BearSox

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 3, 2009 -> 12:52 AM) Well, the thing that doesn't make much sense about playing Jayson in the OF or 3B is that he's the perfect middle infielder, Gold Glove caliber at 2B and above average (probably better than Alexei or Beckham) at SS as well. But I do get why Ozzie might choose to play him as a DH/LF/3B/RF/SS over Josh Fields if he's trying to get more offensive punch in the line-up. I agree, but Ozzie already stated he ain't moving Alexei.

I'll pass.... I'll take chances on players who've had trouble with the law, but if you looked up the word scumbag in the dictionary, you'd see a picture of Dukes. This guy doesn't just beat women, he threatens to kill them. Not only that, but he can't keep it in his pants and likes to have a lot of illegimate children. Hell, even if this was football, I might take a chance on Dukes. But it's a lot easier to get away with an a-hole on your team in football than it is in baseball, IMO.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 11:04 AM) Something similar to Ted Williams, 1941, would be fine by me. I'm thinking more along to the lines of Rogers Hornsby's 1922, 1924, and 1925 combined.

Ramirez ain't moving from SS, so I'll throw out the idea of putting Alexei in CF with Nix or Gordo at SS and 3B. However, I would be willingly to sacrifice some D and move Pods to CF and Nix to LF (if he shows he can be a better LF than Pods) and really stack the O. It's pretty obvious we don't have a good D, so we can handle a little more dropoff if we are upgrading in offense from Anderson/Wise to Nix.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 10:01 PM) I actually love the way Nix is being used, along with the experiment in LF. It seems they're grooming him for a super-utility role, which I would love to see. A Mackowiak with talent. I've been saying a DeRosa with more glove but less bat.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 06:14 PM) Even if that's the case, the fact that this paper trail exists says that they had every justification legally for doing so. How do we know reports like these aren't filed all the time with other IG's?

I don't care what the cost is KW, we got money to spend.... GET IT DONE!!!!!!!!!!

QUOTE (Nunnigan @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 01:32 PM) My weirdest flight wasnt as bad as that, but it was real embarrasing. Two years ago, my family and I were flying back from Phoenix. Halfway through the flight, I woke up from a nap and noticed some 40+ year old lady was sitting right next to me, hitting on me. Before you even say "What's the problem?" she was absolutley plastered, smelling of alcohol and about 20 years older than me. She was very flirtatious and very touchy-feeley. Approaching Chicago, late at night, she told me that she wanted to see the city lights because she's never seen them before. I told her if she wanted to switch seats since I had the window seat, but she said she was fine sitting where she was. At any time the plane flew over city, no matter how big or small, she would always lean over and ask me if that was Chicago. Getting fed up, I signaled to my brother and mom, who were sitting in the seats across the asile, to bring over a flight attendant. All they did was laugh at what I had to put up with. As the plane was making its decent into O'Hare is when it really started to get awkward. Like you all know, you have to remain seated, with your seatbelts fastened, while the plane makes its decent, this lady however ignored such rules. The flight attendants have to remind her several times to fasten her seat belt, until finally there was an argument between the lady and the attendants. She was removed from the seats next to me, and the attendants apologized to me for over serving her, and for her actions. When the plane landed, everyone on the plane was laughing and joking around with me for all that I had to put up with. This was perhaps one of the most embarrasing moments of my life. I'm assuming she wasn't even remotely hot.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 06:09 PM) It proves the White House wasn't making the call to punish him for the Kevin Johnson investigation. That's undetermined. Perhaps the WH used this as an excuse to get rid of him.

Who's the most overrated Hawk? Campbell? Also, was Huet anyone good with the team before us? I'm no expert, but it seemed every game he goalied, we gave up 3-5 goals.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 05:45 PM) Going back to the firing of that IG, a series of documents given to Congress have now been released publicly showing that he had a very strained working relationship with a bipartisan group of the people he was supposed to be working with and they in fact, not the white house, gave the recommendation for his removal. That really doesn't prove anything. It's still his word vs. theirs.

Maybe they think the pitching coach in Kanny is more suited to help out Griffith than the pitching coach in Bristol. Plus, for all we know, Griffith was throwing nasty stuff up there but struggled with command/consistency. I wouldn't say he was struggling until after at least 4 starts.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 04:35 PM) No, what is stupid is assuming they aren't, when so many before them have been exactly that. I assume nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if more than half of the current players in the league used steroids before. However, I'm not gonna say players are definite users because they are good. Statistically, black people commit a high percentage of crimes. So, using your logic, when you see a black person walking down the street, I might as well assume they are a criminal. What you are basically doing is racial profiling, except instead of races, you are using baseball players and if you're good, you're a steroid user. I guess Jim Thome and Ken Griffey Jr. are obviously PED users. Also, it's a whole lot easier to prove someone guilty than it is innocent. So I'll stick with the good old way of looking at people innocent until proven guilty. However, if I find news about Pujols being involved with steroid trainers and such, that might all I need to give him a guilty verdict. However, the only evidence we got is a lot of people have done it, and he's a damn good baseball player. I'm sorry, I'll need a little more than that before I accuse him of steroids. Did he use steroids? I don't know, maybe he did. However, I don't know and nothing leads me to believe he has.

I doubt he's graduated, he's only a junior, and I haven't read anything about him being ridiculously smart and/or graduating early. A better question would be: Do you see youself going back to school to finish your degree?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 02:34 PM) 6' 4" - 275??? Dang. I'm surprised you don't type like JI JIM THOME no, I do not type like WordUpThome.... even though WordUpThome is hysterical.

Didn't we face him a couple years ago when he was with the O's? If I'm not mistaken, we knocked the s*** out of him... In fact, wasn't it a home game around this time?

Last year at this time I was 250.... now I'm 275 Damn, I must have found some of the weight jordan lost! I have an excuse though, most of my weight gain has been from some severe weight lifting over the past 2-3 years, and I'm a lineman. Also, I'm 6'4", so I'm not a short blob. However, over the next 4 weeks, I'm planning on dropping about 10 pounds... I got a lot of conditioning to do when I get to camp, and I want to be in the best shape I can be. I'm the strongest, fastest, and quickest I've been in my life right now, but right now my conditioning could use some work. I get tired too fast.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 1, 2009 -> 09:54 PM) Its bad, but anymore because of the complete lack of control and accountability in MLB, I just assume all of these top guys are guilty until proven innocent, Pujols included. That's just stupid. According to your logic, every single player in baseball is a juicer, cause there's no way to prove any of them have never taken PED's before. Be skeptical all you want, but to label Pujols and other players as juicers with no evidence except that he's good, that's just crap. I could see if he had connections to a trainer who was suspicious, or he suddenly got really big and started putting up big power numbers, or hell, he was even a teammate of a big time juicer. But there is no evidence of any of that stuff.

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 12:12 PM) The only thing that will come close to really cleaning up the game, is the effin' MLBPA conceding to year round urine AND BLOOD testing in the next CBA, with samples frozen for eternity. That way, HGH users know they'll be caught eventually, because a blood test is near, and other substances will also be preserved in the blood as the tests are developed. A cheater will still make his money while the testing catches up to the PED's, but they'll know that their legacy will be completely tarnished eventually. That's as good a deterrent as we're ever going to get. Will it happen? Probably not, with the union still so powerful, but the continuing media onslaught of heroes being revealed as cheaters, makes it a possibility. Exactly. As for Pujols and other players, I'll stick with the innocent until proven guilty route. Of course there will always be speculation, but until you got a legit reason to suspect a player uses/used steroids, its bogus to automatically say someone is a user because they're good.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 12:44 PM) Remember guys, Cuban ball players routinely have to give up their passports to the government officials that accompany them for such risks. That means for him to set up residancy in whichever country he will do it in is going to be a bit complicated. On top of that the US government will have to clear him to enter the country. This could take until next ST to accomplish. So what? As long as you get him into America with no problems comes February 2010, I don't see what the big deal is. You gotta be really desperate if you think a 20 or 21 year old cuban defector is gonna jump in during September and make a huge difference.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 12:04 PM) I don't know about an extension. We want to go younger, not older. Jose's great, but at his age, any kind of an extension worth more than $5 million per for two or more years is out of the question. He's a great guy to have here for Alexei and Dayan in the future, but he's not 27, he's 37. Plus, if he really finishes off the season well, he may get picked up by some other team for a good amount of money on a short term deal. I don't think the Sox are going to pursue him if that happens. I'd be willing to bet he's actually between 39 - 41 years old.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Jul 2, 2009 -> 12:05 PM) He's not even that old. He's only 32. But he's terrible.

55 million dollars is a LOT of money for a 6th man.

Bruce Chen is still in baseball?

This is what his jail life was like. I imagine it wouldn't change a whole bunch, except more privileges.