caulfield12

The first time the Twins rolled over us with Liriano, they were playing like absolute crap. This has nothing to do with the fact that the Twins were "hot" because we were playing close to as well as we have (this season) for the last 20-30 games, too. The Twins have been missing Thome, a healthy Morneau, Span, Mauer, Glen Perkins, Nathan and Nishioka. Delmon Young has done his best impersonation of Juan Pierre offensively and defensively after playing like the American League MVP the first four or five months last year. Valencia has spent more time fighting with Cuddyer than hitting the ball. Their catchers are hitting something like .150-.175 since Mauer's been out. I think they've made the most transactions of any MLB team this year, trying to find the right mix in the bullpen. Their AA and AAA teams had the worst record in the minors last year and I think they're close to that distinction this year as well. The Twins are only 9 games back. I'd bet my money on the Tigers if I was a betting type, but there's NO WAY I would rule out the Twins. They have enough players still around who remember 2006. They have another Liriano or Duensing or Valencia in the minors somewhere, just lurking. One adjustment they'll have to make is giving us this idea of Nishioka playing SS. He definitely needs to be at 2B with Casilla (who's been raking during the recent 11-2 run) back at SS. Nishioka's definitely not a 3 hitter and he's hard-pressed to argue he has the arm of Omar Vizquel at age 44. They undoubtedly made a mistake trading Ramos for Capps last year, but they still have a ton of depth with Slowey and Gibson...not to mention Revere's getting better and better with each week at the big league level, gaining in confidence. Aaron Hicks has a lot of tools, too.

Who is going to be Dallas McPherson II this year? Definitely not De Aza...they won't bench Pierre. Gookie Dawkins? He's kind of superfluous with all the Vizquel/Teahen/Lillibridges. For some reason, I'll be shocked if they actually bring up Dayan.

However, for Morel to be an above average player, he simply has to be nearly a Gold Glove level fielder. It's his rookie year, so he's going to get some rope there, but he hasn't exactly been making anyone forget Ventura or Crede. Heck, if he was just an amalgam of Uribe/Crede (20 homers, 65-85 RBI's), I think everyone would be as pleased as punch. Something happened to the team attitude changed when Uribe left and the talented but enigmatic Rios was added to the mix. They're not going to DFA Rios or Dunn or send Beckham to Charlotte, and Konerko's gotten to the point in his career where a hitting coach like Walker isn't as necessary, but with the Rio/Dunn/Beckham triumvirate, Morel still finding himself and Viciedo on his way, how could a fresh perpective at that position possibly hurt? Is it the fear that Quentin, Ramirez and Konerko will fall apart without Walker? Maybe even a new hitting coach could figure out a way to get one more solid offensive season out of AJ, since we're unlikely to eat a $6 million contract before 2012 begins. OR could work some magic with Tyler Flowers and Jordan Danks, you have to be willing to think outside of the box at SOME POINT.

QUOTE (Real @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 02:36 PM) And the Sox will be back in 3rd place in September when we play divisional opponents 4 times a week 1-9 against Minny and DET. Otherwise, we're great against our division and in first place, haha.

It will be a very quiet board tomorrow night if Jackson whips Hudson. Otherwise, the servers are going to crash on KW's head. Although with the late night start, maybe it will be SOMEWHAT quiet, especially heading West as usual with our tail between our legs after the predictable Twins victory.

The only good thing to say is that it's easier to find hitting than good starting pitching. The problem is that we have to replace Buehrle, Danks and Jackson somehow. God help Sale and Peavy.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 02:22 PM) Guillen should be fired today down 1-0 his moves from 8th inning on were horrid. Down 1-0 43 yr old is your best option with 2 out because you f***ed the pooch as usual. Pirates are over .500 Sox have no clue how to get there! Why do we care what the Pirates are doing? They haven't done a thing for two decades, and now they're a measuring stick for the Sox because they've had about 15 Top 5 draft picks in a row?

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 02:20 PM) Major roster changes have got to be made on the offensive side. But where? That means you're going to have to eat AJ's contract, give up on Beckham....can we give up on Morel if he's not walking or showing enough power? Doing anything with Quentin/Konerko/Alexei Ramirez would be COUNTERPRODUCTIVE, so that always leaves Juan Pierre's position. Or would you just waive Rios? That would be fine, if ANYBODY could predict with some degree of certainty he's (Lillibridge) an everyday ballplayer over the course of a six month season. Personally, I'd much rather cheer for Viciedo and Lilly...but KW has consistently shown he doesn't care what fans think, nor does Ozzie.

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 02:14 PM) The way I see it is that the Sox develop pitching decently well, they just tend to draft pitchers with little upside/not a whole lot of talent, which ends up not producing much. They can't develop hitters worth a lick, even if they draft talented players. Chris Young, C. Carter, Sweeney, B. Allen, Morel...it's not like they have developed NOBODY.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 02:12 PM) No one ever argues that our drafting has sucked. It's when you argue that perfectly well-reasoned and intelligently made decisions at the time, that failed to turn out well due to circumstances beyond our control, are signs of incompetence on the part of our front office - that's when people find your stance to be untenable. And picking someone like Justin Smoak isn't exactly a surefire move when you still have a healthy Konerko producing .... especially when you're selecting what looks like a franchise middle infielder (remember all the Jeter comparisons?), that NORMALLY has more value to a team, historically.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 02:09 PM) Not one young hitter has progressed under Walker. I think they've done a pretty good job being patient with Morel this year. Hopefully the power will come later.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 01:58 PM) That was nearly two years ago. When I see Andrew McCutchen, Mike Stanton, Buster Posey (before he got hurt), Logan Morrison, Gaby Sanchez and Eric Hosmer making their marks on this game, and Gordon Beckham doing his best '92 Steve Sax impersonation for a year and a half, yes, it was a bust of a pick. And who do you suggest should be playing 2B for the White Sox instead? And how will they possibly acquire said player? Should they just waive him? I don't think it's fair to compare Eric Hosmer to Gordon Beckham, but go ahead. What about all those teams that didn't give Mark Buerhle a chance? Should their scouting departments be fired, too? The Sox drafts have absolutely sucked, but there are numerous organizations that have had terrible drafts....cherrypicking is too easy to do.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 01:58 PM) He is just dumber than f***ing rocks. Ozzie, you are dumber than f***ing rocks. My balls have more baseball intelligence than you. I guess he didn't want to waste 2 players making one move. Teahen would have had to come in anyway to play defense for Paulie. This way, he still has Lillibridge available to run for Dunn. That's the theory.

It's getting pretty bad when our own announcers (DJ and Farmer) are arguing that the Twins have no reason to fear the White Sox at all.

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 01:49 PM) I would like to see what a guy like that would look like out there. Andy Gonzalez?

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 01:49 PM) Players drafted after Beckham: Smoak, Wallace, Weeks, Lawrie, Ike Davis. All are better prospects than Beckham, who's talent was greatly exaggerated. Greatly exaggerated by all his peers who voted him as the best rookie of 2009??? It's pretty easy to be down on him now, but things always even out. Maybe a new coaching staff/hitting coach will change things up for him. Carlos Gonzalez isn't exactly lighting the world on this fire, either. Does he suck and his ability has been overexaggerated a bit? I can't imagine what you'd be saying had we taken Tim Beckham and he was still foundering in the minors. Well, one things for sure, Blackburn's more than gotten his revenge for Game 163 by now. Jesus.

It's a wee bit premature to be giving up on Mitchell as well. With how some gave up on Viciedo after 2009...you would think there would be some patience...especially with the "rushing" of Beckham and Sale now being consistently raised as an issue in a bit of 20/20 hindsight revisionism. Nobody was complaining about Beckham being rushed in 2009 or Sale last year in August. In fact, many thought Ozzie and KW were too hesitant to bring up Beckham.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 01:43 PM) The shame of it is that Buehrle really is pitching a hell of a game. And hasn't given up more than 3 runs in ANY game since April 28th.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 01:41 PM) I am no batting expert but I was watching some games where a hitch in his swing is mentioned and then shown. I know it's hard to change your approach over nigbht, but if it is shown by broadcasters on TV do you think GB also sees it later? Well, the new "spin" on Beckham is that Farmer and DJ keep claiming he's he best defensive 2B in the American League, so an OPS 200+ points lower than we expected out of him is now acceptable.

Recipe to beat the White Sox. 1) Don't respect them at all 2) Run at will on everyone but Buehrle 3) Simply throw a sinker over the plate and induce a double play to clear the bases 4) Pick off Pierre if he's ever on base, run for the extra base if you hit the ball in his direction 5) Erase from your memory that Dunn, Rios and Beckham were once all-star caliber players when facing them 6) No matter how many errors you make, they won't capitalize, so just relax if you're playing defense 7) Very few Sox runners can score from 2nd on a base hit or 3rd from a sac fly...so make their hitters put 3 hits together in an inning

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 01:23 PM) I'm more sad about Holmberg than Hudson. Because he was included as well or because you believe he'll actually be better? Really?

Note to White Sox. Blackburn will throw centercut fastballs at 90 MPH to start off most AB's. God, Rios is amazingly predictable. Sure, he hit the ball hard in that first appearance but he's paid to produce. Same with Dunn. And a timely base hit from Beckham wouldn't be too bad, either.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 10:07 AM) Should Phil Humber be asking to pitch on 3 days rest today? Should he say "Forget Mark Buehrle, I should be pitching today cause I'm better than him!" I'm sure they do look forward to attempting to beat their divsion rival, but you can't step on the toes of your rotation mates like that. I just find the fact that they were FINALLY working in the morning before the game on the slidestep with Gavin a bit disconcerting. Even more troubling is the "it is what it is" attitude about our attempts by pitchers to hold runners and/or AJ's ability to throw them out. No problems with Buehrle starting at all. That's not my point. It's just that we never, EVER seem to learn from past mistakes against this team. Liriano could be out there on the mound and our batters would be taking swings like it was the first time they'd ever faced him. Oops, they already did that the last couple of times they faced him. You thought with Santana and Radke gone, Liriano and Nathan injured....that sooner or later our luck would have changed. It's like that classic movie "Groundhog Day" although not nearly as amusing. I halfway expect to see the ghosts of Lew Ford, Denny Hocking, LeCroy, Corey Koskie, Mike Redmond, Henry Blanco, Nick Punto, Jason Bartlett and Jason Tyner taking the field today in a tribute to past triumphs over the Sox. I hate that Peavy's been a disaster with us, but he's at least the type of guy who would publicly accept the challenge of beating them...and confronting this "jinx" we seem to have against the Twins. It's going to have to come from some of the players (or future players) who don't have such long histories of consistently losing against the Twins. Instead of signing aging NL players, we should be signing all ex-Yankees not named Swisher. Or signing Twins players away from Minnie. What other options are left?

Honestly, if we had the Phillies' Big Four as our starting rotation, I'm not 100% sure it would matter against the Twins. As soon as they slipped on White Sox pinstripes, the "Twins Fear" would creep into them. Maybe they all need Green Lantern rings to counteract the effects.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jun 16, 2011 -> 09:44 AM) Can we win a game against the undermaned Twins please! If the Twins were either horses at Arlington or nascent members in the Hair Club for men, they'd still be owning us. No, no, no to Mark Teahen!!!!! Konerko has to play. Unless you're sticking him in LF for Pierre. In which case, you just KNOW about 5+ balls would be hit his way which he would play into doubles and triples. Whatever weakness they have to exploit against us, they always seem to find it and hammer us into submission.