caulfield12

QUOTE (Andrew @ May 4, 2011 -> 10:09 PM) And two [sic] the naive... How many of the fewer spenders in the divison have a World Championship in those 10 years? I remember 04 and I REALLY remember what I felt about the 04 offseason going into 05. I thought we'd be dead last. El Caballo for Pods, Crazy Carl, a bunch of Yankee reject relief pitchers, Contreras, Loaiza gone....etc.... I was wrong as s***. Ozzie wasn't even an Ozzie, then. He only became one because of KW. I still think the Garcia trade in 2004 was the key, along with Contreras. Of course, you also have to add in AJ, Dye (coming off a serious leg injury), Iguchi and Hermanson, to name just a few.

QUOTE (Andrew @ May 5, 2011 -> 07:37 AM) Well, 2 things: First, his ERA looks great because of a CG in Seattle. Take that game out, ERA goes up (still good though, for 6 games). Second, not being healthy is what makes him...suck. Who gives a s*** about a low ERA starter if he can't stay healthy enough to, y'know... pitch? Now that I look, even the 2 seasons where he was healthy (06, 07 - appeared in at least close to 30 games or mroe), ERA of nearly 5, WHIP is high, SO/BB flat, etc. So then Jake Peavy really sucks, because at least McCarthy wasn't playing with house money for those 3 seasons. Any pitcher is going to suffer pitching in Texas, just like pitching half his games in the Coliseum works to his benefit, or PetCo for Richard.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 5, 2011 -> 07:31 AM) Serious question... If the season is over why send down guys like Sale, Beckham and Morel? Play them. Let them learn and make mistakes. Sending them down is counter to the idea the season is over, and implies we are still playing for this year. Well, with Sale....I guess they could do the Buehrle 2000 thing where they convert him into a long man and gradually ease him into longer and longer outings and spot starts. Most would prefer he start every 5th day in Charlotte, though. Would putting him in the minors for 2-3 months affect his arbitration status if he came back to start for good in July or August after a possible Jackson, Danks or Buehrle trade? With McCarthy, as has been mentioned, the issue was always his mechanics and staying healthy. He did have a pretty straight fastball, and he originally featured that big curveball but he's changed his repertoire quite a bit in the last 2-3 years while recovering from all the injuries.

“Those guys got to go fight every day,’’ Guillen said of his team, which fell to the franchise’s worst 32-game start since 1978 after its 17th loss in 21 games. “Every day they have to fight. That’s the thing. They are the pilots. We [coaching staff] are sitting in the back of the airplane. We’re gonna crash. Well, the plane’s going to crash because you fall, but I’m gonna crash. I’ll be the first one to die. But I’m not driving the thing.’’ The slump is a shocker, and while accepting his share of responsibility, Guillen, a former player himself, knows it falls squarely on his players’ shoulders after chairman Jerry Reinsdorf plunked down $125 million-plus in payroll on this scuffling crew. You have 120 million reasons and you have 30 reasons about why we’re not winning,’’ Guillen said when asked if he’s talked to Reinsdorf lately. (The answer was, not since he asked him for Bulls season tickets.) “You think I’m gonna tell Jerry . . . why are we doing it? No. They know I try hard. What we can do? Hopefully those guys start to play better. “He asks the same questions we ask. What happened? What happened? You watched the game. He watches the same game we watch. What we can do about it? Nothing.’’ www.suntimes.com/sports

I expect major changes within the next two weeks if the Sox don't have a fairly successful trip. There's too much at stake and too much invested in this season. Although the fault lies largely with the players, I believe it will be the staff -- but not the players -- who take the hit if a change is to be made. The manager has taken responsibility for the team's poor play and suggested he's the one who should be fired if a change is to be made. But he's signed through 2012. If so many people have been skeptical of his managerial style, why didn't more people question why his option for 2012 was picked up in January? Pierre's relentless and failed attempts at stolen bases are getting old. He should be included among those cited by the manager who need to work on getting better leads, especially since he's 33 years old. They're giving up outs at this point. Because there's only one spare outfielder (Lillibridge), it's tough to take out Pierre if Lillibridge is spelling Carlos Quentin or Rios. This is why the rotating designated hitter worked well with the manager last year because he could play a player in the outfield if he wasn't the DH. If Mark Teahen was more dependable in the outfield, this would aid the situation. I believe they would have employed the same format had Mark Kotsay hit for more production. I'm not saying Kotsay would have returned, but they would have acquired a left-handed hitter who could play the outfield and first base. The early work on fundamentals needs to be enforced to the highest level if the Sox are to succeed. The eye wash stuff doesn't work. This needs to be repeated until there is noticeable improvement. Mark Gonzalez mailbag from tribune.com/sports One thing I vehemently disagree with him about is naming Buddy Bell or Jim Fregosi as the new manager. No thanks. And I'm indifferent at best on Rick Hahn.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 4, 2011 -> 08:06 AM) So what's happened to Broxton? Just overuse over the years? He was throwing 89-91 mph last night after averaging 98 mph a few years ago. Jonathan Broxton(notes) finally confirmed what many have long suspected. He's injured and it's preventing him from pitching well. On Wednesday, the Dodgers shut Broxton down and said he'll undergo a MRI exam. That is, if doctors can find a MRI tube big enough to accommodate the beefy reliever. www.yahoo.com/sports

QUOTE (Andrew @ May 4, 2011 -> 09:43 PM) I'm not far off from you on KW either, but I have 0 faith in our ability to scout. Funny you mention both the Rays and Florida as a place to pilfer staff from, but they have invested HEAVILY in scouting to find talent and draft them (and they spend more $ on us too). Playing in the hotbed doesn't hurt either. They are also very good at identifying when they miss (see Hanley Ramirez, Annibal Sanchez, Kazmir (when he was good), etc.). There is nothing remotely close to that in our organization. We're talking...like WHOLESALE change needed here. KW is fine with ML deals. He needs an advisor for the minors, keeping them stocked, making those deals, and for god's sakes...spending some $. Well, my opinion anyway. It's the whole approach. Even if Mitchell and Trayce Thompson have all the raw talent in the world, I'm not a firm believer at all in Buddy Bell's ability to develop them. He was a horrible MLB manager. Why would he be so much more well-suited to work with our minor leaguers? I guess having lived in KC at the time of his "reign," I'm not much of a fan. My opinions of Teahen and Bell run in tandem. In fact, it's fairly certain without Bell here we never would have reached out for Teahen and some of the Royals rejects that have worked so well.

QUOTE (Andrew @ May 4, 2011 -> 09:33 PM) Sweet post, C12. Some moves are not as cut and dry as you translate them but the point is there. We could be far less expensive and certainly no worse than...well, the worst in baseball. Gio...man, twice we had him and twice we gave up. I think I remember you from WSI days arguing (together) about how stupid it was to let him go (I think the...2nd time). I could be wrong though. Yeah, it's easy to cherry pick. Not really fair to go back and erase the Javy move, that's all the way into 2006. (If I started doing that, I would have gone along and magically traded Jenks and Crede at their highest values). I didn't address the Thome/Rowand deal because I preferred keeping Gio and Rowand would have grown too expensive. And, even though SUPPOSEDLY we were interested in Aaron as a FA, I think this was more of a PR move to appease his fans rather than a wholehearted effort by KW to bring him back. Heck, KW's ego wouldn't allow him to admit he needed a CF, as that would solidify the prevailing wisdom of retaining Brian Anderson as a total bust. I could have just as easily left Swisher there as the DH, but he just never was a good fit for this team and it would be too convenient to stick his post-Sox Yankees numbers into the Sox line-up over 2010-11. That Yankees' line-up provides a ton of protection and shelter for him to just do his thing. And, from all reports of his time here, the guy was quite a prick. We definitely wouldn't have a prototypical leadoff hitter like Ozzie has liked with Pierre and Pods. Sweeney, because of his OBP, would be the pick over Chris B. Young. And, now that I started thinking about it, Dye as the DH would have made sense, too. He just wasn't ready to accept that role at the time, and he was stung by the Rios acquisition and his diminished playing time. Then again, with no Rios, it would have been easier to imagine JD sticking around with the organization.

QUOTE (Andrew @ May 4, 2011 -> 09:03 PM) We've covered this. KW makes the team, Ozzie is the day to day and is responsible for the work environment. There is no reason that the "team" as constructed shouldn't be better than anyone in this division...by far. But watch 'em show for work and report to the manager. They don't report to KW. They report to Ozzie. As he trots them out to s***ty out (bunts) after out (steals) after out (matchups) after fail. Oh, and slump for weeks on end because it's "not coaches fault players can't recover from slumps" at the "major league level". Fire f***ing Ozzie, already. Fire Cora. Fire Walker. It's goddamn obvious nobody wants to even show up for work and try. That's on him - we already know players are spoiled, crying babies. That's every team. Maddon, Francona...plenty others don't become the worst team in baseball over a few slumps and prolonged losing like his team does...baggage over rivals (Twins), bigger payroll then the next by more than double.... (And I'm not comparing to the Twin THIS year, but they still managed to revive them). f***ing joke. [Wow, that felt good] Actually, we (in the AL Central Div.) have three $100,000,000+ payrolls for the first time, but only two pennants since 1997 (Sox and Tigers back-to-back) to show for it. Personally, I do agree that I'd rather see Ozzie and the coaches gone first. The main reason? 6-24 against the Twins since the second half of 2009 is simply unacceptable. That's the equivalent of the Bears beating the Packers 2 out of every 10 meetings. I'm 50/50 on KW. If they decide to change philosophy, I would prefer not to go with Hahn. I think they need someone more creative, who's acclimated to working with limited budgets. Let's not forget, Rick Hahn has spent most of his time with us cutting his teeth on $90-130 million rosters. That's definitely not going to be the situation for the new GM to work with going forward. Here's where I would raid Friedman's Rays staff, Beinfest/Hill in Florida, some of the Twins' minor league development people.

Here's another way of looking at it. Subtract all the bad moves over the last 2-3 seasons, let's see if we have a competitive roster. Rotation Danks Floyd Gio Gonzalez Buehrle Daniel Hudson Bullpen Clayton Richard (long man) Sox minor leaguer Sale (or in AAA starting) Crain Thornton S. Santos RF Ryan Sweeney SS Alexei Ramirez/Beckham LF Carlos Quentin 1B Paul Konerko CF Chris Young 3B Dayan Viciedo/Josh Fields DH Jermaine Dye/Br. Allen/Fields/Viciedo C AJ Pierzynski 2B Gordon Beckham/Ramirez Trying to figure out the line-up, it's pretty obvious why KW felt he had to go to Rios, Pierre, AJ and Teahen. At that point, seemingly they'd already decided Viciedo wasn't ready for the position. Then you have the lack of development internally at the catching position, leaving us with no viable everyday option but AJ. The pitching would definitely be better. The offense would be more enjoyable with the youthful presence, it's hard for me to argue it would actually be better, because Rios and Dunn are both very talented players. Of course, so is Chris B. Young. It definitely would be a more inexpensive payroll and provide much more flexibility. The starting rotation has a LOT of depth with Sale and Richard backing it up. Would we have been more excited if this was the Sox roster heading into 2011? Allen obviously could be replaced by someone like Johnny Damon fairly cheaply (or Vladimir Guerrero), making the starting line-up appear even more dangerous.

Saw The Cave of Forgotten Dreams (aka the White Sox 2011 Season in Review) by Werner Herzog in 3D at the Jeonju International Film Festival here in South Korea. Excellent, though-provoking documentary. Just saw THOR last night. The 3-D was disappointing (which ones haven't been except for Avatar, How to Train Your Dragon and a couple of others?) but I actually liked this movie a lot more than Fast Five, even though a majority of critics are favoring FF over Thor. Could definitely see the influence of Kenneth Branagh on Thor. It felt kind of like a hybrid between a typical superhero movie and Beowulf, actually. By the way, welcome officially to summer movie season. January-April was disappointing in many respects, there were a few decent dramas like Source Code, The Adjustment Bureau and Limitless, but hugely underwhelming box office.

Well, there's good news and bad news. Checking the schedule, it looks like we'll miss Pineda (which sucks, was actually looking forward to seeing him), Haren, Jared Weaver, Gio (again) and Brett Anderson. WHEW! I'm thinking it will be a 3-6 or 4-5 trip (being optimistic based on past Sox experiences out there), from the looks of things. Then again, 2-7 isn't out of the realm of possibility either, matching the 2001 White Sox (13-28/14-29) for worst run out of the gate in Sox history. Humber vs. King Felix (wonder what the early Las Vegas odds are on that one?) Floyd vs. Fister Buehrle vs. Bedard (Harrelson gets another chance to cream his pants over Bedard) E-JAX vs. Santana (seemingly winnable, depends on which versions of these two enigmatic pitchers show up) Danks vs. Pineiro Humber (POSSIBLY PEAVY) vs. THE DREADED CHATWOOD AGAIN Floyd vs. B. McCarthy (trip down memory lane) Buehrle vs. Ross (what's Mark's record out there again? it's the thing of nightmares or Tim Burton's dreams) E-JAX vs. Cahill

QUOTE (mmmmmbeeer @ May 4, 2011 -> 04:26 PM) No one on this board, no one in the press, no one in baseball thought this team, as constructed, would be this horrible. So how the hell can anyone fault KW for not knowing it was bad? What I see each game is a lack of preparedness, a lack of intensity, a lack of fundamentals, and a lack of confidence. None of these have anything, whatsoever, to do with the GM. They play that way because the young players that are brought up aren't prepared well enough. KW hired Bell, so he's accountable for the bottom line. They play that way because KW mixes in 6-10 different players per year from every organization in baseball (because our minor league system sucks). There's no cohesion, there's not a discernible "Sox Way" or identity of what our strategy is, there's no developing together in the minor leagues for 4+ seasons together and then another 6 seasons together at the major league level, so the players don't have trust and confidence in each other....a perfect example was sticking Teahen at 3B next to Ramirez last year. Because our minor league system sucked/sucks, he wasn't able to make the moves he needed at midseason last year. Acquiring Manny Ramirez and wasting what would be a huge bonus for a first round draft pick???

1. Chone Figgins, there's no argument about that, especially with his contract going forward 2. The RIOT/Theriot 3. Nyjer Morgan 4. Jose Lopez 5. Cesar Izturis maybe Erick Aybar 6. Vernon Wells (once again, based on contracts) 7. Gordon Beckham 8. Brandon Inge 9. Omar Infante 10. Miguel Tejada 11. Mark Ellis 12. Alcides Escobar (although I'd still rather have him than Pierre) 13. Raul Ibanez (like Chone, a no doubter) 14. Brendan Ryan 15. Will Venable 16. AJ Pierzynski 17. Alex Rios (before today) 18. James Loney 19. Derek Jeter (based on contract) 20. Rick Ankiel

Other than identifying Santos and acquiring him, there's nothing this F.O. has done well since 2008. You can argue Viciedo, Sale and Beckham all you want, but those aren't winning arguments for the time being.

Yeah, but the Yankees have roughly 2.5X our revenue stream to support that payroll. We will end up paring $40-50 million from our payroll if things continue like this. The Yankees would be adding players in our situation. There's simply zero tolerance over there for not at least making the playoffs, let alone winning the World Series each season.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 4, 2011 -> 04:13 PM) I'm not even going into detail about the Jackson/Hudson trade and the impact on our payroll, but I'm willing to bet that when we trade Jackson in 2 months, it will be for a player far below Hudson's caliber. Who we undoubtedly will have to pay 3-5X as much as we would have had to pay a cost-controlled Hudson over the next 5 years.

QUOTE (b-Rye @ May 4, 2011 -> 04:02 PM) Hmm think KW's gotta go. He built this team, and this team is out of it with worst record in baseball over a month into season. * He traded for injured AND reinjured Peavy, added around 15mil per in payroll * Signed Adam Dunn, similar to Thome after letting him go, had worse numbers than Thome in NL and costs around 15 mil per * Let Jenks walk, not a bad move but Will Ohman money could of resigned him * Linebrink signed to stupid contract, and we're still paying Linebrink to pitch on Braves in 2011 * Resigned AJ Perzynski, it was time to move on * Acquired Juan Pierre * Edwin Jackson and his plus salary acquired for Dan Hudson. * TEAHEN * WILL OHMAN We need a hungry team that wants to win, this roster reminds me of a Cubs team and I hate it and they SUCK. This team is a disgrace. Fire Kenny, Ozzie, Walker, Teahen, Pierre. This team needs some bold moves, get younger and get a few MLB ready players and maybe pull in some good prospects for Danks, Buehrle, Jackson. Maybe even Konerko, Quentin, Ramirez, Thorton, considering rest of team is un tradeable or untouchable. Agree with most, except bringing back Jenks (period) and Jenks willingness to sign for anything close to Ohman money....or in general, not coming back unless he was guaranteed a shot to be the closer again. Boston, he knew going in he wasn't getting that job over Papelbon or Bard.

1) Paying Juan Pierre $5 million this season. He made 3 physical/mental errors alone today, can't steal a base, has ZERO pop, no arm, has lost 2 steps now, blah blah blah. 2) Teahen, although he might have to earn that contract now with Morel seemingly headed back to Charlotte. 3) Tony Pena 4) Rios...and for failing to draft/develop a CF, namely holding onto Brian Anderson 5) Peavy 6) Ohman 7) AJ, paying him $6 million next season when he's way over the hill, can't throw out anyone, hardly ever drives the ball and is again rumored to be a clubhouse cancer when things aren't going well....this falls squarely on KW for not drafting or developing a catcher (Miguel Gonzalez and Tyler Flowers) It remains to be seen on the Thornton contract. Paying a set-up guy $5+ million per year with a multi-year contract in his 30's isn't always the wisest move, as KW learned with Linebrink and Dotel. Crain has been perhaps a little bit better than expected, as you don't see very much consistency from 7th and 8th inning guys over a 3-5 year basis. Dunn and Konerko, those moves were understandable but neither of those guys is easily moved. Buehrle won't get anything much back in return either. I don't see how we could be any worse with Viciedo as the DH, keeping the draft pick/s for Dunn, Hudson and Sale in the rotation. Arguably, De Aza would be doing better than Pierre (hard to do worse). At least we'd have 4/5th's of a starting rotation. I'm not even going to get into the Peavy fiasco again, it's too tiresome.

18,028. Vinny's Beverage Depot just cancelled its sponsorship due to concern about being associated with negativity over the remainder of the season.

Ummm. Yay, sort of. At least no DP.

QUOTE (Knackattack @ May 4, 2011 -> 03:09 PM) As soon as we are completely out of contention he will hit like 14 or 15 in a month. See Belle, Albert (Joey) RBI's in 1997.

Dadgummit Paulie, if you hit into a DP I'm going to sort of get upset. Kind of like the failed comeback Sunday with 1st/2nd, no outs and the heart of the order coming up. They want to make us care, they just can't quite pull it off.

Now how will the offense conspire NOT to score this run? Still not convinced he'll score unless it's a PB.

We managed to save Liriano and Blackburn their respective spots in the Twins' rotation. Both were in danger of being replaced by Slowey and possibly Gibson. This sucks. I would rather have SOME feeling instead of complete apathy. That damned ball Thornton gave up to Thome was the last time a Twins' game against the Sox kept me on the edge of my seat with any kind of tension or excitement.