Look for the pitching half of the South Side Satisfaction Survey around 1 p.m. EST today. We already have 150 responses for the hitters' portion, which is awesome, and I'll post the results of those tomorrow.
I'll break it up with a good ol' fashioned Christian Marrero Reading Room, since there is a lot of time-sensitive stuff to get to.
*The postseason begins today. A brief rundown of the ex-Sox involved:
- Yankees: Nick Swisher, Boone Logan
- Twins: Jim Thome
- Rangers: Nobody
- Rays: Nobody
- Reds: Nick Masset, Orlando Cabrera
- Braves: Nobody
- Giants: Juan Uribe, Aaron Rowand
- Phillies: Ross Gload
I'm pulling for Rangers-Giants, as I think the Metroplex can really make a leap as a baseball market with a World Series appearance. We know that isn't the case for Tampa, and the Twins and Yankees don't need any more help.
In an ideal world, Jim Thome bats 1.000/1.000/4.000, but the Twins get swept. The feting of Minnesota is already bad enough, and they haven't won anything under Gardenhire. I'd hate to see how bad it would get after a pennant.
Joe Cowley revisits the Jim Thome decision, and describes him as -- you guessed it -- a choirboy.
*After a lull, J.J. is examining with a vengeance, with 2010 wrap-ups for A.J. Pierzynski, Ramon Castro, Tyler Flowers and Paul Konerko.
*Oral Sox has its final podcast of the season, and taking an immediately strange turn when discussing Brent Morel's face. It also has a couple of cuts from Kenny Karaoke Night at Market, and John Danks' Civil War-style dispatch to Jordan, which are always welcome.
It's season wrap-up season for the mainstream outlets, starting with...
*Cowley, who maintains his weird, persistent, inclination against Gavin Floyd. On the "Who Needs To Go" list:
3. GAVIN FLOYD
The pitcher has seemingly hit the ceiling with the Sox, falling into an all too familiar pattern of poor start, great summer, bad finish. If the Sox can sign Freddy Garcia or Chris Sale emerges, Floyd can help get a bat in a trade.
I wouldn't say Floyd is untradeable, but given the salary situations in the starting rotation, I'd think John Danks and Edwin Jackson would be the first pitchers to hear trade proposals for. Cost certainty and all that.
That Floyd is on that list isn't necessarily objectionable. The problem is Scott Linebrink is two spots lower.
*Chuck Garfien's season wrap-up has this odd quote from Bobby Jenks.
Expect the Sox to either non-tender Jenks, or sign him to a new contract and trade him.
What does Jenks think?
“If I’m here, that’s great. If not, damndest game.”
Between Kenny Williams' strong suggestion of misdeeds and/or misgivings and Jenks' spitting on the clubhouse floor (hat tip to Fustercluck), I hope somebody gets to the bottom of this. It sounds like fun.
*Doug Padilla works through the Sox' backup plan if Paul Konerko goes elsewhere, anchored by the infield defense of Brent Morel, Alexei Ramirez and Gordon Beckham.
A couple of quotes worth noting:
“Look at the infield with Morel, Ramirez and Beckham, and … if you hadto go with Viciedo, who is just a tick behind. He could use work in hisdiscipline, but we all see the type of player he can be and the impacthe can have,” Williams said. “With Tyler Flowers figuring out some ofthe mechanical things and us not knowing about A.J., that’s a defensiveunit out there that has offensive capabilities.”
That further muddles Flowers' defensive abilities. From what I saw, I think he catches pitches a little less fluidly than A.J. Pierzynski, and isn't quite as soft a pitch-blocker, but he moves around the plate better and gets rid of the ball quicker. I think his defensive demise was overstated, tied too closely to his offensive problems.
Meanwhile, Paul Konerko on his future:
"It’s possible, very possible, I could be back. It’s possible I gosomewhere else, who knows? I don’t walk out of here today going ‘God,I’m done with that city.’ I’m totally open to anything but it has to beright on all accounts.
That made me laugh.
*Maury Brown at FanGraphs sorts through the MLB attendance figures, and the White Sox were 20th in growth, with nearly a 4 percent drop (hat tip to winningugly).
Remember the dynamic pricing offer? Well, it wasn't particularly dynamic.
The game I kept an eye on was the last game of the season, because 1) we had a full week to watch it, and 2) it was the kind of game with two non-competitive teams that would supposedly benefit from a price drop.
When I selected the best dynamically priced tickets, I got two in the ninth row of Section 110 for $51 per. Face value, mind you, is $43.
So the night before the game, which most people would figure out if they wanted to get advance tickets for a day game, I once again searched for two of the best available dynamically priced tickets.
You'll never guess what turned up, gang -- Section 110, Row 9, for $51 apiece.
So. Color me underwhelmed.
The Sox are already planning on raising the ticket prices another incremental amount again; now we have the Static Pricing Offer, which is a hidden way to mask further inflation (it won't show up on the seating chart).
Making matters worse, the Sox only had four half-priced Mondays this year, and here's what they drew:
- 21,208 vs. KC, May 3
- 38,092 vs. LAA, July 5
- 38,815 vs. SEA, July 26
- 19,750 vs. BOS, Sept. 27 (the Bears hosted the Packers that night)
When the Sox were playing interesting baseball in warm weather, they nearly sold out the park on the discount ticket nights. The fans are telling the Sox one thing, and the Sox aren't listening.
