caulfield12

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 10:47 PM) Also wanted Lilli cut... That was before Greg Walker fixed him, lol.

Which year was it that Paulie made a conscious effort in the offseason to do more conditioning and start watching his diet a bit more? Wonder if it was a coincidence. Obviously, he's not like Rock Raines or Rickey Henderson, it's really hard to tell the difference physique-wise, but something has definitely changed, probably 85% mental and 15% physical.

In AA and AAA, it's basically only Kuhn and McPherson. Neither players are going to make much of an impact with the major league team, barring a minor miracle. Lillibridge is the best bet for this season, scarily enough. For the time being, our best middle infield prospect is probably Carlos Sanchez, who's also arguably not going to be much of a threat to challenge an 800 OPS at the major league level. And he's only 19 and at least 2 full season away, if not 2 1/2. Probably the only way to add impact players at those positions is trading Floyd, Thornton, Crain...with the money due Matt and Jesse, it's hard to expect a premium infield bat back for either one. Unless AJ continues to hit out his mind and a starting catcher on a pennant contender goes down for the season, it's hard to imagine getting much back for him, either.

Justin Greene went from 4/25 to 7/28 with 2 doubles and a triple. Talk about increasing your average by almost 100 points in a game. Castro pitched a close to great game, ended up 7 K's. Saladino had 3 walks but still in the 120's. Trayce with a double, at 225. Carlos Sanchez 1 for 4 with yet another walk. He's the anti-Beckham/Morel in terms of OBP.

You just had a feeling when you saw bases loaded and Morel and two outs that a hit was pretty unlikely to pull off the comeback. Last night's blown 4-1 lead in the 8th/9th hurt about 10X as this one, because you knew from the get-go it would be a struggle against a soft-tossing left who we've never seen before and who resembles Bruce Chen in more ways than simply his last name. Having two chances to time the game with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs, what else is new? At least Fukudome hit the ball as hard as he did and took a good swing....Alexei continues his trend from 2011 in failiing in these situations when he was Mr. Clutch in his rookie campaign. Just always seem anxious with a runner on 3rd and a chance to drive him in....gets himself out a lot by swinging at pitcher's pitches and being too aggressive. Then there was the bonehead baserunning move that pretty much negated any positive to be derived from his 2 hits tonight.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 10:12 PM) Send Beckham down and bring up a third catcher. That frees up AJ and Flowers to DH. Dunn can sit. Start Lillibridge at 2B. I'm sick of watching Beckham and Dunn bat. Probably Gimenez, who's a very strong defensive catcher. Phegley should continue to get close to everyday play because of all the time he's missed due to injuries/rehab/recovery.

QUOTE (Andrew @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 10:30 PM) I would hitchhike on this wagon. Why Lillibridge isn't a starter over Beckham is an absolute f***ing mystery to me at this point.... I mean, this is the same team that gave a name/face to Uribe - and at that time I didn't think anyone could be more frustrating than him. But that was until we took on high dollars in guys like Rios and Dunn... (while he got another ring). 1) Uribe was a VERY clutch hitter. 2) He consistently put up 20 hr's and 65-75 RBI's per season. 3) He was great at getting runners in from 3rd and less than 2 outs. 4) He played SS, a premium position compared to 2B, at least at that time/era of baseball. 5) If Beckham or Morel could come close to a 700-725 OPS, it would be a minor miracle at this point. Almost every White Sox fans would take Uribe's average season from 2004-2006 compared to where he's at now (Gordon), and what they expect from him in the future.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 08:31 PM) I did take a break ... in the 6 month offseason. Time for baseball and time to b**** at all cept Paulie. No, not addressed to you. It's whoever was talking about "gloom and doom" posts.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 08:24 PM) lol! lots of doom and gloom around here already. some players are playing some really, really s***ty baseball right now, but not all, not by a LONG stretch. Ref***inglax fellas. You're right. But we've been having this same conversation back and forth, back and forth, since 2009. In the end, if it's not enjoyable, maybe it is best to take a break for awhile. There really was the feeling last year a significant part of the fanbase wanted the team to lose just so Ozzie and/or KW would lose their jobs...that someone from management would have to do SOMETHING. It's a bigger problem when you have a new manager and hitting coach and see the same problems. That's on the players, and the GM who acquired them.

It's hard to make the argument that Addison Reed has been so dominant and demonstrated the type of control where he's the surefire closer, either.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 08:19 PM) What makes no sense to me is Ventura was batting Lillibridge 2nd a lot during ST. Watch Ventura let Dunn face a lefty to start the 8th. Greg and Rongey are right, lol. When you pay someone $13-14-15 million to hit, they're not going to sit. And they're not going to get things figured out watching from the bench, doing soft toss, taking extra BP or watching video from the past. At least that's the theory. It's amazing how many managers refuse to PH for these guys, all evidence to the contrary.

Deck chairs on the Titanic, deck chairs on the Titanic. Even if we can make some cosmetic changes and have a 9-7 or 10-6 run instead of 8-8 or 7-9, in the overall scheme of things, it's going to have no effect on anything but having a lower draft pick in the first round next year.

What new? The RISP virus strikes again tonight. Brain cramps all over the diamond the last two nights. You'd also believe nothing had really changed. No matter what managerial style, the results are basically the same.

Farmer ALMOST thought Beckham had a homer or XB hit, lol. Reimold doing it offensively and defensively. Can't wait for all the articles that come out in the Trib and Sun-Times when we get under 10,000 for a game. Maybe it will happen tmrw if we lose.

If Viciedo doesn't lay off that high fastball, he's going to end up like Beckham. Can you imagine the offensive fireworks we'll see in SEA and OAK the next two series? YIKES.

Or the Chinese people here are also really fed up with Rios....heck, even Puerto Rico refuses to take him for the their WBC team, despite the glaring lack of talent coming out of PR recently. Will any of that matter? Was my check deposited?, that's all.

He was just trying to prevent Viciedo from being 0-6 with RISP and 2 outs (accompanied by 6 K's instead of 5). LOL. Way to sacrifice for the team with an 0-2 count against Dayan.

Are my eyes deceiving me? Rios with 2 hits in a single game?

Hanley Ramirez just hit a three run jack on a 3-1 count to break open the Cubs game in the bottom of the 8th. Still a chance for Bell to blow it though, 5-2.

If he doesn't, he's going to end up like Roger Maris during the home run chase, losing all his hair from the stress and pressure of having to talk to the NY Times everyday about his epic, historically-unprecedented fall-off. Or they just do a Silva/M. Bradley trade...for both teams to get rid of their albatrosses. Out of sight, out of mind. But it's going to take a new GM in Chicago to admit the Dunn failure and bite the bullet. Not in KW's nature.

Maybe Marty is right. If these types of performances continue, the tenor of every single game story will be attendance figures between 10-13,000. Dunn/Beckham/Rios/Morel features. It might start to spiral to the point a change has to be made...a sacrifice to the fans, since it obviously won't be either Dunn or Rios.

My MLB.TV got stuck in the middle of that pitch....the ball is frozen in ether between Danks' hand and the plate and I was just expecting to discover it was a homer.

Yeah, it's almost one of those things where he'd be better off at BIRM or Winston-Salem to start off with.

Can they put Dunn/Rios/Beckham/Morel in a slow pitch softball league? I'd pay to watch that. One way or the other, it would be of great entertainment value. And then the starters will inevitably start pressing because they know the offense isn't going to support them... Whoever wrote "Cy Chen" jinxed this game, dammit!!! The funny thing is the Orioles have only ONE hit, but it's hard not to focus on our own offensive woes.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Apr 17, 2012 -> 08:12 PM) So the Formula for fun bad is here. We have a young bullpen that has no margin of error. A pitching staff overall that has to be perfect. And an offense that has no clue but one guy. The o needs to figure it out. Too much pressure on pitching staff. And AJ, at least so far through this season. Alexei is Alexei. He's fine. It's only the other 5-6 that are a concern!