Chisoxfn

QUOTE(jasonxctf @ Dec 12, 2007 -> 10:13 AM) i go to vegas 1-2 times per year. Stayed at a lot of places, including the Westin. It's weird because they allow Dogs in the hotel. Small casino so you'll probably want to play elsewhere. Westin table games don't open until nightime. Go play at Ballys/Paris instead. Watch out for the "ladies of the night" at the bar. Some are tranies too. If you do play at the Westin, sign up for the players card. They do good with comps. downtown is overrated. It takes forever to get there (Especially at nighttime), and isn't that cool. Kind of slummy down there too. Watch your wallet. On the strip, I really enjoy playing at Paris, Ballys and Mirage. Caesars is pretty cool too. Fun non-gambling things to do... * Check out the Caesars Mall, including the new portion with the winding escalator. * Check out Caesars pool, its pretty neat. * See if Pete Rose is signing autographs. He's been there the last 3 times I was in Vegas. (My buddies and I wanted to get him to sign a MLB line sheet but thought that was in poor taste) * If you're there on a Sunday or Saturday, hang out in a Sportsbook and take in a day's worth of Football/Basketball. * Aladdin/Planet Hollywood is pretty cool at night. Quite the party. * If you're into Casino hopping, the Wynn and the Mandalay Bay are worth checking out. * Ride the trams... your feet with thank you later * Buffets are pretty expensive now. The days of the $5 all you can eat are long gone. (And probably the places that offer this, you don't want to eat at anyway) * Bellagio fountain is cool. * Check out the free coupon books on-line or at the casinos. Lots of Free Food deals. (Hot Dogs, Ice Cream, etc) * Hooters Casino can be fun to hang out at. * Palms casino is overrated. They have the Playboy tower/club but I think its $40 just to get in. HAVE A GREAT TIME. I LOVE LAS VEGAS. Everytime I've been to Vegas since turning 21 (4 times now, 3 in the past year) I've seen Pete at the Field of Dreams at Caesars and every time I continue to talk way too loud saying smart ass comments about Pete (from the words of what a loser to, couple sentence rants on why the prick should never belong in the hall). And yes since it is Vegas I'm typically drunk at the time. Oh and Caesars is awesome...awesome. I love the Casino, mall is nice if you are into that thing, and ya Caesars is my place (Wynn is pretty cool too, but I still prefer the Venetian in terms of a cool looking hotel).

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Dec 12, 2007 -> 10:28 AM) On the bright side, there's no way anyone can now argue that the Sox have the WORST farm system in baseball... At this point it's no question. Also, Jason, the Dodgers didn't sign Andruw Jones to play a corner OF spot -- CF is his. My bad, I forgot about that (I think I'm trying to erase the bad taste of the Sox still not having a Cfer). Either way the Dodgers still have Kemp, Ethier, Pierre plus Jones and Kent at 2nd so I have no clue where Roberts would play.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Dec 12, 2007 -> 10:07 AM) Sure. Just have to beat the Cubs or Dodgers offer. Are you sure the Dodgers offered on Roberts? Kent just exercised his option and is slated to play 2nd and they have Pierre in CF. I know the Cubs will be after Roberts but besides that the Sox would be the only other team. If they could get Roberts with Richar and a prospect or two (not named Gio) than I think thats a move you make (ink Rowand and you really do have a pretty damn nice looking lineup). The rotation would be shaky, no doubt, but it has two good front of the rotation guys, a major questionmark in Jose, and a couple young pitchers with some upside (maybe not Andrew Miller upside ,but both have major league stuff).

I'd have to think Bedard and Roberts will be on the way out in the next week as well.

Tejada has to be on the Mitchell report otherwise the Orioles are just getting a bulk of mediocre players (one pitcher is an above average prospect, everything else is at least a bit meh). They have repeatedly turned down better offers from squads like the Angels (I have no idea what the Angels offered this year, but the O's turned down deals that had 3 young players going (all 3 of which were better than any one player that the Astros are giving up). I don't think this move makes the Astros a contender though and I'm guessing in the O's case they are hoping all of these guys contribute and develop at the major league level (and its probably relatively safe to say that all 5 will play with the Astros at some point in the next year, most of which will play for them this year).

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Dec 11, 2007 -> 10:52 PM) Not that I'd expect the players to say as much, but is there anybody in this organization who can just be honest and acknowledge how completely devoid of talent -- not grind, work-ethic or 'edge' -- this franchise is? No one would ever say that. The Pittsburgh Pirates every year start the season with a glimmer of hope. No one is going to go out there and say we suck. These are all talented individuals (ever single person that plays in the majors is) and at some point they can only go out and worry about how they play (and of course play as a team) and hope that it will be enough to get your team to the playoffs and beyond. The reality is the Sox are still a club with a couple good starting pitchers, a few good big bats, and well a lot of question-marks in between. I remember a lot of people questioning the 05 rotation and look what happened there (entering that season Garland was still hated by many, Contreras hadn't proved crap (heck he wasn't that good for the first couple months of the season, El Duque was old and injury prone (albeit he was a reliable 5th) and you had Mark/Freddy who were legit). Their weren't many people going out on a limb predicting the Sox to win the series. You also had question-marks at 3rd (Crede could field, that was it), 2nd (Iguchi got very little love when he left and no one knew if he'd turn into a solid player), SS (Juan Uribe had shown some flashes of talent, but no one knew what they'd get, except good defense), Pods (had up/down years in Mil but had the potential to be a good leadoff hitter), Frank/Everett (come on, these guys were question-marks for the most part). Maybe they should have came out and quit too? Jesus, I swear some of you don't get one thing...these guys have pride and they believe that if they play at there best they can win (and that very well may be the case). The club still has holes to fill, no doubt, but it isn't April 1st now is it?

I'd like to point out that there is some awesome discussion going on over in the Bears site. We've just added a ton of new members and the site is going to be changing names in the coming week to Bearstalk.com. I hate to advertise in here, but hell, I don't think I'll get banned for it www.talkbears.com

Goldy, hope your having a good Bday. And don't be a stranger!!!!

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Dec 10, 2007 -> 08:45 PM) You really do need to learn the Aussie Lingo Ian, although I thought sunnies was a commonly used term around the world, instead of just glasses. Nah, Sunnies are a common used term for a religious group in the middle east Shades, Sunglasses, Glasses are what people in this hemisphere call em

I've seen a couple minutes of that movie on one of the movie channels on a super late night and it is completely f'd up. I don't think I could put myself to watching the whole thing. Someone had to be real jacked up to come up with that movie.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Dec 10, 2007 -> 01:29 PM) I'm not that high on Gio or anything but for me, if we're going to give him up in a deal, we need to be getting pitching back as well. That's the reason I wouldn't do that deal. I'd prefer to give up others, plus I don't see a big bat in the middle of the lineup as a significant need. I'm much more concerned with finding a leadoff hitter. I absolutely do not want to see Orlando Cabrera leading off. A lot of the good things that he does are not really ideal aspects for a leadoff hitter (but they are for a #2 hitter). Giving up ab's and moving runners is something he's as good as anyone at baseball at and when you are leading off that strength isn't valuable. Stat people will tell me I'm full of s***, but I know damn well that Orlando Cabrera's true value is as a #2 hitter (in fact in the right lineup I even see him as a solid #3 hitter). I can however, live with Rowand in the leadoff spot (not that I really want it) and wouldn't be opposed (as much as I like Richar) to the Sox signing Rowand for a lower in the lineup threat and than bundling Richar and prospects for a leadoff hitter who can play 2nd base (a leadoff hitter is by far what I consider the Sox #1 need). After that happens I can't say whether the rotation will be good enough, but the lineup should be very solid and complete with the hope that Jose/Javy/Buehrle pitch good (big if when it comes to Jose) and Gavin/Gio/Danks can keep the club in games (with a strong pen) that the Sox can stay in the thick of things (and than if needed eventually buy another pitcher at the trade deadline or if they aren't in it, spin off some of there vets).

A healthy right knee.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Dec 9, 2007 -> 08:55 PM) No. We don't have enough minor league talent to be "overpaying" for talent right now. We bought low on Quentin, and if all goes well, he might sometime approach the type of numbers Bay has put up. I'd like to wait and see how he looks instead of including him in a deal along with Gio for Bay. Well if the Sox wanted to sell sweeney (something that I don't think is too wise, considering I think Sweeney's value is lower than his prospect status as he is still considered pretty young and still possesses good tools) instead of Quentin I could see the deal making more sense (since quentin is more MLB ready right now). I'd still prefer packaging someone other than Quentin but I'd make that deal in a heartbeat (Lucy isn't a starter for the Sox and never projects to be one, backup-catcher will be his role; Gio has #2-#3 stuff; Quentin or Sweeney have the ability to be good major league outfielders and the Sox get a real good major league outfielder (as long as they are confident that last seasons issues are in the past).

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Dec 9, 2007 -> 03:46 PM) Personally I have no problems trusting Forbes numbers. They exsist because they know how to decipher stuff much more involved than a baseball team. The best indication would be how teams like the Royals are spending considerably more due to the much improved revenue sharing agreement in baseball (which allows for the lower end payroll teams to spend money if they chose to). Than again, I'm still puzzled as to how MLB is letting the Marlins get away with having such a ridiculously low salary (I would think this would prevent them from getting any piece of revenue sharing).

Being your own boss is amazing. I'm the only one at my client site this week so while I'll be working a lot of hours I also have full flexibility in the sense I can work those hours in whatever fashion I want (if i want a 2 hr lunch or to come in super early and in return leave early I can).

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Dec 8, 2007 -> 01:13 PM) Enjoy Illinois basketball as your refuge, as your own program isn't going to give you any joy in football or basketball in the forseeable future. The football program is going to be very good next season and the basketball program is headed in the right direction with a great coach. You are truly ignorant if you think Iowa's football team will stink next year (considering all the guys they have returning, including their head coach. In basketball they don't have anything great right now but they have a very good coach who needs to be able to get his guys in. He already has them playing very good defensively despite a lack of talent and when he gets some more shooters the offense will pick up.

Iowa-ISU on ESPNU. Oh and nice to see Arizona defeating the Illini today

If he was released I'd be all over it. He has a cannon and that would fit in perfect for a good defensive backup catcher (don't know if his game calling has improved but I like the rest of his defensive skill set). Plus, IIRC he was always relatively decent against lefties so I think he would be a good backup to AJP.

QUOTE(shipps @ Dec 8, 2007 -> 09:50 AM) Just noticed this post Rex I mean Jase.Oh how ironic. The funny part is, today I got the same news as Rex. They thought stuff was torn but it turns out I should be good to go in about 2 weeks (once all the swelling subsides. Mine happened the day before Rex's injury though.

We'll see what dumb ass things i Do next Friday at the company Christmas party.

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Dec 7, 2007 -> 11:19 PM) Did they give you any good pain killers at least? No, I haven't taken any pain killers. Surprisingly aside from when the injury occurred I haven't been in any extreme pain. The only odd stuff is the massive swelling (and bruising running down my joint line or something). I guess I'll know for sure what is going on around Monday. Hell the only thing that really hurts is my back from having to sleep with my feet elevated the last couple nights.

f***....got back from the doctors after having severing swelling in my knee the last two days (hurt myself snowboarding) and it turns out I tore something in my knee. They have to wait for the swelling to go down to tell if I'll need surgery. The good news is I seem to be able to put pressure on it and most of my limping is due to the swelling (or so I hope).

QUOTE(Mr. Showtime @ Dec 3, 2007 -> 08:34 PM) A new girlfriend.. I need a new cohost for the show. It isn't quite the girlfriend you wished for, but you could use the show to try and get ladies.

House is awesome.

QUOTE(bighurt4life @ Dec 7, 2007 -> 10:40 AM) he was taken in the AAA portion of the rule 5, i think that means that he has to be on our AAA roster for the season or we offer him back to the astros, i could be wrong though I think that is the case.