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QUOTE (Heads22 @ Aug 21, 2011 -> 01:47 AM) You can sell beer at college sporting events. They are considering it at ISU, Iowa and UNI. Yes. It is a team by team/conference by conference thing, but there is no general rule against it. I think the Big 10's policy is no beer sales. That could be wrong, though.

QUOTE (Cerbaho-WG @ Jul 31, 2011 -> 10:06 AM) Seems like a meh haul for the astros. Man, they are going to be some kind of awful for the next fifty games... yeah. And if that's the type of package that was offered for Quentin, I'm glad KW didn't make the trade.

QUOTE (MLB Fan @ Jul 30, 2011 -> 12:48 PM) This is how our lineup is constructed currently when healthy: This week's heap of trash CF Prado LF McCann C Chipper 3B Freeman 1B Uggla 2B Heyward RF Gonzalez SS This team hits tons of HRs, but can't get on base for anything, which is what we need in front of McCann, Freeman, and Uggla. There is no place in the lineup for Quentin. Beachy, Teheran, Vizcaino, and Salcedo are absolute untouchables. Minor and/or Delgado could be traded at the right price. Bourn and Upton are our targets for CF and we also need a cheap RH bat to platoon with Heyward in RF and play LF when Chipper needs a day off (Prado to 3rd). But the Braves aren't healthy. That's a huge part of the impetus for them to make a trade.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jul 29, 2011 -> 08:12 PM) Rios is not going anywhere. Except the bench!

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jul 9, 2011 -> 07:27 PM) Frankly, I don't see all the recent optimism around Flowers. He's hitting .255 with 84 K in 220 AB in AAA. Yeah, he walks and has power, but that contact rate should put him barely above Adam Dunn's territory right now. He has an OPS around .890 in AAA at a position that currently has miserable hitting depth league-wide. What's average production this year in the MLB at that position? .700 OPS? Yes, he still strikes out far too often, and it is a legitimate question just how far his production will far off unless he cuts down on those strikeouts at least a bit (and whether he could even keep up this level of production at AAA). But the good news: he is playing catcher. Being a successful hitting catcher is a pretty low threshold. Not saying they should pencil him in as the future starter. But I am definitely interested to see how he can do going forward, both at the AAA and the major league levels. Also, while strikeouts are a part of Dunn's problems, by far the bigger issue is his lack of power: .164 ISO, infield fly % that has shot up, HR/FB rate that is half his career rate all point toward weak hitting even when he makes contact (as everyone can tell just by watching him). Not trying to start a debate about Dunn, but the point is: Flowers can strike out 35% of the time and still hit a lot better than Dunn this year. Like I said, skepticism is warranted, but so, I think, is optimism (or at least interest) given his solid production this year and the production by catchers in general in the majors.

Konerko, going 1st to 3rd like an All Star.

QUOTE (Palehosefan @ Jun 12, 2011 -> 11:42 PM) You really still are hanging on to hope? Even after the interview with Buddy Bell basically said his swing didn't respond well to the coaching and reverted back to the norm? He's going to be 25 years old in less than two months, I just don't see it. You mean the interview where Buddy Bell said, "Jordan Danks looks better than I've ever seen him"?

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ May 21, 2011 -> 10:22 PM) I think it's less than $4M now that we've played almost 2 months. Not even that. Sox owe him $4M regardless of whether he plays. That should not factor into his playing time (I'm sure it does, but it shouldn't).

QUOTE (J.Reedfan8 @ Sep 2, 2010 -> 12:25 AM) Michael Blanke. Ima predict that kid will be our best catching prospect next season. (no matter what happens to Flowers and I know a couple here love Miguel Gonzalez, as do I. Just a hunch..) Definitely a guy to watch next year, in my opinion. Especially impressed by just 28 strikeouts in 214 at bats.

That bullpen is nowhere near as bad as the Diamondbacks this year. Not even in the same league. The Diamondbacks have had three guys close games this year. Qualls has a 7.58 ERA. Gutierrez has a 5.96 ERA. Heilman has by far the best ERA from pitching well as a setup man for a while, but he has blown as many games as he has saved. The proposed Sox bullpen would lack depth, but Thornton and Putz are far better pitchers than any RP for the Diamondbacks, and Santos probably is as well. Even Linebrink is much better than Qualls, who was the closer for much of the season.

QUOTE (knightni @ Aug 6, 2010 -> 05:56 AM) Pete Incaviglia and Jim Abbott went right from the draft to the majors. Neither spent any time in the minors. Both of those guys (along with Mike Leake) did not make their debut until the next season, though. Ryan Wagner was in the majors about a month after the draft.

We fell to 11th in CBS Sports Power Rankings, while the Twins are up to 7th. The reasoning: mostly because the Twins have a plus-91 run differential on the season while the White Sox run differential is plus-53. Of course, since June 9 (a period of nearly two months) our run differential is plus 90 while the Twins' is plus 36. If you are going to use run differential to justify a power ranking, you should probably take that into account... Their other reason is that Pierre's OBP at the top of the order is a "sinkhole." Over the last 30 days, Juan's OBP has been .367. If this is a power ranking, it should reflect the fact that Pierre is not killing us right now.

QUOTE (beck72 @ Jul 29, 2010 -> 02:07 PM) Would it be meaningless if he went 0 for 22 vs the sox top competitor this year? No. Success [or failure] vs. Minn. pitching is relevant if the sox added a player. I'm not saying it should be THE factor. But success or failure--even limited on a limited basis--should be considered. Esp. if we're just looking at having success this year. A hitter has a comfort factor facing a pitcher they've hit well off of. Things may change year by year. But Scott seems to have a comfort level facing Twins pitchers-whether its because they have mostly RHP or throw a lot of offspeed stuff, who knows. IMO, I'd rather have a guy who has had some success off AL pitching [twins included] than getting a NL guy [i.e. Dunn] who hasn't faced much AL pitching. Yes. It would. 22 at bats is not a statistically relevant sample and cannot be counted on to be representative of how Scott will hit against the Twins. Our expectations of how Scott plays against the Twins should not change if he is 0 for 22 or 9 for 22. There is far too much room for random variation within a sample that small.

QUOTE (beck72 @ Jul 29, 2010 -> 01:29 PM) I could see Guthrie as an option. He's doing OK this year. Yet had sub 4.00 ERA's in his 1st 2 full seasons in the rotation, in '07 and '08. With Guthrie signed for 2011, he may be looked at to replace Freddy next yr. Freddy is likely to get a better offer than the sox somewhere else. He could be a good back of the rotation guy if we didn't have to give up much to get him

QUOTE (beck72 @ Jul 29, 2010 -> 12:27 PM) That Scott has hit well vs. the team the sox are battling for a playoff spot, who they play 9 more games vs, is meaningless? Certainly Scott hitting well vs. Minn. this year isn't the reason you acquire him. But it is a positive factor. I didn't see who he hit the 5 xbh's off of. But it could make a difference Meaningless because the fact that he has hit well in 22 at bats against Minnesota in no way indicates that he will continue to hit well against them.