caulfield12

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.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 13, 2012 -> 04:30 PM) His saber stats so far this year are above average. And that means what? Just like Rios in 2011, DeAza has been pretty bad overall in CF defensively. He has better range and closing/make-up speed than Rios, but he's been far from an average MLB CFer to the "eye test."

Or they're making Molina another bullpen arm, lol.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 13, 2012 -> 04:23 PM) De Aza has been much better defensively as of late. He's misplayed at least two more in the last 5-7 days that I can remember.

Addison Reed's ERA is now 5.23 and will take another two months of scoreless innings to return to Sergio Santos numbers from 2011, lol. Not sure why Ventura left him in so long there to give up 6 runs.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2012 -> 04:20 PM) AJ right now is right where he should be, mid - .700's OPS, which is what you expect from him over a full season. De Aza is not putting up .825-.900 OPS numbers, he's putting up an .800 OPS, which is exactly what I was predicting/hoping he'd do coming in to this season. The only 2 guys who really are "overperforming" in this lineup are Dunn and Konerko, and both of them only slightly. Okay, a day or two ago, DeAza was at 830. The problem is DeAza's cost us quite a few bases and runs defensively as well, nullifying some of his offensive production. The one glaring difference though, is subbing out Quentin's numbers for Viciedo's, and how bad Morel has been. The improvement from Dunn and Rios has pretty much been nullified by the two Cubans sucking and Morel. Because Beckham's sadly enough still hitting for a better OPS than he did last year.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 13, 2012 -> 03:15 PM) They were 8th in average, 7th in OPS and 11 th in the AL in runs last year. Looks like they are about where they should be. Not with Dunn, Rios and Beckham having 3 of the most god-awful (historical and based on career results coming in) seasons for their positions offensively, and Morel not far behind for 3B except for the final 6 weeks when the Sox were already well out of the playoff hunt.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2012 -> 03:11 PM) Dunn, Konerko, and AJ are sitting there with OPS's very close to their career numbers. Rios is sitting at .733 which is respectable but ideally .800-ish is good for him. Then, we have 4 guys in our lineup at about .600 or below. And our bench has effectively given us nothing. So, again, we've got a couple guys performing slightly above their career trend, then 1/2 our lineup performing poorly enough that you'd expect them to have to improve just by regression. So it's very true...whatever inexcusable stat you want to point to, it's truly inexcusable...but yet, we're still sitting just slightly below average in the AL in offense. Except AJ's regressing to his mean, and can we really expect DeAza to consistently put up 825-900 OPS numbers? It all depends on Beckham, Viciedo and Ramirez, because Morel's back issues are probably going to keep him from developing any degree of consistency offensively...assuming he stays on the major league roster.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 13, 2012 -> 02:59 PM) Why didn't they trade Addison Reed when they had the chance? Thanks for jinxing Reed there, lol.

So much for trading AJ and Thornton when they were "hot." Guess we can wait another two more months of Malaise Ball before the trades start coming. It's mostly frustrating because the Indians and Tigers are both playing badly enough that they're trying to keep us in the race and force KW to stand pat for the fourth season in a row.

By the way, we haven't won a single series since the Seattle one April 21st and 22nd. That was 3 weeks ago. 6-13 since then, if we lose today. Great pick-up KW. Fukudome should be playing everyday in front of his appreciative fans. Apparently we need to change the majority of our line-up and bench to get more consistent clutch hitting...because changing managers and hitting coaches hasn't had much of an effect.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 13, 2012 -> 02:37 PM) Sure is...I don't know what their problem is at home...it's disgusting Calling the White Sox "disgusting" isn't an overreaction? LOL. What did you expect coming into this season? To be in first place?

It might help if Jones hadn't pitched 2+ innings yesterday... Francouer's first HR this season. Giavatello's first hit of the season.

Yes, that's it. If we had better attendance and fewer boos, Matt Thornton would pitch better at home. It's all because of the lack of fan support at home that's causing us to be 5-10 at home or whatever our record is.

Okay, fine. I just wake up to listen to the freakin' game and two minutes after I turn it on, Matt Thornton does that? Great, he's the best left-handed set-up guy in the history of the game. Every hitter who has touched him up this season and last was just extremely lucky. He could probably get us back 2 Top 100 prospects, and that would be a steal for another team just to get away with that, possibly they'd need to trade another bench guy to replace Escobar to go with the prospects. Matt Thornton's velocity isn't down. He actually should be the closer over Addison Reed, because all of his blown saves are just bad luck these last two seasons. The more I think about it, the less the luxury tax matters for the Red Sox because they're right back in the AL East race...

QUOTE (Soxfest @ May 13, 2012 -> 03:12 PM) I hope MT is shipped of soon he is not getting the job done anymore. Who would pay $12 million (and has the room on their payroll) for a mid 30's relief pitcher who's clearly a one trick pony? At best, you can just dump most of his salary, but getting anything decent back in terms of a prospect? Forget it. Giavatello was something like 8/19 against us last year and he's continuing that trend this season.

So much for trading Matt Thornton this year. He deserves those boos after how he's pitched recently.

Glad Marty was around in 2005 and 2008 proclaiming KW had to win that year or he should be fired. Wait, I've just turned around and given M more ammunition, KW's only won twice in more than a decade with the second most resources in the division (behind the Tigers). Obviously the fans are not "All In" this season, therefore it has to be a rebuilding year because they're certainly not attending games as if they have much in the way of expectations of us competing. Funny how they seem to be voting against your claim with their pocketbooks.

I'm going to go to church for once. (Greg's "human baby pills" comments inspired me to be a better Christian, lol) Maybe that will help the Sox. If I had a lucky Dr. Pepper to drink to rally the Sox, I would drink that, but alas, not available here. Hardest thing about living outside the US!!

At least we don't face Cy Chen this series. Then again, worrying about Phil Humber's outing tmrw, could be the biggest current issue for this team, along with getting the bottom of the order hitting.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ May 12, 2012 -> 07:28 PM) Sale to go 5 is a bonus thought he would be gone by the 3rd. Thought he would be gone in the 1st in that Quintero at-bat. He walks him or that ball goes for a double or homer and this game has a totally different feeling for Chris. This will be the first non-quality start of the season, because there's no way Ventura will let him pitch another inning at 103 already.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 12, 2012 -> 07:25 PM) Ok Robin, get him out...over 100 pitches is just not necessary tonight. Plus, you want him to leave with only good thoughts at the end of his outing. Unlike the ending to the recent Danks start. 103 pitches, will turn it over to Stewart probably...although I'd rather see Jones get a couple of innings right now.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 12, 2012 -> 07:24 PM) I disagree..this team has been in nearly every game they've played this year. We've already lost 11 games by one or two runs. You're right, very very few of our games this season have been blowouts, and more blowouts by the White Sox than the other way around.