almagest

QUOTE (joesaiditstrue @ Aug 5, 2008 -> 10:16 PM) yeah and watching his past 3-4 games, he looked exactly like he did with that swing right there What are you talking about? Did you read wite's post?

Griffey just got worked over. First pitch was the only real good one to hit.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Aug 5, 2008 -> 09:54 PM) it's been 3 hours of general nonspecific baseball talk,w/ occasional brief updates of what's happening in the game I actually kind of like it.

Robertson's plan tonight: throw 90% change-ups. And it's working. ...Is it really a change-up if he throws it that much, though?

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 5, 2008 -> 02:53 PM) You're not. But that's the whole point. What the Sox have been trying for the past 2 1/2 years has been met with mixed results. But more importantly, it's garnered them zero playoff appearances. If they fail to make the playoffs again this year, Kenny needs to seriously consider moving one or more of those aging sluggers (if possible) and starting over again. I kind of doubt he'll do that this winter(partially because Paulie and Thome can reject trades). But if they're playing .500 ball next June, it'll be time to hold a firesale and stock up on prospects. We hit over 200 home runs in 2005 and won it all. The makeup of that offense wasn't much different than the past 2.5 years, and it won't be the offense that keeps us out of the postseason this year.

QUOTE (Jake @ Aug 5, 2008 -> 01:35 PM) His last outing against KC wasn't really fair considering he had prolly thrown well over his season high in pitches the night before, I'm sure it affected him, not to mention the fact that he's been the victim of a few bleeders and bloops. Edit: Referencing Ehren. That, and that bases-clearing "triple" it took Griffey like 10 years to get to seriously affected his inherited runners scored stat.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Aug 5, 2008 -> 02:36 PM) Granted he may not be better than Boone, but he is a veteran with post-season experience. He almost signed with the Sox a couple years ago before going to the Cubs and has pitched solidly every year except this year recently. I am not saying he is a great option, but with Boone sucking at every single moment now, he has to be considered. He already played here once, and wasn't very good. Plus he had some not-nice things to say about the franchise IIRC. I'd probably pass.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Aug 5, 2008 -> 02:15 PM) Jason Tyner? He's already playing for Charlotte, he'd be a nice replacement for Thome next year. Bring some much needed hard-nosed, passionate grindertude to this team. I forgot about that. The signing of the year, right there. All we need to do is sign Lew Ford and we're well above a grindosity factor of 12.

QUOTE (gosox41 @ Aug 4, 2008 -> 09:42 PM) KW is limited to what he can do this offseason if you think about it. If I were KW I'd do anything in my power to get rid of the old, past their prime, slow , injury prone power hitters to create a team that can actually beat Minnesota. Like who? Who are we going to replace the 60+ homers and ~200 RBIs we'd get from, say, Thome and Dye, or the mid-.800 OPS we'd get from a career-average Konerko with? What Terry Tiffees and Nick Puntos do you recommend we get?

QUOTE (thedoctor @ Aug 5, 2008 -> 09:33 AM) does anyone really think that fields is going to be the key to a deal that gets us a good starting pitcher? if sox fans are aware he's been sucky and hasn't solved the hole in his swing, i'd imagine other gms are aware as well. Probably not; they're too busy dreaming about signing Casey Blake (?!) and trading Fields for Jake Peavy or something.

QUOTE (LVSoxFan @ Aug 5, 2008 -> 09:41 AM) Um, I've been pretty consistent all season about questioning whether the composition of this team is what we want to get us to the playoffs and through them. I also said going into the ASB--said it here--that hey: I'm surprised we made it this far and are in first, but I'll take it. I was speaking mostly about the offense, so while you're right about Danks and Floyd (and I overlooked AJ), it certainly took Ramirez a while to come around. But I'll take that, too. Point being that TOGETHER this offense has been very 2004-like. The only time this team felt different to me was when PK was out and Swish was at first base. I really liked the look/feel of that. Any offense will look moribund when the pitching staff gives up 12 runs a game. Offense isn't our problem, and hasn't been for a while.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 4, 2008 -> 01:22 PM) Since you apparently know everything, why don't you explain to the class why Ozzie has Griffey playing CF most days, with Swisher at 1B when Swish is CLEARLY the better defensive option in CF? Why not just move Thome back to 1B and Griffey (or Dye) to DH? Why in the heck would Kenny even trade for Griffey in the first place when he could've taken Paulie out of the lineup by simply moving Thome to 1B? Why has Thome not played 1B all year (especially in interleague play, with Paulie slumping), and a combined four times over the previous two seasons? Because Thome is the third-best first baseman on the team? Because he's in his late 30's and was never the athlete Jr. is? Because he's most valuable at DH, and the Sox are protecting an asset the best way they can? There's plenty of reasons. Griffey was also brought in to replace a struggling Konerko. The only spot for him is either DH, or in the outfield. Who knows if he only approved the trade because of a guarantee that he'd be playing the outfield? Dye and Quentin don't play first, and Swisher plays a decent first, so it's pretty obvious why Griffey ended up in CF. QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 4, 2008 -> 01:22 PM) That's nice, but it doesn't take into account Thome's lack of production early in the season while he was trying to play through a rib cage injury. Players slump. Players get hurt. This is nothing new. You seem to only be focusing on his early season struggles, though. What about his hitting since June? QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 4, 2008 -> 01:22 PM) Dye, whose defensive skills have eroded over the past couple of years. Quentin would be better off in RF, with Swish moving to LF and Anderson moving to CF. Sliding Dye to DH, letting Thome go, and playing Anderson in CF is a serious offensive dropoff in the outfield, and a dropoff at DH. It very well could outweigh any defensive gain from Anderson in CF. QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 4, 2008 -> 01:22 PM) I said that Thome is "injury-prone", not "unproductive while healthy." Yeah, he can still hit, but he has so many problems with nagging injuries that he can't do anything other than DH. The Sox already have an assload of slow sluggers who are limited to DH, 1B, and maybe RF. Thome also has a limited NTC that makes him very difficult to trade if the Sox are out of contention next July. With Dye and Paulie being younger and better options for the future (not to mention capable of putting on a glove), Thome would be the odd man out. So what if he's only a DH? Since when do players posting numbers like his need "versatility?" If he's only "unproductive while unhealthy", then the fact that he's posted great numbers every year of his career except 2005 must mean he's been healthy the majority of his career. The fact is, he's a fantastic option at DH that tons of teams would love to have, and if the information on his contract option is correct, will be very reasonable next year. There's no reason to not want him back.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Aug 2, 2008 -> 09:45 PM) We've had this argument before. Ruth was a fat white man who annihilated the pitching of other fat white men. Bonds > Ruth. As is Aaron, and eventually Rodriguez will be as well. Ruth also played in the dead ball era for a large part of his career, and played in parks much larger than those of today. His slugging percentage would be higher, and he'd have quite a few more home runs if he played in today's parks: Also mentioned in that article is that the White Sox were second in the bidding for Ruth -- how different would this franchise have been if we were able to get him?

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 3, 2008 -> 10:28 AM) Mine's more like fact than opinion. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past four seasons, you'll note that Thome missed most of '05 with an injury and was either out or limited with injuries for a decent chunk of last season. Thome may have ONLY missed about 15-20 games last season, but he was clearly playing hurt for a couple of weeks and not producing because of it. You'll also note that Ozzie won't even play Thome at 1B during interleague play because he's afraid he'll get hurt. If that isn't "injury-prone," I don't know what is. Like I said before, Thome will most likely garner enough plate appearances over the next two months to trigger the guarantee clause in his option for next year. And since JT has a limited no-trade clause, we're pretty much stuck with him for another year and don't have a choice. You keep asserting he's injury-prone, and that the "evidence" supports it, yet you don't back it up in any way. Like I said, he's played in less than 130 games once in his long career. That counts as pretty damn consistent, unless you're measuring him by some impossible, Cal Ripken standard. Also, in Thome's "injury-plagued" '07 season, he still played in 130 games, and had an OPS of 150. No one else on the team was even close to that. Not sure what more you want from your DH, or why you don't want his option to vest. Hypothetically, let's say his option *doesn't* vest, though -- he gets injured, or is traded, or something. Who is a better option at DH?

QUOTE (klaus kinski @ Aug 4, 2008 -> 08:51 AM) I'm tired of hearing about Liriano-he dont play every day-and if just one of their other starters gets lit up a week-it cancels him out Seriously. He threw 6 innings of shut-out ball in that horrid stadium against probably the worst team in the AL. He gave up 3 hits and 3 walks with 5 strikeouts. Good, but not great, numbers, especially the 3 walks. Guaranteed if Gavin went out there with the same line against the Indians in the Cell, people would be talking about how he's due to fall apart and the numbers are a fluke, blah blah blah.

Whelp, that's the line on Buehrle. 8 earned runs against the team in last place in your division while holding onto a .5 game lead for first place. Great performance.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 2, 2008 -> 03:50 PM) He has no change-up right now. According to the Fox gun, his fastball is sitting around 85-86. Not much difference between his fastball and change, then.

That pitch by Buehrle was up to Billy Butler, that's for sure. 4-3 Royals.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 2, 2008 -> 02:19 PM) Unless he goes on the DL this year, he'll garner enough at-bats to automatically guarantee his contract option for next year. Beyond that, extending an injury-prone 38-year-old so fragile that Ozzie's afraid to stick him at 1B during interleague play would be a retarded move. "Injury-prone" - Has played in less than 130 games once (59 in 2005) since 1994. Yep. "Injury-prone". Also there's the fact that he's posted OPS+ of 155, 150, and 132 with us. And that he was our best offensive player last year, and second-best in 2006. But hey, everyone's entitled to their opinion. Who do you suggest we DH next year?

Unless something strange happens, there's no reason to re-sign Griffey. My question is, how can anyone justify not re-signing Thome?

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 07:22 PM) I'd have to evaluate the preference on a ball club based on who the other 8 players on the lineup are as well as what else they do well. Ie, what positions do they play? Does the team already have a lot of pop (if so, than I'd probably take the .300 hitter)? Do they play premium defense, steal bases, draw walks, strike out a lot, etc. Say its a .260 hitter who doesn't draw walks, strikes out a ton and is a pure DH compared to a .300 hitter with 20SB speed who plays good D and gets on base at a .360 type clip (with few strikeouts). I'm going to go with player 2. However, it all depends cause there are certain instances where I'd take the .260 hitter (ie, if a team doesn't have many power hitters). Or if that .260 hitter who hits for massive power also hits a s***load of doubles and gets on base 40% of the time. What about your other scenario? Wouldn't you have to consider all these other variables there, too?

QUOTE (jenks45monster @ Jul 31, 2008 -> 01:15 PM) Just wondering if we would get compensation for Griffey Jr. after this season if he signs elsewhere. Does anybody know? I know they decided that they will buyout his contract option but would they still get compensation? If we got compensation picks for Griffey Jr., O Cab (if he's not traded), and Crede (and possibly Uribe), that would be absolutely outstanding. Thanks If we offer him arbitration, and he signs elsewhere, we should get 1 sandwich pick (between 1st and 2nd rounds) due to Griffey's status as a type-B free agent.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 31, 2008 -> 10:01 AM) Revitalized like Robby Alomar? Swisher had a nice OPS in June, it didn't mean squat in July. What is Konerko doing, again? Alomar also posted a .253 .330 .340 line with us in 2003, which is right in your boy Uribe's territory. By your logic, any struggling player posting a nice month will immediately be awful the next month. Might want to be careful with blanket statements like that.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 31, 2008 -> 09:54 AM) Maybe KW should see if Rollie Fingers and Tom Seaver feel like pitching. They were pretty good once. What's funny is about the same percentage of Reds fans feel the exact same way about Griffey as the majority of the board feels about Konerko. Griffey had an OPS above .900 for the month of July. He's on a sustained hitting streak. There's a good chance going to a contender might revitalize him further. He's a first ballot hall-of-famer. Konerko isn't doing ANYTHING, and hasn't for the whole season. Our pitching isn't lights-out as it was at the start of the year, so we could use more offense. Richar and Masset aren't very good, and probably won't contribute anything worthwhile in Cincinnati, either. We don't pay anything, and Griffey probably brings back two type-B picks at the end of the year. I don't see much worth complaining about with this move, just wondering where Griffey will play.