CWSGuy406

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 04:38 PM) For starters, Colon's shoulder is shot, meaning the 93-96 MPH fastball he had when he was with the Sox is likely down to 82-92 MPH territory, and he just won't get by on that. That's not true. As far as Clement... yeesh, at least he 'bit the dust' after he signed that reasonably nice deal with Boston. He hasn't pitched for the better part of two years. What happened to him anyways? Elbow issues? Shoulder problems?

I'll preface this by saying I didn't see UofI a whole lot last year other than when they were on ESPN, but won't losing Warren Carter be a pretty big hit? Or am I overrating him?

If anyone wants to try and embed those videos again, they're all up on YouTube now. Here's one and the rest are listed on the right side: "Like -- we look really young..."

QUOTE(Vance Law @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 09:36 PM) How many more times do you think a guy with a .350 OBP gets on base compared to a guy with a .330 OBP? In 600 plate appearances.......12 more times in the whole season. That is 2 more times per month. So with Thome hitting home runs in, let's give him, 6% of his plate appearances. How many solo shots is Thome expected to hit with the .330 OBP guy leading off that would have been 2-run shots with the .350 guy? 1. I think Hitless' underlying point is that the Sox still -- for whatever reason -- believe that they have to have a "leadoff hitter" on the team. They've made "leadoff hitter" a need even though it shouldn't really be one. Improving the team OBP is one thing, but forcing yourself to get a "leadoff man" is dumb. To apply that to the Sox, they should be trying to get the best possible players at SS/LF/CF. They shouldn't pigeon-hole it by saying that one of those spots have to be occupied by a true leadoff hitter. And that's why I'll be uber-pissed if Josh Fields opens the year in AAA because the organization is too f***ing stupid and has Jerry Owens in LF. I don't care if that means Fields has to open the year in LF with Crede at third, Uribe at short and Hunter in CF. Even if that group is a little low on OBP (they're a lot of low), it wouldn't be a whole lot different from the groups we've seen for the past six-seven years -- lots of homers (good), lots of Ks (bad), relatively low OBP (bad). But the homers themselves will carry the offense to be, at the very least, league average, and probably a little bit better.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 07:08 PM) Looking at his career, 2007 looks like a down year to me. And I think he can be had for reasonable money. As far as platoon goes, I think playing Ozuna does fine, or Bourgeois. But I think you play Jenkins 5 or 6 days a week anyway. Ozuna plays 1 game a week at LF, 1 at 2B. Why does it look like a down year? In the three seasons, he's posted OPS+' of 130, 101 and 101. He's already 33 years old and will turn 34 in the middle of 2008. And in this division, with good lefties up the wazoo, you need a competent platoon partner for a guy who doesn't have a chance versus lefties, and I don't consider 33 year old Pablo Ozuna to be that guy, especially coming off of an injury.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 06:54 PM) *cough* Jenkins *cough* Meh, Jenkins is okay. He was league average with the bat last year, probably a little worse seeing that his OPS was slugging percentage heavy (.317 OBP). If you get Jenkins, you're still not done -- you need a platoon partner, and I don't consider Pablo Ozuna to be that guy.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 06:49 PM) Unless we can get a dynamite LF for Crede, I actually kinda like the 2nd one of those. Too many damn strikeouts at the top of the order, but it's better than having Fields at the 2. No it's not. Your scenario has Jerry Owens in LF, and there's not a chance in hell Owens hits well enough for a LFer. It's already looking like we're going to be carrying one offensive black hole in Uribe, you can't carry another, especially in LF. Gotta get somebody who can hit the f***ing ball in LF, no more of this slap-hitter crap.

Life is better after a Hawks win. Did anyone besides me actually see the game last night? I'd venture to say that's the best they played all year. They 'brought it' for a good 55 minutes, only having a short lull to start the third. St Louis is going to be tough on Friday, and after that is the much-anticipated game vs Detroit. I doubt they come away with the four possible points (for both games), but getting two (a win or two OTs) would be nice.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 06:44 PM) Woah, Hunter is going to improve our team from last season? For $90 million he damn well better!

But yeah, wouldn't it be a great idea for baseball to blacklist any and every player that is named on this report? (complete and utter sarcasm)

Ugh, the cards seem to be lining up for Torii coming here for, don't they? It's better than giving C-Lee 6/$100 or Soriano 8/$136, but I still don't like this a whole lot. It certainly improves the Sox a lot for 2007, but since they've committed to Fields at third-base, that means they're still without a left-fielder. And if they go with Jerry Owens in LF, that's as bad or worse than the decision to bring Podsednik back last season or to sign Erstad. Owens bat will be hard-pressed to play CF, much less LF. I'm 100% confident saying his bat will never even be average for a whole season in LF. Luke Scott for Joe Crede, please? FWIW, this contract would make me much happier if after they inked it, they turned around and traded Konerko somewhere. Anyone care to calculate the percentage of our payroll that will be tied up in players over 30 for 2008 if Hunter signs? It's got to be close to 70%, right?

Breakdown of the Big 10 here: http://basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=34 Interesting but quick and easy read if you have a couple minutes.

Kevin Adams is done for the year with a torn ACL or MCL. Just caught the tail end of Savvy talking about it.

Bolland was fantastic tonight. The Duncan Keith goal was all Bourque and Bolland, particularly Bolland who gave a great pass right on the doorstep to Keith. Nice nice win. I feared they were going to fold after the two third-period goals by Colombus, but they didn't.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 03:00 AM) I dunno if I'm a fan of this. It's a high risk, high reward type signing. We've seen as many japanese guys come over on the mound in recent years and dominate as we've seen completely implode. We need, as far as I can tell, a key 8th inning type righy setup man, 7th inning if MMac could ever get his arm out of his ass. I'm just not sure I'm ready to put a guy who's never pitched in the MLB in that role. It's not high-risk at all, even though you're trying to paint it that way. He's going to get at most what, $2.5-3 million dollars? If he sucks you'll know that by July 1st. Start him off in low-leverage innings, pitching middle relief. If he succeeds for the first month-and-a-half, two months, start using him as Jenks' setup man. As far as at the beginning of the year when you're not sure whether he's good or not, you have a couple of options. First is hoping Thorton and MacDougal bounce back -- both certainly have the stuff to bounce back, and it took a lot of bad luck for both MacDougal and Thorton to be as mediocre (that's being nice) as they were in 2007. If by chance they still suck into next season, leverage the hell out of your LOOGY/ROOGY monster of Boone Logan and Ehren Wasserman. That's not awe inspiring by any means, but if used properly I'm confident they'll be effective.

Bleh. Hawks are up 1-0 but they've had lots of chances this period. They've completely controlled the period outside of one odd-man rush led by Zherdev. Just a few seconds ago the Hawks had a 4-on-2 odd-man rush and didn't get a very good look at all. It's good that they're controlling the play but damn -- FINISH!

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Nov 8, 2007 -> 01:46 AM) http://blackhawks.nhl.com/team/app/?servic...rticleid=342537 Damn -- they're really doing their best to promote the hell out of that game. That's nice to see. The kids are a little sloppy in the early going. Both Kane and Toews have turned the puck over (in the offensive zone, but still). No great chances for either team yet, though.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Nov 7, 2007 -> 06:12 PM) People who chew ice. People who eat on the phone. People who grunt and groan like they're orgasming while they eat a good meal (what a terrible date that is!) If at all possible, I'm going to try and fit in all three of these things for the Hawks game we attend.

QUOTE(fathom @ Nov 7, 2007 -> 04:44 PM) Levine reported that the Sox are still looking at trade possibilities (Everett, Hu, Aybar, etc.), but they will pick up the option if no trade is worked out. I'm shocked at the lack of speculation around Furcal. He really seems as perfect a fit as Toby Hall was when the Dodgers released him. I assume they know something we don't.

QUOTE(DrunkBomber @ Nov 7, 2007 -> 04:44 AM) I have been a fan of Shana Hiatt for a while. I dont see how she is considered a sportscaster after WPT and Poker after dark. Ditto. I love me some Shana Hiatt -- I think she's the best combination of 'cute' and 'sexy' around. I'd like to take her out to dinner and call her several times afterwords. Also, who was the sportscaster who worked in LA for Fox Sports Net that had a fling with Derek Lowe? Anyone?

QUOTE(3E8 @ Nov 7, 2007 -> 04:20 AM) I want to do bad things to Rachel Nichols But does she blink during intercourse?

QUOTE(gosox41 @ Nov 7, 2007 -> 02:24 AM) Why? He's great now. But he's also getting fatter and lazier. Is this the make of a 'championship player' that KW speaks about. He's better than great. He has a chance to be one of the top ten best players to ever play the game, with the way his career has started off. This really doesn't need to be said, but his top three comps on baseball-reference through age 24? Hank Aaron, Ken Griffey and Frank Robinson. As far as him getting fatter and lazier, yeah, he's probably going to end up at first base, but if there's one guy who can get through to him, that guy is going to be Ozzie. Maybe it's wrong of me to have so much faith in Ozzie, but if Cabrera were to become a White Sock, I'm 100% confident that Guillen would keep his ass in baseball shape. And as far as what to give up? Well, you can start off by asking Florida what type of prospects they're looking for in return for Jon Garland (ie getting a third team involved and sending those prospects to Florida). Then you can add to that Fields, Anderson/Sweeney, and probably two of Danks/Egbert/Gio/DLS. I don't even think Egbert fits into that group, as scouts don't really like Egbert's stuff (that's not an indictment on Egbert, mind you, just an indictment on his trade value). That would net Florida two B prospects (Garland's return), a solid LF or 3B that they'd control in Fields, a chance at an average CFer with plus defense (Sweeney or Anderson) and two middle of the rotation starters in a combo of Danks/Gio/DLS. Unfortunately, there's no *elite* talent in that group (DLS isn't one yet), and I think Florida may be looking for more of a home-run return (like they got in Hanley Ramirez).

I don't know if it's just my screen but I can't see any posts below Kalapse's video.

Not a whole lot of glaring omissions like last year leaving out Adam Everett. These actually look halfway decent and deserved, except for Hunter who is still getting by on reputation. Either Coco Crisp or Granderson would've been better choices.

The new Hawk commercials are up on cbh.com -- good work by the Hawks marketing department. "Don't even think about it, Kaner."