DBAHO

Nomo's thrown 87 pitches, time to light him up once more.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Jul 5, 2005 -> 12:45 PM) Gio is a lefthanded BMac from what I remember. He's a bit more raw though. Hardly a stuff guy. Barry Zito isn't a stuff guy, he seems to have done alright in the major leagues.

QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Jul 5, 2005 -> 12:44 PM) No, Garland didn't completely blow and walk a jabillion hitters. Uribe hits a flyball out. 1 dead. B-Mac didn't walk a jabillion hitters.... just saying. And a lot of people were wanting to trade Garland for Randy Johnson in the off-season. Anyone remember the game where he gave it to the crowd after he got pulled?

QUOTE(fathom @ Jul 5, 2005 -> 12:41 PM) Those guys with 91 mph have a lot lower ceiling than the guys with the overall great stuff. It's up to the minor league developers to get the best out of the player's talent. Please don't tell me that you think our minor league people do a good job at developing players? So you think Nick Lemon has a better chance of making it than say Lance Broadway?

QUOTE(fathom @ Jul 5, 2005 -> 12:22 PM) Every team finds some gems in the mid to late rounds of the draft. There's no doubt in my mind that the Sox have had some awful high draft picks lately. Honel has been a bust, plain and simple. Fields hasn't shown the type of offensive skills that Sox officials had hoped he would, and Royce Ring was a poor selection (other guys available that should have been taken). Josh Fields is in what his 1st full season of minor league ball, if you've read the minor league reports you would have seen he's been turning it around in the last month. His average has gone up 30 points, plus he's hitting in a pitcher's park.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Jul 5, 2005 -> 12:19 PM) Well, I think it's pretty ridiculous of you to criticize the Sox drafting tecniques. McCarthy was what, a 17th round pick? The fact that he's in our rotation already should be a compliment to Dave Wilder and co. Gio Gonzalez last year, Kris Honel a couple of years ago... I don't know what you're complaining about. Finding a college pitcher in spots #15-#20 with dynomite stuff is pretty tough to do. He's usually gone well before then... Nick Lemon has good stuff..... on his fastball, that's about it. Doesn't mean he's going to pan out.

QUOTE(Sox Hustler @ Jul 5, 2005 -> 12:12 PM) Why can't any of our prospects give us some consistent solid efforts?? Because he's not ready, at least not at the Cell. He'd have success in a pitcher's park though.

I just got out of the pool playing Beer - Ball, and the Sox are winning 6-1. SWEET!

I'll join as the Dodgers again. No trades allowed with the Twinkies this time though.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jul 2, 2005 -> 03:31 PM) Why does Crede have to be included in the deal. The only one I see doing a swap of crede for would be Chavez. Crede can learn how to sub. I believe when we brought in Alomar and Everett we didnt give up on Arow or Willie. They still are on the team. So who gets traded for Randa then? And whats the point of trading for Randa, and keeping Crede on the bench, if Crede isn't going to be the guy long - term?

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jul 2, 2005 -> 03:23 PM) The twins are not going to resign a 35 year old third baseman. They calculated that Cuddyer would play well at third. That is why they let go of Koskie. Would the Sox re-sign a 35 year old third baseman then and who would replace him if you gave up Crede in the deal?

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jul 2, 2005 -> 03:19 PM) Because Terry Ryan has been quoted as saying that he is not going to upgrade his offense unless the player can be part of the team for the next few years. Terry Tiffie is not the answer at third. Cuddyer should be playing at 2nd. Why wouldn't you trade for Randa then if you could re-sign him e.g Freddy Garcia? Who else would they trade for? Sean Burroughs? Alex Cintron?

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jul 2, 2005 -> 03:10 PM) And here I thought it was because they wanted someone that could play for a few years and not just be a rental for this season. Why is that? They've got Michael Cuddyer already, and it's not like third baseman that are young, can produce at the MLB level, would fit into the Twins payroll just grow on trees. Who says Randa wouldn't re-sign with the Twinkies if they traded for him either?

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jul 2, 2005 -> 03:03 PM) The offense is fine. We score plenty of runs. No need to upgrade. The difference between Randa and Crede is 15 hits a season. Funny how the Twins didn't trade for him because they thought he was average.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jul 2, 2005 -> 03:04 PM) If Marte was healthy, you can bet your ass Cotts would have been in to face Johnson in the 5th inning. I tend to think Cotts has become to other key setup guy with Cliff Politte to use late in games with the way he's pitched in the last month. That said, the need for a lefty LOOGY is just magnified whenever Kevin Walker pitches from the bullpen.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Jul 2, 2005 -> 03:02 PM) Viz is walking a tightrope. He's looked terrible in every outing. Shingo has looked useful, despite the last walk. (He was just trying to fit in) Viz has always been walking that fine line, but compared to the way he started off the year, well he's been better.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jul 2, 2005 -> 03:01 PM) Marte's injury really hurts us a lot more than we thought. The difference between Marte and Walker is huge, and the effect it has on our bullpen roles is bad. Instead of the lights-out Cotts being put in for the 5th inning in the crucial situation of this game, we had to bring in Walker, who hasn't done a f***ing thing to deserve a spot on our roster. Just sucks to lose a game when you lose with your worst player on the roster f***ing up (bases loaded walk) with the game on the line. Cotts would have never pitched in the 5th anyways, they'd save him for the 7th or 8th.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jul 2, 2005 -> 02:58 PM) A couple positives in this game, Vizcaino was effective again, and Shingo has been pretty good as well. If Marte comes back healthy, the bullpen should be as good as any in baseball. Vizcaino and Shingo have been getting the job done lately, which has been good to see, making our bullpen a whole lot deeper.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jul 2, 2005 -> 02:53 PM) Yes, I would have gladly taken those numbers......however, I would have also thought that maybe he had figured some things out to get those numbers lower as the season went on. However, it almost seems like back to square one with him. You can play the whole number game with anyone on the team, and use it to prove a point. How many people still can J. Dye = Dead? Not only has he easily been our best hitter for over a month, but he's also right on with the power numbers we expected from him (HR at least). That just shows how you can have 2 bad months and 1 good month, and still perform to more people's expectations, than having 2 good months and 1 bad month, if you get my line of thinking.

Thanks for the recap Jim, good to see the draft prospects and other names of note down at Bristol and Great Falls having some good performances.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jul 2, 2005 -> 02:46 PM) I am sure that Ozzie and Cooper are looking at Conteras and saying you know what, he is pitching pretty good. He has a good ERA and has been stellar at times this year. I am sure thats exactly what they are saying. So is that a yes or a no?

Let me ask this now. If Jose Contreras had an ERA of 4.34 heading into the all - star break, at the start of the season, would you have taken this?

Oakland would be at least in the top 5 as a team for taking walks though. Gil Meche gave up 7 in 4 and 2/3 IP last night.

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Jul 2, 2005 -> 02:30 PM) 7-7 I believe. And how many of those games have been blown by the bullpen?

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jul 2, 2005 -> 02:27 PM) The cubans have both been very healthy over their years of service. Contreras hasn't been injured much at all actually in his MLB career.