kitekrazy

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 09:41 PM) If it wasn't for the NL cherry picking, we would of been long gone a while back. The first two months of doing nothing and our inability to beat our division and bad teams outside of the NL is why we are here. We basically have handed this over without a whimper or a fight. Beating teams you are suppose to is part of the formula for winning the division in most sports. So often the Sox don't get that memo.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 11:52 PM) I think if we really wanted to dump multiple players, we probably could...Konerko, Pierre, Jones, Putz, maybe even Linebrink the way he's been pitching lately... I'm really not that anxious to see how bad our farm systems is either. Waiver deals don't seem to really benefit the team trying to dump.

People believin' Ozzie is playin' GM. Snake oil at best.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 09:39 PM) He looked f***ing great. I have to temper my enthusiasm. As KW is liable to trade him for another expensive, underachieving pitcher that Cooper told him he can fix. I doubt unless it's one of those "over the hill Kenny always wanted guys". The Sox will need a closer next year and maybe that new kid might have to fill the role.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 09:42 PM) I thought the same thing about Hudson. No prospect is safe with KW around. Except the ones of a Josh Field caliber.

QUOTE (WhiteSoxfan1986 @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 09:37 PM) And our starting pitching fails to show up, and when Floyd is bad, our awful manager refuses to pull him. What's he going to replace him with? I don't trust anyone in the pen except Thornton and the rookie. I'd trust the starters to keep it close instead of Pena, Putz or Linebrink make us wish the 10 run rule was in effect in MLB.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 09:31 PM) The thing is, we will get back in this thing somehow. There are still a lot of baseball games to be played, and the Twins will falter a bit against other teams, and we will put some bizarre winning streak together against some good teams somehow. I just can't help but think this past week is going to be the week that we look back on and wonder where it all went wrong. The Sox are faltering right now. All this hitting is going to waste. They were a terrible team for 2 month and an extraordinary team for 2 months. So who are the real White Sox?

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 09:30 PM) How so? It made Jenks tank? It caused Quentin to forget how to hit on the road? Peavy sucked when the season started.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 09:25 PM) Well for years we supposedly had better talent as well. Then we walk out of Minny, bewildered trying to figure out why our anus feels like a train was run through it. . They are better at winning games.

QUOTE (soxfan3530 @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 08:33 PM) that's b/c the yankees are a much better team than the twins. The sox are not. Let's hope the Yankees don't fall into a slump.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 12:58 PM) From the sounds of it, you want me to find you a few games where having Jim Thome in the lineup would have made a difference. In these games, there will have been a save situation involved and the DH (mostly looking at Kotsay, but Jones playing when he shouldn't have works too) will have sputtered. Also, I'm not counting games in which a left handed pitcher started because Thome won't start against lefties (even though we know he can still hit them). April 7 - Kotsay DHed and went 0 for 3 with a walk. April 8 - Juan Pierre DHed and went 2-5 with a walk. Wee! Too bad Andruw Jones, playing CF (with Rios playing LF) went 0-3 with a walk and HBP. I suppose getting on base twice is nice, so you don't have to count this one. April 10 - Baker shut down the Sox. Konerko went 1-4, Kotsay went 1-4. Both singles. Thome got on base for Minnesota, and Kubel hit a 2-run homer. April 17 - Juan Pierre DHed and went 0-4. Andruw Jones played LF in his place and went 1-4. Coincidentally, Thome has a .385/.515/.769/1.284 line against Westbrook. April 28 - The Sox hit Harden around pretty well, but the Rangers hit Peavy better. Might have been a different outcome if the Sox don't have Konerko/Kotsay going 0-7 with a HBP (Konerko got hit). May 12 - Mark Kotsay DHed and went 0-4. Thome career against Pavano - .269/.429/.423/.852 June 1 - Harden was mediocre again, and the Sox lost 9-6. I mention this one only because it would appear as though everyone and their mother was hitting Harden...except Kotsay of course, who went 0-5. There are 7 games, and those aren't including times when he could have played against a weak lefty or came up and had a big pinch hitting appearance. If Thome can affect 2 of those, it makes a difference. I would say it's very, very reasonable he could have. So while Thome couldn't have made up for the struggles of Peavy and Floyd, he could have made the situation a hell of a lot better. Like eh..what...maybe two games better? More urine. Yawn.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 09:37 AM) Any new theories? *sigh* Pot calling kettle black who can't get past Kotsay sucks. Yawn.

QUOTE (The Beast @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 12:17 AM) Jim Thome, I hope you flicked off Ozzie or Kenny after you hit that HR. It sure proved the Sox wrong that they do in fact need a DH that hits for power in a park where power numbers are rampant. I'm more pissed that the Sox are committed to quite a bit of salary and that next year appears to be a rebuilding year, which sucks! It only proved the pen sucks and if forced your most reliable guy to exceed his normal amount of innings.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 11:06 PM) 1.) Spend money on the draft and the international signing period. We spent less on bonus money this year than any other team. A team that has such a bad minor league system shouldnt worry about slot right now. Invest in the best talent possible to use for reinforcements or trade. 2.) Instruct players in the minors on how to play fundamental baseball. We promote flawed players all the time. See Jordan Danks. A player who's strikeout numbers in AA told a story that he needed some more time to cook. The twins instruct their players how to play fundamental aggressive baseball with the same message at all levels. 3.) Invest your money wisely. No 4 year deals for Linebrinks. No using your best trading chits for things that are short sided. Think with a single organizational philosophy. Sure I want to win the world series every year. But it isnt reality. 4.) You are in the American League. Make sure that the DH is actually someone who can hit. Your park plays for homers, make sure that you have guys who can do that. 5.) Ozzieproof the lineup, or ditch Ozzie. You cannot have crapy grindy players anywhere near this lineup. He will overuse them in the spirit of flexibility. 6.) Tell the players that sure its cold in April and May, but the meal money isnt as good in Charolette. So tanking the first two months of the season because your peter crawled up and hid doesnt work. Wear a jacket or a sweater. 7.) Try and prepare your players for the grind of the season. Having guys who piss down their leg year in and year out is sad. The twinks down piss down their leg. They bring kids up and they just plug in. We need to figure that out, and mimick it. In a perfect world a great GM might get half of that right in every professional sport. No sport is exempt from having a bad contract. Salary cap sports help but there are still bad contracts.

QUOTE (since56 @ Aug 12, 2010 -> 06:15 AM) What's with all the negativity? The Twins are not all that. Their ballpark is not working out so great for them. Wait untill the weather cools down and and the ball really goes no where in Minnesota. Their pitching is inconsistent ( except Pavano ) and only so so . They fear us as much or more than we fear them. They are a good team but not unbeatable. How is their ball park not working? Are the toilets froze already? They are 6th in attendance. It doesn't matter if the ball is dead. They are winning without the home run. They are only 16th in team home runs. Home runs can be over rated since The Rays and Twins are in the lower half of MLB.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 10:57 PM) Well, if the rotation is Peavy, Buehrle, Danks, Jackson, and Floyd, they better win a lot of games 2-1 because that's a ton of money that will be locked up with our rotation with money being needed to fill holes at 1B (if PK leaves), DH, C. Don't worry. Kotsay will fill them all.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 10:53 PM) The current White Sox model of running the organization is broken. It has to be changed, because insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results...what's even more insane is making the plan to DH Jones and Kotsay, 75% of elementary school students could have identified that as a problem, or DeWayne Wise leading off and starting in CF last year. Shhh...that will fuel those who believe the Rowand for Thome trade was the worst ever.

QUOTE (daggins @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 10:00 PM) You're right, it won't be popular, because it's stupid. No need to go any farther. That says it all. The Dr. Phil mentality is great for Little League but not for professional sports. It's odd that when a team plays poorly, fans tend to attack each other. The whole fans behind a team is a crock of s***. The Indianapolis Colts have the best road record since this century. They must bus all of their fans to away games. I'm sure Jackie Robnson at one time rarely had fan support. On the other hand we fans take sports too seriously. It gets even more uncivil in soccer.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 12, 2010 -> 06:36 AM) Didn't you see what happened on Tuesday night?? The Twins clinched the division because they have Jim Thome and the Sox don't. The 48 games left in the season don't matter, neither does the fact that the Sox have 4 other starters better than Freddy Garcia. Next year's staff has a chance to be impressive. Despite Freddy's quick spiral down, he got wins in the beginning when the so called studs were duds.

The most annoying thing is the whole "Kotsay Sucks, Ozzie Sucks, Thome's great" posts. Even if they are true so what? If I could turn back the clock it wouldm't be to the dealings of the latest off season. I would go back and bring the Big Hurt in his prime and put him on this team. That would fix a lot of things.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 10:40 PM) Well, can we get our players to perform better then? I don't know. These type of performances the Sox put out against the Twins haven't changed even when they had Manuel, Maggs and Frank. I guess the Twins save their best for the Sox and can't match in October. They only option that would work is put the Sox in NL. They don't have to face the Twins and would only have to face the AL East when it counts is in the WS or put the Twins in the NL.

QUOTE (11and1 @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 10:34 PM) Not dissing Kotsay, just pointing out that we dissed Thome by not re-signing a 1st round HOF'er AND a great clubhouse guy who wanted to come back for next to nothing. $1.5 million! And he ends up with the Twins, one of MLB's thriftiest organizations.! That's your first clue. Management then continues to dis him on "The Club". So, he will likely continue to strike out or GIDP against any team other than the Sox, while beating us repeatedly until the karmic debt is paid. Come on, sports fans, you've all seen this happen before. There's no way of knowing Thome would put up those same numbers with the Sox. Some guys play better for other organizations. Swisher isn't the same suck player for the Yankees.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 10:28 PM) But a portion of those games have been in really low scoring games (ie: Saturday's game and the extra inning game in Seattle). A better DH could have led to more runs, and thus more insurance for our pitchers. The Sox had that problem last year and they had Thome. This team needs more than Thome, Pujols, Dunn, Mantle and Ruth if the bullpen keeps failing. Isn't this the 4th time the pen couldn't finish?

BTW, what were the options in FA for acquiring another DH? I can't remember anyone that would fit in the Sox budget other than what they have now.

QUOTE (Elgin Slim @ Aug 17, 2010 -> 10:01 PM) OTOH, how does Thornton ever get anyone out, I know he throws 95 mph from the left side, but he only has 1 pitch. Logic would say he would be lit up like a pinball machine. Your logic is flawed. There's a thing in baseball called location. If this isn't working then you need off speed pitches and that will make your fastball appear quicker. Watch a few baseball games and you might learn something. The Sox have a pitcher who doesn't throw hard and he has managed to win in the bigs.