hogan873

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 29, 2014 -> 11:19 PM) What about Billy Butler for DH. If he continues this lousy year, sign him 3 years 8 million a year. Have Butler DH and Abreu remain at first. He has a 12.5 million club option for next year which the Royals are too cheap to match. I've always liked Butler (hated to see him hit against the Sox, but liked his approach). But, I would think the Sox will be looking for a left-handed power bat. I would imagine they'd look for an outfielder and have Viciedo DH or try to find a DH.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 29, 2014 -> 11:12 PM) Maybe the Sox beat writers could quote some anonymous scout sources and find out if Dunn has any value as far as a possible trade. My guess is a big fat NO. What team would trade for Adam Dunn unless the Sox pay for the rest of the deal? It makes no sense after his body of work on the south side. The GM would have to be nuts IMO. If Dunn continues to hit well and has an average around .250 near the deadline, there will be teams asking about him. If there is a team in need of a left-handed power bat for the rest of the season for about $6 million, he'll be traded. Don't worry about his previous body of work. What teams will be looking at is his body of work in 2014. Besides, in 2012 and 2013 he hit 75 HRs and knocked in 182 runs.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Apr 29, 2014 -> 08:57 AM) This is going to be so good. They should just put this out now. I don't know if I've ever been this pumped to see a movie. I was fired up over Pacific Rim, and that movie blew me away in IMax 3D. I feel Godzilla will be even better.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Apr 29, 2014 -> 09:41 AM) You should have thrown things at the guy in the blackhawks jersey that couldnt shut up during the entire game My son and I were watching the game, and he asked who was making all that noise. I told him to look at the fat ass in the Blackhawks jersey right behind homeplate. Guy was a pain in the ass.

QUOTE (Bigsoxhurt35 @ Apr 29, 2014 -> 07:45 AM) This is such a pleasure to watch. He's such a great professional hitter. We needed this in our lineup. He's been a big spark along with eaton. Having Eaton on this team is so refreshing. He's that little pain in the ass speedster that you hate to face but love having on your team. He's a smart ballplayer, too. Hawk and Steve keep mentioning how he hits the front of the bag all of the time when he's running out those infield singles. Plus, his defense has been pretty damn good.

The new Asian trailer for Godzilla reveals another monster. A flying beast...MUTO?

Latest forecast has the rain holding off until later. My bet is that it'll start on time but there could be some delays.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 05:47 AM) The Amazing Spider-Man was just really flat and non-cohesive...something was just a bit off, it's hard to put it into words on first viewing, but it's going to be considered a disappointment and pale imitation of the Tobey Maguire/Franco/Dunst version. Are you talking about Spiderman 2 vs. The Amazing Spiderman 2? I thought Sam Raimi's Spiderman 2 was the best of the three by far. I particularly liked the nod to the Evil Dead with the Doc Ock scene in the hospital.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 07:43 AM) Why not? They are both rookies. What is Japan baseball equivelent to, AA? Cuban baseball -- A ball? Is it their age that bothers you? If so, what would be your age cap? It's a tough one. They are both rookies to MLB, and I would agree that both Cuban and Japanese baseball are not the same as the majors. I think what both are doing is pretty damn good. Being biased of course, I think Abreu's success is more telling. He has to adjust to different pitchers everyday, where Tanaka has to go out there and do his thing, which he does every time he pitches. But, I also see the age and experience argument. Overall, though, I'd say they should be eligible.

QUOTE (Bigsoxhurt35 @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 06:59 AM) I'll be watching this one tonight. Could care less about the bulls and their scoring deficiencies. I'm also a Pens fan. I'll be watching it, too. And I'm also a Pens fan...being originally from Pittsburgh. Note the "pitts" in my user name.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 04:04 PM) I should stop now and wait for some board support. My take is the division sucks; Abreu and the lineup has been fantastic meaning this could be a .500 team. On paper with Sale, Q and Danks and an emerging Erik it's a fair to good rotation, especially for our division. But ... with a GIVE UP bullpen, the worst bullpen imaginable, .500 isn't possible. All it would take is hanging around .500 to .550 all year and we'd be in it. That brings us to REED. He would make a world of difference in the bullpen options though arguably the bullpen still "might" suck. My position is not outlandish. So he would make a world of difference, but the bullpen would still suck. Okay. With Reed, we wouldn't have a potential future 3rd baseman signed for six years. One guy in the bullpen doesn't make a difference. This is as bad as your arguments last year that having AJ would have saved the season.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 03:52 PM) It shouldn't be. Not in this pathetic division. It was winnable with Reed IMO.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 03:44 PM) Then why is Adam Dunn on this team? Why is Konerko? Why is Beckham? Why is Lexi? These are not guys who will be a part of the future? My point is in this s***ty division, there's no reason to give away your only possible closer when all it takes is flirting with .500 then catching lightning in September to win the patsy division. This bullpen is so bad it is laughable. Is it even a good AAA bullpen? Seriously. This is a terrible argument. The AL Central is not a s***ty division anymore. You have to know this. Detroit is a very good team. Cleveland is getting better every year. Even KC is getting better. And to answer your question, yes, this bullpen would be good in AAA. There is a huge difference in hitting (and pitching for that matter) from AAA to the majors.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 03:38 PM) I contend it's an awful trade because he had nobody waiting in the wings to close. I guess the answer to that is the Sox don't care about this season at all, blah blah blah. You've got to have a closer candidate and they made no attempt to find one to replace Reed. And Nate Jones is not the answer. If they thought he was ... Wow. Sigh. Nate Jones is hurt. Let's wait until he comes back healthy before deciding he can't close.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 03:35 PM) Let's face it. You cannot trade Addison Reed and have no closer in waiting and expect anything but this to happen. It was a boneheaded decision to trade Reed with NOTHING left over. How this team is flirting with .500 is amazing with this bullpen. And if the rotation loses Sale ... wow, the bullpen is going to be needed A LOT. The bullpen has sucked for years now but at least the Sox have always had a closer. What? The closer has been a role the Sox have struggled with for years. It seems like they get a good year out of one guy, then said guy comes in the next year and sucks. Reed was traded for a reason. The need for a long term fix at 3rd base was something that had to be taken care of. Time will tell with Davidson, but it was the right trade to make.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 03:30 PM) Let's face it. It's a miracle the Sox are close to .500. Once the hitting cools off we're still a 90-95 loss team. The split was a nice miracle in Detroit. Like I said, a miracle. Our only hope of remaining close to .500 is if Abreu, Viciedo and Dunn and Lexi rake all summer and Sale can pitch. Abreu is so good that might happen. Way to be positive. It wasn't a miracle they split in Detroit. It was hitting and some occasional decent pitching. Without Leesman's horrendous start, they Sox could have taken 3 of 4. And I'm not sure the hitting will coll off to the point that they lose 95 games. I think this is an 80ish win team, especially if some of these bullpen issues get handled.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 02:43 PM) I'm from Ireland, yes. I feel like I've learned a lot about baseball but I accept that others will inevitably know more. I think Cleto is a fairly easy case to analyse though, he just can't throw strikes. Until he learns how to, I would say it's a fairly uncontroversial opinion to say the Sox should stop putting him in for high-leverage situations, no? The problem is that there aren't too many guys in the bullpen who can handle high-leverage situations right now. Cleto has good stuff but lacks control. Hopefully he can correct that, because he could be an effective reliever.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 09:16 AM) Didn't feel the need to bump the other thread, but those projections for Pito of 26HR, 85 RBI look to be woefully low. He'll have his ups and downs. But the early season weather hasn't seemed to bother him, and that was one of the concerns going in. He's hitting bombs off pitchers he's never seen before. He's hitting the ball to all parts of the field. I assume that you'll see pitchers make adjustments as time goes on, and I think that'll lead to more walks. If Dunn continues to have a decent year, Abreu will have a better chance to see better pitches to hit. All that being said (and assumed), 30+ HRs seems likely.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 05:36 AM) If you watched the game and listened to Stone, they used him as the long man out of necessity. They are going to try to get him used to pitching one inning at a time. He had not pitched in almost a week and threw one inning. If that kills Webb for 3 or 4 days, he obviously can't be a closer. It is rather ironic you are calling someone clueless. Yeah, I heard them discussing Webb. If I remember correctly, and I'm sure I do, he was used for three innings last week during that 14 inning mess. That was out of necessity. Last night he just pitched one inning. These guys who are going to be one inning guys will have to pitch more than one inning at times.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 22, 2014 -> 08:30 AM) 2012 he was skipped because of soreness after an 88 pitch performance. Went to the bullpen one game, then back in the rotation. 2013 he was skipped after a 113 pitch performance. Was either skipped once or backed off a day and went the rest of the season. This year is the first being Dl'd. However, considering he went down after 88 pitches one year and 113 last, I don't know how you can say it was the pitch count that did him in. As far as I know, most of the people complaining about it have zero medical training, and get their "knowledge" from others with the exact same credentials. Exactly. We're all just supposing and assuming. But, based on history, it seems more likely that it's his throwing motion than pitch count. His motion has been a concern since...well, since forever. Sale might be the kind of pitcher that needs the breaks and/or a DL trip each year. But none of us know. We can assume and point fingers and scream all we want. All we really should be doing it hoping right now.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Apr 22, 2014 -> 06:58 AM) Wait you think Cooper has no input into pitching? You can't be serious. Just be thankful he didn't blame Dunn.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 22, 2014 -> 05:59 AM) So true But this pitch count thing, we’re in the American League," Cooper said. "We’re not in Little League. But nevertheless, people that bring up pitch counts are people who have nothing else to really know. And it just blows me away. They’re doing that to say, ‘God forbid if someone goes down, I told you so.’ And these are people that are not in the arena and never really played, so what kind of validity does any of that hold? Couldn't agree with this more.

I'll take the more optimistic view here and hope that he comes back from his DL stint ready to go. If Sale is sore and needs to miss a start or two, so be it. But the team has to be smart about it regarding who pitches in his place. Sale going to the DL alows them to call up someone. Otherwise, one of the bullpen standouts (see the sarcasm there?) would have to be stretched out for a start.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 21, 2014 -> 08:09 AM) Cosmos told one of my all-time favorite science stories last night, Dr. Patterson, the age of the Earth, and lead poisoning. That was a great episode. I didn't know the whole story behind lead poisoning. Amazing how companies skewed data like that...and disturbing to think that they are still doing it.

Got a chance to see Divergent yesterday. I haven't read the book, but my daughter did, and she said it followed it pretty well. I enjoyed it. I would say that the movie was done for a wider audience than the Hunger Games movies (epecially Catching Fire). Even though I had read the Hunger Games books, I felt that the movies were made more for people who had read the books. Plus, Shailene Woodley is extremely cute.