Rowand44

The Bears are indeed the best team in football.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 01:32 PM) I am not a Bills fan Yes you are.

Well it's nice to see that the Phins still suck. Well at least Harrington is moving the damn ball.

QUOTE(gosox41 @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 08:22 AM) KW does use his minor league system differently in that he uses them as trade bait. But does that mean he goes into a draft not rying to draft what he things the most talented players around are? He doesn't seriously draft someone wiht the idea of trading him a year from now does he? I have a hard time beleiving that. If you can trade a lot of mediocre to good prospects for major league talent, then I'm all for it. But it would be nice to actually draft and develop a great prospect once in awhile. It's easier said then done, but it can be done. There's may come a point in the next year or 2 where an injury will happen or the payroll will be maxed out, and we're going to need someone from the minors to step in and have some immediate success to help the team stay in contention. Bob They seem to draft guys that will move through the system quickly so their value will be high right away. So yes, in a way I'd say they draft people with trading guys in mind.

QUOTE(The Critic @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 11:44 AM) Well, work/family circumstances probably won't let me see it before Halloween weekend, but I'm real good at ignoring people, so I think I'll be okay.... You sure it isn't the other way around?

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 09:51 AM) Did you read ARod's quotes this morning. He said he sucked. Miguel Tejada didn't get traded because he refused to play 3rd base. He'd rather be guaranteed a losing team and play SS, instead of trying to win and play 3B. ARod, the best all around player in the game, and a better defensive SS than Jeter, moved to 3B willingly. ARods place in the history of the game when its all said and done would shine even brighter if he was known as a SS, but that didn't matter to him, he wanted to win. They money thing is so laughable. If someone offered anyone on this board $252 guaranteed for 10 years, I don't think most of the people crying about his paycheck would turn it down, and that's hypocritical. Its not ARod's fault he gets a boatload of money. I believe he restructured his contract as much as the union would allow him to even take less to try and win with the Yankees. The guy gets a bad rap. He's a great player, and will thrive if he gets out of NY. He hasn't exactly been awful overall with the Yankees either. If Frank Thomas put up the numbers ARod put up the last 3 years, people here would be demanding statues of him all over the city, they would demand that USCF be called Frank Thomas Field. For ARod, its just very mediocre. Wow, great post Dick. I completely agree.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 02:26 AM) Well, here's the other side of that...all that pitching turned out not to be enough to save Detroit the Central division despite the monster lead they built up earlier in the year. The playoffs are a whole new season though, the Tigers definitely stunk down the stretch but they still won 95 games. My point is, it wasn't realistic for them to continue on that ridiculous pace they were on and because of that, they slowed down considerably. They weren't an 100 win team and well they didn't win 100 games. I completely agree on the A's though, they're a great team, much much much better than the Yankees. This is the true World Series.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 02:11 AM) Well we didn't. Give the Tigers their due. They earned it. I've actually learned to respect this Detroit team a lot because of how little respect they've had all season. They won 95 games with dominant pitching and still nobody gave them a chance in October, hell almost everyone thought they'd be swept. They're a real good team with a legit shot at winning it all(I still think they will).

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 01:46 AM) My only counterpoint is this: that's a lot of money to risk on that opinion. That's fair. I'll counter that by saying, you're not risking a whole season on him, you know he's going to produce in the regular season. Even if he did struggle in the postseason with the bat, he can still defend and he can still run a bit(career .375 obp in the playoffs, so he still gets on base). He's not a one dimensional player so there is more he could do. And like I said before it's not like he's never played good in the postseason, so he's definitely capable of coming up big in the playoffs.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 01:41 AM) Who knows how much NY has gotten into his head? Maybe Mariotti talks to him and his brain goes "here we go again". Eh, one guy compared to the whole city is a little bit different. You're right, we don't know how he'd react, but I think he'd be just fine.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 01:34 AM) My only question of course is what Arod would do if he carried us to the playoffs. I just have no confidence in him late in games or in the clutch. I would rather have Thome up. The guy was pretty damn good outside of NY in the playoffs, hell he even did well in 04. Unfortunately for him, one bad postseason last season basically got every single Yankee fan on his back and I think it got into his head. Get him out of New York and I think he does just fine.

QUOTE(SoxAce @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 01:32 AM) God damn I just forgot about that. There would probably be clashes, unless Ozzie makes ammends between he and A-Rod. kinda cold what Ozzie said about A-Rod when he was choosing to play with the U.S. or the Dominican Republic. He already did apologize for that. I really don't think that would be a problem. That being said, if it comes down between ARod and Ozzie, I'll take Alex.

QUOTE(Palehosefan @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 01:22 AM) someway I have actually grown to love UNC football a little more than even basketball. It's the cool helmets.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 01:26 AM) HOWEVER, just because the Yanks staff has been in shambles the last two years. This is why the Yankees haven't won as of late, not because of Alex. Their pitching has been old and bad for a while now and instead of fixing that, they just keep adding to their offense every single year, you're not going to win like that.

QUOTE(AirScott @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 01:25 AM) now it's weird in Chicago. Paulie's "the man" here, but he seems a quieter leader than Jeter. so would A-Rod's ego fit here? what exactly does A-Rod need to be happy, content, whatever? Well I think the fact that an "ARod can't get a clutch hit to save his life" headline not being on the back page of the paper every night would certainly help. The guy got criticized more than anyone ever has for being a great player, that's got to take a toll on you.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Oct 7, 2006 -> 11:45 PM) You've finally waken up, haven't you? Maybe now that you're the one admitting to our minor league systems pitfalls people may believe it. It's coming to a point where we're going to have to produce legitimate, blue chip prospects. Players capable of immediately producing. That's if we're going to have ANY hope of consistently winning past our supposed "window of opportunity." Which, btw, I believe have already closed; but don't tell people that. Guess everyone will have to wait another two years to finally realize the truth, much as they have with our minor league system. He's been saying that for a while actually, I think most of us have realized this for a long time. That's not really the point though on why some people criticize you for the way you post this stuff. Kenny uses the minor league system different than others and it got us a world series and we're going to be in contention for a while(contention is not good enough but you get what I'm saying). The point is, the people who disagree with you think you praise the Twins way too much when the Sox have accomplished more than them because we've won a championship, it's that simple.

QUOTE(SoxAce @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 01:15 AM) Ugh, why do you do this to me. I don't feel like finding the article, but if you want me too, I'll do it. A-Rod yes is always backed in a corner because of the $$$, but when he says that maybe because he's good looking or light skinned, or that he looks at his stats saying he got five hits in a series where those five hits were just scattered hits not the "clutch hit," calling out his teammates (I will never understand his reasoning when Jeter is basically like A-Rod in the makes more money, good-looking department and he blames him for ALOT) and throwing them under the bus (yes I do realize some of it wasn't entirely accurate but most of it was nonetheless) is not class. A-Rod is what I call a stat watcher. It's like a bad tumor how large it is. I'll give you the Jeter stuff, to be honest I forgot about that. To be honest though I'm sure after being criticized night after night it just came out, still doesn't make it right but he's human. He has taken some blame on himself and yes there has also been times where he doesn't take it, once again seems pretty normal to me. Maybe class act wasn't the right word to use but I certainly don't think he's an asshole and I don't think he'd have any problem in our clubhouse, that's what I should have said to begin with. IMO though, every thing comes back to the money.

QUOTE(Jordan4life_2006 @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 01:00 AM) Damn, guys, give Maggs a break. It was a good video to me. Ya, I'm with Jordan here. Was definitely better than I could do. Nice job.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 01:07 AM) Having not watched a ton of games with ARod at SS, I really doubt that claim. But with his bat, if he came at $13-$15m to the White Sox, I would tolerate adequate and nonspectacular defense in exchange for his bat. Like I said, that's jmo. You're entitled to yours as well, but imo there is no one better than ARod at short.

QUOTE(SoxAce @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 01:05 AM) I would not go that far now. Why? Explain to me what he's ever done. He gets a bad rap because he makes a lot of money, that's really it.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 01:00 AM) Gold Glove? GMAFB. I want ARod for his bat. He's a clear downgrade from either Uribe or Crede defensively. He may be an upgrade from Jeter, but that's about it. I'll take the .290, 35 hr's and extra ticket/merch sales due to added press coverage. ARod is the best defensive shortstop in baseball imo.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 12:52 AM) Rowand ... he makes so much more money than any of his peers thus he in the clubhouse IS A CANCER So anyone who makes a lot of money is a cancer? Ok. ARod is a class act and would probably be just fine in our clubhouse. You might not want him on our team but I certainly do, you get one of the better bats in the league, a guy who kills left handed pitching and you even upgrade defensively(yes, he's one of the ss's in this league that is better than Juan), ARod is a total stud. If there is a chance to get arguably the best overall player in the game(when he's playing short) then you have to try and make it happen.

QUOTE(greg775 @ Oct 8, 2006 -> 12:49 AM) Again, ARod makes way too much money. Don't you guys ever see the intangibles are important? What the hell does money have to do with intangibles?

Piniella to be hired. That was quick.

ESPN has now jumped fully on the Tigers bandwagon. I might have to rethink my prediction of the Tigers winning the world series now.