Balta1701

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ May 17, 2010 -> 08:41 AM) Is Marquez finally "figuring it out?" IMO, you can't count last year and maybe even the first couple starts this year against him. Dude was pitching with bone spurs in his elbow. Santana couldn't pull that off last year, and we expect Marquez to?

QUOTE (hogan873 @ May 17, 2010 -> 08:16 AM) Rios and Peavy aren't going anywhere, IMO. Which is fine. If the Sox are actually going to unload and try to rebuild for next year, I'm fine with trading AJ, Konerko, Jones, and even Floyd. I'm not sure what kind of return they could get for those guys, but I'm sure we will find out about a few of them soon. The deal I keep coming back to is Casey Blake for a scrub at AAA and a lower level prospect who is not the #1 prospect in their org. If you're trying to do a firesale and you target guys at the upper levels, you're not going to get much back unless you're selling gold (i.e. an Alex Rios). If you target upper level guys, what you're more likely to get is reclamation projects. We've actually had some success with doing exactly this. Gavin Floyd is the prime example. But on the other hand, you also get a Brent Lillibridge for every Gavin Floyd. There's one other way to do it, and that's to do what the Indians did in the Blake deal, or what the Dodgers did when they stole Ethier from the A's, etc., and that's target lower level guys who your scouts like but who have a long way to go and may also be blocked by another player. You do that, and maybe 2-3 years later, a couple of those guys have washed out, but a couple others have developed into studs.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 17, 2010 -> 08:28 AM) I don't think AJ will bring the Sox much other than cash savings, but I could be wrong. Maybe you can get one of the Rangers young catchers that they haven't been able to develop, not sure. But I think now would be a good time to move AJ and consider letting Flowers try it up here. Probably a bit too soon as Flowers still has adjustments to make, but it is what it is. Ideally, Flowers can get another 3 weeks in the minors. The deadline to trade AJ is June 13th. He becomes a 10/5 player after that, and he's indicated he would be unwilling to be moved if he had the right to veto.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 17, 2010 -> 08:26 AM) The stuff is there, the defense behind him hasn't been great and he's given up a lot of cheap hits. I'm not concerned about Gavin. Clearly his production has been disappointing, but he's the least of my worries. I said as much last season too. One thing that was particularly noticeable yesterday (which I also noted in my Soxnet.net writeup which I think everyone should visit) is that Gavin had his good curve ball working for a couple innings, he was throwing it for strikes early, but once he got a person on and had to throw from the stretch, he lost some of the snap on it, some of the control on it, and started elevating it.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ May 16, 2010 -> 07:46 PM) Also, the only time it took extra time to load was the first time it loaded. It seems like it loads with the page now? I actually linked through to the Sun-Times widget... but it seems like either they don't use it anymore on their site (that I could find) and/or it acutally links all the way through to something else (a feed of some sort, I forget the link and I'm too lazy to look it up). The rest of the page still loads about 1/2 a second faster than the widget for me.

Yay! I get to do a CK style acronym post! The LIBOR is starting to spike again.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ May 16, 2010 -> 07:44 PM) Other thoughts? I can do that, but it might be a couple of days because I need to remember which wrap is just the home page. If you're going to have it, I'd say keep it on all pages. You kinda want it open if you're hanging out in the game thread.

QUOTE (Springfield SoxFan @ May 16, 2010 -> 06:11 PM) Hawks always says that Charlotte is a hitters park, does that make Viciedo's numbers inflated? Viciedo needs to hit in a hitters park. He needs to learn to be rewarded for hitting the ball hard and focus on developing that power.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 16, 2010 -> 07:13 PM) What about him? HE's had some terrible seasons where he couldn't square a ball up. The difference withPK14 is that both of those seasons were injury-related.

QUOTE (WilliamTell @ May 16, 2010 -> 06:11 PM) Me too, but more so just to get the Suns in the finals. You can't enjoy watching basketball and not want to see the Suns in the final, unless you're an outright lakers fan.

Man oh man, 60 minutes just absolutely ripped apart BP and Transocean. The blowout preventer has a large rubber gasket that is a key part of it. a month before the explosion, there was an accident that damaged the gasket. One of their workers reported rubber shards coming back up in the drilling mud. Those shards were ignored. One of the control boxes on the blowout preventer was having issues the whole month, that should have had the company shut down drilling and repair it. They chose not to. Safety doors on the rig that were supposed to contain explosions were ripped off their hinges by explosions. The day of the explosion, BP decided to cut corners and pull back on the drilling mud pressure in the well to make it faster and more cost-effective to access the oil. They had on a whistleblower discussing a different BP platform in the gulf, and he was reporting, based on documentation, that 95% of the plans for that rig were inappropriately handled and he was fired for trying to make an issue of it. If a company is cutting corners and covering it up and it is standard operating procedure...then, yeah.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ May 16, 2010 -> 05:57 PM) Always the optimist. I like to think we'll hit the jackpot one of these days. You know those people who win the lottery and then a year later they're broke? Or they win the lottery and realize they're the Clippers? That's how Beckham has me feeling right now.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ May 16, 2010 -> 05:55 PM) I don't see this team every really picking it up to the point where we'd get out of the top ten in a pretty deep draft. Great. So we can draft another top prospect who rips apart the league and then falls apart in his 2nd season. (I don't necessarily believe that, I'm just furious with 15 right now).

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ May 16, 2010 -> 05:50 PM) Deregulation doesn't mean the removal of ALL regulations. You can't accurately tell if the ones in place work because they are not properly enforcing them. Enforce the ones you have first, THEN you can assess if you need more. But you can't just say the current rules don't work because we aren't enforcing them. In either case...BP and the people supporting offshore drilling (which, as the President said, is now perfectly safe) have no interest in regulation. They have no interest in meeting the required environmental statements right now, they have no interest in new regulations like the up-to-date blowout preventers that the rest of the world uses which the 2001 energy task force decided were unnecessary. Either one could have done it. Both would have been better. If you proposed new regulations, BP would have lobbied against them. If you tried to enforce the current regulations, BP would lobby against it. We're seeing EXACTLY that as the labor department tries to enforce rules that are already on the books about workplace safety and the Chamber of Commerce is furious and loading up to elect Republicans so that doesn't happen.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 16, 2010 -> 05:23 PM) With so much uncertainty now about Quentin and Beckham, not to mention Alexei Ramirez....I dig my heels in, make a line in the sand and start building around Alex Rios. You would go the Indians' route and gamble you could strike gold with an acquisition where you get 2-3 players back like Sizemore, Phillips and Cliff Lee. If KW could get anything approximating that type of youthful talent infusion, trade Rios, by all means. But teams are wary of parting with young talent. The Yankees might already be regretting the Austin Jackson/Granderson deal. They would be, certainly, if they had to worry a scintilla about their payrolls going forward. It's like "play money" for them. IMO, you target a legitimate #1 prospect and a couple lower level pieces if you're trading Rios...but you certainly make the effort. If you're selling off Konerko, Pierzynski, Jones, and trying to extract some salary savings from Jenks and Linebrink, then you're going to need a whole lot of replacement players next year. Having both money and a near MLB ready player from some other team can help with 2 of those spots. If you don't at least try to deal Rios, you're only doing it 1/2-assed.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 16, 2010 -> 05:26 PM) It's crazy, but I feel like I never see Dwight Howard play well on the offensive end. I don't think it's crazy at all. He has some of that same streak as Lebron in him...where he's really good at what he does, but he is no where near as good as he could be if he committed himself to adding a few more techniques in that low post. I wonder if that isn't part of this generation of free agency/coddling of stars so that they don't walk.

This is much more entertaining than the Sox game and I don't even know 1/2 the rules.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ May 16, 2010 -> 05:26 PM) We're in a position for a top 3 pick next year, right? That's pretty damn exciting in an Anthony Rendon/pitcher led draft. What are the odds that holds up and actually works out though? We were in position for a top 3 pick most of 2007, then we got hot and got stuck with this scrub hitting .190 at 2b.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 16, 2010 -> 05:19 PM) But you have to trade AJ and open up the position, and roll the dice. Trading Flowers for A-Gone or whatever, that's an option no longer on the table. You might completely "bust" him as a prospect, but I don't think so. If calling up a legitimate prospect with a .900+ OPS in AAA causes him to bust, then you have some serious problems developing people at the big league level.

Boston is laughing at that Orlando winning streak.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 16, 2010 -> 05:16 PM) I agree, he needs to get familiar with the speed of MLB games. I'll be honest, with the Sox showing absolutely no signs of breaking out of this season long funk, I hope we continue to lose games in the standings to force some changes. Honestly, having AJ become a 10/5 player in Mid June might actually be a blessing...it forces KW to make his first decision on a player within just under a month from now. He can't hold out until July on AJ.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 16, 2010 -> 05:15 PM) It won't matter anyway, unless there's an injury to Jones/Rios/Pierre. No way Danks comes up to sit on the bench, and Ozzie's never going to take Juan Pierre out of the line-up. Rios is ensconced in CF for now, and Danks doesn't bring very much value to the big league roster at the corner OF spots. Theoretically, you could move Rios back to RF and play Danks in CF, but that's close to crazy talk with how well Alex has played, you don't mess with that and take Rios out of CF, you'd play Danks in LF or RF. Maybe if the only option was Vizquel/Teahen or Danks as your DH, then I'd argue you have to try to see if Danks can come up and catch fire. To me, Danks equals a more gifted and potentially talented Brian Anderson, but still more of a 4th OF unless he figures out the offensive side of the game. Of course...there's 1 other option you haven't given...if he keeps hitting, I still think Rios is your best possible trade bait. You save $12 million, and he's the kind of guy that you'd legitimately hold out for a top, A-level prospect in exchange for.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 16, 2010 -> 05:13 PM) More homers and more walks is the difference right now. Flowers needs to make more contact. Hitting in AAA though isn't going to teach him to make more contact. Especially not in Charlotte, where HR's are so easy to come by.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ May 16, 2010 -> 05:11 PM) Would Teahen have made that many defensive mistakes had Vizquel been playing 3b? Great example. Last night, 9th inning, ground ball went past Teahen that Vizquel might have fielded. Put a hitter on in the 9th inning. Because of that, Thornton had an extra batter to pitch to. While pitching to that batter...Thornton felt some tightness/weakness in his elbow that he started shaking off.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ May 16, 2010 -> 05:09 PM) [/b]Wow, it's great to be condescended to when I'm trying to have a decent baseball discussion. God knows the notion that Flowers should get some play behind the plate and DH is completly illogical and not worth discussing. My bad, perish the thought. Flowers isn't going to get any playing time unless AJ is moved. He just won't. Ozzie isn't benching a struggling veteran for a kid. Neither would most any other manager. And AJ would probably hate having his replacement up next to him. That would be terrible for the kid too.