Chisoxfn

You are jaded Tex. Vince is a good guy, he told Steve's wife that he'd be there for them and he was. Young gets a lot of grief, but I'll be cheering for him and I hope he finds a way to make it in the NFL.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Sep 17, 2009 -> 09:55 AM) hey, good times. Again, all stat jackasses are painted as one, which is not true of many of us. Stats are meant to be used as a scouting tool and applied in general to a game day-in-day out. Of course there are special/unique situations. I posted before that I thought Ozzie should have tried a freakin' safety squeeze with Q on third an AJ at the plate at one point because the team couldn't get anyone in from 3rd with less than 2 outs. My argument is I don't think it should be the general philosophy of them team considering they play in the AL and 81 games at the Cell. and of course you can call anyone what you want. I realize the AL is the AL, but the Rays excelled last year playing an NL style of ball and the Angels have dominated the West (albeit a poor West) for a number of years playing some of the best fundamental baseball and I've seen it all first hand so I'm incredibly biased in my desire for the Sox to become the Angels of the Midwest. We've seen lesser Twins squads beat us because of there fundamentals. So ya, I think its good, but I continue to point out that it needs to start at the ground level and I certainly hope Buddy Ball is focusing on these things!!!

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Sep 17, 2009 -> 09:54 AM) Bunting can slightly increase your chance of scoring one run but also decreases your chances of scoring any runs and greatly reduces your run expectation. I don't think people have a problem playing for a single run late in games but doing it early in games is dumb. You can call me a jackass all you want but that is fact. I'd again counter that it depends on the situation. If you are facing an ace and have your ace on the mound than I think you play for the one run whenever you can. if you have a dud on the mound and they got there ace, than you might sit back for the big inning in hopes that you can blow things open and somehow get to the ace cause really, the only way you'll win is if you score a ton anyway. That is strategy and I think from game to game, one run matters a lot more than a bunch or runs and the reason good teams win is because when its necessary they can get that one run. And it doesn't mean you are giving up outs. Hit and runs, bunts, everything is a factor. Anyone whose played competitive baseball should be able to point out the added pressures of defending a team that is effectively agressive on the base-paths and can hit and run and will occasionally bunt. I can also speak as a pitcher, albeit, not the greatest one of all time, that I would feel more pressure to make the big pitches with a runner on 2nd than a guy on 1st so you are working a pitcher more in those situations just as a team will feel a bit more pressure in those cases. And big league players aren't immune to pressure, they feel it. Sure they deal with it better than most but it still exists. There is a reason why agressive teams also tend to have more opposition errors made than those unagressive teams. And I'm not saying the Sox should be stupid, but I will say the way a lot of the Sox vets handle a bat with runners on 3rd base is f***ing in-excuseable and these guys would have been chewed out on my high school team for not getting guys in.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Sep 17, 2009 -> 09:42 AM) I'm so glad mods can just call a group of posters "jackasses" I swear to god, some of you guys have never played the game of baseball. I don't care what some dweeb from Stanford has calculated. Sure, the new wave of stats have become a great way to further evaluate players and a great way to try to determine who are the best players in the league by factoring in stadiums, etc. However, sometimes all you need is an extra run, not 3 or 4 and while the stats may show that bunting is going to hinder run production, the way it does it is by potentially preventing the big-inning, but sometimes you just need a f***ing run, not a big inning. If the Sox got a few extra runs, we'd have seen there 1 run record swing drastically the other way and that starts with playing good fundamental baseball. There is such a thing as a productive out and the Sox are one of the worse teams I've seen in a long time at doing that. And part of fundamentals is good defense and I think we all know the Sox have sucked awfully at that all season. You find a way to improve the defense and get the club to make more productive outs as opposed to useless outs and we are talking about a 2010 team that should content for a World Series. And I'll call whomever I want a jackass. I'm one of the most behaved posters on this site and when people get too far away from the way the game was meant to be played and start thinking it really is just fantasy baseball, than I'm going to step up and speak up. Note: I'm also the biggest supporter of the hit and run possible and if the Sox get a team of guys that can handle the bat this could turn into a huge benefit. You essentially open up a massive hole every time you do a hit and run and a guy that can handle the bat well can essentially sky-rocket his batting average in that situation.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Sep 17, 2009 -> 09:39 AM) We try this s*** every year in Spring Training and still nobody gets it. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Hopefully with Dye and Thome gone and kids like CJ Retherford getting lots of time in there we'll start seeing some better execution. The only thing worse than bunting in a no-bunting situation is watching the player fail to get it down after the manager called for it anyway. It'll work better on a younger team. Guys like Konerko, Dye, Thome, AJ, it doesn't matter. They've been too far along in the game. But it is very important to preach it to all the younger guys so that we might see this team turn into a good fundamental offensive team.

I'm all for fundamentals. Some of you stat jackasses can get ridiculous about the giving up outs part of the game. Sometimes it just makes sense and it can push things and help get the offense rolling. So Ozzie, I'm all for it!!! And I certainly hope Buddy Ball down in the minors is preaching all of the fundamentals.

A ton of class Mr. Young, a ton!!!

Vasher got burned on that one play, but he wasn't all that bad this past week. I just think he's the back-up when Bowman and Tillman are healthy and there is nothing wrong with that. Vasher has excelled in a nickel role in the past and I hope he will again.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Sep 17, 2009 -> 08:11 AM) Not sure why Bowman did not start the first game. The Bears were easing both Bowman and Tillman back because of injuries.

Congrats, you look to be in great shape in that pic.

I liked this weeks episode. Interested in seeing what happens with Lloyd.

I don't mind it. Tons of latin players do this and it doesn't impact them. I just want him to stay out of trouble and be in great baseball shape when the season starts. I don't want him playing all off-season but if he plays for another month to month and a half that is a-ok with me.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Sep 16, 2009 -> 12:21 PM) Part of the Bachelor Party?

Bedard is good when heatlhy, but he's a huge baby and will get a lot more money than I'd want to give him, especially when this club needs to completely over-haul its bullpen and hopefully add a HIGH AVG, HIGH OBP, HIGH SPEED guy to the lineup. I'm perfectly content with Freddy, Huddy and Torres battling it out.

Bengie Molina running the bases. Paul Konerko's inside the parker.

He's a no brainer as a 5th starter. Huddy can get a little more seasoning and be the guy to step in if anyone goes down and than take over from there.

Oh snap, I just remembered, I'll be there too....WOOOOOO.

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Sep 15, 2009 -> 10:10 PM) What will Bobby bring us in return? That is the big question, especially since he is having a down season and will be due a lot of money.

Bobby will be gone and aside from Thornton and Pena this is going to be a brand new pen. I'm interested in seeing what Kenny has planned.

Windows 7 sounds legit. Who wants to buy me a nice new laptop? The one I just got at work sucks ass.

Peavy to Make Sox Debut on Saturday By Mario Scalise SoxNet The much-talked about debut of Jake Peavy has arrived. Peavy will start against the Royals Saturday at the Cell. After having his original expected/hoped return date set for late August, there is little debate on whether he's ready to go, because.. MORE

QUOTE (sin city sox fan @ Sep 15, 2009 -> 02:33 PM) I know it would never happen.....but I think the Big Hurt would make an awesome hitting coach!! He might have been a great player, but he had a very unique approach and really its typically the mediocre guy that had to work at everything that ends up making the great hitting coach. Plus communication is a huge factor on what makes a coach good and Thomas was never known for his communication abilities.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Sep 15, 2009 -> 11:25 AM) You mean Floyd. I wouldn't think you should say it's OK if one guy is in the game but not OK if he's not. Tate is a very good player as well. I mean you are either against the pass there or you aren't. On 1st down Hughes, with Allen out, got stuffed. Doing that two more times doesn't accomplish much, I'd rather not give Michigan the ball back at all if possible. Well duh, being stuffed is better than two incompletes, no one will argue that, but you aren't guaranteed incompletes by throwing the ball. One way you are basically guaranteeing you give them the ball back, the other way you are risking more time on clock vs not giving them the ball back at all quite possibly. I can see coaches doing either, not just hanging it on Weis. FWIW, Herbstreit didn't have a problem with it either. To me the thing people aren't talking about is Armando Allen being out. Hughes isn't going to get you that first down and the way the Defense had been playing I agree with the concept you play to win. I would have liked to see some more high percentage passes on those plays though. I still want to know how ND's TD and the Raiders TD (unrelated) for that matter were over-turned cause both of those replay rulings were horse-s***. Neither play had any sort of obvious evidence that warranted the plays to be over-turned.

I might have to make a trip to DC.

In the most recent White Sox Q&A there was some speculation that Walker might not come back next year. Not that Walker is getting fired, more that he might resign or retire. Just thought it was worthy of news.