caulfield12

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 4, 2009 -> 05:28 PM) Nix really needs to stop being all pull happy. Today, with Wise on second, he got an easy pitch to poke through the right side for an easy RBI single, and instead he tried to pull it and rolled over it for an easy ground ball out to the left side. Ramirez gets into that habbit much too often as well. That's what happens when you get 4 homers so quickly and are tricked into thinking you're a power hitter at USCF. Ramirez has been very good at hitting up the middle and to the right side since he's recovered... KW made egregious mistakes overestimating the ability of Lillibridge, Owens and Corky Miller, not to mention Wise and Betemit (1/5th of a roster). He's addressed that with Castro and Beckham, but any casual White Sox fan knew this team would struggle offensively because the talent just wasn't there. We can't just take discards like Nix, Miller and Lillibridge and just POOF, hope they can become regulars or even contributors in the AL when they failed in the much softer NL. We're incredibly lucky to be 4 games out of first place at this point in the season. Mortgaging the future with trades for McLouth when we're still 2-3 more players away would be silly.

All 15,000+ season ticket holders could be against Greg Walker, and it wouldn't really matter. Realistically, what does one expect? Him to make lemons out of lemonade? This isn't the same team from last year. Quentin and Getz haven't been able to get into a consistent rhythm because they've been so injury-prone this season. Take away Carlos Quentin MVP 2008 and you'll get very inconsistent results. The struggles against LHP, rookies, journeymen, starters in their first outings against us, that goes back for at least a decade. Wise, Lillibridge, Owens, Corky Miller, etc., were getting significant at-bats and none of those guys should be utilized as anything but the last player off the bench. What hitting coach could get results from that group? Betemit couldn't field well at ANY infield position, so he became a liability and was strictly a salary dump for Uribe. Can we just get Uribe back and let Nix work on his hitting in Charlotte? That would be a much better idea. Betemit was perhaps our best hitter the 2nd half of ST, but he never was given consistent AB's, so how can Walker be blamed for that? Ramirez has seemingly come out of his slump, minus some of the power...but hopefully that will come. The core of the line-up (Thome, Dye, Konerko, AJ) has been just as good as or BETTER than expect (Konerko). Pods has been a pleasant surprise...considering it seemed like he was done 3 years ago. If there are any two players to be debated on this team (and Walker's affect/influence), it's Fields and Anderson, not coincidentally two former 1st rounders with wide-ranging takes on their ability to be regulars at this level. If we had a healthy CQ, and 2nd half 08 Alexei Ramirez and Gordon Beckham on this team and we were still getting shut out frequently, then you MIGHT be able to point a finger at Walker.

One must not forget that the White Sox invested more money in Dayan Viciedo than any player in the history of the game under 20 or 21. It's probably fair to say that they are both viewed equally in the eyes of Sox brass. (In fact, expectations for Joe Borchard having a huge offensive impact were higher on drafting than what almost everyone expects of Gordon, which is a doubles/gap hitter who will give you 15-25 homers and a .280-.310 BA.) Ramirez is DEFINITELY the SS of/for the present and future. You'd have to say having Beckham at 2B and Viciedo at 3B (because of his arm) is the best possible arrangement. Viciedo definitely has developed some bad habits, though. Just the other day he basically cost the Barons a game (along with 2 controversial calls) by trying to one-hand an infield pop fly when he should have used both hands. Whether it's laziness, lack of supervision, being "spoiled" at an early age in Cuba, lack of Tom Emanski/Fred McGriff proper techniques, it's hard to say. Beckham and Viciedo were expected to make a lot of errors. Derek Jeter had an incredible number in Greensboro in 1993...it's whether they can cut down the error totals to reasonable numbers that is the question. Viciedo, like Alexei, has also made some incredibly athletic and "nimble" plays and some of his errors also would have been bailed out by having Paul Konerko at 1B to field some of his throws. We just need to be a little more patient with both these guys.

KW pretty much lucked out with how Pods has performed so well, SO FAR. He's been fortunate with Clayton Richard, too. Or fortunate Peavy turned down that trade offer, it was legit. (Why they didn't find out if Jake would approve a trade without them guaranteeing the option year or asking for a year-to-year opt-out clause before it went public is an interesting question). The CF situation has only become murkier, although with the team playing so well, the short-term is obviously more important than one year from now. Will BA ever get a chance to prove himself against all pitching? Or is the organization silently waiting on Jordan Danks? Or where we see a Danks/Anderson platoon (haven't yet looked at Jordan's splits, but the assumption is Ozzie would go in this direction) in 2010? My position in the offseason was to go after Crisp, but he's been remarkably injury-prone. Taveras (maybe we could have gotten away with Josh Anderson, an Anderson Squared Platoon) and Edwin Jackson might have put this team over the top...and it would have taken two weapons away from the Tigers. But KW still has something up his sleeve. If we can go 8-4 and 9-3 on this coming homestand, it would really put us right back into the thick of things in the division race and all the discussion about 2010 suddenly becomes more interesting in terms of what players (if any) you're willing to sacrifice for another AL Central Division crowd with a team that's at least 2 players away. Do you trade the likes of Poreda or Flowers in hopes of replacating the 2006 Cardinals or 1987 Twins?

Butler is far from a home run hitter, but he's already hit 2 in his career against Mark. Although everyone (Hawk included) is patiently waiting for a 20+ HR season.

On the positive side, Buehrle has the most innings pitched of any MLB since the start of the 2001 season. He's also the only MLB pitcher to have 10+ wins, 30+ starts and 200+ IP in the last eight seasons. By the way, Mark Teahen owns Buerhle. PS: As usual, leaving the runner at 3rd base absolutely destroys any momentum for your team...seems like the other team always scores or takes control of the game after that happens.

Saw The Girlfriend Experience last night, latest Stephen Soderbergh project, along the lines of Full Frontal and Bubble. First of all, it's very topical. A lot of it was apparently shot in September/October last year when the economy was starting to crash and the election debate season was on at full-steam...there were also references to bailouts, etc. Sasha Grey is the star. For those who don't know her, Ms. Grey has made herself a "celebrity" through the XXX industry, but this was her first big mainstream project and might have been her last. At the heart of this movie, I guess, is the idea of men paying money to a hooker to have the experience of a girlfriend, except hotter than most men would be able to get on their own. Some of the reviews have criticized her for being such a one-dimensional character, but that's kind of the point of the movie...that men have the illusion of getting a g/f when really what they're actually receiving are the ideas and images that they project on her, not what she really is or might be behind the "stone wall" she puts up around herself, allowing her to handle her job. I guess the character's kind of modeled on the idea of someone like Ashley Dupree, the call girl that Eliot Spitzer got busted with...mixed in with vestiges of Demi Moore and a younger Jennifer Connelly without the huge chest. Entertainment Weekly gave this an A, but a lot of reviews have been really harsh. Another interesting element of this film was the relationship between Sasha Grey and her "real" boyfriend in the film, who works as one of those personal trainers who's always trying to get you to upgrade your comprehensive fitness and training package with him. This was the other side of the film...it's kind of a recounting of her different meetings with men (there's no sex and maybe 15 seconds of her body in shadows, titillation isn't the purpose here) juxtaposed against her attempts to have a normal relationship with her boyfriend, who's not really getting the "real" girlfriend experience either because he's so terribly jealous and inquisitive about his "competition." It's definitely worth seeing...it was good enough that I was disappointed when it ended and wanted to continue following the storyline and the two main characters.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ May 25, 2009 -> 11:42 PM) Give him nothing. Young has a career OBP of .297 playing in a band box in the NL. And that's about the same as Brian Anderson. And he's been more brutal this year. Young has twice as many MLB at bats as Anderson, and does not appear to be getting better. Even with his power, his OPS is below average for an NL CF in each of his 2 full seasons. Not exactly a star, and not exactly league average yet. But for at least 2 years people complained that we gave away for free Ken Griffy Jr. in his prime. Nevermind that we got a well-better-than league-average starter who averaged about 210 innings in his 3 years here, and we stole an MVP in Quentin from the team later. Not Griffey Jr., but more like Mike Cameron...although with the rate he's going, Chris will be lucky to have Mike's overall career...especially any Gold Gloves.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 25, 2009 -> 06:27 PM) The problem is...it's useful to have someone to play the OF who is on the bench, and that isn't Nix. Pods's correct place right now is sitting on the bench or playing if Dye or Quentin need a day off. Ditto for Wise if he ever comes back. But frankly, yes, I want to see Brian Anderson get 90%+ of the starts in CF the rest of the season, regardless of which hand the pitcher throws with, unless he's injured. We're going to need Nix and Betemit for 3B soon enough...although it's nice to have Nix to sub VERY occasionally in LF and RF, he shouldn't be playing CF unless we want to lose a game as a result. It has worked with Nix playing out of position so far this year, but that doesn't mean it won't blow up in Ozzie's face eventually. Offensively, Nix isn't the type of hitter that belongs in the outfield either, he's clearly an infielder in terms of production/potential. In a way, it already did. Nix started in LF and almost ran into Pods coming over from CF, but part of that's on Pods as well for not being authoritative enough. And liners hit directly into the gap between two players are the hardest for one player to call the other off.

Poreda's #13 on the Prospect Hot Sheet. Not sure if that's been posted. Also, that Santana trade is looking worse and worse for the Twins...Smith hasn't distinguished himself with his first two big trades. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prosp...009/268168.html

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 25, 2009 -> 06:04 PM) Um, because Anderson was on the 15 day DL and Brent Lillibridge was awful in a way few mortals can fathom? So if you were KW, you would release Wise and/or Pods and just give Anderson the job (against all pitchers) for the remainder of the season? We might as well...especially if Pods shows no ability to steal a base besides getting picked off and being in the path of the throw or waiting to play against first baseman who throw like Frank Thomas to second.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 25, 2009 -> 05:57 PM) How come Hawk's not getting on Pods for all the weak fly balls he's hitting? The funny thing is that Pods is showing more ability to bunt now than he ever did in 2005 and 2006. The same reason that he's playing Getz about 85-90% of the time. Because he believes and trusts in that player. Now whether Pods is a part of the future (like Getz hopefully is), that's another issue altogether. If the White Sox are not within 10 games of the Tigers after that 11 game homestand to begin June, then Pods should be released or traded to a contender (if one can be found) and Anderson should be given the job for the rest of the season. If Jordan Danks really, really excels, then you can reward him with playing time in September, or you send him to the Arizona Fall League again with the idea of him competing for CF in 2010. If Anderson excels, you're in a really good position to have a great defensive outfield of Danks, Anderson and Quentin (RF). It would be nice to see for a change. Win-win situation.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ May 25, 2009 -> 05:51 PM) He's hitting .268 with 2 [real] extra base hits and has displayed some atrocious baserunning, the fact that he's getting the most PA on this team is just sickening. And before anyone mentions it Pods is hitting .231/.286/.308/.593 in the leadoff spot. I feel like I'm falling back into t la-la land again just as I did at the end of spring training. It's like I'm watching a different f***ing game. So you think the only reason Pods isn't released is simply because Ozzie has no other option for a leadoff hitter against RHP's besides Chris Getz, who he doesn't want to use in that spot for now?

QUOTE (fathom @ May 25, 2009 -> 05:50 PM) KW and Ozzie don't have the same view of BA as the other one does. Let's go along with the viewpoint of most that felt Pods would end up platooning with BA. Did KW acquire Pods with this idea in mind? Did he acquire Pods because he was the best option at the time or because there was a doubt that Anderson would be able to come back from his oblique strain? If KW knew Guillen would use Pods incorrectly (and that's pretty much anything but playing BA against all but the best RHPers in the game) over the course of the season, why acquire him? Would Pods still be on this team were it not for the failure of Lillibridge and the injury to BA? Eventually, it won't matter. They'll have to play Anderson, Fields and Getz pretty much every day just to get a true idea of what they have for 2010.

The best thing to do would have been to inserted Nix in as a defensive replacement late in the game for Fields...just like Brian Anderson is often used in CF.

Yesterday, Hawk and Stone were really questioning John Russell for not using McLouth (their best player) or LaRoche off the bench as lefty PH's. And, despite Jack Wilson's one HR per season...he got a fastball in the wrong location from Bobby. Now if the Pirates would have lost the game, a lot of people would question your best young player not appearing against Jenks, with a seemingly favorable match-up as a LHH against a RHP. Knowing Ozzie Guillen, do we really think at this point he's deliberately losing games or not trying to put out the line-up that he thinks gives the White Sox the best opportunity to win? Why would any manager do that? How would it possibly be advantageous to do so? When he saw Wise was struggling at leadoff, he removed him after 2 games. Isn't it possible he feels Pods is the better choice? Also, if Kenny Williams was concerned that Pods would take playing time away from Brian Anderson's development, why would he have acquired him...as he would have assumed, like everyone else, that Pods would be platooning with Brian. Do we really believe KW, Guillen and Cora detest Brian Anderson so much that they'd deliberately sacrifice games (and BA's offensively development) to prove a point? KW was the one last year who said BA would hit 25 homers with a .260-.280 batting average if he played everyday. Why would he acquire another player that might block that from happening...just to please Ozzie? That doesn't sound like KW.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 25, 2009 -> 02:04 AM) I'd like to see KC sweep Detroit. With Sidney Ponson pitching? So much for that thought. The division is clearly Detroit's to win now.

Two points. Ozzie as Mt. Vesuvius really doesn't have anything to do with his relationships with the players...it's an image that has been fostered by the media, part of it is artifice to actually take attention away from the players or a slump, part of it's Ozzie being Ozzie. The relationship with Orlando Cabrera seemingly was mended over the offseason, Vazquez never really had any problems with Ozzie (that we know of) until he called him out before the playoffs, and that was probably just a psychological motivational tactic because everything they'd tried to get the best out of Javier (good cop/soft gloves) hadn't worked, so they went with a little tough love. Cooper was probably harder in private on Javy than Ozzie ever was. There's Nick Swisher...and maybe someone will go back to Frank Thomas, but that was more on KW than the manager. In fact, if you ask all those pitchers on our team (and former pitchers like Garland, Loaiza or Garcia) who the best manager they ever dealt with in terms of giving a lot of rope to the starters was, most would undoubtedly say Ozzie Guillen. As far as this idea of ravaging and pillaging the farm system, there's no example of a player who came up through our system who has become a star somewhere else. If anything, Peavy should be encouraged that the GM is willing (unlike the Angels, for example) to deal prospects for results in the short-term. Frank Francisco is the only prospect (and he was only with us for a year after the Howry trade to the Red Sox) we've had in our system that has been a big success somewhere else, and he's gone through his own set of problems (injuries, chair throwing). If anything, you would wonder how the White Sox are only 5 games under .500 or how they're doing it with smoke and mirrors...they overachieved last year and are returning to "mean" a little bit this year. The White Sox have always been pretty good at developing players...that have major league careers...but we haven't done a good job in producing All-Star or superstar caliber players. I read somewhere where we were something like #10 or #12 in terms of major leaguers that had been developed in any given farm system (from studying all the Opening Day rosters). Maybe this was 2-3 years ago, and the ranking might have slipped to the middle of the pack now, but the ship is being righted.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ May 24, 2009 -> 03:38 PM) Jesus Christ dude, just stop talking already. Not even close to a key plot point, dude. They try to do that in every single Terminator movie...either melting or freezing, doesn't work.

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ May 24, 2009 -> 03:34 PM) Even your analogies are strange. Apparently you didn't have time to see the new Terminator movie. What's not strange is losing the game in this fashion. Very normal, to the point where there's no real anger left.

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 24, 2009 -> 03:33 PM) Well, we went back to reality. Now, we are on the west coast vs. good pitching. That usually equals a lot of L's. It wouldn't be a surprised if Greinke ends up with more individual victories against us this year than we have in the entire season against the Royals. He's going to get at least 4 or 5.

QUOTE (Wanne @ May 24, 2009 -> 03:30 PM) Worst loss of the year.... At least I can say that I was at the worst loss in White Sox history. Not even that upset after Thursday or today...all the illusions of having a really good team in 2009 are pretty much gone by now.

QUOTE (Brian @ May 24, 2009 -> 03:28 PM) Huh? Bobby got two quick outs. How could you see that coming? Because when he gives up the tying run, he almost always gives up another run and the loss. It's the same as when he's in the game with a 4-5 run lead. It's going to be tough for this team to ever get back to .500 unless it happens June 1st though the 11th. We're likely to go 3-4 or 2-5 on this roadtrip. This team just doesn't have it this year...they have no identity.

Fields has the range of a fireplug that has been sprayed by dry ice jets for 24 hours. Jesus. You could just see it coming...one of those games where Jenks completely implodes. And then we have to face Santana, Saunders and Weaver...of course, and the Tigers lost, so we had a chance to actually get within hailing distance of .500

Bad break that throw didn't bounce into the stands for Brian.