caulfield12

AJ and Getz should be the bottom of the line-up on a World Series contending team. Ramirez would be hitting 2nd, 6th or 7th. We're just not that team yet...taking a chance with Rocco Baldelli wouldn't have been the worst idea in the history of the world either, if they could have gotten him for the same money Boston forked over.

QUOTE (kwolf68 @ Apr 7, 2009 -> 03:55 PM) Some have complained that Kenny has failed to get the part needed, but it sounds like to me he is as frustratated as anyone that we have to start with Wise in CF. I think the options out there are too costly, or are not that much of an upgrade anyway. He was probably hoping for an in house solution (Lillibridge), but that never came to fruition. Getz is not a leadoff hitter, he is a prototypical #2. Alexei isn't leadoff material either. Nor Brian Anderson. Jerry Owens was jettisoned to the softball beer leagues leaving us with DeWayne Wise. I think Kenny knows a real legit leadoff hitter who could hit you .280/.380+ with 25+ steal potential makes this team all the more dangerous and don't think he hasn't tried to right that ship. Be patient...I have a feeling Kenny will get the right guy to fill that spot sooner rather than later...Wise is going to be too much to overcome. Well, then the Royals have the two perfect ones going by that description in DeJesus and Crisp. I still have no idea why we didn't go after CoCo...he'll give you a 350 OPB or so and not hurt you offensively or defensively. I think he would actually be almost the perfect fit for this team (I know that ship has already sailed) and it's just aggravating we didn't make an offer. I can see not spending that money on Taveras...by the way, Homer Bailey is back down in the minors, I wonder if we could still make the Dye for Bailey/Dickerson trade with Jocketty?

Ramirez will be fine at #2. Even if Alisay and AJ had an identical OBP, it wouldn't be a tough decision, because Ramirez can fly around the basepaths, whereas AJ is one of our basecloggers. I heard KW say that getting more athletic from 1-2 and 8-9 in the order is his objective. Well, that's fine, as long as those four players are Ramirez, Getz, Anderson and Fields (and eventually Beckham). Someday soon, Beckham will be there in the leadoff spot, because he has all the confidence in the world to do almost anything on the diamond...we might have to move Ramirez out to CF if KW can't come up with a better solution. Getz should be left alone in the 2 hole if at all possible (but it doesn't look like it will be possible). AJ should be at the bottom of the order. If Josh Fields is hitting 9th, Alexei should have plenty of opportunities to drive in Fields and Getz. Would rather have Fields batting 2nd than AJ, fwiw.

Well, I should have waited until after the game...when I posted this, I had the idea we were going to lose and have the need to vent for the next 30 hours...so it was more for therapeutic purposes. The fact of the matter is that everyone is already on Wise, you can already hear the boos coming from the fans today. I feel sorry for him a bit, but you shouldn't be feeling sorry for your leadoff hitter after just one game in a season. So many positives: 1) Fields and Getz 2) Thome's bat 3) Buehrle's perseverance 4) the entire bullpen NEGATIVES: 1) we are slow 2) we are slow 3) we are really slow 4) we are still station-to-station offensively 5) Quentin seems to be really fighting himself at-bat

I can't believe Guillen left Wise out there in the bottom of the 9th on defense. If you can't hit a high fastball or hanging slider and the the only balls you can foul off are low in the zone, there's a major problem.

Please put Anderson in CF, stat...and hopefully we will never see Wise again this season. Now we only have to worry about Carlos Quentin's bat.

Fire away! Couldn't be a more brutal game...three strikeouts and a failed sacrifice...when he didn't execute and Olivo dove to catch it, that was his best play of the day, and would have put Fields on 2nd and now the game would be tied. But he can't even mess up correctly. Let's try Jerry Owens tomorrow. It couldn't get any worse. Everyone has seen this one coming like a deer in the headlights.

That pitch almost looked more like a cutter, which I guess is a faster slider, essentially. Wonder if they'll trot out Mr. Farnsworth to get torched by the White Sox...traditionally we own that guy. Meche has REALLY settled down, though. Any game you have that bases loaded situation and don't really take advantage, it usually comes back to haunt you, although the Royals essentially did the same thing. On a positive note, Wise is making Meche throw a few pitches to strike him out every time up. He just looks overmatched up there today against Meche.

Nice inning for CR. If he can be solid, that gives us five quality guys in the bullpen...not counting on much from MacDougal and Carasco but mop-up, "maintaining the deficit" for our offense to catch back up and blowout innings.

I think Aviles is going to be exposed this year. No way he puts up the same numbers offensively as last year, and he's going to be a very much below-average defender at SS. That combo up the middle with Teahen might be the worst defensively in the entire major leagues. Teahen really misplayed that ball Getz hit into the hole and Jacobs dove over for a "gift" hustle double.

Still, Brian Anderson is FAR from the answer at leadoff. It's the SAME exact problem we've been looking straight in the face for five months now.

Well, Buehrle battled his butt off. We now shall see how good our "second tier" relievers are in the heat of a close game. Very encouraging defense today...Josh had a ball go by him because he was protecting against an Olivo bunt, but that "jump pass" might end up being the key out of the game if the White Sox can come back and win. The teams have traded numerous opportunities back and forth, with neither team getting an clutch hits to create some breathing room. Getz and Ramirez are looking like a promising keystone combo.

I feel sorry for Wise and/or Anderson, because they're going to be subjected to a ton of pressure leading off...Anderson at least has his "fanbase" to support him, but I think 98% of the fanbase doesn't have much faith or confidence in Wise. This game is looking like it will test Carasco, Richard, Dotel and MacDougal with Mark's accelerating pitch count. Buehrle just doesn't have any command today at all.

Thome would have scored because DeJesus' throw was well off...but you can't take that chance. JD just doesn't run well...but it's not very often you see a runner w/ 2 outs held up at 3B on that play. But at least Fields came through through...and Aviles has NO range whatsover, so a normal SS would have had a DP and two outs and that inning would have turned out quite differently.

I am surprised Mariotti hasn't come up with one...just to get back in the public eye. The problem, of course, is that he never breaks any news, he just takes quotes and information from other media members and repackages it as his own. So the irony is that while Jay was complaining about the newspapers being irrelevant in terms of their on-line presence, it's his style of journalism which doesn't fit the new world of twitter and blogging.

QUOTE (JorgeFabregas @ Apr 7, 2009 -> 09:33 AM) I think the Twins are a pretty clear #1 in terms of rotation. However, I think the Sox have the second best rotation and second best lineup--while the Twins' lineup may be the worst in the division. If the Sox' defense is decent (which is no sure thing), then they should have a good shot at winning the division. I don't know...Baker is injured right now, and Slowey will have to prove himself year after year with his so-so stuff. OTOH, he's probably the best candidate (along with Sonnanstine) to evolve into the next Greg Maddux. Liriano might be able to throw 93-95 right now, but he still can't bust off that slider like he used to...that was his elimination pitch, like Johan's change-up that you just can't touch even if you're looking for it. I have a feeling he will never be anything but a #3 (possibly #2) for the rest of his career, before his elbow goes out again. It will be too much of temptation for him to throw that slider again, because his FB is pretty flat and is going to be hit hard if he doesn't get ahead in the count. Overall, Baker probably will be a better pitcher than Liriano from this point forward. Let's not forget, Perkins and Blackburn were VERY shaky down the stretch, Perkins was even skipped in the rotation he was doing so poorly (kind of like their pitching version of our Nick Swisher). Did anyone see Swisher's antics in the dugout yesterday when he got that PH double? Same old Nick, minus the facial hair. I just don't see him being happy getting only 150 at-bats in NY.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Apr 7, 2009 -> 10:27 AM) The key for a Buerhle today is to attack the right handed hitters in. Drive the cutter in, back them off the plate, and then dive away with the changeup. When Mark gets hurt by the Royals, its when he sets up away away away and the Royals hitters drive the ball into right center. Drive it in on their hands, and force them to pull it. Lets kick some Royal ass today. Do we really want them pulling so many balls to Josh Fields??? Well, Crisp, Butler and Teahen are the ones who have torched Mark routinely in the past...those will be three key match-ups to see how Mark is feeling out there with his stuff and a somewhat lingering concern about Mark's career workload and "dead arm" coming out of ST.

Ponson is the John Daly of MLB. However, he oozes (in a Terry Forster, tub of gooish way) with talent and goes out and beats the Dominican Republic in the WBC and yet another team thinks they can turn him around for good and gives him another chance...kind of like Jeff Weaver.

"I'm a little concerned," Redmond said. "A little more than normal." Redmond tries to avoid the training room at all costs, but he was in there after the game. "That's not a good thing," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "I don't have enough of those [catchers]."

Wouldn't it make more sense to use Danks against the Twins and RA Dickey on Friday night??? Contreras has always done pretty well against the Royals...

Still, it's pretty hard to argue with their level of success in working with the same type of pitchers that Cooper has excelled with. Chris Carpenter's career was going nowhere, despite all the talent in the world. Kyle Lohse...they even got a serviceable half-season out of Kip Wells. Ankiel is a hard one to explain, he's one of those guys a Disney movie (like The Rookie) should be made about his career someday, just like Josh Hamilton. Jeff Suppan would be another who rediscovered his career there...some others had mixed success, like Pineiro, Jeff Weaver, Sidney Ponson. Matt Morris really struggled after he left that team...although most of it was injuries taking their toll and age. The Benes brothers. They've seemingly done a very good job with Wainwright.

The division is ours for the taking. We can go out there and lead the whole season again, like 2005!!! Actually, it's very hilarious, the Twins and Indians fans are acting like the season is already over, they are jumping off Cliffs Lee like lemmings.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Apr 7, 2009 -> 12:16 AM) The rotations going into this year are going to be tougher than usual to gauge. Every team aside from the Sox has at least one very talented young pitcher who has never had success over a full season in the big leagues before. If one of Liriano, Reyes, Porcello, Jackson, or Davies stay healthy and go off this year then that man's team is going to be a lot more dangerous than it looks on paper. You've also got young pitchers who have had success in the past over a full season but are still young enough to be seen as question marks. Danks, Floyd, Slowey, Baker, Carmona, Greinke, Galarraga all fit this description. Then you've got the veterans in Colon, Contreras, and Pavano who could be huge pluses out of nowhere. The only pitcher in the whole division that I think you can call a consistent veteran that can be counted on is Mark Buehrle. Meche has only had two good years in a row and Lee has only had two above-average full seasons. Bottom line, there are going to be a lot of surprises. There will be breakouts, regressions, probably a veteran somewhere who will come back as an at least decent pitcher, and this will almost certainly be the division that leads the AL in number of different starting pitchers used. Each team may end up using at least 7 different starting pitchers, not counting make-up games. The Twins would appear to be the safest here in terms of depth, followed by the Royals (Hochevar, Cortes, Bannister), Tigers (Bonderman and Robertson), Indians (Westbrook later on, Laffey, Sowers), and lastly our Sox (Richard? Marquez? Poreda? Broadway? LOL we suck in this area, no good depth. Hopefully Harrell makes some noise this year, and I do like Egbert if he moves back to starting, plus there is Ely and Cassel, but there's virtually zero MLB experience here and nobody who looks like he could be better than a back-end guy sans Harrell). Yes, we're loaded with position prospects (I'm even sort of excited about Eduardo Escobar) and yet the only starters who might be CLOSE to legit are Poreda and Richard from all appearances. We need someone to step up out of nowhere in Winston-Salem and BIRM (like Santeliz) and have a DLS year and evolve to become a legit starting prospect. Marquez, after starting out looking like a possibility...has found himself in a sinkhole again. You just have to hope that Reyes turns out to be the Indians' version of Delmon Young. All the talent in the world, but a negative force/vibe in the clubhouse and with the coaching staff that negates his positive contributions. You look at their line-up, though, with the exception of Travis Hafner...they could be very very good if Choo, Francisco and Cabrera continue to progress. In many ways, the Indians are a mirror of the White Sox in terms of their issues (defense on the infield, back of the rotation, end of the bullpen, Wood's health I guess is more uncertain than Jenks...I also guess you could equate Hafner to one of our older "core" players going down with an injury, although it really looks at this point like you could stick a fork in him...they have two huge bats in Sizemore and Martinez, and Garko is relegated to the bench, with Shoppach being possibly the 2nd or 3rd best catcher in baseball this season (offensively/defensively) Imagine if Josh Barfield, Marte and Brandon Phillips all would have progressed? Phillips had a down year last season in terms of strikeouts and OBP, but he's the freaking clean-up hitter now for the Reds with Votto and Bruce around him. And he's a Gold Glove caliber defender, to boot. Still, I think the one move that will hurt them is giving up on Franklyn Gutierrez's defense. I think they will miss him, because Francisco and Choo on the corners are just so-so...which is yet another parallel with the White Sox. Still, I'll take my chances with Ozzie and Cooper and our staff over Wedge, who seems to never maximize the talent on that roster. They've got LaPorta coming...and we have Beckham/Viciedo, in terms of impact bats.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 6, 2009 -> 10:21 PM) Scott Lewis has been a pretty damn good pitcher coming up in the Indians system and I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up pitching like Nick Blackburn did last year. Anthony Reyes has been a pretty solid pitcher coming up and, from everything I've read, he never bought into the Dave Duncan pitching philosophy. In his final 6 starts last year, he absolutely f***ing dominated. Fausto Carmona has amazing stuff and was mediocre last year, but I could easily see him being good again this year. And that's completely forgetting that they have solid options in Westbrook (when he gets healthy), Sowers, and Adam Miller too. Add all of that to the fact that Cliff Lee should be solid again, and Pavano could very easily be a solid starter. Cleveland has had luck with atleast one pitcher like that in the past, and it may be more than that. I am never really sold on Cleveland, but they could very easily be a damn good team this year. I'm not so sold on the Millers, Zach Jacksons, Aaron Laffeys and Sowerses of the world. You're right though, Lewis AND Reyes both could end up having very similar seasons to what we got out of Danks and Floyd. Which leaves three more question marks....will Lee go backwards again like in his sophomore campaign, will the real Carmona show up (and when)?) and can Pavano be both healthy AND effective? Not to mention we don't know what they'll get out of Westbrook when he comes back, if anything.

Francisco Liriano, the last of the three supposed aces going today, gave up 4 runs to the new and improved M's and took the loss. I actually think the M's will end up better than the A's, just a gut feeling. They've really improved their defense quite a bit. They don't have the pitching YET, but I think their overall pitching will be better than the A's and Rangers, but the Rangers' offense will carry them to second place. Crain gave up another run, as usual...love to see that, in other ways, I don't...because it might actually force Bill Smith to do something more substantive than trading for Eddie Guardado or Luis Ayala. It really looked for a day or two like they might bite on Juan Cruz but I guess the price was too high. Something else that was interesting...Delmon Young was benched for Denard Span.