caulfield12

Danks now over 100. I think this will be a game where there will be some recognition that Ozzie trusts his starters and USUALLY has a pretty good feel for them. Although that certainly backfired with PEAVY last time out.

Beckham putting up a similar line to Chris Getz last year. Ouch. Pierre with 455 OPS. Double ouch.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Apr 20, 2010 -> 09:01 PM) He is on his way to having an atrocious FPT. It nust be hovering around .900 with 3 errors so far. He is killing us at 3rd. Teahen made another error? I was just hearing how great he's been playing in another thread, except for the CLE 2 run error. Well, at least hit in on the ground AND sharply. That's some sort of progress, I guess.

Danks is the man!!! Give him anything he wants KW, we need to push him into that first year of FA with a new 3 year contract extension.

Andruw Jones, for the moment, looks like the most valuable trade piece on our team if it comes to that. Might turn out to be one of KW's Top 10 moves if this keeps up. But he started well in TEX last year as well and then really fell off, so I guess it's best to remain healthily skeptical.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 20, 2010 -> 08:50 PM) ME AND MR JONES Do they play that Counting Crows song for Andruw when he bats?

Cue Balfour/O-Cab dust kicking incident video.

BOS in serious jeopardy of going 4-10...crazy. Minnesota predictably beating CLE at home and the Royals blow another lead at TOR. We'll be tied with KC at 5-9 if we can hold off the Rays tonight.

Great job, Danksie. So much stress on the starters and bullpen, let's hope that we can hold them off, because the offense is what it is right now. I'll never forget that grand slam Zobrist hit, it was off Thornton, wasn't it???

QUOTE (SouthsideDon48 @ Apr 20, 2010 -> 06:50 PM) sheesh, that sucks! I hate how they decided to put the Blackhawks on the regular CSN channel, because I don't even care about the Blackhawks or hockey. Wonder if they would have done the same thing in April. 2006? Had there been a conflict with hockey and the Sox? Hypothetically speaking...

Probably my favorite memory, besides going to Hooter's every night with the coaching staff and having an unlimited free supply of ballpark food...was going on the road in 1995 to beat Jaret Wright in Colombus in a one game, sudden death playoff. That guy was an absolute monster back then...just scary good. We somehow beat him 1-0. That's when Cleveland was producing all those young quality hitters like Sexson, Casey, Giles, etc.

YEP. Hopefully standard means Kotsay now has a "standard/regular" place wearing out the bench except when he's needed to PH or play D for Paulie in the late innings.

And the Yankees/Mets/Sawx would invoke their "territoriality" priviledges and scream until they were blue in the face. Look at how long and hard Angelos fought over Washington getting a team that close to BALT. Just wait and see what happens if San Antonio ever tried, the Houston/Texas franchises would go absolutely nuts blocking it.

I wasn't worried about Reed at all. I was more concerned about Olivo getting his offensive act together and becoming a dominant catcher, but his game-calling and strategic side never evolved defensively. He was like a two-trick pony, that arm and pop/speed from the offensive side. And I liked the versatility of Morse, Seattle really tried to find a home for him at different positions, but he was a "tweener" everywhere you put him on the diamond, like a 6'3" small forward in the NBA. I don't know the actual number, but Abbott hit around .400 for most of the year with Hickory in 1993/1994, one of those years. It was unbelieveable. He overshadowed Ordonez at that point....in fact, it was 94 I'm pretty sure, because I was working in Augusta. JD came in one night and used my phone, he was playing for Macon. Andruw Jones the next year, I saw him maybe 20 times when he was already a legend at 17-18 or whatever his age was back then. Also, Vladimir Guerrero and Ruben Rivera were the Gods then. Missed Jeter's massive error display at Greensboro by one year. Jose Guillen was the best player on our team...since I spoke Spanish, and he didn't, I always had to help him out. He'd actually stabbed one of his teammates in Bradenton, the Pirates were scared to death of his personality even then but also scared to death not to promote him to A ball and see what type of a diamond in the rough they had. That guy had a monster arm, 2nd to VLAD and ahead of Dye back then. Could do everything but run, just amazingly talented. And he's really a small/short guy if you see him in person. I remember him going into McDonald's all the time trying to struggle to order a hamburger, that always cracked me up big-time.

Would the Twins be a small or mid-market team, then? Would there be 3 tiers..? Big market, small and middle? Teams like SD and Arizona...are the Padres small and Arizona medium? Is Arizona small market because they almost went bankrupt and were driven into debt by overspending, or SD because Moores is having personal problems (see LA)? Having only both LA teams and SF on the West Coast, who else would comprise that division? Seattle would complain if you put them against the BIG 3. Then Oakland, Rockies, D-Backs and Padres would be together? Still, the numbers are challenging...one team gets screwed (like the Braves in NL West) and has to travel more than the others. Should the McCourts' divorce make the Dodgers a middle market teams? How do we classify Seattle? Do we put them in the same category as the Rockies or "big market," even though Seattle is a secondary market compared to the top ones in baseball, it's just that they seemed to operate like a bit market team for half the decade with the new stadium and booming attendance. Should Milwaukee (small market), Minnesota, Tigers, White Sox and the Rangers/Astros be lumped in together? Then you have the Royals, Pirates, Reds, it becomes a huge mess because the Cubs would have to travel all over the US, along with the Cardinals (small market seeming like a bigger market in revenue production).

I mean in terms of getting the most out of his baseball ability...it was never, ever going to translate at the major league level. He never had the power for 1B or a corner spot, or the athleticism for CF. It's a little bit like the Sweeney situation, but he was a "raw" high school athlete from Iowa with that beautiful, "projectable" swing from the LH side, natural/fluid fielding mechanics, the idea he would naturally evolve into a 18-24 homer guy with less average than Olerud (another great college player). I'll name another for you. Jeffrey Abbott...he put up amazing numbers at UK and also in the low minors, only to disappear very quickly from the face of the Earth...the unforgettable Ramirez of FLA, the "anti-Abbott" was acquired by KW, who always goes after that and guys like D'Angelo Jimenez. But those guys taught (or should have) that character counts as much as ability. Everyone in the clubhouse hated Jimenez and Thomas almost killed him before he had to be restrained by teammates.

QUOTE (Mauer_MVP @ Apr 20, 2010 -> 04:38 PM) Great start to the season!! Go Rays!! Yes, and check back with us when you've beaten a team other than the A's in the playoffs. Yeah, yeah, yeah...1987/1991, we get it, but you wouldn't have won those without the random luck of playing in the WS in odd numbered years, entitling you guys to the biggest homefield advantage in baseball. But that luck can go both ways, haha, see Game 163 in 2008. KG JR, THOME AND DANKS. Scoreboard.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Apr 20, 2010 -> 03:25 PM) Never can have too many Darrin Erstads, David Ecksteins, and Aaron Rowands. Jeremy Reed is a perfect example. Reaches potential/limits in college with an aluminum bat. So much of drafting is "projectability." His upside was limited very much from the beginning, yet he was the College Player of the Year, correct? Beckham also was...but there's a big difference between the two, it's not just power and playing a middle infield position.

But, Devil's Advocate, Dye had to play in that cavernous Oakland Coliseum with so much foul ground. What's the park adjustment factor downward for offensive stats there? Dye put up good numbers with the Braves his rookie year and also with the Royals when he was healthy. Just the fact that he was coming of a huge injury and was a "project" at the time we took him doesn't mean he was a bad hitter. Heck, you take any guy who's a better hitter than a defender in the 2nd half of his career, USCF can really make him look good. He led baseball in homers from his position, but he also gave up untold runs with his lack of range and lazy throwing mechanics and "plus arm" that was merely average while we had him. Let's not forget, the best deal he can get now is for $3 million USD. There's a reason for that much bigger than just the second half of one season. Look at the back of his baseball card, Ozzie would say. Well, there's a lot more to it than just hitting homers. Ask the Mariners' GM.

I think the only way to "sell" trading Buehrle would be the Cardinals angle...that it was his lifelong dream to go there, proximity to his family, etc. It would really suck, though. He's one of those guys you'd love to see play his entire career with one team...and he might just walk away. Let's say we weren't in it next year, there'd be a tremendous amount of pressure on KW to deal him to a contending team for 2-4 months...any of the Top 10-12 teams in baseball would absolutely love to have a WS-experienced veteran like that in a stretch drive. As I said, I don't foresee it happening, but then it really seemed possible that many of the veterans would be gone in 2007 and he held onto all the pieces, which worked out brilliantly in 2008.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Apr 20, 2010 -> 01:12 PM) Tim Dierkes from MLBTR speculating on what could happen if the Sox were to be really out of it this summer and hold a firesale: Link: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/04/if-t...me-sellers.html I don't see any of this happening and I think MLBTR is an ok site with rumors but flame away!!! The names you don't see popping up yet but would be interesting: Buehrle, Peavy, Rios, and, to a much lesser extent advisable...Danks

Then you go back earlier, when we had a mini-sale: Ray Durham for Jon Adkins fiasco...one of his five worst moves of all-time James Baldwin for not a whole lot in return Kenny Lofton for Felix Diaz, of the reported mid 90's heat that turned out to be 89-91, just like Adkins, another "fireballer" Howry for Frank Francisco and that Korean dude, you have to give him credit for unearthing that gem, although we quickly repackaged him for Everett By the way, that other Korean or Taiwanese pitcher we signed about 4-5 years ago, that was pretty much a disaster, wasn't it? July 25, 2002: Ray Durham was traded by the Chicago White Sox with cash to the Oakland Athletics for Jon Adkins.[4] July 28, 2002: Kenny Lofton was traded by the Chicago White Sox to the San Francisco Giants for Felix Diaz and Ryan Meaux (minors). July 29, 2002: Sandy Alomar, Jr. was traded by the Chicago White Sox to the Colorado Rockies for the unforgettable vowel-laden Enemencio Pacheco (minors).[5]

We ran statistical calculations until we were blue in the face...projecting this offense. I don't think anyone is really surprised. It's the off performance by Peavy that has everyone the most concerned, although he did bounce back his last start.

''It's OK, even in a 12-game span or one game, it's perfectly OK to be disappointed and upset,'' Paul Konerko said of the building doom and gloom around the team, ''but as long as you come back the next day and can cut that baggage away, that you can still have that belief that what you're doing as an individual or as a team, you're doing it the right way and that will win out, you have to trust that. ''You can't say, 'Well, we're doing everything right, what if we just never get it going?' You can't think about what ifs like that. Guys fight that. You fight it on a personal level because we've had a few good offensive games, we've had games where we didn't score runs but everybody did the little things right. There have been games where the ball just happened to be hit in the wrong place, there was this crack and we didn't take advantage, and it's then easy to say, 'OK, we're not doing this right, we have to change something.' You don't trust what you're doing then, you stray from it. Especially early, it's easy to stray from yourself or the team, from the concept that you laid out in the offseason and spring training. You can't do that. ''You make minor adjustments as you go, but that doesn't mean that if it doesn't go well you shouldn't be pissed off. You just need to come back the next day with the same beliefs. So far, everyone has done that.'' suntimes.com He's a 1B, after all....I think you have to give those contract numbers to a "premium" position like SS, CF and C or perhaps the right pitcher. Paulie being a leader. It's why we will really really miss AJ, Paulie and Buehrle someday in the not-too-distant future. Hopefully Peavy and Beckham can start picking up some of the slack there, and Teahen/Pierre.

That's why I was being sarcastic. I guess I need to use green. Although you can argue that Wise, Lillibridge, Anderson, Fields, Corky Miller, Torres, Colon, R. Williams, Owens ARE NOT MUCH BETTER than Josh Kroeger in the overall scheme of things, yes? You just answered your own question. He saw how well that worked last year and at least TRIED to adjust philosophically this year.