TaylorStSox

QUOTE (jenksfart @ Jul 31, 2011 -> 08:50 PM) at soxtalk? the dark skinned guy, of course. It kind of makes you wonder. We are the same fan base that boo'd Frank Thomas, called Albert Belle a bust, embraced Crede over Uribe and Rowand over Dye, called Jose Contreras a bum etc... I'm just saying... The thing that I find funny is that Dunn doesn't even have a chance to play hard. He goes up, swings at bad pitches and sits on the bench. Pitchers run more than Adam Dunn. I'm not saying Rios isn't dogging it. I really don't know how much he cares. He doesn't say anything when he's going good or bad. It reminds me of that Jay Mohr skit about Boston fans. "That Antoine Walker... He does it all. He rebounds. He shoots threes." Then they get rid of Walker. "That Antoine Walker... All he did was shoot threes. He's a bum." When Rios is going good people say he's smooth and makes everything look effortless. Then he sucks and people say he's dogging it. The bottom line is they both suck. They're both costing us games. They're both going to handcuff us for a while.

QUOTE (WHITESOXRANDY @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 07:35 PM) KW does not have the patience for rebuilding. He never has and never will. He's never needed to. He's done a good job assembling competitive teams. This year, he went all out to acquire impact players and it's failing. This is his first real opportunity to start over. I'm sure he'd love to build a winner from the ground up.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 07:28 PM) I'm not. Not with the Sox 3.5 games out in a weak division. If Kenny wants to rebuild, that's fine. But wait until November. What's the end game though? We make the playoffs and get mounted by the Yankees or Red Sox? Even if we make the playoffs, we're not doing anything. We lack an ace. We're an awful clutch hitting team. We can't make things happen on the bases. I'd rather rebuild. It looks to be inevitable at this point. We actually have a nice core to build around. Let's see what happens with some kids. I'm usually an overly optimistic Sox fan, but I really don't see much with this squad. On paper, we should be awesome. In reality, we are poor to mediocre.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 06:50 PM) Kenny Williams has done to the Sox what Martz is doing the Bears what Booth did to Lincoln. Did Lincoln assemble a cabinet of 6 quality starters, a deep bullpen and some good position players whom all decided to have historically bad seasons at the same time, before Booth shot him?

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 06:38 PM) I disagree. Give me Albert Pujols over 2-3 above average players every day. Above average players make you good, but great players make impacts. I'll take my chances with 3 above average players having more opportunities to make an impact than Pujols. Unless, you're the White Sox, all 3 players aren't going to be slumping at the same time thus increasing your chances to make something happen. It probably comes down to what we consider above average though.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Jul 28, 2011 -> 06:27 PM) I don't think anyone on the roster should be "untouchable" including Santos. That is for the right deal, of course. I like what it looks like KW is trying to do - reload while remaing in contention. Let's see how successful he will be. For my money, there isn't an untouchable player in baseball, and there never has been. It's the nature of the sport. One player can't win you a World Series. 2-3 above average players > 1 great player. In basketball, it's completely different. One great player can take you all the way. Take Jordan for example, he was so good that he made Pippen appear to be one of the best 50 players of all time.

BTW... Gavin looked really good tonite. He had control of his curve ball. It was had a nice, hard break. He was spotting his FB well. Nice acquisition KW. Who'd we give up for him?

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 22, 2011 -> 10:03 PM) I think I'm starting to miss the steroid era. Give Gavin his props. He got the job done. But other than Cabrera and Hafner, wow, awful f***ing lineup Cleveland put out there. The offense (save for CQ) sucked again. That's why it's futile to get excited by this team, even when they win. Until this offense starts to consistently produce 4.5-5 runs a game, we will not go on any kinda run. Even in the steroid era we were a boring offensive team. We had a short run with Maggs, Lee and Frank, but as a whole we were boring to watch. We're the A's with more upside. We probably always have been.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 21, 2011 -> 09:55 AM) Good think he's one of the best hitting catchers in the game. AJ also calls a solid game, and his D behind the plate is good, too. I guess that says a lot about catchers considering AJ is a slightly better hitter than Juan Pierre. He's acually worse at throwing out runners than JP is a stealing bases. I'm only being half sarcastic.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 12, 2011 -> 01:51 PM) I don't know if Jackson is a headcase...I think his biggest problem is the lack of a third remotely effective pitch. He's all 2 pitches...fastball slider. If both of those pitches are on 100% of the time, then he's near unhittable. If either of those pitches isn't giving him control that day though, then he's rapidly a 1-pitch pitcher or worse. He can still win some of those games because 1 of those pitches is a 96 mph fastball, but he has to throw a lot of pitches to win a game like that if he doesn't have the slider. Throw in one more pitch that comes in the low to mid 80's, even if it's not hugely effective every game, and suddenly even on days where he has no control over the slider, he can keep people off balance by changing velocity. Or, similarly, get him to do a better job of changing up the velocity on his fastball. Something. He just doesn't have the repertoire needed to be an everyday starter unless his 2 pitches are there all the time. Sounds like a guy that rushed to the majors and mishandled.

Flowers vs AJ... Do you trade .50 in average for more HRs and possibly a higher obp? Both are awful defensively.

There always seems to be a few posts about effort. Rios doesn't try hard enough. Dunn's lazy. They aren't playing with urgency. etc... "Playing with urgency" in baseball really doesn't hold water. Being tense makes you press. When you press, you're a little slow. You're too wound up to get around on a ball. If anything, especially Dunn and Beckham, these guys are pressing too hard. They're frustrated. Both of those guys are so wound up I wonder how they manage to take a s***. It's not about effort. Beckham can't recognize a pitch to save his life. Dunn's out guessing himself in every AB. Those guys need to relax, go back to basics and just hit. Rios is another story. He looks defeated. I actually feel bad for him because he has zero confidence. He looks like he floats at times, but that's the nature of his game. He's smooth. I don't buy that he doesn't care or isn't giving effort. I don't have the solution. I don't know enough about baseball. I do know this is a pretty talented team though. Maybe we'll get lucky and the break will make them relax. I don't know.

The most encouraging thing about this team is that I can't imagine that we could play any worse. We're still right in the thick of things though. The pitching and defense have been solid over the last 2 months, but not great. The offense has been just... bad. We're still right there though. Dunn will hit eventually. Rios might too. We might just pull a rabbit out of the hat.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 4, 2011 -> 11:36 PM) As long as he came along with the Yankees' budget. That would be nice, but a little underwhelming. Part of the reason that I like KW, White Sox baseball and sports in general is that we work under certain restrictions. KW has to take bigger risks. He has to find high reward, busted prospects on a somewhat reserved budget to succeed. The fanbase won't tolerate a fundamental rebuilding kind of team. We aren't the Twins. Their fanbase is far more patient. It might be the nature of people from MN as opposed to people from Chicago. I don't know. Anyway, sure, it'd be nice to be a Kentucky fan and cheat and not care. I'd rather win the right way though. I'd rather catch lightning in a bottle the right way. I've had a few, so I'm probably explaining it poorly. I'd rather win with the Carlos Quentin's of the world than just buy a title though. Epstein and Cashman buy the best available and hope it works. KW, while he has a good budget, still has to get creative. I won't jump down his throat for taking uber talented, high risk guys like Alex Rios. Hopefully, they'll play to their abilities, but I'm not going to hate the GM for taking the risk if they don't.

His upside is Alfonso Soriano. Same hitter type of hitter. Same pop. Same patience. End the thread. I win.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 4, 2011 -> 10:27 PM) Hopefully we have Mark back next year at a more reasonable price. By the way, can we honestly actually say that Adam Dunn is worse than John Lackey? Epstein's had his share of clunkers like Lackey, Dice-K, Jenks, etc. Drew has never lived up to that contract either, solid but never close to the greatness he had the ability to be. It's the nature of the business. Not every FA is going to perform to their history. It's always a gamble. I don't fault KW, Epstein or any GM that takes a risk by signing a guy. We got Dunn at market or below market rate. I will never complain about a GM for pulling the trigger. Now, if they pull a Werth and sign a marginal good player for way over market value and he fails, you're a moron. The GM gets the best players available to win. If the players don't perform, it's not the GM's fault. Imagine how people would react if Cashman was our GM...

Vlad or Soriano. Not the best plate discipline but an uncanny ability to cover pitcher's pitches way off the plate and still drive the ball.

The difference between 05 and 11 is that in 05 we almost always scored first. That took a lot of pressure off the pitchers. They started out great and it was contagious throughout the rotation. The problem with 11 is that we have no speed at the top of the order. This version of Pierre has no speed. He's useless. If we replace him with Dayan, we don't really have a lead off hitter. Who cares? This offense isn't getting it done anyway. I guarantee that an offense including Dayan scores more runs. Isn't that what it's all about? This isn't even addressing the fact that we don't have a 2 hitter anywhere near as competent as Iguchi. Omar can be that guy, but he's 67 years old. He can't play every day. Morel has the potential, but that's an awful burden for a kid that's already struggling. I'd rather go back to being a base clogging, home run hitting team than watch this nonsense.

Ultimately leadership has to be internal. The manager can't bench everyone. The leaders of the clubhouse have to set the standard. I hate to bring up 05. It's cliche. It is the basis of what all future Sox team's will be judged by though. Say what you want about Crazy Carl... but I guarantee you somebody would have left with some hurt feelings or a black eye after Lilly's play.The players set the standard for what's acceptable. At some point in Everett's career, he decided that winning trumped everything. He was instrumental in that team's success. Ideally, Omar's that guy. But, leaders are born, not created.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 29, 2011 -> 08:18 AM) AJ didn't exact help much last night either... There's no doubt. I was just talking about the last play. It's one thing to have a bunch of bad AB's. After all, he's AJ. It's another to dog a game losing play. That game last night seemed like a microcosm of the season.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 29, 2011 -> 07:28 AM) So you'd play Pierre in CF, Dunn in LF and Quentin in RF tonight? Teahen in LF and Pierre in CF? Bring up Milledge and put Rios on the suspended list (not that the union would ever let them get away with it). Put anybody out there that's going to play hard. I don't care if PK has to play CF. They have to set an example. Two guys dogged it in one game. If you saw AJ's reaction, he sure thought Lilli wasn't busting ass. He immediately pointed to CF and started screaming.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jun 29, 2011 -> 01:45 AM) I'm not sure Lilli was loafing. Yea he didn't bust his ass to field that blooper but it's entirely possible he just showed his lack of experience. I doubt he was expecting Tulo to go from 1st to home on it. He probably just figured he's stop at 3rd. Looked like he was playing at no doubles depth so was pretty deep to start with. I'm pretty sure you said he wasn't loafing and then went on to describe the way he loafed. He sure as hell wasn't busting ass to get to that ball. He made a big mistake and it cost us the game. There's really no excuse for it.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jun 27, 2011 -> 11:31 AM) They should DL Dunn with a phantom injury and let him get his head together in AAA, thus allowing Viciedo to come up for the time being. They could always have me drive Juan Pierre back to Mobile, Alabama so I can help him set up his retirement. With Dunn, I'd seriously consider only letting him swing at a certain pitch until he gets his mind set right. He really needs to clear his head and get back to basics. See ball; Hit ball. His problems are 100% mental. His pitch recognition still seems to be good as he's still drawing an above average amount of walks. He just isn't driving the ball. Even the his near HR the other day wasn't really hit hard as far as Adam Dunn standards go.

AJ, if you're going to argue with one of your players, take off your f***ing mask and argue face to face.

Hold on... Floyd throws a wild pitch so you want him to walk the bases loaded? WTF kind of logic is that?