The Ultimate Champion

The mods here are friendly, I don't know why there's an issue whenever someone gets sent home for a little while. They've sat me down in the corner before and whatnot but geez it's a message board, just take it like a man and own up to it. You get set down here & it's probably because you've been a butthole. I mean really, who attacks caulfield? Caulfield rules. Attack caulfield and you deserve to go home. JMO.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ May 9, 2013 -> 06:48 AM) First off, Hahn is the GM, it's not even debatable. KW may have this elusive "Veto Power", but that doesn't change the fact that Hahn is running the day-to-day operations. There's no power struggle here, managers always have say over their subordinates. This is no different and I seriously doubt KW ever vetoes one of Hahn's trade. Second, Peavy does not have a big contract. He makes $14.5 million/year and only has one more season guaranteed. Look at what Edwin Jackson just signed for this offseason. Hell, look at Danks contract. Peavy is an absolute steal, which is why you don't deal him unless someone is going to compensate you for all the surplus he provides. Finally, Andrew please STFU. Everyone is entitled to be a dick on occasion and everyone has a right to be down on this team, but your only goal as of late is to ruin every thread you enter with the same bulls*** and arrogance. If the White Sox make you this angry, then for the love of god find another hobby. You know Chicago White Sox, there are lots of hobbies out which can allow one to relax while holding his shaft. Aside from fishing, you have cigar smoking, golfing, sausage making, etc. and they're all a blast so to speak. Sometimes it's best to just sit back, relax, strap it on/down, and hold your shaft a little, find the kid in you. This season has been too stressful to endure without a hobby, especially without a shaft holding hobby. Food for thought.

I guess if I could only have one thing it would be pitching, so that's kind of good. Has anyone actually seen a good amount of Carlos Sanchez to say what he is one way or the other? I'm sick of scouting reports, they're usually full of bulls***, and on Sanchez I've seen anything from not good enough defensively to stick at short to basically a terrific shortstop. The reason I bring this up is that if the Sox have a young, very good starting staff, plus a good young bullpen, and potentially a couple decent (Flowers becoming a league average player at some point?) position players who are young, cheap, and under control at very key/hard to fill positions, then things really aren't that bleak. If we mainly need some 1B/DH/corner OF types plus a 2B then we can do that a lot easier than building a pitching staff and acquiring some pretty decent skill position players.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 6, 2013 -> 07:09 PM) The way I'm looking at this (to put a positive spin on it) is that the $3.5-4.0 million we're getting back in an insurance settlement is a lot more than we would have probably received back in talent...unless we really got lucky. Guess it's better than being stuck with Edwin Jackson. At least we're free and clear of every bad deal except for Dunn/Danks (at the moment). If you want to be mean, you can include Konerko for this season, and then new-found concern over Keppinger. There is no positive spin. I'm not going to harp on Hahn since this is his first go of it & it looks like we're in for a s***ty one this year, but Gavin should have been gone at the Winter Meetings. This is what happens when you over value your own players. Had Gavin stuck around healthy we'd have gotten much more than the insurance $$$ back in talent (even 1 year of a solid middle reliever can be worth $3-4M on the open market, and his trade value would have been much higher than that even if low overall) but either way we were looking at a mediocre return. Now we get nothing. Fine, whatever, but that makes it even more important that we get something out of our impending FA relievers. I guess if I would look for a positive spin it would be that Gavin's injury forces us to acquire more MLB-ready right-handed starting pitching sooner than later, so at least if that's the case we'll be looking to fill an area from an organizational scouting strength (if you forget about Molina anyway). Ugh. Damn it caulfield you brought me down with this post. I need a beer.

Great season for the fan cave, huh? Damn. I hope they allow alcohol in that thing. I can't imagine what it would be like to be stuck in the fan cave during that 2007 season, you want to turn the tv off but you're just stuck there in the damn fan cave watching Andy Gonzalez firing the baseball into the stands, watching Ryan Bukvich give up majestic 450-ft bombs on the worst hanging sliders you've ever seen, etc. I hope for Mhizzle this season doesn't turn out like that one.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ May 4, 2013 -> 09:21 AM) The PC police strike again. I did that 100% on my own because I figured that if I said something which offended such a nice, happy, optimistic chap in Jake then I had done something wrong. So I re-read my post and then thought "gee I'm an asshole in the morning" and changed it.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 3, 2013 -> 04:06 PM) They have the best flavor. Spicy tuna

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ May 4, 2013 -> 06:33 PM) When I was 9 or 10, I was hit by a foul ball off of Sandy Alomar's bat. Being that I was a kid and didn't expect getting hit by a ball, it fell out of my lap. My dad tried to get it, but the lady next to me grabbed it and took it, saying it would mean everything to her grandkids. For reference, she looked to be in her early 50s, so it's not like she was an incredibly elder woman who grabbed the ball and beat my dad. 1. Sue Sandy Alomar 2. Sue the Sox for putting Sandy Alomar in position to hit you with the foul ball 3. Beat down the old lady 4. Kill the grandkids 5. Blame it all on your dad for not getting up fast enough and making a 9-10 year old go through so much trouble

QUOTE (staxx @ May 3, 2013 -> 04:45 PM) Exactly. The problem is though, what do you with a player like Hawkins, some who has enormous pure raw talent. There has to be a difference between players as you said, I highly doubt Hawkins and DeMichele are treated the same, nor should they be. If Hawkins is going to be getting the Brian Anderson treatment then we should probably deal him this summer. Trayce too. And Walker. Trade them all for pitchers which we can develop, and then trade those guys for hitters other organizations have developed.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ May 3, 2013 -> 01:33 PM) Only if you like beer thrown at you (at best) or being murdered (at worst). All you'd have to tell them is that the other team hit it. It's not like they'd be watching anyway. That's because they're all farm-fed Iowans who stare at cows all day. When you stare at a cow every single day for a good 20+ years you just learn to tone out everything to the point where you can't even see what is in front of you. That's why they never start throwing garbage onto the field until the 7th inning or so, because that's when they find out they're losing (they've been down since the third).

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 3, 2013 -> 01:46 PM) I'd still hit it. The girl that is. Damn. Really? You'd have so many crabs there would be a line of hobos following you around with metal detectors like "there's gotta be some gold in this motherf***er." Cuz they'd think you're a beach. That was my attempt at a joke. Those usually don't work out for me so well. Jokes that is.

QUOTE (Jake @ May 3, 2013 -> 10:39 AM) Yeah it's BS that they threw the ball back. Don't need the slut shaming though You know what Mr. Jake? You are absolutely right. I will edit my posts so that they are not so mean spirited. Thank you.

I like kitties and puppies.

Hector hasn't complained once, has said all the right things, has earned his shot, and now someone else needs to take it from him for him to lose that spot. I don't think anyone else can though, certainly not Danks anytime soon if he's throwing mid-80s.

Morons everywhere are ruining the game for kids. This one was hopefully saved & learned a valuable lesson about what NOT to do with a home run ball thanks to his disillusioned fan sister. More kids out there need the help though.

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/video/play...18&c_id=cws

QUOTE (Reddy @ May 2, 2013 -> 07:52 PM) and there were those of us who loved that he would step on Aaron Boone rounding third, or would give Joe Borchard $100 for homering off Brett Tomko, or would steal first base in the ALCS or get into a fight with Michael Barrett. At the time, we ALL loved voting for AJP (or should I say punching). I love that s***. That's baseball man. Baseball has always been full of douchebags and bad guys, and those are some of the guys that make the game fun. I don't want a team full of players with the personality of Paul Konerko. That'd be boring as s***. It's nice to see some fire and passion and it's awesome to have a player who unequivocally wants to win at all costs. you don't have to like it, but AJP is a fixture in white sox lore forever, and absolutely belongs in the same paragraph as Fisk, Buehrle and Konerko. Was he as good as all them? maybe not. but he was an integral part of the team that won the world series, and no other player in baseball would have stolen first base. I know I'm belaboring that point, but without him we have a much, MUCH harder time winning that ALCS, and I also give him a lot of credit in the White Sox having the most quality starts in baseball over the years he was with us. Or is that just coincidence? Another great post. The post you quoted was basically "I admit he was a very good baseball player but I choose to dislike him for several non-baseball reasons including his fashion sense & affinity for the World Wildlife Fund." Great. But then your post happened and I was just like...

QUOTE (Baron @ May 2, 2013 -> 06:30 PM) Those same people also said that we wouldnt miss AJ because of the defensive juggernaut that is Flowers. Plus magic was supposed to kick in and he would stop striking out. Yep. Catching is hard. Flowers has a shot at being a quality player but asking him to replace AJ was both asking way too much of him as an inexperienced player and way underrating/overlooking the job AJ has done here. After Fisk we pretty much had a black hole. Karko IIRC was the best one, but the Josh Paul, Ben Davis, etc. days weren't fun, and Olivo didn't come through, and the guy we got from Florida (Johnson IIRC) was only here a couple months and didn't help.... and so on. There was a long and very sucky period before AJ got here & maybe some fans have been spoiled, and have forgotten what it is like to not have any real long-term solution at such an important position.

QUOTE (greg775 @ May 2, 2013 -> 02:55 PM) Yes sir! Nice reminder! Man, I wish we had more guys like AJ on the Sox team. Now and in past seasons. He's truly the only guy (I can think of) that has done noticeable things (like the dropped third strike against the Angels, running to first exactly when he did; purposely getting hit to get on base) just to help the team win. I'm sure there are others but with AJ, you can just see how much he wants to win. Who gives a f*** if he's an asshole in the clubhouse or in bars? There are plenty of those type guys in baseball. I think the Sox need more of those type guys. And this exactly. We have had some excellent players, but not so many excellent *and* smart players. That's why AJ, Buehrle, Fisk, etc. are so special. With AJ it just seems like whatever he does (or doesn't do, like last year's fake steroid bust) there are people ready to jump down his throat. Also, it is kind of funny how when you can't rip the guy for what he's doing on the field there will be those ready to talk about what he's like off the field. I don't care what he's like off the field in his home or at the restaurant bar or anywhere else, anymore than I would care about what Coop does on Easter with his family or what religious holiday is Stoney's favorite day of worship. I've seen it mentioned that AJ apparently is a bad influence because he wasn't rah-rah enough for a loser Sox team while they were choking on the Red Sox. Whatever. The man lays it all out there on the field and that's all that matters. You can see that, you don't need to take anyone's word for it, you don't need a "source" that says it, because it is right there in front of you. Respect the man.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 2, 2013 -> 06:20 PM) As opposed to all of the cheap shots you keep doling out? Cheap shots? SSFM is landing haymakers here. AJ haters better beware.

QUOTE (South Side Fireworks Man @ May 2, 2013 -> 05:59 PM) When did he ever do that? If you are referring to the Barrett incident, let me refresh your memory. Barrett was blocking the plate. AJ bowled him over with a clean hit on a clean play - no cheap shot. Barrett got up and sucker punched AJ in the jaw. AJ took Barrett's best shot and hardly flinched. Both benches cleared but AJ wisely did not retaliate. For one Barret's punch didn't even phase him, and for two the Sox were in a pennant race and couldn't afford to lose AJ to a long suspension. Even though AJ did absolutely nothing wrong he still got a one game suspension. Of course Cubs fans were happy and rumour has it someone in the Sox front office "lost respect for AJ" for not being stupid enough to retaliate. That's an example of some people not appreciating AJ. Yes.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ May 2, 2013 -> 02:17 PM) What if it was a China shop? I'd try to sell him as much as possible, because if you take it home & break it then you have to come back and buy more, and that's good. Breaking puppies OTOH = bad. Also, with a china shop there is the insurance factor, a factor which I might try to capitalize on by allowing destructive people into the store on frequent occasion while the security cameras are rolling. This is something that BTW I am surprised the Sox are not capitalizing on re: Dunn's contract. If I'm JR I'm getting the best people out of the Pirates FO and having Dunn doing all kinds of crazy pre-game work-outs, like rock climbing, bungee jumping off the Fundamentals deck to increase flexibility to help him play 1B, etc. That way if he gets hurt you get some of that money back & you can plug another automatic out into the line-up, but instead of Dunn maybe it's someone from Triple A who Lillian really likes because he's a 29-year-old journeyman tearing the cover off the ball. Or something like that.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ May 2, 2013 -> 01:34 PM) I appreciated what he did here AND enjoyed him getting drilled. Well all I have to say to this is that if I owned a pet store and someone came in and said "I'm Alpha Dog from SoxTalk & I liked seeing AJ getting drilled" then I'd only let you in the door if I really needed the business & I'd watch you like a hawk around the puppies.

QUOTE (Cali @ May 2, 2013 -> 02:09 PM) Well pushing a young bullpen and young starters and almost never using the bench hurts and that's kind of on Robin. Ozzie used his bench all the time and people hated it. He also let his starters stay in the learn, take their lumps, and he let his relievers face both sides of the plate and work 2-3 inning stints whether they had the ability to do it or not. People hated that too. Bottom line: bad team = put it on the manager, coaching staff, etc. Personally I think Robin has done just fine. No chicken stew when all you got is chicken poo.