CWSGuy406

QUOTE(sox4lifeinPA @ Dec 14, 2006 -> 01:39 AM) Where do you go to school and what are you studying? I'm always interested when people mention theology. Marquette. Theo 1. Required core course. I honestly don't know how much I learned this semester. My professor is a real bright guy, but he's Russian and carries a real deep accent, and sometimes his writing on the board is hard to decipher. That being said, he's quite funny, he pokes fun at his heritage all the time, always (jokingly) comparing himself to the 'bad guys' in the James Bond films. That said, I got a 100% on the mid-term exam despite the fact that I was really worried about it. I'll gladly take repeated results on this next one.

Halfway home, fellas. One tomorrow and then my theology exam on Friday at 1:00. And then it's back to the comforts of the Chicago 'burbs. QUOTE(chimpy2121 @ Dec 13, 2006 -> 07:31 PM) Yeah, it's World of Warcraft. My friends on my floor corrupted me. Yeah, it's surprising. The only games I really played my senior year of high school were sports games, Madden, NCAA etc etc. Now I am hooked (or, re-hooked) on No Mercy for N64. It's like the only game we play. I fear that I may get no work done once I buy the Wii and am able to download Goldeneye, Super Smash Brothers, Mario Kart and such. Uh-oh...

Hmm... don't know how I missed this, but apparently next year, there will be a Big East/SEC Challenge (different format than the BT/ACC Challenge, however). Four teams will play against each other for three years, and since the Big East has 16, four teams won't participate from the BE. http://thecardreport.blogspot.com/2006/06/...es-reality.html

If the real reason that he doesn't want to take the contract is because of the team offering the money, I'd love to see KW get on the phone and offer up the best package he possibly could without including one of the top five starters. Anderson + Fields + Broadway + ... If Wells doesn't take this contract, Ricciardi's only other option (besides a trade) would be to let him walk for two picks. And I think the Sox can put together a package of players better than the two picks they'd get.

I really wish some of these guys could put their pride in their back pocket for just a little bit and do what's best for the team. I think it's in the best interests of everybody if Benson and Jones getting ~15-18 touches a piece, with Peterson getting ~2-3 per game. I guess I'm just hoping that Jones handles this well enough...

QUOTE(fathom @ Dec 13, 2006 -> 06:08 AM) I actually recall an article in SI a few years back where they were shocked at how some baseball players came into the offseason looking like professional wrestlers, in regards to their body. Those players were Trot Nixon, Eric Gagne, and the immortal Ben Davis. Oh, right. More conjecture. I like how you posted your little anecdote about how one year, Gagne was a "skinny" guy and the next year he was all muscular, despite the fact that in the rookie picture I posted, he's not what you would call "skinny" at all. Nice one...

Nice. Hawks win! De-twah on Thursday. BTW... Vandermeer doesn't seem to be playing well at all. Sounded like he had a couple more giveaways tonight. Sounds like Cully is even playing better than him at this point. As of now, I really don't care who goes, but one of Cully or Vandermeer needs to go in the next month, as I think Barker is pretty much ready to start playing up here. I guess I would just keep Vandermeer for his tougness -- he's probably the closest thing we have to a heavyweight at this point -- but one needs to go.

Goal? No goal? I'm listening on radio...

Bondra, Vrbata, and Hamilton. They finally decided to start playing hockey!

QUOTE(astralpanda @ Dec 13, 2006 -> 01:29 AM) How can you even begin to compare Loaiza and Crede even jokingly. Crede's been with us his entire career and has developed into a legitimate star . I can't believe there's so much Crede hate going on. I could see if it was 2004 but wow. Yeah -- a "legitimate star" that ranked 121st in VORP (and that's not including pitchers) among positional players in 2006.

QUOTE(astralpanda @ Dec 13, 2006 -> 01:35 AM) I'm done with this discussion. Thank God.

QUOTE(fathom @ Dec 12, 2006 -> 10:06 PM) I remember watching Gagne face the Cubs when he was a starter, and he was a skinny guy throwing around 92 mph. The next year, here comes the huge guy throwing 98 or 99 mph to the plate. http://www.superiorsportsinvestments.com/8950 Here's a rookie picture of Gagne. I would hardly call that "skinny". And really? A guy throwing harder as a reliever than as a starter? Who'd'a thunk it...

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Dec 12, 2006 -> 11:42 PM) I respect Gleeman's opinion, but from what I saw of Hunter, he looked average to slightly above average. He wasn't Hunter of the past, and I don't think I've ever stated anything to the contrary, but from what I could tell, he was still solid. Meh. To me, he looked quite slow, especially after the injuries. A healthy Hunter could still play defense, but when he wasn't healthy, he looked quite bad out there. See ALDS Game 2.

Over at another board, I'm reading that Marcus Giles was non-tendered. Anyone else of significance? We need to find our backup catcher here. Molina (Jose), Torrealba, Hall... one of the three. I'd love to see them grab Giles on a two-three year deal and trade Iguchi, but I doubt that'll happen.

I'd rather have Bondra playing with Vrbata, but that's reasonable. We're running out one rock solid line, with two lines with some good snipers in Vrbata (who can, hopefully, start to get a little healthier) and Bondra. The PP should be fun to watch, too...

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Dec 12, 2006 -> 03:53 PM) He wasn't GG worthy (though he did make one of the greatest catches of his career), but he wasn't "below average" defensively. I bet if you asked Aaron Gleeman what he thought of Hunter's defense this year, he'd say below average. Hunter was slow out there -- mainly due to the injury -- and thus had to dive for a lot of balls that normally he could make while doing cartwheels.

QUOTE(aboz56 @ Dec 12, 2006 -> 09:28 PM) It's the truth. Yeah, I mean, look at all the facts that you and Milkman have provided in this thread. How can the rest of the world not believe that he was a 'roider? The rest of the world calls that 'speculation'.

Hawks with a VERY winnable game tonight in St. Louis. Bondra will make his debut, it's official. Wonder who his linemates will be...

I'm not overly concerned about the defense. I'd say for about the last 20-25 minutes of the game, the Bears were pretty much only rushing their front three or four and were more or less sitting back in a prevent defense, although they were looking to take off some heads in the second half too. I'm also glad to see that Cedric is getting more carries. He's really tough to take down, and it's going to be nice having two above average running backs heading into the cold January weather. Hell, AP even had himself a game; you could use him as a situational third down back, as he can catch the ball out of the backfield, run the draw, and block. BTW -- this fanboy approves of #8's performance tonight.

Yeah -- Dallas would definitely take down the Bears. It's quite clear who the NFC's best team is, and it sure ain't Chicago.

What more can be said about Marty Havlat? I haven't been able to see a whole lot of games this year, but I'd say 90% of his goals are simply amazing. Stunning wrist shots, amazing speed to break away from defenders, the quickness of his backhand and forehand, the moves... You know, we sort of got screwed in the Malkin/Ovechkin draft, as we finished second to last that year and the Caps got lucky and hopped us, leaving us with the still-solid-but-not-spectacular Cam Barker. Getting Havlat for Mark Bell and Michael Barinka takes away a lot of that pain. He's that good of a player.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Dec 11, 2006 -> 06:52 AM) Wite, help me out, what the hell does that mean? lol. I hear this all the time and still can't figure out what it means. Peripherals... the stats aren't ERA and W/L%. I've never gotten a real 'definition', but I've always associated peripheral as being numbers like K/9, BB/9, K/BB, HR/9. Vazquez is a true enomoly of a pitcher. He always rates well in DiPS ERA, FiP (Fielding Indepent), and even in projection systems like PECOTA and ZiPS. That's usually due to his awesome control and great strikeout numbers at the end of the year. He's the anti-Mark Buehrle, who always rated poorly in those non-ERA 'stats' that I just mentioned, yet -- up until last season -- always beat his projections and DiPS by a (usually) significant margin. At this point, I would maybe even like to see Kenny try and restructure Vazquez's deal to lock him up, say, three years, $40 million, structured something like (approximations here) $12.5 in 2007, $13.5 in 2008, and $14 in 2009. Why? Well, at worst, he's proven to be a league average innings eater. But I'd be willing to gamble on him having an above average type season once in the next three years. He shouldn't lose too much of his 'stuff' over the life of the contract, as we'd be inking his age 30-33 seasons. A contract like that would more or less buy out his 2008 arbitration year and take a small gamble that Vazquez could, for one season, put everything together like he did back in Montreal.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Dec 11, 2006 -> 03:29 AM) New Orleans is a top 3 team in the NFC. With how explosive their offense is, I don't know how you couldn't say they are. They'd get destroyed by an AFC team, due to how poor their defense is, but when their offense is clicking - like it pretty much has all year - they are a top 3 NFC team. That offense is just so.friggin.fast. I think Deuce is probably the slowest player they have, and he's the starting running back. Yeah, I figured Dallas-Chicago as the clear top two, with the third spot more or less up for grabs, although if New Orleans pulls this one out, I'd probably put them third (maybe even second).

Woah, this can't be correct. Tony Romo and the best team in the NFC -- probably in the NFL, probably ever -- are losing to the Saints? To the Saints? That's funny... Bears lose by four to a top four AFC team and are pretty much guaranteed to lose to Dallas in the first round. I wonder what that says if Dallas loses gets destroyed by an NFC team that probably isn't even in the top three of their conference.

Havlat'd. Hawks win!