Interesting News

[whitesoxfan101]

You know I hate Ozzie, but if you're going to say that his moves last year kept us out of the postseason, then you can't not give him credit for what we accomplished in 2005.

 

What moves did he make? We built a 15 game lead by just beating the hell out of everybody, were fortunate not to completely choke it away, and won in October because our pitching and home run hitters came out to play. It's not like he overcame mass injuries, bad pitching, or a patchwork lineup.

[NorthSideSox72]

Overall your obviously right, but in terms of basic, everyday in game decisions and deciding who plays in games, your not. Ozzie's managing moves, many of which people on this board could see were stupid, kept us out of the postseason last year.

Oh I agree Ozzie made some incredibly stupid decisions last year, particularly playing Mack in CF even after Anderson got better at the plate. And yeah, 90% of us saw that a mile away.

 

But what kept us out of the playoffs last year, primarily, were a let-down by the starting staff and a precipitous dropoff of our prolific offense in the 2nd half.

[fathom]

Although I really don't see anything in BA I do agree that he should be starting over Erstad. I have no problem with people questioning Ozzie's decisions, he definatley makes some bad ones. I just don't see how so many people can claim to know the reasoning behind his decisions. Like I said questioning his decision to start Erstad is fine, but saying that BA was never given a chance is nothing but conjecture. Ozzie may have given BA a chance and just didn't see what he wanted to see, I disagree with the decision but I couldn't call him a liar or a hyppocrite because of it.

 

It's pretty simple reasoning. From the beginning of ST, Ozzie said Erstad would be a starter. At the same time, Ozzie was saying that no matter what, a healthy Pods would be his leadoff man this year. Thus, where was Brian going to start? I'm just grateful that Anderson made the roster....and I'm looking forward to a season where the biggest Anderson backers say that every single ball that lands in the outfield equates to "BA would have had that".

[Balta1701]

I'm looking forward to a season where the biggest Anderson backers say that every single ball that lands in the outfield equates to "BA would have had that".

You know as well as I do that we're usually right.

Edited March 27, 2007 by Balta1701

[fathom]

What moves did he make? We built a 15 game lead by just beating the hell out of everybody, were fortunate not to completely choke it away, and won in October because our pitching and home run hitters came out to play. It's not like he overcame mass injuries, bad pitching, or a patchwork lineup.

 

You have to give him credit for how he handled our bullpen that season, as he did a great job of putting Cotts/Politte/Hermanson/Jenks in situations where they could excel. The only reliever he handled poorly was Marte. Also, when we were getting good pitching, especially early, Ozzie did a good job of playing smallball early in the game to get us a lead.

[The Critic]

You have to give him credit for how he handled our bullpen that season, as he did a great job of putting Cotts/Politte/Hermanson/Jenks in situations where they could excel. The only reliever he handled poorly was Marte. Also, when we were getting good pitching, especially early, Ozzie did a good job of playing smallball early in the game to get us a lead.

All these points are true.

[TheBigHurt]

Brian MAKES the team but ends up being a backup to Erstad? WTF. This is so ridiculous. This is all because of Ozzie???

[beck72]

Erstad not a proven veteran? He's proven that he's had problems staying healthy, but he has been a productive player (not just 2000) when he was able to play at 100%. If nothing else, he's a Gold Glover at two positions and a very solid player fundamentally who is ideally suited for the 2 hole.

 

I'm the one saying he's a proven vet. That he's hit .300 this spring in 70 ab's [the most on the team] shows he's earned a spot. Others around here are saying he's been given his starting job.

[The Ginger Kid]

Ahhh the Ozzie supporters out in full force. When will they realize that he has no clue what he's doing in terms of on field decisions?

when he gives back that WS ring he won in his second year and denies any credit

 

He said the best performer this spring would win the job in CF, Brian has been better than Erstad, yet Erstad is going to be the starter. Not too hard.

this I do not agree with, especially after spending some time watching them play

[badatbest]

when he gives back that WS ring he won in his second year and denies any credit

this I do not agree with, especially after spending some time watching them play

 

 

BA had a better OBP and slugging percentage than Erstad this spring by quite a bit. He is a decade younger, not injury prone, and better on defense (from my eyes). The choice was clear here. BA should be starting in CF. Erstad in LF. Pods should be nowhere near a starting position. The organizations loyalty to pods is only beaten by its shafting of BA this spring.

[Capn12]

BA had a better OBP and slugging percentage than Erstad this spring by quite a bit. He is a decade younger, not injury prone, and better on defense (from my eyes). The choice was clear here. BA should be starting in CF. Erstad in LF. Pods should be nowhere near a starting position. The organizations loyalty to pods is only beaten by its shafting of BA this spring.

 

 

Holy s***!!

 

I you man!!

 

 

Someone that sees things exactly the way I do....

[beck72]

Erstad and Podsednik were handed jobs this Spring, neither of them earned it.

Erstad hit .300 in 70 ab's --by far the most on the team this spring. A case can be made for Pods being handed a job but Erstad proved himself.

[Balta1701]

Erstad hit .300 in 70 ab's --by far the most on the team this spring. A case can be made for Pods being handed a job but Erstad proved himself.

And yet, even with hitting .300, and getting the most at bats of anyone in the big leagues in ST I believe...he still can't post a .700 OPS.

[Kalapse]

And yet, even with hitting .300, and getting the most at bats of anyone in the big leagues in ST I believe...he still can't post a .700 OPS.

I'm still waiting for him to show he has some sort of plate discipline or batter's eye. That 13:4 K:BB is just what you're looking for from a guy at the top of the order right? RIGHT?

[ShoeLessRob]

Erstad hit .300 in 70 ab's --by far the most on the team this spring. A case can be made for Pods being handed a job but Erstad proved himself.

 

Erstad was handed the job nearly 1 - 2 weeks ago even when Anderson was hitting with a .300 average. At the time Brian should have been the player with the lead in the race for CF, but Ozzie made it clear that Erstad would receive 500 at-bats by the end of the season and at the time they were positive Pods would be the starting left fielder... so... yeah... I'm not picking sides since I believe any which way our CF position will be a weak point again this year. Erstad is also leading the team in K's...

[Balta1701]

I'm still waiting for him to show he has some sort of plate discipline or batter's eye. That 13:4 K:BB is just what you're looking for from a guy at the top of the order right? RIGHT?

Even beyond that, he's also 2nd out of the potential regulars in strikeouts/plate appearance. This spring, he's k'd 17% of the time he's come to the plate. Only Uribe and Mackowiak are worse than that, and they're at about 18%.

 

Oh, and has anyone other than me noticed that Podsednik is hitting a whopping .167 so far in his spring?

[Kalapse]

Even beyond that, he's also 2nd out of the potential regulars in strikeouts/plate appearance. This spring, he's k'd 17% of the time he's come to the plate. Only Uribe and Mackowiak are worse than that, and they're at about 18%.

 

Oh, and has anyone other than me noticed that Podsednik is hitting a whopping .167 so far in his spring?

How the hell is this guy going to be ready by Monday? He's played in 4 games and has 12 ABs this spring, how can he be penciled in as the Opening Day leadoff hitter and LF when he can't even get into Spring Training games. The guy still looks slow as s*** and when he does actually play he does nothing. Is there a single positive for this team going into opening day? It seems every facet of the team is falling apart.

[HeGone33]

Is there a single positive for this team going into opening day? It seems every facet of the team is falling apart.

 

Sure, that they don't have people from this board managing them and running the organization.

 

I really hope they prove a lot of people wrong here.

[witesoxfan]

Sure, that they don't have people from this board managing them and running the organization.

 

I really hope they prove a lot of people wrong here.

 

really, I don't, I hope they lose and lose and lose so that way they get the #1 overall pick :rolly

 

Of course we hope they prove us wrong, that doesn't change the fact that fans can think a team looks like s*** and they aren't optimistic about the potential outcome. It's our right as a fan, and just because we think the team is going to suck does not mean we do not want the team to do well. It's our right as a fan to question the judgment of the manager and general manager, and to offer our thoughts on how they could possibly fix them. It's our right as a fan to really do whatever the hell we want so long as we are not completely out of line - and no one here has been - and to hope and pray that the team wins, and to root them on, logic be damned. If you don't do either of those last two - especially the final part - you no longer are a fan.

 

(and I really bet if you got enough of the brightest minds on here, it'd be possible to keep the team above water)

[Balta1701]

Is there a single positive for this team going into opening day? It seems every facet of the team is falling apart.

Jose Contreras's last outing was a good outing. Javier Vazquez's last outing wasn't bad, IIRC. Some of these guys have histories of performing poorly in the spring and coming out in the regular season performing well. Boone Logan and Matt Thornton have been unbelievably dominant. John Danks has actually earned the 5th starter job. Brian Anderson is on the team. Jermaine Dye, Joe Crede, Jim Thome, AJ Pierzynski, and Paul Konerko are healthy. We have not suffered any serious injuries in our pitching staff or bullpen. We have a deep AAA rotation.

[Kalapse]

Sure, that they don't have people from this board managing them and running the organization.

 

I really hope they prove a lot of people wrong here.

*yawn*

 

Jose Contreras's last outing was a good outing. Javier Vazquez's last outing wasn't bad, IIRC. Some of these guys have histories of performing poorly in the spring and coming out in the regular season performing well. Boone Logan and Matt Thornton have been unbelievably dominant. John Danks has actually earned the 5th starter job. Brian Anderson is on the team. Jermaine Dye, Joe Crede, Jim Thome, AJ Pierzynski, and Paul Konerko are healthy. We have not suffered any serious injuries in our pitching staff or bullpen. We have a deep AAA rotation.

True but the pessimistic side of me can counter most of those. Boone and Thornton are still enormous question marks, with Boone you don't know how he's going to be used or if he's even going to make the team, Ozzie has already talked about using him as the long man, what the hell is that? Thornton was quite good last year and has been outstanding this spring but the guy still hasn't proven much outside of a few months of good baseball in his career, I like him a lot but he's not exactly a proven commodity.

 

Pierzynski and Thome still suck against lefties and there's no one on the roster who could spell them from time to time and produce at even a league average rate meaning they'll probably be forced to play the same or possibly more games than they did last year which could lead to a similar downfall in their production like we saw from both of them at the end of last season.

 

PK is entirely problem free, nothing amiss there. The pitching staff is still incredibly scary with velocity being down across the board, despite possibly past trends of failure in the Spring and success during the regular season the drop in velocity of these pitchers has got to be worrisome especially with the piss poor performance of the pitching as a whole last season. Having a 22 year old rookie with hardly any AAA experience at the backend of the rotation isn't exactly an ideal situation especially since he hasn't exactly been dominant this Spring. Oh yeah the closer has been terrible this Spring, throwing 91 MPH, getting hit all over the place and the kicker is his arm is being held together by some s*** you could find at your local hardware store.

 

Brian Anderson is on the team and that's a good thing but he's in the wrong role. The Sox have the worst 1-2 in baseball at the top their lineup especially with the hobbling prancer leading things off with his lack of speed, spring ABs and any sort of pre-opening day production. Jim Thome is going to hit 37 solo homeruns this season.

 

There's more but I'm starting to depress myself so I'm going to go ahead and end it right there.

[ShoeLessRob]

Well I'm just happy April 2nd grows everyday slowly closer.

[iamshack]

*yawn*

True but the pessimistic side of me can counter most of those. Boone and Thornton are still enormous question marks, with Boone you don't know how he's going to be used or if he's even going to make the team, Ozzie has already talked about using him as the long man, what the hell is that? Thornton was quite good last year and has been outstanding this spring but the guy still hasn't proven much outside of a few months of good baseball in his career, I like him a lot but he's not exactly a proven commodity.

 

Pierzynski and Thome still suck against lefties and there's no one on the roster who could spell them from time to time and produce at even a league average rate meaning they'll probably be forced to play the same or possibly more games than they did last year which could lead to a similar downfall in their production like we saw from both of them at the end of last season.

 

PK is entirely problem free, nothing amiss there. The pitching staff is still incredibly scary with velocity being down across the board, despite possibly past trends of failure in the Spring and success during the regular season the drop in velocity of these pitchers has got to be worrisome especially with the piss poor performance of the pitching as a whole last season. Having a 22 year old rookie with hardly any AAA experience at the backend of the rotation isn't exactly an ideal situation especially since he hasn't exactly been dominant this Spring. Oh yeah the closer has been terrible this Spring, throwing 91 MPH, getting hit all over the place and the kicker is his arm is being held together by some s*** you could find at your local hardware store.

 

Brian Anderson is on the team and that's a good thing but he's in the wrong role. The Sox have the worst 1-2 in baseball at the top their lineup especially with the hobbling prancer leading things off with his lack of speed, spring ABs and any sort of pre-opening day production. Jim Thome is going to hit 37 solo homeruns this season.

 

There's more but I'm starting to depress myself so I'm going to go ahead and end it right there.

 

Well aren't you a ray of sunlight on a rainy afternoon.

 

Maybe those in the "know how" will wisen up and put the omniscient Kalapse in charge of everything...

 

*yawn*

Edited March 28, 2007 by iamshack

[Balta1701]

*yawn*

True but the pessimistic side of me can counter most of those.

The pessimistic side of me hears what you're saying and agrees with most of it, except for the Logan/Thor parts. I'm pretty pumped to see Booney back. And I think Danks has a good shot at being a pleasant surprise. But beyond that, the whole Anderson/Erstad thing and the early signs from our pitching staff have me exceptionally worried about this being a down year.

 

But consider that me playing devil's advocate on the positive side on this team.

[witesoxfan]

Well aren't you a ray of sunlight on a rainy afternoon.

 

Maybe those in the "know how" will wisen up and put the omniscient Kalapse in charge of everything...

 

*yawn*

 

one can only hope