DBAHO

Yeah it does. Quentin could always start on the DL though. And he's really got nothing left to prove in AAA (his numbers there show that).

Just caught The Other Woman last night. Pretty weak episode I thought. Nothing really new, don't like the flashbacks much now. And they don't need to make Ben that type of crazy. Leave him as he is. He should always get the last line though.

5 year HS reunion is up this year. I won't be attending though, I won't be in the country at the time. I'm not majorly bummed or anything though, I keep in contact with the people I want to keep in contact with etc. I certainly don't miss all the things that happen at HS though compared to what I'm doing now.

QUOTE(pcullotta @ Mar 14, 2008 -> 05:07 AM) Anderson 2006 - 365 AB's, .225 Avg, .290 Obp, .359 Slg, 8 HR, 33 Rbi, 4 SB, 7 CS Owens 2007 - 356 AB's, .267 Avg, .324 Obp, .312 Slg, 1 HR, 17 Rbi, 32 SB *, 8 CS * 8th in the AL in SB in 93 games If Owens is healthy, I would rather have him on the team. To me , it would be nice to have one guy on the team who can steal a base whenever he gets on. It just puts more pressure on whoever is pitching when a speed guy like Owens is on base. Also, factor in how each player finished. Anderson hit .200 with an Obp of .235 in the last month of 2006. That doesn't exactly leave most people wanting more (especially when you include his awful, albeit brief start to 2007). Owens hit .340 with an Obp of .396 and 10 SB's in the last month of 2007. If you were the manager, you wouldn't be slightly excited by what a healthy Owens could bring to the table? I think post ASB splits for those seasons are better stats to use. Smaller sample size yes, but this is when both guys started to get a little more comfortable at the major league level. It's better than using just September stats at least. Owens had the better OBP, but BA had a higher overall OPS. Owens OBP in the 2nd half was only around .330 IIRC. That's not going to cut it as a leadoff hitter (hence why Swisher is now probably the guy).

Look I don't know if it's an ideal scenario, but it's probably the best one we have currently. O-Cab was always an option to lead-off, but Ozzie has his mind set on using at #2. He's great at making contact, and hardly strikes out, so the ball's going to be in play a lot when he's up. Obviously putting Swisher at the leadoff spot, takes him away from RBI opportunities. But I think there's still obviously going to be times where he's lower down in the order whenever Ozuna or Owens is playing. So he'll still get some chances every now and then to knock some runners in. He's got the best OBP on this team besides Thome, he'll take a lot of pitches, and we need more hitters like that, as SS2K7 said. Kind of like the Oakland A's style of hitting where you can get to the bullpen nice and early. How many times in 2006 did the Sox rally against teams late in games, when the other team had to use 3-4 guys in the pen? I'm thinking that's what the Sox want to try and do again as much as possible.

QUOTE(rangercal @ Mar 14, 2008 -> 01:21 AM) It drops off in the east after Detroit and Boston. Those are the only 2 that have any shot to do anything big. Cleveland,Orlando,Toronto all have inflated records from playing in such a weak conference. Cleveland has LeBron. Doesn't matter who they have around him, but they'll always be a +.500 team. Toronto is also above .500 for 1 reason, Jose Calderon. Good luck having him in the off-season. I think the Magic would still be battling for a playoff spot if they were in the West though. Dwight, Hedo and Lewis is one of the best 3-some's in the NBA today. They've made more 3 pointers than anyone, and if those shooters get hot in a series, I think we can take anyone down. I don't like our production at the guard spot though. I wish we had a lock down SG such as James Posey instead of the Evans / Bogans combo. Nelson / Dooling is a decent PG combo, Dooling's one of the best bench PG's in the game today easily.

Just FWIW here are Anderson's 2006 post ASB #'s compared to Owens' 2007 post ASB #'s. BA - .257/.301/.393 Owens - .278/.339/.327

QUOTE(KevinM @ Mar 13, 2008 -> 01:38 PM) The best thing for this organization would be a young, cheap, outstanding outfield of Swish-BA-Quentin 2009 and beyond. I like JD, but his defense is fading quickly and a good first half should allow for a decent deadline move. That would be an ideal scenario for the team for long - term if BA and Quentin could produce well at the major league level. Dye could even play at 1B. Dye / Konerko one of those are prime candidates to be dealt, but with Paulie you'd have to do it now. I wonder if the O's would be interested in some sort of Roberts / Konerko swap (with other players being involved)? It's just speculation, and it may not be right, but it's fun to think about anyways.

QUOTE(Vance Law @ Mar 13, 2008 -> 03:13 PM) Well, yes, this is exactly what Ozzie said. No, there still will be righties going back to back. Just as there would have to be in any configuration with 3 righties. Now it is #3 Floyd and #4 Contreras. Two and a half weeks before the season starts, they have decided that Buehrle is too injured to start on opening day, so they are benching him for an entire........day.....when invariably he would be healthy. I don't think it's that. I guess I should have worded my statement better. Most people are going to speculate and say MB isn't the #1 starter because he might be injured etc.. And yeah we'll still have Floyd and Contreras go back to back, and to me that's a little surprising, I think if they could possibly flip - flop there still, but Ozzie may want a veteran in the back end of the rotation. But my point was, if you kept Danks at #3, you would have MB at #2 and then Danks at #3, 2 lefties, and then 2 righties at #4 and #5. But maybe it's just a reward for Vazquez. And considering where he was in 2006, it's a fine effort for him to be our "ace" now.

Yeah MB has gone through dead arm periods before. If you look at his splits in past seasons, sometimes he has a bad month every now and then, where he just gets hit a lot, and that's from losing a bit of velocity etc. But it's only ST, and I'm not really concerned with what happens here, so long as nobody gets injured. We need all our top players firing from day 1. And Irish71, I hope it's something good I win.

Oh how I would love Uribe to the O's. Sadly I think we're stuck with him at 2B. If there was some way to get Roberts though (without giving up anything major e.g the likes of Uribe, Richar, MacDougal, Shelby, Owens, Anderson etc.), you've got to do it. Extremely unlikely though.

I actually thought this may have something to do with Danks and Floyd. The plan all off-season was for Danks to be the 3rd guy and Floyd to be the 5th starter. Maybe Gavin's impressed KW and Ozzie a lot so far, and they've decided to bump him up at John's expense? And because they don't want righties and lefties going back to back when possible, they just decided to flip - flop MB and JV. Unless there is something wrong with MB as fathom speculated, but I would certainly hope that's not the case.

So I guess tonight means we're probably pretty much done to make the playoffs. And I don't think that's still the worst thing if we end up with a top 10 pick, and can get another really good prospect to add to the system. And just a question, would people rather we target a #1 D-Man in Brian Campbell or a #1 winger in Marion Hossa this off-season (if you could only have 1)?

The top 4 teams in the East IMHO are the better than 2007. After that, it really, really drops off though. Toronto and Philly are the only 2 teams I could see maybe winning a series (albeit, a long shot).

But do Boston have that type of player? I suppose Garnett, and Perkins is a defensive first center, but the Bulls could easily bring in that type of center. I've heard more about James Posey being so important to Boston's defense than anything. One of the elite wing defenders in the NBA today. The Bulls just need to go all out for Elton Brand if he becomes available.

BA emerging this season, could be the best thing to happen to this franchise for the past couple of seasons, and for the future. It would certainly give KW a lot more options (in regards to Dye, Thome, Konerko and Swisher). I suppose, and I used this argument so many times back in 2006, you just have to be patient with young hitters at the major league level, back when Anderson was terrible (albeit he was much better in post ASB 06 IIRC). Maybe this season is where Brian starts to put it together if he gets the chance.

QUOTE(CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Mar 13, 2008 -> 09:06 AM) BA just nailed a guy at home trying to score frome 3rd on a fly ball. He's certainly had quite a game then today. Whatever happens, at least BA has come out and performed so far in ST. Whatever the Sox decide to do with him, at least if they decide to move him, they should get some decent value now. But right now, with the question marks on Owens and Quentin, BA may have played himself into a bench job.

Well at least Ozzie was right about KW not winning GM of the year back in 2005 instead of Shapiro (not that I'm saying Shapiro is a bad GM, he's obviously a very good one).

Yeah that was my thought as well regarding the Vazquez release, it opens up a chance for Bourgeois to make the 25 man roster. Whether that's a good thing for the likes of Anderson and Ramirez (the former more likely to make the team at this stage), I don't know. Still a lot of questions to be answered.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Mar 13, 2008 -> 03:30 AM) I'm really not sure the Bulls are set up to play like they did under Skiles/Boylan. With their age and with the athletic big men they have, I think there'd be a decent advantage to the Bulls with opening up more and picking up the pace. I mean, Noah's literally a point guard who grew another foot who can now get you a dozen rebounds, and Tyrus is still a pogo stick. Throw in Luol Deng, if he can ever find that outside jumpshot he had last year that has totally deserted him this year, and the other youngin's in the backcourt, and they'd be well set up to push the tempo more rather than playing the slowdown half court game. Yeah that's a good point. But you look at who Paxson has hired in his tenure as a GM so far, and I think he still wants the slow the down the offense and grind out games type of coach. I think Thibodeau would be a fantastic choice. I credit him with Boston's resurgence this season more than Doc Rivers, Thibodeau is argubly the best defensive assistant coach in the NBA today, he deserves an NBA head coach opportunity, and he's probably going to get it this off-season. That's why I thought the Bulls really needed another center, if they're going to keep the same style of play.

QUOTE(RockRaines @ Mar 12, 2008 -> 03:52 PM) So, you're basing it on 5 starts in the second half of 05? Thats your prerogative then. And US Cellular is alot harder of a park to pitch in. So im not sure how thats an excuse. He still hasnt pitched an entire season in the majors, or shown he can stay healthy enough to do so. I believe Danks would have been able to if they didnt try their best to save him for his next seasons and frankly keep him healthy. I think Danks pitched extremely well a year early, in the toughest division in baseball at a hitters park and I think his apparent durability, his ability to learn new pitches for his arsenal quickly and his overall repertoire (plus curve, plus change, sneaky fastball, cutter) make him a better pitcher now and into the future, and thats why KW traded for him. Post ASB in 2005 B-Mac had a 1.69 ERA. That was from 42.2 IP, with a .201 BAA, and a 0.91 WHIP. For a rookie pitcher, that's pretty damn good. And no, I wouldn't say the Cell is a "lot" harder to pitch in than Texas. Texas is a gold mine for LHH power hitters, and they're likely to do good against RHP's such as B-Mac. 2007 it was league average (but that had more to do with the pitiful Texas offense IMHO). 2006 it was 5th in Park Factor for runs, the Cell was 9th, and that was the season where we really did well offensively, especially the big 3. My original argument was I would take B-Mac "if he was 100% healthy". Unfortunately for him, he hasn't been. When he has, and when he has started, for Chicago or for Texas, he has pitched well. From May to August in 2007, he had ERA's of 3.55, 1.80 (only 1 start in June), 4.09 and 1.69. That's pretty good. B-Mac was also learning a cutter IIRC, and he had certainly improved his changeup, which had a bit of a screwball effect, so he can learn new pitches too. Almost every young pitcher the Sox have, they try to teach them a cutter, after the success Loaiza had with it a few seasons back. As for Danks, he has shown in the minors, he can pitch well in a 2nd season at the same level. That doesn't mean he's automatically going to do it in the majors. He's still got a lot to learn and prove. I just can't forget a 7.11 ERA post ASB when teams start to see him for the 2nd and 3rd time, and think that he's automatically going to be a lot better this season. B-Mac has more runs on the board so far in their respective careers. Now Danks could easily pass that, but it's a wait and see for now.

Bulls need to go hard after either Jeff Van Gundy or Tom Thibodeau as their next coach IMHO. Both would suit the style of play the Bulls have had under Skiles / Boylan.

Yeah I think I recommended that about 6 months back Tony. Always been the best Tennis series out there by a mile. I prefer using Roddick the most myself. Big power strokes. Try and unlock the King (took me about 20 times to beat him) in Tournament Mode.

What was the deal with Wiz getting a 10 min penalty for "attempting to injure"? Crawford keeping us in the game thus far.

Ugh, just terrible. Just happening way too often.