southsidehawkeye

QUOTE(daa84 @ Mar 28, 2008 -> 03:46 PM) if ramirez is gonna be in the lineup....it should be ahead of uribe at 2b, not ahead of anderson/quentin .....so no i say its the wrong decision I agree 100%, In my opinion Alexi has played his way into the starting lineup... but he should not be in the OF. His time in CF was not anything to smile at, if they want him to be anything more than a bottom of the depth chart OFer he needs to be in AAA getting every day practice out there. Alexi's spot is in the IF @ 2b/ss, he should be playing and getting more comfortable there. If we re-sign Cabrera and have a middle IF of Cabrera-Richar with Ramirez backing them up I will be a very happy man next year (not to say I wouldnt be just as happy with a Ramirez-Richar middle IF).

88... like many here, Im an optimist.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 26, 2008 -> 03:35 PM) Alexei with a slam down the line to give the Sox a 4-3 lead. Down the right field line too! (although the wind was going out that way) Its nice to see that even though a stiff wind burst might be able to knock him off his feet, he still has the power to hit the ball out to the opposite field. If he puts on some muscle after a year of MLB conditioning, he may end up being quite a hitter.

QUOTE(EvilJester99 @ Mar 25, 2008 -> 03:32 PM) Geez our season hasn't even started yet and I already have a sinking feeling this is going to be another long long year. Sadly, I share your feeling... Look, I hope that the WhiteSox are competitive this year. But in reality it is going to be very, very difficult for us to make the post season with the Indians and Tigers looking very, very strong. We simply have too many question marks that would have to come up aces all season long for us to make a real run at our division or the wild card (not saying it cant happen... just that it isn't the most likely outcome for 2008). However, in a couple of years we have a chance to be really, really good. Buehrle, Vazquez, Konerko, and Swisher will be coming into the end of their contracts with the sox and Danks/Floyd will have a couple years under their belts in the Majors. The team will also have dropped some of its "excess weight" from 2005 in Uribe, Contreras, and Crede. These guys were a great part of a great team but they don't appear to be serviceable anymore, and two of them have people waiting behind them that could benefit from getting everyday playing time in the majors (Fields, Richar, Ramirez). In order for our team to be successful in 2009, 2010, 2011 and beyond we need at least a couple of Fields, Quentin, Owens, Anderson, Floyd, and Danks to be a big part of our team. I believe that many of these guys have out-grown the minors... and that most of them have also shown they can be successful in the Majors. No matter when these guys come up to the bigs, be it this year or in 2009/2010 we will likely see growing pains. Most people, no matter how ready they are, take a year or two to get used to the majors before they "come into their own". The sox are in a tough position right now, they have a really good player in Fields but is he worth throwing away Crede for nothing? There are good arguments for both sides of that statement. In the end, what I worry about is if Fields/Quentin/etc spend too much time in the minors when the time comes for them to be called to the bigs in the next year or two are they going to be ready to step up and help a team that has a possibility of being really good with a core of Buehrle, Vazquez, Konerko, Swisher, possibly Cabrera and whoever is hanging around from Thome, Dye, AJ, etc. I think that if Fields gets to go through his first full season in the bigs in 2008, it will only make him better in 2009 and 2010.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Mar 25, 2008 -> 12:49 PM) It's really beginning to frighten me that they just keep throwing Ramirez out there in CF... I wouldn't be all that worried... I would assume they're just getting him as much practice out there as possible before the games start to actually count. Being a UTL player (I'm assuming that will be his role on the team at this point) we will probably see Ramirez in the OF at some point during the season, whether it be to give some needed days off to the other regular OF'ers or because of an injury. Plus, its a way to get him more ABs, and in my opinion... the more he gets in spring the better.

Hey All, Long time reader... first time poster! (i figured this year I would actually try to join the conversation) Although I really like Crede, and think that he brings a very important glove to the hot corner (which undeniably helps our team a lot... and was a big part of our World Series run) I am very worried about what him staying here will do to Fields (who is almost surely our future at 3B). Fields has shown he is ready to be in the big leagues, he had a great season last year and needs to stay in the major leagues. I believe this not only because moving a young player down to AAA after a great rookie year and a good spring could have a negative approach on his mental game, he might get frustrated and that can seriously hurt his career. But also I am not really convinced that going down to AAA will help him any. Think of when we were all learning to play sports, you get better by facing people who are on your level or better than you. When you're in Field's position you probably wont get better at hitting a Major League curve or learning to take a nasty slider by seeing AAA pitching... he needs time in the bigs to improve in these areas, and this is shown by loads of really, really good prospects who struggle a little when the make that final jump but just need some time to learn the ropes of the big leagues. The only place I think Fields would benefit from some more time at AAA is his defense. He really isn't up to par yet in this area (at least not for Chicago, where we have watched Crede work that corner to an art form the over the last few years). But I think he is serviceable at 3rd, and he will probably improve with time, especially considering how good an overall athlete he is/has been in the past. Anyways, Im sure that all of this has been said before and Im not really adding anything new. Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents. on a side note: I am getting really excited for baseball to "officially" start. I think the sox could surprise some people this year!