BUMPED::::::Toby Hall Possibly out for the season

[fathom]

No, he doesn't. ustavo Molina is batting something like a collective .097 this spring, and his defense aint that good, from what I have seen. I'd rather have my dog play catcher because at least he has speed, Molina has nothing.

 

Also, I'd like to see a trade for a top catching prospect for AA/AAA. Looking through our system, our catching situation right now is terrible.

 

According to KW, it's either Wiki or Molina.

[SoxAce]

No, he doesn't. ustavo Molina is batting something like a collective .097 this spring

 

.222 even though it's still bad/doesn't make much of a difference. It's not that I don't mind his D, it's just that he'll leave waaaaaaay too many baserunners on base. He left 5 alone in today's game, and will be seriously overmatched.

 

Also, I'd like to see a trade for a top catching prospect for AA/AAA. Looking through our system, our catching situation right now is terrible.

 

Not a realistic idea because and it's not gonna happen. We have a better chance at drafting one instead (that's how slim it is) even though Kurt Suzuki would have been very sexy instead of Lucy (but I don't wanna get into that again, I'll save that for another discussion)

Edited March 27, 2007 by SoxAce

[southsideirish71]

According to KW, it's either Wiki or Molina.

 

[rant]

 

Dont worry, those two catchers have been readied for the majors by our crack staff of prime hitting coaches in the minors. That plus a few weeks with Walker and we will be ready for the prime time. Right now every lefty in the AL Central cant wait to face our lineup. Hopefully their third baseman is ready for the task for throwing out every one of our hitters. Maybe we can cause their third baseman a torn labrum with overuse of the throwing arm.

 

At some point something needs to be done with our minor league instruction for players. Our hitters and pitchers for the most part come up completely unprepared for the task at hand. I understand that their is an adjustment period, but our prospects look like they are blind, deaf and dumb when they come up. Other teams bring their prospects up and they struggle, but they at least can put the bat on the ball. Its sad when we have hitting coaches that can fix in a short period of time a prospect, that our coaches have had under instruction for years as a lost hiting prospect. KW needs to completely clean house at some point with our minors instruction and start over. Get some guys who can teach our prospects how to prosper. How to hit a bit. This is not even a slight agains walk. I cant blame Walk for this one. This is an organizational failure, when every single one of our prospects comes up absolutely worthless with a bat. Long looping swings, from Joe Crede now to Brian Anderson. Its the same bad story every time. Find someone who preaches the line drive type swing, teach our guys how to hit the ball, identify strikes and balls, and make contact. Then develop the power after that. We dont need to worry if Joe Schmo can hit a 500 foot homer in single A. Who cares. I want to see him make contact first. Then he can work on the power from the line drive approach. Good grief.

 

[/rant]

[fathom]

Molina hit around .225 in AA last year. Considering the quality of lefties he'd have to face, I'll predict he wouldn't hit over .140 in the majors. It's times like this I wish we had an extra few million to be able to acquire players when injuries occur (anyone know where we can find a few millions dollars being wasted on our roster?).

[Mr. Showtime]

Unless, as was discussed earlier, Perez doesn't make the team (he still hasn't played since he got hurt, I believe). And Mack can't really hit lefties well. Therefore, he makes sense as an occasional start over there against LHP, if he can defend the position (which I honestly don't know if he can or not).

 

Don't know if this was pointed out yet, as I'm only in the middle of the thread.

 

Perez was playing 1st and his calf was hurting him, so Ozzie put Toby there.

[jphat007]

Molina hit around .225 in AA last year. Considering the quality of lefties he'd have to face, I'll predict he wouldn't hit over .140 in the majors. It's times like this I wish we had an extra few million to be able to acquire players when injuries occur (anyone know where we can find a few millions dollars being wasted on our roster?).

 

I'm not saying that one of those two won't get the job, because they very well could, but I surely don't trust what KW says in an article like that right after the thing went down. He's not gonna announce, "our in house options suck, so we are going to make a trade." You can bet he's burning the phone lines tonight though. or will be soon.

 

That's not to say that Molina or Wiki won't be the backup though. They very well could be.

[fathom]

Don't know if this was pointed out yet, as I'm only in the middle of the thread.

 

Perez was playing 1st and his calf was hurting him, so Ozzie put Toby there.

 

Well, if that was the case, then someone in the Sox organization got their story wrong. The story circulating today was that the Sox put Hall at 1st base in order to get another at-bat and to get some experience at 1st base (meaning that they planned to put him there for a few innings).

 

I'm not saying that one of those two won't get the job, because they very well could, but I surely don't trust what KW says in an article like that right after the thing went down. He's not gonna announce, "our in house options suck, so we are going to make a trade." You can bet he's burning the phone lines tonight though. or will be soon.

 

That's not to say that Molina or Wiki won't be the backup though. They very well could be.

 

I agree....it's hard to take anything KW says at face value.

[witesoxfan]

Molina hit around .225 in AA last year. Considering the quality of lefties he'd have to face, I'll predict he wouldn't hit over .140 in the majors. It's times like this I wish we had an extra few million to be able to acquire players when injuries occur (anyone know where we can find a few millions dollars being wasted on our roster?).

 

you're talking about Jermaine Dye, aren't you?

 

you can't sneak anything past me

[Mr. Showtime]

Well, if that was the case, then someone in the Sox organization got their story wrong. The story circulating today was that the Sox put Hall at 1st base in order to get another at-bat and to get some experience at 1st base (meaning that they planned to put him there for a few innings).

 

My bad. I read the story to quick this morning the Daily Herald said:

 

After catching the first six innings against Texas, Hall moved to first base to replace Eduardo Perez, who has been hampered by a sore right calf since March 14.

[FlaSoxxJim]

If you guys are so bummed for the season, just go to the Tigers board and start cheering for them...Season hasnt even started and half of you have given up already. This isnt the Delta I remember....

 

Germans?

 

Forget it. He's rolling.

 

[newportitis]

Balta had it right 10 pages ago...Damian Miller will be our number two, and for my money, I'd rather have him than a healthy Hall. He hit really well last year until he got banged up. He's a great team guy, good with pitchers, etc. The Brewers want Mackowiak for the LH platoon with Tony Graffanino until their hotshot Braun is ready. They would be happy to unload 2+ million for a 2nd string catcher, especially when both Mike Rivera and another backup catcher have been burning things up this spring. And as much as I like Mack. I don't see how he fits on this team. I'm pretty certain that Ed Perez is a lock for the 25 man roster. If we add Damian Miller before opening day, we'll be just fine.

[southsideirish71]

Balta had it right 10 pages ago...Damian Miller will be our number two, and for my money, I'd rather have him than a healthy Hall. He hit really well last year until he got banged up. He's a great team guy, good with pitchers, etc. The Brewers want Mackowiak for the LH platoon with Tony Graffanino until their hotshot Braun is ready. They would be happy to unload 2+ million for a 2nd string catcher, especially when both Mike Rivera and another backup catcher have been burning things up this spring. And as much as I like Mack. I don't see how he fits on this team. I'm pretty certain that Ed Perez is a lock for the 25 man roster. If we add Damian Miller before opening day, we'll be just fine.

 

Damian Miller would be better than watching a product of our minor league system tackle CC and Johan as their regular diet of crapfooo.

[zenryan]

f*** f*** f*** f*** f***

[effectivelywild]

He's not a 1B though. He is not accustomed to playing that position. What's next, Podsednik at SS?

 

Maybe, I dunno, if you're a backup catcher not used to playing the position in ST you just don't dive for that ball? I appreciate grinder ball and everything, but blaming Ozzie because he put him in for some ABs makes about as much sense as blaming Hall for diving for a ball during ST.

[easyw]

This is terrible news. I think Hall's role with the 2007 Sox was going to larger than KW led on... Everyone knows Hall can hit the lefties, and he would've started maybe 40 or so games behind the plate, and maybe another 10-20 as a DH (depending on injuries, etc..).

 

The Sox were awful against left handed pitchers last season, and acquiring Hall was a step towards correcting that. How important is winning against left handed pitchers? 11 of the 12 teams that finished 1st or 2nd in their division last season had winning records against lefties (the exception being St Louis). Of all the remaining teams, only one (or maybe two) had a winning record against lefties.

 

If the Sox want to contend in 07, one thing they will likely have to accomplish is to have a winning record against left handed pitching. Losing Hall makes that task a lot tougher.

[southsideirish71]

Maybe, I dunno, if you're a backup catcher not used to playing the position in ST you just don't dive for that ball? I appreciate grinder ball and everything, but blaming Ozzie because he put him in for some ABs makes about as much sense as blaming Hall for diving for a ball during ST.

 

Then have him DH in a B game. You put a player out in the field in a game, and they will react. Its human nature.

[DBAHO]

Balta had it right 10 pages ago...Damian Miller will be our number two, and for my money, I'd rather have him than a healthy Hall. He hit really well last year until he got banged up. He's a great team guy, good with pitchers, etc. The Brewers want Mackowiak for the LH platoon with Tony Graffanino until their hotshot Braun is ready. They would be happy to unload 2+ million for a 2nd string catcher, especially when both Mike Rivera and another backup catcher have been burning things up this spring. And as much as I like Mack. I don't see how he fits on this team. I'm pretty certain that Ed Perez is a lock for the 25 man roster. If we add Damian Miller before opening day, we'll be just fine.

Welcome to Soxtalk.

 

Your point certainly makes some sense. Mack was linked to the Brew Crew a few days ago, they've just traded Brady Clark, so it could be a logical fit.

[fathom]

According to the Trib, it's likely to be Molina. We officially have the worst back-up catcher in baseball now. From best to worst.....super!

[effectivelywild]

Then have him DH in a B game. You put a player out in the field in a game, and they will react. Its human nature.

 

I've been looking around, does anyone know if they B-squad was playing today/who they were playing? It's easy to say, in retrospect, that Hall shouldn't have been playing, but if there was an opportunity for him to get at-bats against near-MLB level pitchers, as southsideirish suggests then yeah, he shouldn't have been in the game. Unless the front office was trying to groom him for a backup 1b position as well...

[Kalapse]

According to the Trib, it's likely to be Molina. We officially have the worst back-up catcher in baseball now. From best to worst.....super!

Is it just me or has he been terrible behind the plate this spring? Is his arm really as bad as I think it is?

[EvilJester99]

On Chicago Baseball tonight, they were talking that supposedly LA Angels wants to trade Jose Molina. It was mentioned that Kenny would probably see what could be worked out....

Edited March 27, 2007 by EvilJester99

[Flash Tizzle]

Is it just me or has he been terrible behind the plate this spring? Is his arm really as bad as I think it is?

I honestly don't recall Molina making any attempts to pick off runners. Probably since opposing teams run all over us and one successful stolen base after another blends together over time.

 

According to the Tribune he's a "defensive specialist" renowned for working well with our pitchers. I suppose offense didn't factor into the decision. Especially considering Hall's key value to our ballclub was against lefties. Molina will just be another automatic out against tough divisional pitchers. Nothing new, there.

Edited March 27, 2007 by Flash Tizzle

[EvilJester99]

Another possible rumor on MLBTradeRumors...TIFWIW.

 

Teams are scouting Ryan Doumit and Humberto Cota as possible backup catcher options. One club with a new opening: the White Sox, who unfortunately may have lost Toby Hall for the season with a labrum tear. D'oh. KW has dealt with Littlefield a couple of times before, on the Todd Ritchie and Rob Mackowiak deals. Littlefield is one of few GMs who has gotten the best of Williams in a deal.

[knightni]

So, Javy Lopez even sucks as a backup?

[Kalapse]

So, Javy Lopez even sucks as a backup?

He's a DH with a sketchy (putting it mildly) chemical history.