Gregory Pratt

I'm handcuffed by Congress.

Every pitcher is an injury risk and I imagine that the White Sox won't even be in on the bidding. Although, I should add that I was being mocking when I said, "We don't take that kind of risk." It's no secret that I dislike our organization's three-years-ONLY policy.

The White Sox will never sign Johan Santana. We don't take that kind of risk.

It's just what I think. Wouldn't be the first time that a player was willing to do something because of race. Probably shouldn't have mentioned it because whenever you mention race people get on you, but I always thought it was more likely than "wanted to play on a contender with Scott Podsednik and Jon Garland!" I'm going to bow out of this discussion, though.

I don't think I ever used the word honest. You keep quoting me as having used the word "honest" and that's dishonest because I never did. You can't directly attribute something to me that I never said, so settle down tiger, and put that BANGBANGLOLOLOL hammer away, plz. And honestly, I think he would've broken his handshake agreement with any other GM. The fact that Williams is a black man -- like Dye, if you haven't noticed -- likely had something to do with his willingness to stand by his word. As far as the whole contender issue: it wasn't as if the 2005 White Sox were predicted to do a damn thing and it would've been hard to predict them to. I doubt Jermaine Dye said to himself, "Buehrle'll have a good year, and Garcia might too -- he's had them before! But damn, I'll bet Contreras and Garland start dealing, too, and I want to play on a contending team!" 2005 White Sox weren't contenders on paper. It's all kind of moot, as arguing over a baseball player's motivation is pretty silly. But personally, I think it had more to do with KW being black and JD being black and gratefulness that he'd given him a contract and JD had already shaken on it than "desire to play on a contender."

Right.

I would hope that no team is dumb enough to take on Pavano. He'll never pitch for them anyway.

Now that I think about it -- isn't it against SoxTalk protocol to allow threads like this to go on? I don't mind, personally -- hell, if it were up to me, you'd be able to talk about whatever whenever and say whatever. But, I'm curious what makes Saddam's execution and entries about it different than Tookie's.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Dec 30, 2006 -> 10:41 PM) He sucks. Fixed.

WFAN in NY reports. Yankees get two prospects. No word yet who.

Easily Borat. Easily.

Texas offered the better deal after us. He kept his word. What I'm saying is, there's no way he'd give us a discount again like he did then because he only gave us that discount in the first place because he'd given his word to Kenny that he'd sign before he'd been offered more money. There are no guarantees now.

I think it's pretty naive to think he came here because we gave him the best chance to win. He came here because we'd offered him the best contract at the time, he had accepted, and didn't want to let Kenny down by going back on him.

QUOTE(NorthSideSox72 @ Dec 30, 2006 -> 12:04 PM) And Dye is not exactly young at this point. And he already has a history of taking a good but not necessarily highest money deal to stay where he wants to play. No. He has a history of taking the best offer he'd gotten -- here -- and then getting a new one AFTER but keeping his original word. If the Rangers had offered him the bigger contract before we had, there's no way he'd have turned them down. Money talks. That said, I admire that he's a man of his word, but he's exactly that. He's not, on the other hand, a guy who takes less money just because he likes the environment.

I have no problem shelling out big money to JD for a three year contract but there's no way he takes a three year contract. He's as gone as Buehrle.

How come you left out the contrasting view, in the very next paragraph of your same article, that said he was afraid?

Mom told me the most priceless story about how she was kicked off the bus on Tuesday. She was sick and coughing heavily -- into her sleeve and hand, mind you -- and the drive finally pulled over and said, "Lady, you've got to get off the bus" and for fifteen minutes she sat there pretending not to speak English! "Lady, you need to get off. DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M SAYING?" "No." Finally, when she was getting off the bus she turns and says, "Hey everybody. f*** you!" and catches the bus that was about a block behind the bus she'd been kicked off. Crafty! Maybe there's something wrong with she and I but we both found that hilarious. That type of confrontation and anger is humorous to us both. To me, most confrontation is comical provided it doesn't lead to violence or broken hearts -- although the latter one can indeed be funny at times. I'm tempted to take this to the CTA as I have friends at the top of the Authority (specifically, fathers of a few friends) but I'm not going to. That said, I thought the driver was way out of line and I know that she'd lose her job for such a thing. My mom was a little out of line, too, at the end -- though I've gotta say that I admire her theatrics!

That reminds me of something about myself. I've prided myself on being a Robin Hood-type bully. Since the seventh grade I've been going after kids in my same year who pick on other kids. Which is amusing in its own way since the boys I wind up feuding with are usually a few inches taller than me -- most males are as I'm a Senior in HS who is five eight -- and heavier -- which is another usual, as I'm 150 pounds, lite for even my frame. Well, Gabriel S. was a punk. He made fun of the boy in our class who had a speech impediment and he talked about "hoes" and went around picking on a few of the weaker kids who had no social skills. Well, I didn't learn how to swim in the seventh grade -- though I learned about a month into it, as we had swimming classes -- and one day in the showers I was drying off and he said, "You learn how to swim, f*****?" and up until this point, I'd just been the know-it-all smart-aleck, but not Robin Hood. For some reason his comment set me off and I grabbed him and flung him across the showers where he landed in his bluejeans and got soaked. As time went on, I became more physically aggressive -- to life in general: holding my head high, feeling confident enough to race people down hallways, etc. -- and he and I began to feud. One day, we were playing basketball in gym and he'd been picked before me. I was picked nearly last, but I was a hard-nosed player who takes fair outside shots. I was just picked last because of my height. So, he is playing against me and I'm defending him. After several blocks -- big, booming blocked shots -- he got mixed up and ran to the other side of the court and shot at the wrong basket, missing. I laughed at him and so did everyone else. He thought it was fairly funny. But not for long. See, we had an impromptu assembly about half a year later. They were there to teach us about Respect. They asked for an audience volunteer to go up there and share a story about respecting others. AKA, they wanted to hear a story about a time when we'd disrespected someone. I went up there and told Gabriel's story and then said, "And that boy is sitting in this very room!" and everybody was laughing hysterically and cheering me on. They decided, for some reason, to call Gabriel to the stage. He went up there and they asked me what I wanted to say to him, with a wink and a nudge. I said, "I got ya," and I said to Gabriel, "My dear boy, you can't expect to shoot into the wrong basket AND MISS and not get guff for it!" and all laughed. I then said, "But really, man. What's wrong with you?" and he turned tomato red. The lady took the microphone from me and covered it and told me that that wasn't what I was supposed to do! I said, Okay okay, I got ya, and went back on the mic. I said, "I'm sorry man, but if you want, I'll help you hone up on your skills," and everyone laughed more. Including all the teachers in the crowd who thought I was hilarious. Gabriel just took it though he tried to kick my ass a few times, with the last one being in Gym during a kickball game. Or after, rather. We had changed and once we changed, we went back to the court and sat waiting for the bell to ring. Gabriel and I were the first ones out, and as we were there, he made some comment to me about being poor, which I was and am, really, though then I was wearing sweatpants that didn't reach my feet all the way. It set me off and I came over to him, lifted him up by the pits and threw him about six or seven feet. He slid about five more, and he started to cry. The Gym Teacher came over and said, "You just got yourself suspended, was that worth it?" and he didn't like it because we all thought he was a pervert because he noticably checked out prebubescent girls and blossoming grade school girls and I called him such sometimes and I called him on the things he did -- like insist that the girls change in a closet right next to his office. Which lasted about three days until a storm of furious parents arrrived. Fortunately for me, I had friends at The Front Office and they kept me from getting suspended. I got one day of in-school suspension which was fine by me. Several hours to do nothing but catch up on homework? Ha! I'm not entirely proud of the gradeschool shenanigans but I'm not ashamed, either. Gabriel eventually told me he was glad to have known me, and I must say, I would be missing out on some humorous days without him! -- I still knead some kids. It's why I'm known as the AJ Pierzynski of my school. But for the most part, High School has a lot less bulls*** than grade school. I mean, I have rivalries and enemies at my school, but nobody really bullies anyone. PS: I first had sex in 2005. And I've never had sex in Chicago, believe it or not. Since Florida wants to make it a campaign issue. Pennsylvania is a beautiful place. Had a girlfriend and a wide variety of events took me to Pittsburgh with her where we shared a room a couple of times. I'm currently seeing a girl, have been for two months and haven't had sex with her. Maybe the trick is to take her to Pittsburgh? (Really, we're just taking things easy and one day at a time.) The sex is kind of interesting, now that I think about it -- well, the relationship side of me. Every girl I've ever dated is very different from the last. Racially, and personality, and things of that sort. My last girlfriend -- my first true lahv -- had quite the sex drive and my current girlfriend doesn't really. I'm not sure if that bugs me or not.

QUOTE(shipps @ Dec 29, 2006 -> 12:34 AM) I hope your just being sarcastic because he didnt really spend much time at all defending himself.He was cleared of having any involvement pretty quickly.And secondly I would hope Cintron is not starting for us next year cause his defense is "Jose Valentin scary". Uh, hello -- http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/12/29/...be_Shooting.php

Wish they'd hang Ramsey Clark, too. Well, not really, but that's one of the first things that comes to mind when I think of his execution. The people defending him. Not just the defense attorneys who do it because they've got to, or the people who genuinely don't believe in killing period -- but people like Ramsey Clark who hate everything this country stands for and would join him at the heart.

Just out of curiosity's sake, I was wondering what would come up in a search for "Pedro Martinez + Steroids" on Google and came across this. http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/pedrosonsteroids Wow, some people are really dumb. Not just the illiterate creator of the petition but also signature number Last/3 who made comments indicating he doesn't support it yet signed it to indicate his support. Huzzah! (Well, I was searching on a little more than a curious hunch. This article is incredible, http://www.nydailynews.com/07-30-2006/spor...9p-369944c.html, about Juan Gonzalez + steroids + his trainer + MLB covering it up in 2001 when his trainer was caught with it at the Canadian border on his way to the Indians, and it mentions that this trainer was also Pedro's trainer. So out of curiosity's sake I was wondering if Pedro ever made public comments on steroids and was searching that out.)

QUOTE(iamshack @ Dec 29, 2006 -> 06:13 PM) Nothing groundbreaking here, but Levine was just on Carmen and Silvy and said this is absolutely Mark Buehrle's last year with the White Sox, IF he makes it THAT far. Apparently the White Sox made an offer in July, to which Mark declined, and there has been no further negotiations since. He seemed quite certain that no further attempts to extend him would be made, especially in light of Zito's contract. Not a surprise. Wonder if Mark was balking at the money or just the possibility of staying here.

Pittsburgh had a damn fine run in the early 1990s and late 1970s. Red Sox have had several decades of quality play and quality players -- they just didn't go all the way, but they'd go quite far. The Giants were a far better franchise than ours which leaves the Phillies, Indians and Cubs -- and justifies my statement that our franchise was one of the worst and "certainly up there."

The biggest improvements for us will be in Detroit and Minnesota. Detroit never impressed me and I very much doubt that they'll overachieve like this again next year. They simply can't beat the Royals nine times out of ten again next year, for one thing. Minnesota? God, I love Ron Gardenhire. He scares the s*** out of me in ways that Quitter Leyland never will. But I don't believe the Twins are likely to remain as strong as last year though I believe they will be rather strong. The Indians? Get a bullpen.