joeynach

QUOTE (103 mph screwball @ Aug 6, 2009 -> 09:10 AM) The Sox should do some sort of an upper deck deal that provides a ticket and a parking pass at a bargain price. An unfilled seat and an empty parking spot does nobody any good. People will spend what they can afford. The good seats will sell themselves with the team playing so well. They need to make the upper deck somehow special so that even though the view of the game may not be as good as the expensive seats, there is an incentive or gimmick. What about a single people section or a kids/family area with stroller places and diaper changing areas. Even when the team is playing really well, there are just seats that rarely sell on normal weekday games. Well I agree something should be done, espeically for weekday games in the upper deck and maybe even outfield. I wouldnt go nuts with the stroller and diaper changing stuff though. You dont want to do anything that could be potentially disruptive to the other fans enjoying the game; like stinking diapers and ppl pushing strollers all argund the stadium, NOT GOOD!! I suggest some sort of gimmick for discount. For example, for tuesdays, if the sox win the previous game, all UD tickets 1/2 or 1/3 off, whatever. Maybe all afternoon weekday games could be walk up 1/2 or 1/3 price in the UD or outfield. I also like the idea of what the twins do with the NYSE. We could do several weekday games, like those against KC, OAK, and BAL, and make UD tix discounted to a corresponding price of the NYSE. For example choose like 4 or 5 low draw games and say if the stock market is in the 9000s then UD prices are $9, if 10,000s then prices would be $10. Stuff like that. It aint that hard.

Look its no secret there is something to be said about rookies with talent coming to the Bigs and all of a sudden putting up awesome numbers, AKA lightening in a bottle. We have seen it over and over again; Soto, Zach Duke, Hunter Pence, Hank Blalock, Clint Barmes, Troy Tuliwitzki, Eric Hinske, Longoria, Pedroia, Angel Berrora, Bobby Crosby, Dontrelle Willis, etc etc. The point is yes there are a few shining stars in that bunch who go on to maintain their success year in and year out, most of them are just products of the fact that no one has seen them before and no one has been able to set up a game plan to combat their talent. Its typically refereed to a sophmore slump, ask Soto, Marmol, Duke, Barmes, etc about that. In reality the league just hasn't caught up with them yet, scouting reports, film, game plans, etc. Once all that comes into play the lightening in a bottle rookie experiences the "sophmore slump". Let me be the first to say Gordon Bechham is not immune from all this. Next year is going to be real tough, every opposing pitcher will have his strengths and weaknesses known and a scouting reports presented to them. It will be up to Gordon to either make some adjustments to prove that he is one of the supreme talents in the game (Longoria, Pedroia, etc).

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 2, 2009 -> 11:28 AM) It's yours. See you at the softball game. EDIT: joeynack is going to Lollapalooza. That extra ticket we have is still available if anyone need one. true i forgot is was LaLa and i already bought a ticket for that

OMG the sox beat a pitcher they haven't seen before

QUOTE (Jimbo's Drinker @ Aug 3, 2009 -> 09:02 PM) I would rather play Nix than Ramirez. Ramirez is just not that good to me. Nix at the bottom of the order has some pop, takes pitches, and can hit and run. Ramirez pulls everything. Nix looks awful at the plate. Nix has pretty awful plate disciple. He really looks like a young hitter, he pulls everything hittable foul, occasionally connection for a HR down the line. He swings at a lot of pitchers set up pitches (in the dirt, low and away, etc) and strikes out. At least in Alexi's free swinging-ness he has shown he can actually turn those pitchers pitches well out of the zone into hits occasionally. .

"According to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, Bobby Jenks has returned to the hospital with kidney stones. Jenks missed a save chance on Thursday with the same problem. He'll undergo some sort of procedure to help with the pain and discomfort, and probably won't be available for the next few days. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen is expected to use a committee of closers in his absence."

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 3, 2009 -> 09:28 PM) Not taking into consideration the POSSIBLE money from the Phils for THOME ("secret" Gillick handshake deal on the option year) and the hefty insurance contract we just took on (transferred) from SD with Jake Peavy's contract. And Viciedo, although he's not counted as part of our roster...it's money the organization has taken out of Swisher's contract to pay someone else that could have been on the MLB roster. We've also added Castro and Pena, so the team has gotten more and more expensive as the season has worn on, NOT cheaper. What is this rumored handshake deal between KW and Gillick about sending extra $$ for Thome. If there was such a deal we would know about it. First of all Gillick has to be dumb to agree to send KW money during on option year. Second of all, anything and eveything on the White Sox books is made public at some point. The payroll figures need to be reported in full to MLB so they can determine Luxury tax info every year. If there was some $$ coming from PHI it would have shown up somewhere by now.

Well so far my theory is being proven correct. On Tuesday night June 23rd against the dodgers, a Prime priced game, the sox drew 22,251 fans. Tonite the sox drew 30,228 fans on their promotion of reduced ticket prices for some tickets as well as perfect game commerative plaques being given away. Its working.

Two things u can always just risk it by parking the adjacent neighborhoods (from 35th to 31st St, From Wentworth to Normal Ave) where u are supposed to have a residential permit. I have parked their before and not received a ticket, but its a risk. Also along 31st st and shields there is meter parking which is free after 8pm so u pay till then. Same with halsted about 5 blocks from the stadium, metered street parking. Good luck.

Cots baseball contracts has the sox payroll just over $96 Mil. So ur # here on soxtalk is not that far off at all.

The angels are hot hot hot right now. They are even missing Torii Hunter and Vlad Guerrero and still dominating people. Their talented young core of players is really starting to shine, so the sox should not take them lightly because they are not all stars or haven't seen them before. Should be fun. I doubt the sox roll over and die like the twins did against the angels over the weekend, but taking 1/3 is a real possibility, the games will be closer though.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 2, 2009 -> 10:33 PM) I wish they'd DL Liney for a while. He does suck. Sorry to say I haven't been impressed much with Pena. I am not a Carrasco guy. The new lefty appears maybe better than Gobble, but doesn't thrill me. Just think if we got the good Dotel and the good Thornton every night out or 85 percent of the time. We'd have it made. Those 2 guys are ultimately the key with Liney sucking. Maybe Jhonny will be the answer. He looked OK in his one batter though he did go 3-2 on him. Not good. Unfortunatly the sox bullpen is beginning to resemble parts of the clown car.

QUOTE (SouthsideDon48 @ Aug 2, 2009 -> 05:49 PM) As for Thornton, I think he's a great pitcher, but I think he's more valuable to the Sox as a lefty set-up man than a closer. If we make Thornton the closer, the we'll basically need to find another lefty set-up man to fill Thornton's current role. I agree I think thornton's value is in his current role. If the sox dont want Bobby around I would try and get Matt Capps or Rafael Soriano.

No, closers aren't worth tens of millions and multiple year contracts. You see what Brian Fuentes got, 2 years and 17 mil, thats about all I would ever do for any closer. The mets were paying Billy Wagner $10 mil per year before he blew out his arm, and now are paying K-Rod $12 mil as a result of the bullpen implosion. Typically u dont give double digit Millions to closers. Would the sox really see a bullpen implosion if Thornton closed, probably not, as long as they replace Thornton's set up role. If Bobby is fine accepting like a 2 year 17 mil deal with an option, by all means resign him. But i doubt his agent would let him do that.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 2, 2009 -> 04:20 PM) Supposedly, his fastball is in the 91-94 MPH range still, right? I haven't seen him pitch live or on t.v. in at least two months, though. Has he thrown too many sliders or is he getting hit on the FB? Location? Arm/shoulder issue? Confidence/psychological? All of the above? On the surface, he looks like a decent reliever, strictly going by the numbers. But the reality is far different sometimes from the statistics...which is why baseball is such an interesting game to follow. Guys hes not done, hes just getting a little predictable right now thats all. Kind of like what we went through with Cliff Politte. Linebrink's arm is not dead or anything its live as hell. He was throwing consistently 94-95 MPH and has been for most of the year. The problem has been two things. His 4 seam fastball is extremely flat and easy to hit, and his running fastball (runs inwards towards RH) is a meatball. This is evidence by two ways. The running fastball is what Derek Lee hit out earlier this year, he aims for the outside part of the plate the ball winds up running back over the middle to middle in part. Everyone knows to a RH power hitter thats gone. Second his 4 seam fastball is fine on velocity but extremely flat, see Jeter's hit in the 9th today. Linebrink's real problem has been his recent failure to throw his off speed stuff effectively and for strikes. Thats it man, its that simple.

Two things. First I agree their should be a link to MLB4U or better yet Cots Baseball Contracts for contract info on the player. Second it just doesn't work with the latest version of Firefox, version 3.5!!! Help

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Aug 2, 2009 -> 03:12 PM) Ummm...Joe Crede and Orlando Cabrera to the Twins, as predicted in the offseason. Not exactly picking up the top players in the game. Crede cant play everyday and just frankly isn't a guy who will ever ever hit for a decent batting average, hes a glove man and base clogger and thats about it. Cabrera is old and has a bit diminished range, can still hit for an acceptable avg (.280 ish) and steal a few bags. Id say moreover Cabrera is a better player than Crede.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Aug 2, 2009 -> 11:56 AM) He'll be getting offered much more than that from BOS and NY, and he'd be a fool not to take it. I dont really think Bos will get into a bidding war with the yanks. Boston has Vmart now, probably the 2nd best offensive catcher in baseball, and they have him this year at 5.7M and next year at 7M. He probably will command something like 9-11M per year and Boston would probably have no problem giving that to him since they gave Jason "I cant hit for Avg" Varitek 4 years 40 Mil.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 2, 2009 -> 06:24 AM) Maybe...I guess I forgot about the deal that Teixeira just got from the Yankees. That being said, he doesn't strike me as the type of kid that is going to care about the difference between $17 million a year and $21 million a year. I think as long as the Twins make him a fair offer, and a very rich man, he'll take less and stay there. I really think folks are underestimating the fact that he is a homegrown kid with somewhat simple tastes. I think all men care about working for what they or the market believes they are worth. No one wants to work for less than they are worth. If top players at their position make $20 Mil per year then he will go where he is offered 20 mil a year for the most years.

There is no way the twins retain him if he hits the free agent market. He is the best play at his position, and maybe of all time. If the twins think they are gonna keep him on some sort of 5/70 or 6/90 deal they are nuts. This guy is going to command the same types of contracts that Mark Texeria, CC Sabathia, and all true superstars commands. If Maur turns down some sort of like 7/140 offer to stay with the twins on the cheap he is a fool. His job is to gain max financial benefit from his career. He accepts his market value whether its us, Yanks, whoever, and he can take of his family for generations; college, houses, cars, retirments, etc. These are things we all aspire for, he wouldnt turn that kind of security down, no man would. That being said I hope we do get him becasue he is a stud, but like I said he is definatly in the 7 year 140 mil range, especially in the AL where he can DH as he ages.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 1, 2009 -> 10:15 AM) If someone is looking for 1 ticket to the Sox game afterward our group has 1 left. Upper deck seat but it's from a season ticket holder...access to the lower deck. $18 Ill take the ticket If I can play in the softball game.

So Richard gets traded who is our 5th starter and we call up a bullpen arm. Aren't we still missing a starter?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Aug 1, 2009 -> 02:21 PM) In Minnesota, they have Market Mondays where the price of a lower level outfield seat is determined by the DJIA. I was there this past week and bought the ticket when the dow was in the 8000s so the tickets were $8 a piece. Tuesdays they are half priced in the same sections so $10.50. When the Sox play at home against Minnesota in Sept., the Monday game is half priced so $17 and the Tuesday game is $34. You're looking at $18.50 vs. $51 per seat for comparable seats for 2 games. Family of 4 thats $74 vs. $204. The White Sox have very expensive tickets. Unless you want to sit in the upper deck in the corners, you're going to pay a ton of money. With season ticketholders gobbling up most of the better seats, and the arrival of HDTV and the economy, I think more are apt to sit back, relax and strap it down on their couch. They do have expensive tickets. Its somewhat justified. They have a high payroll and operate in a city with large amount of wealth. The problem is the sox have never been the type of franchise that attracts the whales, types of people with so much money they dont know what to do with it. It is and always has been a blue collar fanbase of teachers, salesman, city workers, policeman, fireman, etc. They have a few discount days, but I think they should so more. Make a lot more weekday games discounted in certain sections, or have varying prices on some days/sections dependent upon a certain factor (stock market, team wins, etc).

I want to play this year, so whats the deal, and whats the deal with the tickets for the game against Cle.

QUOTE (TitoMB345 @ Jul 31, 2009 -> 10:00 PM) I was at the game last night, and the park was pretty empty. They claimed there was like 31K there though. I think the sox know that if they didn't find a way to discount the Tue, Wed, Thur night series against the Angels they would see crowds like they did for the Dodgers series, like around 22K. Now we have a chance to see if our theory is correct, that the prices do matter regardless of the opponent not named the Cubs or Yanks. We have another 1st place team coming to town for a weekday series while we are right in the thick of things. The Dodgers series was the control, now the discounted Angels series is the experiment. The law of supply and demand should play into effect here, if the supply is too high the price must be lowered to spur demand, move merchandise, etc. Like I was just saying a lot of teams wouldn't do anything and just let the Prime prices stand, its nice to the sox being proactive. I mean seriously the economy is way down and ppl have less money, you have to do something!