caulfield12

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Aug 6, 2008 -> 07:23 AM) The White Sox need to be first in line for him. He might actually get a decent payday. Hmmm....where would he fit in the rotation? Are you going to try to pawn Vazquez off on someone, or Contreras? Seeing the health/age issues with Jose and the wild inconsistency of Vazquez, who would want them? Yes, there are probably 10 teams that would take Vazquez right now...but we wouldn't get Chris B. Young in return, that's for sure. And Garcia with just his off-speed pitches seems like a recipe for disaster. He had two great starts down the stretch in 06, when we were already out of the race essentially, but I'm not in a rush to bring the Scorpion King back.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Aug 6, 2008 -> 07:32 AM) Never underestimate the badness of the Detroit Tigers bullpen. Or the Cleveland Indians....or the Twins' bullpen on the road, plus 6 combined ERA on the season.

QUOTE (joesaiditstrue @ Aug 6, 2008 -> 12:44 AM) Nathan was due for a blown save? That's 3 for him now, right? Putz REALLY tried his best to let them win the game in both the 8th and 9th, I don't think he's 100% recovered from his recent injury...but we'll take it. As far as the Twins, I know they had a couple of late inning disasters against the Tigers earlier in the year...and a couple against the Red Sox more recently. They had an amazing record in 06 when leading after 7 innings, something like only 3-4 losses over the whole season when leading after 7. They really miss Neshek and Rincon (pre-steroids fallout). The Tigers, I think, have 22 blown saves out of 42 opportunities, or something similarly abysmal...

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Aug 6, 2008 -> 08:05 AM) Christy Mathewson may have some pull there too. As for the White Sox, the fans voted: 1) Thomas 2) Fox 3) Fisk BBTN voted: 1) Thomas 2) Appling 3) Fox Surprised nobody has mentioned Harold Baines yet...he was a favorite of most Sox fans of the "80's generation."

QUOTE (YASNY @ Aug 6, 2008 -> 06:33 AM) It seems to be taken for granted that Uribe won't be back next year. I think he will be. Well, if I had to choose, I'd rather have Uribe at 3B than Casey Blake. However, the problem, once again...is payroll...if we don't develop ANY starters (like Fields or Anderson), we have to get really lucky with acquisitions. In a sense, we have, with Danks/Floyd/Ramirez/Quentin...it's almost to the point I wonder if KW will feel "guilty" about Ramirez's deal and give him a more favorable contract if he performs like this the next couple of seasons. He's definitely one of the few underpaid Sox players.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Aug 6, 2008 -> 02:04 AM) That is true. However, I'm never too concerned about locking up a guy like him at all. It'd be different if he had one monster season, like Beltre. Dunn consistently just blasts bombs and gets on base. It'd also be different if it were a SP. Just ask SF... If we signed O-Dog and Casey Blake, that'd be a really good offseason IMO. Maybe another SP, like an Oliver Perez, at the right price. You would sign Blake and start him at 3B? That seems like a recipe for disaster...if we're really trying to improve our infield defense or sustain it at the same level it has been the last 3-4 years.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 6, 2008 -> 01:54 AM) I don't know about anyone else, but I really don't want to get tied into a long-term deal with Dunn, and quite frankly, I get nervous whenever the team ties someone up to a long-term deal. If you would be able to get him for 4 years, it'd be a different story, but that extra 5th year just really seems to tack on a lot to me for whatever reason and I could easily see him getting 5. I'd pick up Thome's option next year and hope to be able to find a replacement via trade that has about 3 or so years left on their deal. In the meantime, I could easily see the Sox having a generally quiet offseason. Sign one of Furcal and Hudson with Alexei manning the other position and bringing in a 3Bman (and I'd be perfectly content with Beltre). Would the numbers make sense to add Furcal, Hudson and Beltre? Aren't we losing most of the payroll benefits of Cabrera, Crede and Uribe leaving because of raises/escaltors in many of the existing contracts? Furcal's age really is a concern...any speed-based player in his early 30's starts a rapid decline, especially at positions with lots of wear and tear. I know that Omar Vizquel has kind of been the exception, but it seems like many of the Dominican players really have drop-offs at that point. Perhaps one factor is the "legitimate" ages and fake birth certificates. Maybe if we moved Konerko or Contreras, but both those moves seem quite unlikely, unless they REALLY heat up the finally months. Every time that Contreras is really hot (first half of 06, first half of 08) it seems crazy to deal him, then he becomes an abysmal pitcher who's ouchy, too old and almost impossible to trade! Frustrating. There have been at least two defined periods in Konerko's Sox career he was similarly impossible to deal...and, likewise, impossible NOT to keep around, seemingly. Of the three players, I like the Hudson move the best by far.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...086/1048/sports Reportedly sporting his "trademark" 86-87 MPH fastball....looking at four minor league starts before being ready to start in September games. 15 MLB teams were in attendance (shows how desperate everyone is for pitching!!!)

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Aug 6, 2008 -> 02:19 AM) Right now it's pretty simple. If the Sox take care of their s*** at home, they should find a way to squeak into the playoffs. They are on a 10 game homestand, right now, they are 1-0. I expect them to 8-2. I will be ok with 7-3. Realistically, looking at the pitching and bullpen and defense, I'm hoping for 2/3 against the Tigers and Royals and a split with the Red Sox. I would take 6-4, 7-3 and a sweep of the Royals would be sweet revenge. One thing is for certain, the White Sox are going to be ready for the Royals on Tuesday night, like they haven't been over the last 3 seasons or so (on a consistent basis). Maybe that brawl and beanball war were enough to wake them up from their 2-6 stupor.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 6, 2008 -> 01:52 AM) Sure there's reason for optimism and great opening post, but the Twinks are so good at home you gotta figure they'll win a massive majority of those home games. We're simply going to have to play great baseball and obviously suck it up when we go to Minnie the next time. One at a time baby. C'mon Sox you have a good season going, make it a great one. I guess this game was reminiscent of the NCAA Championship game for the Jayhawks...going back and forth, you turn on the computer, refresh, and....poof, Swisher hits a bomb at about the same time that Nathan's improbably giving up the lead to the Mariners. Sometimes you just "feel" a comeback is on....Renteria's error when Santiago probably should have been in to replace him defensively...Zumaya's lack of ability to throw anything but the fastball (slower and with less movement than before his injury) over the meat of the plate. I was almost shocked when the Twins DIDN'T get a hit down by one with the bases loaded in the top of the 9th. If Redmond was hitting against Buerhle, I would have turned the game off and went to sleep and just hoped he got him out.

Well, the last two night have been pretty amazing for AL Central watching... I was wondering about Perkins and Blackburn and whether they were close to "hitting the wall," as some Twins' fans mentioned that Perkins should have been removed after the 6th inning Monday night, even though his PC was in the 80's. Gardenhire was ripped for bringing in Brian Bass and Craig Breslow to cut off the bleeding after Ibanez's GS (thanks for NOT trading him, idiots!) The Twins are REALLY in serious trouble in their middle relief and set-up men, just like the White Sox...they had to go to Nathan in the 8th, and it backfired on Gardenhire when J. Lopez had a huge two run double to give them back the lead, with Putz barely getting the save. Bass, Bonser and Breslow have each sunken to Boone Logan/Wasserman status...Guerrier is close to leading the majors in apperances and Crain's body language really is negative every time I see him out there. Reyes is still effective, but not for more than a few batters. If Linebrink comes back, we have a DECIDED advantage over the Twins' bullpen down the stretch. At home, Twins relievers have a 2.11 ERA. On the road: 6.19...worst in the AL on the road, best at home. Interesting. Back to the rotation. Perkins (2005-07 IP) 134, 118.3, 48 THIS YEAR=123.6 Blackburn (2005-07 IP) 146.6, 132, 160 THIS YEAR=127 Both of these guys have about ten starts to go, so that's going to be a lot of "pennant" stress on those arms. Conservatively, Perkins would end the season at around 175 IP and Blackburn around 180, both numbers well over their recent career trajectories. I don't think Slowey is AS MUCH of a concern since he's not a power pitcher, anything could happen with Liriano and Baker seems to be very durable. At any rate, I really think it will come down to the pitching...if the Twins beat us, that will be the main reason. If they can beat our veterans, along with Danks and Floyd, with their "no-name" rotation (not counting The Franchise), then you have to tip your hats to them. It remains to be seen how much the collapses Monday and Tuesday night will affect the Twins' psyche. They have 28 of their next 43 games on the road (18 of their next 27), while the Sox have the much tougher schedule (although more of those "tough" games are at home, where we're decidedly a better team).

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 6, 2008 -> 01:13 AM) I met the kid when he was in high school, and some of my friends in Miami know him pretty well. I can't wish anything but success for the guy. It would have been sweet had he matched up with the Twins...at least until the last White Sox series, they were really struggling against LHP. I think the odds are pretty high that both the Sox and Twins will face him sometime this month if he's able to stay in their rotation. Much easier to root him on against the hated Twinkies.

QUOTE (LosMediasBlancas @ Aug 5, 2008 -> 03:04 AM) Wilder evidently. I lived in Colombia, South America, for one year...and it's just a given that when you bring money into the US from another country, you should never even dream about bringing more than $10,000. I'm sure Wilder thought he could sneak it through in his luggage and didn't declare it on his customs declaration. If he was smart, he would have taken the loss and sent it to someone through Western Union...then again, this might have created a paper trail, perhaps that was his concern. There are other options, though, like bank/wire transfers (another electronic trail). I think www.xoom.com might have worked. All I know is that I would never contemplate bringing that much money into the US from another country, especially a Caribbean country where they're looking for drug money/laundering/embezzling at the entry points/ports/international airports into the States.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 07:24 PM) No kidding. Even with Floyd pitching well, you can never have too much starting pitching. I guess it's kind of a hypothetical/theoretical exercise, but with Garland in the rotation (maybe Contreras could have been shifted to the bullpen, although unlikely for someone at $10 million or so per year)...and Ramirez at SS and Uribe at 2B, would we be any better off? We'd obviously have had a better pitcher than Masset or Richard to use for three games... Or if we kept Gio and Sweeney...although how that would have put us in an improved position, I have no earthly idea.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 02:41 PM) DJ Carrasco did his thing for the team Shades of Sean Tracey in Texas?

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 02:30 PM) I'm pretty sure they're going to miss Felix as well as Duchsherer Hernandez pitched Saturday night...well, just like in 2006, when you're hoping the best pitchers on opposing teams will take down the Twins...after we fail to do it ourselves, well, there's nothing but "hope" to hang onto. I really think if we could have won one of those 4-0 lead games, we might still be in pretty good position for the rest of the season...but that Morneau double clearing the bases off Richard might go down as the turning point of the season in retrospect.

QUOTE (joesaiditstrue @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 02:25 PM) Twins not gonna relinquish first place after tonight, their schedule is weaksauce coming up compared to ours, i don't care if they're on the road or not. We face some damn good teams and they face the cellar even if we won today, you can't convince me the rest of this season is setup for us to win this thing how did our pitching staff just die all at once? i guess it's possible from all of the overwork early in the season, but if that's the case, how did KW not see this coming and do something about it The same reason very few teams had the pieces and could meet the asking price to get high-quality short relief help. KW's in a no-win position...he holds his breath on Linebrink's health and hopes we can stay close until the middle of the month, or he deals some combination of Poreda, Fields, Silverio and Martinez to get Street, which would further decimate any chances of the White Sox competing in the future.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 02:23 PM) It's hard for me to worry about the Twins right now with the issues we have. What they do doesn't matter if our play doesn't improve soon, because we'll fall out of it regardless. As for the offense, yes they suck today. Assuming this holds up, we'll have a 4-6 road trip. However, we've had games on this trip we lost when we scored 7, 6, 5, and 4 runs. If we can win any of them, it's an even trip and if you get two, it's an above .500 trip. Problem is, we can't win too often these days without a lacrosse score from our offense. So much for Ginter, looks like the Indians will be down at least 3-0. It was about six weeks coming, but the Twins are finally passing us...and it really feels like we're going to be left behind, unless Minnesota completely tanks on the road and we can somehow get our mojo back against two impressive offenses in DET and BOS.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 02:19 PM) Not at all, but if you can get great value for him based on how he's done this year, you make that trade. I have doubts about Dotel being able to handle the workload he's had with regards to the future. We saw what happened when we tried to fit MacDougal, Aarsdma and Sisco into the bullpen. It's really hard to find short relievers that are dependable, and many times you have to overpay or develop them in your own system...but it usually takes a couple of seasons to adjust at the big league level. It we lose Dotel and then Linebrink never comes back at 100% (due to overuse the last 5-7 years), then what will our bullpen be like? Link and Adam Russell?

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 02:12 PM) Yeah, since so many on this board ask Ozzie to keep starting pitchers in for longer than he does. It's a lot easier when your options are a healthy Linebrink, Dotel and Thornton, instead of.... Aarsdma, Sisco, Heath Phillips, Mike Myers, Dewon Day, Bret Prinz, etc. Remember Ed. Sierra? Agustin Montero...Sean Tracey?

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 02:06 PM) Even though they arent top level prospects, 3 of the 4 players had time in the majors with varying degrees of success Our equivalent of that trade would have been something like Mike MacDougal, Andy Gonzalez (now on the Indians, actually), Charles Haeger and Donny Lucy.

QUOTE (Frankensteiner @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 02:05 PM) Well, the Cubs got Harden for nothing so maybe we could have inquired about that. Beane knows our system better than everyone else, he has, what, about 5-6 of our "top" prospects over the last 2-3 seasons? Obviously, KW wasn't willing to give up Fields and Floyd/Danks to get Harden, who promptly would have gone down with season-ending surgery and everyone would have slit KW's throat as Danks/Floyd went out to create a 3 "aces" rotation in Oakland with Duscherer, etc. I don't think we could have acquired Harden for Poreda and Fields, and, I can't imagine the reaction being positive if we made that move a month ago.

QUOTE (Frankensteiner @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 02:01 PM) This is such an old team that's pretty stupid if you're not going for it. It's only going to get worse. We have a pretty good core with Beckham, Ramirez, Danks, Floyd, Quentin, Swisher, Buehrle, Konerko (if healthy), Jenks (who we might have to think about maximizing his value by a trade...as our most tradeable piece). I guess we should have tried to get the maximum value out of Dye...but there's simply no way that KW could have done it this year, which is looking like a repeat of 2003 and 2006 down the stretch. It's not looking quite as hopeless as it did coming into this season, actually. Assuming that Ramirez, Quentin, Danks and Floyd are for real and not one year wonders.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 01:59 PM) Broadway sucks also. If Contreras isn't going to be ready, shame on KW for not acquiring another starter. Acquire another starter by trading Floyd/Danks or Buehrle and Fields? That really wouldn't make much of any sense from a long-term payroll flexibility standpoint, and we'd still have a huge hole in our rotation, bullpen, speed and defense. And I think Josh Fields is quickly losing some of the glow....I wish we could have traded Thornton a month or so ago and Josh Fields in the off-season for more pitching depth, even though we won't keep Crede IMO.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 01:58 PM) Ever. He might be quickly reaching Porzio status. Actually, Porzio gave us at least a couple of competitive starts, now that I think of it.