greg775

Now that's a great post.

Good points. I think most fans would prefer just trying to field a good team as the Sox had in 05 and after that continue trying to stay on top by acquiring free agents where necessary, making smart trades when necessary. True, you aren't going to get many top first round draft picks, but if you pick wisely you still can get a good MLB caliber player in round one. This is off topic, but regarding this current Sox rebuild. If you were the front office, you actually could continue this and do it on the cheap and still have most media/fans on your side. Three seasons from now, the Sox could field both a starting rotation and bullpen from guys currently in the organization. By then Rutherford and Robert and Madrigal and all those guys will be on the parent club as well as Collins. All will be making pennies, same as our pitchers. Even though I want free agents to supplement the rebuild, the front office could get away with not doing it. Because in terms of quantity, there's going to be tons of pitchers and everyday players that we groomed for the rebuilt Sox, ready to play. You could conceivably field a WS winner with a 50 million payroll if you just play all the guys we acquired and skip the free agency part of all this. Why acquire Manny when in 2-3 years you have an infield of 1B (whoever we keep there, Palka or Davidson, whomever), Madrigal, Timmy and Moncada. My point is ... your outfield is eloy, robert and rutherford. Collins is your catcher; and tons of homegrown pitchers. If you were Hahn wouldn't you just go with all the guys you've acquired? Screw the free agents and let Jerry have more spending money for Christmas gifts, etc., to boot.

Any dentists on here? I need a crown on a tooth where I chew a lot. They say they will put in a temporary one and then a few weeks later permanent. Is this still the correct procedure or is my dentist getting too old? Also how much will it run me to get a crown? Like Curley in the Stooges episode where the boys pull his tooth, I have a bum tooth.

I agree with Brian. Good advice. Follow it. At least stop spending cash on her. Brian is right.

No. I was saying they got their one WS from the tank/rebuild. We got one doing it the normal way. Just trying to field good teams every year and hoping for lightning in a bottle.

That is the best line ever on this topic. Tanking is like filing bankruptcy. Yes sir. That's how I feel about it! I like your analogy much.

Great trade for the Sox.

Some modern players just don't have it in them to hustle out of the box to first. Some guys get mad when they hit a routine grounder and loaf. It shows up on occasion when there's a bobble. That's when Ricky yanks guys out of the game. Would he remove Machado from said game?

Great post but I don't think we were exactly tanking in the true sense of tanking, which is what is going on now. Don't forget that team also had AJP who was huge; Iguchi, Uribe, Dye, Blum, Ozuna, Contreras, Marte and Hermanson. You didn't name some of the other guys.

You are the rare fan who rarely if ever blasts the front office or expresses displeasure of any kind. If your patience is rewarded with year after year of excellence you will have the last laugh on a lot of people who are angry now. The rest of us complainers will enjoy the winning years as well.

I wouldn't mind them building a palace in the suburbs. Why does the park have to be at 35th and Shields? Sell the team to Mark Cuban and build a wondrous stadium out in a suburb in a spot where traffic can get in and out 'somewhat' efficiently. If not, build it downtown Chicago and make it the 8th wonder of the world type building.

I'm not done with him. I'm just saying are the folks who actively root for losses ecstatic over him? I hope he does just fine. Of course Timmy and Moncada are not going anywhere so even if he progresses at the rate he's supposed to, where's he gonna play? It's 3B for Moncada probably and Madrigal at second. I'm not saying that's a bad infield. I am just saying you folks who follow the draft should expect a much better prospect than Madrigal at No. 3 this year. Arguably the Sox pick needs to be Eloy-ish.

This is why tanking/rebuilding slays me. I prefer the old way that got us a title in 2005. Being decent to good most years then having everything go right one year. The Cubs total rebuild has resulted in one WS title. Great. As a fan I would deem it a successful season making the playoffs as well. BUT no doubt the Cubs wanted more than one WS title with the rebuild. Are they gonna get more? Probably not. And if they don't, they got one WS title doing it the tank/rebuild way and we got one in 05 doing it the other way. This tank/rebuild stuff is not a guaranteed formula for success folks. I'm personally looking forward to Eloy raking with Moncada, Tim, Abreu, Avi, Palka and Davidson. Me likey that.

I do think it's pretty wild the only person that can get away with abhorrent behavior in the day and age of P.C. is pretty much Trump. Anybody else would be fired or thrust out of the public eye if they called another human being Pocohontas like he calls Warren. And Trump does it all the time. Anybody who took his stance on Ford (mocking her at that rally) also would have not survived that evening. They'd have been fired for mocking Ford for her lack of memory regarding the alleged attack. I was all for Trump's attack on PC police during the election but it hasn't changed much. Only Trump can get away with blatant ignorant comments w/out getting fired.

If Eloy as great as we all anticipate, all will be well as the team rebuilds. Sox fans will rejoice and should rejoice. In fact, if Eloy dominates at the MLB level, I'd reward Hahn at that point with an extension. He could be that big a star. If he's blah for some reason, bye bye Ricky. Frankly and I know I'll be buried for this negative comment, all that losing so far has given us Madrigal and Burger? Me no likey. Let's see who we get with No. 3 next year's draft. It better be either a Sale-like can't miss pitcher or another Eloy type hitter not a Maddy or Burger. A lot of you wanted a very very high pick. You got it. They better pick a star, baby.

Good post. Games should never go over 2 hours, 20 minutes cept extra inning affairs. You probably are right about the playoffs as well. Of course I still say baseball's unbalanced schedule is a joke. Playing Minnie, KC, Cleveland and Detroit in the cell 9 times a year is ... yawn. p.s. surprised you didn't try to contact me caulfield when I was gone. I thought we were board pals.

At least I'm too dumb to understand the meaning of his last two posts so if I got beat I didn't feel it.

18 million is probably way too much for him. However if the payroll isn't going up significantly for next season, might as well give him his 18 and Avi his 8. That's 26 million to two players instead of Jerry and his partners. I'd rather see it go to the players.

I guess you don't want to discuss my points on a board meant for discussion. I could have ended my first sentence after the word trouble. Yet it's indisputable it's front office analysts that are talking about opening games with a closer then bringing in an opposite arm pitcher. It is analytics that leads to the youngification of baseball and yes it is analytics that has caused tanking. Hmmm.

I think baseball is in deep trouble because of analytics. Two examples. 1.) The "opener experiment" in which a reliever pitches one inning to start the game or maybe 2 innings, then turning it over to an opposite hand starter if it takes hold is going to kill baseball. The loss of the traditional starter is not good for baseball IMO. Already we've lost the importance of the W/L record. It means nothing now. I think it's going to be even more boring if we just have a batch of guys going 2-3 innings max. The idea of the starter added to the romance of baseball IMO. Going way back, the Bob Gibsons, the Sandy Koufaxes and the Jack McDowells and Fergie Jenkins of the world. It meant something if a guy was 18-6 in September. It meant something if a pitcher could consistently give you 7-8 innings. I think if baseball continues to specialize and decides to go with starter for the first two innings, a reliever for two innings, another reliever two innings, then play matchups the rest of the way will be maddeningly boring and extend games with all the pitching changes. You say we have to go this way cause of injuries? PTATC might be able to tell us if it's unreasonable to expect starters to go 7 innings every 5 days and this is inevitable. Losing the starting pitcher and all the storylines involving starting pitchers is not a positive for baseball IMO. 2.) The idea players are on a fast/vast downhill slide once they reach a certain age is detrimental to the game. Now I guess it's 34 when front offices and fans start to deem players unwantable. 35 is definitely considered ancient. The older ballplayer was a very interesting part of baseball. Pete Rose still playing in his 40s, Julio Franco, Carlton Fisk, Minnie Minoso, etc. It was fun to see Fisk play as long as he possibly could. Having guys wither out of the game from the ages 32 to 35 is annoying and will likely get worse as analytics deem such players unproductive. I love young players, but to make the game as interesting as possible you need both younguns and older guys. I want a mix of them. 3.) Pace of play/umpires/replays: Pace of play sucks. Umpires will not call the strike zone still. Replays are disgustingly boring waiting for the call to be made. A fastball a tad above the belt is a strike, not a ball but umpires won't make the correct call. Umps also have petty problems with teams/players. What they did to Moncada this year was borderline criminal. It's obvious they were purposely ringing him up. It was no coincidence folks. Why were they calling all those pitches outside the zone strikes on him? 4.) Tanking/rebuilding: It's very annoying and boring to have your favorite team become one of the tanking teams. There's something to be said about the old way of doing things and trying to make the playoffs then catching lightning in a bottle and winning it all or making the WS. There's no crime in being a playoff team and losing. Waiting for a tanking team to win is really really annoying.

She is amazing. She's only 21 so maybe she'll dominate the next Olympics again.

Thanks for your comment that you missed me. I got thrown in message board detention to use a Brother Rice term. But it was for more than just one Saturday.

I'd rather go for it in 8A. It seems like when Rice beat Marist and then Loyola it established itself as a team that should be playing for the highest stakes. Maybe I'm in the minority. I wonder if the current Rice students and faculty prefer 7A playoffs just because in theory it'd be easier to reach the state title game.

I never thought baseball would become football where 30 is really old. I guess baseball might go all the way to 32 before the player is deemed somebody to be avoided if significant dollars are being discussed.

I think if we are in the 7A poll we'll be in the 7A playoffs right? I almost want to be in the 8A playoffs for some reason.