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QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Feb 1, 2010 -> 03:08 PM) It's also a bit ridiculous to think that a guy really would retire over the difference of a few million $'s. It's petty. The man isn't going to retire unless he loses the ability or desire to play. The baseball season is a long seasonand he will need to spend a lot of time away from his family. He may decide just the opposite, that with all of the money he has made it is not worth it to go to go through a season with a new team and people he doesn't know for comparatively little money. I personally don't think he will retire, but I could see a scenario where it's possible.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jan 29, 2010 -> 01:50 PM) http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4869274 . I know you havent looked at Arods health chart and everything that had to do with his hip surgery last year, but until I read this article I never read anything that indicated that his surgery was potentially career ending. Is Arod just making this out to be more than it really was, or was this a very serious surgery? He shouldn't have been referring to it being career threatening but season threatening. If he opted for rest and rehab he would have missed a good part of the season. However, he opted for arthroscopic surgery to remove a portion of the acetabular labrum which he tore and was subsequently getting caught in the joint. This is a relatively newer approach to the problem which along with the fact that it is surgery and things can go wrong causes many athletes to go the conservative route and skip the surgery. The surgery is relatively safe, the technique is improving and the physicians are getting better at it. This was the dilemma he faced not so much the career ending aspect. So it may have worried him but he probably was blowing it somewhat out of proportion.

QUOTE (Ranger @ Jan 28, 2010 -> 01:28 PM) No, Grim is more like a go-between for me. He would have more control over what Farmer/DJ/Hawk/Stone would do, but he' still not really a boss. Grim works with Brooks Boyer. Let's put it this way, the team has the final say in who the booth announcers are but they ask the station for input. On the other hand, the station asks the Sox for input on who to hire for my job, but the station has the final say in the hire. It's the opposite. Kenny might be insecure, and that's fine with me. I'd rather him be more active because of it than be too comfortable. I think he usually does a pretty good job of knowing when to be active and knows what his options are, as far as trades go. Where I think you're wrong is that there is no way Ozzie is happy with the one championship. If that's how he truly felt, he wouldn't get physically sick like he sometimes does when they aren't playing well. I know this much to be true: he takes losing worse than anyone here does. And, really, he should. I think some fans' perception that he's "resting on his laurels" is because he hasn't won another one, so it's an easy thing to think. It's the same as people saying that a certain guy doesn't care when he's not performing. The reality is that almost every time the player does care and is likley torn up about it. Just because we can't see it, it doesn't mean he's not. But also, I think people also overrate the manager's affect on the club. They matter, but that 2005 team won because of those players, not so much because of Ozzie managing. He did a good job, but it wasn't all about him. That team won because they pitched beautifully and because all they did was get clutch hits. Anyway, thanks for what you said. I'm sure we'll continue to disagree at times but I enjoy the debate. Huh? Again, you've contributed nothing. I disagree with this a little. How many managers would have allowed the starting pitchers to pitch that deep into games that often? Managers today like to pull them far too early to play the "safe matchup game." While I frequently disagree with Ozzie's managing or over managing to play the national league type games in the AL, I think his trust in the pitchers and letting them go was a great example of having doing what you think is right and not following normal convention.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 11:32 AM) The statistical consensus is that our team in the best case scenario is about as good as last years team. We've literally done nothing to improve, and are gambling on a couple x-factors to maintain last years offensive production. We're taking a hell of a risk by making a gamble like this when we have a potent pitching staff and a deep pen. If we sign Damon or Branyan, i'll be content, but if we honestly think we're going to get production out of a tandem of Kotsay, Jones, and Visquel then we're going to be giving up a lot of prospects by the time the trade deadline comes around. We're paying Mark Kotsay, the same amount of money that the Twins are paying Jim Thome. I still can't get over how absurd that it is. Dang, and I thought Peavy and Garcia/Huson were an improvement over Contreras and Colon.

QUOTE (MattZakrowski @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 09:20 PM) But in what way is the White Sox winning due to Ozzie Guillen's managing? Being associated with winning doesn't make you the cause of it. Did Robert Horry carry Houston, LA, and San Antonio to titles? If you don't give him credit to help with the winning don't discredit him for the losing. He was the manager who oversaw the winning. How else can you determine the ultimate value of a manager? In the end winning is the only thing that matters. It doesn't matter how you do it, as long as it is within the rules. Is Phil Jackson a poor basketball caoch because he only won with Jordan or Kobe? Guillen has won while here and no matter how you care to look at it, he is the best manager we've had in a long time.

QUOTE (MattZakrowski @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 08:44 PM) Fire Ozzie Guillen! I get it, he had a tremendous team handed to him in 2005, and good teams handed to him in 2006 and 2008, but he's a terrible manager. In his time with the White Sox, he has started and led off Dwayne Wise, benched Nick Swisher for old Ken Griffey Jr. and placed Scott Linebrink and Mike MacDougal in too many high leverage situations to count. Now he has decided that old Andruw Jones and MARK EFFING KOTSAY would make a better DH than Jim 'led the White Sox in OPS/EQA/wOBA' Thome. I have to partially blame KW for that last one, but KW has been a good, sometimes great GM, who is for whatever reason listening to his stupid ass, giving him the inferior team he claims to want. You want an NL style team? Go to the effing National League! You know what team is a national league style team? The Pirates. Go manage them. We play in US Cellular Field! You have to hit home runs to win at US Cellular Field! I mean seriously, give me something real and quantifiable that Guillen does well, because I'm tired of this bs off-season. Win. He is the best manager in winning games the Sox have had since Al Lopez. His winning percentage is within a few points of the great Tony LaRussa and higher than guys like Tommy Lasorda. Say what you want about Ozzie's crazyness, he does do alot of crazy things during the season and during the off-season but he wins more than anyone we've had in a long time. Unless you would rather go back to Terry Bevington, Jeff Torborg, Don Kessinger, Jim Fregosi Jerry Manuel or even tony LaRussa. I kow I'm missing afew but I'm too lazy to look them up for managers since the late 70's. Ozzie's teams have been to the playoffs more times than all of the others combined or at least close to it.

Last year jones had an OBP of 367 and more walks than K's against LHP and Kotsay had an OBP of 347 and 15/17 ratio of bb/k. They aren't going to hit for power like Thome but if Ozzie goes with a strict platoon, these two should get on base at a good clip. This should be an interesting situation and make this even more fun towatch during the season.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 23, 2010 -> 05:10 PM) I think he wants to play like the 1990 White Sox. I think their leading HR hitter had 14. If they got on base, they would go. I remember one game they had 5 guys in a row caught stealing. It didn't stop them from running. It was a fun year, but I don't know it that style will work today. The point I think tey were maiking with the angels and boston is that with steriods slowly being removed from the game, the style of the game is going to shift back to that style. It won't totally look like that due to the smaller ballparks and other factors but they seem to think that style is what will work and start to become more commonplace. Baseball goes through these cycles. The late 60's and into the 70's was more the "athletic" game. Earl Weaver made the "wait for the 3 run homer " popular, even though his team was built on the pitching of Palmer and Cuellar et al. Then when Ricky Henderson and Vince coleman came around the game shifted back to the "athletic" game. The Bash bros. with the PEDS brought the power game back in the late 80's. I'm not necessarily convinced that the shift is happening again but it could be. I think one thing that may assist the change is the more recent advent of quntifying defense. Bill James and his numbers people helped to create the power guy trend. From reading his material OPS is the key number in hitting. It is easier to increase OPS with power numbers increasing the Slugging than to increase OBP with lighter hitting and walks. So that type of play was coveted. Now that defense can be more accurrately quantifyed, although it's still more difficult than hitting, I think pitching and defense may start to make a comeback.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Jan 22, 2010 -> 01:52 AM) Kenny knows that Ozzie is a person who doesn't fully understand the game of baseball This is one of the best lines ever. It's amazing how a guy can have a successful career as both a player and a manager yet not understand the game. I want to go gambling with Ozzie because he must be the luckiest guy in the world to have his career and not understand the game.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 19, 2010 -> 06:19 PM) What the hell has Starlin Castro done to deserve how much love he has gotten this offseason? Yes, he's been young for his league, but his walk rate isn't fantastic, his strike out rate is good but it's not the best I've ever seen, he's only displayed doubles power and that was relatively weak. I've heard people mention how special his AFL was, but he didn't do anything that was really all that spectacular - yeah he hit for a really good average, in like 100 at bats, against pitchers working on certain pitches in the heat of Arizona. He still didn't walk, he still didn't hit for power, and his strikeout rate was, once again, good but not fantastic. If people begin comparing him to players like Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez, I think they're all full of s***. He had a better contact rate at that age, but didn't hit for the same amount of power, didn't walk as much, and wasn't stealing bases as proficiently either. I don't know how his defense is, but he better be like Omar Vizquel good in the field to be getting the love he's gotten. He looks like a good prospect, but not among the top. In fact, from what I've been reading on him, he sounds a lot like Alexei. the one thing you didn't mention was his his defense. He performed ok with the bat and played very well defensively against older players. He did all of this in front of scouts from many teams. Teams look highly upon this type of performance. Of course, it's not a guarantee he'll do well, nothing is but it makes him a good promising prospect.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Jan 17, 2010 -> 07:12 PM) Richard Dotson is an a$$hole. I never seen a pitching coach kill the confidence of a struggling pitcher as many times as I saw Dotson do it between 2005-2007. I was glad when he was gone. You're right there. Not in the Gary Sheffield category but he is not a pleasant person.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 16, 2010 -> 12:06 PM) 2006 without even a second thought. How do you predict that the pitching staff would fall off that badly? With the way Ozzie leaned on the pitching staff (rightfully so) in 2005 I thought they would have a down year the next year. Many pitching staff have a down year after something like that. I believe they won 90 games but missed the playoffs and I was surprised they did that well. I am fairly optimistic the team will reach 88-90 wins this year.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jan 15, 2010 -> 01:14 AM) If we miss the playoffs this year, I want heads to roll. We have such a good pitching staff ready to dominate, but our offense is severely lacking. Considering only 4 teams from the AL will make it to the playoffs your odds are good. You have to love starting spring training with a pessimistic, p***ed off attitude. Enjoiy the season!!!!!

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jan 14, 2010 -> 12:54 PM) We are all inferior, but how is it ridiculous? So, just because im inferior, my experience as a baseball player doesn't matter. So, if I was Bryce Harper, but decided to bulk up for football, and lost my bat speed... it only matter then? Plain and simple, bulking up in muscle makes your ligaments tighten up. Having your ligaments tightening up = a reduction in bat speed. Its really not that complicated and it doesn't matter how good or bad the ball player is. Just to be factually correct because it is driving me nuts. Your ligaments do not tighten up, your muscles and tendons will, if you don't stretch along with it. Ligaments surround and protect the joints whereas muscles and tendons provide the motion. I know this is not part of the discussion but the misuse of the different tissues needed to be corrected.

DJ Carrasco signed a minor league deal with the Pirates. I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere so I thought I would post it. If it has been posted, disregard.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 12, 2010 -> 09:56 PM) Along this line of performance enhancers, MLB players have a curiously higher rate of ADHD/ADD diagnoses. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that the prescribed medications are often powerful stimulants. It's not even the stimulant effect that helps as much as the increased focus. This will be an interesting dilemma. These drugs can have an opposite effect for people without ADHD. It can make them more hyper and more distracted. If a normally calm player all of a sudden turns into Al Hrabosky we'll know something is wrong.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 12, 2010 -> 06:14 PM) In Game of Shadows, the book that tells the story of Bonds and Balco, the Cream and the Clear, and other Balco variations are the substances mostly attributed to improve vision. I read this as well. It doesn't give specifics and since it was a unique substance created in a lab, there is no way to prove it. However, most the evidence empirical and anectodal is that the vision increases due to the increased focus and concentration that occurs. There was some mention in paper that a theory was prposed that the eye musculature could be strengthened like any muscle. While it has some merit that is really stretching the concept.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 12, 2010 -> 02:52 PM) The HGH is what everyone seems to be saying has the biggest effect on vision, per the anecdotes. I would probably say that is possible but I don't think that is part of Canseco's discussin. From what I 've read he took only synthetic anabolic steriods. The poster earlier also referenced that "steroids help improve vision" and that is what I based my comments upon.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jan 12, 2010 -> 05:40 PM) I agree that Vizquel is the better IF defender and have said as much. My point is that there's not an enormous difference in ability between the two especially when you factor in Lillibridge's ability to play CF and pinch run. The difference between the two is definitely not worth $975K when you can't afford to give Matsui $6.5M or Johnson $5.75M. Kenny has made a series of these moves this offseason, overpaying for veteran bench players who aren't a whole lot better than what we could have gotten at the minimum, and by doing that he has priced himself out of the bidding for players he actually needed. A Kroeger/various AAAA players battle for 4th OF/1B could have saved another $1.1M that went to Kotsay; Armstrong/various AAAA player battle for backup C could have saved another $600K that went to Castro, etc. Add this stuff up, then bring in a guy like Winn instead of Pierre or trade for someone like Gardner, and now we've got enough to pay Matsui. Kenny blew it this year. Your point only makes sense if you don't use your bench very much and the very good player plays all of the time. Players need rest. If the very good player plays all of the time and is tired (physically or mentally) theneven if you make the playoffs he will be useless in the playoffs. Ozzie believes (and I happen to agree) that players need regular rest in order to stay sharp and be healthy for the whole season and into the playoffs. In your scenario, the very good player may get tired especially mentally and his performance would decrease and ther may be better performance by the backup. You probalbly do not agree with this that the better backups on the limited budget make the team better. However it is apparent that Ozzie and KW do and this is why they are building the tram in this manner. The injury discussion also plays a part but since that point was already made and you disagreed with it I thoughI would bring this point up.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 12, 2010 -> 01:51 PM) How exactly can you say with 100% confidence that abusing these drugs at the levels that they're used doesn't actually increase the eye's visual acuity? There's never been a legit study on this because you can't load people up with steroids and HGH to do a normal double-blind study. From the studies done with lower doses for medical purposes there has never been any evidence of improving vision. The effects of anabolic steriods revolve around muscle tissue. Nothing has been found that would lead anyone to conclude that they effect the neural tissue to any great extent. Also from working in the NFL and dealing with athletes who were on steroids I've never seen improved vision. If I went on experience I would say long term exposure would decrease vision with the number of these athletes who seem to get glasses earlier. That is just an observation but I can say with a pretty good amount of certainty from the available evidence and experience that anabolic steroids do not improve vision. HGH is another story. The studies done with HGH have been done on children under the age of 18 who had growth abnormalities. vision could be effected with normal growth. This is one thing that scares the medical profession about HGH. While it natural occurs in the body it effects more than just muscle tissue so the long term effects on normal adults could be truly terrifying.

QUOTE (tonyho7476 @ Jan 12, 2010 -> 11:43 AM) Canseco said in his book how well the roids helped him see the ball. it really doesn't directly improve vision. What it will do is increase your focus which will indirectly help you "see the ball better."

QUOTE (JuiceCruz16 @ Jan 12, 2010 -> 11:35 AM) Thank You!!! I totally agree! They cheated in the exact same way, Their illegal performance enhanceing drug of choice just did not work as well during their time. They damn sure used and abused them all they could though. Take all the cheats out and you lose almost all your hall of famers from the 70's on. Not just the "roiders". You can't keep any of them out because there was no rules against them. You can disagree on how much each drug helped their performance. However, neither were against the rules of baseball until 2003. so the ones caught after that you can say they broke rules. Prior to that it is just the opinion of the voter as to whether or not to vote them into the HOF.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jan 12, 2010 -> 10:27 AM) In what world has baseball rid baseball or roids? HGH still isnt tested. Their test show to steroids because they dont test fro everything. Oh, and players are still getting suspended for roids. Beat me to the reply. But to be fair no sports tests for HGH. This is why you still see the NFL players getting bigger. No union is currently agreeing to have blood tests. The only sport that does is the International Organizing bodies. Why do you think so few major leaguers didn't participate in the World Baseball Classic? Players are still getting suspended for steriods because they are getting caught. Players can cycle on and off to attempt to aviod getting caught and a few may succeed but it will greatly reduce the effect they have on the body so it still partially helps the problem.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Jan 12, 2010 -> 10:24 AM) WOW! Bud is in some serious denial: Bud Selig: Steroid Use 'Virtually Nonexistent' Steriod use is virtually non-existent. With the current testing procedures anabolic steriods will be detected. What he isn't saying is that with the current testing procedures they cannot detect HGH or human growth hormone. This is what current players are taking. It is more difficult to obtain and is much more expensive so fewer players are taking it. This will be the case until someone comes up with a new synthetic steriod such as in the BALCO case.

You can tell the attitude of this board by the fact that the Top Ten Best Sox of the Decade gets 39 replies and died fairly quickly while this one about the worst is already at 107. People love to complain.