caulfield12

Hopefully not 1 Win Phil or the latest Sox pitcher who jinxed the team with a no-hitter/perfecto...

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 27, 2012 -> 08:44 AM) When Frank Thomas first came up, he pretty much did most his damage the other way. Same with Beckham. Although the majority of his homers were to LF, his true "happy spot" was the RCF gap for a double. Same with Carlos Quentin when he was REALLY going well, actually. Remember when Brian Anderson hit 2 homers off Felix Hernandez in Seattle? How many times did KW say that Anderson could put up Torii Hunter numbers if he just played everyday....20-24 homers, 65-85 RBI's? And no power probably explains why there's probably never been a single thread about Eduardo Escobar, lol. Even Flowers and Lillibridge get their own uniquely-loyal segments of the fanbase excited.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 27, 2012 -> 07:23 AM) Trouts level as a prospect. As excited as everyone is about Mitchell, Trout's 2012 numbers at AAA are better than Mitchell's, at AA across the board. Is there any way to even that out for ballpark factors, though? Putting those numbers up in Birmingham and the Southern League is more impressive to me. A lot of those XB hits will fly out of USCF in the summertime. Not so in BIRM.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 27, 2012 -> 08:33 AM) There was at least 1 thread here when he was first signed asking if he could pass Thomas for the team HR mark that I can recall. I remember posting one of those Passan articles when he first signed, too. And seeing the quotes/comments/comparisons in this thread, as well. Never took the passing Frank Thomas thing seriously though, because he seemed to hit too many line drives/doubles. You could tell from those first videos he wasn't going to be a 30-40 homer type of guy. Not like Cespedes has the potential to be, at least.

Nobody said anything about him being the "Golden Boy." Beckham was the only one who had a shot to be that, and he's blown it, at least 90% of the opportunity he had at being the "Derek Jeter" of the White Sox. Is Dayan Viciedo our best current hope among our current major league roster to be an impact bat? Yes, there's no doubt about that. Is he going to win an MVP or get tons of endorsements or make any fans forget about Frank Thomas, Robin Ventura or even Crede and Rowand? No way. At this point, just "solid" major leaguers who are cost-controlled and put up average or above offensive production is what we're desperately in need of moving forward. If Conor Jackson or Brandon Inge or ANYONE can put up a 750 OPS and play a capable 3B, I'd be happy to call them a Golden Boy, too. If Brent Morel or Gordon Beckham could even put up a 675 or 700 OPS, I'll call them "Golden Boys" if it will make you happy.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 27, 2012 -> 07:57 AM) A "highly intoxicated" Delmon Young arrested in Manhattan after hotel brawl That powerhouse arm has always been more hype than reality. Although this incident will remind everyone of the problems with Miguel Cabrera at the end of 2010. The Tigers' announcers have said numerous times their team looks listless and basically unmotivated. Maybe they started believing their pre-season press clippings and thought with the rest of the AL Central down that there was an unabated path directly to the World Series and they just had to show up and put their uniforms on and the competition would cower in front of them.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 27, 2012 -> 07:16 AM) To be fair, Mitchell has a long way to go to be put into that category. Bad picks or in Trout's vicinity as a prospect? Hasn't the bloom already started to fall a little off that rose...seems like all numbers put in the Angels' minor league system are suspect to an extent until validated with actual MLB results.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 27, 2012 -> 08:09 AM) Why does it matter since when you have defended him and since when I have predicted failure? I never stated I hated the signing, or I've hated him as a prospect since 2008 or 2009. Put down the opium, dude. I never claimed to be a professional scout, nor have I claimed there is no room for disagreement amongst those professional scouts or GMs. What I have stated several times now is that I would like to move him now, while there still are people that are high on him, and before the scouting and GM community does reach a consensus that he isn't a good MLB prospect any longer. A few times some of you guys defending him have stated that he doesn't have much value on the trade market, of which I have stated I disagree. If he doesn't have that value, than what exactly are you seeing that the professionals are not? He's 23 freakin' years old. Some GM's will still consider guys like Matt Thornton or Joe Borchard prospects into their late 20's even.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 27, 2012 -> 08:09 AM) Why does it matter since when you have defended him and since when I have predicted failure? I never stated I hated the signing, or I've hated him as a prospect since 2008 or 2009. Put down the opium, dude. I never claimed to be a professional scout, nor have I claimed there is no room for disagreement amongst those professional scouts or GMs. What I have stated several times now is that I would like to move him now, while there still are people that are high on him, and before the scouting and GM community does reach a consensus that he isn't a good MLB prospect any longer. A few times some of you guys defending him have stated that he doesn't have much value on the trade market, of which I have stated I disagree. If he doesn't have that value, than what exactly are you seeing that the professionals are not? I'm the one smoking the opium when there are only two posters on this entire site arguing/supporting your case, and maybe Greg if Viciedo had a bad game the night before will join in on "your side" too? Sure, if you say so.

So what's the next thread? Dick Allen brought it up in the game thread last night. Alexei Ramirez should be traded because he's PROBABLY older than his official age and by the time we're actually competitive, he will be well past his prime and trending downwards in all aspect of the game...and that maybe his April offensive woes aren't the typical "he'll warm up eventually in the summer months as usual" but the first signs of real decline.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 27, 2012 -> 07:01 AM) Wow...defensive, anyone? Pardon anyone who doesn't see the guy panning out... I've defended Viciedo from Day One. Where's your track record going back to 2008/09/10/11 predicting his failure? Simply based on his major league at-bats in 2011 and 2012? If you can see all of his flaws, what makes you think every GM in the game wouldn't have already identified them years ago when they had a chance to sign him and passed?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 27, 2012 -> 07:00 AM) I'd like to be proven wrong, but I'm going to guess the only reason why a person would specifically say we have Viciedo for less time than Lee is that person doesn't understand that Viciedo has the same arbitration path as a normal ballplayer. And we know someone with the Pulitzer prize-winning Sun-Times would never make such an elementary mistake, right?

They taught you that in sports journalism school? Congrats for retaining that important kernel of wisdom. How much was the tuition fee there? Better than University of Phoenix or Kaplan?

$4M signing bonus 09:$1M, 10:$1.25M, 11:$1.25M, 12:$2.5M Basically, he's too expensive to even afford for a team valued at over half a billion dollars in the one of the largest media markets in the US, so we should have players like Mark Teahen and Jason Frasor on our payroll instead. Ooops, if we have to trade Dayan because we can't afford him, that must mean KW has misallocated the budget he was given. Fire him!

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 27, 2012 -> 06:44 AM) This is exactly right. The idea that if he turns in to Carlos Lee it's a "major" win for the Sox, no it's not. Carlos Lee was okay when he was cheap, but he became a liability once his salary went up. Viciedo doesn't have as many cheap years as Lee did. When is Viciedo going to be making $6.5 million dollars? Keep in mind, that's Carlos Lee's 2004 salary...so it should probably be adjusted upwards to $7.5-8.0 million in current dollars. He's not going to make that money in 2013 or 2014. He's not even going to make Carlos Quentin's 2012 salary of just over $7 million, in his 6th season. So we should trade Dayan Viciedo, who we've already invested $10 million into and whose rights we control for the next six years...in the prime production years of ages 23-24-25-26-27-28-29-30...for who EXACTLY? Your naming some hot-shot prospect on another team flies in the face of his "perceived value" because if you and Iamshack can clearly see all his hitting defects, even Greg Walker might not be able to fix him. In which case, you want WHO to be playing LF? Don't say Brent Lillibridge, you want him at SS after you've traded Alexei Ramirez. So Fukudome playing everyday? Sounds like giving up now, not rebuilding.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 27, 2012 -> 06:26 AM) I don not give one damn whether you are in China or across the street. If you are grousing about White Sox attendance my advice is to buy a ticket or two. Can't make it to the game there are plenty of charities in Chicago that could benefit from your largess. By the way, your statement is a bit idiotic. If you're not the White Sox pitching coach or a former major league pitcher, you can't make a comment on Phil Humber? If I am unable to attend Sox games in person, I shouldn't be able to post here about it? Maybe you should make your own version of SoxTalk only for denizens of the Gold Coast ticket areas? Then you would have the unadulterated views of your target audience and not just the fawning approbation of your fawning sycophants. I know a certain sportswriter who can't even steal a base against AJ Pierzynski with a running head start/walking lead, wearing shorts, even if he tried it 100 times in a row. Why should I listen to him comments about the White Sox when he's the most unathletic commentator I know, with the exception of his brain getting so much exercise and attention from him massaging his ego so much.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 27, 2012 -> 06:26 AM) I don not give one damn whether you are in China or across the street. If you are grousing about White Sox attendance my advice is to buy a ticket or two. Can't make it to the game there are plenty of charities in Chicago that could benefit from your largess. I prefer to volunteer my personal time and commitment to service work. Giving $1 when only 70-75-80% of it is going to direct services or programming is a waste of my money. LARGESSE, by the way. Unless you consider buying a subscription to your newspaper, the Sun-Times, an act of charity as well??

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 27, 2012 -> 06:26 AM) I don not give one damn whether you are in China or across the street. If you are grousing about White Sox attendance my advice is to buy a ticket or two. Can't make it to the game there are plenty of charities in Chicago that could benefit from your largess. I prefer to volunteer my personal time and commitment to service work. Giving $1 when only 70-75-80% of it is going to direct services or programming is a waste of my money. LARGESSE, by the way. Unless you consider buying a subscription to your newspaper, the Sun-Times, an act of charity as well??

Yankees GM Brian Cashman ready to “wear it” now that he's traded his top prospect for a pitcher headed for an operating table and an uncertain future. He knows fans are angry: “I understand their frustration. I'm disappointed. I'm devastated by the same thing. I'm doing a job and that job involves making very difficult decisions. You hope that those decisions work out. It's not looking good at all so you're experiencing the blowback from that. I see it and I'll wear it.”

I wonder how many people would take on that Cespedes contract RIGHT NOW...(forget about the possible compensation to the A's)...knowing that it would essentially be a $55 million/4 year contract because you're going to be forced to trade Dayan Viciedo as a result for almost nothing in return?? But, at least we'd have a potential superstar, a much better defensive outfield and a legitimate personality we could market in Chicago....lots of if's, and's and but's, surely, and it's always easy to spend someone else's money, right? Was just thinking about who I'd want to take Morel's place if he continues to struggle...two or three or four months from now. Would it be Dallas McPherson, Lillibridge, Tyler Kuhn, Conor Jackson (just started playing 3B again in AAA) or GASP, Brandon Inge? For Beckham, same thing... Kuhn, Lillibridge, Escobar, Ozzie Martinez or Brandon Inge. Inge would obviously be a stop-gap, but I love the idea of having a former Tigger (one that Harrelson still loves irrationally) getting a chance to revenge himself upon the MoTown boys. And he did put up very respectable when he was in AAA last year, but he's 35/36 years old and has a lot of wear and tear on that body. It also struck me that he could be a band-aid, one year stopgap for our catching position if Flowers/Phegley can't cut it...2nd or 3rd catcher, back-up infielder, jack of all trades like McEwing/Oquendo type. When you have to weigh Inge versus Eduardo Escobar's career 666 minor league OPS that's highly unlikely to improve at the major league level, might actually be inclined to go with Inge.

Brandon Inge has his sons' names tattooed on his forearms. That's nice, but it would have been fitting if he went with two other people he knows well. On his left arm: BRANDON INGE. And on his right: BRANDON INGE. One would be for Inge the ballplayer. And the other would be for Inge the public figure. The Tigers released Inge the ballplayer Thursday afternoon, and they had the simplest and best reason: They have (at least) 25 better players in their system. • Related: Inge released after Tigers loss Thursday Since the start of the 2011 season, Inge has hit .190, with a .255 on-base percentage and .284 slugging percentage. How awful is that? Well, last season batters went .192/.242/.313 against Justin Verlander. Inge turned every pitcher in the major leagues into Justin Verlander. As a baseball story, this isn't even a story. It's a sentence: "The Tigers released a .190 hitter Thursday." But as the ballplayer leaves, he takes the public figure with him. And that is where this gets interesting -- not controversial, but interesting. Inge is both beloved and hated -- and hated largely because he is beloved. He has played here since 2001, expressed his love for Detroit repeatedly, been accessible to the media and active with charities. He is also 5-feet-11, with a baby face, and he lost his position three times when the Tigers brought in superstars Pudge Rodriguez, Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder. That made him a lovable underdog in a city that loves underdogs. From 2004 to 2006, Inge was an average major league hitter and above-average third baseman. After that he was sometimes decent, sometimes almost-decent and often injured. He had a normal career for a player of his caliber: rough start, pretty good peak in his late 20s, then a decline. The difference with Inge is that he did it all in one city. Almost all players of his ability play for several teams. They aren't loved or hated. They are just there, and then way over there, and then out there. Inge's fans and haters came to define him -- in the past year or two, it was hard to think about Inge without thinking about all that love and loathing. But to the Tigers, he was still a ballplayer. They gave him a two-year, $11.5-million contract after the 2010 season, because they didn't have other options and because they mistakenly thought he was still a starting third baseman. Last year, as he struggled to hit the fastball, and also the curveball, slider and change-up, the Tigers could have released him. But this is where the public figure superseded the ballplayer: Inge was willing to go to Triple-A Toledo and work his way back to Detroit, instead of taking his guaranteed money and leaving. When he came back, he went .278/.355/.444 the rest of the way. Admit it, haters: Those are solid major league numbers. The Tigers wanted to believe Inge, who turns 35 next month, would be that player in 2012. He obviously is not. And so the Tigers had to release him. They should have done it in spring training. If the player has anything left (and I'm very skeptical), the burden from being a public figure here sapped him of it. Inge seemed frustrated, confused and desperate. He knew that his Tigers career could end any day, and that so many fans wanted it to end. The fans wanted to get rid of the ballplayer, and they had very good reasons. He was hurting the team. Some fans still clung to the public figure, and let it cloud their view of the ballplayer. And somewhere in there was the man, Charles Brandon Inge, whose professional career was crumbling in front of hundreds of thousands of people. It was easy for the Tigers to let go of Inge. It will be a lot harder for Inge to let go of the Tigers. Contact Michael Rosenberg: 313-222-6052 or [email protected] . Follow him on Twitter @rosenberg_mike or on facebook.com/michaelrosenbergwriter.

Heck, make Inge the starting catcher for 2013 at this point. Hawk would love it, and yeah, the fans have really turned on him in DET. He made a huge out with runners on 2nd and 3rd and the chance to tie or take the lead and he K'ed. That must have been the last straw for him with the Tiggers. http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance Can baseball survive in Cleveland? They had only 9,229 yesterday against the Royals. Their average attendance so far this season is only 15,002. To put that in perspective, the three teams immediately ahead of them (SEA/OAK/SOX) are all drawing 5,500-6,000 more fans per game. The White Sox slipped under 21K, at 20,970, still holding onto 27th place.

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/pro...P=Conor-Jackson 9 career (major/minor) games at 3B, including 6 last year with the A's. 1.000 fielding percentage

Another controversy for Ozzie to deal with Because his services were unnecessary during the first four games of the trip, Bell sprinted in from the bullpen Thursday having not pitched in a week. But he said the lack of game activity had nothing to do with his sour performance. In fact, he sounded angry when he volunteered that a member of the team’s training staff questioned his work habits, saying he was doing too much, not too little. “Apparently our trainer says I work too hard,” Bell said. “I’m busting my [butt] on the treadmill, the bike and working out. Maybe I need to start listening to him and stop working so hard. I do everything you should do, do everything I’ve been doing for the last five, six, seven years.” Bell refused to elaborate further.Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/26/2770...l#storylink=cpy Ricky Nolasco gave up a run on only five hits over seven innings, and that first-inning run was the result of a poor fielding play by right fielder Giancarlo Stanton, who dropped a fly ball. The scorer ruled it a triple, but Stanton disputed that decision, blaming himself for the mistake. “That’s crap,” Stanton said. “It should be caught.” The Marlins’ five starters on the road trip gave up only seven earned runs over 34 2/3 innings for an ERA of 1.82. And yet they didn’t have a single victory. That’s because the Marlins’ lineup remained cold. The Marlins scored only six runs during the five games of the trip. Their only scoring Thursday came on the first home run of the season by Gaby Sanchez and a double-play grounder in the fifth that gave the Marlins a 2-1 lead. But it didn’t hold up. For the third time, Bell failed to make it stick. “He’s going to be fine,” Nolasco said. “He’s going to figure it out. We need him. We need him bad. [Nobody] has lost any confidence in him at all. He’s just going through a little tough time right now.” Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/26/2770...l#storylink=cpy

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Apr 26, 2012 -> 10:34 PM) Since you are so concerned with Sox attendance you should buy an extra ticket or two. Well, since I already subscribe to MLB.TV Premium ($25.00 per month) and MLB Gameday Audio HERE IN CHINA.... What else would you like for me to do? Buy a set of season tickets even though I will only be in the US for one month of the summer, and in Iowa (Quad-Cities) to boot? Buy more White Sox hats/souvenirs/merchandise?? If I lived in Chicago, I would go to every game I possibly could, I know that. Maybe not the 2nd half of last season, but definitely this year with Ventura managing, just to show my support. Go back to writing your Viciedo opinion piece, lol. Viciedo is another big bust, therefore, KW must go. Something like that'll do.