The Day the White Sox Lost the Central

the main point that’s now missing…

The most laugable aspect of the trade is the fact that the Sox bullpen now sits just 6 members deep. Since January, we’ve been hearing things like “we need 7 men in the pen” and “we need a (mopup) guy who can go multiple innings” yet when the Sox make a trade to acquire a 6th outfielder (7th, if you count Alexei, the opening day CFer) that narrative gets buried. And to top it off the Sox pen allows 6 runs in 2 innings blowing a game to the second-place twins. You just have to laugh.

Junior will be fine in center field. It’s an easier position than the corners. I bet you didn’t know that! Don’t you remember how much better our center field defense got when Ozzie replaced Rowand with Everett in 2003 and Anderson with Mackowiak in 2006?

Your insane GM,
Kenny

Swisher at First:
This guy is an awful first baseman.
Why does he want to fall backwards after every single throw over there? Yes
Alexei and Profundo have rocket arms, but not knock you on your ass with a throw arms?
No.
I seem to recall in little league you stretch in the direction of the throw from the bag to catch the ball as far away as possible and still touching first.
This guy has said he always played first until he got to the bigs and then moved to the OF, so you’d think he would know how to play over there.
I just dont see why he wants to bail out when the ball arrives. It sickens me.

Adding the Hall of Famer:
The good news is Swisher was a pretty bad center fielder too, so I thought having Griffey out there would be a push essentially, but those fielding numbers look pretty terrible, even though Im not so sure I know what RZR is. Couple that with the feedback from Cincinatti and this could be pretty shitty.

Our best case scenario has Griffey going all Edmonds for us and steps his game up.

When I first heard the deal on the radio this morning, I was like, ‘sweet!’
But the more I thought about it, the more I was scratching my head like you, da cheat.

My basic opinion on the deal is that it cant really hurt us. He’ll likely take the spot of Wise or Anderson who are essentially the same players. His swing is still sound, right? And .241 is better than our dueling Mendoza’s Swisher and Konerko. If Konerko gets straightened out, then they can interchange the old boys and keep them all fairly fresh without losing a lot of the firepower. Griffey > Wise IMO.

The Sox got to be in first place by pitching pretty well and hitting more HR than any other club. Adding a guy with 608 of them cant really hurt, can it? The team cant change its identity, Ricky Henderson wasnt available on the trade market, so why not reinforce what the team really is.

Piching:
This is where Im a bit concerned. The bullpen is banged up. Milwaukee Linebrink is what I thought we signed all along, even though we got half a year of San Diego Scott. My wife hates Dotel despite my stat based defenses because she says he’s not clutch, and shes not even aware of his shaky closer past. Can Contreras come back with anything at all? Do we have anyone other than Richard that can start? I dont hate Richard, and wouldnt mind him staying on in Masset’s spot, but I rather not have him learn the ropes as a starter. Put him on the Buehrle career path. I cant help but think a Gio Gonzales would be helpful here… Is Poreda ready to go? If 2008 is going to end up like 2005 or even sniff 2005, we need a new Jenks. A kid that is on the farm that can come out of nowhere and help out the squad.

the sox wouldn’t of had to make this move. So maybe Griffey coming in will light a fire under him, which is a possibility. Maybe it will also light one under Konerko and Swisher since they are competing for playing time. Swisher’s missed scoops were pathetic today- as one of the best players on the southside there is no reason why he shouldn’t have at least gotten Uribe’s…..however, Konerko would have probably thrown the force out into left field and we would have been screwed that inning. Oh well, lets just hope the offense gets going….in the very least getting Griffey led to the dismissal of Nick Massett, which was about 4 months over due in my opinion.

“Has Livan Hernandez made his last start for the Twins?”

two weeks of implementing a platoon at first base?

if you are in fact doomed?

What’s not being discussed here, or anywhere, is that Griffey’s OPS against righties is a full 100 points higher for his career than lefties—and it’s roughly .950. Anaheim, Boston, Tampa and the Yanks all have 4 right handers in their current rotations. Could Kenny have made this move with the playoffs in mind?

“That single bomb falling from the sky won’t destroy our entire city. Trust me.”

KW just makes another risky, high-profile trade that begs a jumbled mess of questions such as, “Who’s on 1st?” and “What about a relief pitcher?!”

Last night’s game seemed a live-action mockery of the trade.

Swisher’s on 1st. Nooooo problem there. Assuming every ball thrown to him is perfect and he is able to stay upright, foot on bag.

And in terms of relief pitchers – Logan looked perfectly in control. So did Dotel. What was it? – 70-some-odd pitches in 2 innings!? Yeah, we don’t need to think about pitching when we got a line-up full of power-hitters. And to our line-up’s credit, 6 runs should be enough to win a ball game.
Unfortunately, the Twins were able to match that score with 2 swings of the bat.

It was ugly all-around. We shoulda fought for that forfeit and saved all the embarrassment that followed. Too bad the Twins fans didn’t keep up their classiness just a few minutes longer…

1. Once again, the game turned on a walk to a light-hitting player - Danks’ walk to Span after L’Affaire du Pierzynski #14513453592352502. The Twins are actually a pretty simple team at this point: 2 outstanding players (Mauer/Morneau), 1 or 2 ok players (Kubel/Cuddeyer when he’s in) and a bunch of light-hitting slappy-types (currently - they obviously have young guys who will likely improve dramatically). The key: DO NOT WALK THE SLAPPY GUYS. Admittedly, it’s probably disorienting to play a team like this in the era of Everyone Can Hit a Homer, but this team can’t, so don’t pitch to them like they can.
2. Did anyone else think that a gold-glove SS should have made the play on the Mauer single that tied the game? I didn’t read the game thread so maybe this came up, but the ball was hit hard, but nearly right at Ocab. Not saying it was not a difficult play, but … well, the Uribe of 2005 likely makes it IMO. I like OCab, but that was a rather large play.
3. Thornton looked like a freakin’ deer in the headlights last night. I don’t usually put much stock in major league players “playing scared” thing, but in these unique circumstances, it may have applied.
4. Q and JD are gods.
5. Two 2-out 3-run homers. Unfuckingbelieveable.

Acquired OF-L Ken Griffey Jr. from the Reds for 2B-L Danny Richar and RHP Nick Masset. [7/31]

Getting Griffey cost the Sox nothing that they’ll miss, so on that level, this is a great deal. Setting aside where he’ll play for a moment, a team counting on a notoriously fragile player like Jim Thome could use an extra bat in case the DH breaks down, or if Jermaine Dye has another one of his catastrophic injuries, or should plunk-happy Carlos Quentin run one risk too many hanging over the plate and taking one for the team that he should have ducked. Strictly as a matter of depth, it’s a good pickup. As a way to take Paul Konerko out of the lineup now and again, it also makes sense, sort of, but keep in mind that Griffey really isn’t hitting well, having only delivered a pretty pedestrian .277 EqA (the position’s average is .271), with his best feature being a park-aided .261/.373/.452 against right-handers (while disappearing against lefties), but that immediately invites a reference to his hitting only .237/.347/.411 outside of the Rhineland bandbox that the Reds call home. If that’s more along the lines of what the Sox might expect, you can reasonably wonder if they weren’t better off just accepting that kind of production from a person named Dewayn Wise instead of one named Ken Griffey.

Playing Griffey also comes with risks, unless of course he dons a glove and plays a bit of first. That’s because Griffey in the lineup could also involve the risk of their employing Thome at first base, or Griffey in center, and of those two options, the former’s a potentially unacceptable risk, while the latter simply is an unacceptable risk. As Marc Normandin noted in anticipation of the deal, three-fifths of the Sox rotation is made up of fly-ball pitchers, and while they’ve survived Nick Swisher’s game efforts in center, running Griffey back out there might test those hurlers beyond a defensive breaking point. If, as rumored, Griffey only agreed to the deal in return for a guarantee that he’d start in center, you wind up with a player demanding and getting something he shouldn’t have asked for if helping his new team was on his agenda, and worse yet getting it from a team that should know better, especially when it should be focused on taking its best shot at a division title.

Griffey only agreed to the deal in return for a guarantee that he’d start in center, you wind up with a player demanding and getting something he shouldn’t have asked for if helping his new team was on his agenda, and worse yet getting it from a team that should know better, especially when it should be focused on taking its best shot at a division title.”

The hell did that come from?

Where’s larry? Where the hell is larry?
(larry with gorilla head taped on him, in cage with K-Wo gorilla headed to KC for the game tonight. Looks exhausted and defeated after being rectally tortured all night. K-Wo gorilla smiling broadly.)

“The Day The Earth Stood Still”. Klaatu, baratta, nikto and all. Perhaps Junior is here to deliver a warning to the Sox: “Pitching and defense win championships.”

it reminds me way too much of the ErastaDL situation.

Oh well, since I wasn’t consulted on the acquisition, I’ll just sit back and watch the show.

only because they had a flight waiting to leave Minnesota last night. Hopefully, by the time we get back there in Sept, the Twins have come back down to earth, and started playing like a team with
- a leadoff guy with a .289 OBP
- black holes in 3/4 of their infield, at least until Casilla comes back
—unsustainable (right? right?) avg w/RISP

BLARRGGHH, but still trying to stay positive.

/repeats to self – just remember you didn’t expect them to compete this year, just remember you didn’t expect them to compete this year….LOSING TO THE FUCKING TWINKIES IN THAT SHIT HOLE DOME AGAIN?! RELIEVER MELT DOWN?! GODDAMN FUCKING TWINKINES! I HATE FUCKING TWINKIES!!!

Niesheik? Dead! Mauer? Dead! Baker? Dead!

Yeah, it was just one game. A game that I didn’t even watch, but I really can’t stand the Twins, their crappy fair-weather fans, and that stupid dome. Yes, for me, it is personal.

It pains me to see them play so far over their heads and be so goddamn competitive. If our pitching and defense are regressing to the mean, why the fuck aren’t their BA w/ RISP and win total regressing to the mean as well? We’re getting screwed, I tells ya!

about the idea of Griffey being on this team. The biggest problem with the trade isn’t what the Sox gave up (next to nothing—or in Masset’s case, addition by subtraction) or necessaily the talent of the ballplayer (decent left handed bat that has been hitting well the past month). The biggest problem seems to be the name of the player. If the player’s name was “Blum,” we would say that it was decent move because if used correctly he can spell certain players, and he’s a nice bat off the bench. But the player’s name is Griffey. Obviously we all fear that he will be asked to do things that he shouldn’t be doing at this point in his career. The trade is not a bad one. How the new player is utilized might be the problem. Only time will tell that.

at least not anything better than what we have in AA/AAA

Why’s everybody so damned upset about Griffey? By the 3rd inning in KC tonight, he’ll have blown out his (fill in the blank of your favorite muscle group), Wise will come in and everything will be back to the way it was.

The A.L. Central will not be decided until the Sox and Minnesota’s last series of the year. So, whoever can get the best of Cleveland or KC will get the golden ring.

The good news: With Ken Griffey Jr. joining Jose Canseco and Steve Sax as temporary members of the White Sox, they now have claimed one-third of Mr. Burns’ softball team.

from jim @ sm

the addition of griffey on the surface looks like it should boost box office sales. will the added gate on account of griffey cover the actual contract cost? no, but that ignores secondary revenue sources such as memorabilia sales, etc.

from a baseball perspective, the deal, imo, is a epic meh. i think the upside certainly can outweigh the downside if griffey is used in the right game scenarios.

ultimately, this is williams getting the player he himself always wanted to be, and later coveted as a gm. A player that is in position to surpass the homerun total of a player the sox cut bait on too early, and would later place a tremendous amount of competitive pressure on the team from a business perspective.

here is a graphically representation off the ongoing theme of ‘THIS SEASON IS OVAAA!’

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/teams/alcentral/