witesoxfan

Yeah that's an incredibly unlucky turn of events. You played the hand perfectly and got boned. On top of that, you had the 2nd-nuts, you have to play like you have the best hand. Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes, well, he eats you.

I honestly just can't stand it because it doesn't count for anything. The only mildly interesting thing is getting to see prospects play.

I'm already tired of Spring Training.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Feb 25, 2013 -> 01:43 PM) Mock drafts really mean nothing. There are endless amounts of mock drafts on the internet and they are all completely different. Here is my projection for the #1 overall pick. 1. Kansas City Chiefs - GoSox05 I am just as likely to be correct right now as any of the others. KC may not even keep that pick. They may pick a LT or DE or DT or QB. It's impossible to figure out right now.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Feb 25, 2013 -> 01:39 PM) except when I saw mock drafts with him going top 10. yea, they existed. Proving once and for all why mock drafts are so dumb. They are basically something to do and, so long as you pay attention, you begin to see where guys' values actually lie come closer to the draft. Matt Barkley and Tyler Wilson were projected to be top 10 picks last August, and they have nowhere near that value now.

The 40 itself is not worth much, but you get the 10 and 20 yard splits out of that, which mean quite a bit more. I don't remember who it was, but they basically said they believed they could beat Usain Bolt in the 40 last year, and really, it isn't that far fetched. I recall people timing out Bolt's 40 and it was about 4.4. He runs the next 61 meters or so in about 5 seconds or so...that's downfield speed.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Feb 25, 2013 -> 12:41 PM) Agreed, Jeff Baker just doesn't look right in a Rangers jersey. My thoughts exactly.

QUOTE (CryptviLL @ Feb 24, 2013 -> 11:09 AM) For my money - they need more of an exciting team. very stale, boring team going on right now. Honestly, if you have the opportunity to attend games at costs that are relatively cheap, it'd be a shame if you didn't go. They won 85 games last year and could and should be just as good this year while offering cheaper ticket prices. They have one of the best young pitchers in the game and a great all around pitching staff. They also have some pretty good, though not necessarily household or star, players offensively as well. To see a few Sox games, it literally either costs me about 24 hours in a car or $500 for airline tickets plus the price of game tickets and possibly lodging to see them in Chicago. I can't make it this summer but plan to next summer if just to make it to Chicago, and I plan on doing so during a period where I can see 2-3 games while I'm there. I hope you reconsider and attend a few games this year. It's going to be a good show.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 24, 2013 -> 05:51 PM) I'd love to see the gun on him now. Based on what I've read, I'd guess 85-88, occasionally touching 89-90. He has never been much more than 92-93 in the past to begin with. If he can be up to 87-90 by the end of Spring Training, he's going to be fine.

One of my favorite parts of Spring Training is seeing guys in new uniforms. Sometimes it's weird

QUOTE (Jake @ Feb 25, 2013 -> 09:35 AM) I can never decide if I should be pleased that Gordon is working on things or be afraid that he will fall into a never-ending cycle of tweak-induced slumps. I want to see how he performs during the season, but this is far more than a tweak. It may fall back into tweaks, but this is a drastic change.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Feb 22, 2013 -> 10:33 PM) That would be cool, do you have tickets for the game already or do you think we can easily buy them the day of? I don't have them yet but I plan on buying them at some point this week. I just basically have to get final answers out of my friends before I buy because if they do want to come then I need to make sure I have the right amount of tickets paid for. It's like $45 even for nosebleeds, but, atleast for me, I only get so many chances to see a player of LeBron's caliber in any sport so it's absolutely worth it.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 25, 2013 -> 08:21 AM) Not to mention a 26 year old guy who has never batted left handed picking it up and becoming major league quality has about a 1 in a billion chance, if that, of being successful. It's like asking a pitcher who blows out his shoulder to switch and start throwing with the other arm, maybe not quite that extreme, but the odds of success are nil. Exactly. You would need about 2 hours of practice at it a day for a year to become even somewhat proficient at it, and a lot of times, it's pointless to even do it...Jose Valentin was constantly switching from switch hitting to solely hitting left handed because he was such a poor right handed hitter.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Feb 24, 2013 -> 10:43 AM) Any objective baseball fan would say that Sabean has the edge. Look at his credentials, his record. But it was not a rip. Just a comment. "November 14, 2003: Traded by the Minnesota Twins with cash to the San Francisco Giants for Boof Bonser, Francisco Liriano and Joe Nathan. December 16, 2004: Released by the San Francisco Giants." Guess who made those moves? For the longest time frame, Brian Sabean was considered a joke of a GM who was fortunate enough to have Barry Bonds in his lineup to take his mediocre teams into the 90+ win territory. It wasn't wrong, because that's exactly what was happening in San Francisco. Now, whether through luck, good scouting, good development, or a little of all 3, he's won 2 out of 3 World Series and most of that has had to do with absurdly good starting pitching, a lot of luck, and an incredibly good catcher. That's really it. They don't have a lot of offensive talent anywhere else on that roster, and this offseason, he guaranteed Angel Pagan (as in, the 31 year old Angel Pagan whose game relies primarily upon his speed, defense, and average) $40 million over the next 4 years. I would say Brian Sabean is a mediocre GM - not good, not bad, but mediocre. The Giants have an incredible scouting department, and a great developmental team in the minor leagues, but Brian Sabean is not a good GM. If he has power over the scouting and development - great, he is a good evaluator of scouting and development talent. He is still not a good GM; he is a mediocre GM. Rick Hahn has been the GM for less than 6 months. How about you let him get beyond 0-0 as a GM before you evaluate him?

I like him mentioning backspinning to left center and right center, especially right-center. For one thing, that's what he was doing when he came up his rookie year and he was awesome that year. Next, backspinning balls to those gaps is fun because it can be a difficult ball to read and results in a ton of doubles and triples (if not all out home runs). And finally, he will hit more home runs because getting that backspin on the ball keeps it in the air longer and more of them will carry out of the ballpark. I obviously want to see him do it in the regular season, but I'm cautiously optimistic regarding Beckham this year. QUOTE (southside_hitman @ Feb 25, 2013 -> 04:40 AM) "He has such a strong grip, and like an overgrip, I guess. I don't know what you would call it on his top hand. I've never seen anything like this." In all seriousness, if that is the case, maybe Beckham should experiment switch hitting. Has he ever tried it? His right hand is his top hand. Switch hitting doesn't make any sense.

Honestly, Hahn has been a pretty straight shooter. I have to imagine that they honestly believe that Gillaspie is solid defensively.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 22, 2013 -> 04:20 PM) And I'd bet we'll see the exact same thing with Gillaspie. Maybe...there seems to be a little bit of Blake DeWitt in Gillaspie's game, but I would actually guess they are going to focus on him primarily playing 3B. I do think that the main competition for backup infielder will be Morel vs Sanchez. Sanchez is your low ceiling, high floor guy for that role. The Sox won't care if they have to give him back, but they are going to have to see that Morel has become very well accomodated to playing 2B and SS as well as hitting well, and I just don't know if he can handle all 3. If he can, more power to him, but I have my doubts. So, ultimately, I think we are agreeing that Morel will be in AAA this year.

Verlander wants to become first $200 mill pitcher Personally, I hope the Tigers sign him up for it this year. That will be an incredibly expensive and old team in about 5 years. I can wait that long.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Feb 22, 2013 -> 04:02 PM) Prioritizing control over velocity has to be a big part, no? The White Sox don't do that nearly as much as people believe though. For about the last 5 consecutive years, they've had the hardest throwing bullpen in the majors and it's not as if the starters don't throw hard either. I think much of it is just good, pure training, finding guys who have good mechanics, and dumb luck.

Awesome. Glad we could help you out Do you knwo how many they'll take? And when do you find out?

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Feb 22, 2013 -> 02:37 PM) Oh c'mon, he could not throw 300 mph. You're right. 228 MPH

Basically, he struggles in space (ie vs 3-4 defenders) but it's difficult to just go right through him or around him when lined up and in a 3-point

WHO YA TINK WOOD WIN IN A FIGHT, GIANT DITKA OR 10 MINI DITKAS?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 22, 2013 -> 02:09 PM) There seemed to be so many injuries last year, yet they were among the best in fewest days on the DL. Shows you how spoiled we are, or at least I am, regarding White Sox health. Frankly, it's incredible. That was one of the worst I've ever seen because I didn't really start following the team closely until 2002, which means I got to miss all of 2001.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 22, 2013 -> 02:07 PM) Mark Gonzales ‏@MDGonzales Keppinger nagged by sore right arm, nothing major according to RV Missing his wife already