witesoxfan

I believe you're right. We'll still be 3-0. Sweep the Royals, beat the Yanks in game 1. Sounds fine to me.

I've seen about 3 threads just now about movies, so why not start a movie thread, eh? Anyways, I just went to Club Dread tonight, and let me say that that was quite possibly the worst $7.50 I have ever spent on anything. If it was supposed to be funny, it was not. If it was supposed to be scary, it was not. If it was supposed to be both, it was not. I think they intended it to be stupid. The only good thing about this movie was that there were a few hot chicks, and some tits too. That was the only good thing. Basically, if you go to this movie, even after me telling you this, shame on you.

You're taking a shot at the Bills, aren't you?

All 4 of mine are still alive(Duke, UConn, Georgia Tech, and Oklahoma State). Tech and State will be what saves me. Book it.

You bring up Pirates and Brewers, I bring up Indians and Tigers. There is no baloney from the media. The Cubs were 5 outs away from going to and probably dominating the World Series last year. They have done nothing but improve over the winter. At this point, the little button inside your head that is common sense is pushed and you realize they will probably be better then they were last year. It is the same reason many thought the Sox would be worse(losing Colon, Gordon, Sullivan, Alomar, Everett, and Graffanino), but when you get right down to the nitty gritty of it all, you realize that Sullivan had little effect on the team, Alomar and Everett, while helpful, were not huge losses(as Lofton and Simon were not huge losses for the Cubs), Graffy is replaceable, and while it would have been nice to have kept Gordon, for $3.5 mill a year, he is not worth it, and having Politte/Shingo/Jackson is spending about $3 mill more wisely. Then Ozzie comes into camp with this great attitude, and me personally, I just felt this vibe that was happening in Arizona and being reported in Illinois all the way up here in North Dakota and I knew and still do know that the White Sox will have a great year. Now, to get back on subject, you consider all that only with the Cubs(who they have lost, who they have gained, and any other things they have done), and you figure they should improve by quite a bit. A rotation of Prior, Wood, Maddux, Zambrano, and Clement(the same Clement who could be an ace on some bad teams), is not only good, is not only great, it is goddamn scary. You add to that a solid bullpen(Farnsworth, Hawkins, Borowski, Mercker, Remlinger, and Cruz, along with other depth in the minors), and an underrated offensive team along with a great manager, and I could see them easily winning 100-110 games; however, two or three major injuries could bring them down to about 80-90 wins. Just for the record, I think both Chicago teams make the playoffs, both by 10+ games too.

Gotta have the little ship begin it's course with Ozzie as the captain of the ship. And then some catchy phrase(like "It has begun" )

You may feel they have no chance, but to be called an idiot by you is offending. That is like the pot calling the rainbow black. :dips***

3-0 out of the gate baby. We hit lefties well. The Royals will go back to their little cubby hole and cry after the beating we put on their asses. I'll call Thomas's big series. After 3 games, he'll have 2 homers, 6 RBI, and will be 5-for-11.

You mean the source of many torn labrums, many whiplash injuries, and the man who was once called "the worst pitching coach" by Lou Piniella? Yeah, I'll take Cooper too. I'm just glad that Nossek is still in the organization atleast. He should help with that.

And guess who's on top so far baby! B) Of course, I've lost an Elite 8 team, so that hurts. All in all, I'm pretty happy so far.

Nossek is still a part of the organization. And Cooper is still here as well. So it's not like we have no one left.

Agreed. Also, as I've said before, I would love nothing more then to trade Konerko and somehow, someway try and get Kipper back from Pittsburgh while also getting Randall Simon. Simon is a pretty damn good player and I would love to have Kipper's arm back on the Southside. Maybe a Rauch, Valenzuela, and Diaz package could get them, maybe we'd have to add another prospect...I don't know. I do know I'd love to get them both though.

That's also partly due to the lack of depth of great starting pitching in the NL(Schmidt, Prior, maybe Beckett...really there are very few great starters in the NL), but you are correct that there is not a run difference and that the NL's ERA is just slightly above the AL's(I used to use .5 as the measuring stick, but I found that to not even be accurate, so I went to .3, and that's a little better measuring stick).

I think Halo 2 is April. That is definately a game I am going to buy.

Jas, I'll be right there with you getting the pressure. I did back your decision. And the rest of your post I agree with and feel is completely true.

Well said

Can you read? It clearly states that this is based on fantasy stats, and in fantasy baseball, K's are very important. Buehrle does not have good strikeout numbers nor a good K/9 inning ratio, and he doesn't even have a good K/BB ratio either(which is somewhat important in fantasy baseball). All the Cubs starters are good in those categories. And if I'm selecting an all Chicago rotation, I have it as Prior Wood Buehrle Loaiza Zambrano/Maddux I'll take Zambrano's 13-11 3.11 ERA 214 innings or Maddux's 16-11 3.96 ERA 218.3 innings over Garland's 12-13 4.51 ERA 191.6 innings. But maybe that's just my common sense coming into play.

You're the only one suggesting they're the greatest staff ever.

He'll be a good #4 pitcher. Just as a barometer of what you should expect, Jon Garland was a good #4 pitcher last year for us. Any more from him is a bonus.

Yes. Dumbass :knob

Wow, that sounds just wrong.

Had to of been the first half. Prior was like 10-2 1.90 or something like that in the second half of the year, because everyone over at the Yankee-Red Sox surplus store, err, ESPN, has made a huge deal about how big Prior's second half was. Chimp did as well on the one broadcast I saw of Chimp this spring too.

Jason(aka Chisoxfn) has said that, after seeing Scho pitch with his own two eyes, he has much more confidence in Scho starting. That's all I need to hear. Numbers almost never tell the whole story, and the same thing can be said almost every time about ST numbers. Just because a guy has a 1-3 record with a 5.72 ERA does not mean you should lose all confidence in him, which is just the same as a guy who is 3-0 with a 1.75 ERA(who you should not put all your confidence in him). As has been said before...IT IS SPRING f***ING TRAINING. Do NOT worry about the numbers too incredibly much. They do not effect what they player is doing overall. I believe reports have been that Scho has been using primarily cutters and changeups in ST. You think that's why those numbers could be like they are? He doesn't think he'll lose his fastball(and with good reason), and he doesn't think he'll lose his slider(again, probably with good reason), so he is trying to just throw the cutter and change for strikes and try to throw those two pitches well. Look for his last few appearances to probably be a bit better and see if he mixes in a fastball every now and then.

You are probably right about the Percival thing. However, I think Anaheim would take just Rauch for Washburn, but they get Koch as well, and that is really a win-win situation. If he returns to form, he is a major help in that bullpen and you then have Percival, Koch, KRod, Weber, Donnelly, and Shields as well...that is a damn good pen, and really, it only costs you $1 mill more. If Koch does not return to his 2002 and before form, you simply note that it was a gamble that did not pay off, and if you can, you trade him elsewhere for a bag of balls(or whatever someone would like to give for him). I think Anaheim would atleast strongly consider it. Maybe tweak a few things here and there and it could be done.

You are one of the few. Maddux is good for an ERA under 4.00 every year along with 15 wins, Wood is always putting up good K numbers and usually good ERA numbers(and if he can get some consistency and get some run support, he could win 15-18 games this year too), and Zambrano is a horse and should probably be good for 15 wins or so along with several K's. Buehrle doesn't strike people out and he can have a time or two where he cannot control his pitches, and walks a lot. He'll win 15 a year(unless he has a good year where he might win 18-20), but his ERA is not great, his WHIP is not great, and point blank, he is not a good fantasy pitcher. Now, if you are talking about the actual game itself, I still take Prior, Wood, and Maddux over Buehrle. Prior for obvious reason, Wood because he wicked nasty stuff and could be a top 10 pitcher in the league someday, and Maddux just because of all the knowledge he could bring to a staff, let alone the fact that he still puts up real good numbers. Also, I'd consider long and hard about taking Zambrano over Buehrle, though I probably would not do it.