A year-in review?

[TheBigHurt]

Well, I've been gone for a year, so now that I'm back I felt the urge to post a short recap of the season and make some points and comments that I haven't been able to make for some time.

 

 

1. I was amazed at how well this season started with some guys. The first month or so had me thinking guys like Liney and Jones were going to be amazing as they started off hot. Sad that didn't last.

 

2. I'm gonna start this off bad considering, but I really don't care. I believe Ozzie Guillen has proved this year better than most that he can't manage worth a lick. The first month ALONE was a massive embarrassment. I honestly believe a good amount of people on this board could manage a team better. I honestly will be surprised if anyone here still supports his managing because as an in-game manager he's just totally clueless. I don't mind the guy going with his gut sometimes, but CHRIST look at a scouting report once in a while, Ozzie! Seriously, if by some FAT chance we get Manny and ANYONE but him DH's for the rest of the season besides him, fire Ozzie on the spot; I'm not even kidding. Watching Kotsay/Jones and even Pierre in the DH spot this year has just been embarrassing. And then what of Ozzie outside the game? Constantly now insulting his own fan base and being condescending towards them? Is there anything good LEFT about Ozzie? I'm sorry, but 2005 is over... it really is time to get rid of him. I've always been blunt about this, but seriously, how can you believe otherwise at this point? I mean, you guys pay attention to the games, right? Do I REALLY need "examples" of his terrible mismanaging anymore? Is the "Thornton for 3 innings" debacle and leaving Floyd in for another inning while he's over 120 in the pitch count and hanging every pitch not enough???

 

3. Bobby Jenks has been a roller-coaster this year and frankly I hope we don't have to stick with him next year.

 

4., Although his start wasn't pretty, I'm pleasantly surprised with what Juan Pierre has done for us. He's shown some promise with his bunting and his stolen base count is obviously impressive (best in the majors, no?). Overall, I think he was at least something we haven't had in a while: an efficient lead-off hitter, which was one of the holes we had for a long time. But... what happens to the leadoff spot next year?

 

5. I was SO glad that KW finally spent some money and got a couple of studs in Rios and Peavy. Rios has proved himself to be the monster we remembered and even though Peavy got injured (an understatement, I know), he was totally worth the risk and it looked good at the time, so I have no regrets. And nothing says there's no chance he ever comes back and dominates again. Let's have faith. Bad luck from hell, though, right?

 

6. Paulie has played his ass off and had one of his most consistent years this year. I REALLY hope we can sign him for cheap and he can finish his career here. It would be so nice.

 

7. I honestly still feel that giving up Hudson for Jackson and getting no bat at all was HORRIBLE and I still feel that way (using my previous logic, whether it looks good now or not... the trade still looked terrible), but luckily if Jackson keeps pitching this way we just might be happy to give him 8 million next year if it is at all possible.

 

8. Kotsay sucks. That's all. I am really sad that KW gave Ozzie so much power and look what we get. I realize we didn't realize the situation we would have when we got rid of Thome... but I still wish we had Thome, lol. MAN, did that walk-off just SUUUUUUUUUUCK. And going back to Ozzie, hearing all this stuff between KW and Ozzie as far as spats was hilarious to hear. I thought I caught something about Oney or whichever of Ozzie's sons it was that got fired was accusing KW of cheating on his wife or something? Is that really true??? Man, the trouble from Ozzie just seems to shroud his whole family, huh?

 

9. The bullpen. WOW, what a turnaround. We go from having an elite-looking pen and a rookie with a record-setting run named Sergio Santos... to having Santos off his game, Bobby blowing saves left and right, Thornton and Putz (AS WELL AS Threets) all going from being beasts to Putz falling apart to both going on the DL... and what else? Linebrink being bad as usual, Pena being so-so (although that job he did in the DH was worth a big cap-tip) and whatever else worth noting.

 

10. The Twins. All I've got to say is that team, if they win the division, better get to at least the second round this year because I'm tired of being narrowly beat by those f***s every year just so they can get sweep in the first round. It seems they never buckle under the pressure down the late stretch while we seemingly always do.

 

11. Has to be noted that that crazy run in inter-league play started a slew of what... 2 or 3 months were we were playing far beyond expectations? I truly believe this a great team overall that should make the playoffs that for some reason just get mentally tired and start pissing down their leg at the sight of the f***ing Twins. What a shame.

 

12. Teahan... I dunno... bittersweet? I know he sucked ASS early in the season and ironically we did better without him around. What about now? I couldn't really say. Seems he's done some damage since his return.

 

I dunno, anything else worth noting? I'll add more if I think of anything worth discussing. Good to be back.

Edited August 29, 2010 by TheBigHurt

[ChiliIrishHammock24]

tl;dr

 

 

[TheBigHurt]

tl;dr

 

 

 

Good for you.

 

[LittleHurt05]

I don't know about your year in review, but I love your avatar.

[Jordan4life_2007]

Are there two caulfields?

[TheBigHurt]

I don't know about your year in review, but I love your avatar.

 

Watch what you say, that's my future wife!

 

I wish.

 

 

Are there two caulfields?

 

Well, I think him and I have seen eye-to-eye on a lot of things. I think he and fathom are the two guys who's views I generally agree with more than anyone else's.

[jenksycat]

Well, I think him and I have seen eye-to-eye on a lot of things. I think he and fathom are the two guys who's views I generally agree with more than anyone else's.

 

Super depressing and the sky falls with every hit given up?

[TheBigHurt]

Super depressing and the sky falls with every hit given up?

 

No. In fact, I'm historically one of the most optimistic guys on these forums. In fact, last week in the chat Kalapse said if we got swept by Minny that our season was officially over. I laughed.

 

I'm talking about, frankly, agreeing with their point of view on the Sox in general. I really believe fathom might have more sensibility than anyone on this board (not that I'm insulting anybody).

[greg775]

If I had to pick one word to describe the season to date, it would be "weird."

 

The 25-5 out of nowhere.

The horrible start.

The incredible excellent starting pitching for a long stretch and then outings like Danks tonight.

I realize all teams have similar s*** happen, but this season has been "weird" and am I a lousy fan for saying somewhat

"frustrating?"

It could be worse. One of these years we are going to be out of it in June and have something to realy complain about.

 

[TheBigHurt]

If I had to pick one word to describe the season to date, it would be "weird."

 

The 25-5 out of nowhere.

The horrible start.

The incredible excellent starting pitching for a long stretch and then outings like Danks tonight.

I realize all teams have similar s*** happen, but this season has been "weird" and am I a lousy fan for saying somewhat

"frustrating?"

It could be worse. One of these years we are going to be out of it in June and have something to realy complain about.

 

I agree, and the answer to your question is no, greg.

[LittleHurt05]

If I had to pick one word to describe the season to date, it would be "weird."

 

The 25-5 out of nowhere.

The horrible start.

The incredible excellent starting pitching for a long stretch and then outings like Danks tonight.

I realize all teams have similar s*** happen, but this season has been "weird" and am I a lousy fan for saying somewhat

"frustrating?"

It could be worse. One of these years we are going to be out of it in June and have something to realy complain about.

 

For once I agree Greg. At the beginning of the season, I thought they could win the Central, but I didn't think they were a favorite. Then they sucked for two months, were unbeatable for the next month. Could this team be tied with the Twins right now instead of 4.5 games back? f*** yeah. But could they just as easily be 9 games back today? For sure. Baseball is a funny game, and this season has been very funny.

[kitekrazy]

If I had to pick one word to describe the season to date, it would be "weird."

 

The 25-5 out of nowhere.

The horrible start.

The incredible excellent starting pitching for a long stretch and then outings like Danks tonight.

I realize all teams have similar s*** happen, but this season has been "weird" and am I a lousy fan for saying somewhat

"frustrating?"

It could be worse. One of these years we are going to be out of it in June and have something to realy complain about.

 

I know what you mean. I'm wondering who are the real White Sox at this point?

I've come to accept losing to the Twins is a given even if they were the worst team in baseball.

 

[TheBigHurt]

I know what you mean. I'm wondering who are the real White Sox at this point?

I've come to accept losing to the Twins is a given even if they were the worst team in baseball.

 

We recently lost 3 out of 4 TO the worst team in baseball, so it's not far fetched at all.

[dmbjeff]

If I had to pick one word to describe the season to date, it would be "weird."

 

The 25-5 out of nowhere.

The horrible start.

The incredible excellent starting pitching for a long stretch and then outings like Danks tonight.

I realize all teams have similar s*** happen, but this season has been "weird" and am I a lousy fan for saying somewhat

"frustrating?"

It could be worse. One of these years we are going to be out of it in June and have something to realy complain about.

 

Well June 1st, 2010 we were really out of it. Then we all got sucked back in by the amazing 2 months unlike anything we have ever seen from a White Sox team. We are an above average team and that is the truth. We have good pitching just hasn't been consistant enough to put us in the next tier of teams. Hitting, we spent 5 months enduring the horrible DH tandem of Jones/Kotsay, our 3B position has been mainly held by a defensive wizard, but an OPS for a 3B that should make anyone cringe, a possible future star in Beckham, take the first half off. So many things with our offense were bad this season, that the awesome season's Rios and PK have had were not enough to overcome, especially in April and May when we dug that huge hole we had to climb out of. I think wierd has been a real good way to describe this year. Nothing like anything I have ever witnessed up to this point. I hope we can climb back to 1st place the last 5 weeks here. It is possible and maybe Manny could help and give the team a boost.

[greg775]

I know what you mean. I'm wondering who are the real White Sox at this point?

I've come to accept losing to the Twins is a given even if they were the worst team in baseball.

 

Me too. I hate to be completely negative but I have to think even if we somehow got back into it, they'd take 2 of 3 from us in that final series. Weird team our Sox.

[kitekrazy]

If I had to describe the Sox this century except for 2005, the word would be "unclutch".

[Wanne]

Ozzie summed it up best...

"You look at our year, and if we played better against Cleveland, Baltimore and Kansas City, we would be in first place," Guillen. "Hopefully, this trip is going to be a little different."

 

True dat...

[greg775]

Now the "weird" year continues.

 

If we really are paying Manny 4 mill, why didn't we just sign some good free agent in the offseason? Weird weird.

[T R U]

Now the "weird" year continues.

 

If we really are paying Manny 4 mill, why didn't we just sign some good free agent in the offseason? Weird weird.

 

what good free agent are you planning on getting for 4 million? Damon? He was double that.. Thome? He cant be counted on to be a full time player..

 

If we sign Manny and win the division, we essentially made our good free agent signing in late August and that 4.3 million is going to be considerably cheaper than any good free agent you would be signing on the open market, in the offseason..

 

If we don't win? Well we could have spent 7-8 million on Johnny Damon and his .270 no power bat.. do you really think we would be in first right now if Damon was on this team? I don't..

[caulfield12]

In all fairness, look at the numbers Damon put up in "new" Yankee Stadium last year.

 

Tiger Stadium isn't a home run hitters' park, obviously. I think his OPS would be up at least 50 points playing 81 games at USCF.

Edited August 30, 2010 by caulfield12

[hogan873]

Frustrating is a perfect word to describe this season. The most frustrating part of it is, like Ozzie said, if the Sox had played better against Cleveland, Baltimore, and KC they'd be in first place. The 25-5 run was awesome. The first two months of the season sucked. Paul Konerko has been incredible. Juan Pierre has been a good lead-off guy (after a bad start). Omar has been a pleasant surprise.

 

Overall, though, I just can't get past the fact that they went into the season expecting so much out of Jones and Kotsay in the DH spot. I know that hasn't been the biggest problem, but it hasn't helped. Everything clicked together for about 30-35 games. We need that to happen again for the last 32 games. Hopefully Manny can help.

[kitekrazy]

Overall, though, I just can't get past the fact that they went into the season expecting so much out of Jones and Kotsay in the DH spot. I know that hasn't been the biggest problem, but it hasn't helped. Everything clicked together for about 30-35 games. We need that to happen again for the last 32 games. Hopefully Manny can help.

 

The fab four (Peavy, MB, Floyd, Danks) was suppose to compensate for the team being a little weaker at run production. What was suppose to be the Sox strength became the weakness coming out of the gate. This is also 2 seasons in a row where the opening day 3rd baseman lost his job. The defense wasn't there either. Having Omar out there seems to make everyone play better D.

 

Even though baseball is a long season, how you start out is just as important. When there some kind of cushion between 1st and 2nd place there's not so much pressure.