Y2HH

Is this game being televised or on the radio today?

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 22, 2007 -> 01:28 PM) My first of the season. Ahem... mi mi mi mi mi... GO YOU WHITE SOX!!! Oh, and, go BA!!! Play good, hit ball hard, prove I'm not insane being the only person on this board who thinks you still have a shot. I'm glad you started this thread, since you are such a huge BA fan and he's starting today...perhaps you will be the luck charm he needs! Oh, and FIRST!@#$@!

QUOTE(fathom @ Mar 22, 2007 -> 01:23 PM) Baseball is the only sport where I don't mind bandwagon fans, and it's for one reason: payroll. It's only a temporary solution to payroll, because when they fall off the bandwagon, then we all lose. I'd prefer to not have them to begin with. We won the WS without them, we can again without them. I'm assuming this bandwagon will eventually fall apart, and then our payroll will get cut from 105M to 70M, which will be more unbearable than never having had such a payroll to begin with.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 22, 2007 -> 11:33 AM) Its not worth trying to convince these guys to be positive or to unconditionally love this team. Some people love being miserable and being negative and its the only thing that keeps them interested in baseball and the white sox. They live to criticize and its better than not being able to find cracks in things. Some people love this team, some people love to hate it. I'm beginning to realize this. I was a semi-regular poster here in 2005 (and before), but took the year off in 2006 due to an expected influx of bandwagon fans, which I dispise. I figured I'd let that influx settle down before returning, so I waited until this year to return. Upon my return, I was suprised that I found a lot of negativity, it was almost black versus white to what I remember. Then again, it's been a while, and after 2005, all I remember of this place was good things...so maybe that's all I'm choosing to remember. I went to almost 30 games in '05, including 1 ALDS, 1 ALCS and 1 WS game, 20 something games in 04, and probably averaged somewhere near 20 games since 1999. In 2006, I went to 6 games. The crowds were nice to see...but in looking at some of the girls that were suddenly there, you could tell they simply exchanged their Cubs jerseys for shiney new Sox jerseys...and that annoyed me more than it made me smile that cute girls were running around. Call me greedy with my hardcore Sox fandom...but they didn't deserve 05. Damn, now I'm contributing to the negativity here...

QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ Mar 22, 2007 -> 11:15 AM) He deserves a brutal beat down. I'm not even sure someone like this can be rehabilitated. To violently punch and kick a women like that is beyond my comprehension. I hate that all he can get is aggravated battery. If he beat a man like that aggravated battery is fine, but to beat a defenseless woman deserves more. Should be no different, no matter who this happens too. Not all men are 6'5" and capable of defending themselves any better than this woman. And he's getting more than agg battery, thats merely the charge, he's going to lose his job, everyone he knows will know what he did, he will lose his reputation to his loved ones, and perhaps lose many loved ones in the process. A night of being a drunk tard, and this is his reward, which he will live with for the rest of his life. The good news is the woman wasn't seriously injured...but the price this guy will end up paying in the end reaches much farther than agg battery charges levied against him.

QUOTE(VAfan @ Mar 21, 2007 -> 11:33 PM) Put me down in the column of fans that are not very optimistic about the season at this point. 1. We have only 1 legitimate outfielder, Jermaine Dye, and he's likely playing his last season for the Sox. As bad as our outfield looks now, it is likely to look even worse next year. 2. Who are we going to play against left handed pitchers? Our AL Central competitors are loaded with quality left handed starters. Last year we had only 3 guys who could even hit lefties -- Dye, Konerko, and Crede. So what did we do in the offseason? Replace our young right handed CF with a lefty who can't hit worth a crap and never walks. So, of course, Ozzie is in love with him and wants to hit him second in the lineup sandwiched between two other lefties that can't hit left handed pitching. 3. Where's the starting pitching? In 2005, we won with a pretty bad, though consistent, offense. But that's because we had great starting pitching and a very solid bullpen. Forget about the #5 hole, which is bad enough. I want to know whether our #1-4 guys are going to return to 2005 form or look like the mediocre-bad pitchers they were in 2006 (except Garland). 4. A bullpen of flamethrowers? Or flame outs? I haven't bought into the notion that our bullpen is going to be fabulous because we have all these power arms now. I like Big Bobby and Thornton and think MacDougal should be fine if he stays healthy. But David Aardsma? Sisco? Just cause they throw hard doesn't mean they're any good. I haven't seen Masset pitch, so no comment. So, the pen could be okay, even good. But I could just as easily see it blowing too many games for us to win the division. 5. Do we have any plan for the future? KW tried to restock the farm system with arms. But last time I checked, you also need 8 position players and a DH. This could be Iguchi's last season with us = do we even have a second baseman in the system? Dye is certainly gone, even though he's promised us a home-town discount = we've had a lot of minor league outfielders, but if Darren Erstad and Scott Podsednik can beat them out, I don't think any of them are major league material. Juan Uribe could likely be induced to stick around, but if he doesn't learn to get on base as well as he hits HRs, he's another hole in our lineup. Thome isn't getting younger. Last season, he really tanked in the second half and became an automatic out against lefty pitchers. We have pitching depth in our system, but almost nothing else. Josh Fields can only play one position, and is going to have a tough time matching Joe Crede's production. 6. Why did we devote $11+ million a year starting next season to lock up our worst starter from 2006? It seems to me that Javier Vazquez's contribution (or lack thereof) to our pitching staff would be the easiest to replace from among our young arms. So why not take the $10 million difference between JV's deal and what we'd have to pay a rookie pitcher and use it to keep Jermaine Dye? Then you could have traded Vazquez == now, or in mid-season -- to get some real outfielders to play alongside Dye. (Like Chris Young -- the one outfielder in our system that actually had major league talent.) I'm not ripping Kenny for the trades he made this offseason. We needed mound depth, and he got some young power arms. But I'm not crazy about the Vazquez extension, and I'm downright disgusted that Darren Erstad and Scott Podsednik are 2/3 of our starting outfield. It's the deals we DIDN'T make that have left gaping holes in our roster. Maybe this team will surprise us. But just wishing it will all turn out won't make it so. At the moment, I'm not optimistic. Let's not forget that for next season, if Dye, Buehrle and Iguchi do indeed leave the team -- a LOT of money will be freed up to be spread out elsewhere. That's about 20M in funding there. I personally hope all three of them stay, but the economics of the team (105M payroll perhaps?) will not work with the raises they are all in store for. I think of the three, Iguchi will stay. Jermaine Dye will simply command too much money for his age...and Buehrle is a lefty starter who I'm not confident has the stuff to be commanding what he's going to get anymore... There are a lot of questions with this team...but there are a lot of questions with every team. Combine that with the fact we ended up in the hardest division on earth, and it's not the best equation for success...then again, until the games are played, we will never know. Everyone just assumes the entire Sox team is going to regress in most facets of the game, while they assume the Tigers, Indians and Twins will not... I don't share the same feelings. I'm optimistic, as I always try to be. I don't feel we are any weaker without Freddy Garcia (who left his game with an injury yesterday), or McCarthy...at all.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Mar 21, 2007 -> 11:20 PM) It may make the trade look better, I have often said I think Garcia will be bad in 2007, but we will never know what KW could have gotten elsewhere if he just waited a couple months. I always liked the Garcia trade, until they dealt McCarthy and left what I believe is a hole in their rotation. And you think McCarthy would have filled that hole?! McCarthy is just not a pitcher suited for US Cellular.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 21, 2007 -> 05:41 PM) I hope neither make the big team - they both belong in Charlotte. Yea, they both look as if they have some kinks to work out. But both have the weapons to be something good out of the pen, someday...hopefully sooner than later.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Mar 21, 2007 -> 05:39 PM) Well if the bar is set by Terrero then the only way BA doesnt make the team is if Ozzie assassinates him. I don't really agree with that. I think if anything, Ozzie would rather have Anderson in AAA playing everyday while using Terrero as a bench player if Erstad wins the CF starting job. I think Anderson playing everyday is more important than him making our roster if he can't do it as the starter...and Pods/Erstad don't look so bad at the top of the order thus far. This next week of ST is going to tell the story, that's for sure.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 21, 2007 -> 05:35 PM) As I said yesterday, that one number seems excessive. But frankly, I could understand why Ozzie would need to see more of him that BA, just because Erstad is new. You guys may all be right, but, its not set in stone, and Ozzie has a history of pulling something weird for the final roster. I just don't think its over for BA yet. IMO, it's going to come down to whatever playtime Anderson has left -- he'd better not tank, and that's all there is too it.

I think all BA b****ing should be placed on hold until final decisions are made on the upcoming roster cuts/opening day lineups. I think, moreso than not, I'm taking an anti-BA approach around here because of the speculation that the team is going to do everything wrong and make all the wrong decisions BEFORE any are actually made. The openly biased BA love around here has been grating on me for weeks...so now I've just turned it to hate. :/ Not really saying that's right, either...but at least I'm willing to see what Erstad has in ACTUAL REAL GAMES versus spring training. Based on spring training last year, BA was one of the best CF's offensivly and defensivly in ALL of baseball...and we all know how that worked out.

QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ Mar 21, 2007 -> 08:55 AM) You making contact with any major league pitch is a wet dream. My example was reality based. It is just a fact that there are many balls that Erstad can't get to that Brian can. I am a fan of Erstad...I love his attitude and work ethic. I just didn't see him being brought here as a starting center fielder. Now if he came to camp and won the job outright, more power to him, but that just isn't the case. What is this hate list you speak of? I don't think anyone puts you on a list. I do think saying BA sucks lessens your credibility, cause it's just not true. In fact, he is outplaying Erstad at this point and Erstad has had way more opportunities. I'm not wishing anyone fails. I'm just wishing the players that give the sox the best chance to win are on the field. IMO that is BA. I only spoke of a hate list because of the overwhelming support for BA around here and anyone that speaks out against him seems to gets jumped at. Listening to local radio shows, talking to other Sox fans, etc...this board seems to be a minority when it comes to BA, and I'm not sure why, but a LOT of people dislike him. I agree that BA should be playing CF for us, I was one of his biggest defenders against the pro-Arow crowds last season. I see the skill BA has, and everyone knows he CAN hit if he'd just relax in the box, but none of it means anything if his attitude or whatever the hell going on between him and the teams management doesn't get fixed... I guess I'm just getting annoyed with the hate this board is tossing at our GM/Manager, who just brought us a WS victory 2 years ago...seems a little premature to be second guessing them even if that WS was won via lightning in a bottle with that pitching staff.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 21, 2007 -> 08:39 AM) The "nobody cares" line was a quote from you. Anderson is already better defensively than Erstad is right now, and results in ST (stats and watching him hit) indicate BA may have turned a corner and started hitting. Plus look at Erstad's last few years. I am not opposed to BA going to AAAto refine his hitting if we have some clearly better option on the team, but Erstad is not that option. BA batted like this last year in ST also. And when I said nobody cares, I didn't mean that nobody cares about defense in CF, I meant nobody cares as pertaining to BA and defense in CF. Perhaps a poor choice of words to say nobody cares, because I'm sure people do care about BA, but my point was, there ARE other options that can play defense. I think we have a few CF's in our system, and Erstad, that can be quite more than servicable out there... I would love nothing more than to have BA in CF -- I just don't see the reason to b**** about it constantly if it doesn't end up happening, or before the upcoming cuts even happen... It's just annoying, as the original poster of this team said, people calling KW an idiot, hating on Ozzie, etc...all over BA and all BEFORE the final round of cuts or team decisions are even made! I still think there is something going on between BA and the team management that we don't know about.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 21, 2007 -> 08:31 AM) I doubt anyone will hate or villify you for disliking BA. They just won't take your comments seriously when you, apparently, think that defense in CF is something "nobody cares" about. I don't think defense in CF is something nobody cares about. But I also feel Erstad, who's won gold gloves in CF, may know a little more about defense in CF than AAAnderson, and you, for that matter. Bottom line, at least I'm waiting to see what Erstad can do before I hang him. You are speculating based on stats -- which is fine -- but based on stats, we should have made the playoffs last year, at a minimum, if not returned to the WS. My point is, even defensivly, BA isn't our only option in CF. QUOTE(Capn12 @ Mar 21, 2007 -> 08:34 AM) No, we just want the better Centerfielder to actually....get a realistic shot at winning the job, something he isn't getting and wont get, because he isn't grinder material apparently. I guess by getting a legitimate jump on flyballs, moving fluidly and efficently out in the field, those aren't grinder type qualities like Pods has. Can't believe after 1 season, a guy can qualify as 'sucks' despite the fact he had the 3rd best RF of ALL MLB OUTFIELDERS in his ROOKIE season. Makes sense to me. Perhaps there is something behind the scenes none of know about pertaining to BA, which is my bet. Although easy for fans to ignore these things, team management will not ignore them. Something happened with BA and this team -- I don't know what -- but something definatly happened...and prehaps it's bigger than we all know or think.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 21, 2007 -> 08:24 AM) Re-read the part in bold. Out loud. Then think about Mack in CF last year. Then ask yourself why people might care. Erstad changed his name to Mack?! When did this happen? I'm gonna go out and speculate that since the Sox openly admitted they dislike using Mack in CF that they WON'T be doing so. They'll probably platoon CF with one of our other guys who can actually play CF.

QUOTE(Controlled Chaos @ Mar 21, 2007 -> 08:15 AM) I look forward to saying "Brian woulda had that" on 65% of the balls that land in the gaps and in front of the centerfielder. And I look forward to saying, "Hell, even *I* could have made solid contact with that when BA strikes out on a hanging breaking ball..." See how that works two ways? I'm sick and tired of the BA love around here. It's disgusting. Go get a room. And yes, I realize this villifies me around here -- OMG he said something negative about BA so he's on the hate list! So f'ing what. BA sucks...and this insane BA love sucks even more. I'm tired of it. The wheels fell off that bandwagon before it even started moving. Call it a hunch, but I'm gonna go so far as to say this BA bandwagon full of Soxtalkers are secretly WISHING Pods and Erstad would fail just so they can claim how right they were about BA.

Personally, I think some of the BA love around here needs to be called into question. He's done nothing but fail when the team gave him more than a few chances to succeed. You can make up excuses, compare him to Crede, Konerko, or a plethora of other major leaguers that took years to develop, but the fact remains -- he's not any of those players -- he doesn't have the same personality, and apparantly, he rubs people in power the wrong way, so all comparisons fall short. He's not Pods, Konerko, Crede and he's not Erstad...life isn't fair, but he's not going to get the same treatment as they do, period. So please, do everyone a favor around here and stop the constant b****ing, moaning and crying about it. It's almost as if BA promised to share some of his contract with you BA bandwagoners with how blindly you support him because he's good defensivly. Great. GRAND. Nobody cares. If BA was the guy you all claim he is, the orginization would probably be in love with him...but based upon how he's treated, not only by the manager but the general manager and most of the local Chicago media, I'm gonna have to guess BA did something, said something, or just outright makes people dislike him with his attitude and personality. Some people rub people the wrong way. BA seems to have done that. To F'ing bad. Like I said before for all you BA supporters and BA himself...life isn't fair. Cry more.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 12:43 AM) I believe Haeger will be an unsung hero come the end of the 2007 season, for the reasons you mentioned and more. I agree. I like the idea of having a knuckler in our rotation somewhere, throwing off the consistancy of opposing batters. Although if things go wrong with knucklers, they get smashed or miss the K zone, when things go right, they can really mess with an opposing teams confidence and get their timing all screwed up. I think Haeger is going to come up big this season if given the opportunity.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 02:13 PM) I agree. I really have never heard anything bad about Podsednik, although the stories about him "beating himself up" over tough stretches doesn't sit too well with me. Grow up, and start to hit better. I got really sick of the constant stories in 2006 about Pods and Walker-Guillen-Williams discussing Podsednik and his mental state during tough stretches. Yea, I agree those excuses don't fly with me. These are supposedly professionals, they should be able to get through these things without "beating themselves up".

QUOTE(Damen @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 02:08 PM) Read the last sentence.... Wow, you'd think they'd have more than a 1 line blurb in an unrelated article about such news... I saw the Uribe headline and figured you mislinked...my bad.

QUOTE(Damen @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 02:05 PM) As of 2/21, we were ahead of last year's pace, and are already nearing 2 million. http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...tesox-headlines Whats with the link about Uribe? Are you trying to use misdirection?!

QUOTE(jphat007 @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 02:01 PM) What has he done to make you dislike him? Or do you dislike his numbers. Probably his defense, his numbers and the amount of times he was caught stealing... I still like Pods...he signified the end of the all-or-nothing approach we had been taking up until his aquisition. Besides, anyone on the 05' team gets a free pass from me.

QUOTE(tealeafreaderii @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 01:54 PM) awesome news for me... I hate having to plan ahead to go to game. Did they raise ticket prices this year? From what I've heard, they not only raised ticket prices, but have outsold last year in a same-time sales comparison.

QUOTE(sircaffey @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 12:49 PM) If Erstad isn't bunting everytime Pods is on base, he'll be worthless in the 2 spot. Glad to know that our worst 2 hitters will be getting the most ABs over the course of the season. You gotta love that logic. I yearn for Carl Crawford more than life itself right now. I think we all yearn for Crawford to the Sox. Not sure about more than life, however.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 01:00 PM) Haha, sounds bad, but I understand where you're coming from. As it stands, I can't stand the situation going on right now with the OF and the top of the order. I just don't understand it. With that said, Podsednik and Erstad look to play a huge role in the success of the White Sox this year, and because of that, I have to root for both of them to do well. Podsednik is the only really White Sox I really dislike, but I still have to root for him because he can dictate the success or failures of this team. As president of my own presonal, private, Prancer fanclub, it's my duty to inform you that Pods and the millions and millions of Pods fans dislike you, too.