JorgeFabregas

Ozzie is biased against people who were born in Alabama.

Can we get Farmer to log in and comment that Kotsay is probably our best all-around baseball player?

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 8, 2010 -> 11:45 AM) Bad relievers often don't make good starters. Ryan Dempster did. He had a bad walk rate, etc. as a closer. Granted, he had started just a few years prior.

White Sox torched this guy twice last year just letting him melt down with walks and HBPs, IIRC.

No pressure.

Farmer mentioned the military service requirements on opening day.

Aggressive

http://www.royalsreview.com/2010/4/3/14032...-anderson-doing

Sure, the trade was a win. And Ozzie said "I hope he finds another Ozzie Guillen." Personally, I hope he finds someone better.

Their lineup is stacked, starting pitching should be above average (Liriano may be back), and their bullpen should be fine with Crain, Mijares, et. al. Their defense is their only question mark and really it should be fine.

Ozzie's opinion of himself as a player always amuses me. I did not see him when he was young (saw him from '93 on), but it seems to me that he would be a bench player if he played today (despite the ROY, GG, and All Star appearances).

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=5056444

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Apr 4, 2010 -> 03:14 PM) suddenly you have: LeBron A guy who can close out games with LeBron, making it easier on both of them. I don't think the Bulls have enough cap space for two LeBrons unless there is some special provision for player clones or doppelgangers. Perhaps the second LeBron could feature a handlebar mustache.

QUOTE (Middle Buffalo @ Apr 3, 2010 -> 05:46 PM) Simmons is guilty of doing my least favorite fan argument - talking about an outfielder's defensive ability. He says Jacoby Elsbury has bad instincts, gets bad jumps, etc. How does he know this from watching the games on tv? I hear people talking this way all the time: "He's a great center fielder...>" Really? What makes you an expert on defensive play in the outfield? How closely do you really watch players even when you're at the game? Most people just watch the pitcher, then the batter, then follow the ball. How many people watch the center fielder or shortstop while the ball is being pitched? Most of the advanced stats have nothing to do with fantasy baseball, other than helping to indicate which seasons might be outliers. Really, though, you seem to be making a great argument here for advanced stats.

I'm guessing the main reason he signed with the Royals was that they offered him a major league contract.

They are a family of lawyers who position themselves to offend the highest amount of people. In political science there is something called the median voter theory. The idea is that the politician who positions themselves closest to the median voter's policy preferences will win. These folks are doing the opposite. They triangulate political views to find the most offensive. Liberals don't like them, conservatives don't like them, Christians don't like them, etc. In this case I imagine they were represented by someone in the organization and I imagine they will be keeping the legal fees. I am under the impression that they hope that people assault them or infringe on their first amendment rights so that they can sue.

I actually saw some chatter about this on Royals blog comments within the last week or two. It seems like a stupid financial decision. He could make a nice living playing for the next few years splitting time between the majors and AAA.

I'll bet dollars to donuts the subsidy existed before Sarbanes-Oxley. The loans still needed to be subsidized so that the banks would loan at below market rates (and so that student wouldn't be charged interest while they're in school). Why you're obsessed with the accounting angle is a mystery to me.

QUOTE (bmags @ Mar 24, 2010 -> 05:12 PM) For some reason I always think that cornstarch is a suitable equivalent for arrowroot, and sometimes it is. But when making something as tricky as vegan caramel sauce -- I should have just dragged my ass to Whole Foods and sucked it up. But instead I thought, as I have thought at least several times before in my pie-making past, 'No no, cornstarch is like practically the same thing. No need to make an extra trip when you can be lazy!'. Disaster, always. The sauce ended up not gelling properly, and was a soupy mess. I still put some in the pie, however, and it tasted fine. I was afraid it might soak the pie crust, but it didn't. Next time if I can succeed in making it a little gooier, it will be an amazing sauce...I just need to play around with recipes and find a good balance. Combine 1/4 C. soy milk and 2 T. cornstarch; Whoops. Why leave the corn starch in the recipe, then? There's a health food store basically across the street so I will use the real thing if I try this. Sqwert, do you have the Veganomicon http://www.theppk.com/nomicon.html? Recommended.

Yes, thanks. I am going to paste together the translated portions to make them more readable. You may want to do the same with the Spanish. English: Freddy Garcia is the rock that slams against the wave. 3 years ago, while he was convalescing fro 2 shoulder operations he cold barely lift a baseball and he tossed it with the strength of a child. After suggesting the possibliy of retiring he returned to the Big Leagues in 2008 with the Detroit Tigers. He injured himself during the 2008-2009 Winter Break and the rumors started again. In the Spring of 2009 the Venezuelan pitcher found himself standing and looking for a spot in the New York Mets rotation. The Mets sent him to the Minors and then he was released, again clouding his future. As before, Garcia lifted his head up and convinced the Chicago White Sox and demonstrated in the final stretch of the calendar that he still belonged in the world of the living. He had 6 quality starts in 9 outings. It is now March 2010 and the Baruteno (Venezuelan nickname) is without discussion the 5th starter of the Palehose. “They will be talking about me for a long time, my shoulder is fine”, claims the reliever with a strong tone. I have to go out now and see whether it (The shoulder) bothers me or not; but at this moment I feel fine says Garcia. He takes the mound, tosses a few balls, and all is fine. He goes to another mound, play a game of 3-1 and feels better. No pain, no pain he says. (Without any issues) As long as he feels no shoulder pain, everything else is trivial while his shoulder behaves.I don’t have anymore irritations, Garcia assures us. What I need is to itch and remain healthy, because with health one does what one is familiar with. Everytime I pitch I feel better. The rehab with trainer Ron Yacouh worked: 3 hours daily exercising, this regime 4 times a week for many months worked and rejuvenated the career of the Venezuelan. The recommendation from his agent Peter Greenburg could not have been better. It was key in prolonging his career. I more or less got ahead of myself, says Garcia regarding his own miracle comeback. “It was generally accepted that to return to competition I would need 15 months of recovery and I returned in 8”. “I learned from that, if I had not accelerated my recovery I would not have pitched last season”. “Noone thought I would return to MLB, and I left more than one person with their jaw dropped”. “Many thought Freddie Garcia was finished, but I demonstated that it was not like that, and came out ahead”. Given an opportunity, even Yacoub verified telephonically, the unbreakable conviction of his patient. “He never demonstatrated to me any doubts for a second while he was rehabbing or outside of it”. “He never took any shortcuts, never complained about the schedules, not even when he had to drive one hour to my locations, and he always adjusted him time with mine, which is something to appreciate and demonstrates his commitment”. “Often he arrived and prepared his own hot water tubs, or his own ice packs, and he always folded his own towels”. “He had a few set backs, a few shoulder pains, a few stinging bouts of pain, and he always managed to put that in his back pocket and return to work”, remembers Yacoub. “If he had doubted himself I would not have returned last year, I remained positive”, affirms Garcia. “One time I mentioned retirement, but it was due to the frustration of the moment”. “But I never thought about it, because in this business there is so much money, well you know…” But there is Garcia, on top of the mound, with plans, with projects. “I want to pitch 200 innings”. “And if it is regarding objectives, I want to win at least 15 games and reach the layoffs”. Freddy Garcia’s locker is located adjacent to Omar Vizquel, who recently arrived to the White Sox clubhouse. With over 10 years of MLB experience, and more than 100 victories Rgarding his manager and friend, Oswaldo Guillen, he mentions that “He is a little bit older”. “This year we are going to play the baseball he likes, with speed, stealing bases. This is the type of baseball he wants and he has the team to do it”. En 2009 Freddy García estaba en Port Saint Lucie, reducto meridional de los Mets de Nueva York, a la espera de una oportunidad como abridor. In 2009 Freddy Garcia was in Port St. Lucie, awaiting an opportunity to open as a starter with the Mets. “That is what I am” explains the righty, that he was being used as a stopper. Nothing was clear. The Mets sent him to suffer from the cold in AAA, his shoulder worsened, and when he least expected it, he was out of a job. “They told me one thing and they did another” he complains. “I went in fighting for a spot and they never gave me a chance. The first 2 outings were as a reliever”. “Well things happen for a reason”. His velocity gave way to his ability on the mound Garcia does not pitch at 95 MPH anymore. “The Freddy fastball has retired”. “The pitcher remains”. “Freddy knows how to pitch, he has learned to pitch”, observes Guillen. “As bad a game as he may be having, h know how to get people out, he is a very intelligent pitcher”. “He knows he has to throw strikes and he knows the league well and every time he takes the mound he is going to give you his best”. This virtue is called adaptability. “In possessing it the Human Race dominates the world”, affirms Garcia who gives this quality a special meaning. “It it is not the fastball, it is the changeup, if not the splitter”. I go out to pitch with what I have”. “I am not one of those who if I am not at 100% I don’t go out”. I roll up my sleeves, so to say”. I am a pitcher if I am pitching at 80 MPH ad it does not bother me”. “I have that knack and Thank God and have always counted on those pitches to keep batters off balance”. “I don’t have 95 MPH velocity anymore, but that is the way it is”.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Mar 25, 2010 -> 04:01 PM) Really, when was this? Recently? I could have swore that 2 weeks ago he looked awful and that was when they got called out. He had an OPS in the .900s when Ozzie said he was "disappointed." I think he had an 0-fer game or something.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Mar 23, 2010 -> 05:52 PM) Well it makes no sense. That's not even beating a dead horse, it's beating a horse that isn't there anymore because it disappeared. It makes sense because they can accuse people who vote against the amendment as voting to fund the great bogeyman of ACORN.

QUOTE (knightni @ Mar 23, 2010 -> 03:40 AM) Oh, I hope that's sarcasm. As long as people are over-reacting to spring stats--Aaron Poreda has 7 walks and 3 strikeouts in 2.1 innings this spring. Clayton Richard's WHIP is hovering around 2. Russell has decent numbers (diamond in the rough!). I already forgot Dexter Carter's name. Yayyy.

Actually, ACORN did do some self-reporting. They flagged what they thought were bogus registration cards and turned them in in separate stacks (and they were, in fact, obligated by law to turn them in once they had been signed). That sort of thing.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Mar 23, 2010 -> 11:19 AM) 25. Santos This might be the first year since I became a Sox fan that the 25 man roster could have easily been predicted at the very beginning of spring training. Not a single surprise, not a single positional battle. Santos is a bit of a suprise considering he's never had definitive success in the minor leagues. They're keeping him on the roster due to his potential, spring training success, and lack of options.