caulfield12

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 08:26 AM) Scutaro put up a .380 OBP last year. Based on OPS+, Cameron has been an above average OF bat for the last 11 years. Yes, we would be a lot better off with Scutaro as our leadoff hitter than Juan Pierre. He's actually one of the most underrated players in the game, which is why he caught Esptein's eye, and Bill James, no doubt. As far as Cameron goes, he's always been a little bit of a disappointment. Great defender, but too much of an all-or-nothing hitter. That said, Chris B. Young would thank his lucky stars to be able to have Mike's career post-White Sox from here on out. It's hard not to think of all the busts we've had in CF and look at that big payroll number in Rios and speculate the various ways that money could have been more astutely allocated to balance out our offense a little bit better. But I like Rios a lot, too. I think we won't fully appreciate him until after we watch him play for an entire year when he's putting up his customary numbers.

There will be a Mark Kotsay thread every time our offense comes up short, just like there were DeWayne Wise, Brent Lillibridge, Corky Miller, Brian Anderson, Josh Fields, Chris Getz, et al, threads last year when we struggled offensively last year. There are no Pierre, Teahen or Ramirez threads...it's not quite fair to single Mark Kotsay out just yet, he's just the easiest one to pick on, like Wise was last year. Fans are no doubt frustrated because obviously this was a pretty glaring weakness to head into the season with. I know someone will point out the Red Sox are starting the likes of Mike Cameron and Marco Scutaro...that you can't field a team of All-Stars at every position. That we have a budget, that our team needs to be more versatile, etc. But this weekend will be a good test. The Twins have come out ready to play, already taking 2/3 from the Angels out on the Coast. USUALLY we play the Twins well in Chicago...we'll have a better idea where we stand over the weekend.

Note to Ozzie: Let's just see if we catch lightning in a bottle with Andruw Jones? Please let him hit more than once per series.

Let's hope this isn't an omen for the rest of Bobby's season...thank god we at least have Thornton and Putz in reserve for a total Jenks meltdown this season.

Since they got a new manager who actually knows what he's doing?

Jenks at 93 and 94 as usual early in the season... I don't know about Linebrink, but Jenks in these tied or trailing situations is almost asking for trouble usually.

Game 2 and I think already some heat will be on Teahen and Kotsay to pick it up...this offense of ours is a painful thing already. Let's hope we get the traditional bad Indians' bullpen from the last couple of years.

We'll see how well that "defense-first" approach works with the Mariners this season...at least it's an idea or strategy, something the Royals don't seem to have at all, ever. Beckham and Ramirez both quite obviously have the ability to be above average defenders, Teahen, mehhh....but still probably better than Fields/Beckham, which isn't saying much. We've been spoiled with Ventura and Crede, let's just leave it at that. Obviously we were atrocious last year, so it's hard to go backwards. Maybe we've gone from bottom quartile to Top 25-50%, I think you can make a legit argument swapping Dye and Pods for Pierre and Quentin in his correct position, not to mention Andruw Jones, Rios and Vizquel...that our outfield defense has gone from a huge negative to an overall asset to the club, which is quite an accomplishment. And let's not forget Kotsay at 1B and Nix's flashes in the infield as well. And we have Danks and (knock on wood) Mitchell to look forward to in the future as well. Pretty happy with KW's addressing some of these areas, although the jury is still out on Tyler Flowers replacing AJ.

If you want to give him credit for Pippen and Rodman, that's fine. Jordan, he was the third pick in the draft (I think the now infamous Sam Bowie from UK went before him) and hardly a hidden gem at that point in his career at North Catholina. Horace Grant was also a very well-known college player at Clemson...I guess he's also famous for the Toni Kukoc move, as much as any that he made.

which you would think would have showed up on at least ONE of his multiple scouting reports in the Sox FO...strange how they missed out on so many guys like Borchard, Josh Fields and Anderson that were athletically gifted but "baseball deficient"

Winnin' ugly. Those type of runs would have bailed out Alex quite a bit last year.

Kotsay is the new Carl Everett/Juan Uribe of RBI's. Joking...well, at least no double play ball, that would have stung, and advanced the runners.

Well, at least we're killing Westbrook's pitch count, and their pen was probably the worst in the majors last year.

I don't care about all the freaking fancy graphics, I just want to HEAR what's going on. You would think they would figure this out b4 Opening Day somehow.

Has anyone tried to use MLB GameDay Audio with this new AT BAT feature? figures it worked for the Yankees-Red Sox game last night but now it's not working at all for the Sox.

Basically, Brian Anderson told a reporter in Tucson (where he went to college) that if he was not going to make the Royals or any other major league club he would make the switch to pitching (he was a highly thought of P in high school and early in his U of A career- throwing 95) But, I have found out that this was more of a gusto reaction at the time of the interview…He is going to stay in the OF and will go to Omaha if needed. from blog at kcstar.com The next Sergio Santos or Jason Dellaero/Brooks Kieschnick?

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Apr 5, 2010 -> 09:20 AM) Ignore my AGon posts and a serious question. Is Cust the type of bat Walker can maybe tweak to lower the K rate or is he too far gone in his swinging tendancies that he is a lost cause? Brian Anderson and Joshua Fields? Joe Borchard? Joking... There are many positive success stories with Walker, but I can't think of one evidencing significant K rate decline in my memory.

But if Beane gives in to his "pity party," they get nothing in return and waste that money....already having experienced that with Taveras I think. I think he's betting on either Chavez having injury problems again and/or the fact that another team will become desperate for a hitter and give him something he actually wants (younger/cheaper) in return...like another Sweeney, Gio or DeLosSantos (pre-injury). Odds are he won't get a pitcher, but it's possible he could get a B position prospect and avoid paying that salary.

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.