RockRaines

Al's Beef on Taylor Tufanos on Vernon Park for cash-only italian Birdsnest on southport for wings Salernos on grand Vinnie's on grand for the city's best tuna salad sandwich Brunch: Wishbone, Palace Grill, Hashbrowns, Lou Mitchells Best dives to get blacked out and nobody cares: Marquis Lounge, Dugans, Cody's, Underground Wunderbar, Richards, Boss Bar I'm an Italian food freak so I could list a few: Rosals, La Scarola, Cafe Bionda, Mart Anthony's to name a few.

Pretty good article on ET on SI.com http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writ...d=si_topstories

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 08:39 PM) The thing that interests me about the whole Kubel/Thome DH situation is that neither of them can hit lefties very well. I dont think they will bench both of them in all the games vs. lefties. Kubel vs. LHP 2009: .243/.299/.345 Thome vs. LHP 2009: .209/.314/.429 And against righties, Kubel was way better, so I don't know why you'd even want Thome in there. Kubel vs. RHP 2009: .323/.397/.619 Thome vs. RHP 2009: .262/.383/.498 Kubel is horrible at defense and is much better served as DH, I dont know what their plan here will be. To draw some more fans and pinch hit Thome and DH him on getaway games. I dont see him staying off the DL this season either.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 09:31 PM) Cougill is a load of mush. Lick went to Vito's one night and was like, hey you look tall, wanna run up and down the bball court?

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 09:16 PM) Christ, Iowa blew that quick. Either way, I'd like to see what Lick could do with actual talent. I'll still trade you for him, Jas. Once the refs couldnt call 2 bulls*** fouls on Turner to keep him out of the game they were done. Lick's offensive sets are nice, however his talent level is not good. I'm pretty sure Google or whatever his name is was taken from the front door of a bar earlier tonight.

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 07:49 PM) I know he has a huge infatuation for Starlin Castro so that's probably part of why they're ranked so high. He was the first prospect guy to hype Castro and now everyone's on the bandwagon. And yet he calls Viciedo a non-prospect in his comments. Exactly why he is an idiot.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 08:21 PM) What reason do you have to believe that Kubel is going get that much play at DH? Yeah, he played there last year, because the Twins didn't have a hitter of Thome's caliber on the bench and the other two outfielders aside from Cuddyer and Span were Gomez (who plays a phenomenal CF) and Delmon Young, who the Twins have tried to get to produce but have failed. Delmon Young appears to be the backup to me at this point with Kubel being the primary LF and Thome being the primary DH. Thome will take a backseat with a lefty on the mound and when Mauer needs a day off from catching. Because he's their full time DH and the only reason he didnt play more DH last year was because of the injuries to Mauer. Kubel cant play the field as is a much better version of Thome in every way possible. Kubel 80-100 games Moreneau 10-15 Mauer 10-15 That leaves around 30 games for a rotation of Thome and whoever else needs to play when there is a LH pitcher.

LOL.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 01:02 PM) Says Keith Law. While Keith Law certainly isn't a big White Sox fan, I find it hard to argue against this one. Even the Astros have jumped ahead of them. Here's hoping for a decent 2010 draft class. http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/insider/col...%26id%3d4861174 Tell me why the Cubs are 7th. They have no farm system to speak of, and couldnt even unload their non prospects on other teams. Keith Law is not a good minor league person.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 03:42 PM) I could honestly see Thome playing about 100 games this season, all against right handed pitching, and putting up an OPS of about .850, assuming the only time he sees the lineup is against right handed pitching. I also don't think people really appreciate how good Cuddyer and Kubel were last season. Cuddyer put up an .862 OPS and had 73 XBHs while Kubel put up 65 XBHs and a .907 OPS and an OPS over 1.000 against right handed pitching. Since Kubel is going to play about 100 games at DH, where are the other 38 games that Thome will play there? Spring Training?

He said Viciedo is not a prospect whilst ranking the Cubs 7th because of one 19 year old. Hilarious.

Shoulders and Arms and ARX today. Made it through about 12 min of ARX before I had to quit.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 09:31 AM) You are correct, they were towards the bottom of the AL last year in starter's ERA. And yet, they still won the AL Central. And IMO, there's reason to believe continued development/improvement of it is possible. Ah, improvement and development by the other teams, but probably career lows for the Sox.

For some reason I dont picture Kaner with a huge guido cross on. And both of them totally shave their chests? Seems like a photochop.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 09:25 AM) Do they still have Pavano? Baker Slowey Pavano Blackburn Duensing Liriano Isn't a threat to us with the guy at the top, but that's not exactly a bad rotation there. If that was the Sox rotation you would be calling for 65 wins. Its not good.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 07:48 AM) That's much more likely. No way they signed Thome just to be an occasional player. He'll get the bulk of DH at bats. He'll get the bulk of them? LOL, and who is he going to sit then? Kubel? I bet Thome doesnt play more than 20 games at DH tops.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 08:50 AM) They have some other options that would make their line-up even more potent. Putting Cuddyer back at 3B, for example, even though his defense over there is atrocious, that takes the second weakest bat (Harris) out of the line-up. There's some thought they might re-sign Crede (3B)/Orlando Cabrera (for 2B) or go after Orlando Hudson and/or Felipe Lopez. I think there really will be some serious concern around here if they were to ALSO bring in Orlando Hudson at 2B, that would be a helluva line-up with O-Dog added to the mix with his skill-set. If they somehow can take Punto out of the starting line-up and put him back in his super-sub role for a superior offensive player, they're really going to be a team to be reckoned with. If only their pitching staff wasnt total garbage compared to us and Detroit. Adding a LH pinch hitter doesnt make them more dangerous to us at this point. Adding O-Dog would however. They still cant match up with our arms though.

Well now that this is clearly not a Sox thread, shouldnt this be moved?

QUOTE (Brian @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 06:14 PM) Even if he wasn't now, he's your best player. Not starting him could start conflict more easily than a spark. I dont get it. Whatever. I think Harris is going to be a helluva player at the next level.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 07:56 PM) Chad Tracy -- the same guy the Sox apparently could not afford -- signed a minor league deal with the Cubs, he'll make $900K if he makes the team there's another ~$500K in incentives if he reaches 450K. Yes, an MLC/$900K, frightening. Smoke Screen. Nick Johnson was real, Chad Tracy was not.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 07:26 PM) Vizquel being on the team isn't a problem (although I personally disagree with it since he's 42 and can't hit, but I can understand why he's on the team), not having a DH is the problem. They are two separate issues. Thome as a full time DH isnt the answer for this team. He showed signs of breaking down last year and the organization knows that. For the first time in years he put up a sub .800 OPS in the second half of the season and is almsot 40 years old with a bad back and high maintenance swing.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 07:00 PM) I saw his clip the other day. They need to worry about beating the Hawks in a playoff series, instead of this kind of crap. He may want to focus on not blocking punches with his face.

QUOTE (daa84 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 07:19 PM) isn't thome talking about himself? Merkin posted 3 tweets that all seem to go together...i think he's just saying that the sox were worried about getting him enough AB..... Thome: "I spent four years here in Chicago, and I think from the White Sox end that was a pretty tough decision for them." More Thome: "They had a guy they were thinking about bring back and worried about the number of at-bats." Thome on Chicago: "I love the city of Chicago, and I had a ton of great memories and will always cherish the memories there." im am still a bit frightened by the fact that our manager can't find enough ABs for Thome, because jones kotsay and vizquel are on the team....yuck Vizquel is a backup infielder, if Thome could play 3 positions in the infield, he probably would have a spot as well. I swear some of you people think a baseball team is the same as a fantasy league roster.

QUOTE (since56 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 07:18 PM) The White Sox said they could not offer Thome many AB, but he signs with the Twins as a pinch hitter? More shady rhetoric from Ozzie and KW? I don't mind letting Thome go but it wasn't because he was sekking more AB as a full time DH. They decided itwasnt fair to Thome and out of respect they wanted to give him a chance to get at bats. Thome needs alot of at bats to not only keep himself loose, but also to keep up his swing. As a pinch hitter he wont be effective, which is why the Twins just wasted a roster spot.

Dear Tony, take your run-stance squat switch pickups and shove them up your ass.