caulfield12

Sometimes it was unfair to Big Frank that the "mantle" was passing to Konerko/Buehrle of "team leader" and he couldn't seem to keep his foot out of his mouth. I always appreciate Konerko's candor/honesty and willingness to discuss almost anything. I really like his quote about not being concerned about "legacies," he's one of those players who knows he will always be considered a White Sox (of course, 2005 has something to do with that, too) and nothing will ever change his feelings for the organization that gave him a chance after the Dodgers and Reds sullied on him. One of the biggest lessons KW has learned from 2001-2004 and 2006-2007 is that having a high payroll and lots of talented players on the roster doesn't always assure a championship, if they're not good fits and the chemistry isn't right, it has a lot to do with preventing that from happening. The White Sox problems with Frank Thomas (at times), D'Angelo Jimenez, Kenny Lofton, Nick Swisher and Orlando Cabrera are well-documented, and sometimes these players also rubbed off negatively on the likes of Lee and Ordonez, too. Still, with Konerko, Buehrle, Crede, Rowand, Thome, Dye and AJ, you're not going to find a much better core group of players with compatible personalities. If not for the back problems and Boras, I think Joe might have come close to approaching Ventura's legacy (largely because of 2005) with another four or five years on the club. All those guys genuinely liked each other and got along well (Thome would arrive later), and they even peacefully co-existed with Carl Everett and the mix/chemistry was nearly perfect. Last year, you kind of felt we won despite Cabrera, Swisher and Vazquez sometimes (Logan, etc.) And KW was quick this offseason to address those concerns and bring in new/fresh blood to revitalize the organization. But you never felt that the clubhouse was cohesive, that they would automatically win every time they had a 1-2 run lead going into the 7th or 8th, that they were clearly the better team and would walk over most opponents like 2005...last year was a big-time struggle for the final 3-4 months of the season. It is an exciting time. It will be interesting to see how this season plays out...I'm expecting a definite rebound from Konerko, but we're going to have a lot of growing pains. As someone pointed out, betting for the White Sox to win less than 80 games has been a sucker's bet 12 of the last 13 years, but I'm also not ready to proclaim them ready to compete for the division quite yet either. Definitely a transition year for the ballclub, like last season for the Twins.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Mar 3, 2009 -> 12:25 PM) good point. I'd love to see the guy have a good year, but of course I'm torn. He'll be helping the twins. But if he could have a big year and sign a good contract that sets him up for life, that would be nice. He's one of the good guys. I would hope a guy like Joe who seems like a pretty simple, laid-back dude (like Buehrle) is already set for life, unless he's invested his money with Madoff or Sanford or one of those types of guys.

Had to be for the AL Central. I could buy that, I guess. Must have mostly to do with the positive reports on Contreras and Colon. Nothing else has changed radically with our team in recent weeks.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 2, 2009 -> 03:49 PM) It worked for Shingo. For one-half season.

At this point, I actually think MacDougal has a better chance to make the team than Russell or Wasserman. We haven't seen much of Link yet, either. Jimenez might have pitched in the B game against the Dodgers, not sure. Beckham with the double clutch on that throw.

And the throw over to Dan Majerle at 1B. Mowry...well, close to Myrow.

That was quick. I didn't even get to see him bat, I was typing heren't and didn't flip back in time. He should get up again in the 8th or 9th.

No, Rowland-Smith, he of the "unique" name, did not have a "good" outing Bill. Why are we giving these at-bats to Myrow instead of Brandon Allen?

Lillibridge at 2B, Beckham at SS, Sergio Santos at 3B. Would be nice to see Escobar once at SS, but he's really too young. We definitely won't be seeing Silverio.

AJ was out by so far, it wasn't even close...reminiscing about Top Gun with Kenny Loggins playing, that movie's close to 25 years old now, isn't it? Beckham in the game now for Alexei, and Lucy getting some PT finally.

Didn't Ramirez make more errors than an 2B in the AL in the second half of the season? I'll agree he COULD have been the best defensive 2B in the AL...but he didn't end up that way. Personally, I think he just wore down over the long season and had some concentration lapses, usually on routine plays. Don't think you can conclusively say he was the best, it can be argued I suppose. Platooning Anderson and Owens? WHAT? Bill, please stop breathing so heavily, you're worrying us. Not such good baserunning today by AJ or Fields...too much admiring the ball and hoping for the homer AJ, and not enough hustle.

It's even more fun to hear him pronounce Dayan Viciedo... I'm hoping that was Linebrink working on that split-finger. Will give him the benefit of the doubt and hope that 93-94 MPH fastball comes back. Even more fun...Melton chiding Bender for saying "Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Arizona" before quickly correcting himself. I actually remember one game in KC where Sweeney hit into a game-ending double play with the bases loaded and only one out in the bottom of the 9th and the Royals only down by one...but he's done pretty well against us in his career, duly noted.

Crushed that one, around 420-430 feet. Good thing Ozzie played the infield in Bill, we're still in this vitally important/crucial game. Josh Fields does look a bit quicker with his hands this year...he waited nicely on that breaking ball and yanked another double. Lefties are afraid of Brian Anderson, so they want to go right after Chris Getz. LOL!!!!! Nice camerawork...showing Fields running instead of the ball that looked like it could have been a double to the gap.

More insight, Bill. Ryan Rowland-Smith is a unique name. Thanks for that contribution to the broadcast.

Melton: Alexei Ramirez was the best 2B in the American League last year. A young star. Ummmm....maybe Bill, in the first half of the year, but definitely not over the full season. Apparently the White Sox don't care if their pitchers give up runs at all...only if they have a good BB/K ratio. Good news, Bill. And an error on Dye allowing the double. A woeful AA/AAA roster is dominating the White Sox (minus Beltre) and sending Wasserman to Charlotte again. Is Melton serious? They're playing the infield in because they don't want to go down one more run (from five to six) and they have the offense to come back? REALLY? Carlos Quentin did a good job last year defensively (WHAT?) and he has the best pop-up/sliding catch that Bill has seen, lol. UGH!!!! Don Wakamatsu is apparently a "good baseball man." Glad to think they might have hired a bad one was GM, but didn't. You would think Melton would be more familiar with him due to his White Sox ties.

Josh Fields looking like Carlos Lee on the basepaths. He just went too far around third, was caught napping a bit and the catcher threw behind him. What the heck was he doing? He wasn't going to score from 2nd on a wild pitch...pretty horrific. Wasted a leadoff double with poor execution by Getz and bad baserunning by Fields. Bender with the fact of the inning. I had no idea Wasserman hadn't given up a homer in 57 career appearances. At least he's done some homework. Melton wants the DP to get out of the inning and there's ZERO outs. He's managing to make Singleton look like a combo of Vin Scully and Ernie Harwell.

Nice recovery by CR. Realistically, most of those balls in that inning could have been fielded. They would have been pretty good plays, but I think Beltre's past Konerko definitely could have been stopped...or if Fields had at least knocked down the double and kept it in the infield. Or if Getz had nabbed that liner. It's not like he was getting rocked, just bad luck compounding on itself. "Josh Field"?? "Versatility with your knees?" You mean flexibility? Not a productive out there Getz.

Funny, Konerko. That posture is about as symbolic of you as Thomas and Crede popping up to RF. The typical pull/yank to the left side of the INF with the head down out of the box and it actually goes through...I thought it was going to end up a routine ground out. Why do I have the feeling Ramirez would have speared that ball that Getz just missed? Joe Crede would have had that one!!! Just kidding. 2-0 M's, 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. (shouldn't have had a runner on 2nd, sloppy) 4-0 M's...Richard looking shaky for first time, giving up some perfectly placed groundball singles and doubles.

Trey Bender, Gary Bender's son. Normally does ASU baseball...obviously from a broadcasting family, that helps too. Former White Sox Mike Morse still on the M's roster. He never really found a position where he could be a plus offensively, as he was too big and lacked range for SS. I guess the 90 degree heat is the reason for the small crowd? Being positive. Of course, it's a weekday game, too.

I'm really glad Belton doesn't do the radio or TV on a consistent basis. Quentin hasn't looked locked in yet this spring...I'm sure he will come around and get locked in eventually.

That's 3 scoreless innings for him so far. I think they'll definitely have to enlarge that hitter's background or hope those trees grow out there in CF. It does look like the Williamsport one, that was Konerko's joke.

Calcetines Blancos, lol

The question, I guess, is "how much is plenty?" and whether they saved any or all of it. Rumor is China's Zhang Ziyi never dates a guy with less than a billion dollars, lol. I would think B.A.G. might have the best situation of the three, with the seemingly two decade long residuals from 90210 episodes. I guess it's rough for the former gang, Jason Priestly and Luke Perry have pretty much stalled out in their careers, and Ian Ziering was dumped by his Playmate wife. Who would have thought ten years ago the most successful member of that show would turn out to be Hilary Swank?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 2, 2009 -> 10:53 AM) Its not only Toronto's pick the Sox would lose, but the supplemental as well. You would have to figure that's at least $2 million in signing bonuses. If they want OC bad enough either make them give up a guy like League (who I would rather have than pay the picks who chances are won't pan out) or make them give up their pick or let OC rot on the sidelines. He had his chance to accept arb and screwed up. Seeing how TOR has pretty much pwned us this decade (especially up there), I think KW has a very good idea who we'd target from that relief staff. If anything, they might be OVERVALUED because they look so good against the White Sox on almost an annual basis. Plus, we picked up Jimenez when they let him go as well.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Mar 2, 2009 -> 10:22 AM) I get the feeling Viciedo is not in their plans at third. Based on what? If KW wanted to spend $10 million on a kid whose best years undoubtedly could be with another organization, I think he did it envisioning Viciedo at a position where his bat was at a premium weapon, which is 3B and possibly RF (because of his arm). If he's going to play LF/DH/1B, there are 20 of those types of guys on the market...the Scott Hatteberg/Lyle Overbay/Kevin Youkilis/Dan Johnson value pick-up highlighted in Moneyball. Unless KW really has the prescience to project almost Miguel Cabrera/Pujols type numbers, that contract's not going to turn out to be a bargain unless he's at third or RF. Same thing with Beckham and Alexei Ramirez in the middle infield....move Beckham to 3B or Alexei to CF and they're not going to produce much more than the major league average. Lillibridge, same thing, if he comes around offensively, his prime value to another club would be at SS...but in this market, "defense first" SS's like Cabrera, Uribe and Everett aren't getting much love.