Ranger

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 06:32 PM) Their overall DH production was horrid, and was something that even casual baseball fans could see coming from miles away. It was one big reason they didn't win, If you don't think a real DH would have mattered, fine, but then you probably can't think much of the Dunn signing. Apparently KW and JR thought the DH spot was a big problem. I look at the overall offense and what it produced over the season, I don't focus on one spot in the order. The Sox were a Top 7 offense in June, Top 5 in July, and the best offense in baseball in August. They lost games they should have won because of the pitching and the failure to hold leads. Of course having Dunn's ability in the lineup makes them a better offense, but that doesn't mean that Kotsay's presence cost them the playoffs last year. If they have Dunn last season, I still don't believe they make the playoffs, because I don't think he alone makes up the 6 games they would've needed. But, I do want people to keep in mind that Konerko benefited greatly by getting days off from the field and the team benefit by him being in the lineup on those days. The idea of being able to rotate somebody into his spot play is a very good idea. I just hope that he stays as healthy this year as he was last year. Just keep an eye out for that in 2011.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 10:29 AM) If KW traded for EJax with absolutely 0% intention of keeping him, instead of just brokering a 3-way deal with WAS & ARI, then that's a borderline fireable offense. QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 10:47 AM) If it was a calculated risk, then that's different. If KW said, "I like EJax for Hudson, but I'd prefer Dunn" then I can live with that. But if they wanted nothing to do with Jackson, and strictly acquired him to move for Dunn and got played, then that's bad and a GM cannot be making decisions like that. That's exactly what happened and it was said at the time. And in regard to your next sentence, Steve pretty much nails it: QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 10:48 AM) Listen, KW doesn't do Hudson for E-Jax unless he's ok with being "stuck" with E-Jax. Hudson looks every bit of a National League pitcher, while Edwin looked great for us. We have both now, no need to sweat the small stuff. There is just no way a GM with any sort of working brain would get suckered into something like this unless he he knew the potential of a deal falling through. Williams isn't stupid and Rizzo probably didn't do himself a ton of favors when it comes to having to deal with any teams in the future.

By the way, Kotsay only played in 34 of the 50 games played in April/May. And he only started in 29 of them. I'm sorry, but subtracting Kotsay and adding Thome wouldn't have prevented the slow start. Unless, again, the addition was somebody like Albert Pujols. In that case, you can probably add a handful of wins right there. Although, if the rest of the offense was as bad as the 8 other regulars were to start last year, Pujols wouldn't see any pitches to hit anyway. The bottom line is that no team can afford to have 7 or 8 regulars batting around .200 or worse to start the season. Even if Mark Kotsay isn't one of them.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 5, 2011 -> 04:04 PM) The slow start is what prevented them from running away from the competition and getting a double digit lead when they went 26-5. Kotsay's ineffectiveness during that early part of the season, especially with men on base, had a negative impact on the team. Right, but is it why they lost? Nobody was hitting except for Konerko and Rios. A team can't win games when 2 guys are hitting. A team can't win games when 3 guys are hitting, either. The 2010 White Sox did not lose the division because of Mark Kotsay.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jan 4, 2011 -> 02:43 AM) Doesn't Tommy John surgery take two years to recover from? Plus, Nathan is in his mid-30's. I think the days of Joe Nathan striking fear into the AL are long over. Plus, Capps wasn't that solid last year for them, so its not like they have a good BP right now. While the Twins core of Mauer-Morneau-Young-Liriano-Duensing is still intact, it's a big question mark after those 6. The rotation is suspect after Liriano-Duensing, the lineup still has Mauer-Morenau-Young, but Cuddyer-Kubel-Span all had down years last year from 2009 and who knows about Valencia-Nishioka-Casilla. It sure will be interesting to watch. QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 4, 2011 -> 09:37 AM) the rehab is usually 8-9 months. But you're right, it takes many pitchers a while to regain the "feel" for pitches with the new tightened elbow. From my experience the more experienced pitchers take less time to regain this. I would guess that Nathan would get it back through spring training depending on how much they let him throw. I think an even greater issue with Nathan is that he's not 26. He's 36, and will be 37 a month or so after the season ends. I would think recovering from a surgery and getting back that "feel" would be tougher in the mid-to-late 30s. But who knows? He might come back incredibly strong. QUOTE (greg775 @ Jan 4, 2011 -> 01:06 PM) Two points. I agree the opposite could happen; I'm just trying to say our team is no lock to win squat. Once we take the field are you confident we're going to win any given game just because we added Dunn/Crain? Our team was utterly dysfunctional last year. There isn't a lock in the division. And I'm not sure what you mean by "utterly dysfunctional".

QUOTE (jphat007 @ Jan 1, 2011 -> 07:44 PM) The players? Or the Twins or Tigers? I just don't think that a manager has that big of an effect in baseball in a positive or negative way. The person that brings in the players and the players are the people who control whether a team wins or not. Ozzie's decision to go with Kotsay instead of THome had a much bigger effect on the team than anything he did in seasons. Yes and no. Players, and the health of those players (keeping in mind that just because a guy stays off the DL it doesn't mean he's "healthy"), is about 90% of it. There really isn't much a manager can do if the players aren't any good, and really, I don't believe he can make them much better than what they are. Either they're going to be or they're not. It's not as if baseball is such a sport (like basketball/football) where you can put a guy in a "system" in which he can succeed. They're going to hit, pitch, and catch it like they're capable, or they're not. Nobody can make them do that better. The truth is that most professional players that fail have internal issues (health, confidence problems, personal issues, etc.). In regard to mental issues, the best that can be done for those players is to tell them you believe in them, continue to give them opportunities, and hope they snap out of it. But that stuff isn't as easy to explain away and it sure isn't as easy to "treat". Meaning, the way of the world is people want answers and they demand restitution and the satisfaction of feeling like something is being done about the problem. From being around it and talking with a lot of these guys off the record, it seems pretty evident that, unless a manager is totally incompetent (i.e. goes to make a pitching change but has nobody warming up), there isn't much a manager can do for them to make them play better over 162 games except to believe in them. As for the Kotsay thing, it really isn't why they lost the division. They started the season slow on offense (April and May weren't good), but a single hitter wouldn't have changed their fortunes, unless it was Pujols. Plus, there's no guarantee Thome would've even hit during those months either. By June, they were a decent offense and got even better in July and August. Where the Sox really failed last year was pitching issues in August. Too many games and leads blown. They gave away far too many games in the late innings last year, which was not the fault of the offense. Couple that with losing the closer and both setup men to injury at various points, and then the team had real problems.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Dec 16, 2010 -> 01:14 AM) I agree with Ranger. I blame the players. But last offseason I was against the Teahen signing so I think people like me who don't like Teahen can blame KW for that awful signing. I'm glad we got a former Twin to shake things up a bit. To dislike the Teahen signing, I understand. I was indifferent toward it because I understood the logic behind it, but it didn't excite me. I don't absolutely hate it as much as everyone else seems to, though.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 11:17 PM) Oh, then I'd like to trade for Joakim Soria. What if Kenny didn't like Downs for some reason? What if Kenny preferred a right handed pitcher instead of a left hander? Could all be possible, but there's no question Downs is the better pitcher and would give you a better return. Oops. Obviously, I meant this isn't fantasy. There could be a number of reasons that deal didn't happen that are out of the Sox' control. I guess a better way to describe what I'm saying is this: I think we can agree that most Sox fans are happy with the way this offseason has gone and are pleased with the team as-is and certainly consider them good enough to be competitive. If that is true, then when the season comes to an end and if a lot of these moves don't result in a winner, I think it would be disingenuous to say, "KW should take the heat for this season!" To me, you can't be on board with the team and happy with the deals and acquisitions if you're going to change your mind later and blame the GM for failure. That's why I think if a GM puts together a good team on paper, it's not necessarily his failure if they don't perform as they should. I will almost always blame players for not putting up the numbers they should put up. It's almost never anyone's fault but their own if they don't. QUOTE (Real @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 11:50 PM) RONGEY, you and abbatacola have me in tears right now. i cant stop laughing, haha You like the burps, don't you? Juvenile.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 11:07 PM) This is so wrong, in my opinion. If that was the case, then the big market teams would never fire their GMs. Guys like Omar Minaya put together good teams on paper, but there were obvious chemistry flaws or teams loaded with injury-prone players. There was more to Minaya being gone than just the results. A lot going on behind the scenes there in terms of his "behavior", shall we say. It is also nearly impossible to create chemistry in a clubhouse. Unless you're just constantly bringing in terrible people to play for you. Besides, a team full of constantly-injured players would make a team not good on paper. I also think that in many cases, GMs shouldn't be as readily fired as they are. Sometimes it's deserved, but for the most part, if they put the best team they can within their means, there isn't eally much more than can be reasonably asked. There just isn't.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 11:03 PM) Also, don't forget that Cowley said 2011 could be "The Kids Can Play II" about a month and a half ago. That was true. There were two offseason plans presented to ownership. One was to see how many parts they could dump, the other is what they're doing now.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 10:30 PM) There were better options out there who are going for around the same rate. Downs is a better reliever than Crain, yet he only got two million more. The reason I wanted the Sox to sign Crain was because I thought he was going to come cheaper, something around 2 for $7 million or 3 for $10 million. The contract pays Crain to be at least a 1 WAR reliever, he hasn't done that yet in his career. Although if he pitches like he did last year, he should be just fine. Either the payroll is going to $125 million or there's a lot of trades coming our way. Who says Downs was intersted in coming here? This is fantasy baseball. There are a lot of variables to signing players you want to sign and the market can change over the course of several days. QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 10:33 PM) My original point was not that a GM was like a salesman, but that this isn't Little League, effort doesn't really matter. Results do. People put up with Manny jaking it when he was MVP calibur. They don't know. Its reasonable to think the harder someone works the better their performance, but that's not necessarily true. I'm sure you know a least a couple people in your profession that mail it in and seem to get higher ratings and praise than others who work their butts off. As a lifelong White Sox fan and a guy who is sick of hearing about budget problems, I and several others pointed out what a waste of money bringing in Manny was. He had been hurt, hadn't played much, and it was pretty obvious what was going to happen.That was $4 million they could have spent on 2011. Its not a no harm no foul transaction. And you can give him an A for his offseason, but the games are played on the field. Teachers don't give grades before the students take their tests. For a GM, I think you have to give the benefit of the doubt if he's put together a good team on paper for the simple fact that too many unexpected and unpredictable things that can happen during the season that affect the outcome of the year. I don't think the Manny thing was "obvious" as he had the NL's 4th best OPS prior to injury before coming here. And it doesn't matter anyway because the payroll doesn't work like that. His acquisition last year doesn't take away $4 million from teh pot this season. New year, new payroll.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 10:23 PM) Wow, did we have to give him three years? Jeez. I think he's a decent pitcher and all, but I'm not liking the length of the contract. It's true that he should stay relatively healthy and all, but they might as well have gotten Scott Downs. Again, when you need something, you're probably going to have to overpay for it. Same thing with Linebrink. Sox desperatley needed bullpen help, Sox were gonna have to overpay. It's how the market works.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 10:02 PM) I couldn't disagree more. Someone like Peavy had huge question marks coming over to the AL and leaving the pitcher's haven that is PetCo. There were also a lot of red flags that existed with Peavy that people in the baseball industry had over his long term productivity. KW took a huge risk by taking on that contract, and if he could get out of that deal, it seems likely he would right now. Sure Peavy was a risk because of the salary, but would you prefer he never takes risks on the big names? I recall very few people upset about that deal at the time. Peavy is a top of the line pitcher, and when he's healthy, he makes them better than Clayton Richard would have. Peavy usually makes 30+ starts a season. I'll take that if he continues to do that over the course of the contract. Three is risk in signing/trading for any large contract player, but that doesn't mean a GM should never do it ever. In fact, most people would complain if he didn't ever do it. I'm pretty sure of that. QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 10:04 PM) If his choices are Player A or Player B or Player C vs. Player D, if he picks A and C and B and D outperform them, he didn't do his job. His job isn't just to pick the players with the best track records. His job is also to project. How does any GM lose their job? Their success is all contigent on players' performances they have no control over, but they do have control over the roster, and if JR isn't getting bang for his buck, someone has to be responsible for the players' who arenot performing being there. It absolutely was KW's fault he blew $4 million on Manny Ramirez in 2010. It's pointless to talk about Manny because, again, nobody complained about it at the time. They gave up no players to get him and they were trying the best they could to add anything to make the final push a little easier. So, it didn't work, but no harm done. They aren't on the hook for him, and you can't blame a guy for trying strengthen the offense for a month. They lost nothing by adding him and they didn't miss the playoffs because he was here. And it's not as simple as just "picking" A, B, C, or D. For one, they often times also have to pick you. Second, you always have to have the resources to acquire them. Your original point is that being a GM is like being a salesman responsible for his sales. The truth is, the two jobs are nothing alike. At all. Sure, some GMs are more prone to make poor decisions than others are, but Kenny isn't one of them. You can't blame him for doing the best with what he had to work with this offseason. He's actually done vrey well. And really, it comes down to how much ownership has committed...and they've committed quite a bit and have made the best effort possible for them.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 09:17 PM) Its performance related. All GMs try. Just to say this is great even if it doesn't work out because KW needs a reliever and Crain was a very good reliever in 2010 is silly. There are a lot of GMs who need relievers that did not offer Crain what KW did. Time will tell who is correct. Duane Schaffer tried real hard drafting guys. They all tried really hard. They didn't perform Duane Schaffer is out of a job. KW didn't can him because he didn't try hard. He canned him because he picked the wrong players. If Crain doesn't perform and cost the Sox 10 times what Lance Broadway cost the Sox, why shouldn't KW's neck be on the line? KW's effort really doesn't matter too much to me. I know he's going to give his total effort, but if the choice was to have him work 18 hour days study scouting reports and tape and sign busts, or be out picking up women every night, spending 10 minutes a day at his job but making great trades and free agent signings in retrospect, I'll take the latter. It's still not the same thing. Not even close. As a GM, you're performance is soley based on what's available to you and what you have to offer/spend. If you make the effort to get the best free agents available and spend the money, there's no reason for fans to complain about that. Especially when fans will complain when you DON'T spend money and DON'T effor to make the big moves. Then, after you acquire those players, you're still dependant on them to perform to their capbilities. You're missing the point anyway when I use the word "effort". I'm not talking about how many hours per day he works, I'm talking about him making the decision to land the aboslute best available and directing all the resources toward doing that. Yes, I think there should be plenty of cushion given to the GM that operates the way he does, and in particular this offseason. Because regardless of the outcome, there is only so much over which he has absolute control. The actual performance of Dunn, PK, Peavy, Danks, Floyd, Rios, Crain, Thornton, etc. is not really in his control. What I'm saying is, if a GM puts together a good team on paper, that's all that can be realistically asked of him.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 08:51 PM) Effort is for kids. Results is what matters in the real world. If you owned a company had 2 salesman and one worked his ass off was a great guy etc.but couldn't sell a thing and another was a total ass, put in 5 hours a week but sold a ton, and one of them had to go, which one is it going to be? There isn't a GM in the game that doesn't put in the effort. With all due respect, this isn't a very good analogy. In the sales world, you are responsible for your own sales. In baseball, you are at the mercy of the performance of others. All a GM can do is bring in the best available parts and hope they do their jobs. Sales is totally, totally different. If you don't sell, there is nobody else to blame but you. Rarely are "business world" analogies strong enough to help explain baseball.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 08:14 PM) Eh, it's really hard to get excited about the signing of a middle reliever especially when we gave him 3 years, these contracts have like a 90% failure rate. But hey, at least we're trying. Gotta love that. You should be glad they're trying to address a need. You can't criticize a GM for doing everything they can to try and get some certainty (even if it fails). It may work, it may not, but effort is all you can ask for.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 15, 2010 -> 10:31 AM) Why what? Why do I trust in Kenny? Because I love the man. Why was trading for Jake Peavy dumb? Because he has a mammoth contract, a long history of injury, and was injured at the time of acquisition. I think we all knew that the percent chance that that deal paid off was quite low (regardless of what we traded, those pieces could have been used to acquire someone else or we just save the huge Peavy contract). However, Peavy is funny, because as much of a fail as he's been for the White Sox, I still love him. Hopefully he can come back healthy and return to the form we saw with the Padres in his early days, but I'm not holding my breath. The move is risky, but that doesn't necessarily make it a bad move. Were Peavy 32 at the time of acquisition with multiple years left on the deal, I would think differently. But I was happy with the deal, because a healthy Peavy makes the rotation better. The ankle injury I dismiss because it's not an indication of anything long term. A freak injury. And if the guy is capable of making 30+ starts a season (which he typically does), I'm all for it.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 14, 2010 -> 07:59 PM) Crain had a good year in 2010 but when I was in Minneapolis, Twins fans held him in the same regard Scott Linebrink was held during his time in Chicago. Fans often don't realize the relative success of some of their relievers. They expect them all to be lights out all the time, but it just isn't realistic.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 13, 2010 -> 02:02 PM) The people that are signing his checks are the ones at the Sun Times. Job number one for him is to sell newspapers. I know he gets paid to be on the Score as well, but from experience I know that isn't much. Writers on the radio is another way of selling more newspapers. If people aren't buying the Sun Times based on his work, then he is failing, even if people are talking about it on a place like Soxtalk. I also know that his record this winter has been abysmal compared to lots of the other writers. Heck some of the national writers are out-scooping him, which with the connections that should happen in your own marketplace, should really never happen. Not only hasn't he been out in front of anything, he has been completely wrong on pretty much everything. I know things change, but comparing his body of work to other people's is how you can make a judgment call IMO of how accurate he has been, and I just haven't seen it. Cowley has been pretty much the equivalent of the Bears offensive line this off-season. It's unfair to place the success of a newspaper on one sports writer. That's staff-wide issue up to the highest ranks of the newspaper. Because of the history of his interaction with this website, I think very few people here would give him credit for anything. Usually that's what happens when things get adversarial. But I can assure you that he's been on top of things this offseason. QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 13, 2010 -> 03:05 PM) Actually, AJ himself was on MLB Network and said he was a minute away from going to the Dodgers. Cowley had it Toronto, and then it suddenly dissappeared from his story. Maybe not him editing it, but someone who obviously figured out the information was incorrect. Again. I don't think KW would use a term as strong as lie if he were indeed shopping Quentin, anther thing Cowley put his legs on both sides of the fence. First saying they were asking for a lot, then saying they were looking for a Carlos Lee like deal, which IIRC was initially panned for the talent being returned but praised for freeing up payroll. What about his The Kids Can Play Part II, the the Sox were going young and maybe the Sox will sign Johnny Damon to throw the fans a bone stuff? Some more Cowley fiction. If Phil Rogers came up with all this stuff, Cowley would be tweeting how big a fool "Phillip" is, and probably going on and on about how the sports editor or "Little Dictator" at the Tribune has ruined the paper. You can make excuses for him all you want, but this offseason, he has been horrible. You would have learned nothing from his stories. He's broken nothing. He thinks he's superior to those that are outworking and outscooping him. I know you have Joe on your show and maybe in real life he is a nice guy, but his "stage" persona is ridiculous. KW has denied plenty before, as is his job. He tries to do things a little bit differently than a lot of executives would do and he absolutely hates it when rumors get out. Probably more so than anyone else. That's why he's so secretive. You don't have to be the first to report it in order for you to be doing your job. Breaking stories is great, but because of the easy access to information these days, the game is a little bit different than it used to be. You may not like his style or the shots he takes, that's understandable. But I don't think it's fair to say he's been horrible at gathering information this offseason. QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Dec 13, 2010 -> 03:13 PM) Ranger, You're too good of a Sox fan to waste your posting time here defending Cowley. It'll never work. You should argue in the other threads, about baseball. You don't seem to post enough. I haven't been around for a while. I'll try to get back more often.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 13, 2010 -> 01:25 PM) I believe he was referring to Merkin as the homer, not Cowley. I know Joe is your buddy, but he's been very wrong all offseason. Maybe it is because things are "fluid", which appears to be the new in word. The problem is, if anyone else is off, especially if they work for any other place but the Score or the Sun Times, Cowley pounces. His crap about KW destroying Rogers is ironic. KW destroyed Cowley on Friday when he said his stuff about the Sox shopping Quentin was "a lie". Joe sent out stuff like one of KW and Ozzie has to go, and you all know which one. No Joe, I don't, tell us. Have the balls to get it out there. Either have KW destroy you the rest of the time you cover Chicago baseball by saying KW has to go, or end your bromance with Oneyt by saying Ozzie has to go. AJ was going to Toronto. No he wasn't. He was going to the Dodgers. Paulie was going to the Cubs or the Rangers. No he wasn't, he was going to the Sox or the DBacks. He jumped on a collegue's story about the potential trade of Ozzie to the Marlins. The problem was the trade part may have been accurate, but the player the Sox were supposedly asking for was not. Why is it when someone reported a story to Don Cooper and gave Cowley as the source of the information, did Cooper say, Cowley reported it? Then its a lie. You'll have to take that up with Cooper, but he has some sort of personal issue with Cowley. I love Coop, but he just doesn't like the media at all. I would not discount AJ/Toronto just because Rosenthal reported AJ was not going there. There may have been a time (even if it was only for an hour or two) that AJ was strongly considering, if not close to accepting a deal there. Joe knows AJ very well. And, I would not put a whole lot of stock in KW saying that shopping CQ is a lie. He's just not going to publicly admit that he's looking to trade Quentin.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 13, 2010 -> 01:17 PM) It's true some will. I think most of us understand that while you can be frustrated (and you certainly have given your opinion especially when the team plays like crap) you can't exactly go all-out ripping on the Sox and expect to keep your pre and post job. I think you do a great job intelligently critiquing the Sox while making pre/post and WS Weekly great listens. I appreciate it. It's about being fair. I can criticize, but I'm not going to go make a ranting lunatic of myself. I'm certainly not going to say _______ or _______ sucks, only to have to go back and change my tune when they start playing well again. You want lunacy, you know where to find it, but I'm not selling. QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 13, 2010 -> 01:17 PM) Just to clarify, I think J4L was talking about Scott Merkin there, not Cowley. Merkin is indeed a homer, because that's of course his job - he writes for MLB and represents the team's interests (if indirectly). I don't think anyone is of the view that Cowley is a homer. And on the fluidity argument, that is exactly why Cowley is such garbage. His writing, tweets and other data he flings around speak in only two forms - sarcasm and absolutism. If he took out the 12-year-old act sarcasm crap, and made his material less absolute (PK has sailed!!!!!!), he'd at least have a chance to be marginally believable. As it stands, he's not a journalist at all, he's a screaming columnist, a la Jay Mariotti. I have to say that KW was speaking that afternoon as if they were moving on, but I think just about everyone (even Cowley) knew there was always a slight chance something could still happen. If I'm not mistaken, Joe was on our station right after KW spoke and even said as much. Obviously later in the evening, things changed. I know that the Sox did, for a couple of hours at least, think they were going to have to go to plan B.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 10:32 PM) Commenting on his steaming piles of crap is meaningless. Unless you are buying the Sun Times, he is a failure at what he does. Define "failure". You may not like his personality, but he's on top of everything. What you have to understand is that offseason stuff is constantly fluid, even for those that are actually involved in getting deals done. They may think they have something one minute, only for it to fall apart the next. QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 8, 2010 -> 11:38 PM) I can't stand him. His steady stream of titanic-bloated homerism pieces make me want to barf. He makes SS2K5, Ranger and Hawk look pessimistic. This entire post proves that your perception is off. Cowley is anything but a homer. Do you even read what he's written this offseason or see any of his tweets. He's been quite direct in regard to KW and has, a few times, taken a couple of stabs. Or at least it appears that way. And, with all due respect to Hawk, we are not even close to being the same and our jobs are not the same. If you think that, you clearly don't know what you're talking about and you certainly don't understand what a "homer" is. You've apparently failed to notice the number of times I've criticized the team. Then again, I'm fighting a losing battle, I see. Some people will always hear what they want to hear.

QUOTE (elgonzo4sox @ Sep 5, 2010 -> 08:18 PM) If the Sox beat out the Twins, Ozzie deserves AL Manager of the Year for the simple (yet incredibly important) reason that he held this team together in May when almost everyone in the media, fandom and perhaps even front office had written them off. As for today's game: --Some people ripped Ozzie for sitting Manny and playing Kotsay. But after the game we learned Paulie had a bad back, so Ozzie was right to have Kotsay play first. The choice Ozzie had to make was Paulie vs. Manny for DH, not Kotsay vs. Manny. And Ozzie did use Manny beautifully well in the 8th with one out. He scared Francona, who panicked and went to his closer Papelbon for a *five out save*. Eventually, Papelbon tired and gave up the game. Give Ozzie a little credit for that. --I was nervous too when Ozzie left in Burls to face VMart, but our bullpen was not at full strength after yesterday's DH sweep. If you want to see what can happen when you switch pitchers too often, look back at Thursday night's Twins/Tigers game, in which the much esteemed Gardenhire blew through his entire bullpen and three starters, and then had no one to start the next night except an emergency AAA call-up. Now that's a prime example of mishandling pitchers. That's a very good post. I think people forget the shape the pen is in, even after having a couple of days off. What many fans don't realize is the number of relievers on a daily basis that teams try to avoid using and they sometimes don't realize just how quickly a pen can get burned out (like elgonzo said, ask Ron Gardenhire). Yesterday, they did not want to use Sale or Santos again, and they ABSOLUTELY did not want to go to Jenks. And with no Putz, that meant lining up the final 2 innings plus with maybe Thornton (who had not pitched in over 2 weeks) and somebody else. Martinez, by the way, had already popped up twice and flied out once to Buehrle in yesterday's game leading up to the HR. It wasn't like he had been killing him on that day, anyway. O know the argument will be made that this is a pennant race, etc., etc., etc. But this is not the final week...the end of the season is not 'til Oct. 3rd. This is still a time to be careful with the pen and monitor it's usage. I think people just get so angry with certain managerial decisions (and, yes, it does happen everywhere) that they don't even really to take the time to try to understand WHY they're making a move that doesn't make sense on the surface.

QUOTE (MattZakrowski @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 01:31 PM) It's not that it can't happen, but I really don't think this team is that good, and Minnesota is really good. Eh. Minnesota is good, but I think some people overrate them. Their offense is better than what the Sox have, but their pitching is simply not comparable. QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 01:58 PM) A team that put up a 25-5 run, and was sustained good for like 2 months, and you don't think they have it in them to win more than 3 straight again? How does that make sense? The only personnel changes since the big run started are Teahen (who is hitting again) for Viciedo, Jackson (who has been very good) for Hudson, and Sale (who looks darn good so far) for Threets. Do you think those moves somehow killed the Sox? If not, I fail to see your logic. It doesn't make sense. It's just hyper-negativity manifesting itself. The idea that another team cannot possibly fail as much as your team can and will. Some of us are forgetting that the Twins weren't very good for a while this season and it's very possible they go through something similar again with 7 weeks to play.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Aug 5, 2010 -> 10:11 PM) Ozzie was on Swishers side early in the season. Everyone soon learned that he was a complete jacka** and no one on the team could stand him. Regardless of the stats, although his bad year made it worse, he had to go. QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Aug 5, 2010 -> 11:16 PM) He plays for the f***ing Yankees right now and everyone loves him. Thats f***ing bulls***. That team is the most uptight organization in baseball and he's fine there. The only move I've ever thought KW made horribly (dumping him, not trading for him.) It's really not bull****. The team as a whole didn't like him and he rubbed a LOT of players the wrong way -- veterans in particular -- and you could see tiny red flags during spring training that year. That's why he isn't here anymore. Ultimately, if you're getting under the skin of your teammates' and you aren't producing, you're probably no longer wanted. It's a perfect illustration that you simply cannot create good chemistry. It has to just happen. One of the reasons Swisher was acquired in the first place is because they thought he'd help keep things loose in the clubhouse (that, and they figured his offensive numbers would improve in this park). It didn't work out that way.