chw42

QUOTE (knightni @ Sep 4, 2009 -> 05:05 PM) http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-f...p&type=lgns 10K. Gawn. Should have gotten more. He's lucky Wilson isn't actually injured.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 4, 2009 -> 06:02 PM) Again, the unpredictably of the NFL makes schedule rankings meaningless. Now there's no denying that we've upgraded the QB spot, obviously. But how do we know at this point the offensive line is improved? We're not getting the Orlando Pace of 2001. Most Bear fans, including myself, had never even heard of Frank Omiyale before we got him. Chris Williams is basically a redshirt freshman this year, and he will have to adapt to a new position. I feel pretty good about Kreutz and Garza (although Olin ain't gettin' any younger). I just don't see how anybody can say the line is better than last year going in. I love our LB core. Especially if Brian can get back to being Brian. But it all begins and ends with the D-line. And our secondary scares me to death. You're right, most of the guys that we did get to "improve" our offensive line are unknowns. I didn't know who Kevin Shaffer or Frank Omiyale were (turns out Shaffer is ranked as an 86 in Madden and Omiyale is a 77, so they can't be too bad). Somebody said that Browns fans said Shaffer sucked. I guess I'll have to take their word since it's so hard to judge offensive linemen based off statistics (since there really are none). However, Shaffer was a starter on the 06 Falcons, where they rushed for almost 3,000 yards. So you'd assume he's a decent run blocker. Orlando Pace is old, but then again, so were John Tait and Fred Miller last year. He'll hold up. I'm not too sure about Williams. He's inexperienced and I'm surprised that he will start. If anything, I think we increased the depth of our O-line. Chris Williams was not healthy last year, so there's one to add for depth. Omiyale replaces Fred Miller and Pace basically replaces Tait. Shaffer is brought in as a replacement for St. Clair. Overall, I think the line is improved. Even though there seems to be one or two question marks. There were a bunch of question marks last year as well and the line ended up alright. About the schedule thing, if you look at it, there's 7 teams on there that aren't very good. Can they turn better? Of course, the NFL is crazy like that. However, we have the Lions (twice), Seahawks, Bengals, Browns, Rams, and 49ers on the schedule. I mean the only team in there that might win more than 6 games is Seattle. The rest is absolute crap. It's not like we're playing a team on the border of being good or bad. These teams are all bad.

I wonder if the team will get boo'd. It's good to see the Cell again.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Sep 4, 2009 -> 12:21 PM) You can say that for a lot of teams and their starting QBs. Although, Hanie was impressive last night. It's the Browns...lol. But yeah, Jim Sorgi's been Manning's backup forever. He hasn't seen the field outside of some meaningless games at the end of the season. Franchise QBs usually don't get hurt. Cutler's never been hurt, I don't think that should be much of a worry.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Sep 4, 2009 -> 12:18 PM) OMGZ WHAT ABOUT KYLE ORTON AND REX GROSSMAN WHAT WE GOING TO DO?! WHAT IF CUTLER GETS HURT? WE'LL HAVE TO USE CALEB HANIE! NOOOO! Well actually, if that did happen, we're pretty much f***ed to begin with.

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Sep 4, 2009 -> 12:13 PM) He was 4.5 wins above average in 2007 and 2.9 above in 2008. This line from BP sums it up "Rios is a complementary player miscast as a star." Actually he was 5.5, so I actually underestimated him...lol. http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playe...amp;position=OF His market value was $24 million last year.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 4, 2009 -> 11:09 AM) MLB Fines Papelbon for taking too much time on the mound. Missing from this story is the part where they sent the money to Buehrle. Steve Trachsel's lucky this rule wasn't enforced when he was around. I also gotta wonder about Rafael Betancourt...

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Sep 4, 2009 -> 12:01 PM) BUT WE DONT HAVE BRANDON LLOYD THIS YEAR. NOR DO WE HAVE MIKE BROWN AND MARTY BOOKER. NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Sep 4, 2009 -> 11:42 AM) Alex Rios = Brian Anderson Tony Pena = Ryan Bukvich Brandon Allen = Ryan Howard Mike MacDougal = Jon Papelbon Clayton Richard = Andy Pettite Wow, what a horrible job by our GM this year Well, you can easily confuse Ryan Howard with Brandon Allen...

QUOTE (docsox24 @ Sep 4, 2009 -> 10:30 AM) Many people are saying that some are too quick to judge and next year hs should get back to his norm. The truth is his career numbers are not at all that good. He has 82 homers in 6 seasons. He has hit more than 17 homers once. He has never walked more than 55 times. People perceive him as a 30 homer guy because thats what scouts or baseball people tell us. But hes not even close to that. His numbers with us, without the face, look like Brian Anderson but he will always get a much larger opportunity than BA because of the "potential". I think his upside is a .285 20 hr guy. Hes not a superstar, hes not an all star, and there are plenty of CF better than him. He is certainly not a $60M player. I think he may have a decent year or two for us, but he won't earn that salary. I predict he will end up being one of the most disliked Sox players of our generation. I'll admit it, before this year, I thought he was overrated. I used the same arguments you're using. Never hit many homers, blah blah blah. The thing is, the guy hits a bunch of doubles, has the ability to steal 30 bases, and plays great defense in center field of all places. His stats might have looked ordinary last year. He almost hit .300 and hit only 15 home runs. But guess what? He was worth 4.5 wins above average. Any player above 4 wins is all-star caliber. If you want to compare him to any players...Let's just say he was better than Curtis Granderson by .7 wins.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 4, 2009 -> 04:59 AM) I really hate this line of thinking. So because we went 9-7 last year and added Cutler it's to be automatically assumed that will be better? It's not that simple. Last year is over. Totally different circumstances, schedules, ect. Of course it isn't. But whenever you add a franchise QB who can change your team's offense, improve your linebackers, offensive line, and own one of the easiest schedules in the NFL with 7 easy wins on it, you SHOULD be better than you were last year.

Had we not traded Javy, he would have given us similar stats to what Freddy would have compiled had he been with us for the entire year. At this point in Freddy's career, he's a very average pitcher. Javy would be too if he pitched in the AL.

QUOTE (Brian @ Sep 3, 2009 -> 08:49 PM) Soxtalk 2009 NFL Pick Em on Yahoo! This year, using the spread! Group ID# 43377 password: gaged Tell a friend. I'm in. I played with the WSI people last year. I was SO CLOSE to winning. Ended up finishing third.

QUOTE (knightni @ Sep 3, 2009 -> 08:31 PM) You're about 4 wins too many for .500. Fixed, I think.

Wow, you're going to judge Rios already? He's been on this team for half a month. Jermaine Dye's been absolute crap for the past two months, is that going to erase what he did with the White Sox prior to that? Seriously, grow some patience. Sheesh.

Alright, so I've talked about some of this stuff with one of my Sox friends. And I've come up with three different possibilities. All may be totally unrealistic, but they sure as hell look pretty good. All of them have three things in common. 1. They acquire one very good player that can make a big impact on this team. 2. They also have three options - re-sign either Dye, Podsednik, or Thome or give somebody within the organization (such as Flowers) an opportunity to DH part-time in a rotation that includes Konerko, Pierzynski, and Flowers. 3. Sign one bullpen arm. Scenario 1. Sign Chone Figgins to play LF at 3 years and $22 million ($8 million this year) Re-sign Jim Thome to DH for a one year deal worth around $5-6 million. Take a chance and sign Billy Wagner to a incentive laden deal. Scenario 1a. Sign Chone Figgins Re-sign Jermaine Dye to a 2-year deal worth around $13 million ($7 million this year) Take a chance and sign Billy Wagner to a incentive laden deal. Scenario 1b. Sign Chone Figgins Play Tyler Flowers at DH. Catch him twice a week and play him at 1B once a week. Sign a higher end bullpen arm like Rafael Soriano. Scenario 2 Sign Bobby Abreu to play LF at 2 years and $15 million with a lot of incentives. Re-sign Jim Thome to a one year deal. Mentioned above. Take a chance with Billy Wagner. Scenario 2a. Sign Bobby Abreu to play DH or LF Re-sign Jermaine Dye. Same deal as before. DH him or put him in LF in a rotation. Take a chance with Billy Wagner. Scenario 2b. Sign Bobby Abreu to play LF Play Flowers at DH/1B/C in a rotation. Sign Rafael Soriano or another higher end closer that will command more money. Scenario 3 Trade for Adam Dunn to DH Re-sign Scott Podsednik to a 2 year deal worth around $8-9 million to play LF Take a chance on Billy Wagner. Scenario 3a. Trade for Adam Dunn to play LF (yikes) Re-sign Jermaine Dye to a 2 year deal mentioned above. Take a chance on Billy Wagner. Scenario 3b. Trade for Adam Dunn to play LF Play Flowers at DH/C/1B in a rotation. Sign a higher quality reliever like Rafael Soriano. I won't bother typing out all the rosters (way too much to type), but you get the picture. In the latter two scenarios where Pods is not included, Chris Getz or Gordon Beckham will most likely lead-off. Most of the scenarios will push the team salary to around $95 million, which is what I think the White Sox payroll will be next year. I estimated the current team's 2010 salary to be around $80 million. So Kenny has around $10-15 million to spend this off-season at most.

We should sign Abreu as our DH and put him in the 5th spot. That would be a great deal...

x-New England 12-4 (2) Miami 8-8 Buffalo 7-9 Jets 6-10 x-Indianapolis 11-5 (4) y-Tennessee 10-6 (6) Houston 9-7 Jacksonville 5-11 x-Pittsburgh 13-3 (1) y-Baltimore 11-5 (5) Cleveland 5-11 Cincinnati 4-12 x-San Diego 12-4 (3) Kansas City 7-9 Denver 6-10 Oakland 4-12 x-Philadelphia 13-3 (1) y-Giants 10-6 (5) Cowboys 9-7 Washington 7-9 x-Chicago 11-5 (3) Vikings 9-7 Green Bay 8-8 Detroit 2-14 x-Atlanta 12-4 (2) y-New Orleans 10-6 (6) Carolina 9-7 Tampa Bay 6-10 x-Arizona 10-6 (4) Seattle 6-10 San Francisco 4-12 St Louis 2-14 Tennessee (6) vs. San Diego (3) Baltimore (5) vs. Indianapolis (4) New Orleans (6) vs. Chicago (3) New York (5) vs. Arizona (4) San Diego (3) vs. New England (2) Indianapolis (4) vs. Pittsburgh (1) Chicago (3) vs. Atlanta (2) New York (5) vs. Philadelphia (1) Pittsburgh (1) vs. San Diego (3) Atlanta (2) vs. Philadelphia (1) San Diego (3) vs. Philadelphia (1) Philadelphia (1)

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Sep 3, 2009 -> 07:02 PM) so, so true. FWIW, on this day in 2005: CHW 83-51 CLE 75-60 8.5 20 days later that lead was down to 1.5 games. Just saying The Indians were absolutely on fire. We're far from that.

Don't tell me that one of the oldest active QBs with 2 decades of football experience doesn't know how to block or doesn't know that a chop block is physically dangerous. I don't know if he did it on purpose or not, but that's a damn dirty play.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Sep 3, 2009 -> 10:32 AM) I hate to rain on your parade, but I just don't see it. They have the worst WR core in football and the secondary is just bad. It's not like the WR core and secondary were any better last year. In fact, it pretty much couldn't have been worse. Yet, that team finished 9-7 and was a game away from the playoffs. Seriously folks, stop trying to rain on other people's parades when the same team minus Jay Cutler won 9 games.

Image from today's game.

Soriano probably had the worst game of the year today.

QUOTE (bmags @ Sep 3, 2009 -> 04:23 PM) What's the context for that nickname? Soriano does the hop before he catches the ball because he wants to look like a complete idiot. Right after DJ analyzed the play, Farmio was like, "do you think he was about to jump?" Classic Farmio.

Haha, Ed Farmer called Soriano "The Jumping Man". Pierzysnki hits a fly ball to left field...the jumping man is under it, HE DROPS IT! BECKHAM WILL SCORE! PIERZYNSKI TO THIRD!