ptatc

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 1, 2011 -> 02:31 PM) As long as I get to cheer for 1 HR for every 4-4.25 k's, I'll be thrilled. Good, at least one of us will survive. Might as well be the younger one.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Apr 1, 2011 -> 02:21 PM) Gameday view only for me. Dunn K's with runners on 2nd and 3rd and it was his first RBI chance for the Sox. Trade him!!! A walk or a strike when contact will suffice will be the death of me all season (if I last that long).

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 11:02 AM) Yes, a lot of miles on Lackey and Beckett, too. They were both stud power pitchers at a very early age. I worked with Beckett in the minors. He was a live version of Nuke Laloosh right out of high school. I swear he almost hit the mascot once. Good guy but he does have alot of miles on that arm.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 30, 2011 -> 11:22 PM) Oh my goodness. dan, this was a splendid piece by you. But a small part of my soul died after reading it. This franchise has the nerve to not want to hand out contracts over 3 years to pitchers? This has to be the worst collection of SP talent I've ever seen. the primary concern is injuries. These contract come back to haunt you more than they are successful. I would never go more than 4 years for those reasons. JR got bit hard with the Dotson, Bannister and Burns contracts i the mid-80's, along with Navarro later on. The only one that has worked is the Buerhle contract and people complain that he isn't living up to that contract. I agree with JR that these contracts don't make sense and KW needs continue to find young pitching in trades.

QUOTE (The Gooch @ Mar 30, 2011 -> 07:07 PM) I am only a student, but the reviewing process seems so subjective and sometimes biased It can be to a certain extent. Some of us look more for reliability vs validity, or internal vs external validity. When you're dealing with human subjects no study is perfect so you have to pick what you think is the most important. Personally I think it's reliability so you can say "this will help someone or it won't."

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 30, 2011 -> 06:31 PM) The number of citations you need just expands to fill the time. I just spent the last hour adding 5 citations to a paper with, god, i dunno, 75 already in it, to appease a reviewer. You gotta love those idiots!!! I say that from experience as I am a reviewer for 4 peer reviewed journals.

Someone actually picked the Astros to win the NL Central. I can't believe someone paid him while he came up with that.

If you really want to do a tough topic, how about what you did before ESPN? Getting sports information before ESPN was next to impossible before the next morning in the paper.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Mar 30, 2011 -> 10:46 AM) Read the newspaper to find the current standings. Watch ESPN's bottom line to see who won that day. Actually having to go to the library to do any kind of research for school. Lugging out a dictionary when I couldn't remember how to spell a word. Checking the newspaper to see what movies where playing. Subscribing to Nintendo Power to get the latest game tips. Going outside and playing with my friends. Talking to people on the phone when they couldn't come over. This was the biggest one for me. Not just to get my PhD but also to get journal articles fro my own research. I spent countless nights and weekends in libraries finding archived articles for my research. Now you can search and save it yourself in a few hours. Think of all the hours wasted with research when I could have been drinking and getting wasted.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 25, 2011 -> 07:42 AM) "Affect the outcome" is a relative term though...because in quite a few of those, the closer comes in and pitches the 9th inning with a fairly comfortable lead and still winds up with the save. This is true. However, of the 70 or so games he pitches in, how many leads are relatively comfortable? Don't get me wrong I still a starting pitcher is more valuable in general. However I think the closer role is more important than some people give it credit for. The actual "save" stat is useless for the reason you stated above, however the impact of effecting the outcome of twice as many games as a starter does have it's merit.

QUOTE (Paint it Black @ Mar 24, 2011 -> 09:30 PM) I agree with all of this. It should also be noted that the Reds are paying Chapman a conciderable amount of money to close, something I am not a fan of at all. I'd rather see money go to guys who appear in you know, more than 60 innings a year. Even though they effect the outcome of twice as many games as a starter?

QUOTE (ptatc @ Mar 24, 2011 -> 04:58 PM) Adam Dunn will give me a heart attack this year. If you guys don't hear from me for a few days during the season please call someone to come check on me. I deserve a decent burial. OW! another coronary artery went.

Adam Dunn will give me a heart attack this year. If you guys don't hear from me for a few days during the season please call someone to come check on me. I deserve a decent burial.

Excellent bunt by Pierre.

QUOTE (LVSoxFan @ Mar 24, 2011 -> 08:13 AM) Sorry, while I still think Peavy shouldn't have been pushing 83 pitches already or pitching sick, on the other hand I'm not about to get out on the ledge because OMG HIS SHOULDER IS SORE after he's pitched a few games! Are you really that surprised? If that's the only "setback," I'd say: things are moving right along. HOWEVER, don't push it--easy as she goes. This is always the toughest question to answer with any patient. How hard to push it. When you are working out and trying to build strength, how hard do you push yourself? How much can a person take. Peavy's injury was healed in November or so. Since that time it's been strengthening and working his arm into shape. It's like anyone who hurts themselves and must go back to a physically demanding job. They can strengthen and rehab all they want but how do you know if your back can handle lifting boxes onto a truck. You have to do it and see how you handle it. The tricky part with pitching is that it is such an exact motion that you basically have to teach the muscles how to react again. Peavy was at the point where he needed to push it to progress. He was doing fine with results and there was no need to back off. Remember he hasn't had surgery before. He doesn't know what is normal feeling after he has been cut on. Now he knows what it feels like and he better listen to his shoulder and progress appropriately. If he'll do this is a whole other problem.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Mar 24, 2011 -> 02:21 AM) Arguing for the sake of arguing? No. I think you're doing a poor job of explaining what's so wrong about it. No one can. The only thing people are saying is that it's against "tradition". Well so what? I'm sure that there are a LOT of things that go on now that probably fly in the face of this tradition. I wonder how older people feel about long dreads hanging out of a baseball cap? Or how about Brian Wilson's beard? or how about Jason Giambi's or Peter Moylan's arms covered with tattoos? You think those would have fallen in line with tradition 60 years ago? The point that I'm trying to make is that if the only thing you can say is wrong with removing his helmet is that it's against tradition, then I say that things change and people aren't robots. And it's not like Milledge has announced to the world that "when I take my helmet off, it means that I'm the man and I own this pitcher". Hell, I don't know why he does it. He said it's his "thing". So be it. I don't feel like he's showing off. EXACTLY!!! That's what I've been saying. If you're a pitcher and you don't like what Milledge does, then don't give up any home runs to him. If he hits one, then oh well. Pitch better next time. I don't think so much about who is doing it, it's more about the perception on who is judging it. I grew up in a small town in Iowa and was taught the "act like you've done it before." So things like taking off your helmet or the Grant Balfour going nuts in a regular game seem wrong to me. If it's a play to win a playoff or important game the it's exciting. I don't know your background but as you said before, it can be considered style by some others. There will never but an agreement because there isn't a right or wrong. Some will consider it style and excitement others will consider it showboating and trying to separate himself from the team to show individual achievement. I don't think it is so much race as it is culture and upbringing. From my experience in professional sports you will always have these differences in fans and in the clubhouse. I'm sure some Sox players were down on him for doing it and others were laughing at it.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Mar 23, 2011 -> 05:37 PM) So does this mean Peavy might have a significant problem or was Romero just taking a look at the MRI results? No it just means he was having problems and the surgeon wanted to see for himself what was going on. To really know, you need to do some manual tests. Once he saw and felt what was going on and that it had nothing to do with the original injury, he changed his mind about the current situation. What I meant by the "only sees clients with a significant problem" was that everyday issues are handle by the athletic trainer in this case Herm Schneider. Things that he can't work with, more severe things, then go to the orthopedic surgeon. In this case the fact that Peavy did not return to Chicago or that Romeo didn't go down there earlier indicated that it really isn't a big deal and they could handle it down there.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 23, 2011 -> 02:45 PM) That same surgeon had another comment somewhere a page or two ago. Remember this is a surgeon. He has no idea about normal spring training activities and normal soreness. He only sees clients when they have significant problems. I think the conversation between him and Schneider at St went something like this: AR: I hear Peavy is having problems HS: Yeah he's tender over the rotator cuff kind of like everyone else now AR: Everyone gets sore? HS: Yeah none of them really follow the off season workouts like they should but with meds it goes away. AR: Really. Huh. Well let's rest him a few weeks and see how it feels HS: It only takes a few days then he should throw to keep it strong so he can keep progressing. AR: OK let's do that.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Mar 23, 2011 -> 02:32 PM) Smoltz was acquired when he was a prospect, so he counts towards the farm system, just as John Danks and Gavin Floyd count as the White Sox developing starters. The point isn't that you need to draft every single player, it's that you acquire young talent that will be cost controlled for quite a while. With regards to the Giants, their entire playoff rotation was developed from within, and the main cogs in their bullpen were as well. They also wouldn't have been in the playoffs if not for Buster Posey. They filled spots where they needed, but all teams do. Much of the Phillies offense was minor league talent or cheap acquisitions. It's true that 4 of their 5 starting pitchers were acquired from outside the organization, but they've been able to do so because they've had the minor league talent to deal while also maintaining some to help supplement their major league team. Part of the problem with developing a good minor league system is that you generally have to struggle a bit to build it up. I'm not talking solely about draft picks, because I understand that around 50% of top 10 picks, especially pitchers, fail to live up to expectations. But being out of contention allows you to deal better players for prospects, which also help minor league systems. Good teams have the opposite occur. It isn't impossible. I believe the White Sox are doing a better job of this as of late, but to continue on, they need to hang onto some of these prospects instead of dealing them away. I'm just hoping there are a few prospects that really make a name for themselves this year, because there is talent in the lower and middle levels. And then we have to hope that Williams has done a good enough job of addressing the needs of the major league club that he doesn't need to make a significant addition to it come July, like in 2005 when the Sox only move was acquiring Geoff Blum (even though he did have the trade for Griffey lined up). I would disagree because he wasn't in the minors long enough to be truly developed by the Braves minors leagues just like Danks and Floyd. Someone like Garland who spent significant time in the Sox minors after a trade I would consider a Sox minor leaguer. Like I said earlier I'm not willing to suck for 10years like the Braves did to build up the system. I'd rather get a few and trade some of them for proven MLB players

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 23, 2011 -> 02:00 PM) OTOH, just about everything in the Giants lineup except their catcher was acquired from somewhere else last year. Free agents, people released by other teams, etc. i was referring to the strength of the team in pitching. The reason they were a good team last year was the pitching not the lineup. I think only Zito isn't homegrown. The Phillies lineup is mostly homegrown but the strength of the team is pitching and the best ones are from aren't from their minor league system.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 23, 2011 -> 11:51 AM) Men's Health Magazine, a well respected publication has revealed this surprising process of making a fast food hamburger patty. Gather the Scraps A company called Beef Products gathers the scraps from the slaughterhouse including the heads and hooves, once only pet food fodder, to begin making the fast food patty. Expose It to Ammonia Gas Next the meat is cleaned by threading it through pipes and exposing it to blasts of Ammonia Gas. But Ammonia is not on the nutrition label!! The FDA allows the fast food industry to keep this information hidden from consumers. Surprise! Real Ammonia? Yes, the very same ammonia you clean your bathroom toilet with. The same ammonia that burns your skin upon contact. This chemical will clean up the diseased beef of all contamination from E.coli and Salmonella. Mix the Meat Take cleaned scraps from a zillion cows and grind them all up together and form patties. Yes, your patty is not from one cow. This is why the risk of E. coli is so huge. Freeze After the scraps are ground, sprayed with ammonia and "cleaned" they are formed into fast food hamburger patties and frozen and shipped. Happy Eating! I don't know if I'm happy or not that I looked into this recently... because I'll never eat fast food again. You ever work at a meat packing plant? You don't want to know what goes into a hot dog, even the "best" ones. the chemical in ammonia but it's in gas form not liquid when it goes through this process, so it really doesn't stay in the meat. Just be glad they do something to kill most of the bacteria.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 23, 2011 -> 01:07 PM) The Braves' 15 division titles since '91 vehemently disagree with this assertion. I'd say the Twins of the last decade don't agree much. Or how about the Red Sox? Or do Lester, Buchholz, Pedroia, Youk, Bard and Papelbon not qualify? Phillies won't agree, either. They had to go through 10 years of awful teams to finally get it right and build the talent. Even then Maddux was a FA and Smoltz was a trade with Detroit for Doyle Alexander. Where would the team have been without them? I, personally, do not want to go through a decade of awful teams. The Phillies two best pitchers are trades as well. I think the Giants are a better example if you want to use the farm team arguement.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 23, 2011 -> 06:33 AM) The important part is to be the first to do it, so that you can say I told you so later on... And always predict failure because many more players fail than succeed. This way you have a much better chance of being correct.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 22, 2011 -> 09:07 PM) So basically, we're going to have to treat him with kid gloves every day for the next two years because he has no idea what his body can and cannot handle? This is not a smartass comment towards you, ptatc. When a pitcher doesn't necessarily tell you the truth (for a variety of reasons) and has an injury history, the Sox may need to be more conservative with him. however I think its safe to say the someone who has the flu, can't hold down solid food for a few days and is rehabbing from shoulder surgery, probably should take a little time off.

Good Luck with that. It will probably start before midnight.