Jose Abreu

QUOTE (StRoostifer @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 08:05 PM) This thread has become an deteriorating aging horse, any hunters around? I think Jango Fett is looking for some work.

Ok I should probably start watching.

Someone update me please. Score?

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 07:40 PM) Kit Fisto or Plo Kloon Forgot about KF. He was pretty BA.

We need a new insider tweet.

Who is the best Jedi? I liked the young Luke Skywalker and Qui-Gon-Jin.

QUOTE (The Ultimate Champion @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 06:55 PM) Mercury Mercury is the most truly sensitive of all the planets. Venus and the Moon are more easily affected, it is true, but for them a better term is "impressionable." Mercury is the adolescent; he responds to every impression like the weather-vane, which is a very different thing from the reception and reflection of every impression. In slightly different language, Mercury is not modified by the signs as are the more passive planets; rather each excites him to give a special expression of opinion. Mercury is, as we know, the mind; and while the contents of the mind are determined by the food of the mind, yet different minds deal quite differently with identical foods. It has been said that thousands of people before Newton saw apples fall from trees, but their only impulse was to eat them. The proper and best influence upon Mercury is Saturn, and without his steadying hand to hold him in tutorship to a profounder wisdom, Mercury may be frivolous and vain. It is only when Mercury is overpowered by Venus that the mental qualities become subservient and slavish, so that one may say of the native "he has no mind of his own." There is, however, always the safeguard of the proximity of the Sun, especially when the conjunction is not too close. Mercury in Libra The fine and delicate judgment given by Mercury in Libra is at once its virtue and its vice; for in practical matters rough-and-ready decision is often of more value than accuracy, and the insistence on the latter which this position gives, if exaggerated, means hesitation, vacillation, and delay. There is generally a quick intuitive flash of conviction followed by the attempt to weigh the decision logically, which is often dangerous. The better policy would be to train the mind to follow its intuitions. It is the old story of the ass who starved between two thistles because he could not decide which he would eat first. In matters where mind is the sole consideration, however, Libra is as good a sign as can be found for Mercury. The Venusian nature softens the metallic coldness of the Mercurial nature, and Saturn being exalted in Libra, there is an added element of wisdom which pure reason lacks. The real drawback is in the airy nature of the sign, which may give a certain looseness and even frivolity to the disposition of the mind. There is usually great ambition for intellectual accomplishments, but little inclination to labor to attain them. The mind easily becomes distracted; sometimes we may find the native "Jack of all trades, and master of none," as the saying goes. Such people, too, have the defect common to the open mind; they form an opinion after long and careful study, and yet may abandon it at a moment's notice on quite inadequate grounds. The sensitive balance of the mind makes it very difficult to speak positively about such people without the fullest study of the whole horoscope. With this position we find the most varied accomplishments. Great mystics and artists like Coleridge, great lexicographers like Sir Richard Quain, great statesmen like Kruger, great lawyers like Lord Brougham, great theologians like Savonarola, great scholars like Erasmus, great philosophers like Cornelius Agrippa, great rulers like Queen Elizabeth I, great actresses like Mrs. Langtry, great courtesans like Cleo de Merode - all come under this possibility. One cannot tell merely from the position itself along what lines the mind may move, or even how it will work, as Mercury in this sign is more sensitive and pliable than in any other. The position may, however, be called good; it is rare to find a thoroughly incompetent mentality with Mercury in this sign; such an event is unlikely to occur unless there be serious affliction. Unless, however, there are some good aspects to strengthen Mercury, the mind is likely to be shallow. Mercury in the Third House Much activity; many short journeys; much writing; a busy mind, given to the pursuit of various knowledge, especially literature and science. Venus It may, on first consideration, appear somewhat difficult to differentiate between the action of Venus, the "Lesser Fortune," and that of Jupiter, the "Greater Fortune." Both represent the expansive and altruistic spirit. But Venus is the handmaiden of the Sun and she is consequently attached to the vital force, even as Jupiter is more closely an emanation of Neptune, the other extreme of the system, the Soul. The altruism of Venus, therefore, means love in a quite conventional and often selfish or personal sense; her expansiveness is often mere amiability, possibly assumed in order to gain some end associated with the instinct of self-preservation; and, finally, Venus is altogether more material and, so to speak, fleshy, than Jupiter. Venus in any sign has so much connotation or reference that it is very necessary to take into consideration not only the sign in which it is placed, but also its aspects to other planets before judging of its effects. But the importance of the impact of the different signs is very great. In fact, the more material a planet is, the more easily it is influenced. We see no such violent commotion in the vaster planets; Uranus in Aries is not so different from Uranus in Libra, but Venus in Gemini is utterly different from Venus in Scorpio. In dealing with Venus on the lines hitherto followed with the other planets, we are confronted with a difficulty peculiar to the nature of her own influence. It is easy to observe most of the effects of other planets in the life, character, and work of great men, but we know little of the inner details of their domestic and intimate relations. Alexander the Great may have beaten his wife, and Cromwell may have been a very clever and tactful father, but in the majority of those examples which have hitherto served us so well, we know little or nothing of the private life. And it is essentially, and first of all, the private life that Venus influences. The reader must, therefore, be content to rely, to a certain extent, upon the authority of the author regarding the influence of Venus. Venus in Libra Venus in Libra is in her own house and, on the whole, stronger even than she is in Taurus. The only drawback to her excellence comes from the airy nature of the sign, which, conflicting with her earthy disposition, tends to diminish her domesticity. It is also important to note that Saturn is exalted in Libra, and in dealing with the aspects of Saturn and Venus it is shown how generally sinister is his effect upon her. In this sign, the Venus quality tends to be mysterious and bizarre, and suffers dark and inexplicable perversions. The ordinary bourgeois is usually very afraid of people having her in this position. She is too fine and subtle for the average man. The amatory side of Venus is not obvious; the feeling is refined into aestheticism. People with this position, however, often possess sincere affection, but it is important to express such affection more on the mental and spiritual planes than on others. The limitations of marriage are keenly felt. On the artistic side this is the best sign for Venus. She gives a magnificent sense of proportion, harmony and color, which can amount to genius, as displayed by Julia Marlowe, the popular Shakespearean actress. Vulgarity and blatancy are very distasteful, and uncongenial surroundings cause extreme unhappiness, and upset the nervous system. With all this there is a great love of simplicity in art. The Egyptian, Grecian and Chinese styles are preferred to the flamboyant and rococo. Thus we see that, when Venus is in Libra, love is nearly always more and less than love, as understood by the average man. It is, to some extent, a religion, possessing its own ritual. Where disappointment occurs, the feeling is not that of a wounded heart, but rather as if a blasphemy had been uttered, or a crime against God committed. At times, the religious feeling in connection with this matter amounts almost to fetishism. This attitude often causes the native to dread the commonplace exceedingly, and, endeavoring to avoid that Scylla, he may be devoured by the Charybdis of the abnormal. Perversity of one sort or another is consequently common. This may not be actual vice - it results from refinement, delicacy and imagination. Venus in this sign is released from earthy bondage. She takes wings and flies. She dwells in realms of air and the worst torture which she can suffer is her enchainment by bodily expression or material condition. Not only is a marriage of convenience impossible to her, but even true love may be revolting as soon as it takes physical form. It is in some ways not altogether fortunate that so important a branch of life should be thus divorced from what Nature evidently intended as its limitation. Love was originally intended as a mere physical appetite. Its exaltation as amorism, romanticism, mysticism, aestheticism and the rest are superstructed, built upon that basis by the idealism of the Great Architect and His fellow-builders on the aspiring human plane. The reader must not forget that Saturn is exalted in Libra, and, for this reason, there is much melancholy in the sign, which therefore transforms Venus from her simplicity, frankness and laughter into a subtle, secret, and somewhat austere Goddess, to be worshipped in secret shrines, rather than in the meadows. She is not content with offerings of flowers; she demands human sacrifice. Of course, this is only a description of the action of this position on a single plane. The escape from flesh may be into many different fallacies. The effect of air, to which element Libra belongs, connects it with intellectuality; not only is it the ideal which is adored, even on the material plane, but the ideal frequently roots itself in devotion to causes of a religious, artistic or humanitarian character. In this connection we may mention the names of St. Augustine, Madame Blavatsky, Georgia O'Keeffe, Frances Willard and Elizabeth Stanton. We have more characteristic examples still in Edward VII, and Queen Elizabeth I. Here the influence of Libra as the judicial sign is very evident. These two monarchs were unquestionably the greatest diplomatists that ever occupied the throne of England. One sees a similar subtlety in Annie Besant. The position has a more obviously physical influence in the careers of Cleo de Merode and Oscar Wilde. But the most powerful illustration of its aesthetic perfectionism is afforded by T.S. Eliot. Here Venus and Mercury are rising on the Libra Ascendant. Venus is not sufficiently big to bear the whole weight of destiny. No amount of support can make her anything but yielding. Even in the most favorable cases, therefore, there is an element of possible disaster. Sooner or later, the clay pot bumps against the brass pot and is smashed. Louis XVI is a particularly striking instance, with Venus trine the Midheaven and sextile Neptune. All his tact and sympathy failed to meet the situation which confronted him. Those born with Venus in Libra are extremely careful about their surroundings. Harmony and beauty are as necessary to them as the air they breathe. They are much more particular about the manners of their friends than about their moral standards. They possess great personal dignity and a certain seriousness of attitude toward life which makes them almost pontifical. They possess charm, tact, a gravely sympathetic manner and much real kindness of heart. But they never allow this to degenerate into geniality. They dislike familiarity and do not allow anyone to take liberties with them. There is a certain gaiety in the disposition, but it is kept below the surface. Frederick MacMonnies had a stellium with Venus in Libra and his famous "Bacchante" might almost do for an astrological picture of this position at its brightest. There is always the feeling of the dance in Libra, but it is not the vulgar dance which is a mere expression of animal spirits. These exist, and exist strongly, but they are veiled by the religious instinct. The dance is, therefore, a religious dance, a subtle and esoteric ritual "inscrutable to the profane." In its highest expression, therefore, this position of Libra becomes almost divine. The perversities which have already been described may be considered as the trials of a pilgrim. At the end of the journey is the palace of that truth and beauty which are one. Venus in the Second House Money comes readily, and is frequently gained by artistic pursuits or the drama. In a man's horoscope, it denotes that much is spent on pleasure and the opposite sex; and in a woman's horoscope, that a good deal goes in dress and finery. But in spite of everything, money is always ready at hand. Mars Mars represents the muscular system; it is often found that a weak brain goes with great development of physical strength, and vice versa. It might even occur that the whole of the higher faculties might be harmonious and strong, yet fail to make good, owing to the lack of practical energy, boldness, and capacity for rather brutal work. The material plane continually presents obstacles to the higher nature; Mars is the force which pushes such obstacles aside, or demolishes them. His external influence upon the man as distinguished from his internal influence within the character, is that of excitement, inflammation, violence, and accident. Thus a square of Mars to the Sun might give a rugged constitution and dauntless energy, and at the same time subject the native to fevers and accidents from fire or steel. The power of Mars will, of course, as before, be modified by his position in the Zodiac, and, owing to his material and therefore easily-molded nature, the variations will be, on the whole, more extreme than we have found to be the case with planets of greater spirituality. Yet so great is his importance, that a badly afflicted Mars practically inhibits the native from making wise use of his enormous energy. It is a curious and somewhat paradoxical situation, and the student cannot pay too much attention to its study. Mars in Pisces In Pisces Mars reaches the very depths of misfortune. The sign is watery, receptive, sensitive, and psychic - the very antithesis of the fiery, dominant, brutal, and material planet. Very few people with this detrimental position, unless strongly aspected, reach any remarkable goal; even the greatest men are so hampered in their external expression that their greatness passes unremarked in a world that can only be conquered by battle-axes and sledge-hammers. A great tragedy of the Victorian period stands witness to this fact. We have already called attention to the horoscope of Sir Richard Burton. Uranus is conjoined with Neptune, and four other planets fortify the complex. Mars himself in conjunction with Venus and semi-sextile to Saturn, is lord of the Ascendant, while, without much straining, these two complexes may be unified through the Moon and Mercury. Here, then, are the nine planets all more or less related, as in the case of Shakespeare; and truly the mind of Burton was no less than his. Yet the effect of Pisces on Mars is so deadly that the whole of his externalization was nullified. He should have been Viceroy of India and Governor-General of Egypt; but, as he himself said, he "possessed every talent but that of making use of the others!" Erasmus was another individual of rare distinction - the greatest scholar of the Middle Ages. But here again there was no capacity for externalizing his powers; even poor old Cornelius Agrippa had a far greater influence in Europe; while Paracelsus outshone both. Lord Curzon would have enjoyed his sumptuous life as Viceroy of India more if the Venus-Jupiter opposition that forms the focus of a Grand Fire Trine Kite pattern did not also square Mars in Pisces in the ninth house, which became the focus of a Mutable T-Square. He was a bold world traveler and a social reformer, but he suffered from constant back pain and, after he sent Francis Younghusband on an expensive expedition to mysterious Lhasa, his career became erratic, never achieving the Prime Ministership to which he aspired. Vincent Van Gogh's Mars in Pisces conjoins and squares emotional Venus and the Moon. In Michelangelo's more fortunate chart, Mars trines both Saturn and Uranus - a Grand Water Trine. These deep geniuses left the world richer, but were as unworldly as Neptune, the ruler of Pisces. The world may have trouble seeing or appreciating the higher planes where Mars in Pisces strives. Nell Gwyn has this position, too, but Mars is a very curious planet in the case of women. It is difficult to assert anything positively with so little evidence as is forthcoming, but one may suspect that Mars and Venus are counterchanged for feminine horoscopes rather as are the Sun and the Moon, though not so effectively. In any case, Mars has the trine of Jupiter on one side and that of the Moon on the other, which would amply redeem any radical weakness of the planet, especially as he is rising. Mars in the Eighth House The marriage partner spends the substance of the native; strife concerning the property of deceased persons; danger of a violent death; losses by fire and theft. ...

MASAHIRO TANAKA

QUOTE (hi8is @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 03:07 PM) Just because they featured me in a netflix documentary wearing a sparkling pink glitter pony jammy set doesn't mean I'm the homosexual. It's just honestly the best table ever explored - showing the world a greater path to unification and friendship. This board should really consider ditching all interest in the white sox and becoming a my little pony gathering spot of magic. Anyone want to cuddle? hmu doe

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 01:54 PM) ? to bolded, but yeah, he gets the whole year. We're talking about DV, right? Yeah, DV. He went 25/78 in 2012

QUOTE (Stan Bahnsen @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 01:45 PM) Wow. Quite the DV fan! Dayan will likely get all of this year to improve greatly, or he'll be gone before '15. Either way, it's a strategy I can live with. Personally, I would have had both he and Gordo at the camp - Steverson is their last-chance tutor. Dv COULD still become something, and isn't blocking any of the future core, currently. Gordo, who's had way more chances than Tank (and perhaps deservedly due to competent+ D), should get 1/2 season, and due to near-ready competition from prospects, I'd probably trade him even if he has a good first half - perhaps especially so. Only if he performs at a star level would I consider keeping him long-term. He had a stellar 2012 season and a monster 2nd-half 2013 (1st half injury slowed him down). Give him another year, 25/80 hitters are not easy to find.

So are the Cubs the favorite or a longshot? #MakeUpYourMindMedia

Wow, CSN. Thanks for the "breaking news". http://www.csnchicago.com/white-sox/report...ke-offer-tanaka

Searched "Tanaka" on Twitter. Clicked on "All". Received 0 English tweets.

QUOTE (timbo @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 12:44 PM) That could work in sox advantage It could. I'm surprised Kapler isn't bad-tweeting our chances of Tanaka. DWise ruined Kap's moment to be a perfect game-ruiner.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 12:40 PM) Were they teammates in Japan? Not sure, but I misinterpreted the tweet so check the edit I made.

Gabe Kapler (yes, that Gabe Kapler) said Tanaka is not looking for a challenge and that not signing with the Cubs for that reason would be absurd. Don't ask me how he knows this.

QUOTE (Al Lopez's Ghost @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 12:07 PM) I read somewhere he wants 18 Orlando Cabrera? Brent Lillibridge? He can have it.

QUOTE (Jose Paniagua @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 11:07 AM) Here's hoping Jose Abreu The Player's production is the inverse of Jose Abreu The Poster's...production EDIT: hurts me to rip a fellow Gimmick account, but there's just too much data taking me there I don't think it's that far-fetched.

QUOTE (Frank_Thomas35 @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 10:59 AM) I said the same thing. I will be buying some sort of ticket package. This FO deserves our asses in the seats, regardless of the Tanaka outcome. They have done a good job this winter. However of Tanaka is signed, that day I will purchase a package out of peer pride and excitement for my team. Do you guys ever think that maybe, just maybe, someone from the FO has read important threads here to see what the more intelligent fans think? Maybe not a Rick Hahn or a Kenny Williams, but someone lower down.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 19, 2014 -> 10:47 AM) I think it is highly unlikely he signs in New York. I think he either takes the money from the Cubs or signs with the Dodgers. I wouldn't write off the Angels. Despite all the talk, Moreno has indicated they are in and the Angels historically have swooped in late on guys. It is kind of their M.O. That said, they really can't afford another guy when they have to figure a way to sign Trout to like a 10 - 15 year deal that will be the largest in major league baseball history (all while being saddled with Albert and the heroin addict (or whatever Hamilton was addicated to). Why not NYY?

This has happened too many times. I actually think we can get him but he'll just sign with the Yankees for a huge amount of money

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jan 18, 2014 -> 07:54 PM) According to Nikkan Sports in Japan, five teams made formal offers -- nearly all of them worth more than $100 millio NEARLY. Key word.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jan 18, 2014 -> 07:35 PM) Yes? Sorry, wrong number. Er, letter.

QUOTE (ScottyDo @ Jan 18, 2014 -> 07:24 PM) Eeeeee! Qqqqqq!