almagest

I remember him most as Mario in the Super Mario Brothers Super Show.

QUOTE (knightni @ Oct 11, 2009 -> 05:43 PM) The problem is that he's a waste of a 25 man spot. He has no versatility nor can he play full time anymore. Is a 20 HR 65 RBI .225 BA 100+K season worth clogging up the bases and taking up a spot that a kid could take?What makes you think he's going to hit 57 points below his career average, and 25+ points lower than his average over the last two years? He hit.262/.383/.498/.881 vs. RHP this year, and .249/.372/.496/.868 last year. If he's DHing against RHP for us next season, you can probably expect those types of numbers from him. What's not to like about a DH who gets on base and hits for power? If Flowers/whoever else can hit LHP at a decent rate in a platoon, you'd have a very productive DH for likely below market cost. I've never been able to understand the dislike for Thome on this website, especially given the crap some other teams in the AL throw out there.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Oct 7, 2009 -> 11:13 AM) I don't think they had guaranteed contracts. I wonder if that were gone how much baseball would change.I dunno. Players in other sports don't have guaranteed contracts and still do wacky things.

I guess if he's DH-ing 90% of the time there's less risk for injury, but he's only played in more than 100 games in 4 of his 8 major league seasons. It's a huge risk, especially if he gets $7 million a year (which is possible). I'm on board with this one, though.

Yeah, let's ignore Rios's 4 hits and 3 rbi on Saturday, or that he hit .333/.400/.556/.956 over the last two weeks of the season. He obviously sucks and showed no improvement and should be gone.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Sep 28, 2009 -> 08:32 PM) Are you really going to argue that having a high OBP-player like Swish in the lineup wouldn't change our offensive output. Keep in mind that Swish isn't only going to drive in 85 Runs, but he's also going to set the table for all the other big bats in the lineup. As opposed to Wise who is going to K or ground out.Wise didn't play centerfield for us for most of the year. Sure, having Swisher would probably have made us better offensively, but I doubt it'd be enough. Swisher wouldn't have made Dye hit, or Buehrle pitch after his perfect game, or Linebrink stop sucking, or etc.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Sep 28, 2009 -> 02:47 PM) We had an offensive blackhole in CF until Pods came, and a blackhole in LF before Q came back. Swish is a 3.6 War player this year. That would put us back in the race wouldn't it?3.6 wins? Really? Assuming our awful blackhole in CF is around 0 WAR, assuming WAR is actually valid in predicting wins and isn't just a semi-reasonable statistical estimate, and assuming Swisher actually produced with us, we'd be either 78-78 or 79-77, 5 or 6 games back of Detroit, and 3 or 4 games behind Minnesota, with 6 games to play. You honestly think this constitutes being "back in the race?" Even if our centerfielders had produced a negative WAR value, we'd still likely need to vault over both Minnesota and Detroit to win the division, and that's just not likely. You're relying on an awful lot of "ifs".

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Sep 28, 2009 -> 02:37 PM) Some might blame Walker A change of scenery sure has helped Juan. I still maintain he is a very good glove man though.His numbers in Colorado weren't all that impressive, either.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Sep 28, 2009 -> 11:04 AM) Trades are a bit more complicated in this era aren't they? I always am amazed at how several moves made or not made then magically allows us to trade for somebody else. Money becomes available, etc. But, when we hear about how the Sox (KW) has been trying to get someone for years and then gets that coveted player-of course the skills have diminished mind you-we are just so happy about it all. I like the idea of building from within, but how many of our so called prospects have surfaced as star players in other organizations? KW wanted Swisher real bad and then after they get him he gets dumped and is called a bad influence in the clubhouse. Thome is a great clubhouse presence and a super slugger and basically gets released (I don't care if we got some AAA player). We dump Uribe becasue of the money, etc, etc. Look at what happened to the Big Hurt, who arguably is the greatest hitter this organization ever has had and maybe ever will have. The point I am making is the game has changed so much that the old way of trading like Bil Veeck did by sitting in the lobby of the hotel with an open for business sign is long gone and will never be back. It is strictly a business decision for a GM in many cases.Peavy's skills haven't diminished. Rios is having an off-year, just like Swisher did last year. Thomas was continually hurt and we were looking for a left-handed power bat. Thome was sent to LA as a favor to him, to give him a chance at a world series ring. None of us know what Swisher was like in the clubhouse, but it's pretty apparent that the organization didn't feel he was a good fit. Few (if any) of our highly-touted prospects have done anything since leaving the White Sox. Uribe was bad with us. His offense was putrid, and his defense was declining. I'm glad he's having his best season since 2004 with the Giants, but he was done here. I'm not sure I understand your point, to be honest.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Sep 28, 2009 -> 10:09 AM) I'm fine with the Javy trade, that's a dead issue for me. I'm also not sure how this would have any effect on the Peavy trade given that we've been pursuing him for years and none of the players we got for Swish, or traded for Peavy had anything to do with each other.Okay, then how does keeping Swisher send us from 6 below to 11+ above .500?

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Sep 27, 2009 -> 10:31 PM) No, but our opening day CF wouldn't have been Wise and our 4-5 wouldn't of been both Colon and ContrerasThere's no guarantee either player would've done as well as they have with their new teams. Even if they did, there's absolutely no way that would push us from 6 below .500 to 11+ above. We also wouldn't have Peavy, Rios, Flowers, and possibly Viciedo.

I just find it amusing that people here actually think keeping Swisher and Vazquez would magically have prevented Quentin from being hurt and mediocre this year, Dye's second half suckfest, Linebrinks ERA of about 200.00 in the second half, and Buerhle being unable to win a game after his perfect game.

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 12:46 PM) Are you saying that you are confident he will hit 280 next year and that you would be happy going into next season with the same offensive players?It's more likely that a 28-29 year old player will hit close to his career average than hit .040 or .050 points below.

Guillen's been as good as any manager at deflecting attention away from his players and to himself. I think if there's any place Bradley could be successful, it's here. I guess it depends on whether the Sox feel he would behave himself. The talent's certainly there, and even though Bradley's having a bit of an off-year, a switch-hitting DH who gets on base a lot and can hit for power is a nice replacement for Thome.

If it's late in the game, and it's tied or either team has a 1 run lead, the baserunner has good enough speed to score from second on a single (or is on second and can score on a sac fly/wild pitch from 3rd), the batter can bunt, and the batter has some speed to apply additional pressure on fielders, then yes. I agree. The bunt is the right call in those situations. Otherwise, I think it's a bad idea.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 18, 2009 -> 12:49 PM) To those of you who hate the bunt let me at least ask your take. It's the 10th inning in tie game. We are at the Cell and AJ gets on base. Do you want CQ to bunt him over? The answer should be yes. The odds of scoring him from second with one out are in theory pretty damn good at that point if you can bunt him over. Now the answer is no if CQ can't bunt the damn ball like most big leaguers. Most can't bunt. In a tie game in extras, why wouldn't you bunt? I just think Oz wants guys to be able to bunt the times we need a f***ing bunt. He's not going to bunt a lot in the AL. People are panicking. With a power hitting team, he's not going to be giving up outs early. He knows baseball. Did you want Quentin bunting him over during his MVP 2008 season?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 18, 2009 -> 09:04 AM) Sample size, there are probably like 3 people from Montana who even voted, and 2 went to CC because they thought he was a pregnant elk.That WOULD be a great story... "Pregnant elk wins AL Cy Young award."

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Sep 18, 2009 -> 09:39 AM) Ok, you guys are right. The bunt is worthless and never should be usedIt's useful, but so much with a power-hitting team in a small ballpark with players who can't score from second on a single and players who can barely get the ball out of the infield 2 or 3 months a year. All bunting would do with our current roster is increase the number of RISP we leave on base.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Sep 18, 2009 -> 08:33 AM) Bunting accomplishes plenty when used properly. It is far from an easy out like Thunderbolt suggests, and although our team spectacularly fails at bunting, there are teams that can use it to their advantage and do so often(Angels) No, they don't: QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 17, 2009 -> 12:11 PM) In 2008, the Rays had 23 Sacrifice Hits. That was the lowest total in MLB. The Angels were 22nd in MLB in SH, the Sox were 28th.

He says this every year. I bet there's a thread in the archive from each year he's been manager. Ho-hum. I'd feel better if he said "we're going to get rid of players who slump and are effectively useless for 3 consecutive months ."

Jarrod Washburn has just been awful for Detroit. 6.81 ERA, 11 HR allowed in 37 innings, 11 BB/18 K, 1.405 WHIP. I don't even think these numbers include tonight's mediocre performance (3 ER in 5 IP). I figured he'd be worse for Detroit than Seattle, but not by this much. Keep it up, Jarrod!

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 2, 2009 -> 01:11 PM) Having a connection at a company (friend, former co-worker, etc.) is far and away the best way to go, in terms of success rate.It worked for me!

I thought I'd like the positive Sox Talk gamethreads more than the all the negativity that's been around here lately... ...and I was right! *rips off pants, reveals banana hammock*

QUOTE (oldsox @ Sep 1, 2009 -> 09:33 AM) Why do you want Thome back? You like strikeouts? Time for him to retire.No, but I do like having a power-hitting left-handed DH who gets on base a lot. Don't you?

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Aug 31, 2009 -> 08:59 AM) Those are my two favorite Wes Anderson films to date.Same here. I saw Adventureland over the weekend. Definitely worth seeing.