mcgrad70

QUOTE (Mr. Showtime @ Sep 18, 2010 -> 06:55 PM) I'm fairly certain that based off his reputation that he'd make sure some Twins players went down next season. He certainly wouldn't be kissing Garenhire's ass. In whatever role he's ends up, you can sure sure there will be no hero-worshipping coming from 35th street. And perhaps, this will trickle down to the players as well.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Sep 18, 2010 -> 03:54 PM) If you are comparing a man with 32 years experience to a guy with 7 years, then its really only fair to look at their first 7 seasons and Ozzie's are much more impressive. I would prefer him in a Pat Riley type role. Personally, I don't care for La Russa. He's as polarizing as Ozzie is. But Reinsdorf is polarizing. I'm not getting new ownership and I'll never stop loving my White Sox so I have to deal with it. Both Ozzie and Kenny have to go. Can you see La Russa taking order from Kenny? C'mon...ain't gonna happen. La Russa returns with czar like powers.

Rookie Valencia power Twins to victory today. Twins can simply do no wrong. With the Yankees zillion dollar budget and the Rays comprised of all the number 1 draft picks for the last 10 years, the Twins are now the fast track to the playoffs as long as long as Reinsdorf owns the Sox, If I'm a free agent, why would I want to go anyplace else. My money should goes farther there than NY and who wants to live in Tampa?

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 17, 2010 -> 09:10 PM) Crowd booing Teahen...KW, you suck just as much as Ozzie. Here Here

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Sep 17, 2010 -> 09:01 PM) Good job Linebrink #@!%# Why don't they just release Linebrink and take the hit.

QUOTE (Jake @ Sep 16, 2010 -> 10:29 AM) Rebuilding is a bad idea, IMO. You have a $50+ million rotation, and it is actually good. I believe we'll get what we're paying for, even though everyone likes to have good players that are making league minimum. These aren't bad contracts in the rotation, we're paying good pitchers that are still good. There might be a hole or two in the pen, but regardless what we have going into next year is a playoff caliber (and playoff priced) pitching staff. This means you have to try to win, we have to keep going forward as an all-in situation because the pitching is going to keep us in it. I'm okay with giving a chance to a guy like Dayan, who is loaded with talent and has already shown us he can at the very least compete at this level, if not down the road perhaps dominate it. Some player development could really pay off here. In general though, I don't think we're as far away as many of you would like to think. Getting Paulie back would be the first step in showing that we're trying to win and of course an important step in sustaining an offense. Rios is a fixture and a valuable one despite a slow second half. Hating on Quentin is easy but he still produced quite a few runs in a down year. If Quentin came back to some extent, that already is a huge step in once again having a solid offense to go with this pitching. He's also cheap enough that this is the type of frugal gamble many Soxtalkers should like, if it weren't for the fact many have washed their hands of him. He very well may finish the season with 90-100 RBIs and that's nothing to turn your nose up at, despite some of his noted flaws. Many of you would like to dump Pierre, but I'm not as supportive of the idea. My impression is that he's coming basically free, but feel free to correct me if that's incorrect. He adds that elusive speed and if he gained that 30 points to his average that he's had for a career that's already an upgrade from this year. Everyone likes to hate on the low OPS which has some merit but it is difficult to quantify 50-60 stolen bases. One must admit that this has some redeeming quality for his offense. He's also not a bad defender. I don't think there is any argument over the retention of Alexei. Solid offense with a bit of flair, some pop and some strikeouts, but still more or less a .300 hitter after March/April. One might think that with every year he'll improve upon his slow start syndrome. We all know he's blossomed into an excellent defender and it is hard for me to believe we could upgrade there, we certainly don't have the system for it. Beckham's situation is a bit ambiguous. Did he or didn't he snap out of the slump? Is he a good defender? The talent is there on both counts, and one may think on the defensive side he'll benefit coming back a second year in the same position, much like Alexei. The offense is a little less secure. Maybe he is just a .250 hitter with a little pop. Nonetheless, especially with you guys obsessed with the payroll, he's a cheap option that sells merchandise. He's the type of talent that could make our patience really pay off. With his charisma, a big season from him would really pay off in more ways than just on the field. I'm talking asses in seats here folks. You can try to replace AJ, but I'm not really sure what's out there. It's just generally difficult to pick up a good catcher. When it's all said and done, he may finish the season at .270 which isn't really exciting but that's quite a comeback from earlier this year. He's not a high potential bat, but can be useful and I'm overall satisfied with his defense. We know he doesn't have a strong arm and that can be a bit frustrating, but in this era there are just so many guys that aren't ever going to steal a base anyway. I'm open to upgrading here, but I'm hesitant to say there's going to be a good option here. Keep Flowers waiting in the wings, he no longer excites me with his down year this year and supposedly lackluster (or at best just average) defense. Vizquel seems valuable in that he's cheap, is willing (perhaps prefers) to be a back up but has shown he can be a viable fill in. Obviously any GM will take an upgrade if it presents itself at any of these positions if it comes up, but in most cases as you can see there are solid arguments for staying put in many positions. DH is the big hole. We don't need to see Mark Kotsay or Andruw Jones around anymore. You can throw a young guy there, maybe Viciedo if his defense can't improve, but really this is the place you can probably make a splash and really improve the offense. Needless to say you're seeking a lefty bat here with our lineup. One more thing, Teahen - yes it appears to be a bad contract right now. He's a guy I'm not convinced deserves to have a spot given to him without some kind of fight. However, 5 million dollars is NOT a big deal to a payroll like the White Sox. I know it very well could be a wasted 5 million, but part of being a major market team is that we can absorb this type of relatively minor folly. We're not the Cubs, with 10-15 million dollar bums all around. You can be upset by this deal with justification, but this type of thing is easily overcome. Same with Linebrink. No team has all good contracts and honestly no one expected Linebrink to be unusable in late game spots when we signed him. It's typically not wise to give relievers long term deals but this wasn't originally as bad as it looks now. Once again, those are our two mistakes. We can overcome that and perhaps we can dump one or both on someone. Look up people, we're really not that far from greatness! It's easy to remember every failure when this is the team you watch every day, but it's really not as bad as it seems. The grass isn't always greener. While I like watching young kids play, I don't wanna see a hapless bunch of youngsters that aren't going to win. We have the money to put together a good team and pick our spots for our young guys, much like the other high payroll teams. I see a rejuvenated, not a reconstructed White Sox team in 2011. And I see them winning. All of that sounds nice but you forget who the manager is. Guillen personally pissed away 15 games I can think of right off hand with his bumbling of the pitching staff and this inane resting of 20-something year old men.

QUOTE (CQMVP @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 11:11 PM) Really don't care. If the team isn't willing to spend money out of their pocket to get better and correct their mistakes, it's not a team I want to support. The fans should NOT be paying for our organization's inability to draft well and develop players. Thank you....thank you ...thank you!

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 16, 2010 -> 11:38 PM) I'm torn on the "playing hard" thing. I think the Sox play hard. They came back tonight only to implode. When things are going bad, the Sox never get the big hit. I don't think it's because they are not playing hard. The losses to all the teams like the O's, Royals, Indians, don't know what to say. Our pitching isn't always great against those teams, either. The White Sox are not mentally tough. Watch some of the real good teams. Those guys are gamers not grinders.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 16, 2010 -> 10:44 PM) If the Sox don't bring back Konerko, they run a big risk of losing even more of their fan base. Konerko is far and away the fan favorite it seems, as well he should be. It's too bad it's not the other fan favorite, Mr. Buehrle, who isn't the one we're looking to deal. Ramirez will have 60 errors at shortstop without a good defensive first baseman

It's been a real slice, see ya in the spring unless they get rid of Guillen and Williams first.

QUOTE (Gregory Pratt @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 09:48 PM) Wild Card or bust, baby. they're a bust, my friend.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 09:40 PM) That's why I say the Sox "plan" is always to be competitive and hope for a ton of career years. I don't think the Sox are ever going to want to "rebuild" cause with our fan base if we are out of it on June 1, it means horrible horrible crowds all summer. This offseason isn't going to be a good one for me, cause how can any of us be looking forward to more of this next year. Minnie according to Fathom has ton of room to add players. They are only going to get better and until our starters become dominant, we figure to be just second best again. I agree we have had a decent season and they are also my team, but we reek vs. the Central. Second best? Don't forget about Detroit and we couldn't beat Cleveland or KC. The Sox could headed for the dark ages unless they spend their way out of this. And the likelihood of that with Reinsdorf and his cohorts are non existent. Reinsdorf is not a sportsman. He's a businessman who runs a sports organization. Championships don't mean anything to him. It's about making money for the real owners, period.

QUOTE (bobryansson @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 09:37 PM) The players performance, though not right now what we want, is not because they are lazy or don't care. Baseball's hard and they're playing better than most everybody. They are going to win around 90 games. They've even played well recently. Twins have just played lights out. We do have young talent. Some perspective. Hindsight is always easy. They're still my team, and I get frustrated, sure, but I love 'em. Exactly what Reinsdorf wants to hear you say and it's exactly why there is no sense of urgency. He can live off 2005 for the next 2005 years.

The Sox are dying a slow, agonizing and painful death tonight. But the torment for us fans will be over soon.

QUOTE (WilliamTell @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 09:24 PM) come on guys! you can't waste this golden opportunity. And Manny doesn't even have an RBI with the Sox yet. He's left 6 people on base. What a joke for 4 million. I bet he ends with no RBI for the rest of the year.

QUOTE (chiguy79 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 09:10 PM) Agreed, Danks seems to get rattled easy. Forget grinders, I want gamers!!

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 09:08 PM) nope, not at all Another guy with no managerial experience. He comes cheap just like Reinsdorf likes them. You might your get wish except I don't think Cora would stay if Ozzie left

Man, these Sox pitchers give up a ton of runs after 2 out. That goes to concentration. These guys are mentally weak.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 09:06 PM) wouldn't mind seeing Cora getting a chance to call the shots OMG - That was a joke,right? Please tell me that was a joke.

The Twins just beat the Sox at will and I'm sick of it.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 08:59 PM) Danks really making it easy for them here for young pitchers Danks and Floyd do not seem to be getting any better with experience. i was just getting ready to say the same thing. At best they're #3s, maybe 4s.

I sure hope the Twins don't think the Yankees or the Rays are going lie down like that. Man, this Sox team is a ways off from playoff caliber. This team was better off losing 100 games. A lot of things would be different now.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 08:25 PM) They could be the best team in the AL with a healthy Morneau. They've been amazing since the break. And it all started with Bobby's epic choke in that Sunday afternoon game. Sorry, the Twins pitching is not that good.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 08:22 PM) You can't take away credit from minny -- they're now closing in on home field advantage in the AL. They've made a great push and are just playing extremely well with what i think is a very average rotation after Liriano. And absolutely no competition from their own division. I doubt seriously the Twins would be in the playoff hunt if they were in the East. This division is for the taking by whatever organization who wants it. Imagine what Boston, Toronto or the Rays would give to be in this division? The Sox are far and away the biggest market in the Central but are owned and operated like a team from Mayberry.

Why am I not surprised the Twins would score following the Sox inability to score? If they don't sweep, they're through anyway. Might as well put us out of our misery now and don't string us along any further with this season-long charade. The whole organization peaked in 2005. It's time for new everything.