caulfield12

From everything I read, I always had the idea Jocketty had concerns about giving up a young pitcher with that kind of talent...and there were mysterious rumors about an injury or loss in velocity floating around too, but he was around St. Louis enough to know the value of both Dave Duncan and quality young starting pitchers. My recollection is that Jocketty wanted more than just Dye (maybe a financial subsidy), but maybe I'm completely wrong. I do remember that was the one that the local writer (I think Hal McCoy) actually broke the story that it was a done deal and then it was mysteriously retracted...maybe when the backlash against the deal mounted in the Reds' scouting department?

Well, you can also argue we didn't get shut out by the Rays, haha....we won one game and were leading in at least two of the others without Quentin and Crede, right? I do think things would look a little more bleak if you flipped Rick Hahn's son upside down and we lost Game 163 up at the Dome. Then we have only 2000 and 2005 to throw up against 2002-2004, 2006, 2008 and 2009. 6 to 2 versus 5 to 3 is a HUGE difference psychologically...that we finally proved at least ONE time that we could beat Minnesota in a post-season game was worth waiting through 6-7 years of Piranha-derived frustration. Still, six out of 9 titles would be quite an achievement, definitely. Especially since the White Sox and Tigers have outspent the Twins for much of that period In some ways, 2008 was almost more fun down the stretch than 2005, because of the stress of almost blowing the lead...such a high, the improbable way we won 3 games in a row, even with the fact we pretty much knew we would be sunk playing on artificial turf against Longoria and company. That was just the Rays' year, pure and simple. The almost completely unexpected seasons from Quentin, Ramirez, Danks (well, he was a stud when we got him, but didn't pitch so well in 2007) and Floyd beocoming "men" and not just boys...I'll never forget that either. Or Vazquez/Cabrera/Swisher, on the downside of the ledger. http://bmoorespecific.blogspot.com/2009/06...ark-wilson.html I'm not sure if this is a direct link that's down/broken or it's being blocked by the "GREAT FIREWALL" here in China, but it looks worthwhile.

If Gonzalez would extend past the end of 2011, but what are the odds of that? 5-10%, at best...plus I'm not sure that he would even want to get involved in the revolving Ozzie Guillen Soap Opera Clubhouse, either. It's certainly not for every type of player and invidual mentality (see Swisher/Cabrera).

No, Baltimore or TOR wouldn't have a chance in our division either. If Baltimore's young talented pitching develops, sure, maybe...but the everyday line-ups with the Twins or even Tigers and Orioles are not exactly comparable.

Why would we want Berkman if we're in 3rd-5th place?

Beckham and Nix makes the most sense of our internal options...they already tried Teahen (Royals) at 2B and it didn't take at all. Heck, with as bad as things have gotten, I'd almost gamble on Beckham at SS and Sergio Santos at 2B. Lillibridge always has a chance to get another go-around this year, but I hope they'd have the sense to look at Nix first, if Ramirez really tanked to the point where they had to do something. But I see him as having a "middling," 725 OPS season that doesn't end up getting him benched.

wcsox has been suggesting $20 million/3 years for Konerko. I think that's fair, it doesn't insult it him, it keeps the 2nd most popular Sox player (#1 to 1/3rd) in the fold. However, I do think two years with option/s for the 3rd would be the route I would take at his age, and with the uncertain economic future of the franchise. The long-term deal has turned out to be something of a financial straightjacket for the team, along with Contreras as well. If the minor league guys had to bet, I don't think they'd see Viciedo as being ready in 2011 (yes, the jury's far from out, but premature evaluation is murky at best), and Flowers would have to be converted mid-year or in the AFL to 1B.

Any of those are possible, I would put the most money on Beckham despite the sophomore slump possibilities. He already had that the last 4-6 weeks of 2009, IMO. The least likely to happen would be a major transaction ACQUIRING ADDITIONAL SALARY. There's a 50/50 chance of a big deal going down though...but it will be revenue neutral, not like the Rios and Peavy deals. Garcia pitching after May doesn't make sense if the Sox are eliminated. You bring up Hudson unless you're going to trade him, which would be absolutely insane at this point.

That $10 million to Viciedo looks more and more interesting in light of those numbers comparing the Twins' and White Sox signing bonus allocations. Curious, indeed. Perhaps they overreached with all the success they had with Ramirez when they should have been targeting Chapman instead. If you subtracted Teahen, PK, Jenks, Konerko, Pierre and Linebrink (some combination thereof), you could easily afford Chapman. It's worth the risk for an electric arm like that in Cooper's hands. A Ramirez deal makes the most sense if we want to get some actual talent back in return, because that contract status is going to be very very enticing to another organization...plus they'd (acquiring team) would control his rights for an additional 3 years, correct? (I think we both agree, but since we watch Ramirez or track him every day...you'd think the flaws in his game would be well-known, but a NL team might bite, definitely.) But we're not close to having a SS ready to contribute...Escobar is 2-3 years away. Might have to be a SS for SS type of deal...or targeting a player similar to Hardy/Renteria. But I'd really take Uribe back, live with the offensive shortcomings, and try to fix the other problems that are easier to address like DH.

I was hoping for a kidnapping...not that he's harmed, but returned safely after one week. In that week, Cora looks so incompetent (think certain VP candidates) that it becomes obvious to everyone from JR on down that he should never be named manager of the Sox. Former Sox like Ventura, McDowell and Fisk get back involved with the organization, seeing how bads thing have actually gotten. I wouldn't mind Don Cooper, and he's enough of an outsider/independent guy that we'd get something totally different. Like when Larry Dierker went from the broadcast booth to managing Houston. Or Stone/Jackson/Farmer....just try something different and hope for the best (it's the same way I think of my University of Iowa BB program getting rid of Lickliter).

QUOTE (stretchstretch @ Apr 18, 2010 -> 04:48 PM) this is an organization hell bent on getting a bargain: buying "use to be" players at low prices (vizquel, jones), injured players with potential at low prices (quentin), attitude players with talent at low prices (rios)......and yes, hope to catch lightening in a bottle Peavy was the first prime of his career player we just laid out the cash for in as long as I can remember. So here we sit with a top 7 payroll team that can't buy a win, or runs to be specific. the combined salaries of PK, Jenks, Putz, Pierre is 32M, just think what other teams could do with that money!! the fact that Pierre and Mauer make the same money and Konerko makes more than Morneau is downright comedy!! Putz will be the best off-season move KW made. If you want to complain about salaries, add Teahen and Linebrink to your list, not to mention Rios and Peavy. That's the heart of the problem. Even AJ is vastly overpaid for the kind of production he's delivering.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 18, 2010 -> 05:35 PM) Obviously there's still plenty of time left in the season and really no time to panic but if we use the formula of 2005 which seems to be popular the White Sox were 52-22 vs. the AL Central that year. Right now they are 2-7. I don't think they are going to have to win 99 games to win the division again, but you never know. I was reading that single game ticket sales were lower than Brooks had thought they would be before the season started, and this streak has got to kill them there. They need to start winning very soon. With the schedule they have played, at worst they should be 2 or 3 games better than they have been. Well, you do have to feel good for some markets that really looked dead 10 years ago, like Milwaukee, Minnesota and even Detroit, although what happened there financially is now close to a catastrophe. Atlanta has really bounced back after being down/flat for years. Oakland, despite their hot start, seems to be doomed to fail in that mausoleum of a stadium. Cincy is doing "okay" with their new stadium for now and were able to sign Chapman surprisingly. But Cleveland, Pittsburgh, KC, Toronto, Baltimore, San Diego, Florida, Arizona, Washington (yes, I know they have a new stadium, but they drew more Phillies fans...hope Strasburg turnss out okay, those deals always seem like they fail with pitchers), Tampa, Oakland and Houston all appear to be in various degrees of trouble. Not like the NBA, but the economic recession/downturn is clearly having an effect on the bottom tier organizations and cities. Hopefully we don't have to add Chicago White Sox to this list, but the fear is always there deep down that we return to late 80's world.

QUOTE (TitoMB @ Apr 18, 2010 -> 04:35 PM) He will definitely be in this lineup again. Probably closer to 100 more times too. Get used to it. Our lineup is stacked with s***ty players who are going to play this year, and next year, whether we as fans like it or not. Only way things might change is if we stop going to games and Kenny has to make some moves to save money. Who could we actually trade to save money and get something in return? Thornton? Look at all the contracts right now we couldn't give away (like Rios) without subsidizing with cash.... Rios Jenks (50/50, maybe an NL team would take him for half a season and give us a B prospect) Linebrink Konerko Kotsay Vizquel Castro Peavy (depends on how we structured it) Teahen AJ Pierre Nix Williams Lucy Garcia (neither category, but, right now, I'm thinking we wouldn't get anything offered in return) So basically, we really would have to trade Buehrle, Danks, Floyd, Putz, Santos, Pena, Andruw Jones, Ramirez, Beckham or Quentin to do anything but save just a little bit of money which may or may not be invested into the minor leagues/development instead of covering a financial spreadsheet loss.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Apr 18, 2010 -> 03:17 PM) Because of us, yeah. Chris Perez has all four season saves against the Sox this year. Ex-Sox Rupe strikes out Jim Thome with the bases loaded to keep the Twins 2 runs down going into the 8th. Temporarily 5 1/2 GB. FUN FACT: We still haven't won a game on a Tuesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday yet this season. OTOH, we're an amazing 4-2 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Sundays.

Because it's symptomatic of the fact that Alexei still is having major issues playing SS, the most important position on the field to have stability and strong leadership. It's no surprise this team played a lot better with Crede and Uribe on the left side of the diamond.

Welcome to the 2010 season Alexei! Although that defensive error would have been unforgivable in a close game.

Can we trade Putz to the Twins and get back Revere or Hicks? LOL.

Why didn't we PH Andruw Jones for Vizquel there? Oh, I forgot, we'd lose the favorable LHB/RHP match-up and actually have to play Nix.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 18, 2010 -> 02:46 PM) I think we miss King Felix at least. He pitched last night, right? Thank god for small favors. Maybe we can get BA back and activate him for that game in Pierre's place. Nice to miss Lee and Felix.

I don't think comparing our team to last year's Yankees or the 2006 Cardinals is going to hold much water with fans this season. TB about to sweep through Boston on the road...great!!!...two hottest teams in the AL on their way to USCF.

Jesus...we really can't catch a break. Two balls that were scorched with nothing to show for it.

What are the odds the Royals can hold onto the same 7-3 lead over the Twins in the 4th? 60/40 in their favor? Balta, I think we'll have a lot better idea about contending after we see which team shows up agains the Rays and Mariners at home. Wow...bad luck and great play by Peralta, unusual for him.

Haeger's on the Dodgers now, as well.... Choo had reached base in 17/24 PA before that "hard" out on a nice play by Becks. 10 hits and 7 walks. Wow.

Royals explode for 6 runs against the Twins, threaten to win one game. The big question now is whether the middle relief can get the game to Soria or not.

Well, it was due to happen....first base hit allowed. What was Redmond thinking? Out by the same distance as Hardy... By the way, the Indians' announcers were recalling how Santos was legendary for his BP tape measure home runs and hit 20 in one season...interesting, he's a big dude, so not surprising. How much did we pay for him last APRIL when we made that deal with SF?