Mr. Wedmesday

So does a change work--if it works-- because of the good things the new guy brings with him, or the bad things that go out the door with Ozzie/Walker/whoever? Either way, it's a wake up call to suddenly have a new sheriff in town.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 25, 2011 -> 08:24 AM) f*** it. Give the job to Omar. Starting tonight.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Apr 25, 2011 -> 11:50 AM) As an owner and gm, you just injected 20 million dollars more into a team with the same results so far. The next step is management changes, and whether that's Ozzie or one of his crew, it has to happen. JR can be loyal to a fault, but as you point out he's no longer playing with house money. His top three-payroll bottom-three performing team needs an immediate jolt before it flatlines for the season.

QUOTE (TitoMB @ Apr 25, 2011 -> 01:39 AM) Let's be real. You can shoot out a tweet in under 20 seconds. True enough. My point is its time for a change, and tweeting etc is one of the reasons why. It's quick but it's distracting. Guys like like Thibodeau, Quennville and Torre (i wish) are focused to the point of obsession on winning as a team and it seems to be effective. You hear very little about their family lives, hobbies, feuds, etc. No obscene rants, no very public personal issues-- just the job. Their players always know what's expected of them, what their roles are and that anything but maximum effort will get them benched or sent down. Ozzie is a true character and he may not be the only reason the team appears unmotivated, unprepared, and whipped three weeks into the season but it's his job to make the most out of what he has to work with. And these guys are not nearly as bad as they've been playing. So coach 'em up or find someone who can.

Throw Ozzie under a real bus, with KW driving and all the players on board. Rinse and repeat with Greg Walker. Spend whatever it takes to hire a no-BS manager who commands respect and demands maximum effort every day. (See the Bulls pre and post Thibodeau and the Blackhawks pre and post Quennville.) He doesn't need to be fun or interesting or a fan favorite, and he should be way too busy trying to win to spend time tweeting. Ozzie lost the team a while ago and it's time for the team to lose Ozzie.

It is interesting, as others have pointed out, that PK's two best years were walk years. Whatever else motivated him to give JR the ball in '05, it was a very smart financial move.... Of course I like him and would love to see him come back at a reasonable price, but he does seem to have a bit of attitude this time around. Hope JR doesn't cripple the bullpen for old times' sake.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 05:18 PM) Putz is on his way, and yes I think he will get a chance to close. Hope you're right on both counts.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 04:59 PM) Love the sig. I wonder who will be SoxTalk's whipping boy next year? Has to be Teahen. He's always been my guy. Peahen(a typo, but I kind of like it) avoided the honor last year due to missing many weeks with a broken thumb. Had he played the entire season he would have easily given Kotsay and Linebrink (who was so bad it seemed like he only pitched in games that were out of reach one way or the other) a solid run for the honor. No, if KW finds a way to dump Peahen, next year someone is going to have to step up and EARN the title.

Dunn. AJ. Better than even odds on PK. Now Linebrink, and if there's a benevolent deity (other than JR), Teahen. There has been more sanity displayed in the last few days by the FO than during last year's entire offseason. Guess it's a good argument for requiring the GM and the manager to stick to their respective job descriptions. Finding a "spare" $20-30million doesn't hurt either. Don't stop now, boys!

I don't know who set who up.... But it seems obvious that the only way a rotating DH scheme has any chance of working is if the players who are part of that rotation are, at the very least, good enough hitters to DH on their own. One righty and lefty and hey why not make the third guy a switch hitter. And the operative word is hitter. But who among our DH rotation was anything but overaged, overmatched, or a utility guy. KW surely knew that three bad hitters won't somehow be better because they are part of a totally lame "rotation". Each guy did what he was capable of on his day--very little. That Ozzie did not recognize how faulty his plan was boggles the mind.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Sep 23, 2010 -> 10:33 AM) ON TOP OF THAT they then turned around and hit Juan Pierre later on that same game without retaliation from the Sox. There should have been a at least one Twin leaving the field with a concussion or a broken hand that night. And I know I know... concussions are serious business and you never want to purposely injure another athlete and blah blah blah. Tell that to Pavano and punk ass Delmon Young. Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn don't own the Sox. The Twins do. And as much as I love Ozzie, if he doesn't have the balls to inspire his team to protect themselves, then he can go have a nice life managing the Marlins or the Braves. My point exactly. That's why I was hoping for a bench-clearing butt-kicking, with Ozzie leading the charge. At that point it wouldn't have mattered if half the team got suspended. We were done. And it might have at least begun the process of getting the Twinks out of the Sox collective heads. PK was extremely lucky the ball caught his helmet first, as were the Twinks that all they got for beating on our guys all year was a love tap from our crafty lefty.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Sep 23, 2010 -> 10:20 AM) Maybe. Maybe not. But they are an elite team this year so don't kid yourself that they're the Boof Bonser team from a few years ago. They can get 100 wins with their elite closer sidelined all year and a perennial triple crown contender missing for most of the 2nd half. I did mention that they are good, and I know why. But 100 wins would be out of the question if we hadn't handed them 5 or 6 on a silver platter, and if the rest of the division was just a little stronger. My theory is that the Twins may suffer a small market inferiority complex that manifests on the national stage of the playoffs, regardless of their talent and regular season success. As opposed to the Rays, who play well in a much tougher division in front of pathetic home crowds yet seem to thrive in the spotlight. Seems like they do at least as much as te Twinkies with a whole lot less. And then there's the never-fail SI cover-story-with-photo curse. Kiss. Of. Death.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Sep 23, 2010 -> 06:37 PM) He was a decent player overall but he was epic horses*** as a hitter. I never understood all the "blind" love he got as a player. He was never my favorite shortstop because even back then Ozzie was always about Ozzie. Always seemed to think striking out was hysterically funny. What hasn't changed is that his opinion of himself is always much higher than he deserves. And he still needs to be the center of attention, even if it hurts the team's reputation or chances on the field. As a manager, 2005 was obviously his best year. It also was the last year his mouth and attitude didn't eclipse his performance as manager. He was actually pretty likable that year. Winning the "precious" warped his mind worse than Frodo.....

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Sep 22, 2010 -> 10:47 AM) As long as KW stays aboard, I have faith. The guy hates to lose. I wonder what Kenny's thoughts were about the Delmon Young-AJ incident and the Pavano hitting Konerko in the face incident. I wonder how he feels about the team's lack of retaliation. (And no, I don't think soft tossing Buehrle's throw at the twins count). The team's lack of an adequate response really sickened me. Not only do you continue to lose to those f***ers, but you also let them punk you. Inexcusable. The Twins can be beat, just not by us. The potentially career-ending beaning of Konerko required, in my opinion, nothing less than a bench clearing brawl in response. We had nothing to lose and everything to prove by kicking some serious A**--as a team. Instead, after letting these guys embarass us all season, we wimp out. Whatever happens in the off season, the changes need to be big enough to get the Minnesota Twins out of this team's collective head once and for all. Seems like we beat NY, Boston, and the Rays more than we beat the Twins. Yes they're good, but I'm guessing yet another first round elimination is imminent. Especially now that Sports Illustrated featured Thome on the cover with the prediction that he will win them the Series. The cover-of-SI-curse is among the most potent in sports. I don't care if it takes an old priest and a young priest all winter--the 2011 Sox must own the Twinkies.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Sep 22, 2010 -> 12:27 PM) That's probably a good idea. When franchises become soap operas and have their own TV show they usually don't win. Then again I never trust the credibility of any article that uses the words "unnamed sources". I'm also tired of Kenny discussing contracts, "Oh I don't know, we may not be able to sign this guy". Then there's Reinsdorf's silence. Maybe, just maybe, there may be bigger changes in ownership. I think Kenny's way of setting up a ball club and Ozzie's philosophy of what a team should be like can't exist unless they are winning. Ozzie has yet to learn the diplomacy of being a manager. Basically being too honest and not knowing when to shut up. Although you clearly position an ownership change as a remote possibility, I'm curious as to what, if any, evidence there is to support your hypothesis. It is certainly the most radical of the changes mentioned here, and I am frankly unsure how I feel about it. I guess it would depend on who took over.....

QUOTE (kwolf68 @ Sep 19, 2010 -> 09:19 PM) Either way, it's just very bad how the Sox are ending the season. Even not winning the division would have been tolerable had the team played better down the stretch. Time to look ahead to the Bears and Hawks seasons now. So sad, because the Sox are my first love. Oh well. Good point. Winning is always preferable but as long as they deliver a few hours of entertaining baseball, I don't feel like i've completely wasted my time and/or money. They have been exciting and fun to watch at times this season, mainly just before and after the ASB. But when they come out flat and appear to wish they were elsewhere, elsewhere is where I go. The season ending collapse has been unwatchable, as was much of the first half. The Bears look to be entertaining and the Hawks always give you your money's worth. The Sox offseason may well prove to be excellent entertainment as well.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 04:30 PM) I guess I probably ought to publicly flog myself a bit here and say yeah...I was too harsh. For that I apologize. Thanks for that. Much appreciated.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 12:30 PM) You may not have liked the way I phrased it...but let me be as clear as I can as to why I came off harshly. You posited a theory. You posited a theory which is based on specific data; that Thome is hitting better this season because he's seeing more fastballs. The problem is...there is plenty of data out there to check on your theory...and you didn't take the time to do it; you left it to other people. That, IMO, is why I went after your post; you didn't take the time to investigate whether the data you needed to back up your case existed. I'm going to disagree with you, like DA, on the concept that Thome is a better hitter in Minny because of the quality of hitters around him. My theory is that he's a flat out better hitter when you give him more rest. I can back this up; for example, his numbers have fallen in the 2nd half every year since 2006 except this year, where his at bats were limited in the first half. I offered a little bit of data to back mine up; you're just throwing things out there and saying "why doesn't someone go prove them wrong". If you want to make the case that Thome has had better protection this year...please do so, I'd be interested to read it, but don't just ask me to make it for you. So that me makes me lazy as well. Perhaps. But considering that I was unaware of the exisitence of much of the data you are citing, that may indeed be a bit harsh. And where in my post do I ask anyone to do anything for me? You disagree with my theory, you choose to spend your time and utilize your familiarity with databases unknown to me, more power to you. And I certainly appreciate the info. But I certainly wasn't taunting you or anybody else, just posting a theory that seemed logical to my statistically challenged mind. I'm just a Sox fan with fewer than 100 posts on the forum. I've read thousands of posts on hundreds of threads that were discussing theories not supported by what I'm sure were available stats. Neither the OP or the participants were called out for not doing so. I DID take the time to read the guidelines, where there is no mention of requiring hard facts when posting thoughts and/or theories. Is there a supplementary set of guidelines I should be aware of that contains this provision? I enjoy this site but always wonder why people here get so chippy sometimes. Seems to me Sox fans get enough grief everywhere else in this town. Can't understand why it happens here. That has always struck me as characteristic of the "other" team's fans. And I go out of my way to avoid getting in any way personal in my posts, no matter how uninformed they may be. Nevertheless, I will think twice before posting anything in the future for fear that I have not supplied an adequate bibliography.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 07:59 AM) Unfortunately for you...thanks to the availability of Pitch F/X data, this unsupported contention can now actually be checked, because PFX categorizes pitch types. Last year, in 2009, Jim Thome Saw the 4 seam fastball 52% of the time. This year, in 2010, Jim Thome has seen the 4 seam fastball 39.5% of the time. In both cases we're talking about well over a thousand pitches, so this is a very statistically significant difference. Jim Thome is seeing vastly fewer fastballs this year. Therefore, your contention that Thome is performing better because of the lineup around him causing him to see more fastballs is simply wrong. I don't see why this is in any way "unfortunate" for me, since being "simply wrong" on this board is utterly irrelevant in the larger context of my life. If being "right" is meaningful to you, congratulations. I didn't realize that the conversations here were a zero sum game. I would rephrase my speculation from "fastball" to the more debatable "better pitches to hit", but I'm sure there is, as they say, "a stat for that". Please feel free to shoot holes in the specifics. The overall point, which still seems logical to me, is that the ever-more-tiresome Jim Thome, as with most hitters, performs better surrounded by a better lineup up offering more protection. Again, feel free to feel more fortunate than me when you find the stat that proves you to be simply "right". I certainly won't be losing any sleep over it.

Ask not what Jim Thome has done for the Twins, but rather what the Twins have done for Jim Thome. The reason Thome has been the "pulse' of the Twins' offense is that the the Twins offense affords Thome the kind of protection that allows him to maximize every at bat. He sees much less off speed and breaking stuff than he saw with our relatively weak, streaky hitters. Thome is seeing far more fastballs this year because he's in the middle of a lineup that hits for power and average. He drove half this board crazy last year because of SO and GIDB. He would have been no better than and probably worse than he was last year with us. Our rotation and bullpen are better than the Twins, but we've lost a ton of 1-run games. Thome alone would not have solved that. The big mistake was letting him sign within the division. Should simply have signed him and then traded out him out of the division. The Twins were the perfect fit for him. And I still don't get why Thome wanted to come back and play for a manager who, during the 2009 season, said with a straight face, "Mark Kotsay is my MVP"?

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Sep 12, 2010 -> 04:08 PM) I'm in till they're mathematically eliminated. That's been my absolute opinion up until this series. The pain of the last two days has been brutal. Now this. They seem to do better every time I "definitively" write them off.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Sep 12, 2010 -> 04:08 PM) Mathematically speaking... http://www.coolstandings.com/baseball_standings.asp?i=1 I think I've realized that the Twins are just too good and that we're just what I thought we were supposed to be at the beginning of the year: a 88-90 win team. It's too bad, because if somebody told you the Sox would be on track to win 89 games at the start of the year, you'd think we'd have a great shot at the playoffs. Any idea what that % was at the ASB?

QUOTE (chw42 @ Sep 12, 2010 -> 04:05 PM) No... Unless they sweep the Twins, there's literally no chance. Even if they do sweep the Twins, the chances are probably around 20%. I know you're right. But then a little voice reminds me of the situation in early June....Where were these guys the past couple of days?

So here's the question. Do I let myself get drawn back into this? Being a Sox fan is like having an abusive parent Cookie...SLAP....cookie....SLAP....cookie....SLAP..... Ah well, live by the math, die by the math. Thank god they're off tomorrow.....

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Sep 12, 2010 -> 01:24 AM) Considering Thome has been a successful hitter every single year since 1993 (except for when he was hurt in 2005) it was a safe bet Thome would be successful this year. And considering Crede clearly was having back problems it was very likely he wouldn't produce last year. We have other holes in our lineup but the biggest one is at DH where the only requirement for the position is being a good hitter. Instead we go with a below league average hitter, with no wheels, who can only play first base so he doesn't even give us flexibility or any production at the plate. Unbelievably dumb decision and plenty of people were saying that before the season began. And frankly it is hilarious that anyone would want to run out of town a guy who was arguably the Sox most productive hitter last year. And he wanted to come back for a fraction of what Manny cost for one month.