GAME THREAD: 4/8, CLE v CHW, 7:10pm CSN+

[flavum]

I'm agreeing with all of this JOnes/Rios stuff. Rios should be firmly implanted in CF.

[Chisoxfn]

Would you play Rios in RF and Carlos in LF then ?

Yep. Although, I could see a case to be made for letting Carlos just adjust to playing RF again full time. However, I think our best defensive alignment has Quentin (or Pierre), Jones, and Rios. Pierre has that bad arm but his range is quite good. Probably not as important though since Jones still has very good range due to the jumps he can still get. I think people are under-estimating Jones defense. If he's healthy and he certainly looks healthy, he's still an upper echelon defender, imo.

 

[Chisoxfn]

I doubt it at this stage of his career.

 

Also, Rios is locked up with a large, long-term contract. He's the Sox' centerfielder of today and tomorrow. Jones, if he has a "comeback" year and proves to be an above average CFer again will be gone after this season. Boras will see to that. Why move Rios, your long term player around to accomodate a one year rental who may or may not be as good defensively as the excellent defensive CFer Rios?

 

Let Jones move around from LF to RF to CF depending on who is being rested and leave Rios settled as your starting CFer.

I do think you make some good points as to the longetivity aspect, but I think if you are looking from a pure defensive standpoint, it would be real close between Jones and Rios in CF. I think the reason I'd go with Rios in RF and Jones in CF is the fact that Rios has far more experience in RF and thus would be a more premium defender there than Jones (who I grade out relatively even, albeit it is hard to say since we haven't seen a healthy Jones in CF in a while).

 

Either way, I'm ok with the move, but you are right, we could be setting ourselves up for failure by moving both Q and Rios a lot.

[BigSqwert]

Over time I've learn to appreciate Ozzie less and less as a manager. He's a pretty good motivator but he can't fill out a lineup card correctly, misuses the bullpen too frequently, and overuses bench players.

[jphat007]

Holy s*** that lineup is awful

[flavum]

It's so obvious that the regular lineup should be:

 

Pierre LF/DH, Beckham 2B, Quentin RF, Konerko 1B, Rios CF, Pierzynski C, Jones DH/LF, Teahen 3B, Ramirez SS

 

Occasional DH for Quentin and Konerko.

 

Spot starts for Kotsay, Nix, Vizquel, and the catcher.

 

Come on, Ozzie. Use your head.

[greg775]

Holy s*** that lineup is awful

 

Shouldn't we be used to it? We're "built" to win with pitching this year.

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

I agree w/ Jones in CF. But Rios needs to be in RF, and Quentin should be the one DH'ing, not Pierre.

[iWiN4PreP]

Over time I've learn to appreciate Ozzie less and less as a manager. He's a pretty good motivator but he can't fill out a lineup card correctly, misuses the bullpen too frequently, and overuses bench players.

 

Im with ya on this assessment!

[qwerty]

Eh, Tony Pena got beat by a good pitch that was blooped in for a rbi, I wouldn't look too much into that.

 

As far as Jenks, the wildness is obviously a bit concerning but it's not like he was getting hammered out there and lets wait until he gets into a save situation before we decide that he's done as a closer. He's never been good in non save situations and that's something you think Ozzie would have realized by now.

 

Jenks has a 3.23 era in save situations with a triple slash line of .222/.284/.333 with a whip of 1.094. His k/bb ratio is a damn good 3.20 in save situations.

 

Jenks also has a 3.23 era in non-save situations with a triple slash line of .245/.313./352 with a whip of 1.308. The differential in his whip is 0.214. His k/bb ratio drops to 2.62... his strike out rate is actually higher 0.6 higher but he is considerably more erratic in non-saves.

 

Jenks is worse in non-saves but nothing earth shattering... the same exact thing happens all around the league... it's pretty natural.

 

[knightni]

Shouldn't we be used to it? We're "built" to win with pitching this year.

It's hard to win with pitching when your "best" guy gets pulled after 5 because he can't locate his pitches and then you bring in Randy Freakin' Williams.

[dyuen]

It's hard to win with pitching when your "best" guy gets pulled after 5 because he can't locate his pitches and then you bring in Randy Freakin' Williams.

 

Well the Indians had about 15 lefties in a row coming up. Plus since Jake could only go 5 we had to go deep into the pen. The other choice was Linebrink or Santos and I don't think Ozzie has any intention to use Santos in a meaningful spot.

[chw42]

It's hard to win with pitching when your "best" guy gets pulled after 5 because he can't locate his pitches and then you bring in Randy Freakin' Williams.

 

For an inning and a third too...

 

I think that's one of the reasons we lost yesterday. Ozzie went far too long with Williams.

[hammerhead johnson]

Even if Randy Williams sucks horrendously, you gotta keep him up here so that he can feed his kids. I read about it in the tribune yesterday. Don't be talkin' smack!

[justBLAZE]

For an inning and a third too...

 

I think that's one of the reasons we lost yesterday. Ozzie went far too long with Williams.

 

I was at the stadium and I thought to myself, wish DJ Carrasco was still here.

[chw42]

Well the Indians had about 15 lefties in a row coming up. Plus since Jake could only go 5 we had to go deep into the pen. The other choice was Linebrink or Santos and I don't think Ozzie has any intention to use Santos in a meaningful spot.

 

Williams scares the hell out of me.

 

Thornton should have been in there against guys like Sizemore, Choo, and Hafner.

[chw42]

Jones is playing today. Woot!

 

Pierre dh

Beckham 4

Quentin 9

PK 3

Jones 8

AJ 2

Rios 7

Teahen 5

Ram 6

 

Is he seriously DHing Pierre?

 

Face palm*

 

If you're going to DH anyone, DH Quentin. And what the hell? Rios has been great these past two days in center. Why switch him to right?

 

I'm getting sick of Ozzie flipping things around when they've been fine.

Edited April 8, 2010 by chw42

[flavum]

I'm not a fan of Quentin sitting for 30 minutes between his at-bats. He'll go nuts.

[chw42]

I'm not a fan of Quentin sitting for 30 minutes between his at-bats. He'll go nuts.

 

Although I do think that Carlos is a maniac, I don't think one game at DH is going to hurt him. Considering his past health issues.

 

Plus, switching outfield positioning like this is never a good thing.

[justBLAZE]

I'm not a fan of Quentin sitting for 30 minutes between his at-bats. He'll go nuts.

 

I don't have a problem with DH'ing Pierre, you take your weakest outfielder out and you replace him with Jones, while getting Kotsay out of the lineup.

[chw42]

I don't have a problem with DH'ing Pierre, you take your weakest outfielder out and you replace him with Jones, while getting Kotsay out of the lineup.

 

Pierre's got the weakest arm, but he is not the weakest outfielder. That's Carlos.

[NorthSideSox72]

I assume you are referring to Castro? He seems solid but I don't know if he calls a great game and is a true complete catcher. And you are right, he can't hit. Or are you talking about your boy Lucy?

Meant Lucy, who by all accounts is a very good defensive catcher and has been complimented in the press by Ozzie and others for his pitcher handling.

 

[ThunderBolt]

I'm not a fan of Quentin sitting for 30 minutes between his at-bats. He'll go nuts.

I still find this mentality hilarious. Carlos is hard on himself, not on the edge of sanity,

Edited April 8, 2010 by Thunderbolt

[PeavyTime]

Jones @ 5 and Rios @ 7? Whatever, at least it isn't Kotsay.

[Steve9347]

The issue with Ozzie is, he's going to do it Ozzie's way, and more often than not that's in a way you wouldn't want. Personally if I'm making my lineup, it's going to be...

 

LF Pierre

3B Teahen (I'm assuming his career numbers are in there somewhere. Deal with it.)

2B Beckham

RF Quentin

1B Konerko

CF Rios

C Pierzynski

DH Jones/Kotsay

SS Ramirez

Edited April 8, 2010 by Steve9347