whitesoxfan101

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Dec 9, 2006 -> 11:44 PM) While I'm not going to argue about a game that's never going to happen, I would certainly like our chances. And that's nothing against Illinois at all as I think they're a very good and highly underrated team this year. Oh I wouldn't take the time to argue either. In all honesty, I think they are very close, and it would be a great game on a neutral floor. My point moreso is the Illini, when healthy, have a talent advantage. SIU very well might be better, but the SIU fans here (other than you) who are like "SIU is so clearly better, wahoo!" are nuts. However, this Illini team needs to learn to play 40 minutes, and that's on the players, not Bruce. They played 30 or so outstanding minutes against Arizona, Maryland, and UIC.....but the 10 bad ones made them 1-2, and nearly 0-3 (I was at the UC today) in those games. Also, I went to Evanston tonight since I had never seen a NW game at Welsh-Ryan, and I got my money's worth for sure. NW won I believe it ended 75-73 in OT, as Western Michigan missed a 3 to win it very late. Craig Moore hit about 7 three's, and NW's very impressive freshman Kevin Coble looked very good, both had to have had about 25 points. WMU is the favorite to win the MAC West this year (especially with my beloved NIU struggling ), and had already beaten Virginia Tech in a neutral game (actually, that was in the tourney SIU played in as well around Thanksgiving), so that's a decent win for a rebuilding NW team.

QUOTE(Sonik22 @ Dec 9, 2006 -> 09:19 PM) SIU>>>>>>>UofI You got about 2 more weeks....once Illinois is healthy, they are better. Oh, and I guess if that IU/Notre Dame game happens, it's a battle for 3rd best team in Indiana, not 2nd (kidding, I think)....but props to Indiana State anyways.

Texas was like my #2 or #3 highest confidence pick in the bowl pool.....if Iowa loses by less than 17, I'd be shocked.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Dec 8, 2006 -> 10:33 PM) And so AI is finally leaving Philly. This means 2 things; 1 - Philly will now have the worst record in the NBA at season's end. 2- AI's off to Denver, Minny or Boston. Agreed on #1, but why the hell would Denver or Minny want him? Minny I keep hearing wants to dump Garnett, and Denver has J.R. Smith (thanks Pax!!) and Carmelo Anthony lighting it up right now. And with Boston, he'd be heading into the same type sorry ass situation. But then again.....those are the 3 best candidates, but none of them make much sense to me IMO. I'll guess he ends up in Minnesota though, with James playing the 1 and Davis the 3, then AI at the 2 and Garnett doing the big boy work. That's pretty formidable. Oh, and Luol Deng has finally realized he's THE scorer on the Bulls. If not for the enraging blown lead against Sac-Town early, we'd be undefeated at home. Good to see the UC advantage coming back.

James Hughes is really good, our freshman PG Cody Yelder is really good, and I can't wait till next year until Rob Judson is gone. What a bust he's been as a coach, even with last year's division title. QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Dec 9, 2006 -> 02:00 AM) WHOOO Iowa...at least I got bragging rights over Heads. Iowa wins in football and basketball and will probably suck in both but at least we got those wins. That said I'm calling the Longhorns upset right here and right now in the bowl game and I still say Iowa has a chance to back its way in the tourney because we are developing some serious talent. I was with you until the bolded.....the Iowa hoops team still only has 2 legit good basketball players right now, and the football team is going to get run off the field by Tejas.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Dec 8, 2006 -> 01:05 AM) Gio Gonzalez a mid level prospect. Ha. He'd almost be the Sox's #1 prospect right now. He WOULD be the Sox #1 prospect right now, IMO.

I want to bring back Charlie O'Brien. He did invent the hockey style catchers mask, after all.

I will say this: If we get Crawford or Baldelli without giving up one of our top 5 starters, a lot of apologies better get handed out around here.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Dec 8, 2006 -> 12:20 AM) Greg won Soxtalk's inaugural presidential election because he utilized Soxtalk's back-alley alliance of misfits and hooligans -- the chat crew. We've taken down powerful foes in the past, and this particular challenge --while tough-- once again proved victorious. Oh, and I didn't read any of his political platforms. How's that for Chicago politics? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 11:26 AM) I repeat BMAC in the rotation>Garcia in the rotation. We get better immediately this year. ANd with the spects, next year. Its pretty black and white people. And 10 million dollars of additional flexibility this year. But people are stupid *waves at them*, so they can't figure this out. It's pretty simple.

AMEN on Mark Buehrle Jerry, even if the people won't like it around here. If he wants to wear a freaking Cardinals cap around, go play for 'em.

QUOTE(quickman @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 08:42 AM) actually its the whole thinking process that is changing. We are acting like we don't have money again. I think that will backfire with fans. The whole process of thinking is not changing, but your right it could backfire with the fans. But that is because fans, for the most part, are stupid. There are only the select few who actually have a clue what is going on, and most of them post here. I still, by itself, like the trade of McCarthy for Garcia in our rotation, add in 2 good prospects and I'm happier.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 07:57 AM) Why? Are there foolish people that believed we should of broke the bank to pick up Freddy. Or are there people who believe every single rumor and think that KW turned down super oober prospects and tried to get Gavin because KW is just a blind moron who doesnt know what he is doing. Or are there people who read Kotex boy and think that we are really going cheap. That the 100 million dollar payroll is just a mirage and really we are the Marlins. These people need to chill the f*** out. A mixture of both. The Score will be going nuts today, for example. Kenny doesn't deserve crap for this, but he will get A TON of it simply because fans who aren't crazy enough to do things like post here (which is 90 percent of them) really don't have a clue what they are talking about, and think this trade is a failure since we didn't get 10 time all star Aaron Rowand back. QUOTE(retro1983hat @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 08:35 AM) KW himself said the only championship you can win is this year's. How are these two clowns going to help us win THIS YEAR'S World Series? They won't, they help in the future. For now, Brandon McCarthy helps because he takes Garcia's slot and will have better than a 4.60 ERA. Kenny always talks about thinking about now and the future, and he did both in this trade.

Mark Mulder reminds me of a scene on one of the worst movies ever, Major League 3: Back to the Minors, and pitcher Doc Wingate. Wingate throws a pitch in the bullpen during Spring Training, and the radar gun doesn't register. The manager goes "what the hell?" and the catcher explains to him that they got the gun used from the state, and it doesn't register anything under 55. What does this have to do with anything? Not a lot, but it's 3 AM and I have finals next week, so I put it anyways.

I don't know how you could bring up the Mulder trade, Flash. That was known to be a horrible, horrible mistake by St. Louis the moment the trade was made. I can't compare that to this, because that wasn't a case of getting maximum value, it was a case of St. Louis losing their freaking minds.

Funny that Noel Devine is brought up. An Illini assistant actually had an in home visit with him yesterday in Florida, and there is a legitimate possibility of him making an official visit to Illinois. And no, I'm not kidding, I couldn't possibly make this s*** up. QUOTE(thedoctor @ Dec 6, 2006 -> 03:52 PM) don't be fooled by his ratings either. gamble's ratings are low because he is a high academic risk and is on the borderline when it comes to him qualifying. however, he is one of the top-10 prospects in ohio and comes from a great program. gamble is really, really talented, and if he gets to campus he will be a contributor. however, it is a big question whether or not he qualifies. apparently he was not much interested in going to school his freshman year and pretty much put up zeroes across the board in terms of gpa, test scores, etc. since then he's improved greatly, but he still has a lot of work to do to get into illinois. You are correct about his game. As for his grades....I'll guess Gamble qualifies. If the Illini were able to get Jeff Cumberland qualify last year (which of course they did), they could get Gamble to, no doubt about it.

Kenny's comment on Floyd being a guy that could push for a rotation spot has me 100 percent convinced he wants to use Floyd in a trade for an OF, btw. Forgot to point that out earlier, but that was my immediate thought when I read his comment, because that is some serious smoke he's trying to blow up everybody's ass right there. Not sure anybody is silly enough to buy it though. Either that, or we're going to trade another starter (Buehrle or Vasquez) and give Floyd a shot at the #5 spot. Not sure I'd like that at all though, I don't mind this trade at all but I don't want to make another in terms of giving up a SP unless we're blown away.

QUOTE(whitesox1976 @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 12:24 AM) On paper is looks like the dumbest trade I have ever seen. The dumbest trade I've ever seen on paper by the White Sox was Carlos Lee for Scott Podsednik and Luis Vizcaino, and it's not even close. I only go back to the early 90's though (which is a different era than after the early 90's........a completely different era).

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 12:23 AM) If either of these guys comes together and has a very good year, and McCarthy has a very good year...this will be a very fun thread to bump. I already have it bookmarked.....

QUOTE(WilliamTell @ Dec 6, 2006 -> 10:33 PM) Bulls looking good tonight. This schedule is beautiful, they are really starting to figure things out. With the emergence of Nocioni and Deng as scorers this year, the offense just looks really good right now, and the defense is starting to catch up (and defense is where I expected early struggles, all the new guys had to learn each others tendencies and how to communicate).

Regardless of what you all think of the trade.....am I the only one that thinks Gio is going to be REALLY good?? Floyd is a risk, but I guess they think Coop can fix him.....but I'm ecstatic to have Gio back.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 12:11 AM) Or not. Pitchers did the exact opposite. They pitched to him more in the second half -- 33 less walks in the second half -- and Barry made 'em pay, slugging right around .600 while keeping his OBP well above .400. Touche, BUT don't let the facts get in the way of an angry fanbase sir.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Dec 7, 2006 -> 12:00 AM) Oh my god...I'm giddy...Bonds...YESSS, DO IT DO IT DO IT. Like I said, if we want to go with the theory of developing some young pitching, give ourselves a nasty offense and no better upgrade than adding Bonds to a potent lineup and at 10 mill for 1 year its a bargain, imo (even though some people would say this is negative PR wise in the case of Bonds I stick to the old adage of any type of PR is good PR). I could live with it. He'll put up a .500 OBP (yes, around that) and is a better defensive LF than Pods (I can't decide if I'm kidding or not).

The other thing I'd like to point out is, 21 year old lefty prospects who strike out over a man per inning in AA don't grow on trees. Sure, he struggled a bit ERA wise, but those other numbers don't lie, and the fact he was rushed to AA didn't help. But then again, I'm biased since I nearly shat a brick in disbelief when we gave away Gio in the Thome trade.

Well Bonds would be an improvement defensively in LF......