caulfield12

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jan 19, 2012 -> 03:33 PM) Nearly every team can be surprise contenders if everyone plays well. It's baseball, the best teams every year only win like 65% of their games -- there is a ton of space for streaks and career years to make a difference. But all of that does NOT make it prudent to plan on everything breaking correctly with tens of millions of dollars at stake. Yes, we would all be happier if every offseason's theme was to add veterans stars, but that's just not possible. No matter how much money you think ownership has, they can not and will not just continue to add payroll until they bankrupt themselves. Yes, the Cubs will suck next year, but that's because Hendry drove them into the ground with wanton aggression every year, throwing big money at the best player available at the time without any concern for anything beyond the next season. Now, they're mired in a state of sustained mediocrity without any chance of getting better quickly because they have $150m tied up in garbage players on long-term contracts, and depressingly few decent prospects to come up and outplay the dead weight. What options do they have? Would the fans rather see an expensive team suck it up or a young team with a promising future suck it up? If you think the White Sox or the Cubs should be further mortgaging the future on the slight chance that all of their bad players will turn it around and have great years, you either have no understanding of basic economics or think the world will end after 2012. I'm sick of hearing people hate on KW offseason strategy by acting like he WANTS to lose. He may or may not be making bad decisions, but he's doing it while trying to build you a winner the best way he knows how -- and unlike so many fans, he understands that he may not be able to do it right now and is aware that the decisions he makes now will affect his ability to succeed in the not-so-distant future. It's not as simple as "get good players or get bad players." And finally, to everyone (not necessarily you) who is complaining about JR being stingy: please realize that last year's payroll was SIGNIFICANTLY higher than any payroll in White Sox history. Except 75% of the blame for what happened with the Cubs should be placed on prior management (not so much Hendry) thinking those aforementioned splashy names would drive up the asking price/NAV of the franchise at the time of sale...and also for maxxing out the performance of the team at a time when others were kicking the tyres about a possible purchase. And there's still a decent chance this White Sox team can at least be competitive in 2012. Can't really say the same for the Cubs.

Will Daniel Hudson finally hit a wall this season and go backwards?

Coriolanus with Ralfe Fiennes and Gerard Butler was good Shakespearean entertainment... Worth checking out. Took we about 20-30 minutes to adjust to the accents (kind of like Attack the Block, hopeless without subtitles in ENG), but you get used to the rhythm of the language after that initial shock. I'll tell you why movie revenue is dropping... BY ROGER EBERT / December 28, 2011 Box office revenue at movie theaters "lagged far behind 2010," an article by the AP's David Germain reports. Partly that was because the year lacked an "Avatar." Partly because a solid summer slate fell off in the autumn. Germain talks to several Hollywood insiders who tried to account for the general decline of ticket sales; 2011 had "smallest movie audience since 1995." I have some theories of my own, fueled by what people tell me. 1. Obviously, the absence of a must-see mass-market movie. When moviegoers hear about "Avatar" or "The Dark Knight," they blast off from home base and land in a theater seat as quickly as they can. 2. Ticket prices are too high. People have always made that complaint, but historically the movies have been cheap compared to concerts, major league sports and restaurants. Not so much any longer. No matter what your opinion is about 3D, the charm of paying a hefty surcharge has worn off for the hypothetical family of four. 3. The theater experience. Moviegoers above 30 are weary of noisy fanboys and girls. The annoyance of talkers has been joined by the plague of cell-phone users, whose bright screens are a distraction. Worse, some texting addicts get mad when told they can't use their cell phones. A theater is reportedly opening which will allow and even bless cell phone usage, although that may be an apocryphal story. 4. Refreshment prices. It's an open secret that the actual cost of soft drinks and popcorn is very low. To justify their inflated prices, theaters serve portions that are grotesquely oversized, and no longer offer what used to be a "small popcorn." Today's bucket of popcorn would feed a thoroughbred. 5. Competition from other forms of delivery. Movies streaming over the internet are no longer a sci-fi fantasy. TV screens are growing larger and cheaper. Consumers are finding devices that easily play internet movies through TV sets. Netflix alone accounts for 30% of all internet traffic in the evening. That represents millions of moviegoers. They're simply not in a theater. This could be seen as an argument about why newspapers and their readers need movie critics more than ever; the number of choices can be baffling. 6. Lack of choice. Box-office tracking shows that the bright spot in 2011 was the performance of indie, foreign or documentary films. On many weekends, one or more of those titles captures first-place in per-screen average receipts. Yet most moviegoers outside large urban centers can't find those titles in their local gigantiplex. Instead, all the shopping center compounds seem to be showing the same few overhyped disappointments. Those films open with big ad campaigns, play a couple of weeks, and disappear. The myth that small-town moviegoers don't like "art movies" is undercut by Netflix's viewing results; the third most popular movie on Dec. 28 on Netflix was "Certified Copy," by the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami. You've heard of him? In fourth place--French director Alain Corneau's "Love Crime." In fifth, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"--but the subtitled Swedish version. The message I get is that Americans love the movies as much as ever. It's the theaters that are losing their charm. Proof: theaters thrive that police their audiences, show a variety of titles and emphasize value-added features. The rest of the industry can't depend forever on blockbusters to bail it out. .

Hence, the Mariners not trading Ichiro and the White Sox holding onto Konerko (presumably over Buehrle, although if the situation was reversed, they wouldn't have traded Buehrle, with two years left on his deal, in order to be able to free up money to keep Paulie, would they?). Maybe...

That was our interpretation, that the Sox were concerned about the health of Drabek (due to the reduced velocity and K numbers) and that he was the other key piece involved in the trade.

We Bought a Zoo is quite the underrated little flick. Usually a fan of Cameron Crowe films, and nice to see the actor from ALMOST FAMOUS, Patrick Fugit, again. Not sure where this film went wrong on the marketing side, but it should have done much better than it did at the box office. (See Hugo, Young Adult and War Horse). http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20483133_20556657,00.html B- Review for Red Tails at ew.com B- for Haywire/Gina Carano A for Miss Bala, one of the 9 foreign language finalists for Oscar (100% A SEPARATION deserves to win)

Well, there was the two-year, $10 million deal they gave outfielder David DeJesus. And signing veterans Andy Sonnanstine and Manny Corpas to minor league deals figuring they can fill out an up-for-grabs bullpen. Plus signing starter Paul Maholm for $4.25 million with a reasonable $6.5 million club option and re-signing reliever Kerry Wood for $3 million and outfielder Reed Johnson for $1.15 million. And there were four trades. Getting Anthony Rizzo, the team’s first baseman of the future, for a pitcher – Andrew Cashner – who could end up a reliever? Smart. Getting rid of Carlos Zambrano and receiving something even halfway decent, starter Chris Volstad, in return? Gravy. Turning an unneeded asset, reliever Sean Marshall, into five years of starter Travis Wood, plus prospects Dave Sappelt and Ronald Torreyes? Dynamite. And buying low on Ian Stewart and Casey Weathers for Tyler Colvin’s terrible plate discipline and D.J. LeMahieu’s iffy power? Worth a shot. Savior All hail King Theo Epstein, friar of the front office, deity of the draft room, sultan of the spreadsheet, giant of the gorilla suit. The Cult of Theo is in full effect because Epstein is good at what he does, and he can rescue this franchise with you-know-how-many consecutive years without a World Series title. That was part of the Cubs job’s allure, doing in Chicago what he did in Boston. Even if the rules are different than when he first accepted the job – the collective-bargaining agreement caps amateur spending, where Epstein and Hoyer planned to build heavily – his vigor is no less. Epstein is playing his very own game of “Inception,” trying to take an idea of what a ballclub should be and build a world around it. The foundation is steadying. The first bricks are going up. And if everything goes as it did in his head, Epstein will have a whole city – his city – in the palm of his hand. Passan yahoo.com/sports

Matt Clement, Mike Cameron, John Lackey, Bobby Jenks, Julio Lugo, J D Drew...etc. Not to mention the Carl Crawford disaster from last year. A lot of contracts reminiscent of Soriano, Zambrano, Fukudome, Dempster, etc.

But you simply can't measure that "clutch" factor and how many times Martinez has historically come up big in RBI situations... On paper, you can replace him (ala Moneyball theory). But it's just not the same when the opposing pitcher looks at that line-up and sees Martinez not in it.

The Krause situation was very mysterious, indeed. That one didn't last very long.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jan 17, 2012 -> 06:48 PM) Why would you want to block Viciedo for another year...when Quentin's not coming back nor is he a part of any future Southside renaissance? If it's DeAza you bench, then Alex Rios is CFer and leadoff hitter...and he's surrounded by two pretty bad corner OF'ers in Viciedo and Quentin. If you play DeAza in CF (and hitting leadoff), then you're stuck with $40 million and Rios sitting on the bench the next 3 years collecting that money. And two bad corners again in the same OF.

Plus Ramirez was playing a few games in the DR. Did he cross paths with Cespedes' team yet?

Don't need another young superstar on the Northside....we need our own to counter with. Second, probably right....past mistakes won't be held against Epstein. But how long will it take before JR opens up the purse strings again on any player (besides Danks) from outside the organization making $10+ million per season?

Sounds a bit like THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST situation with Gibson. Saw Beginners, excellent movie...a little bit like Before/After Sunrise and Sunset with Delpy and Hawke (or 500 Days of Summer), mixed in with a "coming out" drama starring the underrated Christopher Plummer and Goran Vijnic who used to be on ER Always have liked E. MacGregor, and the chick from INGLORIOUS BASTERDS (Melanie Laurent?) just seems to have a quality about her in this movie, it's hard to describe, a bit like this much older actress named Nastasia Kinski when she was younger Beginners has made a ton of TOP 10 lists. Will go to see "WE BOUGHT A ZOO" here in the Philippines tmrw. Saw Mission Impossible on a big screen here as well...definitely worth the cost of admission ($4.00 USD here in MANILA). Haha. Attack the Block, Hunger and PINA are next in the viewing line-up, and Rampart with WOODY HARRELSON.

Chessmen. Those cookies were all my favorites growing up, and Brussels too, but so super expensive now in the grocery stores.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Jan 17, 2012 -> 04:36 PM) Rotoworld brought it up, but Carlos Pena makes a lot of sense now. Anybody thinking that this will increase their efforts to sign Cespedes or Fielder is dumb...they still have Victor for 2 more years after this and, had they signed Fielder, would have 4 guys for 3 spots (Cabrera, Fielder, Martinez, and Avila), though that would be a fun offense to watch. And if they were going to go after Cespedes, they were always going to go after him and this really wouldn't affect that this much. Pena makes a lot of sense because he can almost certainly be had on a 1 year deal and, if they get lucky and he hits for a bit of average too, he's a nice player to have in the middle of that lineup. They should be more familiar with him than nearly anyone, and he'd probably be more comfortable back in DET compared to New York City. But the allure of those RF bleachers in the Bronx (see Damon, J.), if he really wants to put up huge offensive numbers and bid for a multi-year deal in 2013, then the Yankees might be the better destination.

After the Fukudome experience, you'd have to think that organization would still be a little bit gunshy about an international FA outfielder, we shall see. New F.O., new scouting system in place, Ricketts will certainly trust Epstein's judgement to a large extent for at least 2-3 years.

After the Fukudome experience, you'd have to think that organization would still be a little bit gunshy about an international FA outfielder, we shall see. New F.O., new scouting system in places, Ricketts will certainly trust Epstein's judgement to a large extent for at least 2-3 years.

Interesting, never heard anything about this, George Lucas' last feature film....RED TAILS, about Tuskegee Airmen/WW II http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/magazine...amp;_r=1&hp http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/red-tails/ Coming out this Friday, JAN 20. Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)...impressive cast.

I wonder if the White Sox were to sign him...if it would be like the Rios situation, where many would be arguing we were trying to sign him largely to prevent him from going to the Tigers (or Cubs)? What's his current batting line?

How do we know who did/didn't look at Trout, officially? Just because they drafted Mitchell doesn't mean they didn't at least consider Trout..and many other teams did the same. It's not like there was some type of consensus around baseball he was a "sure thing," and there still isn't after 2011.

http://www.freep.com/article/20120117/SPOR...ews|text|Sports

So to see Zduriencik give up Michael Pineda – 95-mph-throwing, plus-slider-commanding, ace-in-waiting Michael Pineda – brought to mind three possibilities: The Mariners question Pineda’s durability, the Mariners are head-over-heels in love with Jesus Montero or both. Montero, ostensibly a catcher but likelier a DH, came as the meat of the deal, though right-hander Hector Noesi, who this winter pitched in a game and got married immediately after, should replace Pineda in the rotation. Montero should hit even with Safeco Field’s monster dimensions that scared off Prince Fielder. (More on that to come.) [ Related: Deal with Mariners turns Yankees into instant favorites ] Still, if he sticks at DH as most expect, the 22-year-old will try to become the fifth player in history to top four wins above replacement at the position. Yes, the only players with 90 percent of their games at DH and four-plus-WAR seasons, according to Baseball-Reference.com, are Edgar Martinez (with seven, including a DH-high 7.7 in 1995), David Ortiz (three), Travis Hafner (three) and Jim Thome (one). Thome is a Hall of Famer. Martinez is borderline. Ortiz will get plenty of votes. And Hafner was one of the game’s elite sluggers until injuries derailed him. Twenty-two pitchers posted WARs of four or better last season alone. Even though Zduriencik got starter Hisashi Iwakuma at an absolute bargain for $1.5 million, signed George Sherrill and Aaron Heilman to strengthen a mediocre bullpen and made the biggest mistake in the history of the world by letting Wily Mo Pena go to Japan, where they’ll appreciate what he does, this will be the offseason of Montero for Pineda. In a season that will be 162 games of staring at the Texas Rangers’ and Los Angeles Angels’ turbo boosters, the after-the-fact deconstruction of the deal will provide endless fascination. jeff passan yahoo.com/sports

Loved THE DESCENDANTS. Of course, being a bit Payne and Clooney fan helps. My all-time favorite of his is still About Schmidt, with Election a close 2nd.

Myles Jaye rated equal to Tyler Saladino??? Really!!