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QUOTE (flavum @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 03:15 PM) More like 4/54. 2012: 12 2013: 13 2014: 14 2015: 15 That's more White Soxie. That would make more sense. I would never give any pitcher anything more than a 3 year deal but for a pitcher that has been with the Sox this long (ala MB) I could see 4 years.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 02:46 PM) While I 100% believe k0na that a deal is done, I give these figures about a 1% chance of being true. Mark just got $14.5M per year to pitch from age 33-36. John is getting no less than $15M per year to pitch from age 26-30, even with an extra year on the deal. My guess would be 5 years and something between $75-80M. The only way I could see this happening is if he really wanted to stay here and wanted a 5 year deal. So the Sox offered more money short term but less money per year over a longer period of time. I still can't imagine JR would have approved a 5 year deal but at this money he might.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 02:40 PM) From the last decade's experience, banking on players to hit their averages on the white sox is an exercise in futility. We're not talking about averages. We're just talking about not being historically bad.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 02:35 PM) Mark just got slightly less amount of money. There was no way they will bring him back, he's not 25 anymore. The only beef I have with org is actually not actually having ANY offer for him. They didn't offer anything because MB gave them a chance to match the Marlins offer. They decided not to match it. It was not worth offering anything below what the Marlions did. He told them that at the beginning of FA.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 02:30 PM) Where did the Cardinals rank before the season last year? I know some people thought last year's Sox team was a top 5 MLB team coming into the season. As long as we dont totally gut the roster we've got a pretty good chance in our division. I think that's what people forget. The sox had a talented team. It's just that everybody (save PK) had about the worst season they could. The sox still need a little offensive upgrade but they aren't an awful team. You can either gut the team (which people you like suspects want) or add to it. We have yet to see which one KW is really doing. But I think he will still trade CQ, Thornton and a starter to add more pieces.

QUOTE (SOXOBAMA @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 02:26 PM) With Danks the Sox are still the 8th best team in the AL.. I hope we still sign than trade him and get a package like the Padres got in the Latos trade. If you can you always keep proven pitcher over any suspect at a reasonable price. If the numbers are accurate, the Sox would be fools not to keep him.

QUOTE (SOXOBAMA @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 01:56 PM) Cliff Floyd has a radio show on the MLB Network on Sirius during the evening hours.. Thanks. I have XM/Sirius. i'll have to tune in.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 11:36 AM) So it is a better idea starting him against Jared Allen? McCown shouldnt play, if they believe Enderle has a future in the league, its time to find out Yes. Jared Allen is one guy and he would be the only one to cause any problems. The Packers defense will give a rookie all kinds of problems.

QUOTE (SOXOBAMA @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 12:18 PM) I heard last night on MLB Radio. I believe it was CLiff Floyd reporting that the White Sox will go all out and try to sign Cespedes. where did you hear Cliff Floyd. He's one of my old patient who I really liked. One of the best high school baseball players i've ever seen in illinois.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 11:19 AM) Bears announce McCown starting Sunday night. So F***ing stupid. Whats the point? McCown wont be a bear next season, you might as well start Enderle and see what the kid can do. Instead, we get a guy who was selling insurance a month ago. Way to find out how your draft pick can do Jerry It's not up to Jerry, it's Lovie's call. Lovie probably doesn't want to get the kid killed behind that offensive line. Wouldn't surprise me if Enderle starts against the Vikings next week.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Dec 20, 2011 -> 09:05 PM) The stats support that QB play has increased. According to the stats, Dilfer was a bottom half QB, Smith is a top half QB. That is how they match up to their peers. Furthermore, you cant just say its "rule changes", the game has also considerably changed. 10 years ago I cant remember many teams running no huddle hurry up offense throughout the entire game, I dont recall as many receiving TE"s, I dont recall teams using as many 5 wr sets. More offenses were built on a traditional run game, with less teams airing out the ball.Im going to guess that there were significantly less passes thrown in 2000 than in 2011. (goes to check) In 2000 there were 16322 passes attempted (32.9 per game) compared to 13677 rushes (27.6). In 2011 (through 15 games) there have been 15195 passes attempted (33.9 per game) to 12212 rushes (27.3) So based on that, Id say it may not be statistically significant the attempts. Lets look at QB rating by year: 2000- league average was 76.2 2011- league average is 82.4 So all things being considered it appears that there has been roughly a 6 point bump in QB rating since 2000 (this compares favorably to the previous stats of how many Qbs had over 90 rating and over 100.) Which still supports Smith is better this season than Dilfer. That being said, there also has been an increase in Qb rating, while there has not been a drastic increase in passing attempts. Suggests that there are more completions/tds. That is all because of rule changes. In the 70' and 80's you could beat on the receivers until the quaterback threw the ball. Now you bascially cannot touch them after 5 yards. The rules have slowly eveloed to help the offense and the passing game. It's that old adage "chicks dig the long ball". The masses like fast paced high scroing games and the NFL is bowing to the public whim to make more money. As for your other comment about tight ends. They aren't tight ends anymore, they are just big receivers. Heath Miller from the Steelers my be ones of the few left who can block. If you want some of the best who could both look at Ozzie Newsome and Kellen Winslow.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 20, 2011 -> 08:36 PM) Well, part of this is because retired football players are starting to show massive brain damage from the blows to the head they have absorbed over their careers... But I agree, the rule changes have definitely advanced things for the offenses recently, and that has elevated the play of relatively pedestrian quarterbacks like Alex Smith, who otherwise, would probably look more like Brad Johnson and Trent Dildo. It doesn't hurt that the average fan enjoys high-scoring games more than defensive battles anyway. Some of that won't change. football is a sport where there are purposeful collisions. quarterbacks are not typically the ones you see with these symptoms. You do now becuase of the prevalence of the artificial surfaces. However, a factor that people don't talk about because it isn't as populr of a topic is that much of that brain damage can be link to steriod use as well. This is where the media misses the boat. Steriod use is as big a factor as the concussions for brain damage.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 20, 2011 -> 08:11 PM) Indeed. There are some fat people who can run the s*** out of thin people...that is all you need to see in order to know the distinction. I find that getting fit has inspired me to improve my overall health. Working this hard encourages you to eat better. I also find that my body naturally craves more healthy foods when I work out this often. When I don't, I start craving crap again. I'm also someone that has smoked on and off since I was 17 or so. It's very difficult to do some of the more intense cardio workouts as a smoker, so it's forced me to choose: smoke or workout. I've chosen workout. weight bu itself is also a poor indicator of health. Better indicators are the blood pressure, heart rate, choleterol etc. Exercise and eating can change them to an extent. Unfortunately many of them are genetic that meds will require to change.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 12:04 AM) Something interesting I just noticed whilst talking to my Cubs friend..... Peavy and Rios are pretty much our south side equals to Zambrano and Soriano. Our duo will cost us $29M in 2012, and put up a 2.2 combined WAR in 2011. Their duo will cost them $36M in 2012, and also put up a 2.2 combined WAR in 2011. Just something depressingly interesting I thought I would share. Peavy's aituation was due to injury not being a mental midget. He has a good chance to rebound and be a good pitcher. The situations are nowhere near similar.

There is a good point hidden in the previous "discussion". There is a big difference between fitness and health. Physical fitness is what most of us focus on. The best measure of physical fitness is VO2 max. However, that can only be done in a clinic. The easiest way for a most of us to determine fitness is by your heart rate. To determine if you are wroking hard enough you should work out at 70-90% of your heart rate max. Determining your max heart rate you should use the Karvonen formula (many people use 220-your age but it isn't specific enough IMO). the formula is Target Heart Rate = ((max HR − resting HR) × %Intensity) + resting HR. This takes into account your indivdualized resting heart rate which will decrease as you become more fit. Another thing to remember is that your heart rate should decrease at least 40 bpm after a 2 minute cool down. If it doesn't you are working out too hard.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 20, 2011 -> 06:04 PM) The league has all but assured we won't see a defense like that for some time. Everything is geared towards offense. And you're only going by SB winners. How about the runner ups? Obviously, you can throw out the '06 Bears. That offense blew outside of Thomas Jones. The '07 Pats scored the most points in NFL history. The '08 Cardinals featured Warner, Fitzgerald and Boldin. The '09 Colts - Manning. Big Ben probably goes for 4000+ yards last year, as he did the season before, if not for the suspension. We could have as many as 10 QBs this year throw for 4,000+ yards. Ten years ago you might've gotten five that reached or surpassed those numbers. I'm not saying it's required to have an elite passing attack to get to or win the SB. But the days of scrubs like Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson aka "just don't throw an interception and you're fine" are over. It has nothing to do with the offenses or elite quarterbacks. It has everything to do with the constant rule changes to favor the offenses. Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson wouldn't be the"scrubs" as you call them today. If they and their receivers didn't have to worry about being hit like the games today they would look a lot better. Football wants to add HGH testing so they can shrink the players and make it a flag football league. soon they will add rules to make it more like arena football with a bunch of guy running around everywhere on offense and no defense whatsoever.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 20, 2011 -> 04:07 PM) And if you know that, I don't understand why they don't know that...seems silly to create an excuse if it is obviously silly and impossible. Athletes try it all the time. There was a female swimmer from Ireland a few years ago you said she failed due to birth control pills. These would cause a positive test if she took 400 per day. Lance Armstrong tested positive for EPO (he tested positive before it was banned for cycling so no action was taken). He claimed it was treatment for his testicular cancer. Again it was far and above what would be normally administrered. Athletes attempt to come up with legal drugs to explain positive tests to provide their excuses. It makes them look better. I have not worked in MLB since the drug testing started so I'm not familiar with what they consider a positive test. But from what I've read and what is on the graprevine, this could get ugly with the amount banned substance he had in his system.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 20, 2011 -> 02:49 PM) Ptact, is this herpes thing even possible? I don't think so. From what I've read, the meds could produce a positive test. However, he would need to take massive amounts of the drugs to do it. Somewhere in the range of 200 times the presciption amount per day.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 19, 2011 -> 09:19 PM) Who are these young players? Morel, Beckham and Viciedo...and that's it, in my mind. I include Flowers and Rameirez in that as well. I guess Rameierez isn't real young but he's playing at his peak and under control for a few years at a reasonable cost. I base most of my comment on the fact that we know KW doesn't trade for a package that a team offers. He trades for a player or players he has targeted. So, he doesn't misjudge a market because he only goes after certain targeted players usually starting pitchers.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 19, 2011 -> 08:51 PM) Reds aren't going to trade Mesoraco now that Grandal got traded. Seems like Kenny really misjudged this market, as Santos would have been someone you have to think Reds would have been interested in. I don't think he misjudged anything. In his mind he got a future MLB starting pitcher, which is usually what he is looking for in trades. He's got young position players all over the diamond, whereas most of his pitching staff will be leaving or will become expensive in the next couple of years. Any trades he makes will focus around young pitching.

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Oct 27, 2011 -> 04:55 PM) Zevon?!!? If so, then you and me both, but that would be more for during the service. For the recessional it would have to be Party For the Rest of the Night from the same album. I've always though Zevon's "I'll sleep when I'm dead" would be a good one. That or AC/DC "Hell's Bells"

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 18, 2011 -> 08:13 PM) One of my medically inclined friends wrote this. He must have been drunk. You cannot dislocate a vertebrae without massive spinal damage. Tearing abdominal muscle has absolutely nothing to do with spinal damage. I have to assume your post should have been in green.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 17, 2011 -> 04:02 PM) Other than it being a 4-1 deal, I don't see how anybody can say the Reds got fleeced. I love this deal for them. Latos, Cueto, Votto, Bruce, Stubbs, Chapman is an amazing young core to go into '12 with. No Pujols, more than likely no Fielder, and the rest of that division being either average (Cubs) or pathetic (Astros), and the Reds should be a major player. for once we're in agreement. A good, proven MLB pitcher is worth more than also any prospect or group of prospects.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 16, 2011 -> 05:35 PM) Yeah, 73-75 wins would be much more likely, based on what we saw last year out of Beckham and Axis of Evil...and how Humber faded down the stretch as well. Not to mention the likelihood that the bullpen won't settle down into their roles until halfway through the season, and Ohman will quickly get overexposed if you trade Thornton. The wins would be in the low 80's. There is no way Dunn will be as bad as last year. Sale will do well in the rotation. Peavy will be decent after a year of strengthening. They would be better but not great. I hope there are many more moves to come.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Dec 16, 2011 -> 02:39 PM) Does it seem to anyone else that pitchers are getting hurt with more regularity in the last few years? Yes. My theory is that most are getting to the majors too quickly and either should have 1) developed more stamina and strength in the minors or 2) been injured in the minors and never made it to the majors. In the 50's, 60's and 70's there are always stories of guys who could throw in the upper 90's but never made it to the majors because they were injured in the minors. They didn't have the stamina to repeat their delivery for a season but would wash out. In today's game, these pitcher's are pushed ahead and break down in the majors when they shoudln't even has made it that far. We have this discussion among AT's all the time. Some say not enough throwing, some too much "pressure" throwing. There are many theories but one thing is for sure, today's pitcher's aren't as durable as they should be.