Kalapse

I'll give Andruw credit: he definitely recommitted himself to the game this offseason because he looks great. That fat, puffy face is gone as is the gut. Here's a pretty good shot of him from the side courtesy of Reifert:

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Feb 28, 2010 -> 12:36 PM) MLB 10 The Show Pre-ordered! Same, I was reluctant up until yesterday evening but eventually caved and pre-ordered at Amazon.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Feb 26, 2010 -> 05:31 PM) Get rid of hit. I might not like watching pitchers hit, but having them in the lineups makes things far more interesting from a strategic stand-point and its the way baseball should be played. QUOTE (daa84 @ Feb 23, 2010 -> 06:58 PM) im a fan of the DH, and theres one arguement from non-DH enthusiasts that drives me nuts...and its the "the DH takes the managers strategy out of the game...you can't double switch in the AL" Please ...like the double switch is something so difficult that a guy who has dedicated his life to baseball can't understand? IMO the prevalence of the double switch takes LESS managerial wit/instinct than in the AL rules. The double switch move is so obvious you can derive a basic algorithm for it, and it makes pitching changes SIGNIFICANTLY easier. Its easy to take a guy out in the 6th when he's at 94 pitches and due up first the next inning. The situation helps make the decision for the manager. In the AL, you have to know your pitchers better and have a better feel for when a guy is done and when he isn't. I believe this is a terrific counterpoint to that argument.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Feb 27, 2010 -> 06:26 PM) i predict this will become the longest thread in soxtalk history. until they take away his twitter. I predict that by April 20th I will no longer be following Ozzie due to his 10 daily mundane tweets clogging up my time-line.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Feb 27, 2010 -> 05:21 PM) Si.com is saying it's close, but earlier I saw MLBN say it was done... Felipe Lopez to the Cards Only $1M base salary and another $1.2M in easily reached incentives.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Feb 27, 2010 -> 12:38 PM) What about helmets? Minorities

How in the hell did Maggie Gyllenhaal get an Oscar nom for her role in Crazy Heart? Talk about a forgettable performance. 2 years from now Jeff Bridges' performance will still be stuck in my mind as one of the best I've ever seen but I'll have to strain to name the love interest.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Feb 26, 2010 -> 05:25 PM) I've heard 2k's been getting pretty darn good reviews. Last year I didn't buy a baseball game because I don't like the button pushing for pitches/batting. That's one feature that 2k did do right in 2k8. They shortened it though which kind of made me mad. Either way, it makes pitching challenging. Plus now, 2k is giving away a million dollars to whoever can throw a perfect game on the hardest difficulty level first. You can't adjust the rosters or edit players though. I'm going to play both and see which one is better. I really really want to play The Road to The Show as a catcher though. Who's put out reviews thus far? I've been looking around the past few days, doesn't seem like anyone's reviewed either game yet. The previews have been pretty favorable but then again most are. It sucks that neither game will be releasing a demo prior to launch, I'm still not committed to buying The Show 10.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Feb 26, 2010 -> 12:43 PM) Except Howard hasn't broken 1.000 in 3 years. Howard is a vastly overrated 1B IMO. I was referring to Thome, I couldn't care less about Ryan Howard. I do find it funny that 2 different Phillies have won the MVP award over the past 4 years and neither team did the award go to the team's best player of the past 5 years.

QUOTE (knightni @ Feb 26, 2010 -> 12:29 PM) He reminds me of Jim Thome in his prime. Too many Ks, low batting average. Jim Thome in his prime was a .295 hitter capable of topping .310 ('95-'02: .293/.426/.588/1.013 w/ 304 HR), he also struck out less often than Howard and drew many more walks, Howard is a poor man's Thome at everything except power. There's also no such thing as "too many K's" when your OPS is over 1.000.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Feb 25, 2010 -> 09:52 PM) Absolutely, though I'm still not excited about the prospect of Williams in the bullpen. You shouldn't be.

QUOTE (Springfield SoxFan @ Feb 25, 2010 -> 09:27 PM) It just comes back to that Yankees series last August for me, he was terrible. 23% of his total hits, 78% of his total ER, 33% of his total BB and 50% of his total HR allowed came in that 1 inning of work. In other words: those other 16.2 IP were pretty solid.

QUOTE (bucket-of-suck @ Feb 25, 2010 -> 05:25 PM) Glass Getz was among the worst defensive 2B in all of baseball last season. Later, Chris. If fans can live with production like .270/16/62, average defense and excellent baserunning from Teahen, he's gonna be popular guy the next few years. Which is no where near a certainty, based on his past performance I'd say it's improbable.

#11 Omar Vizquel:

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Feb 25, 2010 -> 04:00 PM) I wouldn't put much faith on a prospect, but he's a good one, but that is not the reason. (well.. only reason) Hell Votto was quietly shopped this offseason by the Reds supposedly fielding offers. I love AGon, but that's one of the few reasons why I wasn't so bend out of shape by him like others were here. The Reds (city, management itself etc..) will be a mess next season. Where did you here this?

Assuming the roster stays the same and Thornton's option is picked up the Sox are going to owe about $90M to 14 players in 2011. (Peavy, Buehrle, Danks, Floyd, Jenks, Thornton, Pena, Linebrink, Quentin, Pierre, Teahen, Rios, Viciedo, Ramirez)

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Feb 25, 2010 -> 01:53 PM) i would project the sox starting lineup to finish somewhere along this line pierre avg .293 1 HR 42 RBI 46 SB beckham avg .290 22 HR 92 RBI 94 runs quentin avg .278 42 HR 112 RBI .932 OPS Konerko avg .266 26 HR 86 RBI .835 OPS Jones avg .238 27 HR 69 RBI Rios avg .284 23 HR 84 RBI 27 SB AJ avg .290 12 HR 57 RBI Teahen avg .275 18 HR 66 RBI 10 SB Alexei avg .296 20HR 78 RBI 23 SB Peavy 16-10 3.49 ERA 205 IP 210K 1.19 WHIP Buerhle 15-12 3.84 ERA 210 IP 120K 1.30 WHIP Floyd 18-10 3.62 ERA 210 IP 175 K 1.22 WHIP Danks 14-12 3.90 ERA 200 IP 175 K 1.29 WHIP Freddy 11-11 4.49 ERA 150 IP 110 K 1.30 WHIP Jenks 2.69 ERA 65 IP 72 K 41 Saves Jenks and Rios will have bouce back years for the sox but the twins still gonna win the divison! So you have them near the top of the league in team bating average, HR, starting rotation ERA, WHIP, K's, IP, getting 74 wins from 5 starting pitchers (that'd be the best in baseball) and having one of the top closers in the game but still not winning the division? You must have the Twins at ~105 wins.

From Cowley:

QUOTE (daa84 @ Feb 25, 2010 -> 08:51 AM) If danks wins 21, Peavy pitches enough innings to log 195 Ks, Quentin drops 37 bombs, Konerko gets 199 Hits, this team will run away with the division Not to mention Pierre picking up 40+ doubles considering he had 16 last year and typically averages about 20 per season.

Well looking at these predictions; the good news is that this is a 90-95 win team. People b**** and b**** and b**** but when asked to throw out some numbers they almost always go the optimistic route.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Feb 24, 2010 -> 10:26 PM) I think we need to start considering pitchers hitting when it comes to HoF. Which is a horrible idea, but no one even takes a major statistical category into account when considering how great a pitcher is. Why do they get a free pass for sucking so much? If pitchers could hit, I'd be fine with no DH, but they can't, and some of the best hitters can't field...seems like a fair trade off. Also, I like having a playing style difference between the two leagues. Also, if I'm not mistaken...the DH can replace anyone in the lineup...not just the pitchers. You're mistaken, it has to be the pitcher.

So is he just going to tweet in spanish from not on? This has become a whole lot less compelling over the past 12 hours or so.

Pierre: Teahen: Lillibridge sighting (soak it in you may not get many more): Viciedo: Nix: Your primary DH: Buddy Bell:

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Feb 23, 2010 -> 10:12 PM) At the Dodgers 13 inning game, he was overpowering the Dodgers players. If they trade for Gonzalez, I'd try and include some throw ins to get Poreda back. I think he could be a good lefty out the pen. Looking at PitchFX data; Poreda threw 13 fastballs in that game (no runners reached base on him so I assume they were all from the windup), the average velocity on his fastball was 92.35 MPH with a max speed of 93.6. For reference: Jenks and Thornton were both clocked at about 95/96 (avg/max) in that same game.

QUOTE (BigEdWalsh @ Feb 23, 2010 -> 09:52 PM) Even better (well, worse) Bob Buhl went 0 for 70 in 1962 (for the Cubs, hehe). I have mixed feelings about the DH. There's good arguments for it and against it. I do think that both leagues should be the same. Either the NL should use the DH or the AL should drop it. If I HAD to say yay or nay, I'd say nay...get rid of it. At least he walked 6 times. Jason Bergman had 42 PA in 2008 and failed to reach base in any of them.