caulfield12

Greg, that's part of sports. TB rising up from obscurity as the "underdogs" (despite all their high #1 draft picks) to knock off the likes of the Yankees and Boston was/is a motivating factor. But why doesn't it work so well for Toronto and Baltimore every year? The Twins were almost wiped out of baseball by Selig. That certainly was a motivator when they were so good in 2002-2004. Now that they have a huge payroll (comparatively) and guys like Mauer making almost $30 million per year, nobody considers them the underdogs anymore. As to why the team plays so poorly at home and against divisional rivals, what's the only constant from 2008 compared to today? Guillen, Walker and KW. The roster has changed quite a bit over that time, but the results within the division haven't, nor has the 2nd half swan dive into the tiny bucket of water.

Who would play Oney? Joe Cowley? Jay Mariotti? Wilder?

QUOTE (The Critic @ Sep 22, 2011 -> 01:52 AM) First of all, "Red Wings" are two words. And secondly, NOTHING will ever hamper my awesome natural ability to b**** and moan! I do like many things, and the things I like I REALLY like, but there are way more things out there that I don't like. I chose The Critic as my name for just that reason - I knew that I'd be complaining and criticizing a lot more often than I'd be praising or rejoicing. EDIT: And I'll go see Moneyball as soon as a Billy Beane-led team wins some hardware - and an Oscar doesn't count. Does that mean you didn't enjoy Glory because the 54th Massachusetts Regiment lost the battle for Fort Wagner?

Moneyball has a lot going for it: glowing reviews are calling Brad Pitt​ a serious Oscar contender, adults are clearly hungry for Oscar bait (see grosses for The Help and Midnight in Paris) and activity on Facebook and Twitter shows a lot of promise. As of 3 p.m. PT, Fandango is reporting that Moneyball is responsible for 7% of daily sales. Look for Moneyball to grab $19 million from more than 2,900 locations during its debut frame. And $64 million for its entire domestic run. EBERT gave it 4 stars. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.d.../110929999/1023

Greg, the MAIN problem SINCE 2005/06 is that we've just played average against our own division...or worse. With the exception of 2008. Playing in a weaker division SHOULD be an advantage. Except in the case of the Sox, we've actually played better against the Red Sox, Yankees, Rangers and Angels than most of the teams in our division with the exception of the Indians.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 21, 2011 -> 04:25 PM) How about teams that had blatantly unsuccessful seasons? - White Sox - Cubs - Twins - Orioles - Rockies - Padres - A's - Mariners - Mets - Astros - Reds Of this list, I'd say the two Chicago teams, Reds and Twins had the worst seasons with regards to big picture And Rockies... Not to mention the Dodgers (off-field and on-field), especially compared to the Torre years

At first when I saw the thread title, I thought one of them was arrested for doing crack, lol. I think the drafting issue was the icing on the cake. It's not far removed from the Wilder nonsense to give a kid who has no chance to make the majors that kind of a signing bonus. They never should have drafted any of their kids, period. Thome/Kotsay....then Dunn/Viciedo throughout this year, and the directive not to play the highest salaried guys like Dunn/Rios (of course, Ozzie was making BOTH of them look dumb by keeping them in the line-up, not sure WHO looked worse, actually....probably Ozzie by a hair).

QUOTE (farmteam @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 02:40 PM) Here's a story that probably isn't funny to anyone but me. In Fall 2007, I was taking a Business Presentations class, and the prof knew someone in the film industry and could get her hands on scripts that were actually floating around the industry at the time (the assignment was to read the script and pitch it to the class as if they were executives wanting to buy it). So I read it, and thought it was one of the stupidest things I'd ever read. Then I found out Topher Grace was already connected to the project and it had been picked up and whatnot. Flash forward four years and it's in movie theaters and gets decent reviews (I think, haven't paid too much attention). Shows what I know. Take Me Home Tonight got decent reviews?

It's a joke we're even having this conversation. Putting up a 900+ OPS and we don't have room for him...because he's still give arguably what Pierre did in the prime of his career...but we do have room for Alex Rios, who everyone would thank their lucky stars if he even managed a 700 OPS next season.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 09:27 PM) Beckham has been hit 12 times. Quentin will help a team lead the category, but the Sox never retaliate. There was no question Konerko was drilled on purpose tonight and he was pissed about it. It would have been nice to dust someone after that. Might have saved Anorexei a bruise. And just think, his OBP is still well below 300 even with those HBP's.

He can put it on his resume/CV for Baseball Debate 101: Accumulation of Exponentially-Damning Evidence or Counterarguments Nullified.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 09:31 PM) But those 25% have an auto post complaining about someone reposting them, right? That's up to God, JR's God or Balta's God.

This is like one of those trainwreck versions of CHEATERS that you can't avert your eyes from...as inevitable as the denouement may have been.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 09:32 PM) I hope JR fires them both. Why does Ozzie deserve to stay? If the answer is 2005, then Kenny deserves to stay. The reason..........2005. And who was hitting coach then, hmmmmm, what was his name? Maybe we should bring back Everett, Blum and Bat Boy Hidalgo as well.

QUOTE (VictoryMC98 @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 09:26 PM) Just think if he leaves.. This place will have an entire new scapegoat to pin Kenny's failures on next year. Greg Walker will be the continued scapegoat for the SOX offense until every single position player from the 2009-2011 rosters is off the roster.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 09:25 PM) With new and improve statistical back up. Improved. Automatic grammar/spell-check to make Greg and my posts more coherent and brief/pithy. Condenses single paragraphs into a sentence.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 09:24 PM) I'll bet Kenny issued a mandate banning the drilling of the other team no matter what. But nothing was written on paper/e-mail/twitter, leading to a trail of plausible denial for KW and more headaches for the once again wronged Guillen.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 09:20 PM) I think we just have 2 guys, Quentin and Pierre, who stand very close to the plate Ramirez has been at times this season. I hope that Sale isn't working his way into the 2012 closer's role. That would suck.

"KW hasn't done sh-- for a decade." Marty/Victory

QUOTE (VictoryMC98 @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 08:51 PM) Or a GM 10/11 years? I thought we'd already established that those left defending KW are only about 5-10% greater in number than those behind Guillen? It's not like you automatically LOVE KW as GM just because you want to see Guillen replaced. There's zero correlation for most here. Two separate issues....although they've tried to connect their fates the last 2 seasons, to the detriment of the organization.

No Prince Fielder love? Jose Reyes was pretty darned devastating...with the caveat that he almost always gets hurt. And it would be nice if a White Sox hitter was legitimately in this conversation...you would have hoped it would be Beckham 3 years ago, but Konerko's the only one. Ryan Howard loses points for being a 1B, like Fielder and Pujols.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 08:41 PM) Too much dead money on this roster. If I'm Guillen, I need a guarantee through 2013 at the very least. Even voters can get rid of those who are failing every 2, 4 or 6 years. Why should we have to put up with a manager who will have failed in 7 out of 8 seasons (by that point)...he's already had four "disappointing" seasons out of the last 5.

Here we go, lol. Maybe every worker in America should only have a one-year contract. Wouldn't that make the economy as a whole much more productive, albeit more stressful? This is almost starting to remind one of the Orlando Cabrera/KW game of chicken that almost backfired. In this case, Ozzie clearly knows KW doesn't want him back...but, unlike Cabrera being threatened with a permanent seat on the bench watching Ramirez play his position, I don't think Ozzie minds the idea of coming back at all because 1) he has the built-in excuses of Dunn/Rios/Peavy for underachieving, 2) whoever is hired in Florida in 2012 will probably not last long...that job will always be there for him and 3) he has the additional leverage of some type of ESPN/MLB network/TBS etc., job if he's not managing.

QUOTE (SpainSOXfan09 @ Sep 20, 2011 -> 05:56 PM) Hey Caul, if he visited China would you hope he would be near you so you could track him down and give him a piece of your mind? :lolhitting Surely it would be an enjoyable conversation. (A point for Greg's team on this one). Probably zero baseball talk, and more discussion of politics and the common experiences of living in South America. I wouldn't even bother to ask him a baseball-related question as his response would be as predictable as Rongey's.

http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/daily-take...ont-work-anymor Good Passan article on the demise of the baseball movie (Bull Durham/Major League/Field of Dreams) and why Moneyball comes up short...along with the changing world demographics of movie watching and the growing appeal of the NFL (and I'll add NASCAR).