caulfield12

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Feb 17, 2012 -> 10:22 PM) What? I don't get the love. I liked it, but it wasn't great. Don't know....I LIKED Crank (the first one) and was entertained by it, especially the hyperkinetic feel and the pretty bold "sex in the public" scene...but I wouldn't call it a career milestone or anything like that.

The Grey was a nifty little flick. Definitely not a happy ending, feel good story in any way, shape or form. Ebert made an interesting comment, that he'd never once walked out of a theater when reviewing a film...but that he did for the 2nd movie in a row he was watching after The Grey. I don't think it was THAT chilling or depressing, any more than INTO THE WILD or similar "survival" movies. That one where the three kids were stranded on the ski lift with the wolves actually got to me more than The Grey. That said, Liam Neeson's having quite an impressive run now as an action star. Lots of actors of that same ilk putting out stuff recently, Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington fall into that same category where every project they're involved in makes $20-30 million the opening weekend.

Bad news for fans of the character, admirers of quality filmmaking, and anyone who forgot to bring some Tylenol to the screening. FEARnet Cage maintains his reign as Hollywood's Captain of Crazy with a performance that sometimes feels like an impression of Andy Samberg's impression of him. RedEye Quite why Brian Taylor and Mark Neveldine, the directors of the brilliant Crank, got involved is anyone's guess. Perhaps their tax bills were also due. 9 positive reviews / 47 negs (not too far behind THIS MEANS WAR w/ Reese Witherspoon) Actually, the first one was mildly entertaining, in a campy sort of way. 1/2 or even 1 full star just for the presence of the ever-beautiful Eva Mendes.

Red Tails isn't a great movie on the ground and it's a bit too "feel good/Hollywood-ish," but definitely worth your time just for the aeriel fighting sequences. Terrence Howard and David Oyelowo were both excellent, although I'd love to see him (Howard, and Cuba Gooding, for that matter) in more roles that really stretched his ability.

At least seven teams have interest in 19-year-old Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler, according to the most recent rumblings from around MLB. The Yankees and Phillies are said to have serious interest, and the Blue Jays, Orioles, Red Sox, Cubs and White Sox also appear to be in the mix. Soler isn't a fully fledged free agent yet, but that hasn't slowed the rumor mill down. The latest: •GM Ruben Amaro Jr. confirmed the Phillies' interest to Bob Brookover of the Philadelphia Inquirer. "It may come down to where he wants to play and, of course, the money," (brilliant!)Amaro said.The Phillies have stayed in close contact with Soler, taking him to dinner several times, according to Brookover. •The Indians have worked Soler out at their Dominican academy several times, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets. •Jorge Arangure Jr. of ESPN The Magazine tweets that he would be very surprised if the Yankees sign Soler

Rios has to get the bulk of the playing time. There's no way to dump him on anyone if he's merely facing LHP. Especially if he's playing at least decently and we're anywhere within hailing distance of first place...if he's totally tanking, then you can experiment with Fukudome more and potentially move him at the deadline for a piece or 2. But getting Rios off the books should be priority #1 for Williams.

I'm assuming the A's were not included on that list after signing Cespedes? Must be a bit older. That "negative" article also doesn't give us credit for inking Danks, that's definitely at least ONE positive. It also doesn't acknowledge the "insider" we had involved with Molina...in Marco Paddy.

Walker=Rudy Jaramillo 2

And you also have to look at players like Viciedo and Iguchi's contributions, as well. Loiaza, Jenks, Santos and Humber. How many teams have unearthed four guys like that in less than a decade, for virtually zero cost? As far as developing Chris Young, he was pretty much OUR guy, how we can not take credit for him, I don't know. Take it one step further...we SHOULD get SOME credit for Michael Morse's 2011 season, which further mitigates the lower standing or ranking. Danks was essentially a rookie when we got him from the Rangers, so we leveraged McCarthy for Danks. Someone else noted Quentin for Carter, etc. Trying to think of other players we've dealt....and their WAR's. Brandon Allen got quite a few AB's in the last couple of years, not sure where his WAR number sits, probably not so high. Definitely the same with Carter. Another player I just remembered, Miguel Olivo...was a AA guy when we picked him up. A statistic like this is very misleading, particularly when you factor in the additional contributions of Humber, Santos, Loaiza and Jenks. Yeah, I realize Esteban was an established major league veteran, but those other 3 clearly were not.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Am4K...speranza_021312 Nice read, had no idea what happened to Dave Valle, but now I do. Makes you feel sick that our Sox guys were robbing money from these families.

I was joking, Greg. I'm actually Catholic, too...doesn't mean I have to feel guilty about everything, however. And I was an altar boy, haha.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Feb 15, 2012 -> 12:44 AM) I'm with greg. The f***? Cue Catholic Bishops' Conference entering thread, after dominating the airwaves last week.

QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ Feb 15, 2012 -> 12:08 AM) Sox fans need to seriously start worrying about a 48 year old Ichiro and Torii Hunter on wheels rolling around in the outfield soon. I know Manny got to take an iPod with him while on "defense"- would canes and respirators be permissible? I'm sorry for using Manny as an example again, but he was able to relieve himself inside the Green Monster while a pitcher was being relieved on the mound. Catheters just seem like they would be more convenient and would allow the outfielders to study whoever was in the on-deck circle like a hawk would study it's opposition (smaller-sized mammals). Bonus- opposing hitters would have to get used to being surrounded by four hawks. The fourth has an ideal vantage point perched directly behind home plate enabling him to assist the umpiring crew with any trouble they may have in making a correct decision. Bonus 2 - game worn jerseys are big business for memorabilia stores , but game used collection bags would be sought after and a new revenue stream is, more profit. You said "stream." tee-hee, Beavis.

The Cubs didn't have to do that with Concepcion...even though he's not "officially" contracted with, either. Maybe it's one of those things like the Jays' "fake" interest in Darvish that is mostly meant to placate the fans who were excited about getting Cespedes and feel let down. Who really knows at this point?

Or Valverde not blowing a single save.

Insurance for all 3 outfielders. Allows Lillibridge to spend a little more time practicing at all three infield positions. Experienced LH bat and walk machine off the bench. Paying him less than the likes of Castro, Vizquel and Linebrink (not to pitch for us last year). Decent to good glove, certainly a replacement for Dayan in late innings of close games. Hard to see any reason to complain here. For some reason, I was expecting Magglio Ordonez (just to spite Ozzie), but we needed a LH bat more.

Can he play SS for Alexei in April? Hey, the Royals had the bright idea of putting Teahen at 2B, anything's possible. Just not likely.

Would anyone be jumping up and down with joy if we paid Soler $30 million? Maybe a few, but most would be skeptical/pessimistic. Of course, it's not our money, but we've all seen how much the Axis Of Evil (Peavy/Dunn/Rios) Contracts have hamstrung the organization from an operational perspective and aren't keen to take on another dubious financial commitment.

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2012/...rojection-game/ Thought this was an interesting read related to the new reliance of SABR/quant/quant analysis going on the game today.

QUOTE (SOXOBAMA @ Feb 14, 2012 -> 12:33 AM) I've pretty much written this season off.. For the Sox to spend 0 dollars on new major league talent is pitiful.. I will be at the ball park for about 50 games this season. I truly hope to see some good ball games. They really can't spend any money going forward until they know what they have in 2012. Sure, they could have signed Soler for $20-30 million, that's not a move just for this season... Would it have made sense to spend another $10-15 million on the bullpen? Even if they kept their payroll at last year's levels (let's say, bringing back Buehrle/Santos/Quentin), would anyone be predicting anything above 83-85 wins? You'd have to doubt it, right?

http://www.southsidesox.com/2012/2/1/27624...n-the-white-sox I don't know what this says more about, KW or Ozzie. White Sox only ahead of the Royals (and defunct Expos) for having the most negative WAR players with over 100 at-bats in the last decade.

■if Viciedo has enough service time to qualify for arbitration after 2011, he may void 2012 season (if voided, club may exercise option at $3.5M) He only has 0.123 years of service as of now, of course. Where does it say somewhere in print that we control his rights all the way through 2017? http://www.southsidesox.com/2012/1/18/2715...contract-status Okay, found it. Has anyone ever read that Mark Gonzales piece on Marco Paddy for Baseball America? Just curious. It's subscriber-only, unfortunately.

So we theoretically control Viciedo through 2017? That doesn't sound right.

QUOTE (DirtySox @ Feb 14, 2012 -> 12:27 AM) The Cubs have the money to blow on such signings, so the circumstances hardly matter. Especially since the market changes completely for international signings and the draft in a few months. If Kenny had the resources and go ahead from Jerry to go wild before the "cap" is instituted, you'd bet he'd be throwing that money around. It's certainly not a shrewd move by Theo, just a I have lots of spending money move. There's not a chance JR would have allowed that much money be spent on unproven talent anyhow. We all see know how he treats the draft. With the exception of Iguchi, Takatsu, Alexei and Viciedo, but all of those guys (except Dayan) were major league ready at the time of signing and expected to contribute from Day 1. The only anomalous signing was Dayan, and many of us were optimistic he'd be playing in Chicago by the end of 2009 or early in 2010 simply due to his hitting ability (and throwing all some of his other deficits, such as lack of a defensive position).

The White Sox were easily the most boring and unwatchable team in baseball in 2011. It really can't get any worse than last year, because wholesale changes in personnel will occur as a result...and watching younger, hungrier players is always more fun than watching overpaid veterans.