hitlesswonder

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Jul 6, 2010 -> 02:01 PM) Well if WWW caused them to trade Hinrich, at least he is of some use. And I don't think Thibbs was a bad coaching choice either. I agree. I don't see what's wrong with hiring Thibs. As for Kirk, it's true that the Bulls gave away him and 1st rounder for cap space that they now won't be able to use. But Kirk was an awful fit for the Bulls...you just can't have that much money invested in your backup PG and he's not a shooting guard. So, they are a worse team without him but maybe they use his salary on someone that's a better fit with Rose.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jun 30, 2010 -> 08:39 AM) Base on what he did last year, and what he is doing now, what the scouts say prior to the draft, and what the scouts are saying now, doesn't he LOOK LIKE he is going to be a superstar? He is only 18 years old, he already has great plate discipline, if he develops more power, I can see he being a legit .300 30HR 40 SB guy at the very least. .300, 30HR, 40 SB is his floor? If that were remotely true, he wouldn't have lasted until the Angels pick. If you want to criticize the Sox, rip them for their lack of investment in Latin America and not being willing to sign over slot in some drafts. The Sox were not the only team to pass on Trout. Moreover, the guy they picked instead was a high ceiling athlete with speed, power and plate discipline (who obviously had issues with Ks). Mitchell was not a safe pick. Sure, it seems likely Trout would have been a better pick, but picking Mitchell at the time is very defensible.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 17, 2010 -> 09:22 PM) DMac and Davis are such talented players but Davis has an incredible amount of mental lapses and DMac is among the worst defensive players I have ever seen. And when those guys are your team leaders it leads to a lot of inconsistency. DMac's defense is one of the reasons it's hard to believe next year's team will be much better. A starting 5 of MD-DMac-DJ-Tis-Richmond is not likely to be a good defensive team. And turnovers will probably still be a problem, too. They *really* could use another point guard.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 17, 2010 -> 08:10 PM) I'm shocked that Davis and DMac are off to terrible starts. I never saw that coming. I've tried to refrain from internet flaming questioning people's intensity, but this is ridiculous. Illinois clearly thinks they are too good to be playing Stonybrook and so are getting their asses handed to them. I hope they lose by 40. Something is wrong with a team and a coach that doesn't understand what this game was going to be like.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 15, 2010 -> 05:37 PM) My view on the NIT is that I'm not going to really care if Illinois loses or wins the whole thing but if Illinois is playing in basketball or football I will be watching and hoping they win. Well, I'll watch them play just in hope of seeing Brandon Paul get some minutes and do something special. Honestly, I think the more games they play the better, if only to speed up Paul's development.

Jerry Palm at CBS still has Illinois out of the tournament and I think he's right. If Illinois beats OSU, they'd be in but I don't see that happening. Like Palm, I don't see the Big ten getting more than 4 teams in with what's happened in the ACC and Big East. And if the Big Ten does send 5 teams, Minnesota has the best shot since they can beat Purdue....

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 2, 2010 -> 10:59 PM) Paul is plenty quick and has defense has improved over the course of the season but he just takes amazingly bad shots. His first step is actually really explosive but he needs to improve his ball handling and shot selection. Paul is obviously athletic in that he can jump like crazy, but I have a hard time judging how quick he is because he doesn't have the handle to drive and he still gets beat on defense with some regularity. He may be quick and I just can't see it yet. Some guys are athletic (Brown) and yet seem to lack lateral quickness. It wouldn't be the first time I was wrong. So, let's just say that tonight I thought UI hacked OSU. A lot. OSU was bigger and faster and it showed. Recruiting is part of it, but coaching is as well. You don't have to rely on someone beating their man one-on-one off the dribble to penetrate. You can run an offense that involves screening and cutting to get offense going to the hoop. UI doesn't do that. They pass they ball around the perimeter hoping that the speed of the passing and motion of the players will get them a clear jump shot at some point. Your point about not having a guy that can break a defense on his own is true, but it is a fact that Weber's offense is not one that generates a lot of shooting fouls. They generate a lot of long 2s, not necessarily 3s, in my estimation. Maybe I'm mistaken about that as well, but it seems like a very jump shot heavy offense to me.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 2, 2010 -> 09:47 PM) LOL, and once again you are trying to use a free throw disparity to prove that the refs are favoring one team over the other. Bad calls and total fouls called have ZERO correlation, zero. Just because Illinois is hacking more than OSU doesnt mean that the refs have missed every call on the buckeyes. Illinois should have a huge disparity in FTAs almost every game for 2 reasons: 1) Their idiotic version of the motion offense results in bad long range jump shots almost every possession. No one takes it to the hoop. Early in the season Tisdale could draw some fouls in the post, but by now everyone knows to shove him away from the basket. There hasn't been any change in the offense for years, let alone this season, that would alter this dynamic. 2) Illinois is over-matched athletically against almost any team they play. Richardson is the only player close to having real quickness for them on the floor. And yet they never play zone. They hack a lot as result. If you see an IL game where fouls are even, it's a sign the refs have been very biased in favor of IL. The FTA disparity is the sign of a bad team that is badly coached, not bias by the refs.

As an unbiased observer, I think MSU has been the victim of some reeaallly bad officiating tonight. Sort of surprising on their home court....

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Feb 9, 2010 -> 08:41 PM) His assist/turnover ratio is 2/1 and he's 2nd in the Big Ten in assists. He could do a better job not turning it over, but other than that, he looks like a legit point guard. In Big Ten play McCamey leads the conference in assists: 1.McCamey, Demetri-ILL..... JR 11 82 7.45 2.Turner, Evan-OSU......... JR 9 51 5.67 ...and those two guys were on the same high school team.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Feb 9, 2010 -> 08:43 PM) Hitless, can you now concede that Illinois has a much better team than Indiana (and Penn State)? Ummm...sure, I'll concede that. In my defense, the Big Ten is a little whacked this season. Penn State almost won at Kohl, and the same Purdue team that is taking apart MSU in East Lansing almost lost to Indiana. It's been hard to figure out just how good anyone actually is.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Feb 9, 2010 -> 08:04 PM) Wow have the Illini turned around their season, McCamey is playing out of his mind... him and Turner are both pretty remarkable right now. Maybe this will be the end of posts about how McCamey will never be a real point guard. It's true he doesn't look like point guard and he's not quick, but he's always had great court vision. He's been shooting the lights out the last 2 games and so people love him now, but he's been leading the Big Ten in assists all season.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Feb 5, 2010 -> 04:13 PM) And tell that to Ozzie, he's the one that had an American League power hitting ballclub put down 47 sac bunts last season. The Sox are adopting an offensive philosophy in which the worst hitter on the team (Pierre) will get the most at-bats and possibly the best hitter on the team (Beckham) will have the bat repeatedly taken out of his hands when lays down bunts to move Pierre to 2B. That's slightly less dumb than picking a DH based the ability to play defense, but it still a pretty bad idea.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Jan 30, 2010 -> 11:55 PM) Im assuming you have them beating Iowa next so you really think it is likely that Illinois will lose 8 in a row? It's probably more likely that they go something like 2 and 7, but after Iowa I think every team they play is better than them (I think Ken Pom agrees with that). Illinois is no shoe-in to beat Iowa at Iowa either. They'll be favored there, but it's not like Illinois is really appreciably better than Indiana or even Penn State. (despite the difference in records). Anyway, the last 8 games are a brutal stretch. In contrast, Minnesota's hard games are mostly out of the way and I think people's impressions of MN will change quite a bit by the end of the season. They should be able to rattle off a bunch of W's and I think have a great shot at making the NCAAs.

QUOTE (WHarris1 @ Jan 30, 2010 -> 08:40 PM) If we are gonna make retarded arguments based upon single games and matchups then where are ISU's wins the caliber of Clemson and Vanderbilt? Oh right I forgot, they don't exist. That's true enough I guess, but Illinois is quite likely to go 1-8 down the stretch in the Big Ten...by the end of the year I don't think anyone will feel like Illinois is a favorite to win any given game.

QUOTE (Ranger @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 12:43 AM) The problem with Thome, even though he's still been productive, is that he is not getting any younger and his bat speed isn't getting any faster. At any moment, he's liable to have a significant drop-off. That's what worries me about him. Jones and Kotsay have already had those drop-offs. If Thome is indeed cheap, it's not much of a gamble to spend $2M to see if he can hit righties at an .850 OPS clip instead of Kotsay's .738 OPS clip over the last 3 years. Games lost before midseason are still games lost. I don't see why they would want to make winning the division more difficult by handicapping themselves with a bad DH for half a season when it appears they can significantly upgrade pretty cheaply. I'm fine with Thome not being back, but if replacing him is a goal, replace him with someone that can hit and get on-base.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Jan 24, 2010 -> 09:49 PM) The fact that Kotsay and Vizquel are going to get these at bats and that Nix or Lillibridge may make the team over Thome make me really question KW and I think this is Guillen putting it on the line. Hope it works out. I can't believe that any people are accepting that a DH platoon of Kotsay/Jones/Vizquel is anything close to a rational plan. It's an awful idea. You're talking about a DH that over the last 3 years has a below .700 OPS That's crazy. In his last 1000 ABs Vizquel has a .600 OPS. And Ozzie has mentioned DHing him twice recently. Jones and Kotsay are closer to .700, but still below it. If you can get Thome for $3M or less than it is idiotic to put junk in the lineup instead of him. I absolutely cannot believe the management team of a major league baseball franchise has put together this plan.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jan 22, 2010 -> 01:51 PM) Oh yeah, Ozzie sat down with Alex Rios and told him to steal 50 bases and his 3 home runs. True f***ing story. I haven't been paying close enough attention over the past few months, apparently we've swapped leagues and stadiums with the f***ing Padres. He also once again talked about Vizquel at DH. Seriously. I have never heard of a dumber idea. Maybe he's trying to get canned like Costanza with the Yankees.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 22, 2010 -> 01:32 PM) If beard quality is your determining factor, yes. Or possibly speed. In every other way, this is a bizarre statement not founded in any sort of fact. Kotsay has the contact skills and glove that Thome simply doesn't have. It's time to say goodbye the all-or-nothing power and walks that just set up a double play for the next hitter. With Kotsay, you'll have a DH that can field and you don't have to worry about all-or-nothing power because the "all" part will be gone (.372 SLG the last 3 years) and with his .315 OBP over his last 700 ABs he won't be setting up a double play for anyone. This will be much better than a guy who posted an .847 OPS last season.

QUOTE (dadwassoxfan @ Jan 21, 2010 -> 10:29 AM) I think that Kenny thinks we have enough right now to win the Division with our current DH combo. The current DH combo has the following numbers: Over the last 3 years, in 1000 ABs Jones has hit .207 with a .697 OPS and Kotsay has a .687 OPS in the same time frame. It gets worse if you factor in the at-bats at DH that Vizquel will receive. And think about that -- they're talking about playing Omar Vizquel at DH. If the Sox don't want Thome back, that's fine but they need to get a real hitter to play DH. Thome is attractive in that he'd probably be really cheap and you know you'd get over an .800 OPS from him versus RHP. But whatever, they need to acquire someone because replacing Thome at DH with a combo that might not OPS over .700 is insane.

Over the last 3 years, in 1000 ABs Jones has hit .207 with a .697 OPS. It seems unlikely he'll turn it around now. He is however, better than Kotsay who has a .687 OPS in the same time frame. Putting together a DH platoon of Jones and Kotsay is simply idiotic. For a couple of million dollars (maybe less) the Sox could have someone that you know would at least post over an .800 OPS. I don't get it.

QUOTE (He_Gawn @ Jan 19, 2010 -> 10:06 PM) Illinois just came out flat in the second half. Seems like McCamey just dribbles around in circles until the lane opens up briefly, then gets swatted on the way up. yeah, McCamey's the problem.....28pts (7/14) with 9 assts and 2 steals to 3 turnovers. It's true that his FTs were bad, but McCamey is giving them a chance to win games. He could lead the Big Ten in assists this season while playing on a pretty bad team. Illinois has myriad problems...but defense is clearly the biggest one.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 31, 2009 -> 08:51 AM) As for Illinois, still not enough passion and desire. It came out in overtime, but more often than not that's a game they're going to lose. They basically play in spurts - 5 minutes of crap, 5 minutes of excellent, repeat. McCamey was no where to be found tonight, Davis continues to show that he's not serious enough about basketball to be a dominant player (despite the fact that statistically he had a good game) I'm no Illinois fanboy, but I think that the criticism of Davis and McCamey may have gone from justified to excessive at this point. They obviously don't play mistake free ball and both have defensive issues but they had good games last night: McCamey had 8 assists to 2 turnovers and while he only had 9 points it was clear that that his job was to feed the ball inside not shoot. I thought he did a good job handling the ball and pushing the tempo. And Davis...the guy has 20pts on 9-14 with 17 boards. It's true that both could/should have played better defense, but I think it's funny to see people (not just here) rip Davis and say things like if he had any intensity and desire he would easily have had 25 boards instead that 17. And at the same time I see posts about how great Bill Cole is. It's odd.

QUOTE (joeynach @ Dec 18, 2009 -> 01:57 AM) Nick Johnson is signing a 1 year deal for 5.5M with the yankees pending a physical. How do we let him and Matsui, prime Lefty DH candidates go to other teams for so little. Neither the yanks no angels are overpaying for either of the two. Why cant the sox get those guys for a similar price, they are exactly what we need. Makes no sense. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/12/yank...ck-johnson.html On the DH, the Sox thinking appears to be that they don't want to clog the lineup with one-dimensional players anymore. They have the DH they want in Jones/Kotsay/Vizquel which gives them more flexibility than tying the position to some softball player. If they want power from the DH spot on a given day, they play Jones. If they want to inject speed and bat-handling they can DH Vizquel.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Dec 17, 2009 -> 09:22 AM) Essentially Guillen does not want to have a guy that when they play those 12 games in the NL park, they are unavaialble. What Guillen wants are platoon type guys that he can use for certain matchups. This works well in this division as I have seen enough of the Cy Youngification of s*** pitchers. I think something is going to happen and it is going to be related to John Danks and his contract situation. Who is going to make a bad pitcher look like Cy Young more: Jones/Kotsay/Vizquel at DH or someone like Jack Cust or Nick Johnson at DH? Choosing to go with Jones/Kotsay/Vizquel over a "traditional" DH that can smack the snot out of the ball is not going to make the Sox offense better.