Balta1701

As of noon with about 12 hours left, 9 of the top 12 selections were unsigned.

Cliff Lee vs. David Price tonight.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 02:08 PM) So to push the bailout Who was President on October 3, 2008?

This is cool by Neyer...

Give you another example...Jenks struggling this season was something a lot of people could have foreseen coming in to the year. He struggled last year and he's been up and down for a good part of his career. Going into the season with Bobby Jenks as the lone closing option would have been very risky, and it would have proven to be a mistake. So...what did we do instead? We at least set up with backup options. If we had to go to closer by committee, we had a dominant lefty already out there, and we grabbed another righty with closing experience so that we have some extra options. It's possible that all of those options would fail (see; the last week) but we didn't go in with no backup plan. We had zero backup plans in the event that Mark Kotsay was not an adequate DH.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 01:53 PM) How does a toilet "stop working"? Open up the top, fix the chain, toilet fixed! If it's a deeper issue, the replacement parts can be picked up for like $9. Not when you're a renter and buying replacement parts and installing them is prohibited by your housing contract.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 01:48 PM) True, but implying that the rotating DH is the major reason for this team being in second place ignores the bigger (and more accurate) picture. It's not "The" major reason. It is definitely "A" major reason. I can give you a list of major reasons...Peavy getting hurt, Peavy sucking at the start of the year, Jenks imploding, Teahen getting hurt, Beckham sophomore slump, Quentin being down, Putz's last 3 games, Floyd's start to the year, AJ Pierzynski's bat, some of Ozzie's lineup decisions... However...big difference...for everything on that list, I can either say "that was unpredictable coming into the season" (Peavy hurting, Teahen hurting, AJ's bat) or "yeah that sucked but it's been balanced out by this" (i.e. Floyd's start balanced out by Floyd's recent dominance or AJ's bat balanced by his handling of the pitching staff) or "Yeah that sucked but you weren't going to do anything about it" (i.e. replacing Beckham and Quentin) Mark Kotsay getting 300 PA's as DH is a singular example here of something that was fully predictable coming in to the season, easily avoidable, and really not balanced out by anything. About the only positive you can say is that Konerko's had a great year and maybe the extra rest is a part of that...but the answer to that was not to keep Kotsay, it was to plan to move Teahen to 1b every now and then to spell him.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 01:32 PM) Absolutely dumbfounding. The Friday game of the Yankees series is Blackhawks night, with miniature Stanley Cup replicas as the giveaways. Another promotion that should be scheduled when the Royals/Orioles are in town, not when the guaranteed to sell out Yankees are in. Hell, against the Royals they could have sent Frank up for an at bat or two...

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 12:36 PM) Also interesting, I was shocked to see how high the %'s actually are - there are a number of states well over 10%, and quite a few more in the 5-10% range. Graphic. Don't forget that Hydropower by definition is grandfathered in as clean energy, and the U.S. spent an awful lot of money building hydroelectric dams back in the 20's and 30's when we actually invested in stuff.

QUOTE (Springfield SoxFan @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 07:54 AM) Is the deadline today (Monday) or was it last night at 11 CT? According to the ESPN's, everything needs to be done by 12 a.m. EST (Midnight tonight).

Players to hit 30 HR in each of their first 10 MLB Seasons. 1. Albert Pujols.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 01:25 PM) The truth is that we could've had Thome or Damon at DH and our record wouldn't be all that much different. Because this team's problems have extended FAR beyond the DH position. OTOH...we're 2 games out. Our record doesn't need to be all that much different for it to be a huge difference in the standings. Yes, this team has problems beyond the DH slot. Yes, Beckham and Quentin have had horrendous years, Pierre's been a step backwards in a number of ways, Teahen got hurt and was only bailed out by a 43 year old, AJ Pierzynski's been dreadful with the bats. None of that excuses making obvious mistakes with the roster coming into the season.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 12:06 PM) Here's the other thing I frankly don't f***ing get - Nieves last night was on the score saying "you NEED to give guys rest. They NEED the days off." Really? Don't the elite players just play 155-160 games every year? In the old days, didn't people just f***ing play every day? This whole "scheduled days off" thing that Ozzie started has really brainwashed people close to the Sox into thinking that these guys NEED the days off. Sure, it seems like it works sometimes....some days it really seems like it doesn't. A couple points. First...yeah, in the old days people went out and played every day. They also didn't spend the offseason working professional weight training regimens, they didn't spend an hour in the weight room on gameday followed by hours of hitting instruction or whatever it is those guys do prior to games, and they weren't being paid $15 million a season such that people are really angry with them and it's on video forever if they decide to pull a Game 5/6 Lebron show ona day when they are tired. Secondly...Sometimes it's also what your body is conditioned to do. JJ Putz hadn't thrown in 3 straight games since 2007, if I read things right this morning.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 11:47 AM) This past weekend against a DET team that is not in the race: 34834 36548 36287 Now averaging 26901. NYY for 3 and BOS for 4 will be big, MIN 3 series will be big. DET shows it should be pretty big from what we just saw, have 3 against them. KC not as much but its a weekend with fireworks, so that will be decent. The only series left that looks even remotely questionable are BAL for 3 mid-week, and the CLE series to end the year (but that could be big if the division goes to the wire). They need to average about Hey White Sox? You want to prove NSS right and me wrong? SWEEP THE DAMN TWINS! As nice as today's been going for me, I think getting proven wrong on this one would fit nicely on the list.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 11:48 AM) ^^^8/29 has been sold out for weeks. Why they scheduled Frank Thomas day when the Yankees were in town instead of the Royals I'll never know.

Jeremy Hellickson became the first modern-era pitcher (since 1920) to throw six innings and allow three hits or fewer in his first three starts.

Link.

The weird thing...since the AS break, we're in the middle of the pack in terms of ERA in the AL, and actually slightly better than we were in the first half so far, and we're 3rd in the AL in runs scored since the AS break when we were only #9 in the first half. We're actually playing slightly better right now than we played on the whole in the first half, based on those numbers. The problem is...the Twins have the #1 offense and the #2 ERA in the AL since the AS break.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Aug 16, 2010 -> 09:13 AM) If you want proof that this is all about election posturing? Look no further than Right Wing talker WABC, the flagship of Hannity, Imus, and Rush. Over the weekend, they decided to interview a dude from Hamas about his views on it. Not surprisingly, he supports it. Cover of today's New York Post? "HAMAS BIG BACKS MOSQUE" Again and again, a significant part of the Republican party drives to victory by exclusion, rather than inclusion. Moving to exclude gays from marriage, "Border Security" (which isn't really about all our borders, just our Mexican border), and now trying to prevent muslims from building a place to worship. And frankly I don't know what's worse. The fact that the second largest political party does this? Or the fact that it seems to work. Link

Toilet at home stopped working, wife is sick, and fell off bike on way to work today. Not an auspicious start to the week.

QUOTE (OilCan @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 10:32 PM) Question for our "prospect experts". Is Morel as equal as Robin Ventura defensively? Do you think Morel can become that well versed defensively? If Morel can hit for a high average and hit 10-15 HRs every year and play great defense at 3rd, that would be very, very good for the Pale Hose. Yeah, I gotta go with NSS on the defense...that's not a fair comparison for anyone. You don't ask if a prospect compares to Brooks Robinson at 3b or Ripken at SS, that's just not fair. I think the thing we have to be impressed with is how well he's handled the bat this year. For a guy his age to be such a tough out at every level in the minors suggests to me that his bat will probably translate to the big leagues. I really liked the level of power he showed when I saw him in AA; he needs to continue building up strength and a few more balls will fly out of parks if he does, but I think that will actually happen with time. The ball really flew off his bat.

QUOTE (OilCan @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 10:29 PM) I really think it's an organizational approach; from drafting to managing players. They do things that produce results. Now they haven't won a WS since 91 but they have been a thorn in our side for so long. I really wish the Sox can start taking a page or two out of the way Minnesota runs things and duplicate that on the South Side, just like how the Blackhawks have taken a page or two from the Red Wings. The Sox have been talking about taking things out of the way the Twins run things since at least 2005.

Udonis Haslem gets a felony Marijuana possession charge. It must take a crapload of pot to get a felony charge.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Aug 15, 2010 -> 07:47 PM) I thought about it while posting it, and was blinded by the fact that I really hate Morneau. Changed it to Liriano. Appreciated. Thank you.

Ok, I have a real problem with the Morneau taunting here.