Chicago White Sox Community Roundtable: Week 4

The April 22-24 series against the Yankees didn't seem to go as planned. Did you see anything in those three games that concerned you or are you willing to chalk it up to just simply a bad series?

 

Thomas Barbee: Well, the Yankees series could be brushed off as a bad series, but
there were some particularly disappointing aspects to those three games, chiefly among them being the pitching. None of the starters in logged an ERA under five and guys like Octavio Dotel and Matt Thornton were lit up coming out of the bullpen. If that wasn't bad enough, Jose Contreras, Boone Logan and Nick Masset were the only guys that struck out more batters than they walked—a stat that lends a sneak peek into the reason for the Yankees success in the series.

Simply put, the Yankees hitters were always working the counts down to 2-1, 3-1, and so on, while the Sox pitchers continued to "aim" their pitches on the corners of the plate, resulting in either walks or hard hit balls. Meanwhile, the Yankees pitching was much more efficient, with only LaTroy Hawkins and Ross Ohlendorf giving up the big runs. While the Sox missed out on a lot of offensive opportunities across the board in the series, the truth is that they scored enough runs—the pitching just had to step up and faltered.

 

Jake Widlowski: I believe it was just an off-series for the White Sox. Granted, the Yankees are a better team than their record shows. The Yankees are good and they played well against the Sox, but the games were definitely winnable. I think the Sox just didn't really show up for those games, something that needs to change though.

 
Leo Londono: Take away a few bad pitches and this series might have turned out a little different, but the team did look flat the whole series, especially the pitching, which wasn't good enough.

Contreras had a good performance in game one, but the bullpen let him down. I know it's only 20 something games in, but Dotel might be right there with Mike MacDougal in terms of bad and busted relief pitching.

In Game two, Javy never found his rhythm against the Yankees lineup. It seemed like he could not get into a grove and well Mussina for some reason had the best game of his season so far shutting down a White Sox offense that seemed to be in a bit of a funk.

Game three, well thank goodness for Mr. Clutch, Joe Crede. It is remarkable what he does in clutch situations and defensively at the hot corner. As for Gavin Floyd, like the rest of the pitching, his outing was just mediocre.

Overall, the team looked a little flat and in a bit of a funk. So-so pitching and a slumping offense won't win many games against the Yankees.

 

Aaron Rusnak: I think it was just a bad series. We will have those, and I'd rather lose to the Yankees than the Tribe, Tigers, or Twins.

Contreras had a very good game, which was nice to see, and it would have been nice to see the pen pull it out for him. 

In the second game Javy looked off, but that will happen. All in all, I don't feel that series was much to worry about.    

 

Dieter Kurtenbach: I think that the Yankees are the best team in the AL East, given that the Red Sox rotation stays as mangled and injured as it currently is. That said, the White Sox had a bad series against a good team. When I look at the series that was, the White Sox were done in by the bad pitching of Ocatvio Dotel and Javier Vazquez. Simple as that. Dotel left a ball over the middle of the plate that Harold Baines could take out of the park, today. Vazquez's numbers precede his performance vs. the Yankees, which when it was all said and done, was for lack of a better word—crap.

I don't think that the Sox had a major let down. Frankly every game was good, every game was winnable for the Sox, and even the game they won, they had to scrap for the win. Overall, the Yankees and the White Sox are evenly matched and hopefully the Southsiders can get a shot at redemption in the AL playoffs, a series that would certainly be awesome.

 

JJ Stankevitz: Those three games were incredibly frustrating. The reason why we lost those first two games was because our pitchers (sans Contreras, which is weird) were falling behind in the count. When you face a team that's as smart offensively as the Yankees, you cannot afford to fall behind in counts. Dotel, Thornton, and Vazquez all failed to get ahead in the count, and thus, the results weren't all that great. I'll chalk the series up to just a bad stretch so long as those pitchers realize that they have to throw strikes to be successful.

Isaac Sorsa: The Yankees are a team that can get really hot at the plate and feed off each other. They had some big timely hits against us, that's just what they can do for long periods of time.

The start of that series could have very easily led to a slide but I think the two bottom of the ninth inning wins have given this team a little bit of momentum. You always want to feel like you are going to win the close games that come down to the wire.



With the way Brian Anderson played in the last two games against Baltimore, do you consider giving him more playing time (i.e., starting him over Alexei Ramirez when Dye, Swisher, or Quentin isn't in the OF)?

 
Thomas Barbee: Anderson's definitely going to be the guy to fill in for the injured Dye, as I still see Ozzie splitting time between Ramirez and Juan Uribe, who continues to struggle, at second base. As he continues to make the most of his at-bats, look for Swisher to be occasionally moved over to 1B or DH to give Paul Konerko or Jim Thome some rest, while BA continues to play CF.
 

Jake Widlowski: Brian Anderson should start over Ramirez in my opinion. He has played very well this weekend and is deserving of the being the No. 1 backup outfielder.


 
Leo Londono: I have always been a BA supporter since day one. I'm not sure what it is, but I think he has a chance to be a real good player some day, hopefully with the Sox.

He is the best defensive outfielder we have, and there is only upside to his bat. He just needs to get regular opportunities and I think he will develop nicely. How many times did Crede and Rowand bounce back and forth from the minors and majors till they got it?

Defensively, some of the jumps BA gets on fly balls are unbelievable and half the time he doesn't have to show his speed to make a catch. I think Ramirez needs go to down to the minors and hopefully rather quickly. I understand he can play many positions and gives Ozzie some flexibility, but he is an automatic out if he sees any sort of breaking pitch thrown at him. Send him down, give BA the most AB's and playing time in the OF and watch a player develop into a key ingredient of the White Sox future.

 

Aaron Rusnak: I would like to, but I wouldn't mess with what Dye, Swish, and THE Carlos Quentin have going around the outfield right now. Now, when one of them needs a day off, BA should certainly be that guy to come in over Ramirez, who I feel should be down at Charlotte getting himself some at-bats.

 

Dieter Kurtenbach: I will give you my ideal White Sox lineup at this point in time, if Jermaine Dye is healthy and Jerry Owens isn't 110% healthy. If Jermaine is injured for a DL stint, Brian should get his rightful spot in the outfield everyday.

1. CF-Nick Swisher

2. SS-Orlando Cabrera

3. RF-Jermaine Dye

4. 1B-Paul Konerko

5. DH-Jim Thome (who I think should be moved)

6. LF-Carlos Quentin

7. C- AJ Pierzynski

8. 3B-Joe Crede

9. 2B Platoon- Alexei Ramirez, Juan Uribe, and Pablo Ozuna

 

JJ Stankevitz: Anderson is exactly what I envision in a backup outfielder: great defense, an okay (not bad, not great) bat, and decent speed. Heck, if not for the emergence of Carlos Quentin, he'd probably be starting considering Alexei Ramirez looks lost at the plate. Hopefully, Ozzie will get him a lot more playing time than he got early in the year.

Isaac Sorsa: Personally I like Alexei to play second, at least platoon with Uribe if we have to put up with Juan.

I do like Brian Anderson and I have always felt he could be a very solid player. He is outstanding defensively, smart on the basepaths and takes a good approach at the plate.

It is well known Ozzie has never liked Brian, but I really appreciate Brian for being a professional about all of that and continuing to role with all the abuse he's taken from this organization. That would be a nice story if he could succeed with us, and bad press for us if we traded him and he had a nice career elsewhere.

We're almost a month into the season. What holes, if any, do you see in this team and what do you think can be done to address them?

 

Thomas Barbee: Well, the one gaping hole I did see with the team might have been fixed with the Sox finally bringing up Ehren Wassermann. They need all
the bullpen depth they can get, so it's good to see they realized that MacDougal needed a trip to the minors.

The other problem with the team is that they simply are not aggressive enough on the basepaths, in my opinion. Even without a speedster like Jerry Owens at the top of the order, the Sox could execute the hit-and-run much more often than they have been currently—especially with a good contact hitter like Orlando Cabrera on the team, and with AJ Pierzynski swinging the bat the way he has been. Executing the hit-and-run consistently can really be as chaotic as having that said speedster, so I hope to see more of that in the future.

Last, but certainly not least, I'd kind of like to see the Sox take a flier on another veteran arm sometime soon. You can never have enough depth, and with the recent release of Matt Morris, I'd have to admit I'd be interested in signing the guy to a minor league deal if he'd take it.

 
Jake Widlowski: The biggest—and most obvious—hole in the White Sox lineup is their lack of speed. Despite being a very good leadoff man, Nick Swisher should be batting in the second or third spot in the lineup. The Sox need more speed because the long ball will not be the answer all season long. When the home run goes, so do the White Sox. Another horrible hole I see with the Sox is their No. 9 batter Juan Uribe. He can't even bat over .140. Unforgivable.

 
Leo Londono: I think this is where you give Kenny Williams his props—he has put together a good team. Not a great one, but a good one with potential to be real good. They have power hitters, on-base percentage guys, role players, and some very good gloves.

I was one of the nay-sayers that thought this team did not look good on paper, but it hasn't translated that way. I think "Dirty 30" Swisher has been a major part of this new attitude and swagger they are bringing day in and day out. AJ's hot start and the surprise solid pitching from Floyd and Danks also has helped them off to this nice start.

Offensively they aren't hitting everything, but they are hitting when it counts, and that's a good sign to see. A lot of players are trying to go back up the middle with the ball and it has worked out for Thome, AJ, Crede and starting to for Swisher.
 
As for pitching, I can't say enough about the solid start Floyd and Danks have had.  I am a firm believer that these two youngsters are key to what happens with the Crede-Fields situation. I think Fields is expendable with his "potential" and mediocre 3rd base glove. If we can package something to maybe get another solid arm or maybe a true leadoff hitter, I think its puts us in a very good position.

Personally, I enjoy watching teams evolve much like the White Sox usually do. I've never been fond of signing big free agents and stacking the roster. I think KW usually leaves a piece or two left from the puzzle so, if the timing and situation are right, he makes a move that could propel the team into the playoffs and set them up for a run at it.
 
I don't see any real holes at the moment, maybe just to early to tell.

 

Aaron Rusnak: At the moment I don't see any holes that I would want filled with other players. I really like the makeup of this current squad, and there isn't anyone I could pinpoint and say "he needs to be replaced," other than possibly Toby Hall.

 

Dieter Kurtenbach: The whole in this team is a lack of manufactured runs and an apathy towards playing Ozzieball. I think that this team is also weak at the 2B position and with Juan Uribe's tribulations, it should be time to play Alexei Ramirez in the infield everyday.

 
JJ Stankevitz: It's not so much of a gaping hole as a general inability to hit with runners in scoring position, at least as of late. When well over 40% of your runs are coming on home runs like they are in the Sox's case, it's a problem. Yes, this team has been a classic Earl Weaver three-run-homer team for the past few years, but timely hitting is the difference between a 75-win team and a 90-win team.

Also, I've been pretty disappointed with Orlando Cabrera so far. He's not hitting well and his gold-glove defense that was billed so highly in the offseason looks to be a step below what we had with Uribe there from 2004-07. Hopefully, he'll start to play better once the weather gets warmer.

Isaac Sorsa: I would like a new backup catcher. Nothing major, but Toby Hall is a waste of space. Other then that, the starting pitching has been shaky at times, but I think for the most part they get a positive grade. Bullpens are shaky by nature, but I'm confident we have enough arms with resumes that will hold up for the most part over the course of the season.

It is hard to analyze the Sox at the plate because they are scoring a lot of runs, getting on base a lot, but hitting a terrible average. Also whether or not we want to admit it, the Sox have had some games that were very reminiscent of last year against young lefties.

I think the host of our roundtable, JJ, would throw 8 innings of shutout ball with 4 hits. I believe he was a pretty crafty southpaw himself in his heyday.

[Editor's note] This is a little bit of an exaggeration, because Isaac is basing it off fifth and sixth grade performance. Although Evan Turner and I made a hell of a outfielder/pitcher combination on that team back in the day...

Who has been the biggest surprise in your mind so far this year? Feel free to name more than one, because there have definitely been more than a few surprises so far.

 
Thomas Barbee: Gavin Floyd is by far the biggest surprise to me. I knew that
Carlos Quentin had the potential to put up some good numbers, but I honestly did not see Floyd ever putting it together, even for a month. I still say he walks too many guys, but he's been a welcome addition and somewhat reliable fifth starter so far for the Sox.

 

Jake Widlowski: The biggest suprise so far this season has been the starting pitching. I knew they were capable of pitching this well, but I just didn't expect it from them right from the start. I'm also very happy with the play of AJ Pierzynski.


 
Leo Londono: I think Joe Crede is and isn't the surprise. We knew what he could do, but for him to actually come back and do it has been more than pleasant. He has to be in the running for a gold glove this year and if his offensive production keeps up, he could become really expensive for the Sox to keep, but I think he is worth it.  After the spring he had, things didn't look good, but as soon as the season started he came out swinging and has been the go to guy.

The other surprise would be Floyd and Danks. KW and Ozzie had enough faith in these two to leave them in the rotation for good. The verdict is still out on these two, but I think the early signs are great for their confidence and development.

 

Aaron Rusnak: There have been just so many, I'll try to cover them all:

Starting pitching: Danks and Floyd in particular. Those were my two biggest concerns coming into the year, and as of right now they each have proven me wrong, with the average ERA for the two of them at 2.92. Contreras also looks as if he has gotten away from his poor form of last season, and he has looked very good in his last two starts.

Bullpen: I have loved what I have seen here, for the most part. Boone Logan, looks like he has taken a complete 180-degree turn from his form of last year. Although his current numbers don't exactly show it (11 hits, 5 ER in just 9.1 innings of work), he has looked great. Nick Masset, a guy no one really thought would make this team after a somewhat poor spring, ha flourished into the long relief role, and has looked great there. Linebrink has also proven to be a great acquisition.   

Offense: My big surprise here would have to be what we have seen out of AJ.  His DS game thingy has proven to help his contact, and he has struck out only 5 times this year because of it, which puts him on pace to finish the season with only 33.7 strikeouts—just about half of his 66 from last season.

 


Dieter Kurtenbach: John Danks' maturity, Octavio Dotel's crappiness, Jose Contreras' age-defying performance, Joe Crede's time machine returning him to late 2005 all of 2006, but most of all, Carlos Quentin. The ultimate Ozzie player and a true southsider, Carlos should have a spot in the starting lineup until his batting average is below .250. I love Carlos Quentin!

 
JJ Stankevitz: Three words. The. Carlos. Quentin. Honorable mentions go to John Danks, Gavin Floyd, Jose Contreras, and Joe Crede, but Quentin has been absolutely amazing this year for the Sox. Remember those questions we had about the outfield going into the season? Quentin's play has made me forget they even existed.

Isaac Sorsa: I knew Carlos Quentin was good, but I didn't know he would be this good this quick. He has grabbed that left field spot by the neck from day three and hasn't let go. He is an excellent baseball player, Kenny got Arizona back for Chris Young here big time.

 

BONUS QUESTION! Assess the Bears' draft.

 
Thomas Barbee: I don't think the Bears have ever had a draft that I've particularly liked, to be brutally honest—and this year is no exception. Sure, I like them taking Chris Williams (although as an Illini alum, I wanted to see them take Rashard Mendenhall), but I don't understand the choice of Matt Forte at all, much less how the Bears managed to avoid drafting a QB in the later rounds (Josh Johnson or Erik Ainge anyone?). If there's one thing to be particularly optimistic about, I did like the choices of WR in Earl Bennett and Marcus Monk, even if they did miss out on Mario Manningham. Time will tell if these guys pan out, but I'm betting that for the most part, each of the players will end up being good, but not great.

 

Jake Widlowski: Go Bills!

 

Dieter Kurtenbach: I was raised a true southsider, meaning, I don't f*** around with Chicago's northside football team. Joke aside, I was enlightened to the ways of the southside when I was very young and was told I couldn't be a White Sox and a Bears fan. Not wanting to anger this wise old man, I adopted the team of my extended family, the Kansas City Chiefs. My family of course was all Rock Chalk and Chiefs to the core and they remain to this day. This is the environment I spent two months of each of my formative years in, eastern Kansas. It is not a period I am proud of, but it's my family (all kU alums) and I can't get away from that, no matter how I try.

So alas, I declared myself a Chiefs fan at the age of eight years old. I owned an Elvis Grbac jersey and the only time I have been to Solider Field was the first game of the Dick Jauron era 9-12-99, to play the Kansas City Chiefs.

Three rows from the edge of the old stadium I was heckled as if I was a Cubs fan in Pilsen. I had beer poured upon me, I was called names I didn't understand at the age of 11. And when the Chiefs had a possible game winning drive, in cold-ass, typical Chicago weather, and Elvis Grbac threw the ball away on the fourth consecutive down to lose the game, I realized I could never change allegiances. If there is one thing I couldn't handle, it's being a phony, and when the man who poured beer on me at the age of 11 shook my hand and told me to never back down from a fight, I knew that more than two people had seen my allegiance, and if I changed now, my dad, and that guy would call me out and never let me join the fanhood of the Bears. (Did I mention that my dad, who refuses to wear anything Mizzou, left me out to hang at the age of 11 by wearing his bears hat?)

So alas, my Christmas trips to Kansas City always included a trip to Arrowhead and my presents until the age of 16 were solely Chiefs and Jayhawks apparel. I'm just happy that the Kansas City Chiefs don't have a s***ty journalism school which I would refuse to go to, forcing me to tell my entire family that I am now, what they literally refer to me as, a Benedict Arnold. I am lower than Larry Brown or Roy Williams on the list of liked in Paola, Kansas.

So I was excited about the Chiefs' draft and I think that the Bears fans are overreacting the the draft that was. Remember Daniel Manning, second round? Angelo had the cross up and was ready to be crucified, that pick turned out to be great. I'm not trying to say they drafted well, but they might have won the draft. No one knows yet. And frankly, I don't see what the hubbub is about when the Bears don'tdraft a quarterback. Why would you draft a quarterback when you have Kyle Orton, by far the best winner in the league at the helms. And no, I am not joking.

 

JJ Stankevitz: I screamed when we passed on Brian Brohm in the second round. I have nothing against Matt Forte, but come on...Brohm was right there.

Unless Jerry Angelo has some master plan to draft Georgia's Matt Stafford next year, I will keep this as my Facebook profile picture.

Isaac Sorsa: Chris Williams was odd with Otah and Albert on the board, but if I were a Bears fan that isn't what would upset me, you can trust the scouts saw something in Williams they thought would make Chris a better fit.

However, taking Forte in the second round was a stretch with so many good backs available in 3, 4 and 5. Forte was a third round value, and to top it off they take him with Brohm on the board. Brohm is a safe second round choice that could really be the beginning of a turnaround in Chicago football. Matt Forte MIGHT be a good complement to Benson to minimize his carries and bring the Bears a slightly more respectable running game, but the possibility for what Brohm could do is immensely more.