Balta1701

QUOTE(VAfan @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 11:22 AM) Who was the person that posted the article about "Stand Pat" Gillick who couldn't pull the trigger on July trades to help the 116-win Seattle Mariners reach their postseason potential? Going along with this poster's reasons for why it's not always a good idea to make a trade... People at this page seem to love pointing to the Mariners as a team that could have traded to make itself better to win a W.S., and maybe didn't win because they didn't make the trade. On the other hand, let's look at a couple of different examples. In 2002, the Anaheim Angels won the World Series. Guess how many veterans they traded for during the season? The only trade they made was Jorge Fabregas going to Milwaukee for Sal Fasano and Alex Ochoa. Hardly the stuff legends are made of. Now let's imagine this...let's say the Angels decided to get serious about "Winning now" in June of 02, and sent this young guy named Francisco Rodriguez somewhere for a veteran pitcher. Where would the Angels have ended up? Or lets say they traded off Dallas McPherson. Would their team be as set for the future as they are this year? The 2003 Marlins are a very similar story - they made as far as I can tell exactly 1 trade during the year...a week after Todd Hollandsworth went on the DL, they traded Denny Bautista and another pitcher to the Orioles for Jeff Conine, and other than changing managers, that was it for them. No other trades. Now, it's not like they didn't have pieces to work with either - let's imagine that the Marlins had decided that they wanted to "Win now" in 2003, and moved a young guy named Miguel Cabrera, who was platooning in left field basically and hitting under .270, to get some added help? Or lets imagine that they figured they needed a veteran starting pitcher to lead that staff, so they decided to move another young guy named Josh Beckett, a guy who had never pitched more than 107 innings in a season and had never ended up a season even with a winning record. Where would those teams have wound up if they'd made some deals for "Veterans" to plug some of their other holes? A trade can save a team, like the 2004 BoSox, or it can really hurt a team and seriously damage its future, as would have happened if the Marlins or Angels went shopping.

QUOTE(BlackBetsy @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 11:37 AM) If the Sox had a team average of .270 with a .333 OBP and .430 SLG ... June Numbers: Avg: .271. OBP: .327. Slug: .454.

I also still say that a large portion of our low team BA is due to the month of May, where Konerko, Dye, Crede, Uribe, and Everett were all basically in the toilet. In June, with a couple other guys not producing much in the way of hits (Uribe still, Thomas, Pierzynski, even Rowand somewhat), we're 16th in batting average in all of baseball. In April, we were 17th. In May we were 24th. May is the month that is dragging this team's offensive numbers down. There's no reason to assume right now that May was anything but an abberation, especially given how many people were hitting extremely far below their career averages coming out of that month. In almost every offensive Category, in April and June both, we were in the middle of the pack, somewhere between 10th and 20th (except for runs scored of course, where in June we were #7). In May we fell into the low 20's in categories like hits, OPS, etc. We've gradually been moving back up each and every one of those rankings since May ended.

Buster Olney's Forward Thinking today has a blurb on this game... "The Team That Never Loses"...I like that.

My only transportation is a 13 year old Mongoose Bicycle that I bought for about $300 when I was in 7th grade. I chipped in half, my mother chipped in half. That has probably been the single best investment I ever made. I probably have several thousand miles on the thing by this point. Hell, I probably put a couple thousand on it just in the last year or two.

My family went to Florida for a week back when I was a junior in high school. It was perhaps the most boring week of my life. I managed to read 2 1000 page books, mainly while either sitting on my grandmother's couch or the porch outside. The 2 attractions we hit were a dog track and a shell factory. That's right, there is such a thing as a shell factory. They make and sell shells. I also spent quite a bit of time doing practice tests for a math competition. Finished like 4 or 5 tests. Ended up placing first about a week or two later.

QUOTE(Jabroni @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 10:40 AM) Good point. I'm sure McCarthy would know the answer. Or Ivan Rodriguez.

I'll bet that if Mark gets his 20 game win season this year, he'll get enough attention on him that he'll finally win that gold glove.

Let's go Jose...you can do it...you're due for another great game. Does anyone know what umpiring crew we've got tonight? As long as its not Wendlestedt's group (spelling?)... We'd have at least won 2 of 3 last time in this Hell hole if the umps hadn't blown so many calls, and I'm not just talking about Crede's HBP. The Tigers were supposedly on a hot streak before they ran into us. They were supposed to come home and then really start making a move. And then they ran into Mark Buehrle. And it almost wasn't even fair. Oakland is hot right now. People are back and they're healthy. It's time to show another hot team who the real boss in this league is.

Here's another FYI... Last night on one of the late editions of SportsCenter, ESPN's Tim Kurkjian suggested that while there were a number of teams looking at the Marlins' A.J. Burnett and the Marlins wouldn't be opposed to trading him, it is very likely that he'll get a contract for at least $10 million a year next winter, and Tim felt almost certain that no trade would happen unless the team acquiring him was willing and able to sign Burnett to a contract before the season ended.

Another point about this "doubles" issue...it also likely reflects the park that we're playing in. We've spent a couple days in Detroit...how many balls were hit in Detroit that went for outs, doubles, or triples, that would have been home runs at the Cell?

QUOTE(TheBlackSox8 @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 09:53 AM) going to be a pretty dull homerun derby at comerica. Something tells me the 1 round record which seems to fall every year will be standing tall this year. Bit of a change between the Cell, Minute Maid, and Comerica, that's for sure.

This is not going to be a fun summer to watch the news... And man alive...she had to retire on a day where the Daily Show is on Hiatus...

Wasn't Glenn Williams like some 30 year old career minor leaguer? Or am I thinking about someone else?

Varitek will be in.

Boston is the best team in baseball right now. Why? Because they won the World Series last year. They are the best team in baseball until they lose in the playoffs. If we want to be the best team in baseball...Mark Buehrle and others need to end the season jumping up and down covered in champagne. I don't care about records, I don't care about numbers, I don't care about bullpens, I don't care about offense, I don't care about defense. They are the champions until someone else wins it. That is the end of the story.

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Jun 30, 2005 -> 08:02 PM) I guarantee someone with worse numbers than Garcia makes it. Of course someone will...there's got to be some team who's only All Star will be a pitcher. Tampa Bay, or K.C., or Detroit, or Cleveland, someone like that.

For all of those calling the cameraman a wimp... According to his doctors, he's had a pair of herniated disks in his neck and another pair in his back over the years from carrying around that camera. He may have re-injured one of those previous injuries thanks to Rogers.

QUOTE(DonkeyKongerko @ Jun 30, 2005 -> 05:34 PM) After checking, it is kind of funny to note that all three of our 8-game win streaks have included a sweep of the good old Royals. We next play them on July 25-27. @ K.C. We play Boston before them and Baltimore after them. In other words, the BoSox and the O's are in deep sh*t.

Well, technically Garland was our 4th starter last year...our 5th starter for most of the year was Mr. Offday (Hell, I'd say he was even #3 for a while with Schoenweis in there)

IN ROD WE TRUST

In terms of guys like Konerko, Crede, etc., I'm willing to live with them having 1 terrible month a year, as long as the numbers they end the season with are good numbers. I wouldn't have a problem seeing Konerko re-signed if the rest of the year is close to his June. I.e. if he ended up the season hitting .280 or .290 with another 40 home runs, and maybe got his BA with RISP up past .260 or so. The same thing with Crede - he had an awful May, but without that month he'd be hitting like .290. If he puts up a .280 BA for the whole season, I could care less how bad he did in May because that means he contributed the rest of the year. Even if you have a lot of streaky players, the odds are that they all won't go into slumps at once, and you can end up being carried by the ones who aren't, like how Iguchi and Pods carried the offense in May.

QUOTE(DukeNukeEm @ Jun 30, 2005 -> 03:41 PM) The way we've been drawing this year, we might be able to actually keep Konerko and stay active in FA. If we hit the playoffs and dont go out like b****es in round 1. There will some extra money and a lot of expectations to improve on the team. I hate to say this, I truly do, because I want this team to be great for years to come... But aside from keeping guys like Garland and Pierzynski who are still arbitration-eligible, my absolute #1 thing that I want to see happen in the offseason is the re-signing of the Big Hurt. I do not want him to hit his 500th home run in anyone else's uniform. Call me sentimental wussy names if you'd like, but he's been the 1 player who's been here since I became a Sox fan, and I want him ending his career on the South Side.

Already posted in the game wrap-up thread.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Jun 30, 2005 -> 03:25 PM) I sent him a disposable camera, and asked him to snap a few pictures of Kenny Rogers for me. Why are you trying to kill Sandy?