caulfield12

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 29, 2012 -> 03:27 PM) There is an interesting spin to the Orioles botch job in Korea. It seems the scout involved could have been someone who was taken down in the Wilder scandal if I am following the dates right. Combine that with reports coming out that out of the 11 other teams that scouted this kid, no one had him near was Baltimore claimed, and it makes it really interesting for speculation here. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prosp...12/2613037.html Wilder was fired on May 16th of 2008. Maybe they didn't fire this guy on the spot, but ended up just letting his contract lapse and not bringing him back. Byeong An, LHP (Red Sox to White Sox in Bobby Howry trade) A 22-year old Korean lefty, An pitched well in 2001 (3.62 ERA at Class A Sarasota), showing ... Another irony was that we actually traded for one of those Koreans listed in the report. This guy actually is the one who officially signed Tadahito Iguchi for the White Sox as well.

QUOTE (justBLAZE @ Mar 6, 2012 -> 12:55 AM) Agree to a point, but with Beckham.. if he doesn't start hitting, he comes from an untouchable prospect to a kid who might get released.. First round draft picks who were past Rookie of the Year rarely get DFA'ed or released. He'll be dealt for someone like a Justin Smoak if he continues to flail around for another season in Seattle. The typical busted prospects trade, Borchard for Thornton, etc. Even if he hits .220, he still has a lot of value to the organization as a utility infielder/defensive replacement at 2B/SS/3B. You're probably just not going to release him...it would make KW and the front office look stupid. Whatever they will do, you can count on them trying to save face, like they did in the past with Josh Fields and Brian Anderson.

where young players are overhyped/overvalued and yet our cupboard is nearly barren? http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writ...ball/index.html When reading that article, it made me think of J4L and what his arguments would have been with Verducci. On the other hand, we certainly can't spend our way to success, as the $127 million payroll last year proved, especially when three of the biggest financial bets or risks don't pay off.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 5, 2012 -> 09:30 AM) I finally watched MoneyBall last week. I tried to get into it, but I couldn't get past the way they made it seem like Scott Hatteberg was the key to winning baseball games, ignoring the fact that Oakland had the MVP & Cy Young award winner in 2002, along with two other "ace" type pitchers. It's like doing a film review of the 2005 White Sox season featuring Geoff Blum and forgetting about Crede, Rowand and Everett, for example. Chavez and Tejada were so important to those teams, but nobody moreso than their three starters and "rent a closers." http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/7007945/...ft-class-review http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writ...pact/index.html The most interesting breakdown of "Moneyball" in reality that I've read in a while.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Mar 6, 2012 -> 12:42 AM) 97 million? Cheapskates. The Sox are bound to make a sizeable profit this season if the team finishes five below or five above .500 wouldn't you say? They should at least have made a strong push for Cespedes (sp). Cespedes probably isn't going to be ready until at least July or August. Just watch what happens if Oakland pushes him into the starting line-up for Opening Day. And it would have been a shame to deny DeAza the starting job after how hard he's fought to get back after all the injuries he's suffered. That's not the MAIN reason we didn't acquire Cespedes, but it had to be at least 20% of it, along with the fact we already had another free-swinging Latin hitter in Viciedo at one of the corner spots. If Cespedes was a true CFer and leadoff hitter, it would have been a lot more logical/sensible, but not at those prices.

Has anyone seen PROJECT X yet? Saw THE IRON LADY this weekend, thought it was quite overrated, although Streep was very good. Just not sure it was Academy-Award winning stuff. Ebert really disliked this movie, usually his reviews are pretty positive, all things considered. http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/03/05/avengers...tlanteans-kree/ Clues as to the other villains from Avengers....based on upcoming LEGO characters?

QUOTE (Swingandalongonetoleft @ Mar 5, 2012 -> 04:13 PM) Everytime I read an article about Giordano's troubled future I quickly glance around to make sure no one saw that tear roll down my cheek. Whether or not I eat pizza ever again is directly tied to their future. Portillo's was mentioned. I'm pumped every time I go to our place down in Florida. Checkers seems to thrive nicely down there. I'm not big on Fast Food, but I'll eat the biggest, greasiest burger on their menu every day I'm down there. Chik-fil-A would be another one, though they seem to have started spawning all over the place now. Checkers is good...more of a Southern thing. Same with Waffle House, at least it used to be...but now it's more all over the country. Krispy Kreme started out mostly in the Southeastern U.S. as well. Let's see....Crystal, which is like White Castle Hamburgers, very similar. Think they're based in Tennessee. Culver's is one of my favorite Midwestern regionals chains. Shakey's Pizza has pretty much died out throughout the US but is still super popular in the Philippines. Ted Drew's Frozen Custards in St. Louis, although I don't think it can be found outside the city, so it probably doesn't qualify as exactly regional. Whataburger. Jimmy John's definitely merits a mention. When I was growing up in Iowa, Chi-Chi's Mexican Restaurants, owned by one of the Green Bay Packers from the Super Bowl years. Flakey Jakes. Happy Joe's is my favorite regional pizza chain around Eastern Iowa. Before that, Rocky Roccoco Pizza, especially in Iowa City. Taco John's. Big Boy or Shoney's? Chick-Fil-A really is awesome. The only thing that annoys me is being closed on Sundays, but at least I can understand the reason for that and respect it. Love Sonic, especially the foot long chili-cheese dogs that are not cardiac surgeon approved.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Mar 5, 2012 -> 11:07 PM) Is this the same guy from LSU? At first, he got Mitchell confused with Frank Thomas, because he originally mentioned Auburn. Then you can tell someone corrected him from the "truck" and told him Mitchell went to LSU, but he just threw it out there in a bit of confusion (since he doesn't claim to know anything about college sports but was trying to talk about it anyway). Another hilarious one was talking about Adam Dunn, and his assertion we traded for him. He did succeed in talking about himself and his Sox career for about 10-15 minutes. Beltin' Bill said Molina's best pitch was a forkball, and then mentioned Contreras in connection with the aforementioned pitch. Melton also seemed really down on Beckham...that he looked no different than he did for much of 2011, searching for a feel at the plate, guessing too much, too slow getting the bat started and identifying the fastball. Supposedly Rios has made another hand adjustment (I think this time closer to the body instead of having to pull them back and adding an extra hitch or movement after the pitch was made). Rios hit a grounder fairly hard right back at the pitcher and then popped another ball in typical Rios fashion foul down the RF line that Van Slyke made a great running stab at and corraled.

QUOTE (sunofgold @ Mar 2, 2012 -> 10:41 PM) Did anybody watch the Franchise with the Giants last year. I only saw a little bit of it and was good. I imagine with these guys on the Marlins the show could be very interesting. Buehrle should be one of the focal points of this show. Not sure about Mr. Z. haha! I think you have it the other way around. Zambrano definitely makes for better t.v. Then you'd have Logan Morrison, Guillen, the Hanley/Reyes controversy, the new stadium, Josh Johnson, Mike Stanton, Heath Bell, quite a few different plot lines to focus on.

It does seem to work quite well in the NFL. NBA or NHL, not sure about printing up t-shirts or anything like that, not when half the teams make it. Still, roughly only 33% of the teams in baseball making the playoffs makes it a bigger accomplishment than in any of the other 3 major sports...

For all the hype about Escobar's defense, I expected a bit more out of him...he almost gave the slow-footed Juan Rivera an infield single. That's pretty hard to do, despite Melton describing Rivera as a fast runner, he's far from it, especially after all the leg injuries he's suffered in his career.

Mitchell at least showed a little more of a burst than he had last year. Outside of the Molina implosion, the pitching wasn't half bad. Seems that Ventura plans to play Lillibridge on the infield (3B/2B and possibly SS...if there's no other INF, he'd have to play there too) and Fukudome as the 4th OF. That does open up the competition a bit more between Johnson and McPherson, and puts more pressure on Martinez/Escobar/Kuhn at the plate to win a possible utility job. Of course, we have no idea if Robin wants 7 bullpen arms (with Sale, Humber and Peavy, that's highly likely) or another position player. Hector Santiago and Reed looked good as well.

7 hits surrendered in 1+. Jesus. Let's hope Paddy's better than Buddy Bell in terms of identifying talent.

Molina is getting hammered. Hernandez time...at least it should be. Could easily have been 5 runs scored off Molina in 1 1/3 IP. Yikes.

What the hell was KW seeing in Molina? Just kidding. One would hope.

They went out to get Martinez to put pressure on Beckham? Yeah, sure Bill. If either one of those 2 guys (Escobar) are starting in the future, we're screwed.

Molina wasn't dominant, that's for sure. He really needs to get his offspeed stuff over the plate...his fastball was all over the place. Something about his delivery doesn't look smooth or repeatable...but, then again, he had that 8-1 K to BB ratio, so he must have been doing something right last year that the scouts and Paddy liked.

Have a feeling there's no way we cut down Loney on that ball into RF if Rios is playing there. Dammit, Beckham. Ugh. Ugly at-bats today.

Too aggressive and over-eager Dayan. Vici-ADO. Don't think so. He actually pronounced it correctly once and then fell back into the wrong one.

What the hell is Melton talking about, confiance? Is he making up a new French word, or just butchering the Spanish pronunciation of confidence. Great advice, pretend you don't have 2 strikes Dunn, when you get behind in the count. First RBI of ST for the Sox. Good thing a decent SS wasn't playing there. Nice to see Ramirez at least not K....he was pretty darned spotty with RISP last year.

Has to be Andy Van Slyke's son. Getting too old, haha...when all of the former players you grew up have their kids playing in the big leagues.

Nobody's squaring up that fastball this early in proceedings, like what we're seeing so far out of Reed. You'd rather he be a bit more economical with pitches, but we survived the Bobby Jenks Era (sorry Greg)...we'll see whether Ventura is willing to make Addison the lead closer coming out of ST or if we go with the closer by committee/match-up approach.

Have a feeling Reed's slider will come and go in terms of location like Gavin's curveball. Two really good ones that AB, encouraging bite this early in ST in the desert air.

Gordon "Mazeroski" Beckham.

AJ and Viciedo aren't exactly selective hitters, but nice to be reminded by that irksome Pierzynski one-pitch AB. Well, at least he made contact. Addison Reed sighting.