NorthSideSox72

QUOTE(Texsox @ Sep 6, 2007 -> 01:52 PM) So if they obtained a SS number they should be deported, and if they are working off the books, they should be deported *and* the company put out of business. So basically we should deport them all and bring in new. How do we afford that? You seem to believe that because someone "has" a social security number, that they are paying all their taxes. No way that is always the case.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Sep 6, 2007 -> 10:13 AM) Oneli is already on the 40. Then I have no idea why he isn't with the club. Do you? I still think they could have found room for Bourgeois too.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Sep 6, 2007 -> 09:54 AM) Have we figured out why the hell the Sox haven't called up Jason Bourgeois yet? I mean, I know we'd have to clear a player off the 40 man like the all-important Heath Phillips or -- even better -- Paulino Reynoso (who, for some reason, gets protected year after year after year for no apparent reason -- good thing we protected him instead of Fabio Castro!). It would be so like the Sox to go old, expensive and crappy on the bench with Ozuna and Cintron instead of going with the two (clearly) better, cheaper and younger options in Gonzalez and Bourgeois. Also -- why aren't we seeing Oneli Perez? One would have to figure that now is the perfect time to break Oneli into the bigs. As of right now, I'd say there are three spots locked up (Jenks, Logan, Wassermann) with two more 'probable' locks (MacDougal and Thorton). Shouldn't September be an extended tryout for guys like Aardsma, Perez and Vasquez? Oh right, Broadway and Heath f***ing Phillips... I tend to agree on Reynoso. He just gets worse each year - seems like a waste of space on the 40-man. Put him through the wire, and add Bourgeois or O Perez, at this point. But I have said before, I think its obvious why Broadway and Phillips are here - they are getting shown off for use as trade bait. Some of the Sox' pitching prospects are good enough to not need that to be valuable - those two are marginal in value, but if they did OK in a few outings in the bigs, they may have some trade value. Guys like Egbert and Gio have value without it, and Haeger and Masset have already been up and pitched. And I wouldn't call Ozuna crappy, for a bench player.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Sep 6, 2007 -> 09:56 AM) Just thought I would throw this blurb in here about our top "reach" draft pick last year. Aaron Poreda, LHP, Chicago White Sox (No. 25) Aaron Poreda tagged his contract offer presented by the White Sox on June 16, and he has been untouchable ever since. A 6-foot-6, 240-pounder who pitches as big as his size, Poreda has posted an equally imposing 48:10 K to BB rate in his 46.1 frames of work. The University of San Francisco product features a blazing arsenal, which has yielded a 0.85 WHIP and .181 BAA. Pair those results with a stunning 68% groundball rate and Aaron Poreda has been just about as dominant a prospect as the 2007 class has produced to date. Add Gallagher and Miranda to the 2007 draft picks who made very good showings this year too. Seems like we maybe got a few winners this time around.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Sep 6, 2007 -> 09:25 AM) Good stuff between Ron Paul and Huckabee. http://weblogs.chicagotribune.com/news/pol...uckab.html#more That was a great little debate there. Good to see some real debate on the matter. I cannot remember the last time the Republican party actually, publically, discussed an issue. Makes me like Ron Paul that much more - he actually sees the difference between the current wave of neo-cons (the morality control squad, looking to set the world "right", laws and lives be damned) and the more traditional conservatives (war to defend and not to conquer, foreign policy to protect the nation's interests).

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Sep 6, 2007 -> 09:05 AM) The only thing wrong with what happened is that the Senator didn't get charged with the correct, more serious charge that he should have been charged with - and that was probably because of his influence as a Senator. Or, they offer lesser charges on these cases in order to not flood the court system with the cases. There is also prosecutorial risk in cases like these for the very reasons brought up here - strong arguments might be made that the charges are not valid if no solicitation occurs. Both are common reasons for plea agreements, regardless of who Craig is.

Well, Fred has made it official. Not that anyone doubted it to begin with. Typical Hollywood liberal, trying to make a dramatic scene of it. Oh wait...

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Sep 6, 2007 -> 08:29 AM) The picture is linked in this thread. Pretty simple, actually. That isn't proof of anything, other than the fact that Brownback is a marginal candidate. Do they really have to print a picture of a Mike Gravel crowd every time they print one of Brownback? I'd say you need a tinfoil hat, but it appears you already have one.

Since there is no Sox Loser thread, I'll put this here... In Gavin's Floyd's starts in August/September, take a look at his numbers: 8/05: 6 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6K 8/11: 4 IP, 7 H, 7 ER, 1 BB, 2 K 8/28: 6 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K 9/05: 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K That's 3 good starts in 4. And even with the lousy one, that is a 4.50 ERA. Now, before people go off onto one ledge or the other, I am not saying he looks great. He doesn't. He still loses velocity and control in the stretch, still can't hold runners on, and still sails pitches on occasion. But... considering what we saw in ST, and then in his brief 2-start stint in July... there is simply no denying that he is improving. I hope we see Gavin every 5th or 6th game to the end of the season, to see if this is a fluke, or if he really is progressing. He may still turn out to be a serviceable 5th starter.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Sep 6, 2007 -> 07:08 AM) Cute answer... but you can't disprove what I'm saying. Thanks. Now let's move on. Nor can you prove your claim.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 07:36 PM) My bias is the same as yours but from a different angle. You are merely looking at the final line and not the way he is throwing. There is nobody credible who will look at this game and see that Floyd has turned any sort of corner. It's "analysis" like what you're giving that leads us to Nick Masset and Gavin Floyd because of how they pitch in Mexico and Arizona. This has not been a well-pitched game. And yes, deep deep deep shots in Comerica park are bombs that don't go all the way out and he's lucky that's where they are. Nobody credible, huh? I guess all of us who see 5 innings of 1-run ball as good must not be credible. I give. You're right. His 1-run, 5 inning effort is just as bad as his 5-run, 1 inning effort. No difference at all. 1 good curveball in 20. How could the rest of us not see that? Thank you for teaching us cute little baseball fans how it works. Enjoy your thread.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 07:34 PM) This has the makings of a "Floyd Blow-up" inning like we've seen a couple times... exactly what I was getting at.

Now here is a significant test for Floyd - can he pitch over a poor fielding effort?

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 07:30 PM) You know, I wasn't even talking about how he sucks by saying "He sucks." All I did was analyze how he's pitched and looked and everybody's like, "WHY DON'T YOU LEAVE HIM ALONE! HE LOOKS FINE, BULLY!" Gives up his third bomb, this one all the way out. fly outs are bombs? And give me a break. No one cares who you criticize - its that you criticize non-existent or marginal things to justify your already-existing biases, even when the current evidence is to the contrary. Is that more clear for you?

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 07:29 PM) Which would then of course...become reality! Nice. I was wondering who would dig that up.

Hey hey m'boy Donny! First hit! Nice. Amazing actually - Rogers was making him look like a little leaguer until then.

Some of you guys are amazing. Talk about coming in with an impenetrable bias. The guy has thrown 4 shutout innings, struck out 4, gotten it done WITH RUNNERS ON (one of his weak points), and is throwing his curveball without hanging it most of the time. And somehow, you make it into him looking terrible. I guess once you have all baseball players are incapable of improving in your eyes. Perfect he is not tonight, but he looks pretty darn good. My only concern, something I didn't really pay attention to until tonight... he is HORRIBLE at holding runners on. I mean, we all knew he pitched weakly in those scenarios, but he is as bad at allowing runners to lead and steal as Contreras.

QUOTE(29andPoplar @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 03:57 PM) So Freddy Garcia had labrum surgery and some rotator cuff clean up done August '07. I am not Dr. Andrews but in between healing and rehab work I am guessing that most or all of 2008 is lost to Garcia. Anyone have a hunch he will end up back with the White Sox for 2009? White Sox certainly wouldn't sign him this offseason and lose any draft picks but I bet they'd take a flier on him if he was a freebie in terms of compensation. From personal experience... labrum repair (assuming a smallish tear), and cleanup of any capsular damge... surgery lays you up in a sling and other implements for a week or two, followed by the beginnings of PT that takes about 4 to 6 months to regain full range of motion. But even at 4 months with 90% range, your muscles have weakened a lot. Assuming an intense regimen to get the strength back, AND assuming Garcia's body is capable of putting the same strength back on (not a given), I'd say that's another 4 to 6 months. So that's 8 months to a year. Yeah, I'd say he's not ready for spring training in any case.

One could make a pretty good issue of The Onion purely from true stories of bizareness in China.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 05:33 PM) What's contradictory? It's a complicated issue. He certainly has a great curveball one pitch out of twenty every other day. His mechanics are the biggest source of that because his motion is absolutely inconsistent. Sure, he lacks confidence, but his velocity isn't what it's advertised and his curveball can't be rated too great because he might throw it beautiful once or twice when given five dozen chances to throw it in a game. He's a lot of things but good isn't one of them. I guess some of us don't see the same things. I see one outing where he can locate a very good curveball most of the time plus a 92-93 FB and the occasional change... then I see another outing where all he throws is a fastball (erratically) and an occasional curveball that inevitably hangs. Plus today, he is pitching to a guy in his first MLB game ever. Anything could happen.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 04:31 PM) I still don't see what others see with the "arm" being there as if he's got exceptional stuff and if only -- if only -- he'd "focus" and "attack" he'd be good! No. He's a 91-93 MPH pitcher with an inconsistent motion and an inability to consistently finish his pitches as a result. His problems are mechanical, first, and confidence fifth. I think if that were the case, he'd be more erratic within each outing, from throw to throw. But he's not. He is erratic from outing to outing, indicating a problem with frame of mind. He is a head case.

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 04:16 PM) Check out this link for an interesting take on immigration from Sci-fi writer Orson Scott Card. LINK Hm. I like Card's books a lot, he is an amazing writer. And he does have an uncanny way of exposing raw, singular motivations in a character. Same with this column. Unfortunately, he is taking it all using the most extreme of measures. He is basically writing that past-perfect picture under the assumption we are going to go with a Tancredo-esque plan of attack. Luckily, that is highly unlikely. We're mostly not that nuts. He does make some really good points about the economic impacts, though. That's why some of us have been pushing for immigration reform with laws specifically and dynamically tuned to economic conditions.

QUOTE(Kid Gleason @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 02:19 PM) O.K., the 160GB is the one I would want. THAT is about the right size. I gotta agree, the expanded space is what I was waiting for. The 80GB should do for now, but I might get that 160 to leave some room. I tend to sample at the highest possible rate, because the default settings for sampling leave weak recordings. So my songs tend to take up extra space.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Sep 5, 2007 -> 01:43 PM) And this is where the downward spiral starts. Since his actions will reflect on the party as a whole, the partisan members are forced to expend time and energy on damage control. Instead, as a country, we'd be better off if the reaction is, get this guy outta here, the party did the right thing and move on. As soon as we stop evaluating ideas, policies, vision, and direction and replace it with defending idiots, image, and spin we all lose. I actually think that the Republicans are handling this one just right - they have stated simply and repeatedly he needs to go. And many of them called him and implored him to step down. In this case, its the political stands of the party, combined with Craig's actions, that are bringing it down.

Can we please get back on track with the firings? Enough with the snide comments already. I'd really rather not have to delete a bunch of posts. FIRE OZZIE!!! FIRE KW!!!!!!! FIRE JERRY!!!!!!!!!!!! FIRE ROGER BOSSARD!!!!!!