caulfield12

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Mariners in this thread. They were another team that exemplified the "defense/pitching first" approach with their new GM, and it wasn't incredibly expensive. Players like Endy Chavez and Franklyn Gutierrez made a huge difference for that team's outfield defense, especially in the first half of the season. That trade by the Indians' overrated Shapiro was one of the dumbest in a long time, by the way. Gutierrez is an incredible defender. You're almost tempted to go for broke gambling on Adrian Beltre at 3B, with Beckham moved to 2B and Alexei/Beckham manning the middle infield. That certainly would get you some big-time improvement across the board, but Belte still will PROBABLY be too expensive and take too many years, although I wouldn't count it out completely, especially if Jenks is non-tendered. Trading Buehrle won't happen. I like Polanco or Hudson as secondary options, and I think Ozzie would feel more comfortable with either at the top of the line-up...Getz was just a little too fragile to pencil in for an entire season of play, just like it's almost impossible to do the same thing with Quentin. Heck, it's really scary to project Alex Rios to have anything above a 700 OPS at this point, but you'd have to think he could hopefully get back to 750 or 775 if we're to be a contender. Other names that will be floated about include the likes of Juan Pierre and CoCo Crisp...because they're more likely than names like Ross, Kemp, McLouth or Hermida, for example. Or even Nyjer Morgan. We all know Scotty Pods and defense don't go together, although he was remarkably better this year than he was in the past, once again, hard to count on him to repeat 2009. I also think it's a lot easier to find a decent RF who can out-field JD than to find a stellar CF. Kotsay at RF/1B might be the "low budget" option, unfortunately. Someone like Matt Holliday simply isn't happening. It's more likely we'd see M. Gatrell than Matt Holliday in RF, for that matter.

Yes, quite the conundrum. Buehrle means more to the franchise than any player since Thomas/Ventura/Fisk and certainly more than Konerko. On the other hand, you simply can't pay a #4 guy $14 million...that's where KW got into trouble, sinking so much money into Vazquez, Garland and Contreras the last 2-3 seasons, which impacted our ability to improve the ballclub sufficiently in other areas. As some have argued, winning trumps all arguments, that almost NOBODY cared that Valentin/Lee/Ordonez weren't part of the 2005 championship and Frank Thomas was really kind of an afterthought as well. The risk, as KHP...is that trading Buehrle not only backfires on the talent received end (and a pitcher like Buehrle in his 30's with that contract and wear and tear can't be considered a huge bargain exactly) but also the public relations/marketing front, it will cost the franchise immensely in terms of good will. Also, as noted, Danks, Floyd and Peavy (not to mention Garcia and Hudson) all have question marks surrouding them to different degrees...almost nothing is a certainty, even though arguments have been made we have somewhere between the #1 and #7-8 starting rotation in all of MLB. Buehrle has been the most consistent performer, as close to a "given" as you get in today's game, even though not consistent on a month by month basis. I'm of the opinion that no team will give up in return what losing him would cost the franchise...but I'm not KW, either. Only he and JR can make those judgements.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 11, 2009 -> 05:42 PM) Seriously, it's game 3 of the ALDS and the pitchers the Twins have thrown out so far are Duensing, Blackburn, and now THE Carl Pavano. How the Hell did these guys win the division with that as their starting rotation? In all fairness, Baker (despite the relatively high ERA), was their ace the back half of this season. Blackburn, as we know from the Blackout Game, is a very clutch pitcher. Losing Slowey to injury and Liriano to injury/ineffectiveness, those have been huge hits...there's no way (and without Morneau) that Gardenhire shouldn't be the manager of the year. That effort was a bit similar to the White Sox in 2008 (Ozzie), and you can still make a case with Span, Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer and Kubel that the Twins' offense was a lot better and more talented than our recent post-season team.

Amazing...Yankees are kryptonite to the Twins, like the Twins at home playing against us. And consistently, the Yankees have absolutely owned the Twins this decade. Twins, if Rivera holds the game, will have lost 9 post-season games in a row and gone 0 for the season against NY. Despite winning 5 ALCD titles in 8 years (White Sox 3 in 10), they have ONLY managed to beat the Oakland A's (5 losses out of 6 possible series chances)...and will be 6-18 for the decade in the post-season. And the ONLY time they won more than one game in a series was a 3-2 series victory over those same A's in 2002, when they had perhaps their best team, along with the 2006 Twins (IMO). White Sox=12-7, of course, 11 of those came in the one magical year of 2005.

Baldwin for Masaoka (that also went as badly as Berry/Barry) was a throw-away trade.... As far as the 2% goes.... Odds of NOT replacing Thome/Thome=15-20% Odds of replacing Pods with another leadoff hitter=30-50% Odds of going into season without a significant bullpen addition and hoping Pena and Linebrink get it figured out=75% Odds of the infield defense improving=60-75% Odds of KW adding a veteran 3B or 2B=10-20%

I'm not being pessimistic with this thread, per se...actually, KW's moves have normally worked out quite, well, especially over the short-term. I guess if someone wants to read into as unfairly criticizing him, that's fine. But if you look at all my posts since I've been here, I've never come close to saying he should be fired, he's stupid, he's a bad G.M., etc. That's why I started it, I couldn't remember one that almost had disastrous results. Now if we don't make any changes to the bullpen at all (besides internally), we don't have a replacement for Thome/Dye, Pods is a starter AND our leadoff hitter and our infield defense is STILL a mess in 2010...then there SHOULD be some serious questions, the same questions we were asking the first two months of the 2009 season. Because I have a feeling that the Rios and Peavy acquisitions will be used as the primary reasons why payroll can't be added...and you can put me on record as saying I'm fine with Garcia/Hynick/Torres/Hudson as our fifth starter candidates, I don't expect the type of money that we spent on the likes of Garland and Vazquez to be spent on the back end of the rotation in these days of financial austerity, as 05/06 is now well in the rearview mirror. For whatever reason, the "mix/chemistry" was never good this season, and that's ironic, because we eliminated Uribe/Crede/Vazquez/Swisher/Cabrera and also Griffey from the roster. Three of those six were "perceived" as strong leaders, Cabrera had many many fans (as many as detractors) because of his propensity for playing on winning teams...Swisher and Vazquez, their issues/problems are well-documented. With the void being left by the possible departures of Thome/Dye, with Konerko on the way out...new leaders (along with Buehrle) will have to emerge. The obvious answer is Beckham, but he can't do it all by himself. Alexei Ramirez returning to 2008 form might be the key to the whole thing, if he can get his head 100% back on baseball. With Quentin and Rios, you have no idea what you're going to get, but it's hard to count on them to put up their past "peak" numbers, that's for sure. If KW does...he will also forever become victim of the Rios "talent tease." Maybe the same will eventually be said about CQ, too. I hope not.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Sep 13, 2009 -> 08:16 AM) The Angels just have great balance in their lineup. They don't have a true #4 cleanup hitter IMO but that's about all they're missing. They have contact, power, speed, patience, guys who can handle the bat, etc. They don't really have any holes because each player brings something that can either help you beat really good pitching (via slap hits, bunt hits, sacrifices, SB, solo home runs, etc.) or average to bad pitching (OBP and slugging). When the little guys get on base you almost always have to think about them running, and this can distract pitchers or at least force them to constantly throw over to first. Throws to first don't count in the pitch count, but they can easily take a pitcher out of his rhythm, extend the length of the inning in terms of time, make the innings more stressful so that the pitcher has to work harder, etc. And then the big boys behind the little guys all have pop, and some of them, especially Abreu who they'd be nuts to let go, can further run up pitch counts and wait for mistakes to swing at and hit hard. That offense just has so many ways to win. Put that around pitching and defense and you can see why they play so well no matter if they're on the road or not. I personally hate the Angels but it's hard to overlook how well their system works. And yet we were 23-15 against the Angels coming into this last series of the year against them (since the post-season of 05)...only AL team with a winning record against TLAAoA during that time span.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 13, 2009 -> 05:11 PM) Awesome line...KW for 2009 gets a big fat F for his trades. At least his non-roster FA signings in Pods and Garcia were excellent. Not to mention Nix. He's been a lifesaver with all the injuries to Getz this year. The question is, and I think I know the answer already...would/could Uribe/Ramirez/Beckham as an infield been more "effective" offensively and defensively than what we actually fielded in 2009? (including Fields and Getz into the equation) Well, hindsight is 20/20, and MOST of the fanbase was ready to let Juan leave because it didn't make sense to pay him $4-6 million to be a back-up, although he DEFINITELY came in handy the last two months of the 2008 season.

Izturis, Aybar and Figgins have been pains for everyone this year...of course, you can't avoid having to attack them (compared to the "big guns" of Morales, Rivera, Hunter, Guerrero, Abreu and Napoli) as they're the Piranha-esque players who end up beating you with 100,000 paper slices rather than the big 3 run homers, via the bunting, stolen bases, wild pitches, lack of (defensive) execution because of the additional pressure on the opposing teams' defense and pitchers and catchers.

There's no way they will ever get to the playoffs in 2010 with Matt Thornton as the closer. You can't get away with one pitch in that role.

Update: Since we were 5 games over .500 and Buehrle was on fire, we're the worst team in baseball at scoring runners from 3rd with less than 2 outs. Jesus. Of course, you know somehow the Angels will come back to win 4-3 the way this season has gone and is going. And there's a difference with a Crede or Uribe on the team...those guys somehow got the sacrifice flies deep enough to get the runners in during those situations. Memo to JD, watch Abreu set up for a throw home. Thanks.

Quentin 2008 version, sure. Which player do we have going into 2010? The 750 ops guy or the 950 ops guy? Or something in between, not as good (perhaps ever) as the MVP Carlos, but not as low a BA and the a wrist with a full year to recover, which is almost always the case that you come back better the 2nd season (like Tommy John recovery).

That's twice this year that has happened. Interestingly, the baserunner should not be sent back...he should be ruled out, but supposedly it's a discretion of the umpire call. PS Yet another example of JD's horrible throwing mechanics. Should have had an out there at 1st. Hopefully it won't come back to bite us. Also two huge fundamental mistakes from Hunter (although Beckham was sent back) not backing up on the throw from catcher and not moving towards the ball that got away from Abreu and became an inside-the-park home run for Pods. Those mistakes would never have happened while he was playing in Minnesota.

I guess we'll never know until later how much the Rios situation and 2010 contract affected JD. It's easy to say that it shouldn't have, or to gauge how much of an affect the lawsuit had on Alexei's April/May, but there have been a lot of distractions and the team has seemingly lacked focus or clarity in its style of play all season long, except for brief glimpses of how well this team could really be if all the parts were actually working together. Still, you'd have to say there were MORE issues last year and the "clubhouse chemistry" was seemingly better....despite Swisher, the blow-up doll situation, Cabrera, Vazquez, Crede being shut down by Boras, etc.

Yeah, the Angels have a pretty nasty line-up, Morales has really surged this year, FINALLY, and there's not even room for the likes of Howie Kendrick because "Mighty" Maicer is playing so well. Rivera and Hunter have picked it up over their career numbers, too. Napoli is second in major league homers from the catcher spot over the last two seasons to McCann. GMJ is also superfluous. There aren't many holes. It's like "upside down" world, because their offense is usually a bit questionable, with their defense/speed and pitching (both starting and bullpen) leading the way. Brandon Wood would be getting significant playing time in many other organizations, but won't even sniff the Angels' line-up anytime soon.

Including the 2005 AL playoffs, the White Sox are 24-16 against the Angels. We're the only American League team during that timeframe with a winning record against them. Texas is .500 against them I think, at least according to their announcers.

QUOTE (chisoxt @ Sep 11, 2009 -> 11:06 PM) You say that he has had success but then you list all of his failures. Add to those failures... Danny Richar.. Horacio Ramírez, MacDougal (although he was OK when we got him)... Garcia was his best acquisition during the season. But the 2004 team wasn't contending (due to injuries) when we took on Contreras and Garcia, either one which could be termed the best KW move for setting up the following season. Those first three trades had little or NO impact on our post-season drive, negligible, at best. MacDougal, as stated above, was very good in his role that particular season, but many other factors undermined that season. What I'm talking about is a move that actually HINDERED our chances of getting to post-season. Pena has been inconsistent, but that hasn't really been as big of a factor as Rios' disappearance, because he's a set-up guy, and he has pitched well at times....Rios has been lost since we acquired him, and looks like he just wants to get this season over with.

This isn't specifically about Rios, per se. It's what has been the worst "in-season" (May/June/July/August) move that KW has made, 2001-2009, in terms of the "negative" (up to you to determine) impact on that particular season, on a White Sox team that was contending or close to it? So moves like Adkins/Durham don't count, because we were already out of the race and wanted to play Willie Harris and save money.

Usually KW has a really good touch with these mid-season adjustments (even Geoff Blum contributed eventually), but I was struggling to think of one that has had more of a detrimental affect (short-term) to our playoff chances when something was expected of him. Peavy, there was uncertainty whether he would even pitch again this season. Griffey was already washed up, but was acquired more for his veteran presence, leadership and steadying presence. I have a pretty strong belief that Rios can get things turned around next season, but Alex has failed consistently in big situations since we've acquired him. Just perplexing. Roberto Alomar? It was pretty clear he wasn't the same player, as his skills went south very quickly, just like Ryne Sandberg at 2B.

Excuse me, sir. NEXT TIME I WILL SEND A PRIVATE MESSAGE IF SOMEONE HAS SOMETHING IN THEIR SIGNATURE that's not even 100% correct, unless we're willing to say that our own CF is even worse. Because apparently people have nothing better to do than complain about other posters or yell "you lie!" at the President. What ever happened to civility in our society?

I'm still not 100% convinced that Ryan Sweeney sucks.

2 games under .500 against OAKLAND I think we're a combined .500 against KC, CLE and Baltimore. DET has really played so much better, especially that TB series. They definitely deserve the division...everyone was saying they'd finish with 84-85-86 victories, but they're on pace for 87 or 88 probably, about like our team last year. Actually, with the front end of their rotation, they're probably more dangerous in the playoffs than we were, for sure. But that offense will really struggle to score runs...however, they're able to comeback and also win in the late innings, something we've failed to do consistently this year, so we'll see what happens in the playoffs. The Twins are definitely a bigger disappointment than the White Sox, especially considering it was their last year in DOME-LAND to use that to their advantage before they have to adjust to a new park like the rest of the league.

Has anyone actually seen Santos Rodriguez pitch in person? Does he throw a legit mid-90's from the LH side? Perhaps Jones or Rodriguez become the next Scott Radinsky or Boone Logan to basically jump from A ball to the bigs.

The common thread among the disappointing careers for the two Youngs, Hermida and Francoeur is that pitchers have exposed their plate discipline in the majors. But with the exception of Francoeur, that wasn't a major issue for any of them in the Double-A Southern League four years ago. Delmon Young, whose performance I addressed in the May 19 Ask BA, could have drawn a few more walks but he didn't strike out excessively and did a good job of using the whole field and hanging in against breaking balls. He walked 25 times in 84 games for Montgomery and has taken just 90 free passes in 565 games since. Hermida led the SL with 111 walks and a .457 on-base percentage in 2005, and while he isn't the free swinger the other guys are, he hasn't been nearly as disciplined with the Marlins. I hold out more hope for him than the rest of this group, and I wonder if Hermida has focused too much on trying to hit homers rather than letting them come naturally. Francoeur struck out four times as much as he walked in the SL, and after he had a strong second half with the Braves in 2005, big league pitchers realized he'd get himself out if they'd let him. Francoeur hasn't adapted his approach, and athleticism alone isn't going to save him at the plate. Chris Young walked 70 times in the SL, and though he had 129 strikeouts in 466 at-bats, he was making progress against offspeed pitches and using the whole field. His strikeout rate has stayed the same but his walk rate has dropped significantly, and if a hitter is going to chase out of the strike zone, major leaguers will let him. Francoeur's struggles could have been forecast, but I don't know if anyone could have foreseen the extent of the Young's and Hermida's difficulties. I think this serves as another example of how developing and forecasting prospects is more art than science, and there always will be elite prospects who succeed in Double-A but can't get over the hump against better competition two levels higher in the major leagues. Our rankings are based on extensive conversations with scouts, player-development officials and managers, which gives us the weight of multiple looks at players from several different sources. from baseballamerica.com, jim callis

It would be great if Pods was our 4th outfielder next year and PR, that would make a very nice veteran combination with Mark Kotsay off the bench. Would be scared to death of approaching the season with him as the leadoff hitter....just too big of a risk, like starting this year with Anderson/Owens/Wise/Lillibridge. However, as many have noted, if he is able to finagle a Willy Taveras type of two year deal (for $5-6 million) from another National League team (making the Rockies look a bit silly for giving up on him) as a starter, there's no way he would want to come back in a diminished/bench role. Of course, a lot of this is dependent on "what if's" like Quentin's health in 2010 and what happens with Dye, Thome and the FA market for leadoff hitters and big LH bats (last offseason, the likes of Abreu and Dunn).