kitekrazy

How about a new pitching coach? Have Danks and Floyd progressed? Tony Pena which I still don't see the greatness the organization does? The starting rotation was a disappointment in April and May. Bullpen was more responsible for taking the team out of 1st place in August. The two impressive pitchers of late are Sale and Jackson and they've had less exposure to Cooper.

QUOTE (daggins @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 10:59 PM) Trust me, you don't want the Sox to win 60 games next year. Sometimes that's what it takes. It's more excusable than high priced mediocrity. But the farm aint so good either from what I've heard.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 11:05 PM) I'd rather start with Minnesota and see if it's gonna be the same ol s*** for another season. It's a given.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 11:30 PM) Somebody is always looking for SP IMO! The Sox shouldn't be one of them. Kenny's bad at filling holes once he's sprung them.

QUOTE (J.Reedfan8 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 11:18 PM) I would hope our FO values pitching much more than a hitter. It gets expensive when you have to get it outside the organization. Plus Freddy and Peavy are big ? for next season.

QUOTE (Real @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 11:07 PM) Does $$$ make enough sense for you? Because the Sox will not have a lot of it next year. You basically can't bring Konerko back unless you trim significant salary elsewhere. Lots of empty seats for the rest of this season, and definitely for next year. But they say that every year. After getting Jackson ($8M next season) and Manny kinda makes me think they're bluffing. I think it's stupid for any organization to discuss money in the press in a sport with no salary cap. They come off like a charity for cancer research instead of a business.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 10:54 PM) Rios, Thornton, Manny all really sucked tonight. Will Manny have an RBI or extra base hit in a White Sox uniform by the time he decides to call it a season? Looks like Manny isn't playing for a new contract.

QUOTE (daggins @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 10:50 PM) So does that cement that the Sox will try and get a kings ransom for Danks this offseason? I'm not sure I would trust Kenny trading guys with big league experience. Then again you should get a lot for a starter.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 10:23 PM) How bout being aggressive when we, uh, led the division after wiping out that 9.5 game deficit. Unfortunately at that point the starters couldn't throw complete games. 5 back to back losses by the pen is the best remedy to ruin hope for the post season.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 10:09 PM) Its the same thing over and over and over. Their game plan is simple. Throw lots of breaking pitches and pitch backwards. We get very aggressive and get ourselves out. When we get men on, throw breaking pitches and expand the zone. Our game plan is the opposite. Throw lots of fastballs, because for some reason in all the years we have played them, we haven't figured out that they hit fastballs. They catch the ball and play good defense. We pucker up and kick the ball. They hit the cut off man, We over throw the ball and allow the trailers to get into scoring position. They shorten up their stroke and make contact with men on. We swing from our heels and have no game plan. 3-1 and 0-2 are the same count as far as we are concerned. They pound the zone with strikes, we like to get behind hitters. Because you know, no one is expecting a 2-0 fastball. The twins run the bases aggressively. We run fast, sure into outs more than other teams, but we run fast. You left out that the Twins don't usually beat themselves. I do like their approach to hitting.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 10:10 PM) Sort of true, but with Peavy, Danks, Floyd, Mark, and an alleged good bullpen, a lot of people thought we'd pitch our way to the title. I was a little worred, however, with Teahen at third and Lexi at short with the weak arm in left. Remember Lexi was not nearly as good a defender heading into this season as he is now. A lot of people thought our pitching would dominate, led by Peavy. The best way to make Alexi bad is to put Teahan at 3rd. The whole was too deep to climb out of in April and May, only one of baseball's rarest winning streaks gave false hope. I never thought Peavy would dominate since pitching in the AL is not like the AAA NL.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 09:56 PM) I simply love baseball, but this is going to be a horrible offseason for me, cause it's going to take a while to look forward to seeing the Sox play again after this dysfunctional season. The 25-5 was awesome, don't get me wrong. I don't know how anyone thought this team was a 1st place/World Series calibre team back in February. Wasn't this team predicted to be a 3rd or 4th place team in the offseason?

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 09:58 PM) They deserved it. Let's go Reds! BTW, Hudson pitched a great game tonight.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 09:53 PM) KC is in a good position to pass us up if they can find some pitching. Especially if Kenny keeps acquiring their current players and give them extensions.

QUOTE (Whitewashed in '05 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 09:48 PM) This really sucks. Are the sox ever going to win a must win series vs these guys? No. Best to avoid must win series against this team.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 09:45 PM) It's a shame that the standards/expectations of a big market such as Chicago are so low. We're about to miss the playoffs for the 8th time in KW's 10 years here and there's not even a whisper of him possibly losing his job. Think a 2/10 ratio would fly well in NY or Boston? Maybe lightning in a bottle and depleting the farm has run it's course.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 09:35 PM) It would help to get a manager who isn't scared of the Sox biggest rival and have a roster full of players that don't piss their pants when they play the Twins because they expect to lose. This has been going on for.....seems like forever, Those Manuel teams with guys like Frank and Maggs found a way to choke against the Twins. The beatdowns from the Twins wouldn't be so bad if the Sox didn't lose to the lower half of the AL.

Well some of you got your wish when Danks drilled Young. Too bad it cost them the game.

QUOTE (chiguy79 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 09:10 PM) Agreed, Danks seems to get rattled easy. He might be one of those guys who puts up nice stats except in the W column.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 08:59 PM) Danks really making it easy for them here for young pitchers Danks and Floyd do not seem to be getting any better with experience. and Don Cooper gets a free pass on this

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 9, 2010 -> 03:56 PM) Once again, I sure hope he doesn't go to a team in our division. He'll own us. Watch it will be the Twins and he'll have the best numbers of his career.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 01:22 AM) Why no? The Sox have money. It's not your money. $5M from IL tax payers does to the White Sox.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 07:59 AM) Does not mean he couldn't get it. Definitely. Baseball owners have the spending habits of congress. I wonder how long that balloon will last and people aren't willing to pay $50 for a bottom dollar ticket.

QUOTE (C_LEE45 @ Sep 14, 2010 -> 10:22 AM) I will be happy if this pitching staff grows some balls and drill Young tonight!!!!! I'd be happy if the pitchers had no balls and only threw strikes.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 13, 2010 -> 04:40 PM) The Sox obviously thought they were going to win with pitching (not too big an assumption despite the fact the bullpen sucked in 2009) but not defense (Teahen at third, nobody knew Lexi would be this improved at short, Juan was known for a weak arm, CQ somewhat statuesque in right, AJ not getting any younger throwing people out) and speed was supposed to be a strength like the pitching. I still think you can win with pitching and defense, even in the AL, but our pitching wasn't good enough again and our defense sucked early on, thought it turned out to be very solid up the middle with Rios, Becks and Lexi and AJ having a better year throwing wise. For us to win with this formula, the starting staff is going to have to DOMINATE and not be graded about a Bminus or B at the best, which is what they were this year. And the bullpen was a C at best. Not good enough without huge pop in the lineup. As far as Thome, I still consider the argument moot had we acquired a lefty bat like Dunn at the break which I guess he was impossible to get. I'd prefer to go back to the station to station thing next year but it is still going to all boil down to our pitching and defense. Sox fans do love their station to station baseball. People will go far to bring up stats how Thome would make a difference this year and to prove it they will bring up Kotsay's stats. (yawn) The Sox didn't really do much when they had Thome but he is glorified for game 163 which didn't have to be played if the Sox wouldn't lay down against Royal like teams. So far it looks like the Sox are doing just as well without Thome. Many people forget how bad this team was at the season. They dug a deep hole and it was deep enough that the percentages are against winning a division.