caulfield12

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 29, 2009 -> 06:57 PM) After looking through the 2010 free agents, I'm genuinely convinced the player you're asking for doesn't exist. Or at least not without a trade. I wouldn't mind overpaying a bit for Frank. Gutierrez, that guy is a really quality defender. On paper, the M's don't look that great, but Jack Z. really improved that defense as his #1 priority in the offseason. Unless we let Jenks, Dye, Thome, Dotel AND Contreras all go, it doesn't like we could afford to bring in someone like Adrian Beltre for 3B and move Beckham back to SS and Ramirez to 2B. That would improve our infield defense immensely, although it would also put the careers of Getz and Fields to bed with the White Sox, with Nix probably staying on as the super sub. Another option is rolling the dice on CoCo Crisp in LF, Rios in CF and Quentin RF (that they all can stay healthy).

QUOTE (knightni @ Aug 30, 2009 -> 05:30 PM) Exactly. How's that different from the last few years minus 2005? 2001 - 83 wins 2002 - 81 2003 - 86 2004 - 83 2006 - 90 2007 - 72 2008 - 89 2009 - 80* (projected) Except the payroll would be way lower, which hopefully would equal lower ticket prices. You did a nice job "skewing" this statistically by not including 2000, when we had 95 wins. So let's take out 2007, since, you're leaving out 2005 and 2000 coveniently. That gives you an average record of 88-74 over the decade...a record of sustained success we haven't had in, say, forever. In fact, if you go back all the way to 1990, and put together any long stretch of baseball from then until now, we're usually somewhere around 3rd or 4th in overall winning percentage as a franchise behind on the Yankees, Braves and Red Sox. I'd hardly describe that as being like the Pirates. THREE division championships in a decade is certainly not like the Pirates, unless you go back to the Clemente-era Pirates, We Are Family Pirates or the Bonds/Bonilla/Leyland late 80's/early 90's Pirates.

At the very least, we should accord Jose the respect he deserves for coming back so quickly from an Achilles' injury when he could have pulled a David Wells and just sat out the season or came back only in the 2nd half of the season to market himself to other teams for a new contract. Then, there's 2005 and 2006. You will never convince me otherwise that we could have won anything that year without him on the roster. He was the most dominant pitcher in baseball for 4-5 months stretching across those two seasons. He also signed a below market value contract (at the time) which later became similar to Konerko's (a bad contract), but was really a combination reward/pat on the back for good work for 2005, just like Konerko's deal in that offseason. The fact is, Torres, Garcia and Hudson probably won't give us solid results either, or they would be the "clearcut" choice to be starting, and they're not....nor is DJ Carrasco. Jose had "mini-runs" in 2009 and 2008 (first half) where he looked very very good, especially the first 2-3 months of 2008 before he started trying to pitch through injuries. And he's 40+ still throwing a 95 MPH fastball....he's gotten himself into remarkable physical condition, it's just that the pitching game for Jose is 95% mental and that's always been his bugaboo.

Trading Jenks and moving Thornton to closer leaves you questions about every single member of the bullpen coming into 2010, with the exception of Carrasco. What does that tell us about next year when perhaps the most predictable/reliable/consistent bullpen member (for his projected role) is DJ Carrasco? It tells you that if Linebrink and Pena can't ever get it done AGAIN, we're really in big, big trouble going forward.

I'd rather fire Guillen than Walker. That won't happen, but I'll agree with Fathom he's been pretty horrible since the Buehrle no-hitter (of course, so have Buehrle/Dye/Konerko/Rios/Beckham/Pena/Linebrink/Dotel).... I think Ozzie has one more chance in 2010...but he will be on thin ice if he struggles early in 2011 and the team suffers with chemistry issues throughout 2010 too. We let Swisher, Vazquez and Cabrera go to improve our clubhouse, and it clearly hasn't had the ameliorative affect that KW predicted it would have on the team.

I don't get why he wanted to give all the young guys a chance then a few months into the season dump them because he thinks we're in a pennant chase (.500 record?)... We've traded away and gave away Poreda, Richard, Allen, Brian Anderson, Lance Broadway and I don't think we would be any worse if these guys were still on the roster getting major league playing time. That goes to show that BIG changes need to be made next year and I think they will. I think this team is gonna go for a world series next year. I think some bold moves will be made this offseason, and I think Dye will be gonna, Jenks will be gone, Pods will be gone, and a move like trading one of Floyd/Alexai/Konerko will be made. I think he will sign a long term RF, lots of bullpen help for cheap, , and keep Kotsay to platoon with Thome at DH and play OF/1B. He will also resign Wise and trade more prospects. The Peavy trade was a bold one, let's wait at least one season before giving Clayton Richard the NL Cy Young. KW had left the roster too weak at the beginning of the year and then thought he could ride Beckham/Pods/Quentin/Rios/Peavy to take the division, didn't turn out that way for a number of reasons. Anderson and Broadway? REALLY??? The jury's still out on Allen, and it will look pretty stupid if Pena can't take over Dotel's work AND we lose Thome/Dye AND we can't find a LH, power-hitting 1B/LF/DH type on the FA market, like a DUNN or Abreu. No way Kotsay is part of a DH-platoon. Forget that idea, he's not a strong enough hitter anymore. He's a 5th outfielder, last player on the roster on a really good team, and defensive replacement at 1B. They very well might trade Konerko or Ramirez, but Konerko won't get ANYTHING back (you'll have to pay part of his salary probably), so the only marketable players you have to trade are Ramirez, possibly Jenks (to a much lesser extent than Ramirez) and some of our minor leaguers, who KW needs to hold onto and not trade (Flowers/Hudson/Viciedo/Danks/Mitchell).

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Aug 29, 2009 -> 12:51 PM) He's clearly the better option over Getz Getz MIGHT be fine if he could actually stay on the field for a prolonged stretch...he and Carlos are fighting for the title of most fragile/injury-prone team member.

They have to leave Nix at 2B (and not move him around as the utility player), Beckham at SS and let them play together every single day in Spring Training and during the regular season. Ramirez is the one asset (certainly not Getz or Fields) that can get some talent back to fill the holes at 3B, leadoff/OF, fifth starter and the bullpen.

Mitre averaging an amazing 11 pitches an inning. I thought Sunday was get-away day, not Saturday? Embarassing performance in a national TV broadcast which will do nothing for our September attendance...they better market the hell of out Peavy, because Beckham has fallen back to earth and there's really nothing to be excited about for the remainder of this year but for Tyler Flowers, Daniel Hudson and perhaps Viciedo. Ozzie smart to realize Beckham probably needed a game off....about 1/2 a game too late. Funny that we were arguing months ago that Beckham was "benched" (McDowell column) when he's probably been over-relied upon by Ozzie, if anything.

The great debate of this offseason will be Nix/Getz at 2B (the same Nix who is only 0.18 behind Beckham in OPS), where Ramirez ends up and who will our leadoff hitter be...along with the fifth starter and reconstructing our bullpen, although it trading Jenks seems unlikely right now with his value so low. Getz has really proven to be injury-prone this season...and very streaky. He needs to put up a .340-.360 OBP to be effective with his lack of power, and he hasn't done that consistently in 2009. His main advantage now is a LH bat (especially with Pods on his way out probably) and his speed.

Only Cotts over Buerhle in 2003 at Yankee Stadium and having to start Vazquez in the first game of the playoffs (but that was because of the four man rotation we used down the stretch)...would rival this. But this season turned for the worse finally in the middle of all those losses at Fenway that were winnable games. Supposedly, the White Sox were considering Hudson and Torres (not Carrasco) for the start.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Aug 29, 2009 -> 12:29 PM) Ramirez will be traded. We will have a new SS or 3B next year. I honestly think Beckham could be a great SS in this league. Theoretically, if we can get Alexei's production from Getz/Nix at 2B, then we make this trade (because his contract, his age and his Soriano-esque potential production from the middle infield will entice SOMEONE) and find a leadoff hitter (OF), fifth starter and/or rebuild our bullpen as Dotel leaves and Jenks might be out the door as well, although I think KW will hold onto Jenks for one more year because his value is so diminished, even compared to this offseason. From being the "Cuban Connection," if we ditch Contreras and Ramirez and Viciedo doesn't pan out, that seeming advantage we had in attracting Cubans might be out the window as well.

They have to replace Dye with Quentin...that will help with the range, or find another RFer, and I doubt that will be Vladimir Guerrero, who's about as limited as JD now physically. I really wouldn't even mind someone like Fr. Gutierrez or Endy Chavez in our outfield, but there's no way in hell I'm relying on Pods to be a starter next year...forget it. Ramirez moves to 2B (or is traded, or the Nix/Getz platoon again)...Beckham to SS and Fields/Viciedo/Nix (but probably a veteran 3B on a one-year contract while waiting for Viciedo) is the most likely. Fields and Getz definitely look to be the odd men out at this point, although we might need to keep Fields because his value is so low and because Thome AND Dye might both be gone, so we'll need to produce offense somehow. A better LFer, Rios in CF, Quentin in RF, Beckham/Ramirez up the middle, a better defensive 3B....we're not going to get any better with AJ/Flowers at catcher.

Whisler will never see any roster time...they should look at Hudson, Torres, Nunez and Santeliz, why not see what they have to work with in the bullpen, because they'll have to replace Dotel and still aren't sure what they have in Pena. Flowers should be given some type of platoon time with AJ, and perhaps Fields and/or Viciedo. They should move Ramirez to 2B (or trade him), move Beckham to SS and find a 3B if they're not going to give the position to Fields or Viciedo. CJ Retherford might get some playing time, but Shelby/Danks/Mitchell are a long ways from being ready for the majors.

Quote of the Day... "You won't believe how terrible this White Sox team is defensively..." Anonymous AL Advance Scout to the Yankees' broadcast crew. Guillen is pissed, pissed, pissed. It seems that the intimation from the announcers is that Guillen didn't want to start Contreras and was forced to against his will by KW.

Don't forget LHP Willliams, Josh Fields, Jerry Owens, DeWayne Wise, Brian Anderson and Corky Miller. It's amazing how many players we've run through this roster...but at least we seem to be set up well for next year. The sting would be much, much worse had we not made the playoffs last year.

LOL at Ramirez. This team is playing like they're already mailed it in and this is the final game of the season and they're holding tickets for a 330 flight out of LaGuardia.

QUOTE (PeavyTime @ Aug 29, 2009 -> 12:49 PM) Jose is the man. He gets a pass forever because of 2005. But Nix is a joke, and so is Mitre. They are why I'm pissed. The same Nix who was half of our offense the last few days? Last time I checked, Nix didn't give up 4 runs in the second inning, it was Contreras. This team has MANY MANY more problems than Jayson Nix, who, by the way, has almost as good an OPS as Gordon Beckham (.797 to .781).

Well....I guess we can't be surprised we're about to be down 4-0 or 5-0. There's really no point to go with Contreras from here on out. They should try Hudson, Torres and maybe Garcia once or twice each and see what they have for the 5th starter's spot heading into 2010. This game is pretty much over essentially, with the way our offense has looked recently. We've only lost five games in the standings the past month to the Twins and Tigers. At one point we were 4 1/2 games ahead of the Twins and tied (for ONE day) with the Tiggers.

If it involved RISP in late inning situations, I don't really trust the White Sox shooter to hit the target and put this team out of its misery. Probably we'd end up paralyzed and on life support and have to remove the plug on September 15th or 20th, with the agony prolonged a bit.

Okay, sorry....thought it would be a single....but it wasn't surprising in the least. And that's your White Sox season right there.

Shades of Miguel Ascensio here in NYC. 8 balls in a row. What else will happen this season? Nobody warming up for the Sox, bullpen mound covered, Cano a textbook line-drive hitter....YOU KNOW THE GODS OF BASEBALL DEEM CANO to get the walk off single.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Aug 28, 2009 -> 08:17 PM) why walk matsui? Ozzie wants to humiliate Swisher instead?

Ironic, gets two righties out and then walks LHP/LHB match-up in four pitches. Put Gardner in here to steal 2nd? Hairston.

Thank you, WIND. Everyone in the ballpark and the announcers called it as a home run.