caulfield12

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 26, 2009 -> 06:53 PM) This might be 1 of 2 or 3 OF's in the big leagues that are large enough that a ball could bounce away from an OF and PK would have a legit shot at a triple. PETCO, Safeco, SF Giants' stadium? Batters are hitting .293 now against Porcello this season, .283 against Richard. ERA is also very close now, 4.84 for Clayton, 4.74 for Porcello.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Jul 26, 2009 -> 06:46 PM) While out of town the last four days all I had to say to the people I was with was that the pen is down but the hitting needs to be better. This team needs to score to win. 4 runs are better than the Toronto Texas days but they need to but a hurt on a team and keep it up for all 9 innings. Let's keep the line rolling. Losing this game would be the equivalent of the Cubs' loss from a 5-1 lead and the Twins' blown 10 run lead to the collective psyche of the organization. We've already lost at least two heartbreakers to the Tigers this season, and we really SHOULD have won the 2nd game of the DH.

Okay, Richard, please don't give up a 3 run bomb to the BA/Rowand/Crede of DET fans' hearts, Brandon Inge. I really hate that guy. But, despite his 21 homers, Gordon Beckham has an OPS almost 30 points higher than Inge. Correct that, 840 (Inge) to 813 (Beckham)...I was looking at Brandon's career line, not this season.

Ankiel, Blalock, Huff and Matsui would probably be the four best options, along with Dunn. Of course, there's been a lot of fascination with Abreu over the years, and Vladimir Guerrero undoubtedly will be an interesting decision for the Angels...and then there's Figgins. Tempting to go after Vladdy, we always get superstars about 3-5 years too late in their careers (Griffey, R. Alomar, Thome, etc.) I guess I would take a Figgins/Dunn offseason, although Figgins/Dunn/Crisp would also make me happy.

QUOTE (beckham15 @ Jul 26, 2009 -> 06:37 PM) yeah but i still think his stats will be out Gordo's to this point if the season ended today Porcello's at 4.8 now. No way they give a ROY award to a pitcher with a 5+ ERA.

QUOTE (beckham15 @ Jul 26, 2009 -> 06:35 PM) ehhh...i still think porcello has more of a chance to win ROY than Beckham right now Andrus, Romero and Getz also figure into the discussion...although Gordon has already passed Chris in the eyes of many, in terms of momentum. Perhaps Wieters could get really hot too, but players on contending teams usually have an advantage (Berroa/Matsui vote notwithstanding).

2 iron laser into the LF bullpen area that barely cleared the inner wall...way to go Gordo, let's bury these guys and have an ESPN White Sox "love fest" tonight instead of being on pins and needles in the late innings wondering how/when/if we'll blow the lead.

If Porcello is shut down (19 runs given up in his last 3+ outings) for awhile, then they have Zach Miner, Robertson (rehabbing), Willis (well, that's not TOO likely) and Bonderman (rehabbing) as the back of their rotation, along with the rookie pitcher French. Beckham and Getz staying at Grosse Point home of the Getz Family this weekend, FWIW.

Richard has a 1.38 ERA in the first inning. We know he's USUALLY good early. It's the bullpen that scares you...a 10-1 victory would be a godsend. We've blown at least 3-4 games in our last two series (Wise out at home, lack of hitting with RISP, Jenks and Linebrink meltdowns, etc.) You'd have to think Richard coming back to the land of Maize and Blue (and Getz, too) would really charge them up for tonight's game on a national stage, especially after the embarassment of the first 3 games.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jul 26, 2009 -> 06:58 PM) Brandon Allen wont be a middle of the order hitter. How can you be so sure about that? Beckham is projected by everyone to be a #3 hitter, and I would be hard pressed to believe he will ever get much above 850 for an OPS. The guy is not Chase Utley or Hector Reborn (reference to Gladiator/Troy). I know JPN and some of the minor league people were really upset about his loss, and also his recent return to form for the DBacks' AAA affiliate.

If we're going to make this move for Haren or Halladay or "mystery pitcher" (like Garland), then we need to do it ASAP before we go into the next week of games... Definitely okay with trying someone like Pena instead of Dotel and using that money elsewhere. The only (and obvious) problem with that is the current level of shakiness with Linebrink and Jenks.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Jul 26, 2009 -> 06:34 PM) They're in desperate need of a left-handed middle-of-the-order hitter going forward and there aren't a lot of them out there. If they trade for him on the last year of his deal they have exclusive negotiating rights with him for the entire year and maybe in this economy he'd accept a 3y/$30M offer. Then why did we trade Brandon Allen? That makes no sense at all....unless KW thought he could get a better young LH 1B/DH type than Brandon for Dotel. Which would have been a pretty risky assumption to make on KW's part. There aren't many LH 1B available? Oft-injured Nick Johnson? Left fielders Garret Anderson (38) Marlon Anderson (36) Jason Bay (31) Emil Brown (35) Carl Crawford (28) - $10MM club option with a $1.25MM buyout Johnny Damon (36) David Dellucci (36) Cliff Floyd (37) Matt Holliday (30) Jacque Jones (35) Gabe Kapler (34) Greg Norton (37) Wily Mo Pena (28) Manny Ramirez (38) - $20MM player option Dave Roberts (38) Fernando Tatis (35) Center fielders Rick Ankiel (30) Rocco Baldelli (28) Marlon Byrd (32) Mike Cameron (37) Endy Chavez (32) Coco Crisp (30) - $8MM club option with a $500K buyout Darin Erstad (36) Ryan Freel (34) Jerry Hairston Jr. (34) Reed Johnson (33) Andruw Jones (33) Gabe Kapler (34) Mark Kotsay (34) Corey Patterson (30) Scott Podsednik (34) Right fielders Bobby Abreu (36) Jermaine Dye (36) - $12MM mutual option with a $1MM buyout Brian Giles (39) Vladimir Guerrero (34) Eric Hinske (32) Geoff Jenkins (35) - $7.5MM mutual option with a $1.25MM buyout Gabe Kapler (34) Austin Kearns (30) - $10MM club option with a $1MM buyout Jason Michaels (34) Xavier Nady (31) Magglio Ordonez (36) - $15MM club/vesting option with a $3MM buyout Randy Winn (36) Designated hitters Hank Blalock (29) Jason Giambi (39) - $6.5MM club option with a $1.25MM buyout Ken Griffey Jr. (40) Aubrey Huff (33) Hideki Matsui (36) Gary Sheffield (41) Matt Stairs (42) Mike Sweeney (36) Jim Thome (39)

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 26, 2009 -> 04:54 PM) Didn't he sign a two year deal? Kenny will try his best to sign Chone Figgins. That's been his guy. He could be had for 3-4 years and $8-9 million per year. You put Figgins at either 3B or 2B and you position Beckham where ever Figgins isn't playing. Ramirez should stay at SS. I don't want him near the OF. He could make Alfonso Soriano-like mistakes out there. A mistake by a SS usually results with a man on first. A mistake in the outfield usually results with a man on second or third. I'd love Matt Holliday, but he's a Boras client. If we fail to bring in good DH or corner OF, re-sign Dye. I think there's an option (at the very least) on Hudson's deal. So you really believe Ramirez would be worse out there in CF than Scotty Pods? Really? And I'm not sure about having less of an affect on the game at SS...what is the ratio of Total Chances for a SS versus a CF? Any infield with Beckham, Ramirez and Figgins is pretty scary defensively, to say the least. Interesting decisions about what happens with Pods and Getz in many future White Sox scenarios for 2010. As for those advocating Dunn, why would we dream of paying him almost the same as Thome in this market?

QUOTE (jenks45monster @ Jul 24, 2009 -> 06:33 PM) In case you haven't noticed, it's taking a lot to get rent-a-players. Just look at what the Indians got last year for Sabathia and what the A's just got for Holliday. Matt LaPorta, Zach Jackson, Rob Bryson, and Michael Brantley for Sabathia. Brett Wallace, Clayton Mortensen, Shane Peterson for Holliday. Am I saying Dotel's on the same level as Sabathia or Holliday? No. Am I saying we should expect one of those types of mega-packages for Dotel? No. Lambo is a very good prospect, not an elite one. And that's just one prospect. Dotel is a type A FA and would net two draft picks if we or a team he was traded to offered him arbitration. All that said, he certainly has good value on the trade market. Dotel should be able to net Lambo or a Lambo type of player straight up, especially if a team is desperate for relief help. Like the White Sox?

Martinez would certainly play 1B and replace Loney. Really, really gusty move, though, to give up Billingsley and definitely Kershaw.

Nix is the perfect fit as a utility guy. Fields either needs to be playing 3B everyday in Chicago or Charlotte OR traded for the highest possible return.

I don't know if we should do anything other than "stand pat" until the end of the month...or sell off Dotel, Anderson and MAYBE Josh Fields if we can find "buyers" for them that make it worth our while. Still have mixed feelings about Fields, because our back-ups in the minors essentially are CJ Retherford, Morel and Viciedo. It's going to be a tough decision on moving Beckham to 2B and what to do with Fields. If they get knocked out of the race, I'd love to seem them move Beckham to SS and try Ramirez in CF for the remainder of the season, playing Fields at 3B...that way we'd have a much better read on Beckham defensively at SS, Alexei's CF defense, and whether Getz and/or Fields should be penciled in as "everyday" starters coming into 2010. Of course, that means moving Pods to a back-up role, which he doesn't really deserve based on his level of play...he could still alternate with Quentin or they could just shut down Quentin for the rest of the season, too.

We have always played the Red Sox and Yankees pretty tough. We did a great job with the Rays, it's just that Twins series (both teams might be coming off historic 4 game sweepings) in the Dome that looms even more scary. All things considered, the Tigers and Twins should be co-favorites to win the division at this point, with the obvious advantage to the Tigers because of their lead.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/51...L7PQLanchO7DiUr Pretty complimentary article from our biggest rival's hometown newspaper. "Add it up and the White Sox look like the best team in the AL Central, despite losing the first three games of their series with division- leading Detroit this weekend." The White Sox play the Yankees 7 times, Red Sox 8 times, Angels 6 times, Seattle 6 times (27 games)... 16 of those games are on the road... All of those teams are tough and would be winning the AL Central if they were in it (except Seattle but the would only be 1 GB).... That doesn't include the times they play the twins (9 games, 5-4 head to head) and tigers (7 games, 4-7 head to head, on the road at DET to end the season)... The Tigers play @ Red Sox 4 times, @ Angles 3 times, Tampa Bay 7 times, Seattle 3 times, they also play @ texas, and toronto........ 64 games remaing for White Sox, 43 of them described as "very tough." It's going to take a major miracle or a injury to key elements of the Twins or Tigers to pull this off.

Of course, Nathan was a failed starter with SF, same as Foulke. Jenks, in the Angels' organization. Won't go through all the examples, except disagreeing with the fact that Jenks perhaps has too many pitches (like a starter) but not any one dominant pitch that's a go-to pitch the last couple of weeks out. At least not a pitch he can use with 100% confidence, consistency and command in the zone. The main reason Jenks can't start is stamina/conditioning and injury concerns. Perhaps the best example of a team riding it out with a "horrible" closer was Mr. Jones in DET last year. I do think they would have pulled him and tried Zumaya in that role, had he been healthy. And Rodney was very bad 2-3 seasons ago (always had the raw stuff, though) and now he's becoming very effective again in 08/09. In our division, you'd have to rank them Nathan/Soria/Rodney/Jenks and then Wood. That's five pretty good pitchers, at least Wood and Jenks were effective until this season, and 22/26 still at least LOOKS decent on paper, despite the 4.33 ERA.

Is the cost of acquiring Sherrill close to worth it? Wouldn't it be better, if we did pull Jenks, to at least give Thornton a shot at the job first? You'd hate to give away a big piece of our future offense in Tyler Flowers when this team could be knocked completely out of the race in the next 10 days of the season...

It's not the 3 versus 4 blown saves. That game against the Angels, it's over if Nathan doesn't TIP the ball (fluke 1) and then it bounced right off the bag (fluke 2) when the game easily would have been over with neither eventuality occuring. I've listened to and watched a lot of Twins' games over the years. Nathan's "fall" is a little like Mo Rivera's...he's great still, but not unbeatable anymore or like Superman. Jenks has CONSISTENTLY and VISIBLY been struggling with both his stuff and confidence. You don't get the same feeling from watching Nathan. If Nathan and Jenks were both put on the market today, Nathan could get you a Fernando Martinez (if the Mets were close to being in it, just as an example). He's still THAT good.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jul 25, 2009 -> 05:34 PM) I don't think you make those decisions based on schedule. And, ironically, the White Sox usually do fairly well (over the last ten years or so especially) against the Yankees and Red Sox. But there's no recovery from getting run out of town and swept by both the Tigers and the Twins...what it will do is re-energize the Twins probably and catapult them back into the race the remaining two months.

I would have created a poll, but don't have the energy. Is there anyone who could actually do any better and come out of "nowhere" like Jenks did in 2005? Dotel? Thornton? Pena? Are ANY of those options NOT going to be demonstrably WORSE? The one we keep speculating about is Thornton...but there's lots of counter-evidence about suitability for that role. And we have what in the minors? Nunez? Link? Santeliz? It's looking like Jenks might turn into another Joe Crede and we'll wish we would have traded him this past off-season. I hope this team recovers enough to win ONE game tomorrow, or you really start speculating about the season that looked so promising just days ago completely slipping away. Fathom was right, even though it's not 8 games out (possibly 4 games out), heading straight into a tsunami of a schedule without a bullpen...this team has been the biggest tease of the last decade, at least since 2003. Was there anyone who felt we were actually going to win the game heading into the top of the 10th? Not many, if there were. Ozzie needs to do something to shake this team up, but I'm not sure what that is...or if pulling Jenks from the closer's role in the 2nd half will do anything but make things even worse.

What a swing of emotions over the course of four games...I was thinking we were just going to take off as a team like in 2003, but that was a pipedream to think this team could replicate the 2nd half of 2003 or that these Tigers are as vulnerable as those Royals were.