Texsox

Pretty cool. My guess it was a family member of the murderer who couldn't sleep at night.

Not a good gamble with anything less than a $150 million payroll. With the current plans to not work out, I see a low base and a lot of incentives. You know teams are going to be using this example for a long time about not accepting an offer. I wonder if he has an umbrella career ending insurance policy? Some protection that allowed him to take a lesser gamble. This looks like the ultimate loss.

Which is why I say we are very lucky he didn't accepted the last offer. I wonder if in arbitration the arbitor could take into account the knee surgeries and maybe we could have had him for the lesser number? Any team that makes him an offer better be very careful. I'd want clauses as to number of games played, games played in the OF, and as incentive laden as I could get. If I was a talentless team, I'd stay away. Someone like the Yankees who could absorb a mistake, might take a chance. Not a good fit for a team trying to make the playoffs twice in the same decade.

You are correct, I wouldn't either. I also wouldn't work out for a team I have no plans in signing with. Steff, maybe you feel a moral or ethical obligated to anyone who may make you an offer. I never accepted every interview, didn't expect someone to accept every interview, and never expected any information beyond what was necessary for the employee to do his or her job. In this case everyone knew the status. He cannot play. I guess he could have shown up to prove what everyone already agreed to, but why?

For *this* contract The Team said he can't play, they filed paperwork with the league. The Player said he can't play The Doctors said he can't play Who is asking for a physical? Who is saying he can play during this last contract? Everyone agreed. Everyone knew what the status was. He was done for that contract. There was no dispute from the White Sox on his ability or in this case inability to perform his job. The only reason to have a physical was to prove he *could* play in 2005. Since the WS did not have him under contract for 2005, why should they be entitled to a physical? Why can't the player say, I am not interested in an offer from you, and will not take a physical? He is under no obligation to even consider an offer from any team. Using Steff's analogy, You were under contract to type until 12/31/04 and were injured and couldn't finish the contract. Your contract calls for you to be paid until 12/31/04. Your employer, yourself, and your Doctors all agree typing anymore during this contract is impossible. Would you be obligated to prove you could type after 12/31/04? For what purpose? People aren't cattle. How evasive of procedures should the player be obligated to? We want to cut open your knee and see what the Doctor did? We want you to do 500 squats? The guy wants out of Chicago. everything he has done since the last off season has pointed in that direction. Adios. Thanks for the effort, thanks for the memories, and above all, thanks for turning down that last offer. Someone who thinks he should have a physical finish this statement Mr.. Ordonez, we want you to take a physical by our Doctor to determine . . ." and have it apply to something in his current contract that wasn't already agreed to.

I agree that would be nice. Even if it didn't prevent him from doing his job? He was already out for the season. The team agreed. Hey boss, I have a knee injury, I'm getting it taken care of. I agree 100% if he was under contract for next season. But his playing days in that contract were over. Unless his contract expressly said you must lift weights everyday, etc, I don't see where everyone wasn't aware of his ability to play. They agreed he couldn't play. How often during the season did we here the team had no idea what Frank's rehabbing was going? He's under contract and they pretty much only new what the press told them through Frank. I cannot believe the basic contract, or any players contract would allow for a soon to be former team to have a look see on a player. Why isn't the team suing if he violated his contract?

He realized to get the deficit over $7 Trillion, he needed to drastically increase spending and cut income. He also needed more votes for re-election. Interesting, if he said here's $1,300 from the Bush Family Dynasty (BFD) that would be illegal. If he says here's $1,300 from the US treasury, we'll go borrow more from France to pay for it, that is legal. I just discovered the major difference in the parties. The Dems buy you a gift with your money, the GOP gives you a gift card with your money and let's you pick out the gift Be good Republicans and balance the budget. Please.

And here I am My only comment is I feel sorry for the President's publicity team. They sure picked a winner there. What were the odds of that?? There are bad people in all walks of life. He could just as easily been a carpenter or a NBA HoF guard. I would say that this Minister was in that field of work for the wrong reasons. Most are good decent men who want to change lives. One of my very best friends is a youth Minister. Not a lot of money and a lot of angst and hardship. It's a calling.

OMG!

Missing work? Grab a lawn chair outside the Chicago stadium on a night that should have hockey, but now nothing is going on inside. Take a touristy stroll under the El Tracks. You'll see plenty of excitement and feel like you are back at work.

If you said you were quiting in two weeks and couldn't work anymore, would you also have to tell your employer you were having hand surgery? Why should they care about the surgery if you wouldn't be working for them? The area I am not clear on is the fact he was out of the season, which happened to be the end of his contract period. If he was still under contract, I understand the reasoning of keeping the team involved. Since he wasn't going to be under contract I could see reasons why the Sox wouldn't want to be involved in his medical decisions. For example, if the Sox suggested a Doctor and the surgery failed, and the player could determine that the team wasn't going to make an offer anyways, would the Sox be liable in some way of sabotaging the players health? Thinking along the lines of "Hell, he's not going to be playing for us, send him to Wacko Jacko the "knee specialist" in Vienna." By staying out of it, the team seemingly would be protecting themselves. Instead of hand surgery pick other treatments. The courts have ruled that a person private medical records are private. From what a labor law attorney told me (and he has no experience in sports) the employer may test if you are capable of doing the job, but not ask about any surgerys. So as long as you can lift that 50 pound sack, they don't need to know you have a mechanical knee. I think the team was very lucky in this situation. Someone mentioned the team was the victor. Easily. I would think Maggs would be eager to work out for teams and raise his value. As it looks now, I am guessing teams are thinking of him as a DH, not an everyday OF. That cuts his market in half. Too bad Boras, you are really going to have to earn your money, and it isn't going to be the usual windfall.

I knew we'd agree on something someday Thank you.

What was the best under $25 grab bag gift your ever received? I dislike office grab bags. I always get the woman who no one knows anything about.

I see how long I can keep them on the phone. I like talking about the weather, ask them if they are a Sox fan. My favorite were the replacement window salespeople. My neighborhood was about 15 years old so we were ripe for picking. If they wouldn't take a polite no thank you, I would start the jokes "you guys are such a pane --- get it PAIN/Pane!!" LOL LOL "I can see right through that offer!" LOL LOL "The other guys offered window treatments, but I thought it was a SHADY deal!" LOL LOL My goal was to have them hang up on me. My grandfather once answered the door and told a magazine salesperson everyone in the house was blind. He kept looking over the guys shoulder. He also told a vacuum salesperson that carpets caused cancer and he had 6 tons of dirt shoveled into his house to cover the carpet. BTW, call centers are a huge industry down here. Cheap, bi-lingual help has everyone from Ticketmaster to Convergys opening up huge centers in closed K-Marts and upgraded Wal*Marts.

LOL actually this one they cannot. It was my knowledge of Mexico that is really helping.

No the worse were the Juco jocks who beat up on the D1. I know, my Cross Country team finished middle of the pack in a 20 team All comers meet. We scanned to see who we beat and saw NIU, and Iowa. You would have thought we just beat Jim Ryan's records We were so stupid.

Before I moved here I would have cared. Now it's about as interesting as if Milwaukee signed him. Although, if they had him two years ago, they're in the WS.

I hate to sound like an old f*** but, when I was in school, it would have ended there and life goes on. Today, I'd be worried the asshole would bring a gun to school. What is really cool is that in the holiday spirit you gave rather than received Zero - Asshole

I just finished my second interview for a position that I would really like to do. They called almost as soon as I left the interview, and are flying my up to Houston on Thursday to meet with their regional management team. It's a major shift into a new industry, but will allow me to mentor, train, and develop a mix of employees from part time high schoolers to full time career minded individuals. I love developing employees and watching them succeed. I even will probably receive a nice cut in pay, so I know some will respect me her for following a passion and not the dollars For my friends on the board, please pray, send good vibratrions, or cross your fingers. For those who I've pissed off, it will keep me off Soxtalk for long hours So everybody wins.

Before it was against the rules, I imagine there were a ton of players. The only person that would really make me sad to find out about is Frank. I've always considered him the best non-juiced power hitter and the best batter in all of baseball for most of his career. If I found out he even juiced once, I may never watch baseball again. That would bring tears to my eyes. Anyone want to speculate on PK?

Now that's a pyramid scheme Don't count another man's money. Don't presume to understand what motivates him. If Maggs said, it isn't about the money, I just want out of Chicago, a couple people would be b****ing about that. Remember A-Rod wanting out of Texas, for less money, and a few people vilified him for that. And when you receive the $14,000,000 you better buy a damn spell check program for here, it't the least you can do. And whichever state you win the lottery in, you cannot ever move away from that state.

All I am thinking of SS for is a safety net. Imagine if we suddenly allowed ten million seniors to starve to death in the streets? That's what I envision if these dire predictions come true.

As long as we are in their homes, their schools, their shops, and traveling their roads with tanks, guns, airplanes, etc. I doubt the Iraqi people feel free to express their true feelings. They understand power, tyranny, and guns. They see pictures of the prison abuse, they see buildings knocked down, and are asked to trust us, that it will be better. That is a huge leap of faith for a society that has no basis in which to understand this "freedom" They have nothing to compare it to.

I guess players cannot make everyone happy. If you found out your employer was trying to get rid of you, how happy would you be? Would you trust your employer again? Did that play into your feelings about Maggs at all? That was before Maggs rejected all offers and said he wasn't going to negotiate until after the season. Loyalty is a two way street in my world. The team showed a willingness to toss him out. Seems fair to me if he decided to dump them first. Do you think he ever looked at Baines number and wondered why he should ever be loyal? And the joy in all this, the Sox may have dodged a huge bullet if he cannot play right. We already have an everyday DH, and at this point I would rather have Frank and his salary at DH then Maggs at what he would have signed for. We should be thanking Maggs for his decision.