BFirebird

Now I can't wait for Amazon to ship it to me!!

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Mar 2, 2010 -> 01:10 PM) Yeah, I don't have MLB Network either..... Same here...stupid Comcast extra B.S.

I am glad to see the thread got back on track...didn't mean to start a near riot. Glad baseball is back...let the Josh Kroeger man love start!

QUOTE (scenario @ Mar 2, 2010 -> 10:03 AM) From the Suntimes... Daniel Cabrera will get his first serious look this afternoon, when the Sox play the Los Angeles Dodgers in a ''B'' Game. It also will let them know if pitching coach Don Cooper has been able to get through to the once-promising right-hander. ''Cabrera is not a pitcher; Cabrera is a thrower,'' Guillen said. ''We're going to use him out of the bullpen and give him a very, very good opportunity to make this ballclub. Hopefully he knows that, and hopefully he comes out and does what he can do. The biggest thing for him is throwing strikes. It's a big difference between being a starter and a reliever, and for him, being a reliever gives him a better shot to make the ballclub.'' Cabrera is scheduled to throw two innings. I am interested to see if Coop can get through to Cabrera and make him more than just a thrower. He has done a great job with other reclamation projects and at least this one isn't as dire as Floyd was when he was on his last option.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Mar 2, 2010 -> 10:01 AM) Oh, and I know I've already said this, but if you haven't played Heavy Rain yet, you are missing possibly the most original, entertaining game in a loooong time. That is what I was hoping to hear. It looked like it had the possibility, if you can get past the controls and slow start. I had read good reviews about it on IGN, but I don't always agree with the critics.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Mar 1, 2010 -> 03:41 PM) Sign up for mint.com and it will show you all good offers online and whatnot at the bottom. For example it put me into an HSBC online acct last year with a 1.5 interest rate and just showed me a captialone that bested it this week. Its a great consolidation tool for free as well as a good way to make sure you are getting the most out of your money. Its my little money manager. Mint.com is an awesome way to see where your money goes. I just started using it about 3 months ago and you can definitely setup up some nice budgets and see where your weak spots are in trying to save money. I was already using ING for savings so I haven't used any of their suggestions yet, but would definitely change if someone's rate would actually go up.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Mar 1, 2010 -> 11:10 PM) Old list: Soxtalk name - PSN name onedude - onedude84 Soxbadger - Soxbadger Kalapse - K_A_L_A_P_S_E RockRaines - THE_Rockraines BobDylan - iIi-MARV-iIi chimpy2121 - drunkchimp Buehrle>Wood - gregf5711 ChiSox Sonix - hungryj0e BigSqwert - m4rk0358 BurlyMan56 - BTRAIN1105 nitetrain8601 - jtamay3 DrunkBomber - drunkbomber Jenksismyb**** - IbKillin beautox - buzzbuzz785 Quinarvy - Quinarvy_Ethil kev211 - kev211 almagest - al_magest Steve9347 - Steve9347 I don't play online that often, but you can add me to the list. BFirebird - BDalco Also, if a SoxTalk league is started...count me in as well. I am picking up the game soon myself.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Feb 24, 2010 -> 08:51 AM) Let me reiterate. I, too, was a little sketchy with how the control scheme would work. However, after about 4 scenes (about 2 hours worth), I can already tell I am going to adore this game, and from all accounts I haven't even scratched the surface of it's greatness. I'm at work, but I can't wait to get home and play this sucker. It's f***ing awesome... and I highly recommend it to any PS3 owner. Good to hear, I have been lazy in picking up this game. I only played a couple minutes of the demo but already enjoyed the cinema-like feel of the game. I have read that the game starts off slow but there is a big payoff at the end.

QUOTE (scenario @ Mar 1, 2010 -> 12:26 PM) BREAKING NEWS: Peavy still wants A-Gone! Smell that? Smells like it's time for another three-team trade fairytale rumor to run with SoxNot. Joe Cowley's twitter Somebody explain to me why this pathetic excuse for a journalist believes pissing off a large group of fans of the team he covers for a living is a good idea. What a douche.

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Feb 21, 2010 -> 08:19 PM) Just 12 more days until the first Sox video broadcast. March 5th vs Dodgers will be shown on whitesox.com most likely featuring the epically bad color commentary of Bill Melton. No joke about Melton. He maked DJ sound like a HOF broadcaster.

Damn it...I was fooled as well!

Make it happen already! That is all.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Feb 15, 2010 -> 12:05 PM) They only go 2-deep with post players which is a huge weakness. Any team with a big inside presence will give the Buckeyes problems. Purdue has the same problem as far as Big guy depth. If JuJuan Johnson struggles or has foul trouble the Boilers have HUGE problems. See their 3 game losing streak. OSU could have a deep run, especially if Evan Turner just lights it up, but I will take Purdue to go further with the Big 3. E'Twaun Moore could have a really good tourney in my opinion.

Thanks to Frank for all the great memories. Best White Sox player of all time!

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Feb 12, 2010 -> 12:11 PM) His final game played was August 29th, 2008. Wow...great point. I just bought my tickets as well. Father's Day gift for my dad.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 03:42 PM) I could honestly see Thome playing about 100 games this season, all against right handed pitching, and putting up an OPS of about .850, assuming the only time he sees the lineup is against right handed pitching. I also don't think people really appreciate how good Cuddyer and Kubel were last season. Cuddyer put up an .862 OPS and had 73 XBHs while Kubel put up 65 XBHs and a .907 OPS and an OPS over 1.000 against right handed pitching. They are definitely very underrated players. Cuddyer had a career year (which he could duplicate based on where he hits in the lineup), but I can see Kubel even getting better.

QUOTE (heirdog @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 03:38 PM) This analysis was flawed from the start. You can't say Konerko won't have a career avg year and at the same time say Thome will. One has a hip issue, the other a back issue...one is still significantly younger than the other. One still played pretty much the whole year last year and put up better numbers...that one is Konerko, not Thome. And the final nail in the coffin is when someone noted that only 5 teams scored over 800 runs and only the Yanks over 900. As soon as we see that, we can throw out the 939 twinkie number and go back to the drawing board. I wouldn't take the runs number for it's face value, I think the point he was trying to get across was they are roughly 100 runs or so better than the Sox...which they were last year as well. I just broke it down further and explained why I thought they were so much better than us offensively. OPS (mostly OBP) and better base running skills.

QUOTE (Buehrlesque @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 02:58 PM) Great post, and I agree it is wise to get away from the base clogger mentality. I mean, for a while you had Thome, Konerko, Dye, Pierzysnki and a hobbled Quentin all hitting in a row. Has there EVER been a slower 5-some in the history of baseball? I agree the Sox are more likely to score from second on a single (or in general take the extra base on a hit) now, which is important. BUT... they've done NOTHING to address OBP. They tried, once, before the '08 season when they brought in Swisher and Quentin. Swisher bombed, Quentin was great but battled injuries. So this offseason it's Ozzie's way: players with stubbornly low OBP: Pierre, Kotsay and Jones. OBP is definitely a HUGE issue with this team. Even with the changes they have made.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 02:16 PM) Will one of you answer how willfully neglecting to improve a key offensive position that can easily be filled NOW, BEFORE it hurts us in the season is a wise idea? Don't get me wrong. I am not defending this lineup and saying we will all of a sudden be even near Minnesota offensively. But given what they want to do and who is available now or was available when FA started....I don't see a viable option. With the pitching staff signed for 3 years (outside of Freddy and Buerhle 2 years) I see this as a 2 year process. If we are still going into the season with a similiar problem next year...then I would be more upset. With the trades for Peavy and Rios...that is the same as a big FA splash. Outside of the Yankees and Red Sox, no one really adds more than 2 big contracts like that.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 02:16 PM) Will one of you answer how willfully neglecting to improve a key offensive position that can easily be filled NOW, BEFORE it hurts us in the season is a wise idea? Based on how they want to use it, how can it be an easy position to fill? Does Johnny Damon want to take less money and rotate the position with other players? Does Hank Blalock and his declining skills help us that much? Russell Branyon is not that good either. I was an early advocate for Blalock but after looking at the numbers he is just not that good anymore. Who would be a viable option at this point?

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 01:55 PM) Dang, and I thought Peavy and Garcia/Huson were an improvement over Contreras and Colon. Additionally our slight defensive improvement won't help us at all either.

QUOTE (chunk23 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 01:01 PM) And had a crazy record in 1 run games that is likely to not be replicated. But to be fair...the Twins had a ridiculous AVG w/RISP last year that will probably not be replicated. They were over .400 for most of the year if I recall correctly. I have to find the stat. **edit** Ok so either I remember incorrectly or they really cooled off because I found them at .277 (4th in AL). In 2008 they led all of MLB at .305 though. Oh well.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 11:24 AM) http://www.baseballmusings.com/cgi-bin/Lin...362&Model=1 With Punto (322 OBP/324 SLG) substituted for Thome, it knocks the Twins down to 900 runs scored (a difference of 39 runs per year having Thome over Nick Punto as DH, haha). Factoring in that we can't really expect Konerko to hit his career averages, it knocks the White Sox down to 800 runs scored. Which means we only need to pitch at 0.617 ERA below the Twins. Perhap the most interesting result (not to many) is that Gordon Beckham is the leadoff hitter in every scenario and Juan Pierre's the #9 hitter. Not that we'll ever see that happen. Not 100 a run difference, but with Dye (340/490) instead of Pierre and Thome in the line-up, we're at 862 runs scored. Of course, that's not taking into consideration outfield defense, simply an offensive metric. It is interesting that at least on paper we're losing about 0.4 RPG, plus the Twins are definitely gaining SOMETHING with Thome, maybe not 0.37, but probably 0.2. It's a net shift between the two teams of at least half a run per game, that's pretty huge. To add some perspective: Last year only 5 teams in the AL scored over 800 runs and only the Yankees score over 900. The White Sox were already a bottom 5 offense last year: - 724 runs (12 out of 14) - 246 2B (13 out of 14) - 184 HR (6 out of 14) - .740 OPS (11 out of 14) By comparison, the Twins were a top 5 offense. - 817 runs (4 out of 14) - 271 2B (12 out of 14) - 172 HR (9 out of 14) - .774 OPS (5 out of 14) At first these numbers confused me. How can the Sox have almost 100 less runs than the Twins but have 8 more home runs and only 25 less doubles? The difference is OPS and guys who can score from 2B on a single. The difference in OPS does not stem from HR or even doubles for that matter, it has to do with the Twins ability to get on base more often than the White Sox and what they do when they get on base. (not stealing bases, Sox actually had more SB than the Twins, but being able to score from 2B on a gap single or go from 1st to 3rd and then execute and get the guy in.) The Twins were 4th in OBP and the White Sox were 10th. The Twins also had 100 more walks. The more guys you get on base...the more pressure you put on the opposing pitchers, whether you can steal bases or not. While the current lineup may not solve this problem, I think they are taking steps in correcting it with the more versatile (non-base clogger) players. They may pick up a few more runs with more players that can go 1st to 3rd and more doubles, but they will struggle in the OBP category. As shown in Caulfield's example, Minn has the biggest advantage in this category. I think that they are attempting to correct it...it might just take another half a year or so.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jan 27, 2010 -> 12:17 PM) A competent leadoff hitter was not what you were arguing. You were talking about Wise, not Podsednik. Wise honestly made very little impact at all last year, he hurt his shoulder very early on, was injured for a month and a half, made "The catch", and was a bench player for the rest of the season. If you want to argue that a competent leadoff hitter cost the Sox the division last year, well I disagree with that too. the bullpen couldnt hold a lead, and the entire team couldnt hit for about a month. If you want to talk about a specific position that truly cost the Sox from the start, I think it was fields at 3B. If Beckham started the season in the majors, I think the hitting slump that killed them in May through late June would have been drastically minimized, and even then I understood why Fields was up and Beckham was in the minors. The Sox had to see if Fields was worth anything This team as a whole is constructed better than the team that started last year IMO. Because of this I think that they can weather any sort of deficiency that the lack of a true DH could bring. And like I said, IMO ^^This. Way to bring your 'A' game today KyYie23. People seem to lose focus when they start talking about this team struggling without a leadoff hitter. (Possibly even KW and Ozzie sometimes). Your reasons are exactly why they struggled. Dye and the rest of the offense completely shut down and the bullpen was completely awful. KW and Ozzie want to shift the offense to try and be more consistent in scoring runs instead of having games where they score 10 one night and 1 the next. Remember how frustrating that was? While it is not a complete product yet and might not even be complete until after next offseason when a few more contracts end, I like the direction they are heading.. It is impossible to completely change philosophies after 1 offseason.

"With that rotation, it is no stretch to say that as Quentin and Rios go so will the White Sox." I think that is the most interesting thing in the article and lots of us here have been preaching that thought. If the Sox are going to do anything offensively, Q and Rios have to stay healthy and produce.