tray

The Sox are never going to take on Shield's backloaded Contract (over $50 Million left for 2016, 2017, 2018 and a buy out) AND throw in any top prospect in the deal. The Sox are on the hook for $15 million to pay Danks for sitting at home this year. Like Danks, Shields has lost velocity on his fastball and that usually translates into loss of effectiveness with off-speed pitches. He would help at the back of the rotation, but not for 50 million and prospects.

QUOTE (Tony @ May 25, 2016 -> 12:09 PM) I'm more offended you're still using Yahoo! to do searches. Yahoo is my home page. Again, I was not amused by this hack or the portrayal of Sox fans as trailer trash.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ May 25, 2016 -> 07:52 AM) Ventura doesn't send him out there because he thinks he will turn it around. He's out there strictly to handle the pitching staff. I think he has failed miserably in that regard as well. I can think back on several pitches he called for in key situations during this losing streak, which coincided pretty much with when Avila came off the DL. And never forget, "handling the pitching staff" is an excuse that wer were given as to why Flowers was here for years on end. Avila appears to be worse than Flowers in every metric.

Avi is quickly burning through his last few chances to remain on the 25 man roster. That's too bad but realistically, the Sox have known that they would need a Left Hand bat, preferably one that could at least platoon at DH. I am more concerned with Alex Avila's struggles because DH is easier to replace than catcher. . Navarro isn't much better but in a clutch situation, I'd rather have Navarro up instead of Avila. Ventura keeps sending Avila out there thinking he will turn it around. Maybe he is right. In any case, those two spots in the batting order ( catcher and DH) present a similar problem to the one we had last year with Flowers and El Roach . Tonight's game might get rained out. If it does, we lost 2/3, and if it doesn't and we lose 3/4, how many series will that we make that we have lost since we started tanking? It's been painful watching the team struggle like this. I only hope they turn it around, because 4th place is well within sight now.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 25, 2016 -> 01:34 AM) The Chicago White Sox are an American trailer trash professional baseball team based on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. The White Sox are members of the American League (AL) Central division in Major... wikipedia.org Just have to laugh. It obviously doesn't show up on the wikipedia main page. What difference does that make? This was a hack by a cubf--- that I did not find amusing.

Can someone alert Yahoo to take the very offensive description off the Yahoo search page for the White Sox ? Whoever hacked that page is a loser and should have their internet privileges revoked.

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ May 23, 2016 -> 08:56 PM) Giggity EJ gives up a double....here comes the big inning now that he gave up a hit lol Don't think so bud.

I am not going to watch the second game because Comcast Sportsnet looks like they may black out another one.

Lots of Managerialand coaching errors and they pile up.... McEwing let us get run out of a big inning, bases loaded , no outs, by sending Melky on a shallow line drive. Sanchez hit the ball hard on his previous at bat but yea, I would have used Saladino. Robin lacks that feel for the game that successful Managers have.

Bad feeling about this one after giving up 3 in the 9th. Ventura should have learned that Albers should not be in there in high leverage situations. Really sad if this key game in the season gets thrown away.

QUOTE (soxfan49 @ May 23, 2016 -> 06:01 PM) Any Comcast people have any luck with CSN yet? What is up with CSN on Comcast? I guess they wanted to make sure the Cubz game wasn't interfered with on CSN Plus. I guess a credit on their bill for ruining this game is out of the question.

Cub fans from the the South side lack brain cells so it is hard to imagine that they employ much logic when they decide to attend a Sox game and wear their ridiculous looking Cub attire.

Attendance figures at Sox Park is a preoccupation of Cub fans . Wrigley is a stadium that has largely been funded on the backs of those who lost their fortunes and homes to Wall Street during the Bush era economic crash including stock speculators and derivative traders. I would rather have a publicly funded stadium than have a Billionaire bully come in from Omaha and dictate what he thinks is good for the City, for the neighborhood, and for the public. At the end of the day, the joke will be on Ricketts for pouring money into a relatively small piece of urban real estate which is inconvenient to get to, lacks adequate on-site parking, is already congested (even before Clark gets narrowed at Ricketts request) and has no connection to the lakefront other than Gull droppings. If Reinsdorf's sons or a new ownership group (possibly with the Reinsdorfs, Sox fan Rocky Wirtz and others) chooses to relocate, there will be options to relocate to a new ballpark, right on Chicago's Southern lakefront. i.e., 31st Beach and further South to Promontory Point.

QUOTE (soxforlife05 @ May 15, 2016 -> 08:29 PM) Miguel Gonzalez has not lost us a game in his 3 starts facing TOR, TEX and NYY all on the road. Let that sink in. No 5th starter is going to be dominant he is doing what a 5th starter is supposed to do which is keep us in games. Not his fault the bullpen blew leads in the last 2 games. I would agree that he is minimally acceptable as a 5th starter on most teams. However, if the Sox want to win the Division this year, they will have to find a fifth starter who is more competitive and goes deeper into games. Gonzo has given up 19 hits and 10 walks in 15.2 innings. (1.85 WHIP and 5.17 ERA). He has been on the brink of disaster on several occasions which could easily have blown those games wide open and made those stats ugly. The bullpen is a separate issue except to the extent that a starter like Gonzo can't make it through 5 innings which then increases the outs the pen has to cover.

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 15, 2016 -> 06:54 PM) Who would you replace Gonzalez with? He's at least kept the team in the games he's pitched in. The rest of our 5th starters can't really say the same. I watched the games he pitched in. Gonzo was more lucky than good. He was on the tip of disaster in several innings. The reason he has to go is because of what Plesac said. He can throw strikes but doesn't because he does not trust his pitches in the zone. I don't know who the Sox should bring up as the next contestant in the 5th starter derby. Not Erik Johnson, not Scott Carroll and not Gonzo for sure. That is why I suggested possibly skipping the 5th spot for one turn while that is being discussed and decided on.

As Dan Plesac correctly pointed out, Gonzo was afraid to pitch in the strike zone because he knew that anything he threw in the strike zone would probably get torched. Gonzo walked his way off the roster, or at least I hope he did. RH and KW would be crazy to keep this guy on the roster and give him one more start. That was more painful to watch than looking at his sideburns. Then the bullpen - Zach Duke was awful and Matt Albers stunk it up again. Even Nate Jones gave up a bomb. Rome crumbling before our eyes again. The good news is that the Sox have time to find someone else for the 5th starter spot. Maybe go to a 4 man rotation for one turn.

In the last few games it looks like Avi is once again very susceptible to off-speed pitches, especially when they are low and outside.

I don't get most of the criticism of Hawk and I find most of it to be uncalled for or just plain pathetic. By the way, I have to discount any criticism that Hawk is a "homer" because so much of that comes from cubfans. Perhaps those who are old enough to remember Harry at Comiskey never tired of hearing "Holy Cow" for a decade followed by another ten years of it at Wrigley. Now Harry Caray's memory, the horn rimmed glasses, his restaurants and his 7th inning stretch call (which he did for 10 years at Comiskey) are part of cub tradition and remembered fondly by older Sox fans.. I wonder which announcer Hawk's critics believe has been as good or better than Hawk" Maybe Vin Scully, Harry Kalas, or one of the other all time greats? Baseball is a game of tradition so trashing someone who is a big part of White Sox tradition is something that I find to be curious. Anyone who does not understand that Hawk went down to see Frazier because Hawk was personally concerned (as opposed to going down there because no beat reporter was there) is missing the point. Hawk loves the team that he has been loyal to for decades and loves the players. He was one himself and knows what it is like to be injured on the field and what a serious injury to a key player could mean to this team. I think Hawk is doing the right thing by cutting down on games until another full-time announcer is decided upon. My own opinion is that the new play-by-play person should not be Jason Benetti. Benetti has been just awful and I am being generous because he is a nice young man. I am going to start putting on the radio so I do not have to listen to his trite nonsense, his sophomoric questions and his lame attempt at being the straight man comic in his back and forth with Stone. When Hawk indicates he wants to retire, I hope the Sox start to audition guest announcers to take over play by play full time after Hawk retires. Although Dan Plesac may not be a candidate, it will be very interesting to hear Plesac and Harrelson in the booth at Yankee stadium this weekend.

QUOTE (Deadpool @ May 12, 2016 -> 03:24 PM) Except Soler isn't hitting, right? Yes, I hear Soler has been struggling a bit but I don't watch any cub games. As far as Avi, perhaps his trade value would be greater if he could play first base reasonably well. As a DH, his trade value is limited unless he rakes against both LH and RH pitching and can hit somewhere around 25 home runs.

I wonder if Garcia's surge at the plate in the past two weeks has raised his trade value. Unfortunately he still profiles as a Right Handed DH and a substandard corner outfielder. In that sense, he is somewhat similar to the guy the Cubs have - Jorge Soler. That kind of player has to hit a ton against LH and RH pitching to stay on a roster or to have much trade value as a DH.

Hawk is a national treasure - one of the greatest baseball announcers of all time. The way Hawk immediately left the booth to check on Frazier after he injured himself yesterday to make sure he was alright and give fans a quick report showed us a lot about this man. Most 75 year old men would not have done that or could not have done that. I find that criticism of this man to be pathetic. But I consider the source - normally Cub fans who detest Hawk while they deify Harry Caray, a sloppy announcer and a drunken fool.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ May 11, 2016 -> 09:32 PM) Protect the runner on ball 4? No, trying to protect the runner from what actually happened - a strike out/throw out in case it was called a strike . I think he would have had a better look at the pitch if nothing was called and Abreu wasn't in motion. In any event I thought Sanchez should have been up there to sacrifice bunt to get the tying run to second with one out. That's usually the strategy in that situation.

In a one run game with a guy on first and no out, Ventura should have told Carlos to bunt. The decision to hit and run on a 3-2 count was questionable. It looked like the pitch was a ball and that maybe Sanchez swung to protect the runner (Abreu) who Ventura had sent. Too bad Frazier didn't get his last two or three at bats because things might have turned out different in this game.

QUOTE (soxforlife05 @ May 11, 2016 -> 01:42 AM) Lawrie was ruled safe at 2B on the field and Texas challenged and it was reversed. You were thinking of the close play at 1B that they didn't challenge. Would've left 1st and 2nd with 2 out if overturned. Thanks, that must have been it. It was Garcia I believe who was called out. Anyway, the inning was over and the broadcast cut to commercial so fast that I did not see if there was that typical procedure that they follow in the dugout to determine whether to challenge. Hawk said something like, "OK I guess they are not going to challenge" and that kind of bothered me since they did not show a replay.

Alright already, I know, hindsight is 20 / 20 but I have a question about the last out in the top of the 8th, I believe. I think Lawrie was forced out at second base for the third out. It looked like he was safe or that the call was close enough to challenge, at least to me. If overturned that would have extended our inning with two men on. I was expecting a challenge by Ventura but it appeared as though he either saw the play clearly enough to not challenge, or perhaps he felt that the night was long and it was the 8th and we had a big lead. Maybe he simply exercised poor judgment. Did anyone else note that? I wish I could see the play again because maybe I am mis-remembering this and I apologize if that is the case. I just hate to give up a possible chance to score runs by not challenging close plays.