caulfield12

Heck, Cliff Lee is getting $25 million, and he's older than Peavy and doesn't even have Jake's (now diminished) repertoire. But no way to $15 million or more. I think the consensus is $11-12-13 million per year and 2 years, no way more than 3. Or two years and an option year with a fairly significant buyout again.

Thompson is taller, he's more like a Strawberry/Rios/Winfield build. Not as explosive, but more graceful.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 2, 2012 -> 10:03 AM) The Japanese coach told the team not to score against South Africa, as 2nd place in the group would let them stay in Cardiff and not be forced to travel. The problem is that once Great Britain upset Brazil, that sent Brazil to Cardiff for the quarterfinals, so the Japanese have quite the opponent to face now. Shouldn't they get the same punishment as the Chinese, South Korean and Indonesian badminton womens' doubles teams?? I think that badminton actually got a lot more coverage than it ever would have because of this round robin debacle, but not for the right reasons. It's a bit like table tennis, where China is so dominant but it's almost never shown on t.v., and yet, if you were China, every single match of badminton (men's and women's singles, doubles, mixed) is shown like it's the Super Bowl. Feel sorry for the woman who claimed she was retiring, as she is the best in the world and her country and badminton commissions and the government are all coming down hard on her but not the coach. This has happened 20 some times in international player, out of about 80-90 times, where the two Chinese teams deliberately are coached to figure out a way to avoid each other until the finals, then both teams go all out to beat each other in the end. But lots of walkovers are ordered by the government when two Chinese players meet in early rounds.

Plus, McEwing has a lot of experience being around LaRussa....that has to help, too. He's our coaching version of Jose Oquendo, and similar players as well.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 2, 2012 -> 02:33 PM) I feel like everyone is giving Robin too much of the benefit of the doubt already in this thread. His team responded to him and done well so far, but in no way am I ready to call him a great manager. He still makes plenty of WTF decisions. This team went through a carnival the last two years, so just have a quiet calming presence in the dugout would lead to a turnaround in performance. This team also hasn't faced major adversity yet, so he hasn't had to deal with that. I'm not trying to hate on Robin, and I think he could be a good one over time. But I don't think that four months proves that everyone's original opinion was 100% wrong. I'd say losing in crushing fashion to the Red Sox, getting swept by the Tigers and losing five games in the standings to them in one week. That was a pretty big test. Many weren't sure (myself included) how they were going to respond to that, especially with the Rangers and hated Twins looming...along with our tendency to beat ourselves against Minnesota. Any road stretch of 16/19 games against the competition we faced is huge test of any manager. And he's had to deal with that inexperienced bullpen for 2/3rd's of the season b4 picking up Myers and getting Crain off the DL.

Unfortunately, we only have 1993, 94 (not really) and 2000 to show for all that talent. And we never advanced past the division series.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 2, 2012 -> 01:36 PM) It would be interesting to see who else from the Phillies went on waivers today, because those maybe the guys they are realistically looking to deal. Surely we'll be adding Papelbon to our bullpen by the end of the week.

13:$25M, 14:$25M, 15:$25M, 16:$27.5M club option ($12.5M buyout) That's making Peavy's deal look sane for 2013. Plus, we already have four lefties and Buehrle coming back, haha.

QUOTE (hammerhead johnson @ Aug 2, 2012 -> 01:59 PM) Agreed. That was my point. But I hope that Kenny hits on a few of his recent draft picks. I'm sick of being disgusted with our offensive prospects. It really takes away from my baseball experience. So when we had Magglio, C-Lee, Rowand, Crede, Durham, Konerko....all coming up together, basically....baseball was more enjoyable then? To me, it doesn't really matter. I guess if you grew up with the minor leaguers and they came up together as a wave...maybe it would be more to get attached to and follow them, but would you trade places with Royals fans and be enjoying their last place position? Probably not. Royals fans have A LOT more to complain about than Sox fans these days.

The Indians suck against us but frequently beat the Tigers. We can't beat the Red Sox (this year) but the Tigers are .500 against them. And then we're 3 games under now against DET...4-7 now I think.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Aug 2, 2012 -> 01:52 PM) How are these not random? I would do it, but only in Europe/The Valley I would do it, but only with non-white girls I have an Asian fetish And a simple Yes/No suffices for the dr pepper one. I like Dr Pepper, but it's not my favorite soda. But with your wording neither answer fits That's just because I was trying to identify the TRUE Dr. Pepper fans...and forcing everyone into the other category. Actually....it's interesting, most people I know hate it, if it's not their favorite. I never thought of there being so many who were kind of "mehhhh" about it, drinking it if there's no other choice. Oh, well...too late to undo it now. Just bored on offday. Wish I wouldn't have given up on the Rangers/Angels game though last night....almost gave up on the Red Sox/Tigers. Baseball withdrawal symptoms, I guess.

QUOTE (PlaySumFnJurny @ Aug 2, 2012 -> 01:33 PM) Dr. Pepper is fine once in a while for a "change of pace" cola. I would not pursue porn as a second job. If I pursued it, it would be as my primary career, which I could then retire from as a multi-millionaire. I'm that awesome. So it's like the Circle-K change-up (Mario Soto) of soft drinks. I like that. And Mr. Pibb sucks, by the way. Any Dr. Pepper fan can instantly recognize the difference in a milli-second.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Aug 2, 2012 -> 01:26 PM) And the randomness of the answer options confirmed it What would non-random responses be, exactly, if the question was about participating in porn? Whenever I see their avatars, maybe it's southsidedon or milkman (sorry for misidentifying in advance)....it makes me crack up because there's an African-American girl with a huge bubble butt. Not only that, but these girls are famous enough to be instantly recognizable to multiple people, somehow. Living in China, it's just so the OPPOSITE of every girl there....it cracks me up every time imagining any Asian girl having an ass like that. That girl just doesn't exist in the world (although I'm sure someone will find an example of an Asian girl on the internet SOMEHOW).

One can only guess that KW had very little to do with this. The majority of our anger should be directed at Reinsdorf...if one is inclined to react immediately in that direction. Obviously JR is the one who convinced Robin to do this...conversations had been going back and forth for a number of years about him taking a more active role in the organization. Obviously, most believed he'd have to "put in his time" before he would become manager. But clearly he works well enough with Bell and KW, as well. Heck, it's not like you've ever heard of anyone not getting along with the guy, he's not a polarizing personality like Fisk or Black Jack. fathom always is more level-headed...looking back, I was hopeful simply because Ozzie was no longer going to be the manager....moreso than being elated that Ventura was the pick sort of middle of the road but not ripping Ventura or being oppposed to it

Wonder what their attendance will be the final two months? Ouch.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown...Y3Rpb25z;_ylv=3 Saw this article at yahoo sports and thought it was quite hilarious (about Dolphins WR Chad Johnson considering porn career, music career and smoking weed with Gene Simmons of all people). So, seeing as TEX has all these off-the-wall survey questions (he hasn't hit in the "Are You a Civil War Buff?" one yet)...thought I would throw a few out there as well. As far as Dr. Pepper goes, I grew up with in Texas whenever I would go to visit my dad's family during the summers. I'll pick specific restaurants just for Dr. Pepper refills (KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Chili's, etc.) and miss it the most of anything (well, maybe 2nd to Hostess powdered mini donettes) when I'm outside the States. In China, we basically only have Coke and Sprite, and some kind of orange drink like Fanta, but different brand. Diet sodas are rare, and I've only seen Dr. Pepper once, and that was being sold by ex-pats who actually brought it with them into China and were selling it for $2.50 per can.

And, all things considered, it's better to draft young pitching and throw a lot of darts at that wall in hopes of hitting on a few. The exception is C, SS/2B and CF that are harder positions to fill externally, and typically tend to be costly for elite players in FA. We've been pretty "lucky" with AJ, DeAza and Alexei, which has covered for some of our development issues. Beckham, we all know that story, same with Morel. The one area we really targeted recently was "elite" power, and we have Thompson, Hawkins and Barnum now that all have the POTENTIAL ability to hit 30-45 homers.

Hope Johnson isn't the PTBNL in the Myers deal. Ayala and Jaffe continuing to struggle mightily. Chris Beck has a 4.00 ERA, but a pretty miserable 26 hits in 18 IP. He really needs to get straighted out by the coaching staff and Allen Thomas.

I'm halfway serious. To say Chris Getz is anything close to a good major league ballplayer or a starter on anything but a last place team is pushing it. He's never been anything resembling "above decent" his entire career, so this is probably an aberration partly fed partially by favorable pitching match-ups. Sweeney is the OF equivalent of Getz, albeit with much more all-around skills and a prettier looking swing and better arm. Let's see, Miguel Olivo would have to rank up there, too. This season has been terrible, but he was pretty good recently, enough to get a nice contract.

"Total Recall" is well-crafted, high energy sci-fi. Like all stories inspired by Philip K. Dick, it deals with intriguing ideas. It never touched me emotionally, though, the way the 1990 film did, and strictly speaking, isn't necessary. Ebert short review....and he actually liked it, although not as much as the first. Only 4 positive reviews so far, 18 negs...although I guess watching Jessica Biel and Kate Beckinsale in the same flick is somewhat worthwhile

Carter would only have been an option had we let Konerko go (same with B-Allen)...and not signed Dunn. He just wasn't close to ready back then, it has been a LONG LONG climb through the minors, level by level, and repeating levels for him. Hopefully Keon Barnum can move faster. As Konerko can't play forever.

We also can't be 100% sure about Quintana sticking long-term, because we would have said the same about Humber being a cost-controlled part of the rotation for the next 3-4 years and now, not so much. Whether he's a one-year wonder or not, we'll find out soon enough...plus he's going to be in that Verducci effect territory as well. 1. Sale 2. Liriano 3. Peavy 4. Floyd/Danks 5. Quintana 6. Humber The way I look at it, if you ranked them in order by "ace" potential, then it would go something like this. The key is we already know the limitations of Floyd working with Cooper, but the Liriano/Coop partnership is an unknown. If any of you would feel more comfortable, for instance, with Floyd or Quintana, going Friday night against Greinke instead of Liriano...well, everyone has their opinions. But if Liriano can master that change, he has the 92-96 MPH fastball (might actually throw a tick or two harder than Sale as a starter) and the slider, which doesn't have to be (and can't ever be again) the 2006 slider that ripped his elbow apart because of the torque of 89-91 MPH on that pitch tearing ligaments from bone. The Twins called him "The Franchise" for a reason, that was his nickname. Plus, the synergy of having Liriano, Sale, Quintana, Danks...working together and teaching/coaching each other, it's reminiscent of when Buehrle was around to tutor Danks...and makes us miss Mark being around to help Quintana and Sale and even Francisco. Of course, if Mark was around, that would mean Danks wouldn't be.

Greg, it seems you're on the defend Addison Reed bandwagon now... Any truth to that rumor?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Aug 1, 2012 -> 09:20 PM) I love how you have jumped all over him based on 180 career ABs. I bet you were a big fan of Chris Shelton too. Sorry, "Babe" Shelton. True, he could be another Kevin Maas or Shane Spencer. But he's an impact bat at the major league level in a way that Chris Getz, Jeremy Reed and Ryan Sweeney will never be. Gordon's really only had stretches of good play, the best being his rookie year. When someone's hitting in the .220's or .230's for their entire career in USCF, there's something wrong. Josh Fields would be perhaps a better comparison to Carter if Chris continues this through the remainder of the season.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Aug 2, 2012 -> 01:20 AM) I really like Jake Peavy, I have since we got him. He plays hard, he works even harder and he's got a lot left in the tank. Him and Sale can form an ultimate righty/lefty combo at the top of the rotation, with Danks right behind as a #3. After that we all know its Kenny-land, but if you can get another year out of this Jake Peavy you do it. The price of his option is a bargain for how well he can pitch and the attitude he brings. If I had my way he'd retire here. All around awesome pitcher who has overcome amounts of adversity that have totally ruined many careers. I think it's really, really, pushing it to call it a bargain. We'll see if JR and KW agree with you on that front. He's not going to be easily replaceable...however, there's a lot of ways to be creative with that kind of money. That's nearly superstar level money, and Peavy might be many things, but he's not 2007 Jake Peavy. No problem paying him $12.5-15 million per year, but anything over that is playing with fire, just like the Danks contract has quickly become the new riskiest contract on our books, over Peavy/Dunn/Rios.