caulfield12

Big dilemma. Williams against two lefties in the bottom of the 6th? Or Matt Thornton 2 innings too early, in the Zumaya-esque extended two inning appearance a day after being nicked by the Yankees the night before, in a day game? No good options for Ozzie.

When we need a fly ball from Pierre for an RBI, we get a ground ball to P/3B/1B, foul out, DP or K. When we need him to slap the ball and beat it out, he flies out. When we need him to run fast and beat out a play at first, he doesn't have that "burst" or extra gear to shift into anymore.

Great job by Danks, what new?

110 and counting. All "high stress" pitches.

Proverbial rock and a hard place for Ozzie. Pull Danks now? I don't think so.

"Mark Teahan is a good/solid defender. "Plus" arm on the scoutng scale over at third. He's the least of our problems." Buddy Bell (and 1/3rd of the posters here)

Fine, nobody can talk about Jon Danks when his pitch count hits 130+ or they will be flamed... BTW, my talking about Danks makes a lot more sense than KW stressing in his reality show that we'll be bringing in a lot of high OBP guys...when he did exactly the opposite.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 1, 2010 -> 02:02 PM) What does Danks pitch count have to do with Omar Vizquel? WHAT THE ---- ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? ISN'T THIS A GAME THREAD? SO NOW WE CAN'T POST WITHOUT REFERRING TO A SPECIFIC PREVIOUS POSTERS' QUOTATION. PEOPLE HERE ARE REALLY LOSING IT.

Danks nearing high 80's in pitch count. Looks like he will only get through five to be in a position to turn it over to pen...six if he's VERY VERY economical with his pitches next inning. What's the +/- with Danks' pitch count before everyone starts laying into Ozzie for endangering the most important player in our organization arguably?

At least we're not paying Vazquez $10-15 million. We can only whine and complain about Peavy's deal for now.

Am in Xi'an China at 243 AM at net bar. Well, at least if we lose, I get to see the amazing TERRA COTTA warriors today no matter what and won't let it ruin my day!!! YAY! I was actually pretty shocked (upon logging onto computer to see) we were leading yesterday and today....only slightly more than I was shocked to see Thornton was the one who gave up the lead. Beckham, what's going on with you?

KW always makes a point of mentioning how they consult with many players, ex-players, GM's, "eyes and ears" around the leagues before they make a move, and they've done this even with Iguchi, Rios, Peavy and Alexei. Harrelson, Stone, DJ, Farmer, Singleton, etc., do the same and pass on information. Obviously, with Swisher and Cabrera, there was a ton of info out there. Look at AJ and Everett, Jenks, we've brought in more "questionable" (but talented) headcases than any other organization out there, and they've usually "blended" fairly well. Of course there were cliques like AJ, Crede, Rowand, etc. That happens in every clubhouse, plus the ethnic divides along ethnic lines (Uribe was one of the few that was universally liked by everyone, the glue that held everything together). Swisher and O-Cab are as much on KW as anyone. I honestly don't believe Konerko or the likes of Thome would deliberately alienate anyone. Dye, that's another question, he has always been much more sensitive (see his tailspin after Rios was acquired). We have 4 players (Jenks and AJ, too) still remaining from 2005, btw. But seriously, you have to question the ego of anyone who has their initials on the side of their cap like it's a "brand." Unless you're Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant or Lebron James....

Thompson 0/4 with 2 K's. Colligan and Vargas are carrying the Intimidators' offense tonight. FOR AAA, Viciedo up to 716 OPS, 9 RBI's (3 tonight) and Danks at 831.

Freddy Garcia=Livan Hernandez Pitch away from contact, high pitch count, lots of walks...84-88 MPH fastball...keep everything on the black...don't get behind in counts and give in with the fastball over the center of the plate. Mix in a steady diet of offspeed junk to keep hitters off balance. Minnesota leading CLE 5-0, who'd a thunk it? Go figure.

Saw the line-up and I thought it was a joke. Second thought, hope Jones doesn't have Thome-esque issues and it doesn't end up lingering. Who's our next option? Danks or Gartrell? I guess Kotsay would be playing against a RHP. Seems very dangerous to start Nix over Kotsay defensively, no matter how bad Kotsay has been hitting so far....Nix is more acclimated to playing LF, yes?

But I was reading somewhere around here (can't remember the poster, on the tip of my tongue) that many were pissed off with Buddy Bell because some of the off-season targets (especially Teahen) were ones that he really pushed hard for their addition, with the specific argument that Teahen could be a serviceable defensive 3B and everyday player despite bottom tier defense and 3rd quartile offensive upside at a power position. Really, you have a guy who strikes out a ton, doesn't have very good power and can hurt you defensively (yes, he has a "plus" arm but that doesn't compensate for his lack of instincts, just like Fields). It comes as no surprise, then, that the Royals had tried him at 1B, 2B, RF and LF. None of those positions really "clicked" either, particularly 2B. If Hahn is a great GM candidate, then it seems his voice has really been neutered...if Bell and Ozzie actually have more influence. How/why would you let those guys have more authority when you have one of the better GM's in baseball who did construct a roster which everyone around here concedes many SoxTalk posters could have led to a World Series title? If Bell really wanted Vizquel (as a tutor for Alexei), then I would forgive him for that logic. At least that's a reasonably defensible position. But to argue for dumping Dye/Thome and replacing it with Kotsay at-bats...just not sound F.0. thinking. If EVERYONE here saw it coming 2 years in a row with rosters at the beginnings of the season, nobody internally in the White Sox organization challenged Bell and Guillen about their flawed institutional approach? Really? Makes me question what the heck is really going on, if we're conjecturing KW is more of a "figurehead/symbol" than the real MAN he always projects himself to be....maybe his brash/bold attitude is compensating for the fact that it's all kind of a charade??? I just don't know what to think anymore.

Balta, you just made my point. About a 5% possibility any GM in baseball could do worse with their LF situation. KW definitely made the right move with El Caballo being dumped, even though that trade for Pods was one of the most mystifying to casual Sox fans, more sophisticated fans saw the method in the madness sooner.

Exactly....we're either taking on a big contract (like Berkman) for a quick fix solution and giving up less talent, "busting" a budget that's supposedly at the tipping point or over (and JR already saw the results of KW asking him to assume that risk in 2009 with Peavy and Rios)...or we gut the anemic #26-30 farm system in baseball even further. If anything, we should be standing pat for 30-45 days, but nothing in the make-up of this ballclub and the seeming regression by aging veterans (Kotsay, Pierre, AJ, Vizquel) would allow one to believe that adding would be wise, with the Twins looking like a 93-95 win team and DET at 88-91. Obviously, no Wild Card. We're also (by trading for a bat) partially counting on CQ and Jones to be more or less dangerous line-up forces, and neither one of those is guaranteed either. Not only CQ and Andruw Jones, but even Peavy and Jenks (to a lesser extent than the two hitters) are close to becoming certifiable question marks/concerns.

Exactly, the way I read it, it seemed as if the implication was that NONE of those players could improve this year's team. Now we can debate Willie Harris vs. Juan Pierre until we're blue in the face, but everyone on this site could cite their 3-5 favorite offseason DH targets (LH) and obviously all of them would be upgrades over Kotsay. It would be hard to find a LF who's playing much worse and adding less to the team than Pierre. Hopefully, that will change because we so rarely send money the other way or simply eat bad contracts. We suffer by having our roster semi-crippled by poor decision making.

All I know is that Thornton was at 94-96 instead of 96-97 and occasionally touching 98. Floyd was 89-91 instead of 91-95. Feldman never broke 90, but he's usually 89-91/92.

So then, you think KW should be more on the "hot seat" than Ozzie Guillen...? Since the line-up is lacking in overall talent and ability, yes? Agree/disagree?

So you're telling me you would have trotted out a line-up in Arlington with Vizquel in the 2 spot, Kotsay prominently featured (or featured at all)...with no Beckham and it was either Rios or Quention/Konerko that were also sitting? Honestly? I know Vizquel/Nix/Kotsay starting along with any combination of Paulie/Rios/Jones/Beckham/Quentin sitting (2 of them) is asking for a beatdown.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Apr 29, 2010 -> 12:30 PM) Rios and Andruw both were last out of the inning IIRC, I know Rios was for sure. And Rios hit his when the Sox were down. Its fine though, your definitions of bad and great can vary as much as you would like them to Not about bad and great. I think a clutch hit is a single that scores runners and moves the line along when there's two outs. Like if Juan Pierre would have done this say 5-6 times so far (base knock) rather than just once in 20 opportunities. You think it's a game winning or game-tying homer, in this case. Arguments can be made either way. Certainly some would say Teahen's game in TOR was the most clutch of the entire season.

Luke Hochevar absolutely torched by the Rays, clearly the best team in baseball right now 9 runs, 11 hits, almost all of them line drives...

Josh Kroeger 2 for 4 with 3 RBI's. Charlotte now leading 7-5, Torres very shaky in this start. Does anyone think that Kotsay could be replaced adequately by Josh? You just worry about his defense...he doesn't have any place on the diamond where he's not a liability, and he doesn't have quite enough power for DH. Sort of reminds me a little bit of Ross G-Load.