The glass is half-full....

[caulfield12]

1) Beckham has proven he can successfully adapt and transition defensively to 2B (his third position in a year), and only needs a few more weeks to get things straightened out mentally. If he's still struggling at the end of May, we can always send him to Charlotte and we have capable replacements in Nix and Vizquel to hold down the fort in the meantime.

 

2) Sergio Santos...watching him well up in THE CLUB preview is perhaps the coolest thing to happen this year, along with #5 and #8 on this list.

 

3) Alex Rios is the player who we're no longer worrying about carrying that long-term contract anymore.

 

4) Andruw Jones has been better than anyone could ever have expected in his role.

 

5) John Danks has become one of the two three lefty starters in baseball.

 

6) Matt Thornton, despite his occasional glitches, has been one of the top 2-3 lefty set-up guys in baseball, and would fetch us as much as any player on this team at the moment if KW placed him on the market.

 

7) Bobby Jenks has gotten the job done, just look at his Saves/SO stat, the back of his TOPPS baseball card begins and ends there.

 

8) Paul Konerko is the AL Offensive Player of the Month, giving KW flexibility to trade him if necessary in order to clear salary space. Even if traded, there's a better than 50/50 chance KW could bring him back to the White Sox for a 2-3 year extension if they decided Viciedo wasn't ready to go at season's end.

 

9) Pena and Putz have acquitted themselves well, and Putz will only get better (as he builds his fastball and splitter back up to previous "closer form" each day removed from surgery). Along with Andruw Jones and Konerko, Putz will be among the most sought-after pitchers on our roster due to KW's insightful contract. Pena's making the minor league guys forget about Brandon Allen.

 

10) We have immediate, impactful prospects at the AA/AAA level in D2, Flowers (murdering the ball), Viciedo, Hudson, Santeliz, Shelby and CJ Retherford.

 

11) Trayce Thompson has a better than 50/50 chance of becoming one of the Top 20 prospects in baseball, and a dominant offensive force that you build an organization around, to go along with Beckham, Danks and Quentin as franchise centerpieces.

 

12) Biting the bullet and trading Buehrle to the Cardinals nets us a boatload of prospects....and they'll be willing to pay a "premium" to acquire him.

 

13) We stayed afloat on this road trip and can start to do some damage in the standings to the Twins'/Tigers' hot starts with a good 5-2 or 6-1 streak, led by the starting pitching all winning and each performance building on the previous one like in 2005 and 2008. They're simply too talented to not get it figured out for at least a 2-3 month stretch in a season. Just like the 2001 team that started 14-29 only to get to 8 games over .500, or the 1983 team that stumbled to 16-24 and ended up winning the division going away, by 30 games.

 

Shall I go on?

Edited May 2, 2010 by caulfield12

[caulfield12]

Donny Lucy opened some eyes up while he was here.

 

Daniel Hudson returned to future ace form with the Knights.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/ar...b&fext=.jsp

 

 

Let's start looking at the big picture here...we'll be fine. In Ozzie, Cooper, Walk and KW we trust!!! Well, Cora, not so much...

[Jordan4life_2007]

1) Beckham has proven he can successfully adapt and transition defensively to 2B (his third position in a year), and only needs a few more weeks to get things straightened out mentally. If he's still struggling at the end of May, we can always send him to Charlotte and we have capable replacements in Nix and Vizquel to hold down the fort in the meantime.

 

2) Sergio Santos...watching him well up in THE CLUB preview is perhaps the coolest thing to happen this year, along with #5 and #8 on this list.

 

3) Alex Rios is the player who we're no longer worrying about carrying that long-term contract anymore.

 

4) Andruw Jones has been better than anyone could ever have expected in his role.

 

5) John Danks has become one of the two three lefty starters in baseball.

 

6) Matt Thornton, despite his occasional glitches, has been one of the top 2-3 lefty set-up guys in baseball, and would fetch us as much as any player on this team at the moment if KW placed him on the market.

 

7) Bobby Jenks has gotten the job done, just look at his Saves/SO stat, the back of his TOPPS baseball card begins and ends there.

 

8) Paul Konerko is the AL Offensive Player of the Month, giving KW flexibility to trade him if necessary in order to clear salary space. Even if traded, there's a better than 50/50 chance KW could bring him back to the White Sox for a 2-3 year extension if they decided Viciedo wasn't ready to go at season's end.

 

9) Pena and Putz have acquitted themselves well, and Putz will only get better (as he builds his fastball and splitter back up to previous "closer form" each day removed from surgery). Along with Andruw Jones and Konerko, Putz will be among the most sought-after pitchers on our roster due to KW's insightful contract. Pena's making the minor league guys forget about Brandon Allen.

 

10) We have immediate, impactful prospects at the AA/AAA level in D2, Flowers (murdering the ball), Viciedo, Hudson, Santeliz, Shelby and CJ Retherford.

 

11) Trayce Thompson has a better than 50/50 chance of becoming one of the Top 20 prospects in baseball, and a dominant offensive force that you build an organization around, to go along with Beckham, Danks and Quentin as franchise centerpieces.

 

12) Biting the bullet and trading Buehrle to the Cardinals nets us a boatload of prospects....and they'll be willing to pay a "premium" to acquire him.

 

13) We stayed afloat on this road trip and can start to do some damage in the standings to the Twins'/Tigers' hot starts with a good 5-2 or 6-1 streak, led by the starting pitching all winning and each performance building on the previous one like in 2005 and 2008. They're simply too talented to not get it figured out for at least a 2-3 month stretch in a season. Just like the 2001 team that started 14-29 only to get to 8 games over .500, or the 1983 team that stumbled to 16-24 and ended up winning the division going away, by 30 games.

 

Shall I go on?

 

I disagree with about 75% of this post. But you get props for not once mentioning how wonderful you think the Twins are.

[caulfield12]

The Twins are flukey and will struggle in their new ballpark over time.

 

Dick Allen said so. So I'll trust his judgment on that one.

[stretchstretch]

I'll check back with you fellas in late September, and if the Sox make the playoffs, I am SO on board with this line of thinking!!!!

[greg775]

Let's start looking at the big picture here...we'll be fine. In Ozzie, Cooper, Walk and KW we trust!!! Well, Cora, not so much...

 

Nice to be a glass half full guy and good post, but with all those positives our team has sucked big big time.

Once again, like last year, team looks like it's upside is .500. And its downside like last year is not good.

[fathom]

The Twins are flukey and will struggle in their new ballpark over time.

 

Dick Allen said so. So I'll trust his judgment on that one.

 

Is this post sincere?

[BigSqwert]

Is this post sincere?

I think obviously not.

[CaliSoxFanViaSWside]

I'll hold off on saying the Sox suck for the whole year but they sure suck now.

[BigSqwert]

I'll hold off on saying the Sox suck for the whole year but they sure suck now.

That's an understatement.

[southsider2k5]

Donny Lucy opened some eyes up while he was here.

 

Daniel Hudson returned to future ace form with the Knights.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/ar...b&fext=.jsp

 

 

Let's start looking at the big picture here...we'll be fine. In Ozzie, Cooper, Walk and KW we trust!!! Well, Cora, not so much...

 

Donny Lucy is the very defintion of small sample sizes. There is no chance he hits anything like he did while he was here. Zero, zlich, nada.

[WCSox]

The glass may still be half-full... but it's cracked and slowly leaking. If not repaired by late June, it'll be empty.

 

[knightni]

The glass may still be half-full... but it's cracked and slowly leaking. If not repaired by late June, it'll be empty.

The guy who filled the glass and the guy who filled the water pitcher may have to answer to the guy who owns the glass, pitcher and restaurant by the time the glass is empty.

[jeffro2525]

I think we all need to hold out judgement until ATLEAST the end of this week. Seven winnable games this week. Five wins would be just what the doctor ordered. You can't tell me that whoever wins the World Series this year won't have a 10-15 type stretch. I would rather talk all this nonsense about blowing this thing up and rebuilding in late June, when we will difinitavly know how good or bad we really are.

 

The offense may not improve that much...but I think theres one thing that we should all agree on...the pitching will be better.

[thxfrthmmrs]

1) Beckham has proven he can successfully adapt and transition defensively to 2B (his third position in a year), and only needs a few more weeks to get things straightened out mentally. If he's still struggling at the end of May, we can always send him to Charlotte and we have capable replacements in Nix and Vizquel to hold down the fort in the meantime.

 

2) Sergio Santos...watching him well up in THE CLUB preview is perhaps the coolest thing to happen this year, along with #5 and #8 on this list.

 

3) Alex Rios is the player who we're no longer worrying about carrying that long-term contract anymore.

 

4) Andruw Jones has been better than anyone could ever have expected in his role.

 

5) John Danks has become one of the two three lefty starters in baseball.

 

6) Matt Thornton, despite his occasional glitches, has been one of the top 2-3 lefty set-up guys in baseball, and would fetch us as much as any player on this team at the moment if KW placed him on the market.

 

7) Bobby Jenks has gotten the job done, just look at his Saves/SO stat, the back of his TOPPS baseball card begins and ends there.

 

8) Paul Konerko is the AL Offensive Player of the Month, giving KW flexibility to trade him if necessary in order to clear salary space. Even if traded, there's a better than 50/50 chance KW could bring him back to the White Sox for a 2-3 year extension if they decided Viciedo wasn't ready to go at season's end.

 

9) Pena and Putz have acquitted themselves well, and Putz will only get better (as he builds his fastball and splitter back up to previous "closer form" each day removed from surgery). Along with Andruw Jones and Konerko, Putz will be among the most sought-after pitchers on our roster due to KW's insightful contract. Pena's making the minor league guys forget about Brandon Allen.

 

10) We have immediate, impactful prospects at the AA/AAA level in D2, Flowers (murdering the ball), Viciedo, Hudson, Santeliz, Shelby and CJ Retherford.

 

11) Trayce Thompson has a better than 50/50 chance of becoming one of the Top 20 prospects in baseball, and a dominant offensive force that you build an organization around, to go along with Beckham, Danks and Quentin as franchise centerpieces.

 

12) Biting the bullet and trading Buehrle to the Cardinals nets us a boatload of prospects....and they'll be willing to pay a "premium" to acquire him.

 

13) We stayed afloat on this road trip and can start to do some damage in the standings to the Twins'/Tigers' hot starts with a good 5-2 or 6-1 streak, led by the starting pitching all winning and each performance building on the previous one like in 2005 and 2008. They're simply too talented to not get it figured out for at least a 2-3 month stretch in a season. Just like the 2001 team that started 14-29 only to get to 8 games over .500, or the 1983 team that stumbled to 16-24 and ended up winning the division going away, by 30 games.

 

Shall I go on?

 

some interesting points, but i strongly disagree with you on number 5 and 10.

 

danks had a great april, but so did 11 other pitchers, he is only 12 in the ERA list, look at guys like zito, fister, silva, livan hernandez, cj wilson, jamie garcia, do you call them cy young candidates? if he has 16 wins, and a sub 3.00 ERA in september, then it's debatable whether he is a top 5 lefty starter. i can think of guys like lester, sabathia, santana, cliff lee, and even a renewed liriano off the top of my head as better lefties than danks

 

most of the prospects we have down in AAA/AA are not ready, even D2, flowers, viciedo, just look at their K/AB, those are josh fields numbers in the majors, and i do not want to see 3 josh fields on the team right now. our team is the worse contact team in the league, and we do not need to rush guys up who will strike out twice every game.

 

PK, danks, and jones has been sensational thus far, but expect them to come back to earth the next month or two. the only trends i see that could continue are Santos being a dominant reliever, and Rios continues to hit. Santos has really great stuff, reminds me of a young Bobby jenks or a poor man's jonathan broxton. If he continues to do well in the 7th or 8th inning, expect the Sox to trade jenks away at the deadline to avoid arbitration next year and put him or putz at closer spot.

 

one thing that bothers me and hasn't really receive enough attention is buehrle's struggle. he has really gone down hill since the opening day, recording one 1 QS since, and opponents are just teeing off him like it's T ball. if not for that great opening day start, his ERA would be topping 6.00 now.

 

Going back to last season, you can see his struggles really started after the perfect game, and he struggled to finish the season, and the trend continues now. perhaps the hitters are finally figuring out how to hit his soft stuff after all these year? i mean not even the cardinals would be into him now for that money and the mighty struggles.

[dpd9189]

I will admit that it's early and I'm not totally counting the Sox out but if they can't get going soon they'll be toast.

[Jordan4life_2007]

I will admit that it's early and I'm not totally counting the Sox out but if they can't get going soon they'll be toast.

 

That's what I call analysis.

[MiddleCoastBias]

some interesting points, but i strongly disagree with you on number 5 and 10.

 

danks had a great april, but so did 11 other pitchers, he is only 12 in the ERA list, look at guys like zito, fister, silva, livan hernandez, cj wilson, jamie garcia, do you call them cy young candidates? if he has 16 wins, and a sub 3.00 ERA in september, then it's debatable whether he is a top 5 lefty starter. i can think of guys like lester, sabathia, santana, cliff lee, and even a renewed liriano off the top of my head as better lefties than danks

 

most of the prospects we have down in AAA/AA are not ready, even D2, flowers, viciedo, just look at their K/AB, those are josh fields numbers in the majors, and i do not want to see 3 josh fields on the team right now. our team is the worse contact team in the league, and we do not need to rush guys up who will strike out twice every game.

 

PK, danks, and jones has been sensational thus far, but expect them to come back to earth the next month or two. the only trends i see that could continue are Santos being a dominant reliever, and Rios continues to hit. Santos has really great stuff, reminds me of a young Bobby jenks or a poor man's jonathan broxton. If he continues to do well in the 7th or 8th inning, expect the Sox to trade jenks away at the deadline to avoid arbitration next year and put him or putz at closer spot.

 

one thing that bothers me and hasn't really receive enough attention is buehrle's struggle. he has really gone down hill since the opening day, recording one 1 QS since, and opponents are just teeing off him like it's T ball. if not for that great opening day start, his ERA would be topping 6.00 now.

Going back to last season, you can see his struggles really started after the perfect game, and he struggled to finish the season, and the trend continues now. perhaps the hitters are finally figuring out how to hit his soft stuff after all these year? i mean not even the cardinals would be into him now for that money and the mighty struggles.

Like most here, I love everything the Burls has done for us, a true competitor day in and day out. But it really does sound like he wants to finish soon so he can take care of his family, and he also really wants to play for the Cards. I would really hate to see him go and I know it would be a big blow in terms of how the fans view the front office, but I think we should play the cards and consider trading him to the Cardinals (if we can get a positive return). Think about it, the Cardinals would love to have him, and Buerhle himself said he may not want to play much longer... why try to keep him for big money when we can flip him for good talent now considering he might not be around in 2 years anyway? I say trade him while he's just barely past his crescendo and before he loses value. And that hurts to say, knowing how much he means to this franchise, and I don't like bailing on franchise players.

[greg775]

Our pitching definitely hasn't been anything great.

Not after all the hype.

I guess it's been OK but some bad outings by each of the starters. Maybe Danks has had all good starts.

[whitesoxfan101]

There are individual things to be optimistic about, but I can't see how anybody can have an ounce of optimism about this team. The last team I can remember of ours looking this bad this early would be one of the Terry Bevington teams of my very young childhood. Combine that with the Twins being very good and the Tigers being better than us, and I'm already thinking about 2011 right now, which is an absolute joke if you consider where our payroll is. I hope there are significant firings and changes if this continues (although I doubt anybody gets fired, we don't seem to believe in changing things that aren't working.)

Edited May 3, 2010 by whitesoxfan101

[chisoxt]

Like most here, I love everything the Burls has done for us, a true competitor day in and day out. But it really does sound like he wants to finish soon so he can take care of his family, and he also really wants to play for the Cards. I would really hate to see him go and I know it would be a big blow in terms of how the fans view the front office, but I think we should play the cards and consider trading him to the Cardinals (if we can get a positive return). Think about it, the Cardinals would love to have him, and Buerhle himself said he may not want to play much longer... why try to keep him for big money when we can flip him for good talent now considering he might not be around in 2 years anyway? I say trade him while he's just barely past his crescendo and before he loses value. And that hurts to say, knowing how much he means to this franchise, and I don't like bailing on franchise players.

 

The time to have traded Buerhle was at the trade deadline last year when his value was higher than it is now (and yes, I suggested it and was clobbered). We saw with Feddy Garcia how trading somebody a year early can net a prospect or two that can help you later. Then again, the early returns on the Javy Vasquez deal don't look so good).We were going nowhere last year and it was obvious by the end of July that we needed to reload.`

 

Who is going to want Mark now that he is stinking up the joint? Besides, I believe that there is a contract escalation clause that Mark would have to void in the event he is traded. If we trade Mark, it most likely will be a salary dump whereby we get little in return.

 

 

[caulfield12]

Then again, the early returns on the Javy Vasquez deal don't look so good)

 

Give it some time. Lillibridge was never realistically expected to be a major league regular when we acquired him.

 

If Flowers doesn't make it as a catcher, then that's a pretty big hit as far as that trade goes, but Gilmore and Santos Rodriguez (especially) are interesting prospects, albeit ones we won't see for another two seasons, if not 3.

 

Look at it this way....Vazquez sucked for us when it counted, just jettisoning his contract would have been enough for me. Instead, we got a Top 50 catching prospect who's very intriguing and Gilmore/Rodriguez as part of the deal, both of who could emerge eventually at the big league level. It's nothing to get worked up about now regardless, that trade was alway a "way down the line" move in terms of evaluation.

 

If you want to dissect any move/s, it's both Swisher trades that have been pretty horrible in terms of an overall "net" return to the Sox. However, I'll cede KW's company line that Swisher wasn't going to play CF for us and that he allocated the money from Nick's deal to the signing of Viciedo. Only when/if Dayan fails to contribute can I completely write off every element of the 2 Swisher moves and call it a complete loss.

 

 

 

 

[WCSox]

The time to have traded Buerhle was at the trade deadline last year when his value was higher than it is now (and yes, I suggested it and was clobbered). We saw with Feddy Garcia how trading somebody a year early can net a prospect or two that can help you later. Then again, the early returns on the Javy Vasquez deal don't look so good).We were going nowhere last year and it was obvious by the end of July that we needed to reload.`

 

Who is going to want Mark now that he is stinking up the joint? Besides, I believe that there is a contract escalation clause that Mark would have to void in the event he is traded. If we trade Mark, it most likely will be a salary dump whereby we get little in return.

 

Trading Mark a week after he threw a perfect game last season would've been an epic PR disaster.

 

That said, I expect that Mark will be dealt next year if the Sox are out of contention (it's unlikely that he'll continue to suck this badly). We will probably not get much in return (as I imagine that Kenny will bend over backwards to send him to St. Louis), but the salary dump will be significant. MB's contract would also trigger an automatic fifth year, which may make him valuable to an organization that wants more than a two-month rental.

 

[kitekrazy]

Just because MB wants to be a Card doesn't mean STL will want him. He obviously hasn't reached the point many pro athletes have in realizing it's a business and you are less outspoken about your favorite team was when you were a kid.

[ChiSox_Sonix]

Just because MB wants to be a Card doesn't mean STL will want him. He obviously hasn't reached the point many pro athletes have in realizing it's a business and you are less outspoken about your favorite team was when you were a kid.

 

Obviously.

 

How dare he or anyone else ever mention stuff like that while they are playing. Completely unacceptable. KW probably should have written something in his contract which forbade him from mentioning or showing support for the Cardinals in any way whatsoever. That was a mistake everyone will come to regret one day (if they have not already)

Edited May 3, 2010 by ChiSox_Sonix