BFirebird

QUOTE (PeavyTime @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 04:29 PM) Pierre-Damon would be a great 1-2 in my opinion. Linebrink had a few years of dominance in SD but since then: ERA Pre ASG/Post ASG 2006: 2.74/4.64 2007: 2.52/5.23 2008: 2.37/9.72 2009: 1.93/8.49 Wow. Those are some nasty splits.

QUOTE (joeynach @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 12:28 PM) Since Ozzie doest want Thome I think its not truely about this "dont want a full time DH" thing. I think its about speed. It looks like this full time statement is just a way to say he doens't want a baseclogging lumberjack on his roster. That way his DH can be someone like Damon or Blalock, who he can then claim "can also play the field". It doesn't necessarily have to be Kotsay or Jones. You took the words right out of the post I was going to type out. I think this is spot on. Guys like Jones and Kotsay are stop-gap type additions until more of their younger players are ready or players they want to acquire FA-wise (next year) or trade-wise are available. I was listening to Cowley on the radio last night and he made some interesting points about the rotating DH not being the worst idea. While I don't usually agree with him or like him for that matter...he brought up the multiple guys that could hit 20 homers and on off nights they have more guys that can manufacture runs (A La the "Pirahanas"), but I don't think the Sox have ALL the right parts to make it work. I think it is naive of us to think that this kind of overhaul could be completed in 1 offseason. It appears they are changing their philosophy a bit and I guess we will just have to sit back over the next 2 years and see if it works.

QUOTE (TitoMB345 @ Jan 26, 2010 -> 11:18 AM) Call it a hunch, but I voted Lillibridge. Ozzie's undying love with finally show through. I thought that Ozzie didn't like Lillibridge. Didn't he call him out last year for trying to hit home runs? *edit* Didn't see SS2k5's post before mine.

QUOTE (watchtower41 @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 09:54 AM) Nice haul indeed.... I missed Beckham yesterday because I needed a WS ball signed by Freddy to complete my set. It wasn't overly too bad this year crowdwise, but it still needs to be better organized. Beckham is more popular than Elvis. Beckham was extremely popular. I was fortunate to get a bracelet on Sunday morning to get an autograph. Nice guy though. I was impressed at how friendly Peavy was...he always looked like he would be a little non-approachable, but he was pretty easy to talk to.

QUOTE (JoeCoolMan24 @ Jan 25, 2010 -> 01:41 AM) http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=...8975&ref=nf Awesome!! I was hoping someone had some video of it. I looked on YouTube but found nothing. Great work!

Did anyone catch Freddy's antics on Saturday night in the hotel bar? It wasn't that late, probably before 10. I went to dinner with my dad to Miller's Pub, pretty decent place and we came back to the Palmer House probably around 8:30 and we see Freddy on the Street level of the hotel, signing autographs and taking pics with girls, laughing having a good time and obviously had a few drinks. He makes his way to the bar in the lobby and people are buying him drinks left and right. I didn't really see how many he had...but it was a few. Then he gets the attention of the crowd and starts shouting..."f*** the Cubs" "f*** the Cubs"...security comes to stop him...he tells everyone to quiet down, then does it again and eventually leaves. It was pretty hilarious.

QUOTE (SoxFan1 @ Jan 19, 2010 -> 04:03 PM) I only have classes Tuesday and Thursday, and it's absolutely glorious. COM 374 Communication Research WRT 305 Writing in the Disciplines MKT 361 Sports Marketing CJR 256 News Reporting I CBR 350 Broadcast Operations I miss the days of classes on Tuesday and Thursday and then nothing. Enjoy it while you guys can...it doesn't last forever!!

QUOTE (tonyho7476 @ Jan 21, 2010 -> 03:10 PM) It was on one level last year. Anyone know if you can cut a line, with the premium pass, while you have a wristband on for another autograph? Thanks. I figured it would be on Level 1. My guess would be no, only because they said 1 wristband per autograph, but it would definitely be worth it to ask someone there. Also, they probably use the wristbands to get the right number of autographs per session. (i.e. for a 300 auto limit...they have 300 wristbands) That is just my guess though. Is it difficult to get from 1 session to the other with them being on different levels?

Does anyone know what floor the Garage Sale is on? I noticed that they spread it out over like 3 levels.

I am going as well. A Beckham graph is a MUST for me. I also am looking forward to the Garage Sale, I have not been since '06, hopefully the Sale is still the same.

You have to love all the fluff pieces before SoxFest. But in all seriousness pretty good articles the last couple of days with Peavy and Beckham. Refreshing to see the "winning mentality" that it appears this team and organization has. Granted every team should feel this way, but it doesn't always work out that way. You always knew KW had that mentality but it looks like it trickles down to the team. Also, just throwing this out there, but maybe this "winning mentality" can help a Rios once he is comfortable. At least to me, it looked like when he got here he was pressing trying to hit a 5-run homer every time he was at the plate. Not that Toronto is a losing situation, but when you get your brains beat in by NYY, BOS and TB 45 times a year that probably makes you a little apathetic towards winning after awhile. Hopefully in our "winning mentality" we can get the most out of Rios because we definitely need him to perform. If Q and Rios struggle....with our current lineup, it could get ugly offensively very quickly.

QUOTE (smalls2598 @ Jan 12, 2010 -> 03:36 PM) Touche. After going though this short sale ordeal, I HIGHLY recommend avoiding it if you can. It can be great if you want to get more for your money and don't need the place right away, but it is very nerve-racking. Of course, not all go as bad as my experience. I had a bad experience as well with a short sale. Before we got our current place we were in courts for 2 months with a short sale. We got out of it and got our current townhouse, 2 doors down. Safe to say that place is still up for sale over a year later.

I am distant relatives (some sort of cousin) of John Panozzo from Styx. My uncle used to go watch them play all the time back in the day. I never had the chance to meet him but cool nonetheless. Lots of my family grew up in Roseland. Also, I caddied for Paulie K in 2000. He got a hole-in-one and won a trip to Ireland (I think that is where it was). He was using Greg Norton's clubs. Not really sure if that counts as 6 degrees of separation.

QUOTE (Pants Rowland @ Jan 12, 2010 -> 11:45 AM) The nice thing about taking a long time to find the right house (and being picky in the process) is it really forces you to educate yourself in neighborhoods, taxes, schools, and home quality. Those first few weekends of open houses are miserable, but before long you start eliminating specific towns, then areas of the town, and you realize what needs are really important to you for the money you are spending. At that point the process flies and you eventually find a decent place to start your life. Then, you buy it and realize how off base you were on your actual needs and get really nitpicky while saving money for that next, long term home (or complete rehab to make your own). ;-) I couldn't have said it any better myself. Nicely said. Even with the deadline of the wedding we tried to stick with the plan of finding exactly what we wanted. We started to get frustrated and almost settled but a friend of mine told us never to settle, keep looking until you find the one you want. I would definitely pass that along to anyone who is looking.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 12, 2010 -> 09:46 AM) Where did everyone find their realtor? Or their mortgage broker (if you used one)? My realtor is a family friend. Not to sound biased but he is really good. :-)

QUOTE (The Beast @ Jan 11, 2010 -> 11:04 PM) I drove past there every weekday to pick up my brothers my junior year of high school (they went to Montini). Where'd you go to college and what do you do now? Almost all of my class at DGS either went to COD, ISU or UIllinois. I really like Oak Park and River Forest area of Chicago. I'd definitely move there if I had a job out that way post graduation. How are the football programs in your area? DGS is decent with Belskis at the helm. I have quite a few friends that live in Oak Park. I really like that area as well. DGN is about 5 minutes south of where I live. Wheaton Warrenville and Hinsdale are also really close to Oak Brook as well.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jan 11, 2010 -> 04:24 PM) Here's another question for people who have recently gone from renting to buying - how much more does it REALLY cost to own? My original intention in all of this is to take advantage of the free $8,000 check from the government. I want to basically be able to take what we pay now in rent ($1650 for rent/parking, which only includes water), plus maybe a couple hundred more a month. So i'm thinking 2k tops per month on everything associated with living expenses. So that has to include the mortgage, insurance, taxes, maintenance, and then any increase in costs for gas/electricity/water/garbage collection/whatever. It's incredibly difficult to budget out expenses when you just dunno how much all that extra stuff costs. How much extra is it to heat an 1800 square foot house versus a 1100-1200 square foot apartment? Or how much more electricity would we use? Or how often do things REALLY break and require you to fix it? Sigh. This process is much more difficult than I expected. I am late to the party here, but I figure I would share my experience. My wife and I looked forever for our 1st home. We started looking in early 2008 (we got married in august '08) and set our budget close to yours and we looked everywhere. We looked everywhere from the city at condos to homes in Darien, Downers Grove, Riverside, Brookfield, Hinsdale and Elmhurst, just to name a few. I am sure the prices have come down since '08 but thing we found is that even in the 'burbs your money doesn't go far. Lots of the homes in these areas are older and need work. We were mostly looking for places to renovate, but something was wrong with everything we found and we are probably really picky. (Leaking water in the basement, no storage space, etc.) We had to look at over 100 places. After I was ready to give up, we started to look at townhomes. I know that you said you wanted a house, but hear me out. Once we switched to townhomes we could start seeing nicer places that were not falling apart and we could renovate and make it our own. We ended up finding a really nice townhouse in Oak Brook that we completed gutted and made our own. We were lucky and had the resources and the desire to do so, but if you look hard enough you will find the place for you. We didn't end up buying until 2 weeks before the wedding and actually the 1st couple of months lived with my wife's parents because we didn't finish renovating...sad I know. Our current mortgage is at about $240K @ 6.25% (we put down a lot and missed out on the good rates). We are also in the process of re-financing that beast of a %, now fortunately. Our place is in Dupage with 3 bedrooms and our taxes last year were about $3,800. So with that we are looking at about $1,800 a month with taxes included ($1425 mortgage, the rest taxes) Our refinance will be at least at 5.25% which would drop it to about $1225 plus taxes, so about $1,600 a month. We are probably really close to 1800 square feet (probably a little less) and my utilities aren't outrageous at with a mortgage at $1,600 a month....you could probably be right at $2K. You could find a place and be right at $2K a month but it will be close depending on how much you can put down. Sorry for the long answer, but I thought it might help a little. PM if you have any additional questions...I can probably give you a little advice on the process.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jan 10, 2010 -> 10:32 PM) For a man who lives in Steger now (Crete right here basically) I love it here, but would love to live here when I'm 30.. not as young as myself. But it is really peaceful here. I grew up in Steger. My parents actually still live there...right off Steger Road, nearly in Crete.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 11, 2010 -> 10:17 PM) yes sir, grew up right off highland ave. I live close to Highland Ave now off 31st Street in Oak Brook. I was a south subs guy growing up, but I like it over here. I don't know much about the schools around here though outside of their football programs. According to your profile you live in the West Loop now right? My wife and I wanted to move to the city, but with 2 cars and our offices are in the 'burbs...it just didn't make sense.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Dec 15, 2009 -> 04:28 PM) Jenks, Ramirez, Floyd and Cora for Raul Ibanez's beard and Green Man. Green Man on acid or regular Green Man?

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Dec 15, 2009 -> 12:27 PM) Does anyone really trust Ozzie to put the correct guys in the 3 OF spots? I know I don't. Not really, but Ozzie was thinking about Quentin in right already, so hopefully he does the right thing.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 15, 2009 -> 11:14 AM) As others have mentioned, the only way I get excited about this deal is if Pierre's in LF and we obtain a solid DH. This. Is Vlad a good option for this...or is he too injury prone at this point?

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 11, 2009 -> 01:21 PM) BTW RockRaines, you're awesome! Yeah Rock did call that one. Matsui next? Trade for Gardner?

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 10, 2009 -> 12:46 PM) You mean the deal that was done until Hunter went back on his word and signed with the Angels? That deal? Yeah I am pretty sure KW almost blew a gasket when that happened. Hunter was pretty much signed sealed and delivered when he backed out.

QUOTE (beck72 @ Dec 9, 2009 -> 05:05 PM) The sox can't afford to have another defensive hole in the OF to replace Dye like Pods would be. IMO, the best bet is to go with Crisp in LF, and have Quentin take over in RF. Crisp should get a low base salary with decent incentives. He needs to prove he's healthy and can take a 1 yr hit salary wise. Crisp isn't ideal. But better than some other options out there. I haven't heard Randy Winn's name being mentioned anywhere. He was hurt last year but had hit over .300 the 2 prior years. And he plays above avg. defense in RF, and LF. I am not sure about Randy Winn as a starter at this point. While Crisp isn't ideal...I think that Winn is even less ideal. He seemed to really fall off the face of the planet last year. OBP SLG OPS OPS+ .318 .353 .671 75