mmmmmbeeer

No love for Matt Kemp? Dude has had a ridiculous season...power, speed, and average.

I would like someone who has spent a majority of their time coaching sitting close to a great manager (Maddon, Soscia, Gardy, etc.). Someone who puts stock in the benefits of a strong ST. Someone who appreciates and employs strategy based on facts, not his gut.

So if the papers are to be believed and we see an entirely new coaching staff outside of Coop next season, which player benefits the most? I've got to go with Gordo. This is a guy who we has exhibited a beautiful swing and approach in the past and has "adjusted" right out of it. I look for Gordo to start being the guy we thought he could be if he has a new hitting coach and manager. Considering how Oz talked s*** about Gordo in '09, I don't get the feeling that Beckham likes playing for Ozzie.....and Walker should've (did if not for JR) lost his job because of the way Beckham is swinging the bat now.

QUOTE (VictoryMC98 @ Sep 10, 2011 -> 10:12 PM) Dunn didn't get the big pay day for hitting .037 against lefties.. did he? He got it for driving in Runs. Dunn is not in the situation if Rios, or Alexi gets hits earlier in the game. That wasn't the only time they had bases loaded and less than 2 outs. Ozzie doesn't need to show up Kenny.. Kenny's record is case enough for that. One of his smartest moves, was to start Dunn, who had success against Carmona, who is also struggling. Defending the indefensible....your avatar should be changed to a placard with "look at me" written on it.

QUOTE (VictoryMC98 @ Sep 10, 2011 -> 09:08 PM) Beckham never failed before pitchers started to make their adjustments to him. When he started to fail, he never knew how to get out of a struggle prior, and the majors isn't the place to learn. Look at Tank, they let him learn and take his bumps in the minors.. Now he is showing progress since last year. Yes, because we know Beckham couldn't hit 94MPH fastballs when he was a rookie.

I know Coop tried to get Jake to tweak his delivery a bit, but if his delivery were so risky as to make the acquisition a huge gamble, Coop would've stopped KW (or atleast hinted strongly that it was a bad idea). This was the first guy in MLB to come out and say Strasberg was destined for TJ and has overseen one of the healthiest rotations in baseball for the past several years. Coop knows what he's doing and I have full faith he was very involved in that acquisition. There's been no surer thing in baseball than Adam Dunn. You won't (and can't) convince me otherwise. There's no way the Sox could have foreseen what took place this season. Even switching leagues, there's been no precedence of a drop-off like Dunn's. Rios was a gamble and is certainly the one acquisition KW should take some blame for...on the other hand, Rios very much looked at as a "change of atmosphere" kind of player. All the tools in the world but inconsistent with questionable dedication just screams bad environment.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 10, 2011 -> 11:06 AM) Five missed postseasons in the last six years. This isn't just about this year. This organization has been in a slow decline ever since the '05 World Series. s***, if Jerry Owens doesn't get hurt in spring training, we probably don't win the division in '08. Everybody knows Owens was Ozzie's boy toy and only injury forced him to go with CQ. This was the all-in year and the year that will likely cause someone to lose their job. Had they won this year, neither KW or OG would be on the hot seat. It is my opinion that KW had this franchise set up to win this season and save not only his own job but also his manager's. OG hasn't done a single thing this season (again my opinion) to uphold his end of the bargain.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 09:13 PM) If given the resources someone very ordinary could put together a terrific team on paper. The games aren't played on paper. The real good GMs, while always having their misses are best at projections. KW has been burned by his in recent years, at least when it comes to selecting hitters. Quentin was a home run, the rest the past 3 years, a huge swing and a miss. So projecting three players in their prime to continue to perform (Peavy, Rios, Dunn) was poor evaluation? We aren't talking about three guys that are 35 years old or three guys without proven track records (Rios is debatable), we're talking about three solid players. With Peavy, specifically, you're implying that Kenny should have known that Peavy would have a freaking muscle detach in his back (first time in MLB history)? If we pull up threads from before Spring Training, there was far and away a sense that the offseason was the most successful the Sox have had in years. There was a sense that this team would run away with the division. There was a sense amongst baseball analysts in the media that the Sox would dominate the Central. To now say that KW didn't field a solid roster, in hindsight after abysmal performances by 4 key players, is completely unfair. As Tex mentioned, I, too, find it rather easy to excuse KW of any fault for this debacle.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 7, 2011 -> 08:54 PM) Letting Omar hit here is just too funny I mean really, wtf?

I take solace in the fact that this season, in my opinion, was a complete failure because of poor coaching. Entire line-ups struggling for extended periods of time is an indictment of poor coaching. A team coming out of the gate in April making defensive and baserunning mistakes is an indictment of a manager who doesn't know how to run a spring training. An offense that has the hitters struggling the most in the heart of the order is an indictment of an incompetent, or vindictive in this case, manager. I feel good about next year with this same core if we have a completely different coaching staff.

I found it very telling that when Cowley was asked to explain the 10% of the blame that belongs to Ozzie he responded with a compliment to Ozzie...."He's too truthful.". Nevermind Ozzie's kids getting in the org's business, nevermind the contract talk in a pennant race, nevermind curious personnel decisions...."he's too truthful". Cowley didn't sound like a reporter with that response, he sounded like the mouthpiece he is accused of being.

Though I'd suspected it for awhile, I'm now absolutely convinced that Ozzie is trying to get fired. What a despicable man.

While I like DeAza's hustle...why in the f*** did Oz have the bunt on there? Juan Pierre can't steal a base against a pitcher with that bad of a move?!? Really?

QUOTE (The Sir @ Aug 8, 2011 -> 06:56 PM) I just saw an ad on TV for some new show about Ted Nugent's thoughts or some f***ing s***. As much as I agree with most of what he says, I f***ing hate that guy. You want to be some conservative, patriotic American icon? Where were you in 'Nam, motherf***er? Dude did his best to avoid that s***. 58,000 of our brothers and sisters died fighting to stop the march of communism, and Teddy b****ed out, only to go on in life and act like some sort of macho man. Get the f*** out of here, Ted. You suck. When I read your posts, I feel like I'm reading the rantings of Walter Sobchak

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 6, 2011 -> 09:01 PM) He's actually thrown his bat quite often this season. I am not buying this guy as someone who doesn't try or doesn't put in effort, I think he's just a bit of a head case. Let's just hope he can build some confidence and start turning things around. I'm with you on this. I notice that often Alex is in the front of the line at the entrance to the dugout to congratulate teammates...certainly not something I'd expect from a guy who is just there to earn a paycheck.

QUOTE (knightni @ Aug 6, 2011 -> 08:47 PM) 3 for 4 Not bad. Was he using a different stance?

QUOTE (knightni @ Aug 4, 2011 -> 07:15 PM) I was at the June 4 game. The Cabrera HR was not unexpected. Jackson ran out of gas in the 6th (he had over 120 pitches) and the bullpen attempted to finish with very little run support. My family and I were at that game too...we make the trek to Chicago for one game a year and, unfortunately, this is the one we chose.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Aug 3, 2011 -> 11:50 AM) As was already said, though, his storyline isn't really drawing me in that much. I'm digging that storyline personally. Aaron Paul, who I assume has never been strung out on anything, is just doing a ridiculously great acting job. I think outside of Gus, he's my favorite character in the show. Walt is getting on my nerves, which I suppose he's supposed to being he's turned into a "bad" guy. The car wash deal is actually my least favorite storyline....I mean christ, you've got to find a way to launder money, it's really not that exciting. We need more Gus and Mike....I missed them both dearly in this week's episode.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 1, 2011 -> 05:50 PM) Yeah if Teahen fired the first shots as it appears, then he gets what he deserves. I can't stand Oney as much as the next guy, but you can't expect a guy to say nothing when you get called out like that. So you honestly believe that Teahen, out of the blue, decided to blast Oney freaking Guillen? There's more to this that we don't know....either someone passed something along to Mark that Oney said or Teahen's tweet had nothing to do with Oney. I'm of the opinion that the former is more likely when put in an historical context.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 29, 2011 -> 09:41 PM) 31-22 against teams over .500 this season. Of course, we're the equally baffling 9 games under .500 against "bad" teams like the Royals, Twins and Orioles. Biggest pitch of the game was definitely K'ing Youkilis with the bases loaded on the offspeed pitch. Baffling.

Solid win. Keep it up.

I've never understood how, for a few years now, the Sox carry a certain swagger when facing elite teams. Put them up against the Royals or Twins and they walk around like they're scared sh**less. Makes no sense.

Has there bee any news on Dayan's thumb? Hopefully we're just dealing with soreness and not some new stress fracture

QUOTE (Lemon_44 @ Jul 26, 2011 -> 10:24 PM) are you going to find the wins too. Or do the players get credit for the wins and Ozzie gets the blame for the losses. Thornton's horrible pitching to Betemit had as much as anything to do with the loss. Please, go ahead and point me to a win that was due to Ozzie's great managing skillz.....I'll probably be waiting a while. Had Ozzie known his personnel and pulled Peavy after 5, Thornton wouldn't have been in the position to blow the game.

I am so sick of Ozzie Guillen. I wish I had the time, energy, and math to go back and figure out how many wins he's likely cost us. Losing to Verlander, regardless of how we've done against him in the past, softens the blow a bit but 4 ER off of him you are justified in hoping for a W.