NorthSideSox72

I honestly don't know why I said trailer - other than maybe I couldn't believe a little .22 could actually pierce the full outside wall of a real house and still kill someone. Must be some really thin walls.

QUOTE(Princess Dye @ Mar 26, 2008 -> 10:23 AM) When you say Owens can't play CF, you're talking mainly about his arm? Coco Crisp has a weak arm and his team wasnt totally killed by that. Again when you talk about leadoff hitters, imagine Owens...even with a .340 OBP. Yet, he's standing on second a lot of the time for our big bashers. Owens' fielding problems cant be considered so serious that we totally take away that potential leadoff guy. I mean, do we really want another year of having the sluggers up there with no one to drive in? I wouldn't be too concerned with some of the Owens bashing about his defense. His arm is weak, no doubt there, but some people take that and apply it to the rest of his defensive game. In reality, looking at last season, Owens became a pretty good defender out there. The arm is an issue of course, but even with a weak arm, he's a middle-of-the-road MLB defensive centerfielder. His FPct was .991 (would have been 9th of 20 qualifiying CFs), Zone Rating of .896 (7th of 20) and RF 2.65 (10th of 20) - all in his rookie year. Not nearly as good as Anderson is, or Rowand was, but serviceable. The main problems with Owens are health and OBP. If he can stay healthy and actually put up an OBP over .350 - which I think is very possible - then he's not a bad guy to have out there. But he needs to answer those questions.

QUOTE(BaseballNick @ Mar 26, 2008 -> 10:00 AM) The pessimism on this board is getting laughable. Seriously. Not that there aren't problems, but, the way some people post, you'd think the 2008 Sox were a wreck. The lineup is far better, the bullpen is far better, the bench overall (except Hall) will be better, and the team has a depth of young talent it didn't have before. That is balanced against a starting rotation that might have gotten worse, though we don't know that yet... and some concerns over guys like Fields and Quentin having their development slowed a bit. Overall, this is a much improved team.

I guess I'm the only one who thinks it was a pretty good offseason, when you look at the end result. The 3/31 roster will be a huge improvement over last year's team. That's what I wanted, that's what we got. Sure, it would have been better to trade Crede for a good prospect - but that is beyond the team's control. Uribe at 2B is less than ideal, but, Richar and Ramirez are right behind him if he fails. And the OF is pretty well loaded with talent now, though one hopes that Quentin and Anderson can play well enough to keep Owens in a backup role of some sort. My only major concerns are Contreras, Danks and Floyd in that order of concern, and having Toby Hall as the backup C. The other stuff - who starts at 2B, how CF will shake out, who they choose for the 7th bullpen spot - are relatively minor concerns.

Carrying 7 relievers (instead of 6), the need for a true "long reliever" is lessened. Someone like Masset has less value to the team than he would if they had a 6 man pen.

QUOTE(scenario @ Mar 25, 2008 -> 07:36 PM) Masset gets the start on Wednesday... With Wasserman following him. No pressure for those guys. whitesox.com reporting that Floyd is starting today.

QUOTE(YASNY @ Mar 26, 2008 -> 08:50 AM) The more they do, the worse it is. Maybe. But there are some really important things that need to be done, and soon. Particularly on energy policy.

Its interesting to read the Trib's take on the recent roster moves. The way they describe it, Ramirez is going to be a utility guy, so Anderson will be the starter in CF. Quentin will be the other OF. Also, regarding the Toby Hall issue... the meetings apparently resulted in the team deciding that he is indeed healthy enough to play, so he's got that roster spot. Phillips was sent to minor league camp. And so there is really now just one roster spot left open - the last bullpen spot. Will they take Wassermann, who has been more effective in 2007 and this spring but has options remaining, or Masset, who is probably better equipped for long outings and is out of options but who sucked in 2007 and this spring? I'm pretty happy about Anderson and Quentin being on the team, and that Ramirez is looked at as a utility guy. And with Richar injured, I think Uribe actually makes the most sense at 2B. Too bad they couldn't move Crede, but, Fields could benefit from some AAA time anyway. So overall, when you look at the Opening Day roster, I think that the decisions made worked out pretty well.

QUOTE(southsider2k5 @ Mar 26, 2008 -> 08:14 AM) It sure makes him the most qualified to talk about the troops and how they should be handled, which is one of the MAJOR issues in the war. It will be an odd election in the sense that none of the candidates has any executive experience, so it will be interesting to see which of them is perceived to be better in budgetary matters because there isn't a one of them who has done it before. On the other hand, since they are all Senators, maybe the wheels will get greased and Congress and the President will get more done together.

I can't say I've seen anyone in here defend McCain by throwing the "He's a vet" card. People out there somewhere may be doing it, but, I don't see it as a pattern of any kind. At least not yet. And in any case, the fact that he is a decorated vet and a POW, I think does have some value for a President.

QUOTE(DrunkBomber @ Mar 25, 2008 -> 08:44 PM) I can draw enough conclusions from that idiots whole life in a minute of those clips. Are you trying to say those clips were taken out of context? Did big bad Fox news edit them to make them sound worse? Or did even Obama himself acknowledge that Wright is racist and try to separate himself from his views? And there it is - the death of common sense on this topic.

Per whitesox.com, Uribe is officially the starting 2B for 2008. Ozzie did make some caveats, and it sounds like if Uribe goes into a deep funk, they'll be quick to play a lot more Alexei or Pablo.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 25, 2008 -> 08:32 PM) That's because his post is a month old. So it is. Weird. That was the post my update pointed to. Oh well.

Not sure if these were mentioned in here yet, but, some official releases... Owens is going to the 15-Day DL. Fields is going to AAA. They were both rumored, but are now both fact. So that leaves the team now with decisions on... the last bullpen spot (Masset, Wassermann, Carrasco)... backup C (Hall, Lucy, Phillips)... 2B (Uribe, Ramirez, Ozuna) and the last two bench spots (Uribe, Ramirez, Ozuna, Quentin, Anderson). And with Owens on the DL, I think that means Quentin and Anderson are BOTH ON THE TEAM FOR OPENING DAY.

Alright, fine. We're done.

QUOTE(knightni @ Feb 8, 2008 -> 03:39 PM) Converting land for biofuel worsens global warming Bad link.

QUOTE(KipWellsFan @ Mar 25, 2008 -> 05:35 PM) While I don't rule out for a second Obama winning this thing on his own, Reid might be talking about a superdelegate convention. Where the superdelegates vote before the convention, so the winner is known in advance. That would seem like a good idea.

QUOTE(CanOfCorn @ Mar 25, 2008 -> 05:22 PM) Crede is a showcase and even if they don't or can't trade him...after this year, he gawn. You think a player can't deal with that? The Sox are NOT re-signing Crede, so if I'm Kenny, I tell Fields, "Look, we want you here, and you will be here. It may be sooner, or it may be Opening Day '09, but you will be here. So go to Charlotte, work on cutting down strikeouts, work on the routine plays and we will get you here as soon as we can." As for Quentin...he needs to gain strength in that shoulder. And Richar needs to work on strengthening his back and get back on the Sox brass good side. I can see the Sox next year as Ramirez at SS, Richar at 2B, Fields at 3B, Swisher, Owens/Anderson/Quentin, Dye in the OF. I think your analysis of the Crede situation is dead-on. Since Crede's trade value was near zero, that's what they have to do.

Apparently, he had trouble getting a hole into the wall of his trailer. So he decided to start firing bullets into it. Wow.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Mar 25, 2008 -> 04:01 PM) Not sure of what to make of this vague conversation involving Harry Reid: Well now that is very, very interesting.

QUOTE(The Ginger Kid @ Mar 25, 2008 -> 05:16 PM) i pray that we never see uribe and ramirez playing the infield together. they're awful at the same time. Uribe is not anything like awful - he's not as good as he was, but he's still pretty darn good. Ramirez is raw though, I'll give you that.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Mar 25, 2008 -> 05:13 PM) I was honestly so excited to see Fields-Quentin-Richar start this year and now it's likely that none of them will. I just don't get this organization at times. I am disappointed too, although with Quentin and Richar, it would seem to be a health issue. Richar at least, anyway. But Quentin was one I was really looking forward to, along with Ramirez.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Mar 25, 2008 -> 03:04 PM) e-yuck, I just saw some pictures of Obama in a Sox hat. yuck? Dude - first White Sox fan in the White House! How can you not like that?!?!

QUOTE(BearSox @ Mar 25, 2008 -> 03:07 PM) I heard recently that Obama's poll ratings have recovered since this story broke, and are now actually higher then ever... any truth to this? I think someone posted that recently, maybe even me, I don't recall. But yes, his numbers recovered on a national basis, it would seem.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Mar 25, 2008 -> 03:04 PM) You can close this thread now... it looks like my one main campaign to prove the main steam media is completely biased has failed. I must have missed when you made that case. Seriously, you can make some strong arguments for that, if you want to. But this particular item is just so frail that its laughable. Start a thread and make a strong case if you'd like - I'm sure it will prompt some good discussion. But try using some believable evidence.