Kalapse

Um, non-story? http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/basebal...,7304813.column

To think there will be days when both Lillibridge and Corky Miller will be in the lineup with Lillibridge likely leading off, that'll be embarrassing. I don't expect Miller to get a hit this year and I fully expect Brent Lillibridge to strikeout in half his ABs.

Anderson CF Alexei SS Quentin LF Thome DH Dye RF Konerko 1B Pierzynski C Fields 3B Lillibridge 2B One step closer to the dream lineup with Alexei hitting second, now we just need to get Getz in the leadoff spot and we're set. Also slated to pitch: Broadway Egbert Linebrink MacDougal

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 28, 2009 -> 12:30 PM) If Contreras and Colon make it, they're going to need guys that can go 3-4 innings. To me, Richard makes the pitching staff no matter what. And that man is DJ Carrasco who had 3 outings of 3+ IP last year and allowed 2 ER in those 12 IP. Richard is probably going to make the team but he certainly doesn't have to make the team. I also think MacDougal is a lock at this point, he has too much potential and money invested in him to go back to Charlotte after the way he's performed this Spring.

So Lillibridge had a pretty big day huh? Not only did he add to his league leading strikeout total (now sitting pretty at 23) but he moved into 2nd place in errors with his 5th, only 2 behind San Diego infielder Everth Cabrera.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 27, 2009 -> 03:59 PM) He's GG calibur. KW would not lie. There are an awful lot of reputations riding on this one. I'm sure any problems he has at the position will be shrugged off as growing pains.

QUOTE (gsoxs1 @ Mar 27, 2009 -> 03:58 PM) Um.....I thnik that would Jerry Owens title Lillibridge's near impossible 1/22 BB/K ratio begs to differ. At least Owens has 11 walks.

Milton Bradley broke straight back on that weak lineout by Owens. Who the hell breaks back on a ball off the bat of Jerry Owens?

Crede would have hit a double.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 27, 2009 -> 03:29 PM) They will have a low OBP guy leadoff. Quentin is a high OBP, but he may not be able to duplicate last season. Thome is a high OBP but has been declining a bit and he can't run. For all the "speed" added to the line-up, I see Fields for Crede, definitely more speed, but Fields will most likely be a lower OBP guy. Getz for Cabrera. I think if Getz matched Cabrera's offensive numbers of 2008, most would be thrilled. I don't see this huge increase in team speed they have been preaching. I think they will score a lot of runs but it will be just as inconsistent as it has been the past few years. The Sox got a .323 OBP from their 3B last year, Josh should be able to match that.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 27, 2009 -> 03:22 PM) He's still fighting for a starting spot. Why not have the guy who should leadoff during the season get a whirl there before the season starts? The question I have is why ignore what has happened his whole career and base everything on a couple of exibition games at the end of a brutally long spring training? Don't they know Jerry Owens yet? Are their opinions really going to change if he gets a couple of hits? What value other than a pinch runner does he have? Can a team that will carry 12 pitchers keep a guy around just to pinch run? Besides, its not like he's been tearing up the basepaths this spring. The fact that Ozzie still mentions his name after games is embarrassing.

Richard looks like hot dog s*** out there.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Mar 27, 2009 -> 03:18 PM) Why would they cut him early if he's out of options? Not saying he's going to turn it around but there's no upside to it. If your pinch runner Lillibridge gets hurt, you have Owens to fall back on. That's the downside to doing it, there's no upside. I'm glad fan-type passion is absent from most coaching staffs out there. Well for one: there's no reason for a guy who probably won't be with the organization 2 weeks from now to be leading off this late in the spring and two: it's not exactly hard to find a pinch runner (and Lillibridge will not be the "pinch runner" he's the utility infielder, something Owens is not), in fact Jerry Owens would be a pretty awful fit since he can't play the infield and he's a pretty pathetic base runner. There are talentless fast guys placed on waivers everyday, if something happened to Lillibridge (oh, god forbid) KW could sign a clone within the hour.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 27, 2009 -> 03:11 PM) He hit .220 in AAA with an OBP under .300 last year. KW wants someone from the Vazquez trade on the roster and he's already been praising Lillibridge since acquiring him. This isn't a case of a guy earning a spot on the team, just that everyone that is probably better than him isn't ready yet either so he will win by default. He can run, maybe he can steal bases, but chances are, most scouts believe, his peek is a decent utility guy. Ain't that the truth. He earned himself a one way ticket to Birmingham. You can find guys off the street who are better baseball players than Brent Lillibridge, he's been arguably the worst regular in the Cactus league this year.

Bad start for Jerry, a weak popout to left is about as bad as it gets for him in the eyes of management (remember groundouts = infield pwnage) and I believe it was on the first pitch.

QUOTE (daa84 @ Mar 27, 2009 -> 11:10 AM) im surprised to see Carassco locked into a spot, but he was huge last year for us...i think MacDougal makes it personally, and i think broadway is the first one called up during the year if something happens or carassco or macdougal suck Carrasco was pretty awesome last year, it definitely earned him a spot in this year's bullpen. 3.96 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 2.14 K/BB, a K/9 of 7, only 2 HR allowed and 7 outings of 2+ innings. Yeah that's a pretty valuable reliever. The bullpen is probably set with MacDougal's solid outing yesterday he's going to make the team the only question mark lies with the back of the rotation.

QUOTE (kane0730 @ Mar 27, 2009 -> 11:02 AM) Hopefully he's learned how to throw to first on a comebacker. It was hold your breath time last year on just about every throw. He only had to throw the ball to first base 10 time last year, he failed to do so successfully 3 of those times. That's just crazy. Nearly every throw over there was off target. Richard allowed 37 runs last year but only 32 of those were earned, 2 of his errant throws led to 4 of those unearned runs. His official ERA for the 2008 season might have been 6.04 but his "real" ERA is 6.80 since his incompetence accounted for 4 of those unearned runs.

Owens CF Getz 2B Quentin LF Dye RF Pierzynski C Alexei SS Kroeger 1B Fields 3B Richard P Lets see if Jerry Owens can put the final nail in the coffin with another poor performance today. Still waiting for the only true top of the lineup hitter on the roster to get a start in the leadoff spot, I probably shouldn't hold my breath.

QUOTE (qwerty @ Mar 26, 2009 -> 06:14 PM) He can throw, there is no doubt, he also calls a very solid game. That is the only reason he ever got a chance, was not his overwhelming offensive talent. Supposedly he has 90 stolen bases against in the minors and threw out 53, good for 37% like you said. In the majors he is at 33%, 38 stolen bases against to the 19 he threw out. I wish caught stealing percentage numbers were kept track of in the minors better. I really want to know where baseball cube (boy are they unreliable many times) got corky's 43 % cs% in 2004. They credit him with 35 caught stealing in 81 attempts... get this... for the cincinnati reds. That might be possible if not for him only playing 12 games in the majors that particular season. They could have possibly meant those numbers for the minors, but he only caught 54 games that season in triple a, which would just be a god damn ridiculous rate for the staff to get run on... especially if he was throwing them out at the rate baseball cube claims. I am just leary of any minor league cs# numbers, that is all. Baseball Reference has him down for 46 stolen bases against and 27 caught stealing, good for 37% CS in his big league career. The problem I see comes from his rookie year in 2001, BR has 8 SB to 8 CS in 16 GS and 139 INN but ESPN has him at 16 GS, 0 INN and 0 SB/0CS. Corky's DT Card on BP also has 8 SB and 8 CS for 2001 so I'm thinking ESPN f***ed up on this one. You'd think they'd make sure to accurately display something as important as Corky Miller's career fielding statistics.

QUOTE (103 mph screwball @ Mar 26, 2009 -> 04:32 PM) Can the Sox DH for Corky and let the pitchers hit? I'm only half joking. Well Bartolo Colon is 10 for 85 for his career, compare that to Corky's 13 for 142 over the last 5 seasons and you may be on to something.

QUOTE (jphat007 @ Mar 26, 2009 -> 04:08 PM) You are full of neat tidbits Of all pitchers with at least 60 IP last season Matt Thornton, tied with Jonathan Papelbon, had the 6th highest average velocity on his fastball at 95.3 MPH he trailed the leader (Jonathan Broxton) by 1 MPH. Brian Wilson, Manny DelCarmen, Jose Valverde and Brandon Morrow are the others ahead of him but only .5 MPH separated them all.

Chris Getz is the balls.

QUOTE (fathom @ Mar 26, 2009 -> 03:59 PM) It will be entertaining watching Corky look retarded at the plate facing the likes of Liriano this season. The Corkster has 35% more K's than hits against left handed pitching in his career. He also has more double plays than doubles in his career. One more: Against lefties, Corkaroo has reached on an error as often as he's managed an extra base hit.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 26, 2009 -> 03:55 PM) A negative OPS+??? I didn't think that was possible. That's what happens when you go 13 for 142 over a 5 year span. It's not out of the realm of possibility that he doesn't get a hit this season.

Corky Miller looks like an awful hitter.