Kalapse

More bad defense from the Sox, this time Alexei. His 4th error on the Spring.

The Royals named Sidney Ponson and Horacio Ramirez their 4th and 5th starters today. Giving a rotation spot to ONE of these guys would be bad enough . . .

More amazing speed/baserunning from the Sox.

QUOTE (Brian @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 04:05 PM) How is Extra Innings a rip off? I love it and will miss it this year since it seems UVerse won't be getting it. It's really not. Having the ability to flip to Vin Scully most any Spring night at 9:30 is absolutely priceless.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 03:52 PM) He also is an interesting case because he's sort of been dragged in to the whole moneyball debate by being almost the ideal moneyball player. Tons of HR, tons of walks, tons of K, no speed, no defensive value. So if you're a fan of specific stats you might love him, if you think those guys are crazy you might take it out on him. I don't think Adam Dunn gets nearly enough credit for his speed, he's a big man but as anyone who watches him on a regular basis will tell you; he can move.

Great D by Wise in CF.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 03:23 PM) Bender with the information that Dye has the most homers of any MLB outfielder over the last four years. That can't be right, can it? I think he meant RFers, or AL RFers....Manny Ramirez would have to have more HRers than JD? 137 during that time. Maybe that's right? Jermaine: 31, 44, 28, 34 = 137 Manny: 45, 35, 20, 37 = 137 Soriano: 36, 46, 33, 29 = 144 (second baseman in 2005, disqualified) Dunn: 40, 40, 40, 40 = 160 (54 games played at 1B over that timespan, I guess he's disqualified) Carlos Lee: 129 Pat Burrell: 124 Vlad Guerrero: 119 Jason Bay: 119 Carlos Beltran: 117 Matt Holliday: 114 Grady Sizemore: 107

#1 reason Orlando Hudson was not a realistic option: if he stays healthy he'll earn $8M.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 1, 2009 -> 02:38 PM) Is Richard still in the running for/getting a bullpen spot? The 25 man roster is set, Richard is the 2nd lefty out of the pen/long man.

f*** Hardly surprising.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 04:40 PM) Usually this crap is reserved for post ASB. It's frightening, getting one of these in March sets us up for as man as 4 or 5 throughout the season.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 04:36 PM) Neyer not excited about Wise as our leadoff guy. Very well put.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 03:40 PM) I may not know much about history, but .... QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 04:29 PM) Forget it...he's rolling. QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 04:31 PM) Whats next, the are you in or out thread. Look back at any of the previous threads of this nature (I think we actually had 2 last year) and you'll find these 3 posts, this site is incredibly consistent.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 03:16 PM) For God's sake please stop calling guys grinders! ARGH! Who did he describe as a grinder? Getz?

Who is that young speed demon taking 2nd off AJ and Burls?

Webcast Link

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 01:50 PM) I'm not being a dick, but the washed up pitcher doesn't broadcast for a chicago outlet... yet... I assume you mean Dan Hampton? I agree, he is so annoying, EVERYTHING relates to football with him. I do like Holmes a lot, I think he has developed into an excellent broadcaster Good catch. That didn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense. Obviously I was talking about Dan Hampton. I only heard the first 15 minutes of their show today but Holmes had some good things to say about the sox (mostly speaking of the disappointment in hearing Dewyane Wise named the leadoff hitter), luckily Hampton didn't say a word, I called it a win and got out of the car.

QUOTE (scenario @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 01:49 PM) For those worried that BA will be buried on the depth chart... Here we are one-day after 'the announcement'... And Brian is starting in CF and leading off. Today's Lineup (Tuesday vs. Colorado) BA 8, Getz 4, Q 7, Thome DH, Dye 9, PK 3, AJ 2, Ramirez 6, Fields 5. MB pitching. There's no doubt in my mind that Brian will get a few chances to prove that he's not a leadoff hitter in the month of April. There's little doubt in my mind that Ozzie will be hitting him there against Francisco Liriano and Cliff Lee.

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 01:41 PM) So, who's stepped up? By default...it's Wise. Who else could it be? Who out there is THAT much better? Obviously, both Swisher and Cabrera burned their White Sox bridges, so they are out. Pierre and GMJ, as I said, are expensive and don't have fantastic OBPs either. So, Kalapse...who? And can you tell me for sure that KW didn't kick the tires to see if they were available/teams could match up in a trade? I'm disappointed too, but Pods surprised all of us, and all of baseball, by having a good year. Who's to say Wise can't do the same for a year? He's never been a full-time anything...so don't give me his past numbers. ANYONE. I don't know who was available because I'm not a f***ing general manager, throwing names out there would be a pointless exercise since each can be shot down with a simple "how do you know he was available? How do you know he didn't try?" All I do know is that it's his job to find competent players to fill the major roles on this club and plugging Dewayne f***ing Wise into an incredibly important role like leadoff hitter/centerfield (THE #1 DEFENSIVE POSITION ON THE FIELD) is a complete and utter failure. How about this: Coco Crisp. Comparing Scott Podsednik to Dewayne Wise is a joke, you do realize he was one of the better speedsters in the NL in 2003, right? Wise is a 31 year old failure. I don't know for sure that he'd fail but I have a damn good feeling, there's a pretty good track record to follow. Hell, Williams could have thrust Lillibridge, Pablo Ozuna or a 50 year old Rickey Henderson into the role and you could use that line. "How do you know Rickey will fail? It wouldn't be the first time an old guy had a good season."

QUOTE (Kid Gleason @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 12:47 PM) Dislike: Jurko and Harry Like: Not listening to the show. Concise and quite accurate. Defalco is harmless and forgettable while the other two are just offensive. Also, Dan Hampton might be the dumbest man on the Chicago airwaves which is saying a lot. Talk about completely clueless. Can't say I listen to a lot of Sports radio but if I were to tune in I'd probably go: Mike & Mike (assuming Kuselias isn't filling in and they're actually talking sports), Waddle and Silvy, sit in silence until 2 o'clock, Boers and Bernstein (easily the best show of the 2 stations).

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 01:14 PM) Here's the problem with your argument...you don't know what happened behind closed doors. Perhaps Kenny did nothing and decided to see what would happen if you opened the competition up between Wise, Owens and BA. OR, he knocked on doors, picked up the phone and tried to find said lead-off hitter? It takes two to tango. Pierre is passed his prime and more expensive. GMJ is not a lead off hitter either and more expensive. Who are you willing to give up for the Dodgers or Angels to pick up 90% of said salaries? Floyd? Danks? Alexei? Because you are going to have to give up a proven or way high upside commodity for that to happen. Enough with the hate people! The market did not dictate going out and spending money this year. What this says to me is that the organization didn't develop a lead-off hitter. Or can't. But, now with the change of direction in the minors, hopefully that will change. To me, it's a lot harder to fault a GM for something they DIDN'T do, than something they DID do. Give me a break. The Sox were very nearly the worst team in the AL in terms of OBP in the #1 and #2 lineup spots last year (3rd to last), borderline wasting the very best full-time #3 hitter in the league. Not only did he fail to upgrade these two spots but as it stands right now it looks like he managed to downgrade. Get creative, find someone, anyone that can get on base at a decent clip and maybe run a little to hit in at the top of the lineup, no excuses. Hell, he removed 2 players from the 2007 ballclub in Orlando Cabrera and Nick Swisher that are better top of the order hitters than what we have now. It doesn't take much to upgrade from Dewayne Wise, believe it or not these players do exist. I think he envisioned Jerry Owens or even more so Brent Lillibridge as his 2009 opening day leadoff hitters, unfortunately for him both proved this March that they're not major league quality hitters. When you say things like this just 2 weeks ago then turn around and hand the job to a player who's nearly the complete opposite of what you've described you deserve as much criticism as the fans can muster.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 31, 2009 -> 12:42 PM) He's still arb-eligible next year? Wow, that's surprising. Guess it's all the time he spent in the minors. Trade him if we can. Only 4.156 days of service going into 2009, 16 days short of 5.000 so he won't be able to reach the 6.000 required for free agent eligibility until April of 2010 at the earliest.

There are actually people out there who don't think this is an awesome look? I absolutely love the high socks, even better if there are stirrups involved. Man, I can't remember playing a single game without my pant legs rolled up.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 30, 2009 -> 08:19 PM) He is with us for at most one season. If he pitches lights out, he might be able to work himself back in to being a type B free agent. Looking ahead to the 2010/2011 offseason already? Because that's when he hits free agency.

It's just so frustrating when you hear the White Sox brass preach OBP and pit/pa at the top all offseason and even into S/T and yet Opening Day is just a few days away and our leadoff hitter is a bad baseball player with an especially low OBP and no patience. I really thought KW was going to make it a point to upgrade the leadoff spot after the departure of Orlando Cabrera and yet he somehow managed to downgrade. I just wish it didn't have to be this way, there's a rather large percentage of teams that don't have to worry about s*** like this, it'd be nice if KW had gotten creative this offseason and added us to that list of teams.