NorthSideSox72

QUOTE(Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 9, 2007 -> 03:03 PM) My reading comprehension FTL 'sOK, I tend to get a little verbose.

QUOTE(Buehrle>Wood @ Jul 9, 2007 -> 02:56 PM) I'd say it's more likely fan nation is using recycled message board banter for their stories. um... that's what I said.

Funny, this exact rumor was suggested here a few days ago. Given the misspellings and past bizarreness of that Fan Nation site, one wonders if the source was indeed right here...

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Jul 9, 2007 -> 12:52 PM) It was average to slightly above average in 2005. In 2006 he decided to fill his shoes with cement. I think even in 2006 he was an average fielder out there, with an above average arm. He always looked slower than he actually was - big loping strides. The cement didn't seem to really show up until this season.

Moved to the Diamond Club.

QUOTE(kwolf68 @ Jul 9, 2007 -> 11:13 AM) Kenny Williams should run for political office. No way he'd ever get support from either party. He actually accomplishes things.

QUOTE(Frankensteiner @ Jul 9, 2007 -> 11:09 AM) He's not going to be a .290/35 homer guy because he's never been a .290/35 homer guy; more like a .270/30 homer guy. Plus he's aging and can barely run. I think we were lucky to get two above average seasons from the guy (one of those an excellent season) but it was foolish to assume, as some here did, that Dye could duplicate his stats from last season. I agree we probably won't get much for him, but giving him a 3 year contract at $8M per is just compounding the problem. So seasons of... .315/44 .274/31 .321/33 Don't exist in your mind? Because he has done all those since 2000.

Wow. I bet there are some Rockies fans that are pretty upset with their team right now.

QUOTE(BearSox @ Jul 9, 2007 -> 09:18 AM) omg, when will she ever leave? As soon as the Republicans who bemoan her media presence stop making her an issue. You don't see democrats rallying for her, do you? Just a few nut cases, and then the entire right wing.

Saw Transformers. One of the stupidest movies evar. And not good stupid, like it was a spoof or something... it was just bad, even for a Bay movie. Annoyingly so. Had a few humorous moments though, sound effects were quite kewl, and some of the CGI was pretty. But even the "action" was laughable. NSS rating: 1 star QUOTE(Shadows @ Jul 9, 2007 -> 02:37 AM) lolz at people who think books are better than movies Wow. This explains so much about the direction this country is going in.

There are of course the obvious suspects - Dye, Contreras, Iguchi, Uribe, maybe Garland/Vaz, Mack or Thome... but the hard part is guessing who the surprise players will be. If KW makes a few trades, inevitably, some of the people traded will be ones we didn't expect/ So, who do you all think is the sleeper? Who will be traded that others are not expecting? Chisoxfn suggested Jenks, for example. My sleeper guess: Joe Crede Yes, he is injured and having back surgery, which is a scare factor. But think about the risk/reward here for another team: you get him for relatively cheap next year, his last year before free agency. If he is not that great, then hey, no biggie - he was cheap and you let him go elsewhere in 2009. If he is great, hey, you can try to give him a contract early to avoid FA, or you make a run at him as an FA. Either way, he doesn't cost much in the meantime. And from the Sox' perspective, with Fields looking decent (though he is nowhere near Crede defensively), you can afford to make the move and not expect a ton in return (which you won't get for a back injury guy anyway).

Does anyone think KW was going to come out and say "hey, fire sale here! Get your veteran talent here - all for the low low price of your best 2008+ projected prospects!"??? That would be stupid not just among the GM's, but also in broadcasting to the fan base something akin to "we give up on 2007". He is looking at 2008 and 2009. If it helps 2007, hey, great, bonus.

So many things that could be better... but its important to note that a lot of the problems are not the politicians at all - its the fact that most people don't vote or only vote for Presidential elections. And worse, they choose to remain uninformed. That frustrates me almost as much as what our politicians are doing.

This made my day. Awesome news. Managing a split after losing those two footbal games was nice, but not as nice as MB being signed. QUOTE(Kalapse @ Jul 8, 2007 -> 06:03 PM) Yeah, I know. But the work will have to be done eventually anyway. It's not all that hard to change the names and info but it's a b**** to put the thing together. Seriously, very handy. Thanks for doing it.

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Jul 7, 2007 -> 01:55 PM) I find that damn near impossible that ANY government agency can run that efficiently. Maybe we should hire away the geniuses running Medicare to balance the budget? The term "overhead" could be stretched into any number of definitions.

I'd rather see any of Pods/Erstad/Mack/Ozuna/Terrero/Gonzalez out there than Elijah Dukes.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jul 6, 2007 -> 01:20 PM) You're wrong. I could care less about Monica and Bill. But for all the darts that you all want to throw, just 6-7 years ago, it was all fine. That's the only reason it gets brought up, well that and Hillary wants to be president again. No one here has said it was all fine. And I know I sure as hell wasn't saying it was all fine. QUOTE(kapkomet @ Jul 6, 2007 -> 01:20 PM) You're wrong. I could care less about Monica and Bill. But for all the darts that you all want to throw, just 6-7 years ago, it was all fine. That's the only reason it gets brought up, well that and Hillary wants to be president again. Heh. Just caught that. Nice.

QUOTE(Greg The Bull Luzinski @ Jul 6, 2007 -> 12:53 PM) With numerous media sources basically saying that KW is an idiot if he does not give the no trade close, I think they are looking for a way to let KW save some face. Perhaps a NTC that is not called a No Trade Clause? The organization is being made to look worse to free agents by this saga than it would for having a reputation for low-balling or no giving NTC's. I think maybe people here are assuming that their (our) perspective and perception of the process, as fans, is the same as the players'. But I doubt that is the case. Look at the article in the Trib today - the players all seem to think a deal will be done soon. The information circles among players are not the ones we get access to - and I don't think they are as concerned with blogs, message boards, or even regular news outlets as we are. They get their information more directly. So, I think this whole mess is probably a lot less of a big deal to them than it is to us. And their ire, when they do have it, may be at the press for making everything so dramatic - and less so with KW or the Sox management. Now for Buehrle specifically, since he is seeing his salary bantered about, yes - it undoubtedly has an effect. But even for him, he may see the annoyance more as the media than KW himself.

Ehren Josef Wassermann, RHP Born 12/6/1980 in Sylacauga, AL 6’, 185 Throws: R Bats: S OVERVIEW Ehren Wassermann made his way into the Sox’ system via the hard road – an open tryout. Un-drafted after a few underwhelming seasons at Samford, Wassermann took a long shot in July of 2003, and his stuff was good enough for the organization to sign him. Ehren is noted particularly for his control, both with his fastball (90-92 range) and his breaking stuff (curve and change), which is unusual for a side-armer. And while he lacks the spectacular power stuff, he also doesn’t get himself into big trouble – during his minor league career, he has given up just .22 home runs per 9 innings (that’s about 1 HR per 41 innings). With the recent (July, 2007) struggles in the White Sox pen, Wassermann may get a shot at the big league club, which would be quite a feat for an undrafted try-out sign-on. PERSONAL/PRE-COLLEGE NOTES Finished his high school career 11-4 with eight saves, including a 2.70 ERA, 114 innings pitched, 502 batters faced, 44 earned runs, 105 strikeouts and 42 walks. But he can also hit: he batted .411, including 123 hits, 129 runs scored, 89 RBI, 32 doubles, 18 home runs, 223 total bases and 16 stolen bases in three years of high school baseball… His favorite athlete is Chipper Jones… Says he is really good at Spades. COLLEGE Played 2 years at Jefferson Davis community college, doing more hitting than pitching. Hit .315 and .382 in those two years, and went to the DII World Series as a freshman… Then played just 2 years at Samford, putting up fairly pedestrian numbers… His Junior year, had a 4.05 ERA, 1.30WHIP and a 65/20 K/BB ratio in 25 appearances... Senior year his ERA jumped to 6.25 working more as a starter, going 5-8... Worked from the bullpen mostly, but did start 14 games, and was also used at 3B and DH… Majored in Sports Medicine… Made the A-Sun All-Academic team in 2002. SIGN/DRAFT Undrafted, signed with the White Sox on 7/16/2003 after an open tryout MINORS Wassermann’s first stop in his professional career at Bristol (2003) was less than stellar, compiling a 14.73 ERA and a 3.27 WHIP in 4 relief appearances, but he was promoted to Kannapolis (A-) anyway… He turned it around at Kanny with a 1.00 ERA and 1.22 WHIP in 6 games to finish 2003, and has excelled at every stop since… Started 2004 in Kanny, promoted to Winston-Salem (A+) mid-season… Started 2005 in W-S, promoted to Birmingham (AA) mid-season… Carolina league All Star in 2005… Played all of 2006 at B-Ham… Southern League All Star in 2006. Stats… 2003-2006… Team Lg Age Org Level W L ERA G GS CG SH GF SV IP H R ER HR BB SO WP BK H9 HR9 BB9 K9 WHIP 2003 Bristol App 22 Chw Rk 0 1 14.73 4 0 0 0 2 0 3.2 9 6 6 0 3 4 3 22.09 0.00 7.36 9.82 3.27 Kannapolis SAL 22 Chw A 1 1 1.00 6 0 0 0 5 0 9.0 8 1 1 0 3 10 1 8.00 0.00 3.00 10.00 1.22 2004 Kannapolis SAL 23 Chw A 2 3 2.75 50 0 0 0 47 30 55.2 44 20 17 1 16 42 4 7.11 0.16 2.59 6.79 1.08 Winst-Salm Caro 23 Chw A+ 1 0 2.70 10 0 0 0 4 1 10.0 11 4 3 1 5 5 1 9.90 0.90 4.50 4.50 1.60 2005 Winst-Salm Caro 24 Chw A+ 4 2 1.37 42 0 0 0 20 46.0 41 10 7 0 9 37 3 0 8.02 0.00 1.76 7.24 1.09 Birmingham Sou 24 Chw AA 2 0 2.14 14 0 0 0 0 21.0 23 6 5 0 7 18 2 0 9.86 0.00 3.00 7.71 1.43 2006 Birmingham Sou 25 Chw AA 4 8 2.56 61 0 22 63.1 60 26 18 3 25 47 7 1 8.53 0.43 3.55 6.68 1.34 This Season so far… W L ERA G GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB SO GO/AO AVG 2 2 1.79 35 0 0 0 5 40.1 28 10 8 0 17 32 1.90 .207 OTHER PROFESSIONAL Non-roster invitee to 2006 and 2007 Spring Training… Pitched in 3 games over those two ST’s, pitched 2.1 innings, giving up 1 hit, 1 BB, no runs, and striking out 1… Played winter league ball in the Venezuelan league in early 2007, and got beat up pretty badly – 15 ER in 13.1 IP, and a 1-3 record. REFERENCE Nice article about Wassermann’s tryout MVN Sox farm report from May of 2007 Wasserman in winter ball MILB page Baseball Cube Samford page

QUOTE(Alpha Dog @ Jul 6, 2007 -> 08:04 AM) And the liberals on this board rival my 8 year old for b****ing and whining about the eeevil Chimpy McBus***ler. He will be gone in less than 2 years, he can't get re-elected, get on with your lives. Both sides f*** up, both sides have nothing but contempt for the voters and both sides suck. Well, I agree that politicians in general tend to suck. That said, this administration is particularly sucky, regardless of party. History may show it differently down the line, but as of now, this looks like the worst Presidency of my lifetime and then some.

QUOTE(Cerbaho-WG @ Jul 5, 2007 -> 07:14 PM) DLS leaves with torn buttocks. Out for the year. Possibly forever. You are joking, yes?

If anyone wants to see Gavin's debut tomorrow afternoon, my 4 tickets are up for sale in the Ticket Exchange (I cannot attend) - front row UD, under face value. /shameless plug

Hellz yeah.

QUOTE(JPN366 @ Jul 5, 2007 -> 03:22 PM) Don't write off Owens just yet. He did win a Southern League batting title in 2005. That same year, Ryan Sweeney was completely overmatched at AA. One homerun, and maybe 20 something RBI's. He couldn't hit when he was surrounded in the lineup by Owens, Chris Young, Josh Fields & Andy Gonzalez. Owens hasn't even been playing baseball that long, he's a work in progress, but he can fly. I'd bank on Owens in the long run over Ryan Sweeney. Sweeney's a cheaper version of Borchard. I never would have thought that from that loaded 2005 Barons club, Andy Gonzalez would be such an important contributor to the White Sox now. I was certain that Sweeney would repeat AA in 2006 though, you can imagine my shock that he was promoted to AAA. Of course, centerfield wouldn't be such an issue if KW wouldn't have dealt Young. You make two good points - Owens may still turn out to be pretty good, and there is no such thing as a can't-miss or can't-hit prospect. But I still think Sweeney shows a lot more signs of being effective at the major league level than Owens does, at this point.

Advance warning - no more insults, antagonizing or button-pushing will be allowed in the thread. Let's try to keep this one inside the lines.