caulfield12

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ May 4, 2007 -> 12:07 PM) I base it on their track record. They all have a history of being able to hit a baseball. You look at it, and it would seem they won't be able to get much offense going this weekend with some good pitchers going up against them. I'm thinking they may shock the world and actually start hitting them. If not this weekend though, it will be very soon. It had better be when they play the Twins at the Hubert H. House of Horrors next week, or the pressure on KW, Ozzie and Walker will really start to mount.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ May 4, 2007 -> 11:52 AM) Actually, I think in terms of having pitchers "Now", that's the one spot where we're going to be in pretty good shape for the near future. We have at least 7 bullpen arms right now including 3 lefties, so even if some of the guys struggle or get hurt, we have depth there, and there's some possible guys working their way up through the system to follow this backlog. In the starting rotation, even if Mark leaves, we're 4 deep next season including Danks and Garland, so we even have a lefty in there. And we have a boatload of depth at the AA and up level that will compete for a 5th spot next year if one does open up...Floyd, Haeger, Phillips, Gio, Russel. Some of those guys are struggling in the minors to start this season, and some will probably have to be moved so that we don't lose them, but in terms of pitching, we're deep even if we decide to trade Garland and lose Buehrle. It's the position players right now where we need some depth. Right now, it seems like almost all of our position prospects are hitting a wall simultaneously. This is the potential disaster. We don't have nearly enough money to bring in a FA or resign a guy to play LF, CF, RF, 3rd base, 2nd base, SS, C, and DH before the start of the 09 season. Think about that...as far as I can tell, the only position player we have locked up beyond the end of 08 is Konerko. We need to get contributions from quite a few of Fields, Anderson, Sweeney, Owens, and maybe Cunningham, and we need them ASAP. And if we deal someone, we need to find pieces to fill in some of those holes. Otherwise, the only way we stay competitive is if we spend Yankee dollars to hold our lineup together as they age. We're not going to be spending Yankee dollars, but we had question marks surrounding seven of our nine positions coming into this season... LF...Can Pods return to health? NO. CF...Can Erstad be a regular player again or will BA take the job? Mixed results RF...Will Dye be back? Probably not, either for 2008 or to the level of his past 18 months of play. 3B....Crede (see Dye), will he be back, will his back be back? Not so far. SS...Uribe, will the real Juan Uribe please stand up? Unfortunately, he has...he's a complementary player, nothing more. 2B...Iguchi, will he be back in 2008? 1B...Konerko, can he repeat and sustain his level of performance without hitting another 2003 slump? DH...Thome, can he stay healthy? C...AJ, will he continue to be a dangerous doubles hitter or a so-so average "power hitter"? Will his defense continue to wane? When you look at the collective whole, Erstad's rebound is about the only positive so far, and the guy's hitting .258. Uribe is back to being Uribe. Iguchi is solid, but he's not the type of player you can build around at this point in his career either.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ May 4, 2007 -> 11:48 AM) What's wrong with talking about the possibility of a firesale? No different then discussing what moves may occur midseason if we're in contention. I'm giving them a month to rebound before I begin tuning up the firesale bandwagon. June 11th is my self imposed date for determing this. If we're seven or more games out of playoff contention, a tough decision has to be made. Cunningham may be your young leadoff hitting prospect. We might be 7 out after THIS weekend. Cleveland has the look of a team about to go off on an extended run, Barfield is picking it up and they just got Lee back too. Despite Wedge not being a very good manager, we're going to be in the chase position all season long, something the White Sox have never done, as 2000 and 2005 were pretty much runaways that each stalled near the end of those seasons.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ May 4, 2007 -> 11:40 AM) This team actually has very good pitching, the problem is Kenny's offensive philosophy going into this year: 1. Expected to catch lightning in a bottle with Pods, who is both bad and fragile. 2. Expected to catch lightning in a bottle with Erstad, who is both bad and fragile (that's worked out ok though). 3. Was, like many, under the false premise that last year was a breakout year at the plate for Crede, when it was actually just a career year. 4. Took the caculated risk that Thome would stay healthy again, which could work out still if he does after this DL stint is over, but who knows. 5. Relied on the contract year status to mean Dye would have a year again like 2006, when in reality that was another case of a career year, in this case from an aging player. There are your problems. Our pitching is fine, but our offense is wrong in almost every way possible. The lightning in a bottle approach worked in 2005, but there wasn't any pressure on that team like there had/has been in 2006 and 2007. The biggest example of things breaking the right way was going from Takatsu to Hermanson to a AA castoff and not missing a beat. How many times has the WS winner gone through 3 closers in one season? And Politte and Cotts were incredible that year, something they proved not to be repeatable. But gambling on Pods, Erstad, Thome's health, Crede's back, Dye's age and leg problems/slowing down, Contreras...there just wasn't much certainty going into this season. The odds were against KW being able to pull it off twice. Erstad has been a decent surprise, Danks has been better than anyone could have imagined, the bullpen has been awesome with the exception of the two returning pitchers (Jenks and Thornton) we expected the most out of. Of course, it also comes down to the failure of Borchard and not producing an impact bat in the line-up over a five year period now since Crede and Rowand.

QUOTE(infohawk @ May 4, 2007 -> 11:33 AM) It's hard to believe that a piece like this can be offered up as legitimate analysis. It's almost as if he scribbled it down on a yellow legal pad while sitting on the can. His first major mistake is the oft-repeated myth that the Sox won in 2005 by playing "small-ball." Their offense was very dependent on home runs. Sure they benefited from Podsednik's ability to get on and steal some bases, but their offense has really been predicated on the home run since 2000. The big difference is that in 2005 they either led the league in pitching or were darn close to leading the league in pitching. My gosh, they are one game under .500 after one month and people are talking about firesales. I'm willing to give them another six weeks or so before I jump on the firesale bandwagon. Sheesh!!! I do agree that any trades the Sox make should bring in a young leadoff hitter prospect. I like Pods, but he seems to have some pretty chronic issues with pulling groin and abdominal muscles. It's going to have to be a AA/AAA leadoff prospect that we "project" can get the job done starting in 2008. That's always dangerous. I think they will do a behind the scenes "full court press" on Buehrle to sign an extension, and trade him in July to the highest bidder if a deal isn't worked out. They can't wait for compensation picks, because we need pitchers now, not someone who will develop in 3-4 years down the line...and then, it's a crapshoot. I suggest we should also be scouring the Japanese leagues for such a hitter, as this philosphy doesn't jive with spending huge dollars on Ichiro next season, unless KW and the organization get really desperate about trying to retain their season ticket base. The problem is they can sign Ichiro for huge money and start losing attendance (to a further extent), then end up having to sell Ichiro off to the highest bidder. It's essentially the position we were in with Albert Belle...luckily, the Orioles and his contract allowed him to go to Baltimore. After that, you look to trade Contreras, Dye and Crede...and do your best to keep Buehrle, Garland (if reasonable, which I have my doubts about) and Vazquez could go either way due to his age.

http://www.suntimes.com/sports/couch/37087...-greg04.article

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ May 4, 2007 -> 10:52 AM) Well the team has sputtered for quite a while now. Is it time to fire the GM and manager? Tailgunner Joe Cowley argues for keeping Walker...some good points. http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/wh...T-joe04.article

QUOTE(Friend of Nordhagen @ May 3, 2007 -> 09:40 PM) In the outfield, 'Ol Emil makes Pods look like Willie Mays. But we need offense more than defense at this point...no matter how you break it down, it's a crapshoot for sure. We could also get Reggie Sanders instead, but he's probably going on the DL for a slightly strained hamstring. Moore and KW have already done two quick deals, I wouldn't be surprised by another. The Royals want to clear space for Billy Butler and Costa. They also have Gathright and Berroa I'm sure they would like to deal if they could find any takers.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ May 3, 2007 -> 05:33 PM) If KW could pull off that coup, I'd personally fellate him. Ethier is a stud in the making. The best we could probably do right now is Emil Brown.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ May 3, 2007 -> 11:38 AM) The Brewers also have a big time prospect in Ryan Braun waiting in the wings in AAA (he's been lighting it up down there and should get the call sometime soon), I highly doubt they'd have much interest in Crede anyway. And getting rid of Hall and replacing him with a AAA player doesn't really solve any problem...it's like putting one finger in the dike and another hole erupting somewhere else. The Brewers finally have a real chance to compete this year...

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ May 3, 2007 -> 11:27 AM) The White Sox have been a below .500 team now for over 100 games. Maybe they just aren't that good. Therein lies the question KW has to be asking himself... Of course, the Cardinals probably had a similar stretch last year where they were under .500. However, they didn't have three teams capable of going deep into the playoffs stacked up in front of them.

QUOTE(Jenks Heat @ May 3, 2007 -> 11:23 AM) Joe Crede was hot for the playoffs and he has a very nice glove. If you could get ML ready talent for him, move him in a second. He gives up way to many at bats. His approach at the plate is comparable to many other players in this line-up. Same thing with Dye. I beleive there are other teams that could use these guys that could have excess in other areas. If Bill Hall shows he can play center could you move Crede for him. I am not certain of the numbers on Hall and am only using an example of the type of moves that need to be looked at. We need a totally different type of player. Hall strikes out too much, he's not a "young" player anymore and we would be weakening what I would have to consider to be another strength, our infield defense. This would end up weakening our pitching staff as well, as Buerhle and Garland tend to give up a lot of groundballs.

QUOTE(klaus kinski @ May 3, 2007 -> 11:07 AM) Money over a need, AGAIN The irony is that getting singles and doubles hitter is a much cheaper undertaking than the FA acquisition of power hitters and big RBI guys. Soriano for McCarthy would have been a steal, looking back on it. The wisest thing probably would have been to then flip Soriano to another club for 2-3 younger pieces that we really need....with the model for this type of trade being Colon for Sizemore, Cliff Lee and Brandon Phillips. We could have acquired a young outfielder, SS or 2B to take over those positions in 2008 after being "bench" or role players in 2007 on an experienced team. QUOTE(klaus kinski @ May 3, 2007 -> 11:07 AM) Money over a need, AGAIN I would consider getting faster and more athletic throughout our line-up one of the single biggest needs this franchise has at the current time.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ May 3, 2007 -> 11:02 AM) $$. Assuming we'd have been able to sign Soriano for something reasonable, it'd still have been about $15 mil or so a year, even before the Cubs blew open the market. Yes, and at mid-season, the market wasn't totally out of whack. Soriano would have agreed to a more reasonable contract if it would get him to a contending team, and for fewer years, if he knew that the White Sox really wanted him and would keep him for AT LEAST 2-3 seasons (they could have given him a partial no-trade clause too to compensate for the dollars).

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ May 3, 2007 -> 10:53 AM) What the hell are you talking about? We would have still missed the playoffs last year, bc the last thing we needed was another guy swinging for the fences, and then he would have walked... to the cubs no less. The theory you propose is one that has this current team without the services of John Danks and Nick Massett on top of our pathetic crop... and they've been two bright spots. That would have been cataclysmicly bad. PS. Ichiro should be a Chicago White Sox when FA comes around... i think he's what this team needs, lol. Soriano would be playing LF now, we could have used the $2.9 million from Pods' salary to sign Ponson or Ortiz for one year...and we would still have Floyd and Gio in the minors as insurance. How is Soriano and Ortiz not better than Mackowiak/Ozuna/Sweeney and Danks? KW wouldn't have dealt for Soriano unless he could have secured his services long-term, like he did with Garcia in 2004. With Garcia's salary out of the way, we would have been able to afford Soriano, and we wouldn't have been stupid enough to give him more than a 3 year deal, MAYBE 4. LOL. QUOTE(Balta1701 @ May 3, 2007 -> 10:55 AM) Overall numbers: AVG OBP SLG OPS 2006, April: .329 .430 .616 1.046. 14 strikeouts. 12 walks. 2007, April: .221 .315 .442 .757 20 strikeouts. 9 walks. Yes, but he's producing and he's been much hotter recently. Teams know what Dye is capable of doing...and they're going to look at overall trends, especially the last couple of weeks. He has a track record over the last year and a half that's almost unmatched by any player. Even if he "regressed" to his career means or average, he's worth more than $7 million dollars for an entire season. In today's market, that's Mark DeRosa (pretty much a utility player) money. Dye is a huge bargain any way you look at it. It's like saying a club would pay Scott Podsednik $8 million based on his first month of performance (before the injury).

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ May 3, 2007 -> 09:22 AM) This team looks dead to me. I thought we'd never see an Ozzie coached team play like this. He's the great motivator who keeps everyone loose....or at least I've been told that numerous times over the past few years. A week or so ago, when we went on that 6 of 7 run that started with Buehrle's no-hitter, we looked like a totally different team. You would have thought we would be able to sustain it, to some extent. Of course, winning is the best "fix" for any team...as Ozzie said, these are the times when the coaches earn their money and they have to collectively figure a way out of this malaise. At least in 2005 down the stretch, you'd seen that they have the ability to play much better baseball. This time, we've been on a 45-54 stretch (essentially 100 games played) and we're just looking mediocre.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ May 3, 2007 -> 10:01 AM) That sounds about right. How would Dye have dropped in value by 50%? He has six home runs, and a very reasonable contract...the value of Dye is based on a team needing a RF or DH. What other players are available that would be considered better than Dye? Although I do wish we'd traded McCarthy for Soriano last July, that would give this team an entirely needed injection of speed and excitement. Even though Buerhle is not the best pitcher in baseball, he will get at least $15 million next year in the FA market because he is the best available pitcher, just like Zito and Schmidt were this past offseason.

QUOTE(Jenks Heat @ May 2, 2007 -> 08:19 PM) It is going to get worse before it gets better. We may not score a run, a single run this weekend. I do not expect much but I believe they will come out of this and be fine. The pitching is fine. We are missing our 1 and 3 hitters. I do agree with the other thread thought to sign Buerhle and trade Crede or Dye. I think the lack of running ability (not speed) is killing this team and Konerko, AJ and Thome are to viable. We can get good ML return with a Gio and Crede/Dye move or something like that. Another approach would be to trade Dye and Gio for Rich Harden. That would be a franchise-defining move which could backfire horribly or give us the best rotation in baseball and insurance for Contreras and buy a little more time for Danks in AAA...as well as insurance for the possible loss of Buehrle.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ May 2, 2007 -> 07:44 PM) You know, I hate to be a complete buzzkill, homer, Hawk-lover right here, but the Twins were 11-18 on May 5th of last year. They won 96 games. I'm not comparing the Twins and Sox, but one of the changes that the Twins made during last year was a change in hitting coaches early on, and they also got rid of their mediocre talent and replaced it with younger talent. In other words, get rid of Walker to light a fire, get Fields up to play LF, get Sweeney in to play RF, and get Dye into the DH spot until Thome comes back. When Thome does come back, demote one of Fields and Sweeney who is doing the worst. It's a long shot to work, but that will atleast bring some talent into the lineup rather than trotting Mackowiak, Terrero, and Ozuna out there every game. There are some key differences... 1) We don't have two nearly automatic wins in our rotation with the potency of Santana and Liriano 2) There are three teams for the White Sox to contend with, not two 3) Our bullpen already has more blown saves leading to losses (3) than the Twins had all last year 4) Fields hasn't played LF for more than two weeks 5) There's no obvious "villain" like Tony Batista to release in order to send a message 6) Gardenhire's a slightly better manager than Guillen

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ May 2, 2007 -> 06:45 PM) Our pitching is pretty damn good right now. Nobody thinks this offense is going to be amazing but it's certainly not going to be anywhere near this bad all season. To give up in May is pretty ridiculous. Who's to say we couldn't play better with Josh Fields at 3B and ??? player in RF? Seriously, many Sox fans thought we were committing suicide by replacing Garcia and McCarthy with Danks, and that's turned out to be the best move, hasn't it? We need an injection of youth, speed, enthusiasm, excitement....something. QUOTE(elrockinMT @ May 2, 2007 -> 06:48 PM) Mr Caulfield is taking a very extreme negative view of this teams chances after just 24 games or so. I respectfully disagree with him also. I think the Sox should be trying to sign Crede, Dye and Buerhle now and not at the end of the year or never whatever the case may be. Thome and Pods will be back soon enoigh and hopefully Hall. The hitters will hit again and things will be better. Right now it's frustarting for sure though. If we ARE able to keep Buehrle, we then have four starters in the vicinity of $45-50 million....and then Danks. We can't keep Crede and Dye AND Buehrle. The math's impossible for this franchise. And it makes no sense to keep Crede when we have a farm system that has produced a replacement in Fields. As some of the BA backers have mentioned, BA and Sweeney and Fields HAVE to succeed for this franchise to be a viable, competitive member of the AL Central in 2008-2010. We can't afford free agents for those three positions AND Thome/Konerko add another $22-23 million per year. Right there, the four pitchers and Thome/Konerko would equal our entire payroll for the 2005 championship team. And you still have to figure out what to do with Iguchi and Uribe...

QUOTE(knightni @ May 2, 2007 -> 06:40 PM) Teams would like him. They just wouldn't offer the Sox anything for him. Then why were so many people coming into this season saying we should sign him to a 3 year, $45 million extension...and that we were headed for the worst possible outfield (offensively) in baseball history with Mack, Pods, Ozuna, Owens, BA, Erstad and Sweeney?

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ May 2, 2007 -> 06:31 PM) This is quite the overreaction right now. Since the series at Boston last year before the All-Star break, what reasons have you had to be encouraged about this Sox team being capable of competing in the AL Central? Without Pods, Thome and Hall...? Since that series, we're 45-54 and just came out of any abysmal spring training. After a certain point, you have a trend and not a blip on the radar. I'm willing to bet pretty much anything you want that we don't win more than 86 games this season.

QUOTE(knightni @ May 2, 2007 -> 06:25 PM) I respectfully decline your thesis and request that you fornicate yourself. No one will give a decent return in trade on a free agent to-be that is Dye's age. I could see trading Crede but I'm not willing to give up on him quite yet. I disagree. If KW makes Dye available, there won't be a bigger impact bat available on the market. Dye, the #5 finisher in the AL MVP race and still a very potent bat, makes any contender twice as dangerous. Think if he was added to the Angels, and how much more dangerous that line-up would be. He could go back to Oakland. He's perfect, because he would only have to be paid around $2.5-3.5 million for 2-3 months and you wouldn't be committing yourself to a huge, long-term deal like Abreu's. You don't think the Yankees would have rather have assumed Dye's $7 million salary than Abreu's $15.5 million, if both those sluggers were put on the market last year at the same time? Over the last year and one-half, Dye is one of the top 10-15 hitters in the game, a World Series MVP and a proven clutch performer.

This is the best option to field a competitive team for next year. I think Mark really wants to stay, and I think John Danks would really prosper by spending more time with Buehrle. The chances of us making the playoffs are down to 20-25% at this point. Obviously, KW won't trade Dye and Crede any time soon, and trading Crede for less than full value while he's struggling would be dumb, but I think we really need to deal both of these guys in June or July. It also gives us the ability to really see what Sweeney, Fields and hopefully Anderson or even Owens can do. It's not going to be a fun season, but the best news is that our starting pitching and bullpen is going to keep us very competitive over the next couple of seasons. We have the flexibility to stay with Erstad, Iguchi and Uribe at those three positions or take totally different approaches. AJ and Hall will still be the catchers, and Konerko and Thome will still be around as well. In the meantime, you spend the next 2-3 months doing "due diligence" throughout the AA, AAA and major league rosters finding players that will fit. We can't have all contact or small ball hitters unless we move the fences back to Old Comiskey dimensions. Heck, at this point, any option should be considered. There are SERIOUS questions whether Fields, Anderson or Sweeney will ever be everyday major leaguers, let alone All-Stars. KW can't go out into the 07 offseason without full knowledge of what those three guys, and even Owens, can do. I think the odds are pretty high that Pods is also done for this year as a "sparkplug" and that he will return to 2006 form (tentative on the basepaths and defensively) if/when he comes back. Not only that, but he has to be careful physically because he's playing for a 2007 contract with another organization. With all that said, we're in much better shape than if we had to replace 2-3 starting pitchers and most of the bullpen. Finding offensive players is cheaper and easier than finding pitchers, especially lefties, and it looks like we have two special ones (and maybe even three, with Gio) with Mark and Mr. Danks. The best thing we can do right now is find a new SS and a younger, power hitting OF to replace Dye, who is about 6 months away from being a full-time DH. And we can't keep Jermaine in that role due the presence of Thome through 2008. 2B and LF will be easier to replace, and we simply have to hope Sweeney can hit with 15-18 home run power, which will allow him to be an everyday player if we get a power hitter for LF and a leadoff guy from SS or 2B.

QUOTE(DaGame2584 @ May 2, 2007 -> 04:01 PM) Is it possible to lead the league in homeruns and be at the bottom avg wise? Danks' ERA would be 3.86 if not for the Uribe/Erstad/Mack disaster in DET. He's outpitched both Garcia and McCarthy, there's no argument. He looks a lot like Buehrle each time and out....working very quickly today. He will learn a lot from being around Mark this year, and hopefully in the future. Unfortunately, he's the Todd Ritchie of April/May 2007. Horrible luck, that ball doesn't kick off the wall and they have to hold up Vidro at 3B. I hope Ozzie pulls Danks so he can't take another loss, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens. The White Sox are likely to go to the pen.