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He was 15. She was 6. SIX YEARS OLD. Unless this guy had a severe mental disability, he ABSOLUTELY knew how wrong it was at 15. At 15 he's taking driver's ed. This isn't an 8-year-old we're talking about here. Fuck him. He can toil in the Mexican League and then go into some other career. If the Sox sign him, no joke, this is one thing that WILL keep me away from ALL things Sox.

Physical Evidence? This isn't a CSI show. She said he touched her, he said he touched her. I don't need Perry Mason to figure this out for us.

Do you think the Sox would even have a shot at signing Heimlich as a free agent. You know your front office is bad when you can't even sign a pedophile. He wouldn't sign here anyways cause theres no kids allowed in the clubhouse. Thanks alot LaRoche

There was a very thorough article about the situation a couple of years ago in, I believe, SI that is worth a read. One interesting excerpt, among many, was a third party expert in the field detailing that recidivism among underage people who commit the crime but undergo proper treatment is incredibly low. I don't know how much that changes anyone's analysis. Personally, I don't think we have to entirely forgive and forget but you also cannot damn a 20 or so year old guy to walking the earth alone unworthy of employment once he has paid his debt. I also don't romanticize a job in baseball as some special privilege bestowed on only the purest. If he were hired for the lowest job you can think of, would you hate the company that hired him? If so, then you are essentially saying he should never have employment. In my opinion that position leads to additional legal problems against society in the future. I may find it repugnant but my line of thinking has to lead to an answer that I wouldn't be against the Sox hiring him. Obviously there would have to be restrictions on his employment.

Yoan's swing from right side look significantly better so far.

Is it sick this made me laugh?

The things you are discussing are not anywhere near the same. The question of an 18 year old having sex with a 15 year old is not even in the same area code as ANY age and a 6 year old. Not comparable at all. The law does not say that a 15-year-old has no judgment or expectations of reasonable behavior. If that was true, we wouldn't be able to try and convict them of crimes, which we do with regularity. You are somehow extending the idea that a 15yo (in some states) can't consent to sex to mean that they are incapable of ANY decisions, and that is not the way the law works at all.

There are quite a few WR in the NFL, one of them is even on the Bears, who I would feel much better about going into 2019 with than Antonio Brown.

There was a contingent here last year that was all about drafting him, especially late due to "value". And while he has the - right to work and have a job -- he is in no way entitled to play in MLB. This is a no, just no. Not at all. Not ever.

And let's be honest here, if this kid couldn't pitch, there wouldn't be a single person out there defending him, or wanting him around their own children. As an employer, I damned well know I wouldn't want to hire him and have him around children as much as he will be as a major league athlete, or even a MiLB one. Not to mention that the risk here, even if it isn't high, would destroy a franchise if another incident happened, or even was accused of happening.

Jones, Beckham, Hopkins, Hill, Smith-Schuster, Thomas, Evans, Hilton, Cooper, Thielen That was pretty easy.

Pretty sure I'd be on board for Miggy's aged 26 - 36 seasons. You know, the ones where he was an absolute monster for 6 straight years, multiple MVPs, triple crowns. That stuff's pretty neat. "Well, well, these guys are going to suck in the 2027 season!!!!'" is the stupidest possible argument and gives to much credit to this garbage front office and ownership. I could give less of a shit about the 2028 payroll if you have a HoF player in his prime to combine with your (hopeful) young talented core. Not to mention 25m in 2028 isn't going to be the same as in 2019. This franchise as currently constructed has a ~5-6 year window to win and they needed to maximize the chance at that by spending money. They have proven over multiple decades that they cannot draft, scout, or develop players. The likelihood of having a solid farm system & young core ever again after this batch runs out is about 0% when you don't have HoF/amazing contract players to trade for other team's assets. FU forever Reinsdorf you cheap bastard.

To be honest, I haven't read about it recently. I read the SI article when it was released a year or two ago. Haven't thought much about it since. But IIRC (I may not be recalling correctly), he never actually "admitted" to doing it. He plead guilty because he was 15 years old and that is what his parents and his attorney told him to do. As a part of pleading guilty, he was forced to write some sort of letter of apology that people have since said was a confession, he said he was forced to write it. IIRC, he has stated that he only plead guilty, in addition to being advised to do such by his attorney and parents, because he was told this would be expunged from his record when he turned 18 if he completed some type of rehab, which IIRC, he did, and that he'd be able to move on with his life. I don't sit on any particular side. If he did what he is accused of doing, its beyond fucked up. As others have said, he's lucky he was a minor or he'd be jail and maybe not even alive. But since this went down, he's done what he's been told to do. All his college teammates speak very highly of him. IIRC, he's made some sort of amends with his brother (father of the girl). It was supposed to be expunged from his record and the only reason it is public is a clerical error and the fact that some journalist found something that wasn't supposed to legally be there when doing some digging. I am not of the belief the major league baseball is only for people of moral superiority. I don't think the kid should never be allowed to work a day in his life over something he was accused of doing when he was 15. I completely understand why teams haven't touched him with a 15 foot pole. I wouldn't want my team to do so. But I do think at some point, somehow, he will be given a chance, and that chance will probably be full of conditions as it should be.

You dont have to over explain players putting up big numbers on bad teams, we all know what that means, just as people are completely aware Lavine and Lauri aren't #1 options on a playoff team. Though I see a lot of growth and maturity in Lavine's game during the season as a scorer, he could potentially be a hell of a #2 option. You're trashing on WCJ and his production which is way off base. Despite being the 3rd or 4th option on the team and getting lost in the shuffle which is typical for a 19 year old big, especially one who had a coaching change 20 games into his career. He still had a good rookie season by many standards. It's not hard to see him turning out to be a more athletic version of Al Horford - an efficient scorer with 3 pt range, a good passer and better rebounder and shot blocker. Drafting 7th where the star potential players are gone, getting a strong asset to add to your core isn't the worst move. Sexton OTOH basically had free reign as an "accumulator" most of the year and he didn't look the part of being NBA ready. How much of the "potential" you saw was due to him being a primary scorer/handler on one of the worst offense? The one thing you're completely off is Sexton's potential. Even coming out of the draft he was a Eric Bledsoe comp, hardly a star by any means even if he turned out to be better than Bledsoe. He'd be a bad fit next to Lavine offense and defense wise, the risk and reward is not enough to forgo a quality prototypical modern day center like WCJ who's a great fit next to Lavine and Lauri. I do not want to derail the thread any further and since this is PHT talk, I will leave it as this.

Winning a game isn't worth justifying whatever happened here.

Without getting too political, I think convicted pedophiles should receive the death penalty. So that’s where I stand. BUT... Something that mitigates in this case is that Luke was 15. This isn’t a 30 year old who was predating on children. He himself was a child, albeit a slightly more developed one. Still, if an adult had sex with him around the time he did this, we would all pretty much agree that he lacked the ability to properly consent, no matter what words were coming out of his mouth. So how can we look at this situation and say that he had the full mental capacity to understand what he was doing and how insanely wrong it was?

Certainly would be one way to get fans to forget about Machado/Harper! Seriously though, fuck no. It's bad PR, and they don't need additional negativity. There are plenty of other arms out there that can make an impact in the future. The whole question on whether he deserves an opportunity is a moral mind fuck of an argument to try to apply reason to. He pleaded guilty - bad legal advice or not, he then tried to cover it up. Who knows what really happened there, but just stay far, far away from that baggage that is going to follow him for the rest of his life. Especially when MLB is so involved in youth programs. Seems like a disaster waiting to happen if he indeed is a molester.

Now this would be an acceptable reason to quit rooting for a team.

Heimlich signed with the Mexican league today. Scouts who saw him pitch at driveline claim he could impact a MLB rotation today in a good way. Heimlichs story is disturbing and zero tolerance for it is where I stand. His denials are odd - given his pleading guilty. He claims it was based on bad legal advice but I would never plead guilty to something that fucked up if I didnt do it - no matter what. I say, signing heimlich is an unforgivable sin, what say you? I do think someone signs him eventually.

If the White Sox are going to pay premium salary, they should get a premium player. That was why they should have signed Machado or Harper. Guys who, even if you gave them a large and lengthy contract, were going to give you their first ballot HOF prime years. So what if you gave them 1-2 years at an inflated salary? If you won big during those prime years, it would have been worth the invesmtent. With Arenado already off of the board, I would save my money and make a huge offer in a few years to Mike Trout, Kris Bryant, Mookie Betts, or Alex Bregman. Sure, you have to outbid large market teams with deep pockets. Sure, it would need to be in the same realm as Harper or Machado. Yet, those are the players you pay that kind of money to. Not an aging guy like JD Martinez. That was why Hahn and Kenny royally f***** up this off-season.

Completely agree. Unless things change dramatically for both players (this is possible but not probable), I see nothing in either of these guys that mandates them being chiseled into an every day lineup for a team with a lengthy window of contention.

Dickman 3-run homer

Then why aren't you criticizing barstool for not responding to her request to take it down, which forced her to file the complaint?

Charlie Furbush has retired, by cracky. By cracky.

Leury. Leury's WAR numbers have been good(and much better than Engel) considering his limited playing time. Even if you just look at his time playing center field he still is an overall much better rated player than Engel.

I think people have this way backwards. When you use something that you didnt create, you know that you are using someone elses stuff. This is basic intellectual property law. Its the person who uses it job to make sure that they are allowed to, not the other way around. When someone asks "Can I use this image from the web?" My answer is "Did you get permission?". Its not really a hard concept. They stole her content, she has no responsibility to respond to them.

I thought it was great base running, Saw the 3rd baseman was going in front of the base on the catch and throw and with his speed beat the throw easy.

They aren't better than AB three years ago but they are better than AB now. The decline is clearly on for Brown and if he didn't have Smith-Schuster and Big Ben his numbers would've been really pedestrian.

Ok, but youre still putting some blame on the victim here which is absolutely absurd, imo. Victim shaming a victim that was 6 at the time and that the accused admitted to the act. Of course hes gonna say he didn't do it now. Edit: not sure victim shaming is the right word, but your implication is that she could have been complicit in setting up Luke at 6 years old and I just don't by it.

Over 80 and under 100 . Happy to help.

As long as Leury is healthy (tough i know) I want to see him in CF.

Huh? Here is my case. She said it happened multiple times - over multiple years. The child described to the cops what happened. Luke was charged. He admitted he did it. So now, we have a child telling the story, the police pursuing it and the person accused admitting it. That seems pretty cut and dry. Luke then becomes potentially rich and famous, this resurfaces, he now denies it because he figures that's his only way out. So not only did we have an accusation but also a conviction and a confession. You somehow think the side you're sitting in in this discussion has equal standing or facts behind it. No. You have one guy saying nope, never happened.

I'd rather see Leury in CF than Engel. I'm counting the days until Basabe or Robert are ready and we can put Engel out to pasture. Dude has 9 lives.

This is my thought with Heimlich. He doesn't deserve the opportunity. He took the innocence away from that child and doesn't deserve to live a prosperous and fairy tale life.

This is outstanding.

Being a 32-year old DH (with a QO attached this time around) makes me think he won't even opt-out to risk not getting paid what hes' even under contract for the remaining 3 years of his current deal. Hell, he signed mid-February last year after coming off of a great year. At the very least, I think maybe him and the Red Sox hammer out a new deal, adding another year or two, before he can potentially opt-out.

None of us knows what he did do and what he didn't do when he was 15, and none of us knows how the dialogue went between law enforcement and him and his parents.

"Zion may not fit our current roster construction" is a very poor reason to draft someone else. If the Bulls wound up with that pick and were insistent that they were going to take a point guard, then some other team would probably give up 3 first round picks for that #1. I probably would.

No fucking thanks

I feel like at some point he should be "allowed" to sign with a team, but I have no idea when that is.

I honestly don't know if he is going to want to risk it. He didn't exactly have a big market the first go around, and now he is a little older. Couple that with the fact he is a legit DH, already 15 teams are eliminated from his market. Yankees won't be in on him, and I think it would be pretty easy to eliminate most of the remaining AL teams (Orioles, Rays, Tigers, Twins, A's for instance). I'll be interesting. If he can put up 40 bombs again, maybe... But if he has anything that looks like regression, I could see him playing it safe. Plus he is on Boston. Not like there are many better teams available.

I don't really see Martinez opting out. Even if he does, I don't see the Sox going after him. They won't be a top player for one of the best FA available. If I had to pick out of the list who I think stands the best chance to be on the Sox come 2020, it'll be one of Marcell Ozuna or Khris Davis. For pitching, I'll go with Michael Wacha, Jake Odorizzi, or Rick Porcello. Those guys seem much more within the Sox standards of FA (2nd tier and down). Though I would be completely shocked if they are actually able to convert on any starter. We're going to hear a whole lot of "won't go beyond 4 years" with these guys thanks to JR's inevitable contract restrictions. I'm pretty convinced they are going with the sink-or-swim mentality regarding catcher. I really have a gut feeling we're going to most likely see Zavala/Collins as a platoon. I simply have zero expectations on what they will actually be able to convert on within the market after this disastrous offseason.

Yeah but you dont not sign jD Martinez for that reason. Theres 180+ other games that matter more than 3 games in the WS in which hed have to play left field.

The goal is to always win the World Series. Some very lean years makes us long for success but without achieving the ultimate goal it's just more failure but with better players.

Concerns where to play someone if the Sox reach the WS are not in my top 100 concerns for the Sox future. However, Castellanos came up as a 3B and is athletic enough to play a decent 1B IMO. I don‘t think he‘d kill our chances in LF in that small a sample of games. Same for Martinez, minus the infield part. I think if Castellanos dedicated himself to work on playing 1B he‘d be better than Abreu, easily.

I hate the idea of a DH type being one of our best hitters. If you ever reach the World Series in hurts you greatly in the road games and is especially bad if you don't have home field advantage.

I mean it started out with them ignoring her. If you're going to allow user submitted content without verifying the source, then you should probably respond to someone who wants credit for their video or their video taken down. Not that I believe that's what happened here, based on her last tweet it seems like they just straight up stole it and used the user submitted content thing as an excuse. The "totally legitimate" reason for their desperation because a lot less legitimate when they ignore her until she filed the DMCA takedown. Just do business properly and it wouldn't have made it anywhere near that point. The $50 giftcard to their bootleg store offer is pretty comical as well.

Some would think being ignored is the equivalent of saying "No thanks". I'm sure they would've kept contacting her as well to get rid of that Twitter strike.

I think they should experiment with the opener by announcing the chairman and general manager's names at the same time as the players just to get anecdotal evidence of fan sentiment