Balta1701

QUOTE (Elgin Slim @ Mar 28, 2011 -> 01:16 PM) But the question is: Will JR and KW have the patience to stick with the current team if they get out to a .500 start over the first two months and attendance stays similar to last year? I get the sense from upper management that if the team gets off to a slow or even .500 start AND fans aren't coming to the park in the way they had hoped, then by the ASB the dismantling of the 2011 Chicago White Sox will have already begun. A .500 start is still in the race. Last year they were well below .500.

Adding on...this year will be the first year Crean will have been coach where he will have a full complement of scholarships to work with, and it will also be effectively the first year where he will have any seniors at all. And we all know how useful seniors are just in helping build the program by teaching the youngsters. Furthermore, the Seniors this year will be guys that he recruited in his first year to fill the gaps. They were given chances to play a lot of minutes as Freshmen...but the recruiting classes for his first couple years were guys who signed on to IU with the understanding that they probably weren't going to even make the tournament in their first few years, if at all, which is not exactly a great way to recruit legit players.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 28, 2011 -> 12:38 PM) To me that's a stupid way of looking at it, especially when you talk about a 7 game series. A team that is supposedly the best and has the most potential crushes it during the regular season and then loses in the playoffs. Another team struggles in the regular season and then turns it on in the playoffs to win. On the one hand we say, oh well they were a fluke team that got hot, they were not the best. But on the other we somehow accept that the "best" team lost and still consider them the best? How does that work? The Best team in MLB in 2006 went 82-80 in the regular season.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 28, 2011 -> 10:08 AM) Big picture, the cheating that goes on in these things is massive. Test scores are a stupid way to rate children. Unfortunately with the continued federalization of education, this is the future. My guess is that this explicit problem isn't caused by scores being used to rate children here as much as the scores being used to rate the effectiveness of teachers and schools.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 28, 2011 -> 09:49 AM) I don't remember all of the Sampson history, but is this actually true? I thought the sanctions were a loss of a couple of scholarships (not all) and prohibiting certain recruiting actions. I thought Crean still had a number of guys on scholarship who, his fault or not, left the program. IMO Indiana wasn't in the dire straights people are convincing themselves of. I mean, I have no problem being more patient with Crean because of the uphill battle he had to fight, but it's the complete lack of improvement after year 3 that would really anger me. Crean removed the remaining dregs of Sampson's year by dumping a total of 5 guys...several of whom were reportedly on various mind-altering substances at the time. At least one other had academic and "other" eligibility issues. He started off with 1 sophomore, 1 senior, and a walkon. None of whom were starters under Sampson. The school also accepted a punishment of a loss of scholarship and other recruiting restrictions, to go along with a 3 year "Probation" period, which naturally would make rebuilding even tougher.

"Things that belong in multiple threads". USA Today has taken an in-depth look at one of the schools in Washignton DC that has been held up as a model for national test-based education reform.

QUOTE (since56 @ Mar 27, 2011 -> 05:24 PM) maybe there should not be so many maybe's with a $125 million payroll. Please go look at the rosters for the Mets and Cubs, this year and last year, and note that their opening day payrolls were $132 and $140 million, respectively.

5 K's for M-56.

A state-level German Election dealt Chancellor Merkel's party a fairly large defeat, basically over the issue of nuclear power. Of course, I'm posting this link not to make a political point, but entirely so I can post this image.

2 RBI 2b for one "Brent Morel".

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 27, 2011 -> 04:19 PM) Fair points on the offense. Do you disagree though that the idea of the Sox being World Series contenders is predicated On Peavy returning not just healthy, but being that top-of-the-rotation guy he was acquired for? If everything goes wrong, then the Sox are not a world series contender, but you can say that with every team, including Boston. For us, that means that none of Peavy, Floyd, Danks, and Jackson pitch like a #1 pitcher. All of them are gambles, but if you came back at the end of the year and told me they finished 1,2, 4, and 5 in the Cy Young voting, I'd be surprised, but not totally stunned. They all have it in them. That also means that guys like Beckham and Quentin continued disappointing, and that no one stepped up in the bullpen.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Mar 27, 2011 -> 04:10 PM) Do you know where I can listen online? 670AM is playing some college basketball updates for me... hummmm Gameday Audio through Whitesox.com is running.

QUOTE (jhonnydanks @ Mar 27, 2011 -> 02:30 PM) bobby's in mid-season form.... http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=310326102 Jenks looked enormous.

Hell of a difference between Halves.

article version

I can't even come up with a witty, sarcastic remark on this one, from Nebraska.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 27, 2011 -> 03:19 PM) According to Gonzales, Marquez's locker is cleaned out. Looks like the Sox will go with 11 pitchers to start, unless they pick up another. I hear Carlos Silva is available. Maybe Coop can fix him?

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Mar 27, 2011 -> 03:08 PM) a pinch-hitter for Morel would be more valuable than Lillibridge or a seventh reliever. Flowers would be the best option. He could also get some AB's as the backup C. Bringing Flowers with based on his good ST would be crazy. If there's ever a guy who could benefit from playing every day...it's him, if his swing is back on track.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 27, 2011 -> 02:22 PM) Dengs defense has never really been a question. He's always been pretty solid one on one. For the last 4 minutes, he went from pretty solid to "I don't care who you are, you're not scoring."

This ought to win a person coach of the year. Also

So yeah, who saw this coming?

QUOTE (The Gooch @ Mar 27, 2011 -> 02:59 PM) I don't think anyone will get overworked because of the first two weeks. Especially if we use our off days to keep Humber in the bullpen for long relief. The relievers typically take the same roles in the bullpen at the beginning of the season and don't move around much. As long as we don't get blown out a lot they should be ok. If we stayed with 6 in the pen past April though, that could be a problem. I strongly object to the concept of using Mr. "Offday" as the 5th starter.

Brandon McCarthy named the A's #4 starter.

QUOTE (flavum @ Mar 27, 2011 -> 10:43 AM) Brewers took Nyjer Morgan for Cutter Dykstra. Ensconces Rick Ankiel as the Nats likely starting CF.

Basically...extended tryout for the 2 of them.