Jerksticks

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 4, 2012 -> 10:29 PM) The sooner we part ways with Kenny Williams, the better off we are for the future. This latest debacle with Chris Sale was foreseeable a mile away. You would think he might have learned with Santos? Traded him for what looks like the equivalent of another Nick Blackburn in Molina who will at best be a 4th or 5th starter. So he's going to turn Sale into another Santos then trade him away, too, but only after he signs a long-term extension, so everyone can wonder what the hell is going on in Chicago? For the future, they'd actually be better off just giving Sale a pre-emptive TJ surgery before he ruptures the elbow at some point in the indeterminate future and then have to wait another year more until he can start again. Of course, you can't force Chris to do that against his will. They've taken an A ball pitcher from a year ago who just started to build and gain in confidence, named him the closer because they apparently didn't have enough depth in Thornton and Ohman (and because they didn't want to or couldn't pay Frasor) and messed him up. Santiago should be starting at Birmingham or Charlotte, doesn't matter where. He's not a reliever going forward, especially with Sale now doomed to the pen. Put Sale into Thornton's role and make Reed the closer. Trade Thornton to the highest bidder. Rinse, repeat, do the same thing with Jesse Crain when he comes back and proves himself and gets his FB back to 93-96. So they've already moved around or messed up Beckham (2 changes), Viciedo (3-4 changes), Santiago and Chris Sale. Who's next? All because our GM left us dangerously lacking in depth at the major league level by making idiotic trades like the Mark Teahen move, then signing him to an extension, then having to trade away our best pitcher last year at the break because Williams just wanted to dump his mistake from the roster. Other than DeAza, Humber and Santos (and the jury's still out because at least 50% of us believe Molina will end up another Zach Stewart and Marco Paddy another Dave Wilder minus the bribes and gay night clubs), absolutely nothing KW has done has worked out. At a certain point, it's not just bad luck (Peavy/Dunn/Rios), it's bad decision-making, planning and strategic thinking. This is the biggest crisis for the White Sox since the White Flag, signing Albert Belle and going with "The Kids Can Play" campaign. This offseason, the whole future of this organization was tied into the performances of Sale, Morel, Viciedo, Beckham and Molina. Even with Dunn, Rios and Peavy contributing, there's still way too many holes if you remove Sale from the rotation and that's also assuming Beckham and Viciedo hit. It's gotten to the point the last week or so with Danks showing diminished velocity (hope and pray it's a "dead arm" and not something else) and Alexei Ramirez an OPS in the 400's...you just start to wonder what else can go wrong with this organization? There are some glimmers of hope in Phegley, Mitchell, Saladino, Thompson, Castro...but we need some minor miracles now to contend in 2014. 1) Good trades (crosses fingers, hopefully no other GM could be THIS bad) 2) Reed and/or Jones to become a lockdown closer 3) Santiago/Castro/Molina/Axelrod/Hernandez (2 of them) to become competent big leaguers 4) Viciedo/Beckham/Morel and Flowers/Phegley (one or the other) to make it P.S. Zach Stewart sucks, thanks for nothing Marco Paddy! This just assumes so much it makes me sick. None of your points are the absolutes that you make them out to be.

JFP

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 24, 2012 -> 12:22 PM) A .500 season with development from the kids is all you can ask from this season. Yea but the pitching seems quite loaded. We might be the only team this year that's in damn near every game. I'd put our staff, 1-5, against any other staff. Too bad playoff series aren't 15 games long.

I just hope his softer stuff translates well throughout the season. Let's hope he's not getting lucky.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 24, 2012 -> 10:51 AM) If Peavy wants to come back to the Sox for some reason and Molina has made it apparent that he's getting a rotation slot next year, then we might finally be in a position where we see the long discussed, dreamed about, rumored about deal of Gavin Floyd. Dude would actually be a free agent post 2013 if he's not moved, and moving him would clear a decent salary chunk. Hell yea, sign me up Balta! I'm so sick of wondering if Gavin has the curve today or not.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 24, 2012 -> 10:11 AM) That strikes me as a terrible concept. If you're just calling for fastballs, no matter how good the fastball is, you're going to get beat. You have to mix the pitches up, even if he can't throw all of them for strikes, so that the hitter can't just sit on everything. Well yea, everyone knows you can't throw only 1 pitch lol; the minor leagues are full of big fastball guys. If my rookie closer isn't locating his fastball after a few pitches, why would I then make him try to locate breaking pitches? The 9th is too high-leverage to mess around with too many show-me pitches. Make people hit their way on. It's not ideal either way obviously. That's why I hate a lefty at closer; if he isn't locating then you have all of these right handers sitting fastball like it's BP. It's not a good recipe. The fastball HAS to be working. If he can get the breaking pitch over consistently then fine, but man, that fastball still needs to be there in the 9th.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 24, 2012 -> 10:38 AM) If Peavy pitches lights out, some other team will make him an absurd offer. The Sox will pay the buyout, and maybe they will re-sign him if he wants to come back and the price is reasonable considering they will already have $4 million in the pot. Since they didn't even bother making Buehrle an offer though, I can't see Jake being back unless this season turns out to be sort of mediocre for him, and to me, that would make him think its time to move on. He's in his final season in White Sox pinstripes. Yea, we also have should have quite a bit of pitching muscle trying to bust into the big leagues by the end of the year...well if KW's plan continues to manifest. Indiana...let it go.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 21, 2012 -> 02:13 PM) With every young Closer we've had, AJ has tried to make them use the fastball to set people up and then saved the offspeed stuff to put them away. If the kid struggles to locate the fastball, AJ tends to keep calling for it. Santos and Jenks got that same treatment, even though both of them could use their great offspeed pitches (Slider, Curve) to get strikes earlier in the count if it was called for. I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but the only bullpen guy who immediately comes to mind as using something offspeed early in the count when AJ is behind the plate is Crain with that slider. Everybody else, I seem to recall AJ focusing on fastball first. I think with an unproven kid on the mound you have to call for fastballs. Make the team hit it through gaps to beat you. I still hate the idea of a lefty closer though.

QUOTE (IowanSoxFan @ Apr 10, 2012 -> 10:57 AM) Speaking of walkout songs, I noticed that Beckham had some country song in the Spring. Tell me he didn't change "Your Love" by the Outfield, that was the best. Sarcasm? I feel like that is the greatest walkout song I've ever heard. Then Beckham started to suck for going on years now, and now it's not cool, and it annoys me because he doesn't deserve to have the coolest song. I'm almost embarrassed by it somehow. f***ing great song though. Any closer ever do Mother by Danzig? That would be nuts with the whole crowd going "MOTHER, TELL YOUR CHILDREN NOT TO WALK MY WAY!"

QUOTE (chw42 @ Apr 6, 2012 -> 06:10 PM) He's always been good on opening day. He was also good on opening day last year (the entire lineup was). So yeah, I guess that means we're not out of the blue yet in terms of the possibility that Adam Dunn straight up sucks. I hope Adam Dunn doesn't read these words.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Apr 6, 2012 -> 04:02 PM) Ha me too I rather blame the ump and an unknown strike zone than think Beckham and Morel will continue to suck. Well yea they may indeed continue to suck, but Lewis was dealing in that giant zone. That had to be tough on any young player. I give Morel a pass more than Beckham. Beckham's been around quite a bit now; time to figure it out dude.

Any Lefty at closer sucks IMO.

We still banged out quite a few hits. The combination of that giant strike zone and Lewis' command would be tough on anybody. There's no way Beckham or Morel had a chance out there today against that slider. I have some optimism with this lineup as it seems like we can hurt you anywhere in the order...hopefully.

Holy s***! Here's to hoping everyone tanked on purpose last year to get Ozzie fired!

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Apr 5, 2012 -> 08:29 AM) Gonzalez is considered an exceptional defensive catcher already but his hitting has much to develop. He was more highly thought of a few years back and his production has not lived up to expectations or desires but he's still young enough that he should be kept an eye on All of this excites me. I feel like most of our pitching prospects are legit for some reason; ah yes, blind homerism. But that aside, most of them have some serious potential. We may find out this year that our system is absolutely loaded- Thompson, Molina, Castro, Saladino, Petricka, Rienzo, I'm forgetting a bunch of good ones. Sure beats when Juan Silverio was our most interesting prospect at like 15 years old.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Apr 5, 2012 -> 05:10 PM) All i needed to see was "Joe Cowley" to ignore this thread. I will say this, I stopped following him on twitter and I dont feel like I'm missing anything. If he breaks anything important, it'll be RTed by someone else and I get to skip all of his dumb tweets. Joe Cowley is Billy Madison's answer to the industrial revolution question.

If KW's 3-5 year plan comes together in these next 2 years we're going to shoot to the top of this list. I can't wait. KW4MVP

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 29, 2012 -> 02:02 PM) Dan has made one ST appearence with the big club so far: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K. I talked with Dan a few weeks ago. He expects to be in Charlotte, but he's not yet sure in what role, though he seems to think probably being a setup man. He's been a closer most of his way through the system, but he has also done setup work. At least 1 of our pitchers is gonna suck this year; most of the money is on Bruney. If Dan lights up AAA the first few months of the season then he will probably be a nice addition for a playoff push. I'd like to see him force his way up here or outa here.

After watching that mlb.com video interviewing Thornton, Reed and Santiago, I find myself a Santiago fan. I think his overall attitude translates to performance under pressure more so than the other two. Anybody else watch that?

I'm going with 90-94. If the offense picks it up from last year, which I think they will do thanks to Morel, De Aza and Dunn, then we will finally get to showcase what a great pitching staff we have. Those 5 guys are going to keep us in every game. Plus we will more than likely tear through the NL as we have a soft interleague schedule. We're pretty well-rounded. 90-94 Division Champs.

I don't get mad as all f*** watching games this year.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 27, 2012 -> 05:27 PM) Thornton not exactly Mr. Lights Out today. Wonder what his radar readings have been this spring. Has anyone heard? Thornton actually got across a slurve/cutter that looked appreciably slower compared to what he used to throw for the K to end the game. Shaping up as an interesting battle the final week for the bullpen and closer's role. If Santiago goes out WED and THUR with scoreless outings and gets out both lefties and righties, I wouldn't be totally shocked if he was the named the guy. In the back of Ventura's mind, he knows how important it is to get off to a good start this April, and there's just that lurking feeling in the back of one's mind that Matt Thornton doesn't have mentality to be THAT guy at the end of games. Yep. I hope that plays a HUGE part in the decision. It's all that matters to me. There's even more pressure this year for him since he's already failed once. No thanks.

P. Hum CY Young, or at the very least he is our best starter by far.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Mar 17, 2012 -> 09:02 PM) He had to at least be in the lower 90's, because nobody was pulling the ball on his FB. The question is not whether he can throw 93-96 ever again (he did that a number of times last year, like the Cubs' game), it's whether it is wise to do that and how much movement he gives up at that velocity. It'd be cool if he could reach back 10 times a game for that 95. I'm happy if he's learned to not depend on it...like a reinvention of his style.

M-56 not an option? Hot Fire wins this in a landslide. One mustn't forget how hard he was selling it at first; that was the best.