Time to change the top of the order

[dyuen]

Great. He's walked 50 times one season in his career. If Mark Teahen gets the most ABs on your team, the playoffs are not something you realistically think about.

 

no matter how you make up the lineup, the playoffs are not realistic with this roster. it is lacking one and probably two good hitters.

[bigruss]

I would say having Teahen with the most ABs of team will give you much more of a chance to make the playoffs than if Pierre led the team in ABs.

[WCSox]

So we are going to bench Pierre based on short term stats, even though he has a history of hitting around .300, but we aren't supposed to look at the leadoff hitter based on those same short term trends? The last line is a strawman as Teahen is our 3B no matter where he hits.

 

I see no problem with Teahen as a temporary leadoff hitter.

 

Agreed that Beckham at leadoff is a bad idea. He's young, he's struggling, and despite what some people here want, Ozzie is still going to use the leadoff spot for National League-style ball. That's an ill-suited role for a guy with Chase Utley's skill set.

Edited April 30, 2010 by WCSox

[witesoxfan]

no matter how you make up the lineup, the playoffs are not realistic with this roster. it is lacking one and probably two good hitters.

 

I do agree with this. If Ozzie or Williams could find room, adding two plus bats instead of a superstar might actually be better for this team (similar to what Williams did in 03 when he picked up both Alomar and Everett).

 

But before that even occurs, the team has to show it can be a good team, and beyond that, you have to weigh whether or not it may be worth trading prospects, some who are lining up for significant playing time with the big league club within the next 18 months. I mean, if you can acquire said bats by trading middle tier prospects like Retherford, Shelby, or Gartrell, then you don't even hesitate. But if it is going to cost you any of Flowers, Hudson, Danks, Viciedo, or even Morel, the club really needs to step back and determine if it is worth it or not.

 

You have to assume that the Twins are going to win 95 or more games. Whether they really do or have the capability to do that is irrelevant. If the Sox are going to trade prospects, they have to be under the assumption that they are aiming for the AL Central title, and they have to determine whether or not any trade or acquisition will put them within reach of winning 95 games. There's no point in trading Jordan Danks and Dan Hudson for Lance Berkman if they figure Berkman will only get them to 90 wins.

[caulfield12]

Exactly....we're either taking on a big contract (like Berkman) for a quick fix solution and giving up less talent, "busting" a budget that's supposedly at the tipping point or over (and JR already saw the results of KW asking him to assume that risk in 2009 with Peavy and Rios)...or we gut the anemic #26-30 farm system in baseball even further.

 

If anything, we should be standing pat for 30-45 days, but nothing in the make-up of this ballclub and the seeming regression by aging veterans (Kotsay, Pierre, AJ, Vizquel) would allow one to believe that adding would be wise, with the Twins looking like a 93-95 win team and DET at 88-91. Obviously, no Wild Card. We're also (by trading for a bat) partially counting on CQ and Jones to be more or less dangerous line-up forces, and neither one of those is guaranteed either. Not only CQ and Andruw Jones, but even Peavy and Jenks (to a lesser extent than the two hitters) are close to becoming certifiable question marks/concerns.

[joeynach]

I was 100% right on. Alexi is your new leadoff hitter. Im watching the live batting practice on MLB Network and they have the lineups posted. Pierre is hitting 9th and Alexi leading off.

[flavum]

3rd year with the team. His name is Alexei, and it doesn't rhyme with sexy.

[southsider2k5]

Guys if we add a big player, it isn't just for 2010. These last couple of years we have watched Kenny changing the core of this team for the younger. Peavy and Rios are just the first two examples. I really get the feeling that we will make a run at one of the big 1Bs out there, and then try to get them to stay for a long, long time. I still see Kenny dealing for someone big, even if it looks like a deadline deal.

[RockRaines]

You have to acquire a top of the order hitter, there isnt really any more to it.

[knightni]

Someone posted the data a few weeks ago. White Sox #2 hitters saw the fewest number of fastballs in the big leagues last year. This was despite having a supposed stolen base threat (Podsednik) in that spot for most of the year. Why? Because no one in their right mind was throwing a fastball to Alexei. Pitchers just don't care about guys stealing as much in their pitch selection as we'd like to think.

Sounds to me like he'd be better at #3 with Q or Kong behind him. They'd be forced to throw fastballs to him, then.

[Kalapse]

Sounds to me like he'd be better at #3 with Q or Kong behind him. They'd be forced to throw fastballs to him, then.

Carlos Quentin is right in the middle of the league in % of fastballs seen even though he's had the red hot Konerko hitting behind him most of the season. Much like what Balta said about pitchers not grooving fastballs out of fear of that base stealer at first; they're also not dumb enough to groove fastballs to the #3 hitter out of fear of putting a runner on for the #4 hitter. I said this a few days ago but the concept of "protection" is pretty ridiculous especially when we're not even talking about great hitters here.

[westsidesoxfan]

Even if this isn't the ideal starting lineup, it is still the best "looking" lineup we've had all year. Way to go Ozzie, I actually feel like we can win with this.

 

Chi White Sox

AB R H RBI HR BB K SB LOB Season Avg

A. Ramirez ss 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .222

G. Beckham 2b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .221

A. Jones rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .259

P. Konerko 1b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .292

A. Rios cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .266

C. Quentin dh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .183

M. Teahen 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .268

D. Lucy c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333

J. Pierre lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .200