Chisoxfn

I want to point out that its never a good thing when you have to bench a guy making 12M a year for the next few years. It prevents you from moving him and obviously since your benching him you are clearly getting on production. The deal which was once a bargain is quickly turning into a complete albatross. I love Paulie for all that he's done in a Sox uniform, but I honestly could care less what the Sox could get for him as long as they could find a creative way to unload that contract and free up first base.

Man, Richard pitched better than his line would indicate. I'm really impressed with that kid. He's got a shot at being a pretty damn good pitcher, imo. I'm not saying #1 or #2, but legit #3 who will ocassionally shut teams down. I'm still not sure if he has a good enough breaking ball, but everything else he has is something I like. Worse case your talking about a shutdown lefty reliever.

He got totally f'd on his first walk. The 2-2 pitch was a strikeout (how that wasn't a strike is beyond me).

Holy cripes, Clayton Richard has one hell of an arm. I'm excited about what him, Danks, Floyd are going to do for the Sox over the next few years. I realize its just a few starts and I'm on the DVR (so I'm only into the top of the 5th) but he has a few different variations of the fastball and a very deceptive delivery (gets good sink on one of his FB's, plus has a very good looking changeup).

I honestly wouldn't have a problem with a three man platoon between the two spots with Anderson getting starts in CF when Swish is at 1B and Paulie ocassionally playing 1B with Swish on the bench. Realistically they have gotten nothing out of CF/1B on the season. In fact, I bet if you look at the season production at those two positions they are amongst the Sox are amongst the worst, if not the very worst in all of baseball.

QUOTE (RME JICO @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 06:07 PM) This is a nice deal for the Angels, but it is not like their offense was that great to begin with. 19th in the MLB in runs? 23rd in OPS? Not very impressive. Tex will help, but it seems like their record is somewhat misleading. 65-40, yet they only have a +39 run differential. Something has to give. The Angels win low scoring games. Its what happens when you have the best executing offense in baseball (in the sense of stealing bases, moving runners over, manufacturing runs) mixed with a strong bullpen, defense, and rotation. The Angels will play in a lot more 1 run games with most, but they also pull out a lot more of those games because of there ability to beat teams when they shoudln't (by scrapping runs).

QUOTE (almagest @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 01:26 PM) So what about a guy who hits .260 with 35 hrs as opposed to a guy who hits .300 with 10 hrs? I'd have to evaluate the preference on a ball club based on who the other 8 players on the lineup are as well as what else they do well. Ie, what positions do they play? Does the team already have a lot of pop (if so, than I'd probably take the .300 hitter)? Do they play premium defense, steal bases, draw walks, strike out a lot, etc. Say its a .260 hitter who doesn't draw walks, strikes out a ton and is a pure DH compared to a .300 hitter with 20SB speed who plays good D and gets on base at a .360 type clip (with few strikeouts). I'm going to go with player 2. However, it all depends cause there are certain instances where I'd take the .260 hitter (ie, if a team doesn't have many power hitters). Or if that .260 hitter who hits for massive power also hits a s***load of doubles and gets on base 40% of the time.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 03:35 PM) $14M, yeah not a chance. They would also probably have serious talks about extending Vladdy, but given his decline maybe the Angels figure they'll give Tex a fat deal and let Vladdy walk a year from now (as opposed to going long-term with you).

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 02:29 PM) Just checked, and you are correct on the Vlad deal. I'm 99.9% sure Anderson has an option as well, but there is no way the Angels will exercise that thing.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 02:01 PM) Halos are going to have some money to spend. Vlad-KRod-Garret Anderson are all FA's after the year. I think there is an option on Vladdy. Krod and Anderson are gone and they'll look to do whatever they can to move Matthews. So they should have significantly more money to play with this off-season. In addition, Garland probably won't be back as Adenhart will likely slide into the rotation. Tremendous move by Anaheim. Kochman is good but Tex makes the Angels lineup significantly better and I expect the Angels to make a serious effort to resign him.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 12:41 PM) But he's wrong in his analysis. Those stats are monitored for a reason now; they are important. Batting average isn't the most important statistic. We've grown smarter since that line of thought was the popular one. I still am a believer that batting average is a very very important stat. But I fall in the minority on that cause everyone else always talks to me about slugging percentage and I think that shows that a hitter has multiple skill-sets and not just the ability to hit singles. However, I still think to be a good hitter it is a pre-requesite that you must hit for an average. If you don't hit for an average, than you better make up for it in other ways (ie, hitting for a lot of power, playing tremendous defense at a premium position). Just like if two guys hit for a good average, you can look at other things they do well to indicate whose a better player. Obviously you prefer a guy that hits .300 with 35 hr's as opposed to a guy who hits .300 with 10 Hr's.

QUOTE (Felix @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 12:48 PM) lol I don't disagree that Swisher has been very disappointing this year, but statements like that are a complete joke. Technically he's right. You go back 10 years and right now Swisher would be thought of as one of the bigger busts of the off-season (in terms of acquisitions).

Anyone know how this works for big businesses which have corporate accounts with these banks. Say for example you are Microsoft and have 20 million in cash sitting with Indy Mac or National City. Are there accounts insured at higher balances or do these companies now have to face significant write-downs or even at least create allowances against these accounts?

QUOTE (Cali @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 01:29 PM) San Dimas High School Football RULES! Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. I'm literally working right next to the high school too. I f***ing love that movie.

QUOTE (shipps @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 11:28 AM) House makes me wish I was a gay man so I can enjoy that show even more. Don't quite comprehend, but House is easily one of the best shows on tv.

QUOTE (shipps @ Jul 29, 2008 -> 10:59 AM) Somehow I knew that would get a reaction from you.lol Just fire back with how s***ty USA shows like "Monk" are. Arrested Development Seinfeild Friends

I'm out in San Dimas right now for work, which is pretty close to the epi-center in Chino Hills. I was actually making a right hand turn at the time and felt my car just totally swerve. 4 others were in the car and just assumed it was my first time driving, turns out it was the quake. Definitely a weird feeling and I've always wondered what it would be like while driving and I can safely say had I actually been going relatively quick on the right hand turn my car would have definitely swerved out of control. I had no idea it was an earth quake as I honestly thought I had lost the tire on my car (it was the only thing I could use to explain) and when we sit down at the restaurant for lunch first thing the waitress asks us is if we felt the earthquake.

Dick, I'll agree with you to an extent that as whole, I can't even think about consider Nick Swisher's season productive. He's hitting like s***, absolute s*** over the course of the entire season. He does play what I'd consider a premium defensive position (C/SS/CF are the three premium defensive positions) and does an admirable job out in CF (clearly he's not what Juan was defensively). Still, Swishers offensive numbers are better than Uribe's, but thats like saying one midget is taller than another. He's improved as the season has progressed but he's a horrendous clutch hitter (my eyes have told me that, but I assume the stats back it up).

Thats f***ing awesome Alex. I didn't remember u pulling that.

I also want to point out that you can offer arbitration to a player that opts out, unless there is a specific clause in the contract which prevents such (similar to what the Japanese players typically do).

QUOTE (tonyho7476 @ Jul 28, 2008 -> 12:57 PM) Another $50 million? Jesus. That sounds crazy to me for this guy. He'd get it with ease. Pitchers with his stuff don't grow on trees and he has had major league success at times. Hell, I love Burnett and would be ecstatic to have him on the Sox. He'd immediately become the Sox best pitcher ("stuff wise").

QUOTE (Gregory Pratt @ Jul 28, 2008 -> 12:32 PM) Jack Egbert and Brandon Allen have little trade value. There's no one out there coveting them... at least not in the front offices of baseball. If we got Burnett for that package, it'd be a salary dump. But that's just not going to happen. Thats just an un-educated post Pratt. I'm not saying either have A prospect value, but both would have a place in almost any organization in baseball.

QUOTE (shipps @ Jul 28, 2008 -> 12:17 PM) Somewhere out there the Gagemeister suddenly gets an erection. I love Burnett. He's yet to work with what I would consider a top notch pitching coach. He clearly has great pure stuff and at 13M a year I don't consider his contract a total hardship. Plus the Sox have plenty of funds available for next season that it wouldn't even be an issue if he didn't opt out (they would just have to make sure they dealt one of Vaz/Jose/Burnett).

QUOTE (DBAH0 @ Jul 28, 2008 -> 11:45 AM) Apologies if posted somewhere else, but there was a deadline article, saying he thought we would get Burnett for Jack Egbert and Brandon Allen. Thoughts if that actually happened? Would you want A.J to opt out after this season? I wouldn't have any complaints with that deal. I'd be thrilled and I think as highly about Egbert as anyone on this site (and that probably includes Heads, since he's recently bagged on Egbert a bit).

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 28, 2008 -> 10:11 AM) Part of it is, I feel he's not as good as he's billed. He's good when he feels like it, and that's not all the time. But that leads me to the bigger issue. For me (and I realize others feel differently), when a player is just SO much of an asshole, and is SO all about himself, that his behavior takes a significant negative hit on the team... then I wouldn't want any part of them. And before anyone goes to the other extreme here, I am not saying that the team needs to be full of saints. It won't be, and shouldn't be. But there is an important difference between being an asshole who still stands for the team (a la AJP), and an asshole who could clearly give less of a s*** about the team (Manny). Just my view, I don't expect others to agree with it. I just think that he is so far gone into narcissism, that his offensive production is offset by the negative effect on the rest of the team, and the fan base. Honestly NS, I can't see how anyone could consider Manny the player, "not as good as billed". Defensively he has his weaknesses (everyone knows that, although he's actually much better defensively than most give him credit for, although he does make the occasional "lazy" mistake). However, offensively, I don't know if I've ever seen a more complete hitter over such a long period. He crushes inside pitches and drives outside pitches with authority. I rarely, if ever, see Manny have a bad or unproductive at bat as he always seems to have an exact idea of what he's doing at the plate. Aside from Bonds couple year span, I fully believe Manny is the greatest run producer to ever play the game. He's simply phenomenal.