caulfield12

Beckham doesn't have the speed to hit .350, but i can see .320 or .330 out of him, possibly. The Twins are indeed very dangerous with Liriano (if he's indeed back and psychologically past the injury 100%), but they're still nothing approaching the Twins with Santana/Liriano/Radke at the top of the rotation, it's just that their everyday line-up is so much better than in the past. As far as the Tigers go, they really should be 4-4, if not for very inept Indians and Royals bullpen outings. It's pretty unusual to come back from 7-1 and 5-0 down after the 7th within the span of a week in the majors, let alone a month. That will even out when they play some better teams.

I'm not the one who wrote the article...it was also a story in the Sun-Times. Of course, any manager worth anything is going to have confidence in his abilities...whether it's silly or not, I'll let someone else be the judge. I'm sure Jerry Manuel, who everyone was ready to run out of town, had the same quotes back in 2003. But I'm also pretty sure the sports editors didn't think that was an interesting enough story to merit column inches. Well, maybe Bevington never proclaimed he was sure to get another job somewhere. I would be curious which posters here would go out and be willing to say they'd hire Guillen NOW over all the available options if they were running a franchise...I don't think Ozzie's a great fit for many other organizations, there are a few, though. But I definitely wouldn't prefer Cora over Guillen...nor would I want Cora to manage the Sox. I can honestly say I'd rather have either Walker or Cooper as manager over Cora, and probably neither of those guys would be interested, well...maybe Walker, but he wouldn't take it under the condition that he would be replacing Ozzie, no way.

Well, of course, 2 games doesn't make a career...obviously. However, seems kind of silly to pick on the new manager in your division, simply because he had the bad luck of trying to manage the Nationals. I mean, Ozzie more than anybody is the first to acknowledge that great players make great managers and bad managers usually are the result of a lack of talent. Just because somebody's had a job before and they failed once isn't really indicative of anything. Look at how bad Bill Belichick was when he had his first job with the Browns. Joe Torre was never considered a good manager before the Yankees, same with Francona and the Red Sox. I don't even think Ron Gardenhire is capable of getting his teams to play 10 games above their talent level...in fact, by pythagorean analysis (very simple, but it does say something) Ozzie has always been better or at least the equal of Gardy. I also don't think you can judge Acta very well when he has one of the most worse offenses in baseball and clearly one of the 2-3 worst bullpens overall in baseball.

TORONTO — Ozzie Guillen's contract expires after next season and White Sox- Twitter controversy involving his son this spring didn't bolster relations with general manager Ken Williams. Regardless, Guillen believes he would get another shot to manage if the Sox were to fire him. "There are a lot of horse(bleep) managers out there that were given two and three shots to manage in the big leagues," Guillen said. "I don't see why not me.'' Guillen reluctantly mentioned Manny Acta, who was fired after 2 1/2 losing seasons with the Nationals but had two offers to manage teams last winter before selecting the Indians. "Why can't I get another chance with another team?" Guillen said. "Am I going to keep on doing it? Well, I have to see what is going on." Guillen said he could perform any duty in baseball except GM. He added that his television duties at the 2009 World Series enhanced his opportunities. "If I get fired, I will tell (Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf) to fire Steve Stone, Farmio (Ed Farmer) or D.J. (Darrin Jackson)," Guillen said. "I want that job." mark gonzales/trib What I find annoying is that we're about to play the Indians on the road this weekend...the Indians have been playing like absolute horse manure since they left our park and here we are giving them bulletin board material by picking on their manager who pretty much out-managed Ozzie in Games 2/3 of the season.

It's also pretty amazing that Marte, who was on the verge of being waived by the Pirates supposedly...became one of the 2-3 best lefties in baseball (along the lines of Thornton today, not quite THAT good, though) from 2002-2004. Of course, Guerrier went on to have a very good career, too. Is Gary Majewski still in baseball? Royce Ring? Broadway? I remember way back when we traded Joe Valentine and some were convinced he was on track to become a lock-down closer. Josh Fogg started out as a college reliever/closer at UF. Chad Bradford was VERY good for a long time...not sure where he is these days.

Damaso Marte has had his moments...I would probably pick him over Williams, hoping he could get his career back on track and catch lightning in a bottle for one season if he could get on a roll. But Threets might end up being okay, too.

Scott Schoeneweis Andrew Sisco Javier Lopez Jason Grilli Bobby Seay Octavio Dotel--Pirates Boone Logan Aaron Poreda Scott Eyre Bobby Howry David Riske Luis Vizcaino Neal Cotts Damaso Marte

That's the guy who used to pitch for Oakland, right? Dana?

I guess Ichiro Suzuki (2000-2005 version) is the closest you can get to a match for Mauer, because of that speed. Otherwise, Gwynn and Boggs are the only ones who come to mind.

Jermaine Dye is apparently too insulted to even bother to play for the Mariners for that exact $3 million price tag. Pride goeth before the fall (see Cabrera, Orlando).

This has been the case with the White Sox offense since 2000...inconsistent output, despite very good overall numbers in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, usually marked by 11-1 wins followed by 2-3 narrow losses when scoring under 4.

Of course, putting Kotsay in for Konerko didn't really work out (yet again), but at least Paulie should be well-rested for the 2nd half of the season. They really might be better off letting Nix play SS everyday at SS as the back-up option for an Alexei Ramirez prolonged slump...but then we'd have to expose him to another team, correct? What would be the odds, 50/50, that another team would scoop him up?

Dammit Nix. If you go 2 for 2 there, you might actually get to start a game over Vizquel at some point in the undetermined future. Alas.

Donny Lucy starting off this season like Corky Miller did in 2009 offensively.

Nice to see a lack of proliferation of Brandon Allen threads this year. Last year, he was something like a magical Fred Crime Dog McGriff with more athleticism to some who were overreacting.

I don't like Mark Kotsay. Is that the 3rd time already this year he has driven in a run with a GIDP?

Take that Rudy Jaramillo. Greg Walker is in the process of signing a book deal, focusing on his rehabilitation of the rejuvenated swings of Alex Rios and Andruw Jones.

Great sign when Alex can stay with an outside pitch and drive it up the middle or to the opp field. 93 MPH slider? I know Morrow throws hard, but that's a nasty pitch if it's actually a slider at that speed on the black. I think the computer misidentified a two seam FB undoubtedly.

Now back to our normally scheduled White Sox offense. By the way, is Nix sick (literally, not due to losing AB's to Omar)? He was supposed to be in the starting line-up tonight, theoretically instead of Vizquel. Any news?

Gordon Beckham?

Mauer and Pods continue to outhit the White Sox 9. 12/28 on the season already for Joe (1 HR, 6 RBI's)...Pods 13/31. Twins and Red Sox tied at 2 after 3 innings. First bit of rain at the new Target Field, although it's a balmy 78 degrees. Royals positioning themselves for another come from ahead blown loss, 3-1 over the Tigers in the 5th. PS: Please let the Royals and Indians actually show up in Minnesota and not let them sweep both teams. Deep Thoughts from Jack Handey: Will we have the first 0-0 tie in baseball history when we play the Mariners next week at USCF?

Spontaneously combust? Like Michael Jackson when he shot the Pepsi commercial? As opposed to combusting under the epidermis/skin layer? LOL. I think Ozzie might actually combust before the end of April at this rate.

Well, ideally we'd have a real DH or Pierre and Teahen as very expensive bench players...a bilingual sports psychologist for Alexei Ramirez wouldn't be a bad concept either. But alas, that's not our reality.

Which is why KW wanted to hire Cito Gaston in the first place. All things considered, you'd certainly have to argue that hiring Ozzie was the right choice. How long that might continue to be the case remains to be seen.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Apr 14, 2010 -> 06:54 AM) Bahahaa....and what about me, who was like the 5th person in and office of a few thousand. Oh well...to China I go in 2 days. Where are you going to in China? Have you ever been here? I'm in Hangzhou, about 1 1/2 hour train ride from Shanghai.