Offically Over

[SinkingShip06]

Kenny Williams will make this team a contender again, there's no doubt.

 

but will he bring us players that will quit after the first half?

[witesoxfan]

However, this offseason, I'm willing to accept any "building on the fly" scenario. I find it rather troublesome Minnesota continued their success without Liriano. Or Detroit's pitching, even if regression were to occur, have decent pitching prospects available. Cleveland still can't be overlooked and Kansas City has baseball minds running their organization now.

 

I'm just not too optimistic about next year. I don't feel comfortable HOPING Buehrle, Contreras, Garland all improve. Or McCarthy locates his rhythm last observed in September of 2005. If it were my decision, I'd trade Buehrle for a variety of blue-chip SP prospects and bullpen pieces; and Garcia for a lesser of the aforementioned proposal. Perhaps concentrate on a catching or middle infield prospect with whichever team desires Freddy. With McCarthy/Haegar in a rotation, the salary left could be used to sign a shortstop/backupC.

 

My thinking, and I'm certain many disagree, is we're ultimately going to fall short with anything short of a miraculous ressurection within the rotation. Some may BELIEVE that's going to occur, but I'd rather manage under the realm of reality and realize these pitchers don't possess the talent we may have believed. The division from bottom up is steadily progressing towards respectability. No longer can bank on guaranteed wins against Kansas City or Cleveland. Not that we ever did (esp. KC), but the time has past where our division record will reach an absurd, 2005 level.

 

I'll take a mediocre season if it prepares us beyond 07'. If Haegar/McCarthy fail miserably, atleast they're doing it for 18 million less than Buehrle and Garcia. If Buehrle rebounds, let him do it in the national league. I'd rather receive something for him now.

 

And I know someone is bound to mention our payroll, with the addition of a record setting attendance, inspiring Williams to "go for it" another season. I'll entertain such a thought for a brief moment. Go to Cheat's blog. Look at the figures. Applying estimated arbitration numbers and conservative substractions (esp. Garica), we're around 94 million. Still without a backup catcher,legitimate SS, backup IF, RP to replace Riske. Does 6-11 million ultimately cover this? There's not nearly as much money left as people may believe.

 

Flash, my main beef with rebuilding this offseason is that you are simply completely tearing the team apart. Obviously, that's the point of rebuilding, but why rebuild when 24 pieces of the main 25-man are under control of the White Sox for 2007?

 

In my mind, 2007 is the last real chance this team has to make a lot of noise. After that, Buehrle, Dye, Garcia, and Iguchi are all free agents(those off the top of my head). After 2008, you're looking at Garland, Vazquez, Crede, and Pierzynski, with Contreras and Thome's deals ending after 2009. If the core group is going to remain together, you may as well go balls out and try and win one last time, or atleast that's what I figure.

 

It's hard to figure anything the rotation will do next year. One can ultimately hope that Buehrle's not necessarily injured, but rather just worn down from throwing nearly 500 innings over the past 2 seasons. Garcia will almost undoubtedly be mediocre again next year, but one can hope that if indeed his velocity magically returns in his contract year, and his splitter is for real, he is worth keeping. Garland's shown a pair in the second half, and one can only hope he can maintain that type of consistency over a year's time. Contreras has been inconsistent since his return from the DL, about as inconsistent as headcase Jose was in 2004, but one can hope that he returns to 2005 Ace Jose. Vazquez too has been very good in the second half, and one can only hope his comfort level is at the point where he will pitch well all year. We'll have to see about that.

 

(I noticed one key idea in the previous paragraph...it's not a good thing)

 

I personally think the easiest pitcher to trade is Contreras at this point. He still has near full value, coming off a good year again with people undoubtedly still remembering his 2005 postseason performance, and he has more than 1 year remaining on his contract, unlike Buehrle and Garcia. The problem is the fact that he has a complete no-trade clause in 2007; me not being a lawyer, and not having the exact contract in front of me, and not being in the room when the contract was discussed, I'm not sure if 2007 kicks in at 12:00 AM on 01/01/07, or if it kicks in the second the World Series ends. Another problem in trading Contreras is that you get little value to no value out of Garcia, because if you are competing in 2007, he's not going anywhere at the deadline.

 

And let's not just shrug off the offense and pretend it sucked ass. It sucked ass when the guys at the top of the order weren't getting on base, and the players in general were not getting into scoring position. Bring in Rollins, bring in Catalanotto, and that problem vanishes in a heartbeat. I'm not sure how available Rollins is from Philadelphia, but if they for whatever reason can't unload Burrell, I think he has to be the main trade bait in Philly. Catalanotto's a free agent, so he would be a little easier to sign.

 

My other main beef with rebuilding is the fan base. The White Sox organization just set an attendance record due to last season's accomplishments. Why turn on the entire fan base and rebuild 1 season after you won a World Series? It's not financially smart to rebuild now.

[LosMediasBlancas]

INCONSISTENT. Which was also the downfall of every Sox team from 2000-2004. We rarely hit on all cylinders and too many guys were hot or cold at the plate and especially on the hill. Makes for a frustrating season.

[Drew]

The guys on the field didn't play consistently well enough to cover up Ozzie's consistently piss-poor in-game decision making.

[RibbieRubarb]

it's finally over. this team gave up after the all star break. i'm glad the final mathematical bulls*** is done. f*** THE SOX. they're gonna have to prove something to me next year as i have to predict them to finish 4th behind the indians...

 

Don't worry...You can go back to whatever baseball team you rooted for prior to fall 2005, now.

Edited September 26, 2006 by RibbieRubarb

[kapkomet]

it's finally over. this team gave up after the all star break. i'm glad the final mathematical bulls*** is done. f*** THE SOX. they're gonna have to prove something to me next year as i have to predict them to finish 4th behind the indians...

Seriously, just go away now. You've said your piece. Don't come back.

[Milkman delivers]

The greatest year in White Sox history in a long time, followed up by one of the worst.

 

The team really should be ashamed of themselves.

[Dan]

The greatest year in White Sox history in a long time, followed up by one of the worst.

 

The team really should be ashamed of themselves.

one o the worst?> i can rememer a few seasons offa the top of my head in the past 5 years that were worse than this season. come on guys. one season is over so we plan for the next one, maybe make some changes. you'll see me at next years home opener just as you'll see me every year. its not the end of the world. sure we may have rolled over and died down the stretch, but we can at least hope for another ring come next spring.

thats all im saying, im not participating in this thread anymore. boom.

[Hangar18]

So who else besides me guessed correctly, that Tuesday 9/26 would be a dark day around here?

 

Im happy that 2 teams from this division are in the playoffs, and it wont be an ESPN/AL EAST Bonanza.

The SOX gave us many signs that they werent really a good team, and their pathetic record the 2nd half shows.

[Steve9347]

18K? http://sports-ak.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=260925109

 

 

WOW, such fans up in Minnesota!

[Hangar18]

Sportscenter sure ripped into our club. According to the anchor (whoever the hell he is), our club watched ESPN rather than the TWins game. They knew their miserable season had finally concluded. No use watching a real team defeat the Royals.

 

There was even a shot of a fan holding up a sign saying, "Ozzie, who's choking now?" with the picture of Guillen from last season. Term "embarrassing" was used at the end of the highlight. Sure was. Now, we can sit back this postseason and reflect on the misery which we were all witness to.

 

 

Usually, I hate when the Media negatively covers the SOX, but they are spot-on. The SOX should be ripped for this miserable 2nd half.

[Steve9347]

it's finally over. this team gave up after the all star break. i'm glad the final mathematical bulls*** is done. f*** THE SOX. they're gonna have to prove something to me next year as i have to predict them to finish 4th behind the indians...

 

no one ever took you for a sox fan, no one ever will...

 

go back to your pre-fall05 mlb team, which is probably the yankees.

[klaus kinski]

Whats so disappointing is that the Twins added no one last off season, the Tigers added an old pitcher in Rogers, and most importantly a major league manager.

 

We made a number of improvements, it seemed the Twins had hoped to finish second at best.

 

Thats why this hurts-no doubt we have better talent and depth-and I just cant tolerate millionaires underachieving.

 

How far are we out, and also how many times was a starting pitcher left in too long this year? The KC losses were bad enough, but the misuse of pitching staff by the manager is my biggest gripe.

[GreatScott82]

This team had no chemistry. It was a lot easier to cheer for last years team because they were fun to watch. I couldn't say that about this team. We didn't have the 'grinders' anymore. I know losing Rowand was overdocumented, but he truly was a key loss to this teams chemistry. KW needs to go out and find some grinders again to patch up our top and bottom of the orders.

This teams pitching really failed. We were supposed to be one of the "best rotations ever" according to ESPNs steve phillips. Well it looked good on paper, BUT not once did our rotation have quality starts 1-5 in sequence until the very end of the year. But by then our bullpen was in shambles.

#1 priority: Fix up the bullpen.

#2 priority: find a speedy left fielder and a grinder center fielder. (trade bmac and anderson for Crawford to play LF and sign Hunter via free agency.

#3 priorty: fix up the bottom of the order. trade Uribe and Broadway for Rollins.

The 2007 lineup of my dreams:

Crawford LF

Iguchi 2B

Dye RF

Thome DH

Konerko 1B

Pierzynski C

Crede 3B

Hunter CF

Rollins SS

 

(Lol okay that would be ridiculous!!)

[Hangar18]

This team had no chemistry. It was a lot easier to cheer for last years team because they were fun to watch. I couldn't say that about this team. We didn't have the 'grinders' anymore. I know losing Rowand was overdocumented, but he truly was a key loss to this teams chemistry. KW needs to go out and find some grinders again to patch up our top and bottom of the orders.

This teams pitching really failed. We were supposed to be one of the "best rotations ever" according to ESPNs steve phillips. Well it looked good on paper, BUT not once did our rotation have quality starts 1-5 in sequence until the very end of the year. But by then our bullpen was in shambles.

#1 priority: Fix up the bullpen.

#2 priority: find a speedy left fielder and a grinder center fielder. (trade bmac and anderson for Crawford to play LF and sign Hunter via free agency.

#3 priorty: fix up the bottom of the order. trade Uribe and Broadway for Rollins.

The 2007 lineup of my dreams:

Crawford LF

Iguchi 2B

Dye RF

Thome DH

Konerko 1B

Pierzynski C

Crede 3B

Hunter CF

Rollins SS

 

(Lol okay that would be ridiculous!!)

 

I like the Crawford trade idea.

[LVSoxFan]

Well now that it's all said and done, I'd say most of all: goodbye Pods, and I think it's safe to say that the Brian Anderson Experiment is over, unless he has a hell of a season in winter ball. As for the rest:

 

Ozuna: keep him

 

Pods: dump him, now

 

Gooch: keep him

 

Thome: hope he doesn't gas out 2nd half like he did this year

 

Konerko: keep him, but SPEAK UP, Paulie! You're the team captain! We need more "Michael Jordan" and less "silent leadership"

 

Crede: keep him (anybody notice how his batting always sucks 1st half but this year he was killer all the way until the last month, when he was terrible? Talk about just not getting a break this year!)

 

Uribe: Hero last year, don't know this year. Not sure what to say.

 

Mack: please stop putting this man in center field

 

Dye: duh!

 

Gload: keep him as a backup

 

As for the starters, I still think we should Keep the Five Alive and deal BMac for speed/hitting, but I get a lot of abuse for that.

 

In the end, and I had this conversation with somebody last night, we DID NOT PLAY THE SMALLBALL THAT WON US 2005.

 

This was 2004, redux, but with expectations. Home run feast-or-famine offense.

 

Things MIA this season: squeeze bunts, opposite field hits, stolen bases... you know, everything that we KILLED WITH LAST SEASON.

[mumu]

I think it's safe to say that the Brian Anderson Experiment is over, unless he has a hell of a season in winter ball.

 

Give BA a break, he's young, he's shown improvement at the plate, he's only going to get better. He should be here.

[AbeFroman]

I know this sounds wierd, but I've been so depressed for the last three weeks about this team that I'm actually just happy its over now. The writing has been on the wall for over a month now. Watching it happen was really misearble.

 

Now may I can stop agonizing and try to move on. I'm actually happier now that the collapse is complete and we can move on to the hot-stove off-season

[tonyho7476]

Sorry, but the Twins should be embarrassed they couldnt get more than 18K for the clinching game of the division.

 

 

They should be happy that anyone shows up to see anything in that s***ty dome. I can't wait till that place is leveled.

[LVSoxFan]

I know this sounds wierd, but I've been so depressed for the last three weeks about this team that I'm actually just happy its over now. The writing has been on the wall for over a month now. Watching it happen was really misearble.

 

Now may I can stop agonizing and try to move on. I'm actually happier now that the collapse is complete and we can move on to the hot-stove off-season

 

I agree. I am relieved, too. Being a Sox fan this year was NO fun. Especially second half. First half had its moments, but since the ASB this has been a bummer.

[Linnwood]

I know this sounds wierd, but I've been so depressed for the last three weeks about this team that I'm actually just happy its over now.

 

 

Doesn't sound weird at all. I felt the same way.

[Balance]

I agree. I am relieved, too. Being a Sox fan this year was NO fun. Especially second half. First half had its moments, but since the ASB this has been a bummer.

I couldn't agree more. It was painful to see this ballclub underperform over and over again since midseason.

[fathom]

It was surely frustrating, but at least we stayed in the race up until the last week and a half of the season.

[My Dixie Normus]

I will be in Cleveland tonight and was planning on going to the game. Those 14 runs last night kinda have me second guessing. Why go to the game to watch an ass whoopin.

[LosMediasBlancas]

They should be happy that anyone shows up to see anything in that s***ty dome. I can't wait till that place is leveled.

 

Call me crazy but I actually respeect the hell out of the Twins. Crappy park, no fan support, no respect, tight bank roll, yet they STILL come out year after year and compete.