BMac Attack

QUOTE(Benchwarmerjim @ Nov 22, 2007 -> 08:29 PM) one of the designs I saw was interesting. Looked like giant pirate sails from the blog DRaysBay http://www.draysbay.com/story/2007/11/18/93311/068 That's one of those designs you can look at and confidently say, "there is no way in hell that's being built."

I don't know... Cordero's stats, at least last year, look quite a bit better - ERA/BB/K/WHIP, etc. Obviously they're not exactly comparable, given that Cordero is a closer, but his career stats are more compelling too, considering that he's pitched mostly in the AL rather than spending his whole career in the NL. Not mad about the Linebrink deal, but I'm not ready to be thrilled over it, either. Seems like a lot of years. However, I think Cordero's deal is waaay overblown - the guy's getting Mariano Rivera money, practically. So is it two bad deals or just one? Can't tell yet.

Sorry, I'm hopping on a bus to Thanksgiving dinner here in a second, so I'm not going to be able to defend this right up front. However, what I think is that the Sox are actually less of a mess than I thought them to be a day ago, and the reason for that is they didn't sign Torii Hunter. That's just too big a contract for a team that finished 72-90 and has this many holes. It's going to take a few years to right this ship if we want to do it the right way, and though we should have gone into rebuilding with a better agenda, all I can ask is to not give out contracts that will tie our hands down the road 3-5 years from now when we're competitive. Hunter will probably be playing past his prime in 4-5 years - his history has marked him as a bit fragile in my mind, and we didn't want to pay for that. The Sox should be on a 2 to 3-year plan. If we're going to be competitive before then, it's going to have to be cobbled together no matter what. Signing Torii Hunter was going to make us better, but not good enough. Thank God Kenny didn't overpay chasing a really foolish dream of some kind of miracle turnaround, even if he wanted to. He's now got a chance to change this organization with some sort of actual plan. Obviously Hunter wasn't impressed enough with the current plan to sign, although if we really got outbid $20M it may not have mattered. The Cabrera signing still makes sense to me in light of the failed Hunter signing; it does make us a bit more competitive this year as well as freeing up some money. Still a pretty darn good trade in my mind, considering we weren't going to be resigning Jon at his likely price. In my mind, it's a Thanksiving miracle. Go enjoy your turkey and pumpkin pie, and be thankful that we aren't, as of right now, launching off on some half-baked "reloading" plan.

Bye-bye Jonny... it's a hell of a lot nicer in Southern Cali than Chicago all winter anyway. Way to be my favorite ever Sox-Cubs trade. Totally f***ed 'em on that one. The very definition of a solid starter.

QUOTE(Buehrle>Wood @ Nov 19, 2007 -> 03:25 PM) How could this be setting up for something bigger? Maybe for the Angels, sure. But Garland has way more value on the trade market than Cabrera I would think. So where does that lead us? Honestly the only thing I've really got for you is that maybe the money saved is thrown at a FA and we go from there. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense for me if the only thing we've done is improved our chance at draft picks. Matter of fact, it seems pretty awful if that's where our priorities are in trading one of our more marketable pieces. Given that, I can't assume that Kenny Williams is incompetent enough to have that be his strategy.

Jon always just seemed like more of a California guy anyway... seriously though I've got to agree with the people saying this is for something bigger. Possible draft compensation seems like a silly reason to pull the trigger on this deal, this early in the offseason. Right now I'm shaking my head, but I've gotta believe more news is coming down in the coming few days.

Ugh... this team makes me so angry... Seriously we saved $500K, essentially chump change, and brought back part of the overall problem, at an area we needed to improve upon particularly. I guess it lessens some of the sting of paying $5M for that level of ballplayer, but not much. I'm not the biggest Uribe-hater out there, but there were and are better options than giving him $4.5 million dollars to eat/strike out a whole lot. Prove me wrong, Juan (or KW). Please.

Ah... a Darin Erstad-free White Sox. I'm actually breathing easier, it's like being rid of a bad cold. A bad cold with a penchant for the DL and general uselessness.

QUOTE(max power @ Oct 30, 2007 -> 05:46 PM) I think he did that before 07, and wasn't rewarded. Personally, I don't like to make the same mistake twice. Ah, but Brian made one big mistake before 07 - that would be making an utter fiasco of his rookie year when he was finally given his chance and the full faith of the organization. Hence, it's gonna take a little time for "reward" to come back into this equation. In the mean time, it'd help to get healthy, get hitting, and keep his mouth shut unless he has something nice to say.

I feel for Brian as much as anybody, and I really do think he deserves another look at some point before we totally give up on him. However, I think when your name was synonymous with "suck" for as long as Brian's was in 2006, the way to go about a comeback is diplomatically - showing you've grown up and might be able to contribute as a teammate as well as a player. Brian is showing neither right now, regardless of how he feels he's being treated.

I like it... I've always liked the Barons logo, actually, and have ordered a hat from their team store. That was a little shady, the receipt was handwritten but I did eventually get my hat - ya gotta love Minor League Baseball!

For a manager that has given you that kind of success and has always been an example of total class and calm, treating him in this way is the height of insult. Good for Joe Torre; the Yankees are worse off without him no matter who they buy now, player or manager. And thank God for that!

Bah - no way. This statement is sadly appropriate for many conversations about the Sox nowadays: WE WON THE WORLD SERIES JUST TWO YEARS AGO.

JUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRIBE! You gotta love it! GOOOO SOX!

My God, this may just be the most maddeningly frustrating team to watch... they could play so WELL! Keep fighting boys

WOOOHOOO!!! I'm ready to call it a season now, I think...

You can't complain about the Sox not controlling their own destiny, though. By the end of those 50 games, we'll see precisely what kind of team we're dealing with. Couldn't ask for a better way to get a feel for a team I feel is kind of struggling for an identity.

QUOTE(Texsox @ May 24, 2007 -> 02:10 PM) Anyone actually check out those sites before signing up for classes? Hey jim, what do your students say about you? We have college-run websites (by the student assembly) that have a really detailed analysis of the course by different anonymous students, and you have to have a password to prove you're a student to post. I always try to keep in mind that the only people who ever write anything are the ones who really like or didn't like a class, but they can be very helpful in avoiding trainwreck classes.

What are those numbers in the "R" column of the linescore?

Coronary avoided. Thanks Luis.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ May 21, 2007 -> 08:44 PM) LOL, Mac never knows where his pitches are anyways

The umpiring has been less than stellar tonight. I don't know where two of Mac's pitches were in that AB.

QUOTE(Dan @ May 21, 2007 -> 08:32 PM) Defensively Ah. Damn choppy MLB.tv. Cheerfully redacted.

QUOTE(kyyle23 @ May 21, 2007 -> 08:26 PM) eh? Maybe I'm wrong but I had read Hawk being quoted as saying this last year. And there was a better 3B than Crede on the field at the time. And this league has A-Rod, for example.

Did Hawk just REPEAT the "Crede is the best 3B in the league" comment? I thought if you said something like that you just never acknowledge it and hope it doesn't ever come up again.