CaliSoxFanViaSWside

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 15, 2010 -> 06:34 AM) I'd love to see one post where someone called Clayton Richard a "terrific young talent" before he was traded. I know Hudson had a few fans, but not too many. Before they were dealt a lot of people who are their biggest fans know thought those two kids were garbage themselves. I'm pretty sure Jason liked Richard and I did also. But I always like young starters who come up and show ability. Most thought that ability was 4 or 5th starter type. But KW can't just keep trading talented young under control players for $8+ million a year guys . I understand the need to compete every year but when a cost effective move like resigning Thome presented itself there was no sense of urgency. The sense of urgency/desperation only seems to come at mid season or during the waiver claim period. It would be nice once in a while to come out of the gate stronger which would also pump up the players a bit more too.

In the immortal words of Al Bundy "Let's rock " !

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 03:00 PM) Good afternoon. In less than two hours, the Minnesotta Twins will be landing at US Cellular Field. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. "Mankind." That word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it's fate that today is the Fourthteenth of September, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom... Not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution... but from annihilation. We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourthteenth of September will no longer be known as a Chicagoan holiday, but as the day the Sox declared in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night!" We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our NukeTheTwins Day! Independence Day.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 06:18 AM) Maybe Thome isn't going to cost the White Sox the playoffs, but its hard to see how he being a White Sox right now and not a Twin wouldn't enhance the White Sox chances. Look at Vlad and Matsui's stats last year and this. Thome's were better. Vlad has an .851 OPS this year. Jim Thome had an .864 OPS with the Sox last year playing with a bad heel. Thome is playing for a fraction of what they are playing for this year Thome was truly underrated and under appreciated during his time with the Sox. Its a shame a pretty significant part of the White Sox fanbase for some reason never embraced him and enjoyed what he was able to accomplish from the batter's box. For all the defending I see of guys like Manny Ramirez, giving him credit for others getting big hits, its almost sickening. KW's quote about Manny the other day really struck me. He was asked about his hair and he said that guys with over 500 homers we will bend the team rules for a bit. I know a guy with over 500 homers that wouldn't think about doing anything outside the team rules. My stance is very similar to yours but let me add one thing. Not only was Thome under appreciated by many on this board but apparently in baseball front offices too. I know a lot of older slower one dimensional players were not given significant contracts offers but leave it to the Twins to see the value of the guy when so many could not. You forget just how damn good the guy is because he quietly goes about his business. The media is all over Manny so he's in the minds of fans and apparently GM's too .

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 05:59 AM) Unfortunately for you...thanks to the availability of Pitch F/X data, this unsupported contention can now actually be checked, because PFX categorizes pitch types. Last year, in 2009, Jim Thome Saw the 4 seam fastball 52% of the time. This year, in 2010, Jim Thome has seen the 4 seam fastball 39.5% of the time. In both cases we're talking about well over a thousand pitches, so this is a very statistically significant difference. Jim Thome is seeing vastly fewer fastballs this year. Therefore, your contention that Thome is performing better because of the lineup around him causing him to see more fastballs is simply wrong. When I saw that post with the assumption of what pitches Thome was seeing I knew yours wouldn't be far behind checking the data. That's pretty much why I only editorialize and don't throw things out there I can't support.

Carl Everett is a Paleontologist.

I'll never get tired of this Thome argument. Plenty of you make excellent points . I also reread a lot of the spring training thread about bringing him back and so many wanted him back. I know why everyone is frustrated because bringing him back was the easiest ,most cost effective move the Sox could have made. The guy is all class and a future HOF and used properly ,still a force to be reckoned with. It was Ozzie's call no doubt and KW has to regret giving in to him. So many things could have gone differently with Thome. Maybe with him the Sox don't get off to that terrible start. Maybe the pitchers felt like they had to carry the team and pitched poorly because of that. Maybe a lot of the hitters felt the pressure to make up for the loss of Thome. Maybe with him they hit better early in the season when they all sucked. Maybe with him the Sox don't trade Hudson for Jackson or sign Manny providing relief to a burgeoning payroll that will affect a lot of what goes down in the off season . Maybe without him the Twins are worse. Maybe Delmon Young doesn't have a career year or Danny Valencia doesn't play out of his mind. One thing affects so many other things . We won't ever know how it would have turned out. Would Ozzie's pride at having Thome back made him a better or worse manager ? Pure DH's apparently piss him off. Makes him feel like he's not managing or in control of the game. Apparently all the outs on the bases and all that bunting is his way of saying I'll do things my way and screw all of you who think we can't play small ball and succeed in a ballpark built for the exact opposite. What's really transparent is Ozzie is happiest having guy's who play the game the way he did. Scrappers ,grinders small-ballers . He really belongs in the NL .It's a shame he can't or isn't happy with a team who can out slug the other team. The best managers will do what they have to do to make the best use of the players they have. The Go Go Sox teams are long gone and so is the cavernous Old Comiskey. Not the Old Comiskey most of you remember but the one before there was a bullpen in CF . The one that was like 440 to dead center. That dinosaur is dead and it about time Ozzie the dinosaur (with apologies to Carl Everett) joins the rest of his kind in the La Brea tar pits.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 12, 2010 -> 02:52 PM) There's no reason to trade him frankly; if he puts up an .800 OPS with bad defense next year, he'd be a DFA candidate. You're just not going to get anything for him unless the other GM is a fool. The real thing you have to do in determining what to do about him next year is figure out behind the scenes what's going on with him. Is he still hurting, is he just lost at the plate, is this just all in his head or is he geniuinely never going to recover from his physical issues. I don't know about it taking a fool to want him. Seems like the kind of guy KW would target if he had the same stats with another team. Only 28, one MVP type season but injury prone. Sox once took a chance on the same type of guy (Dye) who ended up a WS MVP.

I'm done with Q for this year but against trading him after a bad year. Give him another year and see if he can rebound. He's a force if he can get it together.

PH hit granny for Jones. Good relief pitching. Paulie tops 100 ribbies. Still 6 back heading into series against the Twins.

Winner !

QUOTE (chw42 @ Sep 12, 2010 -> 02:08 PM) Mathematically speaking... http://www.coolstandings.com/baseball_standings.asp?i=1 I think I've realized that the Twins are just too good and that we're just what I thought we were supposed to be at the beginning of the year: a 88-90 win team. It's too bad, because if somebody told you the Sox would be on track to win 89 games at the start of the year, you'd think we'd have a great shot at the playoffs. The Twins made great use of their resources signing Thome for cheap. He's been probably worth close to $10 million for them . Then they fortify the bullpen with Flores, Capps and Fuentes. The Sox spent a lot of on Manny and Jackson with mixed results. Take Thome off the Twins and put him on the Sox and I think we're ahead by a few games at this point in the season. Just a terrible year for KW probably his worse 1 1/2 ever. Keep Thome and maybe you don't have to trade Hudson. Now we have virtually no salary relief. Throw in Peavy's injury and the miniscule costs of keeping both Hudson and Richard and we have a ton of pitching and salary flexibility.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Sep 12, 2010 -> 02:05 PM) No... Unless they sweep the Twins, there's literally no chance. Even if they do sweep the Twins, the chances are probably around 20%. I'm in till they're mathematically eliminated.

Real good play by Omar and good to see Putz throwing hard again.

QUOTE (Little Nell @ Sep 12, 2010 -> 01:15 PM) Don't have the game here in Florida, I noticed Quentin is not in the lineup again. Is he hurt? No . Maybe little hurts like most players have time time of year. He just hasn't been producing and looks worse than Teahen or Kotsay at the plate. Add in his lousy D and he should sit the rest of the year.

I'll say it right now. Andruw should be in the lineup every day . He's a run producer , a very good fielder and we desperately need that.

Is Hernandez at 1st. ? Alexei looked safe to me.

Beckhams misplay costs 2 runs so far. Of course he's safe at 2nd base . It's West.

Or not .. 2-0.

Beckham brain cramp but sets up a DP.

Manny worse than Teahen.

Kotsay in RF oh boy .

Titans

Just keep winning. Just keep winning. Just keep winning winning winning.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Sep 10, 2010 -> 07:36 PM) The fuse.. ...has been lit ? Kudos to Morel for his 1st big league HR and t'was also his 1st hit.