NorthSideSox72

133. Also, there were at least 3 countries I typed it that it didn't recognize for some reason. And, there were another 3-ish I couldn't spell right but knew. And, its not 100% right. There is country Dominica, for example. And it misspells Phillpines. Damn, I need to brush up on my caribbean states, and parts of Africa.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Dec 3, 2009 -> 05:26 PM) So with that many sources it must be true right? As a general rule, posting rumors like this without even a whiff of where it came from (link, heard on radio from person X, inside team source, some dude on a message board, etc.), is a bad idea. Can you give us a link or something?

Other than the fact that his name is Angel Pagan, which is hilarious if you think about it for a second... I don't like it.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Dec 3, 2009 -> 01:43 PM) I tend to notice about once a week that a song I used to have in my iTunes library is no longer there. I'm not deleting them, and they don't even seem to be on my computer anymore. Anyone have any clue as to why this might happen? I'm not sure if the songs are deleted at random, or if a bunch are deleted at once and it takes me a while to notice specific ones are missing. I've had this issue, sort of. If I import a song that wasn't from a CD or the iTunes store (which I only do rarely), it will import OK, and play OK, then suddenly one day it will show an exclamation point next to it saying it can't find the source. Is that what is happening for you?

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Dec 3, 2009 -> 11:05 AM) He caught in 3 games last year for 7 innings. I saw at least one of those and I seem to remember Len and Bob kind of tongue in cheeking the commentary about his skills/comfort level back there. Yeah, but he spent most of his minor league career behind the plate. My assumption is (could be wrong) that Fox was moved because the Cubs had a catching logjam anyway, and due to injuries to Johnson and Bradley, needed another OF. He didn't become a OF/1B until 2007. But I also can't find any scouting reports on his defense at C - they may have moved him because of that. If anyone knows about that, I'd be curious to hear it. Bottom line though, he's a very weak option at DH, but may possibly be a backup C option.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Dec 3, 2009 -> 10:49 AM) If we really are low on cash, part of me just wants to acquire a great bullpen arm and then just go to war with what we have (I suppose with Pods or Thome). Would be really nice to let the starters have some security. I still don't see where this philosophy makes any sense. You want to invest the biggest dollars in the bullpen, which should be at least decent next year as is, and then go to the scrap heap for both OF and DH? Pods wants a multi-year deal, you want to take that risk? Bullpens are dicey propositions always, and the very few truly consistently solid arms are very costly for a guy who pitches 3 innings a week. I'd rather invest in the two positions that play every day, and where we can have a better read on future success.

Looking at Fox's career, he really only had two very good partial seasons in the minors, and I see no indication of a guy likely to hit anything like 40 HR. I don't see him being much of a DH, he'd probably be one of the weakest in the league. But... if we think he can handle catching pretty well, I might like the idea of him being the backup C. He can also get some AB's in the OF, and at 1B. If he can be had without giving up any significant prospects, he'd be a cheap option there and have a better bat than most backup catchers.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Dec 3, 2009 -> 10:20 AM) I really think we can keep it in-house this year. Randy Williams was great last year except two outings. Against lefties, he allowed them only to hit .162 with two extra-base hits. Since he only costs about $500K, I see no reason to go out and spend on a lefty reliever. Sure, bring in a bargain player or two, but I think he will ultimately be the best option. However, I suppose this could change a bit if Jenks is traded and Thornton becomes the closer because Williams is probably simply a second lefty. But if Jenks stays, I think Williams will be a great LOOGY for this team. But here are your options according to MLBTradeRumors.com (I'd say slim pickings): Joe Beimel (32) - Type B, not offered arb Bruce Chen (33) Alan Embree (40) Scott Eyre (38) - Type B, not offered arb Casey Fossum (32) Eddie Guardado (39) Mark Hendrickson (36) Ron Mahay (39) Will Ohman (31) - Type B, not offered arb Darren Oliver (39) - Type A, not offered arb Horacio Ramirez (30) Glendon Rusch (35) Scott Schoeneweis (36) Brian Shouse (41) - Type B, offered arb Ken Takahashi (41) Jack Taschner (32) Ron Villone (40) Jamie Walker (38) I think there is a danger in going with Williams. First, despite that he did reasonably well last year, his career history says he's unlikely to do it again. Second, the Sox basically have no lefties in the system who are major league ready or close to it. I think what KW will do, and should do, is pick up one or two Williams-like guys off the scrap heap, knowing that one of the three will likely show something in ST, and the other two can be in Charlotte in case the guy in Chicago screws up. I am not against Williams per se, but, I'd like to see the Sox find something cheap in a LF reliever to add to the pool.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Dec 3, 2009 -> 09:48 AM) Ha one was supposed to be Oklahoma. Gotta love the Big 12 though, where the commish publicly says that Mizzou should be picked over ISU. Gotta love how the Big 12 doesn't give a s*** about us, whether its right or not. Well, really, they are kinda right. ISU should not be selected to a higher level bowl game than Mizzou, this season. That would be absurd. I mean, I'd love it for ISU, but its not really very fair. Iowa State is often an afterthought to the conference (in football) anyway, given the school's history of just not being very good, and not having the type of fan draw that some of the other schools have. Plus, ISU has more stringent academic standards than most if not all of the conference, which tends to handicap them, and the conference may not like that ISU is "different" that way.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 3, 2009 -> 09:30 AM) In reality, the TARP program actually got in and fixed the real problem. The Stimulus really hasn't done that. I pretty much agree. I think some aspects of TARP could have been handled better, but considering the time constraints they were under to act massively, they did reasonably well, IMO. The Stimulus Bill, so far, appears to have partially addressed some short term employment issues. And that is worth something. But I think long term, its a pretty big bust. We'll see if I'm wrong in the next few years.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 3, 2009 -> 09:28 AM) Supposedly Polanco is close to a 3 year deal with the Phillies to play 3B 3 years? Wow.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 3, 2009 -> 09:27 AM) No big surprise, all of these companies want out from under the Feds. Exactly. So far, it looks to me like TARP has been far more successful than the Stimulus Bill. TARP has been seeing regular returns plus good interest, and the actual cost/losses will likely be only a small fraction of the originally allowed $700B in funding.

New jobless claims surprised low again today, 5th straight weekly decline.

The lack of geography knowledge in the US astounds me. Speaking of which... I just remembered that ChiSox_Sonix and I, I think, had some sort of a challenge a while back on this topic. totally forgot to do that. We should find an online test or something.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Dec 3, 2009 -> 08:55 AM) Although it's not sushi, Redlight is pacific rim so keep that in mind. Awesome food though. I should know since I used to work there. I've actually eaten at Redlight before, thought it was quite good.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 2, 2009 -> 02:28 PM) Check out Blue 13 that I sent you, VERY good. I usually drink one of their mircobrews. Also Sepia, blackbird, Redlight are near west and good. And for steakhouses, David Burkes is really f-in good. I'll check out those as well. Thanks for the info!

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Dec 2, 2009 -> 04:19 PM) Haha, reports that the Big 12 bowls will go like this: NC: Texas Cotton: Oklahoma State Holiday: Nebraska Alamo: Tech Sun: Nebraska Insight: Iowa State Independence: Texas A&M Texas: Mizzou Some Mizzou rep was interviewed in the KC Star and apparently the Insight committee is "suddenly enamored" with ISU. Might be a good sign for Iowa to the Fiesta as well, as I would imagine they'd try and get fans of both teams to stay for a week in Az. Nebraska gets to play in two bowl games? Must be nice.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 2, 2009 -> 04:37 PM) Mr. Rongey, I think you're absolutely correct, and you seem to be a very rational person, which is probably one of the reasons you were hired to do what you do. But let's face it....people are this way with EVERYTHING. Everyone likes to add their two cents, everyone always thinks they know everything. And honestly, ridiculous over-reactions like this are part of what drives all mediums that revolve around conversation. The best thing about it being able to go back and laugh at yourself (and others) for what they said at the time. Not really. Certainly, anyone who posts on a board like this will be opinionated. But not everyone is going to jump off a cliff on first word of a trade, while knowing next to nothing about the players involved. As for the second bolded, if conversation is driven by hyperbole, that isn't really conversation, its just yelling for the sake of yelling. Utterly pointless.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 2, 2009 -> 08:54 AM) We can all look back and say that we knew Freddy had arm problems, but I didn't see too many posts in that thread saying anything about arm troubles. It appeared Freddy was losing his fastball that year, but I think most people thought it was more "dead arm" than anything. If you look at Freddy's whip that year, he posted something like a 1.28, which is very respectful for a starter. Apparently he was just allowing a lot of big hits at the wrong time, because his ERA was over 4.5, and that's with a very solid last month or so. I think what helped Kenny was Freddy coming on strong in his last few starts and recapturing some of his value. Getting Floyd and Gio wasn't exactly a huge haul, considering Gavin's performance to that time, but Kenny was very confident that they would be able to fix his mechanical issues, stating almost immediately that they had analyzed his delivery for a full day before making the trade and finding flaws in it that would allow us to turn him around. But I seem to remember many thinking Gio was the bigger piece to that deal than Floyd. Obviously, things turned out about as well as can be expected with Gavin. I'm often very wrong in my predictions, so I'll take this opportunity to point out that not only did I like the trade, but I even specifically referred to Garcia's velocity loss.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Dec 2, 2009 -> 11:45 AM) I have a couple of Wave invites, who was it earlier that wanted them? ME!!!!!!

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Dec 2, 2009 -> 12:01 PM) Yeah. Only Green Zebra of the 3 is considered a veg restaurant although they typically have one seafood dish. It's Chicago's only higher end veg restaurant. It's the guy who also owns Spring and Chophouse Custom House. Knew just opened up by my house and focuses on eco-friendly sustainable foods. They have plenty of meat on the menu. Hachi's is my local sushi/Asain place that I really enjoy. Cool venue and great food. Knew sounds interesting, I'll have to look into that one, especially since I know where you live, so this place must be nearby for us too.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 2, 2009 -> 11:13 AM) What kind of food do you like? I just went to a great place called Blue 13 on Erie. Small and intimate setting where the chef makes meals fresh and sometimes comes out to chat. Really top notch food and a decent wine selection. Service was excellent. Its a modern play on traditional food. But once again I could add more spots if I know what you are looking for. I eat out. Alot. Well, eliminate the following: Sushi, vegetarian, Indian/Pakistani, Pizza, Italian, Mexican/Latin. Not what I am looking for and/or one of us won't eat it and/or something we do too often. Also, no chains. A place with some variety is good, not too narrow. A really good steak house would be great, but so would any place that does some unique things. A place that takes reservations is preferable. My wife drinks wine but I drink beer - GOOD beer, not Miller Lite - so a place that has a good list of wines AND beers, to go with really good food, would be excellent. Its amazing how hard it is to find a good restaurant that also has a wide selection of beers.

QUOTE (Rex Kicka** @ Dec 2, 2009 -> 10:46 AM) Pew did a phone survey asking people to answer twelve questions about current events. Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed got 6 or less correct out of 12. How did you do? http://pewresearch.org/politicalquiz/ 12. Not surprising that the majority of the public is clueless.

QUOTE (Cubano @ Dec 2, 2009 -> 07:56 AM) I just want know why we are still in Iraq after he repeatelly said during his campaign we would be out immediately if he happened to become president. Let's not forget and give him a free pass. Let's rationalize health care. This is an excellent idea. Let's spend money we do not have. This is an excellent idea. Let's have more wars with Chinese money. The best of all ideas. I guess I will have to retire at age 80. Higher taxes are coming down the road for sure and my kids will be picking up the tab too. Good Bless our leaders! LOL Obama never, ever, said he'd pull everyone out immediately. That would be impossible in any case, as LF said. And... I assume you meant "ration" health care, not "rationalize", because "rationalize" would be a good thing.

List of Sox-affiliated players in the various winter leagues, I bolded some of them that I thought were worth highlighting... MEXICAN LEAGUE Jesus Avila (2B, played at GF last year), Caneros de los Mochis Ehren Wassermann (RHP, Charlotte), Venados de Mazatlan (and he's been used as a starter down there) DOMINICAN LEAGUE Cole Armstrong (C, Charlotte), Aguilas Cibaenas Franklyn German (RHP, maybe still with us?), Aguilas Cibaenas Wander Perez (LHP, Winston-Salem last year), Estrellas de Oriente Santo Luis (RHP, Winston-Salem last year), Estrellas de Oriente Kelvin Jimenez (RHP, Charlotte last year), Estrellas de Oriente Tony Pena (RHP, listed as Sox, not sure why), Gigantes del Cibao Charlis Burdie (RHP, Winston-Salem last year), Gigantes del Cibao Jhonny Nunez (RHP, Charlotte last year, maybe Sox this year), Tigres del Licey Stefan Gartrell (OF, Charlotte last year), Toros del Este Alejandro De Aza (OF, FA acquisition), Toros del Este PUERTO RICAN LEAGUE Alex Rios (OF, CWS), Criollos de Caguas Hector Santiago (LHP, Winston-Salem last year), Criollos de Caguas Miguel Negron (OF, Charlotte last year), Lobos de Arecibo VENEZUELAN LEAGUE Eider Torres (SS, Charlotte last year), Bravos de Margarita *Henry Blanco (possible target), Bravos de Margarita Josh Kroeger (OF, Charlotte last year), Leones del Caracas Miguel Socolovich (RHP, Winston-Salem last year), Leones del Caracas Clevelan Santeliz (RHP, Birmingham last year), Navegantes del Magallanes Freddy Garcia (RHP, CWS), Navegantes del Magallanes Johny Celis (1B, Great Falls last year), Tiburones de la Guaira Eduardo Escobar (SS, Kannapolis last year), Tiburones de la Guaira (he’s listed at 5’10”, 150 pounds – damn that boy is skinny) Joucer Martinez (RHP, Great Falls last year), Tiburones de la Guaira Jon Link (RHP, Charlotte last year, CWS this year maybe?), Tiburones de la Guaira Fernando Hernandez (RHP, Charlotte last year), Tiburones de la Guaira