chiguy79

Stone made nice mention that uribe gets protection from Swisher batting leadoff.

79, will give up too many games against crappy teams. Will do decent vs. CLE/DET

Yeah, I think MLB did a deal with stubhub so all the teams are doing the same thing. I though last year season ticket holders could post/exchange tickets with each other without all the fees. Stubhub sucks for everyone because they charge so much in fees (15% to seller and 10% to buyer, I think) which increases the prices so much to break even.

I understand it isn't that simple but with bussing all the schools suck, which is worse than some schools sucking. And the funding call comes from CPS so that probably pretty balanced (although I am no expert) Trust me, I believe it is in everyone's interest to have good schools everywhere but the realities of life and economics dictate that parents are going to send their kid to the best schools and will move in order to accomodate that. That being said it is a bit unfair that in areas with average home price of $500,000+ (ie real estate taxes of $10,000/year) the schools are not good because of the students getting bussed in from bad areas for the sake of "diversity". Not to mention the issues with traffic and environmental impact of the bussing that this causes. I am not even opposed to bussing per se but the extent of it is pretty crazy (I don't even have kids so this isn't a personal thing), but I also believe that if the City of Chicago is going to prosper it needs to encourage parents/families (not just super wealthy ones) to stay in the city and kids should be able to go to a neighborhood school, priority should go first to kids within the area first then bussing can make up the balance. Anyway I will let everyone get back to the election topics...

I hadn't really paid attention to Michelle Obama at all but in doing some quick research she also went to one of the first "magnet" schools in Chicago. Which also practice a form of AA via bussing, etc. There is a serious issue when working class families need to move out of the city or send their kids to $25,000/yr private school because the public school across the street bus in 50% of their students. I don't think that taking advantage of AA makes anyone a racist, I would do the same, i have gone to school and worked with people who have benefitted from AA, I also know that there were more qualified candidates who didn't get interviews/offers due to AA and their life may be worse off. The issue is that the american ideal of capitalism and controlling your own destiny through hard work is compromised by AA. I don't think Obama or his wife are racist though and they do have the benefit of seeing both sides of the picture. Obama's biggest weakness is that he is already a career politician and on his first day as senator he was planning his next move instead of trying to improve the mess that is illinois politics/government/finances, and I think that is a disservice to the state. I would like to elect a non-career politician but unfortunately none are still in the running. I do know of hardworking tradesmen who work at the UofC that Michelle Obama pushed very hard to have nearly all the contractors/employees at the University be minorities. Don't ask me to source that because I can't but I trust the source.

I am thinking i have this one easy +5-10 barring injury. Thoughts? I may also have a bet with total number of Sox pitchers to start a game, Cubs fan wants the over at 11.

QUOTE(Jenks Heat @ Mar 13, 2008 -> 02:01 PM) I would agree with this but I hope that Pods and Erstad circa 2007 have taught Ozzeroo that while speed does not slump it does sustain naggining injuries which render it useless. Good point, I am starting to get optimistic but also not feeling good about hanging our hat on BA again, we still have way too many question marks to have any comfort. But it seems like the team is starting to get it together and BA and the team in general is out to prove something.

#4 & 5: Rogers/NRob > Westbrook/Laffey = Danks/Floyd This line alone is the difference maker....remember when we couldn't buy a win out of a 5th starter.... Nate Robertson and Kenny Rodgers, either one would be our #3 over count #3: Willis = Byrd = Contreras - these guys are the wild card guys in the rotation for each team, I would guess if one of these guys steps up and is a stud it puts their team over the top. Considering Contreras/Byrd are on their downslope I would guess it is not either of them and Willis will enjoy pitching in Detroit with a beast of a lineup behind him.

If the feds caught more insiders supplying the roids and HGH I am sure the list of players would be five times as long. I wouldn't be surprised if the real # is >50% of players. Dusty Baker was clearly dealing the roids in SF.

QUOTE(daa84 @ Dec 13, 2007 -> 01:35 PM) one of the most interesting things mitchell said was that the potential of using/having used steroids was a tool used by scouts and team officials in assessing players Clearly everyone in baseball had a hand in what was going on. There was also the notes about the Red Sox talking about Gagne's roid use when acquiring him. My biggest issue is with the players lack of cooperation. The Players Association is just not good for baseball in that they don't rectify things and won't give up any rights without owners giving up something in return. That is why we have Congress stepping in to fix the issue for them.

So what would perception of KW be if he trades Konerko to fill some holes and acquire ML-ready talent? The key to the season again is Contreras in my mind he went from being an Ace to the losingest pitcher in baseball that takes us from a 90-win team to a 75-win team by itself. Counting on the old man isn't what i want to count on. Oh and Uribe becoming a contact hitter.

QUOTE(The Critic @ Dec 13, 2007 -> 09:39 AM) I dunno, I think Red Sox fans have gone from being Cub fans to being Yankee fans. Agree 110% Red Sox fans are terrible now...rank as most annoying fans in the country. And most of my college friends are Red Sox fans but enough is a enough. Will be pleasing to see Damon/Varitek were juicing during their WS titles.

what amazes me is that MLB gets stuck with the rap. Does anyone believe that 90% of NFL players aren't on HGH..or does no one care?

most these guys are also taking amphetamines with the roids so that can't be good for your heart/health.

We knew about Paul Byrd he admitted using but was prescribed. Nomar was def. using after his wrist injury he just never could get back to the same level. Interesting that Derrek Lee had the same injury and his power #'s were obviously way down last year, granted he still put up sick #'s.

Varitek and Clemens have to be the biggest names. Varitek would be the biggest shock because all the ESPN guys want to make man love with him.

Pods?? Remember back in the day when the White Sox didn't go on the field to show they weren't happy with the slack drug testing policy. I think that was in the Big Frank / Jerry Manuel era. I believe Frank was at the forefront because he is so naturally strong and he knew all the guys putting up similar stats to him at that time were juicing. What about the Hammer Dan Pasqua...we know he was smoking the rock!

Sox aren't going to offer Crede arbitration if they can't trade him so keeping him to see his value rise is not going to happen, that is a $5mm gamble the sox won't take.

QUOTE(Vance Law @ Dec 4, 2007 -> 10:38 PM) Yes and we've had Fields, Crede, Buehrle, McCarthy, Rowand, Gio, Jeremy Reed, Miguel Olivo (they got us Freddy), Chris Young, Carter, Cunningham, DLS, etc to help us now, and in trades in the past and in the future. Cano, Melky, and Chamberlain aren't getting the Yankees into the playoffs on their own. Having the gabillions of dollars to buy and pay for A-Rod, Abreu, Matsui, Damon, Clemmons, Petite, Jeter. They haven't needed to trade away prospects when they can just go out and buy an All-Star team. Pay $51 million for negotiating rights etc Ditto, spending $$s on FAs preserves the farm...that is why the Red Sox and Yankees have such good farm systems. They also can pay the top prospects in the draft after the small market clubs pass on "unsignable" players.

QUOTE(bigruss22 @ Dec 3, 2007 -> 04:18 PM) Enough with Crede going to first base already. He is only a starter in the bigs because of his defense. Otherwise he is looked upon as a bench player. Now I think his bat can come back, but his real strength is his fielding, and he becomes almost worthless at first base. I covered my bases on that stating he still gets shipped for a 1B prospect. The likelihood of Crede sticking around is remote and I do feel the best move is to trade him now. This option you could also have Crede at 3B, Fields at 1B for 1/2 year until you trade Crede. Hell you can trade Crede in ST if he proves he can still play 3rd. I do think Crede would consider dumping Boras and signing a reasonable deal if Rowand was brought back (although I am not a big Rowand fan especially at his $$s)

Nice work KW...now if you can move Uribe for a bag of chips we will be making real progres.. How about trading Konerko to the Angels for Figgins and a decent starting pitcher (#3/#4). Then they will sign Rowand at CF, with Rowand back on the team Crede will sign a cheap incentive laden 2-yr. extension and Fields or Crede will play 1st. Just a thought but not too unrealistic at least I don't think so. The Angels seemed to be down on Figgins a bit last year. Fill all of our holes we become fairly flexible. Perhaps we still deal Crede (maybe at the break after his value improves) and try to get a 1B prospect from someone or included in the PK trade. 1B - Crede 2B - Richar SS - Cabrera 3B - Fields / Figgins C - AJP OF - Quentin, Rowand, Dye, / Figgins Bench: Figgins (super sub) Uribe (to be traded) Owens Pablo Rotation MB Javy Angels Pitcher Count Denks

then again our offense sucks also so pick your poison. I like the fact they are going all out young talent. Hopefully the old WS players can avoid the injury bug this year.

They weren't exactly great last year...their offense sucks outside of three guys (one of which they lost)

Thank god, can't remember the game but I think he had two terrible errors in a row last year (granted I think it was at 3rd) but still it was just not good. For how hyped he was coming off the international series or whatever it was called just didn't live up to it.

Addition by subtraction...no more pods/cintron...can't get worse than watching Cintron... Liriano is the key determination on which team is better. But frankly many of the Twins offensive players are not good and with the loss of hunter they really need some pop. Are they going to be better after they turn over 3/5ths of their rotation and lose serious inning eaters like Santana/Silva likely not.