mmmmmbeeer

If I'm KW and looking at a hardcore rebuilding effort over the next 3 seasons, the man I deal right now is Bobby Jenks. In this market he has more value than any other player on this team. He's young, proven, cheap talent. I think KW could get a king's ransom in return. He isn't going to be used enough on a losing/rebuilding team to justify keeping. What's the point of having a top notch closer if you're losing 90-100 games a year? Am I alone?

QUOTE(chisoxfan79 @ Jun 2, 2007 -> 01:28 PM) No clue I just flipped over during the break First their bullpen pulled a MacDougal....sCrUBS down 1 in the 8th...Pagan leadoff double then immediately gets picked off trying to steal 3rd, lol.... Chicago baseball...gotta love it.

When I was up home in Oswego last weekend I had an epiphany of sorts. I had just finished watching the Sunday TB game and was really pissed off. I was telling my dad, a Sox fan all his life, about the mistakes in the game. I was pretty pissed off and he just well, wasn't. He told me how he used to watch every game and his mood would depend on how the Sox did. He used to be the same way my brother and I are about this team. Then he tells me that '05 changed everything. He said that they've now won a championship and he was alive for it. After all those years of waiting and being so committed to this franchise, it paid off on Oct 26, 2005. Since that time if the Sox lose, he just goes about his business. This team is currently 1 game under .500 in the toughest division in baseball. Are they playing up to their abilities? No. Could KW have made some moves for OF this winter? Sure. Is Oz one of the most mindbogglingly poor in-game managers we've ever seen? Yes. But ya know what, they're only 1 game under. They've given us a reason to watch baseball into August every year since 2000. If we had some Mariners fans, or Baltimore or Texas fans on here, they'd be laughing hysterically at these overreactions. IMO, an owner isn't justified in firing his GM when his team is 1 game under .500 with all the injuries we've had. A GM isn't justified in firing his manager when his team is 1 game under .500. Even George freakin' Steinbrenner didn't fire anyone when his $200M Yankees were what, 10 games under!?!? Listen to yourselves. Mistakes have been made but it's not THAT bad.

I posted here a while back a snippet that said that the Giants want Crede. Perhaps they're looking at a complementing component to a deal or scouting Crede more throroughly.

You gotta be kiddin' me? I had 6 tix for Satuday's game, was in from out of town, and now I'm s*** outta luck unless I make it back up there in the middle of a school week? That's bs.

QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ May 29, 2007 -> 09:11 AM) Me either...and wouldn't it be stupid as a runner to try and step on the first baseman's heel. I would think you would be the one at risk for injury. You would definitely be the one to fall down and wipe out. The replay they showed left me wondering why in the hell Moreau's foot was on TOP of the bag? I never really played 1B but my impression has always been that you butt the outside of your foot up against the side of the bag, not lay the inside of your foot parallel to the top of the bag?!?! Positioning your foot like Morneau's is just asking to get stepped on and presents a huge injury risk to both himself and the runner.

I can think of 3 games off the top of my head when the opponent had runners on 2nd and 3rd w/ 0 or 1 outs and he absolutely REFUSES to walk the bases loaded, even if there is a better matchup waiting in the on-deck circle. Yesterday in MIN is one of the 3 games when he decided to have Count pitch to Punto? who has hit like .500 against the Count in his career. Meanwhile, Cuddyer is on deck who hits Count at like a .200 clip. Stupid moves like that remind me of a rebellious teenager...they know what they're about to do is wrong but, just to show how bad ass they are, they do it anyway.

Ozzie has made some REAL boneheaded moves during games, the biggest mistake this season being the game where he left Pods out in LF in a 1run game in the 9th against the A's. THAT instance directly resulted in a loss. I just don't get what he did so wrong yesterday to be catching all this s***? Leaving Mac in the game? I haven't been able to watch many games the last couple of weeks but I always come to Soxtalk for a recap and, during the past 2 weeks, I kept reading how Mac has got it back, looking good again. So was all that just pie-in-the-sky talk? Has he really been awful and Ozzie should've known to go to Aardsma in the 7th? Not inserting AJ at catcher in the 7th? Why oh why would you put your backup in before the 9th inning? Toby Hall, unlike Molina, can hit ML pitching. You don't put your team in a position where an injury to AJ leaves you without a catcher...especially considering the sCrUBS would certainly take the opportunity to throw a ball or two at his head while he's batting, especially when Sweet Lou knows that Oz has no backup if AJ gets ejected or hurt. Hell, there were even people getting on Ozzie for starting Pablo at 3b yesterday instead of Crede without even knowing Crede was hurt. This team should not have the record it has. When your offense is giving the output ours is, it takes two things to win the # of games we have....solid pitching and sound strategy. Ozzie is directly responsible for one of those components. Give the guy a break. I'm no apologist and, quite honestly, I wouldn't be too upset if Ozzie were fired. But at least save the blame game for situations where he's actually the one at fault. We're 2 games over .500 with no offense which, in all actuality, is a testament to the potential this team really has if the O starts clicking. Reading this board you'd think we're about 11 games out already after playing a cake schedule the first month and a half of the season.

our 3-4 hitters are pretty badass.

Sooo...exactly what study are these guys using to deem second hand smoke so destructive? Or is it just the smell? I'm just not seeing the basis of this law. I suppose if you spent 4 hours a day in a 400sqft bar which is always packed with smokers, well, you may face a true quality of life violation...but the average person hitting the bar once or twice a week for a few hours, often in very large buildings with ventilation, doesn't exactly sound like a grave, even minuscule, danger. It's hilarious to me, you see a town a few years back claim that they were going smoke-free. Since that time, it's been a freakin' contest to see what town/city/state can come up with the newest "safety law" (blatantly abusing the constitution) to make the news and get their name on the map. And the sad part is that some of you selfish people are applauding this blatantly political move.

Many characters regressing tonight back to the days of old. Chris putting the family tree back upright at the end seemed to solidify that point. We're in for a few good weeks I think. Tonight's show really picked up the pace, literally, as we moved from scene to scene and story to story very quickly.

Was listening to Baseball Tonight pre-game on the ESPN radio this evening. Heard them mention that the Giants are probably going to be looking to deal Noah Lowry for an OF or a 3b. They guy gives up a ton of hits but has had decent 3.xx era's in the NL. Y'all think KW might try to get in on some Lowry by moving Crede, especially if we end up having a firesale?

Anyone know a site to get strength of schedule rankings? My google came up empty but I know I've seen this on a website before.

Is Thome unavailable?

It's a s*** lineup on a s*** night, what did you expect?

QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ Apr 19, 2007 -> 11:12 AM) Hey, Brian, less time talking, more time being a good baseball player. You are an automatic out. Shut your mouth. At least it sounds like Anderson is coming to grips with the fact that he, himself, has put himself in this position, nobody else--something the Soxtalk community can not seem to grasp. And how exactly is he supposed to be a "good baseball player" when he isn't playing? I expect him to just stop showing up very soon if he isn't demoted to AAA or gets playing time. He'll demand a trade and, imo, rightfully so. I know there have been questions concerning his work ethic and such, but I thought his lesson was handed down to him second half of last season when his playing time shrunk considerably. Supposedly he went to great lengths to work on his hitting approach this winter, had a good spring, and he's still being punished for last season. How long is daddy Oz going to keep him grounded? At what point do Oz and KW decide that he's made the changes necessary to earn a bit of PT? The guy in front of him on the depth chart is what, 1 for his last 40 and yet BA has had one start during that stretch? If he was told, behind closed doors, that his attitude and preparation were keeping him from starting, he's made amends, and now finds himself getting s*** on again. What's the point of continuing to follow their rules? It doesn't get him anywhere. I by no means believe that BA has the potential to be a great player, but I do think he can be a solid contributor if given the opportunity to learn the nuances of the major leagues. I think that he knows it too. Playing on this team under Ozzie is getting him nowhere quick. He might as well have gotten out of a baseball for a year at this rate. Incidentally, KW had best me monitoring these comments closely. If he gets the sense, as I have, that BA is going to start demanding a trade then his value goes to nothing. KW has to make a decision one way or the other with Brian quickly or he loses a ton of value.

I wonder how much money Garland lost tonight? Great game MB. Great game Sox. Hopefully this is the point where this team starts rollin'.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 02:03 PM) Weather is just a convenient excuse to mask problems with the offense. How was the weather it in Oakland? Or the second half of last season? I can't wait until the temperature increases. Either we'll magically improve because of it, or the excuse will be exposed and we can quit masking the truth. As I mentioned in the game thread, they scored 11 runs in games out there; only scoring 1 in one of those affairs, a game they should have won. That's dramatically better than they've performed in the cold weather.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 01:58 PM) I wonder if Hall has more bat speed with a torn labrum than AJ "in the cold." So AJ's bat speed is the critique d'jour now that BA got a start? Or is it going to be how much Crede sucks? It's hard to tell around here with the sensationalism running rampant.

QUOTE(shawnhillegas @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 01:51 PM) I love how people continue to say "The hitting will come around." f***ing great. We will give away 3 weeks of the season because we dont like the cold, then when we lose the division by 2 games, what do we say? They're 5-6 after facing 3 division favorites and hitting .226 . I hate to sound like a homer (Hawk and DJ), but this really isn't the end of the world. They could be a whole lot worse. If they can stay near .500 until the offense/weather heats up, we're in good shape.

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 01:48 PM) Yep, played probably more baseball in this weather than just about anyone on here. The offense also sucked in Oakland for the most part as well. You don't think AJ's bat speed has slowed down? He looks the same as he did last year at the end, when everyone blamed it on him being tired. Since Iguchi's been here, he's always struggled against high breaking pitches like that. It's just a hole in his swing that's hard to fix. He's slumping. When you're slumping you look out of sorts at the plate. I can't imagine sitting on the bench for over 2 hours freezing your ass off and then coming out to hit helps his current slump. In Oakland they scored 11 runs over 3 games. The game they only scored 1 run they should have won. I don't think that 11 runs over 3 games is exactly "pathetic".

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 01:44 PM) I've said this all along: our 3rd baseman is incredibly overrated, our catcher's bat speed has been drastically reduced, our 2nd baseman struggles against LHP, and we have the worst LF and worst CF in all of baseball. We have no ace on our pitching staff that we can count on to go out there and shut teams down. If Jenks doesn't get his velocity up, then we have issues at closer. We're a solid team, but we've fallen down a far way from Hawk saying we were the most talented team in 2006. Are you from Chicago? Did you play baseball? Have you played in the weather this team has been facing? Apparently not. You're stiff, you've got no feel for the ball, your eyes are watering while waiting for the pitch. It isn't easy. Our catcher's bat speed has been drastically reduced? Where do you get this stuff?

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Apr 15, 2007 -> 01:41 PM) This team is pathetic. The offense is currently pathetic. The pitching has been outstanding for the most part. The offense has been struggling, but it's not like anyone else's offense has been great in this weather. Hell, our offense did a heck of a lot more than Cleveland's. Would you say that they're pathetic too?

Ya know, if Oz wants Erstad out there instead of Brian, fine, do what you want to do; you're the manager. I disagree with that decision, but it's his call. With that said, if you're going to play him then use him right. Using Erstad in the 2 hole while Iguchi sits in the lower 3rd is just ridiculously dumb. I haven't gotten to watch every game this season but the games I have watched Iguchi shows a COMPLETELY different approach at the plate when someone is on in front of him. I thought I was just producing that impression on a mental level to validate my belief he should be in the 2 hole....then I looked at this stats so far this year: Bases empty 14ab .143/.250/.464 (career .269/.347/.750) Runners on 10ab .300/.385/.985 (career .290/.346/.810) Now granted this is a ridiculously small sample size, but this speaks volumes to me. This stat is especially huge with the way that the 9 and 1 hitters have been getting on base. Erstad is just killing the good starts that those 2 are off to. But Oz is right, let's keep Gooch hitting behind Dye, Crede, and AJ, the three hitters off to the worst starts not named Erstad.

Could it be that the back-end of our rotation has had a positive effect on the front? I was with DJ and Black Jack early on, the Count was looking pretty feeble with those breaking pitches in full counts; glad someone in the dugout apparently told him the same thing. Good win tonight. KW may have been onto something with this staff.