daa84

haha im the vandy fan.....we open playing in the demarini invitational in tempe...baseball america has us ranked 3 preseason..first game this friday vs. 2 time defending national champ oregon state (7th by BA) then arizona state (9th) on saturday and miami of ohio sunday...should be some good players there.... man after the season ended last year im dying for this season to start again...we return our entire offense which is promising, but we lose the #1 overall pick in Price and the #8 in weathers.....man it was so heartbreaking seeing us ranked 1 most the whole year last year, and then losing to michigan the way we did last year (extra innings on a monday night, price came in in the 10th to get out of a jam after starting friday night, gives up only his 2nd or 3rd HR of the year in the 11th to get his first loss of the season against michigan, then in the bottom alvarez robbed of HR to win it for the wolverines) im heading back to nashville for the series in mid march against #12 south carolina...should be some good talent and for sure some future major leaguers....im still hoping alvarez signs with boars and falls to us at 8, but i doubt it....i compare him to a young jim thome or carlos delgado

QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Feb 17, 2008 -> 12:20 AM) Good luck dividing shots between those 2. I think based purely off entertainment value, I'd give it to Howard. The Superman dunk was just insane. The mini-hoop, the behind the backboard, everything was incredible. His athleticism for a man his size in incredible and I don't think anyone will ever touch his 2008 dunk contest performance. Technicality probably goes to Carter in 2000, but overall, I have to give it to D12. howards first dunk was absolutely ridiculous...he had to dunk it on the way down, while not hitting his head/shoulders on the backboard....as far as the superman thing goes...yeah cool idea, but seriuosly...that will be the most overrated drunk ever...he didnt even come close to making it...he was 2 feet short and threw the ball in the rim...i mena dont get me wrong the guy has serious ups and it was entertaining, but to get at 10 or even an 8 or 9 to me you actually have to DUNK it....the others were good, but i actually thought gerald green doing the between the legs without shoes on was nuts...dwights last dunk was average i thought...how was that any different than greens second? he had the ball propped instead of taking it from teh hands of rashad mccants...i dunno howard was still the clear winner, but it wasn't the ridiculous performance everyone said it was...though i will grant the fact that his first dunk may have been the best dunk ive seen...he just peaked in the beinning

theres some photos on chicagosports.com....aj appears to be a bit slimmer than last year, but maybe not

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Feb 16, 2008 -> 07:25 PM) Why the hell would they want Inge? He's not very good, he's got an ugly contract, and he's going to cost more than Crede. If I'm the Giants, I much prefer Crede to Inge. well, both are roughly .260 hitters with .310-.320 obps and both are ++ defenders....crede might hit a few more HR (maybe) and hes been healthier than crede....oh and he can catch and play the Of....so im not really sold on crede being considerably better than inge, as for the contracts, inge makes only 1 million more than crede and is at least signed for couple more years, crede is a FA after, so id say crede has the uglier contract.

QUOTE(whitesox1976 @ Feb 15, 2008 -> 04:27 AM) I voted for Bobby Jenks, one of my all time favorites. Also because he saved the greatest win in franchise history, game 4 of the 2005 World Series. lol remember back in 05 that sox talk was split between calling up jenks and calling up jeff bajenaru....man im glad the front office made the right choice

jermaine dye will have a year closer to his 06 than his 07.... last year post ASB .298 .368 .579 - .947 OPS (.673 first half) considering he battled nagging injuries in the first half...if hes healthy i think hes gonna be back to putting up near MVP type numbers.... ill say .305 36 HR .370 obp .575 slg

QUOTE(Disco72 @ Feb 15, 2008 -> 08:10 AM) I'm not as concerned with "leadoff hitter" as I am "hitter that is in front of Thome-Konerko-Dye." I agree with Wite that we don't need a 'fast' player, just someone that can get on base and score runs. I also agree that the Sox have some interesting options at 2B after Richar, but Roberts would look nice as the "hitter in front of Thome-Konerko-Dye." Obviously, the Sox can't get him, so I'm contributing to a somewhat useless discussion here. yeah, im really intrigued by ramirez....PECOTA has him at .295/.342/.452 and it has roberts .290/.377/.432 assuming both were to come true, which i know is a slim possibility, but just assume they are right, the extra .025 in obp and actual decrease in slg isnt worth us giving anything up for roberts (not that we have anything to give up for him anyways)

IU should go after kevin stallings...hes been to the sweet 16 twice in the last 4 years, and has a shot at going again this year, and he beat florida last year...not to mention we had georgetown beat, until jeff green traveled and hit a game winner that should have sent us to the elite 8 last year

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...1,6567441.story especially if they trade roberts i could see uribe going to balt., im sure wed have to eat some of his contract, depending on what we got in return

QUOTE(knightni @ Feb 13, 2008 -> 12:36 AM) I wonder if Indian genetics are more prone to dwarfism? Remember the oompa-loompa guy from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? I believe he's from India. and when you have a billion people, you are bound to have alot of weird cases

i know folks here dont follow SEC ball too much, but my commodores are absolutely mopping the floor with a Kentucky team who was pretty hot coming in.....41-11 at the half....Kentuckys fewest points scored in a half since the shot clock, previous low was 16

QUOTE(BearSox @ Feb 8, 2008 -> 09:04 PM) I know that, and it was ignorant and stupid, but puh-lease. If someone was actually offended by that, give me a break. it reminds of that seinfeld episode where elaine dates the bad breaker upper...when they break up he calls her big head.......jerry says "big head? thats almost a compliment" and elaine responds "its one of the nicest things anyones ever said to me"

i dislike old navy jeans...they always always always tear...cheap material i think...i normally go with levis, but i also like nautica, i know its a little on the not so masculine side but i also have a few good pairs of jeans/khakis that i really like from banana republic....i have 1 pair of polo jeans that are fantastic, but i just hate spending over 45, 50 bucks on jeans

frankly i think something would have been wrong with illinois fans had they not chanted....its like guys like mariotti never went to college....the advantage of having the home court is that your fans get to say whatever they want....even if heaven for bid it should have a cuss word....as for throwing the beads...good god who cares.....beads and a cup of ice? oh no! heaven forbid! stuff like that happens even at tame college bball games...the only reason its making the papers is cuz of the whole gordon hatred...besides, if you are gonna go into a known hostile environment you gotta be ready to a little ribbing, especially if you are wearing opposing colors....when i was at vandy we heckled matt walsh so bad his mommy had to stand up for him and write a note to the SEC saying her son felt threatened...the result was that we were then on charged 25,000 bucks for storming the court after games...didnt stop anyone...but seriously, as a somewhat casual illinois fan i was pretty glad the students gave the arch enemy a hard time....

QUOTE(Steve9347 @ Feb 8, 2008 -> 09:48 AM) Get me Crisp, start him in CF and leadoff... put Swish at 1st, Quentin in left, and move pauly for spects. bam bing, this looks better (and assuming Fields eventually hits 6 not 7) CF Crisp SS Cabrera 1B Swisher DH Thome RF Dye C Pierzynski 3B Fields LF Quentin 2B Richar/Uribe/Ramirez than this does SS Cabrera 1B Swisher DH Thome RF Dye 1B Konerko C Pierzynski 3B Fields LF Quentin 2B Richar/Uribe/Ramirez i respectfully disagree 100%...i strongly believe the second lineup looks better, which isnt to say i wouldnt make those deals, it would just depend on what we got back for PK

QUOTE(The Critic @ Feb 8, 2008 -> 08:14 AM) I heard this story is two years old. Cockfighting is legal in the DR - maybe the activists are misplacing their energy by going after Pedro (if they have, or if they do - I haven't heard anything yet in that regard) instead of making a case with the Dominican Replubic's leaders to make it illegal? If Pedro and Juan went to the cockfights two years ago, then the snarky "Did Michael Vick not teach us all a lesson?" comment is as useless as the rest of TMZ.com. ivan calderon went back to i believe the DR after he retired and participated in cockfighting as his hobby (maybe it was a career?)...i also believe the authorities thought his death was somehow linked to cockfighting like you said...its perfectly legal in the DR (i meant the cockfighting part...not the killing humans part)

QUOTE(Markbilliards @ Feb 7, 2008 -> 06:54 PM) I think this is more of an issue of dealing with the disrespect you receive as a rookie than an issue as a Christian. There is nothing he wouldn't have already experienced in the minors and college locker rooms that fall into criteria he would find offensive as a Christian. I think it is more that he is no longer on an equal playing field as his peers. He was probably pretty well respected in the minors and college by teammates/coaches, but not he's in the big leagues and people feel the need to treat him like crap just because he's a rookie (as most rookies experience). He'll be fine, this probably was swayed out of context. Whoever made the Chumbawumba joke, that was funny. EDIT: He also may have realized how many MLB players use performance enhancers too and he became pretty shocked, but then again, I think the minors may be worse. i agree with you actually...this kind of makes me wonder about rookie hazing.....this is actually the third time in just a couple years that a young sox player has not meshed well under ozzie...logan complained about how rookies were treated, and then the whole tracey thing too...it does seem like a non-issue, but i have some good confidence in josh and i think he could be a big part of this team and i would hate to see him even end up demanding a trade or something silly because of our clubhouse

i hope schilling goes away and i never have to hear from him again...but thats certainly unlikely to happen, even if he retires...

QUOTE(WilliamTell @ Feb 7, 2008 -> 03:49 PM) Man I hope this story doesn't get bigger. But at the same time Fields needs to understand, and probably does understand that in the sporting world, you have to have thick skin to succeed. sounds like the colorado rockies would really like josh fields

QUOTE(Reddy @ Feb 6, 2008 -> 10:24 PM) Linky Wow, they actually thought we did a good job. And when you put it side by side like that, what we gained vs. what we gave up, it makes it look like Kenny actually did a helluva job this offseason. But they're right about that starting pitching thing... they are exactly right, and ive been saying for months, this offense is so much better having cut dead weight in pods erstad and uribe....not only do we upgrade 50 pts of obp in the infield but 70 points with swisher and according to PECOTA potentially 40-50 with quentin in left (not to mention they have ramirez hitting .295/.340/.450, which would be more than solid at 2b or as a CF should quentin get injured.....i really dont wanna see owens out there) combine that with the upgrades in the pen....and if we get some solid pitching from contreras, plus one of floyd or danks to take the next step and have a near 4 Era, plus the other to pitch like a 5th starter, i know thats alot of ifs, but this team could potentially win 90 games in that happens

QUOTE(beck72 @ Feb 6, 2008 -> 02:53 PM) Seems Boston is unable to trade Crisp now, with teams going younger. He'd likely come real cheap in terms of talent. http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7764824...3162&ATT=49 While it makes no sense to put Crisp in CF now with Swisher being given a shot, I'm just not convinced Nick's set in CF. Kenny can talk all he wants about Nick being a "grinder", yet that won't make the OF defense of Quentin, Swisher and Dye even average. The only thing that would make sense is trading Paulie before he gets his 5 and 10 rights. And moving Nick to 1b. Crisp wouldn't even have to hit leadoff. Put Cabrera there, and Nick hit 2nd. I guess it would depend on what the sox could get for Paulie from the Angels. Yet if the sox were intent on trading PK to the angels, it would make more sense to get Figgins as part of the deal, and forget about Crisp. I just think if the sox were truly intent on improving their long term talent, without sacrificing their chances of winning this year or next, PK should be dealt for a reasonable package. only way i take crisp is if he is the 4th OFer (its a bonus to have him off the bench to put in center late in games, since we have no true CF) and if we are able to trade away one of crede or uribe...that way we basically trade a 5mil bench player who is strong defensively for a 5 mil bench player who is strong defensively at a different position...also it would add a bit of speed of the bench...

hawk is a character, and baseball needs more characters these days so im happy about this....not to mention the guy has become every bit as much of white sox baseball as the exploding scoreboard....

im pretty sure most statisticians absolutely love henderson and his .401 obp and the fact taht hes second in all time walks...i just think they argue the worth of his stolen bases (which most would say did contribute, just not as much as his other stats), or any other players stolen bases for that matter

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 08:22 PM) I should just stop posting in the catch all threads. as you talked abotu in that thread, that article makes me glad that we shut down danks last year...that said we gotta start to stretch him out a bit this year if he is still effective

QUOTE(wsgdf_2 @ Feb 5, 2008 -> 10:44 PM) It says Floyd, Danks and Contreras are bad. It would take Egbert over all three of them: Egbert ERA 4.99 WHIP 1.55 K 91 BB 59 GB% 55% Contreras ERA 5.00 WHIP 1.48 K 81 BB 45 GB% 46% Floyd ERA 5.23 WHIP 1.52 K 70 BB 40 GB% 44% Danks ERA 5.54 WHIP 1.54 K 88 BB 47 GB% 41% HOWEVER, I asked Nate Silver about these guys in a BP chat a few weeks ago or so and he said: Tweezer (Naperville): Are Contreras, Danks and Floyd going to get hammered? Oh, and I don't mean at Jimbo's. Nate Silver: Let's look at their EqERAs, which assume a neutral park and defense (league average = 4.50): Danks 5.11 Floyd 4.87 Contreras 4.69 These aren't players that you'll want for your fantasy squad, but they aren't terrible by any means; basically you've got three #4 starters. With that said, there's a lot of risk on either side of those numbers, so it would behoove the White Sox to do something like follow through with their plans to sign Bartolo Colon. With the offseason activity, there's next to zero pitching depth in that organization, so the scary thing is what happens if one of those guys gets hurt. haha i read that in the chat, which is basically why i asked you earlier for their PECOTAS, even those PECOTA projections aren't horrid.....they aren't good particularly, but in reality they are similar to what silver said