Chisoxfn

It was a spot start, Masset wasn't stretched out to give 6 innings and pitched pretty solidly over 4 innings. He definately kept the club in the game and showed some pretty good stuff (as well as some poor command). The defense didn't help him either as he could have given up one less run with just a tad bit of help.

QUOTE (knightni @ Apr 30, 2008 -> 02:10 PM) So, I adjusted it. Baseball, Football, Basketball, Hockey, and Soccer only. rangercal, chwrock, you'll have to change your lists.. sorry. GREATEST SPORTS PLAYERS WHO PLAYED FOR A CHICAGO AREA PRO TEAM Deadline is still May 18 for your lists. PM them to me. Thanks! Depending on how this is wrote up, can you make a version that has the list in a more condensed version that we can throw up on the blog (I think that is a pretty cool blog piece).

Yes....Avery Johnson....new Bulls coach....well I can hope that is what Pax decides on.

Fields at 2B would make a sense.

I like reading newspapers too. Its far easier on your eyes than the screen.

Waiting for mine to arrive in the mail (won't be able to play it till the weekend anyway).

Alright offense, kick some ass and help Masset out and get a win (hopefully you too kick some ass Nick).

QUOTE (WhiteSoxfan1986 @ Apr 28, 2008 -> 07:58 PM) How many days does a player have to be sent down before he can come back up? I believe Broadway should be on the team anyway, so I would have no problem with Masset being sent down, even though he would probably be claimed on waivers. I believe it is 7.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Apr 30, 2008 -> 09:37 AM) Only if you feel that Fields and Broadway will play up to their ceiling which I feel is their highest right now and neither will be anythign more than average players at best. What exactly about this offense leads you to believe that they are not a reincarnation of the last two years. I pointed out in the game thread that 20% of the games played this year the offense did absolutely nothing (in an embarrassing sense) in regard to offensive prodution and they had no chance to not only win the game but barely scored and none of the pitchers were above average. Even if you feel that way you should at least trade them for what there value is and right now you could trade Josh Fields and swap him with another teams top prospect (or at least there is a good chance of being able to do such). Broadway maybe doesn't have as much value. Now I'm not saying you could trade Fields for a top 10 prospect, but you could have him as a centerpiece in a deal that nets you a pretty damn good everyday player that is still young.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Apr 30, 2008 -> 09:22 AM) Franchising changing trade, and for the worse. Ouch. Terrible deal. I'd rather deal Paulie or Thome and let Fields play first. You could get more chips, stay young, and still have a pretty damn good offense (given the emergence of Carlos Quentin). The key of course is that one of the chips you get back is a legit, hopefully young, top of the order hitter (the other chip you get back should still be a top pitching prospect or a top shortstop prospect who can fill in and play when OC leaves this off-season). I'd deal either one of Thome/Paulie if it got the Sox a top of the order hitter who could play 2B plus one high impact prospect (more is obviously better and ideally you get the 2B/Top SS Prospect/One Other Top Prospect (I'd lean to pitching wise just because you can never have too many pitching prospects).

It is stickied because we are promoting our in-network front page. Personally I enjoyed the article and I think IamShack brings up an interesting point regarding Swisher. On the OC front I am absolutely not a fan of having him leadoff. I think OC is a natural fit in the 2 spot of the batting order because he isn't super speedy or high OBP enough to be a leadoff hitter, however he has great bat control and is incredibly smart and that is best utilized in the two spot (I'm telling you guys, OC will be just fine in Chicago...in fact I'll practically guarantee such barring some sort of significant injury). However, Swisher is obviously not a natural a top the order. He has provided us with an above average OBP and that is a major plus and right now the Sox don't have a better option atop the order (they drastically need someone though, imo). The thing is, Swisher has changed his approach at the plate and this is preventing him from using his biggest strength (to go with the high OPB) and that is his above average power numbers. I think he feels he needs to do things different now that he is atop the order and while that helps the Sox at the top of the lineup it actually hurts the Sox because it means they don't get the most out of Swisher (who lower in the order would be a bigger asset to this offense because he could focus on the things he does best....long ab's, hitting for power/extra bases). I really am a proponent of finding a way to tweak this lineup just a bit (whether it is moving one of the older bigger bats in the middle to free up space as well as acquire a leadoff hitter) or it is getting ballsy and making a big trade for a 2nd baseman that can leadoff (as opposed to waiting for Richar/Ramirez to develop cause neither of those guys can legitimately be expected to be leadoff hitters this season).

As far as I'm concerned, Broadway is very legit. And I mean very legit. He's got a shot to be a Radke-esk pitcher who gives you a good number of innings and keeps you in a lot of games (although rarely, will he completely carry you to a win).

I've long felt the Bulls have the athletes to run a high tempo offense. The question is really do we have the natural point guard to do it. I don't know if Hinrich is that guy and I don't know if the Bulls could find that guy in the draft. However, isn't Calderon a free agent. Could it be possible to work something out to get him in and try to run a high tempo offense under D'Antonio. I'd like it. The only guy that probably would'nt fit so much in the system would be Drew Gooden (and obviously Aaron Gray).

Tribune indicated the same.

TCSN: Would A Change at the Top Benefit the White Sox By IamShack

AJ won't walk. That much I can guarantee. He'll single though.

Aj is gonna go with an opposite field slap single.

Did they intentionally walk Paulie?

The Sox have lost a whole heck of a lot of games this season that a good baseball team would have won. Despite all that, they are still shockingly above .500 and that is with a couple key guys in the offense struggling most of the season. Honestly, I don't know if that is a good thing (because these guys have to be better baseball players in the sense of execution) or a bad thing (in the sense that we will just end up seeing more and more of this and continue to blow games). Bottom line there are at least 4-5 games this year where I can safely say the Sox lost the game, not the opposition wining the game and that is really inexcusable to have happen this early in the season (this quite possibly will be the 2nd against the Orioles and I truly believe we did the same thing in the Wang game against the Yanks where the pen completely failed). It stinks because this club could very well have the best record in baseball and you can't just give games away (because those games will bite you in the butt).

What is the current situation here in the 9th? Tie Game, how many outs and whose on for the O's?

Jon Rauch was the laziest piece of crap while in the Sox system. He rubbed the organization the completely wrong way and thought he was better than everyone else. I give him credit for picking the pieces up and turning into a succesful reliever. Hell, there was a point in time where many experts predicted cy young's for him (than he tore his labrum and never fully recovered from that).

QUOTE (KevinM @ Apr 28, 2008 -> 09:49 AM) I'm good with getting suggestions -- but still finding my own topics if they come to me (as long as I run it by you though). Sounds good to me.

QUOTE (KevinM @ Apr 28, 2008 -> 08:41 AM) So are the bloggers all set or is there any way I can still pen a few things? You can definately pen some things. Let me know if you prefer getting messages with ideas or writing suggestions (kind of more structured) or if you prefer to find topics you like an write about them.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Apr 28, 2008 -> 08:30 AM) You mean we won't hear the crap we hear from ESPN? Like Mike Golic saying this morning the bears D is aging? Exactly...I figure who better to come up with opinions on moves/transactions/random opinion pieces than die-hard fans who follow a team on a day to day basis. ESPN/Tribune may have the connections we don't, but there are a lot of die-hards that understand the game as much as they do and happen to follow there franchise a lot more (which means they can get into discussions that a general analyst can't).

QUOTE (rangercal @ Apr 28, 2008 -> 08:55 AM) I like the clean look. I was just commenting on the apperance from Firefox. I think your network has the ability to become a Chicago Version of Real GM. The goal for the front page is to first and foremost provide all of the members with unique content and perspectives that are different than what you see on ESPN or the Tribune (we won't be able to do game recaps like them, but we the fans, have a very good knowledge of the game and an understanding of the franchise and can hit on topics that maybe a general fan isn't as interested in, but a die-hard fan is really interested in). We also hope to eventually expand and have some cool multimedia stuff on the front-page as well as player interviews. I hope the front page will continue to evolve and the other network sites will continue to grow and that in the end, this will become a leading sports network in Chicago (ie, a place where the die-hards go to get news/info/perspective/interaction).