caulfield12

Because Lillibridge would be overexposed as a starter, and he's hardly ever played 3B in his career. http://www.thebaseballcube.com/profile.asp...llibridge.shtml In fact, he's NEVER played 3B in his life that I can see as a starter. Only SS, 2B and CF. His career at the University of Washington, he spent a lot of time in the outfield but none at hot corner. The White Sox aren't going to risk this kind of grasping for straws move with a $128 milllion payroll. Ozzie will stick with Pierre. You'd have a lot stronger argument if you put Viciedo at 3B again, but they're simply not going to do that, either. In all likelihood, they'll give the playing time to Vizquel first, like last year.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 11, 2011 -> 10:55 PM) Who's this Louis Coleman reliever on KC? Fantastic strikeout numbers in the minors, and he's doing well in the majors so far also. http://www.peekyou.com/ext/?target=http://...ty=&region=

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/121677159.html Reporters and questioning fans already turning on pretty boy Mauer.

Another thing. If the major league affiliate consistently provides their minor league teams with inferior talent that hardly ever put together winning/competitive seasons, the best minor league organizations (which are privately held) have the right to terminate their operating agreements with the major league teams and find better matches. There's a huge difference playing in new stadiums with pristine, well-groomed infields in front of sold out crowds and the alternative. Cany anyone argue that developing the habit of winning championships at the minor league level at some point down the line DOESN'T have a positive effect, especially if the draftee hasn't played for successful programs in high school, JC or university??

QUOTE (T R U @ May 12, 2011 -> 03:41 AM) Well technically yes it did, they got to the playoffs but obviously didn't win the world series.. they ended up winning 102 games and Randy Johnson went 10-1 with a 1.28 ERA and 4 CG shutouts for them.. but up until 04/05 they were notorious playoff chokers That's kind of like saying the Tigers went to the playoffs with Doyle Alexander and it made the Smoltz trade a good one, or Bagwell for L. Anderson. If they had both Carlos Guillen and Freddy Garcia long-term (and John Halama as their fifth starter), they would have been much better off IMO.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/odds/ Right now, the Tigers are the clear favorites to win the division. The only one that surprised me was the Royals finishing at 70-92. Don't think that will happen. They should win in the mid 70's. They have the Sox pegged at 79.5-82.5 for the season, but I guess that would be almost exactly .500 after last night's late result is added in.

found this story from last fall when I was doing some research, I wasn't surprised in the least that none of the teams that climbed all the way back in to make the playoffs didn't win the World Series....including last year's Sox team, well, there's always a first time, right??? http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ys-f...comebacks081809 A couple of teams they didn't mention because they were already 5-10 games over .500 at the All-Star Break. 2006 Minnesota Twins, 26-33 (low point, actually this year's team at 11 games under .500 NOW is the all-time worst record for a Twins' team under Gardenhire) 11.5-12 GB 47-39 at ASB 70-33 record to finish the season 2009 Colorado Rockies, 31-33 low point, 11.5 GB 47-41 at ASB 61-37 record to finish the season 2005 Houston Astros, started 15-30/21-35 (low point was 16 GB) ASB 44-43 Finished the season on a 68-38 run

4-2 now. Hopefully we can take 2/3 from Oakland, but as a Sox fan, you've learned that you have to be relatively satisfied not getting swept.

Now "only" 9 1/2 GB, break up the Sox, break up the Sox. Ahead of the Astros and leaving the Twins in the dust by 1.5 28th and rising.

Apologies to the White Sox for giving up too early on this game. The Sox would never rally for Danks, lol. For some reason, they've bailed out our "ace" Jake. Guess we need to go back to Omar Vizquel at 3B to spark this team again, just like 2010.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ May 11, 2011 -> 09:57 PM) I wonder how bmac can contain his excitement to face our offense in Oakland. I mean facing our offense must excite opposing pitchers. Gio got blasted last night, but it would have been nice if we're just going to simply sink into an abyss to see KW getting asked questions by all the baseball writers like Rogers about Gio, Sweeney and McCarthy. Maybe that would make him angry, but at this point, I highly doubt it. Seems he's mellowed too much in the last 2-3 seasons, especially after all the strife and controversy last season. There was even quite a bit of talk recently they would give Gio a guaranteed 3-4 contract to buy out his first year of free agency. Nothing like a 7-20 stretch to create excitement.

Rosenthal was STILL predicting tonight at the Yankees/Royals game in NYC that Cleveland, DET and the White Sox would fight it out for first. That's becoming more and more of a remote possibility. I'm not even concerned with what the Indians are doing anymore. You would never understand that the White Sox are 8 for 25 and Angels are 7 for 25 and yet they're kicking our butts by looking at the box score. Unless you figure in the fact that with the possible exception of Michael Cuddyer, we're clearly the worst hitting team with RISP (except for the Twins and maybe Mariners) since the first 10 games of 2011. At least the Twins can point to Morneau's not being 100%, Mauer out, Young out, Nishioka out...they have some excuses. Our line-up has been basically healthy the entire year. That's what is most infuriating.

They should bunt every single ball down the 3B line until Teahen gets in playing shape...probably sometime in July/August. Great defense, as usual. It's like every above average MLB play has an automatic double or triple against everyone but Buehrle and Danks once they reach 1B.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 11, 2011 -> 09:41 PM) Teahen's batting average in free-fall mode, down to about .225 And he still has a higher OPS than Beckham. Who has a higher OPS than Pierre, AJ, Rios and Morel. Yikes. Looks like all of Peavy's pitchers are within 5-7 MPH of each other. Not exactly the 10+ MPH spread that's ideal. He is throwing sliders, change-ups and cutters according the play-by-play, in addition to the FB.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ May 11, 2011 -> 09:41 PM) When does Teahen's contract with us expire???? After 2012 I hope.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ May 11, 2011 -> 09:39 PM) except teahen Teahen's suddenly switch-hitting?

Has Peavy thrown any pitches over 90 MPH? I just picked up the game at mlb.com and he was at 88. That's Freddy Garcia territory. Or was it a sinking FB and his four seamer's in the low 90's?

The Randy Johnson trade didn't go so well, either.

I'll say one thing. The record of the Twins' AA and AAA teams these last seasons is a serious concern. Development is one thing, but they've compiled the worst record in the minors in 2010 and 2011 and it's now reflected at the major league level as well. When a major league team is having difficulty succeeding in terms of w/l record, they group all their prospects together and hope that they'll developing a "winning" habit that won't be so negatively counteracted when they get to the big leagues with a team like the Royals or Pirates.

There's a situation where Ozzie would have been grilled. 1 out, runners on 2nd and 3rd and you don't want the Twins' best hitter to beat you. It would have put the go-ahead runner at 1st, but geez. Schlereth already had given up a homer to Kubel, I think it was last night even, and there's Ozzie's dreaded L/L match-up. Morneau does have 2 doubles in this game, but he was the 2nd coldest hitter on the Twins of their "veteran" players. I think 90% of MLB managers would have walked Kubel to face Morneau there, setting up a force at any base. We'll see how well Mijares and Capps can do with the lead. Seems like one of those typical Twins' victories that might get their season turned around. Of course, Sox fans have said the same thing at least twice in the last couple of weeks. ONLY THE 3rd TIME THEY"VE SCORED 5 OR MORE RUNS THE ENTIRE SEASON.

Nope. That's the equivalent of having a 2-8 record in every 10 games against a team for 3 years running. By the way, the Twins have received 5 free passes to the basepaths (by the Tigers) in the last 1+ inning and still haven't come up with a hit with RISP. Not to mention a passed ball. If they don't win this game or at least tie it, they really are worse than the White Sox.

Same reason we lose in Oakland usually. We've only won 6 of our last 30 against Minnesota.

But the way the Astros have operated isn't that far off from the Cardinals' business model in recent years. It's just that StL has been a lot more successful, AND they obviously had the fortune of Mr. Pujols being in their organization.

Viciedo becomes the starter in LF and Ramirez/Beckham/Teahen/Vizquel all lead off until one keeps the position, I'd imagine. Not unlike 2008/2009.

So Bonds and A-Rod are the only ones to get in (eventually)? Has Piazza escaped 100% with his reputation intact? I wasn't sure...haven't followed it as closely as many others, as it's too depressing to me as a fan.