caulfield12

They took away Viciedo's double and ruled it an error on Rasmus? Hmmm...

Where's Konerko?

QUOTE (JohnCangelosi @ Jun 5, 2012 -> 04:28 AM) Did I hear right that he was planning on going to college and committed to some school? Doesn't this effectively mean we've lost him after his 4 years are over there? I'm a bit confused on this issue and the changes we would lose him if he chose college instead- not clear on the rules I guess... He has already committed to the University of Texas for baseball but there's almost zero chance he doesn't sign.

There will be an epic meltdown by Greg if Ozzie doesn't win. That was always the "redeeming" quality that our manager had when we weren't winning, he was at least interesting and not plain jane vanilla boring. He got us national press coverage (usually embarassing in nature), but the argument was that he made the White Sox relevant. As someone mentioned, Ozzie's all about himself and his audience. I don't think he would be captivated enough by a single White Sox fan sitting at Applebee's with him to make it a worthwhile experience. Robin just seems a bit more genuine, he has that dry/sarcastic sense of humor...maybe he's just a better human being. Baseball and famel didn't change him negatively like it did Ozzie. He's been the same ever since his rookie year and his 0/41 batting slide after compiling a 58 game hitting streak at OSU.

ESPN's Curt Schilling (who just lost $50 million) and John Kruk discussed the Rangers and Angels on Baseball Tonight on Sunday evening. Here are some highlights: On if the Angels can catch the Rangers: Schilling: “Well, it’s June 3. They’re three games out. Absolutely, they can. They’re three games out with Albert Pujols doing absolutely nothing for the first month of the season. Can they? Yeah. Will they? I don’t think they will. I think the Rangers are so good, so deep. (Yu) Darvish is just getting his feet wet in the big leagues. I think there is room to improve there. One of the X factors for me is Mike Trout. This kid is doing for the Angels a little bit of what Bryce Harper is doing for the Nationals. The energy. He could be a guy that could change some things a little differently going down late in the season.” Kruk: “They have to get Jared Weaver back quickly and healthy and pitching well. If he comes back too early with the back injury, and he doesn’t perform up to par, that’s going to hurt their chances. You look at teams and how teams can take off after an injury, when Vernon Wells got hurt, all of a sudden Mike Trout gets thrust into the lineup. Peter Bourjos stays in centerfield. Trout in left. Torrii Hunter in right field. There are going to be gold gloves all over that outfield. It made their pitching staff a lot better when Vernon Wells went down because of the speed, but the offense that Mike Trout has brought to this team, the excitement, the energy, you see guys like Albert Pujols now, lighting up after he does something special. When veteran players get excited about a young kid like that, you can’t do nothing but help them.” http://www.espn.com/mlb

Since 1995, the White Sox have been in first place 4 times (now 5) and won the division three times. 70% playoff predictability rate for those teams leading at that milepost. 2000 Up 1.5 games 2004 Up 1.5 games 2005 Up 4.0 games 2008 Up 0.5 game 2012 Up 2.5 games 1984 down 5 games 2006 down 1 1/2 games

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/12977968-41...e-sox-well.html

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/12977679-41...has-become.html Powers that be deserve some blame for what Harrelson has become...Morrissey article

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jun 4, 2012 -> 10:59 PM) Our last couple of drafts had yield guys like Thompson, Mitchell, and Walker. Guys who are fairly young, and are tremendous athletes. Picks like Hawkins and Barnum are along the same line, albeit a bit younger. My pet peeve about the draft so far is both players could have serious contact issues, they could have more power and be just as good an athlete as Thompson, but if they are striking out once every three ABs, they will be more risk than reward. I am not going to pretend I know too much about other prospects, but I was hoping the Sox would nab a guy who can hit for great contact, and could just be average across other areas, something our organization is missing from top to bottom. That's exactly who the Cubs drafted with their first-rounder. We'll see which team was right.

Why would we give up Mitchell unless we're getting a large amount of salary relief? And they can't eat salary (much) because it hampers their ability to make any other moves without going over the cap. The White Sox can't afford to give up their best prospects just to conserve money/resources anymore.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/12978277-41...eates-runs.html How Konerko creates RUNS and builds houses in Scottsdale.

2012 Draft Pick: Courtney Hawkins, RF, Carroll HS (TX) So much for pitching. At 6'2", 200 pounds Hawkins is quite possibly the best athlete in the entire draft. He has incredible strength already, which will translate to power down the line. He is a sound centerfielder that has terrific speed despite weighing 200 pounds. Hawkins did a back-flip for the MLB Network cameras to show us all how athletic he really is. As long as he can cut down on his whiffs, this is a premiere slugger in the making. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1202917...ch-team/page/14

QUOTE (2nd_city_saint787 @ Jun 4, 2012 -> 11:11 PM) I know its bleacher report but this Ken Rosenbaum guy looks legit, could swear I've heard his name perform. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1202917...ft-class/page/2 He has Keon ranked as the having he most power of any HS and the 5th best 1B in the draft. Wont pretend to know anything about a single player in the draft but from what I read I like both guys. Theres not much power to get excited about in the minors and it looks like these 2 can fill the void. Name perform a song-and-dance number? Wagner's operas? Joking. Fast typing mistakes when you're thinking about something else. http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/colum...,3160461.column Why the Cubs' didn't veer off course and take Appel instead. $8 million+ reasons, it looks like. That would have wiped out almost their entire budget for signings in the first 10-12 rounds or whatever it is.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/colum...,3160461.column Why the Cubs stuck with their plan of building long-term for the future and didn't take Appel... Reading about this kid and his dad, sounds a lot like one of those Tigers Woods/Todd Marinovich situations.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,2854895.story Had no idea that Hawkins weighed an eye-popping 270 as a 13 year old. Talk about "Tanks, Jr." there. Has a brother that plays football at Texas State that helped him get in great shape. KW has already asked him not to do any more backflips. We'll see how long that lasts. The fans love it, but dangerous. Always think about Kendrys Morales now when a player does something celebratory. And he just has a LOT more mass to his body than Ozzie Smith to be doing backflips and risk tearing up an ankle or knee.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...,0,695140.story Ventura splitting the difference on the SABES, "feel/instinct" argument....leaning more towards "feel" until he gets completely comfortable with the supporting numbers that validate them.

Would trade Wilkins in a heartbeat if it meant keeping Thornton and Crain for down the stretch. Unfortunately, the price will be a lot higher.

Cue PT Barnum comments if Keon is a bust, lol. The White Sox operation is like a circus, etc. At least he has a cool name, like Keyon Dooling of Missouri/NBA fame.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jun 4, 2012 -> 09:29 PM) You don't make a draft decision based on Hector Santiago, Jose Quintana or the like. But you do based on money, at least the White Sox history with the draft. And they apparently feel pretty confident in their ability to find pitching talent (at least at the present moment) from other sources. Who knows, in 2-3 weeks, we might be wondering what happened to Quintana as he's outrighted for assignment...or he might turn out to be the biggest "stealth" acquisition in the history of KW's tenure. The presence of Danks and Sale probably have a little something to do with this, though. Although $$$>BPA.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 4, 2012 -> 10:21 PM) Also fun that last year, the Sox have more picks and I think got a better pick in the comp round then what we took last year in our 1st pick (47th overall) in Walker. Not saying I don't like Walker, but there is just something fun about getting a couple guys with the ability to grow into potential middle of the order hitters. You always worry about those speed guys. KW has struggled for a decade to find a competent leadoff hitter but finally "lucked" into one with DeAza. From everything you read, Buxton doesn't seem like he projects to give them much power...but, then again, in that huge stadium, they need defense and XB hitters, not unlike the old Cardinals/Royals rosters that were built for Astroturf.

The other thing with Smoral is that we already have another guy in our bullpen in Hector Santiago who has similar or better stuff to make the transition to starter, along with Quintana. Young impact hitters=GOOD The more of them, the better. Last time we had this was the 2009 BIRM roster at the beginning of the season.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 4, 2012 -> 09:15 PM) Did Sox/Blue Jays share the same scouts? Sox were rumored to like Nay as well. See the Marco Paddy Nexus/Paradigm Shift. Did he bring anyone else over with him?

Can't get TOO upset about Smoral. If we can just dig up players like Quintana out of nowhere and they can come in and contribute...we don't have any 1B candidates legitimately besides POSSIBLY Wilkins, and he's still more of a fringe prospect at this point.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jun 4, 2012 -> 09:00 PM) I'd be interested in seeing Viciedo's stats on what kinds of pitches he's been getting his HR's. We keep hearing he hits the curve better than the fastball. So the league might try to adjust to him then we'll see how he adjusts back. In any case no need to lock anyone up at this point. Mostly sliders. The difference is that he's been taking fastballs to the opposite field for singles...so opposing pitchers are going to have to make another adjustment, since he's striking out much less frequently. The one of Seattle's Pryor, pretty sure it was an 88 MPH slider...the one he jacked to straightaway RF.

What would be very hilarious...if the White Sox drafted Ozney Guillen just to spite Ozzie, lol.