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QUOTE (chw42 @ Jun 24, 2010 -> 01:39 PM) When you're probably the best CFer ever, you have the privilege of making things look easy. is Willie Mays on the Sox?

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 11:49 PM) I should add the shocking move of the century.... KW trades for Fukudome and Soriano and makes the biggest gamble in the history of GM-ing, getting the Cubs to take on the contracts of Linebrink and Teahen. Soriano is installed as the new leadoff hitter/2B, with Quentin moving to DH, Fukudome in RF and Pierre moved down to the 9th spot. that would be a horrible horrible idea. soriano cannot play 2b and cannot leadoff. paying him $18 million for four more years would be insane, he will be a below average player during that time. the cubs would gladly take linebrink and teahen's contracts if they could dump soriano.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 03:53 PM) No offense...but BAH! HA. I still call it Sears, just like I still call it Comiskey.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 03:35 PM) weather.com saying the chances of precip don't START until 6-7pm, then stay high into the night. Future view looks like 7pm-ish for the rain to begin. this is the email we got, so who the heck knows: From the National Weather Service: Strong thunderstorms are expected to arrive in the city between 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. The storms have the possibility of damaging winds and large hail. Depending on how the storms develop, winds could reach 70 mph. Willis Tower management suggests staying away from windows and moving to interior space and away from glass partitions until the severe weather has passed.

QUOTE (SnB @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 03:11 PM) what's the weather looking like? I might try and make this one. huge storm coming but supposed to be over by 7

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 02:54 PM) They said that in BA also...i think he comes up as a reliever late in the year (esp if Williams is still here) but I wouldn't wager on him being in the starting rotation next year. yes he will be in the pen this year. i highly doubt he will be in the rotation next year.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 02:37 PM) I think they think Sale will be ready by next year, they are THAT high on him. They are, I have been told that he will be in the bigs this year.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 23, 2010 -> 01:18 PM) He won't though. then he should be at AAA

Crazy thing is a year ago none of had ever even heard of the guy. Then he joins a non contending team for the last couple of months and pitches very mediocre and all of a sudden he becomes an important member of the staff. He was out of the league for 4 years, its not like anybody wants him.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 21, 2010 -> 02:03 PM) Mark Reynolds is actually a stellar example here. In 2008, Reynolds hit 28 home runs, but because he struck out 203 times, he only hit .239 and put up a .779 OPS. In 2009, he hit 44 home runs, and although his strikeouts actually went up, he hit .260 with an .892 OPS. This year, he's getting a few less hits and a few less HR and that's dropped his OPS down to .799, which is still ok, but not nearly .900. When you're striking out 200 times, there is a huge difference in OPS between 30 and 40 home runs, because your HR are also carrying your batting average. Oh I agree with what you are saying about the huge difference. I just mean that Flowers is not going to hit 40 Hrs. I would be suprised if he hit 30.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 21, 2010 -> 01:17 PM) Very true, but the power and the walks are still there. I think, looking at his stats, the difference between him being useful and useless is going to be whether he's a 25 HR guy in the big leagues or a 40+ home run guy. With his strikeout rate, if he's hitting 40+ home runs, he's still taking walks and has a high OPS, so he's basically the catching version of Mark Reynolds, and his HR will carry his batting average. If he's only hitting 20-25 home runs, he's striking out so much that he'll be hitting in the low .200's and he'll look like Nick Swisher did when he was with us. Hes not going to be a 40 hr guy, especially at C. There are very few 40 hr guys these days.

QUOTE (WCSox @ Jun 21, 2010 -> 12:59 PM) Fielder and Dunn are pipe dreams. The Sox aren't going to give up any highly-regarded prospects this year, and both would cost at least one. LaRoche and Berkman and are the most realistic options. Given Berkman's age, recent injury issues, and complete loss of power this year, I'd go with LaRoche. Fielder would cost more than one, I agree pipe dream.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 21, 2010 -> 12:28 PM) http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=Ap8j...endegrees062010 I think you might want to pay particular attention to the Matt Kemp discussion in this article....one of the season's biggest disappointments, along with the declines of Porcello, Beckham and Peavy (no mention of Quentin at least). Thats ok. He wouldn't play CF for us and I think he can rake. He is only 25 and Rios had a much worse year last year and look at him now. I would also take Porcello and Weiters on that list, not that they are available.

QUOTE (Chi Town Sox @ Jun 19, 2010 -> 08:44 PM) Very nice, but to tell you the truth, I wanted to try it until I saw there current menu. I will try almost anything but I really don't want to spend $225 a person to eat there with the stuff on their current menu although it may be different when you go. They take reservations up to 2 months in advance so be sure to check in September. I'll try to give you a couple of other tips when I get back on restaurants, we plan on going to one of the restaurants on the list (I believe it's #11 in Paris) called Le Chateaubriand, the Chef said he had wanted to create one of the best restaurants in the world but at a price that his friends could afford. I believe its around 45 euros a person which is pretty damn good for one of the best meals in the world Yeah I took a look at the menu and the price and I think I will pick a different one. I will try almost anything too but there are a couple others in London in the top 50 list that are a lot cheaper. That Paris one sounds great.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 21, 2010 -> 11:31 AM) I don't think the Sox should trade the one young starter we have that is under contract. Wouldn't make much sense. I like Loney a lot though, but I wouldn't give up Floyd for him. However, Loney isn't exactly a middle of the order run producer. I think he hasn't reached his ceiling yet though. Loney is kind of the modern day Mark Grace (good defense, nice average, little power). Dodgers could use pitching though and they don't have the ability to take on salary. I also want to point out that trading for Loney gives you a gold glove caliber 1st baseman, who could also play a mediocre left, but quite frankly, the Sox have Konerko right now and Viciedo long-term seems to be our fit at 1st. Sure there is the DH spot ,but I don't like the idea of spending a lot of prospects or top notch talent on who wouldn't be able to play in an NL park (because I tend to think Paulie is the better offensive of the two players at this current point in time, due to his additional power). Loney's power numbers would increase a bit by moving to the cell though. Berkman would be a solid get. But I wouldn't give up major pieces to get him. If I were going to buy a Dodger, I'd look at Matt Kemp. Not that we would get him, but I'd consider moving Floyd for Kemp. Not sure if the Dodgers or Sox would do that and I'm probably the worse person to determine the value of Floyd, since I think when he's on, he's the best pitcher we got, well maybe 2nd best, Peavy is pretty nasty too. I would love Kemp and would trade Floyd for him in an instant. An outfield of Kemp Rios and Q would be one of the best in the league. Berkman hasnt hit for 2 years, maybe he is done.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jun 21, 2010 -> 09:33 AM) I'm kind of with Rock here. I still haven't seen anything from this offense that tells me we can compete with the better teams in baseball. I will admit that I’m feeling a lot more optimistic about this team’s chances of being relevant towards the end of the season, but we need another bat. This has been the case since the start of spring. I am with you guys. This pretty much sums up my feelings exactly. If we get another bat then I am in. This run at least makes the games interesting for another month. But we played 3 of the worst teams in the NL while the Twins played 3 of the better teams and we are still 5.5 back. With the extreme unbalance in the interleague schedule this was our season to win. We gave up 21 runs in the last 11 games and that is not going to continue. Once we get back to playing teams that can actually hit I think the weak offense will cost us again.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 21, 2010 -> 10:34 AM) Have you seen Alonso's numbers this year? He's got a lower OPS than Jordan Danks does in the International League? He's far from a sure thing and right now it's doubtful he'll be ready at the start of 2011. The only way you trade Hudson is if you are getting a proven star in return. If our corner outfielders are Juan Pierre and Mark Teahen next year then we are in real bad shape. There is a good chance Vizquel retires after this season, so I wouldn't factor him in to your 2011 plans just yet. why would you even want him in your plans

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 19, 2010 -> 09:27 PM) This pitching staff owes us a few shutouts, given how much we're paying for their salaries. thats probably true but this recent great pitching is fooling people into believing that the offense is good enough to win the division. we cant keep relying on the pitching to give up 2 runs or less

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 19, 2010 -> 07:24 PM) This post only makes sense if you accept that it makes sense for Konerko and Rios to both sit on the same day, thus making it so that we have zero people in our lineup with an .800+ OPS. and if we are going to give up 0 runs

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Jun 18, 2010 -> 02:32 PM) I saw pictures from there a few weeks ago, and man is it beautiful looking. It's funny that I really knew nothing about that place other than its name for years and years. I never even heard of it until I started looking at honeymoon spots. We are getting a villa in the ocean that you have to take a seaplane and a boat to get to since it is not even attached to any land. It looks amazing.

QUOTE (Chi Town Sox @ May 18, 2010 -> 09:52 AM) I am a huge foodie, Not sure if you are interested in a very nice dinner or not but check out this website (also on the side there is a link for #'s 51-100) - you will see at number 43 is St John's, where Anthony Bourdain had a meal there that he said is one of the top 13 places to eat before you die. I'd love to get a reservation at the Fat Duck but it has been fully seated since last year sometime. I plan to visit a couple of these (hopefully), maybe one in London and one in Paris. http://www.theworlds50best.com/awards/1-50-winners Also, if you are looking for a bit of nightlife after your sightseeing, World's top 100 bars, MANY bars from London are shown on this website (not that this would judge a good time either way but some of these are really ancient and were frequently visited by many celebrities and figures in the London area and still are.) http://www.worldsbestbars.com/public/top_listings.jsp And if you are into dancing/nightclubs, try this website - their are 3 clubs in the top 6 alone in London, fabric, Ministry of Sound, and Matter (which looks really cool as it is in the amazing o2 Arena) http://www.djmag.com/top100clubs/ Nice info. I am going to London and Paris for my honeymoon in November. I really want to try the Fat Duck. After Europe we are headed to Maldives for a week for lots of sun.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 18, 2010 -> 02:00 PM) Seriously, the return of Teahen is going to be such buzzkill. If we are still playing decent, I'd wish somehow we could say, "who cares what we are paying him? He has to sit!" Playing guys just because they make money (Liney) is so dumb. What good is that if the highly paid player costs you games? He can sit and still earn the cash by not hurting the team. If thats a buzzkill, what do you consider 2 more years of him?

QUOTE (dmbjeff @ Jun 18, 2010 -> 01:38 PM) Awesome write up. You follow the Barons alot so I trust your judgements. If popups are his major problem defensively, it seems as though that could be worked on. We also have a real good rangy SS in Ramirez so it makes me feel better about those type of plays. I really hope Ozzie gives him a real shot and plays him 5 times a week. Let Vizquel and Lilli sub in at the end of games for D. This lineup really needs a spark and hopefully he can do it. Agreed, great write up. I disagree about his defense but hey we all have our opinions and I sure hope JPN is right! While I haven't seen him play nearly as much I get my info from some very reliable sources. I have been told his only plus attribute is his arm and everything else is below average. I think they have to give him a lot of PT or it would be a waste to let him rot on the bench. The thing I am most concerned about is the K/BB ratio.

QUOTE (dmbjeff @ Jun 18, 2010 -> 10:42 AM) Believe you? Not calling you a liar or anything but how much have you seen him play? Do you get the Birmingham video feed? I saw he had 30 errors which is alot obviously last season but what kind of errors were they? Throwing errors? Fielding the ball errors? How is his range? How is his arm? Does he have the ability to improve? Alot of guys coming up through the minors playing on less than ideal playing contions put up alot of errors as well. I'd love to see him play there first before we start dubbing him as being worst than Teahen. And Joe Crede had 30+ errors multiple times down in the minors and ended up improving over time. Not saying he will be the next Crede but give the guy some time. Ok don't believe me then. I don't care. I agree lots of decent fielders make a ton of errors in the minors due to bad field conditions or just being young. I am just trying to pass on to you some useful info and what to expect.

QUOTE (Jenks Heat @ Jun 18, 2010 -> 07:28 AM) Sox should've swept the Tigers last week, are they a bad team? No they are not but I don't see how you say the Sox should have swept them. They lost a game by 5 runs. Just because they were winning for 6 innings doesn't mean they should have won.