caulfield12

Take that Rudy Jaramillo. Greg Walker is in the process of signing a book deal, focusing on his rehabilitation of the rejuvenated swings of Alex Rios and Andruw Jones.

Great sign when Alex can stay with an outside pitch and drive it up the middle or to the opp field. 93 MPH slider? I know Morrow throws hard, but that's a nasty pitch if it's actually a slider at that speed on the black. I think the computer misidentified a two seam FB undoubtedly.

Now back to our normally scheduled White Sox offense. By the way, is Nix sick (literally, not due to losing AB's to Omar)? He was supposed to be in the starting line-up tonight, theoretically instead of Vizquel. Any news?

Gordon Beckham?

Mauer and Pods continue to outhit the White Sox 9. 12/28 on the season already for Joe (1 HR, 6 RBI's)...Pods 13/31. Twins and Red Sox tied at 2 after 3 innings. First bit of rain at the new Target Field, although it's a balmy 78 degrees. Royals positioning themselves for another come from ahead blown loss, 3-1 over the Tigers in the 5th. PS: Please let the Royals and Indians actually show up in Minnesota and not let them sweep both teams. Deep Thoughts from Jack Handey: Will we have the first 0-0 tie in baseball history when we play the Mariners next week at USCF?

Spontaneously combust? Like Michael Jackson when he shot the Pepsi commercial? As opposed to combusting under the epidermis/skin layer? LOL. I think Ozzie might actually combust before the end of April at this rate.

Well, ideally we'd have a real DH or Pierre and Teahen as very expensive bench players...a bilingual sports psychologist for Alexei Ramirez wouldn't be a bad concept either. But alas, that's not our reality.

Which is why KW wanted to hire Cito Gaston in the first place. All things considered, you'd certainly have to argue that hiring Ozzie was the right choice. How long that might continue to be the case remains to be seen.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Apr 14, 2010 -> 06:54 AM) Bahahaa....and what about me, who was like the 5th person in and office of a few thousand. Oh well...to China I go in 2 days. Where are you going to in China? Have you ever been here? I'm in Hangzhou, about 1 1/2 hour train ride from Shanghai.

A blistering 673 OPS, 27th in all of MLB. On the bright side, fans in Cleveland, Seattle and Houston can all collectively be more frustrated than Sox fans.

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Apr 13, 2010 -> 03:16 PM) I am not so sure I agree with the upside at the plate part. Upside over last year? sure, but not more so than his best years. But I agree there is no comparison. I would say that Soriano has the worst contract in all of baseball. If I were a Cubs fan I would feel sick thinking of that clown playing another 5 years for my team. I think the fact that he solidifies a position (CF) that has been a hole for 3-4 seasons, he's in his prime...and you can "overvalue" players up the middle a bit because Ramirez and Beckham are so underpaid, it's okay as long as he's an 800+ OPS player (775-850).

Where have you gone Ray-Ray or Sugar Ray Durham?

Yeah, but we'd be able to play "Rico/Suave" whenever he came to bat. Hudson's not quite up to Brandon McCarthy level, but he's a nice prospect...whether he's peaked in terms of value (like Poreda/Richard), we'll just have to wait and find out.

I'm proud to be a Jayson Nix fan Where at least I know he's free (to play) And I won't forget the Vizquel at-bats that died Who gave that right to Ozz-ee? And I gladly stand up . . next to you and defend NIX still today Cause there ain't no doubt I love this Sox Land God bless the USA (and Alex Rios, Carlos Delgado, and Chris Jackson/Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf)

But Dick Allen, in your mind, do you think that Uribe simply started tuning Walker out? It seems at times that Uribe TRIED to change his approach and go more to the opposite field instead of being a dead-red hitter, but 90% of the time he fell back into bad habits. Still, he was always a MAN about somehow managing to drive in 65-75 RBI's per season, no matter how poor his overall average. I think many here would be thrilled if Mark Teahen could replicate that typical 20 HR, 65-80 RBI URIBE line with a higher OBP. Because the fact of the matter was that Uribe was loved by every one of his teammates and the coaches as well, and he saved the pitchers countless times with his D, something Teahen won't do nearly as much. What about Alexei Ramirez? Did he overachieve in 2008? Did the league simply adjust to him, pounding him with offspeed stuff...how much of that is a product of Ramirez (and Walker) failing to adjust...how much of it is Alexei perhaps overachieving in 2008 (see Berroa, Angel, Rookie Year)? How much of it is Alexei's defensive lapses being carried over to the offensive side?

I think you have to look at the greater context. I'm sure Rios appreciates Ozzie "having his back," so to speak. It SEEMS to be coming through with his play, his homer last night...for whatever reason, Ozzie feels this might be the best way to light a fire under Rios, by encouraging the fans to boo him or Ozzie. I know it's definitely a "backwards" seeming motivational technique, but it's certainly garnering a lot less national attention than the Mariotti comments. Heck, it's almost impossible for him to say anything that gets attention anymore because everything he says is so over the top, it's hard to know where inappropriate even begins with the guy anymore. It's also part of Ozzie being Ozzie, that candidness is perceived to be one of his greatest strengths by the "common" fan, that he's not a completely "boring" guy like Bevington or Lamont or Manuel. When he calls out the fans "who wake up at 4 am," (etc.), we quietly laugh to ourselves and say, Ozzie's not poking fun at us, he's poking fun at those OTHER White Sox fans, like the ones who call into Ranger's post game show or offer to trade Betemit/Williams/Carlos Torres/Nix for Pujols, Mauer or Hanley Ramirez. He's singling out "harassing" fans who he feels crossed the line with Rios...the modern-day complaint of all athletes and public figures about their privacy being violated, about them not being role models (Barkley), etc. Of course, the irony is that Ozzie loves the spotlight. You have to the feeling if he weren't managing what he would miss the most would be the media gathering around to hear more Ozzie speak. That and being around his friends like Baines and Cora, etc., just being around the game of baseball. I guess the most important thing in Ozzie's mind is making Rios feel comfortable being a member of the Sox, and building up a "cocoon" of protection around him. Just don't get on his bad side, like BA, Cabrera, Swisher, Rauch, Sean Tracey, etc. Plus, JR has to worry about hiring lawyers and interviewing witnesses to sort out the Del Negro/Paxson mess...unless Ozzie says something that offends a particular group (like the Mariotti situation) or REALLY REALLY tees off Kenny Williams to the point where their working relationship is damaged, he's going to be backed up 100% by JR. I mean, many on this board have the idea in their heads that Ozzie is so powerful that he can influence Williams to change his whole FO strategy in terms of player acquisition and talent in order to what....hold Ozzie accountable and fire him if things go wrong? I will never understand the idea that the team failing makes only Ozzie look bad but doesn't put KW under the same amount of scrutiny and pressure. But that's me. I don't get that, any more than I ever thought Ozzie was deliberately messing with BA. I think Ozzie is smarter than a lot of us give him credit for, he saw the hole in Anderson's game all along, and it's been borne out by his results since leaving Chicago.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5084621 Dye has reportedly turned down offers because he doesn't want to DH or simply because of pride (being low-balled, in his opinion)... Gary Sheffield, not sure if that's a very good example. He had almost as many chances (and clubs) as Steve Howe despite his antics. Same with Milton Bradley. Elijah Dukes? Well, that's a very special situation, why he's not signed. Tom Gordon? If anyone could make an argument, it's Hispanic players not being signed, that's a much much longer list.

I'm sure the post-game was a fun one. At least Alex Rios had the last laugh with the fans. Imagine the boos he'll get Wednesday...

Yeah, but Scioscia is a master tactitian and strategist and Ozzie is Ozzie. Reputation is so much more important than whether someone's actually a good manager or not.

I was just thinking about the topic of hitters who have gone on to success after leaving Chicago...besides the obvious ones like Ordonez and Carlos Lee. Besides Ryan Sweeney and Swisher, another batter that never reached his potential (certainly not after the 2004 season) was Juan Uribe. Aaron Rowand also comes to mind...but Uribe, we more or less gave up on, at least to my thinking. He also was a big reason for our success in holding off the Twins the final six weeks of 2008 after Crede went down for good. I don't know how much we can ascribe the National League as the primary reason for their success (Rowand/Uribe)...and I don't even think it would matter much if we had Fields and Getz back (instead of Teahen, or had we kept Uribe), because they wouldn't have roles NOW unless Fields could actually hit a FB and play LF competently. Maybe if Andruw Jones has a complete season, Walker can take credit...or if Alex Rios returns to the All-Star form of 2005-2008.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 13, 2010 -> 09:41 PM) Yes, but you can't blame then lineup without blaming Ozzie for the construction of it. It's too early to call for him to be fired, but if this lineup is a massive bust, changes need to be made at the end of this season. That's why I don't like being committed to Pierre and Teahen over multiple seasons, not to mention Linebrink. Jenks at his salary also isn't going to be a good fit for a team in our position.

QUOTE (La Marr Hoyt HOF @ Apr 13, 2010 -> 09:38 PM) Would agree it is early in the season, but he's been doing this for years. He's simply not a good manager... '05 won despite his antics not because of them. And you really think Jerry Manuel or Terry Bevington would have held that team together down the stretch when the Indians were closing fast? That you would have gone to El Duque at just the exact perfect time in the post-season, or known exactly how/when to use Brandon McCarthy? And those managers would have been able to go through 3 closers in one season?

I don't mind if he resigns, but that won't happen....nor will he be fired. As Ozzie always says, Joe Torre suddenly became a really good manager when he took over the Yankees, Francona with the Red Sox, etc. It's pretty hard to expect him to beat the Twins when he has a gun with only one or two bullets and the Twins are fully-loaded, so to speak. 2008, it seems, we overachieved and last year we returned to norm, where we probably deserved to be, a .500 ballclub. Now maybe because KW misallocated some of our resources and our budget has been in the $95-105 million rnage, we perhaps EXPECTED to be better, but the overall talent is clearly just middle of the pack. If you stack our everyday line-up up against Minnesota, the only players that would start for the Twins would be Beckham (over Hudson), possibly Ramirez (although Hardy would be the clear choice so far) and 3B is a toss-up. Otherwise, the Twins have a clear advantage at every position on the field, although you can once again argue Rios over Span or Quentin over D. Young. Overall, the line-ups aren't even close because of how good Mauer and Morneau are, not to mention Cuddyer, Kubel and Span.

Royals, 3-5 White Sox, 3-5 Or, can we compare Andruw Jones with Jim Thome and say Andruw's clearly the better option after 8 games? Let's wait at least until May 1st before we put Scotty Pods into Cooperstown.

I don't know if fear is the right word, certainly it was with Quentin in 2008. Quentin, Konerko, Beckham and Rios are all capable hitters...and Andruw Jones can leap up and bite you. We're just a soft overall line-up unless we're getting consistent contributions from Pierre, Teahen, Ramirez and AJ. At one point, it seemed like Ramirez would be Soriano-Lite. That would make a tremendous diference, if he was the same threat he was in 2008 on a more consistent basis (like before June, that would help).