CWSGuy406

QUOTE(SoxHawk1980 @ Jan 4, 2007 -> 01:11 AM) If KW actually said that the trade was just as much about Masset as it was about Danks, then this goes beyond spin to pure prevarication. Masset is a decent prospect by most accounts, but not a great one. He has very good stuff, but his minor league performance is unimpressive to say the least. He's a huge maybe with none of the prospect hype of a guy like Danks. It is anything but clear that he'll be a good reliever, much less a decent SP. What did you think when the Sox picked up Bobby Jenks? I understand it's a different situation in that they were acquired in two different ways, but I'm just comparing Jenks and Masset here. Both were guys who (more or less) failed as starters, but the Sox have pegged for the bullpen. By most scouting reports, Masset's stuff is just as good (or perhaps slightly worse) as Jenks. I can understand your skepticism regarding the Floyd/McCarthy situation, but I think you should have a little more faith in Kenny regarding his bullpen construction. I'd say that that's been the place where he has always been able to find good, cheap relievers. His only relief guy who bombed was Koch, and even 2005 Neil Cotts came out of that deal. Marte, Gordon, Shingo, Politte, Hermanson, Jenks, the list goes on. There've been a couple who haven't worked out, but more often than not, Kenny has done a pretty good job constructing his bullpens.

This isn't NHL related, per se, but Canada beat the USA in a shootout this morning in the World Juniors. And folks, let me tell you... Jonathan Toews is on his way. After the first three rounds, you can use any shooter you want, even if it means using the same guy. Well, Canada took full advantage of this -- they used Toews three times in a six or seven round shootout -- and he scored all three times. His wrist shot is spectacular. His overall game is awesome. If he ain't a future captain, I don't know who is. On a separate note, it's a real shame the game had to end in a shootout. They played a ten minute OT in which the US dominated, outshooting Canada something like 12-to-2. But to turn it into a 'skills' competition at the end blows hard. It takes a little bit of luster off of one helluva hockey game. Skille will be a useful addition as well. He's looking like he could be a good forward. He stands in front of the net on the PP, works hard in the corners, and does a pretty good job on the forecheck. After seeing these two live at the ND/Wiscy game I went to earlier in the year, along with the prospects camp and the games in the WJCs, I'd rate Toews a little bit higher than Skille. But I'm glad to have them both, and can't wait until they're up next year.

QUOTE(daa84 @ Jan 3, 2007 -> 04:06 PM) floyd probably has the upper hand, but i wouldnt discount haeger I would. Kenny sure seems to absolutely adore Floyd. Right or wrong, he's been talked up since the trade, almost moreso than Gio. Add in the fact that neither Pierzynski nor Hall have ever caught a knuckler for an extended period of time, and I think Floyd (as you said) has the upper hand heading into Spring Training. In fact, Floyd would have to be really bad and make no progress w/r/t his mechanics to lose the job, IMO. -------------------- On the LF/CF situation, it's a bit dissappointing to see that KW seems down on Anderson along with Ozzie. What's changed in one year? I mean, he was willing to trade a pretty good CF prospect because of his confidence in BA last year, so...? Hopefully they're the AL team who has made a decent offer to Preston Wilson. He'd be a fourth OFer, but he'd get a good chunk of playing time here; he can sub for Pods, Anderson, Dye, and even Thome.

Hawks are gonna take two points from St. Louis tonight. I saw the ugly first period and went out after that. Anyone hae thoughts on the game?

Broadway at eight?!? I'd go... 1.) Danks (best bet of a safe player, yet potential to be a solid #2-3). 2.) Sweeney (numbers started to back-up the 'scouts' last year) 3.) Gonzalez 4.) Fields (IMO 3-4 are interchangeable, I went with Gio because pitching gets the nod over a future corner OFer) 5.) Broadway 6.) Cunningham 7.) Haeger 8.) Masset 9.) McCollough 10.) Perez Honorable mentions for Boooone, and a couple of the AA pitchers (Harrell, Egbert).

QUOTE(SoxFan562004 @ Dec 31, 2006 -> 07:32 AM) Whole card was good. Some good KO's and a sick submission of Leben. Leben was the red/pink-haired dude, correct? He's one tough S.O.B. I know he lost the fight, but it didn't look for a second like he was even thinking of tapping out. He fought through that thing until he could no longer breathe and eventually was knocked out cold.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Jan 2, 2007 -> 06:10 AM) Nothing like those underneath passes to Addai. They're just plain sexy to watch develop. I'm still waiting for the Bears to incorporate those types of plays into their offensive gameplan. They're nice plays that are almost always positive gains and very little can go wrong. On the Bears game yesterday, I still hated the playcalling. Griese was one up on Grossman in his long pass to Bradley, but other than that, he looked equally as bad. But it starts at the top with Turner. It seems like they want to establish the pass first, run second. The games where the offense goes wayward seem to be the games where a.)Clark isn't utilized and b.)the run game isn't the offensive focus. 22 run plays? Are you f***ing kidding me? Moreover, only 14 touches for Benson? Speaking of which, someone make a case for why Thomas Jones should start that playoff game two weekends from now. I'm not 'hating' on him; he's far down on the totum poll as to why this team isn't playing particularly well right now. But Benson is clearly the better runner at this point. That's not to say that I don't want Jones getting any carries, but if I had it my way, I'd plan for Benson touching the ball 20-25 times with Jones getting it 10-15 times. I don't think anyone who has watched this team for the past five weeks can honestly tell me that Jones should be starting over Benson in two weeks.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jan 2, 2007 -> 06:56 AM) I see even dealing Broadway for him straight up as sacrificing some of our starting pitching depth to fix a problem that may not even be a problem mid-season. You're dead on. We'd be giving up six years of Broadway and five years of Anderson for three years of Cordero. And if you think Cordero is going to be good, then you're looking at just three years of Cordero, because he'd get paid BIG TIME, and you don't want to dole out big cash to a reliever. I guess you could make some sense of that if you don't believe in improvement from young players, or if you believe that Broadway is never going to make it, but I would see a trade like that as being quite stupid.

QUOTE(Cerbaho-WG @ Jan 2, 2007 -> 06:34 AM) Oh Jesus. If you can't find anything good to say, go place your neck in the path of the nearest operating circular saw. I think that's how my Mom told it to me. Wow, only two posts for the 'better-than-thou' bulls*** to come out. Must be a record. Don't debate the topic at hand, though...

QUOTE(Cerbaho-WG @ Jan 2, 2007 -> 06:19 AM) Thom Brennaman is a baseball announcer and is easily one of the best in the business. Don't hate on him. Ehh. I guess it's taste, but I hate him announcing baseball as well.

QUOTE(redandwhite @ Jan 2, 2007 -> 06:05 AM) Still, if the White Sox have what it takes ala Broadway and Anderson, they should without hesitiation go after him. Anderson and Broadway? Ick. The way Masset has been talked up, I think they feel that HE will be the guy who can step up if/when MacDougal gets hurt. The Sox bullpen might not be experienced, but it's quite deep. The top three are amongst the best backends you'll find in the game, Aardsma should be (at worst) a good backend guy, probably like Riske last year. And there's a lot of depth for those last two spots. It looks like Sisco and Masset have the last two spots on lockdown, but there's also Haeger/Floyd (loser of the fifth starter battle), Phillips, Logan, and Perez who have little to prove down at AAA. Quite honestly, the starting pitching and the offense concern me much more than the bullpend does.

Tom Brenneman f***ing blows.

Hmm... that looked like the ball was coming loose before the ball his knee hit the ground.

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Dec 31, 2006 -> 07:12 PM) They just made a call in the Titans/Pats game that is likely going to turn the game around. They just made a similar call in the Pitt/Cincy game. Pitt got jobbed on that last possession. Called with roughing the passer, absolutely weak considering Farrior had already made contact with Palmer as Palmer was releasing the ball. Then they called a TJ Housh fumble an incomplete pass -- it was close, but it looked like a fumble to me. And then they gave the Bengals about 20 yards on a PI call where Chris Henry was doing as much damage as the defender was. That's a shame. I have no rooting interest, but that sucks.

I'm driving to the game tomorrow night and don't want to park in the 'official' parking lots, or whatever they are, just off of Lake Shore. I usually only go to one or two games a year, but when I do drive, I'm normally able to find a spots on 18th street (I believe that's where it is) just west of the stadium. The thing is, though, I'm always worried about getting a ticket or getting towed because the parking lots I park in seem rather 'shady'. Any advice? Any parking garages within ten-fifteen blocks of the stadium that one could recommend?

I saw the fight at a friend's house. Lidell busted Ortiz open BIG TIME, right above left eye, in the first round. The fight was almost called right there, as Lidell had Ortiz on the ground and was pounding away. In the second round, Ortiz did a nice job of bouncing back, got some good shots in, and won the round (although he didn't have the near KO that Lidell did). The third round, Lidell again got Ortiz on his back and just pounded away to finish the fight. Lidell's absolutely amazing on his feet.

QUOTE(danman31 @ Dec 30, 2006 -> 10:00 PM) I don't think you can make either case. DePaul has been very inconsistent this year and while Marquette has had their struggles game to game as well, they have shown more than DePaul so far. I wouldn't be that surprised if DePaul had a good night and beat Marquette, but you were implying they are the better team right now and I don't think you can say that. DePaul started the year off poorly, but they've taken off since December, winning six of seven -- the one loss being a one point OT loss AT UAB. They've played some great basketball since that Kansas game. It also looks that while Marquette's record is currently better than DePaul's, our OOC schedule pales in comparison to DePaul's. The only true road game Marquette had was at Vandy, whereas DePaul played games at Bradley, Northwestern, and the afformentioned UAB. I've seen my Golden Eagles play all year, and as much as I'd like to say that we're a Sweet 16 lock, it just ain't true. We still have no consistent threat from beyond the ark, along with no inside post presence. I won't paint everything in a bad light. The potential is there. Obviously, the three guards have the potential to be one of the top backcourts in the country. A couple of guys on the team (Cubillan, Fitzgerald, Hayward) have the potential to become consistent three-point threats. I'll leave it at this; I'm very worried heading into conference play. Marquette was supposed to be a top three-four BE team, and I worry that we'll be closer to the middle of the pack (six-seven). I guess we will see...

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Dec 26, 2006 -> 10:34 PM) On paper, this is an excellent signing for the Halos. They potentially clog their gaping hole at 1b and don't have to rely on some combination of Kotchman/McPherson/Morales to step up and fill that hole. And Hillenbrand provided 21 home runs and a .280 average last year between the Blue Jays and the Gians, and was hitting over .300 before running into problems in Toronto. Huh? This is an awful signing. Hillenbrand was a below average hitter last year, and he's already 31 years old. The best he's ever been is a slightly above average hitter, nothing more. Oh, and he can't play defense. He's a first-baseman/DH who can't hit and who hurts his team a ton when he's put at third. It's ridiculous, that team should just put McPherson at third for a year and be done with it. So what, he's never going to be a high OBP guy, but he's cheap and he's going to slug right around .500 'cause he's got so much power potential. I see no reason why he couldn't put up a .250/.300/.500 line, which would be much better than paying Hillenbrand what, $6 million bucks? Shea = useless.

QUOTE(SleepyWhiteSox @ Dec 30, 2006 -> 04:16 AM) DePaul 97 - 67 Northwestern St. Sammy Mejia with 40. The way DePaul is playing right now, combined with the general weakness of the Big East this year, and you could probably make a case for the Demons being a top three team (in the BE) this year. I hate saying this, but if Marquette played them today, I think DePaul would win by a pretty decent margin (at least 10). Heading into conference play, I'm not too confident. We were only up by one on Savanah State at halftime -- although we've raised that lead to 16 in a very short amount of time -- but I'm still worried. One good sign from this game is that Wes Matthews looks to be taking control on the offensive end, as he already has 19 points with 3/4ths of a half to go.

Aucoin and Cullimore are wastes of space. Aucoin -- the team captain -- barely plays 13 minutes tonight, while Cullimore, ON THE f***ING PK, tries to clear the puck through the center of the ice. By the end of the year, two of Vandermeer/Aucoin/Cullimore need to be gone, and Byfuglian and Barker need to be up here. Aucoin will be tough to move because of his salary, but he can sit in the press box every other game. Please, though, one of those three needs to be moved ASAP. It's sick watching 'em... slow as hell and not physical at all. Kudos to Wisniewski and Kuk for being our most consistent defenders this year.

1. My current GPA at Marquette is 3.3. 2. I am a distant relative of former Sox pitcher Donn Pall. I believe my mom is 3rd cousins with him. We used to talk to him while he was in the bullpen at New Comiskey. I actually saw his parents around a year ago, as his parents are good friends with my grandparents. 3. I'm 99% sure I have royal Polish blood in me (insert joke). 4. My first sport was hockey. I was a goalie, and without bragging too much, I was pretty good. Unfortunately, I gave it up at a very early age for basketball (my dad was a coach at the HS level, so it was pretty much inevitable). 5. Some of you probably know this, but I played multiple times (in high school) against current Marquette guards Jerel McNeal and redshirt Maurice Acker. Similarly, my sophomore year, we were eliminated in the state playoffs by HF, a team that had current Kansas player Julian Wright along with Iowa forward Cyrus Tate. On that same note, Dwayne Wade was at my high school for a summer league game. I believe his nephew or younger relative was playing the game.

As early Christmas presents I got Rainbow 6 and a controller for 360. As my regular presents, I got $$$, gift cards, The Office Season 2, Entourage Season 1. The best gift 'Santa' could bring me would be success at my first live poker tourney/event. It's a charitable event where the rake goes to various charities. I'm coming with $200, and if I could leave with $500+, I'd be quite pleased.

I'd say our pitching ranks right up there among the best, but that depends on who you consider to be 'prospects'. Looking at pitchers 25 or younger, there's Sisco, Broadway, Danks, Gonzalez, Floyd, Masset, Haeger, Logan, and Perez. I understand that at least three of those guys will end up as bullpen (Perez and Logan for sure, and probably Masset), but that's still a solid group, with some fringe guys (Phillips) as well as some guys like Harrell and Egbert and McCollough with a chance to take a step up this year at Birmingham. Our hitting prospects, however, is still as dismal as it was when this post was made. Honestly, there's very few guys of note in our system besides Sweeney and Fields. Cunningham is another, but besides that, we're greatly lacking in position guys. That's why it irks me that the Sox didn't offer Riske arbitration. Even if he would've accepted, his salary would have been very tradeable at about $2.25 million.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Dec 24, 2006 -> 06:24 AM) Can't, got people over....playing some call of duty online You got 360? If so, BOOO. HopeHop on Rainbow 6: Las Vegas and then we're talkin'...

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Dec 24, 2006 -> 03:50 AM) Yes. And I looked at his numbers. He supposedly plays good defense at Shortstop, a position where we need a guy to fill in for Uribe in either 08 or 09 at the latest, and he has the speed that Ozzie wants. His problem as a pure leadoff hitter is his OBP, that I will grant you, he doesn't walk much. But compared to a "nobody" as a throw-in, I would certainly have been more happy with him than with just what we got. No. I wouldn't want Arias one bit. OBP is a problem? So is the fact that he hits for no power. He's slugged above .400 once, and just barely at .423. His OPS has topped .750 once in his minor league career. Why would I want him when we already have him. No, the third guy doesn't really excite me a whole lot. He is what he is, another young arm to add to the system. Just turned 20 years old a couple of weeks ago. And yes, I'd rather have another live arm in the system than Arias, because Arias isn't good. He'll probably make an okay backup. If he's starting for your team, you have lots of problems, though. And twenty-some-odd stolen bases don't change that. That's not to say that I'm a huge fan of this deal. I'm excited to have two of the best lefty pitching prospects in baseball in our system, but I'm quite pissed that McCarthy is gone. I'm excited at our prospects (no pun intended) for 2008 and beyond, but 2007 is going to be very tough with Flaeger as our current fifth starter. Unless, of course, they ink Clemens, which makes so much sense right now, but probably won't happen.