witesoxfan

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Mar 22, 2011 -> 11:02 PM) I had two draught beers this evening after work that were new to me an both very good. The first was Lost Coast 8 Ball, a bourbon barrel aged stout with lots of great rich vanilla bean and mocha notes in it. The second was Brooklyn Brewing's Monster Ale from their draught-only Brewmaster's Reserve collection. Very fruity and estery for a barley wine but not at all unpleasant. The fruitiness actually sort of reminded me of the fresh ale esteriness that the original Pete's Wicked Red used to have. Later in the evening I am home trying to cut out a few calories in my eating and — gasp! — in my drinking as well. The last couple of nights I have gone with simple 2:3 gin and tonics with Boodles London Dry gin and a generous lime squeeze and they have been quite satisfying. My penchant for indulging in sugary and rich drinks is certainly a downfall when I'm trying to diet, since I'd much rather deny myself a big meal rather than a good drink. I love a good gin and tonic. So crisp and refreshing. Can't have more than about 2 without the juniper overpowering my taste buds, but that's about the right amount to drink anyways. It just reminds me of spring and summer.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Mar 23, 2011 -> 11:57 PM) Let me guess, Cavic is Serbian? You win the prize!

My guess is that the organization's tentative plan right now is to use AJ/Castro this year with Flowers 3rd on the depth chart and coming up in any scenario where one of those two misses time, be it suspension, injury, or bereavement. Castro's contract is up after this year, so they let him walk and hand the backup catcher role over to Flowers. By that point, AJ is going to be quite worn down from the years and years of everyday catching, so they are going to take it easier on him, especially as the year wears on with AJ catching about 75-80% of the games early in the year to 50-60% of the games later on. They will let AJ walk following 2012 and hand the reigns over to Flowers. Obviously, plans can change, and I think this has about a 10% chance of actually following through. I do think this is how the organization would prefer everything to pan out though.

QUOTE (Chet Kincaid @ Mar 23, 2011 -> 06:36 PM) Why is slapping hands with the first and third base coaches and your team mates acceptable and removing your helmet not? Grant Balfour goes ape s*** ALL THE TIME! The guy is a freaking lunatic. But that's okay too? It's about subtlety and sportsmanship. Removing your helmet has never been OK, nor has spending 10 seconds staring down a home run. But giving your coaches and teammates a five as you round the bases and come into the dugout? There is a huge difference. I think you are arguing for the sake of arguing. I also didn't say I cared for Grant Balfour's antics at all times. I specifically stated the moment he had in the ALDS against Cabrera. If he does it in the 7th inning in a game against Cleveland, I would say it's too much. It's difficult to do anything to retaliate or show him up though other than hitting him (his pitches, not his face). If he's in the game, that means it's close so you can't send a message to their hitters. If you get out of an inning, perhaps you can go over the top and show them how ridiculous it is. Perhaps you bring it to the umpires' attention and have them settle him down. Perhaps someone can tell him themselves, but then they're may end up starting a brawl, getting ejected and then suspended for it, and nobody wants to risk that. The best thing you can do to avoid it is to beat him. That's not an easy thing to do.

QUOTE (Jake @ Mar 23, 2011 -> 08:34 PM) Well this is embarrassing. 1. Facebook 2. Pornhub 3. Soxtalk 4. NaughtyAmerica 5. Brazzers 6. Rhodes.edu (my college's website) 7. Robot Unicorn Attack play page 8. Grooveshark :headbang

QUOTE (MuckFinnesota @ Mar 23, 2011 -> 08:24 PM) Went to the job fair today and targeted two organizations I might be interested in working for whether it be the work or the mission statement of the organization. Hy-Vee would like to have a phone interview with me to go over available openings and determine if I am a fit for their organization. The organization that kept my attention today was that of Red Frog, which promotes, markets and plans different running events. It seems like the company culture is a lot like Google, has a lot of nice perks and a decent salary. I bet that it, like Groupon, might be a bit difficult to get into but that doesn't mean I am not going to try. EDIT: Congratulations on the job, Wite. Don't congratulate yet, it was just an interview. And that was the most informal interview I could have ever imagined. Cut right to the chase, no BSing, nothing. It was wild.

BASE ball

"Hmm. Not bad."

31 is old?

QUOTE (SouthsideDon48 @ Mar 23, 2011 -> 03:10 PM) I know JoeCoolMan is the official Soxtalk nicknamer, but I would like to nominate the nickname "Humble Humber" as the official nickname for Humber. I think Humber will be Humbled by batters a lot in 2011. :-p Pretty sure his nickname has already been decided. Philip Humper.

Honestly, I think a lot of people thought Wilson Betemit was going to be solid. Pretty sure I did as well. Of course it just so happened that last year he did hit like most of us thought he would, he just did so with Kansas City.

I get my news from The Onion

oh, that's too bad

There is a distinct difference between hitting a very important home run in a clutch situation or striking someone out with the go ahead run on second base to end an inning than there is in the 3rd inning of a meaningless spring training game. Paul Konerko celebrated after he hit the grand slam because it put the White Sox up by 2 in game 2 of the WORLD SERIES. Grant Balfour went apes*** crazy when he struck out Orlando Cabrera in 2008 because it was in the PLAYOFFS. Of course there are other moments throughout a season that guys do this as well, but they are generally accepted because they are in pretty important situations. If not, a lot of times an opposing manager will take offense to it and said player will not be comfortable in the box the next time up. If you hit a homer in the 4th inning of a regular season game, you should run the bases and cross home plate and then go slap hands with your teammates. Act like you've done it before.

QUOTE (whtsoxfan @ Mar 23, 2011 -> 04:04 PM) Which position Teahen is a better utility option than anyone in camp? As of today, considering the players who are still in camp, Teahen is anywhere from the 7th to 10th best hitter, depending upon how you view Pierre, Morel, and Pierzynski. He just doesn't play very good defense at any position, which is why he's a bench player who plays sporadically instead of having a set position. So to answer your question, Teahen is a better option than pretty much everybody in camp for a utility position.

This is all kind of what I was reasoning in my head, so it's good to have some reaffirmation. Thanks guys.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Mar 23, 2011 -> 02:40 PM) What's their planned rotation look like? I've found this today: jonmorosi Jon Morosi #Twins have made Kevin Slowey available. #Brewers and #Mariners need a starter. But trades aren't easy: http://bit.ly/f2HO3l @Ken_Rosenthal I assume it has to be Pavano, Liriano, Baker, Duensing, Blackburn with Slowey to the pen.

The interview seemed to go really well. The store manager seemed to really like me, while the GM of the franchise itself was sort of on the fence. The problem I'm faced with at this point is that he (the store manager) made it seem like this was a career choice and not a stepping stone to another job. Most of it is commission based, as you'd expect, but he said the worst anybody in the store made was $45k, and the top person made $80k. My problem isn't with that, but is instead that it is expected that this would be a career choice and I don't really want to live here 5 months from now, let alone 5 years. Perhaps it was idealistic of me to assume that this would be a stepping stone kind of job. I think I would like the job, but I don't know that my heart would be in it knowing that I'd want to leave in 5 months anyways.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Mar 23, 2011 -> 01:56 PM) They had to go through 10 years of awful teams to finally get it right and build the talent. Even then Maddux was a FA and Smoltz was a trade with Detroit for Doyle Alexander. Where would the team have been without them? I, personally, do not want to go through a decade of awful teams. The Phillies two best pitchers are trades as well. I think the Giants are a better example if you want to use the farm team arguement. Smoltz was acquired when he was a prospect, so he counts towards the farm system, just as John Danks and Gavin Floyd count as the White Sox developing starters. The point isn't that you need to draft every single player, it's that you acquire young talent that will be cost controlled for quite a while. With regards to the Giants, their entire playoff rotation was developed from within, and the main cogs in their bullpen were as well. They also wouldn't have been in the playoffs if not for Buster Posey. They filled spots where they needed, but all teams do. Much of the Phillies offense was minor league talent or cheap acquisitions. It's true that 4 of their 5 starting pitchers were acquired from outside the organization, but they've been able to do so because they've had the minor league talent to deal while also maintaining some to help supplement their major league team. Part of the problem with developing a good minor league system is that you generally have to struggle a bit to build it up. I'm not talking solely about draft picks, because I understand that around 50% of top 10 picks, especially pitchers, fail to live up to expectations. But being out of contention allows you to deal better players for prospects, which also help minor league systems. Good teams have the opposite occur. It isn't impossible. I believe the White Sox are doing a better job of this as of late, but to continue on, they need to hang onto some of these prospects instead of dealing them away. I'm just hoping there are a few prospects that really make a name for themselves this year, because there is talent in the lower and middle levels. And then we have to hope that Williams has done a good enough job of addressing the needs of the major league club that he doesn't need to make a significant addition to it come July, like in 2005 when the Sox only move was acquiring Geoff Blum (even though he did have the trade for Griffey lined up).

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 23, 2011 -> 11:25 AM) I'm not saying our system is good or that I'm happy with Humber. But if you looked around the league at all the 5th starters being thrown out there, some of the old, bad veterans that teams are gambling on, I don't think that last spot in the rotation is as easy to fill from within as you make it sound. He's not talking about making it easy to fill, he's talking about being able to fill it with someone who may have some upside. Philip Humber has virtually no upside whatsoever.

The White Sox play BASE ball

The Mariners are going to end up taking 6 NRI's with the major league club. They all have major league experience and what have you, but that just seems a bit ridiculous to me. For those keeping track - Adam Moore, Adam Kennedy, Chris Ray, Jamey Wright, Royce Ring, and Ryan Langerhans. This was a team that quite a few people predicted would win their division last year and even more people thought they were turning their team around rather quickly. It's been a year and they seem to be so thin on major league talent that they are taking 6 NRIs north. I don't care who you are, that's bad.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Mar 22, 2011 -> 09:47 PM) Crede was a shell last couple of years! So are most players right before they retire. That's why they retire.

I've been on with J4L on this one the whole time. There is nothing in the numbers nor scouting reports that has ever impressed me about Humber. I think he is going to be a poor man's DJ Carrasco at best, and DJ Carrasco wasn't exactly for the wealthy (or whatever). Maybe he's figured something out or maybe the coaching staff knows something I don't - well they know quite a few things I don't, so that much is very true - but I'm not counting on anything, and I'm not going to be excited about him. For you though Heads, I will stop s***ting on him until/if he blows up. Now, let's all do the same thing with Chris Sale in regards to him pitching out of the bullpen this year and the rotation next year, eh?

Hurting himself because he's pushing himself a little too hard is much better than missing extensive time due to carpal tunnel syndrome from spending too much time on the internet. Jake has really done nothing to piss me off. I appreciate that he is working as hard as he is and wants to win so badly and I'm sure his teammates and manager do too. I just hope that karma pulls through in this instance and he can stay healthy. I think he will.