Jake

Once I used a razor once, I could never be satisfied with an electric shave again. An electric shave leaves me with a 12-24 hour longer hair than a razor.

Letting Kirk run the show some of the time is a nice move. Derrick was hurting the flow of the offense too much when he was pressing. If you let Kirk run things, the offense moves along while Derrick lets the scoring chances come to him.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Nov 16, 2013 -> 07:46 PM) Since the end of 2013: 1. Abreau signed 2. Payroll expected to be less than last year's $109M. 3. Sale, Quintana, Garcia said to be untouchable. 4. Per chairman Reinsdorf money available for another signing (presumably impact.) Given the points above do you feel better about the Sox direction now than at the end of the year? I have mixed feelings. I think the Abreau signing was a must, but the signing itself isn't enough. They have to be right about him to restore faith in their scouting operation. I'm disappointed that the payroll will be lower and that Sale and Quintana are untouchable. Fortunately, I think Hahn is employing some gamesmanship with the availability of players. If the payroll is indeed going to be lower given the state of the Sox farm system Sale and Quintana should not be untouchable. I think the payroll is low because we don't have players worth investing in and there are not free agents we feel are worth investing in rather than a budgetary necessity. I think there is a general feeling that there isn't enough worthy talent out there to have it make sense to blow up our payroll higher than last year. We have many question marks on our roster - some starters, every outfielder, second and third basemen, back end of the bullpen. I don't mean that in the sense that it is a question whether all of those players are worth a s***, but the question is how good are they? It's tough to say what position or positions we should focus our spending on. You don't really want to buy a corner outfielder, for instance, if Dayan and Avisail have monster seasons; and since they're both going to be here next year, you don't want to sign one even if you know there is a good chance this player makes you better. Same way with the infield positions, to a lesser extent. With young guys like Gordon (should we even say he's still young?) and Gillaspie with Semien, Leury Garcia, and maybe Carlos Sanchez in the wings, you might not want to go blow your wad acquiring a 2B/SS/3B until you have more clarity in terms of what those players are going to give you. I might advocate going for a 3B if there was one available, since Conor has limited ceiling and I don't thin Semien is a longterm 3B nor is any other MLB-ready player in our minor leagues. In general, yes I feel good about the direction of things. I feel like the real question is whether we feel better than we did on July 25th or so.

Jason Dellaero. Saw one of his jerseys at a game this summer. Must have been his dad or something

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 03:45 PM) At the end of the day, I will be interested to see how Ellsbury and Choo do in terms of total contract, versus how Robinson Cano does. Good point. Unless the Yankees decide to go much higher than the field, it seems like Cano will get way underpaid compared to the anticipated contracts for Ellsbury and Choo

QUOTE (Tex @ Nov 16, 2013 -> 01:50 PM) 5 blades for a $1 plus shipping. I went with the four blade model at $6 a month. That's less than what I was paying. That's what I went with. I have never used a two blade razor and I don't think it would end well if I did. I don't really spend 6 bucks a month on shaving, but I also really overuse the s***ty disposables I get. I think my face will benefit from using fresh razors more often. With this thing, I can literally change cartridges every week. Sweet!

This seems like a big question to me and I see a lot of folks that seem to think they know the answer, but the assumed answers are all over the chart. There are several plausible outcomes to start the season: -Starting third baseman in MLB -Starting second baseman in MLB -Swing infielder/super utility in MLB, playing nearly every day with the position depending on matchups -SS in AAA -2B in AAA -3B in AAA -Utility in AAA I think that what he needs is more time in AAA. I'm not sure if that means he will get it or not. In AA last year, his first year at the level, he walked 17% of the time versus 14% strikeouts. He had a solid-not-great .750ish OPS until he exploded midseason, as one might expect for a good player adjusting to a new level. In his 32 games in AAA, he walked just 9.9% of the time versus 16.9% strikeouts, quite the swing. His wRC+ went from an eye-popping 163 in AA to a still-good 123 in AAA. In the majors, over 21 games and 71 plate appearances, he walked 1.4% of the time and struck out 31% of the time. He showed some encouraging flashes and had some qualitatively good looking games, but over a pretty long stretch MLB competition nullified his greatest strength, his high walks and low strikeouts. In the AFL, has walked 11.2% compared to 25.8% strikeouts with a career-low .117 ISO (isolated power=slugging percentage minus batting average). His wRC+ over these 89 plate appearances and 21 games was a paltry 49, though it is worth noting that his BABIP was very low at .189. Given the bad strikeout and walk rates, it is hard to prognosticate as to whether he was the victim of bad luck or was actually just hitting pretty damn poorly down there. What I see is a guy with just about 300 PA above AA, most of which haven't been too good. He had zero experience above A+ entering last year and has taken about half a season to adjust to competition at each level. This time, he really lost his best weapon in his walk and K rates as he moved up in level. I would really like to see him get significant time in AAA this season. If he really kicks ass out of the gate, you can think about plugging him in the MLB lineup if one of our infielders is struggling. Otherwise, I think we make the wrong decision by putting him on the MLB club straightaway. If we push him too hard, he may lose the good habits that led to his on base prowess because he is just trying to survive. He might never get those back if he is constantly struggling to stay alive in the MLB. What do you guys think? MLB or AAA? What position? Is there something he could do in Spring Training that would change your mind?

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Nov 15, 2013 -> 08:30 PM) Rudy will probably be on a new team before long. I'm ready for everyone to call for the Bulls to get him

QUOTE (fathom @ Nov 14, 2013 -> 03:07 PM) Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Sox would be losing a lot of their draft allotment money if they lose their 2nd round pick. You'd lose a second rounder amount

DeMar and Rudy are going to ruin Valanciunas

Yeah and my experience is that updates have a lot fewer quirks/unforeseen bugs than my iPhone's - I'm guessing it's because each update gets looked at by so many parties before going through to each phone

I am not happy with this optical illusion on the Toronto floor

I'm much more partial to BA

QUOTE (chw42 @ Nov 15, 2013 -> 06:29 PM) HTC One Google Play Edition will get Android 4.4 in a matter of days. It's a good thing that Android is no longer as fragmented as it was before. Google now has a tighter grasp on updates with Google Play Edition phones and the Moto X/G line. And by releasing a lot of their updates through the Play Store via their apps

I bought NBA LP today. Went with Chicago, Indy, Miami, Golden State, Clippers. I get the Grizzlies locally. I think Houston would have been my next team, followed by OKC

Every team got $25 million this year from the new TV contract, so I would guess that salaries go up faster this offseason and next than the past couple

What did we ever do to get Dee Brown and Deron Williams in the fold? The Bill Self Method™

QUOTE (Reddy @ Nov 15, 2013 -> 03:18 PM) any chance Bobby Jindal rears his head again? He's actually got a decent record to tout in LA the last few years. I remember when he said that Hurricane Katrina was an example of how you shouldn't involve the government in crises. Because, of course, there was apparently too much government involvement in the Katrina effort. Of course, he lives in a state where more people claim that Barack Obama screwed up Katrina than they say the same about George Bush. He also recently tried to implement a plan that would abolish their state income tax while drastically increasing the state sales tax to compensate...which is stupid. It didn't pass, thankfully for non-rich Louisianans. He still says he wants to eliminate all corporate taxes. The latest poll (other than ones that his own consultants release) showed him with a 28 approve/59 disapproval rating within Louisiana. He is anti-amnesty and pro-fence. He supports allowing teachers to teach intelligent design and has signed a bill into law permitting them to do so. He claimed to not want any stimulus funding before accepting a great deal of the funding allocated to his state. So far, he has refused Medicaid expansion, despite the fact it will cost his state nothing in the short term. The CBO estimates that over the next ten years, it may increases the state's expenditures by 2.8 percent, which does not include possible savings from emergency room visits by the uninsured. Anti-abortion under all circumstances, unless the fetus unintentionally aborted while trying to save the mother. Has slashed education funding, both at the primary and post-secondary level. He has implemented a voucher program that has diverted funds away from public schools and is now going to be reviewed up by federal courts because it has disproportionately benefited white children to the extent that it seems to violate desegregation laws (by removing a lot of white kids from integrated public schools). I don't really think he has much of a prayer

The Chicago woes continue

What a dickhead

Brad at Rivals - "Last bit of info is Illinois for Cliff......we will see."

Brad on Rivals said that he still thinks it will be Illinois, but also says that there are no parties involved that know except Cliff and his mother. Everyone else is guessing, including the coaches.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Nov 15, 2013 -> 09:48 AM) Your analysis is foolish. I wondered why you love Huntsman so much, then I recently discovered that he is very active on MSNBC (I believe some of his family even works there). NorthsideSox72, rather than watching MSNBC all day and parroting DNC talking points and ranting about the Republicans, put the remote down... read a book, perhaps do some charity, anything will be better than what you are doing. You need inner peace. Anyways, here is the real Converservative comparison between Huntsman and Reagan 1) Patriotism: Conservatives like to consider themselves patriotic. Loony Huntsman on the other hand is an extremist. When asked about Americans losing their jobs, he started speaking Chinese and bragging about how China is superior and that he goes to China all the time. That is not patriotism. Reagan was a beacon of patriotism. America and Apple pie. 2) Religion: Most "Conservatives" are religious within a framework of what is the current norm. That's pretty much a standard of "conservatives" everywhere; they want to conserve the way things are. Huntsman is a member of what many would consider a loony outsider cult. That certainly isn't conservative. Reagan stated that he believed in what is the religious norm in America at the time (Christianity). A conservative move. 3) Taxes: Conservatives support lower taxes, Reagan sure did. Huntsman wants to increase taxes on the middle class. This one is a no-brainer on who is more conservative. Reagan wins this round easily. 4) Immigration: Reagan did give out Amnesty, which is not conservative. Huntsman wants to replace U.S. workers with overseas guest workers. But what Reagan did is a more conservative move in comparison, Huntsman is just loony on immigration. Reagan wins again. I could go on, but I won't. I think you know I'm right Reagan shifted the tax burden to the middle class - his tax cuts benefited the highest earners much more than any other income group, with the effects being moderated more and more as you move down the income ladder. Lowest earners saw their tax rates increase significantly. He also shifted the spending burden to states, where tax rates had to go up to compensate - states are decidedly not progressive in their taxation, thus hammering the middle class even more. see also: http://taxfoundation.org/article/state-and...state-1977-2010 http://qz.com/74271/income-tax-rates-since-1913/

Yeah, it doesn't really help anyone for him to play with a bum leg

What I had heard is that when KU realized they might not get Okafor, they put the full court press on Alexander. This has caused him to reconsider, but AFAIK nobody is too sure which way he will go. KU definitely telling people that they went hard after him in the past couple days and think they might get him