caulfield12

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ May 15, 2007 -> 07:20 AM) Ideally we could sign Ichiro, Hunter, and one of Grudz/Castillo. For the money to be available for all that well Grudz/Castillo are basicly going to be a wash with what we pay for Iguchi now. Hunter im figuring gets around 8-9 million so getting rid of Dye and Pods contracts cover that. Now im thinking Ichiro gets close to 15 million a year, so losing one of Buerhle or Contreras will cover a large portion of that, plus most people think that Mackowiak and Crede will both be gone so combined those 2 with what one of Contreras/Buehrle are making you got the 15 million. Batting order: RF:Ichiro 2B:Grudz/Castillo DH:Thome 1B:Konerko CF:Hunter C:Pieryznski LF:Sweeney SS:Uribe 3B:Fields Starting rotation: 1. Buehrle/Conteras 2. Jon Garland 3. Javier Vazquez 4. Jon Danks 5. Floyd/Gio/Broadway/etc. I dont know what the f/a for SP's look like so not sure if we will bring someone in or not and I dont know what kind of contract Buehrle will catch if resigning him will even be possible. Acquiring Hunter next year would be like another team acquiring Dye as a FA after the 2006 season, only teams would be paying $12-15 million for Dye, not the $17 million the White Sox have paid for three years of his service. It would be a monumental gamble, and he's going to be making closer to $12-13 million, not $8-9. He will slot in after Andruw Jones and Ichiro. There's a high risk of overpaying for someone who looks to be ready to enter a period of declining performance. The guy has played half his career on that ridiculously hard artificial turf. And signing Ichiro or Hunter or even Jones makes the team old and continues our march towards bottoming out, not rebuilding. The Royals have an option on Grudzielanek, so forget that notion. If you deal Contreras and don't re-sign Buehrle, there will be room to sign either Hunter OR Ichiro, but not both. And Crede is a lost cause right now. And signing either Ichiro OR Hunter and LOSING one or two of our best pitchers is going to make us a .500 team, not a playoff contender. Ichiro hasn't been enough to get the M's to the playoffs the last 4-5 years, even with Beltre, Sexson, Ibanez, etc.

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ May 14, 2007 -> 10:16 PM) The year he's having is a .250 batting average, a .297 OBP and .643 OPS. He is not having a good year. And Kalapse is right, all signs point to Erstad being the Sox $6M dollar starting CF in 2008 (it's in his contract -- he's going to get the 600 PAs). BTW Erstad is hitting .107 against LHP. You would think a manager that wasn't unconscious would at least platoon Erstad. Anyway, if Erstad is starting in 2008 the Sox will be a bad, bad team. $6M for a .650 OPS outfielder. Geez..... The White Sox can buy out his contract for $1.25 million, regardless of the number of plate appearances he makes. I'm not sure how we can afford to keep Buehrle and add anyone of significance....such as Jones, Hunter or Ichiro.

QUOTE(SoxFanForever @ May 14, 2007 -> 08:36 PM) That isn't a very impressive lineup. I sincerely doubt we will go with a rookie 3B, a 2nd year OF and a 3rd year OF hated by our manager next year. The only reason to trade for Figgins is to make him a starter at 2B or 3B, probably 2B with Fields. We need to inject some more speed and explosiveness into our line-up somewhere. The Royals have an option ranging from $4.0-4.5 million for 2008 on Grudzielanek. Finally, Castillo has really been beaten up playing on that hard turf at the HHH Metrodoom. He's to the point where he needs to rest at least a couple of times per week, especially when they're playing a long home series. Signing him when the Twins took him would have been great, but we're a couple of years too late. The Twins will go with Alex Casillas there soon enough. And someone's fixing to overpay for Hunter. He just had 7 RBI's last night and he will get a $12-13 million dollar deal for 3-4 seasons from some overzealous team. I highly doubt it will be the White Sox.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ May 14, 2007 -> 11:19 AM) Because right now he is hitting better than most of the team, and Ozzie is maximizing that. Ozzie is banking on the rest of the team coming around and sliding Uribe and Iguchi back to their normal spots, but Iguchi is so deep in this funk that Ozzie is forced to drop him in the order. With their misfiring offense, the Sox' 18-16 record is admirable, considering: • • The Sox have only one hit in their last 17 at-bats with runners in scoring position (.059). • • The team batting average fell to .220 after Sunday's game, but an even lower .196 (92-for-468) at home. The Sox rank last in the league in hitting, runs scored and on-base percentage. • • Paul Konerko's average is down to .194 while Dye (.203), Iguchi (.210) and Crede (.205) are just above .200. Uribe's .255 is the best among the regulars. ''It's been a while since we've played like this,'' Guillen said after the team's worst defeat since the opening day 12-5 loss. ''I'm trying to handle this differently -- trying different lineups and trying to be nice and positive. But it gets to the point that I ask myself, 'How long are we going to wait?' ''Our pitching staff is good and they're pitching well. But it's not easy when in the back of your mind you're thinking you've got to throw a shutout every day to win games. You have to put yourself on earth and say how much longer can we do that? We're in a tough division. ''We're missing [scott] Podsednik and [Jim] Thome of course, but as a manager you second-guess yourself. But everyone is hitting the same. I want to see better at-bats.'' www.suntimes.com

QUOTE(IowaSoxFan @ May 14, 2007 -> 10:15 AM) Callaspo is not travelling with the team now because he is in trouble with the law right now and they may be ready to get whatever they can for him. DeJesus is good, but they need to fit in Costa, Butler, and Teahen in the outfield, and by the time their young players are ready DeJesus will walk in free agency. "He finished sixth in the 2004 Rookie of the Year voting. On March 9, 2006, DeJesus signed a five-year, $13.8 million dollar contract extension with the Royals through 2010, with a club option for the 2011 season. Entering the 2007 season, DeJesus has a career batting average of .292 with 24 career home runs." The Royals would cease to exist as a franchise if they dealt DeJesus. I can't describe how dumb that would be. They're hoping they can be competitive in 09, 10 and 11, and DeJesus is a big part of that future. Costa is adequate and Butler makes Ross Gload look like Devon White....neither of those guys can play CF, and Teahen's a good athlete, but he's pushing it in RF. He's a lot like Cuddyer out there, lots of assists because of his arm but he's not covering a whole lot of ground. Putting Gathright in CF, you might as well put Damon Hollins, George Lombard, Nuke Logan or Laynce Nix out there. And we have enough offensive problems without adding chemistry problems...the Wilfredo Corderos, Julio Lugos, Albert Belles and Jamie Dukes of the world. No thanks.

QUOTE(IowaSoxFan @ May 14, 2007 -> 09:47 AM) Alberto Callspo from the Dbacks could probably be had on the cheap and can play either middle infield position and left field. He could be insurance if Iguchi walks. Also the Royals are a little crowded in the OF and maybe DeJesus could be had, he know Central division pitching and can play left and center. DeJesus is one of their cornerstones. He's close to leading the AL in hits and multi-hits games. If you want Gathright, or Reggie Sanders, or Emil Brown...those are the 3 players they are selling right now, although Sanders is injured. They want to get time for Costa to prove if he's a regular or not, they need to get ABs for Butler in the outfield with Sweeney DHing, even though he's (Butler) not a natural OFer and Teahen is in RF until they move him to 3B and send Gordon down. Who would the D-Rays have to replace Callaspo? Why would teams want to get rid of players like Burke and Callaspo when they are the most valuable commodity in baseball, young/affordable talent not even in arbitration? Or at least most valuable after LH starters...

QUOTE(fathom @ May 13, 2007 -> 10:01 PM) Within this article, Ozzie states that Uribe can't be a #2 hitter because he strikes out too much. http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...-home-headlines Well, anyone want to guess who had 114 and 110 strike outs the last two years, and which player had 77 and 82. There's also another article stating how Terrero pinch running on Saturday night was proof he had to be on the team. Not like Ozzie didn't have any other options on the bench (cough Ozuna cough). Iguchi has 1,050 at-bats out of the 2 hole in his career...in other spots this year: #5 0 for 4=0 #6 3 for 12=.250 #7 3 for 15=.200 #8 3 for 20=.150 That's 9 for 51 (.176) outside the 2 spot and .255 in that position in the order. QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ May 14, 2007 -> 09:26 AM) Anybody who believes part of the job for a #2 hitter is to take pitches, quite a few of which are good to hit, in order to allow the low percentage play of a stolen base attempt to occur and fall behind in the count simply has a flawed logic about the game of baseball. And that includes Ozzie. And to say Uribe strikes out too much to hit #2 when Iguchi has been your #2 hitter (and a good one at that in 2005 and 2006) is simply ignorant. Not as ignorant as his comment on Terrero, who should not have even been the pinch runner there (Ozuna), but pretty ignorant. Sadly, also not surprising. However, Ozuna had made a huge baserunning blunder, taking himself out of a guaranteed run on the throw from Teahen in Konerko's pop-up to RF. I wonder if that had anything to do with it?

QUOTE(Texsox @ May 14, 2007 -> 08:57 AM) Why is it that everyone here understand when a Player has reached his maximized value, yet the professional GMs never see it and never see to pay for it? It's just like the stock market. Of course, trading Dye, Crede or even Konerko would seem counterintuitive. And when you sell a stock at maximized value, there's no fallout to anyone else if he/it keeps going up after you trade it...and no season tickets holders of the company you just sold to be taken into consideration. Assuming you did trade Crede, would you have started Fields at 3B to begin the season, when obviously he wasn't ready? In hindsight, you could say you go out and get a LF or 2B, but then that blocks Sweeney from playing. Do you just go for a one-year rental type ala Carl Everett? If you trade both Dye and Crede for prospects, you're sending an obvious rebuilding signal. About the best they could have done is a move to replace Iguchi, but we had nobody in our system (certainly not Lopez or Gonzalez) and we could have gotten a Callaspo or similar prospect, but those results aren't guaranteed either. And trading Dye, who was a Top 5 player in the AL and only making $6.75 million...there's no way in H.E.L.L. you replace his production without paying twice as much for it. Heck, can you name any RFer in baseball that you could pay $15 million and get Dye's 06 numbers out of?

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ May 13, 2007 -> 11:18 PM) I understand this argument, but KW took the same risk going into 2005 by ditching Valentin, Lee and Ordonez. Did he lose some of the 2004 season ticket base? I'm sure he did, at least possible revenues the first couple of months. But then late May (2005) hit and everyone realized that the White Sox were for real and the attendance started to pick up...fans started identifying with Hermanson, AJ, Dye, Pods, El Duque and Iguchi, and they liked what the White Sox were selling, which was a "team" and not a bunch of superstars with "names" that didn't seem to win much of anything. If we hover around .500 and lose Buehrle and Dye, coming off around 2.3-2.5 million in attendance this year, we won't be able to sustain a $100 million payroll for 2008 and beyond...and I think the "stand pat" attitude with Iguchi, Dye and Crede speaks volumes. KW wasn't sure about any of those three players, and it turned out he might have been right not to sign them to extension...I remember arguing all offseason at WSI with "whitesoxrandy" that it would have been extremely foolhardy to give Dye $60 million for four years. And it doesn't seem like much at all could have been done to get Buehrle signed either, because the White Sox weren't willing to even approach $13-15 million per year, let alone the length of contract, based on last year's second half.

QUOTE(BobDylan @ May 13, 2007 -> 11:02 PM) No. If Ichiro could be had for a reasonible price, there's no reason the White Sox shouldn't jump at it. This means any prospects not involving the names Sweeney, Danks, Gonzalez or Masset. Anything outside that, I think the White Sox have to take the option into serious consideration. It could also give the Sox a heads up in offering him a new contract. The problem is that a lead-off hitter isn't the White Sox most pressing need right now. Erstad has been adequate enough--and unforutnately one of their better offensive players--and the team sorely lacks power. Konerko, Dye and Crede are absolutely awful thus far. Fact is, the offensive solution is already within the team. The question is will those players produce? But I'll always be giddy at the idea of having Ichiro in a White Sox uniform. The guy is a Class-A ball player. Great defender, great base runner, great lead-off hitter. If they think they have a legitimate chance at bringing him back for a few more years, I hope it happens. Masset isn't worth much right now...and I've been looking at Aybar's stats, and he's close to a .600 OPS for his time in the majors. And, for a reputed "speed" player, he hasn't put many stolen bases on the back of his baseball card either, considering his speed. Crede for Willits? We already have Willits, his name is Sweeney...with more power, a little less speed and the jury is out on his OBP. If we don't get enough power from Sweeney in RF, and Erstad in CF...there's no way we can have Anderson or Willits in the OF as well. That would be one of the 3-5 worst offensive outfields in baseball. Now Crede for Willits and Figgins? I would think about that, simply to get some more speed into our line-up, and you could play Chone at 2B instead of Iguchi. QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ May 14, 2007 -> 12:39 AM) I'd trade Crede for Willits in a heartbeat. I think Dye's trade value right now is zero. Until he proves he can still hit big league pitching there's no way he, Egbert, and Russel will bring back Byrnes and Callaspo. Maybe Byrnes alone... Byrnes is a great fourth outfielder and a marginal starter. He's similar to Rowand (I know he's doing well now, we'll see at the end of the year), Erstad, Mackowiak, Jeremy Reed...I know his stats with the D-Backs have been better, but how can you guarantee that will translate to the AL, where he wasn't quite good enough to hold an everyday job in Oakland with Kotsay or Payton being two more comparable players?

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ May 13, 2007 -> 07:27 PM) Sweeney would not be the top prospect of any team in major league baseball. He would not be the positional prospect of any other team in major league baseball. I doubt he would even be the top OF prospect of any other team in major league baseball. And that's not any disrespect. I think the Sox should be starting him everyday. He may turn out to be a decent major league ballplayer. But I think people have unrealistic expectations because he's the Sox best positional prospect (or at least in the top 2). He would be the top prospect for about 5-7 teams. I'm not going to buy into the 25-30 homers hype by Hawk until he learns to turn on the ball and pull it to RCF, but he's going to be a starter, we just don't know exactly how good he'll be.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ May 13, 2007 -> 05:27 PM) 8 righties (including each of the first 6 guys) and 1 lefty against De La Rosa. Here are some stats up until today on De La Rosa 2007: vs. righties: .250 ba, 1.14 WHIP vs. lefties: .387 ba, 2.25 WHIP Hell, how about CAREER on De La Rosa: vs. righties: .272 ba, 1.65 WHIP vs. lefties: .300 ba, 1.93 WHIP And you play an all righty lineup except Sweeney? With an off day tomorrow? (and we've had several lately). Did it cause use to lose? I doubt it with the performance of our bullpen, but that violates the "put your team in the best position to win" clause of the contract. 1986 Chicago White Sox 644 runs scored, .247 AVG (last in both categories for AL) 1987 Chicago White Sox 748 runs scored, .258 AVG 1988 Chicago White Sox 631 runs scored, .244 AVG (13th in both categories) I looked back and can't believe our offense is worse than the teams I grew up with...those were bleak times for Sox fans, when we last in attendance.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ May 13, 2007 -> 03:23 PM) Getting Jack Cust was a great move for Beane. Too bad he built such a weak offense... I'd love to have Cust on this team, though. I guess our offense is good enough to get by Pob Mackzuna as our DH. Not like there's a guy out there who can play 1B/DH and who mashes lefties... He ripped a crucial homer to RF (way back) off Sabathia the other night.

QUOTE(fathom @ May 13, 2007 -> 03:06 PM) Most of our games have been against the lowest scoring teams in baseball. No way this pitching performs as well as they have when we face teams like the Yankees, Cubs, Red Sox, etc. At this point, I just want to watch some exciting baseball, as I think we have no prayer to top the Tigers in the standings this year. Except when they call up people from the minors, they get instant contributions. Buck has been okay this year and Crosby was very good his rookie season, but they haven't produced position players like they did 7-8 years ago....with Hernandez, Giambi, Tejada, Durazo, Chavez, as well as trades for Dye and Damon. I still would take our offense going forward over the A's, but it's only due to my hopes that Thome will come back at full health.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ May 13, 2007 -> 03:04 PM) If we want to compete without an offense we need to petition Selig to move the sox to the NL right now. The American league hits, and no matter how good your pitching is eventually you will need your offense to man up and score you some runs. The fact that they keep talking about flipping f***ing baseball cards and all is well is dumb. The offense is getting worse, the Royals got torched last week and our pedestrian offense is making them look great. And the A's are virtually our mirror image...great pitching and lousy offense.

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ May 13, 2007 -> 03:00 PM) lol thats a nice 1-2 pitch Could easily play 2nd and leadoff for us right now. Ummm...no. I MIGHT prefer Harris to Cintron at this point due to his versatility, but that's about it.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ May 13, 2007 -> 03:00 PM) Willie Harris. Not even the Royals' pen can blow this game. Every time with get to 3 games over .500, we fall back...it has happened 3-4 times now this season. And we're HIGHLY unlikely to wake up out of our slumber against the Yankees and Cubs.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ May 13, 2007 -> 02:42 PM) Yes you are. The Royals suck and the Sox are hurting. Gordon was the Collegiate Player of the Year and a Top 10-15 prospect in the majors DeJesus is at worst the equal of anyone we use in CF German would be our best hitter this season Buck has some pop and is fairly comparable with AJ Grudzielanek is better than Iguchi this season Teahen is hitting better than Dye Mike Sweeney is better than any DH we've used since Thome went down Gload has 16 RBI's, but you have to favor Konerko, although his average isn't close to Gload's And Pena is lousy at SS, advantage Uribe QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ May 13, 2007 -> 02:45 PM) I'm glad you can already tell us by just watching the whole two months of baseball that Chris Young has played -- and I'm sure you've seen every single movement by Young this year, too. Pray tell, why aren't you a major league scout again? I have MLB.tv and Extra Innings...I've seen most of his games.

QUOTE(fathom @ May 13, 2007 -> 02:41 PM) Am I being overly negative when I say the Royals have just as much talent in their lineup as the Sox do? I'm so disappointed in KW for not doing more to help this offense. I'm having more fun watching the diminutive Chinese woman dominate 9 Ball on ESPN. At least she can generate some power, and she probably weighs 100 pounds. That's how exciting the White Sox have been for me this year.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ May 13, 2007 -> 02:38 PM) But wait, I thought Chris Young was only going to be a Mike Cameron type player, and everybody knows guys who play above average defense in CF while hitting 30 homers and stealing 30 bases are very easy to find, right? Molina teasing us. Young is never going to have 30 steals in the major leagues. Does he have the ability? Sure. But his technique leaves something to be desired. Oh, for the days of Mark Johnson and Royce Clayton. That's an offensive juggernaut compared to Terrero and Molina.

QUOTE(RME JICO @ May 13, 2007 -> 02:22 PM) At this point with his subpar defense and non-existent offense, he is not worth very much. I'd rather take my chances with Jorge Cantu, and that's saying a lot (mostly about Tad).

QUOTE(Greg The Bull Luzinski @ May 13, 2007 -> 02:18 PM) I don't think Iguchi is worth the $5mil he will ask for after the season. I really wish Ozuna was at 2B and Toby Hall was DHing instead of homering for Charlotte. Rogowski and his .151 average would fit in perfectly...let's call him up.

QUOTE(Greg The Bull Luzinski @ May 13, 2007 -> 02:16 PM) Even though he walked, did Crede still somehow find a way to pop out? We must lead the league in bases loaded walks this year. Or strikeouts.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ May 13, 2007 -> 02:13 PM) CREDE WALKS SOX TIED! SOX TIED! SOX TIED! Hey, that RBI counts the same as a solo homer when opposing GM's come calling...

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ May 13, 2007 -> 02:05 PM) Has there ever been a team built on defense only? I'd like to see their team hitting stats. 1906 White Sox Well, he can't hit into a DP at least. What are the odds on a shoulder shrug? If Crede hits into a DP or short outfield pop to RF!!!!!!!