Gregory Pratt

From their Konerkomoter about whether or not he'd stay, November 30th, 2005: Is the Tribune wrong? I don't know. But that's where I got that.

Jesus Christ, Zambrano -- seven walks?

ChicagoSports.com said it was an arthritic hip when I googled it, so I don't know.

http://www.slate.com/id/2171520/

QUOTE(WCSox @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 04:01 PM) Why would Yankees fans envy Braves fans when they've won more titles and have become known as a dynasty of sorts that the Braves need to win a few more times to be able to claim title of? Your inability to understand analogies between different sports is perplexing. Purist baseball fans should love the Braves, especially over the Yankees who are a successful organization but a repulsive one as well, IMO.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 03:48 PM) Yep, just like the Colts. And nobody in New England envies them. I don't think that their stadium is all that. It's inferior to several of the others built back in the '90s, IMO. And for a team that's so competitive all of the time, their attendance doesn't really reflect that, as they're consistently out-drawn by the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Cubs, Angels, Cardinals, Dodgers, Giants, and even the Phillies and Padres now. I agree that the Braves WERE the model franchise back in the '90s, but I don't think that's true anymore. Football analogies again, and bad ones! Why would NE fans envy Colts fans when they've won more titles and have become known as a dynasty of sorts that the Colts need to win a few more times to be able to claim title of? The Sox organization isn't similar to either of those, especially not Belichick's Patriots who are definitely closer to Schuerholz or Beane than Kenny Williams.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 03:39 PM) I've been hearing the stuff about his hip for the past seven years. From what I understand, it's not a degenerative condition. He's not going to go down in flames like Albert Belle. His hip's arthritic, IIRC.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 03:36 PM) Yep, except winning championships (a whole 3 in 131 years), which is what "baseball fans everywhere" really care about. That's like saying that the Indianapolis Colts are the envy of football fans everywhere. Well, that's why I was talking about the Schuerholz Braves, which have won one in seventeen years but their division so many times and been to the playoffs almost every damn year. They can give away a ton of talent in a trade and still have plenty in their system. They always have young players who can come in and work the future. They respect the game and have a fine stadium and their commentators are good, too.

Mastiffs are great dogs. Friendly as can be, lazy too. I love them. They're really one of maybe five types of dogs I can tolerate. I can't imagine what set them off.

QUOTE(WCSox @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 03:30 PM) Bias = poor analysis He's 31 and he can move to DH when/if his defense regresses... and there's no evidence of that yet. Paulie's also a lock for 30 HRs and an .850-.900 OPS every year. He's also healthy (typically over 150 games per year) and his contract is reasonable. Until there's some evidence of his bat speed decreasing (which there probably won't be for another three or four years), there's no reason to move him. He really is playing on borrowed time, with his hip. I hope I'm wrong. I know that the people at Rush do really good work. I'm not saying move him for a bag of balls, but you definitely consider it and look around. I would.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 03:20 PM) Kind of hard to take your posts seriously when someone shows you a series of above average numbers and plus defensive skills, and instead of responding with some sort of valid counterpoint, you just decide they tell you something else. "Do you think that's air you're breathing now?" Numeric rating doesn't necessarily mean that much to me in this regard. First base is a position where you put just about anybody who can hit but can't field and so it's got a lot of weak defensive players there. That kind of rating at first is skewed. Everything I've read and seen tells me he's below average to average and he's excellent at making picks on bad throws. That about sums it up.

QUOTE(iamshack @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 10:28 AM) If only we could all be like John Schulerholz and the Braves.... The Braves organization and model under Schuerholz should be the envy of baseball fans everywhere. They do just about everything right.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 11:30 AM) I believe its one of the winningest over the past 25 years. For the most part, it's consistently average with a few above average years here and a World Series. It might be top ten over the last twenty five years, but I don't know the sheer number.

That says average to me, at best. QUOTE(iamshack @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 01:48 PM) Agreed, maybe Schulerholz said PK was bad in his latest book. And that's not even accounting for all the errors he's bailed his infielders out of this season. I'll say this: Konerko is thirty and plays like he's thirty four. He hasn't got too many good years left, and he's a prime "Trade him for good value before you're stuck with him at a bad value" candidate to me, but besides that -- I guess I've got to laugh at your Schuerholz crack. It's a cute rib. And since I make jokes about the players Kenny Williams thinks he can make into studs all the time, I guess it's well-played. Except for the fact that I gave him plenty of credit for his picks which are the only thing he does particularly well, so it was "accounted for all the errors he's bailed his infielders out of."

QUOTE(witesoxfan @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 02:56 PM) Quite the contrary, I find him a bit underrated. He is the best prospect the White Sox have produced in quite a few years, Josh Fields included, simply because of his 5 tool ability. It's unfortunate that he can't wear a Sox uniform for the next 10 years, but Vazquez is good, so it all works. I'm not sold on Javier Vazquez for the next two years, and I'm not entirely sold on Young, but I'd prefer Young.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 07:33 AM) Vick would have been far better off if he abided by the laws of the land. He's getting what he deserves. He is an idiot. Sure, I can agree with that, but that's not any answer to the question that was asked.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 02:34 PM) I saw a girl at a game a year or two ago wearing a very tight shirt that said... "I'd kneel for cotts" I've seen that before.

QUOTE(Steff @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 02:31 PM) "Hot Scott" didn't do it for me like "Hot Cotts" did.. Same here.

QUOTE(Steff @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 02:19 PM) I will conceed it's results led to orgasmic times.. but that it specifically let to orgasims... LMAO... enough Sex back into the board the past 2 days for ya CC? SCOTT PODSEDNIK!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111111111

QUOTE(Yossarian @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 01:17 PM) Which all goes to show you how dicey drafting baseball "prospects" is. It's so much more difficult than football or basketball. Can't miss guys like Prior flame out. Can't miss guys like Floyd never are. Then you have leftovers like Mike Piazza and Mark Buerhle. Baseball is such a hard game to play well. Even harder to draft and scout well. Prior didn't flame out because he sucked.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 01:13 PM) Look up Dewon Brazelton on wikipedia. You will laugh. There was the "change of scenery" trade. A decent spring training, followed by horrible starts, and now 3 releases. No one really ever gave the poor kid 10 or 15 starts in a row to see what he could do. Its really a shame. KW should sign him up. He's with the Pirates now. Let's trade Contreras for Jack Wilson and Brazelton. Future!

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 01:04 PM) It was an old Jayson Stark article about the draft which was days away. Brazelton the guy picked right in front of Floyd was being compared to Fergie Jenkins. We should pick him up too! How can we lose?

Yeah. In principle, I don't oppose the move, but I can't believe we f***ed up that badly in projecting and evaluating Brian Anderson.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 12:55 PM) I dont know, EVERYONE in the world thought that Javy would put this team over the top to repeat. We also didnt know that Brian Anderson would be such a ridiculous bust. To pull off a trade, as I'm sure you know, you look at a million things. Scouting reports, video, statistics, history, etc. etc., and I would guess that whoever told Kenny about Young and Anderson told him Young would be better (that'd be my guess) but that Anderson would be all right. I wonder who these scouts were, and why White Sox scouts didn't identify his terrible approach and swing from the minor leagues. I know he hit well in the minors, but the IL isn't that good. Did they just look at his numbers and imagine he could fill in suitably as a result? How was that decision made? Scouts, and Kenny, failed badly on that one.

QUOTE(Dick Allen @ Aug 3, 2007 -> 12:14 PM) I just read a 2001 scouting report on Floyd when he still was in high school. One scout liked him better than Prior. He said Floyd threw 95 and had a devastating curveball. He said Floyd could pitch in the major leagues "right now"(2001). Must have been a White Sox scout. By the way, did anybody not like him in that report you read?