chw42

http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/710...r_taking_shape/ Holy crap. 15 players?

QUOTE (WHarris1 @ Jan 9, 2011 -> 12:53 PM) ^^. Yup, got it off Amazon. Easily worth the 30. It's 21 used from Amazon Warehouse. I thought about it, but then said no and got NBA Street Homecourt instead for $11.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 9, 2011 -> 07:33 PM) The Bears really have gotten a ton of breaks this year. I'd rather be lucky than good.

Seahawks' record on the road by year since Qwest Field's opening. 2010: 2-6 2009: 1-7 2008: 2-6 2007: 3-5 (this was when they won 10 games) 2006: 4-4 (finished with 9 wins, lost to Bears in NFC Divisional Round) 2005: 5-3 (finished with 13 wins, went to SB) 2004: 4-4 (finished with 9 wins) 2003: 2-6 (finished with 10 wins) 2002: 4-4 Away record since Qwest Field's opening: 27-45 Home record since Qwest Field's opening: 50-22 Away record in past three years: 5-19

What an ending. I don't want to jinx it or anything, but it looks like we're going to the NFC Championship Game.

Come on Green Bay, hold on here.

QUOTE (GoodAsGould @ Jan 9, 2011 -> 06:01 PM) First one was against a strong wind and over 40 yards so I don't blame him, that 2nd miss definitely all on him though and might of cost his team a chance of winning. Yeah, the first one wasn't a chip shot at all. But it was definitely make-able.

Definitely a bad day for Akers. Philly would be actually in this game had he been able to hit two make-able field goals.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 9, 2011 -> 02:27 PM) That's just a loser attitude [not saying you're a loser, obviously]. I'll never except the notion that because just about all of our first round picks have sucked the last decade that it would be acceptable if Sale turned into nothing more than a dominant reliever. Look all around baseball. There's a lot more efficient ways to acquire dominant relievers or closers than to invest pre-mid first round picks on them. You've seen how all these lengthy contracts are given out to relievers this year. A good reliever usually ends up producing less value than what he is paid on the open market. It wouldn't be the worst idea to groom relievers from the draft. Now granted, they probably shouldn't be the 14th pick in any draft, but it's not the end of the world if you get 1.5 WAR a year from that pick for 6 years and pay him somewhere around $25 million throughout those years. Now of course, I would want Sale to be a starter since that maximizes his value and that is the ultimate point. However, you also have to consider his physical condition. I think the case with Sale is a little different than with other guys like Papelbon or Chamberlain. Those guys were physically ready to handle 200 innings. Chris Sale looks like he has anorexia. It wouldn't hurt to ease him into the Majors. He pitched 23 innings last year. I bet those 23 innings took more of a toll on him than any other 23 innings he's pitched in his career. ML innings put extra stress on the arm, just look at what happened to Strasburg. He pitched for years without arm problems, but couldn't handle 75 innings in the Majors before getting hurt. I'm kind of in between. I wouldn't mind it if he started and I wouldn't mind it if he relieved. However, I think the latter option is the safer route in the long run and it also does stabilize the bullpen a lot more in the short term.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jan 9, 2011 -> 02:25 PM) Ok Bears. Take note of this, please. Just curious, what's everyone's opinion of Tim Jennings this year?

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 9, 2011 -> 02:03 PM) What kinda excuse is that? Because most of our first round picks have sucked that it would be OK if Sale turned into a great set-up man or closer? We may as well just forfeit all of our first-round picks from here on out. Look at what 3E8 posted. It's not just us, but it's been more of the case with this team since Kenny took over.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jan 9, 2011 -> 01:43 PM) Weren't Randy Johnson's mechanics supposed to be terrible? Didn't Prior have flawless mechanics? It's all a crapshoot really, I trust ptatc though. Randy Johnson didn't really have bad mechanics. Prior's always had bad mechanics. ESPN and everybody else just listened to Prior's USC pitching coach, who is more or less wrong. Just look at what happened with Anthony Reyes.

QUOTE (3E8 @ Jan 9, 2011 -> 01:42 PM) Average career WAR for 13th pick in amateur draft from 1965-2000: 6. Percent of picks in that time frame which have had career WAR of 1 or less: 72%. Basically, 3 out of 4 times, the 13th pick has been worthless. I'm not saying Sale shouldn't attempt to convert to starter with the White Sox. But if he turned out to be Matt Thornton, one of the best LH relievers in baseball, for six years with us, the pick of Sale would be nothing but a great success. Edit: forgot link. http://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?o...ype=junreg& Exactly.

Sale projects to be a 1.5 WAR reliever with how he pitched last year. It wouldn't be the end of the world if he ends up being that for most of his career. After all, how many first round picks in our team's history have actually panned out? I think that question can go for almost every team. Having Sale start does boost his value, but you're also risking injury at the same time. I don't think it hurts to have him take a smaller load early in his career until he gains some weight.

Sox sign Josh Kinney to a minor league deal.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Jan 9, 2011 -> 12:37 PM) I feel like you didn't read my post, accidentally clicked on reply and then typed all this. If one good half of '06 is one of the best in team history, then you are making my point for me. And even more importantly, if you are claiming the entire '06 campaign was one of the best offenses in team history, then that just amplifies my point louder than speakers. That team scored the 4th most amount of runs in White Sox history. It's also the second highest amount of runs scored in the modern era (beyond 2000) for the team. The offense in the second half wasn't that bad, they were at least slightly above average. The team had a .778 OPS in the second half, a .829 in the first half. That is a noticeable difference, but they weren't as bad as some thought they were in the second half. The 06 offense, as a whole, was one of the best offenses in the history of the team by numerous team statistical measures, there's no way around that. Your point is that the team was inconsistent (all or nothing), even though they did score a bunch of runs. The problem with that statement is that the 06 team had a better OPS in losses than most of the balanced teams in the team's recent history, like the 05 Sox and last year's team. Consistency of a team's offense is usually over-exaggerated. Very rarely will you have a team score 15 runs in one game and 0 in another. But when that happens, it seems like the severity of that notion is amplified. However, that's not always what happens and I'd rather have a team full of boppers than a team of scrappy Marco Scutaros any day.

Yeah, this has been discussed before. ptatc said it might not be as big of an issue as some of us think.

QUOTE (Jerksticks @ Jan 9, 2011 -> 02:26 AM) Yea I do remember that great first half of the season when we were the greatest team ever assembled. (.288/.354 as a team) But then I remember the horrible 2nd half all the way through 2009 where we averaged around .260/.325 To describe Corpse Ball even more- during that same stretch the Sox batted around .300/.375 in games they won and a putrid .215/.280 in games they lost. First half 2006 was the outlier that entire time. Twins consistently have a clip around .270-.280/.340-.350 while the Yanks are annually around .280-.290/.350-.360. Those teams don't dip as low in loses as we do either. Just sayin we never look like a .340+ OBP team, even during our decade of having "power teams", except for the games where we connect on homers. And it's so hard to watch year in and out. This team seems pretty stacked but I still fear corpse every year. That team was victimized by the pitching falling apart. As hot/cold that offense was, the pitching was almost worse. In wins, they had a 2.34 ERA. In losses? 8.34. The 05 team, which is probably the model team you're looking at in terms of consistency, had an OPS 19 points lower in losses than the 06 Sox. There's nothing with building a team around power, especially when you play in the kind of park we do. Last year wasn't exactly "corpse-ball" free either. Last year's team had a .625 OPS in losses. Surprise, surprise. The whole notion of "corpse-ball" is exaggerated. Corpse-ball is 2007 where the team had a bunch of AAAA players and couldn't score to save their lives. Saying one of the best offenses in the history of the team played "corpse-ball" is just incorrect.

QUOTE (JPN366 @ Jan 8, 2011 -> 11:10 PM) If that's what you want... This is a different Bears team now. The o-line isn't complete garbage, they have a more balanced attack and run the ball much more effectively, and Jay Cutler isn't coming off of a game where he got brutally gang raped by defensive linemen. I don't think there's any sane Bears fan out there who would rather play the Eagles next Sunday.

QUOTE (Kenny Hates Prospects @ Jan 8, 2011 -> 11:01 PM) He's never "done" so to speak, but he may not have enough money to sign anyone else to deals more than $1M or so guaranteed, and he may not find good enough deals out there to make it worth clearing salary in another deal. I'd love to see a Teahen + prospects for bad contract + cash deal OR a Teahen + cash/prospects/both for smaller salaried player. The areas we need to deepen are the bullpen, potentially the starting rotation (some extra insurance would be great), and a good 4th OF capable of starting but used to rotate around while spelling Rios in CF. Some potential targets for one of the above deals: Brandon Lyon 11:$5.25M, 12:$5.5M Coco Crisp $5.75M Michael Wuertz 11:$2.8M, 12:$3.25M club option ($0.25M buyout) Ryan Sweeney 1 year/$1.4M (2011) Nate McLouth 11:$6.5M, 12:$10.65M club option ($1.25M buyout) Kosuke Fukudome 11:$13.5M Aaron Rowand 11:$12M, 12:$12M Francisco Rodriguez 11:$11.5M, 12:$17.5M option ($3.5M buyout) Angel Pagan 1 year/$1.45M (2010) Mike Gonzalez 11:$6M Danys Baez 11:$2.75M What I really want is KRod, but we'd have to include some good prospects to get that done and without including Dayan, Morel, or Mitchell (I wouldn't trade those guys) I don't we'd have enough. I'd happily ship out Escobar, Thompson, Santos Rodriguez, Flowers, Infante, etc. Brandon Lyon could be an excellent fit though. We'd have to give up something good here, too, but not as much since we wouldn't have to take cash back. Winning in 2011 is of the ultimate importance to this organization, so I really hope something is out there. We just can't f*** it up this year. I would love Angel Pagan. Unfortunately, Alderson's the Mets' GM now and you can't trick him like you could Omar Minaya. Wuertz is a hell of a reliever too, but we're not getting Billy Beane to take on Teahen. BTW, whatever happened to the Mets trying to opt out of K-Rod's contract? How did that workout?

Very good bounce-back win tonight, especially after playing last night on the road.

I am salivating at the opportunity for the Bears to play the Seahawks at Soldier Field. Go Packers!

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jan 8, 2011 -> 06:28 PM) I agree w/ Coop. Have Sale start for the first month or whatever, then send him straight to AAA to start until/if a starter gets injured/traded I think the key is to not have him be a starter and then all of a sudden start closing or something. Once Peavy is back, ease him back into his bullpen role.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 8, 2011 -> 05:06 PM) You're a Falcons fan? Then hope the Packers win.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Jan 8, 2011 -> 05:01 PM) Corpseball = 2007 = Jerry Owens And Andy Gonzalez, Alex Cintron, and I can go on and on and on...