Jordan4life_2007

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jul 1, 2009 -> 02:36 PM) I just remember all the sky is falling doom and gloom of that final two months, the absolute certainty that even if they made the playoffs the sox were one and done. And I was smack in the middle of it. My worst post in my Soxtalk career came during the almost September collapse. After we got swept by the Angels I said something like "I hope this team doesn't even make the playoffs. It'd be pointless considering we'd get waxed by whomever we played." I feel shamed whenever I think about that (and rowand44 liked to remind me about it every now and then).

Sowers is one of the worst pitchers in the AL. I expect some offensive fireworks from our guys tonight.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 1, 2009 -> 08:25 AM) Honestly, isnt any production from Quentin at this point just bonus? The Sox are clicking right now on offense, Quentin provides another presence in the lineup, but it isnt as if the Sox offense struggles could be pinned on the absence of Quentin. I would lay most of the blame on complete lack of execution and coinciding slumps if anything You and I could probably offer more offense than Anderson and Wise. But if we're talking about winning the division and competing against the likes of the Red Sox and Yankees, it's gonna be very difficult if CQ isn't at least 80% of what he was last year. Or even when he was raking earlier this year.

QUOTE (whitesoxbrian @ Jul 1, 2009 -> 03:02 PM) Vitters is still in high-A ball. That isn't too impressive. So they finally promoted him? And he is only 19. So there's nothing wrong with him being at high A at this point.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 1, 2009 -> 12:54 PM) They are both a long ways away and the Cubs system is still considered one of the worst in baseball. I read during one of the BA chats that only the Astros are keeping them from being universally regarded as the worst system in baseball. They've almost literally got nothin' outside of Vitters. Why the hell is he still in low A ball by the way? I think I'll bring that up in the next BA chat.

QUOTE (hogan873 @ Jul 1, 2009 -> 02:33 PM) Granted Dye is not a great RFer, and is probably below par, but I don't think he's horrible. Certainly lacks some speed, but he still makes some good plays. Dye is alright as long as he doesn't have to move laterally (I.E. he has the range of a pregnant walrus).

If he's juicing, he'll get caught at some point. For now, he's pretty much the best RH hitter I've ever seen.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 1, 2009 -> 07:51 AM) Holy s*** dude, I haven't looked at sig updates for you since you put a few pounds back on a few months ago. 155? Nice work. Thanks QUOTE (Y2HH @ Jul 1, 2009 -> 11:28 AM) 6 hours a day in the gym? Heh. That's just not reality for most. Let me clarify. When I say 6 hours I don't mean it as I work out every minute of those 6 hours. I usually get there around 9 or 10 in the morning and leave around 3 or 4. But I make sure I take 3-5 minute breaks inbetween cardio machines. And I spend about 45 minutes in the sauna and another 30 minutes swimming (which feels awesome right after all the cardio). So I get plenty of rest time while I'm there. But yeah, I realize not everybody can do what I do.

QUOTE (beck72 @ Jul 1, 2009 -> 07:29 AM) This Sox team may make the playoffs, even without their best hitter gone for 2 months and hitting like garbage the month and half he was here. It's a question of making the playoffs and then playing their best ball in October. The sox don't have the talent other teams do. But stranger things have happened. Yet the biggest cause for optimism is the sox young players coming up--both pitchers and position players. In all the key minor league teams [minus AAA, where most AAAA players stay to take up space], the sox are winning. And they have solid prospects on those teams moving up levels. With a solid farm system, a shrewd GM who knows how to get major league talent, a young core to build around, and a decent payroll, the sox are sitting in a position not only to make the playoffs each year, but to contend for titles. The sox have been able to re-make their roster without going through a prolonged stretch of unwatchable, losing baseball. So far, only 2007 was that. The sox also may have added 4 long term players to build around this year--Beckham, Richard, Poreda, Getz, to go along with Danks, Floyd, Quentin, Alexei, Jenks. And Jordan Danks, Allen, Flowers and Viciedo don't look too far away. All in all, I'd rather go into the playoffs with this roster than with last years. The sox are improving their big league club and esp. their minor league teams and talent. Not much more you can ask for. Honestly, other than the Red Sox, who I feel are head and shoulders above everybody else in the AL, I don't really fear any other team out there. If we're firing on all cylinders, I'd like our chances against anybody aside from Boston.

QUOTE (T R U @ Jul 1, 2009 -> 02:58 AM) I am interested to know how you went from 230 lbs to 155 lbs I'll start with my diet. I eliminated red meats, fried foods and fast foods. All the typical fattening junk food (I used to scarf entire bags of Doritos). I cut out pop, kool-aid (I used to drink a s***load of kool-aid), chocolate milk. I started off with meal-replacement protein shakes (Whey protein). 1 for breakfast and lunch every day. Instead of snacking on fattening, high calorie junk like the aforementioned Doritos, I went with stuff like fruit, raisins, fiber one bars (rex gets the credit for that. I had never heard of them until he told me about them), whole grain cereals and whole grain crackers. For dinner I typically go with any combination of baked or broiled chicken, turkey, fish or tuna. I eat a huge salad loaded with just about every veggie you can think of with dinner every night. I also try to include one other veggie like green beans or broccoli. Only kinda bread I eat is whole-wheat or whole-grain. I have a sweet tooth like everybody else. So instead of eating two or three pieces of chocolate cake like i used to, I go with the weightwatchers versions of cookies, brownies or muffins (and even with these you have to be careful. eat too many at once and you defeat the purpose). I drink a TON of water every day. No exaggeration. I think I take in more water than most sea animals. I limit myself to one gatorade or powerade a day. They're obviously much better for you than pop. But they still have quite a bit of sugar in them. Instead of regular orange juice and i drink only the non-concentrated kind. only kinda milk I drink now is skim milk. Now I'll start with my workouts. I started out walking EVERYWHERE. Anywhere that was within an hour walk was fair game. i then went with some light running. basically 20 minutes a night around my neighborhood (i also did 200 jumping jacks and 15 minutes of intense stretching before running). Once my body started to get used to this, i really went for the kill. I signed up with bally total fitness. 6 hours a day, 6 days a week. Nothing but high-intensity cardio. Treadmill, stairmaster, precor, elliptical, stationary bike, jump rope, swimming. I did this for about 3 months straight before i had to take a break. I think I wore myself out. I still go to the gym just about every day but not for as long. When the weather started to get good I started running outdoors again. 90 minutes a day. I also spend about an hour a day doing nothing but sit-ups (standard and scissor) and push-ups. I've been doing this for about 3 months now. I also take supplements. They help me a lot. Right now I'm taking Men's Mega sport. I take 2-4 a day. Big ass energy boost. Another one that's really worked for me is Xenadrine RFA-X. I feel like beating the s*** outta somebody after taking it. You can get either of these at any GNC. That's basically it. Everybody has their own routine/program that works best for them. The key is consistency. I knew if this was going to happen I had to be committed every single day. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

I think a lot of people are setting themselves up for a big disappointment if they think CQ is going to step right back in and dominate.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 30, 2009 -> 07:48 PM) I'd happily take a Joe Mauer, Albert Pujols etc for going through 1 bad year. So if I told you we could get Bryce Harper if we lost the rest of our games this season you'd be cool with that? QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 30, 2009 -> 07:49 PM) Yep, Nationals fans should be praying they lose every game this season to get Bryce Harper. Of course they should hope for that now. There season was over two weeks into April. But if they had to choose between the playoffs and Harper? I would think they would choose playoffs.

QUOTE (Tony82087 @ Jun 30, 2009 -> 07:22 PM) Again, 2007 was totally worth it. Not for me. No one player is worth going through the disaster that was that year. But if you're not going to make the playoffs, I'd rather win 70 games and get a high draft pick then win 89 and pick 24th (I hope greg775 doesn't see this).

QUOTE (rangercal @ Jun 30, 2009 -> 08:10 AM) Why would you trade places with teams without a ring during that time span? It's not that I would trade places. I'm as thankful as anyone for 2005. But if you're telling me the Sox winning it all in 2005 is more impressive than what the Twins have been able to do since 2001, I think you're crazy (not you personally. I mean in general).

QUOTE (rangercal @ Jun 30, 2009 -> 07:32 AM) Dude, If that was our outcome every 8 years, I would take that every time. The only teams in baseball I would trade 2001-2008 with, would be the Red Sox cardinals and Angels. Think about that for a second. edit: Added cardinals Twins? They were a coin flip away last year from winning their 5th division title in 7 years. The Braves won their division 5 times during that span. Oakland got their 4 times. Yeah, I guess if you guarantee me a WS title every 8 years I'd take it. But how realistic is that? You obviously give yourself a better chance to win it all by consistently playing into October. Not pulling a fluke year out of your ass every 5-10 years.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Jun 30, 2009 -> 07:29 AM) I see a rotation of MB-Danks-Floyd-Count (if these guys are on. 1. Who cares about #5 as long as the ERA is A lineup with Power and recent Speed getting around the bases not dependent on the HR. With the possibility of adding The MVP of the AL(April-Sep) imo . and A pretty good Pen. f*** YEAH I will be optimistic! We are 4 games out in the best division to be in. Like I said, we've been bi-polar. You choose to be optimistic. I have no problem with that. But I also have no problem with Caulfield or anybody else not getting too excited just yet.

QUOTE (hogan873 @ Jun 30, 2009 -> 07:24 AM) Excellent. I suppose I was even thinking about how often the Sox make the playoffs. It is quite depressing when you think that they haven't been to the playoffs in back to back years in such a long time. We think about the WS in 2005 and the exciting way we got to the playoffs last year, and we smile. But then we think about 2007, and we weep like small children. I'm still not over 2006. If you told me that team was gonna fold like a really, really cheap lawn chair at the all-star break when they were damn near 30 games over .500, I would've thought you were short bus material.

QUOTE (rangercal @ Jun 30, 2009 -> 07:07 AM) Well damn... We know the status of your Glass. He's right, though. This team has been pretty bi-polar all year. I thought they had turned the corner after the sweep of KC. We come home and get waxed by the A's and Indians. Our deficiencies as a team haven't disappeared overnight. We still have below league average production at three positions (although Beckham has been great of late). Two major questions marks in the rotation. And our defense is arguably the worst in baseball (well, outside of the Nationals).

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 30, 2009 -> 07:10 AM) Where does he rank in Sox history with regards to the best outfielder, would you say? Top 3? I've been following the team since 1991. So I'd have to say from that year to now the only guy I can think of that's comparable is Maggs.

QUOTE (BurlyMan56 @ Jun 29, 2009 -> 11:18 PM) Lately, it seems there are more Future Sox fans on this site than White Sox fans. I can only speak for myself. But unless you're the Yankees and have an unlimited amount of paper to spend, the best way to consistently contend is to have a healthy/productive farm system. I love KW. He's evolved a great deal as a GM. But I'm 100% sure he'd be the first one to admit that two playoff appearances in eight years, even one that ended with a title, is simply not enough. I'm not content with making the playoffs every 3-5 years. I know you can't win it all every year. But you can, as teams like the Red Sox, Angels, Twins and A's have shown, put yourself in a position to win it all every year. It's amazing to me that this franchise hasn't had back-to-back playoff appearances in like 90 years (although we probably accomplish that feat in '94). I know it's 2009 and this is the only year we should really be focusing on. And I don't recall anybody saying trade Dye, Konerko, Pods or any of our key players if we're in striking distance of Detroit. But if we're not in it, it'd be silly and downright irresponsible not to see what you could get for those guys. This team as currently constructed is not built to win for a number of years (like the Red Sox and Dodgers are). It's either now or never with this current group.

QUOTE (qwerty @ Jun 30, 2009 -> 06:38 AM) Click these links to see just how good dye has been, really is quite amazing, to myself anyway. Dye has 155 home runs since 2005... the next closes right fielder is vladimir guerrero with 121. Dye has the third most home runs out of all outfielders since 2005. Dye has the 8th most home runs since 2005 out of any position player. Dye also has a .891 ops since 2005... which is good for the 23rd best ops in all of baseball. You're in the zone of late.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 29, 2009 -> 10:13 PM) Don't forget about Cain, if they decide to keep him. Speaking of prospects on the Giants, whatever happened to Merkin Valdez? He's in their 'pen. He last pitched just a few days ago.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jun 29, 2009 -> 10:12 PM) And how many posters were saying how bad the contract extension was and that the Sox should tradehim while they could get sometinhg or send him to the bullpen. And that's why we post on message boards while significantly more knowledgeable people make actual baseball decisions.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jun 29, 2009 -> 10:10 PM) I believe that award goes to Bumgarner. Yes indeed. If these two guys are as good as many think, combined with that Lincecum guy, good god damn!

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 29, 2009 -> 10:03 PM) Just an FYI, but aside from Gordon Beckham, ALderson would be the best prospect in our system and he's one of the elite pitching prospects in all of baseball. The youngest player in AA too, IIRC. Alderson is sick. And he might not even be their best pitching prospect.