greg775

If the Sox truly are going to start being special in 2020, why not sign a few of these guys now that can help the team then? I'm sure the worry is all of them are old. But if we have the money and are not going to win the Machado/Harper sweepstakes (there's no real buzz out there the Sox are true contenders for them), why not get more realistic and sign one or two of these guys out of this group: Robertson and Ottavino/Miller for the pen; Grandal for catcher, Brantley for OF and Keuchel for starter and Moustakas for third? How bout Brantley and Grandal and Moustakas and work on the pitchers later? I think it's a big challenge for the White Sox in the future to sign FAs. I've been reading some astronomical salary figures. Go in the vicinity of four year deals.

If this is true ... wow. Have any baseball writers said the Sox are real players for either guy? I don't see it when other teams (cough, cough Yankees) are out there. https://www.newsday.com/sports/columnists/anthony-rieber/yankees-2019-machado-harper-stanton-1.21775676

I hope we don't play them til the finals then. I'd hate to see us get steamrolled in an early round game by the phenoms from LWE. The Catholic League was so tough throughout the years this is the best season in Rice history at 9-0.

Holy bleep. Puig with a clutch bomb.

Listening to Uecker broadcast such a big game in his broadcasting career. He is very good. I notice he has no color announcer at all. He's very good. Strong voice. Professional style, not much offered besides true play by play. I like it though. p.s. there is a color man! After 2 innings he finally spoke up and said something.

I get in trouble a lot on the board for praising certain guys like Davidson and Palka and praising guys because their traditional stats are good. I've noticed some Sox fans only want Harper and Machado in free agency and really want to stay away from pretty much everybody else. So I ask caulfield cause he understands me, what do you advanced stat guys look for in a FA hitter? I know most fans want no part of Moose and I wouldn't mind him coming to the south side at all. Is it OBP and only OPB as well as WAR? Is that it?? Unless those two stat categories are very high very very high do most advanced stat peeps want no part of a FA? In regards to Palka and Davidson, I as a traditionalist like them cause of traditional stats of HR and RBI (their BAs aren't that hot admittedly) taking into consideration limited at bats.

Congrats Rice football team and coaches. Team clobbers Montini on Friday night to go 9-0. The team didn't have a bad game all season. Marist game was the closest in the opener. St. Rita game was close too. Defense has allowed 52 pts in 9 games with three shtuouts in a row. I guess things could go south in the playoffs but this team has to date had a perfect season. Not sure how the playoffs work. Hope they get to play at home for at least the first two playoff games. Coach Badke and his staff and the players are tremendous.

Let's face it, message boards are a microcosm of society. People are screaming at each other in elevators because of politics. I had a buddy at work accosted by a coworker over politics. She totally freaked out and he could have and probably should have gotten her fired. If you are an owner of a message board, I'm sure it's not worth the hassle of people freaking out and blasting other folks who use the boards. If I owned a board I wouldn't allow it either. However this board has a million moderators who kept it in check. Of course this board has moderators who are very vocal and chippy themselves. Moral of story: Smart to kill it altogether in the year 2018. Americans despise each other except in times of tragedy IMO then we do anything we can to help each other. It's a wild dynamic. Farewell filibuster, a victim of the modern era of meanness.

I'd like to see us acquire some players if smart people think we can contend just cause of Eloy being added to a core that includes some of the guys I've mentioned as being in love with before: Timmy, Moncada, Avi, Abreu, Davidson, Palka and Collins. And if smart folks feel our new young starting pitchers are ready to dominate. If smart people think our team still blows even with Eloy, I guess I'm in favor of letting Jerry line his pockets some more and the pockets of his investors while waiting for Robert, Rutherford, Burger, Madrigal and all those pitchers, Cease et all. But if we can be a contender next year? I'm all for adding RELIEVERS and a veteran starter and an outfielder or catcher. I'm one of those who believes we have no chance at Manny/Harper. If Jerry acquires one of them we know he's serious bout winning soon.

You are an interesting guy/poster. I get the feeling you think we have bad fans and bad fans on this board. Who is throwing a decade long temper tantrum about the Sox? Yes some of us are pissed and especially bring the venom in games in which we get blown out early or games in which some of our retread pitchers get rocked, but almost everybody on this board praises the Sox at some point. I think you overreact to how bad some of us fans are. I'm sure when I was a little kid to me the Sox could do no wrong and I'd be happy to just be at a game but now as an adult sure I get pissed especially when the team arguably is trying to suck. In conclusion ... I think we have good fans. Aren't you impressed like me at the crowds of 25,000 on some nights when we are 25 games out and those crowds cheer, too, where applicable?

I agree with Fan O'Faust. Our fans are great. Whenever I'd get depressed over fans on here wanting us to lose games, I'd see how our fans reacted when we did something positive in games at The Cell. Our home fans are into the games, at least the ones where we aren't trailing 7-1 after 3 or 4 and only wonder whether Davidson will pitch tonight.

I like the negative Balta as he offsets the ever positive southsider IMO.

I loved it but in supporting myself I can say normally my long posts and positions were either not correctly explained by me, or peeps took one line out of context and made me appear evil at best, a simpleton at worst. ... I do believe in this day and age there aren't many people who can hold a civil discussion about politics, about abortion, about gay marriage and rights (the cake), about the borders and about Kavanagh and Trump. On a light note, this is one of my favorite SNL skits of the modern era on political discussions ...

This isn't right. First of all our fan base is too small to factor into management's decisions about anything. Secondly our fans may be impatient (sort of) but really the attendance was actually pretty decent for a 100 loss team. The Cell was rarely a morgue despite baseball's insistence on making us play Cleveland, KC, Minnie, Detroit so many times. Ugh. Boring! As well as baseball not yet attacking the millennial problem of how boring it is and how long it takes to complete a game. Again I know we're near the bottom of MLB attendance But we averaged 19,862 per game with a payroll of 75 million. We had 1.6 million fans compared to Cleveland's 1.9, Minnie's 1.9, KC's 1.7. Yeah we are a big city but cmon our fans aren't that bad. I think I read somewhere our TV ratings suck but geez you can't blame the fans for not wanting to watch us lose 100 games. The team still is rolling in dough and the overall worth of the franchise is HUGE. Your love of management is perplexing. Balta is also a mod and he rips the team enough. Don't get me wrong. If you told me we could win it all in 2005 and stink the next 13 years yeah I'd have sold out for that cause it's that difficult to win it all. I give management all the credit in the world for 05. Kenny, Jerry, all of 'em. But right now I'd say our fan support is still pretty good for what management has put on the field. Cmon ... please respond. We drew 1.6 mill. with a 75 mill payroll. That ain't so bad, southsider.

Eloy has to be the real deal or we might as well just give up. I think most people are expecting Eloy to be one of the top five players in the game fairly quickly. If he's not a standout, a star, again we might as well forget about hyping prospects.

I enjoyed the Buster obviously. It has to die, though, because if somebody made a long thought out response, usually rather than that open up a nice discussion, somebody would grab one small portion, usually out of context, and then all hell broke loose. Let's face it. The left is intolerant. The right is intolerant. It's impossible to hold political discussions. Just ask any family that makes that mistake after a few beers at a holiday party.

I think it's fair to say most fans consider winning incredibly important. Chicago is a little different in that the Sox are the second team in the city and we can be grateful there has been ownership willing to keep them here. Veeck and Reinsdorf mainly preventing moves. However, you can be a real fan and not condone the crap we've been watching of late. My years of fandom of one team, the Sox, indicate I'm a true Sox fan even though I've been disgusted by the rebuild. Nobody can tell me I'm not a true fan. I have followed the team too long and fought too many fights with Royals fans to not be a fan.

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?