DBAHO

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 09:35 AM) And how do you picture our future rotation competing with Liriano/Santana/Garza and Bonderman/Verlander/Miller? McCarthy is one. Lumsden would have been another. Aside from that, I don't forsee Garcia, Contreras, Vazquez remaining for this club beyond their contracts. Buehrle all depends on how he finishes this season and the price he's commanding. You can't continue to say, "every team would love any one of those pitchers," becuase we're entering a period of time where immediate production is required or we're going to be looking up for a LOONNG period of time. This isn't your American League central division from 2000-2005. If not from our minors, two venues I imagine our club competing with those pitchers is from free-agent signings and trading prospects/players for established veterans. You can cite Garcia's success -- and the failures of past prospects traded -- but when a Javier Vazquez move occurs you begin to think about making drastic moves to bolster a rotation. You still have to remember with Lumsden, most experts think he won't be anything more than a 3rd or 4th starter in the future. As for your prediction, despite your feelings on Broadway he is getting better at AA with every start, and would probably be the logical replacement right now for a minor leaguer that's going to fill in the rotation for the next couple of seasons. I still think the Sox could sign a Mark Mulder type of SP on a 1 year deal with incentives with team options for the next few years. Some high risk / high rewards type of seasons. We've had success with those type of deals before with Jermaine Dye and Iguchi etc. so the Sox have a pretty good track record in FA over the past few seasons.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 02:15 PM) The worry with that plan right now is that, as others have pointed out, BMac is only stretched out to throw something like 60-70 pitches right now. So in other words, we'd be taking 1 pitcher out of our bullpen, and simultaneously, we'd wind up creating a game where our bullpen needs to throw 5-6 innings. If the Sox really wanted to risk it, they could go with a Haeger or Phillips for a couple of starts, send B-Mac back down to AAA to let him start, or even keep him in the bullpen to let him keep doing what he's doing basically. The idea still has merit when you look at how Freddy has pitched lately.

QUOTE(beck72 @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 10:07 PM) I wouldn't expect a team to overpay for Pods like the Cubs did for Pierre. But he'll have some value. A team like the Marlins might be interested as well, and have a lot of young talent to trade. Weren't they mentioned in the Soriano talks? Yeah they were. Thing is they have Willingham at LF and Hermida at RF, so Pods would have to play CF for them which at Pro Player Stadium would be a bad, bad idea.

QUOTE(beck72 @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 09:56 PM) FWIW, I do think the sox will try and upgrade at leadoff next yr, and Pods could be dealt in the offseason. Yeah he'll be arbitration eligible and he'll make a lot of sense for quite a few NL teams you would have thought, so he'll have some value. A team like Pittsburgh that really needs a leadoff hitter could be interested in him for example, and they've got some good young SP that we would definitely be interested in.

QUOTE(daa84 @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 08:46 PM) ive been gone overseas the last week, so i dont know if this was talked about, but what little info i could get on the team i saw a blurb in the international USA today that said cooper and vazquez had worked out a flaw in his mechanics in a bullpen session...clearly he got something worked out Yeah that was an article in the Trib saying he changed his arm angle. Hopefully he can continue having success with it.

Don't forget Glen Perkins as well. The Twins just scare the hell out of me for the next 5 to 10 years, more than Detroit, and that's saying something in itself when the Tiggies could have a future rotation with Bonderman, Verlander and Andrew Miller as permanent fixtures. IIRC Baker has been mishandled quite a bit by Gardy this season. Like to get benchwarmerjim's thoughts on this.

I saw this article today on Foxsports.com, thought it would be an interesting discussion; Do you really think something like that has messed up Freddy's arm and velocity this season? http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/5846084

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 06:33 PM) couldn't disagree more - he's rarely afforded the chance to bat against lefties and his D isn't great but it doesn't suck as bad as some would like to think. Even more important, he's the spark that makes this team go. We win 75% of the time he gets a hit. Last season Pods actually had a very good stat line against lefties, this season, he's batting .093 worse against them. His D has deteoriated this season I would have thought. We all knew last season he didn't get good reads or jumps on the ball, but with his speed he could still catch up to the ball. Now that he's a year older and he may have lost a step or two, he can't depend on catching up to the ball as much as he used to. Last season he had 4.2 Win Shares on Defense, this season only 1.4. At least this season though, he's doing a MUCH better job at hitting with RISP.

QUOTE(BobDylan @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 06:58 PM) I agree, but DAMN, if the Sox can get Jose, Mark, Jon and Javy to throw well on a regular basis that 8 game lead ain't so safe. Especially with the way Detroit's starters have thrown the ball so far in the 2nd half of the season. Javy always had the talent, but he's just got to put the whole package together. Hopefully this is a huge step forward for him, and the guy has some confidence out on the mound knowing "Hey I can get past that 6th inning now".

QUOTE(Felix @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 11:18 AM) He will come down and crash, just like Jeff Francoeur. I wouldn't be so sure. Unlike Francouer, Ethier actually takes a walk (19 in 247 AB's albeit ain't great but it's a start), but as Ace said his minor league track record for walks is fairly good. He's obviously not going to hit over .350 for his career, but I think he's got a pretty good chance at being a .300 type of guy.

He was bound to get past this eventually. He'll face the Yanks next, so hopefully he can keep the momentum going. I'm sure he's got something to prove against one of his former organizations.

QUOTE(Brian @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 08:28 AM) Just show up, Like George Costanza did. "I got fired for having sex with the Cleaning Woman!!!!"

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 01:51 AM) I definitely wouldn't want Sweeney taking Dye's spot. With Anderson's struggles this year, I'm not nearly sure enough that he's going to do well enough to have two liabilities in our OF alone. I know in another post Keith (CWSGuy) thought Sweeney could post a .275/.330/.400 line or somewhere around that. Personally I think that's still a little too optimistic, even though Sweeney has a better swing than BA. That's kind of like a Jason Michaels type of production. Hence, why I think a 1 year stopgap in FA would be the best case scenario, to give Sweeney that extra year of development in the minors.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 01:45 AM) I can see your point, but I'd like to add two things. Pods himself doesn't fair too well against the lefties. And if anyone should be removed from the team for a respectable back-up in CF, it should really be Gload (despite what he's done recently). If Machowiak could hit LHP, then bingo you've got the perfect platoon partner. But that job goes to Ozuna. Hence why Rob hardly gets anytime in LF. He doesn't get much time at all in RF and 3B because of how well Dye and Crede have played, so more often that not it'll be in CF. And you know how many people around here have been criticising his defensive capabilities there. And yes I agree on Gload, in fact that was in my signature about 2 months back. But they won't be moving Ross now with the way he has hit. Personally I would still think, if you could get a better defensive bench CF than Mackowiak, then you wouldn't need Gload, as Rob could play 1B if you really needed him to.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 01:43 AM) BTW, who would play RF if we traded Dye? Now this is where it gets interesting and where KW will make his money here. He could go with Ryan Sweeney. Sweeney's picked it up as of late, but I would still personally prefer him to have another season at Charlotte so he can keep improving especially with his power. So most likely maybe a stopgap in the FA market, or possibly a trade. There are options like Jose Guillen who may decide on a 1 year deal to try and increase his value all over again so he can get a nice payday next off-season.

QUOTE(Balance @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 01:17 AM) Regardless of the pitching troubles Detroit may be having (and I'm not convinced that it's that serious), they aren't slowing down one bit. Yeah they're getting a lot of clutch hitting late, which is really saving them quite a bit right now. But we had the same type of thing happen last season, and we're renowned for it. They'll be hard to catch, but I think it's still definitely possible.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 01:37 AM) Why do people want to get rid of Mackowiak so badly? The guy is hammering the ball. If he subs at LF, RF, and 3B, he's probably the best utility player in the league this year. The thing is with Mackowiak, he's not going to get used as much as he should at LF, even though we would like him to, because he's not a leadoff hitter (even though he's never really been used in that situation), and because he can't hit LHP. If he could, problem solved. My line of thinking was, if you could get a good defensive center fielder that can still hit righties quite well, then yeah I would move Mackowiak, while his value is really quite high.

There was a really good thread about a year or 2 back about Interviews, and a lot of good advice in that. I had it added to my favorites, but then my motherboard decided to crash, hence I lost mostly everything including my favorites and links. But good luck with it Alex. I'm glad since I've had a really good job for about 9 months now, working part - time and studying part time and college / university still, that I don't have to go thru that whole interview process again for a while. The best one I had was a group interview with 5 other people I didn't know, doing a roleplay session in front of a HR person for 1 and a half hours.

Good news Bears fans;

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 01:03 AM) The reason I suggest Mathews is he is a much better athlete and has always had the tools. He started to turn it around last season and this season he has rocked also he is more of a leadoff hitter than Dellucci is. And we all know how Ozzie/KW love speed so he makes more sense. Matthews put up a .340 OBP post ASB last season, and has a .371 OBP so far this season. Thing is he only has 7 SB's so far this season. I don't know whether that's just the Rangers not letting him run enough, or a reflection of his ability to steal bases. I guess what I'm trying to say is if you could sign Dellucci to leadoff and still have some money left over to put towards another FA like a reliever, I would rather go that route, but they both have merits, and it will be interesting to see what KW decides to do this off-season with the OF and leadoff hitter situation. It's fun to speculate and discuss nonetheless.

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 12:49 AM) Yeah but when you have 2 guys who are great CF's defensively in 1 OF that is going to be some great defense. The difference between Mathews Jr/Anderson to Podsenick would be huge. Personally though im on the idea that we trade Dye this off-season while his value is sky high and maybe package him with one of our starters for a Oswalt or something like that. I agree on the getting Oswalt idea. Probably a good idea to move Dye for him since Dye is getting towards his mid 30's and will be in the final year of his deal. I'd still rather Dellucci over Matthews Jr. though, although they both carry risk. I've heard Matthews could get quite a nice 3 to 4 year deal this off-season.

QUOTE(The Critic @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 12:23 AM) I'd think the Sox are satisfied with their bench enough to pass on Cruz. I dont think his defensive advantage over Mackowiak (if there even is one) would be enough to override Mack's offensive advantage. It'll take a better player than Cruz to have the Sox make a move, I think. It's a shame this couldn't happen before the trading deadline. That way the Sox could have moved Machowiak to a team like the Padres for a couple of prospects, and sign Cruz to fill his spot. Maybe there's a tiny chance he would accept a minor league contract in AAA until the Sep 1 callups, kind of like a Durazo type of situation. My guess is that he'll latch onto a major league team somewhere though.

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 12:43 AM) Personally Id rather sign DeRosa or Gary Mathews Jr. than Dellucci... but all 3 are good choices and all 3 will be ex-rangers just to add it in . I guess it would actually go in this order Mathews Jr. Dellucci DeRosa. The thing is with Matthews, he's probably going to get a bigger contract than Dellucci, plus if you sign him either him or Anderson would have to play LF, which negates their defensive value. The Rangers have definitely produced some good OF's though.

All the best Queen. It hasn't exactly been the best year for that type of stuff for people around here, hopefully things work out for your nephew.

For most of the season, I've said the need for a backup outfielder is one that we shouldn't forget. He's won a gold glove before, but his defense in Tampa Bay wasn't really all that great. Since Ross Gload's now in a hot streak, nothing's likely to happen here. But I thought I would just throw it out there and see what people thought of still getting a backup OF like Cruz. FWIW his splits this season are .233/.353/.381. He also hits a lot better on the road, so I think he would improve his numbers at the Cell also.