Balta1701

Long McGrady article filled with lots of post-workout quotes. They haven't talked contract yet, supposedly. I'm a bit uncomfortable by McGrady saying he doesn't think he'd need to come off the bench...but, if he's legitimately feeling good, some of that could be deserved cockiness. If he thinks he can start, play 30 minutes a game in Thibs's defense (which he knows well from those rock solid Houston defenses) and score 20-25 points...then he won't want to come off the bench and do that....but even he seems to also suggest that he has to prove it first. I still don't think i see a downside to signing him, even for everything remaining of the Bulls's under the cap dollars, if that's what it takes. Worst case scenario he's cuttable or an expiring deal, and even if there's only a 1% shot at him returning close to his form of 2-3 years ago or even if he can only give you that for 40 games...that's the kind of gamble you need to win to beat a team like the Heat.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 26, 2010 -> 04:51 PM) Their combined 0-7 really had a big impact. Kotsay took a walk in that series, what more can you possibly want from him!

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 26, 2010 -> 04:56 PM) Really depends on the money involved on it. You probably could have offered him $6 million this year and attached a $10 million team option and he might have gone for that...but there was a reason why a guy like him would take a 1 year deal. He was fully expecting to come in, pitch his ass off, and have teams with bullpen weaknesses drooling over him in the offseason.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 26, 2010 -> 04:52 PM) Makes me wish we could have put an option in that contract. I doubt he would have signed with us if we did. His goal was to obvious...some money, contending team, iffy closer, gives him the spot to come in, start off setting up, prove he's healthy, steal the closer's role, and parlay that into the deal he would have gotten had it not been for the injury. If nothing else, hopefully he's pitched himself at least to the point where we get a pick for him.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 26, 2010 -> 04:32 PM) Woohoo! Kostay/AJ combo hitting 6th and 7th once again. It worked against Felix last week.

Nice to see that we're still rotating that DH and using it to get guys extra rest.

Outduel him D1.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 26, 2010 -> 04:38 PM) If the Sox win it all with Putz closing, I think that actually diminishes the odds of him coming back. He will be viewed as an elite closer again (for better or worse) and he could ultimately get a monstrous contract, perhaps even 3 years worth. I love Putz and what he's done, but I don't want to think of him in 3 years. Someone's going to fire 3/$30 off on Putz this offseason unless he gets hurt or falls apart.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 26, 2010 -> 04:36 PM) And there are only like 3 of the past 10 games that another bat would have helped, and in 2 of those, the Sox had the lead in the bottom half of the final inning. Which to me suggests...we should have traded Jenks in late June. That's the best possible change we could have made at that time.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 26, 2010 -> 04:26 PM) He didn't have to go that far back but earlier in July could have been helpful. It was obvious we couldn't keep up that pace of winning and needed help on offense. 3 months of Dunn (or whoever) is much more preferable than 2. Considering we tore it up basically to the AS break...the only games he'd have mattered in would have been that last road trip.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 26, 2010 -> 04:22 PM) I don't know why he saw the need to change his approach. His approach was perfectly fine before. He could probably put up Mike Napoli-like numbers minus the huge power. He still has good power, just not .500 SLG type of pop. If he could put together a 25% decrease in his strikeouts, without sacrificing much power, that'd be an enormous improvement in his overall numbers. There was plenty of reason to change his approach

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 26, 2010 -> 03:46 PM) You take that money you were going to give to Jenks and you give it to Putz. I don't think that'll be enough to keep Putz.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 26, 2010 -> 04:17 PM) It's too bad Kenny couldn't have pulled off a trade sooner like he typically does. Would have been nice to be up by a few games by the 31st instead of struggling to hang onto our lead. If Kenny had pulled off a trade in early June...he'd have been dumping Pierzynski.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jul 26, 2010 -> 03:08 PM) I would think Dan Hudson would be just as valuable as Edwin Jackson, so if they want just Jackson for Dunn, then why can't we just trade them Hudson + Torres or some other mid-level prospect? Probably because the White Sox realize they're 100% screwed this season if they have to trade Hudson, so they're trying to find a way to do the deal without moving Beckham or Hudson.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jul 26, 2010 -> 03:04 PM) Not sure why the Nationals would trade Dunn straight up for Jackson IMO. Because Jackson is cheaper than Dunn this year and is also signed for next year.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jul 26, 2010 -> 02:29 PM) That was real interesting. You could tell Hahn was thinking, "WTF is Kenny thinking?" I kinda agree with Rick on this because I think it is near impossible to make a two-way player a Major Leaguer. There is no way a MLB player could be that good at both. If there were, it would have happened by now. But by allowing a player to split time between being a position player and pitcher is doing a disservice to that player and stunting his growth on both. In the pros, you pick the one you will be best at and stick it there. If that doesn't work, then try to Santos route, but it's just unrealistic to attempt to be a two-way player. Maybe it doesn't happen because teams don't have the cojones to try something new?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 26, 2010 -> 02:21 PM) When I think of Beane I think of him signing reclamation projects and 1 year deals with bigtime players like Holliday, or developing pitching to flip them for more prospects so he can repeat the cycle. I cant think of him really dealing prospects a lot. He traded closer Huston Street and Carlos Gonzalez (who was, at the time, a 22 year old prospect who had 300 major league at bats) for Holliday.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 26, 2010 -> 02:18 PM) I can't really blame them for that. They have no idea where things will end up. I wasn't trying to blame them, I was trying to suggest it's a logical consequence of the bill hanging out there for a year and then falling apart. Did that not come through correctly? That's entirely the right move on their part.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 26, 2010 -> 02:12 PM) Beane normally hordes prospects, not trades them Really? I feel like Beane has done plenty of trading of prospects...but he mainly does that when he thinks he has a shot at a playoff run.

One economic issue here worth pointing out now that the bill has died and the EPA will wind up issuing rules...the death of the bill is itself an economic drag, because the utility and energy companies aren't stupid. Most of them know that a CO2 rule is eventually going to come, but they are loathe to invest until they have some idea of what the basic outline of the rules are, so they're sitting on cash that could be invested right now.

QUOTE (WhiteSoxfan1986 @ Jul 26, 2010 -> 01:50 PM) Josh Bell is a legit prospect. Baltimore did well in that deal. I can easily see a team willing to take Jenks, although we shouldn't expect much in return. Although who knows, we gave up Allen for Tony Pena last year. There's a hell of a big difference between saying Baltimore did well in that deal and saying that the pieces Baltimore got could form the basis of a deal for Fielder.

There are 3 candidates for the Republican side running for Governor in TN. In the past week, one has hit the Rick Perry secession note (and then backed off after called on it). Another today called Islam a cult.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jul 26, 2010 -> 12:34 PM) Seems odd, when I've watched Hudson this year, both times he seemed to START the game with good slider and angled tilt on the FB... but as the game goes on, they both flatten out. Just my perception though, maybe I'm wrong. I really think AJ didn't want to call for the slider yesterday, especially if anyone was on base, because he didn't think he could block it.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jul 26, 2010 -> 01:44 PM) The Upper Deck is just fine to watch a game, not sure why some people have a problem with it. The only downside to it is that unless you have season tickets you don't have access to the lower concourse and what not. It's so steep/far away that my dad doesn't like sitting there; it hits the whole "Fear of heights" community.