caulfield12

QUOTE(beautox @ Apr 13, 2007 -> 08:09 AM) all i was saying was that he isn't a defensive liability; like the up and coming Billy Butler McCann is right there too Catcher Brian McCann Post-All Star Break 2006 (AVG/OBP/SLG): .324/.372/.630 As promising young backstops go, everyone knows about Joe Mauer but what about Brian McCann? The 22-year-old catcher who posted a 146 OPS+ in 2006 is highly regarded, but I am not sure baseball fans fully appreciate just how good Brian McCann appears to be. I'll still take Mauer for his superior ability to reach base, but catchers that can hit this well at such a young age are a rarity, and I think 2007 is the season McCann begins to get the appreciation he deserves. baseballanalysts.com i also wouldn't put it past McCann to put up a season like Piazza did in 96/97 with the dodgers, all the while being 1000x the defensive catcher mike was/is. I want to see one more season from McCann to make sure he doesn't go the Peralta/Angel Berroa route and his career takes a U-Turn. There's no doubt Atlanta's young players are unknowns to most of the country. That franchise is just not "high profile" like it used to be when Turner owned it and was the symbol of the organization. Corporate ownership ruins most ballclubs IMO.

QUOTE(Palehosefan @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 10:43 PM) Can I ask one more time why we drafted Kyle McCulloch in the 1st round? Or why we drafted Broadway ahead of Garza?

QUOTE(MnSoxFan @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 02:53 PM) We were ranked 25th How did we fall so far when we added so many pieces to our system? Doesn't make much sense to me...weren't we ranked in the teens last year AFTER we'd already given up Chris Young to AZ? In the offseason, we added Gio, Floyd (who technically doesn't qualify I guess), Danks, Masset, Rasner, Vazquez, Lujan, etc. Shouldn't we have at least stayed in the same position? Was this simply because McCullough and Broadway aren't considered to be high impact draft picks?

QUOTE(RME JICO @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 01:12 PM) I did not know that about last year. I watched the game last night, and in that atmosphere, in Boston vs DK, throwing a one-hitter was pretty amazing. However, I would like to see him do it for several starts before anointing him. Liriano seemed like a similar pick before his injury. Santana-like talent but much younger. Hernandez is definitely going in that direction. I definitely see your POV, I am just going to wait and see on him. Mauer is an interesting pick, because some say his time as a catcher is numbered due to his size. He probably has less value as a 1B or DH. Conversely, if Mauer stays at catcher with the added two inches of height, you can't help but feel that he will hit with even more extra base power and pick up some additional RBI's due to the higher slugging percentage.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 12:12 PM) Any of the above picks could work out. I was thinking Johan, Felix, and a player to be named later. Pujols would be nice, A-Rod was another choice. I was also considering a catcher either Mauer or Martinez, maybe Varitek. If I had to narrow to three, I guess I'd go Johan, Felix, and Mauer. Taking it a step further, I'd next be looking to draft the AAA guys from up the middle, SS, CF, 2B.l Then look for a closer, IF corners, relievers, more starting pitchers, OF corners, relievers . . . Victor "I Only Threw Out One Runner in 2006 and now Scotty Pods" Martinez? Not a possibility, because he's average to below average for 1B offensively...Mauer is the only choice at catcher, it's not even close. Cabrera is 24 and has a little bit more than 100 homers right now. If he averaged 600 AB's per season the next 10 years, he would end up having 300 homers and 1,170 RBI's. I just don't see him hitting much more than 500 homers, IF IF IF he stays healthy. QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 12:24 PM) He's beyond bad now. His bat speed has decreased dramatically. For me, I'd go with Felix Hernandez, Sizemore, and Miguel Cabrera. I'm confident in saying all three will be Half of Famers if they stay healthy, with Cabrera putting up some of the best offensive numbers in history. You could have a very good competition between Varitek and Sosa to determine who's lost the most bat speed from 3 seasons ago.

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 09:45 AM) Philadephia fans are no longer happy with Rowand (check out this blog entry -- they even say his defense is below average). I like Aaron, but the Sox need to get a real outfielder with a real bat. It's past time for people to stop pining for Rowand. As for the Sox, despite my pessimistic nature, this start isn't bad. The pitching has been good overall, and that's the thing I was worried about the most. Offensively, I'm stil concerned long-term about the lack of OBP in the 1 and 2 spots (and how much Dye and Crede will regress from last season). But Uribe has been adequate and that's plus (2 walks -- he's trying!). Probably the most worrisome thing is just the level of talent in DET, CLE, and MN. Detroit's picthing has been great. Anyone that thinks 2006 was a fluke should watch Verlander, Bonderman, and Robertson pitch this season. I'm not sure the Sox have a single starter that could match any of those guys. And somehow Ramon Ortiz has decided to finally live up to all his hype as a prospect like 10 years later. I know 2 starts is too soon to predict what he'll do all season, but it would be just like the Twins to somehow get a great year out of him. Grrr. Unless Contreras is 100%, we don't have anyone who can match up as a true staff ace against Verlander, Bonderman or Zumaya. Those are three difference makers, if Jenks is healthy, he's one too...but right now, the jury is still out on both Jenks and Contreras, and Buehrle as well. I think it will take at least two months before we can make any judgments. Sabathia, same thing. Other than that, Cleveland doesn't have any dominant pitchers. Santana...after that, Ortiz might be their second most talented pitcher. Detroit is the team to worry about the most in the pitching department, then Minnesota, due to their bullpen. If Garza replaces Ponson and pitches like he's capable of, and Silva holds it together for one season at under a 5.00 ERA, they'll be REALLY tough to beat.

QUOTE(Hideaway Lights @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 10:20 AM) bad innings are gonna happen every so often, that's just baseball. However, Jose's opening day 1 inning fiasco has never happened before, and he bounced back so well it seems like it's not likely to happen again, and now that we've heard that he may have been served divorce papers 15 minutes before he took the bump that day, it seems like we can almost throw that inning out the window as completely anomylous. Not divorce papers, he was notified that day that there might be a case against him for smuggling, involving the $200,000 he paid "independent contractors" (being nice) to bring his family into the US from Cuba.

QUOTE(bmags @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 10:02 AM) oh boy, danks is gonna have trouble gettin a W again vs. paul byrd. not sure if you're being sarcastic or not... Byrd was the only pitcher to beat us in postseason 2005, but he's also far from unhittable

QUOTE(beautox @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 10:08 AM) Cabrera, Sizemore, Mauer. and Miggy isnt a defensive liability at 3B, hes quick, real quick. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stat...ontext=fielding I would say he's an average to slightly above average defender, if he would remain at one position for 3-5 years.

QUOTE(RME JICO @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 09:15 AM) Fri, Apr 13, 7:05 pm EDT - (J. Vázquez vs. F. Carmona) Sat, Apr 14, 7:05 pm EDT - (J. Danks vs. P. Byrd) Sun, Apr 15, 1:05 pm EDT - (J. Contreras vs. C. Sabathia) We definitely don't want to go into the Sunday game needing a win to avoid a sweep. Not too worried, the match-ups look even or favorable, and you never know, Contreras might get on a roll again now. The weather forecast looks bleak for this weekend, I can't believe they're not keeping the Indians in MIL, unless they're so concerned it would give the White Sox too much of a home field advantage.

QUOTE(Balance @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 09:34 AM) Is there anyone on the Sox current 40-man roster who you'd include? Should we be worried if there isn't? Crede or Konerko would be the closest...but there were a lot of good 3B (no, not Aramis Ramirez) I left off the list. Dye and Thome would be considered too old. Same thing with Contreras. There's not really one pitcher that stands out to me, Garland is solid but you don't build a franchise around him. Same with Buehrle. I didn't even include Mariano Rivera, Nathan, Jenks, etc. Closers are overrated IMO.

QUOTE(Capn12 @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 09:27 AM) Easy for me: #1 Jose Reyes. #2 Miguel Cabrera #3 Johan Santana I think the most amazing stat about Fernandez is that he's only given up 5-6 fly ball outs in almost two full games. Just 4 hits in 17 IP, .074 average against. OTOH, Brian Anderson took him deep twice in one game (might be BA's most notable accomplishment, hopefully not for his entire career though) and he was unmotivated and out of shape last year, but he's not messing around in 2007. He's definitely ahead of the Jon Garland "learning curve." When you start hearing comparisons to Sandy Koufax....well, let's just hope he doesn't end up like Dwight Gooden. Too much success and hype too soon.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 09:17 AM) Hernadez, Verlander, and Sizemore would be my three. You have superstar players, with low salaries who aren't going anywhere for a long time. Yeah, I didn't specify payroll issues, but Sizemore would be a great pick as well. Ozzie keeps calling him Superman, they will have their own shirts in CLE as well, like the Piranha ones in Minnesota. Catcher, SS and CF, should be priorities, which is why I also mentioned Mauer, A-Rod and Reyes. Going on salary, you couldn't go wrong with either Reyes or Mauer either. QUOTE(RockRaines @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 09:18 AM) I concur. Maybe M Cab too. Cabrera is a lot like Pujols, but I didn't consider him because of his defensive liabilities. He's more of a DH than anything, but a young player, especially in the NL, of course you have to stick him out there somewhere.

three players in all of MLB and the rest of your team would be AA/AAA players, who would you pick? Felix Hernandez Justin Verlander Albert Pujols Ryan Howard Alex Rodriguez Derek Jeter Dice-K Johan Santana Carlos Zambrano Jose Reyes Scott Kazmir Roy Halladay Roy Oswalt Big Papi Justin Morneau David Ortiz Joe Mauer Manny Ramirez Travis Hafner Vladimir Guerrero Grady Sizemore Ichiro Miguel Tejada Vernon Wells Carlos Beltran Miguel Cabrera David Wright Michael Young Alphonso Soriano I would take Felix Hernandez, Albert Pujols and then it would be between A-Rod, Jose Reyes and Joe Mauer, and I'm not sure which way I would choose to go. Then again, it might be wiser to pick three pitchers, so you could go Hernandez, Verlander and Santana and hope the offense would score enough runs to support the three aces of the pitching staff.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 11:06 PM) haha, that is a great comparison! Toe Nash and Sidd Finch (the Plimpton SI story) also come to mind.

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 08:32 AM) The list can be argued for sure. But I'm gonna have to say that Bob Gibson number 1 is right. I would s*** my pants if I had to face him. Oops, forgot Frank Howard.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 02:46 PM) That makes me feel a bit better. I just felt our lack of bats really has made the team look lifeless. But I hope what you say is true and comes to pass. ''I was sending a message to the guys, not to mother[bleep] them, but, hey, I'm tired of that [bleep] because we didn't play well in spring training. I'm not going to carry this thing all the way through the season. I can't handle that.'' Quote of the Day By the way, the White Sox flew into Cleveland last night...we'll see if they stay there. http://www.weather.com/outlook/health/alle...opnav_allergies

QUOTE(easyw @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 05:39 AM) For any of you with expanded basic cable, I believe that the MLB Season ticket (or 'Extra Innings') is giving away a free preview this week, until April 15th. I have Comcast digital and the coverage begins around channel 465. Watching the out of market games is addicting - I saw Bmac pitch, and got to watch most of the Tigers/O's marathon last night. The season package costs $160, too rich for my cheap bastard ass, but its still nice to have it free -- if only for a week. You can also get MLBtv.com free for a five day trial. Probably the best option for the monetarily challenged is the MLB Gameday Audio for $14.95 (full season), although it's probably not as necessary if you live in Chicago. But it is interesting to listen to other teams' announcers, especially their perceptions of the White Sox.

Jerry Reinsdorf's generosity extended to the late New England Patriots receiver Darryl Stingley, who died last week at 55. Reinsdorf offered Stingley, who became a quadriplegic after a vicious tackle in a 1978 exhibition game, an open invitation and total access any time to attend Bulls games during the Michael Jordan era. Reinsdorf provided him close parking to the stadium for his special-needs van and free admission for his caregiver. … www.chicagosports.com

QUOTE(Drew @ Apr 12, 2007 -> 02:46 AM) As long as he's not higher than The Duke. That guy threw at his own kid in a father-son game. I can't see the list, because I'm at school and there's a firewall against Maxim Gibson Drysdale Dave Winfield Clu Haywood/Pete Vukovich (Major League) Lee Smith Ryne Duren (Coke bottle glasses) Sudden Sam McDowell Joel Zumaya

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 09:15 PM) Jim, where have you seen that before? (for those who have no idea, Mientkiewicz just robbed Alexi Casilla of a probably a triple) and who is this guy that the Twins have on the mound. They keep saying Ramon Ortiz, but that's no way that's true. Not possible. Twins just went ahead off Farnsworth. Castillo reached, stole 2nd and Mauer flipped a single to the opposite field. Cuddyer also singled, 3-1 Twins, inning's still not over. Farnsworth sucks, even with the new retro shades. One way or the other, the top 4 in the AL Central will be bunched within one game in the standings after tonight. Ortiz was very good for the Angels in 02 and 03, then his career kind of hit a swoon and he ended up on the Nationals. CRAIG MONROE hit another freakin' grand slam home run in the Top of the 12th. 4-0 Tigers. I'm really starting to hate that guy. He's their version of Joe Crede, Mr. Clutch.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 09:06 PM) ......? His fastball is not hitting 96-100. It's not hitting 94-97. It might touch 95 occasionally, but he's sitting at 90-93 right now. That's the concern with Bobby right now, and that elbow, along with the shoulder tightness and hip problems he's had, are a major red flag. That's how the elbow relates. And I really don't know how you know that velocity will come back. I recall him hitting mid to high 90s already at this point in the year last year, and every other reliever in the pen seems to have their velocity at 100%. Why doesn't Bobby? How is that not worrisome in the least? Bobby, like every other reliever in the Sox pen, along with every other consistently good reliever in the majors, are successful because of their fastball. If his fastball is 5 MPH slower than it was last year, he is going to get rocked because he is going to rely too heavily upon his breaking stuff, and even his breaking stuff - as good as it is - will be hit eventually because no pitcher can rely entirely upon secondary pitches to be successful. You saw that in last night's game. Point blank, Bobby without his fastball will be a mediocre to bad closer. The second half of last year is a perfect example. I just hope that hoping comes through and Bobby's velocity does indeed get back up to the 96-100 range, because if not, he's not a dominant closer, and he's not the best reliever on the Sox. Takatsu got away with being a non-fastball closer for awhile, but it didn't last. Doug Jones and Trevor Hoffman also come to mind, although Jones does throw in the lower 90's. But it's a rarity.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 08:44 PM) The Bal/Det game is going to extras, 0-0. At least the Indians lost tonight, we get an extra day of rest, and the Twins are tied going into the 7th and they don't have Rincon. Hard to get really excited about cheering for the Yankees, but they (the Twins) deserve to lose after moving up Johan Santana to start against us on Sunday. I guess that's the ultimate form of respect...they would rather beat the White Sox than the Twins. Top of the 11th in BALT. 0-0. Uh-oh, leadoff double by Monroe. At least I still have pleasant memories from the Ross Gload grand salami off Ray last year, then A-Rod did the same thing this year. Inge struck out and Granderson flew out to CF, threat averted. Bottom of the 11th, still 0-0. Luis Vizcaino is in for the Yankees. Strange. We've sent a few pitchers there. Tom Gordon. Loaiza. Antonio Osuna.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 08:21 PM) Good to see Gio showing adequate control. And I really want to see Day's slider. Hopefully better than Arnie Munoz's infamous curveball or the Felix Diaz fastball.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Apr 11, 2007 -> 08:32 PM) Ah, so now its not his stuff, its his elbow. The guy is a top closer. His stuff is electric, and he will build up to the mid to high 90's. With that cutter and curve he will be sub 3 no problem I think anything below 3.25 is VERY ambitious for Jenks, unless he gets his velocity back up.