caulfield12

Thank God for the coin flip rule last year or we would have been toast.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 10, 2009 -> 07:17 PM) It just makes no sense for the Sox to trade for Halladay especially with the offensive departures we're likely to have after this year. But isn't it equally feasible they would offer Dye a one or two year contract, not offer arbitration to Thome and work out something with Jimmy on the side to bring him back April 1st...? With Thome's salary number sitting where it's at, you obviously can't even offer him a 20% paycut, but what other teams would fit the bill in terms of location/proximity, comfort level with teammates and manager, and need a DH and be a competitive club that could potentially make it to the playoffs or World Series? Yankees, Red Sox, TB, Detroit, Minnesota, Texas or the Angels? Does anyone see Thome playing in DET or Minnesota? Seriously?

Whatever happens, we should start off the series pleased to take one out of three and get out of Dodge ahead of the Twins at the ASB. Until the players start to expect to win there, it's hard to get upset as a fan when they don't even believe they can win in that place.

Throw in the "Drum Guy" from the outfield bleachers (does he have to pay for two tickets when he brings that thing into the stadium?) and you've got yourself a deal.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jul 10, 2009 -> 03:45 PM) I wouldn't move Poreda. Poreda + Thornton from the left side Jenks as the closer Hopefully get good value out of Richard, Dotel, Linebrink Pena from the right side Call up a reliever Trade for a lesser veteran arm who doesn't cost much but can pitch in the 7th inning (Danys Baez maybe?) Carrasco stays in LR Yes our pen would be weaker than it is right now, but we're not getting anything for Dotel unless we offer arb, which we won't do because he'll accept. And now might be the best time to try and clear out Linebrink's contract. And Richard we don't have to deal, but I take offers because I'm happy with Thornton + Poreda as the lefties. They are our best options. Danys Baez is making almost $7.2 million this year, more expensive than Dotel even. He also played for Pinar del Rio, Alexei's team. I am sure they would give him to us for free if we agree to pay the remaining money on his contract...the odds of clearing out Linebrink's contract in this economy are about 5-10% at best unless we leverage him with a premium player like Jenks/Alexei/Quentin/Danks/Floyd/Beckham, which simply isn't going to ever happen with KW and JR at the helm of this ship.

There's a lot of concern Teahen will be traded, that Aviles will never be the same player he was last year and that Pena will NEVER hit. I remember the Royals making a desperate move for Rey Sanchez when they had the same problem almost a decade ago....and then, of course, Berroa never solidified that position after the great rookie year. Wasn't Cortes listed by many publications as a Top 45-60 prospect in all of the minors not so long ago?

http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/draft/?p=1303

QUOTE (daa84 @ Jul 10, 2009 -> 08:29 AM) ah yes...the game that got jerry manuel fired Disagree. It was the late August/early September home game that we had a huge lead and Jose Paniagua came in and almost single-handedly pulled the Twins back to life after we had the first two games in Chicago. I don't think we beat the Twins in late 2003 after that game, I'm pretty sure we were swept at their place and that was all she wrote. That was the tipping point in that season...although some point to Torii Hunter/Jamie Burke (think that was 03 or 04).

I want Bip Roberts (the Chone Figgins of his day) back!!!

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jul 10, 2009 -> 11:31 AM) C: Kark 1B: Squires 2B: Cora SS: Guillen 3B: Ventura LF: BA CF: 1Dog RF: Baines P: Buehrle I think Squires and Lamar Johnson (etc.) go too far back into the 70's/early 80's for the purposes of this poll....haha! What's next? Worst Sox defensive players of the last 20 years? You know that Wilson Betemit would have to be on that list along with Dan Pasqua and Carlos Lee.

I don't see the Marlins giving up Hermida or Ross for Dotel. We'd either have to subsidize the leftover $2-3 million on Dotel's deal or send another prospect or two along to sweeten the pot, like a John Shelby III and Omogrosso/Santeliz/Ely/Nunez/Harrell caliber of pitcher.

Well, at least Ken Hill used to be a REALLY good pitcher in his prime with the Expos and Cardinals. Heck, I remember Steve Carlton starting games at the end of his career with the White Sox. Dale Sveum. Cory Snyder. That was REALLY desperation time. I forgot Spanky Lavalliere from my earlier list of defensive catchers.

Would much rather take Rios' contract and give up more than an aging Wells, whose contract dwarfs Michael Young and some of the Cubs' long-term deals in stupidity factor. As far as Halladay, look at the discrepancy in attendance for his home starts. It might be the biggest of any single player (certainly pitcher, which is easier to measure and more obvious) in all of baseball. Trading Halladay probably DOESN'T make sense short-term economically, but does long-term if they end up with a much better overall team (think the Herschel Walker trade for the Cowboys) that can legitimately compete with TB/NYY/BOS.

QUOTE (daa84 @ Jul 10, 2009 -> 12:15 PM) C: Charles Johnson 1b: Paul Konerko (although its really only him and Thomas) 2b: Jayson Nix SS: Juan Uribe 3b: Robin Ventura LF: Tim Raines CF: Mike Cameron RF: Brian Anderson Charles Johnson in the prime of his career, but not for that short half-season in 2000. He was actually much better offensively (especially that season) and more so-so defensively than I expected. That reminds me, Miguel Olivo has to be considered a close 2nd to Karkovice/Skinner. Sosa was awesome defensively when he first came up...with the only exception that he had so little control of his arm/throws, but he had an absolute rifle before he started getting bigger (a notch below Guerrero, Larry Walker, Dwight Evans and a bit better than Dye when he came up with ATL...maybe equal to Jose Guillen in the 1995-2000 time frame).

Agreed, although I'll be encouraged when Beckham comes out of his mini-slump offensively and defensively. These Twins' games on the road are definitely going to be a test psychologically for an inexperienced rookie. The week spots will continue to be Beckham (moreso defensively), the health of Pods and CQ and Getz. Still, those are MUCH less challenging problems than Fields/Lillibridge/Owens/Wise/Anderson/Miller/Betemit getting playing time. Another thing to mention is that Nix and Ramon Castro are much more potent threats offensively than what we began the season with...both "under the radar" moves that many in baseball were probably scratching their heads at when they were announced (KW at his best, like the Jenks/Thornton/Marte moves....if JVB ever does anything, then KW has to win Executive of the Year).

QUOTE (CanOfCorn @ Jul 10, 2009 -> 09:56 AM) Caulfield...you have dropped a couple of notches... Sean Lowe...? No love for my boy Sean Lowe...??? 2001: 11 Starts 9-4 3.61 ERA? I'm very disappointed in you..... I thought Lowe was a prick...for some reason, I never liked that guy. Rick White was another guy who drove me nuts. Actually, though, Lowe was one of those guys who seamlessly drifted back and forth, didn't complain...kept getting bumped because KW thought he had pitchers who would turn out better over the long-term but he was the definition of a "battler" (like Greg Hibbard) out there. Being a Sox fan from 1978 until the Thomas/Sosa/Ventura/McDowell/Bere/Fernandez/Alvarez talent infusion was a very LONELY place. Looking back, Calderon and Melido Perez, along with One-Dog, those were my 3 favorite players from that time span. Although I have to admit I was VERY excited when Sosa first came up about his ability to be the next Roberto Clemente (my all-time favorite). I know I am getting old (39 now) when I start to sound like "colsat46" at the older chisox.com reminiscing about 80's and 90's Sox players!!! Those guys loved to talk about Fox and Aparicio almost on a daily basis, just like my uncle when I was growing up.

And trading Ramirez makes much less sense 1) because of his super-affordable, bargain contract status for the now more budget-conscious Sox AND 2) nobody really knows for sure how well Beckham could handle the position over an entire season, compared to 2B. There's a lot more depth at every position in our organization than SS...although I suppose we could now push things a bit and consider Nix as someone capable of playing it defensively, but hitting everyday against lefties and righties? MAYBE.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Jul 10, 2009 -> 10:35 AM) Good post. I'm sure people can read a few of my posts and think I have blind love for Swisher, while that's not true, I think the Sox would be a better team with him than without him this year. Now, we can argue about his contract, and after what Dunn and Abreu signed for, I lean towards the camp that maybe dumping him wasn't the worst idea, however, to call him a terrible base ball player is wrong IMO. First, he was playing a new regular position of CF, which has some effect on a player. Also, I'm going to give some evil stats here, so please stop reading if you're not a fan, if not I'll save some people the regular responses... baseball is not played on paper I want to see it with my eyes My grand daddy didn't need no OBP or OPS stats aren't everything I'll take the opinion of a one eyed peg legged scout over some fancy numbers derp der derp... (Please, don't label me as a stat head either, i think there's many things, especially fielding, that need to be scouted on film or in person, but stats should be considered important and a great way to get value on some players, and I'm just having some fun with people who hate stats) OK, his career clutch stats aren't horrible and if memory serves me right he his at least one walk off or clutch home run for the Sox last year (it was at home, I can't remember the details). http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/...=Career&t=b Also, in his career, and especially in 08, he hit really well at the Cell http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/...ar=2008&t=b He also takes a lot of pitches and has a good career OBP, which outside of Thome and when Q isn't playing, the Sox lack. That's crucial to me because generally BPs around the league suck, and the more pitches seen the quicker they're gotten into. BearSox, you do a lot of posting on Future sox board, especially around the draft. Baseball is so much more than a handful of ABs in certain situations. For Mitchell you didn't like the pick initially, then slammed him for one AB (I believe his first televised one against a LHP) then came around after the WS was over. Baseball is a game of failure and to hand pick a few ABs isn't fair to the player, you have to look at the players body of work. I think you're a good poster who contributed a lot of good knowledge to the draft because you took the time to read scouting reports a lot of people didn't and passed that knowledge along, but I think you were unfair to Mitchell during the beginning of the draft and Swisher. Does that make me right? Absolutely not and what makes this board fun! daa84 is right when he says Swisher isn't a star, but he's a solid player (maybe better off in the NL because he can jump from corner OF to 1b and give you decent D at either position) that had a bad year with the Sox and is getting trashed on this board. Not all games have clutch situations, you need a solid roster to help you get you "easy" wins during the season and I think Swisher can help. Swisher hit that bomb off Joel Zumaya and the Tigers, that's the one I remember the most vividly listening on radio

RF Sosa (when he first came up), Calderon, Dave Martinez CF Lance Johson, Mike Cameron or Brian Anderson LF Carlos Martinez (just kidding), ummm...hard to pick one, Raines wasn't that great either C Karkovice or Joel Skinner 1B Greg Walker 2B Durham wasn't a very good defender, except for those balls into OF and down the foul lines like Ramirez...maybe Nix SS Guillen and Uribe (tie) 3B Ventura over Crede P Buehrle or Garland

Just what we need, Josh Barfield or Andy Marte!

Well...anything between 80-85% in save conversion is "pretty good" in my book, irregardless of ERA, and 85% and above is optimal. Below 75% isn't tolerable.

QUOTE (TheBigHurt @ Jul 10, 2009 -> 02:03 AM) You said it. Some of my favorites, off the top of my head: Danny Wright (actually Jason Bere Lite before the injuries, won 14 games with a bloated ERA) Josh Stewart Mike Porzio Felix Diaz Jon Adkins Nick Masset Gary Glover (blast from past) Rocky Biddle (surprised he became closer for the Expos and was sort of decent one year) Sean Tracey Arnie Munoz Matt Ginter Jon Rauch Scott Eyre (not sure if he ever started or not for us...maybe he came out of the pen?)

I would rather have Fathom, KHP or Dick Allen starting than Poreda. Really!!! What was the velocity with Colon's FB this time? Any reports? The last time we saw him, he was really struggling to get it above 90.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jul 9, 2009 -> 06:39 PM) I like the way Poreda seems to be adjusting to his role in the pen. I see him as a reliever anyway so I'd prefer to keep him there. Poreda = good in the pen right now Richard = bad in the rotation right now If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Poreda is fine where he is, and is doing much better there than Richard was, so fix the area where the hole is without opening up another one somewhere else. With the pretty compelling counter-example of the performance of Clayton last year against the Rays in the playoffs...when he looked almost as nasty as Thornton does sometimes.

QUOTE (jenks45monster @ Jul 9, 2009 -> 06:27 PM) Why not give AP a chance? Clayton has been complete trash. There's a chance Poreda gets crushed. So what? Clayton Richard is doing the exact same thing right now. Poreda has a ton more upside so how would it hurt us by reversiving their roles? Poreda can't possibly be worse than Clayton at this point. Why does Poreda have a "ton more upside" than Clayton? Because he's a first round draft pick (late)? Because he hasn't shown a consistent or electric fastball like he was hyped to have...one that has been 1-3 MPH under Clayton's? Because he throws a "decent" slider and "good" change like Clayton? Poreda seems, from watching him a bit, that he changes his motion even more than Richard when throwing offspeed stuff...he will get hit hard, just like Clayton got hit hard throwing just one pitch consistently for strikes and falling behind in counts.