hogan873

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 12, 2011 -> 07:31 PM) 1.) You guys really think things won't change in baseball and Philly and Atlanta are just gonna dominate year after year? If so then I'm mistaken. Florida isn't exactly Chicago Cub-like. 2.) You will be surprised at my reaction. I told everybody earlier I didn't care if he got fired. I think Ozzie even expected to get the boot in mid May. He is not dumb; by baseball standards he deserved to get booted at that time. A high payroll, supposed contender, was what, nine or 10 under .500? Or seven under or something? I just happen to believe he's going to be better than whomever we hire to replace him. And I think he's SO young it's a shame he learned on the job here while winning one WS (which the Sox NEVER do) and he's only going to get better. It's a shame the Sox "trained" him for his next gig. I love Ozzie but I'm not going to freak at all when the boot comes. I don't think he was "trained" by the Sox. Ozzie came in managing a certain way, and he'll go out managing that same way. In reality, who would he have learned from? He doesn't listen to the GM (who isn't exactly the guy who want training a manager). Other than that, he's the boss of the team. Ozzie is very stubborn, and his stubbornness leads to bad decisions sometimes. He'll do the same thing in Florida (if he goes there), and we'll have to wait and see what sort of results he'll have. You have your opinion that any new guy won't be any better than Ozzie. I (and many others) disagree. But, again we'll have to wait and see. I personally think that Ozzie's emotions and hard-headedness gets in the way of making good baseball decisions. Someone more level headed who concentrates on the game vs. what to say to the media will do a better job...in my opinion.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 12, 2011 -> 03:06 PM) Jesus, we're 10.5 out? I thought it was 8.5. With the way Detroit is playing, we could finish 15+ games out by the time the season is over. Not that it matters. But there's second, and then there's a DISTANT second. It's going to be a long climb up for this organization. Ugh. I haven't been paying attention to the standings. That's worse than I thought.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Sep 12, 2011 -> 03:50 PM) Good to have the CQ back. Hope he is with us next year. My book on him is an all out hustler 30 homers 100 RBI kind of guy and more than adequate in the OF. I don't know about more than adequate. He definitely hustles out there, but often times it's because he got a bad read or stepped the wrong way. I like CQ, too. But I also see him getting to be quite expensive. Of course, I'd like to see Rios go away and have an OF of Viciedo, De Aza, and Quentin. However, since Rios is not going anywhere...

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 12, 2011 -> 02:10 PM) It seems cut and dried. If they won't extend him, it's off to Florida where I say he gets four years. Many of you tell me I'm wrong and he'll 'only' get three. 1) It's not cut and dried. 50/50 isn't 10/90 2) He can only go to Florida and win three consecutive WS titles if the Sox fire or trade him. He's under contract for 2012. 3) Why would someone argue how many years he gets? If he's not associated with the Sox, we don't care.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 12, 2011 -> 01:13 PM) Wow, that's f***ing ridiculous. I usually try to keep my b****ing about Ozzie to a minimum, but that's just crazy. On so many different levels. Yeah, his saying that he thought about pinch hitting for him but decided against it because he makes $14 million (which is inaccurate) is the exact opposite of what KW said would be done. I don't know which is worse, Ozzie making that dumbass decision or his outright saying why he made it.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Sep 12, 2011 -> 11:30 AM) Could Reinsdorf give Guillen an extension and then have him traded to the Marlins? Well, then Florida would be guaranteed at least two WS titles. Seriously, though, what're the rules for extending and trading? A player signed cannot be traded for a certain period of time, right? Is it the same for extensions?

I agree. The main focus has to be the coaching staff and/or the GM. If we go into next season with the same two guys (KW and Ozzie), it's going to be a lot of the samw crap, regardless of the sunshine and flowers BS they'll throw out there about them getting along just fine. Other than that, I'd say freeing up some money has to be a focus point. Players that I think have the best chance to be traded are CQ, Danks, and Floyd. Thornton may go, too. That being said, I still don't see a big difference in the lineup or starting pitching staff. The OF should be De Aza, Rios, Viciedo. Infield would most likely be Konerko, Beckham, Morel, Ramirez. AJ will be the starting catcher with Flowers hopefully getting some decent playing time. The pitching staff might see the bigger changes. Buehrle and Peavy are locks, in my opinion. If Danks AND Floyd get traded, the SPs should be Buehrle, Peavy, Humber, Stewart, and Sale. But if Danks stays, does Sale remain in the bullpen? And if Floyd stays, is Humber or Stewart the odd man out? I'm hoping for an interesting off season. But, if KW and Ozzie are both back next season, I'm not going to have a good feeling about 2012.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 12, 2011 -> 08:42 AM) For the first 3-4 years of his career, Joe Crede was not an impact bat. I'm sure you're right. I just remember Crede being that guy who could be counted on in a pressure situation. By impact bat, I wasn't just alluding to his power but his ability to get hits when it mattered.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 12, 2011 -> 07:46 AM) Incredible Breaking Bad last night. Gus managed to do exactly what he wanted in driving the wedge between Walt and Jesse. The fight scene was great, and well teased at the beginning. You know Sky is going to get Benke the money, the interesting part is does she figure out a way to launder it to him so that Walt doesn't find out, or does she tell him? Also good how quickly Hank is unraveling Gus's operation. Dude is good. That show just gets better every week. Hank is going to catch up to Gus soon enough. He's a man on a mission. The fight scene (and the point where Gus' wedge between Walt and Jesse was driven home) was fantastic.

I like Brent. His defense is very good, but his hitting is lacking. Average-wise, he's not far from how Crede was. But he doesn't seem to have the same impact bat that Crede had. As someone else mentioned, with our payroll woes, he may be the best option. I'm okay with Brent at the hot corner for defense. If the rest of the lineup were to hit (big IF, I know), it'd be easier to overlook his hitting.

Andy Whitfield, who played Spartacus in the first series on Starz.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 11, 2011 -> 11:08 PM) Hey he called you a fare weather fan, nothin to get mad about. There is no such thing. Now if he called u a "fair weather fan" that'd be a different story. Forgive my desire to edit tonight. Greg with the funny!

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 11, 2011 -> 02:40 PM) Good posts, Victory. Soxtalk is one place people b**** even when we win. Ozzie haters want him gone ... period. I want Dunn n Rios n Peavy gone. It's not just the "Ozzie haters" that want him gone. It's those of us who realize that Ozzie has not done a good job managing this team this year. His job was made harder with the performances of Rios, Dunn, and others, but Ozzie could have made many different choices to compensate for that. His not PHing for Dunn (then subsequently PHing for De Aza) was just the latest in a series of bad managerial moves.

QUOTE (VictoryMC98 @ Sep 11, 2011 -> 11:01 AM) He does... and still you find a way to poop on him. Green?

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Sep 11, 2011 -> 10:57 AM) and im not defending him. do i critisize him when he manages a shi** game(like yesterdays game)? yes but i could care less about his little antics because they dont have anything to do with the team winning or losing. jake peavy said "well obviously were not playing for anything anymore.." and thats fine. if it were ozzie that said that omg, everyone would rip him to shreds,. at the end of the day, i dont think the sox would have won the division or lost it becuase of ozzie. thats my only point and thats not me defending him I can agree with this to a point. It was the deplorable play of a couple individuals that contributed heavily to this poor season. But, Ozzie, the guy who makes the lineups, pitching changes, PH decisions, etc., made plenty of boneheaded moves that led to losses. It's definitely not entirely his fault, but he certainly had a hand in it.

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Sep 11, 2011 -> 10:17 AM) people overreact over any little thing ozzie does. jeeze, i think when he sneezes it bothers some people If he did a good job managing, people wouldn't care as much about his antics. He's like the class clown that never gets in trouble while everyone around him suffers.

It would be nice if it were "2012 White Sox: Now With Less Ozzie!" But, that's a pipedream. How about "2012 White Sox: We're the Florida of Chicago Baseball!" Or "2012 White Sox: Give Us Another Chance. We Gave Ozzie Like Half a Dozen Chances!"

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 11:37 AM) This might be the most amazing thing I've ever read on this site. Yeah, that's pretty extreme. Juan's defense didn't help, but he's not more responsible for Thornton's failure as a closer than Thornton was.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Sep 9, 2011 -> 10:31 AM) they raised him on to their shoulders, and started a "Juan" chant, then headed over to greg775's house(with him still on their shoulders) for a beer with ELrockin and Lemon_44. I am pretty sure white doves were released at the moment he left the stadium too.

I was in the Coast Guard at the time. I remember sitting at my desk when someone said a plane hit one of the Towers. I immediately thought it was a small plane. But soon enough I heard about the second plane. We all gathered in the conference room and watched the news coverage until our CO chased us out and told us our lives have just changed dramatically. My job changed in an instant. Our main focus became being ready for another attack. We went to 24 hour watches and started patrolling the lakefront and rivers looking for suspiscious behavior. Those of us who had watch duty would get some very interesting phone calls, especially in the first few days afterwards. I remember one woman calling and saying there was a barge on the river that was full of gasoline (there are always many barges on the rivers carrying flammable liquids). She said it seemed like a good target for a terrorist. Then we'd get the calls, over the phone and radio, of people saying they were going to blow up the Coast guard stations or whatever. I was supposed to leave active duty two months after the attacks. Needless to say I had to stick around a bit longer. I got out in January but was called back to active duty in May. I spent four months on active duty just doing 24-hour watches. It's hard for me to remember how things were right after the attacks, in general I mean. The attacks are very vivid, but the year or so after just seems like a blur. Our lives changed so much in so many aspects, but now it just seems like that's the way it's always been.

McDonald's, in honor of Juan's 2000th hit, will unveil the McSingle in restaurants around Chicago. Juan never doubles down when he's in Vegas. Juan watches only one race of the Triple Crown. Juan never stays at Doubletree Hotels.

Plopping a new manager on the bench won't solve everything. It's not going to fix Dunn and Rios. Those guys are professional veterans that need to figure a lot out on their own. But, in regards to Dunn and Rios, Ozzie made the mistake of playing them too often, in the wrong spots in the lineup, and in pressure situations when everyone knew they'd fail. I don't know how much of Ozzie's decision making is cluelessness vs. stubbornness. I don't think Ozzie is a stupid guy. I think a lot of what he does is out of stubbornness. His attitude gets too big for the game, and in turn he makes bad decisions.

That's very disappointing. I saw him get hit, and right away I thought his hand was broken. You could tell he was in a ton of pain when Herm was checking his hand out. Lillibomb was one of the greatest surprises on this team this year. The guy gives it his all. I imagine he'll be back as the 4th OF next season.

2000 hits is 2000 hits. Congrats to Juan. I've heard nothing but great things about the guy as far as how hard he works and how good of a teammate he is. Unfortunately he's not as big an impact on the game he used to be. There was quite a drop in his base stealing ability from last year. I don't expect him back with the Sox, and I would imagine he'll be a 4th OF wherever he goes.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 8, 2011 -> 02:12 PM) I asked some Royals fans I know about Ozzie. Some of them are sabes people. All of them thought it out of the realm of possibility fans want him fired. One guy said he probably should be on the hot seat if they suck next year but the WS title still should bide him some time and our players are overrated. It's like saying a guy was employee of the month once, but in the year since he's been late 6 times, called off 5 times, and been asleep at his desk a few times...oh, and he makes an ass of himself with loud, obnoxious behavior with customers. But, you know, that employee of the month plaque buys him more time. Give me a break.