SoxHawk1980

What he did last year is completely irrelevant when his pitching has completely changed this season. He is NOT the same pitcher this year. The pitches are different. The velocity is different. And he doesn't know how to pitch effectively with the stuff he has this year. He has been consistently bad. You can give him his lifetime achievement award, and I'll give him his DFA.

Boy, there is a lot of personal b****ing and poster-on-poster sniping in this thread. I thought that kind of thing had been recently prohibited. No?

[stating the obvious] The White Sox now have only one starting pitcher with an ERA under 4.40. That's not a bad stretch of pitching. That is a bad season of starting pitching (so far). [/stating the obvious] Does anyone really think we should just stand pat with this rotation and completely rely on the offense to both get us into the playoffs and win us another WS? This team, as currently constituted doesn't win even one playoff series (if it gets that far).

This is true. However, mediocre teams and bad teams also have periods where they struggle. Struggles aren't necessarily a good sign. They can be signs of weakness...like our serious starting pitching weakness.

It's sure great to see the Sox come out of the gate in the second half with their heads screwed on right and fire in the belly to have a great second half. They look like pure s*** out there.

And the Sox get kicked the gunt. Better take the next 2!

Don't forget pretty anemic hitting against a way-over-the-hill Randy Johnson. Can't blame that all on the umps.

Too true. His in-game decision making is awful. This guy needs a good bench coach who he'll actually listen to. Of course, Ozzie doesn't listen to anyone.

What part of "we can't hang with the big boys" do you not understand?

Ozzie doesn't deserve all the blame. Contreras gave up the hits and runs. He wasn't even at 100 pitches to start the inning. If Contreras gets the L, he deserves it.

Some fans just don't like hearing anything negative about their team. Because they want everything to be good, they don't want to hear anyone saying that everything might not be great. They look at the positives and ignore the negatives. They prefer to just assume that everything will turn out fine in the end. Some other fans like to look at the team honestly and realistically and recognize when there are problems. They are called realists. Some realists aren't too bright and provide poor analysis, but they are merely trying to honestly evaluate the team. For some of us, rah-rah cheering isn't enough. We like to think a little. The reality is that this is a very good team that also has some problems. Some spots in the lineup are almost automatic outs. There are some holes in the bullpen. The pitching rotation has two starters who have been good so far this season and 3 who have been bad in varying degrees. That is a real problem. To those who say no one should worry because the Sox have a great record, or because we've won the last 8 series or, etc., I respond: 1. Having a great regular season isn't enough. We don't want to just get to the playoff somehow. If we want to win the WS again (which should be the only goal) we can't have a lot of big holes on the team. And this team has too many holes right now. 2. We are in a division with the team with the best record in baseball, and we are 2.5 games behind them. So far, the holes we've had on this team have prevented us from playing well enough to be on top in this division. If we want to win the division, we're going to have to get better, and that means filling holes. 3. And then there's the surging Twins...

Convince? You don't convince him, you just tell him. Of course they aren't going to like it. If it is Garland, he'll pout and complain, but f*** him. Let him whine. The way he's pitching, he doesn't deserve to be in the rotation of a contending team.

And now BMac is giving up runs. Given how he's pitched this season, I hope no one thinks he's a viable alternative for an improvement to the rotation.

I just this evening came to the conclusion that we should trade for a starter, so I haven't given it a lot of thought. I'd give up a couple top prospects and a lower level prospect for D. Willis. In general, for a good SP for the stretch run, I'd be willing to give up some of our best prospects. A WS this year is worth more than the "maybe" that each of those prospects represents.

The amount of our "investment" has nothing to do with whether we should pick up a good starter for the stretch run. Garland hasn't been inconsistent; he's been dogs***. He's had a few good starts and a whole bunch of crappy ones. I don't care how much the Sox have invested in him and Garcia. The Sox should pick up some good starter for the remainder of the season and put either Garcia or Garland in the bullpen. Either you want to win the WS or you want to justify all of KW's decisions. In this case, you can't do both.

Clearly we've got two good starting pitchers and 3 who have looked like #5 starters. Can anyone give me a good reason why our #1 need for a mid-season trade isn't a starting pitcher? We can't just count on riding this offense to the WS.

If Gardia is pitching, it is time for another White Sox implosion. Of course, the key imploder is Garcia himself.

Lots of us have the same question. And of course Ozzie has no answer. Actually, he probably does have an answer, but it wouldn't make any sense.

I've got a question, why is it that Ozzie puts Riske into the game in garbage time, instead of Pollitte? Isn't Pollitte the ultimate garbage time pitcher?

Buehrle isn't tipping his pitches. He's been throwing first pitch fastballs right down the middle (particularly in the 1st inn.) and the Cubs hitters were jumping on them. When a hitter guesses fastball against Buehrle and guesses right, it isn't too hard for him to hit it hard. That's usually what happens when Buehrle gets lit up. That's just the kind of pitcher he is.

Sometimes he is a dominant pitcher. And sometimes he gets shelled. I might agree with your high 2's/low 3's assessment if he had ever done that in the majors. Last year was his best year and his ERA was 3.61. His ERA for this season is 3.51. I think you have to expect from Contreras that he's going to continue to have a mixture of dominant starts and failed starts. That is going to leave him with an ERA probably in the mid-to-high 3's.

Jose Contreras Pre-DL GS - 6 IP - 44.2 ER - 7 H - 28 BB - 11 K - 21 K/9 - 4.23 WHIP - 0.87 ERA - 1.41 Post-DL GS - 8 IP - 52 ER - 31 H - 59 BB - 16 K - 47 K/9 - 8.13 WHIP - 1.44 ERA - 5.37 I don't think either his pre-DL or post-DL performances are indicative of the true quality of Contreras. I think the real Jose is somewhere in between. But where? I see him more as a high-3's ERA kind of pitcher. Thoughts?

Mariotti is a jerk who lashes out at the Sox any chance he gets. He's a horrible columnist and a reprehensible human being. That being said, what Ozzie said was offensive, out of line and immature. He's an adult for god's sake and he acts like he's a 12 year old on the playground. He is the leading representative of the White Sox and he should take that responsibility seriously. Instead he acts like a boy trying to flex his machismo. Ozzie, please grow the f*** up and learn when to shut your mouth.

Not having Thome in the lineup in games 1 and 2 is going to be a big problem. He is the key to the Sox offense. With a big piece of the offensive puzzle out, the Sox can take either/both of the first two games only if the pitching picks up the offense. And I don't have the faith in this pitching staff that I once had.

I'm sure AJ will rush the mound after getting plunked in the not too distant future. And he'll get his supension too. And then we'll get to see more of Widger. (Oh joy!) And I wouldn't completely rule out an AJ-Ozzie tussle this season.