caulfield12

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Jul 8, 2011 -> 02:27 AM) Cmon man we have the best pitching; that's gotta count for something at the end of all this. Now what the hell do we do with Rios Beckham Pierre and Morel? Something big has to happen there, big changes. Thankfully Pierre might have value again to another team; well at least enough value where we don't have to pay all of his salary It's doubtful we could get anything back for Pierre...just dumping the $2.5 million we owe him and freeing the position is the main issue. Beckham's fine for now, compared to most of our problems. Morel might need to split more and more time with Teahen until he starts putting up at least a 600-625 OPS. Teahen can take some walks and also drive the ball out of the yard. Rios to the bench, with DeAza/Lillibridge platoon until/unless both of them aren't productive, then you go back to Alex and try to get him going again like the first half of 2010 and put him through waivers, hoping to find a suitor. Probably stuck with him in 2012, though.

He's a lot better than Arnie Munoz, that much is for certain.

The fact is the Sox are hitting .177 in five games against the Twins this season. And the middle of the lineup was inept again, making the No. 3 through 6 hitters 0-for-28 in the last two games. "I will be behind those guys and support them and be positive with them until the day I can't anymore," manager Ozzie Guillen said of his high-priced lineup, which includes the .163-hitting Adam Dunn and his 113 strikeouts. "We just can't get it done," he said. "The reason is … I don't know the reason." But Thursday's game can be blamed on more than the offense, as Philip Humber — talked about as an All-Star replacement before the game — made his shortest and most ineffective start of the season. The 11 hits in 3 2/3 innings were out of character for Humber, who had gone 6-1 with a 2.52 ERA in his previous 10 games. "That's the first time I saw him (really) struggle," Guillen said. "I can erase this game for him. Everybody has a bad game. He's been great for us all year." chicagotribune.com/sports

QUOTE (knightni @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 11:18 PM) Unless you quoted the wrong poster, I don't read any of that in Caulfield's post. He is right you know. It is nearly impossible to dump those salaries without divesting the minors and sending big piles of cash.. I don't think you'd want my comments on the Tea Party! Tempting, but a pass. Confused about who he was actually replying to as well. Libtard is a new phrase for my lexicon, though. It sounds more like libertarian...than "tard" combined with Liberal. I think we might have another mini-issue on our hands with the phrase "tard" derived from retarded, but best to fight another battle.

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 10:18 PM) Oh look. Another White Sox prospect who everybody assumes is the next ace. He's a future pen arm. The opposite. Instead of making Aaron Poreda and Sale starters and projecting unrealistic hopes on them, I'd prefer to believe in someone who has multiple pitches....can throw his offspeed stuff in the 70's with his fastball at 93-94 and also is learning how to mix in the screwball. It's been the rule for White Sox pitchers drafted in the first. My experience has always been the least hyped prospects emerge with the White Sox. Hopefully Viciedo is an exception to that rule, we need both him and Beckham to play like they're capable of.

What else is there to be positive about? Would it be better to dissect 6-27/7-28 (0-5 this season) against Minnesota? 8 losses in a row. 1-5 against DET, another 8 game losing streak as part of that. 7-14 in the AL Central. We haven't beaten them at home since early APRIL, 2010. What else can we positively say? That Teahen should replace Morel at 3B because he actually has some pop and might get a few walks....and that might be worth negating one of the better young defenders in the game for in all likelihood the worst at that position in baseball (toss-up with Viciedo). I don't think anyone would have predicted Sergio Santos to be White Sox closer 3 years ago, either. Or that Humber would be our team MVP before tonight, along with Paulie. We always tend to do better with "under the radar" 30th round draft picks than 1st rounders. Think of players like Buehrle or Chris Young here.

We're actually 1st in the AL in defense. Quentin and Beckham have improved pretty dramatically. Morel's been very solid since the first month. Where we have seen fall-offs is with Pierre, Rios and Ramirez, but it's still a very good defensive team. Ramirez is still one of the best overall defensive shortstops in the game and Rios is still above-average. AJ has his obvious throwing issues (half of it is on the pitchers not holding anyone except for Buehrle and Danks), but he's a solid game-caller and on-field general.

The problem is that they can't. Although I don't think sitting Dunn for a couple of weeks or mystery DL'ing him for Viciedo is going to ruin him for the next 3 contract years as Rongey would argue. If anything, struggling like he is right now might have more drastic long-term consequences than sitting him for 15 days.

Fathom in the game thread made the comparison to Johan Santana (in terms of his fastball)....obviously, that's a big jump, as we're seeing with some of the Viciedo comparisons, but at least there's some hope for the future. Ozzie Guillen taking a long time to talk to the media. Maybe he's having an extended meeting with the players. Something needs to be done to right this sinking ship.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 09:51 PM) From what I've heard, Reinsdorf is really pissed off about Rios. Obviously at the way he's playing and the logic in taking on the contract. Signing Dunn is one thing, while his second half last season may have suggested a drop off, not to the extreme its been, but Rios.....................The scouting reports all were he didn't seem to care, and that's exactly how he's been playing for about a year now. Unfortunately KW can't "play chicken" with him (like with Cabrera) and just bench him permanently because he'll just sit there sulking and collecting 10% of the payroll while becoming even more of a clubhouse cancer. Seriously, just give him to the Mariners straight-up for Figgins and it couldn't really get any worse.

http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2011/0...ctor_santi.html

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 09:41 PM) Holy s***. When I left BWW the Cubs were down 8-0... and they just won 10-8?? I wonder if the Sox have a comeback like that in them? Not with Alex Rios leading off.

I love how we don't even think about PHing for Rios here. Just concede the game, Ozzie. Or the entire series, for that matter. It's not like we don't have an All-Star just sitting there on the bench.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 09:36 PM) Walkoff grand slam for Hafner. They're going to be tough. I think it's either the Twins or Indians. DET has too many issues with Porcello and Scherzer, and who knows how long Penny and Verlander can stand up to the wear and tear. DET also has a ton of bullpen/relief issues to deal with. Minnesota looks to head into the 2nd half with a ton of momentum.

http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2011/0...ctor_santi.html Very good Hector Santiago article...

Unreal. This is getting to be semi-sadistic to put him in the line-up at #3 or #4. Pull the plug.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 09:28 PM) Santiago's fastball looks a lot like the Johan Santana fastball of old. We might have the next member of our rotation for 2012. Who would have predicted Hector Santiago and not Sale? Did anyone even have this guy for AAP? No more Morel or Omar at #2. Dunn and Rios should never again be higher than 6-7-8.

The White Sox should just offer free rainchecks to every fan for future games until they beat the Twins just once. It would be the least JR could do to generate some goodwill. KW should personally be forced to hand them all out to every single ticketholder until we win.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 7, 2011 -> 09:22 PM) He just can't barrel-up a fastball Beckham or Konerko? Rare Juan Pierre strikeout.

Nishioka just doesn't have the arm for SS. They need to switch Casilla and Nishioka again....although it probably won't happen until the offseason.

Well, thank God for Santiago and Teahen or this game would be absolutely unbearable. The irony again with the Swisher trade is that Fautino De Los Santos is exactly the final piece we could have used in that bullpen. We're still one RH short, although Bruney's been okay. Tony Pena, yuck.

Cubs tied again. It would suck to lose that game after coming all the way back from 8-0 down. The Cardinals lost in similar fashion to the Reds the other night. Guillen caught napping with Repko appearing as a PH.

AJ didn't exactly hustle on that one. God, that's just a pathetic inning of offense after we actually threatened Pavano in the 5th. There's no choice left now. Teahen for Morel, DeAza/Lilly platoon and Viciedo for Dunn. Doesn't matter who you "mystery DL," just get it done KW.

43.75% K rate It's worse than Deer, Kingman and Reynolds.

Even if we lost six in a row, the worst we could be is 7 1/2 games back. Almost the exact same position as 2003 at the All-Star Break.