lostfan

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 24, 2009 -> 01:33 PM) I was actually thinking about Alexei even though he swings early, I like that he doesn strike out ad often can make the pitcher throw alot of pitches. He also brings the threat of a leadoff HR. I'd rather have him batting 2nd (only if we really had to since his OBP is bad) for the same reasons you said.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 24, 2009 -> 01:31 PM) Quentin could leadoff, especially if Konerko could get back to hitting 40 homers a year, but he's very valuable in the 3 hole. Yeah, he could, it'd just be a shame to waste all those potential RBI opportunities. Which I guess is a moot point considering there wouldn't be anybody hitting in front of him in the first place, and that if he was leading off the people we're talking about now would be 8th or 9th.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 24, 2009 -> 01:23 PM) I'm willing to sacrafice OBP for a hitter who can see alot of pitches and have a little power to be dangerous to start off a game. We don't have anybody like that anymore though, the closest thing we had was Swisher when he wasn't hitting .189 for the month.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/business...l?_r=1&dlbk

Ok, another obligatory comment since Cowley keeps repeating this non-fact over and over again: Wise did not deliver last fall. Unless one home run in a game the Sox lost in the playoffs abrogates the entire month of September.

If Swisher's batting average (and consequently his OBP) was 30 points higher, along with better consistency, he would've been an excellent player to have. I don't get why some here are so down on his CF defense though, he was ok out there.

Player B wasn't a middle infielder, FWIW.

I use utorrent for torrents personally.

QUOTE (jamesdiego @ Mar 23, 2009 -> 07:23 PM) I'm a new posterhere , but long time reader. I have to say that the hate on here for Wise is getting pretty ridiculous. And the love for Brian Anderson is, dare I say, much similar to what I expect to read on that "other" White Sox message board. For Brian. Freakin. Anderson. If he maybe put in some more effort & work into learning how to hit, like playing some winter ball, and putting up some decent numbers there. Then yea, I'll be all for it, but I guess he SOMEHOW thinks to good for winter ball. And I by no means am advocating Wise for leadoff, but for the 9 hole. Yes, he's career minors average is .259, which has been pointed out frequently lately. But that neglects to take into account that he made a major change in his swing before last year. After which he simply racked with a .319 .402(BA/OBP), and in turn earned himself a call up. He hit .276 batting 9th, .286 in the 2 hole. Of course he fell apart when Ozzie put him in leadoff in the important series in Minny, as it was too much for him. But you gotta say he was clutch: 2 outs/RISP average of .286, with late & close of .389. Give the guy a break. As everyone else I say Getz leadoff, but give me Wise at 9. Brain could still be his defensive replacement and start against most lefties. I don't actually hate Wise and I've even said more than once that if he plays his way onto the roster as a bench player then he deserves it, but seriously he's not a good player and should not be starting everyday in CF under any circumstances (and I don't love Anderson either and have said repeatedly that he can't hit, those 2 things don't have to be interchanged but that's where the arguments always go). People are trying to make him into something he's not here, he is a bench player, and should be getting spot starts/pinch hit appearances. If we're going to give a 31 year old minor league journeyman mitigating circumstances such as "making major changes in his swing" then Anderson should get that same excuse since he's been trying to do the same thing. I also don't really buy the "pressures of the leadoff spot" argument (why would it be any different in the 2 hole where similar things are expected of you?) since I fully support Getz doing that unless/until he shows he can't or KW finds a more ideal solution.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Mar 23, 2009 -> 05:38 PM) I think it's a lack of focus... or maybe better explained as a pandering to the lowest common denominator kind of thing. Let me try and explain this because I dont think either of those are the words / description I am looking for. Basically, the idea is to cut wasteful spending. And both parties tend to favor that, but they define "waste" differently. Now, the GOP has taken the road of basically mocking any "pork" or "earmarks" as wasteful. When in fact, what they are probably trying to do is call the act of last second earmarks as being wrong (which I agree), but their collateral damage is that the way they attack these things is by calling all the projects themselves wasteful. When i say they are "pandering to the lowest common denominator" what I mean is they are trying SO hard to demonize earmarks and last second inserts, that they are blasting them all as wasteful in an attempt to gain grassroots support to diminish the role of government. And by doing so, they actually hurt the legitimacy of important projects. Does that make any sense? I hope so. I think it's really more of a bad tactics thing. It's marketing. They just want to be able to re-position themselves as the party of fiscal responsibility and whatnot, but they're in a position where they don't have to worry about actually pushing any real legislation for a while. Mr. G actually said this not too long ago, but the dumbed-down bumper sticker type of thing works.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Mar 23, 2009 -> 04:16 PM) what's wrong with being a muslim? Colin Powell actually asked that.

Well, it's kind of hard to deny why Obama was doing that pandering when you consider the "he's a Muslim" rumors.

QUOTE (MurcieOne @ Mar 23, 2009 -> 04:00 PM) I'll give your opinion deference, because you live in the area and probably watch him more critically than I do. However, would you say that there are throws that Tom Brady can't make? I mean from what I saw in 07 he did have time to throw (except for XLII) but he still did hit receivers in stride, with authority. There were times when Moss simply out jumped everyone (MIA game), but I also saw a few throws where Brady hit Moss on the deep ball where he needed to make the throw -- and he did. I guess I just feel like Brady is undervalued (haha, never thought you'd hear that -- did ya?) as a passer. In his first year you could see his deficiencies as a passer, and since then you can see that the guy really worked on his game. He will probably always be viewed as that crafty "Montana" type, but both of those guys offered more than just intangibles (Joe Montana made a sick game for Sega in the 90's). Brady's just like any other QB, if you can get in his face (the thing being it's a lot harder to do that than with other QBs and he has Welker to bail him out even if you do) then he will make mistakes. If you don't give him enough time to plant and wind up, he probably won't be able to make the throw reliably. He just seems to have an insane amount of time to make throws thanks to his OL, and he's deadly accurate (the only one more accurate than him is probably Manning). That accuracy goes down on the longer throws though but it's still decent. I actually wager to guess I don't watch Brady more than you do for what it's worth. I've just spent a fair amount of time bashing Brady on the internet, lol.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Mar 23, 2009 -> 02:03 PM) I guess I just think that everyone responding here is going back to the old Wise/BA debate, whereas no one is addressing the topic of the thread.... which is whether or not the good things BA brings you get thwarted when he's placed in the 1-slot. If thats not what we're talking about then there are other more appropriate threads for these types of responses. I probably contributed to this getting off track myself. I would wish it wasnt an issue, but the team has said it prefers Getz lower in the order. We all hope that changes it seems, but b/c of Ozzie's comments, the topic is a necessary one. I think even the most pro-Anderson posters on this board are in agreement that Anderson has no business being in the leadoff spot unless it means getting him more ABs in spring training. Hell, I'd rather have Alexei up there, as much as that'd suck. edit: also I think Ozzie has signaled that he's open to having Getz at the top of the order if he needs to.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Mar 23, 2009 -> 02:00 PM) I believe it was you that brought up the solitary incident of a shallow OF pop up, im just reactin here That was wite, he said that to illustrate his point. Which would be that BA's diving catch is just as important as a "clutch hit" by Wise (in quotation marks because Wise should not be in any conversation involving clutch hitting, except to say "Dewayne Wise is not a clutch hitter").

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Mar 23, 2009 -> 01:51 PM) Can you guarantee me Wise doesnt get to that ball? You're trying to look at this in isolation now which is a flawed way to go. But yeah, having actually watched how he reacts to fly balls, I'd say the odds that ball falls in front of Wise for a base hit are much higher.

Brady's arm really isn't that strong. Really it's not, it's nothing special, it's about average for a NFL QB (meaning, he is not Griese or Pennington). Oh, for sure he can complete those 40 yard passes to Moss, but what you see is him having the time to make the throws which is not that difficult to do when you have 6, 7, 8 seconds to make the throw. But when he sees a spot deep in front of him he needs his feet planted, you can even see him strain to wind up to make the throw. When they're in the air, they tend to sail, and they aren't the prettiest, but they get the job done, it doesn't even really matter when you're throwing to Moss anyway. This isn't that noticeable when New England is doing its typical outstanding job of pass protection, and to take nothing away from Brady, he's good about reading pre-snap defenses. When the protection starts falling apart though you can see it, but he still has Welker (who is phenomenal) to bail him out. So, yeah, bottom line is that his arm strength is good enough, but that's not where his numbers come from, and he's not at all comparable to guys like Manning, Favre, Cutler, Culpepper, hell, even Grossman. Those guys can flip a 45-yard bomb pretty effortlessly.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Mar 23, 2009 -> 01:37 PM) In that same postseason when they were teammates, Uribe was .167 av, .167 OBP. Far below Wise's #s. Obviously these are tiny sample sizes. It's just my view that the BA side of this overvalues defensive CF. We're going to be the type of team that needs to hit. I think Wise's .248/.293 from last year made a difference over BA's .232/.272. He's more of a 'when he hits em' type. With guys like Thome and Fields, I just feel we need an extra batter who can hit in situations. Anderson can't hit but neither can Wise. At all. So the whole thing is moot and the only thing left to talk about is defense which BA owns Wise thoroughly in.

QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Mar 23, 2009 -> 01:20 PM) A bigger reason we won is that we were dangerous 1 thru 9. We had quick bats in that lineup, not long swings like Anderson's. Our offense was pretty much s*** in '05 to be honest. We won because of rock solid starting pitching and a bizarre alignment of career years from the bullpen. Edit: and as much as I think Uribe blows as an offensive player, it's kind of an insult to Uribe to compare even the diminished version of his defense to Wise - to say nothing of the GG caliber defense he had in '05. But at the plate, still, Wise is just not going to run into 20 pitches that go over the fence the way Uribe does. Uribe 10 times out of 10 vs. Wise.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Mar 23, 2009 -> 11:47 AM) Sure. But we then get to my original thought, the pay cuts would be adverse. Certainly to the family and their creditors it is adverse. It would seem it is also adverse to their towns, counties, and cities. Are there any winners? If, for example, we cut autoworkers salaries 25%, is it a victory for anyone, or just a smaller defeat? I'm going to borrow 2K5's logic to make an analogy here - you can give up 5 runs in the 7th, but if you finish the 9th and have more runs, you still win the game regardless.

Both Owens and Anderson have had longer hot streaks than Wise. They still have very poor MLB resumes. Literally, any player can get hot. It just takes a little luck.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 23, 2009 -> 10:48 AM) Here's a thought... If we are talking about taxing the bonuses that go out to these employees, here is the corresponding law that I would like to see passed as well. Any company that is getting governmental aid is banned from giving money to any politicians connected with these votes. No lobby money until they are off of the governmental dole. It is a conflict of interest at best, and a bribe at worst. I'd support that. I mean, federal contractors already have similar ethics rules (if you come from a contractor to the government, you can't be in a position to decide on bids involving that contractor for 2 years, vice versa for the contractor when preparing bids, also federal contractors are prohibited from donating to political campaigns). It wouldn't be that much of a stretch.

The Treasury said it's gonna buy off the toxic assets (I guess that's what the TARP was originally supposed to do before it turned into a massive loan/recapitalization program)... 2K5 I recall you saying, in so many words, that you supported the government doing this?

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 23, 2009 -> 10:16 AM) Except, as has been discussed, contract law is not solely the matter of protecting all contracts under all circumstances. this contract straddled legal changes that effected it. Ideally, TARP should have addressed it, but it didn't. I actually am in favor of the heavy tax, for those who didn't return it (some have, apparently, of their own volition). I understand what Obama is saying here, but, I think he's wrong. Just my view. I actually don't have an opinion one way or another on this. But I do see Obama's logic even if it's going to piss a lot of people off.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Mar 23, 2009 -> 09:43 AM) Obama opposes punitive bonus tax I'm glad he is voicing opposition to this. As absurd as these bonuses are, they were in their contracts so AIG was obliged to pay them out. I'm glad Obama realizes that to tax them arbitrarily at 90% is unconstitutional. I'll give him credit here. Hoo boy, is he gonna piss the left off with this one. This is a pretty big risk. As much as I hate these bonuses, one of the things that has always made the United States business-friendly is the sanctity of contract law. Taking the bonuses back, even through legal means, sets a precedent that makes me uncomfortable.