Who's REALLY the problem?

[cwsox]

If only guys like Crede, Konerko, and Lee would take as many pitches as Frank does. 

 

 

THEN WE WOULD BE IN FREAKIN FIRST PLACE.............LOL LOL LOL.........

exactly right!

[baggio202]

If only guys like Crede, Konerko, and Lee would take as many pitches as Frank does. 

 

 

THEN WE WOULD BE IN FREAKIN FIRST PLACE.............LOL LOL LOL.........

exactly right!

crede gets a pass cause he's basically a rookie...but konerko and lee are pissing me off..

 

im not ragging on frank..but id be lying if i said i wasnt wondering right now if we have seen the best of frank and he might not get back to where he was in '00..i really expected him top be hitting much better than he is right now...not bashing on him because he showed in the off season he put the work in and has been putting the work in since the season started...but this season is looking alot like last season for frank..except he is walking more

 

maybe we have to accept the fact that frank at this stage in his career is gonna be a 25 -30 homer 250 type hitter...i hope im wrong

[southsider2k5]

#1 Magglio isn't consulting his own personal hitting coach and ignoring the advice of the teams current coaches. 

 

#2 Magglio hasn't been crying to the media about the way he is getting pitched.

 

#3 Magglio still tries to hit the ball the other way with runners on the right side of the IF.

 

#4 Magglio goes out and hustles in RF even when he isn't hitting.

 

#5 Basically out outside of Valentin and maybe Jimenez, this whole team has been awful in the clutch.  This whole team needs to start earning its keep. 

 

Frank is a lightning rod for controversy, because of his own big mouth, everything he does is magnified.  No one else on this team has that air about them.

What does Frank consulting with Walt have to do with anything? Would you rather he stays content with .240 and hits that all year long? And Frank has always been this way -- he's "ignored the advice of the teams current coaches" for years now, by most accounts. Were you complaining about it when he was putting up .330, 40, 120? I doubt it.

 

When did Frank cry to the media? I read him say that he's getting busted inside. That's crying? Sounds like a statement of the obvious to me.

 

Most everytime I see Magglio hitting with runners on base, he's PULLING to ball to SS for a nice easy 6-4-3. Maybe I'm seeing a different Magglio at the plate.

 

Hustling in RF is nice, and I think Magglio is an above average RF'er, but you can't fault Frank for being a DH. That's the manager's call, not Frank's.

 

And Frank is a "lightning rod" for controversy because like you said, everything he does or says is under a microscope. He's still the #1 superstar on this team. Magglio may be a better player, but there's nobody who garners as much attention as Frank does. Good, bad, or indifferent, that's how it is.

 

And you're right -- most everybody needs to start earning their paychecks, and soon. Otherwise, this season might be wasted.

With the whole hitting coach thing. The problem isn't that he is looking for help. The problem is that the guys on his team have never been good enough for him. Instead he is the only guy on the team who has the team bring in someone else, just for him. What if Maggs slumped and decided he needed to bring in Von Joshua? What if Carlos wanted to bring in an old minor league coach? Would the team allow this to happen? Why is Frank more important than the team? And #2 with that is do you really think that the coaches on this team are incabable of looking at film from mid 90's Frank and telling him what he is doing different? There is NO WAY that Joshua and Ward both haven't seen what was wrong with Frank.

And #3 he didn't start looking outside of the organization to bring in help until after he started slumping.

 

As for Frank and the strikezone...This is Frank in today's Trib.

 

Frank Thomas is still fuming over a called third strike in the first inning of Sunday night's loss to Seattle.

 

"The first at-bat set the tone for everything," Thomas said, reiterating a complaint that umpires have routinely been calling inside pitches strikes when he is at the plate this season.

 

The Sox had runners at first and third with nobody out when home-plate umpire Mark Wegner rang up Thomas.

 

"Me striking out right there changed the whole ballgame. I'm not happy about it," Thomas said. "Basically, that's been my luck lately. Seems like I never get the pitch inside anymore, and that's a big part of my game. I can't be effective. I'm watching other guys take that pitch day in and day out and not having it called [a strike]. It is very consistently called a ball. I'm definitely frustrated with that. It's tough hitting that way."

 

Thomas is hitting .233 with five homers and 10 RBIs this season, but he ranks second in the American League with 26 walks. He has nine walks in his last 10 games, but he is 0-for-9 in his last four games.

 

"They weren't running mediocre pitching at us this past week," Thomas said of the Mariners and A's, who took five of six from the Sox. "Great pitching beats great hitting any day of the week. That's the way it is."