Disco72

Hi Fellow Soxtalkers, I'm interviewing for a job at a university in Baltimore next week. My wife and I are flying in for about 36 hours, but I'll be interviewing during most of it. In the little time we have, we were planning on checking out the area around the university and the aquarium (where she'd work in a perfect world). Any suggestions on what we should check out? I'm not interested (at this point) in touristy stuff, but instead stuff that'll help us decide if it's a place we want to live. Anything else I should know about the Baltimore area? We've only been there once - for about half a day - and saw the National Aquarium. I think Lostfan is in that area, and I'm sure others are or are more familiar with it than me. Thanks for your help!

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Oct 14, 2009 -> 01:35 PM)

Any Sons of Anarchy fans? I know it's been discussed in the TV threads before. Lots of stuff going down in tonight's episode.

QUOTE (FlaSoxxJim @ Oct 8, 2009 -> 04:32 PM) Not intentionally to waste money on, but to invest and diversify, yes. And now InBev wants to gat back to the core business of brewing $hitty beer. For what it's worth, the theme park (entertainment) division was the fastest growing part of the company.

I finally tried out some fall beers while watching the Bears game today: Dogfish Head Punkin Ale, Bells Octoberfest, and New Belgium Hoptober - all on draft at one of my favorite local establishments. I liked all three. Usually, I prefer hoppy beers first, but the New Belgium was 'crisp' hoppy as opposed to 'strong' hoppy, and I really enjoyed it.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 3, 2009 -> 03:53 PM) That was their record, but their ERA's was in the high 4's. The average ERA for #4-#5 starting pitchers is in the high 5's. The Sox 4th-5th starters have ERA's much better than the league average for those slots. Their record is terrible though. Which means that their starters are doing what they're supposed to do...but the people around them weren't helping. One huge reason for the difference between the horrible W/L and the decent ERA is unearned runs. The combination of bad defense and pitchers who can't pitch over these mistakes = many more losses. Count gave up 20% more runs than his ERA includes while Colon gave up 44% more runs than his ERA includes. By contrast, Buehrle's total runs given up is only 6.6% higher than his earned runs. Better pitchers will pitch over the defense's mistakes.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Oct 2, 2009 -> 12:45 PM) Joe Cowley-Chicago Sun-Times 100209 BIGGEST SURPRISE No one saw Podsednik coming. His rebirth as a leadoff hitter was one thing, four years after his role on the 2005 World Series team, but his rebirth as a player who can enjoy the game he plays was just as unexpected. What's this part all about? Was Pods a complete sourpuss that now is in love with the game of baseball? Jokes aside, if Pods does have some newfound joy in playing baseball, that's a good thing.

If the Sox can have a versitile bench with guys that can play multiple positions like Kotsay and Nix, I tend to think more and more about using Flowers and AJ in the same lineup with a rotation at DH. Of course, this assumes the Sox think Flowers is ready to face MLB pitching on an almost everyday basis. I'm definitely warming up to this idea.

Who plays first if PK is traded? Kotsay? For 2010, the Sox don't have the depth to trade any of their remaining sluggers, assuming that Thome and Dye are not resigned.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Sep 29, 2009 -> 02:52 PM) I'm not articulate enough in economics to explain what I meant any better than I just tried to. I suppose, though, that since China can control their labor/wages etc. that they could do that under other circumstances too. Wouldn't a "basket" of currencies need a significant amount of USD? You would probably want to include a significant amount of USD, but you wouldn't have to do it that way. I think where I'm not following you is exactly the point you just made - it's not a free market activity right now anyway. So, if they manipulate the USD-Yuan rate, they'll keep doing it to their benefit no matter which reserve currency they use. I'm not really a finance guy, so I'm sure some of those guys on here can do a better analysis of this than me.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Sep 29, 2009 -> 01:17 PM) Question for someone more economically literate than me that I just thought of. If right now China is keeping their currency artificially low to keep their exports up, and they are loaning us billions and complaining about the amount of debt we have, let's say the dollar gets replaced by something else today. Granted there is nothing to replace it as the global reserve currency but let's just say for the sake of argument there is. Wouldn't this cause the yuan to go up, and make labor in the United States cheaper? Kind of the opposite of what China wants? So why would they want to change it? Two quick points, and I may come back to this later if I have time: 1 - the Euro is a potential global reserve currency (or a "basket" of currencies could be used) 2- since China already manipulates the $US / yuan exchange rate, they could just as easily manipulate the rate with the new reserve currency I'm not completely following your logic in terms of a (replacing the $US as reserve currency) causes b (yuan increases in value vs $US).

QUOTE (JohnCangelosi @ Sep 29, 2009 -> 07:45 AM) Does anyone else agree with me that long term we need Beckham playing SS or 2B? He appears to be a .300 25 hr and 100 RBI type guy and we believe he can play the middle infield. Having those types of numbers at that position gives us a substantial advantage over our competition. Putting him at 3B is fine, and he is getting much better there defensively, but having him at 3B negates some of his abilities, however. I hear this rarely discussed on this site but for me this is a HUGE thing. Having him at SS or 2B gives us flexibility and talent that very few teams have in the middle infield, especially with Alexei there as well. There were several substantial debates on this topic on this site throughout the season, but the conversation died down when it became obvious that for this season, the best spot for him was 3B since the Sox had nobody else to competently play the position. I'm sure this topic will re-emerge in the offseason...or maybe you've kick started it again.

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Sep 27, 2009 -> 10:07 AM) For those stating moving the salary allowed us to get Peavy and Rios, I'll argue. Javy could've and should've been gone. No doubt about that. Swisher though, when taking payscale into consideration, has proven to be a better player over the past couple of years over Rios. No way can you tell me Rios is the better player either. Rios is better with the glove, but Swisher is miles ahead offensively. Does Rios have more potential? Yes, but he's also always been a douche who's never reached it. Swisher at least has. Swisher is/was better than Rios this year, but not necessarily over the past couple years, especially considering Rios plays premium defense at a premium defensive position. You also can't say Rios has never lived up to his potential as Rios hit at/near .300 with a .350 OBP and over .850 OPS in back to back years (2006-2007) and had a good but not great year last year: .291 / .337 / .798. I'm not sure how Swisher is "miles ahead offensively" than Rios. Both players are completing their sixth year in the MLB. Swisher's career line: .245 / .357 / .816 at a non-premium defensive position (1B / LF). Rios' career line: .281 / .330 / .775 at a premium defensive position. Swisher's OBP is clearly the one big advantage he has over Rios, but that is more than negated by his production as compared to others at his best positions. Rios has been awful this year, but just as people argue that last year was clearly a down year for Swisher, this year looks like a clear down year for Rios. Just as some argue that it was obvious Swisher would rebound, it should be just as obvious that Rios will also rebound in 2010. Frankly, I find it funny that you call Rios a douche but ignore all the "douchey" things about Swisher that make him also a bad clubhouse personality.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 25, 2009 -> 08:09 PM) Is a 4.90 ERA for the 5th starter in the AL really that bad? I'd say that's kind of what I'd expect at the back end of the rotation. The reason you wind up with a losing record though is that your offense and defense on top of that haven't been good enough to do anything with that kind of performance. I have no idea how to compile that data without being paid to do so and spending a few hours on it, but here's some plausible example data from 2006. That's a great find Balta. Even if the numbers were significantly better league-wide in 2009, it still shows that "earned runs" were not a major issue for the 4th and 5th starters. However, we all know the unearned runs were; that's how Bartolo's ERA looked decent early on. The combination of incredibly shaky defense and pitchers without the ability to pitch over mistakes is what led to that terrible W-L record from the 4th and 5th starters. Adding Peavy + Garcia ought to fix the pitching talent issue, and now we have to see how KW handles improving the terrible defense.

QUOTE (Pumpkin Escobar @ Sep 25, 2009 -> 03:07 PM) Buehrle has minimal value around the league. I don't get why but he just doesn't command respect from other front offices or fan bases. We all talk about it and know about it and it's sad but true. I feel like the only teams who would pay a premium for him are us, STL and anyone in the AL central. Maybe Boston too because I remember Francona having a hard on for Buehrle when he pitched in the All-Star game for him. I've seen this sentiment a few times in this thread, and not only do I not understand this, but I don't believe it is true. A proven pitcher like Buehrle definitely has value on the trade market, despite his "high" salary.

HowManyOfMe.com There are people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name? I think I have the most right now... very common first and last name, obviously.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 03:29 PM) I'd think there's a good shot that the Twins will be better next year, assuming Morneau comes back and Mauer doesn't start the season on teh DL. Their pitching staff under-performed this year, and how often does that happen to the Twins? Then again, even though he missed time, this has to be career year(ish) for Mauer.

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 01:20 PM) There are 7 position players coming back - Beck, Alexi, AJ, Paul, Getz, TCQ, Rios. AJ and Paulie will not be as good as they were this year. TCQ will be somewhere between 08 and 09, but it certainly is possible that he will continue to be injury prone. He has been his whole career. Rios is not good. He has always been overrated and never close to the 30/30 that was projected of him. I don't think he will be as awful as this year but he won't hit 280. Thus, the balancing of those 7 players will be close to a wash. My point is if you are relying on bounce back years for these players, you are in for a huge disappointment. Anyone who says that our offense has not been horrible has not been paying attention. Anyone who thinks that it will suddenly turn around is foolish. Sitting around and waiting for guys to magically turn it around instead of recognizing that they aren't that good is a recipe for more losing. Those two new starters to bring in are going to be the key but they have to be significant offensive players for this to work. I just don't see how thats possible given the current salary structure of the team. The only two players who we could reasonably expect a "bounce-back" year from are Rios (see posts above mine for that argument) and TCQ (who you even admit should be between his excellent 2008 and disappointing 2009). The Sox will almost certainly add someone better than what Dye has put up in the 2nd half, it would be pretty difficult to find a worse hitter than 2nd half Dye. Then there are young players that *could* improve like Beckham, Alexei, and Getz. I agree with you that AJ and Paulie will be hard pressed to repeat their 2009 seasons. As Balta said above, the offense, specifically in the 2nd half, is so awful given this level of talent, it would be hard to repeat if we just played the season over. With all that, how does the offense end up worse? It is literally almost impossible even with 7 regulars coming back.

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 12:52 PM) Actually it won't be hard because we have the same players here next year. So you think that: 1) the Sox will resign Dye and he'll be just as bad as he's been the 2nd half, 2) that Rios will continue being so much worse than his career averages, 3) that TCQ will continue to be injury prone and reasonably unproductive, and 4) the Sox will not bring in a single new starter / position player? Or that the replacements for the above players will play as bad as this year's starters did? Some of those things may happen, but all of them won't.

QUOTE (dpd9189 @ Sep 22, 2009 -> 12:26 PM) Unless our offense and bullpen improves, we're going to stink again next year. It would be hard for our offense to be worse in 2010 than it has been the 2nd half of 2009. Most AAA players could put up the lines that Rios and Dye have been putting up for the last couple of months. I am still very optimistic for 2010.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 21, 2009 -> 04:54 PM) Couple points. 1: Mitchell is ineligible to be traded until something like Jan 1, give or take, even as a PTBNL. You can't officially trade a guy you drafted until what, 1 year after the draft, and then you've got only 6 months or so where you can not name the last player in a trade. 2. D2: the mighty Danks isn't getting traded not necessarily because of his performance, but because we have a LHP who put up a 3.6 ERA with the same name. Like it or not, we want to extend D1, the family did us a favor by switching agents away from Satan, we're not going to jerk them around like that. And it's the right thing to do. Just to clarify - I don't think it would be a good idea (well, I guess it depends who we get back), but since the thread topic is "who might KW trade this offseason," I put these names out there. KW usually trades away guys that are somewhat unexpected and also guys that people project with the big club. These are the kind of names that people say "no way" KW will trade them...then he does. Especially if D2 starts projecting as less of a leadoff-type hitter, since "leadoff hitter" is still a need but CF isn't. Also, I don't really buy the D1/D2 argument. It is a consideration, but I really believe KW would trade away his own son (if he was any good) to help the team. I don't think he's worried about these things. I also don't believe it would be a jerk move. If KW wants someone to help the team that is a big enough improvement to trade someone like D2, I don't see D1 being on the team/switching agents as an impediment to closing that deal. I'm pretty sure I've argued this point before, so I'll stop beating that horse and just leave it at "I disagree."

I could see one of Jor.Danks or Mitchell traded. Both are highly regarded and both are "targeted" to play CF, a position the Sox have filled for many years with Rios. I know Rios and/or one of the others could play LF or RF, but since CF is not as big of a position of need anymore, I could see KW doing it.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Sep 20, 2009 -> 01:38 PM) That was probably the funniest thing I saw but did it make BBTN or MLB. I didn't see it replayed there, but numerous times on WGN. I have it recorded. I wish I could of heard the exchange between Ozzie, AJ, Godon and Buck I didn't see it on the late version of BBTN last night, even though they did talk about the Sox a decent amount.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Sep 19, 2009 -> 11:11 PM) and..........the Sox don't need pitching? Let's see this thread started with Jenks for "prospects" to Alexi for a "quality reliever". It amazes me how fans value players. A closer is not the easiest hole to fill. Why is it that teams that have a reliable one seem to hang on to them? Pitching will always be expensive when you have to get it outside of your organization. I don't see Kenny getting rid of Jenks unless it is an outstanding deal. Then you have to fill that hole. If it's Thornton, then you lost a valuable setup man. That's another hole to fill. Also when it comes to free agency, how often do the Sox outbid anyone? Most agents seek long term contracts. The Sox don't like them. That's why they end up signing guys like Linebrink. Linebrink was a reasonably sought after FA... that's what you have to do to get a decent relief pitcher - overpay in terms of dollars, years, or both. Most people aren't pleased with Liney's contract - yet that's exactly what the Sox will have to do to get another "good" relief pitcher on the open market if they trade Jenks. Which is why, as you said, you always overpay if you have to go outside your organization for pitching. Paying Bobby is worth it to give the organization another year to get talent ready for the major league level - or get a younger guy some mid-relief or setup experience. Alternatively, you go with the young guys plus Pena, Linebrink, Carasco, and Thornton and pray it works out.

As the Sox pile on the runs (13-3 now), the optimist would say that the slumping guys are getting back on track with Dye, Rios, and TCQ all having good nights with multiple hits each.