Vince10984
07-17-2005, 08:57 PM
"Forget the other teams," Young said to the strains of "Cripple Creek," "it's going to come down to us and Cleveland. No disrespect to the Twins and White Sox, I just feel that club, the doggone Indians, is going to be the thorn in our side."
http://www.detnews.com/2005/tigers/0504/11/D01-146478.htm
The White Sox are substituting activity for performance, which is one of the last steps before "unemployment" for a baseball management team. When signing Jermaine Dye to a two-year deal is the good move of the winter, it's a very bad sign. Actually, that shorts the pickup of Tadahito Iguchi, who was kind of a Japanese Ray Durham. Keep in mind that Durham had his last healthy, effective season at 29; Iguchi turned 30 in December.
Carlos Lee is now Scott Podsednik. Frank Thomas might be back in April, May or never. Aaron Rowand is presumably back, taking the place of the alien that played in his body last year. It's one thing to again hope that this is the year Joe Crede finds the keys; it's quite another to need it to be the case. The "small ball" concept should claim another victim this year.
The pitching staff isn't going to make up for the falloff in runs scored. Freddy Garcia and Mark Buehrle are mid-rotation innings guys who get paid like aces. They head a rotation that's long on hope--not just one, but two Cubans with shaky recent track records exiled from the Bronx--and short on anything you can rely upon. The bullpen is better, with two legitimate studs at the back in Damaso Marte and Shingo Takatsu. Ozzie Guillen did an excellent job last year in funneling most of the relevant innings to his nine or so best pitchers, perhaps Guillen's signature skill aside from being quotable. It won't be enough to patch for what is going to be a bad offense.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=3869
:)
http://www.detnews.com/2005/tigers/0504/11/D01-146478.htm
The White Sox are substituting activity for performance, which is one of the last steps before "unemployment" for a baseball management team. When signing Jermaine Dye to a two-year deal is the good move of the winter, it's a very bad sign. Actually, that shorts the pickup of Tadahito Iguchi, who was kind of a Japanese Ray Durham. Keep in mind that Durham had his last healthy, effective season at 29; Iguchi turned 30 in December.
Carlos Lee is now Scott Podsednik. Frank Thomas might be back in April, May or never. Aaron Rowand is presumably back, taking the place of the alien that played in his body last year. It's one thing to again hope that this is the year Joe Crede finds the keys; it's quite another to need it to be the case. The "small ball" concept should claim another victim this year.
The pitching staff isn't going to make up for the falloff in runs scored. Freddy Garcia and Mark Buehrle are mid-rotation innings guys who get paid like aces. They head a rotation that's long on hope--not just one, but two Cubans with shaky recent track records exiled from the Bronx--and short on anything you can rely upon. The bullpen is better, with two legitimate studs at the back in Damaso Marte and Shingo Takatsu. Ozzie Guillen did an excellent job last year in funneling most of the relevant innings to his nine or so best pitchers, perhaps Guillen's signature skill aside from being quotable. It won't be enough to patch for what is going to be a bad offense.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=3869
:)