sircaffey

QUOTE (knightni @ Jul 21, 2008 -> 06:35 PM) San Fran doesn't have a true budget. They have a great park and an awesome fan base and good tourist setup. They don't have Bonds' contract, now Durham's. Outside of Zito, Winn and Rowand (as well as Roberts, Molina, Vizquel), there's not much of a huge consequence salary-wise left on that team. They have maybe $60 mil in salaries and could easily take on $30 or $40 mil more if they wanted. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/roster?team=sfo Every team has a budget. Perhaps if Sabathia's contract was a bunch of 1 year deals, but the risk involved in 6-7 year deals is enormous. Not to mention the insurance premiums on such a contract are extreme. They just had Zito's contract blow up in their face. Right now, Giants ownership is praying that Zito needs Tommy John so they can collect on his insurance policy. Unfortunately, he just sucks and ownership is wasting $100+ million...No...chance...in...hell.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jul 21, 2008 -> 01:41 PM) We're talking about Sabean here. Not when it comes to the budget we aren't. There's no way ownership authorizes another 6-7 yr, $100 mil+ contract.

Beane is just sticking to the plan. He's not overreacting to his team's unexpected competitiveness. I commend him for that.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Jul 14, 2008 -> 03:35 PM) What has made Duchscherer so successful this year? Look at his career numbers and try not to think aberration. I can't say that he has just added this this season or not, but much like Loaiza, his cutter is working. He's always had a good curveball, but his success this year is all about his cutter.

He plays 1B like he's a senior citizen. Watching him attempt to stretch for that very catchable ball in the bottom of the 8th was painful.

The Cubs will baby Harden. They don't need him, really, until the post season. I wouldn't be surpised if Gaudin and Harden split the remaining starts.

thank god that missed location wasn't a deposit.

Oh Bruce. When will his bitterness end? Better not lose to IU now.

Thank you.

QUOTE (thedoctor @ Jun 11, 2008 -> 02:28 PM) jordan crawford leaving indiana Now no returning scholarship players. Has this ever happened in the history of college basketball? It'll be interesting to see 4 freshman and Kyle Taber, a senior walk-on, start next season.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 11, 2008 -> 11:48 AM) The first game he pitched in, this is what the TV radar gun readings were showing. 88mph that is... I was watching the 6/8 game on the other broadcast and not the Sox broadcast. Their gun had Loaiza in the low 80's. Gameday on mlb.com also had Loaiza in the low 80's with the fastball and high 70's with the cutter. Although, looking at the highlights, the HR Loaiza gave up to Casilla in his first appearance (6/6) was on an 81 mph cutter (comcast) which would put his fastball in the 84-86 range. So who knows with these guns. He's definitely a far cry from where he was.

Loaiza is barely hitting 80mph on his fastball. This situation is like Parque a while back. I seriously doubt Loaiza makes it through the season with the Sox.

Thome lives 4 houses down from my parents. He's out riding his bike with his family a lot. Also, I saw Jenks at the Jewel near Thome's house. Guess they were having a little get together.

Vote!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 29, 2008 -> 10:24 AM) Only taking offense because I'm tired of hearing things I don't consider to be true. Yes, a significant chunk of our current offensive production comes from vets, but most of that is coming from vets that we have replacements lined up for! Crede, Uribe, Cabrera, Dye...there is a replacement sitting right in the system for each of them. And even then, it's not like we've gotten extraordinary production from these vets anyway, it's turned out so far that the most effective thing in our lineup has been a young guy. That's the point, these aging vets are the ones not performing which in turn is making this offense one of the worst in the league. Our offense needs Konerko, Thome, Dye, and Cabrera (even Crede to a lesser extent) going. If they don't hit, we will continue to not score runs. That's the way this lineup is built, around aging veteran players. You also make it sound like our system produces talent easily. We have 1 impact offensive prospect in Fields. The jury is still very much out for Richar and Ramirez on whether they are even full-time players. Just because we have guys that play the same position as a few of our aging vets, doesn't mean they are capable replacements on a playoff level team.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 28, 2008 -> 09:13 PM) The White Sox do NOT have an aging lineup, nor do they have no young talent and no end in sight in their lineup. Look at our roster next year. There are, by my count, 3 positions out of nine where we don't have a young guy that we could put in to the lineup if we chose not to upgrade. Catcher, 1b, and DH. We have 3+ young outfielders in SuperQ, Anderson, Swisher, and Owens if you want to count him. We have a young 3rd baseman in Fields. In the middle infield, we have Ramirez, Richar, and Getz who can all fill holes. On top of that, our starting rotation right now has 2 young guys, a 3rd pretty close to ready in Broadway, we've got a young closer, and we keep developing decent young relief pitchers in addition to the couple guys we signed. Why do people take offense to describing the current lineup as aging? The meat of this lineup is very much on the decline. The vast majority of the offensive production, or what we normally would be counting on, comes from declining veterans. Just because there are some young backups, doesn't evade the fact the current lineup is aging.

How the f*** is Greg Walker still employed?! He work for free or something?

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 26, 2008 -> 09:19 PM) Well, I disagree. I think you're right most of the time regarding trades in a vacuum, but we've heard anecdotal evidence now that developing good relationships with GM's can help with making deals in the future. Kenny has this sort of solid relationship with Gillick and Josh Byrnes. Byrnes is certainly not a bad guy to have a good relationship with. It's true. Schuerholz talks about GM relationships in his book, and how he hated to deal with certain GMs who try to rip you off. Didn't name names.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 27, 2008 -> 01:28 PM) Trade for a second baseman who can hit at the top of the order (#1 or #2)... Such as Jose Lopez from Seattle, Brandon Phillips of Cincy, Ray Durham of SF, Brian Roberts of Baltimore, Felipe Lopez of Washington, or Freddy Sanchez of Pitt. Jose Lopez? God no. Mr. career .297 OBP, currently .309. I'd take Roberts or Sanchez (Phillips not doable), perhaps even Durham for one last go-round. The Lopez's are not good at all.

Now that Jeremiah Rivers is a confirmed transfer to IU, Crean has capped an impressive beginning to his tenure. 5 classic organizational guys (all 3 star prospects) coming in this year long with 7-0 265 lbs, Tijan Jobe, who sounds like a project similar to Thabeet. In addition, 4 guys committed for 2009 (3 3-star, 1 4-star). A couple of years of growing pains, and then IU basketball will be back.

QUOTE (Brian @ May 25, 2008 -> 09:26 PM) Let's bump the "White Sox sign Scott Linebrink" thread and see who didn't like the deal. Um, it's not even 2 months into that 48 month deal. The main reason a hell of a lot of people hated it was the length.

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ May 19, 2008 -> 12:55 PM) not sure if a guy who has 5 quality starts out of 9 deserves a D. take away that opening day start and Mark has a 4.24 ERA in the other 8 starts. He's been blown apart in 3 of his 9 starts. Another 5 ER in 7 IP. Making 4 of his 9 starts virtual automatic losses. He's not been very good at all.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 15, 2008 -> 04:18 PM) The longer you wait, the more expensive his contract is when you do extend him. Not necessarily.

A good month and a half doesn't earn $50 million. Talk to me this time next year, at the earliest.

QUOTE (Rex Hudler @ May 9, 2008 -> 08:34 PM) Just need some size now. Where's the beef?? I'm confident Maurice Sutton will commit. Crean's been all over his ass for years. In other news, it appears as though its a matter of time before Jeremiah Rivers (PG-Georgetown) transfers to IU. The Washington Times reports that it's a done deal, but other sources say Rivers hasn't made an official decision. Rivers won't score much, but he's about as lockdown a defender as there is in college basketball. I'd very much welcome the transfer.