caulfield12

The Central will be a dogfight. Edwin Jackson is really pitching well for the Tigers. He shut out the M's (in SEA) for 7+ innings and then Seay and Rodney finished it. If they can get Bonderman back and/or Porcello pitches like Verlander in his rookie season, look out. They still don't really have a fifth starter (Robertson/Miner), but I think DET could end up being the best team in the division if Perry and Zumaya can team together with Lyon and Rodney to be a shutdown bullpen. That's assuming that their older guys like Ordonez, Guillen, Everett and Polanco can stay healthy. Minnesota will always be dangerous at home, but without 2006 Liriano and Mauer, they are a 85-87 win team, at best. Their bullpen still has gaping holes, and they will continue to flounder on the road, just as they're almost impossible to beat at home.

Zach Greinke downs the Rangers 2-0 with his first career shutout/CG. 34 consecutive scoreless innings stretching over 2 seasons (19 IP this year)...Harrelson's "man love" is right on this one. Royals now 7-4 and have beaten Rangers two in a row, tough to do in Arlington. Josh Hamilton is almost as lost as Alexei Ramirez. Also, the M's have really turned things around, kudos to Jack Z. and the gang, they lead AL in ERA under Rick Adair. Beat the Tiggers.

Ben Broussard was parked behind Betemit and Josh Kroeger on the depth chart. For all we know, he probably asked to be given the opportunity to find an organization that was a better fit.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Apr 18, 2009 -> 02:57 PM) I highly doubt it either. Which is why i love Maddon, Gardy, M.S. etc.. as managers. And please Ozzie, stop taking out BA in late innings. Give the guy some confidence for once. Wait a second...you're complaining because the move that Ozzie made actually worked out and Betemit got a hit in that situation? Well, you could argue he should have used the PH for Alexei Ramirez, but hasn't Ramirez earned the chance to work through his struggles based on last year...and the falloff to Betemit at SS (then you have to burn another player to put in Lillibridge) compared to Owens/Lillibridge in CF is greater.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Apr 18, 2009 -> 09:25 AM) Unlike, Swisher that's a sample size that's going to rapidly plummet. You're telling me that you expect Swisher to win the AL MVP? Because if he keeps these numbers up all season, there's no way he doesn't finish ahead of even the beloved Jeter.

But Blanco would be more expensive than Josh Anderson, for sure. Maybe Poreda, Allen, someone like that...the Braves won't just give him away for free to us, they have no incentive to do so...and he's their primary "insurance" behind Schafer. Not to mention the fact that Blanco has a major league track record of relative success that Josh Anderson didn't. The way Poreda has looked, I'm not sure they would take him for Blanco. Probably...but he hasn't even been throwing 93-94-95-96 yet. He's in the low 90's. And Matt Thornton can get crushed at 96-97 as a one pitch pitcher, as we saw last night.

Still would like to see him drive in a runner...but the ball he hit today up the middle was too hard to score AJ. At least I've seen a few small signs of progress, and he seems to be making a bit better contact.

Well, we had this argument about Taveras for 2 months at least this offseason... Hopefully Anderson can man up and do the job at least until the trading deadline.

Probably everyone but Alexei Ramirez will hit for the cycle at the rate things are going. Well, I can't say that anything the Twins do will surprise me...at least in their Humpty Dome. Without Mauer. But they're not facing the best of the Angels' starters by a long shot. Of course, when we face them, you know we'll get Lackey/Saunders/Weaver/Santana/Escobar.

We'll see if Konerko has another lingering wrist/hand injury again early this season...he looked really bothered last night by that ball that got into his kitchen.

I don't think Gordon was rushed...he was the equivalent of Beckham coming up sometime in August or September of this season. I do think there was too much in the way of pressure and expectations, but he was ready from a physical standpoint, in the same way Jon Garland was ready in 2000...keep in mind, the Mike Sweeney Era in KC was ending and Gordon is from nearby NEB and there was the expectation in the KC papers and media that he would be the next Royals' franchise player. You can also look at Zach Greinke in the same way...physically, he was ready from the day he was drafted, but the mental/psychological side is much more difficult. Beckham, IMO, has a better "make-up" to deal with adversity than Gordon, and I know how good Gordon was, the Golden Spikes winner. Yankees come back against the Indians and win 6-5 behind a Mariah Carey homer...Reyes pitched decently and had a 5-3 lead in the middle innings, but the Achilles' heel (unless they start using Wood for multiple innings) is going to be exposed, and it's one area where the White Sox and Royals have an advantage. Perhaps the Royals too, with Juan Cruz, Farnsworth (sometimes) and Mahay. Actually, the Indians really pushed Mo Rivera, they had runners on 1st and 2nd with one out but Sizemore and DeRosa went down against the best closer in MLB history. Cleveland falls to 3-8 now, 3 GB.

Don't like the way Thome and Ramirez look, or how big Jenks has gotten. Well, I remember when Matt Guerrier was traded for Damaso Marte, their GM AND McClendon were gloating about how Guerrier was the "next Greg Maddux" and how they were going to have to release Marte anyway because he was out of options and they already had their lefty set-up guys. We all know how that trade worked out. Nice prediction there Pirates phools. Actually, the Pirates missed out (twice, once on Marte, who'd already been with the Yankees and M's) because they didn't realize he (Guerrier) could be a decent long man and 6th/7th inning guy. Of course, it took the Twins to pick up on that. As far as Marquez goes, the true proof in the pudding will come when they have to use him or Richard at some point when Contreras or Colon go down. We all know Charlotte is a "hitter's park," just like BIRM is a "pitcher's park," so let's just give him a year in our system before we jump to premature evaluations. The point with letting Garland and Vazquez go is that KW felt there was a decent opportunity to approximate those numbers from someone like Richard or Marquez at league minimum. Second point, the trade is really Viciedo and Betemit for Swisher, forget about Marquez and Jhonny Nunez.

And God help the White Sox if they figured out how good David Ortiz was going to be and he had remained in Minnesota. Then again, if they had any money, they probably would have picked Mark Prior over Mauer and look where they'd be...

Reminds me of the Iowa football visiting locker room being painted pink...by Hayden Fry.

Well, he made contact on the hit-and-run...for once a ball didn't go in the direction of a fielder, because the SS was covering the bag. The other thing Harrelson has been picking on early this season is dipping the back shoulder, which is causing an upward plane swing and causing the likes of Lillibridge and Getz to hit the ball more into the air. Chris was looking much better in ST...but hopefully he'll come out of it. Ozzie seems satisfied with him at leadoff for now, as long as the team's winning and he's getting walks or making things happen with his hustle. I imagine it would be acceptable (to Ozzie) as long as he had a 320-330 OBP, although that's not ideal. Thome and Ramirez are more of a concern right now. As far as bigger SS's go...well, would Ripken even make the Hall of Fame if it weren't for the consecutive games played streak??? Maybe not. There was that point about 10-12 years ago when you had Garciaparra, Jeter, Tejada, A-Rod, Carlos Guillen, etc. and a couple of others all coming into the league and dominating as offense-first SS's. Vizquel is the last of the breed...until the cycle/trend turns around. But even Omar was a very pesky/dangerous hitter in his prime, much more like Placido Polanco than Ozzie Guillen.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/wh...sside17.article At first, I was really annoyed with Cowley for writing this nonsense, but at least it made me laugh a little bit...with his trying so hard to be cool, hip and funny. BA, please spend more time working on your swing and less time worried about ghosts, thank you. Or maybe the ghosts stole his swing with RISP? Anderson tried to downplay the story before Thursday's Sox-Rays game. ''We got in late, we wanted to get a good night sleep and we figured, hey, if something does come about, as a unit, we can team up against it,'' Anderson said. So he and Quentin were scared of something happening? ''No, I don't believe in that stuff,'' Anderson said, ''but we kind of looked at each other and said, 'Let's just get a room, man, and we'll share it and we can get a good night's sleep.' ''Everyone was chattering about it on the bus, so we were like, 'Dude, let's just get a room together. I don't want to deal with this, even if someone messes with us.' We just wanted to get a good night's sleep.'' During this series, Anderson is sleeping by himself like a big boy -- but in the Guest Towers, the newer, non-haunted part of the hotel. Jermaine Dye also was thinking about having his room changed to the Guest Towers after Thursday's game, even though he's on the third floor of the main hotel. The only members of the Sox' party currently on the fifth floor of the main hotel -- considered the hot spot of the hauntings -- are MLB.com writer Scott Merkin, who has promised to make any female ghost his Facebook friend if he sees one, and catcher A.J. Pierzynski, who dared any ghosts to come into his room. Pierzynski has three rooms on the fifth floor for his family but wouldn't say if he has Room 521 because he doesn't want his teammates harassing him. ''If I do have 521, maybe I'll put my kids in there,'' Pierzynski joked. Now the kicker: The Sci Fi Channel show ''Ghost Hunters'' investigated the Vinoy last July, and according to one of the hotel workers, since the TV crew left, ''there has been a beehive of paranormal activity, especially on the fifth floor.'' Sounds like a fun weekend. Can any of them play center field?

Staying at leadoff: Chris Getz returned to the leadoff spot despite a .263 on-base percentage. "[The numbers] haven't been great, but they've been good enough," Guillen said of Getz, who missed two games because of a bruised right elbow. "We won a couple of games, he was on base a couple of times and we could do some stuff when he's on base. He [allows] the No. 3, 4, 5 hitters to get another at-bat. [Getz] is the one that's going to be there until we think he can't do it anymore." www.chicagotribune.com/sports Nix has never really played any position regularly but 2B, and coming back from a quadriceps injury, that's the LAST place you would want to put him...in CF. Look at what happened to Jose Valentin, a better athlete than Jayson Nix. Besides, the fact is that Nix is only a factor in the possible mix because of his "Gold Glove" defense at 2B, because his bat has been spotty and he didn't hit as well as expected in Colorado. But he's not the type of hitter you would count on having an 800+ OPS.

Before the game, Guillen said, "There is not a legit center fielder out there that we can look for." That leaves Anderson with the first shot, although Guillen raised some questions about his billing as a former first-round pick. "Maybe he is what he is," Guillen said of Anderson, who lost the starting center-field job in 2006 and is 2-for-12 this season. "We made a lot of mistakes with first-round picks for a long time here. Thank God we changed that scenario. "But I think whoever picked him in the first round ... the tools are there. He has the tools. But he has to show people the tools." Guillen would like to see more of the production Anderson displayed in the ninth when he singled with one out, moved to third on Chris Getz's hit-and-run single and scored on Fields' hit. "If Brian doesn't do the job, somebody else will," Guillen said before the game. "Who? We have to figure out who it's going to be. ... But right now, I don't have Plan B or C if Brian doesn't do the job. I want to see Brian's at-bats and see how that works." Before the game, Anderson was grateful just to get another shot at regaining the job. "They think I can do the job, so it's just a matter of getting on a roll and making the best of the opportunity," Anderson said. "Like [Wednesday], I got a couple of at-bats and it felt good. But I don't feel like I'm in the groove yet. I need to get into one and see how long I can keep it." chicagotribune.com/sports from suntimes.com/sports ''There isn't a legit center fielder out there that we can look for,'' Guillen said Thursday. ''We're trying to put the best guy there. I'm begging those guys to start playing the way we think they can play. Not because I don't have patience on how they're playing; it's because I don't have the patience to try to figure out who is going to be the guy. ''It's funny, if we win the game, we have a good center fielder. If we lose, we need a center fielder, a leadoff guy, we need a reliever.'' With Dewayne Wise out possibly until June with a separated right shoulder, Brian Anderson has the first opportunity to replace him. Considering Anderson stranded five of the first seven runners the Sox left on base Thursday night, there has to be an alternate plan, right? ''If Brian doesn't do the job, somebody else will,'' Guillen said. ''Who? We've got to figure out who it's going to be. But right now, I don't have no Plan B or C if Brian doesn't do the job. I want to see Brian's at-bats and see how that works. Just get better at-bats than what he's got and be aggressive -- that's it. I sound like 2006 when he was in the plans every day. I had to answer the same questions: 'What do you need from him?' Better at-bats. That's all.''

1) Bonser hasn't really been a major factor for 2 years...he's just their long man and was "trade bait" throughout last season...he has never reached the results he had in 2006-07 2) Liriano, unless he can really unwind that slider with maximum effort and velocity, is more like a #3 starter 3) They do miss Mauer 4) Carlos Gomez is really, really bad so far this year...and their idea of rotating Young, Kubel, Cuddyer and Span and Gomez isn't working 5) Baker got rocked his first game back, and at the Dome, which was a bit surprising, as he's their true ace now, not Liriano 6) Perkins, Slowey and Blackburn have pitched very well... 7) The Twins, like the White Sox....didn't do anything besides the Crede acquisition, and the move to get Luis Ayala for 8th inning set-up wasn't enough....would have been SO much better with Juan Cruz. Guerrier was the one who was really rocked last night, and he was their primary RH set-up guy last year. Crain is Crain, like Dotel, very talented but erratic. Actually, I would say Dotel has been much better than the 08/09 Crain. They caught lightning in a bottle with both Breslow (released twice) and Mijares (overweight) from the LH side, and also made the mistake of letting consistent Sox Slayer Mr. Denys Reyes go...who eventually signed for something like $1 million. That Bartlett/Garza for Young trade is still killing them. Punto isn't an everyday player offensively, and neither is Crede. Young doesn't fit with that team...and Gomez can't get his OBP close to 300. Casilla also hasn't hit as well as projected...I thought the wise thing would have been for them to move him to SS, with Harris/Tolbert/FA (like Orlando Hudson) playing 2B. Or they could have used that money (that they saved on Nick Punto's contract) on a RH reliever like Juan Cruz. Mulvey/Humber, the pitchers from the Mets with Gomez (they got hosed in that Santana trade) have both been major disappointments.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 16, 2009 -> 08:25 PM) The good news? Our team batting average just jumped up a lot. And our leadoff hitter went 2/5. I think that doubles the number of hits we've had out of the leadoff spot this year. Between giving the Tigers double figures in walks on Monday and then having 14 hits, 1/11 with RISP and a "bad luck" bounce in the 9th inning go against us (not to mention Gross won a game in extras last year the Sox, I think Linebrink was pitching)...we can thank our lucky stars we're 2-1 on this road trip so far.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 16, 2009 -> 08:25 PM) The good news? Our team batting average just jumped up a lot. And our leadoff hitter went 2/5. I think that doubles the number of hits we've had out of the leadoff spot this year. 4/35 on the season now...something like that. We can think Ozzie for one of those four hits.

Wow...game had the feel of one our typical Dome losses after going 3 for 13 with RISP. Kudos to Ozzie for using the hit-and-run, for Chris Getz at least making contact and Josh Fields having a heckuva game to go along with JD (horrible baserunning tonight, but Cox should never have stopped him from scoring the 3rd run) and John Danks. Just glad this game didn't get away and Danksie ending up with a ND after so many tough-luck ND's and losses last year, including his first outing of 2009. Especially after that bad luck bounce on Iwamura's ball. Anderson STILL needs to cut down on his swing and keep his head in there. Harrelson is exactly right...pure textbook clinic on what NOT to do when you're hitting, although that extra run in the 9th turned out to be the game winner. Brian AT LEAST didn't strike out with his two opportunities with RISP...but he's now 1 for 15 with the bases loaded in his career. Sort of the anti-Alexei Ramirez, who is already 8 for 19 with 4 GS's in those same situations. I think perhaps the thing that Anderson is WORST at is cutting down his swing there and just guiding a nice ground ball or soft liner anywhere up the middle or to the opposite side when they're giving you a run and you turn it down, which has now happened three times in a row. Alexei has also looked in a fog almost all season but at least you feel pretty confident he'll pull out of it after he makes the adjustment on all those breaking pitches he's being bombarded with. By the way, according to Stats and Elias Sports Bureau, we had the worst bench in the history of "modern" baseball. Corky Miller Brent Lillibridge Jerry Owens Wilson Betemit (the only thing close to a threat, and only against RHP)

Barons lost 4-2 to drop to a record of 5 and 2. About the only good things to happen were Viciedo and Shelby were both 2 for 4, and Viciedo had an RBI. Dayan hasn't had many XB hits yet, but that will come. Kyle McCulloch, the incredibly shrinking prospect, pitched decently but took the loss.

Sure, take someone like Huston Street who's close to major league ready to 40, or in the 3rd round...but you don't have to use your first round draft pick. The pitchers with the truly "plus-plus" arms aren't going to be available (if they are refined at all) in the first round. You just have to hope you can unearth a diamond in the rough like Nathan Jones or find someone in Asia or Latin America (like Mo Rivera or Carlos Lee).

You never take a pitcher with the idea of them being a reliever to start off with...it's like taking a punter or kicker in the first 3 rounds of the NFL draft. We made that mistake once with Royce Ring, and it was a waste...unless someone has just an extraordinary arm, and Ring doesn't qualify on that count. It's much better to find someone like Poreda who might be missing a secondary pitch but at least, if coachable/teachable, has a ceiling as a 1-3 starter. The bullpen is WAY too much of a crapshoot to think you can draft someone who will automatically be successful in that role, there are just too many unknowns.