ILMOU

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 25, 2011 -> 09:59 AM) The Problem is...the 2 guys who have pitched themselves into a bullpen stint are Jackson and Danks, not the guy you want to pitch himself there (Humber). No doubt, but I wouldn't mind Edwin there, if he can't go deep into games consistently. They have an interesting choice upcoming.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ May 25, 2011 -> 09:38 AM) I did not stay up to watch this game, but Tony Peña needs to be designated for assignment. He brings nothing to this team, he subtracts. We have a long road ahead of us and we can't afford to let this guy cost us any games. This. Infante, or somebody, needs to be ready soon. How long will it be before we go back to 5 starters, putting one of the six in the pen? Will it be the beginning of June that was semi-promised? Not too sure, but at that time, Pena's role will be really redundant and unnecessary. Hopefully, that will mark the end of TPain's reign of suck on the Southside.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ May 24, 2011 -> 07:23 PM) Dayan smoking the ball. Three doubles, 3/4 overall. Gotta get him to the big club, and play him.

QUOTE (JoshPR @ May 23, 2011 -> 07:07 PM) Ahhhh no to Lexi leading off Lotta Pierre fans out there, surprisingly.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ May 23, 2011 -> 07:13 PM) More ground outs to the pitcher and into DP's than anyone I can think of this year. Juan Pierre Why oh why does this man get the most AB's on the team? Yeah, I know, Ozzie.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 23, 2011 -> 05:31 PM) Well, if any young player develops after getting benched as punishment for starting to hit, he'll do so in spite of how he's used, not because of it. Brent is not learning how to hit ML pitching with 4 at bats a week. And Dallas McPherson has not earned this playing time. Do any of us understand the Dallas McP love?!? I sure don't. Are we that desperate to make the lineup more left-handed? This is ridiculous. More BrentS please, ASAP.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 23, 2011 -> 05:24 PM) Viciedo has more walks in 180 PAs this year than he had at Charlotte last year in 360 PAs. Hes never going to be the Hurt, but what he needs is to be able to lay off pitches he can't hit. That's what pitchers figured out about him last august, he couldn't lay off a high and inside fastball. Well, the high inside fastball is a good pitch to almost anyone when the pitcher locates it, and hopefully he learns to take the "balls" and lay off. If he can avoid the "dives" after away-breaking sliders from right handers I think he'll be OK. Seems to recognize pitches very well. Buddy Bell recently described him as a very serious hitter - I think that's what I've seen since his spring training AB's.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 23, 2011 -> 04:09 PM) I would never fire at you. I don't do that. But I don't like the way Morel is being handled. Gotta agree with this. Morel has shown the ability to adjust and improve at each level, after a slow start. I'd like to see some patience exercised with the kid, and play him, nearly every day.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 23, 2011 -> 01:43 PM) 2nd highest WAR of any SS in baseball (behind Jose Reyes) at 2.0, tops in the AL (finished first in the AL last season). Alexei Ramirez is just a damn good baseball player. Dadgum right. Viciedo is a guy, IMO, who is a smart hitter, and will learn to take the walks that pitchers want to give him, after they get a little taste, and a little frightened, of his awesomeness. I don't expect him to have a high OBP with the Sox right away, but I think it will happen with time. Many sluggers have followed such a path.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 23, 2011 -> 11:50 AM) To be fair, you are measuring him off of his hottest streak of the year. No doubt, but what I'm seeing appears real. He's very dangerous while showing a dramatically better eye, and patience. In years past, his average perfomance from today's date, May 23, til the end of the season, would leave him with a very healthy OPS for this year, and I think he's better now. Time will tell.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 23, 2011 -> 11:25 AM) The hard thing is, if your offense is built around that, you need to have a lot of high OBP guys and the Sox don't have that. Pretty much Konerko and Dunn (maybe Quentin) are the only two guys with any sort of history of a high OBP. AJ, Pierre, Alexei, and Rios certainly don't have that kind of history (Pierre can be mediocre at times from an OBP standpoint). And Beckham from a statistical standpoint hasn't been good either. Of course, I expect a dramatic increase in Gordon's OBP, or I wouldn't consider him for the two hole, and Morel's is bound to go up, or we'll go with (overuse) Omar. I wouldn't make the Beckham move today, let's see how Gordon performs over the next few weeks. Really liking his defense. Plenty of OBP potential in that lineup, IMO. Lexi's at .354, and if that doesn't go up at all, it's still OK for the time being. He's on pace for more walks than Juan has ever had in a season in his career. And does anyone here expect him to hit for a lower BA than our over-the hill LF? I wouldn't rule out Morel in the looonng run as a two-hitter, though not likely this season, but who knows? I'm not THAT worried about the two hole, that's Ozzie's bunting position and, as others have pointed out, Lexi's not not so good at that anyway. Hell, why not just switch Lexi and Juan for the near term? Maybe even try Teahen there a bit when he returns.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 23, 2011 -> 11:15 AM) I believe newer statistics are going to point that the effective stolen base % will be a lower percentage, especially now that we are entering an era of the pitcher and without PED's, homeruns and overall scoring are dropping. Thus, there is a whole lot more added value in moving the runner over, imo. Really, in this new era (last couple years), the teams that have done the best, are those teams that have good pitching, but combine it with a very fundemental club that plays strong defense and can take the extra bases and slap out runs. Thats not to say that there aren't teams that are great with power, its just that by and large the power is harder to come by in general and with more lower scoring games (and closer games) a teams inability to get the runner over and in can be more costly than in the past. Just my 2 cents. I agree with everything you say here, but I find it hard to believe that the lineup posted above, for the next few years, in our ballpark, wouldn't be a hugely home-run/XBH driven offense.

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 23, 2011 -> 11:11 AM) It's not a detriment, just really eh. Plus, when you steal as many bases as he does, your percentage is bound to go down. Well, yeah, I know 746 is on the border, but it's not likely to increase if his six for 14 start is indicative.

QUOTE (knightni @ May 23, 2011 -> 11:02 AM) Mature... I hope so; he's almost 30 years old. His problem is that he's just a poor base stealer and he can't bunt. That's not really a leadoff-type hitter. Juan is a career 74.6% base stealer, which most saber-knowing folk would say is actually a detriment to his team's success. Most oganizations have realized that stolen bases are not terribly important from the leadoff man. Also, please refresh my memory, why do we want our leadoff hitter bunting, again?

I've been a big fan of #10 from day one, enjoying the excitement and unpredictability he's brought to the team. Looking at his hitting career in a nutshell: *In '08 he was very free swinging and impatient, walking only 18 times, but he was dangerous, 475 slugging, 792 OPS, 77 RBI *In '09, batting primarily 2nd , he exhibited more patience, walking 49 times, but it was at the expense of much of his power as his slugging and OPS dropped to 386 and 723 respectively *In 2010, he slugged better, 431, 744 OPS, but at was at the expense of "patience" as he walked only 27 times. This year, so far, and it's just now getting warm, he seems to be putting it all together. He's on pace for about 60 walks AND he's dangerous at the dish, 458SLG, 811OPS. I think he's capable of an 850 OPS this year, pretty b****in for a SS, and affirming that his new contract is still quite the bargain. I hope Ozzie isn't completely set on moving Lexi down in the order (again giving more AB's to a likely lesser hitter) and keeps Lexi in the two hole, maybe even considering him as a leadoff. He's exhibited more patience near the top of the order, and I'd like to see that trend continue. Lexi can't steal bases (neither can Juan anymore), but he CAN go 1st to third and score from 1st on doubles, of which the guys behind him (hopefully Beckham soon) should hit plenty. I'd like KW to broker this compromise to Ozzie with a TomHagenesque, offer you can't refuse, kind of vibe, with JR sitting silently in the background, in the shadows, Ozzie knowing that pleading would only insult the old man. My dream lineup for the 2nd half, or sooner: Lexi GB CQ, RF or LF PK AD Cuban TANK, RF or LF Rios AJP Morel or Omar That's a lineup that could be scary for opponents if we can get Dunn and GB right, and MAYBE they're showing signs of turning the corner. AJ has been a pleasant surprise with the bat lately, so maybe swithch he and Rios above and Rios becomes the "2nd leadoff hitter" in the 8 hole, so Ozzie can have his fast guys bunched together, as he seems to like. Look for Lexi and Dayan on next year's Baseball Preview Issues from SI and Sporting News. The Cuban Connection.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ May 18, 2011 -> 08:51 AM) MB could accept, especially considering that he has been playing around with retirement, etc. Jackson, however, will absolutely NOT accept. He's expected to be one of the top FA starters on the market and will surely get a multiyear deal, at probably more than his current $8m/yr salary, if he continues to pitch like he has (two dominant starts for every one complete disaster). The sandwich pick there is money in the bank, so long as he stays healthy. MB will either agree to another, lower salary for the Sox, long before an arbitration decision, he'll retire, or he'll go to the Cardinals. There won't be any issues with arbitration, except that we'll have to offer it to get the draft picks if he tells us he's going elsewhere. He won't SCREW us.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ May 18, 2011 -> 08:56 AM) I'd be willing to bet that Weaver, Cain, and Hamels are all retained. Of the three, Cain would be the most likely to go. Agreed. And the Brewers will compete in that lousy division before too long. No way Hamels leaves. Why would anyone want to leave the best team in baseball to play for a team in decline?

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ May 15, 2011 -> 04:18 PM) Is it any wonder Thornton has started to become the usual Matt Thornton since he was put back in his 7th/8th inning role?? JUAN CAUGHT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Juan makes EVERYTHING look like a tough play these days.

Buehrle's gets screwed on ERA again with inherited runners scoring. It seems like he hasn't had any luck in this regard in recent years.

QUOTE (since56 @ May 15, 2011 -> 07:22 AM) Stone is a pro but I don't feel real comfortable with a broadcast with him and Hawk. D.J. was a real beginner when he first started but improved quite a bit, but never was as good as Drydale and Hawk and then Paciorek and Hawk. I have been tired of Hawk for some time now, and I hope he retires soon. Maybe Paciorek and Stone could make a good team. The best man overall for listening to was John Rooney. If something occurred between Hawk and Wimpy I'm glad two baseball lifers with a long history have patched things up. 5 games behind K.C. lets get them and then the Tigers. GO SOX!! Few things are more subjective between reasonable, intelligent people than the opinions on a team's announcers. I like Hawk, despite the rants, umpire bellyaching and blatant homerism, because he's COLORFUL. There's no denying that several of his catch phrases have made it into the popular baseball lexicon. On the other hand, I find Rooney to be incredibly boring, and Ed Farmer's monitone is absolutely grating. To each his own, I guess.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 12, 2011 -> 07:37 AM) Really, yes, we do know that is true. Juan Pierre flat out has lost the ability to catch baseballs. Adam Dunn in LF right now wouldn't be much worse than Juan Pierre. I think it's a mental thing. It's the "Yips" if you will. Every time a ball comes to his glove he's thinking about the 9 other times he dropped a ball this season and the ball bounds off his glove. Who cares if a guy has less range in LF if the guy with more range can't catch the ball? This is the sad truth. Pierre was semi-tolerable last year when this wasn't the case. No longer.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 10, 2011 -> 06:56 PM) Until the k's come down, regression to the mean No doubt, but a bit of power seems to be arriving for D2 as well. Tank now 4-4, HR, 2B, BB, 5RBI - don't trade this one, Kenny!!

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Apr 16, 2011 -> 08:51 AM) The thing I hate most about Ozzie is his inability or refusal to learn. We see the team fail miserably over and over at the things you mentioned, but he continues to give up outs by having them continue to do those things. It's like we play each game with 24 outs to work with instead of 27 right from the get-go. Just going through the thread, and this is also my exact frustration. I don't mind the strategy of bunting occasionally, and in game situations, but to ask players to bunt who aren't good at it is simply terrible managing. Either he assumes (quite wrongly) that a bunt will always get the runner over and rarely fails, or he's "showing up" his player, forcing him to work on it, in his mind, when in fact he should know that players make money for a lot of particular skills, but bunting isn't one of them. Ozzie, plainly managed am awful game again Friday night. What's the point of having an 80% base stealeron first base in the game situation, and not allowing either you're formerly hot hitter to swing the bat, or the best base-stealer to steal? That was a momentum killer as much as the lousy bullpen. I'm not surprised we were swept. Time to turn it around.

QUOTE (Felix @ Apr 15, 2011 -> 08:07 PM) You're rather preposterous. This thread is REALLY just a joke, right??

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 12, 2011 -> 07:50 PM) Really, last year you thought he made a lot of lazy errors? Lexi looks a little nonchalant and full of himself in the field right now. Ozzie will need to do a late inning defensive replacement with Omar to motivate his ass, if he doesn't shape up soon.