Chisoxfn

Good news. And you never know, us being able to at least come in and talk to him after an offer is done could allow the team to come in and say hey we can't offer that much but he may be willing to stay if they come close to matching (kind of like how the Sox did it with Paulie).

ANd off it goes.

I'm working on it right now. The editing is taking a lot longer than I expected.

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 11:33 PM) Has anyone caught any of the 'Planet Earth' series on the Discovery channel? I'm addicted. Ya, it is an awesome show. The footage looks so amazing in HD, its flat out ridiculous.

I am not a fan of baseball prospectus. In fact, I think it is one of the most over-rated publications out there.

QUOTE(Capn12 @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 10:24 PM) While I agree its way too early to evaluate/critique guys on one appearance, tell me this Jas....how is it acceptable to have Masset and Aardsma come in with no ability to throw strikes, walk 4 guys in 5 IP, and justify either of them as making this team when the walks were the ONLY reason(besides some Ozzie hate, thats another issue) that Logan got optioned to AAA? I can't comment on the situation, but lets be honest, both Masset and Aardsma are more capable of throwing multiple innings than Logan. Logan is a reliever, Massett and Aardsma both have some experience throwing longer outings and to go with that with a young 5th starter my guess is the Sox felt it more valuable to carry a couple more guys that can go longer in case we have some starters struggle to go deep in a game. And I have long said our pen is going to have days where no one will throw strikes, I have no doubt about that.

QUOTE(shaneomacfan @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 05:25 PM) Agreed, this appears to be a very solid hire. I'll be interested to see how the assistants shake out because we obviously need some recruiting help. Does anyone know if this guy has a possible connection to Hamga? I'm cautiously optimistic on this one, but I think we got a good one. I was really excited to hear of this hire (thanks for the text heads). He's has connections in the midwest, is a very good coach, and is up and coming and is moving up to a conference that could help him continue to improve his resume. I'm real excited to have him, but more importantly I want to see Hamga and our real good recruiting class in a year come back and hopefully Lickliter will be able to do that. I'd think having the national coach of the year coming in would help a bit.

QUOTE(fathom @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 06:36 PM) The person that told me that Masset was never going to be a good major league pitcher said he tops out at 96 mph, but he regularly is at 92-93 mph. According to scouts (just told this 5 minutes ago) who were following Gameday, the guns were a few mph high in nearly every game. If it makes people feel better, most pitchers velocity is down to start the season. They go through dead arm periods and are still building up arm strenght. There are certain guys that this obviously doesn't effect. John Lackey was barely hitting 89 tonight....Justin Speir was topping out at 90 (he throws in the mid 90's) and Lackey is usually consistent around 93 and than will ocassionally take a bit off or another MPH or 2. In some of the games I caught the final week of spring training a lot of starters velocities were down as well.

QUOTE(hitlesswonder @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 02:53 PM) Actually, the worst case scenario is that the Sox keep pushing him out to mound. It would probably be better if he just broke down and ended up the DL. I know this will sound like hyperbole, but this was the first time I saw Contreras pitch this year and he looks done. Just like the end of last season, whatever problem he has with leg/back are preventing him from locating, and I've never seen his fastball so hittable. Considering he's upwards of 70 years old, I don't expect much improvement. His contract is going to be an albatross. Cripes, its one freaking start. Yes it was terrible but he looked healthy this spring showing good velocity and movement on his pitches. I slammed Jose more than anyone last year when he was struggling due to injuries (mainly because half of this board and almost all Sox fans kept calling him an ace just because of the way he started the season while they completely ignored how he tanked after being placed on the DL). However, lets make sure we realize one thing, Jose still has the best stuff of anyone on this staff (Vazquez a close 2nd) and we are going to need him to pitch. QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 05:43 PM) Masset was responsible for most of the damage. He, quite frankly, looked almost Boone-esque -- wide eyed and incapable of throwing strikes. Even if the radar gun was slightly off (as several within the thread indicated), Masset hardly looked impressive. Williams better hope either him or Danks fare well this season. If McCarthy pitches better than Danks, it won't be too pretty around here for Williams or his scouting department. They're already on notice in my mind after the seemingly unhealthy fascination with Floyd. Well since we are busy to write these guys off so fast, maybe we should also write off McCarthy who had an absolutely horrendous spring (he looked terrible in the Rangers spring game I watched in person as well). Come on flash, who are we to evaluate players based on there major league debut. I swear, we won't know too much about this squad till the end of May (unless of course we jump off to some amazing or absolutely horrendous start).

I like Altman and Iowa was supposed to be the job he was most willing to leave Creighton for. Too bad Barta is busy dicking around. I'm kind of puzzled as to where Iowa is going with this whole thing. And after reading Iowa message boards, I'm convinced we have some of the most delusional fans in the world.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Apr 2, 2007 -> 01:49 PM) Comcast sent out $50 vouchers for MLB.tv today. Just got mine in the mail. You got hosed. Cox is giving out 90 bucks. So is it official, no more Xtra Innings on cable? Or is there still breathing room?

Yes...baseball begins

QUOTE(Queen Prawn @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 10:34 AM) I'll be in Texas helping with inventory so I won't know anything until I get back to my hotel room unless my coworker who is also a Sox fanatic lets me know. Looks like we are both doing inventories during the game. Mine is local and I'll watch the game on mlb.tv whenever I get home (but I'm going to the Angel game that night so this will be the first opening day game in forever that I didn't get to watch live).

Can I just say f***. I had a chance to win not only the Soxtalk pool but my money pool had UCLA won out. And that would have been a nice 1000 bucks.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Mar 31, 2007 -> 08:18 PM) At this point, there appears to be no frontrunner. At this point the Iowa message boards are ridiculous. People are acting like we are the premiere job opening in the country. However, I think we could get either Lowery and I would be stunned if we didn't get Altman (who is my realistic guy that I want hired). Altman has made the tourney something like 6 out of the last 8 years, has had success in the midwest and as such should be able to recruit and utilize his contacts in the midwest and he's a pretty darn good coach. Lowery is a guy I'd really like but I think he'll go to Michigan because they would probably offer a bit more money. I also heard that Lowery was gonna get more like 500-550 from Southern Ill and that they couldn't go higher (and no I don't know anything other than I read and heard on ESPN about how much SIU can offer). I'd think Iowa could go into the 800-900K range, Michigan could go right around a mill (now I don't know if they'll do that) and to me thats too much money over a 4 or 5 year contract to turn down if your Lowery (especially to move into a conference that has a much larger margin for error; lets be honest, as good as the valley is, and its good, you still typically have only 2 or 3 teams make it which means you have to be damn near perfect to get in, where in the big ten even in a bad year you get typically six, sometimes more, which means you have a better chance of making the tourney and making noise). Lets be honest, we are talking about getting paid as much as an extra 2 million dollars over 5 years (that would be small if we are talking some 100 mill contract, but we are talking about a contract that would be either 2.5 million over 5 years or 5 million or so over 5 years (give or take a few hundred K). Thats a big freaking difference.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Mar 30, 2007 -> 07:07 PM) Heh, the U of I hospitals might have had an impact. The scuttlebutt is he wants to bring BJ Armstrong onto the staff. Oh yes. So is this official? Or is Iowa still looking?

Holdman doesn't deserve to mentioned in the same sentence as Briggs or Colvin. Briggs is superior than Colvin and both were not just a product of playing next to Urlacher. Briggs is one of the 10 best linebackers in the league (no doubt about it).

Glad Buehrle is doing good because I just sent in my answers to an article I'm going to be a part of at Chicago Sports Review and one of the questions I answer says how Buehrle wins somewhere between 18-20 games. Oh, I'm also predicting Pods release by the ASB.

QUOTE(CYGarland @ Mar 30, 2007 -> 05:26 PM) I got the same thing. That is pretty sweet, although id much rather watch the games on TV....I do think Direct TV will have exclusive rights to the MLB package though, which sucks. I was actually optimistic about the cable company (at least Cox) coming through after getting that letter. A, I think it was wise because they probably have people pissed at MLB and not Cox and B, it showed they are negotiating and I think MLB should be happy that Cox is going to be paying them an assload in mlb.tv fees for all these customers (showing they really want to continue to carry the package). I'm real hopeful we'll get extra innings on tv and the best part is when that happens I'll have mlb.tv as well (for free). And I will be so freaking excited if I find out I get to just watch the games on tv (way better than streaming stuff). QUOTE(fathom @ Mar 30, 2007 -> 05:27 PM) I can't take off work on Monday. Too much vacation time having to be used for the wedding/honeymoon. If all goes well I'll only have to work half of the day on Monday to make up for all the extra time I've been putting in as of late. God I can't wait till some baseball happens.

QUOTE(danman31 @ Mar 30, 2007 -> 05:15 PM) McRoberts did not have a good season. He had a few good games, but plays like a dumbass. Don't give me this 'he has a high basketball IQ' crap. If you watched him play on a regular basis you wouldn't make that statement. In fact if you ask me its just the opposite. McRoberts actually has a lot of talent, upside and obviously potential but the problem is he plays stupid on the court and appears to be real lazy.

SPeaking of MLB.tv my cable company (Cox) is paying for my subscription (the basic one, so I'm only paying like 20 bucks extra to get mlb.tv premium). What a sweet deal. Got the letter in the mail from them yesterday. They also said they are still in negotiations and that as a past subscriber they don't want me to miss any action so they are providing me with mlb.tv for free (WHOOO).

I love Majerus but I hope he actually plans on sticking around, unlike the USC job.

QUOTE(danman31 @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 07:48 PM) Unless things have changed Russell is viewed as a reliever. I was slightly surprised to see him in AA again. With a good spring and a possible move to the pen you'd think they could push him to Charlotte after 10 starts in Bham last year. I think that was the perception but I think this spring changed everything. He worked with Contreras, started throwing from various arm angles and was able to keep his plus velocity and add a lot more movement to his heater. Overall I think of all players, no one's stock rose more than Russel's. A close second would obviously be Danks (but his stock was already high, he just surprised people by earning the job a bit sooner) as well as Robert Valido (who looked very good yet again this spring, at least in the games I saw). I would be surprised if Honel is in the rotation. I'd imagine the pen is a more likely spot for him now.

QUOTE(ScottyDo @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 10:56 PM) I would say that's a fairly good analysis of what spring training is and how much the numbers mean. Our key hitters had good springs so offensively I'm not worried about much. I'm actually not that worried about most of our pitchers either, with the notable exception of Buehrle. He's shown next to no improvement, he's still keeping the ball up and over the middle of the plate every 4th pitch or so. You can do that if you're the Randy Johnson of old, but when your fastball barely tops off at 90, you're gonna get spanked every time. Keep it DOOOOWN Buehrle! I'm actually most concerned with Jose Contreras because I think he's the guy that is our ace and if he's healthy he'll be that but I don't know if he'll ever be healthy again (100% healthy). But I guess we will see. It sounds like his stuff has been there all spring, but he seemed to lose his command a bit due to his nagging injuries last season. As far as Mark goes, his velocity is back up and he's in very good shape. He's earned the benefit of the doubt to me and I think he'll have an excellent year. All in all I may be crazy and I'll be the first to admit I don't put much anything into spring training (except for the performances of young players and health) but I'm really not that concerned. I'm most concerned with the team staying healthy and some of our young pitchers in the pen living up to there potential (because I'm pretty sure we'll have some injuries in the pen and some of those high talented arms will end up flaming out or not panning out).

QUOTE(WCSox @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 10:02 AM) I don't expect Bonderman and Robertson to have career years this season, either. Detroit will be a good team this year, but they're not going to win the AL again. Bonderman is a flat out good pitcher. He has front of the rotation stuff and has done nothing but get better each and every season at the major league level. He's still very young, has progressively thrown more innings, and barring serious injury (and he doesn't have a history of them) he should continue to get better and develop into one of the better pitchers in all of baseball. Robertson on the other hand has absolutely no talent and I have no idea how he did as good as he did last season. Rogers is in a similar mold and I would expect a serious regression from Verlander due to him being overworked last year compared to the amount of work he had in prior seasons (he didn't get a nice steady innings increase like young pitchers should and it will likely result in some arm troubles). However, if Verlander stays healthy there is no reason why he won't duplicate last years numbers. They also have Andrew Millers dynamite arm, although I still think Miller is far too raw to succeed as a major league pitcher right now (he'll need more time). QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 29, 2007 -> 11:25 AM) Again, how was last season a career year for Bonderman? It was his best season as a pro mainly because he's 23 but that's certainly not the best season he'll ever have in the bigs unless something goes seriously wrong. A 'career year' implies it was a fluke season (ex. Loaiza, '03) and he will never again reach the level of success he realized in 2006. Bonderman, frankly, scares the hell out of me as a Sox fan. 24 years old this season with just nasty stuff and no real history of arm ailments. I was thrilled when the Tigers were talking about dealing him for a bat. Too bad they didn't go through with that. I also dont' mind Maroth, he's a decent pitcher and Ledezma is a good arm if he's healthy. Ledezma struggled a lot early in his career with the Tigers (than again so did Maroth and Bondy when they first came up) but he has some darn good stuff from a lefty and can strike out pretty much anyone. He's the type of guy that if I were a GM I'd be all over picking up and trying to use him as a starter, otherwise I think he has a career as a stud left handed set-up man.