caulfield12

QUOTE (kwolf68 @ Apr 23, 2010 -> 08:25 AM) This team sucks. What manager is going to get these guys anywhere? There is virtually nothing exciting about watching this team except a couple starting pitchers and a reliever or two...Just putting together a bunch of good players (circa 2004) is so Dan Snyder-esque it's funny. Now the team is in the doldrums, the salary is high, so-called good players are playing at DFA-them levels, and no one is watching this flotsam...and we're only 16 games in. There is time to turn it around, but does this team have that capability? Kenny retooled the minors a bit, then gutted it again for a guy who can't get people out and is making more money than God. Accountability starts with guys like that. Everyone likes to beat up on a platoon hitting DH (who admittedly should NOT be there). There are more problems here than Mark freaking Kotsay (though he could be one of the first to be moved out if need blood is needed). As someone highlighted somewhere else on this site, all of those players we gave up (to SD) are struggling mightily, with the exception of Clayton Richard. We lost some depth, but none of those other three were going to make much of a difference to the long-term future of this team IMO. Now I suppose you could argue they'd provide KW with "added bullets" for his trading gun, but that boat has sailed. Of course, in hindsight, we can argue that we'd be better off with Richard's low salary (creating huge payroll flexibility) over Peavy...but it's ridiculous to make such argument from a long-term perspective, after four starts. Premature evaluation... We can go on and on about the Swisher trade (which would leave us with Ryan Sweeney possibly playing CF and not needing to acquire Rios)...but we need to find a solution, recriminations about the past (and I'm one of the first to bring them up, I'll admit) are wasted at this point.

QUOTE (kwolf68 @ Apr 23, 2010 -> 08:25 AM) This team sucks. What manager is going to get these guys anywhere? There is virtually nothing exciting about watching this team except a couple starting pitchers and a reliever or two...Just putting together a bunch of good players (circa 2004) is so Dan Snyder-esque it's funny. Now the team is in the doldrums, the salary is high, so-called good players are playing at DFA-them levels, and no one is watching this flotsam...and we're only 16 games in. There is time to turn it around, but does this team have that capability? Kenny retooled the minors a bit, then gutted it again for a guy who can't get people out and is making more money than God. Accountability starts with guys like that. Everyone likes to beat up on a platoon hitting DH (who admittedly should NOT be there). There are more problems here than Mark freaking Kotsay (though he could be one of the first to be moved out if need blood is needed). As someone highlighted somewhere else on this site, all of those players we gave up (to SD) are struggling mightily, with the exception of Clayton Richard. We lost some depth, but none of those other there were going to make much of a difference to the long-term future of this team IMO. Now I suppose you could argue they'd provide KW with "added bullets" for his trading gun, but that boat has sailed. Of course, in hindsight, we can argue that we'd be better off with Richard's low salary (creating huge payroll flexibility) over Peavy...but it's ridiculous to make such argument from a long-term perspective, after four starts. Premature evaluation... We can go on and on about the Swisher trade (which would leave us with Ryan Sweeney possibly playing CF and not needing to acquire Rios)...but we need to find a solution, recriminations about the past (and I'm one of the first to bring them up, I'll admit) are wasted at this point.

Solutions for bringing fans out to game out of curiosity which would in no way improve our record but might boost attendance/interest (see Canseco, Bo Jackson, Michael Jordan, etc.) 1) Release Vizquel. Bring back Crede to get some AB's against LHP's and as a part-time DH. Get Nix some more playing time to see if he fits into the long-range plans of the organization. Vizquel certainly doesn't, unless it's playing for Ozzie's next team. 2) Sign Bonds or Sosa to replace Kotsay. Yes, I'm joking. Well, 90%. 3) Promote Danks (Kotsay)/Flowers (Lucy/Kotsay)/Hudson (Garcia)/Retherford (for Nix)...let Nix play everyday 2B at Charlotte 4) Reactivate Frank Thomas or sign Carlos Farmer in the Delgado. 5) Reactivate Ozzie Guillen as player/manager and team him up with Vizquel. 6) Minnie Minoso plays in yet another Sox decade. 7) Release Williams. Replace with Eddie Guardado. 8) Five year reunion of 2005 team....just to have some good vibes at the ballpark again. 9) Brian Anderson Appreciation Day 10) Another option...bring back Chad Bradford, Tom Gordon or Luis Vizcaino (more of the positive vibes thing from former Sox hurlers)

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Apr 23, 2010 -> 04:29 AM) Haha, I just found out that Saturday I'll be going to the expo and I think I'll be in Shanghai on Sunday. Let me know where you'll be and we can meet up. Do you happen to have a blackberry because my phone doesn't work too well for actual calls? If you do, what is your BBM pin or email address? I'm going to Suzhou on Tuesday as the company I work for has a manufacturing plant their that I will be touring. While we are there, we will evidently have a lot of time to sight see as well. I've been told that Suzhou has nice pearls (to buy as a gift for my fiance, my sister and my mom), a cool set of canals which we will be going on, and than a tower to see. Is there anything else I should check out while in Suzhou? Also, any random recommendations for Shanghai. We've gone up to the Pearl Tower and are hoping to go up the World Financial Tower at some point during the next week. We saw the circus here (which was badass), been to the gardens and a few other areas and I think on Sunday will hit up the People's Museum & Museum of Science & Technology (which must be ridiculous since they spent just over 500M on it). You've done a lot more than I have in Shanghai. Surprised you weren't basejumping like Tom Cruise in MI-3! I forgot to bring my passport last time I went, big mistake. Even though I have resident (Z) visa, you always have to take your passport in Shanghai to stay in a hotel, they're really cracking down because of the EXPO and increased criminal activity. In China, I have to been to Wuhan, Beijing, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan/Taipei, Guangdong/Shenzhen, on a cruise of the Yangtze/3 Gorges Dam (my second job was with a cruise/tour company)...would still like to go to Xian, Xiamen, Hainan Island, Nepal/Tibet/Bhutan and Nanjing when I get the chance. You hit on the Suzhou highlights. It used to be the Venice of China (or St. Petersburg) but its lost a lot of it traditional feeling with modernization and the tearing down of many of the centuries old structures to be replaced by new upper-tier per square meter apartments/condos. Supposedly, the most beautiful women in China came from Suzhou in the time period about 30-50 years ago, the city was legendary.

9.3/10 Not as meandering and wandering as my typical rants, but well done. Good execution, lots of dramatic flair and "elan." Extra 1/4 point for PC mentioning of Allah. Your MTV shout-out reminded me of the drama that will be the White Sox/KW reality show...could get to be MUST-SEE TV the way things are going. Nice point about Jones/Vizquel being superfluous with the Rangers, and the rhetorical flourish and triplicated alliteration of "I love..." Simple, yet elegant.

I live in Hangzhou now and teach English, History and Economics at ZJUT. Have been here since March 2nd, when I finished my university contract teaching in Thailand. West Lake is indeed very beautiful, you should go there and take a boat ride, but when the weather's nice there will be a TON of people and lots of traffic, so allow yourself lots of extra time...you should also try to check out Suzhou or Yellow Mountain if you have the opportunity. Give me a call if you have a working cell phone here. I will be in Shanghai with my co-workers, maybe I can buy you lunch...and commiserate about the Sox. Will be back in Hangzhou Sunday night at 7 or so. BTW, be careful about the KTV's and "pink rooms." Wink, wink.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Apr 23, 2010 -> 02:25 AM) Hey Caufield. Where in China are you? Hangzhou...1 1/2 hours from Shanghai by train, more or less 15925642611 (cell number) I will be in Shanghai for a preview of the upcoming WORLD EXPO all day Sunday.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 23, 2010 -> 01:03 AM) You're right. And this drives me absolutely crazy. Since 1983, we've made the postseason 5 times. That means in 21 of the last 26 seasons we did not see playoff baseball. That, well, sucks. I laugh when I hear, and again you're right, Sox fans talk about they won't stand for a youth movement or any type of rebuilding. "I WON'T GET ANY TICKETS IF THEY REBUILD!" As if we've had this extended run of success. You know what? Stay the f*** home then. The attendance is second rate anyway. I'd rather go the route of putting more effort into the draft, beefing up the farm, maybe make a shrewd trade or two, and go from there. Beats spending 100+ million only to finish third most years. I take it you didn't become a fan until 2005? Either that or you were too young to see the teams from 95-99. And some of the older chatters can go back way back to when it was even worse than that. I know it sucks, but you have to consider leading the division by one over the hated Indians in 1994 as something. Yes, we didn't see playoff baseball that year, but we had a team that was definitely capable of winning it all, extremely entertaining...so 20.5/26. Going back to 93 and counting 94, you could make the argument for that it has been 5 times in 19 years, which somehow sounds a lot better. Even though 1994 was a "hollow" or Pyrrhic victory.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 22, 2010 -> 08:51 PM) Yes they do. See also CC Sabathia 2008. Barry Zito comes to mind. Jason Schmidt. There have been a ton of "aces" with big contracts that have gone south (big-time) on those clubs. Heck, probably 60-75% of those pitchers with $50 million plus contracts, Hampton comes to mind right away, Kevin Brown, Darren Dreifort, Chan Ho Park, etc.

At this point, there's absolutely no reason not to give Threets a chance. It can't get any worse, he's younger and has 5X the upside of a Williams, which isn't saying a whole lot. But just let him work in blowouts and maybe things can click working at the big league level with Cooper and next to Thornton/Buehrle/Danks.

The only question is when will we hit an identifiable rock bottom...where is the light at the end of the tunnel? We're closing in on Baltimore, lol.

Okay...maybe a scout who makes talent recommendations/identification without making the final decision. Giving him too much authority might be a mistake. But he has to have some, or he wouldn't consider it worth his time and effort.

Well, it looks like this game is going down the drain rapidly...

Like the Twins, the Rays are a team with superior talent. Pure and simple. We can't win with smoke and mirrors again.

If I was hiring Guillen, it would be as Sox Baseball Academy Director in Venezuela....Assistant Scouting Director/Caribbean-South America. That would be it, right now.

Peavy at 95...seems like velocity concerns have disappeared.

Now that I've thought about it, Xavier Nady was the player that we needed to balance out our offense.

Well, I'd always rather talk baseball than engage in internecine warfare with fellow Sox fans, lol. We're all in the same boat...nobody wants to lose our interest in the season so early. Although, as I mentioned previously, I'd simply adjust my mindset, look forward to the youngsters playing and seeing what kind of return/s we could get via trade. I actually found it's somewhat therapeutic to watch other teams play on Extra Innings or listen to other games at MLB AUDIO/AT BAT. SOMEWHAT...but I can never escape my lifetime love for the White Sox, baseball begins and ends at 35th Street for me, ever since my favorite uncle gave me a 1979 Topps Claudell Washington baseball card, I wrote a letter to Claudell, got it back 3 days later and became a lifetime Sox fan. Heck, Barry Bonds even sent me back an autograph...Sheffield, Canseco, those guys were even nice when they were rookies. Sosa, same thing... (Well, Scott Radinsky actually got it for me, since I got to know him really well when he pitched for South Bend and I would get free tickets at will call whenever I would come to Chicago to visit my friends at Northwestern...unfortunately I had to go to "lowly" state school Univ of Iowa, haha). I gave most of these autographs (about 500) away to my ex-fiance's young son, hoping he might become a baseball fan. NOTE: I WROTE THIS RANDOM STREAM-OF-CONSCIOUSNESS message intentionally....to make fun of myself. Ha!

What is this movie, THE PERFECT GAME? Has anyone seen it? I did see the fictionalized movie featuring my hometown Quad City River Bandits about the Dominican pitcher...and adjusting to life in the middle of nowhere (aka the Midwest League) if you're a Latin American ballplayer. It was just so-so. Aha, Sugar was the name of it...not the greatest, not the worst, baseball movie of all time.

Winston-Salem Dash (2009-present); Winston-Salem Warthogs (1995-2008); Winston-Salem Spirits (1984-1994); Winston-Salem Red Sox (1961-1983) I was half right, lol. I should have remembered Warthogs though...that name change happened the 2nd year I was working for the Augusta GreenJackets. We'd just changed our name from the Pirates for marketing purposes. I'll never forget the day GM Ron Wolf sent us a bunch of Packers hats in the mail and asked for some of our merchandise in trade...he is a huge golf fan, apparently. I saw the package and was like "what the hell, why is someone in Green Bay sending us a box?"

And all the GM's who have given him multiple chances, too...he's like the modern-day equivalent of Steve Howe with how many GM's have fallen in love with his ability and forgotten the downside that always follows him wherever he ends up.

Nope, Nix is clearly better offensively. The main reason for Vizquel in the 2 hole is to advance our 1 hitter who never is on base. And Nix=Vizquel at 2B, perhaps a notch or two better.

The sad thing is that I'm seriously contemplating the idea our offense would be better off with Willie Harris (LF) and Miguel Olivo. That's pretty bad. Of course, we NEVER win the World Series without AJ and Sweaty Freddy.

Vizquel actually pulls the ball at age 43? What is the world coming to? He used to be a pretty good opposite field "cutter and slasher." At least in Ozzie's imagination, he's still that same hitter with the Indians.

What did they use to be called? Something like the Spirits? It's on the tip of my tongue...