caulfield12

As long as the ultimatum isn't directed at "fair weather fans" for not supporting this team, attendance issues (we'll be #22 after this series in MLB), having to pay the electricity bill somehow, only being able to spend 50 cents, etc., then it's cool...but he dareth not engage mano a mano against loyal White Sox fans for NOT supporting the piss-poor miasma of an organization he's down-graded us to like a bad credit default swap that's worth pennies on the dollar.

I think saying Young never developed as a hitter is like saying that about Mike Cameron at the same point in his career...maybe disappointment compared to the high ceiling possible, but he's far from done as an impact major league ballplayer, not even close. I'm not even sure Josh Byrnes would trade Young straight up for Gordon Beckham, to tell the truth.

That Meche deal for $55 million raised eyebrows at the time, and is still met with quizzical acceptance by GM's throughout the game...

What does it say? Twitter, Fecebook, Myspace, youtube, hulu.com, etc. are blocked in CHINA by the "GREAT FIREWALL."

I was referring more to the Kyle Lohse, Kip Wells, Todd Wellemeyer, Joel Piniero, Sidney Ponson, etc., types that have dotted their roster for the past half decade. That wasn't about Pujols' future allocation...it was simply tightening the belt strings. Jocketty's clashes with his own front office and ownership were also part of the equation there.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 3, 2010 -> 02:44 PM) Take a look at why Dunn's name came up in this thread. Why? Because even at his current contract level, on a 1-2 year deal, he's easily movable if he accepts arbitration. What NL teams would actually put him in LF, with the renewed MLB focus on versatile, cheaper players who can defend, run and hit? I think there might be 3-4 AL teams, but it's not a risk without careful consideration being undertaken. You really think KW would take Dunn...when we could have had a much cheaper version in Jim Thome?

Disagree about Buehrle, simply because he's been horrible for a month now after Opening Day. Still, he'll turn it around for 2-3 months and be the Buehrle (dependable version) we all know and love, and that every opposing GM would love to have on their roster, IF IF IF they could afford him. I do agree with one aspect, the Cardinals have been much more budget-conscious and have gone with the "diamond in the rough" theory of acquiring starters since overspending from 1995-2005 in this area.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ May 3, 2010 -> 02:48 PM) Eh.. maybe other moves would be made to fill the hole at second base and in other spots. I'm sure they would. Two examples, why putting all the eggs in one basket doesn't make sense 1) Pre-season 2005 asset allocation (or re-allocation)....Ordonez, C-Lee and Valentin out 2) Tearing apart the 2005/06/07 rotation when it became too expensive.....Garcia, Garland and Vazquez, at one point the starters (along w/ Buehrle, Contreras) were making $55 million combined for just five roster spots, obviously too overloaded in one area...look at the results in 2007. A cheap Bobby Jenks made it possible then, but no more...as well as Dotel/Liney. There's just no way with uncertain revenue projectability (.500 clubs mean diminishing attendance) that the White Sox could ever again afford the contract numbers being speculated here for A-Gone. Certainly not with Peavy and Rios on the roster to pay.

Who would you guys take at this point, Brandon Wood or Alex Gordon? Or stay with Teahen? Assuming we could find a large market team to take his contract off our hands...he would be like the Xavier Nady of the Yankees minus the eye-popping offensive numbers. Then again, that jetstream to RCF, maybe he'd put up 18-24 homers in a season batting 9th?

http://espn.go.com/mlb/beanecount We're 6th in the AL in Beane Count, only 0.7 behind the Rays...YAY!!!!! 25 INDIANS: The league's lowest-scoring offense averages a .692 OPS. Four Indians beat this average, and one is Jhonny Peralta, who is hitting .227. (Steve Buffum, The B-List Indians Blog) 26 (24) White Sox 10-15 No AL team is getting less from its leadoff spot (.255 OBP, zero extra-base hits). The recently demoted Juan Pierre has been bad, but the "solutions" have been worse. (Jim Margalus, Sox Machine) from espn power ratings/www.espn.com Sorry, that bolded line made me laugh, and also conjured up visions of our CF "solutions" since 2005 or our 5th starter "solutions" from 2001-2004, Colon/Contreras in 2009, Garcia in 2010.

So maybe we should move out of BIRM, haha? Actually, if you had AA "padded" stats for players like Allen or Viciedo, Morel or Danks, that were like Albuquerque or Charlotte...well, scouts know to adjust for park factors and not just read stats on the net.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 2, 2010 -> 08:09 PM) Lucy might have a career as a second catcher who hits for crap but calls a good game and plays solid defense. That is about his best case scenario. I don't think anyone who is familiar with his career to this point expects anything more. See Josh Paul or Humberto Quintero.

Moore would ask for Gordon Beckham and work down from there. Sometimes we really overvalue our own players and undervalue others.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ May 3, 2010 -> 10:12 AM) It doesn't really work for losing teams. The 2003/04 White Sox were undoubtedly very talented, more than a .500 team, especially the 2003 version. You look at our starting line-ups offensively (Maggs, Thomas, Ordonez, Valentin, Konerko, etc.) back then, they were light years ahead of this current reincarnation. Catching lightning in a bottle once was like the mutual fund director who had a 1351% rate of return and crushed the S&P, causing him to think he could beat the index consistently year after year. It can't be done, everything absolutely broke perfectly in 2005, a once in a 25-50 year eventuality for the White Sox organization historically.

Balta, why would a team like the Nationals take the risk that he (Dunn) accepts and they end up with a contract they don't want on their hands? Not that they have a clue what they're doing over there, but their philosophy is hard to discern....more like Dayton Moore, for every Hochevar/Moustakas/Hosmer, there's a Gathright, Crisp, J. Guillen, Bloomquist, Ankiel, Pods, Kyle Farnsworth, Juan Cruz, that's kind of a head-scratching veteran sign when they should be in total youth rebuild, etc.

Since we're not the ones signing the checks, is there anyone who will go on record and argue how/why trading Flowers/Hudson as well as Danks OR Morel for Gonzalez and THEN signing Edgar to a $200 million dollar, 8 year contract extension would make sense at this time and place?

Yeah, agree on the head movement part, it's obvious to him I am sure watching tape, the problem is correcting it once the lights come on, I'm sure he's 100% confident in BP. I must throw in with the others who think that working hard is not the same as being an effective hitting coach. The Sox have had trouble for several years now with hitting in critical situations. Although the team has been largely re-constructed, the problem continues. When Gordon Beckham came up last year, he may not have had a perfect swing, but he was hitting with confidence and getting on base. After Walker "helped" him, he can't seem to get a hit and he looks confused at bat. Item No. 2, Pierre. He's got to be one of the worst outfielders in the major leagues. At bat, he looks even worse. I don't know if that is Walker's fault, but he was a better hitter before he came to the Sox. Now he, too, looks confused. -- Garey Conrad; Urbanna, VA Well, many of you asked what Walker does. So I told you he (and Mike Gellinger, the major league computer systems analyst) work endlessly with all the hitters. After Gordon widened his batting stance (under the suggestion of Walker), he went 4-for-8 before striking out in six of his next nine at-bats. Sure, the jury is out on the stance but Gordon told me before Saturday's game that he felt comfortable. I still think his swing tends to get long, although Gordon doesn't think so. Walker was a first baseman, so he has nothing to do with Pierre's defense. And I think you'll see Juan as the designated hitter more often when Carlos Quentin is healthy and Alex Rios returns. answer: Mark Gonzales/Tribne.com How can you defend the coaching staff? Just as an example look at the number of players who were sent to the minors for rehab and came back hitting or pitching better only to fall back in a slump when Greg Walker or Don Cooper were in the picture. It appears they help no one. Then you have Ozzie's attitude that they are pros and should know themselves what the problem is. If that were the case, why not save a bunch of cash and get rid of them. Walker says the(y) (sic) need to find themselves. -- Randy A.; Reno, NV Sergio Santos is the only rookie currently on the squad, and he's pitching great. That's a tribute to him and the player development staff.

I'll beat the Uribe horse dead into the ground again...or Orlando Hudson. Or both. At any rate, that ship's sailed. I do know one thing...he's really hesitant down there to make reads and commitments, and he ends up putting himself in a bad position, letting numerous balls "play him" instead of the other way around. Not to mention that, being "in between" as a fielder works the same as hitting, with the same negative consequences. You either come in too quickly and misplay the ball or hop or get off balance, or you're back on your heels making wild flat-footed throws and pressuring your 1B. It also seems he lacks range and first step "range explosiveness" (Crede had it despite ZERO actual 40-50 yard dash speed) to his right or left. He also plays a lot of balls off to the side, which only works for Juan Uribe. The arm is a nice TOOL, but it's like going to work as a handyman with a hammer and no nails.

Then again, the early returns on the Javy Vasquez deal don't look so good) Give it some time. Lillibridge was never realistically expected to be a major league regular when we acquired him. If Flowers doesn't make it as a catcher, then that's a pretty big hit as far as that trade goes, but Gilmore and Santos Rodriguez (especially) are interesting prospects, albeit ones we won't see for another two seasons, if not 3. Look at it this way....Vazquez sucked for us when it counted, just jettisoning his contract would have been enough for me. Instead, we got a Top 50 catching prospect who's very intriguing and Gilmore/Rodriguez as part of the deal, both of who could emerge eventually at the big league level. It's nothing to get worked up about now regardless, that trade was alway a "way down the line" move in terms of evaluation. If you want to dissect any move/s, it's both Swisher trades that have been pretty horrible in terms of an overall "net" return to the Sox. However, I'll cede KW's company line that Swisher wasn't going to play CF for us and that he allocated the money from Nick's deal to the signing of Viciedo. Only when/if Dayan fails to contribute can I completely write off every element of the 2 Swisher moves and call it a complete loss.

The Twins are flukey and will struggle in their new ballpark over time. Dick Allen said so. So I'll trust his judgment on that one.

It's a disgrace to logic we're even having this thread. You have to look at the big picture, Castro's a veteran with proven results on the back of his baseball card, he's got a decent-sized contract, Lucy was close to being DFA'ed at different points over the last 2 seasons. He wasn't even a starter for most of his career at Stanford. Castro, you can make a case that he could get hot and carry a team offensively as a DH for a week or two and also can spell AJ more reliably with his veteran experience and repoire with our staff. Lucy hasn't built up that knowledge-base at the major league level, not even close.

Donny Lucy opened some eyes up while he was here. Daniel Hudson returned to future ace form with the Knights. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/ar...b&fext=.jsp Let's start looking at the big picture here...we'll be fine. In Ozzie, Cooper, Walk and KW we trust!!! Well, Cora, not so much...

1) Beckham has proven he can successfully adapt and transition defensively to 2B (his third position in a year), and only needs a few more weeks to get things straightened out mentally. If he's still struggling at the end of May, we can always send him to Charlotte and we have capable replacements in Nix and Vizquel to hold down the fort in the meantime. 2) Sergio Santos...watching him well up in THE CLUB preview is perhaps the coolest thing to happen this year, along with #5 and #8 on this list. 3) Alex Rios is the player who we're no longer worrying about carrying that long-term contract anymore. 4) Andruw Jones has been better than anyone could ever have expected in his role. 5) John Danks has become one of the two three lefty starters in baseball. 6) Matt Thornton, despite his occasional glitches, has been one of the top 2-3 lefty set-up guys in baseball, and would fetch us as much as any player on this team at the moment if KW placed him on the market. 7) Bobby Jenks has gotten the job done, just look at his Saves/SO stat, the back of his TOPPS baseball card begins and ends there. 8) Paul Konerko is the AL Offensive Player of the Month, giving KW flexibility to trade him if necessary in order to clear salary space. Even if traded, there's a better than 50/50 chance KW could bring him back to the White Sox for a 2-3 year extension if they decided Viciedo wasn't ready to go at season's end. 9) Pena and Putz have acquitted themselves well, and Putz will only get better (as he builds his fastball and splitter back up to previous "closer form" each day removed from surgery). Along with Andruw Jones and Konerko, Putz will be among the most sought-after pitchers on our roster due to KW's insightful contract. Pena's making the minor league guys forget about Brandon Allen. 10) We have immediate, impactful prospects at the AA/AAA level in D2, Flowers (murdering the ball), Viciedo, Hudson, Santeliz, Shelby and CJ Retherford. 11) Trayce Thompson has a better than 50/50 chance of becoming one of the Top 20 prospects in baseball, and a dominant offensive force that you build an organization around, to go along with Beckham, Danks and Quentin as franchise centerpieces. 12) Biting the bullet and trading Buehrle to the Cardinals nets us a boatload of prospects....and they'll be willing to pay a "premium" to acquire him. 13) We stayed afloat on this road trip and can start to do some damage in the standings to the Twins'/Tigers' hot starts with a good 5-2 or 6-1 streak, led by the starting pitching all winning and each performance building on the previous one like in 2005 and 2008. They're simply too talented to not get it figured out for at least a 2-3 month stretch in a season. Just like the 2001 team that started 14-29 only to get to 8 games over .500, or the 1983 team that stumbled to 16-24 and ended up winning the division going away, by 30 games. Shall I go on?

Are we really bunting Konerko over to 2nd? Seems like a good way to get him thrown out at second or home on a single...

QUOTE (fathom @ May 2, 2010 -> 12:57 PM) It's a long season, but he wouldn't be the first Sox player to have a strong first year and then fall on their face (Caruso, Fields, and even Quentin). It's more of a rule of thumb instead of a freak happening so far. Ramirez comes to mind. Sosa and Cameron really struggled in their second years and ended up being traded.