Chisoxfn

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Sep 14, 2007 -> 02:12 PM) I've been told numerous times that I look like Mark Buehrle. I don't see it but who knows. I don't either.

I like that I Bet You show.

QUOTE(Gage Loves Me @ Sep 23, 2007 -> 09:16 PM) Gage, I am expecting my free William Penn next week. Not a problem...is it okay if there are a few tears in it? I am looking forward to finally getting pack to Patysys after my 2 week hiatus.

I still love the idea of Maicier Itzuris. I just don't know how the Sox can get him as I don't know if they have anything the Angels would truly be interested in.

QUOTE(Brian @ Sep 23, 2007 -> 08:45 PM) Do you mean bring Rex back next year and re-sign him? I was thinking today, when he finally got healthy a few years ago and played at the end of the year when we lost to Carolina, he looked so promising. He had confidence and a strong arm and would wing the ball all over. It seems that so much was put into his head that he wasn;t used to like the check downs, don't do too much. You can't teach an old dog new tricks, he was brought up in the fun and gun. Maybe the Bears are trying to turn him into a QB he isn't? I don't know. I'm just frustrated and rambling and now gonna go watch the Family Guy season premiere. No, I mean have another start. By all means I'm not in any way shape or form confident enough in Rex to say he shoudl be back next year. He'll have to prove that in the next couple games (starting with next week because if he doesn't he won't be starting anymore). And I do think a main thing that has gotten to Rex is that a couple of those games, mixed with the media, got him to change who he was (and with that he's lost his confidence and now questions his throws before he makes him). He needs to go back out and have fun on the field and unfortunately I don't know if he'll be able to do it in Chicago. Still, when you watch him in terms of making the throws, he really can make all of them. His main weakness to me (nope, not gonna say picks) is his inablility to be able to move laterally and feel the pass as well as his inability to read defenses before the play and make quick adjustments to them (both audibles or just quickly reading the play and hitting the short quick play to a guy thats open due to a mis-coverage or poor scheme). You see good QB's do that and I rarely if ever see Rex do it. However, I see Rex throw more on the money out passes than about any QB in the league (and I consider an out pass the toughest throw to make in the NFL). Usually he's good over the middle (as long as he can step up) and throws a good deep ball (very accurate, although sometimes he will get pick but thats part of going deep). Hell this season, I can say most of his INT's (I can't even tell you about the last one he threw in tonights game cause I had already given up and was zoning out of the game) this season were not even his fault (Sans the screen pass). Oh and for anyone to b**** at him for throwing out of bounds, your an idiot. He throws out of bounds when there is nothing there and I want him to do that 100% of the time.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Sep 23, 2007 -> 08:33 PM) Listening to Jim Miller on CSN Sports Net, I've really enjoyed his analysis of the Bears game. He's done a great job this season identifying issues on offense. Especially educating the viewers (including myself) who aren't familar with WR routes and may initially blame Grossman for an INT or incompletion. THe more I think about it the more Rex needs to be back. Michaels and Madden brought up a good point and the thing is if you get rid of Rex you are quitting for good on him and going to Griese who is just a stopgap solution (and that my be enough) but this early in the season I Think you still have to see Grossman (I would completely give up on him if it weren't for so many other guys playing so badly around him and a lot of the things Rex has messed up on actually have been due to the other guys and not really him).

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Sep 23, 2007 -> 08:29 PM) Two things... I couldn't agree more with both points... and also I am 100% certain NEITHER will happen anytime soon. This coaching regime has proven one thing over their time... they are f***ing stubborn. As for tonight, I'm all for benching Berrian. This WR corp is a joke and gets zero separation. I don't see how the coaching staff doesn't go two TE (the only two who manage to make a play) the rest of the year. Moose has lost a step, Berrian thinks is 2004 and drops are OK, and Bradley is the 4th WR on a team without any legitimate options. We're not as bad as we played tonight, but we made fools out of ourselves boys. Oh, and having 5 starters on defense (from TC break) out of the game is going to catch up to us... and it did. Rex... give me Greise.. his career 85 QB rating looks a lot better than Rex right now. Berrian's drops hurt but he is by far and away the best WR on this squad. Benching him would be horrid. Moving Moose to the slot position with Bradley getting tons of snaps (especially in passing situations) is necessary. Getting Benson more carries is also key because he's a workhorse type back. Stop splitting time and just give him the ball and keep giving it to him. Either he fails or succeeds but either way the Bears will at least know what they got (and for the record I Think he will succeed).

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 23, 2007 -> 08:21 PM) I just think he loses his confidence so quickly, and then he starts trying to force the ball or makes bad decisions. He got no help from his wide receivers in the first 3 quarters, but he's been miserable this quarter. My biggest beef though is with Benson....you can argue he'll be the rally starter for the opposition in the last 3 games we've lost. This game does go a lot difference if the WR's don't f*** Rex over in the first couple quarters. BB dropping the easy TD and another easy catch in the first half (first drive...about a 20 yard gain that puts the Bears on the Dallas 20 or so). THan you have another easy drop during the 2nd drive of the 3rd quarter (a 15-20 yard pass) and at that point Rex panicked and turned bad (prior to this Rex really wasn't bad, although he did miss a couple throws over the middle of the field). The pick on the Moose ball wasn't his fault and to be honest right now I'm overly harsh just because I'm frustrated as hell and well Rex has done nothing to help himself after this game was over (and that was when he threw that INT to Henry which was returned). I just hope going 1-2 shuts the cocky Bears up and gets them to come back and play football with a f***ing attitude. As far as Benson, he has no history of fumbles and this wasn't a fumble (yes it was on the stat sheet but it WAS NOT A f***ING FUMBLE). Problem is the past couple games they have happened. I want to see Bradley starting out there and Benson getting 30 f***ing carries next week against the Pack (screw Adrian Peterson's horrid blocking self I want Benson Benson and more f***ing Benson).

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Sep 23, 2007 -> 07:54 PM) To Mushin Muhammad, who is old, slow, and isn't good at catching the ball. Its a f***ing joke that we aren't seeing Bradley. He's as explosive as Berrian and is getting zero playing time. He had a good preseason too and whenever healthy Rex and Bradley seemed to have a good chemistry. Now is the time to end Davis as the slot WR, move Mush to slot and let the two speedsters try to make plays on the outside (BB and Bradley).

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 23, 2007 -> 07:53 PM) I just don't see how Griese will be any better. This O-Line isn't great, he has an average Rb, and the wide receivers have been miserable so far. I actually don't think he's been as bad as he was during his "bad" games of last year. Its just its magnified because the taem is losing (I put more blame on the WR's and horrid f***ing oline). However, at some point or another Rex deserves blame because he can't audible for s*** and doens't look like the guy that can overcome all the pressure and s*** he has to deal with every week).

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Sep 23, 2007 -> 07:52 PM) How many "Rex is our quarterback" will we hear tonight? Over/Under is 3. 0 I think Griese plays next week.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan99 @ Sep 23, 2007 -> 07:51 PM) So is there anyone out there that still wants to defend Rex and Benson? What has Benson done? He was down on that fumble and did fine with any hole that the line gave him. If I want to blame anyone for this game it is a combination of: HORRID f***ING LINE (run blocking especially as the pass blocking was much improved this week), s***TY WR's (piss poor routes where they stop on the ball...huge drops...Berrian drops 1 touchdown and had another huge drop on the first drive of the game that would have put the Bears into scoring range), and piss poor f***ing tackling (good lord). Oh and could the Bears have adjusted to TO going into the middle of the field every f'ing play. Good grief. They aren't even a playoff team with the way they are playing RIGHT NOW (notice I say right now). They better get there s*** together or we will quickly be comparing the 2007 Bears to the 2007 Sox.

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Sep 23, 2007 -> 07:39 PM) In real time, I thought Benson was down. If you knew what you were looking for, you could see it from about 3 different angles, but it was a mess. They blew the call twice, but the Bears weren't going to win even if they did get it right. Ya, I'm pretty sure he was down too there just wasn't a camera angle in there. Its just you had to time things and keep your eye on various places to see it.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 23, 2007 -> 07:03 PM) He was awful tonight anyways. Seemed slow the entire game, wonder if he was hurt coming into tonight. Are you freaking kidding me...Briggs was his usual stellar self. What half of football were you watching???

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 23, 2007 -> 05:23 PM) Statement game tonight for Bears. They made a statement. The WR"s drop big pass after big pass, oline can't run block, Rex can't have a good game and threw a couple picks, and the defense looked f***ing horrid after Briggs went down (I hope everyone was watching Jamar Williams look incredibly SLOW on the field). It was just a game for Williams...but good lord is he a lot worse than Briggs (who I think is as good as Urlacher but I've always thought Urlacher was a bit over-rated...very good, but not necessarily as good as everyone else says he is). Oh and can I just say...f***ing great job tackling defense...great job. (I hope you all noticed the sarcasm in that).

QUOTE(Gene Honda Civic @ Sep 22, 2007 -> 06:49 PM) 209 minutes into the season, Iowa allows their first touchdown. IT's too bad since the first two games of the season the rushing attack has really fallen off. This defense teamed up with any sort of offense would make the Hawkeyes contenders against almost any team in the country (excluding probably 5 to 7 teams). Too bad the offense is just horrid right now. They do go back down the field with under 40 seconds thanks to a nice kickoff return and get a TD with 4 seconds left to retake the lead entering the half (10-7 Iowa).

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Sep 19, 2007 -> 06:06 AM) Lance Broadway will not be a reliever for the Sox next year. If he doesn't make the team as as starter, he will be in Charlotte. There are too many guys with no options who would be in front of him for the pen, such as Sisco and Floyd. Sisco has options, IIRC.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Sep 22, 2007 -> 01:08 PM) I don't know where to find the splits, but I'm 99% sure that during his minor league career, his tendency has been to struggle early and then adjust. Maybe later I will look for a post on SSS backing me up, as I seem to remember Cheat having a post or three about it. Thats exactly his MO. He would get promoted, struggle initially (first 4-6 weeks) and than pitch fantastical the rest of the way at that level until he earned a promotion to the next level. At that point the whole cycle would repeat itself. Thats why it was so surprising he had his hot start at the major league level and I Think that hot start led the Sox to get more encouraged about him and people began to forget just how young and raw he still was/is. Bottom line he still has a long ways to go (especially with his changeup, cutter/2seamer and curve ball).

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Sep 21, 2007 -> 07:35 PM) The Yanks scored four in the ninth to tie up Toronto -- they're in extras now. That's awesome. --------------- On a separate note, I'm still a little angry that Boston didn't give into that Delcarmen/Pena for Dye deal. Pena has a 125 OPS+ in just over 100 at-bats for Washington and now that he'll be playing every day, he should put up numbers similar to his 2004 season in Cincy (.259/.316/.527). That would have been a perfectly good deal for the Sox. Declarmen has a very good/projectable arm and should be a future set-up guy and I still think Pena could have a few 40HR seasons at the major league level. However, I also like Dye and don't mind having him, especially if he's healthy.

QUOTE(LukeGofannon @ Sep 22, 2007 -> 05:55 AM) FRAA consistently puts Buehrle at like 2-7 FRAA and Garland at 1-2 which means they're both good but Buehrle is better. Rowand was a better canidate than Hunter in 2005, better than Vernon Wells too but he was just slightly above average so I'm sure if I looked I could find that he didn't deserve to win either. For example, Ichiro was better and Podsedniks 2005 defense was by far the best I've seen in the AL that year. The 2005 AL OF Gold Gloves should have been Randy Winn (SEA) 13 FRAA (split between LF and CF) Jaque Jones (MIN) 12 FRAA Scott Podsednik (CHW) 11 FRAA Runner up; Nook Logan (DET) 9 FRAA The fact that Pods would win the award based on that stats shows me that the stat is severely flawed. I think Pods as a hole had a good 2005 season, but defensively he is not even close to being a gold glover, in fact he's one of the worse defensive left fielders in baseball (and was in 2005 as well). He was better defensively in 05 than he was in 06 (where I honestly think he was the worse defensive lf in all of baseball).

QUOTE(Mr. Showtime @ Sep 22, 2007 -> 10:40 AM) It's turning out to be quite the finish to the season. I'd have zero problem with Erstad coming back as a BENCH PLAYER. PLain and simple. Have him sub ocassionally at first, play all of the OF positions in a defensive bind and be a guy you go to if you have a guy go down for a week or so. Maybe plan on getting him in 80-100 games (most being as a defensive replacement...pinch runner and obviously the ocassional spot start when you just want to rest a guy). However, it has to be as a BENCH player and I honestly think he'd accept that role.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Sep 22, 2007 -> 12:10 PM) So basically all the Sox need is a new SS, and a couple of bench guys and its back into contention. Wow. I actually think if you pencilled in a Furcal and added a solid CF like Rowand and had everything else the same this team competes for the series (and that includes the pen consisting of guys like MacDougall/Thornton/Etc). And by this team, I'm talking about next years team. Note: I'm not implying the team can get Furcal and Rowand without losing some of its current major league pieces. However, you are essentially adding a gold glove caliber (and an above average leadoff hitter) at SS, a gold glove caliber CF (and a solid hitter based on his career production...an above average hitter based on this year but I think it would be foolish to expect him to duplicate this season), and a gold glove caliber 3rd baseman (yes I'm risky saying this cause you don't know how Crede will be after his injury, but no matter what that he's pretty solid and superior to Andy Gonzalez). All of these are major upgrades to Juan Uribe, Darin Erstad/Scott Pods/Jerry Owens (insert any other CFer), & the combo of 3rd baseman the Sox have used. You also upgrade in LF where Josh Fields is better than Scott Pods. I am not at all concerned about the rotation and I honestly feel we have most of the pieces of a good pen, its just a matter of the guys producing. Obviously there are some if's in there, but there are going to be "ifs" for every team cause there is no sure thing.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 21, 2007 -> 08:43 PM) I would be fairly surprised if, after this season, the Dodgers don't try to find at least 1 more starting pitcher this offseason. Penny, Lowe, Billingsly, then a bunch of hurt guys. Schmidt, Wolf (is he even under contract), Loaiza, David Wells (not under contract). Even with the guys coming up, they will probably want another starter. And I believe Lowe is a FA at the end of 08, so there will still be an opening in the near future. As is Loaiza. Not sure about Penny. Part of the reason they got Loaiza is that they feel his contract is actually a good value for next year. The Dodgers have already indicated that they aren't going to bring Wolf back (he's not under contract either, although they may have an option for him or something like that). Wells won't be back, Schmidt is a major question-mark but they obviously have money invested in him and that could semi-impede there ability to make any major move. However, factor in Penny/Lowe/Billingsley/Loaiza thats 4 guys they plan on using. I don't think they have a 5th ready in house and I'm guessing they'll probably even consider Schmidt/Loaiza as one pitcher based on the fact that you can't truly rely on them for a full season (they could both have one, but I doubt the Dodgers would be banking on that) so it definitely makes a trade for a starter possible. I just don't know if they will want someone as good as a Garland or if they'll look on the cheaper side (than again, there may not be anyone cheap and at that point you might as well get a good guy). I actually could see the Angels being a more likely destination for one of our pitchers. They are losing Colon's contract off the books and are a team that relies on pitching. Lackey and Escobar are both above average starters with Weaver being a young 3rd. I don't know what they think of Santana anymore and Saunders is solid but they probably only end up relying on one of those guys in there rotation and thus they would have an open spot for a guy like Garland that could slide in as a #3 in there rotation (moving Weaver to the 4 spot) and giving them the option of moving Santana (hell for all I know him or Saunders is part of a Garland or Contreras deal) or Saunders. Still, that is a big stretch. But you know one thing...almost every contending club will look to upgrade pitching and since there isn't any in the FA market they will have to look at the trade market and Kenny has one of the best chips out there Garland and another decent chip (simply based on the market and I really hope he kicks butt the rest of the season because I do think teams will look at that and be willing to give up a good starting pitching prospect for a guy like Contreras and take his contract). No, I'm not saying a Pelfrey type prospect, but a good one (top 5, not top 2 or 3 prospect). This again is based on me feeling that in the end there won't be pitching out there to acquire and thus teams will eventually overpay for it. I also thought this would happen last year, but even last years FA class had some decent arms (this one has ZERO decent arms).

I don't necessarily think Olsen himself makes it better, its more having him on the field creates the defense to spread out and opens up new seams and options for Grossman and as a hole that should help the offense. I do think he has 3 catches and his first NFL TD though.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Sep 22, 2007 -> 04:12 AM) I'm thinking UM pulls the upset as well. I'd be more confident in them with a healthy Henne but I think Michigan will make its way back into the polls.