caulfield12

Hanging slider there. Hmmm...

Rick Ankiel has replaced Chris Sale in your program.

Hoping for first pitch around 640. There's a yellow/dark green cell, not very large, west of the ballpark...and obviously the last thing they want to do is start Sale and then bring him back or scrub him after a delay, like what happened to CJ Wilson yesterday.

And not having his wife in the stands hurts attendance and gives the WGN cameras one less thing to hone in on.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 12, 2012 -> 04:54 PM) Ubaldo is plenty healthy. He just sucks. Okay, well, he's missing about the same MPH off his fastball as Jake Peavy is from 2007-2008.

Or he was tired of the Chicago talk radio shows dissecting his situation.

LaHair's in the Top 5 overall in MLB OPS. There's just no way that is going to stand up if you look at his entire career track record in the minors. Sveum wants Soriano to use a lighter bat, pride stands in the way... http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/05/...-a-smaller-bat/

8 K's in his last 39 AB's, or in his last 41 plate appearances, that's not exceptionally high. Sure, you'd like to see it closer to 15% than a bit over a 20%, but it's not going to come close to killing any hitter who's in the 850-900 OPS range. Of course, he's probably not going to stay up there at that rate for the rest of the year, but nobody will be asking for him to be released or non-tendered if he's a 700 or even 675 hitter at 2B, combined with his solid defense AND the equally important point he doesn't have an obvious replacement (a young and promising everyday player) anywhere north of Winston-Salem in the minors.

I would say the Indians have a shot, but only if they had a healthy Sizemore in his prime, and a healthy Ubaldo Jimenez. Neither which are remotely close to reality.

Ba-De-Boom. Still not working. But keep trying. I suppose it can't be any worse than TLB or TBL or whatever Lillibridge was being called. Probably jinxed his decent 2011!

Because if this season was about "long term development," then Sale would be allowed to stay in the bullpen indefinitely. However, since he's NOT, having absolutely nothing to do with what Chris Sale wants and everything to do with Marty's agenda, his "desperate reinsertion" back into the starting rotation is a clear and obvious sign that KW has to get the White Sox to the playoffs or he will be summarily fired. BTW, Marty, nice try with including Molina and Viciedo in trade talks. Try Matt Thornton, Jesse Crain or Hector Santiago instead...a place where we actually do have some depth and can afford to make a trade, should we so choose. Since we don't have a replacement LF other than Lillibridge (and later on Mitchell, but not this year for sure, and Fukudome's not going to last as an everyday play for more than 2-3 weeks, which will then cause Marty to trade away more of our future) and we might be replacing as many as 3 starters in 2013, probably not the smartest move to trade away a young and affordable one since that's now the most valuable commodity in baseball. In fact, if it's so easy to find and develop young 1B/DH/LF types, how does that explain why Justin Smoak, Brandon Belt and Eric Hosmer are taking much longer than anticipated to be league-average hitters?

Help a major, minor or independent league team?

Or you can believe Cowley that Ozzie and Cooper last year were adamantly against Sale starting, and both thought he would break down sooner or later.

But that becomes dangerous, to say someone who is gay or an atheist or someone who believes in a different religion from you is a cult member. To those people, from their perspective, perhaps it is YOU who is a cult member. Certainly, if you were the wife of a murdered doctor who performed abortions, you would feel that way, when people in the name of religion feel justified in killing despite what the secular laws say on a subject (abortion is legal according to Roe vs. Wade, murder obviously is wrong, except in certain circumstances like being a soldier or self-defense of your home/family, etc.) It would be like if I said Greg is a member of the Ozzie Guillen Cult, or the Dr. Pepper Cult, because his tastes or opinions are different than mine. For another example, most Christians and non-Christians/atheists call Church of Scientology followers "cult members." Agree or disagree with them, we don't have the right to make that argument, any more than people can or should say someone is being a good Christian when they help someone across the street, give up their coat to a stranger or give a few dollars to a homeless person. Statistically, gay or non-Christian people (for an example), are just as likely or more likely to do volunteer work or adopt a child.

DA DA is worse than mine, XBaza, for all of his XB hits (or more for the fact that those extra-base hits remind use a leadoff hitter doesn't have to be a complete punch and judy hitter).

"What changed was Chris Sale's phone call, saying, 'No, it's not exactly described as pain, it's more general soreness and it's something I've had and I can get through,'" Williams said before the Sox's game with the Royals. "And he was adamant about it to the point where he almost crossed the line, and I liked that. "When you look at what turns a (pitcher) from a No. 3 guy to a No. 2 or then a No. 1, there's a little extra quality that can be aggravating to some but in my mind it's actually a positive. The forcefulness with which he wanted back on the mound told us some things." So exactly what did Sale say? "Let's just say I really, really thought I could do this," Sale said. "This is something that has been a dream and a passion of mine. I felt I could do this and felt poorly I set a goal and fell drastically short. "I felt like I was letting my teammates down, like I was depending on other people to pick up my slack." The final decision was not made until just before the homestand started Friday after a pre-game meeting of front office, field and medical personnel. An MRI on the elbow already had ruled out any physical damage. Williams scoffed at questions hinting the team didn't know what it was doing with Sale or had had internal disagreements, especially since he made one relief appearance Tuesday. "As a team, we are better (with him) in the starting rotation so it's not about the team," Williams said. "It's about the health of Chris Sale first and foremost. "We had to take extra care to make sure everybody was on the same page and everyone was communicating to the degree that we weren't taxing him with the starter load versus the reliever load." Sale, who has an extreme arm motion, will be monitored closely on pitch counts and may have to change his selection of pitches, which relies heavily on arm-taxing sliders. "Yeah, obviously there are precautions you have to take," Sale said. "Take a little bit different approach to pitching. Whether it's this or that, we don't know yet but we certainly will figure it out. "You throw a lot of sliders it's going to be a little bit harder on your elbow than throwing a fastball. That's just what it is. Obviously we'll have to back off that a little bit. (But) not for one second will I not use it." Said Williams: "We have an agreement with Chris that he will be as honest and truthful with the medical staff as he possibly can be and he'll be honest with himself. You may see him skipped from time to time if he's having any issues at all and it's not with the mindset that that automatically means there's a red flag. We're just trying to get him through his inaugural campaign of starting." http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,1950444.story

His easlier work is clearly his best. A lot of people hated Alice in Wonderland, Sweeney Todd and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I'd probably go with Sleepy Hollow for the best of the more recent purely live action movies. Corpse Bride was so-so, but love Edward Scissorhands (that's when half of us had crushes on Winona Ryder) and Ed Wood about equally. One of my best friends and I still throw out random quotes from that movie 15-20 years later. Burton is remaking his 1984 short film Frankenweenie as a feature-length stop motion film, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures.[20] The film is set to be released on October 5, 2012.[21] On January 19, 2010, it was announced that after Dark Shadows, Burton's next project would be a Wicked-like film that showed the origin and the past of Sleeping Beauty's antagonist Maleficent. In an interview with Fandango published February 23, 2010, however, he denied he was directing any upcoming Sleeping Beauty film.[22] However, on November 23, 2010, in an interview with MTV, Burton confirmed that he was indeed putting together a script for Maleficent.[23] It was announced in The Hollywood Reporter on May 16, 2011 that Burton was no longer attached to Maleficent.[24] (This is the movie with Angelina Jolie playing the title role.) Burton will also co-produce Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter with Timur Bekmambetov, who will also serve as director. The film, set to be released on June 22, 2012, is based on the novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, also author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, who also wrote the film's screenplay. It has also been reported that Burton will be directing a 3-D stop-motion animation adaptation of The Addams Family, which was confirmed by Christopher Meledandri.[25] On July 19, 2010, he was announced as the director of the upcoming film adaptation of Monsterpocalypse.[26] from wikipedia.com Weird, can't find much at all about The Addams Family movie or Monsterpocalypse. Guess they're both stalled, since those projects were both announced/started way back in 2010.

The odds of us coming out of all ALL those four blown saves (and a bunch of other botched tie ballgames in the 7th and 8th) with wins aren't close to 100%, but you'd like to think if Reed was the closer from Day 1 we'd be something like 18-15, or maybe 19-14, because we're getting among the best starting pitching in the AL (3rd in ERA coming yesterday's game, and obviously that went down even more), combined with an improving but slightly below average offense. “Going into the season, we knew we were going to have to monitor this to a greater degree than we usually do,” general manager Ken Williams said Friday of the decision to switch Sale from reliever to starter. “We know there’s going to be an adjustment period.” That period usually comes in the minors, Williams said, but Sale, the top draft choice in 2010, essentially had no minor-league career. “What complicated things with Chris is we put him in the bullpen for two years,” Williams said. The real complication in the last week seems to have been the team’s initial reaction to Sale’s complaints about discomfort in his elbow. Within days of his start on May 1 in Cleveland, a 7-2 victory, manager Robin Ventura and pitching coach Don Cooper announced Sale was being moved to the closer’s role because a starting job might be too taxing for his arm considering his delivery style. Sale blew a save in his first opportunity May 4 in Detroit, but his psyche might have been the greater casualty. “I truly felt this was something I could do,” Sale said of starting, and he made that clear to Williams in a phone call the day he worked out of the bullpen. “He wants it badly, and I love that about him,” said Williams, whose conversation with Sale brought about the latest change. “I’m really proud because he stood up for himself. When Robin Ventura said he was going to the bullpen, what changed was a Chris Sale phone call to me.” Sale insisted that what initially was thought to be “pain” in his elbow — Williams called it “a red flag” to the team — was more “general soreness.” Sale told Williams, “I can get through this.” “He was adamant. He almost crossed the line,” Williams said. “But the forcefulness he had told us something. It told us he has something extra mentally.” Just as important was the medical exam, which Williams described as “clean.” Sale will start Saturday against the Kansas City Royals. “Everything will be monitored,” Williams said, admitting that Sale might have to be skipped at times, or even put in the bullpen again for brief stays. “We take care of our pitchers, and we’re going to shut you down if there is something that indicates you’re not healthy. We have to do what we have to do to manage him through the season. We may have to do it again [put him in the bullpen], though I hope not. “I don’t care if it causes questions in the rotation. If we have to take him out that day [he is scheduled], we will. He’s more important than that day’s game.” Ventura said he doesn’t envision a problem managing his rotation while managing Sale (3-1, 2.73 ERA). “It’s a unique situation. It’s the same kind of monitoring that was going on before,” Ventura said. “You probably look at it and keep tabs on it a little more.” Ventura and Williams insisted that what seemed ambiguous surrounding Sale’s situation on the outside was never that way internally. Ventura suggested any confusion was because the team was on the road and “people weren’t able to sit down face-to-face. And now we’re [home] and everybody can sit down, get tests done. You see things and talk about it face-to-face.” A defensive Williams said the Sox were only being cautious, as they have been with countless players through the years. “If anyone wants to come after me for being overly cautious, fire away,” he said. “We’re going to take care of this guy. We drafted him [to be] a starter. You don’t want to do anything to compromise his long-term future.” As for Sale, his thoughts for now are about starting Saturday. “I felt poorly that I set a goal to do this and fell drastically short,” he said. “I felt like I was letting my teammates down and felt like I was depending on other people to pick up my slack. It was disappointing to me not being able to fulfill something I was supposed to do. “They’ve had my best interests in mind since the day I got here. They would rather be too cautious than not cautious enough. They’ve been doing this a really long time, and they’re really good at what they do. I’m more than willing to buy into the program.” http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/wh...x-rotation.html

I like how Manto wasn't even sure he wanted to set the sights as high as .280 with Gordon in his most recent comments. Then again, I think everyone would be thrilled with .260-.280 and an OPS between 675-725 compared to where he's been the last 12-18 months. What the heck is "DA DA"? Designate for assignment Dick Allen, lol?

Watching the A's game tonight against the Tigers, made me wish we'd traded Santos to the Red Sox so we could have acquired Reddick. That guy's been playing awfully well, especially considering half his games are played at a mausoleum where the ball doesn't carry well at night or in the cold marine layer. Of course, that would mean Viciedo would be blocked (again), but Reddick would have given us a much better and balanced outfield defensively, too. And it would have afforded us the luxury of being able to trade Dunn and plug in Viciedo into the DH spot. So now we're stuck wondering if we can be competitive in 2013/2014 or whether it would be better to clear Adam's contract right now. It's hard to argue that it would be a wise move unless you want to run off the remaining season ticket holders left. But oh well. Just hope Molina comes through as promised. And it's crazy to be back in that "short term/win now" mentality...seems like we always get suck backed right in, except for last year when you never really felt they were playing together as a team or were going to be a charge at 1st despite puttering along for 3-4 months without putting the rest of the division away.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ May 11, 2012 -> 11:39 PM) He's obviously the closer of the future. He's the closer now. Maybe they're just trying to bring him along slowly. Maybe they're trying to put him in positions where they feel he has the best chance for success. Maybe he's just being groomed to be a closer for the long term. We're not doing anything this year. Bringing Reed along slowly might be a real good thing. They didn't do that a week or so ago when he came into the game in the bottom of the 7th or 8th inning and there was already a runner on 2nd with two outs and the game was tied. At least let him start the 8th or 9th innings, don't put him out there to clean up someone else's mess.

Yep, they're going to have a hard time sticking with the Cardinals with all the surprising performances St. Louis is getting so far this season.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 11, 2012 -> 06:46 PM) What's got into Doyle tonight? 10 k's in 5 innings. You can understand why the Twins couldn't keep him, but do you think they'd like him back now? The Twins have a lot more problems than their 5th starter/last man in the bullpen. Remember, they also gave up on Humber. They probably viewed him the same way many view Dylan Axelrod (well, the way we did too, as we didn't protect him).

Hope they go with Santiago over Stewart here. You have to feel Hector's at least got the potential to straighten things out...some upside down the road.

QUOTE (Jake @ May 11, 2012 -> 09:33 PM) They can have Morel, Lillibridge, the whole gang! I think Middlebrooks is their guy for now though. We don't want to give away Lillibridge at such a low value. He was worth a lot more this past offseason. The way Hosmer's going this year just shows how there's almost NEVER anything such as a sure thing among hitting prospects...at least not to just come up and flat out dominate from the get-go. Bryce Harper's fallen off a bit too in Washington, they've moved him off the 3rd spot in the order down to 5th.