Balta1701

Don't think the Jake like the Gov.

Alexei making a lot of Alexei-like plays recently.

Unsurprisingly, Tigers infield defense has been a problem.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 26, 2012 -> 03:46 PM) I was referring more to that time in May/early June when Viciedo was the hottest hitter in AAA, before he hurt himself. Not sure how we could say he wasn't ready last year when he already showed up in late 2010 and looked like he really belonged for most of his time on the roster...until fading late. Of course, the counter-argument is that Ozzie protected him more and he saw a lot of LHP and was skipped against some of the toughest RHP. Be careful though...Viciedo actually hurt himself in spring training. He played through it the whole year. He was effective playing through it, but it effected him the whole year, and it really came back late in the year and really started impacting his swing there. In 2010 he didn't look like he belonged on the MLB roster. He looked like a kid with a ton of power potential but very little control over the strike zone. He hit some early HR (I was in the crowd for his first MLB homer), but then people figured out he couldn't lay off pitches up and he couldn't get on top of them, so he became an easy K. On top of that, he was in the middle of the insane defensive movement the Sox put him through, so he had no position where he was even close to tolerable.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 26, 2012 -> 03:20 PM) So if Molina doesn't have a bigger impact than say, Quintana, would you blame that on KW or Paddy? Just curious. Because the fact that he made that mistake in annoucing the trade would lead one to believe he wasn't the key driver on that deal. Yeah, it's speculation, but what else do we have to go on? I'm not trying to be grandiose, but that was our best opportunity of the offseason to get an impact player, and now that window is gone unless we can get something back for Thornton, Crain or Floyd. It's probably NOT going to be THE reason we don't make the playoffs...and maybe there is no way you go out and get a 3B (because of Morel's last 6 weeks) or OF (because you have 3 of them already, plus Lillibridge's 2011)...and the only logical thing at the time was to add to the starting pitching depth. Whoever scouted Quintana in the FSL deserves a ton of credit, though. It's not a league that any of our minor league teams play in, so it doesn't get quite as much coverage or attention. I go Kenny. Even if Paddy loves him, Kenny makes the final call...and Kenny decides what he's willing to give up for him. He should have gotten a 2nd player back somewhere just to give some insurance incase Molina isn't all that. That said, Molina still has a long way to go before he's a bust. He's a strike thrower...it might well be that he's used to getting people out by throwing in the zone, but now that he's in AA people are hitting his pitches in the zone, so he would instead need to learn to get people out on the corners, and that would take time.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 26, 2012 -> 02:55 PM) Leading back to the, WHAT IF DeAza and Viciedo played last year when they were most needed, or even Lillibridge? Ranger Rongey would argue that Dunn and Rios would have been ruined "forever"...or the team's chemistry/morale adversely affected by a Juan Pierre benching. Really hard to argue we "should" have won the division, as opposed to the 2010 decision about the the multi-pronged DH (Jones/Kotsay) versus Thome. But it certainly would have been a lot more interesting. Viciedo genuinely wasn't ready last year. He would have been better than Pierre, Rios, or Dunn, but that's because those guys were so terrible. He'd have struggled more than we saw in April, especially since he had that hand injury bothering him the whole year (especially late in the season). I think De Aza would have been a serious upgrade last year if Pierre had gone to the bench early when he deserved to, or Rios went to the bench by midseason when he deserved to.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 26, 2012 -> 03:09 PM) But sometimes there is a legitimate reason for why the service is bad, so I can understand some people wanting to understand the cause of the problem...and taking that into consideration in their tipping. For example, one of the normal servers is out sick, so all of the staff has 2-3 extra tables to deal with on a weekend. Is it fair to penalize the server in that situation? Or let's say it's a restaurant on I-80 and a huge tour or bus group just stopped by in the middle of the afternoon...sort of an anomalous situation that's hard to plan for when you run a restaurant, unless the bus/tour company has alerted you ahead of time. Usually, if a person gives decent service when they're clearly being run ragged by another group, I consider that a reason for a tip boost. If a person's service suffers because of that, I'll give a "normal tip" for that.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 26, 2012 -> 02:33 PM) Hey Balta, are we getting screwed again by Fox? I think we're good today. Fox is running Saturday Night games right now. DirecTV has both our channel and Cleveland's channel listed.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 26, 2012 -> 01:59 PM) Then we also get to count guys like De Aza who weren't drafted. We should be very happy about stealing De Aza (and kind of mad that he spent so long in AAA).

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 26, 2012 -> 01:36 PM) If that is the case then the Sox case looks better as they get to claim guys like Gonzalez and Hudson. Except then we get mad because we gave those guys away in some rotten deals.

QUOTE (oldsox @ May 26, 2012 -> 10:08 AM) I would not be surprised to see AJ come back next year with another two year contract. I'd be surprised if he could get 2 years from anyone, even after tearing the ball apart this year.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ May 26, 2012 -> 12:50 PM) I think you're right about the previous year and its impact. Seems like the Sox suffer a heavier blow than most teams for a bad season. I think (hope?) the fact that the Cubs are the worst team in baseball, coupled with the Sox' better-than-projected start, will bring more fans out in the summer months. The key? The Sox must continue to give them a reason to come out. And let's face it, it doesn't hurt having names like Dunn and Peavy on the roster. The problem for the Sox is that it was more than just "A bad season", it's compounding multiple years of disappointment, ending in 2 really, incredibly disappointing seasons, and big budget cuts/the kids can play rebuilding.

Lots of aging happening today, apparently.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ May 26, 2012 -> 03:43 AM) I do. A lot of local bars and restaurants that have sprung up recently do not have a website, but have a FB page. I can think of 3-4 places off the top of my head that I have checked out their FB pages for to find out drink specials, locations, hours, what people are saying about it, pictures of the place, etc. Products? No, probably not because any product sold by a company, probably have a company website, but local businesses seem to gravitate toward FB a lot more than making an actual website. I have a number of products or companies I've "Liked" in exchange for either contest entries or coupons. Some I'll unlike, some I'll still keep. Also have a number of entertainment pages on there, TV shows, sports teams, movies, bands, to get their updates.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ May 25, 2012 -> 11:04 PM) That brings me back to offseason and how everyone was on Sandy Almorar JR's nuts and whats the guys name in TB? Neither one got hired anywhere. And Tampa has taken their creative management, especially on defense, to another level this year.

QUOTE (Jake @ May 25, 2012 -> 10:51 PM) According to Gameday, the mid 80s ones are changeups, mid 70s ones are screwballs. That's wrong. The 70s is the curve, te low 80s is the screw.

THAT was a good screwball.

Good work to the fan loudly yelling he gone.

For a 23 year old, this Diaz has a heckuva build.

QUOTE (Jake @ May 25, 2012 -> 10:31 PM) I counted 1. Second pitch to Aaron Cunningham. Still though that was a curve.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 25, 2012 -> 10:29 PM) Not to kick a team while they're down, but the Cubs lost their 10th straight by losing 1-0 to the Pirates. Left 11 on base, and went 0-12 with runners in scoring position. Longest losing streak for them in a decade. Kick.

QUOTE (Jake @ May 25, 2012 -> 10:29 PM) Hector showing off the whole repertoire tonight. Did not see a screwball

Yowza, nice work Hector. That was sweet.

Did Beckham fall over there?

Did Quintana get a big league win his last stint?