WCSox

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 13, 2010 -> 04:56 AM) Screwed for the future? I've read this several times on this board, and I don't understand. Sure there are some who have a fantasy that the White Sox be in a perpetual state of rebuilding, but if they can get hot, why is that bad? Do you really think they have a lot of moveable parts that command top prospects right now? PK would likely bring a couple of solid prospects in return, not to mention a significant amount of salary relief. Thornton would also command something of value and, heck, they might even get something out of Putz as well. So, yeah, it's a fair question. Thankfully, it's still mid-June and the Sox can afford to take a wait-and-see approach while these guys inflate their numbers against bad NL teams.

Way for Mark to step up after some not-so-great starts.

Just please no Buck Showalter.

QUOTE (G&T @ Jun 12, 2010 -> 04:59 AM) JR is not going to fire anyone. If anyone leaves it will be their choice. I think KW might be ready to move on and there may be teams ready to make him an offer. If this happens, I'm wondering if KW was looking to move on anyway and Ozzie gave him a good excuse to do so. Does KW really not have the power to hire and fire his own manager and coaching staff? Because that would be a *very* good reason to go elsewhere.

QUOTE (Whitewashed in '05 @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 08:08 PM) That's the thing though. He shouldn't let KW walk away. KW isn't going to get talked out of walking away. I know Reinsdorf doesn't want to fire Ozzie and have someone who means so much to this organization leave on those terms, but he can't let the manager be the reason the GM walks away. Like you said, Ozzie's ego would get much bigger than it is already and he'd be uncontrollable if he isn't that already. Not to mention that an above-average GM is a lot more difficult to replace than a mediocre manager.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 05:20 PM) Yes it would. AJ has given every indication that having his replacement around does not exactly make him comfortable. Then AJ's going to have to check his Joe Montana-like insecurity at the door when he shows up for work. He has 6.75 million reasons to deal with this situation like a professional.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 06:13 PM) Cowley said Garcia and Konerko confirmed the blow-up. Also, both Stone and Cowley suggested Hahn will be replacing KW sooner rather than later, and Ozzie's going nowhere. If that's actually true, JR is making a huge f'n mistake.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 03:41 PM) Understood, I guess a lot depends on if Tyler Flowers can contribute this season. If it's deemed that we're completely out of contention next month, having Flowers and AJ splitting time at C and DH might not be a bad idea.

QUOTE (T R U @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 03:28 PM) the worst possible thing to happen is for us to beat up on these National League teams especially with another Cubs series and a Pirates and Nationals series, sigh, KW might be trying to ADD to this mess if we don't watch out.. On the other hand, it doesn't hurt when guys like AJ, PK, and Jenks beat up on them and raise their own trade values.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 11:33 AM) I'd like to see Dave Martinez from the Rays given a chance. He wasn't too happy with JR and Schueler after the White Flag trade. Not sure if that still matters or not, but it was the reason that he left as a FA in the winter of '97.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 12:04 PM) You can choose the feed at the top of the page. You may have the wrong one selected. No, the Score's feed was out for 5 minutes and they eventually played WGN's feed through it. Now the Score's feed is back. f*** you, MLB.

Audio feed for The Score is gone again. WTF?! How long has MLB been doing this? It's not like they just started last season and need to work the kinks out.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 11:30 AM) I'm getting WGN's feed through The Score's broadcasting option on MLB At Bat. WTF? Fixed now

I'm getting WGN's feed through The Score's broadcasting option on MLB At Bat. WTF?

QUOTE (dmbjeff @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 11:01 AM) His outlook is a little bit different coming from the catching position. If he was an IF or OF, having those type of K totals would be devastating. Most teams would gladly take a .230 avg while striking out 200 times if it meant 25 HR and 80 RBI from a catcher. Throw in the fact that he'll be cheap for six full seasons and you have a good point. If he ends up being the next Ron Karkovice (with a little more power), he would be serviceable. Not exactly ideal but, if he calls good games and is decent defensively, I'll take a .750 OPS out of the catcher position.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 10:15 AM) What does that tell you about our amateur talent acquisition? That all falls on the GM to employ the right scouts and draft and sign the right players then make sure they are developed. If that is not happening, which it isnt, that is the GM's fault. No doubt that the Sox farm system was not good during the first half of Kenny's tenure. And that's on him. But he was able to use some of those mediocre/bad minor-leaguers to nab guys like Garcia, Thornton, and Vazquez.

QUOTE (johnnymick @ Jun 10, 2010 -> 10:11 PM) It took us 3 years to get to the playoffs again after the White Flag trade and 8 to win a World series. Impossible to tell what's going on that far into the future. Absolutely. JR and Kenny could sell off every veteran on the roster for prospects and they would still have a really good shot at winning the Central 4-5 years down the road.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 08:26 AM) I just don’t think this team was properly built to succeed. Obviously, the pitching staff was a major bust, but coming into the season we knew that we hadn’t put them in the best position to thrive in. I see it like this: our pitching staff was fantastic last year but was burdened by a mediocre offense. Our pitching staff was projected to be fantastic this year, and was surrounded by an offense that was projected to be (at best) equal to last year’s offense. Just because we’re pretty bad on both sides of the ball does not mean we should ignore the insane leaps of logic our management took in shaping this roster coming off last season. Now, just because our pitching staff is terrible now, does not mean it will continue to be in the distant future, because of this KW has to walk a very fine line here between unloading and reloading. This team should be competitive, but on paper never stood out as being the class of the division. Yet given the state of this division, it never really has to be. Going cheap at certain positions this year was the natural consequence of committing $100M to Peavy and Rios last summer and carrying other large contracts. One could correctly argue that Kenny/Ozzie made bad decisions with how that money was spent (e.g., Thome vs. Kotsay). Ultimately, though, it's very difficult to round out a roster with guys like Damon and Matsui when you have to fill 2 roster spots with a $3-4M budget.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 09:01 AM) This is what happens when you trade away every prospect you have. How many of those prospects have become above-average ML players?

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 07:46 AM) KW is responsible for the dearth of talent in the organization, having really no impact players in the farm, overpaying for vets that will cause the Sox not to be able to get fair value in return, and his unwillingness/inability to rebuild a team. The reloading or shuffling the deck only works if you are bringing in talent and KW really doesnt get the better end of deals very often. I disagree with the bolded part, but the rest of your post is spot-on.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 11, 2010 -> 07:25 AM) People keep jumping to this conclusion - I'm not seeing it, and I have seen no evidence of it. I think Jerry does like Ozzie a lot, but also finds him difficult. I think he likes KW less, but knows KW is damn good at his job. I just don't see Jerry taking Ozzie's side over KW in this situation. Especially considering that Ozzie's family is turning JR's team into a circus. I don't trust anything that Cowley writes, so it's nearly impossible to discern what's really going on here. But I'm convinced now that Ozzie won't be working for the Sox at the end of the year.

JR has a long history of being tight-fisted. But given that the remaining $4M was already budgeted and they're not going to win with AJ anyway, there's a chance that he may let Kenny eat most of it.

QUOTE (Knackattack @ Jun 10, 2010 -> 01:48 PM) Not something you read every day. After AJ is dealt

I'd like to see the Sox run Castro out there and try to deal him next month. When Castro is gone, Lucy and Flowers can split time at C. Flowers could get additional ABs at DH.

QUOTE (T R U @ Jun 10, 2010 -> 12:23 PM) My original response was for you comparing him to Joe Borchard.. and honestly, I dont care one bit what you dont appreciate, so suck on that Reading is fundamental.