WCSox

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jul 21, 2009 -> 07:47 PM) Iwant to know what Jenk's problem is and not hear a tirade from Ozzie about how he is the manager and it was just a lucky hit blah blah. We can't afford to give up leads and wins in the 9th. That's what our closer is for to shut down the opposition/ Other teams seem to be able to beat us in the 9th It also doesn't help that our pitching staff has gotten crap for run support in this series. As for Jenks, it'll be interesting to see if he's still in a Sox uni at this time next year. He's going to start costing a lot of money soon.

Not to take away from Jenks' choke-job, but what in the hell happened to the strike zone in the top of the 9th? That low fastball had been called all night.

QUOTE (beckham15 @ Jul 21, 2009 -> 05:16 PM) congrats to the thorton family Yep, that's awesome news.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 12:21 PM) Anderson is actually pretty quick on the basepaths, though Wise can actually steal and BA really doesn't do that well. Its not about any sort of logical argument. At all. Its a personal thing - some combination of not liking BA's attitude, or Ozzie liking Wise, or whatever I agree. Ozzie already has his productive left-handed, base-stealing leadoff hitter (Pods), so there's no logical reason to keep Wise over Anderson. Kenny needs to deal Anderson. If the powers-that-be are willing to take on more salary for a year and a half, maybe Anderson and a couple of other mediocre prospects to the Jays for Rolen might not be a bad idea. I'd rather have a younger 3B who would fit into the long-term plans, but it might be worth it down the stretch this season if Kenny doesn't have to give up much and Ricciardi is desperate to dump salary (although I'd want some cash in return). I'd probably start with Anderson and Fields for Rolen and $4 million in cash. Quentin looked a bit overly-anxious last night, but I was glad to see that he appeared to run normally. It was nice to see him get that standing O.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 09:38 PM) Percentage of perfect innings of work in save situations this season among AL saves leaders: Joe Nathan: 15/27 = 56% Mo Rivera: 14/27 = 52% Brian Fuentes: 14/31 = 45% Bobby Jenks: 10/24 = 42% George Sherrill: 8/23 = 35% David Aardsma: 8/24 = 33% Fernando Rodney: 6/19 = 32% Jon Papelbon: 8/26 = 31% I'm don't know what's more surprising: Papelbon's high WHIP this season or Rivera putting up Nathan-like numbers at age 40. I love me some Jenks, but I still have a difficult time putting him in the same tier as those three.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 01:08 PM) I don't think anybody would take Linebrink's contract. I'm amazed at how many people haven't bothered to look at Linebrink's contract. No GM in his right mind would trade for him, especially with his bad shoulder. If I'm Kenny, I don't deal Dotel as long as the Sox are competitive. If Contreras gets hurt again, the bullpen is going to get a serious workout down the stretch.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 08:08 PM) PODS + Forgot about him. If he continues to hit this way, I'm fine with his shaky defense in CF.

Never a dull moment with Bobby. Solid outing from Gavin and a VERY nice defensive game by A.J.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 06:35 PM) Agree 100%. I think he'll be there next season. This is just a one year thing. That's great, but the Sox need to acquire a productive 3B first.

QUOTE (TheBigHurt @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 05:10 PM) Winning is obviously the goal and that's happening, but I love how no one seems to ever mention how terrible this division has been for almost 2 years now. A year and a half is a pretty small sample size. The Central was relatively competitive in 2007 (Indians won 96 games, Tigers won 88 games), very competitive in 2005, and ridiculously competitive in 2006. The Sox managed two 90-win seasons and a ring during the two most competitive years. I completely disagree. The Sox got killed with injuries last season (Quentin, Linebrink, Konerko, Crede, Contreras) and Swisher, Dotel, and Vazquez were completely worthless down the stretch. THAT'S why they struggled to win 89 games and only won one playoff game. I'll be the first to admit that Ozzie's in-game managing is questionable at times. But blaming last season on him is ridiculous. Too many injuries to key players, and too much bad play in the second half of the season is what doomed the Sox.

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 10:58 AM) So I ask again, who cares? Or actually, who do you want instead? That's the whole point of the argument...you think Ozzie is a horrible manager but then refuse to answer who you'd want instead or even acknowledge the fact that every manager makes mistakes. In his 5 years, he's got 2 division titles, one ring, and only one bad season (that you can't blame him for anyway). That's more than enough for me, I'll take Ozzie any day over most managers who don't really seem to give a s*** how their team does. LOL at Soxtalk's armchair managers and armchair GMs. I often scratch my head at some of Ozzie's moves but, as pointed out above, he gets results. That's a lot more than I can say for Ozzie's overrated choke-artist colleague who resides 8 miles north. Outside of Scioscia, Gardenhire, Torre, LaRussa, and Cox, I don't see a better option for the Sox right now. Wake me up when Ozzie rips off a string of 70-win seasons.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Jul 19, 2009 -> 11:20 PM) I actually think Ozzie has had a pretty good season so far, but his use of Poreda this year has been awful, and the spot he put him in today was simply stupid and impossible to defend. I disagree with this. Poreda has been handled with kid gloves all season. When he was finally put in a semi-difficult position, he crapped his pants big-time. Walking two straight batters with the bases loaded is "impossible to defend."

Ozzie is many things, but "stupid" isn't one of them. Kenny is easily one of the Top 10 GMs in the game, so he's even further from "stupid." As was mentioned earlier in this thread, the craziness that we're seeing with Wise, Anderson, Beckham, and Poreda is what happens when the manager and GM aren't on the same page. I wouldn't say that Ozzie's job is in jeopardy at this point, but it's difficult to see things working out between these two over the long term.

QUOTE (SmashROT @ Jul 15, 2009 -> 05:22 AM) Give me a break. Do you really think that Cardinal fans would even remotely be thinking during politics their shining moment? Major political figures get booed everywhere. Especially ones who preside over bad economies. I don't care much for Obama (to put it nicely), but have to say that was a class move. Since there's little to be gained politically from representing a relatively unpopular team, he appears to be a true fan. It's refreshing to see a politician do something that's unsolicited and uncontrived.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 10, 2009 -> 08:26 PM) Awesome, Ozzie's also making comments about the attendance now. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,2199682.story And notice that he puts the blame on the team's performance for the first two months of the season. But I'm sure that won't stop some people from feeling offended. I'd also like to see Dye kept around for another season. Move him to DH after Thome leaves. QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 11, 2009 -> 06:48 AM) At least he says it bad because the team was bad. I still think JR should make it policy for White Sox employees not to ever talk about the attendance, unless its totally positive. I agree with this.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jul 11, 2009 -> 11:24 AM) The whole point of trading for Halladay would be to solidify our rotation. If we trade Floyd for him, sure we upgrade at one spot, but we still have the same problem in the 5th spot of the rotation. No thanks. I agree. Richard and Poreda would all that I'd be willing to deal for Halladay - and then I'd only do it if Halladay signed a two-year extension.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 10, 2009 -> 01:38 PM) Special K, not many teams have 5 good starters. Given what Buehrle, Danks, and Floyd did last season, our rotation was above average at worst going into April. If Kenny had kept Vazquez, many of the same people whining about Richard would be piling on Vazquez for giving up too many HRs and Kenny for over-paying Vazquez.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 10, 2009 -> 07:57 AM) We don't know if Poreda is overrated or not as a starter until he does. If he's not going to start, at least use him more in the pen. It's almost like he's a garbage time arm right now. I agree that he should get more use in the 'pen. The problem is that it's getting very crowded in there, not to mention that Carrasco has been very good in long relief. "Platooning" long relief duties between Carrasco and Poreda might be an idea, but I don't know if it's feasible or not.

I'd let Richard clear his head over the break and give him another start before considering a move. If he got hit hard again, I'd probably go with Colon or possibly Poreda. I think that Poreda is highly-overrated as a starter on this board. He hasn't even started a major league game yet, so who knows how he'd fare over a month or two in that role. I might feel better keeping him in the 'pen for the remainder of the season.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Jul 9, 2009 -> 02:07 PM) The deal imediately becomes worth it if Halladay signs an entension right away. Halladay is 32 and has a lot of innings on his arm. There's a lot of risk there.

I'd trade Alexei for 3+ years of Peavy, but I don't see the point in giving him up for 1.5 years of Halladay. IMO, Alexei's value is just under Beckham's.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 9, 2009 -> 05:29 AM) They released Ryan today (yesterday, whatevs). Ricciardi has also publicly come out and said that he will not deal Halladay unless he is blown away (not in those words, but that's what he was saying). That tells me that they aren't struggling for cash at the current moment, or that Halladay is a huge attraction and if they dealt him, they'd probably lose 2,000 or more fans a game. He's only signed through next year anyways, so he's not a huge financial burden upon the franchise like Peavy is in San Diego. If anything, they'd be looking to unload a couple others for much, much cheaper. Hell, they'd probably give Vernon Wells away for practically free right now. If Ricciardi publicly stated that he absolutely had to trade Halladay due to budgetary reasons, Halladay's trade value would fall through the floor. So of course he's going to project the image that he doesn't *need* to trade anybody. But the economic reality may be the opposite. He very well may be getting pressure to unload guys like Halladay and Rolen (they're stuck with Wells, as nobody is going to pick up his contract).

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 8, 2009 -> 05:18 PM) WC Sox, imagine you're in charge of a public relations firm and your client is the Chicago White Sox. How, in any, way, shape or form...can be making these types of comments be positive or constructive? Wouldn't it be much better to have said: "Boy, we really learned our lesson in the marketing department from that Dodgers series. We learned that Sox fans would rather see the Cubs or other divisional opponents like the Tigers or Twins at regular prices than pay premium prices for a team, that, albeit the best record-wise in baseball, doesn't have very many identifiable players outside of Manny Ramirez to casual baseball fans. Along with the fact that we really hyped up this series once in 2005 (bringing back the 1959 players to reminisce), when he had the best team in baseball at the time, it was a mid-week series, some afternoon games AND the economy is taking a toll on some of our casual or walk-up fans, possibly because the team just hasn't played good baseball at home or even looked like a contending team until recently...that's my fault, I take full responsibility for the team we fielded Opening Day, but I promise that, as in years past, we will exhaust all avenues and apply all resources to competing for the ALCD crown and constructing the type of team that's capable of winning another World Series for our great White Sox fans that have been loyal for so many years." Why can't he simply say that? Because Kenny's the GM, not the head of PR. It's not just job to kiss the rear ends of illogical, overly-emotional fans. Earlier in this thread, I clearly stated that I don't agree with the Sox's ticket pricing. But I understand the reasoning behind it. That ticket pricing is one consequence of the Sox spending $96+ million for years and not garnering the fan support to pay for it. And this goes way beyond the stupid Dodgers series. Ticket sales have been down this year AND have been right at the MLB average since 2007. The reality is that the Sox can't continue to spend wildly on high-priced vets with average-to-mediocre ticket sales. Articulating this is not taking a shot at the fan base, it's just stating reality. Sheesh, you'd think that this was a message board from 1999. Let's not pretend that we're back in the Ron Schueler era, where the Sox were NEVER buyers at the trade deadline and spending on marquee players in general was a big no-no. The people who are getting their nuts in a twist over this are irrationally biting the hand that has gone out of its way to feed them generously over the past 3 1/2 years. Guess what, people? If the fans don't go through the turnstile, either the spending has to stop or the ticket/concessions prices go up. The revenue to support $96+ million in payroll for years on end has to come from somewhere.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 8, 2009 -> 03:40 PM) I think you're seeing that half of this is really about the idea of insensitivity towards people are struggling economically (who isn't worried just a LITTLE bit?), not the specific words, but more the overall/general tone of the comments. Kenny stated that the reason that attendance has not met projections is the economy, not the spending decisions of Sox fans. Note that Kenny didn't mention that the Cubs fans who pack Wrigley for every home game live in that same economy. Cubs fans have put up with inept front office people and even more inept teams. They haven't won a WS since 1908. Yet they still buy tickets. I'm sick and tired of the whining. You don't want to buy tickets? Fine, nobody is judging you. But stop b*tching when your GM cites the economy and ticket sales as a factor for them being more hesitant around the trade deadline... AFTER THREE STRAIGHT YEARS of $96+ million payrolls yielded mediocre attendance. The Sox have been over-spending for the past 2 1/2 years, and now's the time for the other shoe to drop. It's economic reality. Deal with it.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Jul 8, 2009 -> 03:22 PM) Wow, I can't believe this many people can get so angry about a comment taken out of context from a person they do not know personally. From reading this thread, one might think that Kenny was quoted as saying, "Our attendance numbers didn't meet our projections, because our fans are a bunch of whiny little b*tches."