ptatc

QUOTE(JUGGERNAUT @ Feb 13, 2005 -> 11:15 AM) http://www.suntimes.com/output/sox/cst-spt-sox13.html I can't not emphasize more how Thomas may be worth to the Sox organization beyond what he does on the field. In the wake of Canseco's book the book Bond's Girl is far more damaging not just to Bonds but the sport. If you believe it's credible than Barry's own words seem to imply that roids usage to quickly recover from injuries was rampant. I do believe Barry did this & I do believe many other players incl pitchers have done this as well. She mentioned acne, bloating, & rage as signs of his usage. Acne is probably the easiest to verify. There would certainly be medical records for treatments if it were that severe. If there is no prior history of it being a problem in his family or his younger life that would stand out like a sore thumb in the controversy. Do we consider it moral for a player to use it to recover injuries but immoral for a player to use it to just bulk up (like Giambi)? That's for you the fan to decide but I will say this much. People in my own family who have suffered injuries in the past few years were put on roids for a little while as treatment for recovery. It's not uncommon for the medical profession to use roids (depending on the injury of course). Sorry about that last post. I still haven't quite figured this thing out. What was the steroid that was taken? As another poster stated there are different types of steroids. It is very uncommon for physician's to prescribe anabolic steroids for injury rehabilitation. If the physician did I would highly question the physician's motives and ethics. The common steroid type prescribed is the prednisone for chronic inflammatory type diseases. This is one point about steroids that most people miss THEY ARE ILLEGAL. It is classified as a federal offense similar (but not exactly) to cocaine and such. There should be no cicumstance where steroids are even considered ok to use by these athletes. They are produced illegally, obtained illegally and consumed illegally. The reason they are illegal is the documented prove as to what they will do to your body. Taking them will sign your death certificate years in advance after some mental and physical suffering.

QUOTE(soxhawks @ Feb 13, 2005 -> 04:31 PM) im planning on attending 15 at the cell, and i also plan on checking out kaufmann stadium, i hear it is a great park I have the 27 game plan and I'll go to 15-20 of them. I need to do some water skiing on the weekends. I also usually go to one out of town each year. If you go to Kaufman go to a night game when the fountain is lit up, it is an unreal setting for the ballgame.

QUOTE(Yossarian @ Feb 11, 2005 -> 11:04 AM) I'm not trying to rehash the Lee trade. Ozzie clearly wanted to go in another direction and the Sox had been banging their heads against the wall since 2000. I'm A-OK with what KW did this off season. What I object to is the "suspect defense" of Lee mentioned in the article. Once you get a label I guess it's impossible to erase it. I know stat geeks will never be impressed with his perfect fielding percentage because of range factors and other assorted criteria. The man worked to become a good left fielder. He should get credit, so I'll give it to him even if I get blasted. He was awful, he worked hard and made himself better. Other guys did it and got credit for it. Not Carlos Lee. Now his base running? That's another story altogether. I will agree with you that he worked hard at improving his defense considering the limited amount of time he played the outfield before he made it to the majors. However, having season tickets in left field I can tell you that he is a below average outfielder mostly due to poor reads on the ball and poor angles taken after he does get a read on the ball. He does try hard but doesn't have outfielder instincts due to the fact he was an infielder until about 5 years ago. I consider myself a fan of his and hope he does well in Milwaukee when I see him there (I go to a few games a year there to meet friends I went to school with in Milwaukee) but he is not and never will be a good outfielder.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Feb 10, 2005 -> 10:09 PM) Buehrle - 16-10 3.89 ERA 1.26 WHIP K/9 of 6 Garcia - (with us) 9-4 4.46 ERA 1.24 WHIP K/9 of 9 Duque - 8-2 3.30 ERA 1.29 WHIP K/9 of 9...take into account that this is 84.6 IP over 15 starts, or UNDER 6 innings per start. That is horrible. Zito - 11-11 4.48 ERA 1.39 WHIP K/9 of 6.9...IN HIS WORST YEAR EVER Harden- 11-7 3.99 ERA 1.33 WHIP K/9 of 7.9...in his first full year starting, his second year in the bigs. Plus you have Meyer, Haren, and Blanton, along with Cruz either being in the rotation or the pen. That rotation will be among the best in the league, and if one of those 3 breaks out and becomes a very good starter, I take theirs over ours in a second. One thing to look at in the stats is the trend of El Duques preformances. It takes about 18 months post-surgery for the pitcher to become comfortable with the shoulder after surgery. Many times, depending on the physician's protocol they pitch around 9-10 months but the duplication of mechanics and trust for the shoulder is not there. I don't remember when his surgery was but if someone can find out, go out 18 months or so and track his starts after that date. His age is also a factor because he is rumored to be almost 40. But find that timeframe and I bet that is the pitcher we will see. He tired at the end of last year and had to be shut down because of lack of endurance but that time in between should provide good insight as to how he performs.

QUOTE(JUGGERNAUT @ Feb 8, 2005 -> 05:08 PM) QUOTE(JUGGERNAUT @ Feb 8, 2005 -> 12:57 PM) The 25 gm clause applies to each year of the contract. The contract was structured similar to that of I-Rod. In fact there's the possibility the press is not reporting it correctly. In I-Rod's contract after 2 yrs if for whatever reason he is on the DL for 5 wks or more in any one season the remainder of the contract is void. In Maggs case that's after 1 yr & 25 days. The only question is whether it's for whatever reason or specific to the knee. The papers seem to suggest it's specific to the knee but that doesn't make sense with respect to I-Rod's contract so I'm thinking they are structured similarly. As I recall the I Rod contract did stipulate that if he was on the DL due to his back prolems. I think the Maggs contract specified the left knee. Let's be cynical...what if his knee is hurting and he doesn't want to blow the contract. He just twists his ankle and the team puts him on the DL due to it and not the knee. I've seen patients who break a bone in thier ankle on an ATV on Sat. wrap it up, sneak into work on Mon and claim workers comp so they lose money. I'm not saying he would but if I was the Tigers I would watch everything closely. 75-105 million is alot of money.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Feb 8, 2005 -> 02:25 PM) Does Maggs have a specialized form of edema? I thought this was temporary and could be cured? From the Intelihealth site Of course most people are not professional athletes. This injury is not the common type of edema from your definition. Your definition is the common soft tissue edema from a bruise or a sprained ankle. Maggs had edmea in the bone. The bone cannot swell up like soft tissue so it builds up pressure exapnds in the bone marrow and cuts off the blood supply. The main problem with Maggs is that the bone could have begun to die from a lack of blood supply. This is called avascular necrosis. The difficult thing to predict is that was the edema there long enough to cause permanent damage. The purpose of the "shock wave" therapy he had in Austria was to induce microtrauma into the bone to make it bleed a little and hopefully restore the blood supply. We do not know how effective it is for this condition because as stated earlier there is not much research for efficacy of this treatment for this injury because it is a rare injury.

QUOTE(Whitesoxfan56 @ Feb 7, 2005 -> 08:57 PM) Does anyone know when Frank will be back? I have heard anything from opening day to July. Does anyone know for sure? Idon't think anyone knows for sure. He had a tricky surgery. It's also complicated by the fact that he hits with his weight on the front leg and that is the ankle that was injured. Once he hits in ST everyone will know more. I heard the rehab is progressing and he should start hitting in ST but not at the beginning.

QUOTE(JimH @ Feb 7, 2005 -> 08:55 PM) Those are both excellent. Lately I'm partial to Two Brothers Hefeweizen from Warrenville. Great stuff. Very good also. I met the two brothers at a beer brewing club before they started their businees. It was even better when they made it in small batches. Beer and baseball talk....nothing better unless you throw in brats. (sorry It's the Milwaukee influence)

QUOTE(JimH @ Feb 7, 2005 -> 08:23 PM) That can be arranged! I am a wheat beer affecianado. What your favorite? Mine is a Paullaner or a Franziskaner.

QUOTE(JimH @ Feb 7, 2005 -> 08:19 PM) Hey TQ next thing you know, ptatc will be a Pabst Blue Ribbon and Bertucci's fan! I prefer agood whaet beer to the PBR but I do love Bertucci's!

QUOTE(quickman @ Feb 7, 2005 -> 08:15 PM) I too, Section 125, maybe we can hook up one day I would be interested in hearing more on your views. Welcome to the board. Anytime, as one poster alluded to, we athletic trainers love to spin the tales. I have the weekend 27 game package.

QUOTE(JimH @ Feb 7, 2005 -> 08:13 PM) I know who you are then, I was 162 row 4, on the aisle. Again, welcome. Per chance are you the guy who sits in the middle of the row ... who scores all the games? Actually I am the guy on the aisle who compares notes with him. I am usually with my father. If you go to many games, Frank Thomas hit me in the arm with a line drive home run (of course it wasn't my fault I couldn't catch it) I got a bunch of raspberries (deservedly so) for the drop. I had a buise for two weeks.

QUOTE(quickman @ Feb 7, 2005 -> 07:27 PM) PTATC- Pay no attention to the man behind the JimH Curtain. He comes from the land of oz. Another question if I may. Are you a sox fan or just a baseball fan. Doesn't matter I am just curious how you found the site and your affiliation with baseball today. I have always been a big baseball and Sox fan. As I stated earlier I am a partial season ticket holder. I currently do not work in pro ball but have friends who still do.

QUOTE(JimH @ Feb 7, 2005 -> 07:17 PM) Very interesting. What, if anything, can you tell us about Scott Podsednik? Dave Wilder? Sorry, I haven't worked with the Brewers since the late 80's.

QUOTE(quickman @ Feb 7, 2005 -> 07:17 PM) Well now you see, I can always spot talent. Thanks for the posts. Are You local? Yes, I currently live in the south suburbs and I am a season ticket holder section 162 row 1

QUOTE(quickman @ Feb 7, 2005 -> 06:26 PM) Alright come clean, what part of the medical field are you in? I am a physical therapist and athletic trainer. I've spent time in the Brewers and Marlins systems doing athletic training and research.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Feb 7, 2005 -> 12:58 PM) For the record: Maggs accepted the advice of a US Doctor who was on the Sox payroll. He decided, based on all the treatments available, to try this. I'm not a Doctor, but I suspect if he had this choice at the beginning of his contract he might have choosen the conventional treatment and lost another season or so. I'll bet at that point, the team would have been suggesting the new treatment and hopefully a faster recovery. He did have the surgery in Germany but the rehab was done in the US with a physical therapist. Usually only the physicians get the credit but anyone who has had back surgery especially when it has progressed to the point where there is muscular atrophy the rehab is also very important. However your point is well taken. Many of the more famous physician are outside of the US partly due to the freedom they have to do procedures not approved in the US.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Feb 7, 2005 -> 01:15 PM) Has Dr. Weil really been dismissed? His website still claims he is the White Sox team podiatrist. I think it was in November that I heard the Sox were terminating his services but it could have turned around.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Feb 7, 2005 -> 12:31 PM) My sarcasm is for people who think that overseas medical treatments are somehow inferior, risky, and below par. My statement is the US has the longest approval process. You seem to think it is because of lawsuit abuse, and I would agree. If that's the case, then more reason that overseas would be a safe alternative while the medical companies practice CYA by generating additional reams of paper. Overall the US has the greatest medical system for those that can afford it. There are times, however, when alternate courses of treatment are available and are better for that particular individual. The best US Surgeons and Doctors couldn't get Jose Maria Olazabel walking again. A Doctor in Germany did. I haven't read to the contrary, but it would seem the conventional drilling holes in the bone treatment would still be available after this treatment was tried. The student sued regarding a summer homework assignment for a calculus class in High School. There was no tutoring available over the summer. I agree with the summer reading assignments, I disagree with summer homework assignments in the sciences and math without some mechanism for tutoring. If all it took was reading a book and doing assignments, why have teachers? The conventional treatment would be available but then its an 8 month rehab from that poiny. That would waste alot of playing time for Detroit who signed the deal. A doctor in Germany did not get Jose Maria Olazabel walking again. It was a physical therapists in the US working with the Physician who got him walking and playing again. The big difference in medicine between the US and the EU other than the FDA debate is socialized medicine. With socialized medicine many experimental procedures can be done with patients because they will need to wait months to get a conventional procedure. This is a plus for research because many new things can be tried. However, it is a minus for some of the patients because not all of them work. That is why the goal of many employees in the EU contires is to rise far enough in their companies to get private insurance. This doesn't apply everywhere in the EU but it is a common scenario. What does this have to do with the Sox? Nothing except for these are the reasons why Maggs went to Austria and this is why every GM has been rightfully scared of signning him. And why most of the stuff coming out of his agent's mouth is pure horsemanure.

QUOTE(LosMediasBlancas @ Feb 7, 2005 -> 09:18 AM) Whether or not it's justified, Maggs is pissed at the team, not the fan base. I'm neutral, then again it takes a lot for me to boo anyone on the filed. I am new to this board and have not posted before so forgive me if iI don't get the mechanics corrcect. Here are a few things you must remember about the Maggs situation from a medical point of view: 1. Maggs did have a procedure done on his knee that is not approved in the US for his condition. It is approved in the US for some conditions such as heel spurs. 2. He did get the name of the doc in Austria from a podiatrist in the Sox employ, however this was without the Sox knowledge and he has since beend dismissed from their group. 3. KW did say the condition was worse then they though because it was originally diagnosed as a meniscus tear, which he also had a secong surgery on while in Austira. 4. this type of injury is rare in an athlete and could very well shorten his career by years. 5.The common surgery for this condition approved in the US is to drill holes in the bone in an attempt to improve the blood supply to the area. This procedure theoertically speeds up the rehab by about three months because it is non-invasive. I will be watching his progress with interest but I'm doubtful as to how his knee will perform 3-4 years down the road.