caulfield12

http://blogs.ajc.com/jeff-schultz-blog/201...ut-greg-walker/ No, this isn't what you would expect. I researched and found an article that actually supports DA's position...that said, I found some of Walker's comments interesting (if not unexpected) about the wear and tear of the last two seasons with the White Sox and that it was beyond time to part ways mutually (and supposedly, Reinsdorf wanted to keep Walker around for this season, if you believe the rumors). On the other hand, we've also seen huge progress with Adam Dunn (the medicine ball between the legs to limit his over-striding, for example), Rios has shown (until recently) big signs of improvement, AJ was the co-offensive MVP (along with Konerko) in the early season. DeAza has been about what everyone expected (we all knew he would fall off from a 900 OPS, that clearly wasn't sustainable). For now the main concerns are Ramirez and Viciedo (both Cubans always start cold, and Manto seems to love Viciedo)...Morel, of course, and Gordon Beckham, whose OPS now is an improvement on 2011. That and the fact that our bench doesn't provide much at all to work with, other than Lillibridge. Fukudome's near the end of his career, but it must be difficult working with Flowers and Lilly when they're getting so few opportunities in games to develop any sustainable type of rhythm and consistent approach. (Perhaps in a few days, Lilly will become the starting 3B if Morel continues to struggle and needs to be sent down). As Balta said, we were losing 8 wins from the losses of Santos/Quentin/Buehrle and now the idea that Sale's addition to the rotation would negate Mark's loss has been wiped out by his move to the bullpen and Danks' horrid start. All things considered, both teams have to be happy with their new hitting coaches. The Braves clearly have more "in their prime" offensive talent (McCann and Heyward are close to superstar level, Uggla's always been a potent hitter, Freeman is very impressive, etc.) One other thing, from the comments sections, it seems a LOT of the players were happy to have TWO hitting coaches. One is more mechanical, the other about visualization, this approach would seem to work very well for teams where the hitting/pitching coaches are not egomaniacs (as Walker is clearly not) and don't mind sharing some of the responsibilities. Just like teachers don't always get through to some students, different approaches and personalities can mesh where maybe only having Walker to work with in Chicago was becoming counterproductive for the likes of Beckham, Dunn and Rios last season. To summarize, the exchange of Walker for Manto has worked for both teams, and both organizations should be pleased.

http://www.scoutingbook.com/players/p2876 I love this report on Hector Santiago, "a polished and well-rounded blah blah blah" and stopped reading. God, so much of the stuff out there on the internet is horrible. A pitcher who's been struggling his whole career in our minor league system and then rockets from Winston-Salem to the majors on the strength of his Winter League tinkering is, well, the opposite of what they're describing. Like the comparison with the Kimbrell/Venters combination (with Reed closing), although he probably should be in AA (would prefer the bigger park to help him regain his confidence a bit) or Charlotte starting, working on both his command in the strike zone but specifically on getting a feel back for his breaking stuff. Seems very few of the people writing these reports have seen any of the players involved, but just go off stats.

QUOTE (knightni @ May 5, 2012 -> 08:41 PM) How are they going to do roster expansion on Sept 1 then? Won't that add more than 3.5 mil to their salaries? They don't have to bring up more than a handful of players (3-4-5-6 guys), and their salaries are pro-rated for just that month, right?

QUOTE (knightni @ May 5, 2012 -> 09:34 PM) Vance Worley would work for me. Philly can afford to move a SP to shore up their bullpen. Are the Phillies really in a position to give up that much in return for Matt Thornton, especially with his salary? Seems like fixing their offense on the fly with some band-aids for this season would be more of a priority.

And that starting pitching prospect better be able to throw in the mid 90's.

Beltre just ended their run of good luck. 5-2 Rangers. Not a good idea to intentionally walk Mitch Moreland, no matter how well he's been going today, in front of Adrian. Alexi Ogando's the secret weapon for that team. He can pitch multiple innings at any point in a game. Tonight it was the 9th and 10th.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ May 5, 2012 -> 07:42 PM) I think Nate Jones has been pretty good, but iirc he had a lot of control issues in the minors. I would rather Reed do the job that he did all through college. At the very least, Jones can mature into a 7th-8th inning reliever (hopefully) and be the main reason we can dump Crain's contract and don't need Jason Frasor. That would be really good, compared to where he was about 2 years ago as a prospect.

The Indians continuing to impress, going for their 4th straight home victory after being atrocious at home to start the season. Beat the Rangers (now in a three-game losing slide) and mounted a nice comeback against Adams to put the game tonight into extras. Tied 2-2 in the 10th in CLE.

Trout now 4/24 with 6 K's. Pujols on the bench at least to start the game. http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/story/_...-angeles-angels Pujols very grumpy about being benched. Almost 140 AB's since his last homer. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?g...&mode=video Trout ended up 2/4 with his first homer of the season, now at .231 6 homers in 149 career at-bats, would pencil in at 20-25 HR's for a full season hitting lead-off.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...,2584506.column Apparently many of the new owners of the Dodgers' franchise grew up in Chicago as Cubs' fans (gasp, even one from Iowa who didn't turn into Bucky Larson but instead became a lawyer after NU and eventually part of a major league ownership bloc).

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/colum...,2247571.column Jake Peavy "redemption" story by Haugh.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,2673521.story Chris Sale really doesn't seem to be convinced that he shouldn't be starting Sunday or that his mechanics have anything to do with his general elbow soreness. This story gets more the more interesting, between Sale, Cooper, Ventura and Williams, all saying somewhat different and conflicting things to an extent.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/videogallery...ng-HR-vs-Tigers Video of Dunn talking about his homer http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...22.premiumvideo Addison Reed on his first MLB save http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,6971665.story Game Story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/rosen...,7322774.column RosenbloG calls Marmol "stupid, uncoachable and untradeable." Poor Ricketts/Theo.

Dan Johnson continuing to rake, his 6th homer. (I'm not 100% sure, it seems like he had another one in a game that was suspended or wiped out by weather or was this the continuation of that game?) He's the best current candidate at Charlotte for promotion to take the spot of Escobar or Morel on the roster. Golson, Phegley and Jordan Danks are also going good. Leesman pitching pretty well this season. Jared Mitchell with his 6th triple of the season, and 23rd/24th RBI's. Barons getting pounded, though. Saladino back at SS in this game. http://www.milb.com/gameday/index.jsp?gid=...jaxaax_biraax_1

Plus his name sounds like Pat Neshek, reminding Ozzie of a former Piranha who always had our number while he was healthy. Clayton Richard and Mark Buehrle both throw an excellent game, both with only one run surrendered...Buehrle's ERA under 3 now, can't use Chishek until Tuesday's game according to Ozzie because of overuse the last few games.

First game we won this season when we scored 0-1-2-3 runs.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 5, 2012 -> 06:13 PM) I can assure you the biggest mistake discount traders make is not admitting their mistakes and getting out of winning trades while hanging on to the losers. The biggest mistake is not getting too greedy and knowing when the right time to take a profit is...or holding onto stocks too long in hopes they will eventually rebound in value because their price was ONCE $124 per share, so it has to return to that point (false) logically.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 5, 2012 -> 06:06 PM) Stone did mention cutting down his repitoire (sp) should lessen the tax on his elbow. So you didn't misunderstand. Repertoire. And that means he still shouldn't throw his slider as a reliever because that's the pitch that puts 80-90% of the stress on the elbow. Liriano had TJ surgery and he's never coming close to having the same slider or torque on his pitches compared to pre-surgery.

Just when you want to start cheering for Gordon Beckham again, he makes huge mental errors in back-to-back games. Luckily it didn't cost the Sox today.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 5, 2012 -> 05:02 PM) I'm not comparing him, just your philosophy of trading guys when the "have peak value" instead of enjoying their talents playing for your team. Why would the Sox trade Sale? Glad you're not my stockbroker.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 5, 2012 -> 05:04 PM) If this was Natstalk.com you would have been crying for days the Nats should have either traded or never drafted Strasburg when he went down. No, not really. Tommy John surgery has been perfected to the point where it consistently brings back pitchers these days at better than 100% (Liriano is one of the few exceptions). The only problem is that we've already wasted 3+ years of Sale before he could ever become a starter. And at least I'm not crying about Greg Walker no longer being the hitting coach. Adam Dunn's thankful for that, I'm sure.

Breaks the string of poor results in Detroit. We're now 3-11 in our last 14 at Comerica. Tigers were 77-0 last year when leading after 7 innings, this year they've ALREADY lost 5 games. Doubt they continue that pace and lose 27 for the entire season, but that's a difference most of us expected with Valverde being 49/49 last year in saves converted. And Floyd, ever since we acquired him, has been best against the Tigers of all AL teams.

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 5, 2012 -> 05:57 PM) I remember when Stults shut us down with the Dodgers in 05. I guess anything's possible on a given day in baseball, and the Tigers/Indians are more LH dominated than most, but I'm certainly not going to go out and bet on a win in that game, either.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 5, 2012 -> 05:54 PM) Sale and Reed could be the anchors for the best bullpen in baseball for years. Just remember that when Axelrod and Stults are pitching the next two days, lol. And one forgets that Nathan Jones had an important scoreless inning of work there.