MattZakrowski

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Aug 25, 2010 -> 06:07 PM) So yeah, like, who the hell is the NL MVP right now? As a voter, how in the world do you vote for Votto over Pujols or vice versa? Ryan Zimmerman leads NL batters in WAR, FWIW.

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Aug 26, 2010 -> 12:26 AM) I figured this shist team out. Just get drunk and barely watch. I feel fine right now -William Wrigley Jr., 1925

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 24, 2010 -> 06:12 PM) 1 of them is the other's grandmother, if that counts. Which one liked which?

I'll be there! Don't stop, get it get it!

Pablo Ozuna. Franchise tainted. I'll just throw away my Wheaties box now.

Overtime money is the best, but it depends on the job. I couldn't do it in retail, but I liked it as a desk jockey.

Punto's not bad at baseball, he's bad at hitting a baseball. His defensive value is pretty high.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Aug 22, 2010 -> 03:40 PM) If the Sox hold on to Vizquel (and barring retirement I don't see why they wouldn't)...Viciedo appears to be a legit 1b/DH option (platooning along with Teahen at worst). Konerko ought to be brought back and I think they'll figure out a way to work that out...I think the money is there now that we at least pulled back into the race legitimately...the problem is that we have so many bullpen spots to fill it's not even funny any more. That bullpen has utterly imploded. Vizquel is a ticking father time-bomb, and Viciedo's still not patient enough to avoid being exploited. I'm okay with Dayan at 1st if it means we can get a real impact RF or 3B (nobody in particular in mind).

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 22, 2010 -> 04:19 PM) That's why the fans here love Getz. It's not always about sabes numbers. He is a good guy to have on a team, folks. Like Mark Kotsay? I don't expect everyone to be into sabermetrics, but there's no set of criteria under which Getz is good.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 22, 2010 -> 03:59 PM) It is the right call, but players today can't bunt. So it's chicken and egg. You'd think a player would have some competitive fire and actually learn how to bunt. You have to make 3 straight bunts to get 'bunt fire', and then you have a better chance to beat it out at first, because of the unlimited turbo.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 22, 2010 -> 03:57 PM) 112 with the lower half of the order coming up. Let him throw to a guy or two then, we do a great job managing starters most of the time.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 22, 2010 -> 03:56 PM) If Ozzie pitches Danks another inning in this day of p**** pitch counts is that a fireable offense? Considering the extenuating circumstances, I could see letting him go to 120-125, but I'm not sure where he's at now.

Alexei is my most favoritest shortstop

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Aug 22, 2010 -> 03:45 PM) The letter "Z" in a last name is kinda bad ass. Agreed.

Can we even afford to not use Flowers at C? We have to fill 3B, RF (Q should DH), 1B, C, and a few bullpen slots, so we may need a minimum salary young player at a spot or two.

Ramirez is a pretty weak base stealer, so I'd leave him out too.

I like that you had a picture of Ozzie laughing ready to go in a minute. Great hustle.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Aug 20, 2010 -> 01:12 PM) Juan Pierre - 1.7 WAR Scott Podsednik - 0.9 WAR I wondered why people weren't still upset about not bringing Podsednik back. Not that I've suddenly become attached to Juan Pierre or anything, but he's been a pretty valuable member of the Sox this year. Pierre's defense has impressed me. He gets to a lot of stuff, and I don't feel quite so bad about having him next year anymore.

Bustey Olney: Heard this: Johnny Damon and Brandon Inge are currently passing through waivers. They were placed on waivers Thursday. http://twitter.com/Buster_ESPN/status/21680164352

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 19, 2010 -> 05:19 PM) Fixed it. Link is now working too. I wrote something about Ozzie on there today, if you are interested in reading. Nice read, and belated congrats on getting the Kotsay article on Fangraphs, BTW.

So wait, this guy used performance enhancing drugs while playing professional baseball? That's weird.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Aug 19, 2010 -> 08:34 AM) That's true but the player salaries don't rise as a percentage of revenue from the owners, they rise with ticket/merchandise prices, etc. Player salaries aren't driving up ticket/merch prices. Owners have the goal of making as much money as they can, and regardless of if the players make $50,000 or $5 million, they will charge as much for tickets/merch as people will pay.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 08:35 PM) I love football, and I am a huge Bears fan (although unfortunately I agree about the stupidity of fanbase factor, ugh) but the overcommercialization of the NFL is what really dulls it for me. The round-the-clock coverage of everything is nauseating, and the annual Favre soap opera and things like the verbal fellating of Tom Brady, so I tend to avoid it as much as I can. This has costs though because I find myself not knowing things I normally would when I watch postgame coverage, shows throughout the week, and so on. Basically everything I don't like about the NFL anymore revolves around the its relentless pursuit of revenue, and it just feels bogus as hell. The excessive commercials, the skyrocketing free agent deals, the ridiculous contracts given to rookies (costs which are passed down to the fans in various ways btw), needing DirecTV to get Sunday Ticket, the price of Sunday Ticket who only really care to watch one team, ticket costs going up every year for the same product, charging fans full price for pointless preseason games nobody gives a f*** about, exclusive licenses given to Reebok and EA Sports, I could go on. And a lot of people buy into this brand without questioning its value at all (and not really even being aware that they're doing it), so when you tell them something like this they look at you funny like "what's wrong with you, football is awesome!" I agree with a lot of what you said, but considerign the revenue they generate and the inherent danger of the profession, football players can't be paid enough IMO.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Aug 18, 2010 -> 08:05 PM) then how can you be so sure that giving up those outs didnt help the team? You would almost have to break them down game by game to see how many runs the Sox won by, how the situation played out, etc. before you can state "we are tied for first in outs given up and thats why ozzie sucks" and be right. Its ugly when it doesnt work, I know. But if it didnt help, then nobody would do it. And saying swing away for every out you have doesnt always work when your team has players like Konerko who can roll into a double play faster than a blink of an eye. Its frustrating to see every armchair manager point out every single thing and act like Ozzie is the only one that does it, because he doesnt. I don't need to know how every situation worked out because I know that sacrificing outs is unproductive. And for a team that's afraid of PK rolling into DPs, we set ourselves up for that exact outcome last night with the sac bunt in the 10th.

FWIW, this year our bullpen ranks 2nd and 1st in FIP and xFIP in the AL, so it's tough to be too hard on a group that has helped keep us in the race this season.