caulfield12

QUOTE (Reddy @ Mar 7, 2013 -> 11:55 PM) meh, would've liked more years since we'll lose 1.5 to TJ... but... not bad. How can you have more years than the possibility of going through 2019? Those later years aren't guaranteed for a very good reason...BUT, it's a good combination of length and years. He could easily earn the entire value of his contract in just 1 - 1 1/2 seasons.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Mar 7, 2013 -> 07:58 PM) I still think this kid has a chance to be a special player. He doesn't turn 25 years old until October, so he's pretty much age appropriate for AAA, plus he really hasn't had that much development time given his injury. The physical tools remain there, even if his speed isn't quite as elite as it once was. The kid is always going to strikeout a lot, as he takes a ton of pitches and as a result a ton of walks. He just needs to learn how to make adjustments so he can get his contact rate to a respectable level. Honestly, I have no problem at all with a high OBP/low AVG leadoff hitter with above-average power and speed. He just can't be Adam Dunn bad with the strikeouts, which is what he was last year, especially in AAA. Just don't know if we can afford two similar players in DeAza and Mitchell at USCF. Mitchell's probably going to end up being a 15-25 homer guy, but nowhere close to Carl Crawford's 50+ stolen bases. As everyone knows, walks and K rates and putting up at an OBP of at least 330 will be the key. He's definitely an exciting and dynamic player, and my hopes are much higher for him than Walker. You could definitely see a Mitchell, Thompson and Hawkins "dream outfield" if all three of those guys can make contact, because the athletic and defensive tools are plus ones.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Mar 7, 2013 -> 09:36 PM) Congrats your post was so ignorant it compelled me to make my first post here in years. The value of a win is about $4 million. The Sox are going to be paying Ramirez 26.5 million over the next 3 years with an AAV of 8.9 million. Even with his career worst year at the plate last year due to the paucity of legit MLB caliber shortstops and his solid glove, bWAR had Ramirez for 2.2 wins and fWAR had him down for 1.8. That means he was basically worth his salary (note he only made 7 million in 2012). I will concede that the arc of Ramirez's career is not promising, but thanks to regression to the mean all the projection systems have Ramirez somewhere around a wOBA of .300, which would add about half a win over his 2012 numbers -- assuming his glove grades out about the same. It's probably fair to project Ramirez for about 7 WAR over the next 3 seasons -- at 4 million per win he'll be making...about exactly what he "should be". The idea that Ramirez's contract is some albatross hanging over the Sox is ludicrous. You'd rather rush a 20 year old to the bigs (and starting his arb clock no less) that projects a worse WAR just so you can jettison a 2 WAR player (aka a solid starter) that is being paid a fair salary. I've held back, but seriously? GTFO with such non-sense. Agreed, except for the last line, lol. If there are any albatrosses right now, they are Dunn and John Danks, to name just a couple. Chris Sale easily could become one if he suffers an injury. Rios is still not going to get you anything more than salary relief unless he can prove that the Brett Saberhagen Effect hasn't set in for 2013.

QUOTE (Lillian @ Mar 7, 2013 -> 08:59 PM) The scouting report on Sanchez is that he is very good at short or second. That skill translates immediately, and won't take time to develop, as hitting does. He is supposedly very good at handling the bat, and I'm still not convinced that he couldn't be an effective number 2 hitter, even now. You have to be impressed with this article: http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=2...;vkey=news_milb Anytime you start comparing a player to Roberto Alomar, I'm sold!!! Alomar and Bill Mazeroski were the two best 2B of all-time. Let's not get carried away with hyperbole. I'll just go back to Brian Anderson in 2006. If we did trade Ramirez, and stuck Carlos Sanchez in that position and the offense was really struggling (not inconceivable that we'll have to rely more on pitching to beat the Tigers), then there would be pressure to send him down if the White Sox were falling behind in the standings. You have to give him one more year...or at least 4 months, to develop with his hitting at the highest levels without all the pressure. Trading Ramirez sends the signal to the team and fanbase that the team has already given up on 2013. In that case, why sign Peavy? It would make ZERO sense. If the team's 15-20 games back at the ASB, sure, go ahead and look at ALL options, including Konerko as well. The only tool Sanchez has right now that is better than Alexei is plate discipline/OBP/making contact, but he's not ready quite yet from a hitting standpoint...if Carlos Sanchez tore up the Arizona Fall League or in spring training, but even then it would be a stretch. Not only that, but Beckham's going to be given his final 3-4 more months (at least) to make a statement that he belongs or he doesn't. But you could still advocate for playing ANGEL Sanchez there instead of forcing Carlos Sanchez up too early and stunting his development. Finally, you're in a position of selling low or close to dumping Alexei. Looking at his career, there's no reason to think he's not due for a hot streak that will elevate his value...there's a greater chance that he will improve offensively, compared to mitigating any downside risk. Not to mention the fact that he has a thin, wiry frame which tends to stand up in your 30's more than someone who's carrying more weight.

Man, Compliance really makes you feel uncomfortable. Reminded me of a somewhat similar movie called HARD CANDY.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Mar 4, 2013 -> 09:25 PM) Possibly, but that's not the point. How did opposing offenses perform at the Cell last year? Is it really that hard to believe that both us and our competition are affected by the park? That was point he was trying to make. Being 4th in runs doesn't necessarily mean we had a good offense last year. But then, conversely, our pitching always has to be deemed better than it shows statistically, too.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Mar 4, 2013 -> 09:26 PM) He fractured the scaphoid which is a bone on the other side of the wrist. That is a much bigger deal as it is one of the keystones for the wrist motion. I always thought it was the hamate bone. I remember Jose Canseco did that, as well. When did they report their initial misdiagnosis? peeepl.com/people/elia-hamate/ - 翻译此页您已公开地对此项 +1。 撤消I thought it was ugly, ... The Elias Sports Blog: Remember Carlos Quentin. Part of it could be the hamate bone surgery he had last year which saps a lot of power. Carlos Quentin broke his hamate bone last year in the middle of an MVP season

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/one-more-tri...ew_default=true The financial risks behind Oz: The Great and Powerful First 15 reviews up, 10 are positive at RT.com. Looks like it will land between Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland in terms of box office. A lot depends on international box office, obviously, whether it's ultimately profitable or not.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Mar 4, 2013 -> 05:46 PM) See the comments in his AAP. Not a big deal. Except it really did seem to affect Carlos Quentin. He was never the same hitter with us as in that 2008 season before the hand injury.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Mar 3, 2013 -> 10:49 AM) I think Melton may have actually performed admirably in this regard, in that I didn't notice him butcher Gillaspie's name (my have called him Gillespie). If Melton can do it, anyone can. I'm pretty sure Melton's autograph reads "X" The SD radio guys were wondering why the Sox didn't have anyone doing the Sunday ST game, no DJ and Farmer, and then went on to ask someone in the White Sox PR department if Harrelson was around the park and the response was "Heck (expletive), no!"

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...25325--mlb.html

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 3, 2013 -> 11:05 AM) Really? Was I the only one who saw our opening day starter be terrible and then go down for the season with surgery? Ask yourself what would happen to any number of other teams if they had exactly that sentence happen to them. That's not "Nearly everything" going right, that's a huge loss. That's 3, 4 wins we might have lost. That's the margin between us and a playoff spot. And it forced trades that depleted our bench for good measure. If you want to reply "yeah but I said nearly", then let's throw in our opening day 3b's back going out, our 1b's wrist, the month we lost from our opening day CF, the time we had 7 rookies in our bullpen. A lot of stuff went wrong last year. Our GM and farm system just overcame enough of it to keep us in the race. Except for much of last season, Quintana arguably pitched better than Danks was projected to...at least until he wore down the final 6 weeks or so, he was our ace for a stretch there, even though he didn't always get the wins to prove it. Rios, Dunn (to some) and Peavy all outperformed expectations, as did AJ, by a wide margin. We're basically stuck with that 75-85 win team for the time being. For whatever reason, I don't honestly expect Keppinger to repeat his 2012 performance. Everyone's well past being trying to be convinced Gordon Beckham has finally turned the corner and is back to 2009 levels.

QUOTE (Jake @ Mar 2, 2013 -> 09:56 PM) I'd argue that The Invisible War was more deserving for doing what the best documentaries do: affect change. The Invisible War leads to policy changes, even before opening By that line of thinking, Bowling for Columbine would have to rank up there (in your definition), although you have to subtract points for its one-sidedness and lack of objectivity. Whereas, for example, Fog of War was more philosophical and it would be much harder to get any concrete reforms out of it directly, but you could make a reasonable argument it's 10X more important than any of the Michael Moore films, even Roger & Me. (Although I'm sure some will argue that Moore movies are not even documentaries but are a different category, political commentary and satire pigeon-holed into the doc category). Measuring influence of a documentary by lives changes, laws passed or reforms enacted doesn't touch upon that idea of human inspiration and hope and never giving up that is at the center of the Rodriguez story. Biography has that ability, that a single topic or issue simply doesn't because of scale and scope.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 2, 2013 -> 09:31 PM) It is, but they REALLY like Mitchell. You should have heard Buddy Bell glow about him when I asked about Mitchell. Hawkins was the only other guy he was THAT charged up about. He said nice things about everyone, of course, but his tone was different with Mitchell. It was more personal. Probably because he didn't give up on him after the devastating injury....with all the doomsayers wondering why we (and everyone in baseball but the Yankees and Angels didn't have Trout on their radar screens)...his difficult conversion from a WR/athlete to a baseball player, and his upside/potential to be a Carl Crawford Lite and add some spark and excitement. Plus, Mitchell and Viciedo were our only legit prospects at that time, so he's been around him from the very beginning, from the time he was drafted, through the ups and downs of the 2011 and 2012. It looks doubtful he will ever be a great basestealer at the major league level, and you have to disagree with him having the same type of baseball speed as Carl Crawford at ages 23-26, but he's got more natural power than Crawford, too. How many opposite field homers has Crawford hit in his career? I'd guess just a handful.

Searching for Sugar Man has to be not only the best documentary of 2012, it's probably the best overall movie/entertainment of the year. Amazing story. Too strange to be true. I had watched War Witch and 5 Broken Cameras (another excellent documentary), but I've never seen one quite like Sugar Man....and, with all the controversy over Zero Dark Thirty, Lincoln and Argo playing around with the truth and events being compressed, made up or overly dramatized, well, nobody could make up the Rodriguez story if they tried for 100 years.

Some of the pitchers obviously like throwing to Gimenez, and Phegley's had some impressive AB's as well in early spring. It's going to be an interesting battle. Anderson has the advantage of being a lefty bat, so that seems like a good match. As far as Mitchell goes, he's shown this type of burst in spring training before....and then he's gotten ice cold. Same with 2012 in the minors. He has to do it consistently. The opposite field homer off Galarraga was nice, but where has Armando been since that no-hitter in 2010? There's really not much point in sitting him (Mitchell) on the bench in Chicago, although certainly there are some who view him at this point as nothing more than a 4th/5th infielder type and who feel there's definitely some benefit or upside to learning under the tutelage of the major league staff and from DeAza and Rios. Tekotte and Wise are in the mix, but you'd have to think that Wise is still the favorite until they go with future/upside over the veteran leadership. Somewhere in the rotation is Jordan Danks too, on the outside looking in, clearly. Does Melton get worse (didn't think possible) every spring? And I'd almost prefer Rongey or Brooks Boyer to whoever that guy was today. He misidentified a Reds player coming in to make a catch as Viciedo. And Melton arguing that Viciedo's going to strike out a lot less because of his new leg kick. Well, it will be believed when seen. Who knows, maybe Melton can be right at least 15-20% of the time just by accident.

Haha. I thought it was for 2013 and expected him to be touting/hyping Conor Gillaspie, Angel Sanchez and Bryan Anderson.

message: We do listen. "Through the course of those surveys, we understand that concessions was a barrier to the enjoyment part of attending a baseball game in Cleveland," said Kurt Schloss, the team's Vice President of Concessions. "Based on that feedback, it turned into how do we change the perception of attending a game and turn it into a positive." Cleveland did not stop at beer. Hot dogs go from $4.50 to $3.00, charging only $1.00 at 15 specific games. Most other food items will see a 25 percent price cut. It is a franchise-wide re-set on value, and not some short-term PR pop. Most older fans remember what that has meant in Cleveland. Back in 1974, for a game against Texas, the team discounted beer from .65 cents to a dime (limit six per person). Needless to say, there was a drunken riot in the ninth inning, and the Indians had to forfeit the game. "We want this to be meaningful value for these fans no matter where they are in the ballpark where they can enjoy the savings of a good hot dog, beer or Pepsi," Schloss said. That is a reference to a place like Houston. Last year, beer at Astros games went to $5.00 — but only in certain parts of the ballpark. This season, the franchise is at $5.00 all across the stadium. Although rare, this is not without precedent. When Arte Moreno took over the Los Angeles Angels a decade ago, one of the first things he did was reduce beer prices. At $4.50, their prices remain well below the league average. "I can't speak to other franchises, but I know when you look at where these prices are, compared to the MLB average, the price of beer here is 34 percent below the average," Schloss said. "I would assume other teams would follow suit, but I can't speak to that." In the end, it's a classic cost-benefit analysis. If discounted beer and food attracts more people to the ballpark, they still pay for the ticket, pay for parking and may even buy more food since it's perceived as cheaper. Ultimately, it could mean more revenue rather than less. "Will they come to a game more often? That's our goal," admitted Schloss. "I hate to say we make it up in volume but that's what we're looking for." There is about $24 million more invested on the field this season with the additions of Nick Swisher, Mark Reynolds and Michael Bourn. The front office expects to win, and the concession and ticket offices want as many people there to see them win. "It's all based on the same message," Schloss concluded. "Let's get a good team on the field, and let's have a value offering when they get there." www.cnbc.com

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Feb 28, 2013 -> 11:29 PM) It's an interesting idea, and one I hope catches on. I'm not sure the opening day sellout thing much different for most other clubs, is it? Opening day sells out no matter who you are. How fast did our opening day tickets go? Miami, lol?

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-leag...11651--mlb.html About CLE Indians significantly lowering prices for concessions, souvenirs, parking, etc. 40% increase in attendance projected already from 2012....and Opening Day sold out in 6 minutes.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Feb 2, 2013 -> 04:05 PM) Olt is the same age as Moustakas and has almost 900 less MLB plate appearances, he's a year older than Hosmer and has 1,000 less plate appearances than him. If Olt is going to have maximum value for the the Rangers he's going to have to hit soon. Otherwise, I believe they have made a mistake holding on to him this long. It's not a bad idea, but we're going to have to give up money (which we've been loath to do) and take a huge risk that Olt's the long-term solution at 3B. About 5 years ago, everyone in baseball wanted Brandon Wood and the Angels wouldn't give him up. It all depends on the scouting. But there's way Keppinger should be in the outfield...or profiles as a legit corner OF bat. This is the kind of trade that might need to wait at least half the season or into the offseason of 2013-14 to pull off...when Thompson, Mitchell or Walker might be ready to take a full-time spot. In the end, trading a huge salary, replacing it with a younger, cost-controlled player with upside and replacing traded veteran internally...that's the only way to successfully turn this roster around and still remain competitive, but there's obviously going to be some growing pains. As long as it's only 1-2 rookies per year, it can be done.

Saw RACE 2, Hindi movie in NEW DELHI. Haha. There are two super hot girls in this film. It's the Bollywood version of mixing Jason Bourne, The Fighter and National Treasure into one derivative flick. The famous Indian comedian actor who was in Mission Impossible: Ghost Proctocol (the one seduced by Paula Patton in Mumbai) was one of the 3 male leads. Weather here about 70 degrees everyday, winter just ending. Will try to wake up for the Super Bowl Monday morning at 530 am. Will update with any other movies from Mumbai and Goa.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jan 28, 2013 -> 08:18 PM) This review was written by Richard Roeper. Good catch. I just did a search for "Ebert suntimes.com Movie 43" and I read that he had given it was zero stars and it was at the rogerebert.com website, so I assumed it must have been his article and didn't even read the byline. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.d...973/0/REVIEWS08

http://news.yahoo.com/why-zero-dark-thirty...-210311562.html Why Black Hawk Down is falling away in the Oscar race.

There's two ways to look at this. That saying they're up hundreds of points or percentage points over last year sounds more rosily optimistic, because that's not such a huge bar to jump over when there was an overall decrease of 50% or whatever. On the other hand, he's not really getting into specifics of what that comparison is based on....which seats, which packages, which price points. Is it just the split season packages? Overall, of course anyone representing sales numbers is going to accentuate the positive, it's human nature. And, looking at it from that lens, things are MUCH better than they were last off-season. The point which is just as important is the almost 100% renewal at the highest price points...which is where they're generating the bulk of their season ticket profits. What exactly is he supposed to say? If he was 100% straightforward, then he would probably be skewered for being too negative and pessimistic and not focusing on the "silver linings" to steal a phrase from an Oscar favorite. What's the point of wanting to see a conspiracy or trying to prove he's outright lying or obfuscating? Just to keep creating "straw man" arguments against a mythical windmill which is JR, KW, Hahn and Boyer?