Jake

If I had enough up front to pay on a yearly basis, something like 60 bucks a year, and the XB1 lasts 8 years like XB360, I'm paying 480 bucks to use basic streaming functions over the life of the thing. I'm buying it more than twice. I'm not going to re-up right away for several reasons, but when it comes time to buy it is definitely something I'm going to have to consider.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 20, 2013 -> 08:28 AM) The 2006 White Sox struck out 1,056 times, which was the 5th most strikeouts by a team in the league. The 2013 White Sox struck out 1,207 times, which was the 8th most strikeouts by a team in the league. The White Sox are making better contact now than they did in 2006 relative to the league. That's what you have to look at. You can't say "the 2005 White Sox team ERA was 3.61, which really isn't that much better than the 2013 White Sox, who put up a 4.00 ERA" because the talent level has shifted from the offensive side of the ball to pitching and defense. The 2012 White Sox scored 748 runs, which was 4th best in the AL. The 2005 White Sox scored 741 runs, which was 9th best; thus, the 2012 White Sox offense was far better than the 2005 White Sox offense. This is another reason why wRC+ is such a great stat. It takes this into account. My favorite example was reading it before realizing that it adjusts for year... Juan Gonzalez had a pretty great career while it lasted. I was looking over it on FanGraphs. In 1997, in just 133 games, Juan Gon mashed 42 bombs with 131 RBI to go with his .296 average and .335 OBP. This earned him a 127 wRC+ -- which is pretty damn great, don't get me wrong -- but doesn't feel nearly high enough for those counting numbers. So now, in 2013, let's looking at Marlon Byrd. He batted .291 with a .336 OBP (I wanted someone who didn't walk a ton, like Juan Gon). He struck out quite a bit more than Juan Gon, 25% vs. 17% for Juan. Byrd hit 24 homers with 88 RBI. Nice little season, 147 games so a bit more than Juan.. Sure as hell isn't as good as 42 HR/131 RBI. Byrd's wRC+ in 2013? 136. That's not just better, but notably better. This is why it is so important to adjust for the year when we talk about statistics. This isn't a huge gap in time we're talking about, either, but the league can shift pretty quickly as we see with the 2005/2012 Sox example.

As the article says though, they're trying to appeal to more than just average video game console users. I think they're smart to do that and early reviews suggest the multimedia capabilities, cable integration, things like that have immense potential. Like you said, I would only want online features of games occasionally. Some of the games I would play I wouldn't need to play online - I like playing franchise modes of sports games, so I don't need to pay to have fun doing that. I really find it insulting that I shell out for different streaming services yet have to pay again just to watch it on my XBOX. It isn't stressing their servers for me to stream Netflix, it stresses mine. QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Nov 20, 2013 -> 07:28 AM) I can't read this, Olivia is touching her boobs I'm distracted I have the same problem when Brian posts Brian's been killing me lately, hot damn

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 20, 2013 -> 07:50 AM) The '05 Sox playing "small-ball" is one of the biggest myths around. People remember Pods at the top of the lineup, and seem to think the whole team just played small-ball. The rest of the lineup had some major pop to it, just like almost all Sox teams in the 00s. The difference was the outstanding pitching. If you think about the playoffs, at least 7 of the 11 playoff wins had huge game-changing home runs. The team was just good. Good teams are going to hit some bombs. They also are probably going to have some big stolen bases as well. God I miss that year, I wish we could have enjoyed it more instead of assuming the bottom would fall out from beneath us

I rarely feel the need to refer outside of the duo of FutureSox and Baseball America.

This could be helpful or perhaps even more confusing - http://lifehacker.com/computer-manufacture...5338/@ericlimer

http://gizmodo.com/xbox-live-gold-is-still...-in-t-513093573 This speaks to one of the biggest drawbacks for XB 360, One, etc. for me

QUOTE (scs787 @ Nov 19, 2013 -> 05:00 PM) Jake- Not sure if you were aware but I believe your name was mentioned on Waddle and Silvy today. scs and I discussed this and I took a listen and, indeed, Waddle and Silvy discussed my article on Yahoo on their show today. Really cool for a small time bro like me The funny thing is that I met them before the Giants game at Ditka's and they certainly have no idea that I'm THAT guy

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Nov 19, 2013 -> 10:01 PM) Really? http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CH...ml?mobile=false 200 isn't a lot? 5th most in MLB that season AJP - 18 HR PK - 40 HR Gooch - 15 HR Uribe - 16 HR Crede - 22 HR Pods - 0 HR Rowand - 13 HR Dye - 31 HR Jurassic Carl - 23 HR Big Frank - 12 HR (34 games) Might not look too crazy until you look at this year's lineup: Flowers - 10 HR Josh Phegley - 4 HR PK - 12 HR Gordon - 5 HR Alexei - 6 HR Gillaspie - 13 HR Keppinger - 4 HR Viciedo - 14 HR ADA - 17 HR Rios - 12 HR Avisail - 5 HR Adam Dunn - 34 HR Our lineup this past year was just filled with guys that weren't worrying pitchers. After Dunn, Tank is probably making pitchers worry the most -- but there is a pretty systematic way to deal with him at this point. I don't think they were ever worried about ADA, which is why he hit so many HR. Who else scares them? Flowers? I think that's the best reason for change. With Avisail growing up and Abreu stepping in, there should be a much more legitimate scare factor that goes into seeing the meat of our lineup. Teams should anticipate losing their leads when those guys come up -- it should at least sound like a possibility.

What makes us think that Abreu will strike out 200 times? He struck out 11.9% of the time last year, 10.75% before that. No evidence of being a high strikeout player in the past. Viciedo was about 18% in Cuba and was 20% in MLB last year. Alexei had a 10.3% K rate in Cuba and...11.8% career in MLB, 10.1% last season. Most Cubans have seen their walk rates fluctuate more dramatically, likely due to a ton of intentional walks that aren't going to be there in American baseball.

I'm not hoping for anyone to go until I know the return. I hope we trade Dunn (for Mike Trout)!!!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 19, 2013 -> 12:59 PM) Not sure whether each of those will be good purchases for us. One is a hard throwing reliever in his early 20's who will probably need a fair amount of development time...but we have a number of those. Yeah you can never have too many, but in terms of "how valuable would this guy be to the White Sox" you have to take into account what we're already holding. The other, a slick fielding shortstop in his early 20's, could be useful but SS isn't a position where we have an obvious available spot to fill right now. Compare us to the Cardinals for example - which team could use him more? In both cases you could understand how the Sox might put in an offer but be beaten out by teams that have immediate needs in both of those positions. They're both flawed and both need development. Wouldn't surprise me if we kick the tires on both, but who knows what the FO thinks of them. We have time to develop a SS, which is nice. That kid's bat will need work.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 19, 2013 -> 07:12 PM) Best laptop running windows? Is it still Lenovo? I like Lenovo. Seems like everyone you run into has a really strong negative opinion about one of the manufacturers, so it's always really difficult to tell. I try to evaluate on a product by product basis, depending on what I'm looking for.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Nov 14, 2013 -> 01:02 PM) And its following the rapidly developing precedent that Obamacare is actually Obamacare. It was a vote to give the executive unilateral power over the healthcare industry. Which, I mean, sort of defeats the purpose of entire political system when all it takes is one judge and a handful of congressmen to crown someone king. Its bad. I mean the law has always been bad but the standard its setting for governance is terrifying. The executive branch implements the law. This is exactly why we have this branch and why the chief executive is elected and heavily scrutinized. By electing him, that means we have faith that he can make these judgments. He can't do whatever he wants, but he can make these tweaks that will ultimately be relatively insignificant. Since laws of all kinds don't always automatically play out the way they are intended, you need someone to implement them. That's what he is doing. QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 18, 2013 -> 01:25 PM) My wife and I signed up for our 2014 plan. Premiums up about 10% (went up 1% from 2012-2013), with no real explanation why. They got rid of the "catastrophic" plan and rebranded it as a health savings account plan. Under that you get routine, basic care covered 100% and for the rest you have a higher deductible. The advantage is that you can contribute tax free money into an account and the employer matches it up to a certain amount annually. The account itself can earn interest and rolls over year to year, so the money just sits there in the account until you use it. This would be an amazing idea if it didn't require you to spend the money on health care. It's basically a 401(k) plan that covers you for major needs, but otherwise provides basic care the majority of people would actually use. In the event you get hurt badly, you should have a decent nest egg saved up in the account to take care of it. If not, and you stay relatively healthy until 65, you could just keep that money for retirement. But it looks like you have to eventually use that money for medical care or potentially lose it. It's an interesting idea. There is some effort to keep you from being f***ed if you have a major unforeseen issue and covering basics is paramount with a high deductible, so that you are willing to actually see a doctor and find out if you have any small problems before they become the aforementioned major unforeseen issues.

Dunn's always been a better hitter, but Dunn has pretty much always badly harmed his value on defense in a way unlike no other player ever, especially when he was playing OF

Phegley had a 34 wRC+ last year. 34!! His "good" month, July, was 59. Then 28. Then 17. He had the worst wRC+ of any MLB player that had as many at-bats as he did. Among the big sluggers who hit better are Jeff Francouer, Jamey Carroll, Brendan Ryan, Pete Kozma, Chris Getz, B.J. "worst season ever" Upton, Tyler Flowers, Jeff Keppinger. This is a rate stat, meaning those players didn't have an advantage by having more plate appearances. He was just literally the worst batter in all of baseball. This wasn't a deal where he started looking better as time went on, either. It was pretty much unfathomable awfulness after the first 5 games or so. He got progressively worse. That doesn't mean he sucks or should be released, but it makes little sense at this point to argue that he should do well in the MLB. He has been pushed aggressively throughout his career and he needs more fine tuning. Being in MLB made him worse. He needs to go hit in AAA again - it was the first time his wRC+ ever rated him as above his league's average, short of two

Chances are Sanchez gets MLB reps next year with an injury or movement. That means somebody very well may be willing to use him as a utility man as well, since we would do that under certain circumstances.

Alright Rick, do your thing

Does the presence of an obvious interceptor between ball and receiver make the pass uncatchable? I might be able to fathom that the ball gets near enough to Gronk if the ball is unimpeded. On the other hand, even an unimpeded Gronk has no chance of stopping that interception.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 19, 2013 -> 12:34 PM) year by year I swear I lose more and more respect for the Sox fanbase. I think they're coming around to getting rid of PK. My articles on Yahoo attract the absolute lowest of the low when it comes to commenters, oftentimes citing the departure of Mark Buehrle as evidence of what's wrong with the franchise. I wrote an article about our need to let go of PK and there was a great deal of agreement among the comments, especially compared to what I expected. On the other hand, one of the top voted comments is someone saying that this is all Jeff Samardzija's fault...so who knows

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 19, 2013 -> 12:18 PM) On point number 1, you are likely going to have to pick up $10 million and take nothing in return. If you wait until July 31st to do that (or August 30th, neither matters), you are doing essentially the same thing but at least maintain the possibility that you can trade him and pick up a young, talented piece. You aren't trading Konerko. On number 2, Konerko is still a more talented player than Dunn. Yes, he's probably going to be a poor player, but I think the odds of Konerko putting up an .825 OPS far outweigh the odds that Dunn will do so. Konerko is not a more talented player than Dunn, not anymore. The only baseball activity that he can fathomably do better is hit left-handed pitchers. By the time Konerko would take the field again, it will have been just under two years since he has posted an .825 OPS over just a single month. He will be 38 years old. I don't know why any person would have confidence that he could do that. Dunn is no cinch either since he is prone to alternate between .900+ and I like these graphs: http://www.fangraphs.com/comparison.aspx?p...amp;players=319 By age and by recent history, Dunn seems like the better bet. Pair that with the fact that our middle of the order has Abreu (RHH), Avisail (RHH), and Viciedo (RHH) and Dunn will undeniably make us better. That doesn't mean the "take Konerko for better draft pick" argument makes sense. That's stupid. If you want to do badly to get a draft pick, you don't do it with a 38-year-old with little chance to do well and no desire to play anywhere else. You pick your random young guy and stick him there (which could be anyone, since it is DH - it would make more sense to give Jordan Danks at-bats via that opening in the lineup than it would Konerko).

If I'm choosing between no prison time and 20 years for a serial rapist, I'm going with 20 years. This is no accident, no misunderstanding, it is among the worst crimes fathomable and clearly so.

While I have not been convinced at all that Trayvon was a bad kid, was definitively winning this fistfight, or was the aggressor -- the disturbing thing is how we as a society are largely okay with the thought of these kinds of encounters being fatal, so long as the victim was a bad person or started the fight.

If the Yanks sign Brendan Ryan and Stephen Drew with Jeter on the roster, why even sign Cano?

I actually don't think Kuechly did much to move Gronk, who definitely didn't have a chance to adjust. His hand placement is pretty incriminating, though. I do think that this "controversy" is at least 50% "it's the Patriots!" related