Y2HH

I wouldn't care if I was the only person that showed up to a Sox game. I don't need to be sitting in the middle of a sea of fools in order to enjoy baseball. Lemmings. I merely alter my Earl Weaver quote and tell annoying Cubs fans something along the lines of, "The key to winning baseball games is not attendance."

If a wrestler takes steroids or HGH and looks like Shane Helms, they're doing something wrong...or they need to just stop taking it. Seriously, if you need roids to get a body like Edge or Helms, you suck at working out or have terrible genetics.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 10:58 AM) I think we will be crying when Pods and Erstad are not on base, and our 3-4-5 guys hit all those homers with no one to score besides themselves. Well like I said, if that starts happening, Ozzie needs to adjust the lineup. Iguchi's career OBP is about .005 higher than Erstads, so does it really matter THAT much?! And I realize that Erstad may be on the downhill side of his career, but Iguchi will be, also...considering they are the same age. I'm just trying to look on the bright side here, guys...maybe Erstad will bounce back in a big way with the change of scenery. :/

Sounds to me like it's already set in stone and unless Anderson has an insane final 1.5 weeks in ST, he's going to AAA to start. Oh well...not like I was the biggest Anderson backer anyway. Look at it like this, if Erstad fails in CF or as a #2 hitter, I'm sure Ozzie will do something about it...not much you can do about the Anderson thing...we all know how good he can be, but until he is, all of this is a moot point. I don't believe Erstad will be any worse than Anderson and being that he's healthy again, maybe he will have a big year...all we can do is hope for the best at this point...rather than b****ing about someone whos prooven nothing thus far.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 01:13 AM) It just looks ridiculous on paper. LF - Podsednik - L CF - Erstad - L DH - Thome - L 1B - Konerko - R RF - Dye - R C - Pierzynski - L 3B - Crede - R 2B - Iguchi - R SS - Uribe - R How can Ozzie in conscience write out that lineup before every game? It's just looks terrible. And by age: LF - 32 CF - 33 DH - 36 1B - 31 RF - 33 C - 30 3B - 29 2B - 32 SS - 27 AVG OF = 32.67 yo AVG IF = 30.60 yo LINEUP = 31.44 yo Didn't Ozzie try something similar last season with Uribe #2 while dropping Iguchi lower into the order during spring training, and it didn't work, so Ozzie quickly put them back where they belonged?! Perhaps the same thing will happen again. At least we can hope. Flip Iguchi and Erstad and I'm ok with the lineup if BA doesn't make the team.

I believe they're using these system to "grade" umpire crews. I personally dislike it, it seems to be robbing the human factor from the game...but a lot of people in the game (announcers) are beginning to agree it's a good thing, since some umpires were getting out of control with bad calls. Also, I was watching a Cubs broadcast the other day on TV and one of their announcers mentioned that the dropped 3rd strike rule was changed by MLB (due to AJ's steal of 1st base). The rule is now that if you take a single step toward the dugout, you are immediatly called OUT, rather than having the touch the dugout steps, as the rule was previously written. Can anyone verify?

QUOTE(Capn12 @ Mar 20, 2007 -> 12:51 AM) I really don't understand why Oz is talking out of both sides of his ass on this issue. "Whoever plays CF for us is going to EARN it!!" "Erstad will get his at-bats, and I will try to play him as an everyday player." See Kalapse's numbers for both so far this spring. So basically its a case of Erstad "earning" the CF job, despite none of his numbers backing that up statistically. Makes sense to me!! There is always the outside [or insider] chance that Ozzie dislikes something about Anderson that none of us are aware of. It's obvious Ozzie doesn't like him, and it doesn't appear as if KW disagrees with him. Sometimes, when I see things such as this, I wonder if perhaps they know something... For a few weeks I remember quite a few of you were calling for KW's head on the Brandon McCrappy trade. I don't believe Ozzie or KW liked McCarthy much, similar to the BA situation, and none of us understood why. McCarthy was a one-spring/small stretch wonder who MLB hitters caught up too and now hit HR's off of as if he's pitching batting practice. I think we got the best of that deal, even though many of you were ready to kill KW for it.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 08:42 PM) From March 12: Player A: 51 AB | 14 H | 5 R | 0 HR | 6 RBI | 2 BB | 10 K | 2 SB | .275/.296/.333/.629 Player B: 32 AB | 9 H | 5 R | 2 HR | 5 RBI | 4 BB | 5 K | 2 SB | .281/.351/.531/.862 It's good to see Ozzie keeping his word and rewarding the job to the player who performs best during the spring. f***ing hypocrite. As much as I'm not on the BA bandwagon, I'm inclined to agree...he deserves the spot until he shows us (during regular season play) that he doesn't deserve it. Erstad should start on the bench as of right now. There is two weeks of ST left to keep in mind, though. I agree for similar offensive stats, give or take a few points in any catagory, that BA's defense in center outweighs Erstad at the moment.

QUOTE(shoota @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 05:19 PM) What outfield prospect did KW give to Arizona a couple years back? I think Chris Young?

MacDougal Jenks Haegar Logan Thornton Masset Sisco

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 01:49 PM) Well, Owens has a puss arm. So yeah I don't really know why you'd want him out there. All things being equal, I want Anderson out there -- he just seriously needs to put it together already. And, I do not want Owens out there -- nor do I want Terrero out there. If it cannot be Anderson, I'm taking Erstad as a fallback, but I still don't want Erstad batting #2...but if that's what happens...not much we armchair GM's can do about it.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 01:44 PM) Well, that's mainly because you're wrong on a lot of baseball subjects. Not your fault, just the way it is. Juan Pierre compared to Grady Sizemore in CF. If there's a ball hit deep into the right center field gap up against the wall and a runner on first. Juan Pierre picks it up and rolls it to the cutoff man at the back of secondbase, run scores. Sizemore gets back to the ball and hits the cutoff man on a fly holding the runner to 3B or even gunning him out at the plate if he's dumb enough to run. A puss arm in CF could actually kill a team, every time there's a runner on second and a single up the middle a run is going to score but if you have someone out there who could actually throw worth a damn you're atleast giving yourself a fighting chance. It's really close to a tossup as to where you want your best arm to be in the OF between CF and RF. In right you have the deep corner and a long ass throw to 3B which is where the majority of your throwing opportunities are coming from. CF has deep gaps they have to worry about so an excellent arm out there is going to save you some runs. You put your puss arm in LF, that's basically proven. You'll find most of the noodle armed fielders out there because of the proximity to 3B. I'll take a guy like Terrero over Owens every day of the week in CF and it's not even close. I disagree about me being wrong on baseball subjects...just because I don't agree with you doesn't make me wrong. That said, I also never went so far as to say a "puss" arm is a good idea for any position in baseball...but an average arm is fine by me.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 01:43 PM) And you forgot to mention that it was on the road in front of a hostile Boston crowd. And it was on the road in front of a hostile Boston crowd.

I'm also going to have to say El Duque vs the Red Sox. That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen considering the implications/pressure of the situation. That wasn't just another ordinary game...that was the playoffs with a 1 run lead -- retained. It was flat out amazing.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 01:32 PM) Well Walk and Ozzie want Gooch to lift and pull more, and you cant do that from the #2 hitting role. I do believe if you told Walk he wanted people to "pull" he'd say no, he wants them to "drive".

QUOTE(longshot7 @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 01:12 PM) If Erstad starts, we are in big trouble. Everyone that is overrating him without seeing him play day-to-day over the past 6-7 years needs to stop. He will hit .262 with a OBP of right around .300 - not #2 hitter or starter numbers. I'd prefer to have Iguchi #2. That said, I'm supporting Erstad, even if I'm once again in the minority around here. All of you Erstad bashers can piss up a flag pole.

I'll pass on Terrero. I've always felt that for the most part, having a good arm in CF is an overrated attribute. All things considered, it makes almost no difference considering even the best arms cannot stop runners from advancing *most* of the time. Getting good reads and having the speed to cover ground is far more important to me than having an arm. I'd prefer to have better cannon arms in LF and RF than CF...I believe they can make a bigger difference there. Then again, my opinion is probably regarded as being in the minority on most things concerning baseball around here.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 01:10 PM) im in the opinion that Iguchi is one of the bet #2 hitters in the game. Apparently nobody on the White Sox share that opinion. I concur.

QUOTE(TitoMB345 @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 10:51 AM) This is going to be a LOOOOOOOONG year. Can you say 2004? 2004.

QUOTE(Reddy @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 10:50 AM) BUT erstad hasnt been very productive for the last few years... why would he bounce back now? Because I said he will.

QUOTE(Reddy @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 10:45 AM) it's pretty ridiculous that Pods/Erstad are going 1-2... we're not gonna score ANY runs this year... i can guarantee we wont jump out of the gate like in 05 or even close with this pair People said that exact same thing with Pods/Iguchi in 05. Granted we didn't score a ton of runs then, either...but we did when it mattered most. I think we need to see it in action before we can judge it. Adjustements can always be made -- if this even ends up being the lineup.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 08:43 AM) Since there are half a dozen threads related to the CF job, I wasn't sure where to put this, but here is something to think about. Here are Jerry Owens' numbers so far this spring... G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS OBP SLG AVG 12 21 7 8 0 0 0 1 8 4 2 4 0 .480 .381 .381 High average, very high OBP, 4-for-4 in steals, though not a ton of AB's. In other words, with those numbers and as much as Ozzie seems obsessed with speed... I wouldn't count him out as a possibility to make the team over Anderson, Terrero or Perez. I'm not saying its necessarily a good thing... just that its possible. But here is a question I cannot answer, since I haven't seen him play this spring... how has he looked in the OF defensively? Because if he has looked decent in the spring in defense, I have a feeling Ozzie may be considering him for a spot. ETA: Talking about the 25th spot in general here, and the OF, not necessarily CF. From what I've seen and heard, Owens is only slightly above average on defense (if that), but I haven't seen a large enough sample size of his play to know for sure. Also, when looking at his numbers the first question that comes to mind is, great numbers...but against who?! If those are in fact his numbers, and he's better than I believe him to be in CF, I'm sure Ozzie would be talking him up/considering him for the job, but since this isn't happening, I have to question why.

QUOTE(Reddy @ Mar 15, 2007 -> 07:05 PM) so guys, at the end of the day - The Show or 2k7? Your avatar looks like the building I work in...but its hard to tell since its all dark.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 07:27 AM) But the question is, where is that patience best used? Brian is a heck of an athlete, and seems to have all the tools to become a solid player, but he doesn't have a major league batting approach yet (he's gotten by, until now, mostly on pure athleticism). So is he better served working that out with the big club, or with a year (or part of a year) at AAA? I don't know that there is a definite answer to that, but I think its the important question to ask. I do still think he is a better choice to start in CF than Erstad for this year, but not by much. I think decisions like this need to be based on a, 'Where is this club right now, and where will it be in a few years?', type of thing. IMO, coming off a world series victory in '05, and missing the playoffs while still winning 90 games in '06 says that we're still a contender. I'm not sure that waiting on a minor leaguer to flourish on a contending team is a great idea, those types of players are better suited for teams that are rebuilding for the future moreso than a team that's considered a contender. Our window of opportunity with the current roster is closing, nobody is getting younger (except me), including our pitchers. We need to strike now, not in two years when BA is ready to go. I think that part of a season in AAA is the best way to handle the BA situation right now, at least for a month or two until he can work out his issues behind the plate or until Erstad shows us that he's unable to play CF in a "good enough" manner to help the team. Right now, I think Erstad is playing great...and he won't make the rookie mistakes that Anderson may make in criticial situations due to nervousness or what have you...I think Anderson will get his shot in the future, I'm just not sure that we are in a position like we were with Crede or Kong for him to work out these issues.

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Mar 19, 2007 -> 12:50 AM) If not sooner. There's still two weeks of spring training. Pods went 0 for 7 in a minor league game today. The fan club is currently on hiatus. Pods was also picked off first base, but ended up stealing second on the pickoff...talk about a bad pickoff. And the Pods fan club is never on hiatus. NEVER.