NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (LVSoxFan @ Sep 13, 2010 -> 02:47 PM) The biggest single reason we didn't run away with the division is not having Thome? I said nothing of running away with the division. I said the single biggest reason, but not the only one, for us not being closer to MIN (or past them) is Thome.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 13, 2010 -> 12:35 PM) Guys can improve an awful lot with the glove given experience at the position. Case in point; Alexei Ramirez. Careless and disappointing at SS last year. Experience and an offseason of work...and the best fielding SS in the league this year. Crede is another example - he was considered talented by raw, and developed as time went on. He had a better tool set to begin with probably, but still improved on that. All that said, I'm leaning heavily towards perferring Morel for 2011 anyway.

QUOTE (ktssox @ Sep 13, 2010 -> 12:47 PM) I'm sorry, but I think you're contradicting yourself here. How can you say it's a good idea if you have the talent, but then blame Ozzie? Ozzie isn't in charge of signing the talent. If Kenny did, in fact, decide to let Ozzie try out this rotating DH, then he should have given him the best talent available (given budget restraints, of course) to make it work. Ozzie's plan cannot be evaluated properly if he doesn't have the correct pieces. In that case, you're always going to have to say, this may have worked IF... which is what we're all doing now. This is not Ozzie's fault. Kotsay actually cost more than Thome would have. Ozzie and Kenny both knew the Sox were not going to be able to go out and spend $15M on a DH. The roster was nearly set by that point. Ozzie knew his choices - Jones/Kotsay or Thome. He chose Jones/Kotsay. This is 80% on him. I do give KW some of the blame, for even letting Ozzie make that choice.

QUOTE (LVSoxFan @ Sep 13, 2010 -> 12:13 PM) ^This. For the LOVE OF GOD, can we please stop with the "If only we had kept Jim Thome, we'd be in this!" insanity? I really fail to see how a team's entire season rise or falls... on one position player. It's not like we've been rolling over the Central Division this year outside the Twins, either--and that's the problem. We can sweep the Red Sox but then lose three to Detroit? WTF? OK, so the addition of Manny is probably the most upfront acknowledgement that the DH-by-committee idea didn't work. That one reality is the key to our whole season? Key to the whole season? No. Biggest single reason, probably, yes. There are of course other reasons. Peavy's injury, cold starts by Floyd and MB in the rotation and Alexei/Beckham/AJ in the lineup, Jenks' failures, Ozzie's bizarro managing, and probably biggest next to Thome... the fact that the Twins have been insanely good since the ASB. Those are all reasons too. The White Sox still have, last I looked, the best record in baseball since 6/1. But the Twins have the best since the ASB. That means the Twins are playing better than anyone expected any ALC team to, but it also means the Sox were probably one player change away from being in the thick of it - and the lack of Thome (replaced by Jones/Kotsay) combined with his addition in Minny has been a killer. True though that the topic has been beat to death by now. Hopefully, and probably, KW won't make the same mistake again and allow Ozzie to dictate a National League lineup.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Sep 13, 2010 -> 11:49 AM) I didn't say he was. Read the post. What you said is not OK. Check your PM's, and cool it with the retarded references.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 12, 2010 -> 09:23 PM) If '05 wasn't a fluke then what is? I'm sure if the Cubs had a season like that we'd all be saying it was a fluke. What about teams like the Angels and Cardinals (I won't use the Yankees as an example, as they play by different rules)? They're in it every year. The Twins? Enough said. 05' is really the only trump card Ozzie and KW have to play. And it was a pretty good card. But that was 5 years ago. Getting old. It wasn't a fluke at all, unless you consider all world series champions a fluke. Any team needs some luck to get there, by the way. That team won 99 games, was in first place all year, and barrelled through the post-season 11-1. That isn't a fluke, that is clearly the best team in baseball that year.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Sep 13, 2010 -> 10:00 AM) Ugh, yeah too late. I got the message last week and upgraded it. Don't like the new text screens, it takes forever to charge and it seems the battery goes even faster now. Yeah. Droid 2.1 was way, way better than the BB OS, but now Droid 2.1 is only way better than the BB OS. Sort of frustrating that they seemed to take a step backwards with this version, in core areas like battery life and performance, all in the name of jamming in more toys.

Also, by the way, if you are still on 2.1 Android, I'd stay there. Do NOT do the Froyo 2.2 update for now, because the majority of people I've spoken with and on these forums are saying its not an upgrade at all, its more of a downgrade.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Sep 13, 2010 -> 09:04 AM) Like what? I'd be interested in knowing for my own Incredible. I found lists of things on various Droid forums. Some of the ones I found and tried, include: --Bump charging a few times --Getting an App Killer application from the Market to keep control of apps --Turning off the GPS except when you actually need it --Same with Bluetooth --Purchase a higher capacity battery (I did this, went from the standard 1250 to a 1700, or you can even go 3000 but then you need a new case back) --Check your email update time settings, decrease them if you can, especially during off hours There are others too, go out on Android Central for example (the link there is for the D Inc forum specifically).

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 12, 2010 -> 09:40 PM) Please explain to me how this man is ever allowed to make personnel decisions? http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,3994057.story You'll see this offseason, I think, that Ozzie will no longer have that sort of control over building the roster.

I have the D Inc, and I love it. Worlds better than my old BB Curve. There are a couple annoyances, its not a perfect phone: the battery life could be a lot better, and you may need to do some tweaking to make it get through the day. That's the biggest ones. The others are related to email folder tree updates and things you probably don't care about. Overall, I love it - just make sure you do a lot of little things to improve the battery life.

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Sep 10, 2010 -> 06:04 PM) well those stub hub tickets are gone Stub Hub listings expire 2 hours before game time.

Weird as this sounds, I actually like the way this team looks in 2011, with only a couple significant holes to fill. Figure this... LINEUP Pierre, 7 Beckham, 4 Rios, 8 Konerko, 3/0 (I like the idea of signing him to a 2 year deal) Viciedo, 0/3 Alexei, 6 AJP, 2 (I'd bet he signs a one year deal) Morel, 5 ?????, 9? (trade TCQ and one of Danks or Floyd for the best you can find) BENCH Castro, C (or Lucy) Teahen, 1B/3B/RF/DH (with his lefty bat, try to get him in the lineup 5 days a week, somewhere) Lillibridge, IF ???? Someone who can cover CF preferably, maybe De Aza, hard to say ROTATION Peavy Sale Jackson Floyd/Danks Buehrle BULLPEN Putz (to close) Thornton Linebrink* Pena* ???? LOOGY, go get an FA or something ???? Either take a shot with Infante, or go get a strong arm somewhere in trade or market (prefer the latter) ???? long man, someone from our own system should do it Really, the biggest need is an RF (preferably who hits left-handed), because I don't want to rely on TCQ. I'd try my best to trade him and Danks or Floyd for a corner OF. Then the next priority is one more solid bullpen arm. Try to trade Linebrink or Pena too if you can, but that may not be possible. After that, its all scrap pieces for a bullpen long man, and bench OF. And yes, I think this is a good framework. The rotation looks fantastic, either as I stated it or with Sale to the pen and not trading Danks/Floyd. Bullpen has the right bones, needs one more strong arm and a LOOGY. Lineup looks good but needs some pop for corner OF - that should be the big move. I have some fear that its too right-handed, but most of those guys don't have highly unbalanced splits. Flowers starts the year in AAA to get back on track, and be ready to step in whenever. Yes I know, Viciedo, Morel and Sale is three rookies who may be rough around the edges. But I like what all three bring to the table, and this helps reduce salary to make room for whatever outfielder we acquire. I just don't think this team needs a ton of changes, and I'd love to not have to trade away any of the few talented minor leaguers we have left. ETA: Forgot to add, Vizquel either as utility IF (instead of Lilli) or infield coach

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 10, 2010 -> 02:00 PM) I like your posts caufield, but I find this one hard to believe. Players don't donate a million dollars to keep anybody around but immediate family members. I mean, cmon. Juan Uribe? Offering a million of your own salary to keep a guy like Juan Uribe? You can't think of it in terms of straight salary compensation. At that level of money, part of what you are doing is deciding how to invest in your company. In this case, he felt that Uribe's contributions, particularly his defense, were worth a lot to the Sox and to MB. Therefore, they are worth a lot to him when the team is more successful, pays him more money later, makes the post-season, and so on. I don't know if its actually true in this case that it was $1M, but I don't doubt that some players would be willing to wriggle their contracts and money to make the team and their own performance better with their presence.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 10, 2010 -> 01:51 PM) How can a great country like ours have 10 percent unemployment? What the f*** is going on? This great country has had that before, and will have it again. As for what the f*** is going on, there is no simple answer to that. Many things contributed to the recession.

Depends on how "honest" you mean, and there is a big difference between "have to" and "tend to".

I'm not ready to write off Flowers yet. He had a mediocre year in AAA, but he raked the year before, and had some big streaks this year. Plus his defense is much improved. I still believe he has a chance to be a starter. I just wish we had AJ under contract for one more year, so that Flowers could get his feet under him. I'd like to see the Sox offer AJ a one year deal. He may or may not take it though.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 10, 2010 -> 12:43 PM) As was he in 1985

I am in years the number of home runs Carlton Fisk hit in 1985.

QUOTE (EvilJester99 @ Sep 10, 2010 -> 09:46 AM) 36...even though my wife says I am 12... Is that your wife in the avatar?

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Sep 10, 2010 -> 10:17 AM) http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington...-taxes-irs.html That's embarrassing, and I doubt its party-specific. People who work for the federal government should not be allowed to hold positions if they owe back taxes unless they are in an arbitration process. It should be that simple. Pay, go to arbitration, or goodbye.

No one under 26 so far? College kids must not be awake yet.

Married, 1 kid (so far)

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Sep 10, 2010 -> 09:15 AM) Obviously you don't remember the old AOL chatrooms. I've been around plenty longer than that, I remember posting on ISCA, one of the first message boards, in like 1991. I just never used AOL, and didn't post anywhere after college until I got onto SoxTalk in 2005. QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Sep 10, 2010 -> 09:18 AM) lol Age/Sex/Location Thank you. QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 10, 2010 -> 09:19 AM) You kids don't know anything about history these days do you? Aren't you like 10 years younger than I am?

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Sep 10, 2010 -> 09:01 AM) a/s/l Eh? Is that supposed to be an equation?