Rowand44

Oh yay.

QUOTE(michelangelosmonkey @ Sep 4, 2007 -> 02:56 PM) Come on. I used a ten year period. If you want to use an eleven year period...fine. They got Joe Mauer. So they were so bad that they drafted top ten for 8 of 11 years and added Joe Mauer with those high picks. I don't WANT to be horrible for 8 years so I can add one very good player. My point was, and remains if you add Joe Mauer, top 10 picks in the ML draft assure nothing. And winning meaningless games still feels good. See getting the top pick in the draft can help this franchise improve big time in a few years, much more than winning these meaningless games can. Nobody wants to continue to be awful but this season is shot so winning means absolutely nothing. Pedro Alvarez for instance can be that franchise player, that special talent that this franchise is obviously lacking. There's a chance that he could be our Arod or our Griffey or our Mauer who were all number 1 picks by the way. He's a type of talent that doesn't come around very often and he can be a member of the White Sox, I'll take that over wins that do nothing for the franchise.

QUOTE(michelangelosmonkey @ Sep 4, 2007 -> 02:39 PM) Winning is always a good thing. Rooting to lose so we move up a spot because we're terrible just has not proven to be a great stategy (in baseball). Everyone loves the Twins here...and the twins were horrible in the 90's and here's there top ten drafting: Year Overall pick PLayer 1991 3 David Mccarty 1994 8 Todd Walker 1996 2 Travis Lee 1997 9 Michael Cuddyer 1998 6 Ryan Mills 1999 5 BJ Garbe 2000 2 Adam Johnson That's 7 top ten picks in ten years...and the best is Cuddyer who's a RF with a career .790 OPS? It's SO unknowable...that I would rather have the brief happiness and hope of going into the off season with a 18-6 last 24. Go ahead and look at our last 4 top 10 picks. We pretty much haven't selected a good player with our first pick since those years until Fields a few years back. I still don't understand how people could get satisfaction out of winning meaningless games. I guess that's the part I'm missing here.

Michigan falls out of the coaches poll.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Sep 4, 2007 -> 12:58 PM) So as I was rolling around in bed last night in my 85 degree (at least -- it's probably closer to 90) dorm room, I was thinking that Kenny Williams has to do something extremely drastic this winter to 'save' the Sox. And the one thing I kept coming back to was trading Konerko. After this season, Konerko is on board for three years, $36 million (I believe that's correct). He's going to be coming off of his 4th straight 30+ homer season (three more to go this year), yet I have a hunch that this year might be the first of Konerko's slow decline (he turns 32 in March). I tend to believe that Konerko's perceived value (30 HR - 100 RBI guy, veteran presence, proven playoff guy, clubhouse leader) is greater than his "on-field" value (for example -- Konerko leads Casey Kotchman in HRs by about 18 yet still trails Kotch in OPS+. I also tend to believe people overrate Konerko's defense -- he can pick 'em out of the dirt as well as anyone, but his range is non-existant and isn't going to get better). Off the top of my head, both LA teams and Baltimore are in need of a first baseman. There's a couple other teams out there as well (Texas, New York) who could feasibly put in a bid, but I think the former three make more sense. I've said plenty of times that my ideal scenario would be a trade with Anahiem where we're getting Kotchman and another player in return (Figgins? Willits? Santana?), but I also believe you could work it out with the Dodgers or the Orioles (for a package centered around Furcal or Tejada -- that would even out salaries for 2008). Kenny needs to go back to being the guy that was made fun of in Moneyball -- the GM who is willing to go out on a limb. I guess to a certain extent he did that this past winter, but I think he needs to trade Konerko, Contreras and Garland for the best available packages. I know the problem with dealing Konerko is that it's automatically going to be taken as "the Sox are officially rebuilding." But I don't think it has to be that way. If by chance you got that Kotchman and Figgins for Konerko deal, it would allow you to go after Hunter/Jones/Rowand. From there, I'd look to find my SS of next season (and hopefully beyond) in Garland's or Contreras' return. That would leave you with a lineup of (this needs some tinkering, BTW): C - Pierzynski 1B - Kotchman 2B - Richar/Figgins 3B - Crede/Figgins SS - ______________ DH - Thome LF - Fields/Figgins CF - Hunter/Jones/Rowand (If it were up to me, A-Jones) RF - Dye Comparing this offense to the 2007 offense, you are improved at three spots (LF, CF, SS) -- you're probably improved at 3B and 2B. The dropoff in production at first-base is minimal. A lot still rests on how healthy Dye and Thome can stay, but I don't see anything that can rectify that in the next couple months. Very well thought out. Love the idea.

QUOTE(The Critic @ Sep 4, 2007 -> 12:42 AM) Timberlake is a talented guy whose music I hate. That's about as "fair and balanced" as I can make it. That.

Hope you had a good one, SSI71.

This season is an embarrasment already, winning meaningless games doesn't change that. Winning games at this point does absolutely nothing for this organization, losing on the other hand could. I want the first pick, I want this team to lose right now.

Really Clemson fans?

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Sep 3, 2007 -> 05:41 PM) The best answer to your question can be found in this post at SSS -- it's a quote from Coop: So it's going to be a giant clusterf*** to October 1st, as Jon Stewart might put it. Ya, jeez. Thanks for that sir.

Anyone know if Gavin is going to make another start this season? You'd think he'd at least earn one more start after his quality outing last time.

The Cubs really are a bad team.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Sep 3, 2007 -> 04:28 PM) Furcal makes the most sense for this club. He fills the hole at SS without losing much defensively, he is fine fit for the lead-off spot, and with his 08 salary, combined with Hu looking to be ready for the Dodgers, he shouldn't cost a ton. I still believe a solid September from Contreras, combined with a C+ level prospect could land Furcal this off-season. I'd love to get Furcal but I have to disagree about Contreras landing him. Not a chance, imo. I still have no problem with Eckstein being this teams ss next season.

QUOTE(SnB @ Sep 3, 2007 -> 10:56 AM) that's pretty much what i weigh..... QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Sep 3, 2007 -> 11:07 AM) We should start a club Ya, well you two are skinny as all hell as well.

Boo.

QUOTE(IlliniKrush @ Sep 1, 2007 -> 10:03 PM) That makes 2 pools God damn it. I'm a f***in moron.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Sep 1, 2007 -> 09:38 PM) There I am, hanging in a dear friend's apartment in Uptown. We're talking about life and relaxing. We'd spoken before about how she needs to see Wrigley Field. (I think it's a beautiful park, the more I go there, and it's a great place to go, IMO, except for the team and fans, but that doesn't bother me too much.) Suddenly I say, "Let's go," and we wound up getting there at the start of the fifth inning. We wound up in the third row, in the club section, right behind the Cubs bullpen. There's Kerry Wood, ten feet in front of me. Ohman. Howry. Dempster. And so we sit there, relaxing, enjoying the day and chit-chatting about baseball. Mocking the Cub fans. Laughing when they chant "Asshole! Asshole!" at Carlos Lee. Cheering Lee for his double and scoring. Enjoying the game though we're losing and I think we're going to lose. And then the eighth starts and I say to D., "I'm going to try and heckle Dempster into a blown save. If I get us kicked out, will you be mad?" Laughter. "No, but, be careful." "Well, I'm not going to threaten his life or anything." So I start when he gets up. First with You Sucks and then Your Team Sucks, First Place or Not and then all sorts of variations on "You Suck." Just screaming at him between pitches for the whole eighth inning and when the Cubs had two outs in the ninth I yelled at him, "It's almost time for you to suck, Dempster. But I guess there's always time to suck when you're Ryan Dempster!" ("That guy's harsh," said a Cub fan behind me.) There were these skinny, so-skinny-they're-somewhat-sickly-IMO girls in front of us and they hated me. So when I'd yell they'd meekly say, "Go Ryan!" and I'd yell louder that he's awful, "I don't care what your save percentage says, you're a fluke." And when he was leaving he shot me a dirty look. Gave me a dirty look a couple of times. I'd like to believe that I heckled Ryan Dempster into giving up a homerun to Carlos Lee that left the park. A friend of mine in Boston says he heckled Billy Koch into blowing a save. That was my inspiration, and I've never been that close to The Enemy's Bullpen at any park (I often sit behind the Sox dugout in the Cell) so I had to seize the dog. Shoulda threatened his life.

Good to see we kept pace with Tampa.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Sep 1, 2007 -> 09:32 PM) 5-10, 130.5 We need to get you some steroids or something.

Well I didn't sign up yet but I swear I picked Appy State today.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Aug 31, 2007 -> 05:56 PM) I've lost five pounds since heading to college, to 130.5. Are you a midget by chance?

He's no Mark Buehrle.

QUOTE(danman31 @ Aug 31, 2007 -> 01:58 PM) What do you U of I fans think of this weekend's game in St. Louis? I'll be there, anyone else making the trek? I'll be there. LETS GO....Good game?

Well it looks like there is about 2 of us, but I have absolutely no problem with David Eckstein being a member of the Sox.

Yay College Football.