caulfield12

The problem with Morel is we have no replacement in sight, other than Lillibridge (who the majority view as a platoon option, at best, and who has very limited experience at 3B at any level). So unless they trade Thornton/Crain/Floyd and get back a young starting 3B, they pretty much have to stick it out for the next 2-3 months and determine once and for all if he's going to be a part of the future. He goes to AAA for 2 months, hits decently (in line with minor league track record) and then puts up a similar August/September to 2011, then who would have any confidence he would repeat it again in 2013 after what happened this season?

QUOTE (Baron @ May 14, 2012 -> 07:31 PM) Lets see if Morel can get below .180 tonight That won't be hard, only 1 more AB. More worried about Viciedo than Morel, who I've already given up on and just preferring to be surprised by but not expecting anything more than Chris Snopek (minus the marginal power but better defense) from now on. Took Bryce Harper 54 AB's to get his first homer. Hitting .236 now.

The Royals announcers have stopped counting the sheer number of line drives hit at fielders...and then it starts to snowball, you start to press and get out of your normal game, like it did with Swisher in 2008. A year ago, you would have said Hosmer was the sure thing and that Moustakas looked incredibly shaky, more like Alex Gordon when he first came up than a perennial All-Star. Now things have almost completely reversed, although Hosmer's at least hit some dingers and collected some RBI's.

QUOTE (Cali @ May 14, 2012 -> 08:19 PM) Our "ace" can't even make it past the 4th inning. Money well spent... The problem is that Danks never really was an ace. He just got that label largely because of 2008 and Game 163, but he was never in Lester or Sabathia or CJ Wilson's neighborhood. He's an average #2 (obviously he's pitching worse than that this season) or a very good #3, but not really the textbook definition of an ace or stopper. Maybe the contract's in his head, just like Dunn in 2011 or AJ in prior years when he was thinking too much about his future with the Sox.

Axelrod throws harder than Stewart. Maybe he should just bring it down to the mid 80's and he'll be below the normal fastball hitting speed but a tick higher than BP. Gameday had that as an 84 MPH two-seam fastball. Is that even possible in the big leagues? Guess so. Maybe KW should go with all "command and control" pitchers who throw in the high 80's now.

Delayed steal? How does Cabrera steal 3rd there? What the heck is going on? Stewart just assumed he's not going anywhere?

Maybe it's not QUITE as dramatic as last season because of the different expectations, but a 6-14 run and 6-12 at home is at least putting the organizational thoughts back in the direction of tearing the current team apart with the possible exception of Konerko. Dunn and Ramirez (when his offensive game recovers in the summer) should be marketed as well. Why not? Without Peavy, there's so a low magnitude of probability they can be competitive in 2013 and 2014. That's making HUGE assumptions that Danks and Humber don't implode and Sale's elbow stays intact.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 14, 2012 -> 08:01 PM) How do you explain the loss in velocity? I don't think he's injured, just pressing. http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playe...&position=P He's down by 1.5 - 2.0 MPH on all of his pitches across the board. I'm going to venture to make an obvious statement that the Tigers are about to go on a run and take off with the division from this point forward...Smyly can't possibly continue to pitch this well, but he's 100X better than Brad Penny as a fifth starter. He's the best pitcher ERA-wise in the AL and he's behind Verlander, Porcello, Scherzer and Fister.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 14, 2012 -> 07:57 PM) I was thinking that the same Sox scout who said De Aza could play CF better than Rios is same person who must have advocated that Teahen could play 3b. We know Buddy Bell is the one who pushed for the Teahen acquisition because they spent so much time together in KC. As far as DeAza goes, not sure...think they were primarily looking for a leadoff type hitter to stow in the minors for depth and thought at the time that Rios was going to be the long-term solution there for years to come.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 14, 2012 -> 07:57 PM) I was thinking that the same Sox scout who said De Aza could play CF better than Rios is same person who must have advocated that Teahen could play 3b. We know Buddy Bell is the one who pushed for the Teahen acquisition because they spent so much time together in KC. As far as DeAza goes, not sure...think they were primarily looking for a leadoff type hitter to stow in the minors for depth and thought at the time that Rios was going to be the long-term solution there for years to come.

There's got to be something physically wrong with Danks. This season is going to be a long one, revolving door from AA/AAA to Chicago all season long for pitching tryouts.

Guess Danks' last start was an anomaly and this is how he will look against talented offensive teams... Sigh. ERA at 6.36. Cue Marty34 diatribe against KW and Danks' long-term contract extension. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... What did DeAza do in CF this time?

QUOTE (oldsox @ May 14, 2012 -> 08:19 AM) I could not agree more. He's over .350 now; he has hit every year. He's probably a better hitter than any other 'prospect' in AA or AAA. Include Fukodome/Lillibridge in that collection. As soon as he puts up those numbers in Birmingham, then you can start making comparisons. But to say a "prospect" Shoemaker's age at his level in the minors is going to be putting up 800+ OPS numbers in the majors as some point? Hmmm....

Quentin never really returned to the same player he was in 2008 before he broke that hamate bone. I think Panda Sandoval is going through a similar situation right now. But Beckham didn't actually break his hand in 2010. Gordon Beckham has been diagnosed with merely a bruise despite leaving last night’s game after taking a Frank Hermann fastball off the right hand, but not before the X-ray technician initially told him it was broken. Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune described the scene: Beckham didn’t think his hand was broken, but he was caught off guard after an x-ray technician told him the results. “The guy came out of the X-ray room saying it’s broken,” Beckham said with his right hand tightly wrapped following the Sox’s wild 10-6 win at Cleveland. “And I’m thinking ‘How is that possible?’ “Then he said, ‘No, it’s not (broken).’ “Are you kidding me with that?” Beckham continued. “That’s Rookie League.” http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/08/...gordon-beckham/

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ May 14, 2012 -> 01:58 AM) 10 out of last 12, that's rolling. He also wasn't afraid to bench LoMo and play Austin Kearns and it's paying off. Not defending anyone, just saying. Then why didn't he bench Pierre or Alex Rios last year?

When reading this article, it made me think about the USCF fans in the upper deck seat not being allowed to come down to the lower levels...Gold Coast tickets area, corporate luxury suites, etc. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/opinion/...thomaslfriedman I knew that stadiums are now named for corporations, but had no idea that now “even sliding into home is a corporate-sponsored event,” writes Sandel. “New York Life Insurance Company has a deal with 10 Major League Baseball teams that triggers a promotional plug every time a player slides safely into base. When the umpire calls the runner safe at home plate, a corporate logo appears on the television screen, and the play-by-play announcer must say, ‘Safe at home. Safe and secure. New York Life.’ ” And while I knew that retired baseball players sell their autographs for $15 a pop, I had no idea that Pete Rose, who was banished from baseball for life for betting, has a Web site that, Sandel writes, “sells memorabilia related to his banishment. For $299, plus shipping and handling, you can buy a baseball autographed by Rose and inscribed with an apology: ‘I’m sorry I bet on baseball.’ For $500, Rose will send you an autographed copy of the document banishing him from the game.” Sandel is now a renowned professor at Harvard, but we first became friends when we grew up together in Minneapolis in the 1960s. Both our fathers took us to the 1965 World Series, when the Dodgers beat the Twins in seven games. In 1965, the best tickets in Metropolitan Stadium cost $3; bleachers were $1.50. Sandel’s third-deck seat to the World Series cost $8. Today, alas, not only are most stadiums named for companies, but the wealthy now sit in skyboxes — even at college games — that cost tens of thousands of dollars a season, and hoi polloi sit out in the rain. Throughout our society, we are losing the places and institutions that used to bring people together from different walks of life. Sandel calls this the “skyboxification of American life,” and it is troubling. Unless the rich and poor encounter one another in everyday life, it is hard to think of ourselves as engaged in a common project. At a time when to fix our society we need to do big, hard things together, the marketization of public life becomes one more thing pulling us apart. “The great missing debate in contemporary politics,” Sandel writes, “is about the role and reach of markets.” We should be asking where markets serve the public good, and where they don’t belong, he argues. And we should be asking how to rebuild class-mixing institutions. “Democracy does not require perfect equality,” he concludes, “but it does require that citizens share in a common life. ... For this is how we learn to negotiate and abide our differences, and how we come to care for the common good.”

QUOTE (danman31 @ May 13, 2012 -> 10:30 PM) Normally I'd agree when Will Ferrell is involved, but I laughed pretty hard a couple times at that trailer. The Other Guys really was surprisingly not so bad, some might even argue good or at a bare minimum, entertaining. Nobody can hate on "Old School," except for Greenwich Village film critics. I thought Everything Must Go was one of his better dramatic roles. By the way, has anyone seen Casa de mi Padre yet, the one where he speaks Spanglish the whole time (not to be confused with the terrible Adam Sandler movie).

While we're on the topic of serious questions, has a team ever made the MLB playoffs with a record below .500 at home? http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/theh...500_playof.html I found this article about teams whose regular season record was below .500 or right around that mark (and made the post-season) but couldn't find a list/article answer whether any team had made the playoffs without playing .500 at home? I'm guessing or assuming there hasn't been, but throughout all of baseball history, seems like it at least COULD have happened at least ONCE.

HomeLevine and CampbellStatsVoicesTicketsFan gearSportsChron .Ozzie Guillen on Wilton Lopez flap: ‘I would have chased his a– all the way to Puerto Rico’ Wilton Lopez gestures as he leaves the game in the seventh inning against the Miami Marlins. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images) http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/files...os2-462x600.jpg A combustible situation nearly spilled into something much worse, and in the end, the only thing to come from the Hanley Ramirez-Wilton Lopez dustup in the Marlins-Astros game Wednesday night was more colorful language from Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen. Lopez hit Ramirez with a pitch in the top of the seventh inning, prompting the Marlins third baseman to jaw at Lopez all the way down the first-base line. When things settled down and Lopez was pulled from the game, the Astros’ righthander turned to the Miami dugout with a gesture of two fingers over the eyes. It was a mocking of the Marlins’ “lo viste?” (“did you see that”) hand signal that they give each other after hits, much like the Astros’ spotlight gesture of a few years back. While neither Lopez nor Ramirez commented, Guillen was less than pleased. “Very mature,” Guillen said sarcastically to Marlins reporters. “That’s all I can say. Very mature. He’s lucky I wasn’t Hanley. I would have chased his (behind) all the way to Puerto Rico. But that’s part of the game. He’s a kid and it’s not a big deal.” (Puerto Rico seems to have just been a random draw from the gazetteer for the Venezuelan manager regarding the Nicaraguan pitcher and Dominican infielder.) http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2012/...to-puerto-rico/

Ozzie Guillen Cusses Out SR610′s Paul Gallant By ANNA-MEGAN RALEY, SportsRadio 610 May 8, 2012 3:05 PM Paul Gallant, sportsradio 610 Paul Gallant is one of our station’s newer editions. He’s a young, eager to learn Syracuse graduate, who doesn’t always think before he speaks but is maturing and developing into an important piece of SportsRadio 610. That being said, Paul asked Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen a very fair, very well-asked question as a follow-up to controversy that was sparked by comments about Fidel Castro last month. Listen to this audio. The question isn’t bad, but the answer is a verbal eruption against Paul. Although there are times I’ve wanted to rip Paul this way and don’t, Guillen’s comments are hardly warranted. After being asked about any backlash to last month’s controversy, Guillen explodes with some f-bombs. “F******* grow up, mother f******. Are you kidding me?” Guillen responded when asked. http://houston.cbslocal.com/2012/05/08/ozz...s-paul-gallant/ It's Ozzie's "wrestling persona" kicking back into gear again. http://houston.cbslocal.com/2012/05/09/bri...illen-was-fair/

We've had some walk-off wild pitches, balks and bases-loaded walks, though.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2012 -> 07:23 PM) How many other pitchers could come up midseason after skipping AAA entirely? If you plugged Reddick into the OF before he'd ever done a stint at AAA, what do you think he'd have done? Oh wait, I can check that...he went 20 for his first 121 when called up from his first stint in AA and AAA, then wound up repeating AAA a couple times. Which supports the idea you have to be patient with your players... And if you look at the Red Sox outfield right now, they probably need Reddick back more than we need him. That said, Boston's even moreso in a position than the White Sox where they have to "win right away" with young players and can't afford to be very forgiving for dragging down the line-up when their starting pitching's so vulnerable. The main point is we should have been stockpiling young position players and depth, too. As important as young starting pitchers are, we've seen for the last 3-4 seasons what happens when your offense is short at least 1-2 hitters. And, having Reddick would have given them the luxury to trade Dunn, because even if he hits his statistical averages from here on out, we can never recover during his contract from the damage that 2011 imposed on the payroll and fanbase unless things dramatically change in the next 12-18 months. And it doesn't seem like that change will come from the minor leagues, either.

We might as well have Crede and Rowand starting tomorrow. At least the fans might take notice for a couple of weeks. Better than Manny Ramirez soaking up $4+ million for 6 weeks of Viciedo's numbers this season. http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance Yay, we snuck past the A's for 28th in MLB attendance this weekend. Seattle and Tampa Bay are in direct sight, and KC within hailing distance.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2012 -> 06:12 PM) You wanted Teahen's contract this badly? All I'm saying is that Stewart had something like a 7.88 ERA against all MLB teams not named the Twins at the conclusion of 2011. Why would you trust the same guy who recommended both Stewart and Frasor (and Frasor pitched about as "averagely" as possible, about like David Riske when we had him)...wouldn't you get a second opinion? If we plugged in Reddick into our outfield (dealing Santos to the Red Sox instead) and had the luxury of sending Viciedo down right now, we'd be in first place and have the depth to move Dunn eventually and maybe even get something decent in return. I'll agree with Marty on one point. How likely is it that we compete in 2013 or 2014 when you're going to be in process of "on the job training" for 2-3 starters at the same time, and nobody knows for sure how long Sale's elbow will hold out?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 13, 2012 -> 03:39 PM) After today, he'd fit right in. I'm sure the guy KW hired from Toronto was responsible for this acquisition. They tried to spin it, but KW didn't know he wasn't playing winter ball. He's certainly not looking like the future ace they wanted Sox fans to believe they were acquiring. I'm just curious why he would trust Paddy with such a huge acquisition? After all, the evidence from the Frasor/Stewart deal was far from being in favor of the Sox. I wouldn't be surprised if Jaye or Webb ended up being better than Molina, the way things are going. No matter how good your control is, your stuff still dictates at least 50% of your success at the major league level. Maybe Molina can be better than Axelrod, but he's looking more like back end filler than a frontline starter.