SCCWS

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 20, 2015 -> 06:30 PM) The 2013 Twins were swept in a 4 game series four times. http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MI...le-scores.shtml That is why Gardenshire is now an usher for the Twins.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Aug 20, 2015 -> 03:14 PM) One on my sources: "Robin is going nowhere" and "Kenny and Hahn's differences in opinion towards operations is holding back the organization." A bartender just told me that JR told him that KW is gone, Hahn will move up, Robin becomes GM and Ozzie will become manager.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Aug 19, 2015 -> 07:23 PM) What would take Q? Henley Ramirez, who the Bosox overpaid when he was available as a Free Agent? Get real. It would take taking his contract and a bag of balls. The hero worship of decent hitters in their 30s is beyond belief. No wonder the Sox keep acquiring these stiffs...just doing the bidding of much of the fanbase. You can see the irrationality when people discuss Avi (a problem) v. Melky (doing well) when the reality is they're hitting about the same (and the "problem" is young, cheap and could improve). The Sox need to find a C, 3B, 2b, SS, and OF. They don't need to fill all of those to contend, just 3 or 4. If they can't find a 3B, stick with Saladino. in the meantime, give the in-house young players a chance. it may take trading Q; it may take trading someone like Eaton for a young 3b. But what won't solve it is getting a bunch of Henleys, Melkys or Laroches. We traded for a young 3B and he is struggling at AAA, It isn't getting young players or older players. It really comes down to getting the right players. Nelson Cruz and Kendry Morales are older players who are having really good years on their new teams.

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Aug 19, 2015 -> 06:13 PM) I too disagree with Balta although I understand his point. Semien wasn't going to be anything special, Phegley is a backup catcher. Bassit is solid but wont be anything more than a back end starter. It was worth the shot. You gota take chances and sometimes they work sometimes they do not. I hope they take some more this offseason. This team needs a jolt. I want to see a new coaching staff and add Puig in the offseason. Actually I think you are giving the front office too much credit. Did they think Semien wasn't going to be anything special but thought Micah was?? You say Phegley is a backup which he may be on many teams. But he also may be a starter over Flowers based on their performance this year. I want a new front office which probably would result in a new coaching staff. I feel less confident now that the people assembling a better team can really judge talent. They left spring training thinking 2B and 3B was acceptable??? They thought a bench of Shuck, Boni, Gordon and Soto was acceptable considering the talent available in Charlotte? I think this was a .500 team on paper that is struggling to meet that due to poor seasons by a few key guys. But they also got lucky on the injury side.

They should have gone to a 6 man rotation a few weeks ago once it was obvious they were out of it. Calling him up in September does not get a good enough reading on him since the level of play for most teams deteriorates with the call-ups.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Aug 18, 2015 -> 04:50 AM) Sox need of offensive upgrades wherever we can get them and particularly at 3rd. But there are no good free agent options unless maybe Ben Zobrist could be an everyday 3rd basemen despite having only ever played 6 games there. The other problem with bidding on Zobrist is that literally every single team could use him somewhere. Red Sox have 1 million outfielders and both Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez signed for multiple years. Ramirez has been completely brutal in the outfield and I can't imagine a scenario where they start next year with him as left fielder again. Sandoval has been brutal defensively at third, subpar with the bat, and has an additional year on his contract. He's presumably a lot harder to move unless they eat some of that salary (yes those were fat jokes). Red Sox need pitching, we've got arms in the minors. They should be motivated by the fact that they're paying Ramirez a lot of money to make them a worse team than with Bradley Jr. in the outfield. $68 million is a lot and maybe they'd kick in $$, but I don't see too many other avenues for White Sox to make a significant offensive improvement unless you're talking about a complicated overhaul with multiple trades. Perhaps something structured around Eric Johnson? Call me crazy. Do your worst. They would want a major league arm not Johnson. They have a bunch of Johnson types. My gut is it would take Q and I would rather have a younger player w more versatility in the field than Ramirez. I have posted several times I would want Bradley and a young catcher + for Q

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Aug 17, 2015 -> 02:37 PM) With Sanchez coming around, if Anderson can rake at SS, I'd be more than happy with Saladino-Anderson-Sanchez with Micah DHing. I think that lineup would be fine for Charlotte next year.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Aug 13, 2015 -> 08:34 PM) Johnson's line: 6 IP, 0 R, 8 K, 1 BB, 4H Wish he was auditioning in the majors instead.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Aug 13, 2015 -> 12:20 AM) Abreu is a terrible fielder. Living in New England, I was estatic when the White Sox got Abreu instead of the Red Sox. I remember reading the Red Sox stopped at $50 mil because they felt Abreu was eventually only going to be a DH and they figured Ortiz still had a few years left in the tank. He is certainly a gifted offensive player, but I hope the White Sox knew going in that he would struggle in the field. Hopefully when the sox dump LaRoche, they move Abreu to DH age withstanding.

Leury Mays...................

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 12, 2015 -> 11:19 PM) I can't believe somebody didn't scream "throw it home" to Abreu. He had plenty of time. All he had to do was look home and he had plenty of time to make the right play. Baseball is a weird sport. Danks works his ass off to get the easy 2-1 win. Robertson does the job. All Abreu has to do is not commit the dumbest mental error imaginable ... yet he commits that mental error. Obviously don't like the sox chances with Duke in the game. This loss will be almost as bad as the McEwing gift to the opponent loss. Greg: A closer allowing singles in the 9th putting runners on 1st and 3rd with one out is not doing his job.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Aug 12, 2015 -> 11:15 PM) A 10 year old throws the ball home why did he not know to do it. All year this s*** happens over and over. Exactly. A 10 year old knows what to do. Therefore so does Abreu if his head is in the game.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Aug 12, 2015 -> 11:10 PM) When it happens game after game it shows staff not working enough with players to know what to do in easy baseball 101 situations. The player has zero fault Did you ever play sports????

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Aug 12, 2015 -> 11:06 PM) Fundamental mistakes are 100% fault of the coaching staff game after game Hawk. HuH???? 100%. So the player has zero fault...........

QUOTE (Lip Man 1 @ Aug 11, 2015 -> 08:02 PM) No disrespect but even if somehow the Sox over perform next year, what team would really want Ventura? Mark I don't think he is going to want another year of this. I think he resigns and says it is for family reasons. I guess there is a chance he then might accept some position in the organization such as scouting.

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Aug 11, 2015 -> 01:09 PM) As bad as this team is, I have optimism because we have some good talent in the minors and have a core of good players. Now we just need better acquisitions this offseason along with the further development of our minor leaguers. I have less optimism with our Minor League position players. We were all awaiting the arrival of Semien and Johnson, both touted as good prospects. But both arrived w below average defensive skills. Semien's bat has carried him but his defense is really bad. Johnson's bat never got that chance because his glove was so bad. My fear is Anderson will arrive in 2017 and he will be flawed as well. His defense has been pretty average as a SS. There is really no one at AAA, except maybe Johnson, who will push the ML roster for playing time. Sanchez and Saladino look like they could battle for reserve infielder as both have acceptable gloves but limited bats. Our ability to develop a skilled ML player concerns me. I don't mean an allstar but just a player w a solid glove and bat. It would be great if Trayce Thompson made a spash but I don't think the Sox will be giving him a chance to play every day so he can try and make an impact.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Aug 10, 2015 -> 11:54 PM) Sale, Avi, and Nate Jones were the bright spots today. Flowers was also blooming.

Avi, Avi and Flowers............................our future

Avi and Flowers.......................our future

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 10, 2015 -> 04:05 PM) He and Sandy Alomar have been passed over so many times, you can't help but wonder what fatal flaw teams are seeing, that we aren't. It reminds of the Thibs situation to be honest. Only difference I do see is that Alomar was in Cleveland and got passed over for Francona who had 2 recent titles. I can understand that. Martinez was in TB and got passsed over by Kevin Cash who had limited experience. So I would lean to Alomar if they were the choices. But as you say, there may be skeletons in their closets.

QUOTE (aryzner @ Aug 10, 2015 -> 03:40 PM) I wanted Dave Martinez when Ventura was hired so I'm just going to ahead and pick choice #2 in the OP - Dave Martinez. I did too but once TB passed over him as well, I assume he has some shortcomings. Next candidate

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 10, 2015 -> 02:32 PM) When did Hahn say that? I remember the opposite, them stating specifically during the offseason that a season ticket sales boost provided them the revenue they needed to sign Melky. My trick for estimating season ticket sales is usually to look for games in April that no one in their right mind would buy a single game ticket for and compare year to year. The lowest home attendance this year was a game against Cleveland at 13,055. IN 2014 game 2 had an attendance of 10,625. There are probably a few single game tickets sold in both those cases, especially 2015 since that Cleveland game is a little later in in the month, but I think it's a pretty safe bet that they sold ~2000+ additional season tickets this year. I would guess a little lower but 2,000 is reasonable. Here is a quote from Boyer : Boyer, who has been with the team since coming over from the Bulls in 2004, promises that trend will end this season. "As we stand right now, our season-ticket base is higher than it was at the end of last year," Boyer said. When asked for specifics, Boyer smiled and said, "Higher." If you assume free tickets are the same as last year which is capped at 150,000, the Sox will draw 250,000 more fans than last year. That is about 3,000 per game. So I would assume no more than 1/2 would be season tickets so maybe 1,500.

QUOTE (Lip Man 1 @ Aug 10, 2015 -> 11:38 AM) I wouldn't be surprised if two / thirds of the crowd this weekend for the Cubs series are made up of Cub fans. And I wouldn't blame Sox fans for staying away given the franchises performance certainly since September 2012. Something else I've noticed which should be troubling to the organization. On the on-line version of the Tribune the past two mornings, not one word, one story is about the Sox on the page that first comes up on the screen. As bad as the Sox are you'd think the "badness" would get some mention. It isn't. The Sox are becoming totally irrelevant in their own city. Not blaming the papers in one sense (although from a journalistic standpoint it shouldn't matter what the team's record is). My guess is that the majority of the season ticket holders who signed up this year after the off season spending spree on veterans in their 30's won't be back. Mark Makes sense although season tickets only increased minimally per Hahn. Last projections i saw said Sox would draw 1.9 mil based on advanced sales compared to 1.65 last year. But they have to worry about longer term season ticket holders dropping out as well.

QUOTE (L. Ron Paultard @ Aug 9, 2015 -> 05:09 PM) Greg, 1. I don't care about most hitters. Adam Eaton was paid to be an elite lead-off hitter on a team with Championship aspirations. I hold him to that standard. 2. In a steroid Era, the teams that win are the ones who put up a lot of what's known as "crooked numbers". Lead-off hitter is arguably the most important hitter -- not just to start games off, but in every INNING -- that is, if you want to amass this quaint little thing called "a rally". Most pitchers hate lead-off hitter reaching base, doesn't matter if its via a rocket to LF, or a bleeder through the right side or via the HBP. If nothing else, defense has to come on, which opens up a big hole esp. on the Right side of the infield. Suddenly the next batter hitting a weak grounder, and instead of 2 out, noone on, you've got 1st/3rd, no outs and the pitching coach sweating..... On top of that, when someone who is as fast and as aggressive as Eaton is on base to distract the pitcher, the latter's mechanics and focus can sometimes go to crap -- which leads to, say, an overthrown breaking ball hang over the heart of the plate. Before you know it, you got a 3-run HR. 3. a 3-2 count is in some ways more difficult to hit in than 2-2 count. At 2-2, someone like Eaton knows he needs to protect the plate, it removes any kind of "thinking". Whereas on 3-2, Eaton is conflicted. On the one hand, he loves to hit HR. On the other, he is so close to taking a Walk and being in a position where he can show off his speed on the pads. "What's a Spanky to do!". haha. So on 3-2, sometimes you will see a hitter hesitate if only momentarily -- and in a sport where 50 milliseconds are everything, that barely perceptible motor delay, is enough for a hitter to jam himself on a borderline fastball. Incidentally, this is why the elite pitchers seem to have an ability to handle 3-ball counts better than their peers. They just throw a sinker or a cutter on the corner, and since the hitter is a hair too hesitant and yet doesn't want to take Strike-3 looking.... the batter will basically jam himself. Bottomline, Spanky needs to be on base 40% of the time and shrink his stike zone as much as possible with 2 strikes. His OBP is disproportionately important to Sox success during any kind of winning streak, it's not a coincidence. Yes, Adam Eaten had a reputation in Arizona system as being able to put on a HR show in batting-practice for such a seemingly small guy, but in real games, in a pennant race, I don't give a crap about his predilections. Just get on da base, Adam. duuuh derpity mcDerp There are 14 White Sox players who will make more than Adam Eaton this season. He does make a little more than Shuck does. Eaton will eventually make money as his contract goes on. But he signed for $23 M/5 which is far from Elite. Now Ellsbury's $153M/7 for example is Elite

QUOTE (Saufley @ Aug 9, 2015 -> 06:28 PM) Let's be real and let's be honest now. Really, how does Ventura not deserve to be let go? This is big business and this team is losing the fan base. How can the management and the ownership not be aware of this? I'm totally dumbfounded!!! Ironically attendance is up so far as they are averaging over 2,000 more fans per game. Now I would assume attendance will drop over the next 6 weeks but they will probably still outdraw last year's team.