Konerko BAD - Fire GOOD

[chw42]

There is no way the Sox will or should get rid of Konerko. I think he needs a couple of days off...

 

If anything, he should of had a longer rehab assignment. He looks bad all around right now. The rust was really pilling up over those two weeks.

Edited July 11, 2008 by chw42

[Jimbo's Drinker]

There is no way the Sox will or should get rid of Konerko. I think he needs a couple of days off...

 

If anything, he should of had a longer rehab assignment. He looks bad all around right now. The rust was really pilling up over those two weeks.

 

 

They better have a ton of WD40, cause his rust has been on him all year.

[chw42]

They better have a ton of WD40, cause his rust has been on him all year.

 

I think this is gonna be another 2003 kind of year for Konerko. You're gonna get 20 homers out of him and he's gonna hit below .250. Hopefully, he doesn't screw the team up anymore. Just hope he's not costing his team anymore games.

 

There were a couple of weird defensive alignments in that 8th. What was Crede doing so far off the line to a right handed pull hitter? What was Swisher doing so shallow against a power hitter like Guillen? Did our coaching staff fall asleep?

[Kyyle23]

You know this team's tendencies and Mark Buehrle's tendencies. They can't pitch over defensive mistakes. Knowing that, Konerko has to make that play. It wasn't like the throw was terribly bad, he just dropped it.

 

Our bullpen is one of the best in the league. yes they can pitch over that. Buehrle is known for not being able to pitch over mistakes, but when he did Konerko muffed it.

 

Im not denying that, I know Konerko screwed up, Im just not going to lay all the blame at his feet

[DABearSoX]

FIRE JOEY CORA!

[chw42]

Our bullpen is one of the best in the league. yes they can pitch over that. Buehrle is known for not being able to pitch over mistakes, but when he did Konerko muffed it.

 

Im not denying that, I know Konerko screwed up, Im just not going to lay all the blame at his feet

 

You can blame the entire team, but with that strike zone yesterday, do you think any team would of had moderate success? You can also blame Swisher, Crede, and Alexei for playing some questionable defense in that inning, but if it wasn't for Konerko's play, they aren't forced to make those plays. Therefore, Konerko has the most blame in this. I'm not saying he's up for 100% blame, but he's got at least 75-80% in this.

[quickman]

PK needs to stop swinging like a pussy. He's up there trying so hard to just hit it to right field. We're not paying him for one single a game. Hit the ball with some freaking authority.

 

 

he came out of spring training with a new swing, for all i know that might have contributed to his latest injury, but his swing does suck right now. he either needs to make an adjustment or he needs to get benched. This guy is in the middle of the order and is no longer a long ball threat.

[BaseballNick]

Every player is entitled to a bad series, but this has been going on long enough. He hasn't all of a sudden become a bad baseball player, so he must be hurt. He needs to be DLed or IRed until he's the guy we're paying him to be because he's costing the team wins. With the current roster, we're more than capable of winning the division without him.

[winninguglyin83]

 

 

Even if PK gets hot, the bigger problem is all those thick slow legs in the middle of the lineup.

 

He won't leave this year. the question is: Would he accept being the DH next year when Thome leaves?

[RockRaines]

Yeah, 'cause its been terrible having a guy hitting there with a .288 average, rarely striking out and being able to hit to all fields. Awful. Must be the problem.

 

Before everyone goes into a panic over one damn game, look at the numbers. This offense, since mid-May, has been quite good. We just took 2 of 3 on the road from a KC team that is NOT as bad as previous years' teams. There is no need to be making big changes at this point.

Ah I love the cherry picking. I see you could only focus on his BA because you didn't want to look at his .305 obp or his .709 ops in the 2 hole. He has also been striking out at a higher rate in that slot than before and also walking and hitting at a lower rate. He also has had less doubles in twice as many at bats. It was a good spot for him while the middle was struggling and he was hot, but its time to get someone in there that gets on base and move aj down. Case in point was Q's homers wed, both 2 run blasts because swish was able to get on base twice.

 

And nobody is reacting irrationally to a series win on the road, maybe YOU are, but I have mentioned this several times over the last few weeks. Every lineup needs tinkering and I think this is a move that needs to be done for the team and the player.

[elrockinMT]

Konerko is avery good player and is in a slump and coming back off some injuries. I am thinking that when he gets his timing down he will be hitting the long ball and the first game he wins for us all of this will be forgotten.

[Jimbo's Drinker]

Konerko is avery good player and is in a slump and coming back off some injuries. I am thinking that when he gets his timing down he will be hitting the long ball and the first game he wins for us all of this will be forgotten.

 

 

Well the season is already half done, still waiting.

[Greg Hibbard]

I'd give him until that 7 game road trip through detroit and minnesota to straighten this out and then I'd bench him if he's still not performing - those 7 games are just too important to f*** around with.

[VAfan]

I posted that we needed to be done with PK two months ago. After seeing an Anderson/Wise platoon in CF work while PK was on the DL, that solution became even more obvious.

 

The problem is, PK isn't Richie Sexson in the last year of a bad deal. He's got years left. The Sox are not going to eat multiple years of poor performance. They are going to hold out in hopes of a "rebound." But no other team would likely take Konerko, even if we chipped in a couple million/year on his contract, for the balance of his deal, even if they gave us only a bag of balls in return. Konerko is an albatross around the Sox' neck.

 

Ozzie could "solve" this problem by simply benching Konerko, but that's not going to happen either.

 

I wish they had just DL'ed him because of the hand problem. Then, at least he'd have the time to fix his ailments and come back as strong as he can be.

 

But, given as we're stuck with him, I hope Paulie wakes up and finds his stroke. Plus, I hope Swisher, Thome, Cabrera, and others also return to career averages. Because if these guys were carrying their normal loads, the problem of Konerko would be more manageable.

[Greg Hibbard]

Btw -

 

Konerko's OBP - .319

A. Ramirez's OBP - .326

 

think about it.

[BigSqwert]

Btw -

 

Konerko's OBP - .319

A. Ramirez's OBP - .326

 

think about it.

Doesn't that just mean he walks a lot? For that salary I want him to be an RBI machine.

[lostfan]

Btw -

 

Konerko's OBP - .319

A. Ramirez's OBP - .326

 

think about it.

There's nearly 100 points difference in batting average, and Ramirez is a much better defender at a more important position. Alexei is also not a 3-4-5 hitter, either.

[Greg Hibbard]

There's nearly 100 points difference in batting average, and Ramirez is a much better defender at a more important position. Alexei is also not a 3-4-5 hitter, either.

 

I realize that, but I don't think anyone in this thread has pointed out before that PK's OBP is really not that far away from a lot of other players on this team, which still gives him value in this lineup. Do we want him walking every at bat? Obviously not, but if he's getting on base at the same clip as a lot of our other players, I don't see how he's a total liability.

[Greg Hibbard]

I mean PK is hitting about as bad as he conceivably could over this much of the season, mostly through an injury, and taking all that into account he's still getting on base at a .320 clip. If anything, I think that says something good about him.

[lostfan]

I realize that, but I don't think anyone in this thread has pointed out before that PK's OBP is really not that far away from a lot of other players on this team, which still gives him value in this lineup. Do we want him walking every at bat? Obviously not, but if he's getting on base at the same clip as a lot of our other players, I don't see how he's a total liability.

If your OBP is in the low 300s and you're expected to produce RBI (which is a meaningless stat in and of itself, because even if you're slugging you need runners to bat in), you can't do that if your OBP is walk-driven as opposed to average-driven. If it was in the high 300s, approaching .400, I'd consider that acceptable because while you might not be hitting, you're keeping rallies going. Paulie isn't doing that right now. He's basically Juan Uribe right now, and while I don't condone the overreactions, I can totally understand the frustration.

[Greg Hibbard]

If your OBP is in the low 300s and you're expected to produce RBI (which is a meaningless stat in and of itself, because even if you're slugging you need runners to bat in), you can't do that if your OBP is walk-driven as opposed to average-driven. If it was in the high 300s, approaching .400, I'd consider that acceptable because while you might not be hitting, you're keeping rallies going. Paulie isn't doing that right now. He's basically Juan Uribe right now, and while I don't condone the overreactions, I can totally understand the frustration.

 

Ok, but he's NOT Juan Uribe. Uribe hits in the low 200s and has a mid 200s OBP, which is a significantly worse clip. That's a much worse player in my opinion. Paul's a very streaky player on the very low end of what we can expect production wise from him over a half of a season.

 

Also, consider that he's a career .291 hitter in July, .297 in August and .305 in September. Granted, he's never dealt with injuries like this before, but typically as the weather heats up so does Paul. Like I said, I'd give him until July 25th to straighten it out and then bench him then.

[lostfan]

Ok, but he's NOT Juan Uribe. Uribe hits in the low 200s and has a mid 200s OBP, which is a significantly worse clip. That's a much worse player in my opinion. Paul's a very streaky player on the very low end of what we can expect production wise from him over a half of a season.

 

Also, consider that he's a career .291 hitter in July, .297 in August and .305 in September. Granted, he's never dealt with injuries like this before, but typically as the weather heats up so does Paul. Like I said, I'd give him until July 25th to straighten it out and then bench him then.

I think you're confusing what I'm trying to say here. Quite simply, I'm saying Paul Konerko sucks right now, and has for most of the season. Nothing more.

[Dick Allen]

If Konerko sucks and is done as a ton of posts in this thread indicate, why would any team trade for him and assume the $30 million or so left on his contract?

[NorthSideSox72]

This thread is pretty hilarious. A guy who is a HUGE 2nd half hitter in his career, who is just coming off rehab, and was hampered by an injury and the first half... and you want to get rid of him NOW?

 

[lostfan]

If Konerko sucks and is done as a ton of posts in this thread indicate, why would any team trade for him and assume the $30 million or so left on his contract?

It won't happen. It's all a moot point. I don't even know why we're talking about it. We couldn't even take a salary dump unless we were willing to take on another underperforming contract like that in exchange, probably not even then.

 

I do think criticizing his performance so far is legit, though.