caulfield12

Greg, will you give ANY credit to either Ventura or Williams if the White Sox finish with over 85 wins this season? Don't become so consumed trying to prove we suck and that Ozzie was a demigod that you're predetermined to only look for flaws and problems when there's some positives to look forward to with any new baseball season and spring training upon us. Sure, this is probably more likely a 77-85 team than an 85-77 team at this point...but, as you're constantly reminding us, we might not be in the headlines as much? And how many of the Ozzie Guillen-related headlines from the last 3 years have generated any revenue for the White Sox or brought additional fans to the ballpark? If anything, his actions/behavior have turned off a lot of the fans who were willing to give him a ton of rope until last season, many simply due to 2005 and 2008 still. I still argue getting rid of the dysfunctional environment and inhouse sniping is worth 2-3 wins alone in the first couple of months.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 22, 2012 -> 03:21 PM) If his performance since then hasn't earned at least a couple months for a rebuilding team to see if he can actually become a MLB starter, then it's impossible to earn a starting job based on minor league performance. If he comes out and struggles, the clock will be ticking. He really needs to start rolling, at least decently, in April and May. And it's not like we have anyone close to ready in AA/AAA...Jordan Danks certainly isn't thought of as a prospect anymore. That leaves only Lillibridge and Fukudome, with their being a decent/credible argument that Brent really deserves a shot at everyday play in LF/CF and as the leadoff hitter if DeAza fails to play up to at least a 750+ OPS level at a corner spot. I guess there's still some thinking DeAza will be in CF and Rios in LF, but you can't have DeAza and Rios both in the 675-725 OPS range if you want to have any prayer of sniffing .500 baseball. And of course there's a quite realistic possibility that Beckham continues to flop and Brent's the most realistic candidate to replace him at 2B, along with the triumvirate of O. Martinez/Kuhn/Escobar.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 21, 2012 -> 10:57 PM) Oh, forgot to add this. f*** this movie. Every character is completely hateable. But agreed on Gosling. He really surprised me in Ides and carried Drive too. Nobody can truly hate Emma Stone, can they?

Watch Ides of March and Descendants/Up in the Air/Syriana or Drive and even Crazy, Stupid Love back to back and you'll quickly appreciate how good Clooney and Gosling can be in better-written films. The first half of Ides was very strong, and then it just falls into the old plot twists and stereotypical endings that doom most political thrillers. It could have been so much more. For that matter, Bourne played a more interesting politician in THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU. At least TAB made you think/ponder afterwards, far moreso than Ides. And I thought "Art Howe" was very good in Ides, far better than Moneyball (albeit a lesser role).

QUOTE (greg775 @ Feb 21, 2012 -> 08:41 PM) Exactly. Detroit is so much better than Chicago on paper it's amazing. Were you saying that last year coming into the season? You really think that infield defense with Cabrera at 3B and Fielder at 1B is going to lead to a juggernaut? That Valverde will go through another season without a single blown save. That Fielder will have a seamless transition to the AL and Comerica Park?

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Feb 21, 2012 -> 09:07 AM) vs RHP de Aza CF Fukudome RF Dunn DH Konerko 1B AJ C Ramirez SS Lillibridge LF Beckham 2B Morel 3B vs LHP Lillibridge LF Ramirez SS Rios RF Konerko DH Viciedo 1B Flowers C Beckham 2B Morel 3B de Aza CF Rotation: Danks Humber Floyd Sale Peavy Bullpen: Crain Thornton Reed Ohman Santiago Stewart Axelrod Why even have Viciedo on the roster if he's only going to get 150 at bats?

Dennis LeHane, I'm pretty sure. Would have to look it up.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Feb 21, 2012 -> 07:27 PM) Sale has a higher ceiling than Mark, I'm not really sure if last years CQ had a higher ceiling than this years Viciedo but we'll say he did and you can make a legit argument for Reed or Santos. So an argument can definitely be made that this years team has a higher overal ceiling than lasts. If Chris Sale has the potential of Randy Johnson-Lite or to end up like Mike Sirotka or Jim Parque, it's certainly a step up from the sheer predictability of a Mark Buehrle season. Or is it? And yet that's the most interesting aspect of baseball...do you want 5 Mark Buehrle's as your starting rotation, or 5 Chris Sale's? Most of those who follow the farm and the scouting/development side of baseball prefer to take their chances with 5 Sale's. Ozzie Guillen surely would go with the 5 cloned Buehrle's.

If DeAza's projected to be below average for LF, how can we know that for certain, with how well he played in 2011 for us? It's easy to say Dunn/Beckham/Rios will suck again, but why can't DeAza continue to excel? The theory that he will be worn down with everyday play and exposed when facing both LH and RH pitching? Or simply because he's never had a full, healthy season of everyday starts in the majors before now?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 21, 2012 -> 06:46 PM) I really disagree with the idea that the upside is higher. That's the one thing I can't see. Last year's team had a huge upside. This year, we've subtracted an MVP caliber OF, a near all star reliever, and a guaranteed 10 win, 200 inning pitcher. The fact that part of the "Upside" goes into replacing the upside of those guys means that at very best, last year's team had a higher ceiling. Peavy being close to 2007 or 2008. Dunn/Rios/Beckham returning to form. Viciedo/DeAza/Morel performing consistently instead of stretches or glimpses of dominance. You also have to concede that we're much more likely to get better production out of LF and leadoff than Pierre, especially the first 2 months of the season, when his defense and offense (or lack thereof) killed us. If Reed performs as well as Santos did in 2010...the other big area where we have potential is 6 minor league pitchers who are all better that what we entered 2011 with in terms of depth at the back end of the rotation. That said, we were relatively healthy last year and didn't have to use the Lucas Harrell's or Carlos Torres' of the world.

Not sure that the Twins' moves are making make sense at all. They made a horrible mistake thinking Nishioka or Casilla were everyday SS's, then they compounded it by signing Jamey Carroll. In the end, the uncertainty hanging over Mauer, Morneau and Denard Span going forward is more than enough to offset any positives from this past offseason. Seems they're almost in the same situation as the White Sox, because, with the new stadium, they feel compelled to put at least a somewhat competitive product on the field rather than using almost all minor leaguers. Trading Ramos for Capps really backfired, too. Maybe Doumit will be okay, but Mauer's not anything close to a $20+ million player if he's not a full-time catcher. Losing Kubel, Cuddyer AND Delmon Young is a huge hole to fill. Willingham isn't capable of doing it alone, and he's likely to have a "Nick Swisher 2008" year in that huge stadium, rather than overperforming again. Then you have Revere and Span, players who were perfect for the indoor track meets but who are about as logical to play together as Juan Pierre and Scotty Pods at USCF. Arguably their most talented (and enigmatic/erratic) starting pitcher, Liriano, will likely be traded, too.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Feb 21, 2012 -> 09:16 AM) For a movie with no conventional plot whatsoever, "The Tree of Life" was a cool experience. It was different, beautiful to look at, and made me think. I think it helped that I knew a little about what to expect going in and tried to keep an open mind. It was absolutely gorgeous--as one might expect from Terrance Malick--and although it wasn't really entertaining in the traditional sense, it held my interest by keeping me engaged in trying to interpret everything I was seeing (even though it did leave me feeling a little dumb in that regard and probably could have been 15 to 20 minutes shorter). I had read Roger Ebert compare it to "2001" that way, and I think that was a good call. My wife, who at first thought I had brought home a "Brad Pitt movie" absolutely hated it and went to be after a half hour. I certainly can understand that reaction. What was her reaction to Benjamin Button and Moneyball?

We saw what happened with Hudson...he rushed through the system and he was dumped after only 3 starts. Just hope the same thing doesn't happen with Molina. That he comes up at a time where they can be patient with him (like Danks and Floyd in 2007) and suffer through the growing pains and development together, instead of always being in "must win now" short-term thinking mode.

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 20, 2012 -> 10:00 PM) De Aza CF Morel 3B Rios LF Konerko 1B Dunn DH Viciedo RF Ramirez SS Pierzynski C Beckham 2B Flowers Lillibridge Fukudome O. Martinez Peavy Danks Floyd Humber Sale Stewart Santiago Infante Ohman Crain Thornton Reed That last spot going to Infante could go to one of about 10-15 possibilities. And one can't yet be certain they'd rather have Santiago was the 2nd or 3rd guy instead of starting, as long as Thornton and Ohman are still on the roster.

Lillibridge had one possibly anomalous half season and had the advantage of the best possible pitching match-ups. Rios is a two time All-Star. If Lillibridge is going to be our everyday CFer against both LH and RH pitching, we're in huge trouble. On a great team, Brent's the perfect jack of all trades, back up everywhere....like Joe McEwing or Jose Oquendo. But not a guy who gets 600+ AB's.

Super 8 was probably better cinema/film-making, with Planet of the Apes being better Hollywood entertainment. Frieda Pinto is one of those beautiful actresses you could watch all day long and perhaps not get bored...even in the Immortals, which was a pretty lame movie.

Stewart should be in AAA starting every day, not the last man out of the bullpen. Heck, if he's going to be in the bullpen, it should be in the 7th or 8th like Dotel...not as a spot starter in the DJ Carrasco or Sean Lowe mold.

They better hope it's Danks as a #2 and Floyd can at least be a #3. Sale is the one ultimately who has to be a #1 when all is said and done, and Peavy can overachieve (compared to 2009-11) as the #4 and Humber can even regress a bit at 5 or can be replaced by about 6 minor leaguers in the future if he pitches more like the 2nd half version, which was still quite acceptable for a back end rotation guy.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Feb 19, 2012 -> 04:10 PM) "In Time" was f***ing terrible. We shut that trash off. Amanda Seyfried's getting annoying, too. She's kind of morphing into Scarlett Johannson #2. (Although Scar-Jo was fairly tolerable in WE BOUGHT A ZOO). Give me Anne Hathaway or Rachel McAdams anytime! And, the jury's still out on whether Justin Timberlake can carry a movie on his own or not. Mixed evidence, at best.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Feb 19, 2012 -> 11:56 AM) I can't think of a single movie where Gleeson is a bad guy, unless you count the first Harry Potter he was in. And that was someone impersonating his good character. One is about 9/11 and features Tom Hanks. The other is an inspirational Spielberg flick about an underdog animal that gives us all hope. That's all the reasoning you need. What I mean is that he's usually somewhat ambiguous...if he's a "good guy" or hero/protagonist, he's usually doing some things that make you wonder "what the fuc*?" He just did what? If he's a bad guy or psuedo-villain, he usually has redeeming characteristics that make you empathize with him despite yourself. The Guard is a good example.

One will probably wonder later in this season if dealing Thornton, Floyd and possibly Crain in the offseason would have been the better moves to make...because there probably aren't very many Sox fans who bought season tickets because of their confidence in the Sox contending based on the retention of these 3 guys. They trade/dump any of those 3, clearly they're in rebuilding mode. With them, there's still the illusion for the more casual fan that we're sort of trying to compete in 2011, or at least not surrendering before the season even begins.

Plus Stewart, like Molina and Sale, are guys with a past history of relief work...so getting him another full season of starting at the AAA level would be much better than him replacing Jason Frasor, or Jesse Crain, or whoever else is dealt from the pen. We have to be more about development this year. You almost fear we're 3-5 GB and they begin to make decisions like sticking Stewart in the major league pen in order to shore things up instead of spending money acquiring another expensive veteran in the Linebrink/Frasor/Dotel/MacDougal mold.

And there's no reason that the likes of Santiago, Petricka, Castro and/or Axelrod can't be put into that starting rotation before Molina. Obviously, the same goes with Stewart. There's just no compelling reason to rush him, other than to justify that trade immediately. We finally have some semblance of pitching depth in the upper minors...let's use that to protect Molina's development and psyche to nurture him for as long as necessary before he's 100% ready for major league hitters.

That's not true, just as much blame has been placed on Williams as Guillen, it's just that KW went about dealing with it more diplomatically and was perceived to be less self-centered with his falling on the sword trick, but he doesn't have a huge number of supporters left here. We're basically left to hope that, like a gambler, his luck has to start changing again sometime soon. He started off with a steep learning curve in the first couple of years, had a great run from 2003-2008 and now he's back in a slump again.

Seems it was also about the "scope" of his powers with the Sox. I found the same article a while back when there was a discussion about who had actually hired Wilder, KW...or whether he was inherited from the previous GM.