Chisoxfn

I'm watching the Clippers game as I try to because Griffin is a beast and wow does Del Negro look old. I wonder if he makes it one season as the head coach. He's horrible. And boy is his hair gray and he looks all wrinkled.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 07:29 PM) Agreed, but I don't even think it is as bad as that stat would suggest. The Pats are the highest scoring team in the league and so a lot of teams will be forced to throw a ton and accumulate a lot of yards and points in garbage time when the game is all but settled. If you look at the first halves of the last several games, the Patriots defense has played very well, limiting the Steelers to 3 points, the Colts to 14 points, and the Jets to 3 points. Now they obviously gave up some first half points to the Lions, but they clamped down in the second half. I think the Pats pass defense is probably more like middle of the road then dead last... I completely agree with you by the way and I think that is one of the may reasons why sometimes you have to take stats with a grain of salt. However, I don't think the Pats have an elite defense. It does have some good young talent though and it is improving and they obviously have a stellar defensive mind in Bellicheck. I also think that is part of why Orton has put up the numbers he has. He's been behind and they have no rushing attack so he's dropping back and constantly passing. Opposing defenses play softer defense in those situations and you can crank up the yardage. Not taking anything away from Kyle cause he's been better than I expected, but just another example of stats sometimes not being an end all be all.

I am taking Wiscy. I think they could be playing for the national title. Yes, they are that good. I have Auburn beating Oregon.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 06:54 PM) Agreed. Bad thing for Lovie is that his career is in Angelo's hands. It will be Jerry's bad player personel moves which will be the death of Lovie in Chicago. Lovie still needs to win two games to secure a playoff spot, but he's done a tremendous job this year and is on the verge of earning another year and with a solid postseason I have no problem if the Bears start kicking the tires around an extension as early as early next season (whenever that might be). Lovie is a great CEO as a head coach and he's now got very good coaches and the players respect him. He's done some things that irritate me, but I'm ok with Lovie Smith.

I don't think the Jets can beat the pats in the playoffs, especially since they'd have to go to Foxboro and win. Maybe the Ravens. I don't think teams that don't have above average passing attacks can beat the Pats though. Pats rush defense is solid, their pass defense is atrocious (32nd in the league).

Boozer is an offensive player

QUOTE (lostfan @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 03:32 PM) Running off Jay Cutler and trading Peyton Hillis for no reason. And forcing out Mike Nolan.

What a douche!

I'm guessing he's getting 3yrs with incentives that can take him into that 18-21 million dollar range.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 02:10 PM) The Angels really don't make themselves better if they put Abreu in the field. Abreu kills them. They'd be best off using some of his cash and trying to desperately trade him to a team who could use a DH/part time fielder. That 2 year deal they gave him was really quite bad.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 02:06 PM) I think that Paulie is going to get a monster offer from some club... thinking he's in our back pocket is a mistake. With the current state of the market place, a 2 or 3 year deal at 13M per year is a relative bargain (and I use the term "relative" for a reason). 2 years with an option even more so. However, if he wants to win it would appear we are one of the better options. If he was willing to play DH, the Angels might be wise to give him a shot given they have a hole in there pocket and it just seems stupid to give Crawford as much as he's asking for.

And you guys think the Sox are going to spend a few mill to keep Frederico? Don't you think we could potentially get more from Sale than Garcia and than have someone in our pen and than also move Sale to the pen later on in the season when Peavy comes back? Or am I off-base. I also don't pretend that Sale can just come in and kick ass as a starter but I like the idea of trying him as a starter. However, I think he's a much safer bet to succeed at a high level out of the pen.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 01:55 PM) Garcia is the 5th until Peavy's healthy. As much as I want Sale to start, I think that ship has sailed for next year. Garcia is a FA correct?

Crawford is getting at least 150 million. Beltre gets at least 70 million. Unbelievable how much of a bargain the Dunn deal looks like and I have a hard time calling a contract of Dunn's magnitude a bargain, haha. Hopefully he just comes in and hits and hits and hits Paulie at 13M would be a major bargain too over the short term compared to what these other guys are getting. It makes me think Paulie could potentially get some 5 year 15M per season offer himself from a team like the Dbacks or Orioles. Those extra couple years might make it hard to take a Sox offer of relatively similar money per annum but a few less seasons. I say that because it is highly unlikely that he'll ever re-enter free agency coming off this type of season again.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 01:53 PM) Chris Sale should be our closer, that way you can keep Matt where he's most valuable and go out and look for more help with out needing to have a guy that has closed before. Quite simple imo. If Sale closes, who starts?

QUOTE (quickman @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 01:52 PM) Well i dont know why they would want Dotel. I don't remember who it was on the board yesterday but they said relievers are a dime a dozen. I know thats not true but I will say I would trade viciedo for a decent one. I wouldn't be surprised if the Sox spun Viciedo for some sort of young power arm that they felt could ultimately make it in the rotation or bullpen.

QUOTE (quickman @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 01:43 PM) I remmember being up 5-1 against the indians? in the ninth inning only to win 5-4 and leave the bases loaded. I am done with that stuff. I agree that was horrible. But if our options are Octavio Dotel, I have more confidence in Jenks. Not a knock on Dotel, he's a solid pitcher, but I think Jenks is better. I also fear the notion of a full bullpen by committee because they just don't seem to work (from a historical perspective). I know in theory they make a hell of a lot of sense but it appears that players like knowing what their role is and than adjusting to that role.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 01:43 PM) But he'll get more than that from a team thinking he can still close. I think the Sox would be fools to bring him back as a closer. And if that is the case, I wouldn't sign him. I'd even be ok with a little higher deal as long as the inflatable stats were incentive based. The question is, does Bobby want to stay in Chicago. If he does and wants to stay on a contender, than why not Chicago at a bit of a discount. If he wants to get paid, well, quite frankly I don't see anyone giving him a long term deal to close right now and if a team would, they are probably not that good of a club. So this might be Bobby's best shot at being on a contending team with a shot at closing. I would also be perfectly ok with Jenks/Thorty closing, however, I really have a hard time supporting a closer by committee because I really can't think of many times where that process has worked.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 01:41 PM) What the hell? I read this post and assumed it was chw42. Gage goin' saber? I never ever go saber and I'm not always a big proponent of the high bapip lines because I agree if people hit the ball harder or throw more meatballs that BAPIP will be higher. But I watched plenty of Jenks games and didn't think his "stuff" wasn't their. I think he is fat and out of shape and has a mental hurdle he needs to get over, but I still believe he has above average stuff and I think the stats tend to back that up to an extent. I also remember any meatball he threw getting hit pretty hard. Normally you get away with a decent chunk of your mistakes when you also have pretty solid stuff. I fully expect Jenks, if healthy, to put up at least average numbers as a closer and if that means the Sox pay 2M, than I think that would equate to the club having quite the bargain.

And in no way am I saying he'd be an elite closer, but given our other options I think having him closing (at least some of the time) and giving us an added dimension in the pen is better than the situation without him or Putz. I wouldn't pay him 5 or 6 million per year but he could actually be a pretty effective pitcher. Hell, I've long said if he just went back to throwing 2 pitches instead of dicking around he'd be back to his old self. Jenks just throws way too many different pitches for him to be able to throw em all effectively in a 1 inning appearance.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 01:37 PM) Lots of fastballs down the middle will give you a .370 BABIP alright. His linedrive rate didn't see a significant jump between 08 and 09 although there was a 2 year period where his line drive rate was quite low. His K/9 increased this past season and his ground ball rate increased as well. I'm not disagreeing that Jenks threw some meatballs, but I also believe his numbers were inflated because a higher percentage of his mistakes were taken advantage of than is the "norm". I.e., the luck aspect. And I'm not one to throw out these advanced stats too often, but for 2M a year, I think the Sox would be fools not to bring him back.

I just disagree with the notion that Jenks can't pitch. I agree he's been injury riddled and his lack of working out and being in decent shape has impacted him from being the pitcher he was a few years ago. However, last season Bobby was an incredibly unlucky pitcher as evidenced by the high BAPIP (.368). The few seasons prior to that he's still put up well above average ERA+'s (two years ago and elite level ERA+). In fact, 2010 was a season in which he posted one of his lowest FIP and Xfip of 2.59 and 2.62 of his career. Additionally, he's still striking out > a batter per inning.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 01:01 PM) It's a joke about how Iowa fans tend to think the only reason they lose is because the Iowa game is ALWAYS the biggest game on anyone's schedule. Coming from the Cyclone fan. The only one of those games that is a superbowl to the opposition is the ISU and Minnesota game's and to a lesser extent the Wiscy game. The Wiscy game is a huge game to Iowa fans as well. Minnesota would be a huge game too if they haven't sucked for a long time (still beat Iowa this year). And Northwestern owns Iowa. Nothing more I can say about that, but Iowa has been one of the more successful program in the country and conference over the last 9 or so years. I still believe Iowa is the best 5 loss team in the country but thats about the same as me saying at the end of the season that the Chargers are the best team in the NFL to not make the playoffs. The reality is the little things make a difference and Iowa has f***ing blown balls all season when it comes to doing the little things, like special teams.

Putz will be hard. Sox don't want to go long-term and he can get long-term deal. I think Jenks plus another guy come back, but that other guy might be someone we eventually trade for.

QUOTE (Cali @ Dec 6, 2010 -> 01:08 PM) Putz singing elsewhere, and the Sox signing Jenks on the cheap would be a horrible start for the 2011 'Pen. I disagree. Getting Jenks back at the right price isn't a bad thing. There are far worse things the Sox could do.