TaylorStSox

I see a team that's pressing. On offense, they're not executing because they're setting themselves up for failure. Honestly, the extra bunting and that spiff is a joke. It's not like they're playing bad fundamental baseball because they don't know what they're doing. They're a strong, professional team. They're just not catching the breaks. IMO, they need to relax and have some fun and get this funk out of their system. The only 2 guys that look to me like they're aren't pressing are Anderson and Uribe. It's no coincidence that they're both playing very well. Every team goes through these stretches. Since they're not scoring, every bunting/get em over situation is magnified. Every borderline bad pitch is getting crushed. They'll snap out of it. I just hope it's not too late. On the bright side, there have been bright spots within the pitching. They've only put one solid game together during this stretch, but it's a start. One real positive that I saw from Vazquez is that he got beat on this fastball. I'd much rather see a guy get beat when he's trying to challenge the hitter and attack the zone. It's much better than throwing breaking ball after breaking ball because he's scared of the bat.

QUOTE(Chisoxfn @ Jul 24, 2006 -> 06:37 PM) One injury doesn't really mean a history of arm trouble, but I don't think you can assume anything when it comes to prospects but at the same time I can't assume MacDougal will stay healthy when he's had a few different arm problems. It may have been one injury, but it was an elbow problem that kept him out for a year. Hmmm that sounds like MacDougal. I really don't get it. MacDougal's has a lot of major league experience. He has better pure stuff. He isn't a rental. He isn't a 23 year old in AA.

QUOTE(Flash Tizzle @ Jul 24, 2006 -> 06:01 PM) You can't assume anything when health and MacDougal are in the same sentence. This is the problem. You can't avoid it. And we gave up our TOP minor league pitcher and another raw arm for this? Where the hell are these deals are our end? I want the equivalent of this deal for Freddy Garcia. I want another general manager to overpay for one of our players. Where's the pseudo Williams out there looking to "win now" and "overpay" for Garcia? I can't believe Williams said he has no intent of trading players currently on the roster. Not that I question the truthfulness of the statement; I simply can't believe he hasn't explored sending off deadweight Garcia onto someone. You can't assume anything when health and Lumsden are in the same sentence. Lumsden has a history of injury problems too. So we gave away a pitcher with nasty stuff, who's a couple years away, for a pitcher with nasty stuff who's ready. What's the big deal?

One Wes Anderson film? That list really does suck.

QUOTE(chitownsportsfan @ Jul 4, 2006 -> 11:50 PM) I just went over to fangraphs to check out his trends, and it's pretty crazy what he's doing right now. Prior to this year, his BB%, P/PA and K/BB had all been trending up, which was very encouraging to us Juan fans and stat heads. Now, they are almost all down. However, his ISO, and FB% are WAY up. He's having an AJ like 2005 almost: lots of fly balls with plenty of HR and doubles, few walks, lower BA and subpar OBP. His BABIB is down, as is his line drive percentage. His ISO is over 2, which is very, very good. If he can start taking soem damn walks, he'll be a damn fine hitter. I don't expect it though, and I'm a big Juan supporter/apoligist. You can't make everyone your perfect SABR hitter. If you take a guy like Uribe and tell him to take more pitches, you ruin the good things he does at the plate. That's why the logic is flawed. Some guys are made to take cuts. Juan's one of them. reason#23498723 that statheads just don't get it.

QUOTE(Soxbadger @ Jun 26, 2006 -> 03:52 PM) I This is only Javy's second time playing with a winning team, for the good part of career he has played on bad teams. When he starts to realize that the Sox will win games for him as long as he keeps it close, he will start being less hard on himself. This is an excellent point. He has been on teams that weren't able to pick him up. I don't sign the checks. I don't give a s*** how much he gets paid. I'd take him over any other 5th starter in the league, if only for his stuff alone.

QUOTE(dasox24 @ Jun 24, 2006 -> 10:17 PM) This is what I'm thinking also. It's probably the most realistic and best situation out there. Although, who's gonna lead off for us once Pods is gone? That could be a potentially big problem in a couple years. Also, another scenario is that Fields plays 1B. I like this situation a lot as well. Thome isn't gettin' any younger, and Paulie could move to DH. We'd have to find a burner to play MIF. It's a good problem to have.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Jun 10, 2006 -> 11:40 AM) He is making a suggestion that he believes would make the team better. Yeah, what a s***ty fan. He also has a well known history of making completely obsessive posts about particular players that are not only negative, but downright creepy. @Shoota... One of your points is that Uribe doesn't work counts? Look at Alex f***in Cintron's numbers. I'm sorry, but a couple big games doesn't make Cintron better. I wish we could ask our pitching staff who they want at short. Finally, the offensive production of your SS (8th hole) isn't nearly as important as his defensive production. Sure, Uribe's had some lapses recently, but he's so much better than Cintron (or most in baseball) that it's not even comparable.

You suck at being a Sox fan. So Uribe's your new Crede? Haven't you noticed we're a defensive team first? Have you noticed that our pitching staff has been lagging with some of the recent defensive troubles? For a guy that sucks at baseball, he sure had a pretty good 04 at the plate. He also lead our team in sacrifices last year and was near the top, in all of baseball, at productive outs. Sure, he's struggling right now. You don't abandon the anchor of your IF defense for a few points in .AVE. Cintron's a UT player for a reason. He's not very good defensively. He can't take a walk to save his life. He has speed but can't steal a base. He's not good enough to oust Uribe.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jun 4, 2006 -> 04:12 PM) I simply love how Hawk said today that the chemistry with this year's team isn't there. If I recally correctly, on our last homestand, he told Sox fans that this was the best and most exciting team we've ever had. Hawk hasn't said anything significant in 10 years. He's as garbage as the team's playing.

QUOTE(Felix @ Jun 3, 2006 -> 05:53 PM) So you are saying that Garland is an average pitcher. Thats exactly what I said. (oh, and for fun, Garland has only had 2 seasons with 200+ innings pitched) Also, Rowand is not an average hitter. After last year, there was a question of whether 2004 was his true colors, or if 2005 was more likely for him. Thus far this year, he's doing pretty damn well. Not quite 2004, but far from being 2005. He's killing the ball on the road (showing that his numbers aren't really skewed by hitting in Philly), and played good defense. Couple that with his upside (shown in 2004, which is a better upside than Garland's), and he's a valuable commodity. Rowand has more upside than Garland? WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? Jesus. Rowand has no upside. What you see is what you get. Use some f***in common sense... .310 hitter BTW... I don't mean to be an asshole, but it seems Sox fans have lost some common sense.

QUOTE(Balta1701 @ Jun 3, 2006 -> 05:40 PM) Some other interesting selections from that list #78: Cliff Lee #80: Randy Johnson 81: Matt Morris 88: Andy Pettitte 89: Felix Hernandez 90: John Lieber 92: Erik Bedard 97: Brad Radke 98: Jeff Weaver. Basically, some damn good pitchers who are having poor halves. I count 6 guys that would net you a hell of a lot more than Rowand.

QUOTE(Felix @ Jun 3, 2006 -> 05:15 PM) Well first of all, Garland is an average pitcher. Nothing more. Don't pull out this "18 game winner" garbage, it doesn't mean anything in terms of how good a pitcher he is. Second of all, Rowand has a .303/.353/.513 line this year and had a .310/.361/.544 line in 2004. On top of that, he plays phenomenal defense, is a clubhouse leader, and a fan favorite wherever he goes. He leaves it all on the field, and teams love players like that. Now, I don't think they would accept that deal, but you vastly underrate Rowand and overrate Garland. At Garland's worst, he's going to win you about 10-12 games, give you a league average ERA and eat up 200+ innings. Couple that with his upside and he's a valuable commondity. He's worth much more than an average hitting/good defensive CF. Aaron Rowand man love is kind of creepy. Besides, I thought Kirk Hinrich was the new Aaron Rowand.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jun 3, 2006 -> 05:08 PM) :headshake He's terrible now. His body has broken down, as his bat speed has diminished significantly. Also, he's about to go on the DL. Yep....I can't believe that I wrote that the Phillies would want to keep a fairly cheap CF, and unload their huge contracts in RF/LF, in order to free up money to acquire a top starting pitcher. Maybe I should go buy an XBox, and come up with more trade proposals that clog this site that don't have a chance in hell of ever taking place. So basically what you're saying is the Phillies are going to build their team around your poor man's Mark Kotsay. Not only that, they're not going to take an 18 game winner for him, straight up. And, you're the one shaking your head?

QUOTE(fathom @ Jun 3, 2006 -> 03:02 PM) Rowand is the center piece of the new style of play the Phillies are going for, and Burrell/Abreu are more likely to be traded than Rowand is. I can't believe people actually write crap like this. You can't really believe what you're saying.

QUOTE(fathom @ May 21, 2006 -> 08:18 PM) All I know is that once guys like Crede, Dye, etc. stop swinging the bat above their norms, we're going to need some contributions from SS/CF. Agreed. Uribe won't hit .200 all year though.

QUOTE(Greg The Bull Luzinski @ May 21, 2006 -> 06:31 PM) Difference: Sox fans had high hopes for Crede because of his performance in the minors When has anybody ever expectmore than .250 and good defense from Uribe. Neither of which has he done consistently. That is what is most maddening. He is so raw that do we really know what to expect from him? More like Uribe is the new Jose Valenin, living off a few good moments for too long. He's a .260 lifetime hitter. Really, his 04, career year, was pretty much on par with the "great" Aaron Rowand's 04, while playing better defense. Uribe's going to be fine. No, he's not a patient hitter, but he does some things well with the bat. He had a ton of productive outs last year and had a ton of sacrifices. He's had a bad month and half. He's also capable of getting really hot over an extended period and evening those numbers out a little. Our offense is fine. We need to stick with what this team's really all about, good pitching and defense. Cintron's not even in Uribe's league defensively. The few more hits he'll get you don't outweigh that. It's the same as BA vs. Mack IMO.

QUOTE(shoota @ May 21, 2006 -> 06:23 PM) Uribe's great defense costed us a win today, a sweep over our intracity rivals, first place in the AL Central and Contreras's win streak. I'm frustrated by his plate approach and hitting results. Alex Cintron please. On the rare occasions Uribe does get a 2-0 count, he always swings at the next pitch no matter where it is thrown or what type of pitch it is. He's guessing fastball which is fine, but he needs to take the pitch if it isn't what he expected. I'll say it: Juan Uribe is a dumb hitter. Uribe's the new Crede.

I don't think there was anything radical or thought provoking about the film. It was just a rehash of several films that have dealt with an oppressive govt. ie. 1984. The main difference between the films is that "V" was dumbed down with violence. For this reason, I was shocked when I first heard John Hurt was cast. I'm still not sure if there was intended relationship, especially when considering the poster of 1984.

Politte lost a couple MPH on his fastball last year. He started throwing way too many sliders and 2 seamers toward the end of the season. I hoped he'd regain his velocity with rest. I don't think it's going to happen though. If he can't get that 4 seamer up and in to RH's, he's going to have trouble.

V For Vendetta was okay. I'd give it 2 stars. Portman was just absolutely horrible. I couldn't help but laugh at her accent. The film was well made. I just felt it was trite and cliched throughout. I was really looking forward to it too. I spent a couple days this week watching a trilogy from a Korean filmmaker named Chan-Wook Park. They're titled Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, and Sympathy For Lady Vengeance. They're your typical Asian shock thriller type of movies, so they're not for everyone. Actually, if you're easily offended, I wouldn't even bother. Anyway, Oldboy was excellent. Everyone should check it out. If you're into Asian cinema like Battle Royale, Tetsuo, or Ichi The Killer I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Oldboy is easily the best of the bunch. Unfortunately, they're remaking it for an American audience. It's a f***ed up movie so I'm not sure how much they'll change. Oldboy I have a kind of weird taste in movies though. Right now, my top 10 (though it always changes) is... 1) Solaris (original) 2) Stalker 3) City of God 4) Man Bites Dog 5) Irreversible 6) Kids 7) Bladerunner 8) Star Wars 9) The Usual Suspects 10) The Royal Tenebaums (actually, anything Wes Anderson)

I never liked Garcia anyway.

QUOTE(Jimbo's Drinker @ Mar 31, 2006 -> 04:25 PM) Sherron Collins is not an off-guard, he has some of the best moves and passing ability that I have seen for a kid his size. We'll see. Out of curiousity, how much have you seen him play? I've seen him play a quite a few times and the only time he's looked for a pass is when he's falling down. I like his ability to get to the hole and score in the lane. His shot's streaky, but he can light it up. He doesn't see the court all that well and knowledge of the game is subpar. Hey, he's a HS kid though. His athletic ability will nullify his weaknesses. However, he's anything but a "quintessential PG." He's going to have to refine his game when he gets to Lawrence. He's super talented though.

QUOTE(Texsox @ Mar 31, 2006 -> 03:29 PM) By peak are we saying one fight? One year? A 3 year stretch? I would have to pick between Mike and Ali, the two best I witnessed. I had to pick Mike, because there was a stretch there that he appeared invincible. Ali always seemed close to beatible. Of course then we could argue talent of the opposition. I think Ali was pushed more, the fight game was deeper and more talented as a group. Their styles were so different too. Ali never forced the fight. He waited for the opponent to make mistakes. He was a boxer/puncher. Tyson was a brawler. Tyson bulldozed through everybody. It's hard to compare.