whitesoxfan101

Looking at that old trade thread, I'm shocked at how many people hated the Garcia trade at the time.

For a question like this, I'll go with the guy who best combines throwing strikes and a dominant pitch. Putz has 6 walks in 34 innings, and maybe the nastiest splitter I've ever seen. So he's my pick.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 02:58 PM) One thing everyone has overlooked, he made himself more versatile last year with the Mets by playing first base. Kotsay replacement? Haha now that would be coming full circle considering I remember a lot of people comparing Reed to Kotsay when he was in our organization.

QUOTE (ChWRoCk2 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 02:50 PM) Following I believe are FA's: Steve Blake Rafer Alston Jason Williams CJ Watson Blake signed with the Lakers IIRC.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 02:33 PM) I like the career .666 OPS Not a surprise considering he has had a devil of a time trying to hit major league pitching?

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Jul 10, 2010 -> 09:50 AM) I'm just going to tell you straight up, Y2HH, the "free speech" thing is a copout. There isn't "free speech" in a privately held forum, and if we all agree that "go kill people" is something we don't want to see, then there's a reason for it. You know we are pretty flexible on things here, and that's one of the fdew lines that we don't like crossed. For you to come back to this forum to make your point is pretty silly, IMO. Ahh the ACTUAL rights that free speech gives you, one of the most misunderstood parts of our great country.

Charlotte is going to have some serious problems if they ever let Luther Head get burn at PG, so I can see why they'd sign Livingston.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 01:44 PM) Reinstating an estate tax would be a great way to help close a deficit gap with minimum pain for the general population in a difficult economy. IIRC, when reinstated it will only apply to inherited estates in excess of 2 million dollars (and I think a house is exempted from that to begin with.) If people want to be serious about balancing budgets, no matter what we do - we have to raise taxes. This was my initial thought to the idea of the estate tax. While taxing the inheritence the heirs receive (which is what it sounds like the estate tax is, correct me if I'm wrong though) doesn't sound like a wonderful thing, it does sound like a good way to close the deficit, and it also doesn't sound like it'd be sending the wealthy into bankruptcy either. But I can see why people would be against such a thing too, because it just sounds kind of dirty.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 12:22 PM) I get the feeling there is something to this that ended up being the reason he signed with us. I really wonder if there was a deal in place for him to make himself fall to the Sox in exchange for them allowing to get the taste of the majors this year. Oh I completely agree this that the scenario you paint is very possible, which is why i'm backing off from criticizing the organization to any extent for how this is all playing out. If such a deal was in place and helped you get a top 5 talent for a bargain price, it was worth doing IMO. I'm still curious as to how this will affect Sale's development long term though.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 12:40 PM) We were JUST begging KW to DFA Jones a week ago and now we're lobbying for more playing time because of his defense? Jeeze, the mood swings are hard to handle sometimes Haha good point. I still think he's a garbage player at this point, but he's hit the ball hard recently, so obviously he isn't going to be a DFA candidate anytime soon.

Whoops. So now who is the backup PG going to be?

QUOTE (SHIPPS @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 01:09 PM) I am going to Starved Rock tomorrow for the first time and I plan on going to Yosemite in the near future. What are your guys recommendations for my to do list at Starved Rock? I am guessing we are going to rent bikes or something but I dont know if there are some must see spots there. Went to Starved Rock for the first time a couple of months ago and had a great time. We hiked several miles and saw a ton of stuff, so my memory isn't great enough to give you specific suggestions. My general thought is that there are some really nice overlooks with great views, and those are areas I'd definitely check out. There are maps all over the place with directions to certain landmarks and stuff throughout the park, so you'll catch on quick. The bike idea sounds good too.

Is Gonzalez even a better defender than Escobar? Yunel is pretty good over there, I'd guess top 5 in baseball defensively at SS.

Yeah, unless those two prospects Atlanta got are really something, this is a pretty one sided trade in favor of Toronto. Atlanta must really think they can do big things this year I guess, although I'm not sure I exactly trust Gonzalez to keep up his current pace the rest of the year, particularly in the Atlanta ballpark. And it's not like he's been great, he's right about .259 (as the quote mentions)/.300/.500/.800 IIRC.

QUOTE (girlslikebaseballtoo#26 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 11:22 AM) UUHHhh I love ya to pieces, but this is FALSE!!! It has nothing to do with what she realizes she might be missing that gets her interested in a guy another girl is talking to, and EVERYTHING to do with the fact that women just don't like other women!! She sees a woman talking to a man that she knows is interested in her and wants that girl to know "hey, back off my s***!" lol ...she doesn't care to be with that guy, but she doesn't want him moving on to another woman. It's a sad and ridiculous reality, but it is, in fact, REALITY! Wedding rings are a red flag for me ..but a lot of women see them as a challenge! This can only be explained by the fact that ..well ...women are scallywags!! And that's the nicest way I can say it! LOL ..Chase DOES NOT wear a ring, even though he'd like to! As far as a woman being a great wing man is concerned, DO IT!! If you can find a girl who is willing and has good intentions, then you couldn't possibly have a better wing man. I have been the wing man more than once and I love it!! This post confirms a lot of theories I've had about how most women think for a while now. Thanks. (Seriously).

I will say in Darko's defense that, unfortunately for him, no matter what he does, he'll be eternally made fun of because of where he went in what draft. Kind of a Sam Bowie syndrome.

QUOTE (Felix @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 11:06 AM) It's not a bad contract because the market value for a 7 footer with his skill set are getting the same amount, yes. Contracts are set by the value the market sets for them, and Darko got the right amount. Sure, you'd like to sign people to a below market value deal, but more often than not the deals you make are determined by the contracts previous players that are similar already received. Well I can't really disagree with this. I guess the center is to basketball what the left handed pitcher (particularly lefty reliever) is to baseball. As long as you can do it, you're valuable, even if you don't do it all that well in general because not many others do either. It's probably a big part of why the NBA has a shot at a lockout though. The owners can't trust themselves to be financially reasonable, so they want a hard cap to basically protect themselves more than anything. And it's understandable why the players wouldn't be too keen on that idea.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 10:58 AM) Quite frankly, he'd get absolutely destroyed starting at the major league level right now. His only shot is utilizing his top 2 pitches in a relief role and even that I feel is being incredibly gutsy. Yeah, i'm a little worried about the way we're handling him to be honest.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 10:50 AM) From what? I think Quentin's issues had more to do with him just getting his timing back after being hampered by both the wrist injury and foot issues. Because of that he was having timing issues as well as over-agressive issues where he was swinging at bad pitches. I didn't see any indication while watching him play that he was bothered by any injuries. I think you're right on, especially with the wrist injury point. It seems like one of the things that multiple sports have in common is that wrist injuries are difficult to come back from, and take longer than most people think to do so.

QUOTE (Felix @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 10:51 AM) I linked to this like 30 pages ago, but no one probably read it because no one wants to realize that Darko isn't actually awful. Centers with comparable ages, PER and contracts: Krstic is on a 3yr, $15.8 mil contract. Zaza is on a 4yr, $19 mil contract. Biedrins is on a 6yr, $62 mil contract Ty is on a 6yr, $64 mil contract Hollins is on a 3yr, $7 mil contract. Remind me again how his deal is bad? Courtesy of CanisHoopus. So it's not a bad contract because a bunch of other mediocre centers are getting rich too? I guess by that logic, none of the rich contracts to mediocre players this summer are bad since so many of them are being dished out.

QUOTE (Felix @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 10:43 AM) That article is moronic. Darko's contract isn't bad at all, especially in comparison to the other awful deals given out this offseason. Two separate points there. His contract isn't as bad when compared to other ones this offseason, and in fact could be defended as one of the "better" deals of the summer. But it's still bad.

I agree with the point that everybody should have their warn level next to their name when they post. Seen it on other sites, and it kind of tells you what you're dealing with when talking to other posters. I was shocked to learn my warn level is apparently only 20 percent because I maybe have been the biggest asshole on these boards the first couple/few years I was around. As for the thread at hand, I love the 'buster when Balta and Kap argue. You literally couldn't find two people more different politically than them if you tried. And the best part is that at times, I think each of them actually thinks they'll be able to convince the other to come to their side on an issue.

Advanced stats are questionable at best in sports outside of baseball. Heck, even the baseball ones aren't perfect (although they are quite good overall).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 10:05 AM) Bah, I think the whole league is screwed so it doesn't matter, but yes, DR1 needs to be better than Bosh for the Bulls to be a conference finals contender. Well maybe you're right about the whole league, but the Bulls are especially screwed if Rose can't even be beter than Bosh. At least if Rose turns out to reach his full potential, the Bulls can be in one of the nicer cells in basketball jail. If not, they're only a small step about solitary confinement.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 14, 2010 -> 09:50 AM) At least last year...Chris Bosh was substantially better than Derrick Rose. That could change this year. It will. And if it doesn't change soon, the Bulls are even more screwed than we thought. Because if Derrick Rose isn't better long term than Chris Bosh, this team is REALLY far away.