caulfield12

But what kind of prospect are you going to legitimately get from the Yankees for Matt Thornton? Not one of their Top 3 prospects. Maybe 6-10? If it was in 2010, when his contract was more typical of a set-up guy, I could see us getting something really nice, but not so much now because of his age, salary and failures in 2011. Probably nothing like Wilson Ramos or Montero, which is what we really need. This would be our wish list, theoretically. 4. Gary Sanchez, c 5. Mason Williams, of 6. Dante Bichette, 3b 7. Ravel Santana, of 8. Austin Romine, c 9. J.R. Murphy, c/3b 10. Slade Heathcott, of

Mitchell 3 for his last 18 (.167) with "just" two doubles.

I'm sure DJ will probably call Young a "knucklehead," not sure how much stronger their comments will be. Depending on his mood and flow of the game, Farmer MIGHT be willing to go a bit more political/controversial, but not really DJ's thing to criticize players as much as Ed. He'll chime in after Farmer has said something negative, but he usually doesn't initiate criticism as much as Farmer does.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20...lb&c_id=mlb I think it's a little bit too gimmicky and marketing-centric. For example, the team that won the World Baseball Classic would play against the American All-Star team in July...or the Japanese professional league champion team or an All-Star team from Japan or Korea would face the American team.... Venezuelan or Dominican teams versus each other....4 game "playoff" tournament in the middle of the year, etc. Of course, we already have the WBC, but that's always in the preseason and doesn't have full participation...and the Olympics, but that's different, too. Maybe you could have a six team tourney (US, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Cuba, Japan and Korea) and seed the teams 1-6 with the top two teams getting byes? Plus, you'd have to go back to the alternate-year home field advantage for the World Series, although I guess that wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to occur.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ May 4, 2012 -> 10:27 AM) According to FanGraphs, Albert Pujols has been the 2nd least valuable player in baseball, right below Xavier Nady. Yay, Morel's not last. Nor is Beckham. Baby steps.

Actually more disappointing that Molina's stuff hasn't looked better (yeah, we know his control is playable, but...) and Castro still looks really, really rough, too.

I would trade for Matt Thornton and take on that salary in a second before I would mess with Marmol. Marmol and the pressure-cooker that is NY, not a good idea. There's pretty good reason to suspect Soriano wouldn't be able to handle it either...he just doesn't have the same kind of stuff he had 5 years ago when he could be devastating. And Soriano's already become Cashman's own version of Adam Dunn in a way, the fans aren't going to give him much rope.

Except for Marty, nobody's calling for KW's head. We're 29th in MLB attendance right now and extrapolated out at the same pace, we'd end up with the worst attendance figures of the KW Era (2002, just over 1.6 million) and the worst for New Comiskey except for 1998 and 1999. But I don't see MOST of the fanbase in a panic. The hardcore fans are aware that there's some patience required...and have to look no further than the Northside for evidence of this fact. That parallel project alone gives KW some added breathing room, but it is frustrating because if he had built a consistent winner and a couple of more playoff teams, we'd be a in much better position vis a vis the Cubs than we are now.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/3748/david-ortiz 27 1/2 is the first time he put up really big, 900+ OPS numbers. His first 4+ years with the Twins, he was at 802, 817, 810, 799 and then 839 at age 26 1/2. Then you have to consider the fall-off in OPS numbers since the height of the steroids era, that's the equivalent of Viciedo putting up 750-775-800 these next few upcoming years and peaking at ages 26-29. That's what a rebuilding team HAS to do. Have at least 4-5-6 position guys together in their peak production years.

Robin wears his hat too low on his head and doesn't bend the bill enough. And he's boring, like Joe C's twitter account now. Fire KW!

Robertson's the best reliever in baseball right now, statistically. Whether he can do the job as the closer, that remains to be seen. At least they have 2 good candidates before they have to make a desperation move.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 3, 2012 -> 11:49 PM) Why the Farmer hate? I think he's OK. You should hear the Royals' hacks. They have one good announcer and they reduced his workload 90 games this year. Like when they say Angels instead of Royals, lol. Levebvre's okay, and so is Denny Mathews, albeit a bit cranky at times.. Bob Davis, so-so.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 3, 2012 -> 06:38 AM) Plus they still owe $189 million to Mauer and Morneau (counting this year). To put that in perspective the Sox owe $91.5 million to Peavy, Rios, and Dunn. Don't forget Danks now!!

You've got the Rangers' staff, all the AL staffs now are good (especially TB), Baltimore is rapidly improving there, Toronto, then the Mariners and A's don't have great staffs 1-5 but hitting homers in either of those stadiums is quite diferent than the ball flying out in St. Louis from May-September. The AL Central after the Tigers and White Sox is probably the weakest because of MINN and KC. Rehab stint likely for White Sox' Crain By Daryl Van Schouwen on May 3, 2012 7:32 PM | Jesse Crain is eligible to come off the disabled list Sunday but the right-handed reliever won't be back any time soon. Manager Robin Ventura said one or two minor-league rehab outings are likely once Crain's left oblique heals completely. Crain had hoped to throw off a mound Thursday but was limited to about 20 throws on flat ground. "I don't do anything half [way], so I got to be ready to go, I got to get through it without it bothering me and affecting the way I pitch,'' Crain said. Crain, who was shelved with a mild right oblique strain is frustrated with this one, which is probably more delicate for a right-hander. He tried to stay positive. "The other day when I was done throwing, it felt very tight and sensitive,'' he said. "Today, it doesn't feel quite like that. So I think it's a step forward." http://blogs.suntimes.com/whitesox/

Pedro Hernandez with another very good start in AA. Mitchell 0/4 with 2 K's.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 3, 2012 -> 07:20 PM) The Change-Up was way better than I thought it would be...and I'm not talking about Danks. Probably one of those movies that you appreciate more when you have kids. It's definitely better than a somewhat similar movie, HALL PASS. Ryan Reynolds and Owen Wilson both have that likeable quality that you can at least sit through pretty horrible movies when they're in them...like The Green Lantern.

Farmer still provides more insight/analysis than DJ ever does...when he's not incessantly name-dropping, mentioning Notre Dame or doing a shout out for kidney transplants.

mcgrad derisive post-game comments arriving in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1....

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 3, 2012 -> 06:32 PM) tal·ent/ˈtalənt/ Noun: 1.Natural aptitude or skill. 2.A person or people possessing such aptitude or skill: A player possessing aptitude or skill according to M-34's discerning eye, which perhaps surpasses both Grady Fuson and Paul DePodesta in both astuteness and critical analysis.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 3, 2012 -> 06:29 PM) I knew you would appreciate it. Got to get rid of anyone with talent. The only problem with getting rid of players with talent, if you get players with equal talent, you'll have to move them along too. Trading guys at their "peak value" means you are never really playing to win. Its a great philosophy. Sounds like Billy Beane playing out the string and biding time waiting for that new stadium. That's why the Cespedes move was such an anomaly. Big risk, big upside, but limited by the fact they can only control him for 4 years and then he's on the FA market again. Also, in the last 2 years of his contracts, the salary numbers get a lot bigger. But this year, he's definitely been a bargain, at least so far.

And the brief whisper of hope is extinguished as quickly as it flickered to life.

K's in consecutive days against RHP for AJ...super rare.

Guess I have to take the comment back about 3 runs = L I guess this more than anything points the finger at Danks' poor start and his new contract. Dunn now only 4 off last year's HR pace. It would be ironic if he had a season reminiscent of Albert Belle in 1997 or 98 or whatever year when what we really needed was his production LAST YEAR. PS: Now we can look back at Escobar and Beckham last inning and be even more aggravated. But at least happy for Dunn.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 3, 2012 -> 09:58 PM) I just don't understand why we suck. We got a good leadoff hitter, good starting pitching except for Danks, good defense, adequate bullpen and yet we suck. Greg, I HOPE you're a better baseball fan than to ask a question like that. Once again, we're going to lose a game in which we scored 3 runs or less. We haven't won one all season. So inconsistent or below-average offense, 2-3 guys who have been among the 10-20 worst OPS guys in the entire major leagues, 2 Santiago blown saves, Danks pitching like crap, it's not that difficult to understand...along with the lack of consistent clutch hitting with RISP, and too many K's by our hitters. Our pitching should be fine, but the bullpen's currently VERY limited without Jesse Crain and with Santiago struggling.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 3, 2012 -> 09:55 PM) Who would have thought Chris "Grinder" Getz would be a better ballplayer than Beckham? Amazing. Being a grinder isn't all bad. Beckham should grind more and not let his mind wander. Greg, you were always the one saying how much the Royals' fans disliked Getz. Now he's a hero because he won the game yesterday and is hitting over .300 and stealing a few bags? Chris Getz is not a starter on a playoff-contending MLB team.