SoxFan562004

Great news, he was an untalanted hack who glorified a party lifestyle and was a bully.

QUOTE (The Critic @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 11:06 AM) I agree with this. I only went to Circuit City twice because the store was laid out horribly and the staff treated me like I was bothering them if I had a question. I walked out both times without buying anything, and never went back again. I'm not a huge fan of Best Buy, but they're light years ahead of Circuit City. Good riddance, Circus s***ty. a little thread jack here, but when Galyan's sold to Dick's that's exactly what happened. Galyan's use to be a good store with a great lay out and a good staff, when Dick's took over the lay out sucked, their selection dropped and the staff was like you described, horsing around and when you asked them a question they acted like it was a hassle. It was one of a handful times I can remember going out of my way to talk to a manager to complain

I voted for Javy. I know he had a big contract, but he would of been the 4th starter on the staff going into ST and if you can pencil in a 4th starter to be average or slightly better and pitch 30 starts and 200 innings you have to take that. Don't get me wrong, for the money I think the Colon signing was very good, but at this point (obviously the prospects can tear it up and prove me dead wrong) I'd lean towards Javy

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 10:38 AM) i can't remember ever going to circuit city for anything. Me too. I live close to Yorktown and for years there's been a Circuit City and Best Buy down Butterfield Rd. For as long as they've been open I can only remember going there twice and that was when Best Buy was out of something. I'm actually suprised they stayed around this long, all my friends and family went to Best Buy, Frye's or QED when it was open for DVDs and such, I can't honestly remember anyone going to Circuit City. It's great now since my uncle sells appliances at a privately owned store, it's so great to avoid the B.S. and ripoffs.

for the money this is a good signing, even better if they can bring in a back of the rotation starter so Colon is battling for the 5th spot with all the younger guys

UFC this weekend. It's in Ireland, so you can get the PPV feed at either 2 or 9 CDT. Some interesting fights. Franklin vs. Henderson at 205 really intrigues me. Then there's the Shogun/Coleman matchup. Coleman beat him in PRIDE when Shogun blew his arm out falling to the mat. If it's old shogun, he runs through Coleman, but we'll see what Shogun shows up, Coleman can still be a tough matchup with his wrestling and ground and pound. http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templa...7&zoneid=14 Dennis Kang making his UFC debut, he was a fast rising guy when he was fighting in the PRIDE Bushido events, had a few stumbles recently, but he can be an exciting fighter, I will be interested to see how his UFC career goes. The loses to Misaki, Akiyama and Mousai are nothing to be ashamed of.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Jan 13, 2009 -> 11:50 PM) Derek Lowe is a MUCH better pitcher in Dodger Stadium than he is on the road. His ERA outside of Dodger Stadium last year was 4.42. Over the last 3 years he's 25-15 with an ERA of 2.95 in LA and 17-18 with an ERA of 4.24 on the road. Granted Turner Field isn't a launching pad, but it isn't as forgiving as Dodger Stadium either. I really think that's going to turn out to be an awful deal. http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lowede01.shtml His ERA+, which is ballpark adjusted, over those 4 years bottomed out at 114 with a highwater mark of 131 last year. Not a great pitcher, but still good and like I posted above he pitches 30+ starts and about 200 innings a year. I think they probably overpaid in the years, but with Javy he adds a stabalizing force to the rotation.

QUOTE (bschmaranz @ Jan 13, 2009 -> 01:09 PM) Don't you think a unanimous ballot would really feed a Henderson ego that doesn't need feeding? He's comedy gold anything that could possibly fuel that I'm all for. I think Maddux has a shot at getting 100%, once someone cracks it you will see a few more. A-Rod should be, but he won't get it. As long as Jeter doesn't get 100% i'll be fine, he's already ruined the gold glove for me (it's a flawed award, he was just the one that cemented it for me) I hope he doesn't give the HOF a bitter taste for me. Don't get me wrong, at the end of his career he'll deserve HOF, but not 100% or the dick sucking he is going to get.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Jan 13, 2009 -> 01:12 PM) Ricky already believes Ricky is the greatest. What Ricky do is the greatest. It could be the greatsest HOF speech of all time if someone else doesn't write it for him.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jan 13, 2009 -> 10:47 AM) 15 mill per for Derek Lowe is idiotic. It's a lot, but he's a very good pitcher that has made 30 starts every year since '02 and pitched 200 innings in all but 2 of those, with one of those years being 199.3. He only had one below average year and some very good years in there as well. The thing it gets them is stability. Between him and Javy you have two veteran pitchers that you can pencil in for 30 starts and about 200 innings. With Jurrjens only pitching his 2nd full year at the MLB level, a Japanese starter that will be somewhat of an unknown and a question mark at 5 they have 2 MLB veterans who will go out and take the ball every start. Did they overpay? Probably a little, more in years than $$ IMO, but he was balking at 3 years and I think about 12m from the Mets, so this is what it was going to take to get him. Sometimes a team needs to identify a need and be willing to overpay for it, I think that's what the Braves did with Lowe.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 12, 2009 -> 01:36 PM) No one gets 100%, basically. Some folks apparently think that no one in the modern age should be in. This better hold true and Jeter better not get 100%, if he's the first one to get 100% it will be a huge joke. I would favor Raines over Dawson, but could see Dawson in as well. Maybe Tommy John doens't have the numbers but I would like to see him recognized at the HOF in someway. Maybe a little exhibit about medical advancements. I know people will argue he was just the right person at the right time, but he was a pioneer and would like to see him acknowledged

QUOTE (Brian @ Jan 12, 2009 -> 01:14 PM) Cub fans crying can be heard again. he was rejected by the veterans weeks ago

If I'm an Astros fan I'm pissed

QUOTE (Hatchetman @ Jan 6, 2009 -> 11:17 AM) nobody cares about PED use now. half the league was/is using them. I care

http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/bradlmi01.shtml wow, he's played over 140 games once, back in '04, 126 last year and 101 in '03. Also, the year he played the most his OPS+ was 108. Since '02 (which I used because I'm not sure if his first few years he was up and down from the minors) he has averaged 100 games and 353 ABs a year. But don't forget he has a cute name that Cubs fans can make shirts for

QUOTE (thedoctor @ Jan 5, 2009 -> 06:16 PM) well, since the market has constricted he may not have a choice. back to the topic at hand though. do people think a combination of pedro, contreras, marquez, richards, and poreda could get the sox through a season pitching out of the 4 and 5 slots? I'm very nervous about that with or without Pedro. That's why if there's any smoke to the Floyd/Roberts rumors KW has to have something else for SP'ing. As it stands now I hope he has something, even an average inning eating vetran would help a ton. With Danks/MB/Floyd/?/and the mysterians as the rotation right now, that could seriously tax the pen too. Let's say a good case scenario pans out and the Sox get a serviciable 4th and 5th starter out of the names mentioned above, I just can't see any of those names going consistently deep in games. Not to mention Danks and Floyd are no sure things at this point. I know I got ripped for supporting Javy, but as I've said numerous times, he was a luxury a high payroll team, like the Sox, can afford. He's going to be average at worse and eat through innings. Last year sucked because the rotation set up for him starting some vital games, most other teams would have been hurt if their 4th or 5th starter were starting those games. We'll see, I had similar concerns last year and KW was right, the best part of this is some of us will be right and some of us will be wrong once the season starts

The Cubs have to view this as a 1 year 30 million dollar deal. What I mean is they have to know there's a 99% chance of this blowing up, but in a perfect world he's a great fit for what they need. We all know this isn't a perfect world, so they have to do EVERYTHING they can, let him cut as many corners as he wants, etc. to have him hold it together for this year. If he can hold it together mentally and physically this could be the best FA signing of the offseason, but he can easily crash that bus early on. HUGE risk.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 5, 2009 -> 03:00 PM) 2 years 16 million. Wow, down goes the value for FA's. especially for corner of/DH types, Dunn will be an absoute steal for a team

Excellent move by the Rays. This is a pure add, they're not losing a player via FA or trading for him, excellent move

I voted for the middle

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 5, 2009 -> 11:51 AM) There are a couple of pet peeves I have about how people qualify others for the Hall of Fame. The biggest one is by taking the numbers of a player, and comparing them to a player from another era. Comparing Harold's numbers to a guy who played 100 years ago tells you nothing about how good he was during his own era of play. Baseball really has very distinctive eras, where one group dominaties over another group. Looking at the 60's and 70's pitchers were in charge. Looking at the 90's and 21st century, its the offenses. 384 homers during Harold's era, is not the same as 384 homers when Ron Santo or Johnny Evers was playing. While the same statistic, it doesn't mean the samething. A pitcher with Greg Maddux's 3.16 career era during the 1960's or pre-1930 would have probably been the last man in the rotation, if not in the pen. When I look at Hall of Famers, I look at the very best players within a era. I want to see someone who either defined, or redefined something about the game of baseball. Realistically, what did Harold Baines really stand out from the pack for? Baines is one of my all-time favorites, but I can rattle off a bunch of guys who are more dominate in this era. Harold Baines, while being a very good hitter, for a considerable period of time, it not one of the all-time greats who deserve immortality in Cooperstown. It's not perfect, so may not be the best for HOF, but fun to look at, but OPS+ is ball park and league adjusted meaning it's done by year, so it can show how dominant a player was in his specific year as opposed to comparing it to other years. IE, a guy with a high OPS+ in a dead ball era would have lower raw stats than a guy with a lower OPS+ in the juiced era

If Pedro is reasonable money I would have no problem with it. The Sox are a big payroll team that shed some payroll, they are in the position to roll the dice with someone like Pedro or an Andruw Jones

I wouldn't mind this trade except, as others have posted, I am pretty worried about having two gaping holes in the rotation right now, I just don't see how adding a 3rd does anything

QUOTE (knightni @ Jan 2, 2009 -> 03:08 PM) So far, they repeat the same damn shows over and over. Not impressed. I don't get the extra innings package, so if I get a few more games out of it I'll be fine

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Dec 30, 2008 -> 11:23 PM) This was all about getting rid of Marquis for the Cubs and Viscaino is somewhat serviceable so bully for them. As for the Rockies... where's the motivation? I believe when "on" Marquis is a groundball pitcher, which is what the Rockies want. Obviously no guarantees with him, but not giving up much and if the Cubs are picking up a good portion of $$ worth the risk