caulfield12

''Beckham doesn't play second,'' Guillen said. ''If you see Beckham up here this year, we're in trouble. He should play a full season [at Birmingham]. If we have to [bring him up], we will, but I hope we don't have to.'' The full quote on Beckham...just for clarification. He also said Nix is playing well down at Charlotte.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Apr 26, 2009 -> 03:10 PM) Lets get one thing straight... the dude is pretty ugly. But he's a good ball player, and that's all that matters... but seriously, that face is not easy on the eyes. If he makes it to the majors, there are about 10 million girls who could care less what he looks like. It's not like he's Lyle Lovett or Ric Ocasek strange/weird.

QUOTE (scenario @ Apr 26, 2009 -> 09:31 AM) Chris Ronge did a really nice interview with Flowers right after he was acquired. He asked Tyler which one player he was most often compared to by scouts, etc. The answer... Mark McGuire. And regarding Retherford... unfortunate looking? Club foot? What is this... a beauty pageant? He's batting .300, which makes him the top hitter on the team not named Beckham, Flowers, or Allen. Looks like a ballplayer to me. That always makes me cringe, because Borchard's power was described the same way. As far as power goes, Harrelson is already arguing that Tyler is more powerful than anyone in the major leagues today, or at least AS/EQUALLY powerful. If everyone remembers Ron Karkovice, I don't think Retherford will touch him on that scale...or Willie McGee. Maybe we should name Miss California USA our new Asst. Director of Community Relations and Gay Marriage Compliance?? Would that help balance things out? Of course, we'd have to compete with Fox News for her.

Eli Marrero is Cuban (I think)...does that make both the OTHER Marreros American-born/Cuban descent?

Fields' swing was short and quick in ST. If you remember, he was pulling everything into LF, which was a concern. As the spring continued, his swing got a lot bigger and this forced him to hit almost everything to RF and RCF. The last 2 weeks, his triples and his homer and solid strokes have all come in this direction. He has to be more quick and direct to the ball or he'll end up a very below-average 3B both defensively AND offensively. Most troubling is the "swing and a miss" routine on 84 to 98 MPH fastballs right down the pike.

Throughout his career with the White Sox, Guillen has deliberately made choices intentionally that kept us from winning. He really doesn't love the White Sox, and you can tell that from the Pythagorean numbers that he's one of the worst managers in the game. Mostly, he's held onto his job by holding onto grudges, and Reinsdorf really admires that in the staff he surrounds himself with. If we had had Cito Gaston as our manager, we'd have won at least 2 and maybe 3 World Series championships this decade. We'd also still have Aaron Rowand and Joe Crede, because they're just the kind of players you cannot win without, and Cito understands this intuitively. Guillen should still be a 3rd base coach with the Marlins or Braves, really.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=29087 As hot as he has been, Brian's OPS is at 835. That's very good, for sure, but if he held up this exact same level of play for the entire season, he'd still only be 16 points (835 to 819) higher than Denard Span (2008 rookie year) in terms of OPS. I said anything above 740 would be great, so while him keeping up 835 would be simply amazing and awe-inspiring, it wouldn't be All-Star caliber. Unless you think of Denard Span as an All-Star? Actually, this version of BA (the singles and occasional doubles hitter) is very similar to Span statistically. I would be happy to sacrifice the Torii Hunter offensive numbers (HR's and K's) if he would continue to this level of play, but I'm not sure that's possible. Probably what will happen is that his batting average will come down to 260-270, he'll hit a few more homers and become more pull happy (because of the Greg Walker influence) and end up with an OPS of around 700-750, which is still better than what I thought was possible.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 26, 2009 -> 02:16 PM) Good point about needing the 1b back-up. Oh, and I would have played him either at 3rd base today or find a way to play him at 2nd base. If Getz is out an extended period, we're going to have to get some offense from that position. http://www.thebaseballcube.com/Fielding/B/...n-Betemit.shtml Betemit has only played 18 games combined at 2B (majors/minors) in the last four seasons. I don't think he played there once in ST. If they DL Getz, Nix will be up and starting nearly every game I have a feeling. They must realize that Lillibridge isn't a leadoff hitter by now. If Getz is out, you almost have to use either Ramirez (to see more fastballs) or Anderson in that spot. Forget about Fields hitting first.

Ozzie's decision on Fields playing over Betemit. Simple. Everyone knows Wilson was good against RHP last year, but it seems Ozzie wants Josh to play almost every day, unless he's just not hitting at all. From the way Fields has been swinging and missing so many pitches, it wouldn't have been the worst idea to sit him for one game, but he did have an RBI single, in Ozzie's defense.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Apr 26, 2009 -> 09:48 AM) caulfield to thread I will wait until the end of May to comment on BA. As far as the White Sox go, we have no leadoff hitter for the forseeable future and big question marks surrounding Linebrink and Jenks. Thome looks absolutely horrible. So does Fields. Nobody swings and misses more on this team than he does. Fathom is right, Josh had a big hit in the first inning, but if Betemit still isn't playing today against a tough RH pitcher, then he'll only have 50-75 AB's all season, after having the best spring of any White Sox hitter. We still look like a .500 team...fortunately, that's where the rest of the division is at, too. Lillibridge can run and defend, and that's it, unfortunately. He just can't cover the outside part of the plate. Lillibridge missed a hit and run today with Anderson running because of the fact he's short and stands way too far away to do anything but inside-out fastballs into RF.

We're getting pounded by rain here in the Quad Cities...maybe it will somehow miss Chicago, but I don't see how they're going to even get this game in. Maybe there will be a long delay or cancellation. Facing Halladay, Hernandez and Bedard in three of the next four games, we're going to have to win at least one of those "unfavorable" match-ups and hope Danks continues to be the "ace" of the staff or we'll be going out on the road at under one game under the .500 mark. http://www.weather.com/weather/map/interac...pnav_undeclared The band of showers stretches all the way across Illinois and Iowa right now. Looks like it has all shifted to the north and east...so most of it is missing Chicago.

Davies got hit hard tonight and Zach Miner did well in his return to the rotation. Pavano was dominated by Slowey and the Twins will be going for a sweep tomorrow at the Jake/Progressive. Three way tie for first, Twins 1/2 game back. It will be a tight race all season long.

QUOTE (flavum @ Apr 25, 2009 -> 06:17 PM) Jordan Danks, 3-3, 2 doubles, 2 walks, sb Dayan Viciedo is 0-3, GDP. Now at .185. Let me know when I should start worrying this guy isn't ready for AA ball. They'll give him at least 2 more weeks. If he's still struggling, they will try him at Winston-Salem for awhile. Beckham just committed another error (6th) that led to the tying run crossing the plate, the go-ahead run is on second. Lujan on. There were two outs when Gordon made the mistake, and then a stolen base against Flowers and two singles in a row, with the runners advancing on some pretty bad throws from the outfield (error on Gartrell). Battle of the two best teams in the Southern League tonight...2nd unearned run just scored, Mobile up 4-3 and leading for first time tonight. Ely now with a no decision. Lujan on the wrong side of the decision at this point. 20 errors lead the Southern League....team also has the lowest fielding percentage as well. Barons have two chance to come back against the BayBears. Viciedo pops up. 0 for his last 18. 4 LOB and GIDP. Retherford, Shelby and Beckham will bat in the top of the 9th...hopefully they'll only be down by one. Barons go down 1-2-3 in the top of the 9th.

In that situation, you have to walk the 8th place hitter and dare the opposing manager to pinch-hit at that point in the game. Is KFC going to change its name? KGC's will be very busy on Monday, like the Denny's promotion months back. Ryan Sweeney with 632 OPS and Orlando Cabrera at 504. Don't think we'd be any better off with those two at the top of the line-up.

Soriano makes Alexei Ramirez look like a sure-fire Gold Glove winner in comparison. Soto and Alexei both having sophomore slumps...Longoria, not so much.

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/R/D...Rodriguez.shtml

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/bvsp?playerId=6245 (White Sox batters versus Burres lifetime) Brian Burres was with the Orioles last year. Interestingly, Thome and Betemit have both had success in limited at-bats against him.

I'm pretty sure it's Burres...?

Broadway pitched well two starts ago (6 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K's), but his last start, he was Contreras-esque: 5 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 1 BB, 6 K's. Not exactly grounds for a promotion...you'd like to have seen him put together two solid starts in a row, at least. The only thing you can possibly say about Broadway is that he's kept his walk totals low and increased his K's, but that's hardly a rousing recommendation. You just can imagine one of those summers when they use about 5-7 different "scrub" pitchers in that role until they find one who gets "hot" like Wasserman did in 2007.

Review of Sugar...http://qctimes.com/entertainment/columnists/linda-cook/article_765f681e-30d9-11de-bdb4-001cc4c002e0.html So now we just throw in the towel on anyone who has ever been accused or convicted of a crime??? And that has something to do with her talent or lack thereof? This is real life, not "The Handmaid's Tale." Coyote dancers are not "white dancers," by the way. Didn't you see Coyote Ugly?

Well, who at Charlotte has really earned the opportunity? Anyone? If you look ONLY at the stats, you'd have to give it to Torres, Link or JVB. Broadway has gotten his strikeout numbers and his walks are pretty decent...I guess they believe he's pitching much better than his ERA. Link is not a multiple innings pitcher, so it would have to be JVB or Torres (right now) if they didn't give the opportunity to Broadway.

One more element that was embarassing... The Blue Jays just took the fight to us. They were aggressive from the very first inning, and Gavin (as usual) had no answer for slowing them down on the basepaths. Floyd just doesn't concentrate at all on anything but the batter when he's on the mound. That's all fine and good when he pitches over mistakes or walks, but not so good when slow/old guys like Scott Rolen are stealing with abandon. It's just demoralizing when the other team is doing something over and over again you have no ability to stop. Between AJ and Gavin/Contreras/Jenks, it's like the 4 X 100 relays out there. CLE has this same problem with Victor Martinez, but that guy is a hitting machine at least, in his defense. You know Cooper and Ozzie have addressed with Gavin and the other pitchers, it just hasn't seemed to lead to any progress. Danks has gotten much better, but Floyd has gotten worse. And the idea of Clayton Richard starting games and throwing anything to 1B is super scary. He still has a case of the yips, aka Knoblauch/Sax throwing to first.

watching horrifically bad White Sox baseball

"That's one of the worst games I hope I see this year," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "It was one of the worst I've seen as a manager. I might have seen a worse [one], but I can't remember it. "We couldn't hit, we couldn't catch the ball and we couldn't pitch. When you put those things together, that's the result." And the result was downright ugly -- the White Sox's most lopsided shutout since the Angels scored 19 in 2002 -- with the Blue Jays pounding out 21 hits. Floyd lasted only 41/3 innings, allowing six runs on nine hits and five walks to continue a disturbing trend for the Sox starting rotation. On Tuesday, Jose Contreras allowed six runs on seven hits and six walks in 51/3 innings. Two nights later, Bartolo Colon lasted just three innings while giving up five runs on eight hits and two walks. "I always say it's about the pitching," Guillen said. "Pitching dictates how the game is going to be, and it wasn't pretty." "It was a struggle," Floyd said. "It just wasn't a sharp performance." Ramirez, who is batting .167, is muffing ground balls, although he was charged with only one error. "I worry about him," Guillen said. "When you take your bat out to field, you're not going to have much success. He had his head down and felt sorry for himself. I didn't like what I saw, and he knows it." chicagotribune.com/sports ''Because the Missile isn't hitting, we're soft at the bottom of the lineup.'' Ramirez has only five hits in his last 32 at-bats (.160). His double Thursday against Baltimore came on a breaking ball, and Guillen considered it a breakthrough. ''If you can't hit that pitch, they will keep throwing it,'' Guillen said. ''You have to make adjustments.'' Ramirez started last season slowly as well, ''but he wasn't playing [regularly],'' Guillen said. ''He didn't worry about it if he went 0-for-4. But when you're playing [regularly], a lot of 0-for-4s add up. He's worried now because he average is low. He never went through this, so he's concerned. But he's my shortstop.'' Guillen said he's watching Ramirez to make sure his hitting problems don't affect his defense. ''I won't let it happen,'' Guillen said of one affecting the other. ''I saw him with his head down and I addressed it right away.'' Ramirez committed an error in the first inning Friday. He finished second in last season's American League Rookie of the Year voting. Today, he will be presented with a trophy from the Topps Co. for being named to the All-Rookie team last season. www.suntimes.com/sports

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Apr 21, 2009 -> 04:47 PM) LOL. Ok. Umm...because she was joking around at a porn star's birthday party (acting very much in character of her Crank II role), she's not talented? Most Asian girls are like white girls anyway, they're not intuitively good dancers unless they practice. However, if you've been to Bangkok or Manila, there are just as many awesome "coyote" dancers there as there as anywhere in the world. You can google them. By the way, saw the movie "Sugar" about the Dominican baseball player in the minors. I would advise to wait for the DVD. Like all baseball movies, most of the action on the field wasn't up to par...especially the throwing arms of the infielders. Overall, it was worth seeing, but not paying $9-10 for a ticket. Some of the action took place in Iowa, and was based on the "Swing of the Quad Cities," although they called the city "Bridgetown" instead of the Quad Cities and it was the Kansas City Knights (Royals?) franchise instead. One area where the movie was very effective was showing the life off the field, the difficult transition to America...culture in general...the "host" family was a born-again Christian stereotype, so that tangent of the movie kind of took the focus away from the central plot IMO. Most minor league baseball players these days have their own apartments that they share (except for the bonus babies) and so I'm not sure how realistic that was...think it was just a story-telling device to make the movie more dramatic. Kenny Williams would have enjoyed one part of it. The 2B on the team was a million dollar plus draftee from Stanford who also happened to be African-American (Brad Johnston) who tried to talk to the Dominican pitcher (Santos, the star) before he was called up to replace an injured infielder at Wichita. They also showed a scene popping some kind of illegal pills/performance enhancers but didn't really go anywhere with that subplot either. I would give it 2.5/4 stars. One thing it did capture well was the pressure for Dominican kids from their families to get signed and "go to the States" and then just the pressure in the minor leagues to hold your position with all the competition from below...sometimes we don't have full appreciation for how hard it is to play just A or high A level baseball, and how many players get cut off at that stage or never come close to making the majors.