jeremyb

Two words: GRIND. ER.

Not sure about 3B (he does have good arm, footwork, fairly quick reflexes and anticipation skillz), but no way do I want to see him play RF. I've seen enough of Daubach, Gload, Everett and Rios to last me a lifetime.

Something about staying home on the Lobotomy Day as a young'n.

So I am waiting for him to come down to earth and all he is doing is putting together quality at bats (even outs hit hard) after quality at bats and playing very good defense. Languishing on the bench 5 days a week doesn't seem to phase him, either. My head says he was terrible in AAA. My heart says that Burke dude iz ah'it.

I am having visions of an Indiana Jones-type heist involving one of such "relics" centuries from now...

No.

Better pitches to hit is not the same as batting practice pitches to hit. Batting 2nd or 8th won't make that much difference unless he starts seeing the rotation earlier and timing the ball better. Damn, does he ever look stiff.

I see you're already undergoing glacial Daverification. Resistance is futile.

A slutter. It doesn't cut, it doesn't slide. And it doesn't put out.....Discuss.

And I should give a flying Foulkner what others here think....why exactly?

What about Adam Dunn's interstate bomb a few weeks ago?

Conventional wisdom says yeah. But White Sox reality has on occasion proven itself to be grotesque and incomprehensible. Spend a few years following this team and you'll know what God made eye-roll smilies for. Considering some of the absolute garbage Sox have been trotting (sometimes out of need, other times out of folly) out there this year, to not give Wunsch even a chance to prove that he could once again be the lefty specialist the team desperately needed (in the process improving on the horrid 930 OPS against LH that the aformentioned foursome put up and helping keep Marte a bit fresher)......Inexcusable and symptomatic. But I do agree that the proper time for outrage was during the mid-July-mid-August span when the team was still alive and desperate for help where it could find it as it struggled to win 1-2 run games against Texas, Minnesota, Detroit, KC, Cleveland, KC, Boston, Detroit and Boston again. Boy did Jackson, Politte and Cotts do rheir best to f*** things up in those crucial situations or what! Now that the race is all but over, Wunsch might as well continue to rot in AAA. Shame.

No need to beg. Deal with facts instead. As in, Kelly Wunsch has a 1.85 ERA with 28K in 24 inn of work in the Charlotte bandbox. Absolute death on lefties, if anything else. Kelly was very effective while throwing "junk" before going on DL last year, and there is no reason to believe he couldn't have helped the Sox win some close-ass games, at the same alleviating Marte's load this year. None. And since when did heavy-duty inning-chowing become the chief prerequisite for success as a lefty specialist? In the last 8 weeks, Wunsch was "needed" (say, in a tie ballgame and a dangerous lefty on deck with 1 on and 1 out and Marte exhausted from pitching two days in a row.....ring a bell? I bet) maybe twice a week, no more than for 1-2 battters at a time, but it was a great need because Sox were still in the race back then and quite a few July-August games were decided by the narrowest of margins......Did I mention that Adkins-Politte-Jackson-Cotts had a combined 930 OPS-against vs. LH? Oh I did? Well it bears repeating.

It's low-90's, not mid-. Which doesn't change anything since he has that thing we call control and a good breaking.

Not ready? And Sweetcheeks Adkins is? If his groin injury is so severe, he shouldn't be pitching at all. If it's not, then get him up here when rosters expand. Straight-forward stuff. When it comes to Kelly Wunsch, he could phone it in from Charlotte and still manage to dramatically improve upon the ever-stellar 930 OPS-against (vs. LH) compiled by the Politte-Jackson-Cotts-Adkins brigade. But hey, lets wear out Marte's arm some more instead...

Trashing WSI is not wise. Halt.

Why are you asking this question when you know damn well the answer is an emphatic 'Yes!'? Time to can the losers like Jackson and reward guys like Bajenaru and Wunsch with a promotion.

Hey, MRIs and scans ain't zaktli cheap. JR will not stand for such folly, you hear!

Oh?

But consider: Twins lose 8 of their next 10 Sox win 8 of their next 10. Now you have a team only 1 game back in the loss column with 23 games to go, including 6 head-to-head. Shannon Stewart re-aggravates the injury, Sanatana succumbs to dead arm (everyone eventually does)....and the division is up for grabs again. Unlikely, but crazier things have happened. Not to us, but to other teams.

Sweeney shouldn't even come close to coming close to stepping out on the field against ML competition this year. 320 obp and 360 Slugging against A-ballers? Are you kidding me, he hasn't earned it. Let him develop right. Anderson? I guess. Honestly, I don't expect any serious #s out of him until 2007 (his 2006 should flow like Magglio's 1998 did, with 2005 spent in AAA). Bajenaru, Wunsch, Spidale, maybe Yofu and Munoz deserve a look.

For me Garland is a #5 pitcher (I've made that clear a few times, eh?), but he does have a potential to be something more, which is nice to have at 2M a year. But I do see the point others are making. I could care less what "other teams" have, you understand? Other teams, those that are competing for WS and whatnot, often have Murderer's Row line-ups and studly 1-4 rotations, so they don't need their #5 to have a sub-4.25 ERA. Sox, on the other hand, are a mid-payroll team with holes that probably aren't closeable. That means, maximum production must be squeezed out of your Garlands, Uribes, Credes, etc, and so called bargains have to be just that - bargains. I do not care for "well, he is only making 2M, you get what you pay for" crappola.

For me bright spots: Rowand Konerko Shingo Lee Thomas Contreras Buerhle (before his recent 1-5 run) Freddy (before Detroit shelling that signified the end of season) Semi-bright spots: Uribe Willie (vs. righties) Davis Burke

Well no kidding. Kenny Williams is protecting himself - can you imagine Wunsch coming up and throwing 8-10 scoreless innings in September? Knowing how much damage Cotts, Politte and Jackson inflicted on this ballclub in the last 2 months, the last thing Kenny needs is to be given grief over a dominant lefty specialist rotting in AAA due to petty politics. And before yaps start to fly open about Wunsch's velocity for the Nth time, since when Wunsch was about velocity in the first place? He was unhittable at times last year throwing 86-87 mph junk. Durability? Gee, who do I want up facing a tough lefty or two in a crucial situation, Kelly "Fragile" Wunsch or Politte/Cotts/Jackson (a combined 930 OPS-Against versus lefties in case anyone was wondering) trio? But hey, all those 1-run losses to inferior teams and BP meltdowns in July and August....No, I can't see how Wunsch could have possibly helped as an extra BP arm at all.

240 OBP 260 Slug Mediocre glove (CF) Non-factor on the pads. 26yo 504-foot dinger What a resume.