caulfield12

If not for Jim Thome and Ken Griffey, Jr., they might realistically be looking at seven division titles out of nine...pretty amazing, when you think about it. So no, you can't ever underestimate that organization, even when GM Smith makes bone-headed moves like Bartlett/Garza for Young or signing Lamb or Livan Hernandez (then keeping them around past their expiration dates).

Hard to do any A-Gone trade without Mitchell and without Daniel Hudson proving himself a little more...same thing with Tyler Flowers, he had a very quiet spring. We just don't have the pieces to get that trade done without shredding the farm system, and for the amount of time we'd have him, I'm not so certain it would be worth it to KW unless he could get an extension (like the F. Garcia deal) in place as part of the move. (Of course, Gonzalez would be crazy not to see what's out there on the open market, too). There are some pieces, like Jordan Danks, but I'm sure KW and Ozzie feel Danks is their best insurance policy for an injury in the outfield, along with Jones and Kotsay, who are more like "band aid" solutions depending on which position, and Nix. PS: If you read that full blog, Gio Gonzalez was officially named the fifth starter for the A's, so congratulations are in order.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 5, 2010 -> 08:06 AM) Yeah, but he does provide a very nice OBP. Seems like the theme though is that if Kenny could have convinced Ozzie to pencil this type of hitter into the lineup every day, we would have Jimmy on the roster right now. Seems to be some concern on the part of ownership about his ability to turn on the fastball...but does someone like Cust just lose it in Spring Training? I think Cust might be as good a bet as Thome, and maybe better, because of his age, and the overall talent he would be surrounded with in Chicago while not great, would be a huge step up from Oakland. He could be a complementary hitter, more like a Matt Stairs or Carl Everett in 2005.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/athletics/index? Further details of the full story...interesting Chavez had no idea he was about to become the full-time DH, though.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_leagu...?urn=mlb,231977 Or wait it out the first couple of months of the season, based on the performances of Kotsay and Jones in the spring? Would be an interesting addendum to the Moneyball movie!

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Apr 4, 2010 -> 11:42 AM) Years later I have a different perspective on the matter than I used to: 1) he had an interview during the 2005 Wolrd Series indicating how he was jealous to be sitting at home watching his former teammates, and felt like he should've been there. That's like finding out She had a crush on you after all, except now you're off at separate colleges. So in that respect, I'm good 2) for all the things we have hated over the years about our organization, we cant turn around and blame him when...after years...he got sick of the same sort of stuff. We around here have lifelong contracts with the name on the uniform. Players are not nearly so unlucky. If they want out, then it's best for them and the team/fans that a parting occur. To bind the fan favorites to the team in a rigid way is something the Cubs Corp would do years on end with Grace/Dunston. Have to be more creative to win. Which leads me to #3... 3) the money savings led to some great '05 FA pickups 4) he's one of the (near)great players in Sox history. years down the line we'll remember those real solid years he had here, before the bad stuff. Maybe not yet but later on down the line. The only thing I'll add is that my recollection was that his salary really skyrocketed in the last years of his White Sox contract. I think his final payroll number was around $14.5 million. It seemed with all of his injuries (particularly the sports hernia and the mystery surgery in Europe) that there was no way that KW was ever going to think of keeping him around at those numbers (for another long-term deal), certainly not with the lingering concerns about his return to form, his age, and the fact he was getting a little heavier and not so nimble in the OF. Clearly, it was the right decision, even though Magglio won a batting title and played much better in Detroit than I ever expected before becoming something of a lead anchor on the roster and payroll flexibility in 2009/10.

Quite a few people predicting the White Sox to win the division...despite the superstar "co-presence/s" of Mauer and Morneau. At ESPN, it was actually 16 votes for the Twins for first place, 13 for the White Sox and a measly 5 for the the Tigers. None for the Indians and Royals. Here in China, the opening game will start at 3 am Tuesday morning, but I'll still be listening on GameDay Audio.

I'm not exactly sure how we could have "reasonably" traded Thome last year (or really in 2006-2008, because KW wouldn't have parted with the cash subsidy he was receiving from Pat Gillick)...we would have had to eat even more money than trading Paulie. He was one of the highest paid players in the league with that option kicking in late in 2009.

Ellis Burks was actually pretty good for the White Sox...we rehabilitated him and then lost him, if I remember correctly. As KHP noted, at least 50-60% of those at-bats are going to be going to Jones and Kotsay. There's no way around it...now maybe it does sound BETTER to look at other players slotting in there to maximize the match-ups and rest the regulars AND avoid the Sunday line-up surrenders (we saw that a lot in 2005, too), then those are all legitimate arguments and valid to KW or he wouldn't have signed off on this whole new conceptualization of the offense from Ozzie. Then there's the elephant in the conversation...CQ's health, which player is he, the 2008 or 2009 version? If you told me Carlos Quentin was going to be the everyday DH and that Andruw Jones would play RF close to everyday (which is scary enough), at least that protects the most important bat in the line-up from injury or re-injury. I don't know if I would go as far as wanting Jordan Danks to play RF in 2010, but there's no doubt Quentin is the one bat we can't afford to lose. Almost everything has to go perfectly with this offense for it to get to 750 or 775 runs. There are just too many things that can go wrong IMO.

Someone just called in saying Gonzalez' club option year is void if he gets traded. Also there's reports he's gonna want Texiera money on his next deal. 10 years $200MM. So I can't see KW giving up much if this is true and they only get him for a year or two. I think the option year is 2012??? a friend sent me this by text

Nope, we'd still probably end up with Wilson Betemit instead.

Didn't Lopez fire Boras? That one didn't turn out too well, kind of like the Orlando Hudson situation last year...although O-Dog got a decent deal in the end, but nothing like first speculated. As far as Greene goes, I'm pretty sure Zach Greinke had the same thing, at least, that's what they called it originally, "social anxiety disorder."

Fair enough... I just thought there were some good details and insights into his life and personality that people would be interested in. Kind of like telling someone to go see Avatar...very poorly-written script and dialogue, but the overall effect of spending time watching it (or in this case reading), is worth your time. We're never going to see Pulitzer Prize winning caliber writing from the majority of sports writers, Telander, Rick Reilly and Posnanski are three of my favorites though.

http://www.csnchicago.com/02/26/10/Mooney-...&feedID=621

If you're the GM of the Padres, would you go after unproven players like Flowers, Hudson, Danks, Mitchell and Viciedo? I know I wouldn't. I'd ask for at least one of Ramirez/Beckham/Thornton/Quentin as my starting point. Then I'd target the 2-3 minor leaguers. Obviously Danks or Floyd aren't going anywhere, although I think a Floyd for Gonzalez swap might get KW's heart beating a little bit faster.

If I'm San Diego, the only players I'm looking at: Alexei Ramirez Gordon Beckham Viciedo (as possible 1B replacement) Hudson Matty Thornton Tyler Flowers Mitchell Carlos Quentin possibly Jordan Danks if he's playing like he did first half of 2009

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Feb 26, 2010 -> 05:05 PM) That luck adjusted line regressed his BABIP to .361, so it is taking into account the likelihood that Mitchell with have significantly above average BABIP (.330-.340 range), with extra adjustment for poor defense. His strikeout rate was just that bad, and obviously it was a small sample size, but if Mitchell does start at Birmingham he could fall flat on his face. It's pretty difficult to make such a blanket generalization as this. Mitchell and Jordan Danks both came out of top college programs with a very high level of competition, so they're simply expected to be on a faster track. While Mitchell is more raw in terms of playing experience, nobody can say he would fail at Birmingham, anymore than scouts could project what Viciedo might do at age 19 or 20 in that league. I agree with most of the posters here that Winston-Salem is the more likely destination, and there's currently not any pressing need to rush either Mitchell or Danks with Quentin, Pierre and Rios all in the picture for at least the next two years. Of course, injury and non-performance (by Andruw Jones/Kotsay) could change all that, but the odds of KW dipping down to Jordan Danks as an outfielder or DH in 2010 are about 3-5% at most. I think the club really made a smart move with Viciedo...he certainly struggled out of the gate but the club stuck with him and didn't demote him. By the second half of the season, he was learning how to make adjustments and his stat line started to look much more respectable. Personally, with Mitchell, I'd really prefer that he builds his confidence step by step, and he's not nearly as polished as Danks, so we can take our time and nurture his development over the next two years with the idea he'd take over as the starter and leadoff hitter as early as 2012. I think that's pretty realistic...some will say late 2011 or late 2012, but somewhere in that time frame.

Opinions are all over the board on Danks. Some love the guy, some absolutely think he'll never be much more than Brian Anderson. Like BA, all the physical tools...certainly a more fluid swing, but it will be his offense that decides whether he can ever stick in the majors as a starter. There's not much margin for error for him to be a corner outfielder (I suppose we could his compared his predicted offensive output to Ryan Sweeney, with more power hopefully), so he pretty much has to play CF. I don't think we'll see ever see a Mitchell/Danks/Quentin/Rios OF, but stranger things have happened with White Sox prospects. Maybe the strangest of all would be Sox position prospects starting to make a consistent impact, starting with Beckham.

Basically, he's like Joe Crede offensively without the Gold Glove defense. More potential for doubles, but still a downgrade from what Crede (the 775-825 OPS version) did for sure. Looking at those numbers on the surface, you start thinking about guys like AJ or Juan Uribe, not a "power" position. Which means the extra power with him in the line-up (as well as Pierre) has to come from Flowers (in the future) and continuing up with middle with Ramirez, Beckham and Rios.

If this past offseason was boring, this one has the potential to be even worse. As mentioned earlier, Hudson, Flowers and Viciedo could all take on more prominent roles (5th, C, 1B/DH)...then there's also Jordan Danks and perhaps CJ Retherford could challege Nix for the utility spot. Of course, 10 million things will change between now and then, injuries, non-performance, etc. That rotation is so good that KW might not want to invest so much money in a team and rely heavily on 3 rookies to make important contributions. OTOH, Hudson might be good to go already and Flowers is pretty darn close. The biggest question mark is definitely Viciedo...they've already invested $10 million into him, but that 1B/DH spot is (well, SHOULD BE) the easiest spot to find cheap/veteran talent if they have to plug in a hole for one year (I'm thinking of the Herbert Perry move b4 Joe Crede was ready to take over). FWIW, I'm not sure that keeping Jenks around makes as much sense going forward if JJ Putz has a very good comeback season. There's definitely room in the pen to pare some payroll, and of course, Linebrink's soaking up valuable resources as well.

Are you tweeting? What do you think of Ozzie's new plaything? How long before this whole thing blows up in his face and one of his sons inadvertently types something that comes back to bite them after a tough loss or player transaction? C'mon Ranger, I know you can get 11,000 followers in a couple of days if you advertise it on the radio and here!

It seems some of the tweets are already being translated into English and Spanish by his son... If there's kind of a "general message" that's not so specific, it's getting tweeted out both ways. Oh god I jinxed kobe...time for mlb network about 8 hours ago via txt I'm watching kobe, he reminds me of my boy mj would like to meet him I think it's kind of cool, you get a "behind the scenes" idea of what Guillen's life and what he likes to do in his free time: 1) tease/mess with people and talk s--t 2) play bad golf 3) watch other sports like basketball 4) have barbeques and drink alcohol, hang out with the Hispanic players and coaches

5,000 "followers" and counting for Ossssvaldo. What I would really love to see would be a KW twitter, but that's not happening. Has anyone ever sent him an e-mail (or even snail mail) and gotten an actual response from him?

I feel nice and relax(ed) today, I don't know why yeeessssssss carlos quentin and rios in camp b ready people 42 minutes ago via txt Yessss nice day let's go to work about 1 hours ago via txt I like how he makes his "yes" like Harrelson....too funny. Guess he's up pretty early in the morning out there.

Colon could dial it up there (when he actually wanted to) in 2003. Thornton with his effortless 96-97 and sometimes 98, you almost forget about him he makes it look so easy.