Balta1701

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 09:07 AM) He would have to replicate his Cy Young season for that to happen. Depends on how much of his remaining money the Sox are willing to eat...and if th e team is out of contention, trading him coudl still save a couple million dollars and bring back something useful long-term

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 09:06 AM) Big Ten is going as expected so far. Indiana is #12 in the nation, Iowa has two road wins & Wisconsin has two home losses (+1 non-conf). You expected Indiana to be this good? I certainly didn't.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 10:40 PM) Xrays negative on derrick *exhale* Uncertain if Rose can go on Friday. If Rose can't go, then John Lucas (III) is probably the Bulls only point guard on Friday in Orlando. And that one is, I'd say, kinda likely a loss.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 11:37 PM) I'm certainly much closer to a moron than a Mormon. So you are Mitt Romney!

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 02:51 AM) It seems Derrick's three point shot is as streaky as ever. If it comes, he can hit three or four in a row, but most of the time he's short or flat on those jumpers until he gets on a hot streak. Some poster proposed earlier that Rose should eliminate the three point shot like Lebron did this season. While I don't buy that he has to eliminate completely, because he is a better shooter than Lebron, I do think that he has no business of taking 4, 5, or 6 shots behind the arc every night. He is not a pure shooter, he will never shoot 40% or even 38% from long range. I think what could actually take him to the next level is working the post game. He is bigger, stronger, and more athletic than most point guards in this league, there is no reason he couldn't take smaller guards in the post and convert a high percentage if he so choose to. I think he just need to work on that part of his game. If he wants to be more efficient, which is his primary goal this season, then adding a post game would be tremendous. P.S. Lebron is indeed shooting 60% from the field, mostly due to eliminating the three point shot, and working more in the post after working out with Hakeem in the offseason. My Derrick wish list for next off season is to work with Hakeem as well, or even a guy like Andre Miller on post game, I truly think it will take his game to the next level. But the problem for Rose in the low post is that if he gets the ball down there and tries to score from that point, stationary, he's inviting all of the 6'10 guys in the game to come in and get on him. He can maneuver around those guys when he's moving, but from a stationary position in the low post he's setting himself up to be trapped. Playing in the low post limits his speed, and his speed is his best asset. 23 wasn't a great low post player in my memory until he developed that incredible fadeaway jumper, where even if a 7 footer came to double, he'd just arc it over his head, but 23 still had several inches on Rose. Lebron could take himself to the next level by developing in the low post because he's already bigger than everyone in the league not named Dwight Howard. Carlos Boozer is small compared to Lebron. I think he's at the point where just "Trying to improve jump shot/trying to improve decision making" is literally the best thing he can do.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 08:26 AM) I agree about Dunn. If he comes out and plays like he did prior to the 2011 season, you keep him. The Sox need that left-handed power bat, and aside from 2011, Dunn fits that description perfectly. However, if 2012 is a mirror image of 2011, the Sox are in trouble. They won't be able to move him if he's hitting .190 with a handful of HRs by July. Last season was abyssmal for the big guy, but he can make us all forget about 2011 by being the guy we hoped for. I still lean towards moving Dunn the second he becomes moveable without eating his deal. By the deadline this year, he'll be nearly 2 years older than he was when he signed his deal, and he'll no longer be on a team that was built to compete this season. If you can move him at that point without eating the $35 million he has remaining, maybe to Torotno or Seattle or someone who needs a LH bat/DH, you have to do it. Even if it makes anyone unhappy about getting rid of a big name, producing player as a salary dump. Clear that $14 million and the next offseason becomes quite a bit easier.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 07:06 AM) Yeah, but it was the spend thrift Marlins with Ozzie Guillen as the circus ringleader who took Zambrano. And...the Cubs had to give the Marlins $15 million. However, using that logic, the Sox shouldn't have to chip in as much percentage-wise for someone to take Rios. I thought no one would even consider taking Zambrano, so maybe there's hope. I'm willing to ride it out, though. Maybe the guy can bounce back...maybe, hopefully... The Cubs also took on a player who was first-year arb eligible, so technically they took on about $17 million or so. Basically, the Sox can move Rios if they eat $40 million. Which we already knew.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jan 5, 2012 -> 06:48 AM) I also see him having a very good year down there. Ozzie might be the one manager who can "train him." Zambrano's a veteran. He knows how to get himself prepared and how to take care of himself.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 09:59 PM) Do they still have the Tennessee DiamondJacks there? Actually we have the Tennessee Smokies, who are the Cubs AA affiliate.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 09:52 PM) I hear that people in Knoxville are grumbling about it over their liquor too. No one here cares unless he plays college football.

Folks in Missouri can't believe the Cubs would trade away a big name player for nothing.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 08:49 PM) He might be our first 1000 yard receiver in a long time. If healthy itd be hard for him not to.

QUOTE (SouthSideTeacher @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 08:53 PM) I wish i'd had the presence of mind to grab some tickets. I'm still on vacation and a trip to see the boys on the road might have been a nice time. #droppedtheball You took a vacation to Detroit?

QUOTE (knightni @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 08:42 PM) Yeah, I was stating that because I took Steve's "OMG" to mean that he expected major offense from Jackson with Cutler. I'd expect that too.

Volstad is even arb-eligible this year, so he'll probably get a million or two in salary. The fins effectively picked up no money.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 08:18 PM) Vincent Jackson + Jay Cutler = major year for Bennett Jackson will get double-teamed on every snap. That's...the point.

QUOTE (3E8 @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 08:09 PM) The pitching in Cuba has been said to be a similar level to high-A minor league ball. Cespedes has been putting up impressive batting lines since age 18. I don't know exactly what a league-average batting line is in Cuba, but a teenager in the US hitting the way Cespedes did against A-ball pitchers would be a top prospect on everyone's lists. But the problem is, if they never advanced past a ball pitching for years, then suddenly gets dumped into the big leagues, he's never had to adapt to tht kind of quality before. Any bad habits he's picked up would never have been challenged. For example we actually saw that with Contreras. In Cuba he could just strike people out constantly with the forkball. In the Us, he had to learn to feature the fastball first to get ahead of peolple before deploying te forkball...otherwise guys would lay off it and force him to throw a strike. And it took about 3 or 4 years and Cooper to get into a good habit and drop the bad habit...and he'd still fall back into it when he was struggling.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 06:06 PM) I know how badly the Bears need a #1, but not the biggest fan of him. Seems to be close to TO/Moss diva level, without as much talent. Takes plays/games off too. Still would be a gigantic upgrade though. I believe the same sort of thing was also said about Peppers when the Bears signed him. When they signed him, they had the biggest need of a DE in football, because they just had one pass away...they went out, got him, and the difference was impressive. If he takes a play off, it happens, but it will still make the team so much better when he doesn't, and fixing the rest is Lovie's problem

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 05:44 PM) I'm guessing 5-10 teams would go after V-Jax. And the Bears should have the biggest need of all of them. Really.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 05:36 PM) I assume you are baseing it on his injuries? That's a tough stance. I should have added that I can certainly understand the injury concern if that is your position. (not trying to put words in your mouth) It's just that injuries are part of the game and CQ sustained them with hard nosed and all out play. yes, that's based entirely on his injuries. The White Sox would almost have been better off without Carlos Quentin the last 3 years. It doesn't matter that he hurt himself last year being "Hard nosed", it still cost him 2 months of the season. 1 play is not worth 2 months of the season. Worse still, not all of his injuries have been hard nosed...the Plantar Fasciitis certainly wasn't. The broken wrist was more stupid than hard nosed; that literally could have cost us a world series appearance. The injruies he had with Arizona which required shoulder surgery weren't hard nosed. Carlos Quentin has been fully healthy for 0 out of the last 4 seasons. 3 of those seasons, it appears that injuries severely derailed his production, to the point where he was almost useless as a player. I don't care if he hits 20 home runs if he can barely move in the outfield and on the basepaths. Worse yet, if a team wants to keep Carlos Quentin on its roster, it has to have a starting caliber outfielder stashed somewhere to replace him when he gets hurt, because it always happens. Carlos Quentin in 2008 was a low risk, high reward talent. Now, Carlos Quentin is getting a pretty good salary, he is no longer low risk, he's high risk...and we haven't seen the 2008 raking Carlos Quentin since his foot injury, so I'm not even sure he's high reward any more.

The governor of Washington State, Christine Gregoire, will introduce a bill that will legalize gay marriage if passed.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 05:16 PM) Yes, salary probably had to come first. Here's how I see it: JR tells KW that he has X amount of dollars for the payroll budget. Maybe KW argues with him a bit, but they eventually setle on a number. This year, that number is undoubtedly significantly lower than last year. So, somehow, KW has to make sure he gets the payroll below that number. That affects how he views his assets. So it wasn't like, "I want to trade CQ becasue I don't like him or I don't think he's good," but instead, "I have to cut payroll somehow. Where does the team have depth? Which guys make a lot of money? Looks like CQ is gonna make $7-8m and I have a pre-arb guy that I can replace him with. Okay, I guess I need to try to move CQ for the best I can." And at that point it's just weighing cost/benefit. So yes, it's KW's fault that the team sucks and thus must cut payroll, but it's not KW's fault that he couldn't get more out of CQ in this instance, because if he didn't have to cut payroll, there's no way he wouldn't choose a better prospect and pick up half of CQ's contract. The other thing to remember continues to be that Carlos Quentin and his 1/2 seasons if you're lucky have been a big part of the problem over the last 3 years. Carlos Quentin has been part of the problem, not part of the solution. Quit being part of the problem and put the other guy back on.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 05:09 PM) OK. That is a valid way to look at it. But, I am not saying he chose a worse return. I am not sure, nor can anyone say I guess, what he might have got in Feb or March, or if he shouldn't have looked at signing CQ like he did John Danks. Those were options too. Maybe they know more about these prospects then meets the eye. It must have been a salary dump #1 and return #2? It would be absolutely insane right now to look at signing Carlos Quentin long term. I wouldn't sign him for 3/$21.

QUOTE (jasonxctf @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 05:03 PM) i think some people really think he runs over to the federal reserve/us mint and starts the presses himself. He should. It would really help the economy out. Just drop it out of the Air Force 1 helicopter.

QUOTE (DrunkBomber @ Jan 4, 2012 -> 04:56 PM) Thats what Hester is to me. You dont need 2 guys like that imo and clearly Hester is more valuable then Knox. Hester really doesn't belong in that job though.