SCCWS

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.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ May 25, 2015 -> 05:08 PM) Zobrist has played poorly and has been on the DL. I'd give up something like what we gave up for Youkilis, which would be something like Leury and Scott Carroll. Buehrle isn't having all that great a year and getting paid plenty. I'd give up something like...Myles Jaye and Cleto for him. Problem is then you'd have to figure out what to do with Danks. Lucroy has been hurt, but you still demand something in terms of trade value, but you can't trade for last year's production. Something like Eddy Alvarez, Jace Fry, Davidson and one of Micah/Sanchez. Revised offer of Montas, Alvarez and Davidson. For Rosario I'd offer Trayce Thompson, Fry, Davidson and Nolan Sanburn. Can I see Hahn doing 2012 push for the playoffs type trading? Yes. But Don't expect big splashy pieces other than maybe Rosario or Lucroy. Untouchables for me would be Danish, Anderson and Adams. Zobrist would be a rental since he is a FA next year. Sox should not be involved in rentals based on their poor start.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 24, 2015 -> 07:16 PM) Well, obviously they're stuck with Ramirez until he heats up, and there's nobody ready to play SS in the system until 2017 anyway...and that's a HUGE if in Tim Anderson, who's still more likely to end up at 2B or LF from quite a few reports. (If we are out of it at some point, it would be nice to see what Saladino could do...well, just because he seems to be a good kid and has overcome a lot). Of course, Melky Cabrera will probably be blocking the playing time of youngsters like Anderson and Hawkins by that point. (Then again, we should probably expect the worst since the whole "we haven't produced a position player since Rowand/Crede/Ordonez/Lee thing" unless you count Marcus Semien). Semien may be worse defensively at SS than Johnson was at 2B

quote name='Greg Hibbard' date='May 24, 2015 -> 06:06 PM' post='3167764'] No, really, they don't. It's early days still. At the very minimum, they need to stay within 2-3-4 games of .500 for the next few weeks and hope KC and Detroit come back to earth a bit. At 70 games if they are 34-36, would you still rule them out? My answer would be "it depends on what record KC and Detroit have at that time." If either of those teams runs away and hides with this thing, it doesn't matter if the white sox win 77 or 93 games. We aren't seeing postseason play. I think there's very good starting pitching talent and enough hitting to make a run. Defense is still my main concern. I also think there is enough hitting to make a run. There was today. But they need probably 4-5 runs each game to win.............................

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ May 22, 2015 -> 01:08 PM) I think if you put Sanchez in the two hole he may be a little bit more patient. He's a smart baseball guy. Your kidding right??? Some genius in this organization called up Sanchez while he was in a slump in Charlotte. Besides his average dropping over 60 points, in 3 weeks his biggest problem all year in Charlotte was he seldom walks. He had 4 the first 6 weeks and none the last 3. But he was called up for defense so we now have a guy who won't hit his weight. He is not patient at the plate. Johnson wasn't ready defensively and Sanchez is not ready offensively.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ May 18, 2015 -> 12:47 AM) You know we could pretty much end Cleveland's season with a 4 game sweep. Wouldn't that be tasty. We are 4 games ahead of them. If they sweep us, would that pretty much end our season????

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ May 17, 2015 -> 12:26 AM) But then you watch Sanchez play late inning D tonight and go "Damn!!!". Dude belongs. Actually the timing is good. Now that Eaton seems to be hitting, the Sox can live w the 9th batter being a defensive spot.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 16, 2015 -> 09:36 PM) I wouldn't fault Ventura for benching Avi after that play. Time someone sets an example for these miscues. Good he didn't.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ May 15, 2015 -> 08:31 PM) This is being really overthought. Micah: Showed promise Bad defense Great speed Patient batter Below average numbers Carlos: Has hit in limited big league time Destroying AAA Good defender Will likely show better consistency with bat Micah needs tons of reps, especially on defense. Charlotte is a good place for that. Carlos gives us better defense and likely a better bat. Again, you need to look at his stats. He was not destroying AAA. He had a great April and first couple of days in May. But since then he hit .222 over the last 2 weeks so his average dropped 60 points. All year he has a very poor BB/SO. Hopefully we see the April hitter and not ther May one.