bighurt4life

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 05:48 PM) one game is a pretty small sample size. I've seen stats put up on this site showing that Cole's throw-out % was almost as high as Lucy's. I don't think he's a bad defender. But, he is a lefty, and his splits show he is definitely weaker against LHP. So, not a good backup for AJ. Hopefully he continues to tear it up in AZ though, and we can get something for him in trade. I'm betting he has some value elsewhere. IIRC his splits were pretty terrible against lefties, BUT, AJ hits lefties and righties just about the same, so I don't think he'd be all that bad of a backup. He could still spell AJ every 6 or 7 days although a right handed player would be ideal.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Oct 17, 2008 -> 05:45 PM) The names Brian Roberts and Orlando Hudson get thrown around in every single thread. I believe the purpose of this thread was to think outside the freaking box instead of just regurgitating the same names over and over. thank you. We've been hearing about Roberts and Hudson since before the 08 season even started. I for one would like to see Kenny get creative on this one instead of spending big on either of those two.

Nice to get a fresh outside perspective on the talent we have in our farm system. prospects prospects

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 14, 2008 -> 05:28 PM) Isn't Eva Mendes of Cuban descent? I like her a lot. you should just marry her

Peoria v. Surprise Slayer not in the lineup. Derek Rodriguez gets the win pitching a scoreless inning, Cole Armstrong goes 1-4 with a r and rbi. He's playing a lot compared to Beckham who's only played a couple times so far.

Good read. He sounds like a pretty humble and grounded person. I like that he talked about looking to the older guys to see how to do things, that shows that he's teachable.

QUOTE (beck72 @ Oct 10, 2008 -> 03:37 AM) I look at Street and see a Lidge type rebound for 2009. I don't think that him having a great rebound season is very likely for two reasons. 1. Lidge's problems were all mental, he just couldn't place his pitches where he wanted to and when he got behind in the count or let runners get on base he imploded. He still had nasty stuff the whole time 2. Street has actually lost a mile or two off of his fastball this season, for someone as young as he is that does not bode well for him. His avg. fastball this year was about 89mph, not enough to be a lights out closer.

QUOTE (beck72 @ Oct 9, 2008 -> 02:36 PM) In looking at MLB trade rumors for the A's, they said the A's will be looking for power this offseason. Would they want Dye or Konerko? Get Duchscherer and Huston Street? If they want power we could give them fields for a 2B or CF prospect. Not sure what they have in their system but that would give them the power they want and it wouldn't cost them an arm and a leg in prospects or salaries.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Oct 9, 2008 -> 01:02 PM) Garbage stat for non-closers. The best setup men in the game (setup men, not closers, this is important) are going to have s*** SV%. A setup guy will not record many saves because generally, he will not be the one finishing off the game. Yet anytime he relinquishes a lead he's going to get a blown save. So very few opportunities to record a save combined with tons of opportunities to blow a save means we have a very skewed statistic. Tell me, how often does Jenks blow a save like this. (take a look at the bottom of the 7th, that's a blown save) Bingo, I think that saves overall are really one of the worst statistics in baseball. I've read up on them quite a bit and honestly having a guy with lots of saves doesn't really have much of an impact on outcomes as you would think. We could probably trade Bobby and get some really nice pieces back. Like a legit CF who can hit and field. We could probably get 3 good prospects for him with one of them being star-potential.

Pretty good writeup. Shows what players we have and how much money committed to them and the team in general for the next year. Pretty much just another way to pass the time until spring training. outlook

Cole Armstrong hit a 3 run double and scored a run. Gartrell went 0-4 with a BB

I love his fire but I also think he's pretty much a dick. I just hope that we get a 1st round pick for him and not a 2nd

I honestly see him hitting either #1 or #5. I don't think that he would be such a good #2 hitter becuase those guys are supposed to take pitches and lay down bunts etc... Alexei's game is all about being aggressive at the plate and swinging whenever he damn well pleases. That's why you can't put him in the 2 slot. If CQ wasn't so damn good I'd say that Alexei would be a great #3 hitter but CQ has more power. If he can improve his basestealing then put him in the 1 spot, if he can't then have him focus on his power stroke and put him at #5.

I'm quite satisfied with this season overall. When KW was talking about winning the division I thought that he was crazy and I was one of the people calling for a rebuild by dumping Konerko, Dye, etc... I thought that the only players we had who would be able to help us this season and for several more seasons were Buerhle, Vasquez and possibly Danks depending on how he developed. I had almost zero expectations for Floyd, Quentin, and thought that Ramirez would probably spend most of the season in AAA adjusting to the jump in competition. I had little hope for the future as I saw us as an aging team without any young bullets ready to step up anytime soon. I was damn wrong. With the emergence of the aforementioned players we've really caught lightening in a bottle. When was the last time you saw a team have 4 young unknowns all breakout in the same season? We've really got something to be excited about for the future and I for one am proud of the way this team came together and gave us another taste of the postseason. We also got to the playoffs by knocking the Twins out which was extra sweet for me personally. I can't wait to see what KW has in store for the offseason and I can't wait for '09. GO SOX!!

Griffey was definitely too far forward and didn't really get his momentum moving forward as he made the catch, that play shouldn't have been as close as it was, but I'm still damn pleased with the result. One of the more exciting plays of the year.

1. CJ, you played lots of different positions in college, do you think that this hindered your development as a player. Side note- in your opinion, did your lack of a position prevent you from being taken in the draft because teams didn't know what you were, or was it simply a case of your talent being overlooked? 2. Because you didn't have just one position in college do you think that this means that you have even more potential for improvement in your defense now that you can zero in on a position-specific set of skills? Also, do you think that settling in on one defensive position will help you at the plate? Moderator-feel free to adjust or reword questions as needed.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Sep 30, 2008 -> 05:59 PM) Thome's blast goes 461. Wow!!! Blackburn missed his spot on that pitch, Mauer set up low and away and he left it middle-up, bad place to leave a change-up for Thome.

how far was the thome HR? I'm guessing 450

QUOTE (Palehosefan @ Sep 26, 2008 -> 09:28 AM) Just noticed Brandon Hicks above Brandon Allen as well. Now I know they are delusional. Hicks, 9/14/1985, .235 20 HR, 63 RBI, 52 BB 139 K's ....... really Hicks plays a premium position at SS while Allen by all accounts plays a below average first base. Not sure is Hicks is a good SS but having a middle infielder with good power is always a plus and probably why he's rated higher.

We don't really have a whole lot of options at catcher in our farm system. There's a couple of guys in our Dominican system that look promising and obviously Dubler has potential but nobody else jumps off the page for me and AJ is nearing the age where catchers historically see a drop in their performance.

I'm excited about Cole Armstrong. He had a good season this year, may be the heir apparent for AJ. Looks like a nice rule 5 pickup.

make it happen

I'm f***ing sick of Javy and I'm really f***ing sick of Ozzie playing Griffey in CF. There's no f***ing way that he gives us a better chance to win in center than Brian Anderson.

QUOTE (Allsox @ Sep 23, 2008 -> 05:57 PM) And I'm through with Javier Vazquez. Trade his ass to some other team in the offseason, I'm tired of him crapping his pants whenever it's a big game. Totally agree, he's got no huevos. Even when Ozzie essentially challenged his manhood recently he didn't even respond to it, his summarized response was "whatever".

I think that we've got a really good chance of winning this series. They have a lot of young pitching and they seem to be getting pretty tired lately. In fact, their team overall is very young and they look like they're just worn out at this point.