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QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 10:43 PM) I was being funny. Contreras is Nuke from Bull Durham. He has a million dollar arm and a ten cent head. This is why I am dead against this guy pitching in the playoffs. He has the arm and the stuff. He lacks one major thing, balls. Everyone looks at his BAA and they drool. But his WHIP is rising like crazy and he basically kicks himself in the nuts all the time. He now leads the league in wild pitches. His WHIP is still lower than Mr. Schmidt over in SF.

QUOTE(southsideirish71 @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 10:37 PM) No negative talk. That was just a different way of getting 3 outs. He is lulling them into a false sense of security. He only gave up 2 runs. I think he is ready to start game 4 for us in the playoffs. We're tied against the hottest team in baseball with their best pitcher on the mound, who hadn't allowed a run in his last two starts, and that's our 4th starter on the mound.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 10:30 PM) If Contreras can finish the year around a 4.00 ERA, he'll be a valuable asset come this offseason; especially considering the FA starting pitcher class is AJ Burnett and the rest. We should net a pretty decent to solid player for Contreras, if we eat a million or two. I also think with some more money we'll delve into that Japanese market again, several pitchers wanting to come over here... We'll see what happens. I'm not sure we're going to be looking to invest the type of money Burnett will get in another starter with Buehrle and Garcia already making decent money and Garland due a raise. Even factoring in what we already pay Contreras that would be roughly another $3.5 mil on top (I think, what is it, $7 mil for the Count next year?). That guy who's name I'd butcher from Japan might be interesting, but we'll probably be in a bidding war.

QUOTE(Soxnbears01 @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 10:27 PM) "Talking softball." Awesome!

QUOTE(jerseysox @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 10:26 PM) no love for mr. plow? Pretty good, but I really like those 3.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 10:22 PM) I'm glad you picked up on my sig. That has to be one of the greatest simpsons episodes ever It looks like he had some cramps in his calf. My personal favorites are in no particular order: The Cartridge Family (Homer joins the NRA) Homer vs the 18th Ammendment (Homer is the Beer Baron) Simpson Tide (Homer joins the Naval reserve) I'm not going to include quotes, otherwise I'll be typing all night.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 10:21 PM) We should be in a good position heading into the offseason. Assuming we pass our attendence of last year, we'll raise the payroll anywhere from $5-$15 million, if not more. If I were GM, I'd look to restructure Thomas' deal to keep him here for the rest of his career, but not at $10 million -- maybe $7-$8. Then the same goes for Garland and Pierzynski. Konerko is gonna get a lot of money, and I bet he and his agent know that. Let him walk, get yourself a good thirdbaseman or one of the several 1B prospects that seem to be popping up -- Gonzalez from Texas, Howard from Philly, or (not a prospect) Overbay from Milwaukee. Or you could just move Dye to first and use he and Gload there. The problem with freeing up that much money is that it appears to be a less than stellar FA class. Plus, those teams you mentioned aren't going to just give those guys away.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 10:19 PM) Why'd u think Frank Francisco chucked a chair at em for?

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 10:05 PM) Hence why he hasn't won many games this season. he could easily have three or four more wins. He's pitched some very solid games where our offense hasn't done much.

QUOTE(brijames @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 10:04 PM) Is it just me or is it excruciatingly painful watching Contreras pitch? Not if he keeps throwing forkballs like that last one to Chavez.

D.J.'s Magglio talk is killing me.

Harden seems to be throwing nothing but fastballs. It's a good one, but man, vary it up.

Is it just me or is Santana just not the same pitcher this year? He certainly isn't producing anywhere near as well as last year. I know it would be hard to miss, but he's up over a run on his ERA, and doesn't seem to go as deep in games. He's still not allowing a lot of hits or walks and striking everyone out, but the results aren't quite the same.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 08:19 PM) I wrote off the Yankees like 3 or 4 weeks ago. Here's why I did that. Assuming the Yankees lose today, which they will, they'll be 39-39. To get into the playoffs this year in the AL, a team will probably have to win about 95 games. To get to that win total, the Yankees would have to go 56-28. That's a tall order for an old team with no bullpen or starting pitching. Oh yeah, and they're old. Not gonna happen. I see your point, but I think 95 wins is a little high. And I wouldn't exactly say that a team with Rivera and Gordon has NO bullpen. I don't expect Baltimore to hang around, and from what I've seen Texas and Minnesota might struggle to reach that mark also. They certainly need to get better soon to have any hope.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 08:31 PM) Eddy Curry in a sign and trade for Sam Dalembert and Kyle Korver. Would you do it? Sounds good to me. Dalembert and Chandler would let us own the paint, and Korver provides a shooter. Dalembert would have to be signed first as well as Curry, and I don't think Philly wants to fascilitate Dalembert's departure. By the way, maybe we should just turn this into a FA thread?

Interesting fact, Gooden is only a year older than Curry. I'm not so sure about Curry's "potential." Unless we can get the NBA to let us have a coach follow him around the court with a cattle prod to get him to rebound and defend, I don't know if he'll ever be more than a scorer. As Hammerhead has said, I could put together a decent sized list of guards and small forwards that outrebound Curry.

Well, I wouldn't exactly want to pay Curry anywhere near the max, but we'd be trading one underacheiver for another. Gooden and Chandler would let us dominate the glass though.

QUOTE(rangercal @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 08:06 PM) Ok Curry Bashers. I will post this only cause I already know you guys will. While I thought that was a good line, Curry is a solid post scorer. That's about the limit of his skills though. He's good when paired with a rebounder/shot blocker like Chandler. If he draws as much interest as people think, some team is going to realize that he needs a complementary player in the post. One of the potential sign-and-trades was Gooden for Curry. Not sure if I like that or not.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 07:49 PM) The Yankees are now losing 10-2 in the 6th. Randy Johnson gave up 7 of the runs, all earned. I don't know why people are scared to play these guys in August. They're a bad team this year, that's all there is to it. And old players don't get better as the year goes. We'll destroy them. I still wouldn't write off the Yanks, but Randy continuing to suck certainly doesn't help their case. They still have 4 guys hitting .300 or better, which helps them win some games despite poor pitching, and Rivera and Gordon helps them get some close ones. They sure can't get anything going in stretches. By the way, I never said I think they could beat the Sox in a series, they are definitely inferior to our Sox.

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 07:55 PM) Chad Ford thinks the Bulls will also puruse Jaric, who I would love. 6'7" at the point. Ford lists Jaric, Watson, Daniels, SAR, Haslem, and James as targets for the Magic. SAR, Yell, Haslem, Simmons, Jaric, Kukoc for the Bulls I just read that article too (would link, but it's insider). Simmons would be cool, although he'll probably be out of our price range. Marshall coming back would definitely be high on my list, and getting a big PG in Jaric would work too. It sounds like we might get some serious sign-and-trade action for Curry, which could make things interesting.

QUOTE(DBAH0 @ Jul 1, 2005 -> 07:41 PM) LMAO; Igoudala ahead of Gordon? That's going to piss off a lot of Bulls fans, but he's right on the money with that one. Wouldn't have Mr. Jefferson ahead of him though. Zach Randolph shouldn't be in the top 50. Amazing how high Joe Johnson's stock is after 1 season to have him ahead of AI and Gasol. But seriously though, if you were Orlando's GM, would you trade Dwight Howard for anybody? Wade, Stoudemire and Duncan excluded. Probably not. He's really cheap for the next three years, and is going to be a beast once he gets his offense going. He might be pretty close to Amare in a few years. I think 3 of the bottom 4 are interchangeable, it's really hard to tell if Gordon, Iguodala, or Jefferson will be the best player in a few years. And yeah, that McGrady deal looks really bad, especially after dealing Mobley for Christie.

I do miss the chant, but for the money, no thank you. He's going to be an albatross on the Tigers' payroll for quite some time. He'll be .300, 25, 90 tops even if he gets back to his old form in that park.

Frank's still getting back in the swing of things. He's a good type of guy to bat third, as opposed to Everett, or Konerko, or Dye for that matter. None of those guys generally get on base at a good clip and are more inconsistent. Rowand is solid, that's a decent option, although you'd like to see a little more power. I liked having Frank bat 4th or 5th when we had Lee and Maggs, but we obviously don't have those guys anymore.

NBA Trade Value List Bill Simmons does this list every year, where he basically ranks what he believes the trade value is of the top players in the NBA. I find it somewhat interesting. Comments? Who's your top 5 or 10? I generally agree with him. My top 5 is the same, although I'm not sure I'd put them in the same order. I also think I'd rather have Elton Brand than guys like Hamilton (good shooter but disappears at times, doesn't always seem to create his own shots) and Wallace (great defender, but little to no offense. I'd have him in the top 10 if he could shoot or had some post moves), but that's a personal preferance. I also think that based on what he has accomplished so far Yao is too high, but I guess Houston wouldn't trade him, which is the point of the list.

I hadn't seen those comments. I was referring to his velocity from the last few years, when he was one of the best in the league, not this season when he has been struggling.