Paulie4Pres

QUOTE (SockMe @ Aug 11, 2009 -> 12:28 AM) is there any chance that Beckham could leadoff, so we could start Rios in CF. Why do we need to do that? Move Pods to LF, Quentin to RF, and Rios to CF. Let Dye sit. He's been absolutely terrible since the All-Star Break, and looks like he needs a rest.

Well, this series isn't looking good. Then we go to Oakland, where we perpetually suck. Might be sub .500 by the end of the week?

His swing just seems to have slowed down considerably. I think he's compensating by swinging early and pulling everything. I dunno. Whatever it is, he's killing us batting third, and hitting .160 since the All-Star Break.

Remember when our big bats were clutch late in games? Man....2005 was such a long time ago. We miss so many chances given good pitches to hit.

I dunno what AJ is looking for, if he's not looking for those pitches....

Dye needs to sit. He couldn't hit a sixteen inch softball lately.

If I'm Ozzie after tonight, I run out Pods in LF, Rios in CF, and Quentin in RF for at least a week. Dye just looks absolutely terrible. Remember when Dye was hitting .300? I do. I think it was like two weeks ago, and now he's batting .272. That's not really a slump. Someone needs to check if he has a pulse, at this point.

QUOTE (GordoTheGreat @ Aug 10, 2009 -> 11:25 PM) Why can't Liner do that when we need him to? Because then he wouldn't suck. 0-48 when trailing after the eighth?????? LOL

More two out damage against us makes for another lame game. You know, after the Sox win a couple series, we should just not watch the next few series, because it is almost a guarantee, at this point, we'll be watching the Crap Sox. I'll watch them again in a week. They should be playing well again.

The bad defense isn't just the errors either. It is the singles that turn into doubles, the doubles that turn into triples, the douple play balls that only end up as one out, and all the extra outs we give the other team by not being able to make plays out there.

This might be one of the worst defensive teams I've ever watched in a Sox uniform.

Paulie shouldn't be arguing about that hanging slider being called for a strike. He should have been taking it over the left field fence instead.

Why no pinch runner for Thome?

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Aug 2, 2009 -> 11:23 AM) Really? Because this is a lot faster of a timetable then the Padres ever had him on. If this is true, Peavy is going to be here sooner than a lot of us expected. Well, the Padres had to take into account him hitting and running the bases, not just pitching. Makes sense really.

lol, not sure what the hell CQ was thinking there. He was out by 30 feet.

Pods may get caught stealing here and there, but he's putting pressure on their pitcher when he's on base. The pitcher isn't just thinking about the batter in that situation, he's trying to keep Pods close, they're pitching out here and there, etc. He's also scoring on hits that Swisher wouldn't score on. Swisher just doesn't have a niche that he fills, especially not on the Sox. He's not a better power hitter or RBI guy than Quentin, Konerko, Thome, or Dye, so where does he fit? He just doesn't. He's not the CF of the future for us, and he wasn't taking a corner OF or 1B job any time soon. You replace Podsednik with Swisher this year, and we're even MORE of a station to station team in the middle of the lineup, and, of course, who is our leadoff hitter then?

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Aug 1, 2009 -> 03:00 PM) I actually disagree with this. I love Pods, but Swish would get on base more, and get caught stealing less. It's hard to get caught stealing when you NEVER attempt to steal, isn't it? Swisher is not a threat on the basepaths at all. He has pretty poor speed. He sucks not because of any stats you decide to pull out, but because the guy would rather walk than get a hit. That would be great if, once he walked, he could at least bother the pitcher or steal some bases, but he can't. He has 7 stolen bases in 15 attemps in FIVE YEARS of MLB play. He's basically a poor offensive version of Jim Thome, that can play corner OF and 1B. His power numbers aren't good enought to bump 90% of the corner OFs or 1Bs in the MLB out of their starting job. He's not an RBI guy because his BA with RISP is poor, and he'd rather walk than get a hit, as was already pointed out. He's afraid to swing the bat. So, he pretty much sucks, as he doesn't really have a role on a team whose starting 1B, RF, and LF put up good power numbers and RBIs. He makes a ton of money, and is probably one of the most overrated guys that I've ever seen wear the Sox uniform. He sucks, period, and I am SO glad he's not on this team anymore. Stats be damned. Watch the guy play for f***'s sake.

Look at this way. Are we a better team this year with Swisher, or Podsednik. That's basically what it comes down to, because that's the only guy Swisher could really knock out of the lineup. He wasn't taking Quentin, Dye, or Konerko's position. CF was his only option, and, in my opinion, we're a better team with Podsednik instead of Swisher. Swisher is better in CF defensively, but he can't replace Podsednik's contribution this year at the leadoff spot.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 30, 2009 -> 03:28 AM) Quentin (4 MVP) has been slow, streaky, and swinging for the fences all year. To top it off, he's been injured for most of the year too. For some reason, you aren't calling for his head. I think this team is in dire need of a 3Bman to move Beckham back to the middle where he belongs. Rolen sounds about right to me. He sure has been. The difference is, last year, when he was healthy, he was not. He was consistent, wasn't fast, but wasn't slow, and was hitting a lot of line drives for base hits and doubles. He's also quite a bit younger. Twelve years younger than Thome, eight younger than Dye, six younger than Konerko, and six younger than AJ... He hasn't hit his downward slope, like the others have, and honestly, is just entering his prime years. But thanks for pointing out that Quentin's situation this year is nothing like the others.

So, we going to run out Beckham, Nix, Getz now? Fields gets brought back up?

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 10:59 PM) Yes, saying Beckham and Pods are not problems on this team is so lol worthy. I mean, really? More or less, they are our two best position players at this point. I'm not talking about the PLAYERS. Pods and Beckham are irreplacable on this team right now, but it has nothing to do with Pods playing CF and Beckham playing 3B. You're missing the point. Just because Beckham is a stud, doesn't mean we don't need a natural 3B. Beckham should be playing SS, and I'd gladly have him there instead of Alexei, except, we have no 3B... I'm not saying that Beckham is bad at 3B, just that it isn't his natural position. He was put there because we have no major league options at 3B. Just because Pods is having a comeback-player-of-the-year type season, doesn't mean we don't need a natural CF, either. I'd much rather we had a major league CF, so we could move Quentin to RF, Dye to DH, and Pods to LF, and improve our defense pretty dramatically(at least while Thome is sitting). This team is extremely flawed, and if you can't see that, well, I don't really know what to tell you.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 10:52 PM) They are far from a problem and KW can and should be commended for his handling of both players.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 10:36 PM) If we were going to compete for a World Series, we have those covered, actually. CF = Pods/Wise = Brutal at CF/Brutal at the plate Leadoff Hitter = Pods = anomaly this year 3B = Beckham = SS actually, but we have noone on the team that can play 3B and not suck completely at it. I'd say we're "winging it" with those three this season, to be honest.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 10:28 PM) What? That's a pretty damn formidable middle of the order. They're all slow as hell, streaky, and swing for the fences almost every at bat. You can realistically live with two of them in the middle of the order, but we need some more speed on the basepaths. The only way to score those guys is home runs, or 3-4 consecutive base hits. We are just too SLOW. STARTING pitching has been solid, but our bullpen has been pretty flawed since 2005 as well. You can have an entire staff of Mark Buehrles on the team, and it wouldn't matter if we're only scoring 2-3 runs a game....

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 10:20 PM) Other than terrible mishandling of the last couple roster spots, KW has done a pretty damn fine job managing our rosters. Ozzie has had plenty to work with. Because a lot of teams compete for the World Series without any kind of major league caliber leadoff hitter, center fielder, or third baseman?