greg775

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 4, 2010 -> 03:45 AM) The fact that Thornton throws with his left hand and is, in fact, a top left handed reliever in the game (and arguably the best) means that he loses value when he only throws in the 9th. By keeping him in a situational role like this, he can be used anytime between the 6th and the 9th, and he can be used in the 9th if the situation calls for it. Putz doesn't have that platoon advantage - not that he's not better against righties than lefties (I'm sure he is) - simply because right handed pitchers aren't nearly as in demand. Putz closing would be a good thing for this organization. The Putz that ran out of gas last season closing would not be a good thing for this organization. That home run he gave up in that one game might be the hardest hit ball I've ever seen. I forget the particulars. It was on the road. I realize the lefty thing with Thornton, but before he hit that bump in the road late as well, he was nasty. I'd prefer a nasty closer like Thornton. We have needed a reliable one or two inning setup man for a long long time. Putz could be the man.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 10:18 PM) Putz is on his way, and yes I think he will get a chance to close. I don't know why Putz would close over Thornton. Putz to me would be a perfect setup man

That's the only part of your post that made me say, "You are correct, sir." I doubt we can keep Paulie for that reason. Dunn strikes out a ton but hey, he hits a lot of home runs and is worth a shot. Ticket prices are gonna be high no matter if we have Dunn or not. So might as well have Dunn. If for some reason Paulie signed, ON PAPER we have a pretty good offense. Dunn, Paulie, CQ, Rios, Lexi and Beckham are a darn good sixpack to go with AJ, Morel and weak Juan. If Viciedo wins the job, that's a pretty solid seven (I'm high on Viciedo despite his bad D). Paulie not signing with us still leaves a lineup hole, though. I guess Lee would be OK in theory.

Common sense just dictates that that annoying person Palin would not be the nominee. With campaigns lasting a couple years she is gonna eventually make people hit the mute button and the Republicans would be stuck with a landslide defeat.

Then let me say no way in hell are Republicans dumb enough that she will be the nominee.

With the Jimmy V Classic coming up and the fact I have family members battling cancer made me wonder if you guys agree with conspiracy theorists who believe scientists/experts/medical personnel across the world are not trying to find cures for cancer. Almost every family has lost somebody to cancer. And yet no cure?? Conspiracy theorists would say there's so much money to be made by the medical community that it'd be a distaster financially to cure this horrid piece of s*** disease. Tell me there is no conspiracy and the medical community is really trying to cure cancer. You tell me why with all this money being raised yearly there's no cure in site?????

I don't like Palin. No way in hell our country is dumb enough to elect her president. No way.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 02:37 PM) As a boy in Chicago during a time when the Cubs had so many great players on their team Santo was always my favorite. Even though I was a Sox fan I had a place in my heart for Santo. We shared the same 1st name and a love of 3rd base. Santo handled his diabetes with grace and class raising money and spending time with children's diabetic organizations. He seemed to have a good sense of humor and handled aging and being an amputee very well and inspired many in the same position . Rest in peace Ronnie. Great post. I also played third base and loved the fact there were both Santo and Melton to have as "idols" if that's the right word. I haven't lived in Chicago a while but I wonder why anybody would "hate" Santo. I guess there are reasons but he doesn't seem like a hateable figure. I got goosebumps when I saw this thread. Rest in peace, Mr. Santo. It's a sad day in Chicago I'm sure. This is going to get massive publicity and it should in Chicago. Very sad. He's got to be one of the most recognizable names in Chicago sports. Ron Santo is dead. Hard to believe it.

QUOTE (bobryansson @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 09:31 PM) Already covered, I know, but I have to list it- Wish Bobby well somewhere else, while thanking him greatly for the memories- Check. Dump Linebrink wherever will take him and at least half his salary- Check+ Bring AJ back- Check. Get some LH power- Double-check. Get TCQ a headshrink- (I think I heard.) Check. Try to unload Teahen' salary (Not as crucial as the preceding things.)- Not yet. Get Paulie back (His name is on my game jersey.)- Still hoping. Extend Ramirez' contract- Not yet. Keep Putz- Not yet, but still hoping. Happy already, with potential for more. If Kenny was able to dumb Linebrink, there could be hope of dumping Teahen on the Pirates or somebody if we pay 1.5 mill of his salary as well.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 04:07 PM) At the moment our bench looks to be Vizquel, Teahen, Castro, and Lillibridge, and likely Dayan Viciedo. We' might have to go out and get someone who can spell Alex in CF, because i don't know how comfortable i am with Lillbridge being thrown out there. It's actually an oddly versatile bench, but it' sucess relies on Viciedo taking a step forward and Teahen assuming career norm production. That is a good way of wording it. It is an oddly versatile bench. I hope Dayan makes the team and gets to play. I wish he'd go to winter ball and maybe battle Morel for the job at third. If Paulie comes back, could we afford one sieve in the infield on defense at third? Lexi, Beckham and Paulie are pretty good fielders.

You're getting rid of the fire ozzie sig?? If so, thank you very much and Merry Christmas. I hate that sig.

Not to pile on Linebrink, but he was godawful. Bye bye. Hope you are successful in the NL with the Braves. Can't think of a Sox pitcher who was as bad as Linebrink. Well, yes I can, but he was awful.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 08:17 PM) Thanks Great great sig. I do wish we could get rid of the fire ozzie sig. If you go to that facebook page or whatever it is for fire ozzie there are like 2 posts on there. Geez, a real popular movement. What buzzkill on a great day. Keep Ozzie. Go Sox. Love Dunn/Paulie. The offseason is wonderful when your team makes moves and everybody is 0-0.

QUOTE (Springfield SoxFan @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 04:28 AM) It's still amazing the Sox won with him as the closer in 2005, Bobby get it together and go pitch in the NL West. Not amazing at all. He was great. Do you think he'll be a Cub?

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 01:57 AM) Carlos Pena. Seriously. I think last year was an outlier for him. I would easily go 2 years on Pena before Konerko. I don't understand how anybody would want Pena on our team. Konerko over Lee.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Dec 3, 2010 -> 06:16 AM) The White Sox have money, and Jerry is old... not to make this too macabre but what is Jerry going to do, sit around for another rebuilding? The White Sox have a sweetheart lease deal on their stadium, parking revenue, all the creative revenue teams bring in that is shown in other teams financial documents leaked to Deadspin, and 1/4 ownership of a cable network... not to mention JR's ownership group has an insane amount of equity in that team. I'm not saying the Sox have been "cheap" because they been in the top 10 in payroll, but I also think there's money there and they're pushing the limits at this point, and I'm happy about it. I like this post.

If Paulie truly wants to win, it'd behoove him to stay now. On paper with Paulie and Dunn we have a better lineup and if our pitchers get their heads out of their collective asses, we have a good enough contender on paper.

Do the wife and kids stay in some condo in Chicago during the season?

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 09:28 AM) It's not "letting Paulie walk" like so many others have said. The Sox simply have very little they can do to keep him because it wouldn't be the teams fault if he left. It's not about money, it's proximity to his family. Konerko literally said that the Sox could offer the most money and it may not matter. I wish more fans would realize this... I guess I'm not educated on this enough. What "family" does he want to be by so badly for six to seven months a year? Don't his wife and kids live in Chicago where he's lived a long time? Doesn't he have an offseason home somewhere else? I think if the Sox offered the most money he'd stay. If it's a family thing, more power to him I guess. I still say this is a bad PR move. Buehrle and Paulie are White Sox. If he's bound and determined to go, there's nothing the Sox can do about it, but we sure haven't heard much in terms of them trying to keep him.

QUOTE (Disco72 @ Dec 1, 2010 -> 10:33 PM) Just because some other team is willing to overpay PK does not mean that he was worth that to the Sox. Good for him if he makes BIG BUCKS, but it would be very bad for the Sox. QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 1, 2010 -> 10:40 PM) And what if he doesn't produce anywhere near those BIG BUCKS he receives? Is that devaluing or just making smart baseball decisions? Why would it be very bad? There's no reason to believe he's suddenly going to suck and hit like Pena who many seem to love so much? The guy is a professional hitter who is actually improving his approach. We can afford him if we dump Edwin Jackson on somebody. Just do that, White Sox. Don't need Edwin. And Paulie is VERY VERY POPULAR with our fanbase. Not good business to let paulie walk; just isn't good business.

QUOTE (flavum @ Dec 1, 2010 -> 10:05 PM) If the Sox signed Matsui and Pena and also got AJ back, I could live with this lineup: Pierre, Beckham, Rios, Matsui, Quentin, Pena, Ramirez, Pierzynski, Morel. There's some potential there, and the infield defense is real good. And they can do it without giving up starting pitching. The way you word it, it does sound workable. I'd sub Viciedo for Pena, however.

We're soon going to find out how valuable Paulie is. He's going to make BIG BUCKS the next 3 years. We devalue our own, folks. We just do.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 1, 2010 -> 06:52 PM) Seriously though, you seem to have this weird idea that KW or JR or Rick Hahn or anyone were somehow going into the season being "OK" with these holes. Newsflash - all teams have holes and weak spots. Do you think KW wasn't aware of them? He didn't have $200M to spend, or even $150M. Not sure if you noticed, but the pitching staff - that most of us thought was going to be elite - ended up being no better than OK. That wasn't a gaping hole on display, that was injuries and other unforseen issues that happen every year to every team. Same with Beckham's struggles, AJ's ice cold start, and Jenks' breakdown. The only thing that going into the season was an obvious hole to everyone was DH - and that did indeed turn out to be the disaster that all expected. I'm right with you there - Ozzie was dead wrong, and KW was wrong for listening to Ozzie on it. And yet, despite that obvious hole, the team won 88 games with a much lesser pitching staff result than was anticipated. If the pitching had performed to expecations, this would have been 90-95 win team, among the very few best in baseball. Terms like "debacle" and "abject failure" have not even a remote connection to this team. The 2007 team, yes. 2009, maybe, but still a stretch. 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010 - not even close. I would agree. It is true all teams have holes and some s***ty players/pitchers. 88 wins wasn't bad. It was scary at how well Minnie played in the heat of the summer, though. We needed to get a productive Manny (which he wasn't) a couple weeks earlier than we got him. We also needed a healthy Peavy.

I could live with letting Dayan play first all season. Of course Dayan refused to play winter ball didn't he? That's not good. If Paulie leaves, just give him the job at first, though. I hope he learns to dig like Paulie could dig. I'm just not high on Matsui/Pena.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 30, 2010 -> 07:12 PM) They could bring him back if he'd take a paycut, but it would be silly to offer him arb. His performance has deteriorated as has his health is recent years. I really think this is a guy who could be one of the greats if he had the desire and discipline to do so, but he chooses to be a slob and its going to cost him a ton of money. I'll always like him, but he ain't ever going to get in great shape. He's just a big beefy guy who I'd assume loves his food. I know nothin about his drinking habits, but seems like a guy who likes to put down the beers and his gut shows it. This is one guy that we could let loose. I'd prefer keeing Paulie/AJ though.