chw42

Stupid mistakes on defense that have nothing to do with our talent level have screwed us over. We should be at least 4-5 games better if we just play average defense, which we definitely can.

Strasburg's value declines if he doesn't sign. Can he still go back and pitch at SD State?

Means more playing time for Kotsay and Rios.

Jay Glazer says that Favre could go to the Vikings after all. Can he just go away already?

QUOTE (Markbilliards @ Aug 16, 2009 -> 10:16 PM) Yeah Dye does run like he's going uphill. Thome kinda looks like he runs like he pooped his pants too. Jim's home run trot is as fast as his sprint. LMAO.

QUOTE (picktoclick @ Aug 16, 2009 -> 09:51 PM) Uzr per 150 is a joke, especially when Nix has only played a handful of games. Watch the games and you will see who the better fielder is. WAR, what is it good for? Absolutely nuthin! Sing it again........... WAR is a good way to compare one player's overall value to another. Nix does have small sample sizes, but it's the only sample size you can find. Nix has trouble with the ball when he gets to it, his range is amazing. All of the errors he's made this year is either throwing or bobbling the ball. The guy has the tools to be a great defender because his range is mind blowing. But he has some trouble when he actually gets to the ball. It's something that can be fixed. You can't teach great range. My two cents on the order... 1. Alex Rios - good range and speed, tall lanky body. Also plays one of the most important defensive positions in CF. Also features a cannon. Highly versatile. 2. Jayson Nix - great range for a 2B, not so much as a SS. Very versatile. 3. Dewayne Wise - very good range, shows he can make the spectacular play as well as the routine ones. 4. Alexei Ramirez - great potential due to his good range, but sometimes brain dead. Very versatile. 5. Mark Kotsay - versatile, plays a very good 1B, no longer the same outfielder he used to be, but still okay in those positions 6. Paul Konerko - great at picking the ball, very good range to balls on his right. 7. Chris Getz - decent range, could have some better hands. His speed should give him more range. 8. A.J. Pierzynski - great at picking balls in the dirt and taking charge on pop-ups, mediocre arm and accuracy though. 9. Carlos Quentin - very mediocre range due to his recent foot problems. Very good arm with erratic accuracy. Has had success in RF before. 10. Scott Podsednik - has the speed to get to almost any ball, but takes bad routes and gets bad reads. Also very scared of the wall. Very weak arm. 11. Ramon Castro - supposed strong arm hasn't shown up yet. Really bad accuracy. Very average at blocking balls in the dirt. 12. Jermaine Dye - old, bad, and slow. He takes good routes to some balls, which makes up a bit for his non-existent speed, but his range is extremely poor. Will make a spectacular play once in a while because of his lack of range on balls that should be easily caught. Also has trouble with pop-ups down the line. Still has a good arm, but is rarely useful.

QUOTE (jphat007 @ Aug 16, 2009 -> 05:55 PM) It was either Linebrink, Pena, or Jenks. No good choices, but Jenks was the best of the 3. Thornton was warming up with Dotel in the 8th. He should have been pitching.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 16, 2009 -> 05:49 PM) He's a pitcher. If the game goes 15 innings, you can't put him in? That's ridiculous and I stand by my statement. If Bobby Jenks can only pitch in save situations, he shouldn't be on the roster, not with the contract he has. That's not what I meant. I'm saying closers usually do not pitch in a tie game in the 9th inning on the road. They're usually saved for later if the manager either runs out of good pitching options or if there is an actual save situation to be had.

QUOTE (Brian @ Aug 16, 2009 -> 05:49 PM) Jenks pitched 2 scoreless innings in a tie game vs. Seattle. I know, but managers usually don't use their closers to pitch in a tie game in the 9th on the road. They use them when they have to in the 10th, 11th, 12th, and etc. That 9th inning should have gone to Thornton.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 16, 2009 -> 05:43 PM) If Jenks can't pitch in a tie game, he shouldn't be on the roster. He usually doesn't pitch in a game like today. Ozzie did this on a rarity.

Ozzie managed against the book and it hurt him. Don't use your closer in non-save situations on the road.

Where was Matt Thornton? This one really hurt.

Broadcasters on the Oakland side are b****ing like crazy about that call. Crosby probably pushed him off. You don't have sideways momentum sliding straight towards the bag.

Please, no more Pods next year. I'm all for giving Figgins his money now.

You know, Pods is like a zero yield player on the field. He gets some big hits. His triple today was huge. Then he makes two bad plays in the outfield to make him absolutely worthless.

Pods and his defense BLOWS.

Hairston and Cust are the only guys who scare me an awful lot on this team...

QUOTE (TitoMB345 @ Aug 16, 2009 -> 05:13 PM) Bobby should never be brought in unless to start the inning. This I am sure of. He doesn't do well starting with runners on. I meant we should use Thornton now. Not using Thornton now might mean that he could pitch the 9th. So that would mean no Bobby.

Does Bobby have the day off or something? I don't like the idea of using Dotel here... Where's Thornton?

Nix should have made sure to tag him when he was off the entire bag...come on.

Good thing the Cards are winning as well.

The Royals aren't a good team and Tuesday probably isn't a big game. But Freddy will still be sweaty!

We won a series in late summer at Oakland last year. We need a sweeeeeeeeeeeep. Go get 'em Johnny.

If he can throw in the high 80s consistently, he could be better than Jose.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 15, 2009 -> 01:25 PM) He's a closer. If you can't pitch him on back-to-back days, then get rid of him in the offseason. Yeah, pretty much.