NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (GreatScott82 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 04:34 PM) They are moving CJ Retherford to catcher. Josh Phegley is also a nice catching prospect who the Sox hope developes niceley this season. Perhaps they can bring AJ back to a cheaper deal beyond this current contract as well. . Remember Gonzalez doesn't become a free agent until after the 2011 season. So giving AJ another 2 year contract at a cheaper rate wouldn't be a bad idea since Gonzalez wont get the BIG cash until 2012. The bolded is really not true. They are trying him a few games there, because they see him as a solid utility man. Its possible he may move more there, but to say "they are moving" him is a pretty big stretch. And Phegley was a mild disappointment in his first year. There is no C in the system ready to step in, in the next year, if Flowers is gone.

Well, I'm hugely disappointed in the DH situation. That said, if KW really did keep ratcheting up, to like $6M, and Boras kept playing him... its hard to be that pissed about him walking away. Also, I would not be surprised, knowing KW's style, if he immediately hit the phones to make some other deal that none of us had even considered.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 02:36 PM) No he'll agree to sign before 8pm tonight. Go Steelmen. Psychic? Also, what's with the "Go Steelmen" reference? What does that mean?

QUOTE (quickman @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 10:59 AM) Ok, you may know better as you follow the board closer than I do. That said, his source may not be at liberty to say anything and this silence is consistant with the media shutting down on this topic as well. I only suspect that he has two offers and is taking the weekend to decide which one to take. It appears each is different in structure and there are many moving parts including his agent, family, Union and his personal feelings. This is not unlike any other job in life when one has mulitple opportunities that will involve moving, money and lifestyle. A couple of days to think does not reflect negatively on either side of the ledger right now. I think that is all spot-on.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 10:54 AM) Sure, but I wouldn't stress out about finding a team that will want to give up a halfway decent prospect for one year of Kotsay. IMO, DFAing/trading Jones might even make more sense. IMO, it's almost not worth worrying about. Especially given how Jones can't stay healthy or get on base regularly anymore. And as Balta has suggested multiple times, keeping Kotsay/Jones and going to an 11-man pitching staff might be the best way to go. An 11 man staff gives you this bullpen: Jenks Thornton Putz Linebrink Pena Williams/Threets No Hudson, no long reliever. Not saying that's such a bad thing, but, that's what you'd get.

QUOTE (quickman @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 10:51 AM) I maybe wrong but I don't think rock said this. I think and I am paraphrasing, he said his source said there was some action last week but now there is dead silence which he views as not being good. He actually said both, but I think the "farce" thing was just an inference on his part. The second point is what he was really getting at, or at least that's how I took it.

QUOTE (southsideirish71 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 09:33 AM) Happy Cubs Ticket day to you. This year I feel good about my fellow Chicagoan who loves the goofs from the north side. So they will be allowed to access the site. However I must make sure that they dont steal valuable bandwidth, so I am redirecting all of their requests through one of our Indian offices. Nothing like the 570 to 700ms response time for tickets. If they open up a few windows their computers will grind to a halt. LOL, should we play this out again, just for old times' sake?

This was a truly "wow" level surprise - the number of people getting first month behind on mortgages fell significantly in January, even though that number usually goes UP in that same period, even in good years. Foreclosure actions also dropped, and so did overall rates for 1-to-4 unit residential properties. I think most of us were expecting, at BEST, that the foreclosure numbers would increase a little or at least stay level for the next few months. But this data suggests the foreclosure situation may be improving sooner than expected. Article. WSJ has one too, its better, but its behind the subscriber wall.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 10:25 AM) I believe he said the entire thing was a farce. And I can tell you that is not the case. An offer was made. Plus with this latest article, making it seem as if DET's offer is 1 year as well... then we're back to what it seems like - Damon is weighing the two one-year offers, and Boras is hoping one of the two teams blinks and ups the ante. Rock later said there was "no news", and that seems bad. Well, given the situation, no news is what I'd expect. The offers are on the table, Boras is hoping for one team to up the stakes, and if not, then Damon will take one of the two offers as-is. Nothing to report, until he takes an offer. We wait.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 10:10 AM) I'd rather see Damon not hit leadoff, that is for sure. Really? I'd rather he lead off than Pierre.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 09:15 AM) If I'm signing Damon, I'd keep Nix and go with an 11 man pitching staff because Nix is a better defensive backup and I don't trust a 44 year old as my only infield backup. If I'm not signing Damon, then I'd so love to go with Blalock instead of Nix and a 12 man staff. That's why I think the context is important there. The bolded is what I was getting at. But I see no big need for Nix even if we do sign Damon. That's what Vizquel is there for, and the likelihood of us seeing Vizquel come into a game and then in the SAME GAME another IF gets hurt, is extremely small. Its not a scenario that I'd screw up the roster for.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 09:04 AM) Blalock has played 32 games at 3b in the last 2 years, only 1 last year. He's played 100 games at 1b the last 2 years. His defensive #'s at 3b say he's quite simply bad there. His numbers at 1b in 2008 were poor and in 2009 were ok. HE played 123 games total last year, a lot at DH, and only 65 the year before that. Given that I still think we need 2nd backup IF option, if Damon isn't signed, I would still consider him, but he should be considered an emergency backup at any position other than 1b. An emergency backup IF, of course, is exactly one of our current needs, if Nix doesn't come north with the team. I think I'd rather have Blalock than Nix, if that's what we're discussing. You already have Vizquel to back up the two MI positions and occasionally 3B, and Blalock can cover 3B on rare occasion, 1B more often, but mostly be a DH.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 08:54 AM) Are there any credible reports that this airplane guy was a Tea Party member? Seriously? What if he was? Does that say something about the Tea Party, that one of their members is crazy? Come on guys, let's try to see past the party-colored glasses for a second.

Does anyone know what Blalock's defensive competencies are like at various positions nowadays? If the Damon thing doesn't work out, with Spring Training getting underway, I'd be Blalock would sign for cheap. If he can still play 3B and 1B at least at a mediocre level, then he's intriguing to me to be the LH DH component, allowing Kotsay to be the backup OF, and Jones to be the RH DH component.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 08:05 AM) Bah, I don't buy that and I think I've said this before. The Clintons seriously screwed up by not doing anything in response to Africa, the Millennium plots, or the Cole other than lobbing a few missiles and hitting the wrong targets, and their lack of action was probably in no small part related to Clinton's inability to keep his zipper up. The Clintons also seriously screwed up in allowing the CIA and FBI to spend 8 years each doing their own thing, and by focusing on creating the illusion of security at airports rather than real security in order to avoid pissing off the airlines. The Bushes seriously screwed up by not really caring 1 bit about terrorism or the Bin Laden group until 9/11 and thinking that the most important issue for this country was missile defense. They wouldn't have had the time to do the serious reform that still hasn't happened at the agencies or to launch a serious rollback campaign, but there was more than enough intel out there mid-2001 to disrupt that plot if there had been a focus on it at the top. I think, at worst, Clinton and Bush have a very small part of the blame. Lots and lots and lots of other things lead up to that, many of which were beyond their control.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 19, 2010 -> 07:53 AM) 2 of those 3 at least have to share some blame. So that I'm not banned from this thread, I won't name explicitly which ones they are, so that this thread's usual posters can assume I'm blaming the latter 2 on that list. Am I unusually snarky this morning? Some small part? Sure. In the grand scheme of things though, not really.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 07:55 PM) You are right. Leaving the country completely vulnerable to attack is way worse. You're not seriously saying that Bush, or Obama, or Clinton, are responsible for 9/11, are you?

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 06:35 PM) really? so, uh, haven't seen the deficit numbers since the Dems took over eh? i mean, i can understand turning on the GOP over spending, but then voting Dem because you think they will lower spending? not a good plan. um, what? I never said the Dems would lower spending. I think you'd have to be delusional to think that EITHER party takes fiscal responsibility very seriously right now. What I'm saying is, since both parties are just going to spend away anyway, that makes me look at other issues for my decision-making. The problem, spending-wise, isn't one party or the other anymore - its what BODY we're discussing. Its Congress, its rules, the way it functions, etc. Obama AND Bush have tried various things to control it, to little or no avail. Its about Congress.

We've also got some odd fluctuation in the weekly filings reports. We were well below projected last report, now this week's report is well above. The thought is that the storms on the eastern seaboard screwed things up somehow. 4 week moving average is still falling, though.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 07:23 PM) http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/...n-decision.html All signs seem to be pointing to Detroit, especially with AJP bringing up the Spring Training location issue. At this point, I just want a decision. I still think Blalock could be a cheaper, and potentially better option. Read it more carefully. Someone ASKED AJ if that was a factor, he said he had no idea. So its only an issue in the mind of some reporter.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 02:46 PM) Donating plasma for the first time today. Had my physical yesterday - 5'9, 134, and a pulse of 61. 134? Are you made of cardboard?

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 03:56 PM) . Source?

KW is going to talk Sunday anyway from AZ, and I'd also bet he knows that Damon will have to decide by then, one way or the other. So all this means is, "we'll know on Sunday".

So we'll know by Saturday, one way or the other. I guess that's good. Maybe.

QUOTE (Tex @ Feb 18, 2010 -> 08:56 AM) Is that new? I always had gold status with Continental and I do not remember that. The last time I flew weekly was around 2002. I said American and United. I don't know about Continental. AA and UAL were both doing that when I was flying a lot, in the 2007-2009 period.