caulfield12

Upon learning that the Twins had signed Thome, Kenny Williams replied with a smirk ..... "All this has done is put the Twins in a better position to contend with us." C'mon Kenny, I dare you to repeat those words this time. Double-dare. You might have everyone believing that this year's squad roster is all on Ozzie's shoulders, but I'm not buying it. You are the "Commander-in-Chief" of the White Sox. The "buck stops with you," as Harry S. Truman used to say. Hopefully you have a better response than Jones/Kotsay.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 09:44 AM) They are playing outdoors now and the IF grass is going to deaden the ball more, and in summer it still does get pretty hot up there, so it makes sense for the Twins to continue moving away from the "grinder" types into more of a power + OBP team. Note to KW: We're not playing our home games at SAFECO or PetCo Park. KW and Ozzie have given us the type of team that's constructed for Old Comiskey Park or the Metrodome...or one of those late 60's/early 70's "cookie cutter" artificial turf stadiums that became so prevalent in the NL. Unfortunately, the Twins are better suited for their stadium than we are for ours, as is our pitching staff. I'm sure our team ERA would be down a full 0.5 RPG playing in our old stadium. Likewise, while it might be a good lesson for both of those overconfident guys to learn, it's going to come at the expense of the fans. I wish they would stop trying to prove how smart they are or "counterintuitive" and start concerning themselves about constructing an upper-tier AL offense.

They have some other options that would make their line-up even more potent. Putting Cuddyer back at 3B, for example, even though his defense over there is atrocious, that takes the second weakest bat (Harris) out of the line-up. There's some thought they might re-sign Crede (3B)/Orlando Cabrera (for 2B) or go after Orlando Hudson and/or Felipe Lopez. I think there really will be some serious concern around here if they were to ALSO bring in Orlando Hudson at 2B, that would be a helluva line-up with O-Dog added to the mix with his skill-set. If they somehow can take Punto out of the starting line-up and put him back in his super-sub role for a superior offensive player, they're really going to be a team to be reckoned with.

No, Jim Thome isn't the answer at second base or third base -- and, in fact, he isn't likely to see the field at all with the Twins. But when you can add a scary good Hall of Fame bat that gives Gardy a Plan B lineup or game-changing option on the bench, it's a deal too good to be passed up. Having Thome sitting on the bench will change the way an opposing manager views his bullpen when it comes to facing Mauer, Morneau and Kubel. Bring in your lefty to face pinch-hitting Thome in the seventh and you don't have him available in the ninth when the big guys come to bat. Give Delmon Young a day (or week) off in the outfield and you can have a lineup that goes: Span, cf; Mauer, c; Morneau, 1b; Thome, dh; Cuddyer, rf; Kubel, lf; Hardy, ss; Harris, 3b; Punto, 2b. I'll start that one against Zack Greinke or Justin Verlander five times a year. You knew that Thome had a higher on-base percentage against right-handers last season than Morneau, right? So even if the 39-year-old Thome slips a bit in 2010, he has a long way to slide before he becomes Ruben Sierra or Bret BOOne. On XM's baseball channel, in the hours after the trade, one of the chatterers was saying that he thought Thome was a wretched fit for the Twins because of the players they already have. I guess sending Matt Tolbert or Jason Pridie up to pinch hit late in the game seems acceptable to someone who doesn't have to watch it happen in real time. Jim Bowden, the former Cincinnati and Washington general manager, smoked that argument by pointing out that Thome provides depth in case anything happens to Cuddyer, Morneau, Young or even (for a short period of time) Span. Injuries happen. Slumps happen. I can see Thome getting 300 at-bats even if everyone stays healthy and someone (Delmon) doesn't play himself into a reserve role. If injuries happen -- see Morneau and Span, 2009; Cuddyer, 2008 -- Thome could get a regular's haul of plate appearances. Last year, even though Gardy basically had four outfielders for three spots, he was hard pressed for much of the season to have three highly functioning ones because Carlos Gomez regressed and Delmon didn't get it together until near season's end. The DH options weren't the greatest when Kubel played in the field. In 2010, Gardy won't be shy about going Kubel-Span-Cuddyer if Delmon struggles. If anyone wants to wager, I'll bet Thome gets more starts against right-handers in 2010 than Delmon. You can book the bet with me from noon to 1 p.m. Saturday during TwinsFest, when I'll be at the Star Tribune booth, talking baseball and (I'm told) giving away root beer-flavored lip balm. I like root beer and I'm OK with lip balm. But I think getting Thome is a better deal. Minneapolis Star-Tribune Sports "I think the Twins showed the most interest; that's what really caught my eye," Thome said. "They were really excited about me coming there, so to me, it was a no-brainer. I've always enjoyed the way they played, the way they go about their business, so to be a part of that will be a lot of fun." Thome's incentives kick in with 250 plate appearances, and he will collect all $750,000 if he reaches 500. The signing could reduce left fielder Delmon Young's playing time. Kubel, who wants to play the outfield more, could move to left field, with Thome moving into the DH spot, especially against righthanders. "A guy like Jim, he's not going to just come off the bench," Gardenhire said. "We'll get plenty of at-bats for him. Kubel's my DH, and Delmon's my left fielder, and we all know that going into it, and Jim's going to play a role off the bench and spot play at DH."

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 12:08 AM) Here is the formula that explains his behavior. But if you take a "normal" person and make them famous or give them an audience, isn't it even MORE true that their behavior becomes polarizing and sometimes downright mean or insensitive? For example, most of the tv hosts/talk radio/political commentators these days, on both the left and the right. How many of them are "moderate" or independent in their thinking? I think the same thing applies to message boards. If you say "reasonable" or logical things, sometimes it seems people don't notice. So you end up with this phenomenon of people saying the most outlandish possible things in order to get attention or have an effect. I think this is one of the large reasons that CNN is losing viewership to FOX and MSNBC...there are fewer and fewer people who want "balanced/objective" journalism.

Having Thome around definitely will never HURT a team. As everyone knows, he's one of the most respected and liked players in all of baseball. Whether it will sell any more season tickets, probably not many. Just like having Andruw Jones and Omar Vizquel around hasn't caused anyone to break out the checkbook for Sox tix. Vizquel will be in the HOF and Jones was clearly headed there until he fell off a cliff 3-4 seasons ago. When you start seeing Jones/Vizquel White Sox jerseys or Thome "Twins" jerseys, then you would have to acknowledge they're making an impact. 90% of opening any new stadium is the stadium itself, and even the weather won't deter fans this year. With Mauer and Morneau, they already have two big superstars to market. That's all they need, really.

With Gomez gone, and Kubel's knee getting stronger each year after his major surgery, you'll see more of Kubel in the outfield because loading up that line-up with those four lefties is simply too tempting. Especially if Delmon Young struggles like he did the first half of 2009. He's never going to be a good defender, but he's not going to be Josh Fields or Viciedo out there either.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 11:33 PM) So there's no chance he drops off at age 39? Heck, last year was a decline in OPS from anything he's ever had in a full year. Sure, there's a chance, but what's the risk? How is it any riskier than gambling on at least five hitters (and Greg Walker, by extension) to elevate their games? As has been noted ad infinitum, Kotsay/Jones/Pierre have also seemed to be on the downside from their peaks as well. I won't even go into Omar Vizquel at this point as an offensive "force." I'm just hoping the "coaching/mentoring" value of Vizquel to Beckham/Ramirez/Teahen is worth the roster spot. Because we've seen the results of those "Camp Coras" and Ozzie's bunting/fundamentals clinics and how lasting the effects are on the team.

I think with the success of "The Blind Side" by the same author (surely they'll use that Michael Lewis connection in trailers) and Mr. Hollywood Brad Pitt attached to the project, it will end up getting made. I'm actually curious if Kenny Williams would agree to play himself in that role. Since it's basically denigrating his performance as GM, I wouldn't think so. On the other hand, Kenny's ego is big enough that he fancies himself capable of portraying his own persona much more accurately than any Hollywood actor.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 09:03 PM) You can say pretty much the same thing about the Pirates. That's a team with a storied history that has hardly been relevant in my lifetime, and I turn 23 this year. The early 90's Pirates teams were great with Bonds, Bonilla, Drabeck, Leyland, etc. Of course, you have the Roberto Clemente Era teams with 2 World Series titles and the 79 "We Are Family" team with those crazy hats with the yellow stripes and stars like they now put on football helmets (Willie Stargell and Kent Tekulve). In KC, David Glass has been a so-so owner, but he's just not as personally rich as Kauffman was, nor is he willing to put winning over the finances of the team or himself personally. Simply, he's someone that people might respect as a business leader from his Wal-Mart days, but there's so much backlash against that style of running a business that he suffers for it by extension. And he just doesn't have a "vibrant" or charismatic personality. It's kind of like comparing Martha Coakley and the new Massachusetts Senator. I can understand why so many Dems were frustrated that they actually voted across party lines. Well, that's how a lot of people feel about Glass in comparison to Kauffman, he can never measure up no matter what he does (which hasn't been much, the jury's definitely out on Hillman and Dayton Moore replacing Allard Baird/Muser and Pena). They've made some very strange decisions in the last decade, such as signing Gil Meche (better than expected) but trading away Damon/Dye/Beltran and not receiving much of value is those deals...as well as bringing in Jose Guillen for that type of salary when he was declining as an outfielder and always a difficult personality for the best "New Age" manager to deal with just didn't make much sense.

What I'm not understanding is why is Thome such a big risk now when he was a much bigger risk in 2006 coming off injury and with a significantly larger contract, despite the subsidy/offwrite from Pat Gillick? He was in his mid 30's then, still well past the age that hitters start to decline significantly. So now spending $1.5-2.0 million is suddenly a huge risk when they spent 5-6X that on Big Jim last year? I don't get it. Once again, if they'd done ANYTHING to shore up the position, this wouldn't be an issue. And in fact, they have. Andruw Jones could take those at-bats against lefties. It just doesn't have any logic when we play 81 games at USCF. The Twins are a better team with Jim Thome and we are worse without him (and no suitable replacement), pure and simple.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 03:30 PM) Ill tell you this Steve. No team starting Jim Bob-Hicks will ever win a World Series. (hahahaa) Yes, but they might win a Nascar title. I'm sure Bob Dylan will be the Crew Chief, too.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 03:20 PM) So you've watched almost every Royals, Twins, and White Sox game over the last 10 years? GMAB. I didn't say every, lol. If you live in Kansas City, get the Royals broadcasts on t.v. and radio, they all play each other 18 games per year...and you have GameDay Audio and MLB Extra Innings, it's possible.

When is the "Moneyball" movie supposed to come out? I can't wait until the A's are in last place at that time and maybe KW will finally get some credit.... It will be interesting to see who plays KW and how he's made to look in the film, or if that gets cut out/edited. Brad Pitt ... Billy Beane Demetri Martin ... Paul De Podesta David Justice ... Himself Rick Yudt ... JP Ricciardi???? Darryl Strawberry ... Himself Lenny Dykstra ... Himself Scott Hatteberg ... Himself Frankie Ingrassia ... Tara Beane (uncredited) Wonder who will play Grady Fuson, he was a big part of that book, too. Does Miguel Olivo get to be in the movie? Chad Bradford? Keith Foulke? Cotts? Koch? Swisher? Blanton? Dotel?

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 03:12 PM) The problem with the team is how many assumptions we have to make to make things look bright. Say what you want about Thome, but he was usually a lock to put up his numbers. Now, I’d contend that Aj us the only real lock to put up his year-years. We're gambling on nearly everything else. We want Rios to be the guy from two years ago, Teahen to be the guy Billy Beane thought he could be, Beckham to have a strong sophomore season, Konerko not to continue to decline, and so on so forth. I'm not saying these guys aren't going to get their numbers, I think Beckham is a special player, Rios' struggles can be overcome, it's just a hell of a thing to know that everything needs to fall in the right way to just get past not having a real DH. If half the team stays consistent, we’ll be okay, if half of them rebound we’ll be better, but that’s a heck of a lot of “if’s.” We have such a good pitching staff, why the risk? I'll even give you that Konerko, Beckham and Ramirez SHOULD be able to repeat their career totals. I wouldn't even call AJ a "sure thing" as he is getting older now too, but I tend to agree with you. We'll have to get closer to 70 RBI's from him than 45-50 though. The big problem is the "maybes/what if's/possibly" you have with five spots in our line-up. The Twins have 2-3 in that category, we have easily five, if not more (as you say, 8).

Yes, Steve. But weren't the same things said about Nick Swisher and Alex Rios??? Why were we so atrocious at home? Can anyone explain that, especially after 2008, and historically, when it has been the opposite. If anything, I worry about a player like Teahen (just like Ramirez/Uribe) thinking they're sluggers at USCF, adjusting their swing and popping up a ton of balls (like Crede or Thomas) to the outfield. Of course, Hawk will be there with his "just missed it, dad gummit" comments now and again, but it won't change the end results.

How many times have the White Sox come back and beaten Nathan (the game you referenced)? It happened once last year. There was another game Carlos Lee homered off him (must have been 2003 or 2004) at USCF to tie the game but they ended up losing eventually if my memory serves me correctly.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 01:45 PM) I think we need some more offense. Losing both Dye and Thome lessens our offense and I don't see where we have added anything in the offensive category. The idea of a DH by committee has some magic ring to it, but the realiity is you need bats to drive in runs. I don't see the improvement with what we have added and that includes Rios. The best we will possibly have is Rios maybe matching Dye powerwise. He hasn't shown much for awhile now and this hype about his last ten games of 2009 means nothing unless he can do it over 162 games in 2010. Andruw Jones and Vizquel are on the down side and are role players. Kenny Williams is kidding himself if he thinks different. I am interested in seeing what develops out of ST, but it had better be something. What would the Vegas odds be that Alex Rios ever puts up a 30 or 35 homer season for the White Sox? I would imagine they wouldn't be too good. I think 18-24 homers is a lot more likely. Heck, I would take 20 and call it a day and hope that Quentin returns to AL MVP form or we're cooked.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 02:41 PM) I like this. Pierre Beckham Quentin Konerko Jones/Kotsay Rios Pierzynski Teahen Ramirez I think the DH spot and Pierzynski are interchangeable. Ramirez should bat 9th to start the year, since he's been terrible in April his first two years. If you hit Ramirez AFTER Pierre and Juan actually gets on base, that will force our opponents to throw him more fastballs, which he feasts on (just like Uribe). Alexei made adjustments in mid-season to the curveball, but you stick Ramirez down at 9th after Teahen, they'll just throw him a steady diet of junk and he'll get himself out more often than not. Heck, they will pitch around him to face Pierre and retire him, then Beckham would be leading off with nobody on base, which isn't the best use of his talent and ability. In that case, you might as well just bat Pierre 9th, Beckham first and Rios/Ramirez 2nd. AJ and Teahen back-to-back doesn't make very much sense when they're your two best LH power hitter, and Kotsay should never be hitting 5th. That Mark Kotsay "logically" could be hitting fifth one-third of the games tells you all you need to know about this year's offense.

QUOTE (Ranger @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 02:34 PM) Maybe you're not understanding. You used message posts as a guage for how much more valuable Joe Nathan is over Bobby Jenks. I'm telling you that it's crazy to do that considering there were many, many posts/calls/emails from people wanting Mark Buehrle sent packing because he was having a bad year and because a significant amount of people thought he was done. It doesn't matter if it was a regular Sox forum or postgame threads, it was still said. And it was said repeatedly. And, of course, those people changed their minds because they didn't know what they were talking about in the first place. Therefore, I would be careful with using a message board as evidence of a player's value. No, I used 10 years of listening and watching to the Twins, almost as many as White Sox games. I could pull out and quote all the individual save/opportunity stats, 7th inning leads blown, 8th inning leads blown, blown saves for the bullpen overall. We just have a difference of opinion. You are "selling" the company line that the White Sox bullpen has enough pieces that COULD BE GOOD, even without Dotel and with JJ Putz's health uncertain (such as Pena and Linebrink), that it makes the margin between Jenks and Nathan at the end of games minimal or negligible. I disagree, respectfully. I think everything flows backwards from the closer and Joe Nathan can make a "meh" bullpen committee look better than it really is and a shaky reliever can turn great set-up guys into... Let's just put it this way, when Joe Morgan made his remarks about the White Sox having one of the great bullpens in 2008, you knew his hyperbole would eventually come back to bite him. Both him and KW. We'll see how determined Jenks is to get his career back on track again in 2010.

Finally saw "In the Valley of Elah," thought that was a great film, and I'm not even a big Tommie Lee Jones fan. Paul Haggis is great. Up in the Air, I can't really say that's the best picture of the year either, the ending leaves you feeling a bit empty (yes, it fits with the character of Ryan Bingham, I get that), it's just not the "feel good" story that explains Slumdog Millionaire or even Avatar. It's Complicated was okay, lol....I'm not going to say it was hilarious, it is interesting to reflect on Alex Baldwin going back to his Jack Ryan and "Malice" days and see how his career has evolved into comedy acting. I thought Steve Martin was quite good in an "understated" (for him) role. Actually, Coraline was better than It's Complicated, although I would honestly give the Best Picture Award to UP. They did it with Beauty and the Beast, but it probably won't ever happen again. Here in Thailand, I have to watch most movies through the internet or pirated versions...I managed to find 1/2 of THE HURT LOCKER and I was blown away by Jeremy Renner's performance but I can't say that's clearly the best movie either. Now having 10 movies in the best picture category makes things even more fractured with so many possibilities.

The sad thing is that 20 years ago, saying something like that would have been unthinkable or unimaginable. The Royals under Kauffman were always one of the "model" franchises in the game of baseball. Most younger fans don't remember how good those 70's and 80's ERA Royals teams actually were, they just think of them like they do the Pirates, Nationals, Marlins (minus the two World Series titles), Padres, etc.

QUOTE (Ranger @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 03:10 PM) No, caulfield, they were ready to throw him out of town because he was having a bad year. There were numerous people that were so upset with his underperformance that they would say things like, "if he wants to play for the Cardinals then go ****ing play there!" Trust me, it was out of anger, it wasn't out of prudence. People weren't thinking about the draft picks. They were mad because he stunk that year. Yeah, I think Beckham will hit 2nd. It's back to the same argument again, the "snap/angry/speak first and think later" tenor of a call-in show or post-game thread versus calm, reasonable, logical thinking about the White Sox. Anyone who has watched Buehrle's career from the very beginning, from the tarp slides to the deer hunting with Crede to the World Series and family stage of his life...they've never undervalued his importance to this team and franchise. On paper, after you get past the won-loss record, quite a few people prefer the "flashiness" and repertoire of a Javy Vazquez or even Gavin Floyd. Strikeouts are more exciting than maximizing pitch counts, keeping the infield defense on its toes and working fast. And yeah, when Buehrle doesn't have it, he does occasionally just get absolutely rocked, but more often than not he battles hit butt off out there. Just like Greg Hibbard used to do. I also think MOST Sox fans have a lot more forgiveness and patience for ANY of the members of that World Series-winning team. No matter how bad things got with Jose Contreras post 2006, those four months in 05-06 were enough for me to forgive anything that happened consequently, including KW's signing him to a contract extension that went 1-2 years too long. The White Sox can't afford to be sentimental very often (it's a business, after all), but when they have acted in that way, it was to keep players like Konerko, Buehrle, Dye, AJ, etc., in the fold. If AJ or Konerko don't perform well this year, I won't be clamoring for them to be traded or waived either, although I'm sure some of the younger fans or those with shorter memories will be quicker to cut them adrift.

Mark Loretta might come out of his one-day retirement to DH for us. Ozzie and KW deserve this public relations backlash for putting themselves in this situation in the first place and then trying to positively "spin" the fanbase to accept it as the best option when that's clearly not the case in anything but Bizarro World/Twilight Zone.

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 01:59 PM) Beastly and CubsSuck1 spoke well of them, too. Which makes it all the more strange that someone can have this alternative personality on the internet. I'm sure if his career is anywhere near the intensity of his rants he is living successfully somewhere. Just like the Unabomber or Rush Limbaugh, lol. They're both pretty intense and like/d to "rant and rave." That's the scary part about reading boards on-line about religion or politics these days. It SEEMS there's so much more racism and hatred than ever in the United States. If it's not directed at foreigners or immigrants, it's religious intolerance. I think the Secret Service must be going crazy these days with all the threats, real and imagined, being made against Obama. I guess it goes back and forth...the lack of respect from BOTH sides just exacerbates and polarizes the situation even further.