caulfield12

He was very good his first 2-3 years in Pittsburgh, playing away from the Chicago spotlight. Of course, that was 10 years ago, but he had some serviceable seasons recently, with the Cardinals, among others. I wouldn't be any more shocked to see Kip Wells as our 5th starter in 2013, compared to Dylan Axelrod, for example.

Rubio is scary, as a DEM, for the future. He'll be hard to stop, if he survives the vetting process, and he will easily turn the 25/75 disadvantage to 75/25 the other way around in terms of driving the Hispanic vote. As far as debaters in my lifetime, that I've seen personally: 1) Mario Cuomo 2) Bill Clinton 3) Jesse Jackson 4) Barack Obama Picking Santorum is insane. Hilary Clinton has the same exact demographic in terms of her appeal, and his presence on the ticket will scare almost every woman in America out to vote. Obama's ego is too big, and so is Biden's, but the perfect countermove to that would be placing Hilary on the ticket as VP.

365 days now from today, the Kip Wells signing will look even more genius than the Mitch Mustain one.

http://larrybrownsports.com/baseball/frank...pictures/127997 Frank McCourt's new g/f. Is it just me or does it look like she has a black eye in the shot without the shades?

Is that Chuck Norris?

QUOTE (flippedoutpunk @ Apr 5, 2012 -> 08:05 PM) Thanks Brian. Btw, what is up with the pricing on the authentic Miami Marlins jerseys? I was trying to order an orange Giancarlo one and the thing was 320 dollars! An authentic Konerko jersey is around 215? Anyone know why the 100 dollar difference? With how cheesy they look you would think that would be enough to make people avoid buying them, but setting the price at 320?? I remember when an authentic jersey price over $100 was a bit steep, just more than 20 years ago. Or New Era caps were available for under $20. Now they're selling for about $50 here in China, the real ones, not the fake/knock-off ones. With Stanton, probably because of all the newfound excitement around that franchise, the colors, his rising status as a superstar, let's call it "dynamic pricing" for jerseys as well as tickets. Supply and demand, interest is much higher in Reyes/Ramirez/J.Johnson/Stanton jerseys than ever before in the history of the franchise.

Nor has he shown any ability to 1) hit for any power or 2) stay healthy or 3) play adequate defense.

For the purposes of this exercise, just players who started out with the White Sox organization (drafted or international free agent). That eliminates Omar Vizquel. Wilson Valdez would have to play there. Maybe we'd have to use Aaron Miles in the middle infield, but neither Getz nor Miles should be anywhere near SS. Including Olivo and Sergio Santos (since we really cultivated him as a pitcher, whereas the D-Backs drafted him in the first round originally as a shortstop).

Then you'll undoubtedly have all the stories about how supportive and patient Reinsdorf and KW were with Ozzie and his family...juxtaposed with how they are going to be treated by Loria et al in Miami if the team down there doesn't get off to a decent start. How Ozzie was allowed to "coast" for 3 years while he doesn't have that luxury in South Florida...that the novelty of the stadium will wear off quickly and the pressure to win will be almost as great as in Boston, Philadelphia, New York or Atlanta (after the late season swoon last September) because of the level of expectations that were raised this offseason (not unlike our own "All In" disaster), etc. Whereas there will be very little shock or suprise if the Sox start out 0-2.

Reminding me of the same things that were said about Dole, Gore and McCain in the past. That when they were campaigning, they lost something of their real personalities as their staffs tried to program them too much. The problem with Romney is the opposite one. They're scared to death of letting his actual personality out too often, preferring to limit interviews that are not pre-scripted or on Fox, debates, etc.

Kerry Wood and their once-invincible closer Marmol, who somehow managed to lower his FB down to 90/91 from falling in love with his slider, certainly got a decent smattering of boos for an Opening Day game.

Sarah Palin picked Allen West, that's enough of a reason to think it would flop, just on that endorsement alone. Having a Tea Party favorite isn't going to help much, because those people were always going to vote against Obama anyway and it's not like he has the magnetism of a Rubio to get people excited about him as a personality in and of itself.

There was a scene after Rue from District 11 died that could have been included. They sent bread, even though they were a very very poor district and they consistently described in the book how that would have cost so much money as it was closer to the end of the Games and the prices for sponsors/ships were going up exponentially. That connection with District 11 wasn't quite made clear enough, except for the final outcome of the movie, when there were only 4 Tributes remaining.

QUOTE (The Baconator @ Apr 5, 2012 -> 07:28 PM) Just got out of THE RAID: REDEMPTION... wow. Just... WOW. Unbelievable action movie. I know I posted a trailer to this movie months back as it was highlighted at the Toronto Film Fest, and the movie did not disappoint. It's by the same director as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon so just imagine that with guns, knives, and fists packed into the narrow hallways of an apartment building. The action scenes are the best I've ever seen. Take the best scene in the Bourne series (the one that comes to mind for me is the one in the 3rd story apartment when Jason stabs the guy with the pen, etc. and then he jumps out of the window) and extend it 30x. It was so intense that I was legitimately left breathless at a few points; I can't count how many times I heard someone murmur "holy s***!" or "whoa...". That being said, it's one of the most violent films I can think of so it isn't for everyone; two young couples got up and left 12 minutes in. Highly recommend. I might even see this one again in theaters, that excited. It was Gareth Evans and not Ang Lee that directed CT, HD??? There's zero plot or "redemptive" character development, but that's not what anyone who goes to this movie is looking for anyway, just non-stop action.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 5, 2012 -> 01:44 PM) All you have offensively is Morse, Young, & a washed up Caballo. Allen & Sweeney don't provide anything special, all Getz can do is steal but not get on base. Catcher is OK I guess. .275, 18 homers, 94 RBI's would have made him our 2nd most effective hitter after Konerko, if you consider Quentin's health issues/inconsistency and defensive problems in RF. But that would be paying Carlos Lee $19 million to put up a .788 OPS at 1B, which wouldn't have been league average. But other than Konerko, Ramirez, Quentin and maybe AJ Pierzynski, we weren't getting league average offensive performance from any positions, and 3 of those guys are quite limited defensively. Ryan Sweeney says hello. He just cost Justin Verlander his first win of the season, and broke Papa Grande's string of 49 consecutive saves from 2011 right off the bat, with a two-out, RBI triple. Valverde's lucky, because the following batter lined out right at an infielder or they would have been in jeopardy of completely blowing the game. Two hits for Sweeney, one of the few off Verlander.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Apr 5, 2012 -> 02:39 PM) Ozzie was a rook in '85, not '83. But I do believe the AL ROY did play for the Sox in 1983. Yeah, Kittle. I always think of Guillen on the 83 team, but it's largelybecause of the year LaMarr Hoyt had, which eventually led to the Guillen trade. So he was a rising prospect in the Padres' organization at the time of their marriage. It's a bet many minor league girlfriends or hometown girls would make in Latin America.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Apr 5, 2012 -> 02:36 PM) This would compete for the worst lineup in the majors. Worse than the Mariners, A's or Padres? Surely, they would be better than the Orioles, solely based on their starting rotation and bullpen. The Twins, if Mauer and Morneau aren't healthy, would have a hard time topping that line-up as well, since they've lost Young/Kubel/Cuddyer in the last year.

Offensively, though, those guys would have done better than our team last year even without a 3B and SS. Or just sticking Carlos Lee at 3B and Brandon Allen at 1st.

QUOTE (shakes @ Apr 5, 2012 -> 02:27 PM) You know, I forgot about that. I just met her at a charity event and she seemed really nice. I Guess I just feel bad for anyone who would have to listen to all of those mouths. It has to be exhausting, but it was her choice to marry that clown. If you grow up poor in Venezuela with the opportunity to marry a major league shortstop, it's not much of choice. http://www.google.com.hk/imgres?imgurl=htt...EwAw&dur=11 They married during the middle of Ozzie's rookie season in 1983, I think.

CF Chris Young RF Ryan Sweeney 1B Carlos Lee LF Michael Morse DH B.Allen/C.Carter 3B Josh Fields (yikes)/Joe Crede (haha) C Humberto Quintero/Miguel Olivo (if you can count Miguel for us and not the A's) 2B Chris Getz SS ??? Bench: Magglio Ordonez, Mike Cameron (now retired), Aaron Rowand, Aaron Cunningham Rotation is one of the strong points Daniel Hudson Gio Gonzalez Mark Buehrle Brandon McCarthy (#1 for the A's) Clayton Richard Bullpen, no obvious closer, so I'll claim Sergio Santos Santos Matt Guerrier Jon Rauch Faustino DeLosSantos Lucas Harrell Boone Logan Ely/D. Cortes Brian Anderson (joking) Seemingly, it would be a pretty even battle with our current team, although our current infield has a huge advantage with Alexei Ramirez and Morel at 3B. Obviously, we haven't done a great job developing infielders and catchers. Overall, offensively, we wouldn't be bad at all 1-5 or 1-6 if you include Miguel Olivo as our prospect. With the youth in the rotation, probably a lot more upside with this version. Bullpens are similar, if you count Santos.

Imagine a white person being attacked in LA/South Central (Reginald Denny, for example) saying "Remember OJ!" or, on the opposite side "Remember Rodney King!" and the likely effect it would have. Either way you interpret it, probably not the wisest move, and likely to inflame rather than defuse. Maybe saying "What would Jesus do?" would be even wiser than a comment like that, lol. Not sure you'd have the time while under assault to think of a pithy and clever retort, though, like we have the luxury of doing here on a message board.

Biden's a better debater than even Obama, if he steers away too much from policy-wonk/procedural/technical language. Rubio's already having his bio attacked, in terms of his story of the family fleeing Cuba under Castro when it actually happened well before he came into power. That's why they're already trying to hurry to release his biography as early as possible. With his lack of experience, there will be a ton of pundits saying it's a naked play to get back in the race with Hispanic voters. My actual concern on the Romney side will be that people realize he would (eventually) be a much more charismatic and interesting president than Romney can/will ever be, so bringing him onto the ticket would not be unlike the Palin/McCain scenario, with 1/3rd of the speculation being about 2016 and how Rubio will be one of the leading candidates, rather than the top line presidential candidate. But a ton of things can change with the economy and world events between now and November, still 7 months, more or less. Jindal's still too wounded from his national exposure giving the Republican response a year or so, Daniels might be the best pick, Christie's too bellicose and polarizing, Ryan's still too obscure, it's too early for another Bush on the ticket, it's going to be hard to find the right choice just like 4 years ago. A lot of GOPers are expecting defeat at this point, so there's going to be a lot of enlightened "self-interest" out there in terms of the benefits versus the negatives of being on the losing side of a presidential election, even as the VP candidate. It hasn't been the best move for Gore (well, that's another story), Kemp, Lieberman, Edwards or Palin in terms of a way forward to the presidency.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Apr 5, 2012 -> 10:07 AM) i dunno man. Robin was pretty good lookin' back in his 46 year old pitcher stomping days. Kirk McCaskill was voted one of People's Sexiest one of those years when he was with the Angels or Sox. FWIW.

I'm glad that Ibis wasn't the GM, because her sons would have been starting for us by now (next to the Williams kids) and an expensive Freddy Garcia heading for the DL for Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez was probably one of the five or ten best trades in the last 10 years in all of MLB, certainly of the 3 best KW's ever made.

The Tigers had a great bullpen in 2006 too, and it fell apart pretty quickly. Bullpens that look dominant coming into a season rarely perform in line with expectations or previous performance, not unlike high-risk mutual funds that perform erratically from year to year, and always tend to wipe out those who chase high yields from the previous year or years.