Thad Bosley

I'm not disappointed in parting with either Fields or Getz. They are both replaceable parts. What I am not quite happy about, at least at this moment, is the fact that we appear to be penciling in a starter for next year who has yet to drive in 70 or more runs in a year and who strikes out a whole bunch. Is that who you replace someone of Jermaine Dye's caliber with? How in the world can that be considered an upgrade for right field, if indeed that's where he ends up playing? I don't care how much better he is defensively. His offense is sub-par for a corner outfielder. And even if Teahen ends up going to third base, his numbers are below average for a third baseman, too, as third base is typically a power position of sorts as well. It would be one thing if he had speed like Chone Figgins, but he doesn't. No, I am not thrilled about the prospect of watching this guy make 500+ plate appearances in a White Sox uniform next season.

There is a certain amount of poor behavior that you might be inclined to put up with if the player in question is putting up astronomical numbers. Dave Kingman, Albert Belle and Manny Ramirez are a few players who come to mind there. But Milton Bradley does not even come close to providing that kind of production, and so the combination of him only being a decent offensive player on his best days (and one who doesn't play good defense, either) along with being someone who consistently behaves even more poorly than those other three guys I mentioned makes him an absolute "NO SALE" for me.

QUOTE (jphat007 @ Sep 25, 2009 -> 08:41 PM) If Thornton is our closer, he prolly won't have many games to save with the way our setup would likely come together We have no idea what our set-up relief pitching is going to look like yet for next season. Give Kenny a chance to work on it over the winter before you throw down with the negative outlook on things.

This game may very well have featured both the ace of our 2010 staff as well as our new closer.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Sep 25, 2009 -> 08:11 PM) Two-dinger Jenks warming? I should hope not. He's out for the season with a calf injury.

Just a terrific game for Peavy, especially given that it's against a team in the throes of a pennant race.

You can cancel the postgame show!

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Sep 25, 2009 -> 06:48 PM) gotta say, i'm already psyched to see a healthy JP come spring. I think he sees all the talk about the transition from NL to AL as a challenge. I fully agree. From what I've seen, I like the tenacity he brings out there to the mound.

Stone Poney and Mike Huff with the call tonight. Hawk off tending to some "family bizzness".

QUOTE (G&T @ Sep 25, 2009 -> 09:15 AM) Doubtful. The time to get him was last off season when he was dirt cheap and the Sox didn't get him. He had a great year and will want a big contract. Is he worth it? Probably. Will the Sox spend it? Doubtful. He was great in 2008, too, and wanted a big contract last winter as well, but didn't get it. Now he's a year older. There's no doubt he'll get a better deal than the one he got with the Angels, but I don't think it'll be the kind to break the bank.

I think Bobby Abreu is the guy to try and get this winter. In my mind, he's the perfect replacement for Thome at DH. He brings the things you liked about Thome - the OBP and RBIs - while also bringing something Thome was obviously severely lacking, which is speed. And also like with Thome, he would help balance out what is a rather righty-heavy line-up at the moment. He's been one of those guys whom Kenny Williams has targeted in the past, and he seems to have a good rapport with fellow Venezeulan Ozzie Guillen. So in all material respects he just seems like he'd be a very good fit for the White Sox as the designated hitter for the next year or two.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Sep 24, 2009 -> 12:59 PM) KW seems to be stressing OPB and extra-base hits, while Ozzie continues to talk about going in a more small-ball oriented direction. If KW is stressing OPB, then I can't help but think he'll target either Figgins or Abreu this offseason. Both feature excellent OBPs, and either one of them would seeimingly fit a need we currently have.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Sep 24, 2009 -> 12:59 PM) Now that Kenny has assembled his third dominant rotation ('05 and '06 being the others) in his history as GM, I would expect him to try and win with it. Exactly.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Sep 23, 2009 -> 09:04 PM) Whooptie f***ing doo. Where was this for the last 8 weeks? I know, I know. It's been painfully missing for quite some time. But I'm still a big fan of JD, and in his waning days in a Sox uniform, I'd at least like to see him go out on a good note.

Nice to see JD nailing the ball tonight.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 11:34 AM) SLG vs. OBP depends more on where you hit in the lineup than anything else. Obviously, you want somebody with a high SLG hitting 4th, but if your DH happens to be your leadoff guy, OBP rules. I completely agree. My point is that our club is probably going to need a lefthanded presence somewhere in the middle of that line-up next year, meaning that slugging % is what might be of more importance to acquire this winter; thus, diminishing the need for the services of one Mr. Milton Bradley.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 10:56 AM) If you're looking to add an OBP guy in the DH spot, there are still a lot of different options such as; 1 - Jim Thome. Yeah most people probably wouldn't want him back, and he's inconsistent as hell. But so is Bradley, and Thome put up an .864 OPS for the Sox this season with a .372 OBP. 2 - Russell Branyan. 1 year wonder? Possibly, but if the price was right he'd be worth considering. I'd imagine he'll stick with the Mariners though. 3 - Nick Johnson. This guy has a .421 OBP this season. 92 BB's and 81 K's. He'd look very nice in the DH spot for us. 4 - Adam LaRoche. Doesn't get on base as well as the 3 above, but he's another option to consider. I should think that slugging % would be every bit as, if not more important than, OBP when it comes to talking about a lefthanded DH on our particular ballclub. As of the moment, we do not have anybody who can hit the ball with regular authority from that side of the plate. As such, I think we need to be thinking about guys such as Thome, Branyan, Matsui and Delgado for that role long before we think of a mediocre run producer such as Bradley. And if you do place more of a premium on OBP, then you obviously set your sights on a guy like Abreu. All of those guys, of course, are free agents, so I think you investigate their availability as well as any potential lefthanded hitting trade candiates out there long before you even remotely consider taking on a problem child like Bradley. I mean, to me, Bradley isn't even in a "Plan B" type of category. More like "Plan Z", and I don't mean Zambrano!

Boy, Hawk and Stoney busting out the season's post mortem tonight. I guess they've finally seen enough. My heart wants to share their optimism about next year. But it's a little hard at the moment when you look at the league's worst defense, 12th best offense, and a bullpen in a somewhat state of shambles. I do think we will be in a position of strength with our starting rotation in '10, and I agree with Hawk and Stone about the expected improvement from guys like Beckham and Getz. But I agree even more with Stone's comment that Kenny still has some work to do this winter.

Rather than trade anybody with a pulse for "Bad Boy" Milton Bradley, I'd rather we go out and re-sign "Good Guy" Jim Thome for one more year. You'd get all of the OBP that Bradley brings to the table plus more homers and RBIs. That and you'd have arguably the best influence in all of baseball in the clubhouse vs. the worst.

QUOTE (SouthsideDon48 @ Sep 17, 2009 -> 11:34 AM) No, not in that situation, but I would call for the bunt in the 3rd inning if, say, the leadoff batter was the 9th batter (Getz) and he got on base. So if Getz was on base, and the next batter was Pods and the batter after that is Beckham, then I'm DEFINITELY calling for a bunt. With a well-played bunt by Pods, 1 of 2 things can happen: 1. Getz moves over to 2nd and Pods is out, and Beckham bats next. or... 2. Getz mvoes over to 2nd and Pods is safe on 1st after outrunning the bunt, flustering the opposing pitcher with 2 runners on base with 1 in scoring position and a strong bat in Backham standing in the batter's box. That's better than letting Pods try to swing and risk a double-play, which would not give Beckham the psychological edge he would've had if there was 1 baserunner on 2nd in scoring position, or 2 baserunners on base. In the third inning, I'm not wasting an out having Pods bunt Getz over to 2nd. I'm letting a guy with a very good stolen base ratio take his chance on swiping the base. Most good base stealers have around a 75-80% success ratio, and I'm sure that matches up quite favorably to the success ratio of the average bunter in the league. No, for me, I take my chances with Getz running in this particular scenario every time. The only time I'm bunting with an American League team playing in a hitter's park like U.S. Cellular Field is from the 7th inning on in a one-run ballgame when you get a base clogger on base. That I'll sign onto. But other than that, I'm either having my good baserunners trying to steal bases, and/or I'm letting my hitters swing the bat.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Sep 15, 2009 -> 10:05 PM) If you're Freddy, and your only competition (outside of a bunch of AAAA players and still-developing prospects with control problems) is Danny Hudson, then it's your job to lose. Who sez Dan Hudson is Garcia's only competition? If Freddy doesn't pitch well for the remainder of the season, then Kenny will have to consider a whole bunch of options other than just Hudson. I'm a Freddy fan and I pull for him based on what he's done in the past, but based on his recent arm problems, I'm certainly not as willing as Ozzie at this point to make him the #5 starter for next season. I still need to see more; hence, my comment about the need to see a few more starts between now and the end of the season.

I think we need to see a few more starts from Big Game Freddy in the next couple of weeks before we allow the manager to go and automatically annoint him as a starter in next season's rotation.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Sep 8, 2009 -> 08:46 AM) Somehow I doubt KW signs Thome, Pods, and Figgins. And I can't help but to think that if we re-sign Pods that Ozzie will be throwing him in the OF way more than he should be out there. If we can somehow come up with a viable trade package I'd love to get Crawford over here and just forget about Pods and Figgins all together. Well sure, I would love to have Carl Crawford on the team - who wouldn't. But the operative phrase here is "viable trade package", and in the case of Carl Crawford, we would have to surrender some very good talent somewhere on the Major League roster as well as some of our better prospects to meet what Tampa would consider "viable". Meanwhile, under my scenario, you sign Thome and Pods which, as I mentioned, is probably not only fairly easy to do and affordable, but you don't give up any talent in the process. And if you can manage to sign Figgins, all you are giving up is a second round draft pick, given where the Sox are in the standings these days. I'm not saying that signing Figgins will be easy, just that if they did sign him, along with Big Jim and Pods, the team would then have a very solid and formidable configuration.

What's interesting to me is that if the Sox were able to resign Thome and Pods to be the DH and back-up outfielder (which I would think is quite possible) and somehow manage to make the splashy Figgins signing, you could then be looking at a team capable of stealing between 150-175 bases while also clubbing 175-200 homeruns. Consider: Figgins - 5 HR, 45 SB Ramirez - 20-25 HR, 20 SB Beckham - 20-25 HR, 15-20 SB Quentin - 30-35 HR Thome - 25-30 HR Konerko - 25-30 HR Pierzynski - 10-15 HR Rios - 20-25 HR, 30-35 SB Getz - 5 HR, 30-35 SB You add in expected contributions from the bench (Nix, Kotsay, Flowers, Pods) and I think you get to those ranges of output I noted above. More importantly, though, this would represent a very balanced attack, both from the right side of the plate as well as the left, and one that could beat you on almost any given day with either speed, power, or a vicious combination of both.

First time poster here, and thanks to everyone at this forum for providing some very lively and entertaining analysis lo these many years! As for Mr. Rios, I'm not going to focus too much on what he's done (or not done) thus far with the White Sox, nor am I going to dwell on his offensive trends over the past few years. No, for me, as we cast our eye forward a bit, if we can pencil this guy into the centerfield slot for the next few years and get Gold Glove "caliber-like" defense from him, along with 20+ homers and 30+ stolen bases, I'll be quite satisfied. That level of production is pretty much where his game is at the moment, and if he happens to tap into his long-proclaimed "potential" and becomes, say, a 30/40 type of player, even better. But I'll be happy with his level of production of the past couple of years, even if we're overpaying for it a bit. Bottom line is I'm certain there will be other more pressing needs during the next few years other than Rios that will require more attention.