SCCWS

Maybe KW had more to his message. By saying this team should compete for the playoffs, he could be laying the groundwork for changes. If the team fails, then changes would have to happen. At thst point Hahn can say despite the players not living up to expectations, we are forced to replace the manager. Maybe the FO decided they need to start dropping hints that a change is coming so the RV separation is less of a media circus than the Bulls are facing.

I think the concern will be how much better other teams get and will the Sox match them. We have already added our impact addition in Rodon. So now we have to hope individual players continue to improve. The Sox do not have any other possible impact players coming back from injury. But the Tigers do for example. I am not convinced yet the AL Central is better than AL East. Most of the East teams look pretty even and it shows when they beat up on each other. But Yankees just took 4 out of 6 from Royals and the White Sox just played well against one of best AL teams. So teams are up and down especially as rosters are still being juggled.

QUOTE (bmags @ May 10, 2015 -> 08:21 PM) Gordon's play has been welcome, previous performance aside. I was never that enamored with his 2b offense, but my God him playing 3b vs Gillaspie playing 3b is night and day. I will take the horrendous offense just to give some reliability at one position in the infield defense. They already did that at 2nd base.

QUOTE (Jake @ May 31, 2015 -> 04:31 PM) From .400 to .340! So a AAA player has a great April then goes into a 3 week slump and you call him up??? That may be why he is not even hitting his weight in the majors. Maybe he is even playing hurt which would explain the horrible May he has had.

Danks with a complete game shutout and Tyler Flowers with the game winning RBI. ................and the full moon is coming.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ May 31, 2015 -> 04:52 PM) Danks is so frustrating. You never know which one you're going to get. You can be sure it won't be Jordan.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ May 31, 2015 -> 03:17 PM) I bet money Micah doesn't turn that. Agree, it would be a hell of a throw from Charlotte.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 31, 2015 -> 01:52 PM) I read something yesterday where they are crying in Boston hoping this new guy they called up is goodbecause it has been since 2007 they have brought up a sarting pitcher that has been good for them. And that includes years with the great Theo in charge. True but there is some history there. They brought up Buchholz and Lester in 2006 and 2007. They traded Anabel Sanchez as part of the Josh Beckett trade and they traded Justin Masterson for VMart. So that is 4 pretty decent pitchers from 06-09 that were homegrown in their minor league system. They now supposedly have another batch of pitchers in AAA but Boston media is always touting stud prospects many of which have fizzled. But they do churn them out or use them as trade chips.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 31, 2015 -> 10:23 AM) Considering how a lot of people can't take 2 weeks of Carlos Sanchez struggling, even though there was a walk off hit in there, it pretty much answers the question why a total teardown and rebuild will never happen Actually Sanchez has struggled for a month. His average had dropped 60 points over 3 weeks before he was recalled from AAA.

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ May 30, 2015 -> 11:11 PM) If I'm the Blue Jays and Alex Anthopoulos, yes because a starting pitcher of Shark's caliber could make my team the favorite to win the division. Plus the farm in Toronto is really deep, especially on arms. If I'm the Astros, I would stand pat but I've read in a few places that they're looking to add pitching. Toronto could be a seller rather than a buyer by July.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ May 30, 2015 -> 07:04 PM) Avoid signing career NL players. My defense of LaRoche is he has to adjust to a new league of pitchers. I thought Adam Dunn left him his little black book???

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ May 31, 2015 -> 12:10 AM) Nice touch with the "whiffle ball bats". One option could be to play Beckham at second with Davidson at third to get some more pop in the lineup against left handed starters. Surprisingly enough Davidson only has one error on the season in 45 games at third. Not sure if that's due to a limited range but at least his throws are accurate. I'm not sure what I would do against right handed starters. Davidson is hitting .216 in AAA for the month of May.

My question is who watched Johnson in spring training and decided he was ready. Then after 6 weeks decided he was not ready defensively and had him sent down. Next called up Sanchez to replace him while he was struggling offensively in AAA for the 3 weeks before he was recalled. Somebody in this organization seems to be having a hard time judging skills needed to play in the ML. It is one thing giving a young player a chance. But Johnson and Sanchez are not close to being ML ready and hopefully their confidence is not lost with this fiasco.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 29, 2015 -> 01:52 PM) And If a team that should be "very well above .500" is systematically playing worse, with very few injuries as an excuse, then it becomes a very legitimate question "what is wrong with this team that could cause so many different players to systematically be below where they normally are?" What could effect an entire roster and make an entire roster play worse? There's your choice. Either this roster was never good enough to compete and the person who traded for a major player on a 1 year contract and spent $50 million while leaving huge holes is a fool, or this roster is good enough to compete and the people who manage the roster and helped this roster prepare for the season are utterly failing at their jobs. Who said this team should be " very well above .500". Many posters in the prediction thread saw this team as a .500 team and so did Vegas.

Not sure how Chicago media is reacting since I live in New England. But national media is trashing Jerry on the Bulls fiasco. My gut says he won't touch Robin now until the off-season when the Bulls attention has died down.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 28, 2015 -> 03:56 PM) Good thing for that insurance run. Another game winning hit for Flowers. He is really blooming...................

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ May 28, 2015 -> 10:11 AM) Alexei has been declining for a while now. If the Sox are not going to compete this year then keeping Alexei does nothing. Keep him for next year as he continues to decline? No thanks, I'll hand the SS position to Sanchez and see what he can do with it for the remainder of the season in order to get a better idea of what needs to be done over winter in preparation for next season. Holding onto a declining 34 yo SS makes even less sense on a non competitive team. Last winter was the time to trade Alexei, his value had done nothing but drop since. The time for a good return on Alexei has passed so take what you can get for him and move forward. But it can be But again, you move Sanchez to SS, which was not his primary position in the minors, when he pretty much has shown he needs time in AAA as his bat and walk/SO ratio is horrible. If that is what Hahn is thinking, they should have stuck w Johnson and played Sanchez at SS in Charlotte until Alexei could be moved. Then you have to bring up another infielder to play 2B or play Gordon full time. Playing young players when they really belong in the minors can cause long-term problems for some kids.

QUOTE (WBWSF @ May 28, 2015 -> 09:39 AM) 1) I would rather sign Shark to a long term deal. A rotation of Sale, Shark, Rodon, and Quintana solves alot of problems going into 2016. We need a 5th starter. 2) Alexi is 34 years old. You're not going to much for him. Unless they just want to get rid of his salary, it doesn't make any sense to trade him for nothing. I agree with you but it might mean 2016 is another year w/o playoff contention. Maybe you re-sign Shark and trade Q. But the Sox have to improve the roster. There are too many holes-C-2B-3B-LF-CF to really compete. Maybe somebody becomes a ML prospect as the Charlotte season goes on, but right now there may be no relief in sight. You are probably stuck w LF and you have to hope Eaton bounces back. So hopefully you sign 1 free agent and trade Q for a position player and a pitching prospect. My gut tells me you sign another catcher and hope you find someone who can at least be average.

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ May 27, 2015 -> 02:04 PM) Samardzija is pitching better and as long as he continues to do so he should bring back a decent return. Color me overly optimistic but I think Alexei will heat up with the weather and turn himself into a trade candidate. Might fetch a decent return. That's about it as far as significant returns by trade, excluding core players like Sale, Q, Rodon, Abreu, Robertson and Avi. Just have to weather the storm Sox fans. You can trade Alexei but it may be a better investment to keep him. Who plays SS once he is gone. Unless you trade him ( or Shark) for a SS ML ready prospect, it may be better holding and letting the Charlotte infielders continue to develop. We have already learned that Sanchez and Johnson both needed more time in AAA before they were pushed into ML playing time.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 27, 2015 -> 03:26 PM) I'm expecting Thome. I think Tom Thibedeau will get the nod. He will be available and is a stronger personality than Robin.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 27, 2015 -> 01:28 PM) The entire organization needs turned over. Coaches, GM, minor league staff, all of them. This failure comes from every single one of those levels. Training staff has done a good job of keeping guys healthy. I think they should be retained

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ May 27, 2015 -> 03:38 PM) Stop batting him f***ing second? Yeah, Sanchez at under 200 would look good in the 2 hole

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 27, 2015 -> 11:06 AM) Cooper is the main one whose loyalty to the organization trumps his loyalty to Ventura (like Cora with Guillen). Buddy Bell would be another choice, or Nick Capra. Finally, McEwing or Salas if Ventura recommended they stay on in his place. (And I'm sure he wouldn't, not his style to be petty or vengeful). That's four. Personally, I would be happy with Cooper or McEwing (because he's a big LaRussa disciple, the equivalent of Martinez with Maddon almost). But no 2-3 year contracts for the interim manager. He's got to earn it. Otherwise, you wait until the offseason and do a full managerial search with due diligence and a full field of candidates, which hasn't happened since 2003-2004 with this organization. But if Cooper is the manager, then you need to hire a pitching coach. Juan Nieves. You cannot finish this season w 3 young pitchers in Sale, Q and Rodon not getting the full attention of a pitching coach. But Herm Schneider would still be the most experienced choice for manager. He would be a "safe" pick

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 27, 2015 -> 08:32 AM) At this point, there's almost nothing to lose. We're trailing every single team in the AL, other than the A's. If it doesn't work, we have the luxury of finding another manager in the off-season and "rebooting" again. Surely, Hahn has a "big board" of potential managers in mind as well. Who are you going to replace him with??? No one is coming in from outside the organization without a multi year contract. So in your rational, you hire another manager for will say 3 years and he doesn't work out so in the off-season you hire another one and have 3 on the payroll for next year. That ain't happening. So you have to hire within the organization. Harold Baines?? Buddy Bell?? Herm Schneider?? Kenny Williams??? How about Coop as interim manager for rest of year. Replace him with Nieves who is being paid by Boston anyway. OR you stcik w Robin, get a better draft pick and replace him in offseason when the number of candidates are much greater

I think there is an important question. This looks like a .500 team which many of us predicted. But there were other fans who projected 90 wins and are now ranting about everything being wrong. I think the big question is Robin. How big of a problem is he and his staff. If Robin is a big problem then you make minor moves and maybe Shark gets moved since he would be gone anyway. Maybe LaRoche can also be moved but probably as a salary dump with little return. You can't trade Alexei because you probably don't have an adequate replacement. If you want a catcher, the only tradeable assets are probably pitching i.e Q?? But that opens another hole. If Robin is not the main problem, then you need to blow up some more of the roster and continue the rebuild shooting for 2017.