caulfield12

QUOTE (dayan024 @ Jan 20, 2014 -> 09:54 PM) Chris Cotillo ‏@ChrisCotillo 5m One agent believes that there's a mystery team to watch on Tanaka: #Mariners. Chris Cotillo ‏@ChrisCotillo 2m "Mystery team" probably the wrong term to use when revealing the team. "Dark horse" probably better, Chris Cotillo ‏@ChrisCotillo 55s So, one agent believes that the #Mariners are a team to watch in the Tanaka talks. He described the Ms as the "mystery team". Well, Japanese ownership, the history with Ichiro and Sasaki as closer about ten years ago....the proximity to Japan and the fact that they just spent a boatload on Cano but still don't have quite enough talent to compete with the Rangers, A's and Angels.

I've thought long and hard about this, and I'm going to try to pitch "The Fault in our Stars" as the book. I just think a book that's simpler/accessible language-wise and more topical is the way to go. My best students (and the ones mostly likely to read in English) are all girls (the boys prefer basketball and computer games, haha), so I think it would resonate more with them. Even "Into the Wild" didn't work so effectively in my former school, where a co-worker was a teaching it, and I really love Kraukauer books for the most part. Yes, it's a "teen/young adult" book, in the same way that Twilight and Hunger Games are, but it's one of the most elegantly-written books ever in that genre. I've taught Animal Farm before, but there's just no way the Chinese administrators would allow that book, or 1984. Thanks, by the way, for all the great ideas. Gave me some new books to put on my reading list.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 01:32 PM) Balta, I'm not sure where you're getting your numbers from, but there is literally no way the Yankees can add Tanaka without going into the luxury tax short of selling off players. $36 million in 2014 is being subtracted due to A-Rod, that has to be a big part of the reason.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...08570--mlb.html In this article, the rumor was that the Cubs were at $160 plus the $20 million posting fee for 8 years. So $20 million a year for eight years, essentially. No way the Sox top that. Still has to be favored to end up with Yankees or Dodgers.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 18, 2014 -> 08:25 AM) What exactly are you buying in today's MLB for just over $4 million? Jeff Keppinger. Veteran 7th inning set-up guys.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Jan 17, 2014 -> 09:15 PM) I do that deal no matter what happens But my God, we'd look pretty strong and nearly rebuilt at least on paper; bolded areas would look pretty weak ATM but trading Alexei, DeAza, Paulino, Lindstrom, and Belisario could help strengthen those spots a bit. Sale-Tanaka-Quintana-Danks-Beck/Danish/Draft Pick/Other C Castro 1B Abreu DH Viciedo 2B Beckham/Semien/Sanchez/Johnson 3B Eaton SS Leury/Semien/Sanchez LF ???? CF Eaton RF Avisail 1B/3B/corner OF Gillaspie IF UT/CF Leury C Phegley/Nieto OF Jordan Danks CL Jones RSU Webb LSU Veal/Leesman/Other MR Petricka MR Bassit/Other Lefty specialist Leesman/Veal/Other LR Rienzo Edit: that last SP really doesn't look too weak at all but I bolded that out since those guys are probably 1+ years away; maybe Beck moves pretty quick & Danish could be here now if we wanted him in the pen, but as a starter he'll probably take a little bit of time. You forgot Scott Downs in your trade list, although the return will be marginal. Change 3B to Davidson. That bullpen sucks. (Yes, I know, someone like Danish will emerge as a stud out there...and we've got three veterans in front of them for the moment, along with Paulino possibly as well).

Where's the "anatomically correct" gag rendering of the new Cubs' mascot to add some more humor?

here in China... It should also have some type of connection to American History...and the more modern, the better. My first thought was Gone With the Wind, but that's just way too long for the students, and they would undoubtedly just watch the movie instead of trying to read it. I was thinking of something like 11/22/63 by Stephen King, but that's not going to get past my curriculum coordinator who is more oriented around classics. Red Badge of Courage? I think they will be bored with that as well. Obviously we can't do Twilight or Hunger Games (or Harry Potter, since JK Rowling's British) or The Diary of Anne Frank (another one that always comes to mind)... Autobiography of Malcolm X, although that's another long one. Profiles in Courage would be too boring and their understanding of the American political system (vis a vis China's) would make that one a difficult sell. Chinese students are really oriented around biographies of famous success stories like Gates, Buffett, Steve Jobs, etc. But trying to do Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, Emerson, Thoreau, Poe...it's just extremely difficult when their reading ability is more like 4th-6th graders in the US when they're in 10th/11th grade in high school. I also thought about "Into the Wild" but that's going to be a tough sell as well. Then you have the same issue with the students preferring to just watch the movie instead of attempting to read it in English themselves.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Jan 16, 2014 -> 08:40 PM) Ditto. Definitely doesn't seem like something most people would consider a classic several years down the road. I'm quite shocked at how many awards it keeps getting nominated for. I think it's almost as if David O. Russell is getting a "career" award for his entire body of work, rather than that particular film, specifically. SHORT TERM 12....excellent, excellent movie. Brie Larson deserved a Best Actress nomination. BLUE JASMINE....sad/depressing "Bernie Madoff" movie with two very very solid performances by Blanchette and Hawkins, with the former the odds-on favorite to win the Oscar at this point.

Everyone it talking about Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson, but that movie has ended up disappointing at the box office, even though it's a very good (not great) picture. Supposedly, there's a rumor flying around that the Hankses (along with Rita Wilson) and Oprah have worn out their welcome a little bit in Hollywood, but who knows about that one. Jonah Hill with more career acting nominations than Robert Redford? His All is Lost role looked to be getting a nomination about 2 months ago but that movie didn't quite resound either. Blackfish didn't survive the cut for documentaries, but The Act of Killing did. Some strange choices in the best foreign picture, with Blue is the Warmest Color not making it, along with The Past. Momentum has gone away from Captain Phillips, Fruitvale and Her and shifted in the direction of Blue Jasmine, Dallas Buyer's Club (Leto and McConaughey) and 12 Years a Slave. Nothing for Brie Larson/Short Term 12, another surprise.

QUOTE (beautox @ Jan 14, 2014 -> 07:07 AM) I agree, Tanaka fits with Hahn's vision of this team competing. If the sox sign him this year there is no reason they can't be looked at as a dark horse for a WC spot much like Cleveland last year and in addition to that we have a lot of payroll flexibility coming into next off season with Dunn(15M) and Kepp(4-8M) coming off the books as well as having a very firm understanding of Carlos Sanchez and Marcus Semien. If Sanchez brings his helium with him from the VZL in his second go around at AAA at the ripe old age of 21 we could have a very good infield for years to come in Abreu, Semien, Davidson and Sanchez while getting value back in Ramirez(11-20M) and Beckham(ARB3) if they preform or are moved before the start of the season. Biggest question marks for this team going forward from '14 LF and C. Hope we can land a great looking backstop and maybe Alfredo Despaigne if he defects. Keppinger has a 3 year contract.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 13, 2014 -> 04:02 PM) I know it's a couple of years old, but we watched Safety Not Guaranteed over the weekend. I don't understand all of the positive reviews, it seemed very generic to me. Aubrey Plaza seems like one of those actresses/comedians that's either going be hated or loved, it's hard to be in-between about her, a lot like Sarah Silverman or Melissa McCarthy.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/why-los-angel...00213--mlb.html A lot of the same reasons for the Angels not signing Tanaka would seem to apply to the White Sox at this point as well...both teams are at least one year away from being in a realistic position to take on a contract like that with all the other weaknesses both teams have across the board in terms of being "playoff worthy" teams.

QUOTE (timbo @ Jan 11, 2014 -> 08:14 PM) Money isnt everthing look at choo That's not a good example because with state income taxes being lower in Texas, he's actually going to end up making MORE money, so you can't just look at the surface value of the contract. You also have to take into consideration the city/state/local taxes in California (Oakland/Anaheim) as well as Seattle, as that's where a good percentage of their away games are played. Each one of those game checks is assessed at 1/162nd of his yearly salary. Bottom line, he's going to end up with $8 million more over the life of the contract.

QUOTE (103 mph screwball @ Jan 11, 2014 -> 06:08 PM) It would not surprise me if they have a trade ready for Quintana if they sign Tanaka. I would guess for a catcher. I can not see them trading Sale unless it starts with a young established all star position player and then adds multiple top prospects. I just think the Sox love Sale and they would demand the moon and the sun plus a PTBNL. There's no way Tanaka's not going to the Yankees now that they've cleared $31 million from their 2014 payroll.

QUOTE (sin city sox fan @ Jan 11, 2014 -> 05:25 PM) We can get it done by Tuesday. Just send some strippers to his hotel room. If titties don't work, than send chicken wings. No man can resist titties and chicken wings. So, in other words, just bring him to Hooter's?

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller) turned out be quite a bit better than I thought it would be.

You don't want to pay through the teeth for Scherzer when there's a pretty high probability of him going down to injury sooner rather than later. FWIW, a lot has been written about Tanaka's workload, with comparisons to Dice-K's now infamous pitch counts as well as training workload between starts. The much higher probability of getting a future ace is from the draft in 2014 and 2015, if they can identify the right pitcher/s.

http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20327336_2...0.html#30077924 Predictions for the Golden Globes movie categories. A bit surprised that American Hustle has more momentum going for it than 12 Years a Slave (part of that due to AH still being in theatres), but that could/should easily be reversed come Academy Awards time. (Jennifer Lawrence vs. the unknown Yale-trained actress from 12 Years a Slave is the most interesting, and Gravity/12 Years A Slave/American Hustle for best picture). Also agree about HER deserving some points for originality...compared to all these comic book/novel/franchise movies we've been subjected to.

QUOTE (Paulstar @ Jan 10, 2014 -> 01:53 PM) Maybe BA, Fields, and MAYBE Flowers were pretty highly ranked, but by the time the White Sox got Lillibridge and Castro both were losing their status. And maybe I'm mistaken, but I'm almost positive Morel was never highly ranked. Plus, I think you also need to look at what type of players Garcia, Eaton, and Davidson are compared to the other guys. All of them were acquired when they have been MLB ready and have already gotten their feet wet in the show. The only one you listed like that was Lillibridge but as I already said, his stock was already plummeting by the time he got to Chicago. Honestly, the only one that I'll concede to you is Davidson because he is probably the most raw of all three. However, it does make me wonder who in the hell is scouting guys like Fields and Flowers. Both guys were highly talked about, and then you see them come up and play, and at least for me, you ask yourself how in the world did this guy make it to the majors. Both guys have/had huge mechanical flaws in their swings and never really showed a good feeling for hitting. I completely understand why someone like Ryan Sweeney or Gordon Beckham get highly ranked as prospects because they have the tools and natural hitting ability to be good hitters. I feel like a good portion of Fields' hype was because he was a really good athlete and people said if he ever learns how to become a baseball player he'll be good. And I think if Flowers couldn't play catcher and was a 1B/DH guy, he would have never been considered a decent prospect to begin with. Borchard, Fields, Anderson, Morel (at least one time, 90% sure it was around 85-100) and Beckham were all Top 100 guys. If Flowers was, it would have been right after that AFL season when he was still with the Braves. Sweeney might have snuck in there once as well, but it would have been in the last 15-20 selections because of the concerns about him developing enough power for a corner outfield spot or possibly 1B.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jan 10, 2014 -> 01:49 PM) I'm much more worried about Davidson and Garcia than I am about Eaton tbh Part of this is also simply the psychological element of not being as concerned about giving up Addison Reed and getting out from under that supposed "bargain/team friendly" Peavy contract.

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Jan 10, 2014 -> 01:41 PM) Wactched Her last night. It surprisingly had a lot of funny scenes. I got a little bored towards the end, but it was for sure a different movie and I think I liked it. Amy Adams has a smaller role in the movie than the trailers would have you believe. If you like Joaquin Phoenix or are particularly enamored with Scarlett Johannson's voice, this is the movie for you. I'm somewhere in the middle on it. It's definitely not the type of movie you have to see in a theatre to enjoy 100%. Spike Jonze has always been known for being a quirky director, so this fits with his entire body of work. A little bit of Soderbergh to him...although he's also mainstream/commercial when he chooses those projects.

I don't think Lindstrom really counts as a positive or negative at this point. Belisario IMO is perhaps more likely to be the break-out candidate, or Paulino. Some of the negativity about Keppinger has simply been the fact that 1) Rays players never seen to excel outside of Tampa and 2) we already went through a similar situation overvaluing Teahen, so this look like a rehash. And just being on the wrong side of "buy low/sell high" which was pretty predictable from the beginning. Finding Gillaspie to at least man 3B turned out to be a pretty decent move, too. As a huge Santiago fan, I fear we'll go through a period like we did with Daniel Hudson where his success elsewhere will be magnified if we don't get enough production out of Eaton.

Danks' problem isn't so much showing the ball or telegraphing his delivery as command in the strike zone, getting behind in counts and particularly the lack of differentiation on his off-speed stuff and fastball. When he was throwing 90-94 MPH, he could get away with a lot of more foul balls that turned into solid contact at lower speeds. The movement seems to be pretty decent, but I can't say I closely monitored many of his starts in the 2nd half versus the 1st half to see what, if any, progress was noticeable.

HER is an intriguing "high concept" film, but I'm not sure I would recommend someone spending good movie in a theatre for it. It's almost like Lars and the Real Girl, in a sense. Except the relationship isn't with a blow-up doll, it's with an OS. It's almost like they tried to make When Harry Met Sally for the internet age. I'll take Travis Bickle's struggle with loneliness and disillusionment anytime.