Doc Edwards Shot

I generally like Danks and think he's a quality #3 starter, but he sure ain't worth $65 million. Hopefully he comes back from his arm trouble and proves me wrong by pitching like a #1 or #2.

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Oct 2, 2012 -> 10:22 PM) I can understand the Thornton hate, though I think its overblown but why the Crain hate??? A 2.44 ERA with a 1.08 WHIP isn't good enough for you? I'll second this bewilderment. Crain was our most steady, reliable veteran reliever. Besides the young studs like Reed and Jones who aren't going anywhere, he's the last guy in our pen that I'm thinking about getting rid of.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 4, 2012 -> 09:25 AM) I don't think that is a fair assumption. There will be a large drop off offensively. Plus when you look at what is out there is at the positions of need (2nd and 3rd mostly), I don't see big enough improvements to merit letting AJ walk away. 3rd base is a need with the almost certain departure of Youkilis, but 2B? Beckham is really good defensively, young, cheap, healthy, and will likely improve offensively in the coming years. He's shown signs of being an above-average hitter who just has to figure out how to put it together offensively for the duration of a season. Not seeing 2B as a problem, unless you're referring to needing a utility bench player who can play 2B since Hudson will be gone. I'm thinking the middle infield combo of Ramirez and Beckham should be kept in place for the foreseeable future. It's not broken, so it shouldn't be fixed. We need a fresh veteran starting pitcher to replace Peavy, a 4th outfielder, a backup catcher to platoon with Flowers (I'm betting that AJ won't be back and Flowers isn't good enough offensively to be an everyday catcher), and bullpen help to go with 3B.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Oct 4, 2012 -> 02:58 PM) I know you like to make up "facts" to support your arguments but really? I don't remember anyone on here giving Rios a free pass last year. Rios has been consistently ripped apart by frustrated fans through the course of his entire tenure with the Sox. There has never been a free pass.

I think they should start completely from scratch, except that Hawk is still under contract. I've always liked Hawk, but he's now totally stale. I wonder if his massive ego is about to claim another victim in Steve Stone. No DJ, please! Nice guy, but horrible announcer. And Tom Paciorek never seemed that good to me, either. We need a fresh face. Can Ed Olczyk start doing baseball games in the hockey offseason?

QUOTE (whitesox901 @ Sep 28, 2012 -> 03:23 PM) It sucks, and I hate that we blew a division, I don't think its a successful season because of that, but, it lays ground work, and it helps us see what our weaknesses are (too many low OBP hitters, for example). While it's true that the Sox have too many low OBP hitters, the irony is that getting on base wasn't the problem. It's getting hits WRISP that did them in.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Sep 28, 2012 -> 07:26 AM) This lineup needs a major overhaul, but not in the way I expect most people think. Youkilis needs to be back, and if paying his $13M option is the only way to do it, then do it. You can't afford to get rid of a .354 OBP from a team that is sorely lacking in OBP. I think Youkilis is in permanent decline and his best days are way behind him. No way I would pay $13 million for just one season of him now. $13 million is what All-Stars get paid and he most definitely is not an All-Star anymore. Plus, even though his OBP is good his BA sucks hard. He's only hitting .230. We need some balance between batting average and OBP. He's not that good defensively at 3B either. Figuring out an answer to 3B has to be one of Kenny's priorities for 2013. I sincerely doubt that he's going to pick up Youkilis' option.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 28, 2012 -> 08:52 AM) And by the way, that's one thing I'd actually put on Robin, that I hope he learns from... he needs to play his bench a little more during the whole season, not just near the end. I love the job RV did overall, but of the few things I didn't like, that one really sticks out. This is true, except that you have to have somewhat productive players on the bench to put in. You can't make a habit out of a guy like Orlando Hudson who hits like .150. This shortcoming is on Kenny for not giving Robin decent bench players.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Sep 26, 2012 -> 09:44 PM) I knew it would be down this year due to season ticket numbers, but I'm shocked/bewildered at HOW low it is. If payroll drops again next year, we have no right to complain. I'm wondering how much the payroll can really go down even if Kenny and Jerry try. The only expensive guy leaving will be Peavy and the other expensive guys aren't really tradeable (Rios, Dunn, Danks, Konerko, Thornton). AJ doesn't make that much last I checked, only about $6 million. So if they don't bring him back that's not that much in savings. Boston paid $11 million of Youkilis' $12 million salary this year, so he doesn't figure in when they buy him out and make him a free agent after this season ends. Seems to me the payroll is going to continue to be high.

The turning point for me was the road trip to Baltimore and Detroit when they went 1-6. The first game in Baltimore had us leading 3-2 in the bottom of the 8th, but then wife-beater Myers gave up a two run homer to the O's and we lost 4-3 (funny, Myers pretty much repeated that BS tonight). Ever since that game and road trip the team wasn't anywhere near what they were prior to that point. The overachieving stopped right there. Yes, they had a 5 game winning streak as recently as last week when they won the makeup game at home against the Tigers, but they already weren't the same at that point. It's like they were just hanging on for dear life.

Even though it's technically not a collapse because of what happened in the end, I think the biggest collapse for the Sox franchise was in 2005 when they had the 15 game lead and the Indians closed in a matter of weeks to within 1.5 games. Good thing they held on to win the division and then the whole banana! But this season will be memorable for sure. This is about as bad as it gets down the stretch for a team in contention. In fact, I'll bet they lose out or only win one of these remaining 6 games to finish 82-80 or 83-79. Ironically, that's close to the absolute best preseason predictions for this team. How sad that after everything that has happened this season they're ultimately only going to finish around the .500 mark. All too often this team only finishes between .480 and .520 - enough to not be bad, but not good enough to do anything meaningful. Besides 2005, the franchise just can't seem to put enough together in a given year. They really need a full rebuild and to stop with Kenny's band-aids year after year, but it's not going to happen with so many untradeable guys under contract.

Does anyone know what our franchise record is for walks given up in a game? I can't believe that 12 walks WAS NOT a record!

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Sep 26, 2012 -> 10:57 PM) WHAT? New York? Why? If we are truly choking this thing away, I am rooting for either O's or Rays. I'm going with Texas. They're one of the last franchises that has never won the big one.