Chisoxfn

f*** u all, I own the site and am republican...I'm closing this place down. Screw freedom of speach....go burn your flags elsewhere Seriously, I don't come in here too much and I rarely get into the politics of anything anymore, but there will always be a back and forth when it comes to two people with complete opposite view points on politics and sometimes names will get called, people will kick and scream and that is why we have the awesome mods we have that run this forum. The reality is, it will happen, but the fact that by and large during this forums tenure we've been able to have provactive and intelligent discusison regarding politics is just flat out impressive and people shouldn't forget that!! Clearly as we approach November this forum is going to turn up in volume, people will be more fired up, and we will probably see lines drawn in the sand, but we ask that everyone looks pasts the posters and sticks with the issues at hand.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 05:38 AM) They pulled Wise from the leadoff spot after a couple of days and some resounding boos though. You can't compare Kotsay and Wise. Kotsay is a much more valuable player. He still shouldn't be batting 5th, but that is a whole other debate. Kotsay is a legitimate major league bench player when healthy at this point in the career (he is even a solid platoon option as a starter when healthy). The guy knows how to play the game, can handle a bat, uses all fields. He's a very solid role player.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 02:56 PM) The Astros problem has seemed pretty obvious to me, it's all about ownership. Their front office/owner feels like they have a team that can win now and is only a player or two away, and insists on spending and trading according to that plan. And Ed Wade did a horrendous job too.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 01:48 PM) Actually, I'd guess it's the lack of things like luxury boxes and the limited number of seats (especially at Fenway) that pushes ticket prices up there. I'd take it one step farther. It is a supply/demand curve and quite frankly there is and always will be high high demand for the Cubs & Red Sox and because of it they can charge what they want and always raise prices. It is why I have never understood why the Sox charge as much for ticket prices as they do. They are a very expensive team to go see and I really would like to see what would happen to attendance and overall revenue if the team actually dropped ticket prices by a decent chunk (again, I have no idea whether it would have much of an impact or not). All I know is that the Angels are a pretty good value, even though they've been raising ticket prices for a while.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 02:46 PM) I wonder whether the government would actually be willing to enforce that as well. Does the government not also gain some benefit by having Korean players earn fame playing in the world's best baseball league, even if it is overseas? And anyway...if they offered a single deferment for a guy playing in MLB...it's not like there's a lot of MLB players in the world where they'd have to worry about this becoming a major way to get out of military service. As of now everything I've read on the subject indicated that the government said they would enforce the policy unless they won the gold in the WBC. That probably won't happen, but I think Choo would have a good point about how his success would promote Korea far more than him leaving the majors and serving in the military. That said if the Korea government handed out exceptions to a major leaguer, than if I were an actor I'd make the same case and all of a sudden they'd have all kinds of people asking for exceptions to the rule.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 01:48 PM) Remember when the Astros were one of the most stacked/exciting teams in baseball to watch during the late 90's, early 2000's? The product they've put on the field for the last three years or so is embarrassing. I was actually at yesterday's Astros game and was talking to the guy who gave me the ticket (season ticket holder) and I was chatting with him about how far they've fallen. He barely recognized the players and I was talking with him about the sad fact that most of the kids that they have up aren't even good prospects. They really are a pathetic team. I also looked at the Giants lineup and between the two teams I was going, holy hell, the Sox have one ridiculous lineup when compared to some of the s*** offenses in the AL. You could replace me with Quentin and the Sox lineup would still be 100 times better than the crap the Astros/Giants are running out there right now. In Houston's defense, there big 3 is formidable once Berkman comes back (Lee/Berkman/Pence).

I believe there has also been some rumors that Choo might just not ever go back to Korea (and who could blame him). While I think it is a sticking point that would prevent him from entering a contract and I'm sure it is something that will weigh on his mind, he does have options and I would surprised to see him actually serve in the military.

QUOTE (zenryan @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 12:48 PM) Big win at UCLA last night. I'm so pissed at myself because my sportsbook offers select college lines at CSF was +240 last night. I wanted to pull the trigger since UCLA just had their unbeaten streak snapped and thought this game was a huge game for CSF. Two good teams plus midweek starters make it a coin flip. Wish I had bigger nuts haha. I'm hoping they have gotten there "mojo" back. Every time they lost, I think it just piled onto there backs since they had such high expectations. Now I'm thinking they are playing loose and easy baseball now that they opened conference play (albeit, UCLA was an Out of Conference opponent). Hopefully they have a strong weekend series at top 25 UCI (top 15 up until a week ago). 12-4 in their last 16 games; 13-5 in their last 18 games; 9-2 in their last 11 games. I'm going to try and hit up at least one of those games.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Apr 7, 2010 -> 01:43 PM) I still want Byron Scott. Scott would be the worse hire possible. I'd rather hire myself to coach this team that Byron Scott. I despise Byron Scott and in no time so will his players. On top of that, he isn't that good of a coach.

Did anyone else notice that every manager in baseball is a complete idiot because none of them used the lineup that statistically was best? How good is this stat, really, how good is it? I'm asking cause I don't know, but I find it odd that every manager in baseball went with the wrong lineup.

I'd want to punch this pitcher in the face if I were a hitter. Weird as hell. I also don't see how it really helps him other than the fact that it might rattle guys the first few times they see it.

Everyone close to the team indicates that Del Negro is gone once the season ends and I'm sure that is what will happen. I just don't know who they will hire.

Just an FYI, but I'm pretty sure they still have that morning show. Cold Pizza just changed its name ot First Take and was given a new studio, but it is the same cast that does it.

From a prospect perspective, that Barons team looks really really, well "Baron". Morel is one of the lone bright spots when it comes to major league potential. Great job on these pieces too Ozzie. They have been very informative.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Apr 4, 2010 -> 08:47 AM) Exactly, ignorance isn't a priviledge. Sabermetrics is pushing the sport forward in impressive ways. We can't fight the future, we need to embrace it. I think the key is, the stats are incredibly valuable but way too many people throw the stats around ignorantly to the point that they are completely mis-used a ridiculous part of the time. Kalapse/Qwerty are two guys that when they put the stats out, they put it in a way where I go, oh s***, they might be onto something, etc. Normally I put a great deal of faith in my eyes, but I can only do that for people I watch play significnatly. It isn't like any of us watch enough Pirates games to trust our eyes so instead, the stats become incredibly useful (if used properly). The problem is, to me, the vast majority of people that throw out the stats don't understand them enough, yet they still think they've made an excellent case. I also think it is important to understand that every stat has its flaws and you need to consider those flaws before just saying...see, the stats showed me so. And this is coming from a guy that doens't overly follow the sabermetric approach. I do however really appreciate FIP, OPS+. I don't swear and consider some of those stats to be do all say alls. I happen to think VORP has some pluses, but also some serious negatives which way down how much value I really put into VORP.

Yes, Fullerton opened up BigWest play with a sweep. They put up 20+ in 2 of the 3 games and climbed to a season high 4 games over .500. WHOOOO. Maybe they've woken up.

Lets win the 1st one and the last one (early Novemeber/late October)!!! WOOHOOOO

Insane play by Buehrle. Also a nice one handed grab by Paulie. Hell, I'm impressed Paulie was even ready for that throw, haha.

Are you guys talking about Alex Rios? What did Frank say about Rios (Alex?)?

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 4, 2010 -> 11:27 PM) What do I have to lose? I don't have any real strong connections to the Dakotas (I love living here, but it's going to be hard to do great things while living here), and I get the opportunity to explore and experience a big city. I might love it, I might hate it, but I know I'm going to hate myself 20 years down the line if the opportunity arises and I don't take it. I want to live a little and earn my independence, and I'm not going to do that living in South or North Dakota where I can just feed off of my parents if I really wanted to until I got something I can count on. I'm, in essence, throwing myself to the wolves. If I live, I'll be a better and stronger person because of it. And if I end up happily married in the process, more kudos to me. A month ago, she "broke" up with me, if you want to term it that, because I hooked up with a girl that I normally would have nothing to do with (I don't regret the hook up, but it was a mistake). We haven't actually been "dating" since like early December. We've been hanging out on a pretty regular basis, but nothing serious. Throughout this semester, it has largely been me working on improving myself...because of her, but I'm doing it for myself...while she tries to sort through her life. She's graduating in May, living in town during the summer, and then moving to Seattle in August...not because she is trying to move away from others, but because both of her siblings live out there and she's extremely close with them. She did have a crush on this guy, and rather than jumping to conclusions and freaking out (other than the hook-up, which, as I said, was a mistake), I showed patience and let her have her "fling" with this guy. The worst that happens is she ends up with him and we still end up broken up, and it's no big deal, but if nothing comes of it, we can get back together. At the end of the day, she rejected him and he would still like to be with her. I've seen it first hand (I go to a 7,000 person school in a town that has 10,000 people in it...there are like 4 bars that people go to at night...you know what's going on). She's graduating soon, she's starting what essentially amounts to a real job this summer (it's an internship, but it's in the field that she intends on going into), and she's moving out to Seattle at the end of the summer. In the meantime, she is hanging out with her friends as much as she can while also finding time for me too. She's a bit stressed out, so it makes sense that she has some issues at the moment. --- The reason I haven't been talking in this thread recently is because of stuff like this. You can poke holes in every single relationship, leaving people confused, insecure, and second-guessing their relationships. People hear statistics and theories about relationships all the time (long distance relationships don't work, first loves are the hardest to get over, losing your virginity leaves you with a jaded view of your relationship), and most of them have a logical basis, but it's not true for everybody. Most relationships can be painted with a broad, generalized brush (and I'm not saying that mine is any different than anybody else's), but it's much harder to give advice when you don't personally know both parties involved. This isn't to say this thread has been useless to me, because I have appreciated the advice I've gotten. I just don't feel as though I need any more, atleast right now. Maybe my mind is cloudy. Right now, I don't care; what I'm doing feels right. She feels like the one. Only time will tell. Blake, it sounds to me like you've thought everything over and have made up your mind. You got to follow your instincts buddy!! Worse case it doesn't work out, which isn't the end of the world. But there is obviously a chance it all works out and for that chance what you are doing is totally worth it.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Apr 5, 2010 -> 10:35 AM) At first I thought it might be a front office spot, and was horrified that we'd lose Beckham and Peavy for Strasburg or something else. But, a scout is fine. I believe Krause actually came from the White Sox organization originally, so I think this could be a good move and a rather intriguing one since Krause will be I assume heavily involved in what is supposed to be an improved latin American scouting effort. I'd like to start seeing some domino's fall and come into our lower and upper levels of the minors (and eventually the majors) over the next couple years. That said, we still aren't spending near enough on the latin players anyway (at leas not compared to the vast majority of the teams in the majors). Albeit, we have spent more than most every team on our Cubans

Is it going to rain or anything like that? I wouldn't be opposed to a little delay to enable me to get to the hotel and catch the tail end of the game.

QUOTE (DBAHO @ Apr 4, 2010 -> 11:02 PM) A lot will depend on whether they can bring in a guy like Bosh, which will probably hurt Noah's rebounding a little going forward. As for Gibson, is he a 10-10 guy? Yeah possibly, but you look at a guy like Drew Gooden who has bounced around the league so much, I think those 2 are quite similar. Gibson isn't certainly a guy you build a team around and give out decent money too, as you can find quite a lot of those type of PF's in the NBA / draft etc. You can't really compare the two. Gooden is a better scorer, but Gibson is a superior defender (to the fact that he's a very good defender) and a better rebounder.

I'm in Texas for work and unable to watch, but you can bet your butt I'll be watching the replay tonight in my hotel room.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 5, 2010 -> 03:11 AM) http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_leagu...?urn=mlb,231977 Or wait it out the first couple of months of the season, based on the performances of Kotsay and Jones in the spring? Would be an interesting addendum to the Moneyball movie! If the Sox had any interest in a player like Cust, they would have resigned Thome.