YASNY

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 8, 2009 -> 11:28 AM) That was kinda of a knee-jerk response to WCsox's ridiculous 'I'd like to see a pitcher today win 40 games or pitch 400 innings' comment. But like I said, I'm not getting into some big debate over a dude from over a century ago. There isn't a human being walking the face of the earth that would put Ed Walsh over Frank Thomas among White Sox all-time greats (sad that a franchise that's been around as long as the Sox have don't really have that many to begin with). I've learned over time to pick and choose my message board 'battles.' WCsox is the kinda dude that will post about a specific topic until New Year's in order to get the last word in or to prove he's 'right'. I don't got time for that. Leaving Frank's skin color out of the equation, could he have played in the dead ball era that Walsh played in? As a one -dimensional player like Frank was, I doubt it. To flip thimngs ... I believe Walsh could have played in this era. There is an art to keeping hitters from hitting a round ball, with a round bat, squarely. Walsh was, apparently, a master at his craft.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Dec 7, 2009 -> 08:04 PM) Yeah, who cares that he's a Hall of Famer and has the lowest all-time ERA in baseball. Frank's obviously much, much better because you say so. Frank Thomas was great, and I mean GREAT hitter. But Frank was just a hitter. He wasn't much of a baseball player as far as an all around game. Defensively he went from bad to incapable. He couldn't run and he couldn't throw. But the man could certainly hit. I still feel cheated we never got what his final numbers would have been in a full '94 season.

QUOTE (sircaffey @ Nov 28, 2009 -> 09:08 PM) I think both of those deals had viable reasons. The reason given for the Kotchman trade was LaRoche has a timing mechanism in his swing that is not conducive to coming off the bench, which is true. As LaRoche was the odd man out once they acquired Victor. And Anderson's superior defense was a better fit on a team not in need of bats off the bench. And these deals are quite minor in comparison to the deal proposed here. As an added note, I also seem to recall that Kotsay had been DFA'd and they had 10 days to trade or release him.

Went to a game vs. the Cubs a few years ago (thanks Steff!) that the Sox won like 14 to 1 or something like that. Some Cubs fan did something (I didn't see it because he was behind me) but security came to escort him out. All the Sox fans in the section stood and serenaded his exit with "Na Na Na Na Hey Hey Good bye!" He popped the bird double barreled as he left but it was fun. The next game we sat with Steff's parents in th RF corner upper deck and I couldn't talk because my voice was gone from the blowout we had enjoyed the day before.

QUOTE (BigEdWalsh @ Nov 20, 2009 -> 02:38 PM) Oooops. Hope that wasn't me. Wildest thing I ever witnessed was opening day, 1974. Angels and White Sox, Nolan Ryan vs. Wilbur Wood. Unfortunately the game took a back seat to the drunken goings on all f***ing day. Fights galore, streakers. It was.....wild. Sox lost too, 8-2. But, hey I saw Ron Santo's White Sox debut! I was at this game.

QUOTE (bobryansson @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 11:40 PM) The article starts out talking of AJ being under consideration for the Sox' overall MVP through his 5 years here, which, of course, included his contributions to the world Series run in 2005. (I do think his getting to first on ruled-dropped third strike totally turned the Angels series in the Sox direction.) I guess I can't think of anyone who, through the whole duration, would strikingly deserve it more than AJ. Anyone disagree? Not me.

I'll say this much, Jones has the talent to be a JD type player with better defense. But he hasn't shown that talent in quite a while and his attitude seems to be the reason. If he gets his head out to where he can see the sun, then maybe just maybe this will work out well. I'd be satisfied with something between what he can do and what he has done recently.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Nov 25, 2009 -> 03:29 PM) And that's why at age 33 no one is counting on him to start. If he wants to stay in baseball then he's going to have to conform to team demands much like he did last season, given the investment there really isn't much to worry about here. It's not like we gave him $4M to be our starting CF, he's making near league minimum to hit the ball hard and play the field every once in a while. He was starting to get people talking again last year until he strained his hamstring, there's still that possibility of a nice payday if he can put up a big year. Granted, the possibility exists. I hope KW's right on this one. But, Jones has been on my "no way" list for quite awhile now. He may very well turn out to be an asset. I'm betting (figuratively speaking) that he'll still be an ass. We will see.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Nov 25, 2009 -> 03:21 PM) He took to the role last year and played well. The power is definitely still there so even if is/was a roider you're still getting that good pop. He's being brought in to start only occasionally but mostly to act as a 4th OF (he's should still be a good CF) and provide good right handed power off the bench along with good plate discipline. It's been 11 and half years since Bobby Cox pulled Andruw Jones off the field and he failed in LA largely due to a lack of conditioning, this wasn't a problem in Texas and really shouldn't be a concern here. If he preforms like he did last year he'll be more than worth the $550K price tag and ~300 PA afforded to him. I don't know Kalapse, I think a lack of conditioning 2 seasons ago ... with his past ... kind of indicates that it just might be an issue. Besides, I seem to recall Cox wasn't real enamored with Jones at the end of his Braves career. He wasn't near the the defensive force that last in Atlanta that he had been prior.

QUOTE (klaus kinski @ Nov 25, 2009 -> 03:18 PM) Getz ,Fields out, Teahan, Visquel, Jones in-we are now "more mature" in the mold of that veteran type team that wins divisions Thome, Dye, Getz, Fields, Pods, Dotel out. Teahan, Visquel, Jones in. Hmmmmm.

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Nov 25, 2009 -> 03:15 PM) I'll take any player that "dogs" his way to 10 GG's. Low risk lower reward doesn't make any sense. I'm not here to argue. I have my opinion on how this will work out and I'm sticking to it until proven wrong ... which I hope happens and I'll put A1 on my plate full of crow.

QUOTE (kev211 @ Nov 25, 2009 -> 03:11 PM) All you can really say to this is ok I was thinking more like "oh no!"

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 25, 2009 -> 03:07 PM) If he is, you cut him. No loss. Low risk, lower reward. Like I said.

QUOTE (BFirebird @ Nov 25, 2009 -> 03:03 PM) Andruw Jones is king of the lift and pull....no fixing needed. Perfect! I stand corrected.

QUOTE (qwerty @ Nov 25, 2009 -> 03:00 PM) .218/.367/.395 in 150 plate appearances. He hit .210/.287/.506 against righties in 181 plate appearances. Walker will fix him.

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Nov 25, 2009 -> 02:55 PM) I am kinda suprised that there is this much positive vibe from this one. When I told you guys about the other signing last week I did say you would be less excited about it, but it seems most people like it. Kinda funny that the very first guy to guess who it was last week was right and then people guessed a ton of other names!! Vizquel is a pro's pro. That in itself makes it a better signing than this one. Age taken into consideration as I comment.

My gut reaction is to disagree with the general concesus of this being a positive move. First of all Jones has a rep as player who dogs it, just ask Bobby Cox. He was almost certainly a roider who hasn't been able to cut the mustard lately. Now, he may be hungry and wanting to prove a point and could have a great year, but personally, I doubt it. I hope the concensus is right and I'm proven wrong, but this is the way I see this move. Low risk, lower reward.

I haven't read this thread, but I can't imagine why the discussion has gone 4 pages. Of course, Frank is a HOF'er. First Ballot!

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 03:36 PM) Coco Crisp will never be Jermaine Dye. I made a point mentioning they were different types of players. The point remains that the signing of Dye was criticized around here. Crisp may or may not work out, but if he does, he'll bring different assets to the team than Dye did. Agreed, Crisp is no JD.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 03:24 PM) Age is just a number Yas His OPS peaked in 05 IIRC, but he SHOULD have something left. The one thing that has still be decent however is that his OBP has stayed fairly ok, and his walk/rate is pretty consistent. What I have always really liked about him is that he was a tough #2 hitter back with cle. He has an .812 OPS in the 2-hole and was a doubles machine. Age is just a number. Ya, I keep telling myself that.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 03:15 PM) Crisp has been a decent #2 hitter in his career. But I think he's a little past his effectiveness. Your opinion is always respected around here, or at least it should be ... but if the man can get healthy he is hardly over the hill at 30. If fact, he should be in the heart of his prime.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 03:13 PM) You don't ignore it, you weigh the odds of each player contributing in 2010 then look at the other aspects of their game and the contractual demands of each. You don't ignore anything. Given the shortcomings and exorbitant contractual demands of Podsednik KW is looking at other options and Crisp is a good buy-low candidate. Agree 100%.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Nov 24, 2009 -> 03:10 PM) And J Dye is healthy But his health was major question mark when KW signed him.

A lot of the arguments I am seeing against signing Crisp, I saw when KW signed another injury plagued outfielder a few years ago. While they are different types of players, I think most would say that signing Jermaine Dye was a good thing.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 9, 2009 -> 05:31 PM) If Toronto's asking for more than a guy of that level they're going to get burned again. That's like asking Boston to give up Lester, LAD to give up Kershaw, whatever. Not happening. I can see Torointo getting that quality of a player, plus some youngsters, for Halladay. I just can't see them getting that from The White Sox.