Balta1701

As much as he tormented us last year when he was with Oakland, I'm still glad we don't have to play against him. He just has to be a better player than he's being right now. He has been for years. I can't believe he will stay this bad for much longer.

QUOTE(sox-r-us @ May 10, 2005 -> 12:34 PM) Not to mention we could BMac to the roster in the Bull pen too. I'm sorry, but taking a guy who literally looks to be the future of our starting rotation and screwing around by tossing him into the bullpen in a playoff atmosphere when he's barely faced any big-league hitters in the regular season and he's been a starter all year in the minors just doesn't make sense to me at all. B-Mac is my backup starter if someone gets hurt. No way he belongs in the bullpen.

When Frank Gets back, we're going to have the added luxury of another potential outfielder in Everett. I know people aren't high on Carl's defense, but Dye has already hurt us repeatedly this season with Errors. He can't be that much of a downgrade, especially given how poorly Dye is hitting right now. My advice is to not make any Rash moves and expect that we'll be able to fill holes even better when the big man returns. My advice on Anderson is to hold him at AAA until he's absolutely needed; either due to an injury or because 2006 has started. And I am ardently opposed to trading Anderson this year, as well as he is playing, no matter who we get back for him.

Last year, Frank deserved to be an all-star before he was hurt. If he's healthy enough to play every day, and he can contribute like he did last year, then there's no question he's an upgrade over Everett. That man can simply kill the ball and dominate a game. He was on pace for a 40 HR season last year before he was hurt. Personally, I like the idea of having Frank as the DH, and using Everett as a Ruben Sierra style pinch hitter. Of course, it's always possible that this will be rendered a moot point thanks to Franks' health issues. Either that, or maybe we use Everett to replace Dye for part of the year. (I know people complain about Everett's defense, but really, can he possibly be that much worse than what Dye is doing right now that his hitting won't make up the difference?)

QUOTE(RockRaines @ May 10, 2005 -> 11:39 AM) Not to mention the fact that he was supposed to be a defensive upgrade, how many errors does he have already? This is the thing that's been pissing me off the most about Dye. He had an error yesterday. He had a big error against the Twins that helped cost Buehrle the game. He dropped that fly ball in Oakland. At some point, Anderson does become a better option.

I think it is actually impossible for the AL All stars to screw the AL central worse than Torre did last year. At the break last year, the Sox were in 1st, the Twins were in 2nd. The Sox had 1 all star, and it wasn't even our best pitcher. The Twins had 2 - Nathan and Hunter. And somehow, the 3rd place Indians had like 5 or 6 guys on the team. Toss into the hat the whole "Jason Giambi is an all star", along with the fact that neither Thomas nor Konerko made it, and I think it's absolutely impossible for this year's team to screw us worse than last year. If Konerko gets his bat going, he has a shot, with all the home runs he's already hit. Garland wins 2 more games and he's probably a shoe-in...3 or 4 more and he starts the game. Buehrle should get there this year. One thing that is fairly nice about this team...we don't have 1 single guy who is carrying us. Lots of people are all-around performing, so even if we don't have more than 2 or 3 guys, I don't think it reflects on the team as a whole.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ May 10, 2005 -> 11:29 AM) The key is, what if that 3 month rental could be the final piece to a World Series team? That's what makes it difficult to judge. Yeah, on paper it is a horrible trade. BUT, does the value of the trade look different if it is Wagner+World Series Appearnece for Diaz, Baj, and Anderson? How about White Sox World Champions, does that make it worth it? Most people are just looking at the values on paper, for you I say, put the stat sheet and Baseball America down, and think outside the box when evaluating something like this. A deal like this has to be thought about much more like the Lee-Pods/Vizcaino deal. On the other hand...there is just as much risk in making the 3-month-rental WS attempt as there is in holding onto the prospects. Say the Sox reach the end of the season, and then 1 or 2 key guys hit a slump, as happened to the Braves last year. Say the Sox get swept out of the 1st round. Then we've mortgaged another solid portion of our future in exchange for another missed opportunity. A guy like Anderson has the chance to give us 3 or 4 real good shots at advancing even further than this season's team can, and for less money while he's young. Moving from Dye to Anderson cuts another $4 million off the Payroll, and KW has done a marvelous job of moving around payroll when he is given it.

For the first time in a long time, when KW put this team together in the offseason, I was feeling like he really was not only assembling a team for this year, but he was assembling a full plan for the next few years. He put Dye in RF on a very short and fairly cheap contract until Anderson was ready, and he put Podsednik in LF as a trial to see how he could do for little money and to hold the place until Sweeney was ready. In 2 years, our outfield was set up to look like Sweeney, Rowand, Anderson (I don't know the order), and that's a pretty good setup. At the same time, we started to look like we were buidling up a surplus of young pitchers who can take over once our current crop starts hitting the free agent waters. We've got Fields up and coming in the infield, Iguchi taking over second for a while, and we filled in the gap at the catching hole. I just don't want us to end up losing next year or the year after because we made a mistake this year. Think about how happy the Cubs would be if they'd held onto Dontrelle Willis and John Garland right now.

QUOTE(sircaffey @ May 10, 2005 -> 10:53 AM) If the Phillies were willing to deal Wagner for Anderson, Diaz, + another spect yet the Sox passed on the deal, and then Shingo or Hermy blows a game or two in the ALCS, what would the perception be? "Oh but we still have Anderson." I have a hard time thinking that KW wouldn't pull the trigger on that deal. I'm w/ KW's mentality. There's been too long of a drought. If this is our best chance to win the AL or WS in a long time, then I would make the trade and worry about some prospect that may or may not pan out later. Or on the other hand...we trade for Wagner, and then Wagner's arm problems crop up again later in the season, and we end up having neither. If you're going to say that there's a risk that a very solid-looking prospect won't pan out, you also have to admit there's a risk in trading for a veteran who has had some recent injury problems. Especially if you'll probably lose that guy at the end of the season.

QUOTE(AnthraxFan93 @ May 10, 2005 -> 10:43 AM) Instead of Wagner, what about KW old Pal Beane.. and get Dotel? I never thought Dotel was that good when he was with Houston, and I don't think he'd be an upgrade over what we have now anyway. Let the Cubs make a run at Dotel if they want him.

QUOTE(tonyho7476 @ May 10, 2005 -> 06:16 AM) You can't stop him, he is a gladiator! Ah---Ah---Ah----CHOO!

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ May 10, 2005 -> 10:33 AM) Its a really tough call. I would basically call Anderson untouchable, but is anyone REALLY untouchable with a chance to win the World Series? I guess it would depend mostly on how the pen looked at that point in time. If we were getting the kinds of efforts out of Marte and Hermanson that we are now, I might be tempted to stay the course, or see if I could find another closer for cheaper. The one thing I think we should keep in mind this year is that there are going to be very, very few teams that are actually out of the running at the trade deadline. KC, Tampa, Colorado, Pittsburgh, probably 1 or 2 more. Everyone else is probably going to be pretty close to the shape Houston was in last year; having an ok team but needing 1 or 2 parts if they want to win. In other words, this year could very well be one heck of a seller's market. So if we want to get anything worth while, we're going to have to give up a ton. Barring an injury to Konerko, I think our best move is to stand pat. We have backup at every single position; Perez and Anderson can back up the outfield, Ozuna, Harris, Uribe can work as backups in the infield, B-Mac and Adkins back up the pitching staff, Widger and Davis back up the catching. Right now there's just no one place that I see us having room for a big upgrade, especially one that would be worth the cost.

If they're finally saying this team will win 90, then they're giving us a lot more respect, and they deserve some credit. What people might be missing is the influence that ESPN can have on attendance. If we're getting good coverage every night...highlights that make it look like the games are entertaining and people saying we'll be having a great matchup with another team...that brings people to the ballpark. Do that for a whole season, and people start wanting to see the team because it'll be a good game to watch.

Contreras has thrown 46 pitches through 4 innings...he's had innings where he's almost thrown that many. 35 for strikes.

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ May 5, 2005 -> 11:23 AM) Awesome 1-2-3 for JC 10 pitches that inning for Jose. Not as good as Greinke, but for Jose that's a good thing to hear.

I'd say I'm only a little worried. Paulie has had his share of bad at bats in this 0 for 20-some-at bats streak he's got going, like the strikeout talked about above, but there have been a ton of balls that he has just hammered that have either fallen foul or ended up right at someone. Remember that bases-loaded lined shot he hit a few days ago right down the leftfield line that somehow managed to end up right in the glove of the 3rd baseman for a double play? That's the way Paulie's luck has been. I'll grant his timing is a little off - he's hitting a bundle of very hard foul balls down the left field line, but those are ending up foul by only a couple of feet. I'd say he should make an effort to hit the ball more to right field; might keep him back on the ball just a little more. But either way...he's hitting the ball hard and having a bunch of bad luck, so I'm still fairly confident he'll snap out of it.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ May 4, 2005 -> 11:37 AM) Sox are on CSN Plus, which for most people is CLTV. Bulls are on CSN, and the Cubs are on CSN Plus 2, which is the Total Living Network, whatever the hell that is. Was this the schedule before the season, or are they basing this on who they think will watch? I only ask because I take some joy in the Cubs being on CSN Plus 2 while the Sox get CSN plus - a closer thing to a real network.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan99 @ May 4, 2005 -> 10:15 AM) Buehrle doesn't deserve an A. Buehrle has pitched 2 of the best starts in the AL all season - opening day against Cleveland and the 1 hour race against Seattle. Those 2 have to count for something. And his loss to Minnesota happened as much because of an error by Dye as anything Buehrle did.

QUOTE(EvilJester99 @ May 4, 2005 -> 10:31 AM) Actually they did show Iguchi's HR on the "touch em all" spot. Also it was said by I think Karl Ravich They didn't show him on the "Touch em all" I watched...during the 40 minute version.

In case you somehow missed the other thread...last night John Kruk on Baseball tonight went off on a rant about how only 12,000 or so White Sox fans showed up in 40 degree windy weather to beat the last place team in our division. Well...I have a rant against Kruk in response. I watched the 40 minute Baseball tonight last night, and by the end of the show, I was literally screaming at the TV because of how badly our team was being screwed over in terms of coverage. I've got a bundle of examples of them doing this, so bear with me. First, one of their "Themes" of the night was poor baserunning. In this vein...they took the liberty to show the 1st-inning Royals double play, where both Everett and Iguchi were thrown out on the basepaths, at least 2 to 3 times - a couple while talking about baserunning, and a repeat when they showed the Sox highlights. Secondly...the White Sox hit 2 home runs in that game. KC hit 3, 2 by Sweeney. The Sox won the game. So what highlights did they choose to show when they showed the game highlights? Not any of the Sox home runs...they showed the first shot by Sweeney, and Everett's double. There was not a mention of ARow's shot, nor was there a mention of Iguchi's first home run in the US. It gets worse. At the end of the show...they run through highlights of some of the bigger home runs of the day. Guess who's shot they showed? Guess who's they didn't? They replayed the Sweeney home run, and ignored ARow and Iguchi again. In their web gems segment...those 2 early plays by Mark Buehrle got no credit. They also weren't shown in any of the highlight reels. I thought that at least 1 of them should have been noticed. And here's the one that really infuriated me. At the end of the show, they gave some air time to the people they thought were their players of the day. Their offensive one? Craig Wilson of the Pirates. What did Wilson do? He went 4 for 4, with 1 home run, 2 rbi's and 1 run scored. In case you don't remember, a guy named Tadahito Iguchi went 4 for 4, with 1 home run (his first in the USA), 2 rbi's, and 2 runs scored. And once again, he was completely glossed over...despite having what I think are better numbers than Wilson. John Kruk wants to lecture the White Sox fans about how they aren't coming out to the ballgame in 40 degree weather against the Royals. But on the same token, it's hard for me to even believe that they had anybody even watching the game. They didn't mention Dye, they didn't mention ARow, they didn't show any of those plays by Buehrle, and most annoyingly, they hardly noticed the great day had by Iguchi. If baseball tonight thinks they can lecture White Sox fans about not coming out to the park in crappy conditions, maybe they could take a second to actually acknowledge the better parts of the game, or at least pretend that they had really watched it.

CNN.com/Sports Illustrated have a piece up of the "20 best young pitchers in baseball." # 2 is our very own Mark Buehrle Here's what they have to say about him... "Mark Buehrle, 26, White Sox Season: 3-1, 3.89, K/BB: 25-9 Career: 72-46, 3.76, K/BB: 606-249 The White Sox's underrated workhorse already has four seasons of 200-plus innings under his belt. That's pretty good for a 38th round draft pick." Their #1 pitcher is Santana, as you probably expected, but I took some joy in the fact that they ranked Buehrle higher than Zambrano or Prior. John Garland was ranked #13.

QUOTE(redandwhite @ May 3, 2005 -> 02:04 PM) I don't post here anymore, but Willie Harris was placed on the DL thus resulting in the call up of Jamie Burke. Did Harris get hurt at some point? I thought he was the healthy one - the game he missed on Sunday was supposedly due to some sort of family issue, according to all the news reports.

Thus far this year, he's played in 7 games, had 19 at bats...7 hits.

QUOTE(SuperSteve @ May 2, 2005 -> 11:23 AM) So trade a proven guy so we can going into the playoff race with guys who have never been in the majors before? It's worked for Oakland. At some point you have to decide what you want your team to do...they can be good almost every year if you keep the right people in...and then you can take your chances in the playoffs, sometimes with unproven guys. Or you can be great for 1 or 2 years, have a better chance in the playoffs for those 2 years, and then have a sudden dropoff when you lose those people (see Cleveland in 2000). Personally...I think that our best chance is to try to put together a very good team every year, and hope someone like McCarthy magically does a Josh Beckett and pulls off a miracle during the playoffs. Given how volatile things can be in the postseason...if you're in there, you've got a chance, even if its just as a wild card. Unless of course, you're the Yankees and you can buy everyone and their grandmother to fill your pitching staff.

QUOTE(Jake @ May 2, 2005 -> 11:10 AM) That's exactly what I'm talking about. Also take note of what the run scored averages would be over all - the USA Today guy would find that we had a much higher average runs scored than we have had over any other stretch this season, but we'd still win more games now. What the USA Today guy isn't remembering is that last year, in 4 guys, the Sox had 40% of their total salary tied up: Konerko, Valentin, Lee, and Ordonez. No team in baseball dumped such a high percentage of its salary into only 4 guys. Not one - and that doesn't even count Thomas's dollars either. By letting those guys go, we were able to spread those dollars around. So yeah, we might not have 2 MVP candidates at the center of our lineup, but now we've got 5 actual starters, an improved bullpen, a deeper bench, and fewer holes in our lineup overall. We've spread the money around more, and it's working. Also - let's keep in mind...those 4 run per game numbers are with people like Jermaine Dye hitting .170, and I still dont' th ink he'll do that poorly the whole season. And Konerko hitting .230.