Chisoxfn

Just have him get an over the counter drug test (you can buy them from stores I believe) and see if you pass. If you do, than you'll be alright.

QUOTE (dasox24 @ Dec 1, 2009 -> 08:43 AM) Carson-Newman, huh? They're right here in Knoxville. I had no idea they were that good at football. I sometimes watch their coach's Sunday night show because it comes on after Kiffin's, but didn't realize they were doing so well. One of my good buddies went there and played football there.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Nov 30, 2009 -> 09:30 PM) You'll see me on ESPN this Saturday at 3:30 as GVSU takes on Carson-Newman in the DII National Semifinals. Are you going to be in the booth?

QUOTE (Ranger @ Dec 1, 2009 -> 04:19 PM) But you did think the Floyd deal was terrible. I saw your posts. He also talked for the most part of 08 how much Floyd sucked. He has since eaten crow on that one. I made sure of it, because as his time progressed I turned into one of the biggest Floyd backers on this site. I also argue that over the last two seasons he has been our best starting pitcher. Danks is a close 2nd, but Floyd goes deeper into games and that is why I'd ultimately take Floyd. Buehrle has also been rock solid and was clearly the ace in terms of leadership purposes, but Floyd was very very good the past two years.

How happy is everyone with the 1st month of the off-season? I personally feel that October was a real good month for the Sox. They strengthened the bench, added roster flexibility (Teahan) and have positioned themselves to spend the next couple months trying to fill 2 to 3 key holes (OF/DH/Pen).

White Sox Now: Active, But Questions Remain By Mario Scalise SoxNet One month into the off-season, the White Sox have been active, but still have a ways to go over the the next 2/3 of it. Through it, we'll be recapping each month and projecting the opening day roster based off the team's present state...Read the Full Recap Here

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 30, 2009 -> 04:06 PM) Yeah, its really hurt their recruiting classes..... Maybe its just time to admit that Notre Dame isnt a football power anymore, and isnt a destination that athletes seek out. Those days are over. ND was still pulling some huge recruits, the problem was they couldn't coach them up. They will be just fine.

That would be a stellar hire for ND.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Nov 30, 2009 -> 12:28 PM) You think they'll take either school over TCU? Yes, TCU in a bowl doesn't generate the same revenue as an Iowa or PSU.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 30, 2009 -> 11:48 AM) I still dont believe that PSU can get selected over a team that beat them. Iowa deserves a BCS bid IMO. PSU wasnt impressive against ranked teams. I agree with you, but at the end of the day $ talks and I think the Orange Bowl is going to take PSU over Iowa, unfortunately. It will really stink too. Both teams draw well, Paterno and PSU are more storied and thats why they'll get the bid. I sure hope I'm wrong though and Iowa gets the bid.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 30, 2009 -> 11:18 AM) OK, just found it. In inherited runners scored, the Sox gave up 81 - 17th in Baseball. Again, middle of the road. That is the thing, ERA and SV % are probably the least of my concern in terms of relief stats. The opponents BAAVG, Bullpen ERA+, WHIP, Inherted Runners Scored all are to me what is most important. If you do good at those things, the other stats will almost surely follow. The Sox were poor in all of the key relief indicators. The best stat they had was the inherited Runners stat and being 17th in baseball is not acceptable. If you plan on being a playoff team, you better have a good bullpen. Having a middle of the pack pen is unacceptable. Adjust for the 2nd half splits and you'd see the Sox pen was in no way acceptable.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Nov 28, 2009 -> 03:46 PM) They would have because the Fiesta Bowl wanted to take a BCS eligible Big 12 team. They would have taken them over Boise, not Iowa or Penn State. Iowa/PSU are going to the Orange Bowl. I believe that is the first bowl that will be picking this year and they want one of the Big 10 schools.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 30, 2009 -> 10:55 AM) I posted the stats a few days ago, the pen was not anywhere near awful last year, they were middle of the pack, more or less. And even with no changes, the only significant person out the door is Dotel, while we have the likes of Pena and Hudson in the wings, AND we had more people than not last year who pitched well below their career lines (Thornton being the only one who did better than his usual, and DJ the only one who was more or less the same). How does that translate to "worse pens in all of baseball"? Linebrink is a huge question mark of course. And like I said, I'd be all for getting Saito. But this idea I have seen touted on SoxTalk that the pen is so awful, is just not supported by any facts I can find. In fact, I think if you add Saito, a pen of Jenks closing, Carrasco in long relief, and setup being handled by some combo of Thornton/Saito/Linebrink/Pena/Hudson, has a good shot at being one of the better ones in baseball. Even without Saito, I think its decent. Sign Saito, great. But this need is far, far below the needs we have at OF and DH, who play every day and where we literally have no one. See my post below. The Sox were in the bottom 3rd of all key categories relieving the pen in 2009 and in the 2nd half of the season, I believe I had read (although I can't find it this second) that they were amongst the 3 worse pens in all of baseball.

The Sox pen ranked 18th in baseball in ERA. Albeit, I realize ERA is not the most important bullpen stat. In batting average against, it was 26th. In Ops, it was 23rd. In WHIP, it was 23rd. So in no way, shape or form was the Sox pen good or even average last season. It was amongst the worse in baseball and down the stretch was arguably the very worst in baseball.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 30, 2009 -> 10:35 AM) Adding Saito for the right price is appealing, but I am confused as to why you think the setup role is one of the team's biggest holes. As has been discussed ad nauseum, Linebrink sucked last year, but the pen overall was solid, and unless we trade Jenks, it seems like we're pretty set in the back end of the pen. Don't get me wrong, for a cheap-ish deal, I'd jump at Saito. But I don't know that he'll be that cheap, and unless we trade Jenks, I think the need isn't nearly as great as filling the two actual holes still on the team (OF, DH). Who is the current right handed set-up man? From what I remember, the Sox pen outside of Thornton was awful in the 2nd half of the season. Tony Pena struggled, Dotel struggled, Linebrink struggled, and DJ is not to be considered an 8th inning man. So in my personal opinion, I'm very worried about the clubs pen because it was one of the worse pens in all of baseball, imo. I'd also be the first to admit relievers seasons tend to be all over the map and there is no denying that Linebrink and Pena could be lights out again next year, but that doesn't mean the club should count on it and I have reliever as one of the teams biggest needs and I don't think I'm the only one to feel that way. Saito can be an 8th inning guy and that would be real real nice to have. If Pena develops like the Sox think and Linebrink pans out, awesome, we have a few guys and the Sox can really shorten a game and win a ton of games via our starters and bullpen. But in this day an age, the pen is so important to getting into the playoffs, so I sure hope the Sox are looking at upgrading it.

I wonder if signing Saito would have any impact on the possibility of luring Hideki Matsui over to be our DH? I would think Hideki would feel a bit more comfortable knowing that he'd get to play with another Japanese ball-player.

Sox Interested in Takashi Saito By Jason Gage SoxNet

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 29, 2009 -> 08:20 PM) I'd love to see the list of other elite setup men that have had at least 1 bad month in each of the last several seasons. As for Konerko, no, I wouldn't have cut my losses. PK had 4 consecutive very good seasons in a row prior to 08'. It was also clear he was dealing with injuries all year, most importantly being his jammed thumb. It's fairly obvious that PK is winding down relative to other first basemen throughout the league, but he was nowhere near as horrendous in 08' as Scott Linebrink has been for long stretches over the past several years. Scott Shields, 2007: 9.00 and 6.17 ERA's down the stretch for the Angels (Aug/Sep) I just want to point out that I don't think anyone is arguing that Linebrink stunk, I think the point is, Linebrink stunk but the club was going to give him chance after chance to prove himself because of his track-record. You could explain the reason for Linebrink's poor 2nd halves in almost any instance. Most of the time he was the most worked pitcher in baseball (much like Scott Shields at times) and because of it, he tired and was less effective in the 2nd half. 2008 was different, he was hurt, and this past year, well he was struggling with command and I don't think he was fatigued. Bottom line, Ozzie should have went to him less often in crucial situations, but than again, he tried everyone, he'd go to Pena and he'd blow it, Randy Williams would blow it, Jenks would blow it, etc. Linebrink was terrible but everyone but Matt Thornton and DJ (and DJ had his faults in the 2nd half of the season too) stunk and because of it the bullpen problems were magnified.

The Sox can and should do better.

QUOTE (3E8 @ Nov 27, 2009 -> 10:43 PM) Guess she found out about his mistress My buddy was telling me that he was watching the news or something this AM and they were saying that she was confronting Tiger about his mistress and had the golf club out and he got in the wreck speeding away.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Nov 28, 2009 -> 12:54 PM) Way to f***ing show up today, OSU. Looks like the Fiesta Bowl will be Boise vs. Iowa or Penn State. OSU wasn't going to get a BCS bowl over Iowa or Penn State anyway.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 27, 2009 -> 03:29 PM) Nice! What did you get? Jason, not sure if you got a mount yet, but check out the seller digital_design_solutions on ebay. I bought one a few months ago for less than $100 shipped and used it to mount my tv and it is wonderful. Every bit as good as those they sell at Best Buy for $300-500. I'll take a look at that. I got a Samsung 1080P, Plasma, 50 inches, etc. CNet had it rated as one of the best TV's of the year and all of the feedback I saw on Amazon was exceptional as well. I bought a stand for 40 bucks on Amazon but am debating whether I'm going to go with that mount or the one you mentioned above. The stand I got doesn't tilt but is a low profile stand and given where I'm going to put it at my new place, I want to have it pertrude as little as possible from the wall since the TV will be in a place that people walk by. I already have my plan of running wires and having all of my equipment hidden in a closet a few feet away from the TV. My debate though is ultimately whether the tv will look good without a tilting stand. If it doesn't, than I'm going with the tilting stand and I'll have the TV stick out a bit more (the plasma itself is under 3 inches thick, which is freaking crazy in my mind, even though Samsung also has those LED tv's that are like 1.5 inches thick. Pretty excited to check it out. The other TV I have is still super nice but the best way for the TV to work in my family room at the new place was to go with the plasma because by doing so we were able to use much more of the wall space and put the TV in an excellent spot (where no stand, etc is needed) and it also won't be subject to much glare. My old DLP Samsung will stay in the bedroom (52 inch) and I still love the TV (~3 years old now).

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Nov 27, 2009 -> 02:44 PM) I'm not going to say Warner had a rocket of an arm, but he had a nice arm. Bulger had a decent arm, but injuries as well as IQ has gotten to him. You do bring up an excellent point about how he had crap in Detroit and San Fran at the QB position. But my next question is how good is Martz at developing the talent, etc. Or is he just a good, agressive play-caller that sometimes goes a bit rogue/crazy.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Nov 27, 2009 -> 02:49 PM) If he's not at Notre Dame... Ferentz won't be leaving Iowa for Notre Dame. He'd be a great haul for ND though. I think ND will get one of Harbaugh (extension be damned), Meyer, Gruden, and Kelly.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Nov 27, 2009 -> 11:26 AM) Ferentz doesn't do near as good of a job with heralded OL recruits as he does with unheralded. Iowa will still have a few olineman drafted if they decide to enter. Of course we only have like 2 seniors starting this year, which should mean there is a shot Kirk will have another real good season to help build his recruiting and hopefully have the program set that it can constantly be a top 15 program!!!