Chisoxfn

I will always remember when a couple scouts had compared Ricky Brooks to Mariano Rivera. Ya, that one never happened.

Also, very cool to see Oregon in the rankings for the 2nd straight week and only the 2nd time in their programs history (1st was a week ago). I'm glad our former coach is having a lot of success there.

Fullerton had there biggest comeback of the season today and swept Cal Poly over the weekend. Seems like they are getting better and they should get their top starting pitcher back at one point.

And VDN...see ya.

Best wishes to your mom Ace!

QUOTE (lostfan @ Apr 23, 2010 -> 02:37 PM) I read somewhere that there are more English speakers in China than there are in the United States. Also, they have more honors students than we have kids. Well, I imagine it is close. If 30% of the population spoke some broken english than you'd pretty much be talking about a similar size population that speaks english as the US. The people I've talked to say that English has fallen a bit the past few years out here, but the government is trying to push it more and more.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Apr 23, 2010 -> 03:45 AM) Really?? I was there a few years back and it seemed most could at least speak a very broken english. Especially store vendors and in restaurants I had no problem communicating with people there. If you want s***ty air though go to Beijing, it is much worse. I'm not sure. Some people speak english ok, but on the streets when you are confused it is pretty tough. And in the restaurants I've had a lot of trouble (I've been going to local restaurants a lot so that could be why, but when I have gone to the more western establishments it is much easier).

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 23, 2010 -> 01:16 AM) I live in Hangzhou now and teach English, History and Economics at ZJUT. Have been here since March 2nd, when I finished my university contract teaching in Thailand. West Lake is indeed very beautiful, you should go there and take a boat ride, but when the weather's nice there will be a TON of people and lots of traffic, so allow yourself lots of extra time...you should also try to check out Suzhou or Yellow Mountain if you have the opportunity. Give me a call if you have a working cell phone here. I will be in Shanghai with my co-workers, maybe I can buy you lunch...and commiserate about the Sox. Will be back in Hangzhou Sunday night at 7 or so. BTW, be careful about the KTV's and "pink rooms." Wink, wink. Haha, I just found out that Saturday I'll be going to the expo and I think I'll be in Shanghai on Sunday. Let me know where you'll be and we can meet up. Do you happen to have a blackberry because my phone doesn't work too well for actual calls? If you do, what is your BBM pin or email address? I'm going to Suzhou on Tuesday as the company I work for has a manufacturing plant their that I will be touring. While we are there, we will evidently have a lot of time to sight see as well. I've been told that Suzhou has nice pearls (to buy as a gift for my fiance, my sister and my mom), a cool set of canals which we will be going on, and than a tower to see. Is there anything else I should check out while in Suzhou? Also, any random recommendations for Shanghai. We've gone up to the Pearl Tower and are hoping to go up the World Financial Tower at some point during the next week. We saw the circus here (which was badass), been to the gardens and a few other areas and I think on Sunday will hit up the People's Museum & Museum of Science & Technology (which must be ridiculous since they spent just over 500M on it).

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 23, 2010 -> 12:14 AM) Hangzhou...1 1/2 hours from Shanghai by train, more or less 15925642611 (cell number) I will be in Shanghai for a preview of the upcoming WORLD EXPO all day Sunday. I am not 100% certain yet, but I actually think I'll be at the World Expo on Sunday as well. If we don't get tickets, I think we are going to try and do a day trip to Hangzhou. We hear it is a very beautiful place. What are you in Shanghai for? Do you teach here?

Hey Caufield. Where in China are you?

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 22, 2010 -> 11:03 PM) You're right. And this drives me absolutely crazy. Since 1983, we've made the postseason 5 times. That means in 21 of the last 26 seasons we did not see playoff baseball. That, well, sucks. I laugh when I hear, and again you're right, Sox fans talk about they won't stand for a youth movement or any type of rebuilding. "I WON'T GET ANY TICKETS IF THEY REBUILD!" As if we've had this extended run of success. You know what? Stay the f*** home then. The attendance is second rate anyway. I'd rather go the route of putting more effort into the draft, beefing up the farm, maybe make a shrewd trade or two, and go from there. Beats spending 100+ million only to finish third most years. I take it you didn't become a fan until 2005? Either that or you were too young to see the teams from 95-99. And some of the older chatters can go back way back to when it was even worse than that. The Sox have also made the playoffs 3 times during this decade, which isn't too bad. I realize it isn't Yankees or Red Sox good but given the payroll that isn't all that bad. I'm utterly disappointing that we didn't win more or make the playoffs more but we were in a division that has been relatively competitive, albeit many years lacking a great team. Lets not act as if the team has been a failure recently. And when you talk about youth movements, I don't think you can go back to 1983, because the Sox had a youth movement in the early 90's and again in the late 90's (which was started with the White Flag trade). Will we have another movement, I don't know. I think it is more likely we see more of the aging faces going away, but guys like Danks/Floyd, they can be useful and don't need to be traded away in a hurry. Heck, St. Louis was a pretty bad team with a poor farm system and in about a year and a half they got themselves back on the right track again. Albert Pujols obviously helped significantly and the Cards poor team was impacted by injuries to guys like Carpenter, but it can be done. Lastly, don't forget that it is incredibly difficult to make the playoffs year in and year out in baseball, especially when you don't have the budget of a team like the Red Sox/Dodgers/Angels/Yankees/Cardinals/etc.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Apr 22, 2010 -> 10:41 PM) Chisox, but what do you do at say the half way point if we are out of it with only about 60-70% of the right roster in place? Fans don't want to pay to see a loser. This is the big dilemma. I don't have an answer, but the team is clearly in a really poor position and if it does fail this squad will be in serious trouble because the farm system is not there. The Sox have under-financed there system for a long time and that has made them heavily reliant on finding diamonds in the rough via FA and winning trades. When it comes to bringing up talent to replace or create a spark it really isn't an option for the Sox. I think right now Kenny would rather try to find another bat or add than he would be to subtract because once he starts subtracting the Sox rebuilding period will be rough due to how badly the club has ignored its farm system. A better idea would be to try and manage the payroll and reduce it in the areas you, while hoping to remain competitive, which should keep attendance numbers and allow the Sox to maintain a good size payroll. But if this team loses, they will be forced to make huge cuts to the team payroll and we might find ourselves in the position of the Padres when they finally crapped out (and that is not a good thing).

Don't know if you guys are aware of this, but Justin Jones, one of the Sox high picks that got away, is really kicking ass this year and has an outside shot of being the College Baseball Freshman Pitcher of the year.

They need someone to loosen the mood and let them have fun.

Just an FYI, but while some of us might like seeing young players, the majority of the fans will have zero interest seeing young players, especially if they aren't high upside young players, go through the motions of a 90 to 100 loss season.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 22, 2010 -> 07:01 PM) Players that we should consider trading are: Buehrle, Konerko, Jenks, Linebrink, AJP, Jones, Pierre, Ozzie, Garcia Thornton's the closer for next season, and you're not going to be able to unload Peavy or Rios I don't see the Sox dealing Buehrle, but if they did, it would have to be to the Cardinals. That said, I think the Sox will be loyal to Mark and keep all of there starters around. Hudson will slide into the rotation to replace Frederico.

If this team struggles, I could see May 15th or so being a date Kenny has set to potentially make a move to add to the team. But I only think he does that if the club shows something. If the team is still in a funk on May 1st and showing little life on offense, I have no doubt we see some sort of minor roster change. And no, I don't think we will see the Sox trade their starting pitching, but guys like Jenks/Thornton/Linebrink could all get shipped out. Linebrink being a wildcard because he'll have to kick ass to interest any team (Jenks probably would to). But I do think you'd see some of the Sox offensive players moved. I'm not saying the club would get much. I do not see Kenny going into a full rebuilding mode though because I'd see him willing to hold onto those starters for another try, but the offense has been long over-due for an overhaul.

Taylor Mays is an Oakland Raiders pick. Fantastic athlete, but he's not a great football player and is not a play-maker (albeit he has the skill set to be one).

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 22, 2010 -> 05:52 PM) Can we all agree that Randy Williams needs to be released? There was no reason for Williams to be on the roster to begin with.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 22, 2010 -> 05:48 PM) Let me ask you this, how can you say he hasn't been all that bad this year? This is two absolutely awful starts, a good start (where he got some luck, but that happens), and a pretty bad start in his home opener. I didn't think his opening start was that bad. He blew the game and his command has been awful all season, but he had nice movement, was throwing a good changeup, and just hasn't had a feel for his slider. I didn't see any reason to panic. And no, I don't think we are going to see him regularly walk 6 guys a game. He's a much better pitcher than that but I think he is really rusty from being out of baseball for a relatively significant time.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Apr 22, 2010 -> 05:46 PM) It is just a way to pass the time as the game progresses. Tampa is good and this lineup could not be worse. The tone was set when he blew a two run lead by walking 6 guys. The thread should be as embarassing as the lineup, it is almost there. No, usually when things go bad it means there are more opportunities to have good, intelligent, discussions about what is going on, etc. All I see is non-sense that would make Cub fans look like Newton. I'm giving a notice right here and right now, for all of you people (and you know who you are), that continue to sputter out complete non-sense, take the time to make good posts or you will find yourself sitting out of game threads.

QUOTE (TitoMB @ Apr 22, 2010 -> 05:41 PM) The Sox ruined this game thread, and many others, by being bad. No, comments that add absolutely zero value to the discussion are awful. Statements like he doesn't have 4 starts to figure it out, etc. He's got a Cy Young, was brilliant in 4 starts last year, and hasn't been near as bad this year as some of you guys seem to indicate. So when you take a game thread and spout the same stuff 1000 times that isn't even accurate or have a shred of fact to it, that is what ruins the game thread, because it fills the game thread with unintelligent nonsense.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Apr 22, 2010 -> 05:41 PM) Sorry but there is not much to talk about. And talking about what a piece of s*** this team is ok. Talking about how Peavy is completely worthless, etc. How about some perspective people. I'm dissapointed but get yourselves in control cause these game threads are flat out embarrassing and to be quite frank ignorant.

Seriously, STFU people. You are the same guys that were busy talking about how awful Floyd was last year and what a joke of a pitcher he was too when he started rough. Give it a rest people. You are ruining the game thread.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 22, 2010 -> 04:27 AM) Yeah that's a big difference between India and China. In India I was fortunate in that everyone there (basically) speaks English. In fact, everyone there spoke at least three languages - Hindi, English, and their local dialect. China, I don't know how true that is. Meanwhile, a lot of kids here in the States can barely speak one language, but that's another discussion. Kids are starting to learn english in China, but that is for the people who are pretty educated. Walking around and going to restaurants, etc, it will be very difficult to find anyone that speaks english. Usually you have to go with the old point method and order something with a picture otherwise you have absolutely no idea what you are ordering. Subways are pretty tough too, but they do have machines that translate into english. Beautiful city though, outside of the s***tiest air I've ever seen.