bigruss

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 6, 2011 -> 09:53 PM) Now what do you mean by "had an Australian chick all night"? I'm starting to think you have a tendancy towards exaggerating, son... Also, this never happens to me, so Im shocked and a bit cocky that this is happening...and extremely glad. Going abroad is the best thing ive ever done.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Apr 6, 2011 -> 09:53 PM) Now what do you mean by "had an Australian chick all night"? I'm starting to think you have a tendancy towards exaggerating, son... Danced and made out, so mayve i interpret a bit different, but that is my line of thinking right now. She made out with me 3 times and then did a half runaway til we found out she had a boyfriend from her friend.

QUOTE (dasox24 @ Apr 6, 2011 -> 02:11 PM) Thanks for all the advice, everyone. Jason, to your point, a trip to Europe with friends would be incredible. The problem with that is all of my best friends have already graduated (since I'm a 5th year) and are working. And the ones graduating with me have jobs lined up and start in June. So, I'd kind of be on my own. Well, somehow I finagled my way into a June 13 start date. The company has 3 new-hire start dates (May, June, August), and the June one was full, but I told the HR lady, who loves me, that I had really wanted to start in June and she said she'd try to squeeze me in there. And she did. So now I have just over a full month to enjoy some time off and then start work. I think it's the best of both worlds - I still get some decent time off before I start working, yet I'm not having to wait 3 months which seems like a long time. I may regret it down the road, but for now, I think I'm making the best decision. Plus, getting to Atlanta in the summer should be nice. I'm sure there will be plenty of going on and I'll definitely go to quite a few Braves games. It would have been awesome if the Sox were playing there this year (since they played in Chicago last year), but oh well... If you want to go to Europe let me know, Im currently here in Portugal and have hit up a ton of places, eventhose travling alone I can recommend some good places to meet up with people. If not, have fun and get to know Atlanta and a good place to live, enjoy the time off before you start working full time, last chance to be young!!

So mad right now, had an Australian chick all night and then she says she has a boyfriend and wouldnt do anything more, its my last night in Portugal and ive got a flight in 4 hrs, really wanted this to be my distraction till then

QUOTE (dasox24 @ Apr 5, 2011 -> 02:27 PM) Thanks everyone! As you can imagine, it's a tremendous weight off my shoulders. Now for one more question: Should I start on May 23 or August 8? Those are my options. I'm leaning towards August since that would give me a whole summer to do whatever I wanted. But, I'd also get 11 more weeks of pay if I start in May, and I'm really excited to start my job and I feel like I'll go crazy waiting 3 more months. Any suggestions? Btw, I graduate on May 13 so that would give me 10 days if I choose the May start date. All depends on what you would do with that time off, would you travel or something like that? Do you have a life dream/goal that requires that much time off? I know that personally I have been traveling in Europe/Morocco for 5 weeks and it's been a life dream of mine, if I didn't do it now, I definitely would've taken that time off later to be able to do it.

I personally would love to be able to watch some baseball right now, any of it. I can enjoy watching any MLB game, and practically any other baseball game, just love and appreciate the fine details of the sport too much.

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Apr 4, 2011 -> 10:28 PM) I assume the local wines are wonderful as well, yes? first night here so didnt get a chance to try yet, my friend im travleing iwth doesnt like beer or wine so its hard but im definitely trying it while here.

Dunn

Have tried a few spanish/portugal brews, and went to a few local and authentic bars with friends i met at the hostel, what a great night.

QUOTE (Melissa1334 @ Apr 4, 2011 -> 12:02 PM) lol yea its great, why cant you get it, u get blacked out? yessssss

Awesome to hear!!!

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Apr 4, 2011 -> 10:38 AM) It was probably, "no mister, please stop trying to make out with me." Mayve when i wake up i will reply with something better but touche my friend, touche btw, im plastered, 3 nights sober in maroc and now im raging on a monday night

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 3, 2011 -> 02:34 PM) I smell what you're scratching at Hahha, well from what I remember atleast one of them was hot, but she only spoke Spanish and I had no idea what she was saying, so we made out at the club and I ended up leaving her to find my friend since it was 5am and we needed to go back to the hostel at some point.

Morocco was amazing, very interesting to see such a different culture. It was pretty scary first getting there though, as we were led to the wrong hostel and then took a taxi that drove through some very rough neighborhoods and dropped us off in this intersection that seemed like the slums of the city. Luckily, we found the hostel and the hostel worker there was absolutely amazing, did more than we expected in our time there.

QUOTE (YASNY @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 02:00 PM) You have made some very solid points in this thread. But, what I was thinking was nothing more than if the Sox spent money on suspect prospects rather than proven major leaguers then they had their priorities out of whack. The way I see it is, you can give out contracts in the $3-5 mill range easily to mediocre or even bad players (Linebrink, Teahen, etc), and an extra $4 mill into the draft each year would do wonders for the system. So eliminating one of these bad contracts can give you a better chance at stockpiling high viewed prospects which can be used to target young, good MLB players.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 02:49 PM) Its their environmentally friendly beer. And f***ing delicious. They do not produce it in bottles which could be a reason. I haven´t been to the area that is designated for this, but could they not have draughts available?

I was on the fence with the Peavy trade, I didn´t mind what we gave up for him, but at the same time the amount of salary he had left was just so large that it made me very wary of acquiring him, especially when he hadn´t shown to be the most durable pitcher in the past. The Swisher trade I hated because I liked Gio, and thought De Los Santos was going to be worth more in a year or two, didn´t really care about losing Sweeney. I also didn´t like acquiring a corner OF/1b and putting him in CF.

Pretty disappointed by that list, they could have done so much better, but I guess it´s a step in the right direction to improving the beer options at ballgames. Hopefully they are willing to change the beer selection every few seasons so that the local fans can express their desires for certain beers. It would be such a great idea to have a fan selected Chicago beer on tap.

QUOTE (YASNY @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 01:58 PM) And I would have been leading the meltdown. Im sorry, but this is ridiculous. Prospects are essentially currency, you can invest them into your MLB team or you can trade them for pieces for your MLB team. When you don´t have enough to invest in your MLB team, or to trade for the impact players you need, then your team will falter. Of course a farm system that wins a ton of games means nothing to the MLB team´s record, but it´s about having the ability to fill in for injured players, players leaving for FA, and to trade those pieces for impact players that can be the difference between 2nd place and a division title, or maybe even farther. Just look how valuable prospects have become, there have been so many recent trades for good, young, cost controlled players for prospects, many of which will never pan out. But guess what, you still need those prospects to get those players.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 01:30 PM) Seriously, are you just flat ignoring the last three years? Nope, I already claimed they´ve done a better job, I just don´t think it´s to the point where they need to be to be consistently strong with prospects. QUOTE (oldsox @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 01:44 PM) Even though it's not my money Kenny is spending, I still gag when he opens up the vault for Peavy when he could have kept Richard, or when he unloads Hudson for a more expensive Pena. Those are two low priced winners we gave away for big time salaries, and then you can throw Gio into the mix. KW makes it very easy for second guessers. On top of those economic disasters, he spent $56 mm for Dunn, that could have financed a whole bunch of draft picks. Although I do disagree with some of the moves that KW has made, dissing the Dunn signing is a pretty poor example, if anything it is one of KW´s best moves in FA. Dunn is as consistently good as they come, and will be a huge impact for this team. The moves that the Sox need to avoid are like the Teahen extension, trading Hudson when he was your only young MLB ready impact starter, etc. The Teahen money could easily be the difference in the draft to sign a few extra overslot guys, and the Hudson trade hurts so much because the Sox now have so much invested in the starting rotation with very little help on the way to help compensate for the eventual contracts given to the upcoming FAs we have.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 01:45 PM) Great. The problem is this board would have melted down if we had done it with the express purpose of spending it in the draft instead. All they have to say is that part of the ¨All in¨strategy is to invest more in the future too, because everyone wants the Sox to not only have one good hand, but every year they want to compete. It would be really easy to market it. And there are many cases to be made that Dlee could be as good if not better than Konerko this year.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 12:17 PM) Except when it actually comes to spending, people have to be willing to wait the extra 3 to 5 years for the investment to payoff. Listening to the people complaining about the lack of a 6th starter right now, and why we didn't sign one, I can only imagine the complaining that would have been going on here without another major league arm in the pen, or major league catcher behind the plate etc. The cycle begins with major league funds being diverted to the draft. You can't just create monopoly money to make all of your wishes come true. It doesn't work that way. If the Sox had done this earlier it wouldn't be a problem now, just like in 5 years if they don't change they will still have the same problems. It's something that needs to be addressed now, it won't go away. And there is a balance that can be found, the Sox added what, $20 mill to the payroll? If they signed a DLee for the $5 million less than Konerko than you have your draft money right there, while still keeping the team very competitive for the division.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 12:54 PM) The method that everyone keep throwing out there is spending over slot on draft. Even if you got past the big thing that JR will never go against Seligs edicts on slot, the problem is that any money spent on the draft has to come from somewhere. Would you have been OK with the Sox not signing Jesse Crain this year and putting it into the draft? Or the Sox signed a lesser hitter than Adam Dunn and using the savings in the draft? Or if the Sox let AJ walk away and went with Castro and Flowers behind the plate? That is the reality of what is being proposed here. These things don't have a vaccuum. If you want more spending on draft picks, it means less money for the major league team's budget. We had this same conversation before the Sox upped the payroll, it's obvious that they have the money to do it, they just don't want to (stubbornness, or whatever). I look at it this way, if the Sox didn't have to spend so much more on FAs because they had some young studs to play or trade than they would have more to invest in the draft. It's a cycle that begins by investing in the draft, then saving you money by trading for good players with reasonable contracts or filling holes with good young players.

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 10:58 AM) I used the Twins simply because I'm almost certain everyone who panics over our weak farm system salivates over the Twins....and I was pointing out that their incredible farm system hasn't done s***. Would you trade the Twins 6 division wins over 2 division wins and championship the last 10 years? I wouldn't, and no matter how you cut the KW era, they still have a title from a team that was built with the same philosophy as the current one (a few home grown, a few trades, a few FA signings). You assumed that's who I was looking for the Sox to be like, and although I would love to have the success that they get out of their homegrown players, they are restricted by a cheap owner and tend to be hesitant when making trades. They've also done some incredibly stupid moves in the past, imo, such as signing bad veteran players and hoping for large contributions from them, and holding onto them for too long after it was clearly evident that they were still bad.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 08:40 AM) Wait, you mean the Sox' regular season winning % in comparison to the 80's doesn't tickle your fancy? It's all about October. Not World Series titles. But consistently putting yourself in position to capture said titles. And you actually gave KW credit for one division title he played no part in (2000). KW is 2/10. Haha yea I wasn't paying too close attention to the years KW was in charge, I was pretty drunk when I posted that. QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 10:26 AM) In a 5 team division with everything equal, you should make the playoffs 1 time in 5 years, 2 times in 10 years, and 3 times in 15 years. The White Sox have made the playoffs 3 times in 11 years. Yes, they're behind the Twins in that regard. They're still above average. But it's not all equal, and you should know this Balta, you're much better than that. Given the resources the Sox have, and the lack of success that the Royals and Indians have had, the Sox should be in the playoffs much more often.