Jordan4life_2007

QUOTE (knightni @ May 15, 2009 -> 09:21 PM) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCbler-Ross_model We're already at step 4 and it's only May 15. I was at step 5 long before the season started. The writing has been on the wall for a while now. Our last legitimate shot at a World Series championship ended with that second-half collapse in 2006. Yeah, we pulled a division title out of our asses last year. But anybody could see that was more a case of extreme luck and a couple of considerably more talented teams grossly underachieving. I can think of teams from the 90's and earlier this decade that finished second or third that were better and I definitely enjoyed more than last year's team. You look up and down this roster and you see guys who's best days are well behind them (Thome, Dye, Konerko, A.J., Contreras, Colon) or guys who flat out have no business either being on the team to begin with or shouldn't be anything more than reserves getting major run (Podsednik, Lillibridge, Wise when healthy) due to an ALARMING lack of organizational depth. A decade of putrid drafting and player development have finally caught up with this franchise. You look all around the league and you see teams drafting, developing and bringing up elite/solid talent. Yes, it seems that were slowly but surely getting better at this. But quite frankly, I'll remain skeptical until guys like Beckham, Allen and Poreda prove it at the major league level, as we've been burned big time by guys like Brian Anderson and Josh Fields (the latter who has been extremely disappointing after a strong start). I think it was clear before the season started that Kenny and co were looking a lot more at 2010 and beyond. Sure, they'll never admit they were blowing off 2009. And I don't think that's the case either. But it looks to me to be a case of a franchise that's thrown one big band-aid on a team with holes all over the place hoping for the best (I.E. last year).

QUOTE (kapkomet @ May 16, 2009 -> 12:12 AM) I do believe in the "conspiracy" of the Lakers/Cavaliers, more specifically Lebron/Kobe. The execs are jizzing themselves to get that matchup for all the merchandising opportunities. Yup. They were talking about this on Around the Horn yesterday. It'd be a disaster for the league if the Lakers were to bow out this early to a team made up of role players, second-round picks and even one undrafted player among the top 7 in their rotation (aside from Artest). I expect the Lakers to get at least 40 FT attempts.

I guess we should change the title of this thread to "Are the White Sox really broke or not?"

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 15, 2009 -> 09:04 AM) You start watching NBA basketball this season? 1990 to be exact. And I stand by my statement. Forget about seeding. Aaron Brooks? Chuck Hayes? Carl Landry? Luis Scola? Von Wafer? Are you f***ing serious? Of these players, only Brooks was even a first-round pick (and that was near the bottom at #26). On the other side you've got the defending conference champions, a team that won 65 games this year, a team that has arguably the best player in the league, a team that is coached by arguably the greatest coach in league history? Yeah, you best believe it would be the biggest upset. Don't even try and tell me the Warriors knocking off the Mavs a couple years ago would qualify as the bigger upset. The only one that could be argued would be the Nuggets upsetting the Sonics in 1994. Besides that? There's nothing that even comes close. But I still expect the Lakers to win with ease Sunday.

QUOTE (BobDylan @ May 15, 2009 -> 12:40 AM) Small sample size this year, but I'd stroke it if we had a CFer with those numbers. He did the same thing (although in less than 400 at-bats) in 2007. But I believe the mandatory reply to that was, "Well, that was in the woeful NL. He could never do that in the AL."

QUOTE (Wanne @ May 14, 2009 -> 11:54 PM) You mean the leadoff guy with the .322 avg....382 OBP and 10 stolen bases?...that Willy Traveras? Don't forget the GG caliber defense.

QUOTE (kyyle23 @ May 14, 2009 -> 05:30 PM) IIRC Crede was going off at this time last year, then June hit and he fell off the face of the planet He's not even going off right now. He's sportin' a .766 OPS. He's just come up with clutch hits two nights in a row. Not surprising. We saw this plenty in Chicago. But he's having a pretty s***ty year overall at the plate (although his D has been outstanding). QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ May 14, 2009 -> 09:57 PM) Three or Four months from now when his back puts him on the DL, he won't be winning a damn thing. Sounds like you're hoping he ends back up on the DL. Which is pretty sad and lame if true.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ May 14, 2009 -> 11:23 PM) I'm not buying the notion that the Lakers from 1-12 are the most talented team in the NBA,except for Kobe,Gasol and sometimes Odom,the other 9 are just role players>> Farmar,Bynum,Fisher,Walton,Vujacic,Riza...come on,seriously?Most talented?How? Well, you would have to factor in a 'healthy' Bynum as well. They go from very, very good to juggernaut when he's healthy and playing well. Problem is he's missed about 85-90% of their games since the all-star break of last year. I knew when he went down earlier this year that he wouldn't be a factor the rest of the way. To think a player can miss that much time and come back a week or so before the playoffs and pick right up where you left off is too much to ask of anyone (as you can see Bynum has had zero impact in these playoffs). QUOTE (Brian @ May 14, 2009 -> 11:27 PM) If someone put a gun to my head, I would have to take Denver over the Lakers right now...If the Lakers advance. I don't need anyone to put a gun to my head for that. Denver has looked worlds better than any team besides the Cavs in these playoffs. They're a different animal with Billups at the 1. The Lakers should be ashamed of themselves for needing a 7th game against a team who's best player is Aaron f***ing Brooks. I'll go ahead and assume they win anyway (and if they don't, it would go down as easily the biggest upset in NBA history, considering the circumstances).

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 14, 2009 -> 10:17 AM) I can't believe we are still this close, as bad as we are playing. ITs actually encouraging, in a weird way. We get our starting LF and CF back for the next series. Bad as it looks, the Sox are not out of it. That's really the one saving grace we have. Is that this division is simply average. If we were in the AL east? Yikes.

QUOTE (WhiteSoxfan1986 @ May 14, 2009 -> 02:28 AM) They're just starting to hit as well. Brandon Phillips is on fire. Willy Taveras, who nobody wanted any part of, is hitting .322 with a .382 OBP. Also 10/11 in stolen base attempts. He's also playing well above average defense in CF. Quite a signing by them to this point.

QUOTE (knightni @ May 14, 2009 -> 02:16 AM) This week: Rockies vs. Pirates. Try explaining that one away. LOL. Well nobody can accuse them of sucking off the NY teams and the Red Sox 25/8.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 13, 2009 -> 07:53 PM) Lilly vs Chris Young when wind is blowing out tonight. Should be about 10 homers hit. Also, no one seems to notice how bad the Cardinals are playing these days. Haha, Soriano and Theriot go back-to-back. Wrigley's a freaking joke. The Cards are playing about as bad as the Cubs were just a couple weeks ago. And? There's 130 games or so left in the season. I'm not crowning the Cubs just because they're on a hot streak and the Cardinals are on a cold one. And what I want to know is why nobody is talking about the Reds? They've got arguably better starting pitching and unquestionably a better bullpen.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 13, 2009 -> 05:56 PM) Yep, Caufields schacaneries (I know I screwed up that spelling). Rather that I think its f***ing ridiculous that people seriously believe that Walker is the first guy in baseball history that teaches the "lift and pull" theory. It is such utter crap. And I'm pretty sure that if this was WSI, I would have had to ban myself for saying Anderson and Fields f***ing suck. What the hell? lol. Jason, you're on a roll today, my friend.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 13, 2009 -> 03:15 PM) Dude, enough already. Its not Walkers fault that Anderson and Fields have f***ing awful swings. There swings have gotten noticeably better under Walker and they still suck. If you want to give a reason for firing Walker say its because another person might be able to get the message across better or that it might just be that the players aren't listening to his voice, but don't tell me he's a s***ty hitting coach. Afterall, most players have gotten better with him than they were in previous organizations, unless of course the guy is just past his prime. Dye, Konerko, Quentin are three guys that got much better with the club. Rowand and Crede both improved significantly under Greg Walker. So enough already. Its not Walkers fault. Look at the s*** he's getting handed or what the Sox are putting out there in the lineup. So seriously. For all of you people b****ing about Walker, wheres the fire Coop thread? Oh wait, Coop isn't at fault cause he was handed nothing for the back end of teh rotation so it shouldn't come as a shock that our pitching staff has struggled mightily at times. When a Walker student goes elsewhere and just dominates or turns the light on, than come tell me, but I haven't seen that happen so I clearly don't believe that Walker is this terrible hitting coach. I swear, I'm going to start banning any dumbass that goes around telling me that Walker should get fired cause we've been shutout 6 times when we throw out lineups with 4 f***ing guys that shouldnt' be starting on a major league team, most of which shouldnt' be freaking near a major league roster. L.O.L Oh, yes. Jason has spoken.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ May 13, 2009 -> 02:16 PM) Omogrosso looked great today, he really works quick. His fastball hit 99 at one point and was hitting 96-97 consistently. With two outs in the top of the 7th and no one out, Omogrosso came up and inside on Todd Frazier. Frazier made a big fuss, but Omo just stared at him. I knew he was going to do it again, and he did, this time he hit him and the benches cleared, but nothing cam of it. Danks got robbed of his first RBI when he hit a single to right, Retherford attempted to score from second, he slid and touched home, then was tagged. But, he was called out, everybody went nuts because he was clearly safe. More good news about Beckham, he said himself he'd be playing Saturday when the Barons are in West Tenn. Huh? He throws that hard? Have I been missing something?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 13, 2009 -> 02:17 PM) I agree with him about Gavin and agree with you about a replacement. The Sox can't upgrade an 0-5 8+ ERA Contreras. What is the next guy in line going to do? A decade of ineptitude in regards to drafting and player development has handicapped this team big time. And unlike a team like the Cubs, who have been just as bad if not worse in this department, we don't get 40K every night no matter if were in first or last (I.E. we don't have damn near an unlimited amount of money to throw at all our problems as they do). Look at teams like the Dodgers and Red Sox. These guys are spitting out impact players from their system at a crazy ass rate. We look to be turning it around. But we won't reap the benefits of what looks to be an improved system until 2010 at the absolute earliest.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ May 13, 2009 -> 01:46 PM) Let's look a little more closely at the numbers. His last 20 major league starts (perhaps the most important in terms of trends): 117.1 IP, 143 H, 39BB, 74 ER, 5.68 ERA, 1.55 WHIP His good stretch from September 2007-July 2008 (26 starts long): 131.1 IP, 105 H, 54BB, 50 ER, 3.43 ERA, 1.21 WHIP Note that his BB/IP ratio is about the same between his good stretch of 26 games and his most recent bad stretch of 20 games. Also note that a 1.21 WHIP is not that impressive, and that's his best stretch over his career, truly "cherry picking" (if we can even call a 1.21 WHIP a cherry). His career numbers outside of that ONE good stretch (43 starts long, and includes non-start innings as well): 293 IP, 348 H, 124BB, 195 ER, 5.99 ERA, 1.62 WHIP. "Cherry picking", to me, is taking 5 good months out of an otherwise HORRENDOUS major league career and being patient on that alone, particularly when the last 4 months (now almost as long!) has been bad. His CAREER era over 69 starts and 80 games played is above 5. And you're telling me that this is not a 5+ ERA pitcher???? Again, admittedly: I never liked trading for this player, never really thought much of him, never thought he had what it took physically or in terms of general makeup to be much better than an average-at-best pitcher,and didn't think what he was doing would last. I strongly believed in the luck factor last year, based on what I saw not only in 2007, but in 2006 and the two-three years he had been pitching at the major league level before. Out of curiosity, why are you so quickly to put stock in the 26 good starts he was able to string together, that sabremetrically has been explained as having a high luck factor, instead of the 43 bad starts he's had which make up the better part of his major league career? Perhaps more importantly, why does his stretch of 26 great starts from 2007-2008 mean so much more to you than his most recent 20 starts? Let's pretend for a second that I agree with you (I don't). Who exactly are we replacing Gavin with if the White Sox were to somehow adopt your doom_and_gloom scenario? You do realize that this team has ZERO depth. I mean NONE. And this is mostly on Kenny and our scouting department. We have no viable options (and this has already been proven) waiting in the wings in the event of injury/poor performance.

And we all know Mark is due for a s***ty start at some point. But we REALLY need him today. We've got to get a series win going into Toronto.

What a dumbass. If I was going to cheat and put my reputation/career on the line, it wouldn't be for a guy that I knew with 100% certainty was going to leave school after his freshman year.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ May 12, 2009 -> 12:53 PM) That's a whole different argument but I completely disagree with that. As for this poll, Jordan. The end. This is tricky. While MJ was in no way responsible for Pippen's talent. I definitely think there is something to the belief (not to mention the fact Scottie has admitted this) that coming into the league he was young, dumb and didn't have much of a work ethic. Obviously being around Michael on an every day basis took care of all that. I'm pretty sure that's what people mean when they say Scottie never becomes the player he did without Michael.

QUOTE (JustWin @ May 13, 2009 -> 08:30 AM) Well the Cardinals have not been playing well lately and I thought I heard the Ryan Ludwick blew a hamstring last night? So who knows what happens to that team. The Reds and Brewers might put up a fight but unfortunately I think the Cubs still have the most talent in that division. It just may not be such a cakewalk like it was last year for them. I've said to friends before that last year was the Cubs' year to take advantage of the weakest NL that I've ever seen. The Cubs were far and away the best team in the league last season. Thank God they choked in the playoffs again. But my fear is that the more they make the playoffs the better the odds of them actually doing well one of these years. Were the Cardinals supposed to play .680 baseball all year? Of course they've come down some since their hot start. Ludwick's hamstring injury doesn't appear to be anything close to serious. Not sure why you're freaking out there. The Cardinals have the most explosive offense in the division. Their starting to get their bullpen in order. The one thing you have to question is if their starting pitching can hold up. Edit: And I stand corrected. Ludwick was just placed on the 15-day DL. Tough break for them. Hopefully he's back in two weeks. QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ May 13, 2009 -> 09:48 AM) Everyother team in that division has just as many question marks if not more. The Cubs starting five and offense will eventually surmount any challenge that the Brewers offense can throw at it, but as you did mentioned the bullpen is very, very bad. I see that as the X-Factor, but i don't see it a bridge they can't cross. This is true. Nobody is going to run away with that division this year. The Cubs should still be the favorites. But the Cards aren't going anywhere. And if the Reds continue to get the pitching they've gotten thus far, they'll be a factor as well.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ May 12, 2009 -> 09:57 PM) Milton Bradley has started hitting. IF he does so consistently, i only see the Cubs looking behind them in the division for the rest of the year. Sadly for them, the Dodgers are the better team. Yeah, average all the way up to .186. That's hot, baby! And the Cubs aren't leaving anybody behind anytime soon as suspect (horrible) as their bullpen is. QUOTE (fathom @ May 12, 2009 -> 10:06 PM) The Cubs are 1.5 games out and have hit as bad as possible. I also am not sold on the Dodgers, as their starting pitching besides Billingsley stinks. Don't be fooled by Kershaw's ERA. All his peripheral stats are just fine (outside of his BB/9). Randy Wolf has been fantastic this year. He won't maintain his current numbers, but as my #4? He's more than serviceable. Kuroda will be back soon. Their rotation is just fine.

What an amazing moment for me. I've been a diehard Blackhawks fan for...what the f*** am I saying!!! I'd rather watch Oprah reruns all day over hockey. I just think it's funny how all of a sudden there's hockey fever in Chicago.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 11, 2009 -> 08:18 PM) For the stat geeks. Comparing Kobe and Mike, not Lebron, but you get hte point. Even the most biased of Kobe ball-massagers will concede that Jordan's overall efficiency puts Kobe's to shame. Now I do believe to some degree that Kobe might have a slightly more advanced skill-set. I can't deny that Kobe has a little more range on his outside shot (which leads to him being a slightly more explosive scorer). I've never bought the ball-handling argument. Yeah, Kobe might have a little more 'AND1' in his handle than Jordan did. But what does this really mean? Can he create space with his handle better than Jordan could? Can he consistently get to the basket with his handle the way Jordan could? Could he fly from one end of the court to the other within it seemed like a fraction of a second using his handle the way Jordan could? The answers to all of those questions are no, no and NO.

QUOTE (Bonderman38 @ May 8, 2009 -> 09:20 PM) Granderson saved the game with a great home run robbing catch in the bottom of the 9th..would've been a walk off. I love him. Without question the POY to this point. Hard to imagine anything topping that one.