So what would you all rather hear, nothing? or...

 

- Jones said he's fat and should have retired but why do that when he can sit on a bench and make $500,000

- Greg Walker watched Rios's swing and said we are f#$%^ed.

- Jake Peavy said he misses the San Diego weather and wants to go home. He also thinks the Padres pitchers will out hit the White Sox DH platoon in 2010

 

 

Is it a question of what you want to hear or whether you should put a lot of stock in the fluff pieces you hear this time of year? I think its the latter.

 

Hey, give me more fluff pieces, I like to read them as it gets me excited for the season to start. I don't drink all the Kool-Aid and think everything will be perfect but it gets me excited to think about a few of these guys having big years...

So what would you all rather hear, nothing? or...

 

- Jones said he's fat and should have retired but why do that when he can sit on a bench and make $500,000

- Greg Walker watched Rios's swing and said we are f#$%^ed.

- Jake Peavy said he misses the San Diego weather and wants to go home. He also thinks the Padres pitchers will out hit the White Sox DH platoon in 2010

You would never hear stuff like this at this time of year. I just think the point is read these stories and get excited about the season, but take them all with a grain of salt. Just last year we heard how good Marquez was, he even got some guys out in spring training. We heard that Lillibridge had a long swing in AAA and that's why he hit .220. That would be corrected and he would steal 40 bases. Josh Fields sucked because his knee was bothering him. That was fixed so he would be an All Star.

well this is good to hear....i spose it can't hurt any if he is in good shape...thats what ozzie wanted

well this is good to hear....i spose it can't hurt any if he is in good shape...thats what ozzie wanted

Its definitely not going to hurt that he's in shape. I just don't know if being a little hefty is what caused all his offensive woes the past 3 years. He definitely hasn't been a candidate for a Gold's Gym model for a long time and many of those years he was a force. We'll see. As been stated before, there is very little invested. If he sucks, cut him. Its worth the gamble.

There are 2 reasons why i don't think this is just a "fluff piece"

 

1) It's from Jon Heyman, not a Sox beat writer or someone who has stake or ties to the Sox.

2) Of all the types of fluff pieces, "In great shape" are the best because we can literally see if he has changed or not. All the "He said he feels healthy" or "Has changed his focus" or "Is more determined than ever" is pointless because we can't judge that. But the physically fit one at least we can see immediately. Remember Contreras? He was half the person in size.

Good to hear, but there seems to be a glut of positive spin Sox stories out there.

 

Danks circulation problem...check.

Linebrink ready to go...check.

Jones in great shape (no need for another DH)...check.

Rios's swing is perfect after five swings...check.

 

It's all good for now, and I'm looking forward to this season, but I'm not buying into all of the hype. I'll believe the hype when translates to wins in April.

 

 

You are right and they usually wait till Spring Training, but then again I guess we are pretty close.

There are 2 reasons why i don't think this is just a "fluff piece"

 

1) It's from Jon Heyman, not a Sox beat writer or someone who has stake or ties to the Sox.

2) Of all the types of fluff pieces, "In great shape" are the best because we can literally see if he has changed or not. All the "He said he feels healthy" or "Has changed his focus" or "Is more determined than ever" is pointless because we can't judge that. But the physically fit one at least we can see immediately. Remember Contreras? He was half the person in size.

He also wouldn't be the first national reporter to include a 1 line positive mention (or "POS-MEN") in a column in order to appease a good source within an organization.

 

I also don't doubt that it's true, it's just hard to get excited about something that dozens of players do each offseason with little success, this is just the first of 100 or so snippets lauding a ball player for dropping weight over the offseason. It's good to see such dedication out of him but it's become a cliche and something teams float this time of year to get fans excited about certain players.

He also wouldn't be the first national reporter to include a 1 line positive mention (or "POS-MEN") in a column in order to appease a good source within an organization.

 

I also don't doubt that it's true, it's just hard to get excited about something that dozens of players do each offseason with little success, this is just the first of 100 or so snippets lauding a ball player for dropping weight over the offseason. It's good to see such dedication out of him but it's become a cliche and something teams float this time of year to get fans excited about certain players.

Bingo and right before Soxfest since Williams expects to hear a lot of stuff about " why no DH ? " and "hey Kenny isn't this the American League ? "

And...

 

CQ looks like TCQ from 2008 (after Walker's visit in Oct)

Teahen a 3B fixture

Peavy is hungry

Buehrle is strengthening his arm

Destiny of coming to Sox finally realized for Pierre

 

Looks like they are going down the list of players:

 

I'm buying all of the hype...cause I'm an optimist unless, I hear a story like:

 

"Lillibridge putting it all together for 2010"

it's one of the many things that makes it the greatest sport on the planet, imo.

Good to hear, but there seems to be a glut of positive spin Sox stories out there.

 

Danks circulation problem...check.

Linebrink ready to go...check.

Jones in great shape (no need for another DH)...check.

Rios's swing is perfect after five swings...check.

 

It's all good for now, and I'm looking forward to this season, but I'm not buying into all of the hype. I'll believe the hype when translates to wins in April.

 

I think that I heard a friend of mine tell another guy that he heard from a guy on the inside that Ozzie has been taking English and charm school lessons so that we can better understand him in his SoxFest interview.

 

So we're good now.

For Jones, there's more to it than being in shape, he has some serious technical things with his swing (see his 2005 season). Although that'd be a great sign.

 

He was really good in 05 though...

 

This is good news, but you're absolutely right, it doesn't mean success.

Edited January 21, 201016 yr by chw42

Over the last 3 years, in 1000 ABs Jones has hit .207 with a .697 OPS. It seems unlikely he'll turn it around now. He is however, better than Kotsay who has a .687 OPS in the same time frame. Putting together a DH platoon of Jones and Kotsay is simply idiotic. For a couple of million dollars (maybe less) the Sox could have someone that you know would at least post over an .800 OPS. I don't get it.

Over the last 3 years, in 1000 ABs Jones has hit .207 with a .697 OPS. It seems unlikely he'll turn it around now. He is however, better than Kotsay who has a .687 OPS in the same time frame. Putting together a DH platoon of Jones and Kotsay is simply idiotic. For a couple of million dollars (maybe less) the Sox could have someone that you know would at least post over an .800 OPS. I don't get it.

Who?

Who?

The Thomer...

The Thomer...

 

Oh, well that still is possible. He made it sound like we missed out on somebody at that price.

 

edit: Or maybe thats just how I read it.

Edited January 21, 201016 yr by Leonard Zelig

Didn't Jones drop like 20-30 pounds before his contract season at the advice of Boras because he thought it would turn him into a great player, and Jones went on to have the worst season of his career (up to that point)?

 

Best shape doesn't do anything for me. While baseball is obviously a physical activity that necessitates being in some type of good physical condition, it's much more mechanical than most sports. I get more excited when I hear that players have been working with coaches figuring out flaws in their approach. Most want Greg Walker taken out to pasture on here, but it was after the 2005 season when he personally worked with Crede in the offseason, and Crede went on to have his only All-Star caliber season.

If Jones really is going to start for this team he needs to be playing the OF full-time with Q as the DH. We cannot waste Jones defensive advantages just to get Mark Kotsay ab's in the name of "flexibility."

 

I think this is a possibility worth exploring, but not because of wanting to keep Kotsay out of the lineup. If they felt that doing something like this would keep quentin healthier, I'd be all for it.

 

The only concern with having Quentin as a primary DH is that I'm not sure it's the best thing in the world for him to go straight to the bench after an AB. It might do a guy like him some good to get his butt back on the field after a strikeout so he can forget about it. I don't know that they want him stewing on the bench for 3 innings until he comes up to the plate again.

I think this is a possibility worth exploring, but not because of wanting to keep Kotsay out of the lineup. If they felt that doing something like this would keep quentin healthier, I'd be all for it.

 

The only concern with having Quentin as a primary DH is that I'm not sure it's the best thing in the world for him to go straight to the bench after an AB. It might do a guy like him some good to get his butt back on the field after a strikeout so he can forget about it. I don't know that they want him stewing on the bench for 3 innings until he comes up to the plate again.

That is a great point.

 

However, he's going to have to learn to control his temper. I could practically hear him screaming the F-bomb here in Las Vegas after popping out to center.

The only concern with having Quentin as a primary DH is that I'm not sure it's the best thing in the world for him to go straight to the bench after an AB. It might do a guy like him some good to get his butt back on the field after a strikeout so he can forget about it. I don't know that they want him stewing on the bench for 3 innings until he comes up to the plate again.

Ideally, having the four veterans on the bench next to him, might help him get a hold of himself after failure.

Didn't Jones drop like 20-30 pounds before his contract season at the advice of Boras because he thought it would turn him into a great player, and Jones went on to have the worst season of his career (up to that point)?

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20...sp&c_id=atl

That is a great point.

 

However, he's going to have to learn to control his temper. I could practically hear him screaming the F-bomb here in Las Vegas after popping out to center.

 

 

Ideally, having the four veterans on the bench next to him, might help him get a hold of himself after failure.

 

 

Ideally, yes. But who knows how far that will go?

I just don't buy that Jones is in the best shape in ten years, back in the 1990's he was one of the best cf's in baseball and he is clearly not at that level.

I just don't buy that Jones is in the best shape in ten years, back in the 1990's he was one of the best cf's in baseball and he is clearly not at that level.

But...he's also never had the reputation as a hard worker, as far as I can tell.

I just don't buy that Jones is in the best shape in ten years, back in the 1990's he was one of the best cf's in baseball and he is clearly not at that level.

Well, considering 10 years ago is 2000...

The biggest one of note...the big guy at the back end of the bullpen.

Cowley just tweeted the Jenks looks 25 pounds lighter.