caulfield12

Offense sucks. 11 K's. The only RBI's came from John Danks. Defensive miscues continue to haunt the Sox. Santiago, Bruney and Stults would get the last 3 bullpen spots, based on performances so far. Yuck.

Offense sucks. 11 K's. The only RBI's came from John Danks. Defensive miscues continue to haunt the Sox. Santiago, Bruney and Stults would get the last 3 bullpen spots, based on performances so far. Yuck.

“Obviously, the players come and go,’’ Konerko said. “I mean myself and A.J. [Pierzynski], we’re going to be gone here at some point. But the people that head up the team, they have a much better chance of being here a lot longer than us. So they should expect to see a certain way of people going about their business. “And when you have success as a team on a major scale, whether it’s winning the division, making the World Series or winning the World Series, yeah, it kind of buys you some freedoms. That’s the same in almost every workplace in the world. You go out and do the job, and no one says anything if you have little quirks on how you want to get your work in. “When it all comes crashing down, it doesn’t work and you’re not doing the job, then, hey, man, they’re going to batten down the hatches. I certainly don’t take offense to it. If you didn’t see it coming, then you weren’t paying attention. That’s the way it works.’’ But get away from the field and take the elevator up a floor to the front offices, and that’s where the difference between the way the Cubs and Sox are doing business can be felt. For the Cubs, it’s very businesslike. It’s almost like watching surgery. General manager Jed Hoyer is the anesthesiologist, Theo Epstein is the surgeon and Sveum is the bald, tatted-up rehab specialist, waiting outside to beat your body up on the road to recovery. It has a white-glove feel to it. Clean, very little mess. The Sox’ front office seems to be more on a crusade. Decisions are random, confusing at times. More from the heart. Almost a “we’ll show you who’s smarter’’ mentality. Then again, players such as Konerko aren’t really concerned with front-office mentalities at this point. They don’t dictate the workload of mid-March days. “We lost the liberties we had when we didn’t get it done as a team,’’ Konerko said. “I’m not saying they’re overdoing it with us. It’s right on for what we’ve earned.’’ I don't really see anything wrong with the story, other than the over-worshipping and genuflecting everyone in the local media is doing with Epstein. And that will last only for a couple of months before fans start to become impatient. It's the nature of professional sports today. And for having something resembling a "boot camp" atmosphere, it sure hasn't helped to clean up a lot of the White Sox mental/physical errors on the defensive side of things. We've been sloppier than I can ever remember...although 50% of that is related to players who won't even be around come the first week of April. That line about proving themselves to be smarter has to be a shot at the Hudson and Santos/Molina trades, but, whatever...

“Obviously, the players come and go,’’ Konerko said. “I mean myself and A.J. [Pierzynski], we’re going to be gone here at some point. But the people that head up the team, they have a much better chance of being here a lot longer than us. So they should expect to see a certain way of people going about their business. “And when you have success as a team on a major scale, whether it’s winning the division, making the World Series or winning the World Series, yeah, it kind of buys you some freedoms. That’s the same in almost every workplace in the world. You go out and do the job, and no one says anything if you have little quirks on how you want to get your work in. “When it all comes crashing down, it doesn’t work and you’re not doing the job, then, hey, man, they’re going to batten down the hatches. I certainly don’t take offense to it. If you didn’t see it coming, then you weren’t paying attention. That’s the way it works.’’ But get away from the field and take the elevator up a floor to the front offices, and that’s where the difference between the way the Cubs and Sox are doing business can be felt. For the Cubs, it’s very businesslike. It’s almost like watching surgery. General manager Jed Hoyer is the anesthesiologist, Theo Epstein is the surgeon and Sveum is the bald, tatted-up rehab specialist, waiting outside to beat your body up on the road to recovery. It has a white-glove feel to it. Clean, very little mess. The Sox’ front office seems to be more on a crusade. Decisions are random, confusing at times. More from the heart. Almost a “we’ll show you who’s smarter’’ mentality. Then again, players such as Konerko aren’t really concerned with front-office mentalities at this point. They don’t dictate the workload of mid-March days. “We lost the liberties we had when we didn’t get it done as a team,’’ Konerko said. “I’m not saying they’re overdoing it with us. It’s right on for what we’ve earned.’’ I don't really see anything wrong with the story, other than the over-worshipping everyone is doing with Epstein. And that will last only for a couple of months before fans start to become impatient. It's the nature of professional sports today. And for having something resembling a "boot camp" atmosphere, it sure hasn't helped to clean up a lot of the White Sox mental/physical errors on the defensive side of things. We've been sloppier than I can ever remember...although 50% of that is related to players who won't even be around come the first week of April.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...-112617761.html

Obama has talked vaguely about tax reform. He has acknowledged the need for entitlement reform and major deficit reduction. But he has never thrown himself All In. He has never displayed an inner passion, a sense that these projects are his life mission, or a willingness to bear the pain that taking on these challenges necessarily entails. It will be interesting, over the course of this campaign, to see what’s underneath the cageyness. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, arouses Obama’s passion to go All In. David Brooks, NY Times

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/jon-heym...-has-gone-wrong The Braves, only team worse than the White Sox so far...theories on the carry-over effect from the end of last year and the Nationals/Marlins passing them. Poor J4L, with the Blue Jays, Royals and Braves all looking like 4th place teams, life is not fun.

Or there's the school of thought that you should stick with John Danks and Alexei Ramirez. When you think about it, almost every single player on our roster could be on another team in June/July, especially some of the veterans. DeAza and Flowers are far from "prospects" anymore. Probably some combination of Reed, Viciedo, Morel, Beckham and Sale, but all five of those guys might have the lasting/staying power of the "All In" campaign in 2011, unfortunately. It might as well be Dunn/Peavy/Rios, because the fate of this franchise for the next 2-3 seasons ultimately rests with them performing well, especially Adam and Alex.

Goodbye Marinez and Veal after today. Leyson Septimo's not far behind them. Viciedo 4/23, Rios 4/22

Weren't we speculating throughout the off-season that Thornton was the "inside source" for some of Cowley's indictments of the Sox front office? Not too many guys in that clubhouse are willing to give Joe a direct quote that's anything resembling controversial. So the best way to trade Matt is to make him the closer again...why not? Give Reed some time to get his feet wet and a bit of confidence. Sergio took one full year before they felt he was ready.

Just Cowley trying to dig up a negative pre-season vibe. Nothing newsworthy. By the way Matt, if you wanted the playoffs, we could have used your help down the stretch in 2010 and in April, 2011.

Isn't Ephesus a city in the Bible...related to the Ephesians? Maybe we'll need "divine intervention" to win the division this year.

On the surface, 21 Jump Street follows the crime-fighting antics of odd-couple cop partners Schmidt (Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum). Their wonky dynamic is established in a perfectly placed opening flashback to 2005, when the two were real high school students — Schmidt the klutzy, anxious nerd with a brain; Jenko the athletic, academically challenged coolio. Seven years later, when both police rookies are coincidentally assigned to an undercover–high schooler program, the duo are prepared to play out those same life scripts, until a mix-up alters fate. Schmidt is assigned a class schedule befitting a popular non-Einstein; Jenko is shuffled into advanced-placement chemistry. (''Ap-chemistry,'' he calls it, laboriously reading his course list.) Given a do-over, the two get to reexperience those less than wonder years. They get to work issues out. And by the way they get to bust a drug ring fronted by a smart and popular guy played with oddball charisma by Dave Franco. (The curiosity isn't that he's the brother of James Franco; it's that he's so interestingly weird. Okay, like his brother.) But that, as I say, is on the surface. Underneath, 21 Jump Street is a riot of risks that pay off, the biggest of which might be handing Tatum funny business. And now for the revelation: The guy's got bust-out talents as a really funny, self-aware comic actor. With all appropriate salutes to the busy fellow's famous abs, and with full forgiveness for his participation in The Vow, I am feeling the Channing charm for the first time. And wow, those scenes where the smart actor, playing a ''dumb'' character who realizes he's not as dumb as he has always believed he is, fakes playing a dumb guy to mess with his smart partner's head are kind of perfect. Also, Tatum can sustain a great, I mean great, Dumb Face. Lisa Schwartzbaum, ew.com By the way, there's also the inevitable Johnny Depp cameo.

THE COLONEL I've heard of him, if memory serves me correctly, he pitched in the 80's?

Leading to the obvious question, is Tyler Flowers better off being on a major league bench or continuing to hit and play everyday in Charlotte? Is he still legitimately viewed as the starting catcher for Opening Day, 2013? Can the White Sox afford to carry a "defense first" catcher on their bench? With the likes of Fukudome and Lillibridge, that would seem to afford them a bit more flexibility to go with a defensive player, but then if you include Escobar as well, you've got 2 very light-hitting bench options. At AJ's age though, he's going to have to scale back his playing time more than ever before. Keep in mind, Gimenez has ONE major league hit in his career, and hadn't played for five years in the big leagues, prior to 2011. He's going to be 30 years old this year. At least he can communicate with Molina, another native Venezuelan. In other words, he's not even Corky Miller. Chicago White Sox – No. 70 Catcher Born: September 28, 1982 (1982-09-28) (age 29) Bats: Switch Throws: Right MLB debut September 25, 2006 for the Houston Astros Career statistics (through 2011 season) Batting average .143 Hits 1 Héctor Eliner Giménez [Ec-tor he-MEH-nes] (born September 28, 1982 in San Felipe, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan professional baseball catcher for the Chicago White Sox organization. He has previously played for the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball. [edit] Professional career[edit] Houston Astros Giménez was signed by the Houston Astros as an amateur free agent in 1999. He spent two years in the Venezuelan Summer League before joining the Astros U.S. based minor league system. At one point, Giménez was ranked the best defensive catcher in the Houston Astros system, according to Baseball America. In 2005, he led the Corpus Christi Hooks with 58 RBI and earned Texas League All-Star honors. He hit .273 (75-for-275) with eight home runs and 37 RBI in 76 games for the Round Rock Express in his first season at the Triple-A level in 2006. He made his major league debut with the Astros on September 25, 2006 striking out as a pinch hitter against the Philadelphia Phillies. He made one other major league appearance, also as a pinch hitter, against the Pittsburgh Pirates on September 27 and groundout to the shortstop. On February 26, 2007, Giménez decided to have surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff and as a result, missed the entire 2007 season. [edit] Tampa Bay Rays Gimenez in 2007On November 27, 2007, he signed a minor league contract with the Tampa Bay Rays that included an invitation to spring training. He split the season between the A+ Vero Beach Devil Rays and the AAA Durham Bulls and then became a free agent at the end of the season. [edit] Pittsburgh PiratesHe signed a minor league contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates in January 2009 and split the season between the AA Altoona Curve and AAA Indianapolis Indians. In 2010 he was with Altoona for the whole season and hit .305 in 94 games with 16 home runs, his highest total in any of his professional seasons. [edit] Los Angeles DodgersHe signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in November 2010 but on November 19 he was purchased by the Dodgers and added to their 40-man roster. He appeared as a pinch hitter for the Dodgers on April 1, 2011, his first appearance in the Majors since 2006 with the Astros. He made his first career start the following day against the San Francisco Giants, and also recorded his first Major League hit, a single to left field in the seventh inning off Javier López. After appearing in four games, he was placed on the disabled list on April 10 and underwent arthroscopic knee surgery.[1] He was activated off the DL on June 10 and outrighted to the AA Chattanooga Lookouts. He appeared in 66 games with the Lookouts, hitting .286 with 11 home runs and 54 RBI.

QUOTE (Cali @ Mar 14, 2012 -> 12:58 PM) If the Sox don't give Dayan 500 AB's this season, whether he struggles or not They're more clueless than I feared. No matter what management says in the media, This season is ONLY about developing the younger players to see what they have moving forward... Hiding young players who struggle on the bench and treating them with kid gloves is just dumb. If they're on the major league team, PLAY THEM. One positive sign of that is that Ventura/Cooper stuck Molina out there in the 8th and 9th innings. Even though he's ticketed for AA, they're giving him the chance to prove his mettle. Alexei Ramirez has a new nickname from the Angels' announcers, THE SPIDER, due to his range and gangly appearance at SS. The Spider Missile? That doesn't work, ooops.

Chris Sale gave up all 7 runs? I only caught bits and pieces of it. Would be shocked that Ventura left him in long enough to surrender that many in 3+ innings. EDIT: Looks like he actually gave up 5, Carter the other 2. ERA at 9.82. On the other hand, just glancing at another box, Strasburg is at 7.45 and Teheran at 11. Obviously, if these problems continue the final two weeks of ST, it won't be encouraging. But there's never a surer maxim than you can't trust what happens in that desert air, and the cold weather in April/May in Chicago will give a huge advantage to our pitchers.

Molina gets the double play ball with the split finger pitch. No, he's not a closer. Nice to see him at least not crumbling this time. For how good his control was in the minors last year, it has sure been spotty in big league camp. Rios failed with RISP again, although the runner should have been going on the contact play and scored from 3rd. Escobar killing Martinez in the infield utility spot competition. One of the few bright spots, so far. Molina throwing a slider-esque version of the split finger, according to Melton. A pitch "he's never seen before in his life." Haha. Thornton looked good. Sale recovered from the homer. Perhaps most importantly, Dunn is showing signs of being a totally different player this spring.

Let's say Gingrich drops out and asks all of his delegates to go to Santorum, that changes the narrative very quickly. If they continue to split the vote 4 ways, it will take Romney until June or the convention to get to 1144. Over half the states have already voted, and he's still well short of 50% of the delegates. All bets are off if Romney loses Illinois. He survived Ohio and Michigan, but just barely, with a 4 to 1 spending advantage. The next 3 weeks are almost all going to be completely unfavorable for Romney...unless he can take Illinois soundly and cancel out Missouri and Louisiana, which isn't very likely. There's just no way he can lose Illinois and keep being able to go to the well and asking for more and more money when the GOP wants to launch all their ammunition at Obama ASAP. In the end, the GOP leadership has to be very, very nervous again, just like they were before OH and MI. In the expectations game, Romney was expected a couple of days ago (with all the endorsements on his side, practically) to take at least AL. He finished 3rd in both races, even though it was pretty close. They did a lot of appearances as well as pumping in a ton of money at the last second when they thought they could get one of those states to tip in their favor....and start crafting the argument that the race should wind down and move on to the general election phase. Any time your main narrative or selling point is simply "we have more delegates," it's going to fall a bit flat with the media and they'll continue to circle like sharks with blood in the water, nipping at Romney's campaign organization, messaging, lack of ability to connect with true conservatives, those making under $100,000, evangelicals, etc. The irony is this is the same exact group Obama struggled with consistently to take away from Hilary in places like PA, OH and WV. He never managed to pull off the feat. It's those "clinging to guns and religion" former Democrats/independents that Romney also is failing miserably to connect with. This morning you were going to read a post from me saying Mitt Romney was definitely now the nominee and it was time for Santorum and Gingrich to drop out. The post was predicated on late polling and early corresponding exit polling from yesterday showing that Mitt Romney won Mississippi. He had finally won in the south. But the early exits changed with the late exits. The late polling was wrong. Happily I could delete my post. Not only did Mitt Romney not win either Alabama or Mississippi, but he is, as you wake up, coming in third in both. The polls were wrong. Yesterday, Mitt Romney went on CNN and told Wolf Blitzer that Rick Santorum’s campaign was coming to a “desperate end.” That seems more apt this morning to Romney’s southern campaign. Given his poor showing, it’s understandable if you expect Newt Gingrich to call on Romney to get out. There is a lot to review in this biggest story of the day. But the start should be a simple question: does Mitt Romney need more debates? The Romney camp signaled it was tired of the debates. But in the Florida debates the Romney camp largely destroyed Gingrich before winning Florida. In the Mesa, AZ debate on CNN the Romney camp ruined Rick Santorum before winning Arizona and barely Michigan. Both times the Romney campaign used good debate performances to rebound lagging poll numbers into real momentum. Then he decided to stop debating. Out of sight and out of mind, conservatives forgot why they thought he was the guy who could beat Obama. Does he need to get back to debating? The most striking thing about last night’s elections is that none of the candidates can close the deal. In effect, there was a three way tie, though it worked to Romney’s disadvantage. Newt Gingrich last night proved he is neither a regional candidate nor a spoiler. His influence is headed into Ron Paul territory. Gingrich could not win the deep south. He won Georgia and South Carolina. A Catholic yankee from Pennsylvania won Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and will probably win Louisiana. Even with Gingrich in the race, Santorum beat Romney. He was no spoiler. Gingrich’s final act could be king maker by getting out and endorsing, but pride cometh before the fall. Gingrich is in mid fall. What a sad end to a brilliant legacy. But his campaign is over. All we need is Haley Joel Osment and M. Night Shyamalan to point out to him he is dead. Santorum won the states. It was a huge victory. But even he is not closing the deal. The striking thing about the exits, which over all captured the race fairly well, is that Santorum’s voters made up their mind in the last few weeks. In other words, Santorum’s voters made up their minds as Romney was winning Arizona, Michigan, and Ohio. Santorum’s vote is not about Santorum so much as it is about stopping Romney. He needs to bring those voters fully on board and give them a reason to vote for Santorum. He is on the verge of doing so. Were I Mitt Romney I’d be firing staff. It’s almost like God himself is toying with Romney. Maybe it is because the Romney camp says it would take an Act of God for Santorum or Gingrich to win. God seems like he wants to make it happen. I don’t think I have seen any political team mishandle and bungle expectations as badly as Team Romney. Every time they let expectations get out of hand they lose. They did it in Iowa. They did it in South Carolina. They did it in Tennessee. They did it in Mississippi. Hell, they did it in Michigan where Romney did win, but by less than three percent. No doubt buoyed by exit polling yesterday, the Romney campaign made sure everyone knew they could seriously win Mississippi. By 8pm, Eric Fehrnstrom was on CNN telling Anderson Cooper that no one really thought Romney would win Alabama or Mississippi. I couldn’t help but laugh in the background. In five years of campaigning it is stunning to me that the Romney camp still has no clue how to play the expectations game. It is increasingly clear it is not a well run campaign, Mitt Romney is not a good campaigner, but he will still, more likely than not, be the GOP nominee. While all eyes were focused on Alabama and Mississippi, Romney was doing quite well in Hawaii and American Samoa. Like sterile accountants counting pennies, the Romney camp keeps counting delegates. That can get them to a win, but it will be an uninspiring win. There is little enthusiasm for Romney with the base. In heavily Republican Madison County, MS, voter turn out barely topped 7,000 voters. In 2008, when the GOP contest was done and everyone knew McCain would be the nominee, 10,500 people still turned out to vote for McCain. Yes, more Republicans turned out to vote McCain in 2008 than Romney in 2012. That’s a problem. That’s a lack of enthusiasm. The problem is two fold now. The base doesn’t like Romney, but the base doesn’t really like the other options either. At the same time, the base does not want this primary to end. The roller coaster continues. The one sure thing out of this is that, though Romney is not becoming a better candidate as the primaries continue, Rick Santorum sure is. As for Newt? He is becoming less relevant. It is time for Newt Gingrich to exit. It is time for Santorum v. Romney and let the chips fall where they may. I still think Romney is the nominee. But I think Santorum vs. Romney one on one gives Romney a run for his money he needs to become a candidate conservatives can potentially rally around. redstate.com (Erickson)

Jeff, Who Lives At Home....looks to be getting lots of positive reviews Jason Segel, Ed Helms (the Type A brother, albeit more overbearing than ever) and Susan Sarandon

QUOTE (Nokona @ Mar 13, 2012 -> 09:26 PM) Are we really going to do this the whole season? We got what we wanted, he's gone. Stop being like this. If the Sox suck this year, there will be almost an equal amount of joy in watching the Cubs/Epstein and Marlins/Ozzie fail. That's just the reality, take it for what it's worth. By the way, since when is Mike Stanton now "Giancarlo" Stanton? Weird. Story on the Ozzie ejection. By clark spencer [email protected] FORT MYERS -- Bobby Valentine was once in line for the Marlins’ managing position that eventually went to Ozzie Guillen. Whether it had anything to do with their high jinks on Monday is anyone’s guess. But it added entertainment value to an otherwise ordinary spring training game. It all started after Guillen was ejected in the sixth inning for disputing first-base umpire Tim Tschida’s call that Terry Tiffee’s soft tapper down the line was foul. As Guillen was making his exit, Valentine smiled and gave a playful goodbye wave from the Boston Red Sox dugout. “I said, ‘See ya,’ ” Valentine explained afterward. Guillen said he didn’t see Valentine’s dismissive wave, but added: “I would have told him to go [expletive], too. That’s the way Ozzie Guillen is.” It wasn’t the first time Guillen has been ejected from a spring training game. “Few times,” Guillen said. “What’s the difference between spring training and during the season? I do my job. My job is to protect the player. My first-base coach told me the ball was fair. I got to believe him.” With a runner at third, Guillen said the call cost his team a run. Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/03/13/2690...b#storylink=cpy

Actually, you're forgetting the Missouri caucuses this Saturday, which Santorum should dominate, just like he did KS. Illinois has a 35-31 spread for Romney, although many believe the real lead is in the 8-12 percentage region. It was pretty much acknowledged that Romney was trailing Santorum in MI and OH with about a week to go in both states until the SUPER PAC money and campaign organization overwhelmed the underdog, but just barely. Another big factor will be the turnout of the really conservative members of the party for the down-ballot local/regional spots. That would tend to favor Santorum. Gingrich is only at 12% for Illinois. While it's true that the winner take all format would tend to favor Romney, an IL loss would be very hard to overcome psychologically. You'd have to also assume Louisiana would go for Santorum on the 24th of March. It does make the strategy of Paul and Gingrich trying to "contain" (by splitting the vote 4 ways) Romney an interesting one....according to exit polls, 3-4X as many Gringrich voters in AL and MS would go to Santorum, compared to Romney, if it was actually a two-way race between just the two of them and Gingrich's voters had to choose one or the other. Of course, outside of the Deep South, electability concerns are higher, and Romney has an advantage on the economy as well over Santorum. Santorum really needs to deliver a more detailed economic plan that caters more towards the middle class and also fill in the gap on energy policy/gas prices, where Newt has been trying to make headway in the south over the last 7-10 days. Very good Friedman/NY Times article on the future of capitalism in the US and world... http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/opinion/...on-2012.html?hp http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0312/73987.html Five takeaway lessons from Tuesday night

QUOTE (greg775 @ Mar 13, 2012 -> 10:28 PM) Lilly turned into a good outfielder. He was good out there. The problem is that Fukudome was signed to be the 4th OF for now. Ventura wants to play Lillibridge at 3B/SS/2B. And it's true, they did need some more left-handed balance from the bench.

Yeah, Ebert had a hard time reviewing it (Act of Valor) as well. On the one hand, your expectations for the acting are almost ZERO. On the other hand, the bad acting really kills the film when there's no action going on. In particular, there was a nearly comical scene where the team leader is questioning a detainee on a yacht and half of that scene made me laugh out loud...maybe most community college acting classes could have topped it.

If Viciedo doesn't put up an 800 OPS and 20+ homers and 75+ RBI's, this team is nearly sunk for the future, almost irrespective of what Dunn/Rios/Beckham do. I suppose it's possible to imagine the White Sox competing with Fukudome and/or Lillibridge starting (for Viciedo) and the DUBIOUS 3 all contributing (along with Morel) at an All-Star level with the bat, but I'm not buying it.