SHAFTR

I'd go after Wagner. He'd be a very intimidating closer for the playoffs. I'm still fine with Uribe at SS. He's a great fielder and good enough for a 9 hitter. He does the important things (a la Sac flies). With Crede's back troubles, I understand the concern in getting another utility fielder who can play 3rd. I'd recommend going after someone cheap instead of a Freel, Randa or Vizquel. In fact, I'd be happy with someone from somebody's minor system or a team's 25th man. Just someone who is solid defensive 3rd baseman and can spot start.

QUOTE(Greg Hibbard @ Jul 17, 2005 -> 12:13 PM) christ paulie, why not just forfeit the out next time Why would anyone ever throw him a fastball? He's a veteran and he still looks confused on most off speed pitches.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jul 17, 2005 -> 11:57 AM) Now I go a little over the top knocking Dunn cause I do realize he has a great eye, but he needs to hit .250-.260 and not in the .230 range which he was doing for most of the year. Right now he's just a better version of Konerko from the left side (I'll let people decide if thats good or bad). Dunn has a .390 OBP this year and a. 566 slugging (6th in the NL). Overall his OPS is .956, which is 5th in the NL. So, I wouldn't complain that much about his batting average. Here is also an interesting article http://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/009464.php I'm not advocating trading Rowand, but I have to defend Dunn.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Jul 17, 2005 -> 11:44 AM) Gammons says Boston is not close on a Burnett deal. He also said the Sox would have to send Contreras, Marte and either BMac or Anderson. To put it succinctly .... f*** that. He also said that Lowell would have to come along in the deal. I hope we don't do it.

There is no way Rowand gets moved. No way. He's the best defensive center fieleder this year (maybe 2nd behind Jeremy Reed). I think we should let Konerko & Everett go, move Dye to 1b and acquire an OF with power (so we have some power in our OF). I don't see a problem with Anderson as a 4th outfielder.

If Gload can play 1b & OF, why can't he play 3rd base? I'd imagine that he could do fine as a back up 3rd baseman.

Brewers. I live in Madison. I've actually been to more Brewer games than White Sox games.

QUOTE(quickman @ Jul 16, 2005 -> 03:43 PM) your watching the game or listening to it, why do you need play by play. if you aren't in the Chicago market (or Cleveland), the game isn't televised (on Fox, MLB Extra Innings or MLB.tv)

Burnett is a good option if the price is right, I doubt it is. Marte is one of the most valuable relievers in baseball. Last year he was the best reliever in difficult situations, I don't want to lose him. If McCarthy & Everett were involved, I'd do it. That would allow us to Swingman El Duque and Gload would be our 4th OF. This team is 30 games over .500, so I don't think we should change much of our team. If Burnett's price is too high, then Lilly is a great option (if we could get him for a prospect). Crede's injury could change things. It means that a Utility IF is even more important.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Jul 14, 2005 -> 07:42 PM) Ha, it really is funny to watch Uribe once in a while. Sometimes he just looks like a joke swinging a bat. He should think about wearing a clown suit at the plate. Yeah, I agree. We were spoiled last year by him. He was playing well over his head and we all should of known that. I still like him b/c he's a gold glove caliber SS. At that position, I'll take a below average hitter who has an above average glove.

So far he's looking good 4 ip 2 hits 0 runs 4 ks 2 bbs only bad thing is the 66 pitches thrown already.

QUOTE(Soxnbears01 @ Jul 14, 2005 -> 01:25 PM) pods may get night off because of the ASG? Yeah, he must be really worn out from that 1/2 inning in the field.

Welcome. FYI. I'm a Wisconsin guy, so I was at the game and stormed the field after my Badgers upset your Defending National Champs, Buckeyes.

I've never been a bat-girl fan. It's not because she is a twins fan either, I have plenty of friends who are Twins fans. It's just that I don't think her blog is that good. I think it's one of those situations where a girl is doing something that is traditionally male (be it Baseball Blogs, video games, etc.) and all of a sudden what she is doing is suddenly looked at as being better than it really is.

I would still like to have Willie has a defensive replacement. Between him and Uribe, very few balls get through. I still think Timo should be sent down instead, but I've heard Harris played pretty bad this past weekend.

I've heard most of the other teams announcers and yes, some of them aren't very good. Others are very good. I think Milwaukee has a rather good pair. Now, the difference between Hawk and the other bad announcers is the others are just forgettable, not irritating.

well, there is very little evidence against Abreu. His career has been consistent, no strange injuries. He hasn't suddenly gotten bigger, he continues to steal bases. The one thing you are citing is his HR Derby performance and that didn't seem aided. He has a smooth swing, it all looked effortless.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jul 12, 2005 -> 12:37 PM) I could buy that method. I just feel Iguchi is made to be a .280 hitter with 15-20 Hr's and good gap power. If he moves to a production spot I think you'll see that come out and at the same time the Sox will be sliding in a better version of Iguchi (the 2 hole hitter Iguchi) emerge in the 2 spot in Omar Vizquel (who flat out can handle a bat with the best of them). To me its basically allowing Iguchi to play more of his game down in the lineup while the Sox also upgrade to a little better 2 hole hitter in Omar (and its hard to do much better than Guchi has). In his career (not counting this year, since those #s aren't out yet), Vizquel has had the league average OPS once and has been above average once. The rest of his career he has been below the league average. This is not a description of a 2 hitter.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jul 12, 2005 -> 12:07 PM) D-backs had a horribly overage lineup, except for the 1-2 punch, but were still very overmatched on paper. The Angels were extremely overmatch, not only in the lineup but in the bullpen, starting rotation. The Marlins were overmatched in every level of the playoffs, but were very together and motivated, which helped them prevail. If you remember correctly, one of the reason that the Yankees starting winning WS titles, was because the team was cohesive and scrappy, it wasnt until after that time period that they started really buying whole teams. The Diamondbacks, outside of Luis Gonzalez, had a rather unspectacular lineup. The Schilling/Johnson thing really helped them out. The Angels had a great, great bullpen that year. They had a very good line-up as well. Spiezo, Glaus, Anderson, Salmon and Fullmer all had very good years. Their rotation featured 4 guys who had ERAs in the 3s. The Marlins had some great years from Pudge, Derrek Lee, & Lowell along with the shot in the arm Pierre and Cabrera were giving them by getting better and better as that year went on. AIn the rotation, Redman, Willis and Becket all had ERAs under 3.5. Pavano and Penny were average, at worst (ERAs in the low 4s). The yankees were still probably better, but these teams still had quite a bit of talent.

I think Hawk is a joke, honestly. Fans tell me to take him with a grain of salt but not for over 2 hrs for over 100 games a year. The majority of his calls, I dislike (including He Gone and You can put it on the board). I think Hawk is just a pull string doll at this point, Dj pulls the string and Hawk says one of his 15 catchphrases. During the long stretches of silence, DJ is changing the batteries. Also, White Sox fans have a reputation of being idiots (obviously, I'm not saying I agree since I am a fan) and Hawk certainly doesn't help that rep out. I think Hawk would only be good in situations when Berman is good: 2 minutes at a time, once a week.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jul 11, 2005 -> 01:24 AM) I think some people forget that Uribe and Crede play both offense and defense. Our pitching has been phenominal this year but so has our defense outside a few games. When you have a great defense behind a great pitching staff, you are going to win a lot of games, a lot. I agree. I know the left side of our infield isn't hitting the best, but it might be fielding the best. Especially for our pitchers, who like to let the ball get in play, a valuable defense is very important. The only upgrade I'd like to see is with another arm, either in the rotation or in the bullpen.

So, do we have a better 2nd half? 7 of our 29 losses have been against Oakland. No more Oakland the rest of the way through, so i'm really looking forward to a ) trade deadline and b ) playoffs (although not the first round, I hate how the first round is set up).

Great Falls White Sox ® 6/21 - 6/29: 6 g / 24 ab / 3 r / 8 h / 1 2b / 0 hr / 4 rbi / 9 tb / 1 bb / 2 so / 2 sb / 1 cs / .333 avg / .346 obp / .375 slg Kannapolis Intimidators (A) 6/29 - 7/09: 7 g / 28 ab / 7 r / 12 h / 2 2b / 2 3b / 0 hr / 2 rbi / 18 tb / 5 bb / 0 so / 1 sb / 0 cs / .429 avg / .528 obp / .643 slg so far so good. I'll update often. If anyone has seen him play, post impressions.

Well, here is the good news. 6 of our 28 losses (after today, could be 7 of our 29), about 22%, have been against Oakland. We don't play them after the break.

The last 30 days, Uribe his hitting .274/.319/.435 - .754 OPS along with Gold Glove defense and the ability to always get the sacrifice.