Blow this team up!

[chisoxdavid]

No, it's baseball.  It happens every year where good teams blow "monster" leads to teams much worse.  In October when we get to keep our trophy Bud isn't going to say "Sorry guys, on April 7th you blew a 6 run lead to the Royals, it was pathetic and embarrassing and because of this we are stripping your championship."

He wont? Rowand44 is right, thats baseball s### happens all the time.

[The Ginger Kid]

I didn't think that Garland would repeat his 3.50 ERA from last year even before this season started.  A prediction is just that -- a prediction.  None of us actually knows what will happen.  OH.MY.LORD, I don't think that Garland will repeat on his one season that was insanely better than the rest of the seasons in his career.  JUST CALL ME A CRAZY MAN!

 

Buehrle, Garland, and Contreras all had career years last season.  Expecting them all to just repeat those seasons isn't 100% reasonable.

 

I'm too psyched to see Vazquez pitch tomorrow to start worrying about Garland. Can you believe that guy is our 5th starter???

[SSH2005]

I'm too psyched to see Vazquez pitch tomorrow to start worrying about Garland. Can you believe that guy is our 5th starter???

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

He is the X-factor. If he pitches to his true abilities, he will probably make up for any possible regression from our other starters. I don't know what El Duque's and McCarthy's combined stats were as our 5th starter last season but it can't be all that great (due to El Duque).

[DBAHO]

The bottom of our order is still relatively weak with Pierzynski, Crede, Uribe, and Anderson -- four guys who have poor strike zone discipline.

And again I'm going to argue that those 4 guys (Anderson excluded) should improve on their 2005 outputs, based on what they did in the 2nd half and how they adjusted (except for A.J who should hopefully go back to his previous form back in Minny/S.F)

[SSH2005]

And again I'm going to argue that those 4 guys (Anderson excluded) should improve on their 2005 outputs, based on what they did in the 2nd half and how they adjusted (except for A.J who should hopefully go back to his previous form back in Minny/S.F)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They should be better but will they?

 

1.) I think Pierzynski has gotten homer happy at the Cell. He needs to stop swinging at the dirtballs and trying to pull everything. He hits a ton of weak grounders right to the first baseman.

 

2.) Crede has been relatively the same hitter the past three seasons. He is right around the age of his peak years but will he be better? No one knows for sure but stay tuned.

 

3.) The last time I saw Uribe at the plate, he didn't appear to be using his leg kick timing mechanism anymore. Not good.

 

4.) Anderson is a rookie. Obviously, we can't expect him to do too much this season. If he replaces Rowand's numbers from last season, great.

 

You can't just look at second half season stats. Many of these guys are simply streaky hitters. They don't consistently hit well because they just aren't great hitters to begin with. Strike zone discipline is the main reason they go into long slumps. None of them have any.

Edited April 8, 2006 by SSH2005

[knightni]

What kind of bomb shall we use?

Around here?

 

Probably an F-Bomb.

 

:rolly

[SSH2005]

What kind of bomb shall we use?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How about a "Gload bomb"? The only problem is that it will sit harmlessly in the dugout because Ozzie will never go near it.

[DBAHO]

They should be better but will they?

 

1.)  I think Pierzynski has gotten homer happy at the Cell.  He needs to stop swinging at the dirtballs and trying to pull everything.  He hits a ton of weak grounders right to the first baseman.

 

2.)  Crede has been relatively the same hitter the past three seasons.  He is right around the age of his peak years but will he be better?  No one knows for sure but stay tuned.

 

3.)  The last time I saw Uribe at the plate, he didn't appear to be using his leg kick timing mechanism anymore.  Not good.

 

4.)  Anderson is a rookie.  Obviously, we can't expect him to do too much this season.  If he replaces Rowand's numbers from last season, great.

 

You can't just look at second half season stats.  Many of these guys are simply streaky hitters.  They don't consistently hit well because they just aren't great hitters to begin with.  Strike zone discipline is the main reason they go into long slumps.  None of them have any.

You're right in saying you can't just look at second half stats, but I think it's important that those hitters did at least show form toward the end of the season instead of someone like Carl Everett who had a good 1st half, and an awful 2nd half.

 

On those points;

 

1) Greg Walker's gotta get A.J to get away from that going for the longball swing. It's easier said than done, but A.J's shown he can produce before, and sometimes it just takes time in a new environment etc. even though he's been here for a season. He should be able to make some adjustments.

 

2) Crede's the 1 guy out of the 4, I think will show the greatest improvement. He seems to have locked in on his swing now, and coming into the peak years like you said, I think he'll start to produce some good numbers. Remember last season, he had 4 months of .800 OPS's.

 

3) At least Uribe hasn't looked awful so far. You still never know what you're going to get from him. You'd think if he's starts struggling again, the White Sox coaching brass would get him to implement the leg kick again. I still think .270 with around 20 HR's, is very achieveable for him.

 

4) If Anderson gives us Rowand's numbers from 2005, I'll take that right now. And that's probably the best we can hope for from him. But at least in ST, he showed that he can hit.

[Felix]

It looks like posters have already soured on Garland though. When we re-signed him, everyone thought it was great "Yay, JG's around for another 3 years!!!" Now after 1 bad outing, people think he automatically won't be as good.

For me, "souring" on Garland is nothing new. We should have traded Garland in the offseason when his value was at its highest, and we could have bolstered both our farm system and our bullpen while putting the better pitcher (McCarthy) into the rotation. That's what I've said all along, and I'm sticking to it.

 

I'd love to see Garland prove me wrong, and I'm hoping he does, so time will tell.

[RME JICO]

The starting pitching has also looked bad because Ozzie left them in a little too long (at least for Garcia and Garland). I know you hate to pull a guy in the 4th inning, but Garland looked good until the 4th, and he should have never came back out for the 5th when he opened it up with a walk and double. For Garcia, I don't think he should have started that game. Coming off the WBC, why not put him and Vazquez at the back of the rotation to take advantage of the early days off and get in a few more side sessions and rest?

 

I have a feeling that Vazquez is going to look sharp today because of where he is starting.

[WCSox]

Despite the fact that it's still early April, they need to pull themselves out of this funk. We're all painfully aware of what happens when the Sox sandbag April. That said, I'm confident that they'll snap out of it.

 

Only got to see the middle innings of the game where Garland crapped his pants. Yuck. I'm still optimistic about him, although I agree that he probably won't have a repeat of last season.

[WCSox]

For me, "souring" on Garland is nothing new.  We should have traded Garland in the offseason when his value was at its highest, and we could have bolstered both our farm system and our bullpen while putting the better pitcher (McCarthy) into the rotation.  That's what I've said all along, and I'm sticking to it.

 

I'd love to see Garland prove me wrong, and I'm hoping he does, so time will tell.

 

I disagree with that, although time may prove you correct. I don't see Garland repeating last year, but he's young, healthy, and has good stuff. No reason to trade a guy like that when you're trying to repeat. Especially with Contreras' age and all of the innings that Garcia has amassed over the years. JMO.

[Timoperezrulez]

They look horrible! They can't even beat Kansas City. There's no point in even trying to salvage this season because the pitching staff has obviously declined drastically, and the hitting will never be able to pick up the slack. There's no way this team is going to win the division, so it may as well be blown up and dealt away for as much young talent as possible.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

dumbass...

[Kyyle23]

dumbass...

 

feeling insightful* today, huh?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*(inciteful)

[DBAHO]

For me, "souring" on Garland is nothing new.  We should have traded Garland in the offseason when his value was at its highest, and we could have bolstered both our farm system and our bullpen while putting the better pitcher (McCarthy) into the rotation.  That's what I've said all along, and I'm sticking to it.

 

I'd love to see Garland prove me wrong, and I'm hoping he does, so time will tell.

But KW was never going to do that because that doesn't help this team win a World Series this season.

 

That's why when we were proposing say Milledge and Heilman for Contreras or Garland, it was merely a pipe - dream.

[DBAHO]

I disagree with that, although time may prove you correct.  I don't see Garland repeating last year, but he's young, healthy, and has good stuff.  No reason to trade a guy like that when you're trying to repeat.  Especially with Contreras' age and all of the innings that Garcia has amassed over the years.  JMO.

The key for Jon last season was to keep the walks down (29 less than in 2004), and giving up less of the longball (8 less in 2005).

 

He's never going to be a high strikeout pitcher, which I suppose shows how important it is to put a good defense behind him. And he didn't have that at all yesterday. And unfortunately we saw the Jon of old, where he gets flustered if he gets a bad break or 2. He needs to get out of that mindset.

[bogie]

Does anyone really think this team can win this division with this bullpen?

Nothing against Anderson but a raw rookie in center will hurt also.

Logan, Thorton, no Hermanson, don't know what we will really get out of Jenks, Pods ,.......

[RME JICO]

Does anyone really think this team can win this division with this bullpen?

Yes, they can easily win it. They have the best starting rotation 1-6 and the offense will be better than last year.

[Wedge]

Yes, they can easily win it.  They have the best starting rotation 1-6 and the offense will be better than last year.

 

I have yet to see anything that indicates we'll have the best rotation in the division. We might still, but things do not look good.

[rventura23]

were just getting our bad baseball out of the way early, lower the expectations from our great season last year a little bit

[bjm676]

I hate Soxtalk sometimes.

 

I love it. This s*** is hysterical. 4 games.

[NorthSideSox72]

Not only am I not overly concerned yet about this team... I am not overly concerned yet about Garland. I feel like I watched a different game last night than some other people did. I saw a game where Garland picthed not-that-great, but easily half the runs he gave up were due to our poor defense more than his pitching. And that defense is something that can be addressed by getting the team's heads in the right place, which I have confidence Ozzie will do.

 

Jeez. And I thought the Gload thread was bad.

[bogie]

Cmon guys, our bullpen is average at best and we aren't winning anything without that getting better. A lack of bullpen will mean Ozzie leaves his starters in longer then he should which will tax them.

[Whitewashed in '05]

They look horrible! They can't even beat Kansas City. There's no point in even trying to salvage this season because the pitching staff has obviously declined drastically, and the hitting will never be able to pick up the slack. There's no way this team is going to win the division, so it may as well be blown up and dealt away for as much young talent as possible.

....

[Felix]

I disagree with that, although time may prove you correct.  I don't see Garland repeating last year, but he's young, healthy, and has good stuff.  No reason to trade a guy like that when you're trying to repeat.  Especially with Contreras' age and all of the innings that Garcia has amassed over the years.  JMO.

Well, I've also wanted Count to be traded if Garland wasn't I think its a downright crime to keep McCarthy out of the rotation right now.

 

And I'm curious as to how many people actually know that this thread was made as a joke.. I have my doubts about some of these replies.

Edited April 8, 2006 by Felix