chw42

QUOTE (Charlie Haeger's Knuckles @ Apr 6, 2015 -> 09:13 AM) Who the hell is Melvin Upton?? BJ Upton changed his name so we would forget how bad he is at baseball? Maybe he wanted people to stop calling him Blow Job Upton.

I think 84 sounds about right.

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 6, 2015 -> 02:49 PM) I can confidently say the following teams have no shot this season: - Braves - Phillies - Dbacks - Twins - Brewers - Rockies - Astros - Rangers I think the Brewers can be decent.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Apr 6, 2015 -> 02:11 PM) This year's been a mess for Green. Supposedly Pep really likes him though and Bayern aren't worried about him. He'll almost assuredly go out on loan somewhere again next season though. It wouldn't be bad for him to play a year in the Netherlands honestly. Yedlin picked up a knock right after the move to England and Spurs want to take it slow with him. He may not make his debut until the fall. I like Zardes a lot too. He showed some nice flashes in their recent friendlies. I'm excited about Rubin. It'll be interesting how the U-20's look this summer in the World Cup. We need someone out of the Rubin, Agudelo, Green group to make a big stride in the next couple years. Maki Tall could be a dark horse for down the line as well if he commits to the US. Edit: And as far as youth soccer goes, I do pay a lot of attention to the YNTs and we have a really strong group of 15-19 year olds right now. Rubin, CCV, EPB, Hyndman, Pfeffer, Canouse, Flores, Novakovich, Gall, Gooch, Haji Wright, Barbir, Gallardo, Josh Perez, Xuxuh, etc...and a bunch of dual nats that could potentially play for us down the road: Zelalem obviously, the Scott brothers (English), Parker brothers (Germany), Tall (France, Ivory Coast), Robert Kenedy Nunes (Brazil). It really is exciting to see how many Americans are drawing interest from prominent clubs in Europe right now. We're probably the most athletic country in the world. We just don't have a good youth system to develop good players. I don't think I'm surprised European teams are looking at Americans for their youth clubs. You can't teach pace and physicality. But you can definitely teach dribbling, shooting, passing, etc.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Apr 6, 2015 -> 01:46 PM) Good call. And there's nothing wrong with that. Just the USMNT can't rely on that if they want to progress. Jozy as what he is, is a complementary piece capable of playing on the big stage, but they can't put him in a position where he is the one they primarily look to and rely on. For better or worse, he's still our best option at the moment IMO. If we're going to be decent at the 2018 WC, we're going to need to find a good forward to replace Dempsey. He'll be too old to be our best offensive player 3 years from now. If he is our best player up front by then, we're going to have some issues. I do like what Zardes did for the Galaxy last year. Now that Keane and Donovan are gone, he's their best attacking player. It'll be interesting to see how he progresses. Edit: apparently Keane's not leaving the Galaxy, I swear I read something that he was going to a few months back. He's a good mentor for Zardes.

Tanaka's done for the day already. I drafted him and Lester in my fantasy league. Not looking good...

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Apr 6, 2015 -> 01:29 PM) The funny thing is, I think he would have fit in perfectly in a spot like Tottenham. Getting service from Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamela and Nacer Chadli would have provided him a lot more chances. I think Emmanuel Adebayor a few season ago is what Jozy could have looked like if he figured it out and had a better cast around him. Similar size and skill-set as a striker.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Apr 6, 2015 -> 12:57 PM) Tanaka is getting hammered. Only throwing 88-90, so glad Sox lost that bid lol. He's basically trying to save his arm. I really don't understand the reasoning behind him not getting TJ. He's going to have to get it eventually. Why pitch through it? His stuff is still nasty, but without a 90+ fastball, he's not going to be dominant.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Apr 6, 2015 -> 11:10 AM) So does Bryant make a difference in yesterday's game? I mean the wonder twins got 1 hit and 1 BB. Watch the Cubs suck, then Bryant gets called up with all the hype and pressure on his shoulders. Then he inevitably fails because of said pressure. I swear man, the hype kills almost every Cubs prospect.

QUOTE (ChiSox_Sonix @ Apr 6, 2015 -> 07:27 AM) Jozy is not a target forward who can create his own shots. The problem at Sunderland was they had no one to play up top with him and no one to give any sort of service. He also looked lost on the field a good amount of time but he's hardly awful. You don't score 50+ goals over two seasons in any league (even the high powered Dutch league) by being awful. He's a fine player but with distinct limitations. He's a bulldozer, but he's just not skilled enough like a Diego Costa or even Wilfried Bony to play as a lone striker. If you put him in a 2 striker formation or a formation with a high CF/CAM that can provide, you're right, he can succeed. IMO, a good striker can play by himself. That way, he can succeed in almost any formation/function. I think a lot of USMNT fans expected him to take the next step forward when he moved to the BPL, but it just didn't happen.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 6, 2015 -> 05:06 AM) Hitting is something that will click with you. Once it does, it's awesome. You actually have to think when you hit on All-star difficulty or higher. Guessing the right pitch and location makes hitting so much easier. It's a combination of timing and figuring out the pitcher.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Apr 5, 2015 -> 09:32 PM) So I logged out/in a few minutes ago because I'm having trouble connecting to The Show servers. When I got back, the trophy for earning a diamond item popped up when I got my daily rewards. I was unzipping my pants in anticipation, then when I scrolled to it, it was a sponsorship deal, not a player. After my initial disappointment, I thought, "well, maybe I can still sell it for a bunch on the marketplace." I scrolled through to find mine, and it's going for like 1,500 studs. I'd have been better off getting a decent silver. Ha you got played. This is like pulling Thorgan Hazard instead of Eden Hazard in FIFA.

Heyward is looking great against Lester. He was awful against lefties last year.

This umpire's strike zone is huge.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Apr 5, 2015 -> 07:32 PM) I will say I love... LOVE that Maddon has Soler at the 2 spot. Castro in the 2 spot never made a lot of sense to me, he just didn't have the plate discipline. I think I dislike him in the cleanup spot even more though.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 5, 2015 -> 07:08 PM) Probably for where they are at, you are correct, but I don't have to pay anyone, and Kimbrel is the best player in this trade by far, and maybe the best closer in baseball. The Padres did OK. They dumped Upton's contract and they got a top 50 prospect back. They're not really a contender, so having a closer like Kimbrel is excessive. Besides, I'm not sure how many years of dominance are left in Kimbrel's arm.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Apr 5, 2015 -> 06:49 PM) I haven't come across a single solitary Cubs fan that think they're going to win the WS this year. But they have many, many reasons to be hype/excited/etc. I was watching the ESPN pre-game show and I cringed at all the pro-Cubs stuff. Cubs "fans" love saying This is the Year!

QUOTE (Chilihead90 @ Apr 5, 2015 -> 06:30 PM) Those 2 are playable. Then they also have Single-A to just store players until they are ready. I call single A the disabled list.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 5, 2015 -> 06:37 PM) Quentin > Shuck Except defensively and base-running. Well, we all knew something had to give with that crowded Padres' outfield. AJ Preller and Hahn are officially the "most interesting GM's in the world," at least this particular off-season. Where did the Padres come up with all this new-found money again? Quentin is almost a DH at this point. You really don't want him to play the OF, especially if you want to keep him healthy for more than half a year.

I really don't understand Cubs fans. Hey, if you want to have a good team, stop hyping any glimmer of hope you have. Not every new year is your year.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 5, 2015 -> 05:33 PM) SD also gave up Matt Wisler. The Braves really won this deal.

QUOTE (Brian @ Apr 5, 2015 -> 05:30 PM) Puts Benoit back into set up role, where he is better. I forgot they traded Street last year. But still, they're on the hook for quite a bit of money now. BJ Upton is essentially wasted money. I guess he's a bad insurance policy for Wil Myers.

QUOTE (Brian @ Apr 5, 2015 -> 05:25 PM) Kimbrel and Upton to SD for Quentin and Maybin. Yup Holy s***! Remind me why the Padres need Kimbrel? BJ Upton is a waste on that team, he won't even start. The Padres basically took on Upton's contract to get Kimbrel, who's been on the decline in recent years (a lot of innings on his arm). They didn't give up much, but I really don't like the trade for the Padres.

QUOTE (bmags @ Apr 5, 2015 -> 05:19 PM) You want to see what will be difficult for Bulls in playoffs: Jimmy and Niko will not get to the line. Niko got to the line 6 times. He also missed half of those... Jimmy settled for way too many shots today.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Apr 3, 2015 -> 09:26 AM) Kaplan just said he would take Hendricks over Rodon for the next 2 years lmao. Also, said yesterday morning that the Cubs top 3 starters are better than the Sox, before Haugh knocked him down a notch. Apparently Hendricks had/has some good stuff, but he sits at around 87 MPH with his fastball and is strictly a control pitcher. He's got a good change, but nothing special outside of that. Yeah, he was decent last year in 13 starts, but his xFIP was 3.92 and it seems like he lucked out a bit. Rodon, on the other hand, hits 95 with the fastball and has a devastating slider. He's also left handed and was the third pick in the draft. There's a huge talent gap. If you were to tell me you'd rather have Arrieta than Rodon, I'd give that some thought since Arrieta actually has really good stuff, unlike Hendricks.