around and eventually he would have to hit his way on base. Logical?? It's a statistical anomaly. If you look at the pitch pattern to BA in every game he's started, probably 75-80% of his first two pitches are balls. That's not going to hold up. Look, I would be glad to be "proven wrong" about BA, but I've watched baseball my entire life...and I just don't see it happening with him as a starting/regular major league CFer. He has all the tools, but there were many prospects you could have said the same thing about. Kenny Williams, in fact, was a much better prospect and had even better overall tools than BA when he reached the majors. We can wish and blindly hope all we want for someone to succeed...I just don't see it happening. Here's what I will do. No commentary at all from me on Brian Anderson on a nightly basis. When (in the future) would be a "reasonable" time to discuss him again? You tell me. We have people here wanting to yank Contreras out of the starting rotation after 3 starts when the White Sox are in first place (even KW and Ozzie and Cooper are discussing "options"), so perhaps there's no such thing as premature evaluation anymore. Never wanted Kroeger in CF. Lillibridge or moving Ramirez is just a desperation move. Shelby and Danks aren't close to being ready. Like it or not, we're stuck with Anderson until KW makes a move. Jerry Owens will probably get his unconditional release tomorrow or Friday.

http://birmingham.barons.milb.com/milb/sta...47&sid=t247 McCulloch on the fast track to the fifth starter's spot. JUST KIDDING. This time Beckham didn't have a hat trick of strikeouts. Viciedo was even pinch-hit for late in the game by Retherford. Guess his confidence must be really down, unless he was hurt. Nix with an error from shortstop. Still waiting for the decision on his status coming off the 3-game rehab assignment. Nix HAS to be better than Betemit at SS, one would hope??

We won of our first two games and people were harder (much harder) on DeWayne Wise. I think your quote could actually be attributable moreso to the feeling/s people had about what would happen if Wise weren't in the line-up. As soon as Brian Anderson rips a fastball with no movement that's right over the middle of the plate, then I might give him the benefit of the doubt for 2-3 more games, which, once again, is more lenience than Wise got. Not to mention the bigger fact that we don't have any pitchers to replace Contreras with, so we have to get more offense on those nights when he starts. Everyone was bad, and in a game or two, there will be threads dedicated to "what's wrong with Josh Fields???" too.

Baker was really whacked around again. The Twins undoubtedly have the worst bullpen in the Central right now. Morillo and RA Dickey are getting absolutely lit up. Past tense. Maybe the last pitch of the day. Tarp on the field again. Not sure of their schedules, but probably they will have to have another DH tomorrow. Fear the Tigers.

Because Anderson, at the least...should learn how to hit the ball to the right side of the infield if he's not going to be able to get a hit in those critical situations. Had he done that, Josh Fields' flyball to RF would have been and 2nd RBI of the inning. Yes, it was a team loss...but I am looking for some signs of positive progression in BA with RISP, that's it.