CWSGuy406

Tickets went on sale today -- I'll be at the opener against Detroit. Let the countdown begin -- less than three weeks away from the opener vs the Wild and exactly three weeks till Detroit.

Crean is going balls-out for Shumpert: http://community.foxsports.com/blogs/goodm...OPRONGED_ATTACK

QUOTE(nitetrain8601 @ Sep 14, 2007 -> 02:10 AM) Why would you prefer both? We don't have anyone ready to take one spot in the rotation, much less two. You want to be crap next year as well? I could understand wanting JC gone because he's underperformed, has a big contract, and it doesn't look like he'll be getting better any soon. JG is signed for below market value, is an innings eater, and is a very solid #3 IMHO. Contreras is, as you mentioned, pretty obvious -- he's the one 'black hole' contract the Sox are carrying right now, and while there is a chance he bounces back to average-ness, you can't like his odds given his age and his back's/sciatic nerve's creakiness. With Garland, the package the Sox would be getting back would have to better than what (should be expected) Garland will give the Sox -- another year of 200 innings at a league average ERA plus the two draft picks at the end of the season. Right now I think the Sox should be in a position to ask for two prospects similar to what Gio Gonzalez was coming into this season (a good but not elite prospect -- say a 'B' grade prospect). Or, if the Sox are insistent on 'going for it' next season, the Sox better be getting back a pretty good shortstop (Furcal, Tejada) -- the deal might not work straight up as things would need to be added on either side, but that's how I'm looking at it. I prefer the prospect route. As has been mentioned 'ad nautium' (?), I'm really hoping for Balentin and/or Clement from Seattle. The two teams (seemingly) match up for a multitude of reasons.

I'm not going to bash the Twins too much, but didn't they take the equivalent of Jason Tyner with their first-rounder this year?

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 13, 2007 -> 06:02 PM) but that doesn't mean DePodesta did a good job. What did he do that was bad? The JD Drew contract worked out pretty well for the Dodgers -- they got about 750 at-bats of a ~135 OPS+ from him. That's DePo's fault how? DePo was fired because McCourt made a kneejerk reaction to dumbasses like Bill Plaschke writing bulls*** pieces on the "computer geek". I'm not saying DePo is a perfect GM -- his communication skills were called into question during his time in LA -- but to fire him after what, one year, a year and a half? That's a load of crap. As such, this comment: really makes about zero sense.

I hope today is the start of something beautiful. Man do I hope...

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 13, 2007 -> 03:50 PM) and I think no matter how unhappy some of the folks around here are with Coletti, he's still an order of magnitude better than what Depodesta was doing. Heh -- that's rather funny. Which two pitchers are carrying the Dodgers' rotation right now? And who acquired them, despite being heavily (and I mean heavily) scrutinized? Colletti, OTOH -- Juan Pierre... Luis Gonzalez. I know it's not really fair of me to just bring up Coletti's worst two moves, but it's tough for me to respect a GM who gave Juan Pierre 5/$45.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 12, 2007 -> 04:09 PM) Would you do Pierre for Contreras straight up? You'd be taking on salary for 1 year I believe. Two years beyond Contreras, I thought. I'm 90% sure Pierre signed a five year deal. And that would be an awful trade. We already have Juan Pierre on our team. Two of them, actually (Podsednik being the other).

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Aug 22, 2007 -> 10:22 AM) Complete bulls***. Prove that Thome is unclutch Prove that the 2005 White Sox won the World Series and the 2006 didn't because of chemistry, not because of pitching. Wow, apparently that one went completely over your head. "Swing and a miss..."

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 12, 2007 -> 12:53 AM) It was a shoddy decision, but not the worst I have seen. I was going to say -- at least you're conceding this. If I found something online I certainly would watch the fight online. But after one watch, it looked pretty clear that Hamill had that fight. He controlled it. He dictated whether the fight was on the ground or on their feet -- he let Bisping up a couple of times. Not trying to be a dick here, but my one good buddy who really knows a lot about UFC had the same thoughts I did about the fight -- you're really one of the few I've seen try and put up an argument that Bisping deserved the decision.

QUOTE(fathom @ Sep 12, 2007 -> 12:57 AM) I just don't see it with Danks. His fastball is nowhere near what I thought it was going to be, and he's wild in the strike zone. I'm not even sure you can count on him as a #5 next year, but I know he'll probably be our 4. You could make the argument that Danks should've been in AAA this season. He's been better than the average #5 this season. I don't see the #2 starter that people were talking about when Danks was dominating back in May, but I can see him being a left-handed Jon Garland (sans the 2005 season) for several seasons.

Man it seems like I haven't seen one of Danks' real good hooks in a long time. He's going to need that pitch if he wants to be successful. His fastball/changeup combo is okay but certainly not good enough to get by without an accomanying third pitch (breaking ball).

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Sep 12, 2007 -> 12:37 AM) Drunk N Hot Girls is trash. Drunk N Hot Girls is trash, but it's catchy trash. "Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah that's how the f*** you sound" is an example of that -- really, that's not a good line, but it makes me laugh. Greasy, I have Bittersweet -- if you give me an email I can give my best effort in attaching it in an email to you. And I definitely agree the more you listen to it, the more you get a liking for it. The first several times through I usually just listen to the 'easy' stuff like beats, choruses. But really listen to the lyrics in songs like Big Brother, Everything I Am -- for me that's tougher to do with rap -- and you can really tell that Kanye really put in his work on this album.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 06:35 PM) Neither one of them did much, but through the fight, Bisbing was clearly the more active and accurate striker. Hamill eats more punches than many people you will see fight in the UFC. The guy clearly does not belong on his feet. I think the pure amount of strikes he took throughout the later stages of the fight swayed the judges. Hamill is the better fighter, but when will he figure out that he cannot rely on his stand up. Just about all the punches Hamill took were all to his arms -- Bisping had very few shots on Hamill's head. And Hamill let Bisping up at least twice during the fight. He wanted to dominate Bisping at his own game. I don't know how you could score the fight when the two were on their feet in Bisping's favor -- he was on his heels after the first part of the first round. Combine that with the few takedowns that Hamill did have and I don't know how you could honestly say Bisping won that fight.

QUOTE(greasywheels121 @ Sep 12, 2007 -> 12:07 AM) I'm not that fond of T-Pain, but the "Good Life" track on this album is initially my favorite song on the CD. Everything I Am is phenomenal and IMO the best. I also dig Barry Bonds but that's cause I'm a Lil Wayne fanboy. Good Morning is also a fantastic intro-to-the-CD song.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 05:12 PM) Hamill deserved to lose. How many more times must this idiot try to stand up and strike with clearly superior punchers. Hey Matt, take a clue, you are a wrestler, take the other fighter down to the ground. This is the same s*** he did in the Ultimate Fighter. He is too headstrong to be a true champion in MMA. Please tell me what Bisping did to win the fight.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 05:37 PM) KW obviously. NOBODY that has the number 1 pick does what you just said. The only reason you said it was because you wanted to say something negative about the management of this team. I can completely and totally understand some of the 'haziness' regarding the first round pick and whether the Sox will take the best player available REGARDLESS of who is agent is or what he's asking for, and really you don't have to look any further than this season with the Porcello/Poreda situation. Porcello was pretty much the consensus best high school pitcher available, a top five/ten talent. I also understand that having the first overall pick and the 25th overall pick are different situations, but again -- this organization has done nothing to confirm that they're willing to take the best overall player. Frankly, if they did something like take Jordan Danks 3rd overall, the organization should be embarrassed. I'd probably show my frustration -- if that happened -- by not showing up to another game the rest of the year. Not that my $50 is going to make any difference, but that's how disgusted I would personally feel.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 02:34 PM) Cleveland is cruising and it was a rainy night. I love how this has been thrown in the faces of the people who have supported giving Floyd some starts. Because it's the pitcher's advantage that it's raining -- afterall, everyone knows it's easy to throw the ball when the leather is constantly wet. Very, very easy, in fact -- advantage to nth degree for Floyd. I'd say last night was his most encouraging start but he's still got a ways to go. If he could give the Sox a 5.00 ERA in 2008 -- which I'm not quite confident yet he could do -- the Sox should take that running to the bank. That being said, I am a little dissappointed that his fastball hasn't really been as advertised. They told us he was sitting in the mid-90s, and I can only recall a start or two where he was "sitting" at 92-94. Mainly he's been low 90s which would be okay if he had great control, but he doesn't.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Sep 11, 2007 -> 05:54 AM) Who'd you rather draft...Matt Bush or Josh Fields??? (Bush was the #1 overall pick that year). C'mon now. Matt Bush was a pick that just about everybody criticized at the time. I don't remember ANYONE saying Bush was close to being the best player available that year. It's really a shame that they booted up the Soxfest prices -- I'd love to ask Kenny a question this year. "Mr Williams -- with the Sox having the first overall pick in the upcoming draft , will the organization be willing to pony up the money for the best overall player, even if it means going significantly over slot?"

Tied for last with Tampa Bay. At this point it's going to be a battle the rest of the way, so I'll continue to hope for what I've been hoping for the past couple weeks -- see the starters do well (this holds true for every starter; Floyd and Danks because I want to see them succeed; Buehrle and Vazquez because they're going to be our top guys for the next few seasons; Garland and Contreras for trade value purposes), see certain guys hit well (Fields, Richar and Thome in no certain order), but have the old useless guys in the bullpen blow a couple games (Bukvich, Myers -- I'm staring directly at you two). That's not to say I won't be happy if guys like Konerko and Dye do well, or even if the Sox win. I just won't be mad (at all, really) if they lose. So it's the Marlins, Sox, D-Rays and Orioles. The Marlins should be doing better, they play in the NL and have two MVPs in their lineup. Tampa and Baltimore, on the other hand, still have very difficult schedules the rest of the way, so the Sox are really going to have to blow chunks to be worse than those two.

With a handful of arms that we aren't quite sure about, I think my plan for the offseason has changed a bit. I now want both Garland and Contreras traded, and two of Floyd/Haeger/Egbert/Gonzalez to take over the fourth and fifth spots. I understand the potential for disaster is there, especially since you're moving an above average #5 starter in Danks into a spot where he becomes below average (#3), but the 2008 season is going to be a gamble anyways. Trade Garland and Contreras for a combination of your 2008 SS and prospects, sign one of those CFers (Bradley, Jones, Cameron, Rowand/Hunter in that order), let Crede take third, put Fields in left and hope to hell that you can mash the crap out of teams (and that your bullpen bounces back big time).

Alrighty, time for Mikey Myers to "get the job done". Tampa Bay won today, so...

Joy joy! We get the Eckstein treatment BEFORE he even dons the black-and-white! How neat!

Floyd has a nice two-seamer working tonight, but I have to say I'm a little dissappointed that his fastball is only topping out at 89 on the Comcast gun. If he pitches another scoreless inning or two, I think he'll actually pass Danks in ERA...

For clarity's sake, do deep fly balls count as homers tonight too?