Balta1701

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 03:16 PM) I wonder how much of this is lock-out related with these injuries? None of these seem that abnormal to me.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 02:18 PM) I would put Stewart and Molina in the category of not neededing to worry about innings. Both have had enough time and innings the past few years. Now whether they are ready for the MLB is another story. But if the Sox felt the physically they were ready and all they needed now was Learning. I wouldn't have a problem with it. However, from what I've read Molina isn't ready but Stweart could be. I agree with Sale he has not had the innings. He will not be ready to pitch 200 inngs this year. I would say the 150-180 would be plenty for him. Have you actually looked at their stat sheets? Stewart is a converted reliever who was clearly tiring this year after 100 innings, and Molina has basically been a pitcher for 2 years. Molina has had 1 full season as a starter, Stewart has at least had about 2. Playing with those guys arms/condition by putting them in the bullpen for a full season is crazy.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 12:51 PM) Interesting that you bring this up. I sent a few packages from Amazon to my parents for Christmas, and they were sent UPS. However, when I checked the tracking, it said the packages were transferred to USPS. It's completely financially irresponsible for any delivery company to be able to maintain regular, daily service to areas that aren't highly populated. The Postal Service is required to do so by law. So, if they have to go to remote places away from everything 6 times a week, and those people occasionally also get a package, the other companies will contract with the postal service to avoid having to spend the money to develop the capacity for those far-flung deliveries.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 02:14 PM) Vinny's not a bad coach. He was just given a very flawed roster, especially after they let go of BG. I'm not saying he's the best of the best, but I think he could be a top 15 coach which is slightly ahead of the pack. And as long as he gives his players freedom and massages their egos, he's good. People underestimate the good he did for Joakim and Derrick. Making Derrick learn from the bench when no one else, including most fans were ballsy enough to do so, and taking the criticism on the chin. I think VDN did an abjectly awful job with the Bulls.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 01:27 PM) Those people haven't watched much Vinny. They could win a lot of games in spite of him.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 12:08 PM) The conditioning the arm part really only applies to guys straight out of college or ones who have had very few innings pitched in the minors. Sale would fall into this category for concern. Anyone who has pitched more than 2-3 years in the minors as a starter I wouldn't worry about it. They can increase their workload over the off season and spring training to get ready to start. Who do the Sox have as a legit pitching prospect for the future that has pitched more than 2-3 years in the minors as a starter? Not Sale, not Stewart, not Molina. Pretty much no one that has any hope of winding up on the team in the near future other than maybe Axelrod, who I don't care if he's put in the pen. Which is why I react strongly negatively to the idea of putting Stewart or Molina in the pen, and why doing so with Sale last eyar was so risky.

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 01:22 PM) KW did spend a lot of time scouting in Cuba and latin america recently. Didn't he? My boss knows a guy who works for the Sox and he just texted me and said that the Sox are hardcore pursuing this guy and hope to lock him up soon. His comfort level playing with Viciedo and Ramirez gives the Sox the edge! Although he may have seen this kid elsewhere in Latin America, KW could not have been "Scouting" in Cuba without the permission of both the U.S. and Cuban governments, and he wouldn't have gotten that.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 10:46 AM) The West is an incredible conference again this year, I wouldn't throw around that the winner of the heat/bulls matchup will win the championship just yet. Really? They seem to me like their trend of "slowly weakening" has continued, especially at the bottom of the conferenc.e

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 09:59 AM) For Sale, it made sense. He was being groomed pretty much exclusively at the major league level, and his arm wasn't tuned to 200 innings yet anyway, so it made sense. Molina is trying to build up innings (being a transitioned position player), has been a starter for a couple years, and isn't being jumped early. The cases are just not that similar, and I'd rather Molina was getting starter innings in the minors learning how to pitch. His arm had thrown 150 innings in the 2 previous years...and you can't possibly tell me that you look at his frame and think "this is a guy who is guaranteed to stay healthy, so we can do whatever we want to with him". I understand why it was done...that's the definition of going "All-in", risking your top prospect on being in the bullpen for a year, but we're going to have to live with the consequences this year. If that means he gets hurt, or wears down after 120 innings and becomes less reliable than Humber last year, then that's the choice we made.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 10:15 AM) That needs to be the slogan for 2012. I still say the slogan we're running is "Last year was Mark's fault".

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 10:08 AM) I disagree. I think it's a good way to build confidence and learn how to pitch to MLB hitters without getting "thrown to the wolves." You can pick and choose the situations to help them learn. The real issue I have is that the Sox are putting guys in the bullpen at the expense of them getting their innings in. The other dominant guys around the league who started in the pen got their innings in at the minor league level before sneaking into the pen for some experience. When David Price pitched out of the pen for the Rays, he'd already thrown 108 innings in the minors that year. I hear your point...but "Conditioning a guy's arm", especially for the kind of raw kids we're getting, has to be the priority.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 09:56 AM) It's not uncommon to have a young pitcher start off in the bullpen to get a feel for how to get MLB hitters out and work with the MLB pitching coach for a year then move to the rotation the next year. There's no problem with it if you don't try to ove him into the starting role the same year. If he has an off season to prepare for being a starter he'll be fine. It's not uncommon, but that also doesn't mean it's smart.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 09:24 AM) Was 2012 an arb year for him? I wasn't sure it was an option year or an arb year. Yes, it was an arbitration year. Had the sox not gotten him inked to a 5 year deal, they still had to go through the arb-process and get him locked up to a 1 year deal

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 08:46 AM) Too late in the year to hope for a hurricane. Too soon.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 08:44 AM) I have a friend who loves to make bets where he is getting odds. He offered to give me my pick of 4 teams to win the championship this year and he gets the field at 2:1 odds. 1) Is this a good bet for me? 2) If so, do I take the Heat, Bulls, Mavs, and Thunder or is there a team I'm missing? At 2:1 odds that's stellar. You could maybe make a cases for a team like Memphis, the Lakers if they pull off another steal trade, or the Clippers, but really, those are the top 4.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 08:52 AM) Who says Axelrod and Stewart are long-term-starters? Stewart...I'll be real angry if they don't at least try him as a starter for another full year in the minors considering he wasn't bad at it after being converted from a reliever 2 years ago by Torotno. Putting him in the pen even temporarily undoes everything the blue jays tried to do with him. And as a sinkerballer, he at least needs to be given a shot to start, that's where he'd be the most useful. Axelrod I don't know where he belongs, I'd be less angry about him being put in the pen, but I still am not going to view him as anything other than a fringe major leaguer until he proves me wrong. Molina being put in the pen would absolutely enrage me. Dude was just converted to being a pitcher from being a position player...yeah, it's not like he could benefit from innings or anything.

QUOTE (daggins @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 11:18 PM) Seriously bullpens are so easy to remake. Why would anyone make this a priority. Because there's a real strong correlation between a strong bullpen and making the playoffs. It covers up for a ton of other deficiencies.

QUOTE (beck72 @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 07:54 AM) Signing Danks strengthens both the rotation and bullpen. It's likely one of Stewart, Axelrod or Molina can be in the sox bullpen, where they could be more effective than in the rotation. Molina will prob. be a SP in the minors. Yet could slide into the pen if the sox need him. I don't see Gavin around. The sox should get a decent return for him that allows the sox to compete next year but also builds for the future. Yes, let's put another long-term-starter in the bullpen. See how many more pitchers we can set up where they hit a 120 inning limit when they move to being a starter.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Dec 22, 2011 -> 04:47 AM) I am beyond happy to hear this. Danks is a friggin stud. Yes I'm probably his biggest fan on the board, but I still firmly believe he has alot of untapped potential. He is also still very young to build around for this team. I'm much more frustrated with Danks than you are, but my frustration comes out of the same thing you say...that he still has a lot of untapped potential.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 07:51 PM) Why on earth send condolences for the death of a monster? How is that acceptable? Did prior US presidents send the Hitlers a vase of flowers with a card that said sorry for your loss? Because "Avoiding nuclear war" is also a useful priority.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 06:40 PM) Not a bad move if true. They'll just have to look at dealing something someone wants in order to get that other SP prospect or two that they will need. They already got that.

Dalembert to the Rockets

QUOTE (SouthSideTeacher @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 06:18 PM) nope. The post-injury noah from last year, absolutely. The pre-injury Noah, absolutely not. I just don't know which one we get.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 05:45 PM) Come on man, this is totally unacceptable. Send a one line "sorry your dad died" letter, not a "i wish you great success running that terrible country of yours! Keep killing all of your citizens! Keep attacking your neighbors! I understand, you're just trying to remind the world that you exist." Totally inexcusable. This is why we can't let Republicans run anything. There's a game to be played here whether it sounds good to you or not. Having an open channel to do things like "Prevent nuclear war" is a good thing, and there's no national pride lost in having that kind of statement come from Jimmy Carter, such that the Koreans know they have negotiation options rather than sending bombs out.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 21, 2011 -> 05:48 PM) I wonder if Doug Seyller hacked KW's phone and email. 2k5 is going to start posting a lot more tweets about "Art Direction and Elbow Macaroni Art Creations"