mmmmmbeeer

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 07:13 PM) Cowley said Garcia and Konerko confirmed the blow-up. Also, both Stone and Cowley suggested Hahn will be replacing KW sooner rather than later, and Ozzie's going nowhere. I would have a tough time dealing with that decision as a fan.

Even going back as far as 2005, the benefit of having Ozzie Guillen as manager was never his ability to manage a ballgame and be an x's and o's guy. Ozzie's contribution has always been his ability to motivate, deflect negative attention, and keep a clubhouse loose. Well, I'm not seeing much motivation from our players, there's plenty of bad press about this team and Ozzie's antics are no longer putting that bad press on page 2, and, from the looks of it, our team is far from loose. So what exactly is it that Ozzie is providing this team? And I don't mean to imply that KW is without fault for this dreadful season; ultimately all roster decisions are on him regardless of what Ozzie requests. But, perhaps it's just me, I would have never put this team at 9 games under .500 in mid-June given the opening day roster and early season schedule. There were plenty of threads on this board and articles in the national media talking about our rotation being in the top 5 of MLB. We were also supposed to have a decent pen. So yes, the offense didn't look great coming into the season, but with the pitching we were supposed to have we'd be in it to grab a bat closer to the deadline. The pitching flopped and you can't put that on KW. So yeah, mark me down as wanting Ozzie canned for being a sh*t manager, not because of his roster requests.

QUOTE (bighurt4life @ May 30, 2010 -> 10:28 AM) They just lost their best offensive player for I'm guessing at least 3 months, maybe the whole year. They play in what is probably the weakest division in baseball, the division and a playoff run are in their sights, Rob Quinlan is not going to get it done at first base. They need to make a move here, is it reactionary? Absolutely, but that's what you do when s*** happens, you react to it. I just don't see any way that they can secure the division without their best hitter, their offense is lacking bite this year even with Morales. Without him they become overly reliant on a pitching staff that probably isn't up to the task at this point. I read that they'll actually move Brandon Wood there to give him a shot first.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AtOk...g=jp-rays052110 Pretty good Passan article putting the first quarter of the Rays' season in perspective. They're definitely for real and could actually get better as Davis matures and Zobrist starts getting his power stroke back.

QUOTE (qwerty @ Apr 29, 2010 -> 05:40 PM) Entirely different type of gun. Several times more in depth than a standard radar gun. Sportsvision created pitch f/x... they are the same company that created the 1st and 10 system (yellow line) used in football. Thanks, dude....that definitely lends a bit more credibility to the numbers on that site.

AZ and MIL could sure use closers...and Jenks would probably benefit from a move to the NL.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Apr 29, 2010 -> 05:04 PM) I don't know if anyone posted Peavy's pitchFX numbers from last night but his average fastball was 90.12 MPH and he topped out at 91.7 MPH. In his previous outing he was at 91.77 avg. and 94.5 max. Do they use the same gun for these pitchFX stats as the TV crews use? Toronto seemed to have a slow gun as well. Or maybe the cell is just fast, I don't know. But I find it hard to believe that all of our pitchers are seemingly losing and gaining several MPH from appearance to appearance.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 22, 2010 -> 08:36 PM) No, but NL hitters will make a lot of pitchers look a lot better than they are. What about all the scouts worried in the Spring about how much his stuff had seemingly deteriorated. Very few pitchers can throw as many sliders as he did for so many years in their 20s without losing their stuff quickly. Smoltz is basically an anomaly, and that's only cause he went to the bullpen. You're right, dude...he's washed up and I too wish we still had Clayton Richard.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Apr 22, 2010 -> 08:36 PM) Peavy is a good pither in a funk. Buerhle has been in flunks too and is also in a mni one now. They can pull out of it but I want it to be NOW! That's one of the things about having an offense that puts this much pressure on the pitching staff...it just doesn't allow time for a guy to have a few bad starts to figure it out. Don't get me wrong, Jake has been a huge disappointment thus far, but I'm with you, it's just a funk. I'd make that trade again tomorrow if I were KW.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 22, 2010 -> 08:34 PM) His slider is very average so far. And no I'm not stretching it, go back and view my posts around the first trade last year. In 4 starts..... what about all those years in San Diego, did he have an average slider then? Was it the seats behind home plate at Petco that made his slider look like one of the best in the league?

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 22, 2010 -> 08:31 PM) His track record was in the NL in a mediocre division in the greatest pitcher's park ever invented. His numbers could be a lot worse this year, as there have been a ton of hard hit balls against him right at people. If you believe a guy with as nasty of a slider as Peavy has coupled with a 95MPH heater with movement got by on nothing but a big ballpark and weak division, eh, I can't convince you otherwise. Seems you're stretching to have his performance fit your narrative, imo.

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Apr 22, 2010 -> 08:29 PM) Yeah, it seemed like he was pissed. We won't hear the last of this. He should be pissed....AJ had plenty of time to get in position to make an out at first. AJ is really starting to piss me off both behind the plate and at the plate, he doesn't even look like he's trying to frame pitches tonight to get some generous calls.

Jake's velocity is up, he's thrown some nasty sliders....he just doesn't have his command tonight. It looks much less like nibbling to me than just not having a feel for the ball. A guy doesn't put up the numbers he has over the course of his career by nibbling, he busts out dominant stuff. If his stuff is inconsistent, as it is tonight, he's going to struggle. I can't believe y'all are so dismissive of a guy with a hell of a track record. What I'm seeing tonight has absolutely nothing to do with what league he's in, an injury, or confidence...he simply has not found his groove yet. Toronto was obviously his post-spring dead arm period and now he's working on getting everything back in synch.

Does CSN bring their own gun to each ballpark? Watching the Toronto feed it looks like Danks topping out at 90ish....if they don't and rather use the local sports station's gun, wonder if perhaps a slow gun is why we felt Peavy's velocity was down the other night.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 13, 2010 -> 07:34 AM) I'm not sure you should consider this "Peavy bashing", so much as a call for concern. I'm concerned about Peavy and his sudden loss in velocity, to pretend I'm not won't help matters. I'll watch his next few starts, but soon the "It's only April" chants become, "It's only May". I recall some of us being concerned about Jenk's velocity a few years ago -- and were told by everyone, including Jenks, "It's only April..." Now it's April 3 years later and his velocity still hasn't returned. But you've got to ask yourself how much that has to do with Don Cooper? It's been reported repeatedly that Coop told him to ditch the 100mph heat in exchange for better control and more movement, a strategy that worked brilliantly in '07. I'd imagine that even if he wanted to throw 100mph heat now it would take a change in his routine to get there. I don't think this is what happened with Peavy, I'm pretty sure Coop let's a vet with a history of success do what he wants to do. I think Jake is just having mechanical issues. Just going from memory, his delivery looked different at the end of last season and before. He looked to be finishing in a more upright position last night further back from the hitter (closer to the rubber). Have his mechanics changed due to injury? I don't know, but if it's injury it looks to be a lower body injury to me as opposed to an elbow or shoulder.

I would hate to be stading 60ft away from those swings...jesus

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 12, 2010 -> 08:12 PM) Yep, doesn't look comfortable at all. Let's hope it's mechanics and no shoulder/elbow issues or even discomfort in the ankle. It's gotta be....he didn't look to be grimacing any and if it were an arm problem I'd expect more fastballs and less sliders.

niiiiice

I sure was Nix was batting right now against Tallet

QUOTE (Bhay99 @ Apr 12, 2010 -> 07:31 PM) i don't think people are really that concerned about him having 2 dud starts in april....but really he isn't even hitting 90 on the gun right now and he hasnt even thrown 70 pitches yet. THIS is what is troublesome He's been hitting 91 92 consistently with the fastball

Sometimes a pitcher just doesn't have good control for a start or two, it happens. I'm not worried about Peavy in the least. Even if we lose this game, I'm just happy to see the offense coming out firing. That's more important to me than one poor Peavy start (even if he is one my SP tonight in fantasy).

We haven't allowed a HR yet. Santos has not only looked good but stepped up in a high leverage situation...very impressive for a young kid new to pitching Seeing quite a few balls hit up the middle and opposite field, just aren't falling for hits

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 1, 2010 -> 01:19 PM) The sad thing is, I never got the impression of Carl being that much of a crazy leader. More an impression of him being crazy. He may have kicked some tails behind the scenes, but he wasn't in that great of shape when the season started, he gave at least one or two crazy, negative publicity interviews that the whole team had to deal with during the year, etd. Yeah, I was referring to Jurassic. He was a vocal leader....he wanted to win and he didn't mind being the jerk who called folks out. I think we've missed that component in the clubhouse since he left (based on reports, obviously). Peavy seems to have some of the same qualities and I think it'll be good for the team. One of the first things that crossed my mind last year after watching him pitch his first game in a Sox uni was the influence he will have on Gavin Floyd. To this day, even with his great improvements over the last couple of seasons, Gavin looks scared and timid on the mound. I think Jake will teach him to show more confidence, and when you feel confident you get better results.

QUOTE (beck72 @ Apr 1, 2010 -> 06:13 AM) Peavy's intensity seems like a good fit on the sox. He not only leads by example but can fire up others. The sox have had low key, nice guy leaders--Burls, PK, Dye, Thome. Peavy seems like another though with more fire, confidence and attitude. Hopefully his intensity will be contagious. The last time we had a team leader like Peavy we won a WS.

QUOTE (Disco72 @ Mar 30, 2010 -> 06:47 PM) Make sure nobody eats a hot dog at Turner Field; I think they have the worst hog dogs I've ever had... Man, I had one of their "Chicago Dogs" last season and, well, it was quite possibly the most disgusting thing I've ever had at a ballpark. They're giving Chicago a bad name with that bullsh*t.