caulfield12

Is this one of those "happily content to take 2/3" games where we just don't seem to have the burning/driving ambition to put our foot on the neck of the opponent and crush them?

Who was arguing the other day about picking Danks over Floyd to start the 3rd game of a playoff series? The 3-2 lockdown curve on Nix might turn out to be the pitch of the game. Danks just not pitching well...we have to leave him out there a little bit longer to try to work through his problems, but we also shouldn't let the lead get bigger than 3 either. CLE played well against the Twins and they're relaxed now with all the trades over, so they don't have pressure to do anything but be a spoiler. Those teams are always the most dangerous to contending teams.

White Sox, 26th in MLB Fielding Percentage at .980. 3rd in total errors committed (leading the entire American League), with 82, trailing only: 1. Washington Nationals, 98 2. Arizona Diamondbacks, 88 Besides moving Dye to DH, where can we get improvement in this area? Signing a leadoff hitter who can play CF at a high level? Keeping Beckham at 3B, Ramirez at SS and Nix/Getz at 2B? Or moving Beckham to 2B, leaving Ramirez at SS with Nix and/or Getz traded and a veteran 3B brought in (along the lines of Herbert Perry in 2000)? Are we sure we wouldn't be better off with Nix playing more against RHP than he has been, because of the clear advantage he provides defensively over Getz? How much can Getz improve defensively? Finally, with Fields and Viciedo defensively-challenged, dare we come into the season with either one of those players pencilled in as the starter in 2010, if they did make the internal decision to move Gordon over to second?

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ Aug 5, 2009 -> 07:36 PM) Disagree. I think BA had decent ones....as long as he wasn't hitting. I think Ramirez gets by on athletic ability rather than any baseball instincts. I won't argue you on the other two guys though. Alexei can adjust better than any batter on our team from pitch to pitch...he has the quickest hands and bat speed. Anderson has NO offensive plan or instincts whatsoever. He had no concept of situational hitting or shortening his swing. Defensively, both are capable of the spectacular and brain cramps. BA missed quite a few cut-off men and despite his "strong" arm it was never a weapon that struck fear into the hearts of opponents. Ramirez has a better arm, comparatively, for his position. Anderson is arguably a less instinctual baserunner than Ramirez, although both have their moments...Valentin and Ventura were two of the best I've seen with the Sox, although neither were close to fast...

Quentin's swing is getting closer and closer....just missed it.

Alexei's baseball instincts are fine, it's just his concentration and focus that are lacking. But his baseball "instincts" are a lot better than the likes of BA, Fields or Borchard, etc.

Minnesota has the best defense now in the ALCD with the addition of Cabrera and moving Punto over to 2nd...very solid OF and Cuddyer has a strong arm. But their rotation is very, very bad...and no offense outside of their Big 4. The Tigers have the starting pitching, but not enough offense (unless Guillen and Ordonez really pick it up, and Thomas/Raburn continue to progress) and a similar bullpen to ours. And they have so many pitchers with high IP and pitch counts (Verlander/Porcello/Jackson)...which will come into play down the stretch.

Francisco Liriano getting torched again. Interesting, the Jeff Passan article today argues that it's almost 100% because of his "horrible" fastball and not because of the diminished torque on his slider...which is down in the mid to low 80's from 86-90 when he was so dominating in 2006.

Is this the worst White Sox team defensively you can remember? Worse than 2000? Also, what's the worst defensive club to win a World Series? Seems pretty impossible to win it all with our defense and shaky bullpen...hopefully, this too, shall pass. But JD needs to be a full-time DH. 5 errors and countless missed catches or balls falling out of his grasp just foul that should have been outs...not good. 12th in AL FIELDING PCTGE.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting/_/pos.../OPS/order/true Trailing only Hawpe and Justin Upton in OPS for RFers this season. Of course, if you take defense and throwing into consideration, someone like Ichiro would be perfect to have...but that's never going to happen until he's 40+ years old, like all the Hall of Famers who blow through Chicago about 5 years past their primes.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Aug 4, 2009 -> 01:24 AM) What about resigning Pods for one more year and hoping Mitchell has a really quick year in 2010 in AA/AAA? I kinda think if he keeps doing well in Kanny he will go to the AFL and tear it up and then get a ST invite and then AA. Kinda like Beckham. It seems Mitchell (despite SEC pedigree too) is more of a raw or unfinished product who will need at least two years in the minors from all reports.

QUOTE (knightni @ Aug 3, 2009 -> 10:24 PM) Gordon had the most saves in 2003 and Marte was in double digits. Bob James was his name; and yes, I did include him - he was the main closer in 1985 and parts of '86 and '87. Dennis Lamp and Salome Barojas were the Sox's closers in '83. http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHW/1983.shtml Isn't Salome Bajoras dead? Or was it Ernesto Escarregga or something like that who died? Joe DeSa...one of them or two.

Nix, Getz=more value to Sox than a return in trade, like a pitcher. Nix can't play everyday, he's a platoon player in all likelihood against LHP. If all three were on the market (including Fields), Josh would bring the most back in return, by far.

In terms of getting a running start, coming into the ball instead of falling back and catching on his heels or flat footed, DAMON/DEJESUS/Lance Johnson/Pierre are all WAY better than Dye. His "reputation" about a cannon arm made him lazy and get into some bad habits and he's never corrected them, and no team has really bothered to call him out on it, either. Unfortunately. It has cost us some extra bases and runs at times over the last five seasons.

Scott Gregor=not so smart as other beat writers Really, buying into the Dye "rocket arm" crap? Yes, when he played for the Braves, or Macon in 1994. I saw him then, because I was working with the Augusta GreenJackets. Only Jose Guillen, Vlad Guerrero and Ruben Rivera (before his injury problems) had better throwing arms. But he hasn't been a great thrower or above average RF or 8-10 years, before the broken leg. And he catches every ball flat footed and never gets a good running start into it...heck, Pods has better throwing fundamentals, or Juan Pierre.

Everything in this economic market is about "value" Mr. Allen. You wouldn't say who cares about the market value of your house, would you? Every homeowner, and team owner, wants to get the best possible value (buy low, sell high) out of his assets....there's "worth," like Roy Halladay, and then there's what another team is actually willing to part with him to acquire said asset. The Mona Lisa might be "worth" $1-2 billion USD, but only if someone was/is willing to part with their money for Mr. DaVinci's painting. Alexei Ramirez and Gordon Beckham are "worth" more than any position players on our team...along with Carlos Quentin. Gordon Beckham becomes a much more valuable asset playing above-average defense up the middle, hitting 50 doubles, 20 homers with a .300 AVG and 100 RBI's than he does as a corner IF or corner OF. Which is also why Flowers is worth a ton if he can catch and Viciedo if he can play 3B....and Danks/Mitchell if they can leadoff and play CF well.

Who preferably hits LH...so that means the likes of Dunn and/or Abreu, Blalock could also be brought in for 3B with Beckham shifting, giving us a very very potent offensive line-up. Will probably see either Kotsay OR Wise around next year, too.

Not taking into consideration the POSSIBLE money from the Phils for THOME ("secret" Gillick handshake deal on the option year) and the hefty insurance contract we just took on (transferred) from SD with Jake Peavy's contract. And Viciedo, although he's not counted as part of our roster...it's money the organization has taken out of Swisher's contract to pay someone else that could have been on the MLB roster. We've also added Castro and Pena, so the team has gotten more and more expensive as the season has worn on, NOT cheaper.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Aug 3, 2009 -> 08:15 PM) Quoted for truth. I'll vote for Getz and Carrasco, and D. Wise, just to aggravate everyone completely.

Marte might have beeen our closer for a couple of weeks, at most. And Gordon wasn't IT for very long either, that season. You forgot to mention Bill James, he had some very decent years with the White Sox, especially 1983.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 3, 2009 -> 07:22 PM) I'd rather pay Jenks (or another accomplished closer) for 2010 than pay Webb to be a 5th starter. Assuming that Peavy's healthy later this summer, our rotation is in pretty freaking good shape. But our bullpen's going to have some serious holes this winter. Mike Gonzalez (32) Kevin Gregg (32) Trevor Hoffman (42) Fernando Rodney (33) Rafael Soriano (30) Jose Valverde (30) Billy Wagner (38) - $8MM club option with a $1MM buyout Pretty sure Franklin will be back with STL, and wouldn't want him in the AL anyway.

We're 5-7 against them now...it's not like it's a 2001-2004 spread in this match-up. It always ends up almost exactly even when all the home and away games are completed.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 3, 2009 -> 07:17 PM) Oh, I'd love Victor Martinez. But wouldn't Konerko have veto rights on a trade? And would Kenny even want to deal The Captain? His new deal calls for him to receive $12 million annually. Chicago agreed to a limited no-trade clause that states he can't be dealt to six specified teams without his permission.

But NOT having a fifth starter can keep you out of post-season, surely. See Rogers, Kenny (2003) and look at the results of our fifth starters that season. It was truly abysmal/atrocious/egregiously bad.

Presenting the only thing better than AJ throwing.... Victor Martinez in the middle of the White Sox offense, sharing C/1B/DH with Flowers, Paulie and JD. LH bat problem solved. Victor isn't worth as much at 1B (see Mauer discussion), but if we could trade Jenks and Konerko (sell high again)....wouldn't we be better off with Victor Martinez, Flowers and Dye and using the leftover money for CF/leadoff/LF/RF? You know Ozzie and KW are very familiar with Victor Martinez. Interesting thought. Don't think the Red Sox will bring him back...well, depends on what happens with Varitek, I suppose. But don't think Francona wants Martinez as their 60-75% of the PT starting catcher.