The 2009 Chicago White Sox

[RME JICO]

This season, our CF have hit .225 with a .285 OBP and a .598 OPS. 3 HR and 20 RBI combined.

 

That's brutal; what are the numbers if you take Pods out of that equation.

[dpd9189]

What do people think about Dye being able to clear waivers in two weeks or so?

 

 

I think that's a possibility if we fall out of it.

[SoxFan1]

KW will NOT be a seller, even if we lose every game from now until August 1st and Detroit/Minnesota win every single one.

[fathom]

KW will NOT be a seller, even if we lose every game from now until August 1st and Detroit/Minnesota win every single one.

 

But maybe he'll be more willing to if the offense continues to struggle and we fall 7-8 games out come August 15th.

[BearSox]

Chone Figgins, ladies and gentlemen

If we get Figgins, I assume we'll be looking to play him at either 3B or 2B.

 

What we need on offense more than anything else, IMO, is a young, left handed, impact bat.

Edited July 28, 2009 by BearSox

[SoxFan1]

But maybe he'll be more willing to if the offense continues to struggle and we fall 7-8 games out come August 15th.

He's not going to blow the team up via waiver trades.

[BearSox]

He's not going to blow the team up via waiver trades.

The only thing we could get back are PTBNL.

[SoxFan1]

The only thing we could get back are PTBNL.

If I'm not mistaken, yes we can. From what I understand, anyone not on the 40-man roster can be traded in a waiver deal.

[lostfan]

This season, our CF have hit .225 with a .285 OBP and a .598 OPS. 3 HR and 20 RBI combined.

How's that possible? Anderson is over .300 OBP by himself. I guess Wise and Lillibridge really are that bad.

[Leonard Zelig]

He's not going to blow the team up via waiver trades.

 

Trading Dye isn't exactly blowing the team up. He could be signed after the season unless his $12M option was picked up.

[greg775]

The truth is we've flirted with being good, but we don't have "it."

I guess we could somehow get hot and get in the playoffs, but we still resemble that dreaded .500 team.

[The Ginger Kid]

Hey, at least I'm not the only getting sick of Alexi's s***ty efforts out in the field:

The Sox lost for the fourth time in their last five games while briefly losing their poise.

 

After the Twins' two-run second highlighted by two errors, television cameras caught Ramirez having to be restrained by teammate Jermaine Dye from charging Pierzynski in the dugout.

 

The second inning ended shortly after Alexi Casilla stole second base when Pierzynski's throw arrived just before Ramirez and tailed away.

 

"It happened," Pierzynski said. "It's over. You move on. And that's it."

 

Moments later, manager Ozzie Guillen spiked a small tub of bubble gum in front of where Pierzynski was sitting with starting pitcher John Danks in the Sox's dugout.

 

The gum remained in front of the dugout until the bottom of the third, when a bat boy swept most of the gum off the rubber track.

 

"I don't like my players digging into each other for no reason," Guillen said. "I was upset with the way we were playing too. And everything came together in the same inning.

 

"I was upset because things like that can't happen. I'm the one that puts the fingers on the players because this is my job, and anybody [who] has a problem with that, they know what to do."

 

Ramirez left the clubhouse while reporters were talking to Dye, who declined to comment on the incident

[WCSox]

If I'm not mistaken, yes we can. From what I understand, anyone not on the 40-man roster can be traded in a waiver deal.

 

The problem with putting a guy on waivers in August is that if no deal is reached with the team that claims him, the team has to pull the player back and can't negotiate with another team for 30 days. So that gives the claiming team all of the power, and incentive to low-ball the team looking to deal the player. I imagine that this is why blockbuster deals never happen after July.

 

If Kenny put Dye on waivers in two or three weeks, he wouldn't get anything of value in return (except the ability to dump the remainder of his salary).

 

[caulfield12]

Was that incident b4 or after Ramirez's throwing error? Obviously AJ felt he might have had a CS or the play should have been made on the throw (Ramirez late getting there, maybe because he plays too far in the hole...), but the runner didn't advance to 3B or score, right?

 

Is AJ really that upset about a stolen base against him after all this time? Maybe it's just because he is so competitive against the Twins.

 

Surprised Konerko wasn't involved, but not his style...but he played horrible D tonight. He did cancel it out for Danks with the two run homer though.

Edited July 28, 2009 by caulfield12

[BearSox]

Was that incident b4 or after Ramirez's throwing error? Obviously AJ felt he might have had a CS or the play should have been made on the throw (Ramirez late getting there, maybe because he plays too far in the hole...), but the runner didn't advance to 3B or score, right?

 

Is AJ really that upset about a stolen base against him after all this time? Maybe it's just because he is so competitive against the Twins.

 

Surprised Konerko wasn't involved, but not his style...but he played horrible D tonight. He did cancel it out for Danks with the two run homer though.

 

It was before. It looked to me that Ramirez was not only late getting there, but he backed away from the ball as well. If I had to guess, AJ said something like "Hey, get to the base in time and don't let the ball get away like that." and Ramirez probably took offense.

 

My question is, when did Alexei learn english?

 

Konerko did cost us 1 run, and he probably should have scooped the one throw by Ramirez, but as you said, he at least produced a little on offense, which is more than 7 other players did.

[SoxAce]

Was that incident b4 or after Ramirez's throwing error? Obviously AJ felt he might have had a CS or the play should have been made on the throw (Ramirez late getting there, maybe because he plays too far in the hole...), but the runner didn't advance to 3B or score, right?

 

Is AJ really that upset about a stolen base against him after all this time? Maybe it's just because he is so competitive against the Twins.

 

Surprised Konerko wasn't involved, but not his style...but he played horrible D tonight. He did cancel it out for Danks with the two run homer though.

 

Before. It was during the play where AJ threw the ball to 2B when the runner was trying to steal, had a shot, but it wasn't a great throw, but Alexei didn't block it good/got lazy during the play which had the ball go into CF. I think it was AJ being tired of Alexei's laziness on the field and I personally love to see someone on people's asses on lazy plays since Ozzie usually doesn't (unless its in the clubhouse, though usually managers have that reputation by now, which he doesn't).

[WCSox]

It's unfortunate that Alexei has decided to adopt B.J. Upton's attitude on the field.

 

[ThunderBolt]

It's unfortunate that Alexei has decided to adopt B.J. Upton's attitude on the field.

All the talent in the world with very little motivation to use it. I don't think Alexei isn't trying though/

[witesoxfan]

All the talent in the world with very little motivation to use it. I don't think Alexei isn't trying though/

 

Trying and being lazy can go hand in hand. I'd prefer executing over trying. I could try to field a 100 MPH ground ball in the majors, but I imagine I'd "Olé" it.

[Lillian]

This team needs to improve defensively. The infield should be good and appears to be, at least on paper. Alexei has the range and arm to be a phenomenal SS. The problem is that he is not showing much intelligence. His baseball acumen seemed much better last year at Second, which is a little hard to understand in that he had always been a SS.

Beckham is trying to learn a new position, and has not yet demonstrated the first step quickness and cat like reactions required to play the hot corner.

Getz seems to be an above average defensive second baseman, but he is not a Gold Glover. So although the defense looks good on paper, the actual onfield performance is not acceptable.

 

The most obvious fix I see would be to move Beckham to his most comfortable position of SS. Although we haven't had a chance to see him there, I assume that he would be alright, and hopefully steadier and more consistent than Alexei.

 

Move Alexei back to Second, where last year he demonstrated he can play exceptional defense. Although it may seem like a waste of his range and arm, it gives the team the potential to turn a lot of double plays because Alexei does make that double play relay throw from the bag as good as any second baseman in the League.

 

The best defensive infielder on this team is probably Nix. Although he is a second baseman by trade, he has played some third and has the tools to be a good one. Nix seems to have enough quickness to play the hot corner. He certainly has very good hands, and a pretty good arm. If he has any weakness, it might be his range which is less important at third. I love his approach at the plate, and wouldn’t be surprised to see him hit with much more consistentcy, given regular playing time.

 

I understand that puts Getz on the bench, but the higher priority now is the infield defense.

Konerko is very good at first, especially when it comes to picking throws bounced in the dirt.

 

The outfield is much more problematic. There is no configuration of Pods, Quentin and Dye that could result in an outstanding defense. Dye has a steady glove and good arm, but his range has become awful. Pods has a weak arm, and doesn’t get the best jumps, making him a below average centerfielder. Quentin is more than adequate in LF when healthy, but how well he’ll be able to run on that foot is questionable.

 

If the Sox could make one trade, I would love to see them get a speedy, left handed bat to play above average defense in CF. If Dye could be traded for that player, Quentin could move to RF, Pods to LF. The problem is that I don’t see that player available.

 

Perhaps the next best thing would be to trade Dye for pitching or prospects, while acquiring someone like Rios from Toronto. He could play CF, and while he wouldn’t replace Dye’s bat, he would provide plus offense, and more speed. He is another right handed hitter, but at least he would greatly improve the outfield defense, while not diminishing the offense too severly.

 

These changes wouldn't make this team an odds on favorite to win a championship, but it would at least attempt to address one of its most glaring weaknesses.

 

[BigSqwert]

This team needs to improve defensively.

Understatement of the year.

[Greg Hibbard]

The truth of the matter is that the team needs more offensive versatility, in my opinion. I think the more versatile young core and pitching staff is actually fine now. However, going forward we cannot continue to have 4 slow, plodding sluggers in the heart of the lineup, right or left handed. When they are hot, they are seemingly all hot, but lately it's either hot or cold, particularly because we are seemingly so dependent on the home run to score.

 

check this out:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/sort/doubles/order/true

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/sort/triples/order/true

 

we are 28th in doubles and 25th in triples of all MLB teams.

 

As you might expect, we are 5th in homers of all MLB teams.

 

However, in the AL, we are just 9th in runs scored out of 14 teams, 9th in batting average, 8th in OBP and 9th in OPS.

 

The truth is that homers just aren't scoring enough runs for us, and we need to make a change where we reconfigure away from having so many slower dh's on the team. We need to jettison either Thome or Dye after this season and bring in a more versatile .280ish hitter who can split the gaps and run at least a little, hopefully a lot to leg out some triples.

Edited July 28, 2009 by Greg Hibbard

[southsider2k5]

The truth of the matter is that the team needs more offensive versatility, in my opinion. I think the more versatile young core and pitching staff is actually fine now. However, going forward we cannot continue to have 4 slow, plodding sluggers in the heart of the lineup, right or left handed. When they are hot, they are seemingly all hot, but lately it's either hot or cold, particularly because we are seemingly so dependent on the home run to score.

 

check this out:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/sort/doubles/order/true

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/team/_/sort/triples/order/true

 

we are 28th in doubles and 25th in triples of all MLB teams.

 

As you might expect, we are 5th in homers of all MLB teams.

 

However, in the AL, we are just 9th in runs scored out of 14 teams, 9th in batting average, 8th in OBP and 9th in OPS.

 

The truth is that homers just aren't scoring enough runs for us, and we need to make a change where we reconfigure away from having so many slower dh's on the team. We need to jettison either Thome or Dye after this season and bring in a more versatile .280ish hitter who can split the gaps and run at least a little, hopefully a lot to leg out some triples.

 

We are slowly making that change. Its why you have seen guys like Beckham and Getz in the line up, and guys like Mitchell and Thompson drafted. It takes a while for things to change though.

 

[lostfan]

I actually would like the Alexei 2B, Beckham SS, Nix 3B configuration. I was thinking about it earlier. Getz is not playing his way to the bench but it's worth considering whether reshuffling the team that way makes it better.

[Balta1701]

I actually would like the Alexei 2B, Beckham SS, Nix 3B configuration. I was thinking about it earlier. Getz is not playing his way to the bench but it's worth considering whether reshuffling the team that way makes it better.

That type of move feels to me like what we're doing with Richard. The moment something possibly clicks for a guy (Getz), we send him away.