iamshack

QUOTE(fathom @ Mar 10, 2008 -> 01:52 PM) Two comments: 1) Owens was never not the leading contender to be the 3rd outfielder. Ozzie has said all along that if he can play the way he did at the end of last year, he'd be starting. 2) If the Sox feel like Uribe is good enough to start at 2b, then the Garland trade becomes even worse. Is it the Garland trade that's worse, or the Cunningham trade? I don't know about you guys, but I don't ever see Richar being an especially good hitter in this league. I hope I'm wrong.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Mar 10, 2008 -> 11:43 AM) If the Sox did pick up those guys, half of this board would be saying the same thing. And have plenty of stats and financial projections to prove it. Then when Jay says it, it will be because he hates the Sox. The problem is that Jay has lost all sense of objectivity towards the Sox, not that he has no right to criticize their moves. Unfortunately, the Sun-Times is in such dire straights right now that they probably need Jay to write articles like this in the hopes of selling some papers.

I understand the frustration, but everyone also has to understand that Kenny has traded away quite a bit of assets this past offseason, and he needs to make the most of the ones he has left to move. He's looking at a few players, namely Crede, Anderson, and Uribe, who most don't believe fit into the long term plans of this ballclub. But you cannot just give them away or not play them when they actually begin playing well. They're going to keep riding Joe until they can get something for him. Whether that means for a few more weeks, or until May, we don't know. Fields will get his chance, but he may have to spend some time in Charlotte until someone gets desperate. As for Anderson, I'm not sure what the fear is if he actually makes the ballclub. If Quentin still is coming back, then we've got to give him time. Rushing him isn't going to help his situation. And if Anderson can hit a bit this year, having him in center and Swisher in left doesn't sound so bad to me. I want Quentin to get the ab's too, but if he isn't ready, then there's nothing we can do but hope his replacement succeeds.

QUOTE(Gregory Pratt @ Mar 9, 2008 -> 12:25 PM) As I understand it, tax issues make it a wash and there wasn't that big a difference, anyway, but I might be irrecalling. And if that isn't a word, then by God it ought to be. Perhaps you were simply misremembering.

Been playing MLB 08' The Show all day with friends. We're all hooked. I highly recommend. What an amazing game....

QUOTE(SoxFan562004 @ Mar 7, 2008 -> 11:33 AM) I like the Diamondbacks with these odds. I'm going to Vegas for the 1st round of the tournament, I'll grab a sheet from Ceasar's with these odds and the fun prop bets I'm soooooo jealous! What a GREAT time to be in Vegas!

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Mar 6, 2008 -> 10:39 PM) You can refuse service to an individual, not a group. If it's a privately owned business, you can decide who you want to make deals with. You'll probably lose a lot of business and could be labeled as a racist, sexist, or just a plain dick. Right, but even still, you can't just refuse to accommodate someone for no reason. You could probably get away with it as a small business owner, but if McDonald's refused outright to serve an individual for no legitimate reason (they are drunk, pestering other customers, not clothed, etc.,) they would get sued to oblivion. They are a business that opens itself to the public, and receives the protection and benefits of the laws of the City, County, and State in which they operate. Thus, they are also held liable for breaking those same laws. Refusing to serve someone for no reason whatsoever is a violation of an individual's civil rights, and the same goes for a group (obviously).

QUOTE(BobDylan @ Mar 6, 2008 -> 11:21 PM) She looked good in that bikini though. Agreed! I thoroughly enjoyed tonight's episode because I happen to find Juliet's character insanely sexy. Aside from that, who do we think is Ben's man on the boat?

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 6, 2008 -> 11:16 AM) Surprised no one seems to have posted this Ozzie blurb in here yet. From the Trib: Good catch, Balta.....too bad we all know Ozzie spews bs like this all the time...

QUOTE(WilliamTell @ Mar 6, 2008 -> 11:14 AM) Those people who joined were fully aware of that, plus it was and equal distribution of male and female hours. Obviously there would be a problem if the weightroom was the final deciding figure for anyone going to Harvard, but anyone that goes to Harvard wasn't aware of the new hours because they just started. No one chooses any college based on their athletic facilities, unless maybe they are a scholarship athlete. The point is that Harvard, at least in my view, which is a premier US institution, is pimping itself out to big money donors.

QUOTE(Kalapse @ Mar 6, 2008 -> 11:14 AM) Aside from Johan and probably John Maine the Mets have nothing in the "quality starting pitching" department that would interest the Sox in any Konerko trade and somehow I doubt either of those 2 is available. Outside of maybe Ollie Perez, and I believe he becomes a FA next season... The guy to get was Guerra, and he's a Twin now... It would be nice to get something from the Yankees though....maybe Ian Kennedy and Austin Jackson...

A few more thoughts: Teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, and Detroit (as mention in the slot article) have built their farm systems through offering players well-above slot money to players that have slipped because of the teams that have held allegiance to the slot system (namely, teams like us). Unfortunately, JR is close with Selig and thus we have not been able to take advantage of such inadequacies in the draft system. Additionally, the ultimate goal is, and always will be, the strength of the major league club. And while farm systems are playing perhaps a larger role in that then ever before because of escalating free agent contracts, many of the teams with the best farm systems have not used them to strengthen their big league club as efficiently as the White Sox have. The Sox have consistently used their system to acquire proven major league talent at reasonable salaries (Garcia, Vazquez, Swisher) come to mind, (with near-misses on players like Delgado, Miguel Cabrera and AJ Burnett). This has allowed them to not only acquire players they might not ordinarily have a chance at acquiring, but also to avoid entering into poor free agent contracts which handcuff the payrolls of less fortunate teams. Teams like the Dodgers and Angels have had great farm systems for several years, but have yet to really realize a benefit from them (no, the Angels 03' run had little to do with the status of their farm system over the past 3-4 seasons. Instead, they sit on their prospects forever, while many of them are blocked and thus lose value through advancing in age or injury occurring. The teams with the best systems are not normally the teams that experience the most mlb success, although the two are indeed becoming more and more linked than ever before. After the core of this team has made their run, and they may only have 1 or 2 more years for them to make that run, we will see how Kenny rebuilds. But it certainly appears that he has the right idea- acquiring players like Quentin and Swisher this past offseason.

QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 6, 2008 -> 08:48 AM) One of the problems with the initial launch was that Sony didn't give developers enough time to learn the system, so nearly every third party game was just a port of the original...usually a bad one at that. After a year we're finally getting third party games that look better on the ps3 because developers are finally able to make the games using what the ps3 has to offer. I've had my ps3 since launch and although it sucks that I paid an extra couple hundred compared to what I can get now, I still think it was an excellent purchase. What's everyones favorite games? I'd rank them as: Uncharted Assassins Creed MLB The Show 2008 NBA 2k8 Resistance (out of the games I own) Oblivion Uncharted MLB 08' The Show COD4 Madden 2008

So what you're telling me, is that IF the goal was to build the best farm system in baseball, you would not trade Swisher? I think you'd have to trade anyone you had with any value, and then anyone else you had whose value you foresaw decreasing. So, regarding Danks/Fields- if you saw their value improving, you'd hold them until their value might peak (probably a full 2 years or so from now). But honestly, the A's went from a barren system to one considered to be one of the best systems. And guess how many White Sox prospects they just acquired? 5. So really, how bad was our system if Oakland's is now one of the best, by adding 5 of our prospects? I find it hard to believe that people honestly believe that if you took this season, and maybe next offseason, and looked to move everything of value on this team, that our system wouldn't be top 3-4 in all of baseball. You could move Vazquez/Buehrle/Jenks/Dye/OCab/Crede/Swisher/Dotel/Linebrink/Konerko/Contreras? for probably 25-30 new prospects, at least 5-7 of them being solid, top 50-75 prospects. And THAT would put us into the top 3 in farm systems, and still leave us with Danks/Quentin/Fields, who, just might develop into players like the A's just traded to vault from 23 to 2 in one offseason. Don't tell me it couldn't be done fairly easily, because if you think of all the deadline deals and offseason deals that go down, it really could be...

QUOTE(Rex Kicka** @ Mar 6, 2008 -> 08:26 AM) Given that this request came from the main student organization for women in conjunction with a few women students who happen to be muslim, I'd argue that yes, in this case, Harvard would have looked to make arrangements. I'm unsure what your point is. In this case, Harvard did make the arrangements. Are you saying that if some other, less well-represented group had asked for the same, Harvard would have made the same arrangements?

QUOTE(mr_genius @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 06:35 PM) People that choose private insurance should not have to pay into the government system if they do not want to. I would like limiting insurance costs for doctors by limiting malpractice rewards. How so?

QUOTE(KipWellsFan @ Mar 6, 2008 -> 01:07 AM) Funny moment on Colbert tonight. Former Secretary of Labor under Clinton, Robert Reich, says he prefers chocolate bunnies (Obama), over marshmallow chicks (Clinton). This is the guy who Obama always refers to when discussing his healthcare plan, correct? I wonder what that guy must have done/or had done to him to/by the Clintons'....

QUOTE(santo=dorf @ Mar 6, 2008 -> 01:44 AM) That's a business, not an educational institution, regardless I will tackle it. Some portion of every student's tution is going towards that building. Businesses have the right to refuse service to anyone, so if a man walked in and wanted to join and told him no, that's the business' loss. If that man owned part of that particular franchise, or paid some of the rent or utilities, and was was told he would have full access to everything on that lot due to his contributions and still was denied membership, he should be pissed off and at least get a portion of his money back. It's as simple as that. Umm, not exactly the case.... Are you saying that McDonald's can just stop serving all Muslims? Or all black people? All women? I agree with NSS here. This isn't a huge deal, and the slippery-slope arguments are getting a bit out of hand. But there certainly are better ways this could have been accomplished. What strikes me as a bigger problem and what bothers me the most is the "corporatization" of our institutions of higher education. Does anyone think if some other group of people came to Harvard and asked for this (without being represented by a large $ donor) they would have gotten this policy put into effect? That's what bothers me the most- that the policy was placed into effect in an effort to represent the interests of a donor who wrote a check for twenty million dollars. What about other groups that want special accommodations? Do they have to find a large donor before their policy request will be considered? Universities that are "private" are not held to the same legal standards as state-operated universities for one reason- so that they may favor one religion over others- not so they can pimp themselves out to the highest donors because of their ability to escape the same standard.

QUOTE(Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 03:27 PM) I've got a similiar or maybe the same issue regarding the pitching. Sometimes i'll hit the perfect 3rd click spot and the ball still goes 2 feet from where I had the pitch meter icon locked in. I don't get it. Well, I think I've got it figured out....just click it twice.....once to start it, and once where the line occurs...or if it doesn't (when your guy is getting whacked around), in the light blue color (around where the line would occur normally). At least this way they throw strikes. I just played a game that way and it was a blast! Although I take some issue with how players are rated in the game, (Fields, Quentin), it's a pretty sweet game! I wish the fielders didn't practically field for you, but it is very fun. And the graphics are AMAZING. I would definitely recommend MLB 08' The Show to everyone with a PS3.

Can anyone explain how to pitch in MLB 08 The Show? I can't seem to figure it out and the booklet doesn't explain it for crap. There is some pitching meter that is not even addressed in the booklet...

QUOTE(BigSqwert @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 12:05 PM) It's about transparency. She loaned her campaign $5M last month. Where did the $5M come from? Last I checked a US Senator isn't making millions. We all know where it came from. She's married- and her husband happens to be an ex-President. Who wrote a book. Gets paid lavish amounts to make speeches, all over the world. I mean, honestly, I like the idea of everything being "transparent." But nibbling at things like these is where I start to get frustrated with the political process. I don't care what her finances are. I care about her ability to lead this country. I'm fairly sure they do quite well for themselves, through some measures that are more genuine than others. But I honestly don't need to see her tax returns, and I don't think it should be some big issue.

QUOTE(LVSoxFan @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 12:03 PM) You know what's funny? I was talking to my hardcore Sox fan mom yesterday and telling her what I thought this year's team's chances were. Then I said, if we have another 2007-type season we might as well dump 'em all (well not Buehrle!) and rebuild with our young guys. And then I remembered: what young guys? What farm system? Oof. Once again, and I am tired of having to remind people of this. You'd deal all the quality veterans you have for young kids, and you could have one of the best systems in baseball. As Kenny has said, he could build a great farm system in 2 weeks if that was the goal.

QUOTE(kapkomet @ Mar 5, 2008 -> 11:44 AM) Hillary is now your nominee. Face it. Here we go again... As to the tax returns, I'm not sure why that should be anyone's business, honestly. The one reason I wouldn't mind them being released, however, is the fact that she always claims that the Bush Administration has benefitted "the wealthy and the well-connected." What are the Clinton's if not wealthy and well-connected?

QUOTE(shipps @ Mar 4, 2008 -> 09:24 AM) Iam getting mine this week.I have been waiting for the baseball games to come out. I was somewhat cautious about buying mine....but it's probably the best $400 I've ever spent....

QUOTE(WCSox @ Mar 4, 2008 -> 01:56 PM) That didn't stop ESPN from hiring Michael Irvin. I actually think Michael Irvin does a fairly good job, especially in his one-on-one interviews with current players. He's far better than I ever anticipated him being.