flavum

A couple of those open dates: 3-16 at Diamondbacks 3-18 at Cubs 3-20 is probably the only off day

Things that make you go hmmm... Kenny Williams was supposed to have a conference call with the media today, and he canceled it. Something going down maybe? With so many trading chips coming up, maybe they want to get a move done before the meetings. Just a thought.

QUOTE (MEANS @ Nov 30, 2011 -> 07:34 AM) what I am wondering is when the Spring Training schedule is going to be released? Did I miss the announcement or something? I want to book my flights asap!!! Here's the home schedule. You can fish around other team's sites to fill in most of the rest. http://web.camelbackranchbaseball.com/schedule/index.jsp

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 29, 2011 -> 03:12 PM) jonmorosi Jon Morosi Mark Buehrle being pursued by a number of teams right now, including #Angels #Nats #RedSox #Rangers #Yankees #Marlins. I hope he finds a new team by the end of the Winter Meetings. Get this thing over with. Prediction: He signs with the Nationals next Wednesday. 4/$58m

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/cws/downlo...2/2012_sked.pdf Premier pricing for the Brewers games? Whatever.

If the Sox are actively trying to move Thornton, Danks, and Floyd, they don't think they can win next year. If they're doing it to try to find money for Buehrle, they're beyond stupid. I don't think that's the case, but I wouldn't put anything past Reinsdorf.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 28, 2011 -> 12:43 PM) The Metropolitans aren't really in a position to be looking towards winning this year or trading away kids for veterans. They also have a guy in their system, Flores, who plays short, at least for now. I was just throwing the Mets out there. It just seems like a Ramirez trade is a possibility if the Sox are giving up on putting together a pitching staff that would compete next year. My worst fear is that they trade Danks and Floyd, and then the season starts and Dunn, Rios, Beckham, and Peavy are all having good years--but now they don't have a pitching staff good enough to win. It seems to me they either have to go for it with what they have, or blow it up beyond recognition...and that would mean trying to move Quentin, Alexei, Thornton, Konerko and AJ, in addition to Danks and Floyd. The Winter Meetings next week should be interesting.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 28, 2011 -> 07:58 AM) ChiTribRogers Phil Rogers #WhiteSox's Eduardo Escobar is regular SS for 1st-place La Guaira in Venezuela. Could battle Ozvaldo Martinez for job behind Alexei Ramirez. Can't we just call him Ozzie Martinez? Isn't that his name? Anyway, if the Sox are letting Buehrle go AND trading Floyd and Danks, they might as well trade Alexei too and see what they can get. With a bad team coming in 2012, and Martinez, Escobar, and Saladino in the pipeline, Alexei could go and bring back some good prospects. Mets may need a SS soon.

Braun was 1st on 20 of the 32 ballots.

Good. Great player. Winning team, and close enough to Kemp's numbers.

They have until march 1st to decide if they'll expand the playoffs in 2012. Uh, hey Bud, just retire. We know you want your ego-stroke before you retire, but MLB should just wait until they go to 15/15 in 2013 to expand the postseason.

3 hours until the announcement, but I'd like to chime in that I think Braun deserves it, but it wouldn't surprise me if Kemp wins in a close vote.

Joe Nathan to Texas. Guess they're seriious about moving Feliz to the rotation this time.

QUOTE (coco1997 @ Nov 21, 2011 -> 06:28 PM) But would Mark really want to spend the last 2-3 years of his career on a team that probably can't contend for at least another few years? Added wildcard possibly next year, and definitely by 2013. Harper and some other prospects can make them good pretty soon.

Good call. The right guy won, but I hate that somebody didn't even give him a 10th place vote. If they just changed the rule, and made it an offense-only award, I wouldn't mind. but under the current rules, I think Verlander earned it.

Washington is definitely my pick of where he'll end up. They aren't afraid to open the wallet, and it's a good fit for Buehrle. Strasburg and Zimmermann are the main cogs to rotation, and Buehrle can be the veteran presence.

Rick Hahn was on with Rongey today. He said both would start next year. Quintana at AA Veal at AAA

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Nov 18, 2011 -> 11:38 AM) Or the Sox realize lefties are hard to come by? I do like Matt, but would not be surprised if he is traded. Other than just dumping money, I don't think they should get rid of Thornton. When he was in his normal setup role, he was still good most of the time. I really like the idea of a young long reliever--either Stewart or Axelrod, and Reed, Frasor, Ohman, Crain, Thornton, and Santos. That's a pretty solid bullpen I could support. Once they start throwing in a younger lefty, it becomes worse in a hurry.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 18, 2011 -> 11:20 AM) Are both of those guys lefties? Heath is righty. Right now the Sox have Ohman, Santiago, Thornton, Quintana, Veal, and Leesman on the 40-man from the left side. They also re-signed Septimo to a minor league deal.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 18, 2011 -> 11:08 AM) Kuhn is a utility player at best. No need to lock up a 40 man roster spot for him unless he is going to be on the 25 man roster, which he isn't. I guess, but it wouldn't surprise me if gets taken and plays decent for somebody next year.

QUOTE (scenario @ Nov 18, 2011 -> 11:03 AM) http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,2225362.story "Among the Sox minor league players who weren't protected were pitcher Terry Doyle, outfielders Jordan Danks, Justin Greene and Brandon Short and infielder Tyler Kuhn. They are eligible for the Rule 5 draft on Dec. 8." Who did Kuhn piss off? I know he's 25, but he had a great season and is versatile around the field. Don't get it. Doyle surprises me.

QUOTE (Buehrlesque @ Nov 18, 2011 -> 09:31 AM) I know this is the snarky stock comment about the extra Wildcard, but I disagree. All the new system does is increase the competition for the Wildcard spot. If you win your division, you're set. If not, you have to sweat it out in a one-game playoff. After the one-game playoff, the posteason is exactly the same as the past 16 years. I agree. This new format hurts the Red Sox more than anyone. If they won the wildcard legitimately in the past, they moved right to the playoffs. Now they have to not only get there, but win a 1-game playoff to move on. Nobody is going to remember the losers of these 1-game playoffs. They'll finish the regular season on Wednesday, and by Saturday or Sunday, they'll be down to 8 teams again.

Don't know what will happen with 12 more interleague games per team, but here's what would have happened in the AL since 2001: 2001- Min (85 wins) vs Oak (102 wins), division winners-116, 95, 91 2002- Sea/Bos (93) vs LAA (99), dw-103, 103, 94 2003- Sea (93) vs Bos (95), dw-101, 96, 90 2004- Oak (91) vs Bos (98), dw- 101, 92, 92 2005- Cle (93) vs Bos/NY (95), dw- 99, 95, 95 2006- Sox (90) vs Det (95), dw- 97, 96, 93 2007- Sea/Det (88) vs NY (94), dw- 96, 96, 94 2008- NY (89) vs Bos (95), dw- 100, 97, 89 2009- Tex (87) vs Bos (95), dw- 103, 97, 87 2010- Bos (89) vs NY (95), dw- 96, 94, 90 2011- Bos (90) vs TB (91), dw- 97, 96, 95 So look forward to the annual Boston game. Really, I don't think this new format does anything for the White Sox. Same weak division---just win it. This new format will be more compelling in the NL, especially since most of their playoff teams will be in the mid 80's to low 90's in wins, especially going from 252 interleague games to 450.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 17, 2011 -> 03:45 PM) You are forgetting that MLB teams are never, ever off on Friday, Saturday or Sunday (and I guarantee they won't change that). So you don't have 7 days a week to work with, you have 4. And since the scheduling is not a perfect thing, you also need a little wriggle room. So yes, they will need to add more interleague games. If there are 150 interleague series total, and 26 weekend and 25 weekday blocks to work with, then basically they have 50 blocks to work with, with one bye for 1 AL and NL team on a Tuesday and Wednesday. For the purposes of this example, let's just assume the weekday blocks are all Monday-Wednesday, and there won't be any interleague games on Thursdays. 24 Monday-Wednesday blocks (1 bye, 1 AS Break) 26 Friday-Sunday blocks If they had 3 IL series at a time then there is your 150 IL series. But they'll probably stack more toward the middle of the season and only have one at a time in the last month of the season. One new thing they could do that I like is Opening Day vs the Cubs. It would be a new twist on interleague play that could work and help attendance the 2nd and 3rd games of the season. Not every year, but once in a while would be kinda cool. On less interleague---they could have done 12 game each, which would have been 4 series each--60 total series: 5 weekends x 3 series= 15 series 21 weekends x 1 series= 21 series 24 weekday x 1 series-= 24 series One weekday bye for one AL and NL team on a Tuesday and Wednesday

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 17, 2011 -> 01:36 PM) @PWSullivan Paul Sullivan It's official. Sveum in as Cubs manager. So how do you prounonce it?? "Svay-um?" "Svee-um?" "Svem?" He's been around MLB for 25 years. It sounds like swaim.