YASNY

QUOTE (Shamrock4Life @ Aug 7, 2009 -> 10:48 AM) I am going to keep calling him Slayer because you can't pick your own nickname. And once you come up against one given you, that automatically becomes the one you are known by. I mean really its all in the guy code. Since Slayer is a man's man, he knew this and played his cards just right to keep his favorite nickname. That is the best arguement yet that I've seen that makes calling him Slayer justifiable.

QUOTE (tonyho7476 @ Aug 8, 2009 -> 08:20 AM) I have loved Rios from the first time I saw him play against us. Yes, man crush. However, something tells us this will just not happen. I hope though. I agree with you. The odds are fairly long. Teams put multiple players on the waiver list, which keys them into who might have interest at a later date. Then, you also have the no trade clause that Rios would have to waive. Toronto may just want to get out from the contract. If that's the case, Rios would have to approve it. Odds are, they'll pull him back off of waivers.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 7, 2009 -> 09:25 AM) Cranky old man. Go away boy, you bother me.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 7, 2009 -> 09:21 AM) It's a joke. Literally. I know that. Literally.

QUOTE (SoxFanForever @ Aug 7, 2009 -> 09:16 AM) I would think with how long you've been here that you of all people would be able to recognize sarcasm and joking. Nobody is seroius about the HOF talk right now. Well, except maybe the guy named GBecks4theHall or whatever. It's still embarrassing.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Aug 7, 2009 -> 08:48 AM) Yeah. God forbid we don't call someone something he clearly doesn't like and is uncomfortable with. I can't wait for it to go away. By the way, this quote from Cowley is, well, interesting. I'm with you on this. I think calling him Slayer is juvenile at best. The nickname Bacon screams of ethnic stereotyping, also. And all the HOF talk? Reminds me of the Cub love for Wood/Pryor. Embarrassing.

QUOTE (BearSox @ Jul 31, 2009 -> 04:26 PM) I think Richard could be the best out of the bunch. Agreed

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 09:32 PM) Do you have some kinda personnel vendetta against Lee? I notice it seems really hard for you to just acknowledge he's a good pitcher. Before the season you (and a lot of people) dismissed him as a 1-season fluke. And you were still doing this even through May when it was pretty clear last year wasn't a fluke. Now he's getting traded to a considerably weaker league where guys like Randy Wells and Joel Pinerio are dominating and now you're questioning if he can handle pressure? It is a legitimate question. Think Javy Vazquez. We will see.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 12:37 PM) Huh? I've never heard that expression before. I think he meant "mind-boggling".

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 12:23 PM) Wilson has a mutual option for next year at 8.4 mil which I assume the Mariners will pick up, seems a bit high for a player as mediocre as him. Not sure what Snell's contract situation is, I assume hes under their control for a few years. Intersting deal for the Mariners, I think the Pirates are doing a good job of stockpiling talent for the future. That's what the Pirates do. Then they trade that talent when they have to pay them. It's been their M.O. for years.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 12:31 PM) I thought this feat was just as important as the perfect game... Of course, the perfect game was part of this feat as well. When you consider the fact that a perfect game had been accomplished 17 times before, and this had never been done, then yeah it's pretty damn impressive.

Ozzie said that he should be the one to call out a player, and maybe he would have after the game. Remember the Carlos Lee grandmother slide into 2B?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 24, 2009 -> 11:38 AM) Larry do you want copy's of the newspapers? Let me know and I can pick them up for you. I just now saw this, Mike. It's probably too late, but I appreciate the offer. Thanks.

I would like to open this up for the purpose of communicating to other Soxtalk members what can be found to commerate this historic event. Simple example: Does Buerhle make the cover of the next SI? If you see it, or anything similar or avaialble, put it here.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 23, 2009 -> 02:59 PM) 100 pitches for Mark. Does Jenks get the 9th? Not today.

Right now would be a great time for BA in CF.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jul 23, 2009 -> 02:37 PM) same old s*** in here as usual. One thing though: BA is one of the worst baserunners on the team. He cant steal a base and has frequent brain farts. I like BA as much as the next guy, but its time to realize that his swing does not translate to the majors. He is a plus plus defensive CF'er and MAY be able to play in the NL every day, but on a contender, he is a 4th of'er. Yes, agreed. But on a contender, his defense is way more valuable than anything Wise brings .... especially to this particular team.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jul 23, 2009 -> 01:16 PM) Lots of good comments. My take is that regardless of the decisions made, the Sox should try to stay about as left-handed among their regular batters as they are now. If they let Thome go and keep JD in the fold as the primary DH, then Jordan Danks needs to ready for the start of 2010. Even then, we lose our lefty power in the transition. Similarly, if Bacon is ultimately moved to 2B, it would be good to have the 3B be LH. For these reasons and more, both Figgins (as always) and Dunn could be real targets in the offseason. Dunn, especially, solves the LH power issue, and could replace Paulie if he moves on after 2010, were we able to extend Dunn's deal. Either acquisition could allow a great deal more flexibility when Dayan eventually gets here, but Chone's best asset is likely to decline far sooner than Dunn's, and given the year he's having, his next deal is likely to be long enough that the decline in speed is almost assured. Noone really expects that Alfonso Soriano is going to steal 40 bases anymore do we? One thing to remember is that Paulie is a couple years younger than Dye, and several younger than Big Jim. I can see all three being here next year, but after 2010, I believe that only Paulie will remain. Could go a lot of different ways, though. LH hitting 3B? You don't find many Robin Venturas out there.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Jul 23, 2009 -> 01:56 PM) I personally think pegging Wise as a bad defensive player is a creation of these boards. In close games, PR matters more than the difference in defense between Wise and BA. That skill is more likely to lead to a win. If Wise was a bad CF, I would agree with you guys. I dont think he is, however. We always hear about how bad he is there but the evidence lacks. Our bench does not have fast IFs. We need the PR skills. I totally disagree with this. I'll take a very good defensive replacement over a PR. And Wise is a poor CF, stats be damned. BA can read the ball off the bat and get to more fly balls than Wise ever dreamed of getting to.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Jul 23, 2009 -> 12:22 PM) 1/3rd sounds impressive because we are talking about baseball statistics where a third is usually impressive...however, we would need to examine other players' statistics similarly to get an idea as to how much we should expect from the average player, no? Good point, but OBP is a very important and relative stat. But, once Thome is on 1st base, he doesn't much say into whether or not he scores.

Over one third of his walks ... wait, let me rephrase that ... we have scored more than a run per every three walks Thome has gotten. I don't think that is over stating the value at all. In fact, I believe you are understating that value.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jul 23, 2009 -> 12:10 PM) I generally don't either, but this would be the pot calling the kettle black. Who did I call anything? Or, am I not understanding your respose?

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Jul 23, 2009 -> 11:25 AM) Jim has great stats in terms of OBP and OPS, but consider this...out of his 57 walks this season, he's only scored on 11 of them. So, how valuable are his walks, really? I bring up this point because his batting average is pretty low these days, and I don't think with the way the team is constructed, him walking with say 2 outs is particularly advantageous to the club, because of his station to station nature as well as the station to station nature of the heart of the order. Sure, in the bottom of the eighth or ninth when we can pinch run, it's useful. If his batting average were a bit higher, I'd say go for it, but it's likely to regress further, even if he continues to take walks. The walks that are propping up his OPS just aren't that useful. His RBI+R are And I love this man and would love to keep him...but realistically we need to get out after 2009. How many guys did his walks push up on the bases that actually did score?

Sometimes, even the greatest players are going to fail. Ted Williams was booed at Fenway and Mike Schmidt went through his own little slice of hell in Philly, but damn it, that doesn't make it right. Now Jaime Navarro, he desrved every damn boo he heard, because the man just an ass. But for these guys that go out there and try to do their best, well, you'll never here me boo anybody in Sox uniform that does that. Even, Dwayne Wise.

QUOTE (mmmmmbeeer @ Jul 23, 2009 -> 11:13 AM) Money aside, because we don't know who would cost what, but in my opinion Thome is showing some diminished skills while Dye is/has been in peak form for the last several years. If the game is on the line or we need a big hit I just don't have the confidence in Thome as I do with JD. I'd love to see Jimmy stick around, just not sure that he should do so at the cost of losing JD. So, you lose your left handed power with a high OBP. That's not easily replaced. Can Thome maintain that? Who knows.