NorthSideSox72

Who do you think is most likely to get it?

So, we're a week into March, and the Cubs already have Lilly, Nady and Guzman injured? Its a very Cubbie Spring Training!

Not sure where else to put this... Detroit is falling apart, as everyone knows. And they are now looking into a dramatic idea to help fix the problem (one which I think New Orleans should have done): shrinking. The idea is to turn a quarter of the city - the run-down, hopeless neighborhoods - into green or agricultural space. Thus, they could focus what meager funds they have on fewer neighborhoods, to help them do better. I like it.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 12:16 PM) The odds in Vegas are just like a market in a stock or future. They want a balance of action, but not too much risk. A run of people betting on a team pushes the odds lower. If no one bets on a team, it pushes it to a bigger number. Yes I know, but like I said, the only way that plays here is if you think that Sox fans are betting on them a lot more this year than last year, and that seems unlikely to me. I think that buy side would be pretty consistent last year to this year, yet the odds are far better for the Sox this year than last. Do people think that the 2009 pre-season Sox looked that much worse than the 2010 pre-season Sox?

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 8, 2010 -> 11:57 PM) I am looking forward to this movie as much as any other coming out this year along with Iron Man 2, Toy Story 3, and possibly Inception. And even though I feel like I am the only one my age who has seen Tron most of my friends are really excited about it as well since I have forced the trailer, teasers and the other clips on them. Tron was playing on TV the other night, so I watched it for the first time in a very long time. Lots of cheesy 80's-ness, but also some nicely done bits. And the special effects, for a movie made in 1982, were actually pretty impressive.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 12:04 PM) That's not the bookies, that is the amount of fans betting on the Sox. Last season, pre-season, the Sox were going off at 20-1. I don't think the number of bettors on the Sox has gone up some huge amount in a year, and I don't think this team is considered better than that team was, by most "experts". I had the same thought you did, but it doesn't add up in this case. That's why it seems so odd to me.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 11:41 AM) That final bench spot is almost undoubtedly going to Nix, both of their DH's are capable of playing the outfield, the only bench player capable of playing the infield is Vizquel and he's 42, Nix is out of options and Retherford isn't even on the 40 man roster. Nix did enough last year to earn himself a spot on this year's roster given his competition and they're not going to open him up to waivers in order to carry a 24 years old who's never hit above AA in Retherford. The only think working in De Aza's favor is his great speed and I think the coaching staff sees Nix/Vizquel as an acceptable pinch running combo or at least enough so to not require a bench job be allocated to a player who's sole purpose would be such. I don't think Hudson is making the team, he'll go down and get consistent innings in AAA as he should. So that last spot is between Santos and Torres in my mind and I think Santos has already shown enough that they wouldn't want to open him up to waivers either (even though there's a 89% chance he'd clear), he'd have to blow up to fall behind the incredibly underwhelming Torres (good god is his arsenal banal). Even so, a battle for the final 2 spots in the bullpen (roles that are often influx during the season anyway) aren't exactly what I would call interesting. You think there is a 99% chance that Santos clears waivers? I think someone would pick him. He's got a nice set of tools and has shown some promise, to go with that sexy fastball velocity.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 11:22 AM) This is shaping up to be one of the more boring spring trainings in recent memory, the roster is basically set so we have no interesting roster battles left to watch. All that's left is getting a sneak peek at the young talent in the system before they start getting cut, the next month is going to be excruciating. I think if Williams looks really bad, then the LOOGY job gets interesting, with Threets and maybe even Leesman in play. But that seems unlikely. The final righty spot... I think there are still three guys in play - Santos, Hudson and Torres. That might be interesting in the next week or two, possibly. The bench? Assuming we are carrying 7 in the pen, then three guys are set: Castro, Jones/Kotsay, Vizquel. That does leave one open slot for Nix, Retherford, De Aza or someone else, if I am not mistaken. ETA: Lillibridge may have an outside shot too, or possibly Gartrell.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 11:03 AM) An honest question here. Does anyone here actually think this bill will lower the deficit? If we can cut the 80-100 billion in Medicare waste now, why haven't we already started? How will we pay for the SEPARATE doc fix? And on a completely different subject can someone explain why, if FNM and SLM are in conservatorship, their 1.4 trillion in debt is not counted in the Federal debt numbers? Carry on. I think parts of the bill will help reduce costs, but other parts will add to it, and I don't know enough to say confidently what the final balance would be.

QUOTE (scenario @ Mar 8, 2010 -> 08:33 PM) Link The competition for the final spot in the bullpen could be sorted out somewhat Tuesday, as the first round of cuts are expected. I think Dolsi, Cabrera and possibly Threets have made bad enough showings (early) that they may now be out of the picture. Williams has the LOOGY job unless he looks awful. The last spot in the pen will come down to Santos or Hudson, and I'd bet they want Hudson getting more innings, and they keep Santos.

So here's something interesting, that might make fans feel a little better about the Sox this year... I was in Vegas this past weekend, and visited a couple of the Sports books. I was going to put money down on the Sox, as I have in years past. In 2005, I was there in February, and got 30-1 odds on that team to win the WS. This year, the Sox are only 6-1 for the WS. That was the 6th highest of any team in baseball. I was floored. Apparently, the bookies are more optimistic than the fans here are.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 10:41 AM) Thanks. I bought the bike elsewhere, so I'd obviously have to pay, but that seems reasonable. My guess is they are going to try and sell me all kinds of stuff. I would definitely be interested in longer distance rides as I am out in the desert here with all sorts of road...the main thing is I need to get my ass/crotch accustomed to the ride. Getting the bike fitted may indeed include some purchases. I had extenders added to my pedals, for example, but it was fairly cheap as I recall. If you want to do longer rides, fitting is a must, IMO. Other things to help your nether regions - really good biking shorts with good padding... a better seat than what your bike came with (Selle San Marco rocks, but there are other good ones too)... and the right biking shoes and gloves too (indirectly will both help keep you comfortable). And if you plan on riding the desert, invest in some nice riding sunglasses. Rudy Project is great, other brands are good too, but that glare and refelctive heat will be something fierce out there, so don't mess up your eyes. Desert also means rocks and dust. I can't imagine a place to ride where sunglasses are more important than the desert.

Its highly unlikely that any plug-in will perform at the level Nathan does. And having a solid closer does indeed make some difference, though maybe only a couple or three games. Maybe more.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 10:33 AM) Maybe I should get fitted before refitted. I bought the bike from a fella on ebay, who was extraordinarily helpful, but obviously never actually measured me for the bike. I think the frame is on the small side for my height, but it seems like it works ok. Only thing I have really changed since I got it is to get a new seat (the one that came with it was a racing seat made entirely of carbon fiber). I really know very little about the sport so I should probably take it into a shop to get officially fitted. Anyone know what a normal shop would charge for this sort of service? If you buy a bike, a good shop does it for free. Otherwise, more like $30-$50, but if you ride a lot its probably worth it (especially if you do long distance). Getting everything dialed in right means being able to ride a lot longer before discomfort sets in.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Mar 8, 2010 -> 12:30 PM) I understand that, sometimes it's fun to just ride balls to the wall for a little bit, but I've always preferred the longer distance rides. I maxed out at 50 miles the last couple years, but I'm looking to do my first century this year. The amount of calories a big guy like me burns over a longer ride. A 50 mile ride for someone about my weight (roughly 250 pounds) displaces nearly 3000 calories IIRC, depending on your speed. I did some research on calorie burn riding - lots of factors in play there, including your weight, the bike and tire type, and how hard you are riding. My 12 mile round trip commute, on an MTB, at my weight (~230 nowadays), on knobbies, running basically as hard as I can and still make it at the same speed (take sme about 25 minutes each way), it looks like I burn something like 600-900 calories per day, depending on what site you look at. At a slower pace but doing 50 miles, 2000 is probably a good range. RAGBRAI, I was doing 80 miles a day for 7 days straight. But that was on a nice lightweight road bike, and was keeping a more moderate pace. But still, I'd guess that was 3000-4000 calories a day added to the norm.

From mid-April through September, I ride to work (Bucktown to downtown) every day. Its about 6 miles, I bring work clothes in a backpack, and shower/change at my gym near work. Last summer I rode about 4 months almost every day, and making no dietary changes, I lost 20 pounds just by doing that biking. Its a great workout, you feel more energized at work, and you use your commute time to do something useful. Only disadvantage is trying not to get killed by psychotic cabbies in the evening rush. On the weekends hit the rural pavement in Kane County (parents live out there) to get in longer rides. I've done RAGBRAI twice (2003, 2007), and plan to do it again some year. For riding downtown, I have a 20 year old all-steel no-shock beat-to-s*** Gary Fisher Hoo Koo e Koo MTB with knobbies. Makes the ride harder, but I get a better workout, and you never want to park a nice bike downtown anyway. My good road bike is a fully composite Trek Pilot 5.0, with TT bars and a Selle San Marco seat. Love it. I also have a kick-ass MTB, but there are no trails nearby for me, so the thing has hung in a garage for a couple years unused (which makes me cringe). Its a Specialized Epic that has disc brakes and a rear shock brain system. Great bike. Wish I could use it more.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 9, 2010 -> 10:00 AM) They actually federate with all of your banking websites and correlate it on a host for you, your information isnt really out "there" on the internet, its simply being pulling back from the websites that your bank and credit cards already have set up for you. And actually hosting financial information on a PC that is connect to the internet could be more dangerous as its got your financial and personal information in a one stop shop with little or no security compared to a banking website that uses 2-factor authentication and intelligent risk avoidance. . (like chase) I know you're a Mint fan, but I don't see that being any more (or less) secure than Quicken on a PC. Quicken files are encrypted, password protected, and have a self-destruct feature. Mint or other online solutions have protected and encrypted servers. Both connect securely with financial institutions to move data back and forth. Online solutions provide more chance of being hit by baddies, but home PC's can be stolen or destroyed. There is risk in either case, just different kinds of risk. And either one, by the way, is more secure than what most people still do - checkbooks and paper statements.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Mar 5, 2010 -> 03:06 PM) Living Wage.....LOL. There are few topics where I see such extreme craziness in political discussions, as I do about unions. Everyone seems to either see them as the great savior of the working class, or some sort of mafia out to steal money from companies. Both sides are truly ridiculous.

QUOTE (jphat007 @ Mar 5, 2010 -> 02:32 PM) No. Somehow Lucy missed a ball right at his glove and runners advanced. Man scored on the ground out to lilly Man, sloppy defensive play so far - Lucy, Lillibridge, Vizquel...

QUOTE (jphat007 @ Mar 5, 2010 -> 02:25 PM) Scrubby Lucy gives up a run for Mark. Lillybad almost throws it away. What happened? Same play?

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Mar 5, 2010 -> 02:13 PM) It's a tough job but somone's gotta do it. Mitchell CF Vizquel SS Quentin RF Konerko 1B Rios DH Botts LF Nix 3B Lillibridge 2B Lucy C Buehrle Donny my AAP. Good to see him getting some time in ST, though I don't see him getting a major league job.

QUOTE (knightni @ Mar 5, 2010 -> 01:46 PM) Someone could create a game thread... Well, they tied yesterday. So, does that mean I should create the next one, or someone else?

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Mar 5, 2010 -> 10:39 AM) Why? On the field he did what he does......off of the field the same thing. The cubs brought him in to be a power leftie bat and he is not that. He is an OBP guy. He is not a home run and RBI guy. His OBP was what you would expect it to be. The cubs billed him as a winner.....he has never won. He took the money but they could not make him something he is not. That is on the cubs. It would be like saying Mark Teahan is the guy that is going to produce a ton of power and RBI and bring a history of winning to the southside......then if this does not happen the minion get all upiddy and crucify the guy. Eh? As I recall, they signed him to be an OBP and RBI guy, which he's been. They just also thought they could somehow change him personally, which was obviously not possible. Bradley failed in Chicago, mostly, because he's Bradley. Not because of the Cubs.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Mar 5, 2010 -> 10:46 AM) Teahen is gonna challenge my love of Crede soon. Just imagine if he's clutch, too. We're gonna need a banner with him making the airplane arms around the bases, too. Is that something Teahen has done?

I doubt Santos would clear waivers, I'm pretty sure he'd get picked up by someone. Omogrosso and Harrell struggled, but neither one of them was being seriously considered for the pen anyway. Harrell will get in starter innings in Charlotte, after only playing less than half a season in AAA... and Omogrosso needs to prove he's intact from his injury.