Gene Honda Civic

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Dec 19, 2005 -> 12:22 AM) Wait -- the NFC North isn't clinched yet? What does it go by, after W-L record? Divisional record, right? And, I can't imagine the Vikes having a better divisional record than us... (have the Bears even lost a divisional game yet?) Yeah, but the bears have 2 divisional games left, and the Vikes one. If the Bears lose both and the Vikes win theirs.... It's going to come down to whatever tie-breaker is after that.

Shove it, Bono

QUOTE(Frank the Tank 35 @ Dec 18, 2005 -> 12:50 AM) How many times was Iguchi down in the count in order to let Pods get a read? Take him out of the #2 spot, and I think that would immediately cut his K's to below 100. I think with another year of adjustment to major league pitching he could cut it down even further as well. This argument works both ways. How many times did he get a grooved fastball because of Pods? Plus, there's nothing in his splits that suggest that he struggled making contact because of Pods. With a man on first, he struck out 20 times out of 92 ABs (22%) With runners on, he struck out 52 out of 223 ABs (23%) With runners in scoring position, he struck out 32 out of 131 ABs (24%) Overall, he struck out 114 out of 512 ABs (22%) There's nothing there that I would call statistically significant. In fact, I would say scotty's position has negligable effect. You can argue that runners effected his walk rate, as he was much more patient with the bases empty, but his strikeout rate was relatively unchanged. Walk rate Men on -- 13 walks in 223 ABs (6%) Bases empty -- 34 walks in 288 ABs (12%)

QUOTE(knightni @ Dec 17, 2005 -> 11:30 PM) Kolb isn't a strikeout guy. He's never been anything other than a groundball pitcher. Perhaps most importanly

For 6th starter/swingman my interest is (in order) Lohse, Meche, Ortiz and only because he succeeded in the same role in '04. The relievers don't interest me at all.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Dec 17, 2005 -> 12:36 AM) Pods Wilkerson Dye Kong Thome Iguchi Blalock Pierz Crede Buerhle Garcia Count Vaz Mac? Pods - LF/CF Wilkerson - CF/LF Dye - RF Kong - 1B Thome - DH Iguchi - 2B Blalock - SS? Pierz - C Crede - 3B

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Dec 16, 2005 -> 10:43 PM) Ha, I just got done reading that a little while ago. Gotta love the Pujols choker email at the bottom. I didn't even read Stark's response to that. It didn't require one. If only there was a situation when the Cardinals were one strike away from being eliminated, maybe he would have had a chance to prove himself clutch. Unfortunately, he didn't. We'll just have to live with not knowing.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/stor...yson&id=2261063 Edit: Who spells their name Jayson anyway? He's making me look dumb without my mod powers too.

QUOTE(fathom @ Dec 16, 2005 -> 08:10 PM) According to my source, Guzman makes B.J. Upton look like a Gold Glove infielder. Guzman projects as either a LF, RF, or 1B. I've heard the same, though I'd like to try him at 2B first where his bat would still be a huge asset. -- He'll get to the majors as quickly as his bat can get him there, however, so he'll probably wind up at one of the corners. (See: Daric Barton or in recent White Sox history Carlos Lee)

QUOTE(BHAMBARONS @ Dec 16, 2005 -> 08:22 PM) Yeah thanks for reminding me I totally forgot Furcal, Guzman is 21 next season and put up near SL MVP numbers and something that caught my eye is he homered over all 3 sets of boards to left for his last ab of the game then the next AB he homered over all 3 sets of boards to Right. He actually hit more homeruns (6) at the Met than any of the Barons. I thought Young had 9 or so.

I'd like to add to this... There should be no fear of Scott Boras regarding Crede's contract. Let's review the possibilities here. Joe has a breakout season - Joe will be due a healthy raise at his second year of arbitration. But, with free-agency two years away, he has little leverage in contract negotiations. The Sox can offer him a three (or 4) year deal, buying out a year (or two) of free-agency. If Fields develops, or the Sox are in a budget crunch, they can ship him off because he'll be signed at less than what he'll make on the open market. Joe has another crediocre season, followed by a breakout - This a worst case scenario for the Sox, and it's not a bad scenario. Fields will probably still need until '08 until he's ready to really contribute at the big league level anyway, and it will be at the perfect time when Crede puts himself into a Garland-type situation. The Sox either trade crede, or just offer him arbitration with the knowledge that Schnurstein is their new 3B and they'll be fine just getting a couple of draft picks on Crede's departure. Joe has nothing but crediocre seasons - We are not obligated to do anything but offer him arbitration. The only time Boras would become an issue is in the first scenario, after Crede has completed his contract. That doesn't project to be until '09-'10. And assuming he's producing, he'd be easy to trade with his reasonable contract.

veteran left-handed reliever is code for teh suck

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Dec 16, 2005 -> 11:15 AM) ^^^ Can this be put in giant bold letters atop Soxtalk? So it never has to be explained again. If you put it in BOLD LETTERS it will still be wrong. Crede is entering his first year of arbitration. You go through arbitration three times before becoming a free agent. Let's count this out. 2006 = First year of arb. 2007 = Second year of arb. 2008 = Third year of arb. 2009 = Free Agent

Here's the deal. You can find enough scar tissue and such in any veteran pitchers arm/shoulder to halt a trade due to a failed physical. The thing is, all teams know this. Most of the time, they're just checking out the shoulder/elbow for risk management reasons. In this trade, however, El Duque's healthy is not going to be the deciding factor in whether the deal goes through... The D'Backs don't care about El Duque. They just got El Duque as the free prize in the bottom of the box of Chris Young. They know El Duque's not 100% and is not a good candidate to throw more than 100 innings. That's why they got him. If he was going to throw 200 innings, his contract would be far too expesive from their point of view. In other words. This trade is final.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Dec 15, 2005 -> 07:16 PM) If we got Billingsley and Guzman for him, I'd scream like a girl in excitement. Those two are two of the very best in baseball. Its the one circumstance where I'd deal Garland for prospects (well one of the few). agreed I

QUOTE(NO!!MARY!!! @ Dec 15, 2005 -> 05:07 PM) I don't believe that, either. Turn on the radio... He's discussing it right now.

Here's something interesting.... Dan McNeil just said that he (McNeil) turned down the color commentator positition this week.

QUOTE(GoSox05 @ Dec 15, 2005 -> 03:55 PM) Cotts only gave up 1 homer during the whole year. Thats f***in insane. wow. Hes a god, not "thee" god, but a god. and it was a meaningless one to cubbie Jason Dubois

QUOTE(Greg Hibbard @ Dec 15, 2005 -> 12:22 PM) I swear I posted in this thread, but I don't see it anywhere anyway what I meant to say was...if you could have Garland for 06 only knowing he'd walk but you'd get to at least to the CS (not knowing whether you'd win or lose the CS or series) or two top prospects, which would you rather have? But you can't guarantee a LCS berth. The issue really is do you move Garland now for a need/prospects who are less suspect than draft picks, or hold onto him and pick up a couple draft picks when he leave.... The draft picks are less likely to pay off, and are farther down the line from contributing.

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Dec 15, 2005 -> 11:54 AM) How about Jon Garland to the Cardinals for P Adam Wainwright and an up and coming MR in the Cards organization. well, there are no such things as MR prospects. You're either being groomed to be a starter or a closer, failing and settling into a MR role; or you're left-handed.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Dec 15, 2005 -> 11:33 AM) One bad back for another. We get a bum shoulder in the deal though too... Think of all the medical advertising opportunities.

QUOTE(AnthraxFan93 @ Dec 15, 2005 -> 11:19 AM) OO Hell its here comes Chaveztalk.com again.. f***, let's make it Rolentalk.com Crede+Garland for Rolen and a spec.

QUOTE(needauribe @ Dec 15, 2005 -> 10:57 AM) If Sox games are not blacked out during the regular season, I'm sure they won't be blacked out during Christmas time. If you are in Michigan City, count on being able to watch as I will in South Bend. CSN had to buy the rights from MLB/FOX/ESPN and thus probably had to negotiate the limitted Chicagoland cable audience.

QUOTE(AddisonStSox @ Dec 15, 2005 -> 09:36 AM) Bingo. I was looking around baseball last night for quite some time and Omar Minaya seems like a VERY possible suitor. Finding himself in a Win-Now mode, Minaya might be willing to sacrifice a bit of the farm and some bullpen arms to land a pitcher the calibur of Jon Garland. Milledge would undoubtedly be considered the CF of the future, making Chris Young's departure rather insignificant. I'd be very suprised if the Mets weren't a-calling. I'll say this... The D'Backs obviously liked Young over Milledge. Benson > El Duque + Viz Though I suppose from the D'backs perspective, they prefer Duque and Viz because they're guaranteed about $8M less than Benson and only require a 1 year comittment.