NorthSideSox72

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 11:25 AM) Oh, I would say my local sources are pretty solid. How is personally interviewing mayor of my town for a source? More broad-based, I should have said.

QUOTE (Cknolls @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 11:25 AM) What would have been courageous is a CUT in spending of 20%. Freezing does nothing. But then that would mean gov't would have to shrink, and we cannot have that, can we? Courageous but dumb, if you just make blanket cuts like that. As I've said before, cuts need to be smart - you cut inefficiencies, not just cut EVERYTHING by some amount. That would be business-stupid.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 11:08 AM) Granted it is limited, but with the information I have locally, small businesses aren't moving at all right now. They are still in lock down mode. I've seen other posters here say otherwise, including jasonxctf, who seems to have access to better info than we do. I'm not saying it makes sense, or that its something great - I just think its interesting that businesses are planning on growth in 2010.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 11:13 AM) I disagree completely. I understand supply and demand, I also understand that the supply of players who can play DH is extremely larger than the supply of players who can play OF, 1b and DH. In 2008 Kotsay started for Atlanta, 88 games, 345 ab's. Besides for being injured in 2007, Kotsay started every season prior to 2008. So your saying because Kotsay didnt start for Boston, last year, he hasnt been a starter for "years"? Its unlikely Thome would have started for the Red Sox last year, and clearly the White Sox felt Kotsay was > than Thome. So outside of perhaps the Twins, where will Thome be starting? Do people even know who Mark Kotsay is? The guy started every year through 2008. How is that not holding a starting position in MLB? The last year Kotsay was a full time starter was 2006. He's played part time the last three seasons.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 11:00 AM) Honestly, I don't know. Dead cat bounce? It could also be cheerleading. Maybe it is the stimulus spending actually starting to happen this year, ahead of the Congressional elections. I think we're past the bounce here. But the stimulus spending may be a factor. Or, they see the same thing I did a couple months ago, that retail spending had retrenched far more than was realistic in the long run. But even if both are true, that still seems like its not enough to justify it. Maybe they see the beginnings of small business emergence, as happens typically just after the bottom of a recession?

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 10:57 AM) I think the simpler answer is generally the better answer. No one is signing Thome because he doesnt have very much left in the tank and showed in LA that he cant be counted on as a bench player. You are completely missing the supply side of the argument here. There are a grand total of 14 DH jobs - and only about 3 of them were even potentially open - and Thome will likely get one of them, because he is among the best available. Kotsay on the other hand, is in a job market with 90 jobs (starting outfielders), and STILL hasn't been considered for one in years. There is no contest in terms of who has more value, in Thome versus Kotsay, in terms of getting majority at bats at the DH slot.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 10:54 AM) Yet unemployment still is not rebounding. That doesn't answer the question. There have been reports of expectations that the employment market will likely strengthen in that same period, but only by a little bit - which makes me re-ask the question. What is it the NABE executives see that will justify that growth?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 10:20 AM) No, not at all. They have to feel the environment is safe for them to expand again, without fearing new taxes, new regulations, or other added costs. Which makes it interesting that the NABE was so fully saying that they see that expansion happening in the first half of this year. I wonder what they see as the support for that.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 09:31 AM) Everything in the last 4 months of the housing market needs to be considered in the light of the massive government intervention in the housing market. One way to interpret that is that Chicago saw a rush of buyers to take advantage of the tax credit, and that rush of buyers kept the housing market from falling as fast as it would have had the employment bust been able to affect it on its own. The end result of that might therefore be an expectation of a more severe price drop in that region due to unemployment once the government housing price support program ends. Just to clarify something I think you misunderstood - these were December numbers, AFTER the tax credit expired originally (before it was extended). Most of the country saw a drop, as you'd expect - Chicago saw a rise. That differential is what I am curious about. And in fact, it would seem to indicate that Chicago's market is LESS attached to the tax credit than other markets.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 10:01 AM) Yeah, i'd say Nix. He's got decent defensive versatility. He plays a great 2b, a decent 3b, a miserable SS, and god help us but Ozzie is sure to put him out in LF a few times too. We need his power off the bench, and he's young enough to gamble on. Let's be clear here - Nix was rumored to be a great 2B in scouting reports, but in 2009 he really wasn't great there. He was passable - made a lot of plays others wouldn't, but also made some bone-headed plays.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 01:39 PM) Today was a good day for Chicago news, financially... --Home sales went up for the 6th straight month for the metro, with large year-over-year and even month-over-month gains. --Chicago sales particularly went up big, 40%. --December sales were expected to disappoint, but actually surprised up. --Ford plans to add 1200 new jobs at the Torrance Avenue plant. So, this is even more interesting... while Chicago home sales saw surprisingly sharp gains, on slightly lower prices... the rest of the country saw 15%-ish drops in sales, but HIGHER prices. What does that mean for Chicago? Well, our bubble wasn't nearly as bad as some other places. Maybe Chicago is getting rid of the flotsam and recovering faster? Or, is it a bad sign for Chicago, where there are more foreclosures than in other places? Foreclosure rates in Chicago have nto been as high as many other metros, so I'm leaning more towards the idea that Chicago may be recovering a bit faster than other markets. Hard to say for sure, though.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 08:54 AM) Not in the least. The way to deal with the deficit is to; a.) fix the health care system, and b.) get the economy back growing again. Neither of those will be accomplished by any sort of discretionary spending freeze. it also won't be accomplished with temporary road construction jobs.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 07:57 AM) The problem I have with that is...even if it works spectacularly, we're still the 2008 Chicago Cubs in terms of our big weaknesses. Even if the guys we have all hit and hit for power, we're missing power from the LH side unless Teahen comes up huge, and we're missing a serious OBP/walk threat (who is also useful in driving up pitch counts). There was a reason the Cubs went out and spent a ton of money on Bradley; they got crushed by a team throwing 3 RHP out against them in a row in the playoffs, because all their power was from the RH side. Our pitching looks to be far better than what the Cubs had, though. Offensively? I agree.

QUOTE (Al Lopez's Ghost @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 07:50 AM) Doesn't C. J. Retherford sound like he'd fit in Ozzie ball.10? Good point - I added CJ, removed Kroeger (already have enough outfielders, and Kroeger isn't as grindy or as good defensively as De Aza).

QUOTE (elgonzo4sox @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 07:42 AM) The big problem is not the 25th man. It is the 26th: Lillibridge will be the first non-pitcher called up when injury or poor performance strike. Kenny is going to have to make some more 25th man deals, like last year when he pulled Pods off the scrap heap. The 26th man is not on the roster, and is never the "big problem". Also, lillibridge only comes up of a skill-position infielder is injured (Teahen, Ramirez, Beckham, Vizquel). If anyone else is injured, you will NOT be seeing Lillibridge.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 07:37 AM) I'm going Nix. I like his versatility to play anywhere on the field and play it well. He also adds pop to the bench and would likely be the #1 pinch runner, which is also important. Could easily see a 12th pitcher however, but I think because of the staff, they keep only six relievers. I also believe if we go with six relievers, Torres or even Lucas Harrell (Hahn mentioned him during Soxfest) would be the sixth guy because the Sox need at least one pitcher can go three to four innings and Santos/Nunez don't offer that endurance. I meant 13th pitcher, not 12th - I don't think there is any doubt that we'll have at least 7 in the pen. I wouldn't do that myself, but Ozzie wants 7, I can virtually guarantee it.

Who is most likely? By the way, this is assuming the current 24 is: Peavy MB D1 Floyd Freddie Jenks Putz Thornton Linebrink Pena Williams/Threets Nunez/Hudson/Santos AJP PK Beckham Lexi Teahen Rios TCQ Pierre Jones Kotsay Vizquel Castro

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 06:36 PM) I had a dream last night that I was apart of a South Park episode, and that a fountain of youth had been found, and it was in like one of the coldest spots ever. After much exploration in like -30 temperatures and advice from others, we found a spot where there was a warm water pond over like a stretch of rugged terrain with no roads to it at all. I saw several people find it and then jump in, and before I jumped in, I realized that by jumping in, you actually did go back to your youth, but you had to have true visions and thoughts before actually getting in, otherwise you would disintegrate like the dude in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. But, even if you did have true visions and thoughts, instead of like getting younger or more vitalized, you turned into a character from Sesame Street. So I said f*** it and jumped in and turned into the Cookie Monster, and started hanging out with some other dudes who turned into Grover and Big Bird. Awesome. Lemme guess... are you graduating soon?

QUOTE (Brian @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 07:09 PM)

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 09:15 PM) Why is it old guys who join this team love the number 17? First Griffey, now Vizquel? There is only one true #17, and his name was Ross.

LOL, JimH is no longer allowed on most Sox message boards becuase of his mild psychotic tendencies, so he can only shout on a public blog. Too bad really, because he's a knowledgeable poster. Just layered in mental issues.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 08:21 PM) Cole Armstrong has been added to the spring training NRI list. Well, with Thome out for the DH job...

Well, either they have something else up their sleeve, or this was just incredibly stupid.

QUOTE (longshot7 @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 04:16 PM) Looked a litle too religious for me. How was the preachyness of it? I think you in particular, being a raging secularist, might enjoy it. Seriously.

This could easily be from the Onion... Sarah Palin to be interviewed by Sarah Palin Radio, and "independent" radio program.