YASNY

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 21, 2008 -> 01:28 AM) So I take it you wanted no part of guys like Contreras, Floyd, Marte and Thornton when they were first brought in? Since you love putting so much stock in raw numbers and raw numbers alone. The selective memory around here by some baffles me. And it's the same predictable people every time. Marquez could very well suck ass. Who knows. You haven't seen him. I haven't seen him. Even if we did, it still wouldn't mean s***. We all know how Kenny operates. He, Rick Hahn and their people don't obsess over raw numbers. They scout overall talent/stuff/makeup/I.Q./ect. Is it a perfect formula? Of course not. But he's had more than enough success with these kinds of acquisitions that the guy should at least be given a chance. Not the typical "Well, his minor league numbers last year sucked. So that means he must suck" drivel we go through EVERY year. Drivel. Nice word selection. It's perfect.

Veeck As In Wreck was mentioned as very entertaining. I second that. That is probably my favorite baseball book. I have read it several times over the years.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Dec 19, 2008 -> 12:35 PM) YASNY, why must you degrade the IL by mistaking it with the NL? What was I thinking?

QUOTE (watchtower41 @ Dec 19, 2008 -> 11:45 AM) The Braves are treating this acquisition as the 2nd coming of Greg Maddux. I'm on the Braves email list, and it seems I get an email every other day with Q&A with Vasquez, win a Javier Vasquez signed ball, be the first kid on Peachtree Street with a Javier Vasquez jersey ect. It's all bells and whistles when fans see an additional 200+K's coming to the roatation... the tomahawks will quickly find how that momentum will change. I think Javy will do very well in the Internati... oops ... I mean the National League.

The White Sox have a very established track record of not overpaying for pitchers, salary wise. The only way the Sox are going to be successful is to give the young guys they have faith in a legitimate shot to succeed or fail and hope they have enough good yound pitchers to succeed.

QUOTE (Rooftop Shots @ Dec 17, 2008 -> 10:43 PM) In 1974 I saw Styx in a little recreation center that packed about 500 people in a small town called Calumet Park. (Not Calumet City! That's out by Dolton) Calumet Park is about a half mile east of Blue Island. In 1972 Styx played at my high school's homecoming dance.

Yeah, Pat Green is decent but I'd hardly call him an umknown. I have run across a band from Carbondale that I just love their sound. The Ivas John Band. For all you SIU people, they play at the Key West Lounge on Sunday nights regularly, not not always every Sunday night. You can check out some of their music here. If any of you at SIU have seen this group play, I'd like to know what you thought.

Are any of you familiar with an a band, vocalist, performer that hasn't hit the mainstream yet but you think they are deserving. A local band in area or somebody you've heard that you think really deserves a shot at the big time? If so and they have a website or something, link us up and give them them some exposure. Turn us all on to the performers that you knew or were aware of before they were big. Or hell, if you're a performer let us hear your stuff.

If he's not traded, I think BA will end up being the starting CF. Maybe not on opening day, but by mid May. He's the better of the candidates.

Ball Four by Jim Bouton

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 09:49 PM) Are you willing to take the chance that it will continue? At his age, I'm not. I damn sure don't give it away.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Dec 9, 2008 -> 09:42 PM) Thome/Dye may not have hurt the offense last year. They are a year older however and do not play premium defensive positions. Productive corner OF'ers, DH's you can find. Dye has put up better numbers than any outfielder in the league over the past 4 years. That may not continue, but you don't just that type up production under the bus.

QUOTE (tommy @ Dec 8, 2008 -> 04:52 AM) If it's a short-term (two years max) deal I like Bobby Abreu, or Raul Ibanez or let's just keep Dye for another year and unload on starting pitching. Long term I'll take Jeremy Hermida or Milton Bradley. No thanks to Dunn, Junior, or Rivera. Let's hope Kenny can make something happen here. Caulfield12, since you had this topic duplicated I deleted the other one.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 6, 2008 -> 11:09 PM) Well, sort of...but why would we want Garland to pitch for about the same amount of money as Vazquez with the same or probably WORSE results? There are many other answers out there that would be better than paying Jon Garland $12 million dollars to be the 4th starter again. If they tried to cut him 20% (the Angels), they'd still be paying Garland $9.6 million, but we all know the odds are stacked against the teams winning these cases...he might actually end up costing more money than Vazquez. I know in another thread someone mentioned that $18 million for Ichiro is pretty crazy, or $27 million for A-Rod, but if you're going to pay Jon Garland $12-13 million to be a "pedestrian" fourth starter, why not take a bigger risk and really go for it? I don't think we'll ever see Garland here again in Chicago, any more than I believe we'll see a CC Sabathia signing this offseason, a trade for A-Rod, or the acquisition of Manny Ramirez. A simple answer. Cabrera ruffled some feathers while with the Sox and KW has already stated he'd be a backup. Garland would be welcomed back and would step into the 4 or 5 slot rotation. For the same bucks, you get a positive over a negative. I'm not going address the degree of positivity or negativity.

QUOTE (santo=dorf @ Dec 6, 2008 -> 09:30 PM) After both players accept arbitration, the Sox trade Orlando Cabrera to the Angels for Jon Garland. That makes so much sense, it could happen.

Here's Keith Law's take on the trade. It kind of has an "everybody sucks" attitude to it.

QUOTE (MHizzle85 @ Dec 6, 2008 -> 12:53 AM) False. The person below me will be going on vacation soon. False. The person below me is missing someone a lot right now.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 5, 2008 -> 08:24 AM) Weird. Turns out Hahn was at NTHS the same time I was. I wonder if I knew him. He probably knew of you in a Biff/McFly kind of way.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Dec 5, 2008 -> 07:09 PM) Well, when Swisher was hitting leadoff top start the season, Ocab appeared as if he didn't want to be there. He sucked right along with Swisher, and the visible effort was lacking. Late summer for a few weeks he really seemed like he was playing hard, and the effort WAS there, even if the reults weren't. But that didn't last long. I would have to say that his 'passion' was severly lacking in a majority of those 161 games. Not what I would expect from a supposed top shortstop, especially playing in a contract year. You can give him credit, I will give him blame, and we'll just have to agree to differ there. This right here is the reason that I believe he will not accept. He didn't want to be here, and he won't choose to be here again. If he was open to the idea, there would have been some contract discussions during the season. OC is the one blowing smoke up everyone's backsides.

QUOTE (jenks45monster @ Dec 4, 2008 -> 11:08 AM) Does anyone know how much of Thome's '09 salary the Phillies eat? If they are eating least $5 million of it, I think Thome can have some value on the trade market. As for Paulie, the Angels and Giants are the only teams I could think of that need a 1st baseman. Hell, maybe the Rangers could use Paulie as a DH? For all practical intents and purposes, you can just about forget about Thome getting traded. If I remember correctly, he had a full NTC when he signed with the Phillies. He agreed to come to Sox because of his father being in Joliet of wherever. It has been reported that he'd only accept a trade to the Cubs or Indians. I don't see either of those scenarios happening.

The diifference between this and "the person below you game" is that you know who you are directing your comments to. So I'm going to be the first to crawl out that proverbial limb and see what happens. Hit me with your best shot! Fire away!

QUOTE (Jimbo's Drinker @ Dec 2, 2008 -> 11:55 AM) With all due respect, why is this important to the White Sox? This is the Diamond Club, not PHT. What's the problem?

QUOTE (bschmaranz @ Dec 2, 2008 -> 01:36 PM) 2700+ hits, 400+ homers, 300+ SBs and 8 gold gloves beg to differ. Couldn't agree more.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Dec 3, 2008 -> 01:07 PM) You hear this from BA? Damn. Baseball America apparently does keep detailed stats.

QUOTE (R.J. @ Dec 3, 2008 -> 01:43 PM) Ok that's about what I thought. So if the Orioles at #5 sign Cabrera, do we get two picks tacked on at the end of the first round? Two sandwich picks? I think the Dodgers at #17 need a shortstop... come on guys, pick up the phone, bring OC to the OC. If the O's signed Cabrera we'd get a sandwich pick and their 2nd round pick.