Balta1701

QUOTE (greg775 @ Feb 21, 2012 -> 11:45 AM) It's a good grade. The Sox did not try to improve as a team. The team is expected to be way worse than last year. So it's a good grade. Really? I'm sorta putting them right where they were last year. I think it would actually be pretty hard for them to be way worse unless Danks got seriously hurt.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 21, 2012 -> 10:04 AM) I think if the season was played out 100 times, the Sox might win the division in 2 or 3 of them, tops. Being honest, I see the Sox as something like 15-20 games worse than the Tigers. Sure things could happen to change that number, such as Verlander's arm falling off, or Cabrera taking Prince out for a season of drinking, but in general, I have zero expectations for this team this year. There are scenarios where the Sox could win, but I don't find them very likely at all. Even in the scenarios where the Tigers fall backwards hard, I'm not sure if the Sox have enough to catch them. I'm in a similar mood regarding this team to 2k5. My only difference is that I don't think it's the "Tigers falling back" that would put the Sox in contention, I think it's the Sox playing well above their heads. If the Tigers fall back hard, I think it most likely becomes a tight race with 3, maybe 4 teams, because i could see the Royals and Indians putting together better than .500 seasons as well. For the Sox to really compete, they need everything to work, and they need everyone to have enough success to where they can push >90 wins. That's a huge level of improvement from everyone, since my brain is putting them in the range of the 78 or so they were near last year.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Feb 21, 2012 -> 01:42 AM) I think that the auction times keep resetting back to 30 seconds left every time there is a bid in the last 30 seconds. Basically, an auction can go on forever. The times reset every time a person puts in another bid, so that the bidders can't predict when it's going to end. Every bid then costs $1 or so. If there are 2000 bids before an ipad goes, the person who made the final bid might only have spent $5 or $10 to get it, but the company gets a $1500 profit on an ipad. There's really no trick to it, the winning bidder is just the person who happens to bid and then have the clock run the full way down without someone else bidding and restarting it. It's probably pretty darn close to random.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Feb 20, 2012 -> 10:12 PM) So yeah, Carmelo was awful and the Knicks lost. Jeremy Lin actually didn't turn the ball over and had a decent all-around game with 21/9/7. Let the Melo vs. Lin battles begin! QUOTE (chw42 @ Feb 20, 2012 -> 10:14 PM) He wasn't horribly inefficient today though. Carmelo didn't deserve to take more shots. He didn't shoot it well AND turned the ball over 6 times (horrible for a guy who doesn't handle the ball all the time). I didn't watch that game of course, but the real question I have in terms of the development of that team was what kind of Shots was Melo getting? If Lin is being an effective PG, then that ought to be disrupting the defense enough that he has his choice of an open shot for Melo or an open shot for Amare (with an occasional role-player shot thrown in).

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 21, 2012 -> 06:20 AM) I don't know how anybody could give the Sox a D- for the offseason they had. There were some questionable moves, but it's not as if this team is suddenly worse for this year and worse for the future because of the moves made during this offseason. Actually...it's entirely possible this is true. A lot hangs on Molina and Castro.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Feb 20, 2012 -> 08:29 PM) but there wasn't for Jermaine Dye... stupid. There was, he just didn't want to take only what, $3 million for 1 year from the Nats.

Rondo gets a suspension for throwing a ball at a ref

So what would you say the Odds are of the Sox taking the division? I'm closer to 1/100 than to 1/2.

The 29-6 run over the last 8:00 of the first quarter is acceptable.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Feb 20, 2012 -> 04:28 PM) Agreed. It means they can also skip some starts to limit his innings. They can still do that if he's in the 3 spot. They came out and said Humber starts the season, most likely, as the #5 starter, and that's a move I like, because I want him to feel the same pressure to hold onto the spot that he was hit with last year.

Wennington suggesting Rose was either missing a little explosiveness or was a little bit tentative early, but sounds like he just started opening it up as the Bulls made this first run.

CJ is out with a concussion today.

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Feb 20, 2012 -> 04:02 PM) I think its more likely that he just isn't very good. I struggle to figure out how a player who "just isn't very good" can do what he did out of the gates in 2009.

This is how Roy Halladay arrived at camp.

Manroid signs with the A's

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Feb 20, 2012 -> 02:15 PM) I think we'll see a ton of platooning.Fukudome, DeAza , Dunn, early and often against righties. I am going to absolutely hate seeing a ton of platooning, I'm going to complain about it every time it happens to any of the kids, and I absolutely expect that you're right.

This is really a fascinating graph...inflation-adjusted spending on Presidential races, back through the Civil War. Turns out...when you adjust for inflation, the explosion in campaign spending really didn't start until 2000 and it was 2004 before it really took off. I don't know what to make of that, but I woudln't have guessed it.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 20, 2012 -> 01:55 PM) Taco Bell to roll out Doritos tacos I love industry. Doritos are processed food, pressed and fried versions of tortillas that are then coated with artificial cheese-like substances. Hey, I've got a great idea...what if we took these bastardized versions of tortillas and made tortillas out of them! Yes I know, it'll probalby taste pretty good.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 20, 2012 -> 11:20 AM) I dunno...for whatever reason, it's always difficult to put back-to-back seasons together in baseball unless you have dominant pitching. The Tigers obviously have Verlander, and Fister and Scherzer have the potential to be above-average 2nd and 3rd's, but I'm not shaking in my boots just yet. I am one of the more optimistic fans, but I think the bounce back potential for our team, combined with some Robin magic might put us in a spot most don't expect. As I posted earlier, the odds aren't great, but it's not 100:1 or any of that nonsense. I'm not shaking in my boots about the Tigers either...but I'm much more shaking in my boots about the White Sox. I think I'm going to hate watching this team, and I think that all the bad tendencies of the last few years in how the org operates are going to get magnified...except for the annoying twitter fights.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Feb 20, 2012 -> 01:19 PM) The fact that Humber is our best returning pitching is scary. But he will likely still make the rotation. Usually there are 1 or 2 ST suprises and i'm hoping Castro can turn heads. But on paper, you are right it will be: Peavy, Floyd, Danks, Sale and Humber. And i'd take Rios hitting .280 in the 3-spot over .220 in any other spot in our lineup, thats for sure! Hopefully Ventura plays the #s game. We know Ozzie didnt. Why? This is only because of how good he was last year, not because of a weak rotation around him.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Feb 20, 2012 -> 10:48 AM) I feel this year's top 3 in the rotation has greater potential than last year's. Who gets counted as number 3? Peavy or Sale?

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 20, 2012 -> 09:31 AM) I'd say more like 8:1 I'd say that's way too high. Which really bothers me because the last 3 seasons I've been more positive on the team than the consensus (and the final results).

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Feb 20, 2012 -> 09:21 AM) You both are unbelievable. Care to say why?

Gonzo.