Uggghhh! 4-17

[elrockinMT]

My faith in Kenny going out to get a bat remains.

 

 

We need one. The question is what he has to give up. Let's keep our young players and if needed start working on 2011 and beyond. However, I am in no way sauggesting 2010 is over

[WCSox]

My faith in Kenny going out to get a bat remains.

 

If the Sox keep playing like this, Kenny won't be adding high-impact talent to this team. There's no point in trading away your best prospects for guys like AGon, Berkman, or Crawford when you're struggling to play .500 and the Twins appear to be a lock for 90+ wins.

 

Plus, even if Kenny did trade for one of those three, their impact would be minimal. This team's problem isn't the absence of a good left-handed bat. It's the lack of reasonable offensive production from veterans like Alexei, Pierre, and AJ. If those three guys have bad years, forget it. Season's over.

 

That said, I expect that those three will pick up their game over the next few weeks. Partially because past performance suggests they will, and partially because I'm trying really, really hard to remain optimistic, despite the way that this team has badly under-performed in two of the past three seasons.

 

[stretchstretch]

and partially because I'm trying really, really hard to remain optimistic, despite the way that this team has badly under-performed in two of the past three seasons.

 

that was the point of my posting this, we all try to remain optimistic, pre-season, early season, and mid-season the last three, and despite the fact that we were generally picked as a question mark and the twins picked to win the division this season, we're right back here...again

 

[Jordan4life_2007]

While I'm disappointed with the start, I'm really not surprised by it. I felt that with this number of changes in the lineup it was going to take some time to get things to gel. It's important to remember that all of these losses with the exception of Garcia's start in Toronto, have all been close games. And while I think getting Juan Pierre was a mistake, and batting Kotsay 5th is a really big mistake, there is time for this team to pull together and have a very good season.

I think the big fear is the Twins not just pulling away, but that they are a very good team. Probably as good as the Yankees, and better then the Red Sox and Tampa Bay. If this is the case we will not be able to catch them because they have joined the elite of the American League.

 

Uh, yeah, this, like, isn't the case at all. It's going to take a lot more than a hot opening two weeks before you can legitimately put them in that class. The Twins are playing as well as they can possibly play right now. They're going to come back to earth rather soon. So will see. But, yes, they're the class of the division at the moment.

Edited April 18, 2010 by Jordan4life

[The Ginger Kid]

f*** the Twins. And f*** the Tigers too. I hate the slow start as much as anyone but I'm very far from packing it in. This club goes 7-3 over its next ten and a lot you are going to have to start scaling the walls of that cliff. Enjoy!

[SoxAce]

I just hope we don't have the Bulls like mentality. You know.. beat/do well against the good teams but suck against the teams were suppose to beat. So far.. it's looking like the case albeit, a small sample. (3-4 vs teams over .500 1-4 vs teams [well.. just Cleveland] under .500)

[SoxFan562004]

so, this is the same Twins team the Sox played 3 close games with last weekend? (was it 3 one run games? I was out of town for the first two games) That team is the one that is worlds better than any team in the AL but the NYY and the Sox are terrible? It's early.

[bmags]

how many playoff seasons have we had where we started off slow

[Texsox]

The fun will begin when all the bats turn on at the same time for a couple week stretch. I feel a 9-1 stretch coming.

[Leonard Zelig]

how many playoff seasons have we had where we started off slow

 

Well they haven't had many playoff appearances period, considering how long they have been a team, but 1983 would qualify.

[G&T]

What's funny for me is that I didn't even pay attention to the off season really. Didn't care about the start of the season. I have never cared less about the start of the baseball season. Then, on opening day, I thought this team could be good. Why the hell not? A pile of pitching, an adequate offense, and a crap division. But now I'm back to not caring. And maybe that's the worst thing a fan can say. I just don't care about this team.

 

Of course, I don't live in Chicago, so it's a little easier to ignore the games.

[stretchstretch]

I initially listed Pierre as a "project" but after looking up his stats didn't realize his career worst avg was .276 and hit close to or above .300 the past 4 seasons, can't blame KW for having him on the radar so long and taking the opp. this season when presented. no reason to see this as anything but a huge slump

 

i would not have guessed Pods would be off to the start he is, and this board could not wait to get rid of his key baserunning mistakes last season, me included. JP can't get any worse, so when he finally breaks out of it, this team has no where to go but up. problem still remains that the twins need to come back down to earth at some point

 

now, the twins have many a time done a season reversal and taken the division in the closing month, but we historically have not been such a team, which is why the slow start panics sox fans (unlike yankee fans who just assume it will happen at some point)

[WCSox]

I initially listed Pierre as a "project" but after looking up his stats didn't realize his career worst avg was .276 and hit close to or above .300 the past 4 seasons, can't blame KW for having him on the radar so long and taking the opp. this season when presented. no reason to see this as anything but a huge slump

 

Pierre isn't nearly as bad as some people here think he is. He has no power, but will hit .285-.295, put up a .300-ish OBP, and steal 30-40 bases. He'd be a good #9 hitter on a lot of teams. For what the Sox are paying him, he's not a bad investment. It's just too bad that he's leading off.

 

EDIT: .330-ish OBP, not .300-ish

 

Edited April 18, 2010 by WCSox

[daggins]

Those numbers for a left fielder are below replacement level. The steals aren't but if your OBP is .300 then stealing bases isn't going to matter. That's Willy Taveras territory. Pierre is awful and I don't like him hitting 9th, let alone 1st.

[flavum]

Is 4-17 the date or their record in a week?

[Kalapse]

Pierre isn't nearly as bad as some people here think he is. He has no power, but will hit .285-.295, put up a .300-ish OBP, and steal 30-40 bases. He'd be a good #9 hitter on a lot of teams. For what the Sox are paying him, he's not a bad investment. It's just too bad that he's leading off.

I don't think you'd see many complaints about Pierre if he were the #9 hitter, he'd be quite valuable in that role.

 

On the plus side Mark Teahen is now hitting .276/.432/.483/.915.

[SoxFan562004]

the Sox are 5 games out after all this crying and hand wringing and there's 149 games left. Don't get me wrong, this is definitely not trending well, but I'm not ready to chalk up the season just yet. After many on this site wanted to hand Pavano the Cy Young he kind of remembered he is Carl Pavano today.

 

Again, I'm not guaranteeing some miraculous turn around, but 5 games isn't the end of the world and a good week by the White Sox and an average week by the Twins and it's could easily be a "surging" white sox team this time next week.

[flavum]

It's not about standings and how many games out they are. It's about a team that can't hit, a bullpen that can't finish a six-out save, and a manager that bats Kotsay 5th and 3rd in the lineup. These are legitimate concerns. And I'm sorry to rag on the bullpen, because the overall numbers are good, but they've had two games where they needed to finish it off, and they didn't. If they did, the Sox would be pretty close to .500. Plus the fact that they are 1-5 against the Indians. That's a bad sign.

[SoxFan562004]

It's not about standings and how many games out they are. It's about a team that can't hit, a bullpen that can't finish a six-out save, and a manager that bats Kotsay 5th and 3rd in the lineup. These are legitimate concerns. And I'm sorry to rag on the bullpen, because the overall numbers are good, but they've had two games where they needed to finish it off, and they didn't. If they did, the Sox would be pretty close to .500. Plus the fact that they are 1-5 against the Indians. That's a bad sign.

don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the Sox are a stellar team and there aren't signs of concern, but at this point of the season they can have one good week and a lot of those fears would be put to rest, I'm just trying to point out that the season isn't over and maybe if they continue to trend like this in about two weeks it's over, but right now let's see how they do this week.

[flavum]

Well, we're missing Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee is still on the DL. I guess that's a positive.

[SoxFan562004]

Well, we're missing Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee is still on the DL. I guess that's a positive.

yes, it's a huge positive and quirks like that can turn stuff around... hell a Q hot streak at this point would do it.

 

The one thing that really needs to stop and is the Kotsay fiasco, he can't hit 5th or 3rd. IMO Ozzie needs to just role out his best potential hitters in there or a guy on a hot streak, Rios, Jones and Q should play every game at this point

[BigSqwert]

I'm not giving up on this team but Kotsay needs to be a pinch hitter and a rare spot starter, batting 6th or lower. I know that won't solve all of our problems but it'll help.

 

The rest of our hitters will eventually come around. They can't be this bad.

Edited April 18, 2010 by BigSqwert

[Quin]

Ozzie needs to lead off Rios and move Pierre to the 9-hole until he learns to hit again.

[Dick Allen]

Obviously there's still plenty of time left in the season and really no time to panic but if we use the formula of 2005 which seems to be popular the White Sox were 52-22 vs. the AL Central that year. Right now they are 2-7. I don't think they are going to have to win 99 games to win the division again, but you never know.

 

I was reading that single game ticket sales were lower than Brooks had thought they would be before the season started, and this streak has got to kill them there. They need to start winning very soon. With the schedule they have played, at worst they should be 2 or 3 games better than they have been.

[caulfield12]

Obviously there's still plenty of time left in the season and really no time to panic but if we use the formula of 2005 which seems to be popular the White Sox were 52-22 vs. the AL Central that year. Right now they are 2-7. I don't think they are going to have to win 99 games to win the division again, but you never know.

 

I was reading that single game ticket sales were lower than Brooks had thought they would be before the season started, and this streak has got to kill them there. They need to start winning very soon. With the schedule they have played, at worst they should be 2 or 3 games better than they have been.

 

 

Well, you do have to feel good for some markets that really looked dead 10 years ago, like Milwaukee, Minnesota and even Detroit, although what happened there financially is now close to a catastrophe. Atlanta has really bounced back after being down/flat for years. Oakland, despite their hot start, seems to be doomed to fail in that mausoleum of a stadium. Cincy is doing "okay" with their new stadium for now and were able to sign Chapman surprisingly.

 

But Cleveland, Pittsburgh, KC, Toronto, Baltimore, San Diego, Florida, Arizona, Washington (yes, I know they have a new stadium, but they drew more Phillies fans...hope Strasburg turnss out okay, those deals always seem like they fail with pitchers), Tampa, Oakland and Houston all appear to be in various degrees of trouble.

 

Not like the NBA, but the economic recession/downturn is clearly having an effect on the bottom tier organizations and cities. Hopefully we don't have to add Chicago White Sox to this list, but the fear is always there deep down that we return to late 80's world.

Edited April 18, 2010 by caulfield12