Gregory Pratt

Firejoemorgan had a good riff recently ripping Hawk and DJ for talking about how nobody could've foreseen their terrible season -- nobody! and they're like, uh huh, plenty of people, sorry!

Way to work him, AJ.

QUOTE(ottawa_sox @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 01:56 PM) He's 37. So it makes sense to give him a day off here and there. My reaction resulted from the multitudinous, infantile, daily Thome negatives that comes more from the Sox downward spiral than any true cause and effect. Yeah. He's thirty seven wtih a violent swing and a body that needs rest. He shouldn't really be seeing left-handers, either.

QUOTE(KevinM @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 01:57 PM) 1. Podsednik is nothing. Garbage. Terrible. Leadoff man is not a position, it's a spot in the order that easily could've been given to Tad. 2. The chances of Dye having another season like that were about 1/100. 3. Ross Gload more valuable than Jack Cust? That's a joke. Good GMs foresee this kind of season and rebuild when it is not anticipated. Bad GMs stick with guys too long (Podsednik) and reward guys for past performances, not future success and potential (Contreras). This was a joke of an offseason. Cust had a label put on him by baseball and he's clearly shown it to be wrong. He is a very good, productive player at the ML level, and it's shrewd moves like that that differentiate between good GMs and bad ones. When we were dying for outfield help, why didn't we bring him in? What would it have hurt? A terrible prospect and that's all? Why not? Billy Beane isn't a favorite of mine, but he good.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 01:52 PM) So you think KW did a horrible job as a GM by not unloading his best defensive IF'er his MVP candiate from last season and his #3 starter, oh and for not going into the season without a lead off man. so to back up his back to back 90 win seasons and a ws title, he should have basically thrown in the towel before this season and dealt 4 significant players for question marks. And with that white flag you believe he would have been a better GM. explain to me how that makes ANY sense whatsoever. To best make a run at the divison, the best way to do that is subtract talent, and add question marks? The Atlanta Braves did it for over a decade: dealing away proven commodities for "question marks" even though people said it didn't make "any sense whatsoever." I doubted that Crede would come back at full health and I know he'll never put up his 2006 line again. With Fields available, you save money, add speed and give your prospect his time. PS: What're you talking about? KW did go into this season without a leadoff man! And no, I don't think he's a horrible GM just because of last offseason. Garland, Crede will never be as good as 2005-2006. That's a no-brainer. If you could deal Dye for quite the package, which I tihnk you could've, you do it because there's no way he'd do it again. His being kept doesn't bug me as much as Crede, Garland, Erstad and Podsednik do. And Balta: I'm sure Crede wasn't a super hot commodity all around baseball but the Angels were very interested and while you weren't going to take their whole farm, you could've gotten a good amount for him and save some cash and bring Fields up. Of course, you can't compete without hoping that veterans with health issues and/or age and their personal histories and limitations as players will have ANOTHER career year. Oh no no no.

QUOTE(Yossarian @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 11:36 AM) All I know is that every time I make a sentimental visit to Albany Park, I want to cry. The Jewish, German, Irish and Scandinavian immigrants who came there treated the neighborhood a lot different than the current clientele. Oh well, gentrificiation is slowly moving into that high density apartment neighborhood. Time for the gangbangers to start finding a different war zone. Yes arresting and deporting that woman was long overdue. And people felt the same about the boldened as you do about the Mexicans.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 01:48 PM) Owens steals again. Was that a pitch-out? (Sportsline said so, but I don't trust it). Yes. -- I'd still like to know who told Hawk it'd be a good idea to yell "Daggumit" or "Dadgummit" or whatever he's yelling out there.

Crede, Garland and Dye would've definitely been dealt, Podsednik wouldn't be back (nor would Erstad as anything but a bench player). What would the returns have been? Depends, and I have my opinions on what you could've gotten. I think Willits was a strong possibility in a package for Crede, but I'll decline to speculate on the others except to say that with their great value, I'm sure you could've picked up a bunch of things. Oh, and Jack Cust = great pick-up for Oakland and wouldn't have hurt for us.

Why didn't Danks start game one?

QUOTE(ottawa_sox @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 01:39 PM) The Thome death watch continues on Soxtalk as a stiff neck prompts the veteran player's funeral dirge. WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO? His body can't handle a full season anymore and I think that's very clear.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 01:41 PM) f***ing sportsline now shows the Sox playing 3 shortstops. 2 of them are Uribe.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 01:23 PM) Well with Pratt's thinking, every team should sell off players at peak value, regardless of whether you want to make a run at competing at all. As long as you bring in more and more and more prospects that are highly rated. Of course out of the last several WS champions I think maybe one had a young team of players before their primes or in their primes, the majority had veteran players playing a majoe role, but dont tell that to the spect lovers on this board. Cause we all KNOW that minor league scouting is the KEY to winning in the MLB. You don't sell EVERYONE at peak value. Clearly, an organization needs some kind of core. Atlanta? Would never trade Chipper Jones. New York? Reyes, of course, is untouchable, and probably always will be. Rivera? Sizemore? Hell, Hafner? Us? I suppose we've got Konerko and Buehrle, but I for one would definitely trade Konerko, though I do hesitate because I worry about killing our franchise' fanbase. Not sure what to think, though, about whether or not the fans will keep on comign out year after year. But Garland? That was a no-brainer, IMO, and KW blew it. Garland at his peak value isn't Greg Maddux or Tom Glavine or Santana or Beckett or anyone that's very very very good that's going to bite you in the ass for years to come. Was Dye that kind of person? Probably not. But I definitely believe in trading veteran pieces away for younger, more exciting guys who you'll control for years. To do that, though, you've really got to trust your scouts and have good coaches.

Is danks starting game two?

QUOTE(Jenks Heat @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 01:18 PM) Thome out with a stiff neck. Yeah, his days of playing every day or near every day are over. His body can't handle it.

I meant good at getting reads, jumps and running that year, not hitting.

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 01:03 PM) I don't feel Owens is a good player, but I don't believe he has no shot at stealing 70 bases. Podsednik stole 70 bases in 2004 with a .314 OBP; Owens can be atleast just as good as a basestealer as Podsednik, and perhaps a better one. That means all he has to do is get on at about a .320-.330 clip and have a hell of a year stealing bases. That's not an out of this world number, and it's reachable for a 2nd or 3rd year player in the league, whether you hit .250 or .300. Haha, we'll see. But Podsednik was VERY good in 2004 and before.

QUOTE(Jenks Heat @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 12:49 PM) Jerry Owens and Josn Fields began playing baseball full time after Soxtalk was open for business. Both seem to be gamers and are geting better at-bats. They along with Ricar appear to be able to be servicable major league players. None of the three seem to be overmatched based on where they should be, which is AAA. They do not need to be All-Stars. The players that are paid to be All-Stars need to be, then this team will compete. Owens is a better player than Pods now and IN MY OPINION Fields is a better hitter now than Crede. They are going to get better the more they play. Where did I criticize Fields? Hell, it is true that I'm withholding judgement on him, to see where he is next year (and he needs to improve his mediocre defense), but I like him overall and have fair enough hopes. But Owens, nah. He's not good and shouldn't be leading off anything resembling a championship contender. I don't care how much of a "gamer" he is. We've been down that road before.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 12:45 PM) You may turn out to be right. But his history suggests otherwise. He had a .365 OBP in A+, then a .393 in AA... got to AAA and had a .328 in 2006 (his first real struggle), but in his second year at AAA, it was up to .361. And note he made those moves up in 4 seasons, so its not like he spent 8 years getting there. Clearly, he has show he can meet new levels of picthing and improve. That's why my opinion is that given a full season, he will likely go more like .340 or .350, and then probably improve from there. Point stands, though, that the IL is very very bad and while minor league statistics of course are statistics to be looked at, my own eyes and recent history suggest that Owens' success in AAA and lower is probably just an aberration or more accurately a typical in baseball whereby a player can handle the minors but not the majors. QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 12:45 PM) See, we're two different types of people...that's part of the problem. Some see the Sox as glass-half-empty, some see the Sox as glass-half-full....I see the Sox as Half glass full. I don't see it as glass-half-empty because I want to or like negativity. I see it as half-glass-empty because I think it is and I'm not willing to delude myself into thinking that Gavin Floyd has a real shot at being anything resembling a good major league starting pitcher and probably not a good reliever, either. I'm unwilling to believe that KW has been a good GM since 2006 or before 2005, because of his mediocrity then, the state of our organization's scouting and coaching and his refusal to make moves in 2006 that could've benefitted us then and his refusal to sell anyone when they're at the peak of their value. I am unwilling to pretend that this lineup isn't slow and one-dimensional, that Owens is a good player or that I have faith in the aging Thome-Konerko-Dye trifecta. I don't believe that Crede will be back and do much as his 2006 was, IMO, a career year and he'll be coming off of serious back problems. I don't think that Garland's much better than league average or that he can be counted on for the next few years to be anything more than a little beneath league average. This bullpen is atrocious. And worst of all, we are f***ed if one of the good starters (either way) gets injured because we don't have anyone in the minors who could step in.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 12:37 PM) Michael Vick is snitchin' and might just get some time off because of it. He could end up serving a large portion of his jail time (which could end up being only 1 year or less total) under House arrest. If that's the case, f*** this justice system. I'm already greatly cynical about it, and this would only make it a lot worse.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 12:36 PM) Since his callup, Owens has 16 SB's (16 of 19, or 84%), through 44 games. Projected to a full season, that is about 58 steals. And, he seems to be getting better at stealing. So he is ALREADY stealing at a close to a 70-per-season rate, even though he has just started learning to hit major league pitching. Therefore, your comparison to Floyd (who has proven virtually nothing yet) is bogus. Owens MAY not turn out to be anything. But if he can steal 58 bases at his current OBP, and he is at all capable of improving his OBP even marginally, then he could very well steal 70 bases. And besides, even 50 is a big number. Umm, I didn't compare him to Floyd at all. I was addressing Balta about how he always posts the most positive but unrealistic hypotheticals such as when he said blank or blank. But that aside, Owens will not steal 58 in a full season I don't care what total he's at now. And I don't he'll keep his current OBP forever or improve it even marginally. That's my prediction.

Against Bob Wickman in walk-off situations, he goo

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Aug 24, 2007 -> 11:35 AM) If Owens could steal 70 bases and Richar and Fields could each swipe 10-20...that makes your whole team seem an awful lot faster. You do that a lot. "If Gavin Floyd turned into a good pitcher," "If Owens could steal 70 bases," "If Owens develops the good eye he had in the [terrible] International League," "If" and "If" and "If" but they're all unlikely hypotheticals except for Fields + Richar stealing 10-20. Owens can't steal seventy, he won't even be on base enough to steal seventy bases. S'not gonna happen.

Michael Moore's interview with Heston in Bowling for Colombine = sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeazy.

She's an idiot. How could she have left her sanctuary like that and expect anything else?

Sounds right.