Middle Buffalo

E coli strikes again.

QUOTE (PolishPrince34 @ Dec 16, 2011 -> 10:01 AM) Bowden 1. LHP John Danks to Washington Nationals for RHP Brad Peacock and OF Destin Hood 2. 2B Gordon Beckham to San Francisco Giants for RHP Heath Hembree, LHP Eric Surkamp and IF Ehire Adrianza 3. OF Carlos Quentin to Atlanta Braves for RHP Kris Medlen and RHP J.J. Hoover 4. RHP Gavin Floyd to Pittsburgh Pirates for OF Starling Marte and LHP Daniel Moskos 5. C A.J. Pierzynski to Tampa Bay Rays for RHP Jacob Thompson I'd do all but trading Beckham. I'd rather not get rid of Danks, but if they aren't going to be able to afford him, get something for him now. Don't wait 'til the trade deadline hoping to get more from a desparate team. We haven't exactly been fleecing teams at the deadline.

QUOTE (kapzk @ Dec 10, 2011 -> 11:36 PM) Rather than appreciating the greatness of select players, ya lets jump on the boat and declare em cheaters. Yeah, how callous. Thet've certainly earned our trust.

QUOTE (flavum @ Dec 10, 2011 -> 07:18 PM) I'd still like to know if Pujols is on the List of 104. I feel for certain that Pujols cheats. Don't know if my suspicions will ever be proven, but there's something about him that seems unnatural to me.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Dec 8, 2011 -> 11:04 AM) Can't blame 56 for wanting to get paid. Thank you Mark for all the great memories! Totally agree, and I wouldn't have been upset if the Sox had overpaid to keep him. He'll definitely be missed. However, I'll bet the Marlins just paid at least $1 Million per victory over the next four years.

Baseball should have revenue sharing and a hard floor and ceiling cap. The problem is, MLB wants the big market teams to be good because it's better for ratings (generally speaking) if the Red Sox and Yankees are in the playoffs every year. 25K per game should be plenty. The problem is that MLB teams base their payrolls on having capacity crowds. It's just not realistic in most markets (including the Sox and Mets, big market teams that are 2nd in their own towns) that teams will have sellouts nightly. 81 home games are difficult to sell out for all but 3 or 4 teams. The Sox payroll has gone from $17M in 1991 to $66M in 2001 to $128M last season. Is that reflective in any way of the economy? Have fans had a similar rate of salary increase? I'm sure the average price of tickets has at least doubled in that time. The prices of parking and concessions, too.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 6, 2011 -> 11:31 AM) Even besides that we are talking about things like Maple bats, better conditioning, lower mound, smaller strike zone, machine wound ball, etc. Still, many of Santo's contemporaries and players that had overlap on either side of his career managed to put up good power numbers. Prior to the steroid era, the bulk of the great power hitters in history came from the 50's, 60's and 70's. Who knows how the all-time list of hrs would look without PEDs. It might still look like the one I grew up with. Aaron, Ruth, Mays, FRobinson,...

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 6, 2011 -> 11:09 AM) Don't make the mistake of comparing the dead ball era with the steroid era statistically. I won't. I also don't think Ventura took steroids, so his stats aren't inflated, and might actually be adversely affected by pitchers who were juicing and playing in the era of pitching changes and specialists. And, as I said, I'm not making an argument for Ventura to be in the HOF, it's just interesting to compare his stats with Santo's. To me, anyway.

I never saw him play, so I have no idea if Santo belongs or not. I looked up his stats, and they're not overwhelming, but neither are Brooks Robinson's. Robinson was, by the way, a much better fielder according to the stats. I've heard Cubs fans and cheerleaders in the Chicago press talk about how good of a fielder Santo was, but even in his Gold Glove seasons he was making 20+ errors per game. In 23 years, Robinson made 263 errors at 3b (.971 percentage). In 15 seasons, Santo made 317 errors at 3b (.954). That got me thinking. Look at Santo's stats vs. Robin Ventura. Santo 15 Season Avg: 163H - 26 2b - 25 HR - 96 RBI - .277 BA - .464 SLG - .826 OPS - 317 Errors - .954 Fielding Percentage Robin 16 Season Avg: 147H - 26 2b - 23 HR - 92 RBI - .267 BA - .444 SLG - .806 OPS - 220 Errors - .958 Fielding Percentage I'm not really making an argument for Ventura either, but I think Santo might fall more into the Hall of Very Good category. I'd still rather see him in than Clemens, Bonds, or any of the other guys who cheated, though.

QUOTE (VictoryMC98 @ Nov 30, 2011 -> 02:03 PM) Maybe I am missing over the last 3-4 years some good to star quality Jays latin player that came out of their system.. He was on the side that unloaded Rios on some unsuspecting sucker GM. Good enough for me. Let's do it again.

I guess I'm officially old. I have a very difficult time understanding a series of Tweets when I see them. #oldmanpoo

This "fight" is so overrated. In the angle they always show (from the catcher), Ventura looks like he gets pounded. But if you see it from the centerfield angle, Ryan's noogies barely land before Ventura gets out of the headlock and they go to the ground. 5:20 on the video. If you look at Ryan as he's falling, he looks like an old man. And then when you see Ventura after the brawl, he doesn't exactly look like a guy who just got beat up. Mickey Hatcher's the only guy who really took a beating, though, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w_7C1CDgdg Pretty good article about the fight. http://miscbaseball.wordpress.com/2009/08/...ing-nolan-ryan/ Great comment by Jack McDowell about Ryan. “The whole world stops when that guy pitches, like he’s God or something. He’s been throwing at batters forever, and people are gutless to do anything about it. I was glad Robin went out. Someone had to do it. He’s pulled that stuff wherever he goes. Too bad he doesn’t show up for his team until the next time it’s his turn to pitch. He’ll be home on the ranch. You watch, his team will fall just short again while he shows up on the DL.” I have to add that I like the '93 Sox as much as the '05 Sox. I'll always be hugely disappointed that they didn't win it all. The way that team grew up together from the late 80's into the early 90's was so great to watch as a fan.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 1, 2011 -> 11:52 AM) Thanks, Knight! So no other fans of Varsity Blues?? I thought that would be somewhere on the list. "I...don't want..your life."

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Oct 28, 2011 -> 10:18 AM) I completely disagree. At this point, it's the fashionable thing to not pick Washington. It makes you look more intelligent to a regular schmo. Similar to saying George Harrison is the most talented of the Beatles.

I'm in a similar situation. I can make my payment, but I'd like to get a better rate and lower my payment. Can't refinance without an appraisal, though. And my house won't meet the current regulations. What doesn't make sense to me is that I know that Chase didn't sell my loan, yet they won't refinance me because the house is underwater. If I owe them $300K, and I'm current on my payment, and I'm not looking for relief from the principle owed, why won't they refinance my loan? I'm willing to pay the full amount, I just want to get the lower interest/payment. The really bad thing is that the banks were committing fraud when they loaned money to people in 2007-08 before the meltdown. They knew that there were thousands of houses that were going to be foreclosed, and these foreclosures would drive down housing prices, yet they still accepted the appraisal values on new houses. So, if my house was bought for $350K, but the foreclosures were going to make it worth $280K 9 seconds after I closed on it, they shouldn't have loaned the money. They were greedy, yet we bailed them out.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Oct 6, 2011 -> 04:44 PM) I heard today from a friend in radio DJ is history and will not be back in 2012 and North or Steve Dahl may take his place with Farmio! Take it with a grain of salt, I am just saying what he told me today! Anyone else heard any rumblings on this? Coming soon - pay to listen to the broadcast on radio.

I still feel like Dunn will come out of this slump and lead us to the post-season.

QUOTE (kwolf68 @ Sep 27, 2011 -> 03:29 AM) The end of an era. Ozzie, I thought, managed great for much of his time in Chicago...he was unorthodoxed yet instinctive. He also proved he could win in Chicago. But somewhere along the line something went off the tracks. It's not unlike what happened with Mike Ditka, although Ditka accomplished far less with much more than did Ozzie. Ozzie oversaw an organization that trotted out too many overpaid and overrated players, which is partly his fault of course. I appreciate Ozzie's time in Chicago for what he did bring to the table, but the White Sox are very stale and the organization needs to rebuild. I'm not 100% sure I agree that Ditka accomplished far less with more talent. Both guys had enough talent to win more than they did, but winning's not easy. It takes a little luck, too, and the mid-80s Bears had no luck at quarterback - the most important position. That said, the comparison is excellent. Both Ditka and Ozzie got too involved in publicly squabbling with management, the media, and to some extent players - who seemed to get tired of the message. They were great, but both had to go. Unfortunately, what follows might not be better. The Sox will miss Ozzie as a national lightning rod. Love him or hate him, he brought attention to the team. I wish he did it with a little more class, though. All the stuff with his sons and Kenny was embarrassing. I wish Ozzie success. I believe he's a very good manager. I know referencing 2005 is tired to some Sox fans, but it's way better than talking about 1917. And Ozzie was a big part of why we've seen a World Series championship in Chicago.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Aug 17, 2011 -> 05:53 PM) I have a feeling the Cubs will be calling and that's one of the few jobs he's probably holding out for. . That would be such a great move for the Cubs. I don't know anything about Hahn's ability as a GM, but there's really nothing for the Cubs to lose. If he doesn't work out, he's like so many other GMs who failed. If he works out, it really sticks it to the Sox and the Sox fans who wanted him as GM.

My So Called Life

I should add Family Ties and The Cosby Show

In reruns - The Brady Bunch while they aired - The Inredible Hulk, CHiPS, Cheers, Seinfeld, Beverly Hills 90210, NYPD Blue, Lost, The Sopranos on dvd - The Wire, Mad Men game shows - Jeopardy!, Tic Tac Dough, Wheel of Fortune, The Price is Right cable access - Models on Parade

I started to comment under the article, but it's probably better for one of the mods to do it on behalf of this site.

If it wasn't said on Soxtalk.com, it shouldn't all be in quotes.

"I went on this website, Soxtalk.com, and, wow. It gets to the point where you don't want to read what you're reading. Obviously you're going to have to have tough skin not to reply to it. It gets kind of scary sometimes with the stuff people write, death threats and, 'Get out of here you Mexican.' I don't think anyone can read that quote and not attribute it to posts that were made on Soxtalk.com.