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QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Oct 22, 2013 -> 05:24 PM) Black List is fantastic. It's worth watching for Spader alone. I wish it had a more overall story rather than a problem of the week setup, but thats a problem with a lot network tv shows. Other than that, it's a great show. I think there's a bit of an overall story building with the mystery behind Lizzie's husband. It will be interesting to see how that's handled. And, I'm glad to see someone else agrees about Spader in this series.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Oct 22, 2013 -> 01:19 PM) My thinking is that once Carrie called her dad and told him to contact Saul, that Saul cooked up this plan for Carrie to accept the weird guy's offer, so she could get out, and then they would use his info against him. I don't think it was planned from the beginning otherwise she wouldn't have been acting so crazy when she was alone (unless you mean it was Saul's plan the whole time and Carrie wasn't in on it until the end). The more I think about it, I tend to agree. It wasn't like she was acting crazy only around other people.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Oct 22, 2013 -> 09:27 AM) The vests? I'd like the vests back. What about the shorts and collared shirts? That'd be sweet.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Oct 22, 2013 -> 08:20 AM) lol at this post When did James Spader become a fantastic character actor? I didn't say he was a fantastic character actor. I meant that his character on this show is great...much better than his Robert California disaster on The Office and different than his character on Boston Legal. Way to take a post and turn it so you could make a smartass remark.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Oct 21, 2013 -> 06:45 AM) Sox that Homeland twist That was great. My question was

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Oct 22, 2013 -> 12:21 AM) Alright, I have the first 5 episodes of The Blacklist sitting on the DVR. Is this worth starting? Absolutely. I'm really enjoying it. One of the best characters for James Spader in quite a while.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Oct 21, 2013 -> 02:59 PM) You think they're going to add $50m+ in 2014 payroll over the offseason though? That would be a stretch. That'd be like adding McCann and Ellsbury and then some small pieces.

I just looked at the free agent class for catchers. Ugh...very thin. Beyond McCann, Salty, AJ, and Suzuki there's not much at all.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Oct 21, 2013 -> 11:47 AM) Would you rather spend $10-12 million a year on McCann for the next 6 years or $12-14 on AJ for the next two? $10-$12 million for McCann is not realistic. More like $15-$18 million.

I don't see a McCann signing happening, but we can hope. No matter the length of the contract, he'll be getting at least $15 million per year. Saltalamacchia is a possibility, and he'd be significantly cheaper. But I wouldn't rule out AJ coming back for a year. He would be a left-handed bat the Sox need, and he'd be relatively cheap. If the Sox can fill the 3B hole, and they spend the money there, AJ filling in for a year makes sense.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Oct 18, 2013 -> 11:14 AM) This is probably my White Sox fan angst coming out, but I think it's coming from he didn't sign with one of the media darling teams, so it's not being spun in an overly positive way.... again, probably angst, but I think if NYY, Red Sox or Cubs the positive scouting reports would be pushed. If the Yankees or Red Sox had signed this guy ESPN would have cancelled all other programming for a day to talk about it.

Wow this happened fast. Just yesterday afternoon I was reading that a deal might happen within a few weeks. Then I go online last night and was extremely surprised. I wonder how much national attention this will get when the deal is made official? This is probably the biggest deal the Sox have made in a long time. Now the attention switches to the catcher spot. I'd be happy with McCann, Salty, Suzuki, or Jaso...probably in that order. If the Sox do have another $10-$20 million to allocate for next year, any one of them is a possibility. But, if they are also going to be looking for a 3B and/or CF, I think we might see someone other than McCann being signed. Overall, though, what a way to start the off season!

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Oct 16, 2013 -> 10:20 PM) Well, he's a switch hitter, but I'm sure he will bat lefty as some point, yeah. I was just going to ask if he stopped switch hitting. I'd seen several posts talking about him being a lefty, and I was sure he was a switch hitter. If I remember correctly, during one of Hawk's ramblings during a Sox vs. Sox game, he mentioned that he's much better from the left side of the plate.

QUOTE (knightni @ Oct 16, 2013 -> 01:54 PM) Wasn't he the guy who got the "yips" and couldn't throw the ball back to the pitcher? Wasn't that Major League 2? And wasn't he cured by looking at a Victoria's Secret catalog?

I know 28 isn't young, but for some reason I thought Salty was older. I'd be okay with signing him if the Sox miss out on McCann. There was an article today about McCann maybe commanding a $100 million deal. I don't know how realistic that is, but I doubt the Sox are going to sign a contract like that.

Without getting into the advanced statistics, I think that WHIP is a stat that most people (players and fans alike) can look at and understand the importance. A pitcher could have a low ERA and a high WHIP, but that would mean he gets into trouble a lot and somehow works his way out of it. But, it's the potential is what grabs my attention. A high WHIP, regardless of ERA, means that the pitcher has the potential to give up a lot of runs. Sooner or later that high WHIP is going to catch up to that pitcher.

I've always thought that ERA and WHIP were better stats to see how a pitcher is doing compared to looking at wins. Look at Chris Sale this season for example. One thing that Steve Stone says a lot that I disagree with (and for the most part he's a smart baseball guy) is that you don't look at the ERA of a closer. You look at their saves to chances. I don't like this because even if a guy has 20 saves out of 22 chances but has an ERA of 6.00, it shows that he has the tendency to give up runs. Which means that there's a higher chance of blowing saves than if his ERA is 3.00.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 15, 2013 -> 10:16 AM) From what I have seen, Garcia would be out there over De Aza in a heartbeat. Granted at this point it is limited samplesize. Right. And that's where a guy that makes mistakes ends up sitting because of those mistakes. That's a part of coaching, too. It's tough, but there will come a time (and maybe that time has already come) where he's told to get his head out of his ass and utilize his tools and make a difference.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Oct 15, 2013 -> 10:02 AM) Look, I'm all for being reasonable here...and surely many advanced statistics are not perfectly fine-tuned. But to dismiss them outright because there may be some flaws is ridiculous. I don't know why you seem to be holding on to this line of reasoning because we all know you are smarter than that. Let me put it this way. If we were in a postseason game, tied, in the 9th inning, and PK singles or doubles with less than two outs, and you have De Aza on the bench...would you not pinch run him for PK? Well, this is a no brainer, and you don't need advanced statistics to tell you to put De Aza in. However, to play the devil's (SS2K5) advocate, what if you had De Aza and Leury Garcia on the bench, and even though their stats match up you've seen De Aza picked off first base a few times and get a few bad jumps and consequently kill a few rallies, who do you put in the game? I'm personally not a fan of advanced statistics...let me rephrase that...I don't know much about them and haven't made an effort to do much research. But advanced stats aside, De Aza is a fairly valuable player due to his decent hitting and good speed. He has made some bad decisions and has looked dumb on the basepads at times. But that's the kind of thing that can be coached. You can't as easily coach a slow runner to be faster. I like De Aza, and for his price he's fine in the outfield (preferably LF). It's ludicrous to say the guy has no value because he makes mistakes. You take him for his tools and you coach the mistakes.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Oct 14, 2013 -> 11:23 AM) I thought the episode was somewhat mediocre to be honest. Too much ambiguity with that kid and some of the stuff with Rick. Wasn't very compelling. There was a bit of a time jump from the end of last season. I think (and hope) that more will be explained with the kid in the future. Rick's been messed up for a while now, and I think the episode showed that he's slowly coming back. Carl, though...what's up with that kid?

With some rare down time on Saturday I was able to watch The Purge and This Is The End. Both were very good. The Purge did a good job with the suspense. My wife and kids said they expect a sequel. I hope not. I think it would be nothing more than a re-hashing of what happened in the movie. I'm not sure they could tell another story that would be original in any way. This Is The End was hilarious. There were so many little jokes mixed in that I'm sure I didn't see all of them. I think it's a movie that has to be watched a few times.

I haven't met anyone from the board, and I think I'm Facebook friends with just two posters.

Solid opening to The Walking Dead.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Oct 8, 2013 -> 01:42 PM) I honestly don't even know who Alison Brie is. I mean, I've heard the name, but I wouldn't be able to point her out. She must not star in anything that I watch. I had to look it up, too. She's Trudy in Mad Men...that's the only place I recognize her from.

1. White Sox 2. 5 3. $52 Million