whitesoxfan101

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 27, 2007 -> 05:15 PM) I won't get into the discussion of how much Ozzie had to do with 2005, because I don't think it was huge either. But your statement is still laughable. No way people here could do what he did that year or even last year with the same talent. Maybe there are a few people here who could, with a bunch of years of coaching and/or playing at pro levels, get close. Maybe - there is no telling for sure. But to say half of them could, now, outmanage anyone at the ML level, is a joke. Overall your obviously right, but in terms of basic, everyday in game decisions and deciding who plays in games, your not. Ozzie's managing moves, many of which people on this board could see were stupid, kept us out of the postseason last year.

It's pretty clear that Bush wants to move in on Iran. If you don't think we'd need a draft if we head in that direction, then basic mathematics seem to escape you. The quicker Bush gets out of office the better obviously, I'd swear he was drinking again with the decisions he's making lately, it's been even worse than the previous 5 and a half years.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Mar 27, 2007 -> 05:12 PM) Why exactly are MacDougal and Sisco failing to top 92 mph with under a week left until the season begins? Probably because relying on what a spring traning radar gun in the middle of the desert tells you. Jenks still isn't right, but really the gun has been wrong on comcast all camp. It had Prior throwing 93 and 94 in a game he only hit 89 tops. Don't trust it.

To say we got equal value is disproved by how much we got for McCarthy. It was a bad trade unless Gio becomes a superstar, but all we lost was 1 year of a washed up pitcher (and please don't bring up 17 wins, that pharce isn't holding water with me, look at his true numbers last year), however that washed up pitcher had more value than what we got. It happens, every GM makes a bad trade, and I think the B-Mac trade will make up for it.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 27, 2007 -> 05:06 PM) That's hilarious. I dislike lots of what Ozzie does, but you need to have some perspective on reality here. You think 90% of the people here could manage the team better than the guy with the World Series ring??? Probably not, that was an exaggeration. But among regular posters, more than half could. You seem to overestimate Ozzie's impact on 2005. We got to the playoffs, won in the playoffs, and were Champs due to all time great pitching and hundreds of home runs, and basically every big hit that October was a home run (except a double off the wall by PK to put game 5 away in Anaheim, and JD's game winning hit in game 4 in Houston).

QUOTE(He_Gawn @ Mar 27, 2007 -> 12:12 PM) Mackey's not going anywhere. http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.d...ID=200770321049 Well 1 coach that coaches his home games at the Assembly Hall in the Big 10 can keep a recruit....

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 27, 2007 -> 04:59 PM) Ahhh the serial complainers out in full force. When will they realize if they knew better than the people on the field, they'd be doing it for a living? Actually, I could manage this team better than Ozzie, as could 90 percent of this board. Just because I'm not making baseball coaching my career doesn't mean i'm stupid, just like just because somebody played doesn't mean they can manage (ie our manager). QUOTE(TheOcho @ Mar 27, 2007 -> 04:42 PM) Awesome. Ahh I try, and it usually works.

Ahhh the Ozzie supporters out in full force. When will they realize that he has no clue what he's doing in terms of on field decisions?

Hope Floyd enjoys triple A. Methinks we might have 3 lefties in our pen.

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Mar 27, 2007 -> 11:47 AM) seriously, I have no idea what the hell that means. Tell me how Ozzie lied to Brian. He said the best performer this spring would win the job in CF, Brian has been better than Erstad, yet Erstad is going to be the starter. Not too hard.

QUOTE(CanOfCorn @ Mar 27, 2007 -> 11:29 AM) Shows you what we know. Iowa to talk to Pearl I'd contest he's using Iowa for a pay raise, based on his salary. I just can't think he'd go back to Iowa, he's got no shot at getting any players there, and it's not because of the school.

I'd LOVE to have him, but we couldn't afford and/or wouldn't pay for him.

QUOTE(NCsoxfan @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 11:09 AM) 1. This years potential Liriano's 2. Players on the decline - stay away from 3. Comeback players 4. Solid players that you can draft in late rounds. 5. New closers 6. Underrated / Overrated players Also, I am in a keeper league, and we get to keep two players. Which two would you guys keep out of all these: A-Rod, Vernon Wells, Jason Bay, Roy Oswalt, Maggs First of all, keep A-Rod obviously and also Oswalt. Everybody keeps saying he'll get hurt, but he's pitched well over 200 innings 4 of the last 5 years and has had an ERA UNDER 3 the last 2 seasons. As for your other stuff, I can only advice based on what I've seen in drafts and such: 1. Any of the Marlins young starters. They won't be Liriano (nobody will), but they are young, undervalued, and really good. 2. Stay the hell away from Eric Chavez. Barry Zito is going to the NL and a great pitchers park, but he's showing the classic signs of decline. Also avoid Jason Varitek and sad to say, Mark Buehrle. I also wouldn't buy what Ray Durham was selling last year, and same goes for Mike Mussina and Kenny Rogers. 3. Piazza is going to have the Frank Thomas Oakland DH revival IMO. I also think Jhonny Peralta might have a really good year, he's over his sophomore slump and everybody is counting him out but he could be a valuable and cheap SS. Morgan Ensberg struggled with injuries last year, but he could be a nice comeback guy too. John Patterson from the Natties is a nice guy to have too, assuming he's healthy. 4. I got a really good catcher in Russell Martin in the 14th round of a 12 team draft, and he's going to bust out this year (he even had 10 steals last year). I got Dave Bush of Milwaukee in the 19th round, and he had some amazing splits last year, could be a really big steal as a starting pitcher, as well as my 21st and last pitch, Scott Olsen of the Marlins. Chris Burke is 2B/OF eligible, I got him in the 16th round, and he had 32 extra base hits in 366 AB's last year, as well as 11 steals and a .276 average. 5. Otsuka is going to end up closer, because there is NO WAY Gagne lasts. Dotel is worth the risk in Kansas City IMO, but I'm biased because I've always liked him. Watch the Reds bullpen closely, if somebody like Bill Bray gets a shot, he's worth a look. Wheeler and Qualls are both guys to pay attention to with Lidge being a mental case. Matt Capps is somebody to look at, I think he'll be the Pirates closer, Jorge Julio in Florida. The closer thing is something you just have to watch closely and be quick to react, because it's hard to predict (for example, I got J.J. Putz at the first sign of him being closer last year). 6. Mr. Gyroball is in for a rude awakening in the AL East, Johnny Damon is a borderline top 5 round pick on average, but I don't trust his skills or health. Bill Hall is way overrated due to what he did last year, and everybody STILL falls for Rich Harden. As for underrated.....Dan Haren is underrated again, Ervin Santana, Erik Bedard....really I could go all day with underrated pitchers, people are so keen to get offense early in drafts and ignore it it seems like. It's harder to find underrated hitters, but Mark Teahen is a guy that everybody will be scared away from due to Gordon, but he's a solid ballplayer and he'll get his time in OF (and eligiblity too) and produce numbers. Jorge Cantu can RAKE, but everybody forgot because he was hurt so much last year. Josh Willingham can't field for s***, but he has a great bat and is a guy you can get late, and as per annual tradition, everybody is sleeping on Melvin Mora.

QUOTE(caulfield12 @ Mar 27, 2007 -> 08:47 AM) Of course, the odds are pretty high that Pods or Erstad will get injured sometime this year. Which is exactly why it's a HUGE deal Anderson made the team. He'll get his chance again in the OF, because there is ZERO way in hell those 2 guys stay healthy.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2812975 Aaron Gray still sucks, Afflalo and Lofton should be switched (and in fact, I could argue Brooks was better than Afflalo), and so should Horford and Noah....but other than Gray they got the right 14 other guys at least, so not a bad job.

QUOTE(CanOfCorn @ Mar 27, 2007 -> 09:50 AM) This isn't a step up job. It's a lateral move. I'm not going to rip on the fans, cuz I don't know how they are, except in football. But, Arkansas is not a destination job, like Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA, Indiana, etc. Neither is A&M, for that matter. I think Gillispie is going to wait for a big time job in a big time conference...that cares about basketball more than football. And if he keeps winning, that will come in the next couple of years. PS...It's Gillispie, not Gillespie. FYI. Maybe I worded it wrong, because I agree on all counts. And yeah, I know, I'm bad with spelling names, lol.

I think you could make a case that Kobe is as good, if not a better scorer, than MJ was.....however MJ was WAY better at literally every single aspect of the game, so it's no contest. The other interesting thing is that Kobe is having MJ's career in reverse. MJ nearly killed himself scoring a ton of points and winning by himself until one of the 50 greatest players helped him win titles, wheras Kobe did it in reverse order. If Kobe hadn't run Shaq out of town, thus maybe winning another ring or two, he'd have helped himself in the MJ debate in terms of resume. But even then, it's still not that close in terms of overall resume or level of all around play. Kobe is still going to retire as one of the 10 best players ever though IMO.

I love Capn, good to know I'll never be the guy that hates Pods THE most, only 2nd place.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Mar 27, 2007 -> 03:16 AM) Edwin Encarnacion If you need a decent 3Bman, he's a guy that could put up a solid average, good power, good run production, and double digit steals. Tony has probably heard me say that a time or two. Ha I just posted my roster with him at 3B a bit before this....I didn't give you the idea did I? Hehe.

Gillespie would be an idiot to go there. Arkansas fans are morons, it's a much harder place to win at than Texas A&M (compare recruiting bases and expectations in each local area) and Gillespie should wait for a top, top job before he leaves A&M. As for Heath, the writing on the wall has been there for a while that he was toast after this year. I think he's a good coach and they sholdn't have done this but hey, Chris Lowery should be warned.....Heath is another in a growing list of mid major coaches who jumped at a "big" job ASAP and failed. I know it's about the money, but I'm just saying....

Bulls won last night, but the game reminded me why I wanted us to take Aldridge over Thomas. Thomas might be really good eventually (I would say yes), but Aldridge is your legit 6'11 post scoring 4 to go along with Ben Wallace if you have him.

12 team rotisserie league on yahoo: C: Russell Martin 1B: Prince Fielder 2B: Howie Kendrick 3B: Edwin Encarnacion SS: Rafael Furcal OF: Andruw Jones OF: Adam Dunn OF: Delmon Young UTIL: Travis Hafner Bench: Chris Burke (2B, OF eligible) Bench: Aubrey Huff (3B, OF eligible) Bench: Adrian Gonzalez (1B eligible) SP: Johan Santana SP: Aaron Harang RP: J.J. Putz RP: Francisco Cordero P: Joel Zumaya P: Javier Vazquez P: Ervin Santana Bench: Dave Bush Bench: Scott Olsen For a 12 team league, I'm really happy with this. I have 2 more yahoo 12 team drafts later this week with a couple groups of friends of mine (although those leagues are head to head), I hope they go well too.

QUOTE(Palehosefan @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 10:59 AM) Seriously, let it go. Have I ever given you grief when the Illini lost? Or anyone grief when their team lost? Didn't think so. Your a good poster and I was actually in all seriousness going to say sorry about the loss. But to go in the direction you did as to why they lost was so shockingly misguided that I didn't know what to do.

I never understood why people didn't like this trade up here. At the time, the people in Texas thought they were fleeced, I thought we fleeced them, most of us here even thought that I think. This won't be George Bell for Sammy Sosa esque, but it will be a trade Texas regrets a lot.

QUOTE(Tony82087 @ Mar 26, 2007 -> 10:36 AM) After doing two drafts in a league of friends who know a good deal about baseball, a major sleeper is Chuck James. I got him very late in a draft I did last night, and almost know one had heard of him. Ooooooh good call, I forgot all about him, but he's going to have a nice year.