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Commentary: Ten Questions the White Sox Must Face


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Jason, that was a great article. I really enjoyed reading it and I think you were right on the money with every statement you made.

 

One question I think you missed was the Centerfield questions. Is rowand capable of handling the duties full time or should it be Borchard. Either way, the Sox don't really know what they have in center, but they definately have options in Rowand, Borchard and Harris.

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Commentary: Ten Questions the White Sox Must Face

By: Jason Halm

Written: Febuary 7th, 2003

Fantastic article...he hit alot of good points...I also agree that the catcher position might be another problem for us....especially if Olivo can't quite post numbers which would warrant him to start....unfortunately, I can see a scenerio that has Olivo down in AAA at the start of the year, with Alomar in the SL with Paul as backup....then, around June 8th, Alomar goes down with a knee and Paul cracks the lineup and maintains his steady 220 avg....JM finally has enough, and by Sept 1, gives Olivo a shot....only by then its too much Paul and Harris and Valentin and the Twinkies finish on top...sigh.....let's hope I'm wrong....

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Really top notch analysis, Soxnet should be real proud of this piece. This is my own opinion. What if 7 or more of the questions are answered in a positive way? The Sox should have a really great year. If the opposite is true, well I don't want to think about that. The Sox to me are a very iffy team, more so than most other big league teams.

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Commentary: Ten Questions the White Sox Must Face

By: Jason Halm

Written: Febuary 7th, 2003

very good article...just a couple of points

 

1.) on ray durham you said this

"Granted, he batted over thirty points below Durham, but he drew 50 BB 400 AB vs. the 73 in 564 AB from Durham. There's a reason Jimenez was one of the top prospects in the Yankee farm system for a number of years. He is closer to the prototypical leadoff hitter - a contact hitter that draws walks. "

 

on the walks..you make it sound like jimenez walks more than durham when in fact the opposite is true...jimenez's walk rate was .125 while durham's was .129...saying jimenez is more of a prototypical leadoff man because he walks more is false...he does make more contact but a prototypical lead off man should be able to steal 30 plus bases a season...durham does this regularly...jimenez has stole 8 bases in over 700 ML at bats...i think you would be hard pressed to find 5 leadoff men in baseball that can put up better numbers than ray (im just guessing here so prove me wrong!!)..this , to me is the number 1 concern for the sox..replacing ray's offense...now that ray is gone we will realize what a dynamic force he really was...he put up some tremedous numbers over his 7 years here...i dont see jimenez replacing durham..so the other guys better pick up the slack..

 

2.) excellent points..id add to that with "cancer k-layton" gone it can only mean good things for frank...was it just a coincidence that frank started hitting right as the cancer was released??

 

3.)nothing to argue here..i would still love to see 'the gambler' added to our staff..

 

4.)disagree on valentin's defense but we have argued that ad naseum...i dont agree lee has improved..i think he hs regressed...and now that other teams really see how bad he throws there will be even more extra bases taken...to me, this guy has to either become our dh or be traded..so , get the hell out of dodge carlos..other than those 2 i ageree on all points...how good is colon at defending his position???

 

5.) you didnt answer your question..do you think we are better or not???..i think we are...crede is a potential gold glover..ill take valentin over the cancer at SS anyday..jimenez looks to be solid and possible an improvemt over ray.....thats an improvent at 3 infield positions from last year...olivo is an unknown as you say...rowand/borchard / harris versus lofton???...its hard to say because kenny's defense seem to go south with his bat after april...we could actually gain here...overall i think we are a much better defensive club..especially if olivo's defense is not all hype...

 

6.) foulke is the better closer...he was just misused by the tinkerer...in '01 koch had a 4.80 era and blew 8 games...if he does that with the sox by june - marte / gordon /white will be closing and koch will be mopping up...foulke's numbers beat koch's in every catagory.. youre right baseball isnt soley a game of numbers... but when you beat the other guy in EVERY CATAGORY,you are the better pitcher....the reason koch looks more palatable to us is because we havent watched him day in and day out like we did foulke...when koch blew a save we wernt watching and it wasnt for our favorite team so it didnt hurt...foulke blew a save and it was devastating...now koch comes under the microscope...if he puts up his '01 numbers everyone here will be screaming for his head...no matter which version of koch we get he will walk more , give up more hits , give up more runs and strike out less than foulke...that much has happened every year since koch joined the majors...we wont like that...the newness of koch , the facial hair , the 100 mph heater, the attitude, will wear off real quick if cory koskie takes him deep in the 9th for a game winner just once...

 

7.)agreed...another reason why i hated the koch trade...any percived gain with koch over foulke is lost on the fact MJ isnt here and we had to bring alomar back...sandy was great in his day..but he has had 11 knee operations , cant throw because of a shoulder impingment , and if he isnt on the DL by june ill be shocked...i would feel so much better with a tandem of MJ/olivo then what we have now...lets face it..in todays weak catching market mark johnson was an average catcher..he did not suck....if manuel feels we need to keep 3 catchers because of sandy's health and we cant afford to let josh go , we might end up cutting brian daubach loose...that would make the koch trade even that much worse...

 

8.)you didnt answer this question either..is carlos going to live up to expectations or not???..i say no..and if we do keep daubach i expect him to end up with about 200 at bats in LF alone...if carlos starts off like last year (6-24 -255) by the time the scrubs series rolls around i fully expect daubach to be the new LF..and hopefully carlos gone...he better do it this year...giving this guy 4 million dollars a year was kenny's 3rd biggest blunder behind ritchie and k-layton...

 

9.) good point on colon...he was consistent all year..winning 10 games with 2 teams means you had to have 2 real good halves...s***head wells was 15-5 at the all star break and won only 5 games with a plus 5 era after the break the year before the sox got him...he was old and on the decline...colon is in his prime...this is the first pitcher in a long time the sox have gotten at the height of his career...plus - while colon strike out numbers went down significantly , so did his era and his pitches per inning..that shows me he is learning how to use the old noggin and not just his 98 mph heater...his best is yet to come..

 

10.) the sox have definately improved...thus their record in one run games should improve too..but to me the key here lies in minnesota's bullpen..they had so many career years last year...i cant see a repeat performance..so the question is how much of a drop off with the twins suffer...if its slight..then its a close race..if its drastic..then the twinkies could fall out of sight by the all star break...i look for fast eddie to implode..he is in a bitter contract battle and frankly i think the twins are right for not giving him big bucks...he had a career year and he's not that good...he implodes, kills the twinkies :)

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On the Carlos situation....I think you gotta look at it this way(and I think people here have looked at it this way many times)....if he starts out good and has a good season overall, he's looking at $6-7 mill in arb....we can't take that kind of hit next year. If he sucks ass this year to begin with and we use Daubach in LF for much of the year....then CLee's value goes way down and we'll be lucky to get anything at all for him. Signing CLee to a big contract was a lose-lose situation....so I'd have to agree baggs, that that was KW's 3rd biggest blunder.

 

I hope come the Twins in Chicago series(whether it is the first or second series with the Sox), Eddie is still closing and he has been lights out up to that point, and the Sox are down by 2 going into the 9th...Valentin comes up and singles to leadoff the inning. Thomas comes up and smokes one to the gap. Then Maggs comes up and blasts one deep into the LF stands....game over. And then 'Everyday' Eddie is no more and he gets the s*** kicked out of him from that day on....because that kind of thing can start a fire inside a team....we need a comeback like that early and as often as possible.

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