Chisoxfn

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 23, 2010 -> 01:00 PM) Let's all band together and hope that we got something better than an elite setup guy with that draft pick. Well he could be an elite closer too. I don't know if he has the ability to be an elite starter, but he definitely has good stuff and I will be curious to see how he progresses.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jul 23, 2010 -> 12:14 PM) We have a couple big Viciedo fans among the voters, myself included. It's really hard to argue Flowers ahead of Viciedo right now. Lets be honest, both are purely offensive prospects, what you get out of them defensively is pure butter. Sure, Flowers plays a more difficult position to fill with a premium bat, but at the same time, Flowers offensive tools are below that of Viciedo in every area but patience. Power wise I think they both have similar upside, however, Viciedo has a far better swing, better bat speed (elite bat speed) and does a superior job hitting the ball to all fields. Viciedo is also younger and his production at the same level was superior to that of Flowers (albeit, it is a smaller sample size). Bottom line, I don't think it is really all that debateable as to who is the better prospect. A better debate, quite frankly, would be between Hudson and Viciedo because I think a case could be made that Viciedo is the better prospect due to his upside, but there are other things to factor into and pitching is still king and Huddy is pretty legit. The more interesting names in our system are the guys new or not playing right now: Trayce Thompson Jared Mitchell David Holmberg Chris Sale etc Some of these guys have pretty elite upside, but also relatively high bust rates (and no, HOlmberg doesn't have elite upside, but the rest of those guys on that list do). Sale could be an elite set-up guy.

Uggh....been stressed lately at work (super busy), plus studying for an exam I have....and low and behold...canker sore....man do I hate those things...uggh.

I have my own theory, that this is Ozzie trying to motivate Bobby and tell him to stop dicking around and start slinging it. I expect Bobbyback in a save situation very quickly and he'll probably end up keeping the job. Quite frankly, that would be a best possible scenario (Ozzie getting through to Bobby and us getting results). The guy has pitches, he just needs to stop f***ing around and get back to the basics of having 1 to 2 really really good pitches. That is my hope at least as a fan of the Sox because they need to get production out of there highly paid reliever who will clearly be long gone at the end of the season.

QUOTE (Springfield SoxFan @ Jul 22, 2010 -> 07:13 AM) Did the Sox pay him $10 million up front or is that the total for the contract, I thought it was a $4 million upfront bonus, but I'm not sure. KW will trade anyone if it helps us win. 10M total, 6M in terms of a 4 year deal with a 4M signing bonus.

Very interesting news. I assume he'd be relegated to DH, but since it is his left labrum, would it be possible for him to still actually play in the field? Also, where did you hear the news?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 22, 2010 -> 07:06 AM) Anyone catch Mike and Mike this morning and yesterday as they spoke with the reps of the players union and owners about the NFL agreement? Pretty hilarious to listen to them justify their sides. Neither care about the fans or the game, they just care about getting more money. I thought it was telling that the owners rep listed off about 5 goals that the commissioner wants to achieve and basically none of them had to do with the fans. Which is really sad. NFL fans are so screwed. The average fan is getting pushed out so that the players and owners can make more money. The more I listened to them, the more I got angry. Players want the owners to spend 200 million on pensions and salaries (cut from the rookie pay scale both sides appear to want). f***ing pensions? What does a millionaire need a pension for? Why not cut ticket prices or concession prices so people can afford to go to more than one game a year? Seriously? The pension is the most important thing in football. We watch these guys kick the living crap out of each other and the pension helps take care of these guys when they are using wheel chairs and having surgery after surgery at early ages . Not to mention that average NFL career is only like 2.6 years or something like that so lets not pretend like every NFL player or even the average NFL player is a gagillionaire.

Bautista isn't a good hitter.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jul 20, 2010 -> 03:56 PM) Every Hawkeye site had him going to Iowa. I know for a fact we led for him a week ago, I don't know what changed. He's pretty much a point forward. Kid is rail thin. Oh I just meant another kid that left Iowa instead of going to Iowa or ISU. I didn't actually expect him. Iowa is in deep s*** right now and it won't change until Fran proves that he can win and make strides. The new training facility should help as well.

Ok to be specific, he recieved a 4M signing bonus and is owed 1.25M this year and 1.25M next year and than receives 2.5M in 2012. After that he will be arb eligible for 3 seasons. So basically we got him cheap for 2 more years after this and than 3 full years of arbitration. And no need to ever check Cotts for Sox info, Kalapse's spreadsheet pinned on PHT is the best resource out there, imo.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 21, 2010 -> 08:50 AM) Is Viciedo really that cheap? Not sure how his contract breaks down, but he was a $10 mil signee He signed a major league deal for 10M over 4 years. I'd say 2.5M a season would be very very cheap.

One thing to remember, if you don't get it, call the dealer and make sure they filed the paperwork. You'd be amazed at what dealers forget. This is especially true if you trade in a vehicle that you still owe money on, you need to follow-up to make sure its been paid off.

Right now I think we might be best served dangling no one other than Viciedo. The Sox have a few young players that will actually be able to help this team in key areas. Beckham is one, Hudson is another. And than we have guys like Mitchell who hopefully will be 1 to 2 years away and due to the injury won't be getting dangled anywhere. Add in a Sale who has the potential to be an elite reliever or potentially a good starter and I like some of the young top level prospects we have. The reason I'd consider moving Viciedo is because he has a lot of flaws, however, offensively, the guy has the ability to be a complete stud. But again, there is the fact that he doesn't draw walks. That said, he has power to all fields and really a nice natural stroke that gives him the ability to hit for a high average with a lot of power if all goes well. Oh and he'll be cheap for a long time.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 21, 2010 -> 07:15 AM) Alexei Ramirez's WAR is now 1st in the AL among all SS. He's also third on the team among position players behind only Konerko and Rios. Alexei Ramirez has a +/- of +21. That is #1 among all SS in MLB and #1 among all position players in MLB. I knew Omar Vizquel was going to have somewhat of an effect on Alexei, but I didn't expect him to have THIS much of an effect. It was good to see how pumped up Alexei and Omar were with the play, with Omar pointing at Alexei and the big grin on Ramirez face. It was very cool to see and I was just in awe. Danks was f***ing fantastic tonight. By about the 2nd inning I had a real good feeling he wasn't going to be giving up much anything. He was pounding the zone with strikes with the majority of his arsenal.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jul 20, 2010 -> 02:04 PM) Uthoff is a 3. Will never play center. Either way, yet another quality recruit that leaves state of Iowa.

He also struck out 2.

I'd love to build a package around Flowers, Danks 2, etc. But I know that won't be even close to enough. Flowers has been the most disappointing prospect for me this year.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 19, 2010 -> 10:34 AM) 2.30 ERA at Safeco, 5.74 ERA on the road. A fastball that doesn't reach 90. A BABIP of .268. K/9 less than 5. Terrible in 3 of his 4 starts since coming back from injury (and surprise, surprise, the only outing he didn't suck in was his outing at Safeco). Fister is no better than a league average pitcher who has been aided by pitching in one of the most pitcher friendly environments in all of baseball. We'll get to see him first hand.

I would have a hard time giving up Huddy in a package for done. I really like Viciedo because I think he has so much raw ability, but depending on the Sox plans I could live with it a bit more because his upside is that of a Dunn (one dimensional player, whose dimension is offense), quite frankly. Never in a million years did I think I'd be excited to get Dunn, but depending on the package I just might. If it means giving up Hudson, Flowers, and Viciedo, well forget about it. I tend to think Huddy is untouchable because we need to have a good young cheap pitcher in our rotation while we pay guys like Floyd/Buehrle/Peavy/etc.

Fun win. Nothing like watching the Sox game while studying.

GBeck with another solid game yesterday.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jul 18, 2010 -> 10:11 PM) I'll admit, I've never been a huge fan of Bobby, but his post game comments were ridiculous today and just because of them, he should take a role as middle reliever for a while. "I didn't have it," closer Bobby Jenks said after failing to retire any of the four batters he faced and ending a streak of 15 save conversions. "My cutter was coming back. My sinker wasn't sinking. The slider was big. I just didn't have my stuff." So f***ing what Bobby? Not every pitcher is gonna have his good stuff everyday. This is just a p**** ass excuse by you and everyone knows that. You f***ing stunk today. And just because your stuff was flat doesn't mean you have to walk the first two batters. If you throw strikes, you will always have a shot. There's just no need for players making lame ass, p**** excuses like this. Bobby, take a seat for a while. Seriously, coming clearly from someone who has never pitched. The guy was honest and you are berating him for it. Take a back sit. Your comments are becoming more and more idiotic by the day.

Look, after he has dominated for the past month, I think it is pretty ignorant for us all to b**** and moan at one bad outing over a pretty good sample size. He did struggle in April, May, but the guy more often than not has been a pretty reliable closer. Overpaid, certainly, gone at the end of the year, probably.

Walmart installs things like air filters, batteries, etc for free. Not sure if the batteries cost more or anything like that.

Thank you Mark, now lets get you a 2nd world series ring at the end of your 10th season!!!