mmmmmbeeer

So when is Rios joining the team and/or starting a game?

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/rios-wells From last month, a bit of statistical analysis stating that Rios' contract is a good buy. Some interesting debate in the comments as well.

I like this move. Rios needs to learn some plate discipline and I'm not so sure Walk is the guy to teach him that, but he's got some pop, speed, and D. The best CF we've had in quite a few years. I didn't read through the 60 some pages in the waiver thread nor have I read all 10 of these, but I sure as f*** would like to know where all this money was at when Bobby Abreu was on the market for, what, $5M this season?

It just says "The Catch".....that's it, no depiction of DWise or anything, just those 2 words at the top of the wall where "The Catch" happened.

I don't think I've seen him go opposite field yet, but yes, he's looking as if his swing is improving every game.

QUOTE (Jimbo's Drinker @ Jul 31, 2009 -> 11:17 PM) Sox pick up Cy Young pitcher to complete the perfect roster dont trade the farm cubs lose cards win twins lose tiggers lose not gonna beat this baseball day for al ong time I mean really....what a day!

QUOTE (whitesoxmanager @ Jul 31, 2009 -> 06:53 PM) look it up guysmiley. find the game and score. he NEVER did jack in any game that mattered. that doesnt matter to you? 2 playoff starts. 0-2. You're right...we shouldn't have traded for him

Gotta give KW some praise for this move. The most impressive thing to me about this deal, outside of the players we had to give up to get an ace, is the fact that this was so hush-hush. "Under the radar" indeed. As Black Jack mentioned in his blog entry, I too am somewhat concerned about that elbow pain Peavy had at the beginning of this season but it apparently healed and he was throwing the ball pretty well before being shutdown. Next year is going to be a lot of fun.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 09:57 AM) That's never been a concern for us before, I don't see why we'd start now. The Sox said "to hell" with defense in centerfield when they gave away Brian Anderson and to keep Wise on the roster. Wise is no amazing defensive player in CF, either. Not terrible, not by a long shot, but he's no BA. So if Wise had been dealt for Kotsay leaving us with Kotsay, BA, and Fields, which would you send down? Obviously it would be Fields, which was my point that Wise has nothing to do with Fields getting sent down.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 09:42 AM) So we get rid of decent, young-ish backups to keep Wise and his .190-something batting average on the roster. He DID make a catch, I guess. What does Josh Field's demotion have to do with Wise?

Not to be a dick, but it was Alexi Casilla that was walked to break the streak. What a sweet run....very impressive. My son asked me if I thought MB's face would appear on the outfield wall some day, lol, I think that's pretty much a given at this point.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 29, 2009 -> 09:09 AM) 3. Lance Broadway to the Mets earlier this year Man, you're right, forgot about him. Jeez, we've just had some MISERABLE first rounders.

Good riddance. From complaining about the clubhouse to complaining about playing time to now complaining about being demoted, all from a kid who has shown NOTHING at the ML level outside of one nice power run, he needs to go. Earning playing time isn't all about just putting up numbers imo, I think it also takes being a good teammate who knows their role on the team and doesn't complain. It would suck to lose two #1 picks in succession like this, but sometimes you just have to chalk it up to a learning experience and move on, which is what I think KW will do.

Considering this came from a CR press release, I think this was probably a promotional thing. I'm sure there's more to come.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jul 28, 2009 -> 07:27 AM) To be fair though, Fields was pretty damn close to hitting a flyball go-ahead homer tonight. I thought it was gone when he hit it, and it probably was, but I'm sure the air conditioning was going and it would have been gone had Brendan Harris hit that ball. I'm glad I'm not the only one that had that run through their head last night. That ball looked gone off his bat, looked like he hit it on the screws. The ball flight looked like a 9 iron against the wind. Paranoia probably, but off his bat it looked like he made better contact than PK had on his homer.

Man, my wife would have kicked my ass had I even suggested getting married at a ballpark. You've got a good woman there, dude...congrats.

Money aside, because we don't know who would cost what, but in my opinion Thome is showing some diminished skills while Dye is/has been in peak form for the last several years. If the game is on the line or we need a big hit I just don't have the confidence in Thome as I do with JD. I'd love to see Jimmy stick around, just not sure that he should do so at the cost of losing JD.

Did I log into the wrong site? Voodoochile?

CR --- 3.2 IP 6ER 7R 2K 4BB 8H Hate to be pessimistic, but if CLE and KC can slap him around, TB will destroy him. I hope I'm wrong.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ Jul 20, 2009 -> 04:54 PM) Agreed. In fact $20,000 would be a haul for Dewayne Wise. So with TCQ playing on one foot and no depth in our system, you don't think DET or MIN would drop $20k to leave the Sox without a 4th OF (assuming one of Pods or TCQ go down before the end of the season)? What disappoints me is that we're stuck arguing about Wise or Anderson as our 4th OF, THAT is the real failure on KW's part, not any decision he made today. Anderson sucks and if you really believe that all the leaks we've read about his bad attitude don't carry a grain of salt, well, I can understand why you're upset today. Wise sucks too, but the one thing I gained from that interview where he called out the fans for booing him was that the dude loved the franchise and was giving 110%. Give me a guy who understands he's not a great player over a guy who has no clue how bad he is any day of the week. Welcome back, Carlos.....if he and Pods can stay healthy this could be one helluva fun 2nd half.

QUOTE (maggsmaggs @ Jul 19, 2009 -> 11:59 AM) The Morrissey idea is just stupid. We are a worse team trading Danks and Ramirez for Halladay. And if we give up just minor leaguers for Halladay, we kill our system and again have a one-year window to win it all next year with very little flexibility in FA and nothing ready in the minors. I am content to sit and play with what we have. We will be competitive for a division this year clearly, but keeping everybody and adding two pieces in FA + the solid minor league players next year, we have a window of at least 3-5 years of highly competitive teams. Everybody would love Halladay, but the price is just outrageous. There's no way that's the price, no sane GM in baseball would offer up 2 IMPACT MAJOR LEAGUE PLAYERS with ridiculously low salaries for a single pitcher with a year and half on his deal. Absolutely ludicrous to even imagine. The Twins didn't even get CLOSE to that when trading Santana who, IMO, is a better pitcher than Halladay AND agreed to an extension.

QUOTE (chisoxfan09 @ Jul 19, 2009 -> 06:30 AM) Is it me or have KW and Ozzie really disagreed a lot this year on player development from AA/AAA to the bigs and Ozzie has been over ruled on more than one occasion? He seems to have been against Slayer coming up and certainly Poreda. But KW won´t over rule him on his mancrush on Wise which is what I don´t get. Not a very clear cut decision making year IMO. I think you're spot-on here, dude. Compiling may of the little snippets and tidbits of info we get here and there, it becomes glaringly obvious that Ozzie didn't want Beckham OR Poreda up this season. Kenny is the boss and did what he felt was correct. Given Ozzie's demeanor, I doubt he appreciated KW trumping his perceptions of what the team needed, or didn't need, in regards to kids coming up. Unfortunately KW can't sit in the dugout and hold Ozzie's hand, forcing him to insert Poreda in high-leverage situations (although with Beckham there may have been a bit of pressure on Ozzie from above). Poreda could make this debate a moot point if he would work to develop secondary and tertiary pitches. I'll never understand it. I'm just a scrub who played little league but, with most pitches, if someone taught me how to grip and release a particular pitch I was able to get the movement/action on the ball I was supposed to. Obviously it wasn't ML caliber or I wouldn't be on this board, but I don't understand how a guy with arm strength and a feel for the baseball can't learn a new pitch relatively well in a relatively short amount of time. Even if he just picked up a couple of average breaking pitches that he can locate, the element of surprise works to his favor and he will get hitters out. I hate to simplify the job of a professional, it just baffles me every time a kid makes it to this level of ball with only 1 non-fastball pitch in their arsenal.

That manager's corner with Earl Weaver was priceless.....never heard that one before.

I was in the Air Force for 4 years and loved it. The pay was crap but the training, friends, and experiences were priceless. No way I'd join the Army or Marines. They may offer you a bunch of loot up front but it's typically for infantry jobs and I think you know you're overqualified for that. The Navy has very high standards and is a top notch organization but, to me, the chance of being a on a freaking boat out in BFE for 3 months didn't sound very appealing. The Air Force was about as close to a regular job as you could get. I was in satellite and wideband communications, a mobile unit which means we did some field work, but I'm still in a similar field today and doing pretty well for myself. Within many shops, you called superiors within a few levels by their first names, food was excellent compared to other services as was base housing, basic training sucked but it's a very short (compared to other branches) 6 weeks. Hours were 7-4 with a 1 hour lunch...you get all federal holidays and a pretty generous amount of vacation time (I can't remember the specific number of days off the top of my head). Go and take your asvab through an Air Force recruiter, see how you score. If you score well enough you'll find yourself qualified for most any job (not a pilot though). Then, if you so choose, you go to the MEPS station where they conduct a hardcore physical including strength tests and the like. They use this information in conjunction with your asvab scores to let you know what you're qualified for. You'll also get to fill out a sheet listing the bases you'd prefer to be stationed as well as an opportunity to create a wishlist of jobs you qualify for. At this point, if you aren't satisfied with how everything is going, you can still back out. Do you have a degree?

Gotta be a move to set up a move.