Paint it Black

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Dec 2, 2010 -> 07:00 PM) Carlos Pena would be more hated than Mark Kotsay around here. I know. Because of those evil strike outs (from a power hitter) and don't forget that low batting average!!!!!!!!(from a guy with a career .350 obp)

Carlos Pena. Seriously. I think last year was an outlier for him. I would easily go 2 years on Pena before Konerko.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 1, 2010 -> 07:10 PM) It has more to do with having your financial situation dependent on the same person who is negotiating your contract. And don't give me this crap about Boras being honest. He lies to people and teams all of the time. It is documented all over the place with mythical offers coming from one and the like. So you're mad at he acts like every other agent does? It's an agents job to get a player the most money possible. It's a tactic. QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 1, 2010 -> 09:19 PM) Boras has never been dishonest? Huh? Outside of any normal contract negotiations, he hasn't been. As I stated earlier, why would he want to damage his reputation? QUOTE (iamshack @ Dec 1, 2010 -> 09:29 PM) This particular kid was allowed to sign with other representation, was he not? Thread over.

Wait, loaning someone 70 grand (who you expect to easily pay this loan back) is now a form of human slavery? Seriously lets turn the narrative down just a bit. Hell I would MAYBE even consider one of the opposing arguments above if Boras had ever done anything that was dishonest in his career. He hasn't, nor would he because of the possible damage to his reputation (and thus, loss of clients). And why would Boras loan a kid 70 grand if he didn't think he could pay it back? Boras shoulders the risk: If the player succeeds, he pays it back, and if he fails, Boras loses his money. If anything, it increases (very marginally) Boras' incentive to help the player succeed. If you want to discuss human slavery, look no further than the NCAA. But you won't find any in this thread.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Nov 30, 2010 -> 07:40 PM) Yup, a bunch of crap that happens in Latin American recruitment is bad. The teams exploiting Latin American players is bad. Why does that make this Boras stuff less bad? Because a lot of what happens in Latin America is an agent taking 50 to upwards of 70% of a players salary simply because some players have no other options. Boras loaned a good prospect 70 grand (again, remember, it's not that much money when compared to what the kid got from a pro team). Boras called the loan back. The kid got paid. All are happy (well Boras didn't get the client he wanted but no harm no foul). I fail to see how anyone has been wronged here. Are people championing this kids cause because they hate Boras that much?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 30, 2010 -> 07:16 PM) The problem comes from taking advantage of people by flashing money in their face and then getting them hooked into your services long term. As opposed to teams taking advantage of a foreign players ignorance to United States laws on contracts? And was does "hooked into your services" even mean? I mean seriously, if Boras is basically lending these kids pennies compared to what just their signing bonuses are. They can pay it back easily even after taxes/agent fees and whatever else. It doesn't mean a player is locked in for 10 years with that agent. Agents do this all the time, it's called recruiting new clients. A player wants the best agent he can get, and hell I don't blame anyone for using Boras. I would do the exact same thing.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Nov 29, 2010 -> 11:41 PM) Signing a $1.6M contract does not necessarily mean you have $1.6M in the bank a few days later. I think it's pretty clear that Boras is exercising leverage in an unfair and unregulated fashion. It's bad news. You don't want to know what actually happens in some of the Dominican camps if you are that offended at what Boras did. In fact, this isn't really a story at all. Boras loaned Salcedo $70,000, and then the kid ended up getting a $1.6 million signing bonus from the Braves. Agents do things like what Boras did all the time. They just have to file such items with the Union. Boras did so.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Nov 21, 2010 -> 12:56 PM) Me, pwned I guess. But it seems like there's only maybe one thing holding him out of the "elite" category from the "very good" category (low threes instead of high threes). I'm not sure how exactly to describe it. run support. Although I'm too lazy to look it up, it always seems like he is pitching the games where the offense falls flat. EDIT: I actually was able to find numbers and going back through 4 years this is not true. I stand corrected.

To me, it's funny how Rogers sees himself as a baseball purist, but when his friend Uncle Bud wants to expand playoffs (awful idea, but that's another thread) Rogers is all on board.

QUOTE (SEALgep @ Nov 21, 2010 -> 07:13 AM) How is he under appreciated or valued? "How many pitchers have managed a combined 16 or more WARP over the last three seasons? The answer is 15, of which Danks has the 13th-highest total at 16.7 wins. A rank like that should qualify the White Sox left-hander as a legitimate ace, and yet does it really feel like he is thought of that way? Heck, he isn’t even the most popular lefty starter on his own team, even though his past three seasons have been much better than those of Mark Buehrle. Everyone knows Danks is good, but most miss just how good he has been in his short career" Straight from BP.

Reportedly the DBacks are floating him in trades. Doesn't this make so much sense for the White Sox? He still has 5 years of control, he is relatively cheap, and you can still drool over his tools.

I am currently unemployed, so I am paying about 150/month. I know it seems high, but since I have asthma I pretty much need it to even think about affording my meds.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Nov 15, 2010 -> 02:15 PM) She is an effective political force on the local and state level, but nationally she is polarizing. You either love her or hate her, there is very little in between. I like what she did this year infusing her zeal into a lot of state races with moderate success. I believe that can even translate into the smaller political game such as mayors and county government if she wanted to, and had the right backing. I am not enthused by any of the 'presumptive' 2012 Rep. nominees. Sorry Tex, Perry isn't one of the 'chosen' ones. Moderate success? lol wut. The 4 candidates she gave the most support (O'Donnell, Angel, Fiorina, and Miller) all took what should have been a lock and lost. Hell Miller was in her own state!

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 17, 2010 -> 08:48 AM) The change in their front office helped, but so did their draft slot as well. From 1999-2008, they picked first 4 times, picked in the top four 8 times, and were in the top 10 the other two years. Picking that high in the draft makes it much easier to find the top talent. In a 10 year span, they were one of the worst four teams in the league 8 times, and were bottom 10 the other two. Would you really be willing to put up with that? And rememeber there are no guarantees that you become as good as the Rays are now either. Other teams have had had similar draft positions and have not been successful, either due to bad drafting or just flat out bad luck. All of these are fair points, but I was sort of assuming that if you go young, you use the Rays business model with an emphasis on defense, sabrmetrics, and actually spending money in the draft. It's also true that teams have had similar draft positions for long periods of time (Pirates, Royals to name a few) but those teams have either went cheap (Pirates) or have made first round picks that were criticized the day they happened (Royals). You don't have to be awful to get good talent in the draft, you need to spend money. I guess my larger point is that I'd like the White Sox to spend money in the draft. If nothing else, they can infuse talent into their system and use it as trade bait because as some have suggested, Ozzie hates young players (I don't agree with this, but I'm just saying...). Teams like the Red Sox have gotten top 10 talent way down on the board because they are willing to go over slot with players. With Reinsdorf and Selig being close friends, I don't see the White Sox giving MLB the finger, but I can only hope.

QUOTE (kjshoe04 @ Nov 16, 2010 -> 08:43 PM) I'm not in if by young you mean the Rays model. I really don't want ten years of bad to be good. Why? The Rays are going to be good for a really long time. And your argument is somewhat flawed because they changed their front office direction a few years before 2008. They sucked for so long because they were managed poorly.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Nov 9, 2010 -> 08:52 PM) I wouldn't have watched a game. Please delete this thread to save people heart attacks. I think it would be funny to see if people actually read the thread.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Nov 8, 2010 -> 07:45 PM) I hope to god you're lying. Otherwise there was no reason to take him with the 13th pick. I dunno. I guess on one had, if he becomes a dominant 8th inning guy or closer, it's a bit disappointing. But on the other hand, to be a bit cynical, it's better than the AA college bat that flames out that has been the recent trend. I believe that having Sale up last year in August pitching in relief should tell you all you need to know about what the White Sox think of him. I like the arm and his stuff is good, but I think he lacks another pitch to start.

The White Sox know he's a pen arm. It's not necessarily a bad thing either. I just don't know how people can see his delivery and think he can start.

Intangibles are worthless. Especially when your average and on base% are nearly one in the same.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 3, 2010 -> 09:58 AM) Already talking about dismantling HCR http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn...0,7938061.story Of course, picking up some seats in the Senate and taking back the house in a strong showing = clear mandate. Landslide victories in the House and Senate to get supermajorities and taking the White House doesn't mean mandate, and trying to enact any policies you campaigned on = "shoving it down our throats". Gotta love the cognitive dissonance in politics. If the republicans would have picked up 1 seat in the house, republicans would be bragging that it's a referendum on the Obama administration. I just can't wait until the tea party voters figure out they were played by the GOP.

Is this where I can point out that Dems tried to include republican ideas in the health care reform bill and republicans put their fingers in their ears and went "la la la can't hear you?"

QUOTE (kev211 @ Oct 31, 2010 -> 08:33 PM) Yes, but Watterson is like a giant concrete building it would take one hell of a tornado to bring it down, if you go into the lounges you don't have to worry about glass from broken windows either. I'm done there though and in my two years there we had a lot of fire alarms, but no tornado warnings. Man the fire alarm stuff was going on my second year there. I lived on Randolph and never left. Just shut off the lights and kept quiet. My sister lived there too and was having the same problems though. I don't miss that building at all.

I don't think he's that good. Doesn't walk, slow, awful defender.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan101 @ Oct 29, 2010 -> 02:16 PM) Steve Perry is actually a big Giants fan, I even remember hearing that in 2005. So this isn't a surprise. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPxX0VwHu-I...feature=related This is true. Either way, I thought the song sucked in 2005 and it still sucks now.