The answer to all our problems?

[southsider2k5]

Well, he made contact on the hit-and-run...for once a ball didn't go in the direction of a fielder, because the SS was covering the bag.

 

The other thing Harrelson has been picking on early this season is dipping the back shoulder, which is causing an upward plane swing and causing the likes of Lillibridge and Getz to hit the ball more into the air.

 

Chris was looking much better in ST...but hopefully he'll come out of it. Ozzie seems satisfied with him at leadoff for now, as long as the team's winning and he's getting walks or making things happen with his hustle. I imagine it would be acceptable (to Ozzie) as long as he had a 320-330 OBP, although that's not ideal.

 

Thome and Ramirez are more of a concern right now.

 

As far as bigger SS's go...well, would Ripken even make the Hall of Fame if it weren't for the consecutive games played streak??? Maybe not.

 

There was that point about 10-12 years ago when you had Garciaparra, Jeter, Tejada, A-Rod, Carlos Guillen, etc. and a couple of others all coming into the league and dominating as offense-first SS's. Vizquel is the last of the breed...until the cycle/trend turns around. But even Omar was a very pesky/dangerous hitter in his prime, much more like Placido Polanco than Ozzie Guillen.

 

Cal Ripken's offensive numbers were more than enough to put him into the Hall of Fame. He would have been a first ballot guy regardless because he was the first huge offensive SS in baseball.

 

The guy hit .276 with 413 homers and 1695 RBIs in his career. He won 2 MVPs and ROY, not to mention all of his GGs and All Star games. He also won a World Championship. He had the complete HOF resume without the games streak.

 

[Dick Allen]

Cal Ripken's offensive numbers were more than enough to put him into the Hall of Fame. He would have been a first ballot guy regardless because he was the first huge offensive SS in baseball.

 

The guy hit .276 with 413 homers and 1695 RBIs in his career. He won 2 MVPs and ROY, not to mention all of his GGs and All Star games. He also won a World Championship. He had the complete HOF resume without the games streak.

 

The games streak was awesome, but there are a lot of people who thought his numbers, which I agree are first ballot HOF numbers without the streak, would have been even better if he took an occassional day off.

[southsider2k5]

The games streak was awesome, but there are a lot of people who thought his numbers, which I agree are first ballot HOF numbers without the streak, would have been even better if he took an occassional day off.

 

I could buy that arguement. Sometimes your body needs a day off to recharge.

[Chisoxfn]

Getz hasn't been very good, but he is young (unlike Wise) and should be given a chance to work through it. He is making contact, but unless he gets that his top hand working he is going to hit fly balls. His last two AB's were good.

Getz has started what, 10 games in his major league career. The guy shows a lot of promise, has great strike zone judgement, and as a whole has done as good of a job as anyone leading off with the limited big league experience he has.

 

Getz is the guy. Sure there are better options, but I'm pretty confident Getz will do his thing. He's also had a history of putting up above average minor league numbers. Basically put, he deserves the chance, where as Wise/BA aren't leadoff hitters. There major and minor league stats both point you in that direction since neither will ever post OBP's over .300.

[2nd_city_saint787]

what about getz, lexi, or becks at 3rd move PK to dh and fields at first next year assuming thome is gone.

[DaTank]

what about getz, lexi, or becks at 3rd move PK to dh and fields at first next year assuming thome is gone.

 

Brandon Allen might be ready to start the 2010 season at 1B or DH for the Big League club...I'd really love to see him get his chance if he's ready. Ultimately when it comes down to it, if and when Jordan Danks makes it the the Bigs, I think Getz is the odd man out.

 

[beck72]

Alexei should stay at SS [unless of course, he doesn't rebound to hit like he did last year]. He's in a bad funk now, but has shown he can adjust. If Alexei hits like he did last year, his glove is too valuable to move to CF.

 

Getz should stick at 2b, as his lefty bat, patience, glove, speed and approach to the game such as situational hitting, baseball smarts, is what the sox need more of.

 

Beckham may best help the sox at 3b.

 

Depending on how well Fields does over the course of the year, he may be moved for pitching in the offseason. Say he winds up hitting .250, with a .330 OBP with his power, does he project to be a hitter like Beckham, who can hit near .300 with power, and have an above avg. OBP? Or can even Viciedo replace Fields numbers? Now if Fields hits close to .300, with an above avg. OBP, and plays solid defense, he'd be a building block like Quentin. The jury is still out on Fields, but I don't see him as a guy the sox will build around, like Quentin or Beckham. If he has a decent year, other teams may view him as a cornerstone and his value via trade may be too good to pass up.

 

Most likely, the sox won't have to make a move with Beckham unless an injury occurs that forces the sox to move the IF around. The sox won't put Alexei in CF mid year. Once the year ends, the sox can make a deal to clear a space for Beckham.

 

If the sox don't have anyone playing CF at a decent level come late June, the sox should be able to make a move to add someone. Teams will be looking to cut costs, and the sox should be able to make an upgrade without sacrificing key talent.

 

[Dick Allen]

Alexei should stay at SS [unless of course, he doesn't rebound to hit like he did last year]. He's in a bad funk now, but has shown he can adjust. If Alexei hits like he did last year, his glove is too valuable to move to CF.

 

Getz should stick at 2b, as his lefty bat, patience, glove, speed and approach to the game such as situational hitting, baseball smarts, is what the sox need more of.

 

Beckham may best help the sox at 3b.

 

Depending on how well Fields does over the course of the year, he may be moved for pitching in the offseason. Say he winds up hitting .250, with a .330 OBP with his power, does he project to be a hitter like Beckham, who can hit near .300 with power, and have an above avg. OBP? Or can even Viciedo replace Fields numbers? Now if Fields hits close to .300, with an above avg. OBP, and plays solid defense, he'd be a building block like Quentin. The jury is still out on Fields, but I don't see him as a guy the sox will build around, like Quentin or Beckham. If he has a decent year, other teams may view him as a cornerstone and his value via trade may be too good to pass up.

 

Most likely, the sox won't have to make a move with Beckham unless an injury occurs that forces the sox to move the IF around. The sox won't put Alexei in CF mid year. Once the year ends, the sox can make a deal to clear a space for Beckham.

 

If the sox don't have anyone playing CF at a decent level come late June, the sox should be able to make a move to add someone. Teams will be looking to cut costs, and the sox should be able to make an upgrade without sacrificing key talent.

 

Its too soon to really see, athough concern about Alexei should start pretty soon if he doesn't start hitting. I'm thinking he starts slow as he did last year, but since Aug 25 of last year he is 29 for 154 which is a .188 average. Maybe the league has figured something out. It was probably the cold weather, which he's certainly not used to playing in.

 

I think we all are assuming Alexei will start hitting soon, but if he doesn't and Beckham continues to tear up AA pitching, do you make a change and when?

[beck72]

Its too soon to really see, athough concern about Alexei should start pretty soon if he doesn't start hitting. I'm thinking he starts slow as he did last year, but since Aug 25 of last year he is 29 for 154 which is a .188 average. Maybe the league has figured something out. It was probably the cold weather, which he's certainly not used to playing in.

 

I think we all are assuming Alexei will start hitting soon, but if he doesn't and Beckham continues to tear up AA pitching, do you make a change and when?

That's a good question. We are all assuming that Alexei will turn it around. If he doesn't, prob. by June, I could see a platoon type situation at 2b with Getz getting most AB's vs RHP. Alexei would be a better option as a UTL guy than Lillibridge. Though if Alexei is so messed up mechanically, a stint in AAA might not be out of the question.

 

The good thing is with the versatility of the middle IFer's [with the exception of Getz at 2b], the sox have plenty of options to move players around.

[BearSox]

someone needs to tell Alexei to back off the plate some.

[beck72]

One wildcard in all this, [at least after 2009-but I could see them making a play for him at the ASB if the Angels are really tanking and unloading contracts, which seems unlikely], do the sox go after Chone Figgins in free agency for CF? He'd be a likely target, esp. as he'd be a great fit for the sox, one of the few teams who'd offer him both years [say 3 yrs] and decent money.

 

Though, if the sox got Figgins for CF, Getz could be moved so Alexei or Gordon could play 2b.

 

I personally see an IF of Beckham at 3b, Alexei at SS and Getz at 2b for 2010.

 

[caulfield12]

I think we're all giving up way too quickly on Fields. His swing has just gotten a little too big, but, by and large, he's been an effective player for us so far this season.

 

I am much more concerned about Thome and Ramirez at this point.

 

Figgins? I could see a one or two year contract, but committing long-term to a player who should be at the point in his career where his speed is declining and he's more injury prone than before is dubious when we have Shelby and Jordan Danks in the pipeline as well.

 

I really see our bigger concern going forward as filling out the rotation after Contreras and Colon are gone. Out of the group of Broadway, Egbert, Marquez, Richard and Poreda, we MIGHT get one so-so/serviceable starter. Poreda just doesn't have the look and feel of a top of the rotation starter, maybe he'll magically discover his secondary arsenal but we can't be counting on it. We have some better arms in A ball, but they're at least 1 1/2 - 2 years away from Chicago...we have that huge gap in pitching talent (only a few with upsides as relievers mostly) at the upper levels.

 

The Angels are in a division where they almost have to wait and see before they go about trading any of their core players...the M's will be improved, but projecting them to win 90+ games at this point is a little foolhardy.

Edited April 19, 2009 by caulfield12

[beck72]

I think we're all giving up way too quickly on Fields. His swing has just gotten a little too big, but, by and large, he's been an effective player for us so far this season.

 

I am much more concerned about Thome and Ramirez at this point.

 

Figgins? I could see a one or two year contract, but committing long-term to a player who should be at the point in his career where his speed is declining and he's more injury prone than before is dubious when we have Shelby and Jordan Danks in the pipeline as well.

 

I really see our bigger concern going forward as filling out the rotation after Contreras and Colon are gone. Out of the group of Broadway, Egbert, Marquez, Richard and Poreda, we MIGHT get one so-so/serviceable starter. Poreda just doesn't have the look and feel of a top of the rotation starter, maybe he'll magically discover his secondary arsenal but we can't be counting on it. We have some better arms in A ball, but they're at least 1 1/2 - 2 years away from Chicago...we have that huge gap in pitching talent (only a few with upsides as relievers mostly) at the upper levels.

 

The Angels are in a division where they almost have to wait and see before they go about trading any of their core players...the M's will be improved, but projecting them to win 90+ games at this point is a little foolhardy.

I'm not giving up on Fields. I really like what I see early on. But if he posts decent numbers like a .250/.330/.470 line, the sox have other guys who project higher than him who also hit for power from the right side-Viciedo, Beckham, Flowers- to go along with RH's Quentin and Alexei. He may not be a cornerstone type player the sox build around.

 

If Beckham can play 3b and be ready for opening day 2010, and Ramirez hits like he did last year, and Getz continues his solid play for the entire 2009 season, the sox have plenty of trading options. That's a lot of "ifs". But one of the options would be to trade Fields for pitching. But we'll know after an entire season in the high levels of AA, AAA and majors what the "ceilings" of guys like Fields, Getz, Alexei, Beckham, Flowers, Allen, and Viceido etc are. Maybe Beckham can only play SS, Alexei's sophomore slump lasts all year, Viceido's ceiling is lower than we think and Fields steps up, showing him as the long term answer at 3b.

 

I agree with you on the sox needing to get a top of the rotation SP, or one who projects as one. But in order to trade for one, the sox may have to give up a player of Fields'/ Alexei's/ Viciedo's caliber.

 

I just don't see Alexei in CF, which I was the main point of this thread. But I see CF for 2010 filled by a guy like Figgins with a 2 yr deal, 3rd yr option. Shelby best case in the bigs is prob. 1 1/2 yrs, and Danks more like 2 1/2. That Figgins can also be 3b insurance if the sox traded a 3b man also makes sense.

 

[BearSox]

If Fields could learn how to hit the fastball, he'll have a shot at being pretty good. But that was just embarrassing seeing him swing late on 3 straight 90 mph fastballs right down the middle.

 

I would also trade anyone not named Gordon Beckham, John Danks, or Carlos Quentin for Andre Ethier.

[elrockinMT]

I am kind of thinking that the best thing Alexei could do right now is start hitting- for us and him

[danman31]

Anderson is doing just fine right now. It's odd that he has no extra base hits, but his on base is above .400. Can't ask for more.

[justBLAZE]

Anderson is doing just fine right now. It's odd that he has no extra base hits, but his on base is above .400. Can't ask for more.

 

Can someone dig up Brian's line since taking over at CF ?

[danman31]

Can someone dig up Brian's line since taking over at CF ?

5-18 (.278), 6 BB, 3 K, 5 R. .458 OBP, .736 OPS

[WCSox]

Anderson is doing just fine right now. It's odd that he has no extra base hits, but his on base is above .400. Can't ask for more.

 

If Anderson can hit .250 with an OBP of .310 and 17 HRs, that's fine with me. Play him for his defense and bury him at the bottom of the lineup.

 

[BearSox]

Anderson is doing just fine right now. It's odd that he has no extra base hits, but his on base is above .400. Can't ask for more.

As long as pitchers keep walking him 1-2 times a game, I'm perfectly content with him in CF.

[WCSox]

I'm not giving up on Fields.

 

Well that's good, because he's currently sporting a .383 OBP. Hasn't looked too shabby at 3B so far, either.

 

He may not be a cornerstone type player the sox build around.

 

He doesn't have to be. If he's cheap, continues to put up a respectable OBP, and hits a few more homers, there's no reason to pull him from the lineup.

 

I don't see Alexei in CF either. They'll either stick with Anderson or will hit the FA pool this winter. My guess is that if Getz continues to play well, Quentin moves to RF and Alexei ends up in LF. If not, Alexei moves back to 2B and Beckham plays SS. IMO, Beckham would have to be a complete butcher in the minors for the Sox to keep Alexei at SS.