White Sox Loser

[RockRaines]

There should be more urgency then to do something about it. I hope people realize that if Minnesota develops or trade for several offensive pieces they're set. Mauer obviously won't be hitting at his

 

What happens when Matt Garza, their stud AA pitcher, develops and one day enters Minnesota's rotation? We may encountering the starting rotation from hell. Detroit isn't exactly taking a step back.

 

I just wish I had some inclination that something is being done to develop legitimate talent. Ideally in Latin America, where everything is fair game for those willing to search. I realize we've developed a baseball academy in Venezuela. That may one day reap benefits. It's just remarkable to me how little our scouts from Latin America has done. Not even our Futuresox crew could deny that.

So, I guess we should be shopping AJ for 2 stud pitchers right now? Because thats how the twins got him.

[WCSox]

But make no mistake about it: Contreras is a HOF caliber pitcher. If he came up in the states, he'd be (arguably) the best SP in White Sox history outside of Ed Walsh. Talk about a major championship piece.

 

^^^

 

[fathom]

Doesnt McCulloh throw heat?

 

No

[RockRaines]

No

Not mid 90's?

[Dawgs]

Yes, this loss is disappointing. Yes, I would've felt better with a sweep.

 

Everyone is so hung up on this division bulls***, christ do you realize that we are 6 up on the WC? I know Sox fans are not accustomed to looking at that, and it's not something we should settle for. Luckily we won't have to eventually.

 

f*** the Tigers. Once they get off of their minor league schedule, we'll see what they are really made of.

 

They have a brutal July after the all-star break. I wouldn't be surprised to see them take a 5 game losing streak somewhere in there.

 

The difference between the Sox and the Tigers is that the Sox beat the good teams.

 

I seriously will take action on the Tigers/Pirates series.

 

The Sox schedule has been easier to date then Detroits. And is more brutal than Detroits in July. Detroit has 2 in Pittsburgh and 4 at home to KC. Chicago has the Yankees and Red Sox. The series between the teams is in Detroit and, unless you are still buying into the fact that Detroit is not good, could be the most difficult of all.

[shoota]

I didn't see the game today, but I heard bits of it from the 7th inning on. From my limited perspective of the game, this loss is on Ozzie for allowing Politte pitch in a tie game.

Edited June 30, 2006 by shoota

[DBAHO]

I'll keep it short for SoxAce.

 

What you're doing is exactly what everyone else does. Shrugs their shoulders and go, "oh well -- every team would want a Liriano." I imagine there's a large group of people who think similarily working in our minor league system. They feel the odds are we're not going to find one, so why do anything?

 

It's of their own makings they're consistently in the position to not only have a player on the level of Liriano, but one even capable of average production.

 

One, granted, is due to our consistently average record which has limited high draft picks. Nothing you can do there.

 

Another, which is entirely our fault, is our inability to develop talent from Latin American countries. Since Lee and Ordonez' promotion in the late 90's, we haven't even had a player on par with Neifi Perez arise from our Latin scouts. It's pitiful to ignore such a large baseball rich area of the world. If we're EVER going to find a Liriano, it's going to have to either be from scouting or a trade. Even if such odds increases from 1/10,000 to 1/5,000, atleast make some effort.

 

Watching Minnesota locate both Santana and Liriano (and I realize neither are products of Minnesota's system) just aggrivated me beyond belief. There's a reason both stud lefthanders just happened to be on Minnesota. Their scouting directions obviously values pitching prospects with velocity. You can't teach velocity. When I observe our club drafting Broadway and McCulloh it's evident we're more concerned with "safe" pics with low potential than high pics which may be risky, but have a high ceiling. Go ahead and tell me about Nick Lemon or another bust, but I'd rather have 15 straight busts if it even gives us one Liriano.

 

We have to counter those two. I don't care how ridiculous that sounds, we need results from a group of scouts who haven't done s*** in nearly a decade. I'm not going to sit by and watch Liriano/Santana mow through us while Lance Broadway is considered one of our top pitching prospects. That just won't work for me. Now, either you can again shrug your shoulder and just accept every 10K shutout from either for the next 7 years, or realize there's a group of people working for the White Sox who aren't doing their jobs.

 

Join with me people -- Where's our Liriano?

Flash are you still on this crusade?

 

How many other organizations would love to have a Santana and Liriano right now? Every single one. And yet how many do? Only 1. Did Seattle sign Felix Hernandez to a huge signing bonus or anything when they signed him? Not IIRC.

 

Minnesota are active in their scouting and farm system because it's the only way they're going to be successful. They don't have the payroll of other teams in this divison? Would you rather have a smaller payroll like them if it meant more money came out from our payroll and into our international scouting?

 

If you had 15 high risk pitching prospect busts in a row, that alone is significantly going to hinder your chances of making deals at the deadline, or any trades in general. We got Jim Thome because we had 2 solid SP prospects in Gio Gonzalez and Dan Haigwood. The Sox have been succesful drafting pitchers like Buerhle who don't have great stuff but know how to pitch. Who says you have to strike out 10 hitters each outing to be succesful in the majors?

 

We don't want to turn into the Yankees and be a team that has no prospects at all, and therefore most of our team will be made up of high priced FA's. Amazingly enough, we have developed pitching in our minors whether it's from our own in B-Mac, or from a trade in Cotts.

[Rowand44]

yay, I missed the real soxtalk.

[VAfan]

I think today's loss sucked big time, but I'm not ready to panic or throw in the towel. The Chicago White Sox still have the best team in baseball. By a mile.

 

We have the best offense. And it's not going to slide from that perch between now and October. Crede is the real deal. Dye is just relaxed and playing the best of his career. Thome is being Thome. Konerko has more production around him. And the guys who were scuffling -- like Pods in June, Anderson, and Uribe -- are all going to be better from here on out. Uribe could become a monster hitter if he can ever keep it together.

 

We have the best depth of any starting staff in baseball. Sure, our guys aren't doing as well as they are capable of at the moment.

 

Garcia - 4.65 ERA

Vazquez - 5.00 ERA

Garland - 5.76 ERA

McCarthy - 4.35 ERA

 

But won't all of these ERA's improve? By as much as a run/game? If we're pitching this bad in September, maybe I'll be concerned. But it's June.

 

We finally have a developing bullpen that could become outstanding. Jenks, Cotts, Thornton, and Riske are all doing the jobs they are supposed to do. I don't expect those guys to get scored on very often. McCarthy has been bounced around, but appears to finally be taking to his role. (If only Ozzie would use him as a true long man and give our starters a break when they don't have their A games.) The jury is out on Politte, but if he doesn't return to form, Montero is a capable bridge to a replacement in the trade market.

 

We also have a deep bench that we didn't have last year. Sure, we could do better than Widger (any catchers on the market?), and Gload doesn't have much of a role. But Mack, Cintron, and especially Ozuna have really helped us.

 

Plus we have one of the best managers in baseball -- one who will take the heat off his team all day long. He gets his team ready to play and win.

 

And we have perhaps the best general manager in baseball. He's not going to sit on his hands if we need something to improve.

 

So, a game like today sucks. Ozzie mismanaged it. Contreras stunk. And Politte got stretched beyond where he should have been and we lost.

 

I bet our guys are going to blow it out of their systems and move on to stomp on the Cubs.

 

Would you trade our team for any other team in baseball? I certainly wouldn't. At the end of the day, if we're playing like we are capable of playing, I don't think any team can touch us. Let everyone think we're third or fourth fiddle. I'll take our guys.

 

GO WHITE SOX!! 2006 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS!!!

[southsider2k5]

Don't patronize me, Mike.

 

Sadly, my hiatus proved my recent-Soxtalk sentiments correct. You will no longer have to concern yourself with my wild disregard for board rules or disrespectful posting habits--the first such alligation I have ever come across.

 

I'll make you a deal. I won't patronize you, if you don't use this place as your own personal litter box to show up at when you need to take a dump when you have a bad day.

[OneShotTwinsKilled]

It's 1 game people. We won the series on the road and are playing the Cubs next. Why panic?

[scotty22hotty]

I blame it on the BA banner!

Sucks watching great(?) sox comebacks, then watching them fall short at the end =(

Politte

[chisoxt]

Boy, the Sox have been on such a hot streak, I starting forgetting how fast the wheels fall off around here...

Good to see everyone back.

 

 

But it's almost impossible to point out some very troubling signs without being accused of being a naysayer.

The starting pitching on this team in their current state will not cut it, if the aspirstions are to repeat as World Champions. Plenty of time to get some things right, but I am concerned now.

[TheBigHurt]

QUOTE(LVSoxFan @ Jun 29, 2006 -> 03:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Okay, I am the last person to throw around the "doom n' gloom" tag but Jesus, people, relax! I figure these points are best made using bullets.

 

-Yes, I agree about Politte. He's been given a few chances now to "find it" like he did in 2005 and he's blown them. Just like after that Cleveland series with Shingo last year (remember?), this may be the end of him. And as much as I loved Shingo, I knew after that game he was outta here

 

-FORGET the Tigers. Even Ozzie has said this. You have to deal with every game at hand and in the end let the chips fall where they may. Yes, if you keep winning at least every series (which is the damn goal, people), we are sitting pretty. Y'all will go INSANE if you're constantly eyeballing the Tigers when we're not even at the ASB yet and they've not had a slump yet this season.

 

-As for this "guaranteed win" status of Pittsburgh, huh? The thing of baseball is that on any given day any team can beat any team, no matter how good each is or how the game's "supposed" to go. Pittsburgh? Yeah they suck, but so does KC and I've managed to see us lose to them three times, in person, out there. When they were brutal. That is baseball, people. Sometimes the Pirates will beat us, sometimes KC will, Tampa Bay seems to always... sometimes you eat the bear, sometimes the bear eats you. In the end what matters is the final tally. Not going apes*** over what should have been an easy win and is one game.

 

IMO there is no such thing as an easy win. Everybody thought St. Louis/Sox would be a hell of a matchup and we crushed them like they were... Pittsburgh. Go figure. This is not news, this idea.

 

SO GET OFF THE DAMN LEDGE ALREADY.

 

AMEN.

 

I think about 70% of the members of soxtalk have some sort of split personailty disorder. There's more flip-flops here than at the beach on a hot day in July.

[MHizzle85]

AMEN.

 

I think about 70% of the members of soxtalk have some sort of split personailty disorder. There's more flip-flops here than at the beach on a hot day in July.

 

PREACH!!!!!!!!!! *plays church organ*

[nitetrain8601]

I've read a couple of pages in this thread and I must say, I don't think this has to do with pessimistic fans. I see SSI talking about how we fkd up by not taking all 3 and he's one of the most optimistic fans around here IMO.

 

Fact is, you have to take 3 of 3 from the worst team in baseball. Especially when you consider yourself the best team in baseball, you're supposed to be the best team in baseball, and you're trying to win a division.

[Swingandalongonetoleft]

The Pirates were due. They'll lose their next three to Detroit, but you don't lose as many baseball games in a row as they did. I didn't get to watch the game, so I don't know how our bullpen was used leading up to the ninth, but putting Cliff in that situation coming off the DL was not the prime move.

[YASNY]

I read part of this thread and couldn't take anymore. It sucked.

[Rowand44]

This thread will be even more hilarious when the Tigers lose one to Pitt this weekend.

[VAfan]

This thread will be even more hilarious when the Tigers lose one to Pitt this weekend.

 

Pitt will be lucky to score a run in 3 games off Tigers pitching. Just compare what they did to Houston after Houston knocked our pitching around for three games. Two shutouts.

 

Our team ERA in June was 4.84. The only reason we won so many games was that our offense scored 167 runs in 26 games, or 6.4 runs/game. That's better than the 2000 Sox.

 

Fortunately, there is time to turn around the pitching. We've seen bad stretches by these guys before.

[Greg Hibbard]

Again,

 

PM me if you want action on the Tigers series this weekend. I am betting against a sweep.

 

So far I have received zero PMs.

[NorthSideSox72]

I've read a couple of pages in this thread and I must say, I don't think this has to do with pessimistic fans. I see SSI talking about how we fkd up by not taking all 3 and he's one of the most optimistic fans around here IMO.

 

Fact is, you have to take 3 of 3 from the worst team in baseball. Especially when you consider yourself the best team in baseball, you're supposed to be the best team in baseball, and you're trying to win a division.

These kinds of posts make me laugh. You HAVE to take 3 of 3? On the road? Do bad teams like PIT and KC go 0-162? OR even 40-122? No. They win 60 games or so, maybe more. Do good teams like the Sox or DET go 13-0 against KC? No, of course not - they might go 10-3. Bad teams beat good teams on occasion. We won two of three, and almost won the third, on the road, without our DH. What is the problem here?

 

Times like this, we need to remember the axiom: every team wins a third of their games and loses a third. Its what you do with the other third that makes the difference.

 

We have the 2nd best record in baseball, and its late June. I am soooooo not worried.

[quickman]

I'll make you a deal. I won't patronize you, if you don't use this place as your own personal litter box to show up at when you need to take a dump when you have a bad day.

 

 

Most of the time I hate whats going on here, but you two guys are two of the best and have been around here along time. If I can play friend for a bit...patch it up. Otherwise I am down to Rock, Jim. Doesn't leave much as you can see!

[Milkman delivers]

There are serious problems for this team right now. Three starters have really bad ERA's. They make like 25 million dollars. That is way past unacceptable. And Widger cannot call a baseball game anymore. Those are real problems that will bite us in the ass come playoff time. Whoever said we're like the 2005 Red Sox hit it right on the head. We can't have guys with ERA's of 4.65, 5.00, and 5.76 starting playoff games. Teams with great offenses and bad pitching usually don't win it all.

[southsider2k5]

Most of the time I hate whats going on here, but you two guys are two of the best and have been around here along time. If I can play friend for a bit...patch it up. Otherwise I am down to Rock, Jim. Doesn't leave much as you can see!

 

Q, I have no problems with Ian. I was the one who suggested him as a guy to help run the Bears site, and possibly take over things in the future. Trust me, after doing this for quite a while, I don't just recommend anybody for that kind of stuff.