iamshack

QUOTE (Leonard Zelig @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 07:10 PM) I don't know if this has been discussed here, but I was just told that Maren, the German Potato Soup girl from P90X, has done some hardcore porn. Her name is Maren Beautte and the videos are not hard to find. While researching, I also found that Tony Horton appeared in a softcore porn film called, Rebecca's Secret. Not sure if he was a "performer" or not. Sorry if this is old news. Haha! Now just find Audrey from the yoga video!

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 06:57 PM) Cowley knows it was Ozzie. When Buehrle was on Letterman, he had Wise with him. I think it would be great if Humber had the Guillens. I'm sure you're enjoying all the credit Cooper is rightfully receiving...

Anyone notice Hudson hit the DL with shoulder pain?

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 06:10 PM) He was hitting 93 in Anaheim, but mainly in the 91 range. Curve looks great. Yeah, but he's cutting the thing over the outside ege on right handers....it's nasty nasty

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 04:33 PM) Why, because of that blazing 91 mph fastball he can't catch up with? Have you seen Colon pitch recently? He controls both the 4-seamer and the 2-seamer about as well as is humanly possible. Viciedo would have looked like a fool had he faced Colon last week with the stuff he had against the Angels...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 01:38 PM) Actually, with him being back on the DL, I kinda doubt he's able to be moved for much this summer. He never went on the DL...he took batting practice and hit the s*** out of the ball enough to convince them to let him play...he's hitting .439 this season...

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 12:13 PM) Dry Corky's, IMHO.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 08:45 AM) Generally I feel like fWAR actually mostly "overpays" people who sign FA contracts, do you disagree? If my feeling on that is right, then that would make me thinking we paid a "premium" price for those 2 guys even stronger. fWAR evaluates how a player performed relative to a replacement level player. The FA market is a convergence of all kinds of other variables, including how much money is available, what other assets are available, which organizations are involved in the bidding, etc. The bizarre fundamentals and artificial restraints in place in the baseball FA market are just do not lend themselves in any accurate fashion to comparison with what the player's sabermetric value might be or have been.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 08:39 AM) Well, that's a statement I can back up some... With Dunn, for example, if you go to the fWAR version, he's been a $14 million player 1 time in his career, 2004. He's been a $13 million player one time other than that. Yes, his defense held him back, but the "position adjustments" at DH are high enough he's not likely to overcome that. fWAR would think he was a $10 million or so player even if he had a very good season at DH (Victor Martinez was a $13 million fWAR value player last year), so based on that standard, paying $14 million a year for him was a premium price. Rios...you could say he was a bargain based on his all-star 2007-2008 seasons, where he put up $25 million in fWAR value a year, but since then, he's put up $1.3, $14.8, and -$3 million in value. He's sorta fairly paid for his $2010 season, but obviously 2 of the last 3 years he's massively underperformed. So yeah, if he 'plays to capabilities" you're right on him and that's a below market value price...but like everyone else here, I'm skeptical. So that's part of my case for why I think we paid premium for both of them. I always thought the dollar amounts in fWAR were pretty generous, and both of the guys have been hugely overpaid the last 3 years, and Dunn has never put up enough performance to justify a $14 million salary. I'm ok with paying that premium if we're trying to win "Now"...if we're not, then I have trouble with thinking that's a good way to spend cash. Unfortunately the actual market doesn't really correspond to fWAR values yet.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 08:31 AM) I guess the question then is...do you think it's worth calling us "all in" again for this team, this year? Because if we are, then we should also start acting like it, and that means Beckham, Morel, and Viciedo ought to be back in AAA pretty quick too, because they're costing us games with how bad they're producing while we try to develop them. Don't get me wrong...we're only 15 games in and we don't need to be doing anything drastic right now other than what is best for the development of whichever players the organization believes will make up its future. Any potential moves might deserve more consideration if we actually had anyone other than Lillibridge to replace either of them. But the fact is, Beckham is close to an elite defender and we have no other third baseman. The upside of Beckham and Morel developing is still much higher than the marginal offensive upgrade we might see from playing Escobar and Lillibridge in their stead. Now, should we get into June and July with a similar winning percentage and similar offensive output from Beckham and Morel, the conversation definitely shifts to what you're suggesting.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 08:25 AM) Here's my opposing perspective... You may not care about what the team's payroll is "Right now", but the time when you're going to care what it is will be next offseason, when we're forced to make decisions on which failed prospects (Morel, Beckham) to replace and who else takes a spot in the rotation/bullpen. We paid a huge, premium price for both Dunn and Rios, on the grounds that we were going to "Win now" at the time we acquired them. That didn't happen, but we're still paying that premium price. Clearing the remaining years was all anyone could imagine doing last offseason, and it's still the right move IMO...that way, the team stops paying a premium price for that RF and DH, both of whom could be replaced for less money on the open market. And if we can clear them, that gives us room to pay Free Agent premium prices for the positions (2b, 3b) that we really need to fill next offseason in order to legitimately become a competitive team. This is not true. The price we paid is only high because they have failed to produce. Should they play to their capabilities, the price we paid was below market value. Obviously, I understand there is quite a debate to be had about whether or not either of them will play to their capabilities.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 08:20 AM) Exactly what I'm thinking. At this point the die has been cast...a few years ago. May as well see what we can get out of it now, because the alternative is unloading money and getting nothing in return...and that does nothing for me. It's not saving ME a dime...so I don't f***ing care what their payroll is. It's not like ticket prices are going to drop because the teams saving money...so no thanks...I'd rather keep Rios/Dunn and see what we can get now. Well, someone taking Balta's position will argue that unloading that salary will put the organization in a better position to succeed in 2013/2014/2015, etc...but I ask the question, what is the ultimate goal here? Last I checked, Kenny's spoken goal is to win another Championship...what the hell are you doing if you're tearing apart a winning team to save $ for the future? Hoping to get right back where you already are now in two or three years? We have the young arms now to sustain the signings of Dunn and Rios if they are being somewhat productive. Peavy's salary is off the books after this season. So let's roll the dice with the team we envisioned 2 and 3 years ago, not unload the key players for nothing just as they finally began to bear fruit...

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Apr 23, 2012 -> 07:10 AM) I'd just like to add that I don't want to get rid of "this" Rios. We put up with the crap Rios for years, and it seems like he may be turning a corner...trading him wouldn't produce much of a trade because of his salary, so instead of getting nothing in return, I'd like to keep him if this is the version of him we will be getting. Waiting until he's playing good and then trading him would make me sick, especially if he stays good and some other teams gets to reap the benefits after the years of frustration we had to deal with. I'd sooner keep him because his contract would dictate little to no return in shedding him right now. That's what Caufield and Balta have been referencing when discussing why it would be difficult to trade him...it's essentially an FU to the average fan if you move him when he finally becomes productive. Of course, if he goes back to the .500 OPS player he's been for the last season and a half, then you're kicking yourself. As it stands now, I just disagree with Balta about moving Dunn and Rios should you get the chance...this team is constructed to win IF players like Peavy/Dunn/Rios produce...coming into last year, there was optimism BECAUSE we expected Dunn to play like he is now. Simply because it didn't work last year doesn't make the idea a poor one now that it's coming a year late. We've got to shake the notion that the baseline of this team is where they finished last season, because it's not. IMHO, it's closer to where the 2010 team finished than the 2011 team finished. I understand there are some great teams out there in the AL, but to be blatantly honest, with a productive Rios/Peavy/Dunn, and the pitching staff we have right now...we're not going to field too many better teams than this one...so we might as well roll the dice with them...

Yeah, Crawford, Lackey, Daisuke...those contracts are killing them right now... If we were to want to pawn off Rios on them, they'd be trying to pawn off Crawford back to us...

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Apr 22, 2012 -> 10:22 PM) He had a 7 game hitting streak in June last year where his OPS jumped 42 points, but he only had 5 RBI in that stretch. But he's currently on a 10 game hitting streak, driving in runs and getting some clutch hits. I really am not even caught up in the numbers...the great thing to see is that he is hitting the ball to the opposite field...and really driving it...that is a great thing for him, as last year he was just a dead pull hitter for the entire season. Over the course of the last 5 games or so, he's had several opposite field hits, a few for extra bases. That means he's seeing the ball well, he's going with pitches over the outer half of the plate instead of rolling over them weakly, and that makes him much, much harder to pitch to. I really think he is the key to our offense.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 22, 2012 -> 09:00 PM) Yes it was delicious. The hot dog special had caramelized onions, daikon, and shredded carrot. They also had a food court area that had a Thai place, Mexican, sushi, a standalone Starbucks, and a few other joints. The beer vendors walking the aisles sold the standard macro brews but I grabbed a few Elysians, the local brew. And yes the aisle vendors also offered those. I didn't have to go hunt them down at a kiosk. Here's another photo with the little one: Sweet! Glad you had a good time and brought us a victory!

Which one? Good, by the standards of someone who actually eats that way and not just some hipster? Price seems reasonable, considering I saw a tuna sandwich at the new Marlins park was $13... Glad to hear you guys enjoyed yourselves! What is the big local beer there?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Apr 22, 2012 -> 08:12 PM) I knew I'd bring good luck. What a great game, great weather and an awesome ball park. Hey Sqwert...what did ya have to eat?

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 22, 2012 -> 05:52 PM) Angels will get things going soon, in my opinion. Yeah, absolutely... But if we pitch like we're capable of, we'll shut down just about everyone...Texas is the only offense that honestly just scares me...Tigers, Yanks, Angels included...

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 22, 2012 -> 05:45 PM) Honestly, yeah, I don't think this team can hang the whole season with the Tigers, and I think a 2nd half slump is inevitable with the guys they're relying on in the starting rotation. The 2nd wild card is the only reason I might reconsider, but I still think the biggest thing that needs to happen is this team needs to be 100% set up going into 2013, which means losing a whole lot more games trying to turn Morel, beckham, and Viciedo into something, and clearing out those incredibly risky contracts if at all possible. I know you have Extra Innings as well...I haven't seen anyone I'm afraid of other than Texas...

QUOTE (K-Rock @ Apr 22, 2012 -> 05:41 PM) Hawk just continuously s***ting on Ozzie... "what a change" "the mentality of this team is so different than last year" He's just being honest... He's so happy right now...good for him.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 22, 2012 -> 05:40 PM) I know, I know, it sounds crazy, but I wrote in December that if Dunn and Rios (and Peavy) were successful enough that you could move them without having to eat too much of the $100 million remaining on their deals, you just have to do it...and being close to contention isn't going to change that. THat's just how I feel about this team. I'll enjoy the wins, but I'm still focused on getting where we need to be in 2013-2014, and clearing those 2 contracts would be the biggest help we could do. I understand...but what's to say they don't continue the success? Are you saying they can't win even with these guys producing?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Apr 22, 2012 -> 05:35 PM) Well, unfortunately, you know that wouldn't be the first time with this franchise. I know it wouldn't happen, so we wouldn't have to worry about it, but yeah, if I were in the GM slot, I'd take my team out of contention to clear those 2 contracts. THat'd leave the Sox with >$50 million to spend on the FA market next offseason just to get back to this level of salary. That's the kind of money that could put Cano into this lineup and Hamels into the rotation. It's really tough...the thing that makes it tough is its a new coaching regime...you'd like to give them a chance to actually win...

Alex! My man!

QUOTE (Reddy @ Apr 22, 2012 -> 05:10 PM) personal attack? When did he begin referring to you as God?