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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!!!

Bought a 50 inch, 1080P, Plasma TV today. Will be mounted in the family room of my new place and should look awesome!!!

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Nov 27, 2009 -> 12:47 PM) How is Martz not a fit for Cutler? Cutler is a gunner. Martz's offense is all about gunning and taking shots down the field. I'd say it make a lot of sense. And who says it'll only be for a year? I'd also hardly count Turner's offense. There's only about 6 plays in there since most of our players are not smart enuogh to learn anything more complex. Martz guns but his offense always seemed more oriented on short passes, although I could be completely wrong and basing everything off of his performances in St. Louis and the fact that he typically had his best success with 2 QB's who didn't have that strong of arms (Warner/Bulger).

Oh, and Seantrel Henderson visited Iowa last week. Interesting to see if they can pull out a massive coup and get him. That would be HUGE, freaking huge. #1 recruit in the country according to Rivals.

QUOTE (Brian @ Nov 25, 2009 -> 07:45 PM) Whoops a daisy http://yourseason.suntimes.com/1905604,112...llinois.article Much better career decision for Fiedor. I long thought the switch was coming and I'm real glad it happened. Ferentz has put together quite the recruiting class this year (In Iowa standards at least).

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Nov 27, 2009 -> 10:05 AM) In the Big 10 it doesn't matter much who makes what game since they split the revenues from the bowls. Iowa will get basically the same amount of money if they go to a BCS bowl as if Penn State does. I think the only difference is how big of a budget the school gets depending on what bowl they are invited to. They split, but I still thought the team that gets into the bowl gets a larger chunk of the revenue? Am I mistaken?

QUOTE (danman31 @ Nov 26, 2009 -> 08:41 PM) Seems like a stretch at this point. I think Iowa gets it, not to mention Ok State has to win in Norman without Robinson. Aren't most of the experts saying Penn State is going to get selected before Iowa? Either one will be the first at-large BCS team selected because of the draw (both teams travel exceptionally well) but Penn State has Joe Pa and a better lore than Iowa so in the end I think the Hawkeyes are gonna get the short-end of the stick, unfortunately, despite the fact that Iowa won @ PSU. I hope I'm wrong though, cause that money would be great for the program.

Martz is not the answer. Cutler isn't a Martz QB and the Bears need to be careful. Whomever they bring in should be an offensive mind that can work the X's and O'x and help Cutler get better. If the Bears wanted to be ballsy, I'd go after Jim Harbaugh the Standford caoch. But again, college coachs rarely pan out. And if I went with Harbaugh, I'd want the club to hire veteran assistants which would be expensive. So it wouldn't happen, although I believe Jim would be a very good coach for Cutler. Hiring Martz for a yr isn't an option. We don't want him as our head coach, he's failed everywhere else he's been as a head coach and as an OC he hasn't had the same magic he had in St. Louis. Bad decision. We bring in Martz and Cutler will be on his 4th coordinator in 4 years (Shanny's system last year, Turner's this year, Martz next year, and our new coaches the following year).

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Nov 26, 2009 -> 08:38 PM) I honestly see the JR-Kenny-Hahn-Ozzie group being together as long as JR is owner of the team. Then it depends on what happens from there. Hahn is too good of an asst. GM not to get a job one day. I figure him and Cora will be out in the next couple years, Cora as a mgr, Hahn as a GM. Its just a matter of time. In fact, I believe Hahn could have already taken a job, but he's happy in Chicago and has his family here so he doesnt' want to leave unless he gets a very good opportunity (ie, not the Pirates, haha).

QUOTE (ptatc @ Nov 27, 2009 -> 06:33 AM) I agree they should be questioned. After all we all know that scouting is an inexact profession. My point was that I'm sure the that nobody was brough up to take the place of a struggling player, in this case Linebrink, is that the organization didn't think anyone was ready. One thing I think most of us agree on is that KW and Ozzie want to win and if they thought someone else could do a better job they would have sent the lowest guy in the bullpen down and brought up the better player. Linebrink wouldn't have been sent down just had a lesser role. The Sox were willing to use Jenks as a closer in the midst of a post-season run. A rookie who started the year in the minors.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 26, 2009 -> 08:52 PM) Oh, so now the guys in charge are infallible? Since the White Sox organization did not do something, all actions they avoided taking were defacto incorrect? Bobby Jenks was released by the Angels in December of 04'. The White Sox claimed him, while many other teams did not. I understand Jenks may have needed a change of scenery, but were all the other teams who did not claim Jenks correct? Because by that logic, if Jenks would have been able to contribute to their bullpens, they would have claimed him, right? I understand that we have coaches and scouts in the minor leagues who tell the parent club who they believe to be ready and who they don't believe to be ready. I'm not suggesting someone should have been brought up to replace a marginal performer though. I'm suggesting someone should have been tried to replace someone who was simply not performing at an acceptable level. Can someone please point out what the harm would have been? What did we have to lose? Someone posting a 12 ERA instead of an 8 ERA in the second half? I'm sorry, but you guys are going to have an awfully difficult time convincing me that there simply were no other options for replacing a guy as bad as Linebrink was. I understanding where you are coming from shack, but the big thing you are missing is the upside of some of the names you mentioned vs the upside of Linebrink figuring it out. My theory is that Linebrink's biggest problem last season, especially in the 2nd half, was his command. Whether his command struggled because of injury, I don't know, but stuff wise, he had his fastball and when he threw his splitter it was decent enough. The problem was he really went away from his secondary stuff because he couldn't throw it close to the plate and lived and died by a fastball that consistently was getting too much of the plate. I'm sure the Sox perspective (given that they didn't send him down or put him on the DL) was that Linebrink's upside was worth more than throwing 3 or 4 or 5 guys into the major league level and seeing if any one of them could stick. You stick with Linebrink and he gets his confidence back and bam, you have a guy that a year ago was an elite set-up man before his arm injury (he was very very good for the Sox in 2008 prior to the injury and we all are well aware of the elite years he had in San Diego for a while). I just didn't see where Linebrink's pure stuff had went away (not that he was very Jenks nasty, but he's got a nice fastball/splitter combo) so I think the Sox felt there was a decent chance that he could turn it around in the future (hopefully that means this year). I also widely known to not be a fan of Nunez and I don't buy into Link. Both individuals command make Linebrink look like Maddux. And the Sox did try Nunez a bit, but he just didn't suceed in his limited time. It doesn't mean he won't succeed in the future because I've talked to a few Sox scouts who were high on him. I disagreed with those scouts but I have a much smaller sample size (of my eyes) than they do. I do know he's got the plus fastball velocity and can ocassionally through a good slider, but he's got to repeat stuff and if he can figure that out, the Sox will have him up in the pen in no time. Rushing an Ely/Shirek/etc wouldn't have been good for there development, imo, so I don't think they were factors and Hudson was moving so quickly that I don't know if anyone would have figured he'd have been much of an option in July, early August, but who knows.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 26, 2009 -> 05:11 PM) Atleast the Sunday lineups will be a hell of a lot more fun. Honestly, the first thing I thought of when I heard about this signing was Jermaine Dye signing with the White Sox for the first time. Dye was 2 years younger, but went through a similar transgression - .792, .514, .793 from 2002-2004, and then he came back with an .846 OPS for the Sox and was very solid beyond that. Jones has put up .724, .505, and .786 over the previous 3 seasons. I'm not going to predict an .850 OPS over 550 plate appearances, just noticing the similarities. I really, really like this signing. I just wish there was a team option for next season. Dye was coming off a horrific injury. Andruw Jones is coming off being a lazy, fatass. I like the signing and agree that at 32 he should still have plenty of baseball left. But whether he ultimately becomes the player he once was or even close to that, I wouldn't expect it. Wouldn't be shocked if it happened either and as long as he's comfortable having to earn a spot and playing off the bench if he doesn't completely rake, than for 500K its a steal of a deal.

I used to like Crisp, but I'm not sure I'd be a big fan of this move, but ultimately, as you mentioned Mario, it depends on what Kenny does between signing Crisp and the end of the off-season. If Crisp is our 4th outfielder (along with Kotsay), its a pretty damn good move. Coco is a plus defensive outfielder who can handle CF and spell Rios in the case of an injury. Offensively, when he's healthy, he's a bit better than Pods and is and all around more versatile player than Scotty. If the Sox are looking at Crisp as the starter and leadoff hitter, I really can't support the idea. Crisp hasn't had an above average offensive season in years and asking him to be your leadoff hitter or top of the order threat would be as massive of a mistake as the Sox asking Wise to lead-off to open the 2009 season. So in short...if the Sox sign him to a 1yr 1-2M a year deal to be our backup outfielder and insurance option, fantastic. If it is to be a starter, no thanks. I should also point out the Sox claimed DeAza off of waivers from Florida, who also fits the role of a 4th/5th outfielder and would be cheaper, albeit less proven than Crisp.

Sox Interested in Coco Crisp

QUOTE (chimpy2121 @ Nov 23, 2009 -> 07:11 PM) Doubt this has any substance to it: (from a ND board) That sounds like a package that Meyer would take.

Sox Interested in Upton; Omogrosso & Vizquel Updates

Sox Interested in Upton; Omogrosso and Vizquel Updates