Jordan4life_2007

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 05:23 PM) Garza for the first weeks of spring training only throws fastballs and changeups, so his st era means absolutely nothing. The Cubs have a zillion holes at the moment but Matt Garza isn't one of them, he'll be just fine. Cubs lover

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 05:11 PM) I still hate the idea of using Mr. "Offday" as starter #5. Even when that 5th starter is Phillip Humber?

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 05:05 PM) He's a solid pitcher, I would bet he starts off pretty well, especially if the weather is crappy in Chicago, he's a fly ball pitcher, his numbers may bump up when it gets warmer and The Urinal becomes more hitter friendly. When the wind blows in he is going to flat out dominate This isn't just the Cubs hater in me speaking here (well, that's part of it), but I predict Garza is going to greatly disappoint. This won't be one of those AL pitcher automatically gets better in the NL epidemics. That park and defense he had in Tampa really masked his mediocre peripherals.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 02:30 AM) That's the post of the year. Rebuilding is dumb. We don't have to rebuild. Do it like the Yankes, Bosox, etc. Reload. We got Dunn. We got the pitching horses. They just have to do the job. I mean we got Danks, Floyd, Mark, Jackson. f***. That's good enough. With decent bullpen on paper. If the guys underachieve, fine. Oz will be the fall guy this year for sure. Oz will be gone if we are not in first or close to it by the break. GO SOX. Jacoby Ellsbury: 1st round - 23rd pick Dustin Pedroia: 2nd round pick Kevin Youkilis: 8th round pick Jon Lester: 2nd round pick Clay Buchholz: Supplemental pick Daniel Bard: 1st round - 28th pick Jonathan Papelbon: 4th round pick Hanley Ramirez and Anibal Sanchez, two amateur FA signings, netted Josh Beckett, who spearheaded them to a WS title in 2007. Casey Kelly, Anthony Rizzo and Reymond Fuentes was enough to land Adrian Gonzalez. I guess what I'm trying to say is it's easy to say "reload" like Boston. But Boston has been brilliant in identifying, signing and developing premium talent. And you don't have to have a top 5 pick every year to do this. We're not Boston. Not even close.

Please tell me Stacey King didn't just say Oozey Boozy?

Ummm, what the f*** was that? I'll pretend that first quarter didn't happen.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Mar 28, 2011 -> 07:16 PM) I think he's going to pull a DRose and carry the team all year- best Buehrle in years. The #1 reason being not to make a public fool of JR and KW for their All-In commitment to the team. #2 Cha ching Pay Day, Multi-year, quick 8 figs no brainer. Lol. I have no problem seeing Mark go if he's expecting another 4-year, $56 million dollar contract. I don't care if he wins 30 games.

QUOTE (PeavyTime @ Mar 28, 2011 -> 06:46 PM) Ozzie doesn't plan on pitching Ohman against righties in the regular season, right? Let's hope not.

If the Sox sport a .600 winning percentage against AL central opponents they'll win the division.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 28, 2011 -> 04:11 PM) I definitely ain't no girl neither I don't know. You hair was pretty long in that one pic you posted a while back in Heads' "Post you pic" thread.

Looks like young phenom Michael Pineda will be the Mariners #5 starter after a filthy spring. I love it. Screw those dumbass Super-2 rules. Though I understand them. And Alexi Ogando will take Tommy Hunter's place in the rotation while he's on the DL.

Yeah, I've checked all over and I've found nothing linking Crede to the Phillies.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 28, 2011 -> 03:51 PM) How are you not a little bit concerned about Matt's elbow? Well that's assuming the elbow is of no hindrance. For example: a healthy Danks doesn't worry me. A healthy Jackson does.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Mar 28, 2011 -> 03:33 PM) It's not that it's a bad place, because it's obviously the perfect place, but it's the asking of the same questions every year, which never get answered that make it a complete waste of time. Like this thread. You will get a range of opinions, arguments, disagreements or agreements...but no definitive or real answers...just a lot of speculation. This question has been asked about Buehrle, on this message board, every year since he's arrived. No, it hasn't. Unless you're referring to the infamous "the continuing fall and decline of Mark Buehrle" thread. Which hasn't been seen for years. But if these kinda topics are so boring nobody is forcing you to reply. Some of the threads created around these parts baffle me. But I stay out of them if they don't interest me. Otherwise I'd probably have 50,000+ posts.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Mar 28, 2011 -> 03:13 PM) I know it's ST, so I'm tempering my excitement, but Danks has looked great so far, that change-up to K Votto was filthy Tempering your excitement regarding Danks? That's like saying you have concerns. He's one of the three sure things on this team that I don't worry about at all. Thornton and Dunn being the other two.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 28, 2011 -> 03:13 PM) Ever think that the numbers you're citing as confusing might be linked? For example, you cite M-56's low K rate, but then cite both a low LD %age and a low HR/FB %age. Hypothetically, let's say that a few balls that typically would have been strikeouts in a previous year wound up being hit, but only hit weakly, such that they turned into a lot of extra popups. That would accomplish all the numbers you're talking about, and there'd be no reason to expect it to renew again this year. I thought about that. And if the HR/FB ratio and LD% stay the same then Mark should be OK. But those were by far career lows. Mark's K-rate has been in decline for three years. A further decline and it gets kinda scary.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 28, 2011 -> 03:08 PM) I like this daily posting of a topic that questions a player or the payroll. Yes, message boards are horrible places for topics like these.

Let me start off by saying this is NOT meant as a s***-on Mark or a pessimistic thread. Mark is one of my all-time favorite players, probably #2 after Frank as for as White Sox go. But I do have some legitimate concerns: He's never been a 'flamethrower'. Even during his peak years. But the last three years his K/9 has dissolved from 5.76, to 4.43, to a Charlie Hough like 4.24. Soft-tosser is not even the term to describe a K-rate that low. Mark was able to get by last year mostly due to an abnormal HR/FB ratio of 6.0%. Easily the lowest of his career. And for some reason, and I have no idea why, the percentage of line drives he induced were 15.9%. That was substantially lower than his career mark of 19.6%. When your K-rate is that low you're teetering the line between serviceable and Kyle Davies. His xFIP, which has become the new fad in evaluating a pitcher's true talent, was a mediocre 4.69. And going by what I've seen, it doesn't look like Mark's spent too much time in the gym of late. I wouldn't be as concerned with a healthy Peavy. But that's a myth until I see otherwise. There's no margin for error from the top 4 this year. I'm pretty confident in Danks and Floyd. So-so with Jackson. But MB at this point really scares me. Thoughts?

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Mar 27, 2011 -> 11:56 PM) Hanson was my first "Oh s***, I have 3 seconds left" pick. My second was Stanton (although I'm happy I have him), my third was Bryd, and my fourth was Crisp. And I'm not worried about closers at all. I think Bailey and Nathan will be studs. And yeah, I want to get an SP through trade. I know my Dbacks friend already said he wants Montero from me, so I am trying to figure out who I want from him. I am thinking maybe Montero and Adams for Wieters and Feliz. Just so you know, Feliz will be closing. It's final now. http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/news/story?id=6254257

QUOTE (TheBigHurt @ Mar 27, 2011 -> 11:23 PM) I know there's logic on it somewhere... but someone needs to explain to me at this point why Konerko shouldn't just be third. The HRs can't be it, because Paulie consistently hits what is par for a third hitter. I don't dislike Dunn at 3rd... but logically, I think he'd fit better at fourth. IMO Konerko's a great fit for 3. Again, if there's a contrary to what I'm saying, I welcome it. Honestly, I just think back to the '06 offense and how dominant it was for most of the season with Thome at #3. Now we've basically got his clone and I want him at #3 as well. Not that worried about the string of righties as CQ, for whatever reason, is much more potent against RH pitching than he is LH pitching.

lol. You are all too kind. Especially K. And yes, I will be spending much more time in chat this year. As well as the gamethreads. Big season coming up, my friends.

QUOTE (SouthsideDon48 @ Mar 27, 2011 -> 11:24 PM) Hahaha, yea, that's how 20-team leagues are. You need to be quick to grab little-known guys and have knowledge of a lot of guys that are platoon-like players in the majors to fill out your roster. I can see that. But I really am looking forward to this league in particular. This will definitely be the most challenging. I'm going to have to be lightening-quick whenever a roster spot opens up for a player. I need to monitor the backups to the backups to the backups in this league.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Mar 27, 2011 -> 10:24 PM) 14 team league, so there is really nothing of value on the FA market. And I am not really disappointed that I have Hanson, just that I took him w/ my 3rd pick. Here are my RD selections.... MIGHTY MIGHTY MOOSEKNUCKLES 11 Miguel Cabrera, Det 1B 18 Troy Tulowitzki, Col SS 39 Tommy Hanson, Atl SP 46 Ian Kinsler, Tex 2B 67 Mike Stanton, Fla OF 74 Colby Rasmus, StL OF 95 Casey McGehee, Mil 3B 102 Miguel Montero, Ari C 123 Shaun Marcum, Mil SP 130 Joe Nathan, Min RP 151 Marlon Byrd, ChC OF 158 Andrew Bailey, Oak RP 179 Jaime Garcia, StL SP 186 C.J. Wilson, Tex SP 207 Coco Crisp, Oak OF 214 James Loney, LAD 1B 235 Gio Gonzalez, Oak SP 242 J.P. Arencibia, Tor C 263 Jair Jurrjens, Atl SP 270 Mike Adams, SD RP You could've probably waited a round or 2 on Hanson. And I think you took Stanton and Rasmus a little early. But again, unless you have a cheat sheet on hand, I can see how a 30-second limit to make your picks would cause you to botch a few. Again, don't worry about closers. They'll be 1 or 2 popping up every week or at the least every other week. I'd probably shop Rasmus for a SP if I were you.

This league is literally going to make me insane. I go to check on the availability of the 1% owned in standard Yahoo! leagues, Andrew Cashner, and he's taken. And it's not like he was just scooped up in the last couple days. He was drafted!

QUOTE (Lillian @ Mar 27, 2011 -> 08:55 PM) Well, I guess that will officially close the book on the Swisher fiasco. So, the Sox got nothing in return for Swisher. Both Marquez and Betimet released. Oh, they do still have Nunez, don't they? What a disaster. I was actually beginning to like Marquez. That 16/2 Strike out to walk ratio in S.T. looked pretty impressive. He appears to have recovered from his surgery, and even added a cut fastball. I don't see how this organization can afford to discard young, inexpensive, serviceable arms. But what do I know? Nobody agrees with you more here than I do. But Marquez does not fit the criteria of serviceable. Doesn't help that he has no talent, either. Nunez appears to be AAAA fodder. So we can officially chuck the Swisher era out the window. 0/2.