Special K

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 10:51 PM) He grabbed underneath his arm. Kerry Wood missed nearly two months for a similar injury w/ the Indians. Glad it's not the arm, but still not a dream scenario. Hopefully he simply tweaked the muscle and it isn't strained too much.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 05:15 PM) Let's play READ THE DAMN THREAD, PLEASE. Jamshack, don't make me verbally berate you.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 05:05 PM) Me and my buddy were debating this exact same point a week ago and I said something very similar to this, and he responded with "Because not only can Rios hit for extra bases, but he can also steal a base in front of Konerko and keep him out of the double play, and give Quentin a chance to drive him in if Konerko cannot do it" It makes sense, i couldnt fault that logic Don't know if this was mentioned yet, but Quentin was a late scratch because of his knee from the dive yesterday. Let's hope he's ok. And never thought I'd say this, but i'm actually looking forward to Teahen returning w/ the sole hope that Guillen will use him as the left-handed DH instead of Kotsay.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Jul 2, 2010 -> 08:38 PM) Encouraging! His BB/K ratio sucks though. Trade him. Does anybody have an update about whether this game is getting in tonight?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 1, 2010 -> 09:38 AM) Good to finally a see a thread where every single person agrees that the Sox made the correct move!!! I don't know, I think he had some potential..... To be the worst left-handed reliever in Sox history

QUOTE (since56 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 10:41 PM) This kid is killing us. Two balls off his glove tonight, a strike out, a tapper back to the mound, and a swing and a miss on a hit and run. Back under the Mendoza line for his batting average? I've said it before the big leagues are not a training ground. This kid is over matched. The league figured him out the last month of last season. We need him on the bench or in AA! All you defenders must have some kind of crush on him. Be realistic. We have a chance to win this division, this is not the time to develope potential, but play your best nine. He is not ( at least right now ) one of them. I'll take Beckham at second with Vizquel at third over Teahen playing third and Becks on the bench any day of the week. Put more simply, i'd much rather have Beckham in their than Teahen. Teahen is a proven utility player nothing more than that. He is BRUTAL at 3rd base defensively and below average offensively. This team started turning it around as soon as Teahen went down. In fact, Teahen's best offensive season of his career is maybe as good as Beckham's rookie season, and definitely not better. Fact is, a week ago we all thought the same thing about Quentin and look where he is right now. 95% of this board wanted Quentin gone. Give Beckham a little while more, because all it takes is a real hot week and he will be back into it. We're winning w/ a struggling Beckham, and the upside is a lot higher if Beckham starts playing like he can, versus a standard .250 12hr season out of Mark Teahen.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Jun 20, 2010 -> 09:34 PM) A bit to early to ask that, ask again during All-Star break. I'm pumped for now tho. If we can take two of three from the Braves this week, and two of three from the Scrubs, then I'm in knee deep. Keep in mind we are going to be playing some decent teams in the weeks up until the All Star break: Braves, Rangers, Angels, with a nice sprinkling in of the Royals to hold us over. With that being said, it a'int much easier for the Twins who will play the Mets, Tigers, Rays, and Blue Jays. If we play somewhat like we have this past 12 games, we could make up even more ground assuming the Twins will probably play around .500 agaisnt those squads. My hopes is that we are in second place by All Star break and out of first by 3-4 games.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 16, 2010 -> 11:44 PM) Just when you think he and/or Beckham are going to break loose they go back to s*** like Gordon did tonight. Weird. Becks ripped one last night. Why you sippin' on haterade?

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Jun 17, 2010 -> 09:59 PM) Or maybe trading Hudson... Damn. Maybe there's a storm brewin'. My bad.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jun 17, 2010 -> 09:17 PM) If Huddy gets called up, I'm emailing the Sun-Times with proof that their Sox beat writer is getting out written by a "trekky basement blog" It's Viciedo, not Hudson. Cowley tweeted it, and believe me I don't like supporting Cowley, but I buy it. Peavy a'int going anywhere, that's pure speculation.

For a team whose expectations were set somewhat high (division champs, or at least contender), let's take a look at some of the facts: The New, re-vamped, speedy, more capable of manufacturing runs offense: Ranked 28th in the MLB with a team Batting Average of .241, .319 OBP (Coincidentally we're Ranked 6th in HR...); Still Walker has not, and WILL NOT ever be fired, b/c if it hasn't happened yet, it a'int happening. What was supposed to be the top 5 (if not best in all of the AL) pitching staff: Ranked 26th in the MLB w/ a 4.85 ERA. We are the only team in the AL without a complete game. And sadly, Freddy Garcia is our best pitcher. Our best ten game stretch record is an mind-blowing 6-4, and as pointed out earlier, we have only 1 three-game winning streak. We are 9.5 games out in the middle of June. Lastly, Cleveland owns us. The only thing left to officially seal this season is watching the Cubs do what every other team does to us this weekend- pummel us. Guillen made this bed of pure garbage (No Dye, No Thome, Pierre, Kotsay), let him sleep in it, and pray it's only disastrous enough to end his tenure as manager of this squad. It's Over.

QUOTE (knightni @ May 31, 2010 -> 07:03 PM) I look forward to seeing an infield of Jason Nix, Brent Lillibridge, Omar Vizquel and Mark Kotsay... if I wasn't afraid that Ozzie might do it for a week straight. I sure hope we get a chance to see Nix everyday in the lineup. Although he really isn't going to hit for any kind of average, he can launch and can add some real nice pop at the bottom of the lineup. On the other hand, Teahen has been hitting a little better as of late. I don't get why Ozzy doesn't try more of a platooning situation w/ Nix and Teahen during lefty righties, because Nix has the capability of hitting 20-25 homeruns in a season.

QUOTE (BearSox @ May 31, 2010 -> 03:33 PM) There was never anything said about not calling Beckham back up. You send him down until/if he finds his grove then you call him back up. Give 2-4 more weeks and if he doesn't show any signs of improvement vs. MLB pitching after nearly half a season, its time for a change in approach. Vs. MiLB pitching he can possibly find his grove, maybe something can click. People act as if sending a player down means you are giving up on him. I think the best thing to do right now would let him play it out until All Star break and then hopefully he will have come out of it. If not, then re-evaluate the situation and consider sending him down and hopefully have him back up for September call-ups, because if Beckham isn't playing well then I will assume we are not going to be fighting for a division title. Beckham gets a lot of attention all the while Quentin is playing equally terrible and nobody suggests let him work out in the minors. Gordon and Quentin are the two biggest keys to our offense, and if they don't get it going, we're not going anywhere. Also, our season might look a lot different had we brought back Dye (who put up All Star numbers through the first half of last season) to play right field and let him battle it out w/ Carlos for a starting spot.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ May 31, 2010 -> 01:37 PM) New article @ whitesox.com about Beckham http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/news/artic...sp&c_id=cws . Hard to believe he didn't have any extra base hits in May. Very un-Beckham like. I know he'll probably be a 2nd baseman for the rest of his career but with Teahens bad D maybe having Beckham back at 3rd and Nix at 2nd wouldn't be such a bad thing ,making Teahen the primary LH DH instead of Kotsay ,who then can re assume what he does best (pinch hit). Thought it was funny in the article Beckham saying some one wrote him on his Facebook page saying he was flying open. Beckham said he's definitely not doing that. Doesn't fathom always say that ? This guy (http://sports.espn.go.com/fantasy/baseball/flb/story?page=hp100525) seems to think he simply is not hitting fastballs well at all this year, and that he's been chasing a lot of high fastballs out of the zone. That is pretty astonishing he didn't have one extra base hit during the entire month. I have noticed that Beckham has started making some real solid contact, and that when he's driven in runs this past week the hits came off fastballs, so maybe that's a promising sign that Gordon is starting to come out of this slump.

He had two solid hits tonight, a hit last night, and has been making solid contact with nothing to show for it. Although his average his low, he is starting to conribute and it's very encouraging to see for this offense and the team. I think if he starts heating up, and (don't hold your breath) Quentin starts heating up we can be a very competitive team that can actually give Minnesota some troubles, who have been struggling as of late. Criticism ensue...

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ May 8, 2010 -> 10:11 PM) Yawn. He didn't give up the lead. It was a bold move to give Mark some confidence. Yawn... he did give up the lead. And I don't think a ten year veteran with a world series championship, perfect game, and no hitter underneath his belt needs to build confidence. Bad move leaving him in there. No excuse.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 8, 2010 -> 02:54 PM) Yes, everyone in game thread mentioned it....as well as not using Thornton/Santos/Putz with a tie game as well. Not Bobby's specialty, those situations. Well I guess I should pay more attention to the game threads then.

Is anybody going to even mention the fact that Guillen made a terrible decision to let Buehrle pitch the 8th? What is the point of having a lockdown 8th inning guy like Thornton if you don't use him in those spots. I won't even suggest the idea that he use Santos either, because that would make no sense for a guy who hasn't given up a run all year. I suppose Randy Williams is the only pitcher who deserves to be out there with the game on the line. Guillen is such a joke at managing our pitchers that he costs us tons of close games. It's unfortunate that Guillen wanted close games with the NL Lineup he's been begging for as well.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 3, 2010 -> 10:00 AM) Since we're not the ones signing the checks, is there anyone who will go on record and argue how/why trading Flowers/Hudson as well as Danks OR Morel for Gonzalez and THEN signing Edgar to a $200 million dollar, 8 year contract extension would make sense at this time and place? Who is Edgar? And I know this is off topic, but what about the possibility of bringing in a guy like Dunn for the short term solution? He would cost much less in terms of talent/money, and I'm fairly certain the Nats aren't going anywhere?

QUOTE (Ranger @ Feb 24, 2010 -> 06:20 PM) It's not ridiculous. What's ridiculous is assuming the offense is an automatic failure only because of the DH (or lack thereof). I didn't say it doesn't matter, but I said that position was never going to be responsible for the bulk of the Sox offense. Of course, Damon would've made them better. I think it's arguable as to exactly how much better he would've made them as far as his effect on the number of total wins, but he would've probably been an improvement. The point is that Quentin is one of the big boys (and really, the biggest boy). If he doesn't produce, they're probably going to be in trouble. On the other hand, if he does, and Rios does, and Konerko does, the DH is probably not going to make or break them. The days of the David Ortiz-type monster DHs are about behind us. The major offense is coming from the position players. It's Quentin that has the 30+ HR, 100+ RBI, .950+ OPS potential, not Damon. He's going to be more important than any other individual offensive player. I'm not saying the DH is not important. All of the spots in the lineup are, but there are varying degrees of importance. The truth is that Q will be more important than anyone. If he's having a good year and the other guys I mentioned are relatively productive, I think they'll be able to get by regardless of who is or isn't the DH. Obviously, improvements are improvements, but in the end, how much difference will it actually make? So because of the suggestion of UZR, you honestly think he had a good year? I guarantee that if a Sox player puts up those kind of offensive numbers, you would not consider it to be a good season. Please don't hate on Crede, Ranger. He da man.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Feb 12, 2010 -> 11:56 AM) This offense better click this year or Guillen and Williams will be on the hotseat this year. This pitching staff is good enough to compete now. All we need is a competent offense. That comment doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Why would Kenny be on the hot seat? Because he wouldn't outbid the Tigers for Damon? Williams' has had a pretty solid offseason thus far with the acquisitions of Pierre and Putz, not to mention Peavy at the end of last season. Obviously i'd like to have another Left-handed hitter like Damon, but not getting him or Thome won't put him on the hot seat. Also, I realize this may be a little out there, but at one point in his career, Jones was a very solid player, so who knows, maybe he'll recapture some of that.

QUOTE (Ranger @ Feb 5, 2010 -> 06:42 PM) No question. As much as I like the prospect of Jordan Danks, he is still just a prospect and may never turn out to be anything. If it were up to me, I'd give up anyone in the system for Gonzalez, because he's young, cheap, and very, very good. I think there's a lot of truth to this statement, in particular, the first sentence. Although, I think he is pretty close to being available now (if he already is not), because they know they can get the most value in return the more years he has left on the deal. But the Padres aren't under any pressure to do something now. I realize this is a little off topic Ranger, but any chances the Sox will break down and snag and Damon, because after the Twins acquisition of Hudson, the Sox are looking like second place favorites in my opinion.

This is the worst idea I think I have ever seen since I've followed SoxTalk. I thought we were going young. Why not the Big Hurt too?

Greg Walker is awful. It's not how he tells the players to swing, it's more of hits philosophy at the plate. He believes in taking a lot of pitches. More often than not, Sox players take the first pitch fastball down the middle of the plate. Then the rest of the at-bat the players are down in the count left to swing at worse pitches. Watch the next game and take note of how many Sox players take fast balls and how they are ALWAYS down in the counts 0-2 or 1-2 playing from behind thanks to Walker's philosophy of seeing a lot of pitches. It's absolutely stupid, you should swing at "your pitch," no matter what the count. Beckham used to swing at the first pitch when he got up and it led to a lot of his early success, and now even he doesn't do it. And it's no surpise Rios comes to the Sox and enters an 8-40 slump once Walk got a hold of him.

Linebrink is now in line for the win... He deserves it