Guess the player!

by The Wizard on Jul 9, 2007 2:34 PM CDT in Quotes

Beneath the thick layers of dirt, scars and bruises is an All-Star outfielder. ... "He's an All-Star, and they can never take that away from him," Sox hitting coach Greg Walker said. "He has played like an All-Star in stretches. ... The kid can play. For all his talents, his makeup is better. That makes him the player he is. His makeup is off the charts. I've never seen him down one bit. I've never seen him come out with his head hung down. "He's a workaholic. His energy is phenomenal. It enables him to work as hard as he does and keep upbeat. I've seen him frustrated here and there, but ... I've never seen him doubt himself. It's not like he has been a perennial All-Star, but he has that inner belief in himself."

No Googling allowed! And the answer is...Aaron Rowand

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Gotta be...

Rowand.

It's so obviously Rowand that I'm wondering if it's a trick question.

by The Jerry Royster Experience on Jul 9, 2007 2:40 PM CDT reply actions

don't second guess yourself

you're a sox fan. go with your gut, just like ozzie.

Yeaaah. I'm gonna need you to go ahead and provide me with an official press release on that. OK? Great.

by larry on Jul 9, 2007 2:42 PM CDT up reply actions

i vote rowand

by ruffster on Jul 10, 2007 8:45 AM CDT up reply actions

Erstad?

Is it Darrin Erstad?

by Jez on Jul 9, 2007 2:40 PM CDT reply actions

Rowand

DRINK!!

by omnipotent grab on Jul 9, 2007 2:44 PM CDT reply actions

Podsednik

It's one of the two, Erstad or Pods. I'm going with Pods.

Onlythebulls

by onlythebulls on Jul 9, 2007 2:44 PM CDT reply actions

What is sad

is Walk probably genuinely feels the same about Erstad, Rowand, AND Pods (though Pods does get down on himself) and could be describing all 3. Grinders all.

Since this is Rowand's 1st AS game, I vote The Legend.

by winningugly on Jul 9, 2007 2:45 PM CDT reply actions

Podsednik...

is no grinder.

by The Jerry Royster Experience on Jul 9, 2007 2:50 PM CDT up reply actions

Sure he is

He grinds on our patience.

by winningugly on Jul 9, 2007 2:52 PM CDT up reply actions

I love that the google ads

just listed a truck commercial featuring Mike Rowe holding what I assume is a shit-sucker used for cleaning out port-a-johns...

AIM: SouthSideCheat

by The Cheat on Jul 9, 2007 2:49 PM CDT reply actions

umm

billy koch, final answer

by Jbasic89 on Jul 9, 2007 4:18 PM CDT reply actions

McKay Christensen

lmao!

by Big Daddy Kool on Jul 9, 2007 5:05 PM CDT reply actions

there's a name

i heard he went into the family biz, developing residential subdivisions or something. you can't ever keep a mormon down!

Yeaaah. I'm gonna need you to go ahead and provide me with an official press release on that. OK? Great.

by larry on Jul 9, 2007 5:09 PM CDT up reply actions

Chris Snopek

AKA the guy with the sunglasses.

FORGIVE ME GREG WALKER FOR I HAVE SINNED. IT'S BEEN A YEAR SINCE I CONSISTENTLY HIT THE BALL.

by chisox on Jul 9, 2007 5:16 PM CDT up reply actions

Lyle Mouton

Whatever happened to him?

by Big Daddy Kool on Jul 9, 2007 5:32 PM CDT reply actions

Big Daddy Kool you owe me....

a new keyboard and a LCD monitor because I just spit grape Snapple all over the place.

FORGIVE ME GREG WALKER FOR I HAVE SINNED. IT'S BEEN A YEAR SINCE I CONSISTENTLY HIT THE BALL.

by chisox on Jul 9, 2007 5:44 PM CDT up reply actions

Grape Snapple? What the ... ?

"God knows I gave my best in baseball at all times and no man on earth can truthfully judge me otherwise."

by Shoeless In SC on Jul 9, 2007 5:56 PM CDT up reply actions

Glad I could help out!

Good thing I didn't say Jeff Leifer.

by Big Daddy Kool on Jul 9, 2007 10:08 PM CDT up reply actions

your monthly fix of joe (crede)

boras says his client will start rehab this week in arizona.

http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports_hardball/2007/07/crede-update.html

Yeaaah. I'm gonna need you to go ahead and provide me with an official press release on that. OK? Great.

by larry on Jul 9, 2007 6:01 PM CDT reply actions

Will Crede be back in 2008?

I would guess yes, although it must be tempting for for KW to consider non-tendering him to save money (with Fields actually hitting at a league average clip right now)....

by hitlesswonder on Jul 9, 2007 6:11 PM CDT up reply actions

it's a tough call

i'd take the gamble because i think you would be able to trade him during ST or soon thereafter for something relatively useful. he's getting $4.94 mmillion this year; i can't imagine he'll see very much of a raise on that - especially if he sits out the rest of the year, as i think boras will have him do. i'd feel a hell of a lot better if he got the surgery that would actually go some way towards fixing the problem and not just the symptoms.

Yeaaah. I'm gonna need you to go ahead and provide me with an official press release on that. OK? Great.

by larry on Jul 9, 2007 6:15 PM CDT up reply actions

he had surgery

did you miss that?

by tubesox on Jul 9, 2007 11:53 PM CDT up reply actions

Did he?

I thought he just had the fluid drained and some minor stuff that was causing the pain. The actual disk issue still remains... or did I miss that?

White Sox baseball, the kids are still learning to play

by Brush Back on Jul 10, 2007 8:27 AM CDT up reply actions

that

was the surgery, cuty his back and got rid of the fluid, it sounded so easy wish he did it in the off season for the sox sake, but thats a boras guy for ya.

- i don't see this happening but a-rod's wife was her last weekend house hunting, with contract opting out is he reuniting with sweet lou

by tubesox on Jul 10, 2007 11:11 AM CDT up reply actions

I think I read...

that there was another, more complicated surgery that exists that would actually work on correcting the problem, as opposed to just mitigating the pain, but Crede refuses to do that for some reason.

I could be wrong about that, though.

I hope we're not headed towards another Magglio Ordonez situation.

by The Jerry Royster Experience on Jul 10, 2007 11:51 AM CDT up reply actions

that's right

the surgery he had drained fluid that was irritating a nerve and causing him pain. that is a symptom of the real problem - herniated discs. he did not have surgery to repair the discs. therefore, this problem with the fluid - along with other assorted problems related to herniated discs - are likely to recur. obviously there are no guarantees with surgery on the discs - but it woudl actually be an attempt to address the problem instead of papering over it.

Yeaaah. I'm gonna need you to go ahead and provide me with an official press release on that. OK? Great.

by larry on Jul 10, 2007 11:55 AM CDT up reply actions

there's been mention of loose mat'l removed

I believe he had a discectomy, which involved removing the pieces of disc that have herniated from between the vertebrae. I think it was Boras talking about fluid (no doubt to gloss over the seriousness of the surgery). The discectomy is the step he would take after the rest/rehab didn't work, and I think that's what he had.

Not as serious as fusion surgery, though.

Read about John Castino's life with this, and hope it doesn't turn out that way for Joe.

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/chi-castino27jun27,1,3225455.story? coll=cs-whitesox-headlines

Go Alex Cintron!! (and take Uribe with you...)

by Nordhagen on Jul 10, 2007 12:11 PM CDT up reply actions

if you've got a source on that

i'd like to see it.

Yeaaah. I'm gonna need you to go ahead and provide me with an official press release on that. OK? Great.

by larry on Jul 10, 2007 12:27 PM CDT up reply actions

the source is there

the only source I have is in that Castino link. States Joe's having a laminectomy actually. It appears that its similar but differs from discectomy.

Go Alex Cintron!! (and take Uribe with you...)

by Nordhagen on Jul 10, 2007 12:34 PM CDT up reply actions

here's a source

on the Crede microdiscectomy that mentions removal of herniated disc material.

by Ryno on Jul 10, 2007 12:35 PM CDT up reply actions

yeah, okay

that's nothing different than i thought. that surgery doesn't really fix the underlying issue.

Yeaaah. I'm gonna need you to go ahead and provide me with an official press release on that. OK? Great.

by larry on Jul 10, 2007 12:38 PM CDT up reply actions

anybody know?

what are the odds of a complete (or nearly complete) recovery for rest and rehab vs. more surgery?

from what larry is saying it sounds like rest and rehab might only minimally delay the inevitable, but that surgery is also something of a crapshoot.

is this a potential career-ender for joe?

by Ryno on Jul 10, 2007 12:45 PM CDT up reply actions

well

this will very likely be what ends joe's career. will it be now? i highly doubt it. they're (and by that i mean boras) taking the conservative approach with their treatment. there's only so many times you can go under the knife for this before the doctors say "no more" - or at least no more baseball. so delaying the surgeries as long as possible makes sense from crede's perspective. even if he had the more extensive surgery, it probably wouldn't "fix" the problem completely and, as i alluded to above, sometimes it doesn't do much of anything. it would do more likely, though, to extend the time between severe flare-ups.

Yeaaah. I'm gonna need you to go ahead and provide me with an official press release on that. OK? Great.

by larry on Jul 10, 2007 12:49 PM CDT up reply actions

Depends on the outcome of

the final surgery, not the 'band-aiding" tactics they are currently using. If he does the fusion/titanium rod thing I've heard anecdotal evidence of it working out beautifully (at least for soccer players) or not at all (football). Obviously the more high impact the sport, the less promising prognosis of a 100% return.

(The story continues...)

by winningugly on Jul 10, 2007 12:55 PM CDT up reply actions

I think it could

the herniated disk is the underlying issue. Its presence causes the nerve irritation, which causes the pain. He's got a chance to be painfree by next year.

However, there's also a good chance that the pain returns. Its probably a degenerative thing. But he's following the normal course of treatment for herniated disks. First, rehab/exercise/injection. Then this surgery. At some point he may have to have vertebrae fused, and then his career is most likely over.

Go Alex Cintron!! (and take Uribe with you...)

by Nordhagen on Jul 10, 2007 12:46 PM CDT up reply actions

Fusion surgery

I've read that's actually controversial. There's significant disagreement about whether the procedure is actually beneficial or not. There's supposedly not much positive data for it.

I'm under the impression that there's not much that can be done for degenerating discs. Maybe Crede should look into cutting edge techniques in Austria -- seems to have worked for Magglio....

by hitlesswonder on Jul 10, 2007 1:13 PM CDT up reply actions

Isn't listening to Boras...

... like listening to a snake? I mean this is the Drew Rosenhaus of MLB.

"Completely healthy." That remains to be seen. I like Joe Crede and hope he comes back 100%. But wishful thinking and agent statements don't make things so.

by ruffster on Jul 10, 2007 9:44 AM CDT up reply actions

I agree 100%

My Uncle Henry had a saying that applies nicely to Boras and his ilk.

"That guy would take your eye out, put a grape in there, and tell you it looks better."

by ballyb on Jul 10, 2007 10:08 AM CDT up reply actions

fo some "neutral" discussion

of the MB deal, look here:

http://www.insidethebook.com/ee/index.php/site/comments/buehrle/#comments

i'm sure you can guess the general consensus.

Yeaaah. I'm gonna need you to go ahead and provide me with an official press release on that. OK? Great.

by larry on Jul 9, 2007 6:11 PM CDT reply actions

Is there something wrong with me?

Is it silly to call Buehrle's deal overpriced: "Signing MB to an over-priced contract will hamstring Williams on other signings, but then he can blame "the market" or the owners being stingy."

Look, I know this could end up being a bad signing if Buehrle's arm blows up. But never taking a risk leads to pretty conservative rewards. MGL apparently would build a staff with no FA picthers -- all arb & pre-arb guys. That's just a lot of quality innings to get from pitchers developed in-house and from the scrap-heap. I guess the Marlins did it. But the fact that it's only a 4 year deal makes the risk seem pretty low to me. And if salaries continue to escalate, $14M won't be the burden it now seems in the final 2 years of the deal. I fail to see how this contract can be seen as anything but a reasonable risk for a team with a large payroll that wants to contend again in th next 2 years. Plus the PR is worth $ at the gate.

by hitlesswonder on Jul 9, 2007 6:25 PM CDT up reply actions

MGL considers things...

pretty much entirely in terms of risk/reward. So yes, he would pretty much never sign a free agent pitcher, as they're too volatile and too expensive. He would spend his money on position players (not only are they less volatile, they play every day!) and whatever part of the pitching staff he couldn't fill out with youngsters not yet ready for Free Agency, he'd try to find in the junk bin.

It's not too far from what Ron Schueler used to do when he ran the Sox. This philosophy is great from a financial standpoint, as it tries to get maximum efficiency for each payroll dollar, but you wind up with some pretty mediocre teams. Unless your minor-league system is just an assembly line for hot young pitchers, it's hard to win without spending money on pitching.

by The Jerry Royster Experience on Jul 9, 2007 6:36 PM CDT up reply actions

AIM: SouthSideCheat

by The Cheat on Jul 9, 2007 6:49 PM CDT up reply actions

jeez, it must be nice to have a team so talented that you can release a guy batting .254...

We've got guys performing worse, who not only keep their jobs, but often start...

Go Alex Cintron!! (and take Uribe with you...)

by Nordhagen on Jul 10, 2007 9:58 AM CDT reply actions

Sure, he was hitting .254...

but with no power and only five walks in 200 PAs. Then he had the nerve to whine about not getting enough playing time. He's terrible, has a bad attitude, and to top it all off, can't play defense.

There are no players on the Sox I would trade for Shea Hillenbrand. That's how bad he is.

by The Jerry Royster Experience on Jul 10, 2007 10:23 AM CDT up reply actions