DBAHO

QUOTE(Fourofakind @ Apr 9, 2006 -> 01:04 AM) Gload is the ideal bat to bring off the bench he is consistent and doesn't strike out much. Ya he hasn't played yet. They've played FOUR games!! If Thome and Konerko are going to play about 150 games though, how many times will we see Gload if he's not going to play the OF? I agree that he's an excellent bat to have off the bench, but he needs to be actually utilized first.

LMAO, Spiff's going to get a kick out of this; I'm sure Isiah Thomas will give him that though. After all, Jerome James did get that last off-season.

QUOTE(Felix @ Apr 8, 2006 -> 10:59 PM) If Kenny were to net Ryan Church somehow, I'd forgive him for all of the things I disagreed with him on during the offseason. Well, maybe I wouldn't, but I would love to see Church in a Sox uniform. He's a great player who had a good year last year while playing in RFK, which is not something thats easily accomplished. Jim Bowden is still loooking for some pieces for his bullpen. Maybe if you offered say Sean Tracey for Ryan Church, that would be something that could be beneficial for both teams. Church did have a .820 OPS in 102 games last season, which is quite good for a hitter who has to play half his games at RFK.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Apr 9, 2006 -> 12:07 AM) I disagree with that, although time may prove you correct. I don't see Garland repeating last year, but he's young, healthy, and has good stuff. No reason to trade a guy like that when you're trying to repeat. Especially with Contreras' age and all of the innings that Garcia has amassed over the years. JMO. The key for Jon last season was to keep the walks down (29 less than in 2004), and giving up less of the longball (8 less in 2005). He's never going to be a high strikeout pitcher, which I suppose shows how important it is to put a good defense behind him. And he didn't have that at all yesterday. And unfortunately we saw the Jon of old, where he gets flustered if he gets a bad break or 2. He needs to get out of that mindset.

QUOTE(Felix @ Apr 8, 2006 -> 11:05 PM) For me, "souring" on Garland is nothing new. We should have traded Garland in the offseason when his value was at its highest, and we could have bolstered both our farm system and our bullpen while putting the better pitcher (McCarthy) into the rotation. That's what I've said all along, and I'm sticking to it. I'd love to see Garland prove me wrong, and I'm hoping he does, so time will tell. But KW was never going to do that because that doesn't help this team win a World Series this season. That's why when we were proposing say Milledge and Heilman for Contreras or Garland, it was merely a pipe - dream.

QUOTE(GreatScott82 @ Apr 8, 2006 -> 10:26 PM) Detroit will be a hard team to beat in our division this year. If you look at it, every team improved except for Cleveland, and they are still scary. I'm still iffy on the Tigers. Everyone talks about how good their offense is. But Maggs sucks at Comerica, Pudge can't hit for power and doesn't take a walk, and they've got a lot of injury prone players like Carlos Guillen. They could produce, but it could blow up in their faces like it has before. But they should be better than what they were.

Boston Red Sox fans probably think Terry Francona isn't a good "in - game" manager, as the vast majority of White Sox fans think Ozzie Guillen isn't one either. But you know what those 2 can say to all of you in return. They've coached World Series Champions. So what would you rather?

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Apr 8, 2006 -> 08:20 PM) They should be better but will they? 1.) I think Pierzynski has gotten homer happy at the Cell. He needs to stop swinging at the dirtballs and trying to pull everything. He hits a ton of weak grounders right to the first baseman. 2.) Crede has been relatively the same hitter the past three seasons. He is right around the age of his peak years but will he be better? No one knows for sure but stay tuned. 3.) The last time I saw Uribe at the plate, he didn't appear to be using his leg kick timing mechanism anymore. Not good. 4.) Anderson is a rookie. Obviously, we can't expect him to do too much this season. If he replaces Rowand's numbers from last season, great. You can't just look at second half season stats. Many of these guys are simply streaky hitters. They don't consistently hit well because they just aren't great hitters to begin with. Strike zone discipline is the main reason they go into long slumps. None of them have any. You're right in saying you can't just look at second half stats, but I think it's important that those hitters did at least show form toward the end of the season instead of someone like Carl Everett who had a good 1st half, and an awful 2nd half. On those points; 1) Greg Walker's gotta get A.J to get away from that going for the longball swing. It's easier said than done, but A.J's shown he can produce before, and sometimes it just takes time in a new environment etc. even though he's been here for a season. He should be able to make some adjustments. 2) Crede's the 1 guy out of the 4, I think will show the greatest improvement. He seems to have locked in on his swing now, and coming into the peak years like you said, I think he'll start to produce some good numbers. Remember last season, he had 4 months of .800 OPS's. 3) At least Uribe hasn't looked awful so far. You still never know what you're going to get from him. You'd think if he's starts struggling again, the White Sox coaching brass would get him to implement the leg kick again. I still think .270 with around 20 HR's, is very achieveable for him. 4) If Anderson gives us Rowand's numbers from 2005, I'll take that right now. And that's probably the best we can hope for from him. But at least in ST, he showed that he can hit.

QUOTE(knightni @ Apr 8, 2006 -> 08:28 PM) Outright Gload to AAA and bring up Sweeney. Easy enough. Looking at Sweeney down at Charlotte over the last couple of days, he really needs a full season down there. And really besides him or Owens (who I also want down there playing everyday), there's not a whole lot of other options besides a trade.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Apr 8, 2006 -> 07:17 PM) Alright. I thought you were implying we should trade Gload based on performance. If there's a trade offer for Gload out there right now, in which we would get a good defensive backup outfielder, than yeah I would do that. Unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case right now.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Apr 8, 2006 -> 07:19 PM) The bottom of our order is still relatively weak with Pierzynski, Crede, Uribe, and Anderson -- four guys who have poor strike zone discipline. And again I'm going to argue that those 4 guys (Anderson excluded) should improve on their 2005 outputs, based on what they did in the 2nd half and how they adjusted (except for A.J who should hopefully go back to his previous form back in Minny/S.F)

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Apr 8, 2006 -> 07:08 PM) You just answered your own question. Listen, I've been one of Gload's biggest supporters on here and I know the guy can play but if he's just going to sit on the bench the whole there is just no point of having him. And my point all along on this has been, Gload's obviously not going to be used much at 1B or at DH, with Thome and Konerko in front of him. If he's not going to be trusted in the OF, why is he up here?

QUOTE(SoxFan101 @ Apr 8, 2006 -> 07:10 PM) if we are 3rd-4th by the all star break or the end of the season. I wouldnt mind blowing the team up completely. Keeping B-Mac, B. Anderson, Pieryznski, Thornton, and Logan from the big league team. Pieryznski would be the leader and tutor the pitchers kind of. But thats not going to happen because I full expect us to be 1-2 at the end of the season and refuse to have a panic attack 4 games into the season. Somehow I don't think that would be sending a good message to the fans, right there 101. It's like the Florida Marlins of the late 90's all over again.

QUOTE(SSH2005 @ Apr 8, 2006 -> 07:07 PM) Buehrle had his best season ever ERA-wise last year but he will obviously still be really good. Garcia didn't instill any confidence in me after barely touching 90 MPH last week. I still think Freddy will put up an ERA near 4 though. Contreras could go either way. I honestly don't expect another 3.50 ERA out of Garland and I don't think that's unreasonable at all. I do think that Vazquez will be better this season though. Basically, our pitching staff was so good last season that it's hard to see them all repeating it. I still think they will be very good though. You don't think Garcia will improve, and that he could just be going through a dead arm period? There were quite a few SP's in the same boat this week, such as Esteban Loaiza, he was only htting about 83MPH on the gun for the A's IIRC. It looks like posters have already soured on Garland though. When we re-signed him, everyone thought it was great "Yay, JG's around for another 3 years!!!" Now after 1 bad outing, people think he automatically won't be as good. And even if our pitching isn't as good, doesn't the increase in offensive production make up for that?

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Apr 8, 2006 -> 07:00 PM) Why are we replacing Gload again? Dude rarely plays. I think you just answered your own question.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Apr 8, 2006 -> 06:24 PM) I love that Pablo's Adventures in the outfield draws a thread not about him being shipped out, but Ross Gload's inevitable departure. We gotta keep this guy around. He's spunky. And I'll tell you what. If there's one thing that wins games. It spunk. Give me 9 guys like Pablo Ozuna. I'll show you a winner. Boy. It's called the Timo Perez effect.

The lurkers of Soxtalk should post more often.

QUOTE(SoxFanForever @ Apr 8, 2006 -> 05:15 PM) The Yankees won 95 games and are 1-3 right now. The Braves who have won their division forever are only 2-2 right now. I think they are both mailing in the season as well. THE SKY IS FALLING!!!! DETROIT IS GOING TO WIN THE DIVISION!!!!!

Just be glad we have a very good 5th starter this season people's. I hate to see the mood around here, say if we were chucking Dan Wright out on the mound tomorrow.

Ok this thread is going to be for backup outfielders, that could be on the 25 man roster, if Ozzie Guillen is not going to use Ross Gload in the OF again, or so Pablo Ozuna doesn't have to play LF again. Of course, this isn't likely going to happen, but I thought I'd just put it out there, and get people's thoughts on this. Dustan Mohr - Mohr's down in Pawtucket, the AAA team of the Red Sox. Can play all 3 OF positions, and had a .274/.394/.437 season back in 2004 for the Giants. Doesn't expect to be down in AAA long; Joey Gathright - On the bench for Tampa. Probably won't be available, unless we give up something good for him. Luis Terrero - Was designated for assignment by the D-Backs a little while back. But it looks like the O's are gonna get him; Scott Hairston - Currently with the D'backs AAA team. Can play 2B, or LF or RF, IIRC. Hit .311/.384/.608 for Tucson last season. Ryan Church - Currently in Frank Robinson's doghouse (hence why Brandon Watson is starting).

Tony needs to repost that picture of the Super Hot Dog he had in Tucson so that we can flame him for it again.

What kind of bomb shall we use?

QUOTE(WilliamTell @ Apr 8, 2006 -> 04:48 PM) I'd love to see the Magic make it, I'm rooting for them. The Jazz are still thereabouts as well William. Big win at Minny today, and you guys are 3 games back of the Lakers and Kings for the 7 and 8 spots. Pretty mixed schedule on the way home though, you'll probably have to win at least 1 at Dallas or at San Antonio to make it.

QUOTE(BHAMBARONS @ Apr 8, 2006 -> 12:37 PM) 10 K's for Lance through 6 Taking one out of JimH's book; "But I thought Soxtalk thought Broadway sucked?"

Is it Rally Crede time?