VAfan Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 2-1, 2-0 losses to the Rays? Sure, the Rays seem to have righted their ship. But this offense is still pathetic. The only "solution" that I can see is to bring up a bat. And the only "bat" we have in our system that has proven he can hit major league pitching is Josh Fields. I think he needs to come up right now. Where will he play? He can certainly play 3B or DH. And I imagine that as a 3B that he could play 1B if he had to. Or he could play 3B and Joe Crede could play 1B. With Fields up, it allows us to sit at least two among Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, and Nick Swisher, the three worst hitters in our lineup. Who would go? Does it matter? Neither Pablo Ozuna nor Juan Uribe are offering anything to the team at this point. One or the other is all that is needed to back up SS and 2B, since Fields can back up 3B. And since Ramirez can play OF, and Fields could play there in an emergency, you don't need Ozuna. But keeping Pablo and letting go of Uribe would also be fine with me. The other option would be to put Konerko on the DL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Allen Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 Fields hasn't played for 3 days. He must still be hurt or sick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostfan Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 Why would you want Crede to be the one to play 1B and Fields at 3rd? I know Crede has an (uncharacteristically, almost career high after 2 months) ugodly amount of errors this year, but Fields has a not-so-hot 7 himself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteSoxfan1986 Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 Fields could play DH against lefties, and he could play third here and there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DABearSoX Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 Chavez or Griffey Jr..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonik22 Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 We just played two of the nastiest pitchers in the league and simply got beat. Shields and Kazmir have wicked stuff, and these Rays can pitch. Two games like this don't call for a thread about Fields needing to be called up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BearSox Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 QUOTE (Sonik22 @ May 31, 2008 -> 08:45 PM) We just played two of the nastiest pitchers in the league and simply got beat. Shields and Kazmir have wicked stuff, and these Rays can pitch. Two games like this don't call for a thread about Fields needing to be called up. Whoa now... Kazmir is nasty, but Shields isn't anything special. He has a good changeup, and can give you a lot of innings. He's good, but far from one of the nastiest pitchers in baseball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonik22 Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 QUOTE (BearSox @ May 31, 2008 -> 09:52 PM) Whoa now... Kazmir is nasty, but Shields isn't anything special. He has a good changeup, and can give you a lot of innings. He's good, but far from one of the nastiest pitchers in baseball. Well Shields doesn't walk a lot of hitters or give up a ton of hits plus he can rack up the K's. 184 k's in 215 IP last season and 58 k's in 80.2 IP this year along with a mid 3 ERA and WHIP below 1.2. That is one of the best pitchers in baseball. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoxFan1 Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 QUOTE (Sonik22 @ May 31, 2008 -> 09:45 PM) We just played two of the nastiest pitchers in the league and simply got beat. Shields and Kazmir have wicked stuff, and these Rays can pitch. Two games like this don't call for a thread about Fields needing to be called up. Shields "stuff" is quite mediocre. A solid fastball and a really good change-up. We should have dropped 7 or 8 on his ass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ May 31, 2008 -> 10:18 PM) Shields "stuff" is quite mediocre. A solid fastball and a really good change-up. We should have dropped 7 or 8 on his ass. That's what every team he shuts down says after the game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsideirish71 Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 QUOTE (Jake @ May 31, 2008 -> 11:45 PM) That's what every team he shuts down says after the game. Well take a look at a guy who seems to have our number and not the rest of the league. Look at Jared Weavers numbers against us. We have one run against him in 4 starts, and then look at other teams like the bad hitting Jays who put up 12 on him the other night. Its not just good pitchers, we turn mediocre pitchers at times into a great pitcher. We have to 5 ERA pitchers in Hochevar and Meche this week. We should crush both of them. Lets see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sonik22 Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ May 31, 2008 -> 10:18 PM) Shields "stuff" is quite mediocre. A solid fastball and a really good change-up. We should have dropped 7 or 8 on his ass. Having a solid fastball and a really good change-up will shut down any team. Look at Kazmir today, his change up had our hitters completely off balance, and i've never seen him throw that many against us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsideirish71 Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 QUOTE (Sonik22 @ May 31, 2008 -> 11:54 PM) Having a solid fastball and a really good change-up will shut down any team. Look at Kazmir today, his change up had our hitters completely off balance, and i've never seen him throw that many against us. Its part of the scouting report. This has been for years a fastball hitting team. Changeups and breaking pitches are this teams downfall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almagest Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 Shields is bad on the road. But he has a 1.72 ERA and 0.86 WHIP at home. There's good reason we didn't score more runs last night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
witesoxfan Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ May 31, 2008 -> 11:55 PM) Its part of the scouting report. This has been for years a fastball hitting team. Changeups and breaking pitches are this teams downfall. The Sox have hit pitchers with good fastballs for the past 10 years quite consistently. Kevin Millwood is one of the few who has shut the Sox down pretty well, but even he has been hit around by the Sox here and there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostfan Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 You know who else's pitching game is based around a solid fastball and a really good changeup? Johan Santana. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elrockinMT Posted June 1, 2008 Share Posted June 1, 2008 Maybe we should start a wager on how low the batting averages of Konerko, Thome and Swisher can go before they bottom out? But, if we beat the Rays on Sunday we split the 4 games on their turf and that ain't bad. But our offense does suck pretty bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VAfan Posted June 2, 2008 Author Share Posted June 2, 2008 Hey, I beat Ozzie's tirade by a day. Plus, I earlier penned a "trade Thome and Konerko" post. I also asked whether we shouldn't put Konerko on the DL because of his hand. Taking those three posts together, I believe we should: 1. Put Konerko on the DL. 2. Bring up Josh Fields, assuming he can actually play, and play him somewhere almost every day. 3. Play Brian Anderson nearly every day too. 4. Play either Nick Swisher or Jim Thome, but not both, until they prove they can hit again (i.e., get their averages above .240) 5. Replace Greg Walker as hitting coach. 6. Look for a bat in the trade market. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Princess Dye Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 (edited) We should also want this b/c Ozuna is an adventure at 3b, and the only non Crede capable of being there right now. Edited June 2, 2008 by Princess Dye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29andPoplar Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 I believe we should: 2. Bring up Josh Fields, assuming he can actually play, and play him somewhere almost every day. As others have said and has been posted on this site mulitple times in the past few days, Fields is hurting, has been out of the lineup for 4-5 games in a row, is hitting a less than robust .246 in AAA and is striking out a ton. How are those Nationals doing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29andPoplar Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 We should also want this b/c Ozuna is an adventure at 3b, and the only non Crede capable of being there right now. Uribe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chisoxfn Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 QUOTE (29andPoplar @ Jun 2, 2008 -> 01:38 PM) Uribe? Uribe's also much better defensively than Fields at the hot-corner. I know I've been one of the people whose suggested bringing Fields up (despite his horrid numbers in the minors) solely to see if something could spark the team. I also continue to believe that Walker isn't at fault. In fact, if you really isolate things you'd see that AJ, Quentin, Crede are all doing fine. You than have two big time new-comers who are veterans (Quentin worked a bit with Walker and since he's younger and less proven the Sox coach to an extent helped with him from early in spring (I remember hearing such on the radio at least, plus a lot of Quentin's success has something to do with him getting healthy. These guys are OC/Swisher and you can expect a learning curve between Walker and OC. OC has picked things up (plus its his first year in Chicago so you'd expect some sort of buffer period while Walker adjusts to OC's swing/style). Swisher seems to finally be making some adjustments but the first month or so of his struggles you really can't point the finger at Walker (who has to learn Swisher's swing/intrecacies). Heck, I heard Chipper Jones interviewed saying how it took a few years before Gary Pendelton (Braves Hitting coach) was really able to help him with his swing (he still uses his dad the most, but Pendelton is now involved as well). The other two big time failures are: Jim Thome/Paul Konerko. Jim Thome is an old player so whose to say old age and a slower bat speed haven't caused his decline. Paul Konerko was clearly hurt and is a notorious slow starter so again, you could put the blame there. Juan Uribe is the other guy struggling and well, he's been far better in Chicago than he was in Colorado and I think everyone knows he won't win a batting title. Bottom line, if you really wanted to I think Swisher (only his recent struggles) is the only guys struggles that you can really put on Walker. Again, I think its clear that the vet middle of the order (highly paid) guys are the cause of the Sox struggles and its time Kenny realizes that maybe those guys he thought he could count on can't be counted on. The thing is, middle of the order run producers don't grow on trees and it won't be easy to find replacements (plus the Sox would have to move those guys in order to get the replacements). The other issue with the offense, aside from the two big middle producers (plus Swisher) tanking is the lack of a leadoff hitter and you can't put that on Walker. He shouldn't be fired, but if you've tried everything else and Kenny is convinced he can't get or won't part with Thome/Konerko, than its probably time to fire the hitting coach (because there really isn't another option). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrunkBomber Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 I saw last week a minor leaguer got traded for a bunch of bats. If we need one that bad Im sure we got someone in the minors that can demand at least one good bat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitesoxbrian Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 QUOTE (DrunkBomber @ Jun 2, 2008 -> 03:54 PM) I saw last week a minor leaguer got traded for a bunch of bats. If we need one that bad Im sure we got someone in the minors that can demand at least one good bat. Yeah. We can try this tactic with Thome, Swisher, and/or Konerko. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letsgoarow Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 Fields is hurt, and not ready... FACT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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