caulfield12

C'mon Cowley, do your best. Let's see. First, revisit the terrible Edwin Jackson/Teahen for Frasor/Zach Stewart deal. Check. Remind everyone about how bad Rios and Dunn are... Point out that the White Sox system hasn't "raised" an All-Star caliber hitter from start to finish since the days of Crede, Rowand, Ordonez, Lee and Durham. (No, Gordon Beckham no longer can be considered a good or promising hitter at this point.) Point out the brutal attendance for a half-price night. Check. Remind everyone how good our starting rotation would look with Hudson and Gio Gonzalez out there, with Chris Young in CF, to boot. Remind everyone how nobody in baseball cares about the White Sox anymore because their manager is plain Jane/boring/vanilla. Maybe another paragraph on the bleak bleak future of Gordon Beckham, once compared favorably with Derek Jeter and a future franchise cornerstone and predicted replacement for Paulie/Buehrle.

Let's see where things stand at the end of April. In actuality, this Orioles' loss has very little to do with Robin Ventura, he simply has inferior talent. If Jones and/or Addison Reed were available for the 10th, I'm sure he would have used them.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CH...201104110.shtml The dreaded Pierre/Thornton game...then there was the game Cliff Pennington drove in the winning run off Thornton, same series. At that point, we were 6-3, and went on to lose 19 out of 24 ballgames, to fall to an 11-22 mark we never really recovered from. We'll see what kind of cloth Robin Ventura is made of soon enough. No matter how good our starting pitching has been, you can't hope to compete with the Detroit Tigers with only 3 legit starters in your line-up (AJ, Konerko, Ramirez). We're crossing our fingers on Viciedo, but over the course of a 162 game season, not even the 2010 Giants had the pitching to cover up for our offense. When you compare our line-up with the Yankees, Rangers or Tigers...it just doesn't come close to matching up. We should be realistic. DeAza hasn't been nearly as good as last season, and Beckham/Morel/Dunn/Rios all look the same or even worse. At some point, opposing pitchers will just stop pitching to Konerko and/or AJ, like Showalter did tonight, in order to face Rios.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 10:14 PM) That this is a rebuilding year and it's more important to find out if Morel/Beckham are MLB caliber players an whether or not Dunn/Rios can get any type of trade value (long shot) or if they need to think of possible replacements for them in the future. Morel should be given a chance to fight through it, with how he played at the end of 2011, with how well he did in the spring and then his defense and the fact that he's been doing the "little things" over the last 5 games or so. Ultimately, Gordon Beckham is just foundering like the Titanic and the only merciful thing to do is send him down, and take the Cowley/anti-KW columns that will inevitably follow. He just needs to rediscover his joy/love for the game of baseball or end up like Brian Anderson. His defense is so good, he'll probably find a home somewhere just because of his ability to play all three infield spots, but we really have no choice but to assign him to the Knights. Lillibridge is a better long-term solution at 2B than McPherson would be at 3rd for Morel. The odds that Lillibridge can be the same offensive force he was in 2011 might be against him, but there's no harm in playing him 40-50-60 games in a row. Beckham deserves one last shot to be a starter at 2B if Lillibridge/Escobar fails to work as a solution. Then you non-tender him or trade him in the offseason, or just outright release him.

1. Stewart and Beckham down to Charlotte 2. Lillibridge starting everyday (might as well find out whether he can play everyday now) 3. Morel back to bottom of the order 4. Ramirez batting 2nd, we can't afford to have AJ there with how well he's been going offensively 5. Pray for Dunn and Rios, but don't boo them 6. Pick the name of Stults, Axelrod or Bruney out of a hat to replace Stewart 7. Lillibridge playing infield, you probably go with Jordan Danks for Gordon to provide OF depth, or possibly Conor Jackson (that's for Lillian) 8. Find a Marco Paddy who can make recommendations on hitting prospects, bring back the scouts who identified Carlos Quentin/Ramirez/Viciedo to have them play a bigger role in the June draft assessment process. 9. Continue to monitor McPherson as a band-aid, but not long-term solution for a continued Morel tailspin. Zach Stewart won't survive in the big leagues at 90-91 MPH without pinpoint control. As a starter or reliever. With Peavy gone next year, Molina and Santiago are the two best candidates to replace him. For the future of the organization, Hector should be groomed as a starter to go along with Sale. It won't happen this week or this month, but it SHOULD happen. Closing has caused him to forget about his repertoire of offspeed pitches, which is what shot him all the way into the Sox plans from total obscurity at the beginning of last year. Hope that AJ stays hot and can be marketed to a better team whose starting catcher goes down. With how well he's hitting, you might even get a useful piece or two back in return. Hold onto Gavin Floyd until June/July and realistically assess whether it's better to trade him or hold onto him for 2013, if there's at least a 50/50 chance we can be competitive next year (see the performances of Dunn, Morel, Rios and Viciedo). Feel out the trade market for both Jesse Crain and/or Matt Thornton, depending on offers received.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 09:41 PM) Our hitters can't draw a walk So much for the focus on OBP that Nick Swisher was supposedly the trend starter with...so many guys on this team who don't take walks, it makes AJ and Ramirez look like Conor Jackson or Bob Abreu.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 10:38 PM) Orioles hitters are swinging out of their asses. Jones and Reimold look fantastic at the plate. Meanwhile, half our team seems to be feeling for the ball. Only about 3-5% of major league hitters turn on those pitches in those locations. They're a much better hitting team than the Sox, that's for sure. Other than AJ, Paulie and Tank against offspeed stuff, we're horrendous.

Don't even know who to bring up for Stewart. Stults, maybe. Pulling Axelrod from the starting role he's getting comfortable with, well, they have to pick someone. Bruney, whoever. I think he has been starting in Charlotte, too. Gut check time for this team. How will they respond? Luckily nobody saw this game, since it was on The U.

This isn't quite as heartbreaking as the early season losses in 2011, but it really feels like a kick in the gut. Just for a week at least, we had a sense we could compete this season (mostly due to the starting pitching and bullpen before tonight) and now we've had our rude awakening.

Might as well let the entire game fall apart. Send Beckham and Stewart down to the minors.

Ventura gets his first major test as manager after this game. In this same situation last year, we went about 9-19 and were never in it (really) for the remainder of the season.

I'll put Zach Stewart on the list now...start of 10th. Prove me wrong!!! Add DeAza to the list now. The entire team is falling apart. UGLY.

Probably going to Addison Reed...although Santiago has the endurance from starting to go multiple innings.

Can Beckham even see a 97 MPH fastball, let alone hit it? Lillibridge's swing is too long to hit this guy too, unless he throws an offspeed pitch. The Rangers WAIVED this Strop guy? WHAT?

Three homers in 4 IP as a reliever isn't easy to do. Many relievers go a full season without doing that. Well, we didn't deserve a 2 run lead there anyway with how the O's have played defense all night, so maybe our offense (besides AJ and Konerko) can actually win it for us.

Uh-oh....reminds me of that stupid A's game with Pennington, Thornton and Pierre when we had a similar 5-3 record to start 2011. The thing that made Santiago so successful was his offspeed stuff, and he's completely forgotten about it...or at least AJ's not calling it. Santiago the fireballer won't work. Don Cooper thrown out of the game, complaining about the strike zone to Reimold.

Santiago got robbed on that strike 3 call. Crap. Nice change-up to come back and get Hardy.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 08:58 PM) Contract year Only have to wait until 2014 for Rios and Dunn to pick it up.

Since we started a Cowley thread today, might as well have this one as well. Obviously Dunn and Rios aren't going anywhere...at least not anytime soon. Ventura might have to consider moving Dunn down and AJ and Paulie up a spot. But Beckham is completely lost....Morel hasn't looked QUITE so bad (relatively speaking), getting some bunts down, an RBI and a double to the opposite field.

Yeah, not sure what Andino was looking at, probably waiting for another curve that never came. AJ walking off before the umpire even called strike 3.

QUOTE (daggins @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 08:30 PM) yeah, send him down. he is an absolute mess and just needs some re-centering time. esco and bridge can split his at bats Esco? Really? Sounds like Tesco or Costco. First, tlb, Tanks, this nickname thing is now officially getting out of hand.

With Morel coming up there, you should have let that ball drop. Work around DeAza, better than giving up that additional run. Lincecum must really be hurting or upset about the Cain contract situation....already gave up 4 runs against PHI (at home) after getting blasted in his first start. Versus Halladay, sporting the 0.60 ERA coming into that game, had the looks of a pitcher's duel at one point.

Dammit Beckham, you better drive the run in. predictable, Dunn and Gordon both had 3-0 counts and frittered them away.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 16, 2012 -> 08:20 PM) I am so glad they didn't make Matt the closer. I don't know how it would have turned out, but it is just awesome to have him around to use whenever we need him. Same with Reed and Crain...interchangeable parts. Great piece of hitting by Viciedo there. Took it the only place he could have without pulling off, to RCF. White Sox dugout a lot more enthusiastic than anyone in the crowd, congratulating Tank.

If it was Carlos Zambrano, he might club Chris Davis in the back of the head on the way back to the dugout.