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QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 1, 2016 -> 11:11 AM) No. You are talking about a fraction of a season, and this moment. I am not. I am talking about long term awful. If you assume bad management, the Sox are doomed whether or not they go for it every year or rebuild.

QUOTE (Hatchetman @ Aug 30, 2016 -> 09:07 AM) Better crooked than a Cub fan. https://twitter.com/victorciardelli/status/...src=twsrc%5Etfw

QUOTE (shipps @ Aug 17, 2016 -> 11:21 AM) ptact have you at least come around to think its a possibility that Hahn doesnt have all the power that a GM should have? Now this is truly unbelievable...

QUOTE (Boogua @ Aug 13, 2016 -> 10:07 AM) The fact that people close to him had to continuously convince him to not commit indicates that they had a great shot at him. If everything doesn't play out the way it did at SLU (hiring of Tate as well as other supposed things) he more than likely becomes an Illini. I get what you're saying, and he definitely liked Illinois enough to want to commit. But, the fact that those people were there to stop him and ultimately push him in the direction he ended up going is why he seems like a guy they never truly had a shot at to me.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Aug 12, 2016 -> 08:09 PM) You're definitely misreading the situation, but the point remains that Goodwin went elsewhere, so I guess it's moot. People close to him kept telling him not to commit to Illinois and let it play out, and then he just stops talking to the staff a few weeks before he commits elsewhere? Doesn't seem like a situation they had much of a shot at to me.

The way Goodwin handled the last few weeks of his recruitment was definitely odd. Just flat out stopped talking to Illinois coaches and then said his recruitment came down to Northwestern and SLU. Ok then. Doesn't seem like a kid Illinois ever had a true shot with.

QUOTE (Greg Hibbard @ Aug 3, 2016 -> 12:47 PM) My counterpoint is essentially that by putting players you have (and will have) next year in a position where they are playing hard in august and september as spoilers, even in meaningful games, has an intangible carryover to the following season if you retain that core. I don't disagree that the difference between winning and losing 70-80 games doesn't matter - my argument is that intending to lose games goes against fundamental baseball strategy and undermines building a winning culture. In other words, I see no empirical value in willfully losing. Sure, getting a higher draft pick may net you a really good player - like 3% of the time. Or the team ahead of you may pick the lesser value anyway. It's worth noting that the White Sox are actually trying to do this, and all discussion of draft picks is purely done by fans. Since most people believe the season to be over, they just would prefer to get better prospects out of the next draft instead of rooting for wins in meaningless games. It's a given that the Sox are trying to win. Nobody is willfully losing; hoping they get a good draft pick too is a separate thing.

My best guess as to what happens in the off season: They trade Quintana for what most consider to be an underwhelming package but it has a lot of major league and major league ready talent in it. They then add to this with some scrap heap reclamation project type veterans on 1 year deals and proceed to try to catch lightning in a bottle one more year.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 2, 2016 -> 09:37 AM) And that's an important point I forget to mention -- they may STILL opt to rebuild. None of their desirable pieces are pending free agents. Maybe they didn't like the offers they were getting, but they have another chance and more teams to sell to this winter. For better or for worse, it would be pretty shocking if this front office decided to sell in the offseason. It goes against everything they've done for over a decade.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 2, 2016 -> 09:27 AM) You said "nuh-uh" to a lot of what I posted, but you haven't provided any evidence to the contrary. For example, I'm not sure how you look at Frazier's stat line and come to the conclusion that he isn't far off from his norms. It just isn't true -- K rate is up, BABIP is way down, defense is way down, etc. The differences, purely in terms of WAR, between recent Abreu and Frazier seasons and what they're likely to finish with this year amount to something like 6 wins. If you projected Rodon to come it at three wins this year (safe), you're talking about a 9 win swing. That would absolutely put the Sox in contention. You're welcome to hold your opinion, but you haven't shown anything to support it. I understand the sense of dread (I feel it too), and you may be right that the organization is incompetent in terms of player development, but neither of those two things support the idea that their deadline strategy is indefensible. I'm not trying to defend the org, I'm just trying to explain the actions. This isn't really meant to be a rebuttal to your argument, per se, but isn't it a bit funny how we always seem to be waiting on 2-3 guys to "play like they are capable of playing"? It's almost as if it should be expected for a couple guys to under perform on a year to year basis and having no backup plan for them not meeting expectations is a recipe for failure.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Aug 2, 2016 -> 09:33 AM) The White Sox will also head out of the winter meetings with the 2 best pitchers available

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Aug 1, 2016 -> 03:26 PM) I feel like I'm experiencing an alternate reality or something. You guys are acting like this team is 20 games under .500 and has a bunch of pending free agents. Again, I understand the opinion that the team should rebuild, but I don't understand why everyone is acting like it's unbelievable that they aren't selling. It's very believable. They didn't "blow" anything, they just made a different decision than you wanted. Duke trade seems really odd in retrospect.

The bat will definitely be able to move quickly through the system, but the question is whether or not the glove will be able to follow. Knowing the organization, they will either move him off the position or just not care about his defensive ability to get his bat in the line up as soon as possible. It will probably be some point next year I would think.

I find it interesting that the sort of "statistics aren't everything" crowd are pointing to another statistic, wins, as some sort of indicator of the type of thing statistics can't depict. The thing is that the win statistic is so far removed from what the pitcher can actually control that it is essentially meaningless. It is impossible to parse out whether or not a pitcher consistently gets screwed by things out of control or if he legitimately just melts down in crucial situations. A lack of wins will happen in both of those scenarios. If you were to replace wins by saying something along he lines of scouting how the pitcher performs along with using the statistics for how he performs, I'd be able to go along with that argument.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 18, 2016 -> 11:29 AM) He should be, but Groce is desperate to save his job. Personally I thought Black should have been kicked off as well. With JCL in the wings and rebounding a massive issue, Black is definitely more important to Groce's success than Nunn. Both should probably be gone.

QUOTE (JenksIsMyHero @ Apr 18, 2016 -> 09:53 AM) It amazes me that this country spends so much time/energy/money on problems that affect so few people. Either enforce bathroom use based on genitalia or don't. Pick one. Increasing the cost of business/government is not the solution here. This issue really has me wondering why we have separate bathrooms to begin with. It seems kind of pointless to me, and it would be a simple solution to the bathroom problem. Locker rooms are obviously a bit trickier of a situation, though.

I'm kind of surprised by the lack of Ken Griffey Jr. in all of these lists. He obviously wasn't here very long, but it was cool to see him in a Sox uniform.

The fan experience today was definitely awful. Between the lines for concessions and just to get in, I missed about a third of the game. The hats and ticket vouchers were really cool, though. Also, that drone crashed in just about the perfect spot. It was on the black outline above the stats and to the left, so unless you were actually looking for the broken portion and had good vision, you weren't going to see it.

QUOTE (Boogua @ Apr 8, 2016 -> 12:16 PM) I honestly wonder if Illinois will ever get an Irvin player. Probably not. Well, there's Damonte Williams currently

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 7, 2016 -> 10:26 PM) Horrible hire, as Memphis will be thrilled. He is a bad coach that has had way too many transfers. He will be a big time recruiter. In many ways it will be Hewitt 2.0 What are they thinking? What an unfortunate hire. Sounds like Charlie Moore might be thinking of reopening his recruitment.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 11, 2016 -> 02:24 PM) They can't do anything against their front line. Every time Illinois gets into the lane, they have a hand in their face. Purdue is just eating their lunch on blocks on the other end of the floor. They don't have the energy to outplay Purdue's backcourt the way they did earlier in the season.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 11, 2016 -> 02:11 PM) So much for Illinois. Not good enough to overcome 3 games in 3 days.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Mar 10, 2016 -> 03:58 PM) Lol at Iowa. Illinois improves to 2-13 vs non-historically bad B1G teams. This is the reality. It's good to see this team not quit like they did last year, though.

QUOTE (Brian @ Mar 10, 2016 -> 03:52 PM) Lovie Effect The fightin' Lovies do it again!

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Mar 9, 2016 -> 08:48 AM) Turned down his alma mater at Oklahoma but goes to Illinois for the same position. You can't make that up. Tim Brewster is interested in coming aboard. That'd be just massive. He'd cost a ton but for a recruiting coordinator he'd be worth it. It sounds like the Brewster thing isn't happening.