Flash Tizzle

QUOTE(Greg Hibbard @ Jun 2, 2006 -> 07:58 PM) As long as he keeps it to one run per inning pitched I suppose I should be happy You can. I sure as hell won't. We're not paying Garland 8 million to give up 1 run every inning pitched during starts.

QUOTE(SoxHawk1980 @ Jun 2, 2006 -> 07:41 PM) It's nice to see Judy have a good 1-2-3 first inning. Judy doesn't have 1-2-3 innings. Jon pitches over both sides of the plate with both his fastball and slider. It appears he showed up thus far. It can change, but it's encouraging watching an effortless first inning.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jun 2, 2006 -> 05:44 PM) Considering that this texas team has destroyed garland in the past, he better pitch his ass off and keep the ball down. If he pitches poorly, atleast he'll have the excuse of Texas having a great offense, and how they've been playing well lately. I'm sure someone will mention it, whether it's Garland himself or one of his supporters.

QUOTE(JimH @ Jun 2, 2006 -> 04:26 PM) I would like to see them get even more aggressive in the Pacific Rim area, utilize Guillen's influence to further mine Venezuela, and keep up their efforts in the Dominican. Then the next area to examine is minor league player development. It is one thing to sign and import these guys, quite another to ensure they receive proper training and instruction. But they are spending a lot of money scouting players and I suspect their results will be like most other organizatons with these kids ... somewhat hit and miss. Unfortunately it's the nature of baseball. I agree with several points. Guillen's popularity in Venezuela could only prove beneficial to drawing talented players to our recently opened baseball camp. Name recognition may one day prove vital in obtaining a Felix Hernandez phenom. Now, I realize it may be unrealistic to expect; but atleast the possibility exists. Hernandez's idol growing up was reportedly Freddy Garcia. If he were a few years younger, who knows what influence our World Series championship would have had on him. Perhaps he actively seeks the White Sox camp to pitch for Guillen, or alongside his idol. Scouting Far Eastern countries, even if by video alone, doesn't hurt. It's proven successfull with Shingo and Iguchi. Williams may want to consider searching primarily for relief pitchers entering next season. And as for the Dominican Team, isn't it a roster comprised primarily of walk on players? I didn't think there was much scouting involved in assembling a winter-league team, aside from sending certain prospects from the minor league clubs down to have more experience. Utimately, I realize scouting is hit and miss. We've simply been missing since 1994. It really becomes more than badluck after 12 years. There's been no contributions. You are right to criticize me for insisting there's no scouts in Central America. It was more of a statement directed towards their inability to locate talent. Everything is compounded, IMO, since (up to last season) our payroll wasn't very high and the ballclub had been consistently medicore. Thus, we were removed from signing big name FA's and drafting high. With our 100 million dollar payroll, obvioiusly, our financial situation is a bit improved. Perhaps more money can be devoted to scouting foreign countries as well.

QUOTE(JimH @ Jun 2, 2006 -> 09:24 AM) This is incredibly inaccurate. Every team would like to import more talent from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, etc. but to say the White Sox have ignored the area and don't travel there is a blatant misstatement. Jim, where are the results? Where are the players we can point to as proof the White Sox organization is intent on developing Central American talent? You can count Arnie Munoz and Felix Diaz as recent examples if you want, but neither have proven themself as servicable major league pitchers. If our scouts are actively roaming Central America searching for amateur free agents, they've been doing a poor job.

QUOTE(rangercal @ Jun 2, 2006 -> 12:29 AM) everyone on the board is going vintage.... so maybe Jon can be vintage jon of 05? Hopefully, he captures his pitching line of the first matchup against Texas and not the second. Difference between 2ER/7IP and 7ER/6IP.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Jun 1, 2006 -> 09:54 PM) Yay for vintage sig Good idea.

When Frank has the opportunity, he should thank Garland for serving up some juicy fastballs and turning his season around. Nothing like facing Jon to turn around the ol' confidence.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jun 1, 2006 -> 10:54 PM) IMO, it was a very similar situation to what the Phillies did last year and if I was a fan of either team in either situation I'd be all for a trade. I mean hell, Joe Mauer is pretty much the best catcher in baseball right now and Ryan Howard is one of the best sluggers in the league. Both examples of Mauer and Howard are exactly the situations I look for our ballclub to mimmick. It's a good problem to possess -- having enough confidence in a prospect to trade away a proven veteran holding the same position. And if you receive a good package, as both Minnesota (obviously) and Philadelphia did, it's even better. Closest we have to this scenario is with our starting pitchers and McCarthy. After that it's a pretty deep dropoff with Fields and Crede. When Garica is traded (I'm positive it'll be him) , I expect a decent package in return. Ideally, a solid reliever and a starting pitching prospect. No way in hell I'll stand for McCarthy staying in the bullpen for another season.

QUOTE(shoota @ Jun 1, 2006 -> 10:37 PM) Get some dominant bullpen help now. Thank you. I don't want to hear how difficult that is to acquire, it's your job. You haven't had anything more important to do since Spring Training, so get off your ass and deal. Politte is done, Jenks, Cotts and Thornton are only decent this year, and the rest of your bullpen isn't worth mention. It's not difficult at all. Just throw together what remains of our minor league system and we can probably pry Shields right now from Anaheim. Point is, unless Williams is willing to overpay, we'll have to wait. Maybe not even make a move. Remember last midseason and the ridiculous demand certain teams were requesting? Trust me when I tell you I was one of the Soxtalk members furious when Williams basically stood pat. When demands were made public shortly thereafter, it was easy to understand why. Everyone had a Jim Hendry philosophy of trading, where he asks for everything and gives up as little as possible. McCarthy for Ron Villone? LOL. Geoff Blum was one of three (IIRC) midseason acquisitions over the entire MLB. It may change this midseason, but I know this-- no one will help the World Series champions.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Jun 1, 2006 -> 09:38 PM) Hilarious how you don't like the idea of trading prospects for bullpen guys, yet all of our minor leaguers get the Cleveland steamer treatment from you. :rolly How many teams do you think would love to be in our position right now in terms of our ML talent and farm system? I don't like the idea because often the unreliable nature of bullpen arms changes from year to year, and may require a top prospect mid-season. It isn't smart for our benefit. Problem is no team will take Monterro for their top setup man. I'm not quickman, who often suggests everyone can be traded because they all suck. There are several players I like in our system. Lumsden, for one, has a great arm and has been pitching well. Broadway, however, can be traded right now for all I care. Is it my fault there's not ONE pitcher in a system capable of filling a bullpen position? How about our positional players? Is there anyone you could just plug in now and expect decent production?

QUOTE(GreatScott82 @ Jun 1, 2006 -> 09:36 PM) Is it too early to talk trades. We did hit June. No, but who's going to be available? Say goodbye to Sweeney, Fields, or Lumsden if you're looking for a reliever with a ERA below 4. Is it worth it to you? I'll take a bet any trade made will be for a Thorton-type project pitcher with good stuff and limited results.

Well, Tigers win. Nice delicious pitching performance from our bullpen pushes us back another game.

QUOTE(winninguglyin83 @ Jun 1, 2006 -> 09:27 PM) He's chillin with Chris Young, in a trade we're going to curse for a long time could have used BMac as fifth starter, kept Viz and had Young for CF. Vazquez is a tremendous pitcher. We're not talking about Vizcaino and Young for Todd Ritchie here. I didn't want to see Young leave, but the way it goes with our system, we produce Mike Cameron/Aaron Rowand clones at a rate of one every few years.

QUOTE(Melissa1334 @ Jun 1, 2006 -> 09:19 PM) its too hard too win when u dont have a solid righty out of the bullpen. det:zumaya, 2.92 era cle:betancourt, 3.21 minn:rincon,2.00 sox: ??? we must be the only contending team w/out a solid righty setup man, cotts and matt have been ok. Hey, maybe our minors could produce someone capable of posting a sub 4 ERA? No? Well, what about a sub 5 ERA? No?! Sub 10ERA?! Yeah, we could probably get that.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jun 1, 2006 -> 09:13 PM) Exactly...our biggest problem is the lack of a righty set-up man. I know people are going to be jumping off bridges tonight, but I think we should be thrilled with where we are in the standings, considering the way the season has gone so far. I'm not exactly thrilled that our club is responsible for bringing Cleveland back into the race. Considering tonight's blowup by the bullpen, I'm not happy about where our confidence is heading. Should I expect that our bullpen will rebound? Atleast with the rotation I have that reassurance they will rebound.

QUOTE(Sox It To Em @ Jun 1, 2006 -> 09:07 PM) Well said. How many relievers are out there that are consistently good every year? Not very many. That's how an organization makes mistakes they'll never forget. It's a bad equation when a team is desperate for pitching, another club knows it -- requires top prospects--, and the pitcher traded for fails to perform. With bullpen pitchers it's more than likely going to backfire. Someone needs to tell Wilder to kick some of those scrubs we call pitching prospects in the ass. If anyone of them had a decent fastball, or halfway decent control, a good secondary pitch, or any combination, we wouldn't be in this mess. There'd be no need for Jeff Nelson or Boone Logan. We wouldn't have to be talking about trades midseason.

QUOTE(CWSOX45 @ Jun 1, 2006 -> 09:02 PM) New name for White Sox bullpen: "Panic Room" Really is TOO perfect. Panic Room.......... I like the way you're put together.

QUOTE(SoxHawk1980 @ Jun 1, 2006 -> 09:00 PM) KW has to go out and get some serious bullpen help. If we bulk up the bullpen, this is a WS team. I don't think it is with the current bullpen. Picking up Jeff Nelson off of the scrap heap isn't enough. We've got enough back of the bullpen guys already. We've got the prospects, so trade a couple of them for a couple genuinely good bullpen arms. The sooner the better. I absolutely HATE the idea of trading for bullpen help. Even though I realize it's necessary, it's such an inconsistent position which will cost us several valuable prospects. Why isn't anyone looking at the pile of s*** we call a minor league system and questioning where the pitching help is? Of the entire system, no one is readily available to assist our bullpen--and that's just sad.

QUOTE(TitoMB345 @ Jun 1, 2006 -> 08:51 PM) I agree completely. I feel bad for him totally. I feel sorry for every fan who'll have to watch Garland pitch for the next several years. Talk about a contract which never should have been signed. Best we can do is trade Garica, get an absolute killing in return, and move McCarthy into the rotation. Now Cotts is giving up HR's? Oh man, this is PATHETIC.

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Jun 1, 2006 -> 08:44 PM) :rolly Who else in the league has a change up like Santana? The McCarthy-Belliard at-bat reminded me of Cotts-Cattalonatto at-bat back in 2004 in the Sky Dome. McCarthy's changeup is pretty damn good, as we've seen last season. He needs to throw it effectively. Cotts, on the other hand, has a weak breaking ball several mph off his fastball. Does that mean only Santana should throw a changeup when hitters are unable to catch up to his fastball? It's f***ing ridiculous everytime I hear about speeding up bats. You throw 7 straight, 92 mph fastballs and they're fouling it off, you need to throw another pitch. His changeup is good; it's his fault for hanging it.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Jun 1, 2006 -> 08:38 PM) KW made me sick last winter trading bullpen guys and not getting replacements, and counting on Cotts and Politte to match or come close to last season's performances. Funny, I remember using a phrase such as "you can trade Vizcaino and Marte, but you damn well better find pitchers capable of reproducing their numbers," and I was -- of course -- attacked. Never held confidence with our bullpen entering the season. Wow, wouldn't it be great if someone with talent existed in our minor league system?

Can anyone f***ing believe this? You'd think after Dye's HR it could have energized our ballclub to compose themselves and leave Cleveland with a split. And I'm REALLY f***ing sick of Hawk/DJ talking about "not speeding up bats" when hitters can't catch up to a fastball. Santana sure doesn't care about that logic. Considering McCarthy's changeup, he needs to throw it. If a hitter continues to foul off a fastball, they're eventually going to catch up. You need another pitch thrown it. It makes little sense when they bring it up. McCarthy just can't grip the changeup with a s*** as of now.

Thornton obviously has little to no intestinal fortitude. I hope everyone reconsiders him as a reliable setup man. Right after his team hits a dramatic HR to obtain a lead, he just unravels and throws 4 head-high fastballs and gives up a rocket single. The walk, especially.

QUOTE(Greg The Bull Luzinski @ Jun 1, 2006 -> 08:07 PM) Rather than talking about all of the things going badly, let's list the things that are going well. 1. No major injuries 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13 14. 15 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. s***, I can't think of any other thing going well aside from the Yankees beating the Togers the past couple of nights. WE HAVEN'T HIT OUR STRIDE YET, HOMESLICE11!!!