greg775

QUOTE (Brian @ Dec 1, 2017 -> 04:12 PM) Is that Rush? Uh oh. He shouldn't be doing that. I don't worship Rush, folks. Unlike some of you I listen to as many different viewpoints as I can in the short attention span I have regarding talk radio. I am a dial switcher; don't like commercials. Love Beatles channel. Love some other music channels and the 2 comedy channels.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Dec 2, 2017 -> 03:07 AM) I actually thought the last statement NK put out dialed back the rhetoric a touch, saying the weapons were defensive, unlike the usual messaging of "we can destroy the imperialists" I didn't like the wild celebrating of the successful launch. I hope China is noticing.

Hmmm, he's 30 and had a good year last year. We have him for 3 years. Should this give me hope we will keep Abreu? If Castillo is part of the plan, why not a similarly aged guy in Abreu, who had double his RBIs? I won't comment much on things I know little about and I don't know Castillo much. I'm assuming he's a nice addition cause his defense is pretty good from what I've read. But he's very old by today's standards. This gives me hope again that we might have some vets around for the WS contending years, which means Abreu and the still young Avi. I'm all for speeding up the winning process and Castillo's profile suggests winning now or soon. He's no spring chicken. Or ... this could mean we will merely trade him this winter for more pieces.

Been reading more and more about N. Korea planning on launching a nuke our way. Folks, the world will be over as we know it. And if we feel like they are really going to go through with it, I'd assume we will strike them first and it could be soon. Jong-Un is a nut. Did u see the pictures of him celebrating the last test? I guess he has a death wish for the world. I can't see Trump standing idly by.

QUOTE (bmags @ Nov 30, 2017 -> 02:09 PM) Eh, once you accept most HR depts view their goal as protecting the company and not the employee it is never shocking some of the routes they take. The decision wasn't "how do we protect our women employees based off of this complaint?" it was "how do we decrease our liability while keeping our accused star talent?" Makes me sick. HR departments in this role bother me greatly. QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Nov 30, 2017 -> 07:40 PM) https://www.yahoo.com/news/fifth-woman-accu...-131848124.html Now up to six for Franken. He gone. (Has to be.) And Conyers looks either crazy or just plain ornery trying to hold onto power at age 88... Those pix of Franken sicken me. He puts his face right on the woman's face as they actually are cheek to cheek in a few photos I've seen. Geez Franken. He really had a problem taking photos with women, draping his arms on their boobs, allegedly, etc. He probably needs to resign. You can't go putting your hands on people like that.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 30, 2017 -> 04:37 PM) I gotta disagree with Balta’s logic on team building. Yes, developing your own talent (especially superstar talent) is critical, but there is nothing wrong with filling multiple holes with smart free agent signings if financially possible. The Astros are a perfect example. Yes, they developed their core, but they also went out and signed Beltran, Reddick, Gurriel, & Morton to play important roles. Those four guys earned a combined $50M in 2017. And they were able to add those guys plus some expensive vets via trade (McCann, Verlander) & some pricey relievers in past years (Gregerson & Sipp) because of how little their core guys made. The White Sox should be in a similar position come next season. We could extend Abreu at $20M/per and have a big chunk of our core in place for less than $50M in total commitments. Assuming guys develop as expected, we should be incredibly active in next year’s free agent class. And I’m not just talking about filling in that “one last piece” as Balta routinely calls it. I’m talking adding impact talent where possible (hopefully Machado & an elite reliever) and then buying yourself some time until your next wave of talent is ready by signing veterans to short-term deals at crucial spots. This idea that we can’t compete until all our talent is up and has proven itself is nonsense. The goal should be build a strong foundation, add some vets while you have the financial wiggle room, and gradually introduce more talent over time to help offset escalating costs. Hahn is not going to wait until our less seasoned prospects like Robert, Rutherford, Adolfo, Cease, Burger, & Sheets are ready to start trying to compete. The moment guys like Jimenez, Collins, Kopech, & Hansen are called up our window officially begins. It will likely take a year or two for those guys to fully develop, but Hahn will most definitely try to surround them with as much veteran talent as possible as early as next year, especially since there will be a very deep free agent class to leverage. This explains my position pretty perfectly as it stands today. By trading Abreu and Avi, this thread is worthless. It means Hahn is pushing back the years of contention (in theory) as he waits for the kids to completely overhaul the everyday lineup and pitching rotation. Presumably add some vets through free agency to that 3-4 years down the road. I have a sneaky feeling they'll be bargain type veterans, taking a shot on some relievers who don't make a lot of cash. I'm assuming our payroll is going to be mighty low for some time to come. We shall see.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 30, 2017 -> 03:48 AM) The details in the nyt Lauer story are horrifying, basically straight up rape https://t.co/CAb9ixM9mk Yes, horrifying. It's just awful. QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 30, 2017 -> 04:50 AM) What is wrong with these guys? I f***ing dont get it and never have. I don't get it either. There's one thing about a man having power and using it to attract women who are golddiggers or groupies or whatever you want to call them. But it's another thing altogether to use power to try to take advantage of women in the workplace who want no part of you and these situations. Let's just hope everybody guilty of this continues to get fired/lambasted. I mean there's something to be said about having a life's work ruined by behavior that is uncovered. Charlie Rose ... all the good work he did in his life ... wiped away. He's a scumbag (if guilty of charges). Ditto Lauer and Harvey. Like Rock said ... what is wrong with these guys???? Let's keep exposing them and getting them fired if they are guilty.

The Lauer details are really bad (as are so many other cases). But geez. This guy was supposed to be Mr. Dad of the century. And he drops his pants (allegedly) and shows off his you know what to some female? She doesn't want any part of him and he gets mad?? Why do all these companies have these fake HR departments??? These women need to go to HR immediately and record the conversations and in the future get these predators fired sooner. I know it's tough to come forward. I just hope we keep hearing about these creeps who misused their power and did these things to women. Toss them all out. We won't feel sorry for them. That includes Trump. I hope if he's guilty some women come forward. And not to be partisan but Mr. Clinton sounds like he was not exactly proper at all times. My take: Shame on you Mr. Lauer if these charges are true. Abuse of power is wrong.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 30, 2017 -> 04:06 AM) Name a team that has won a pennant dominantly through Free Agency. Literally the last one I've got is the 09 Yankees. That doesn't mean teams don't get some free agents, but literally everyone is using a path different from what you said. No team can make the method work that you keep saying we shoudl do. And if you would have read the post in the Avi thread only 2 or 3 posts before you talked about how "they should sign good free agents instead of bad ones", even the teams that are winning - they have free agent busts. How about your Royals, they have a pennant right? Wouldn't they prefer to no longer have Alex Gordon's contract on the books? The Cubs and that Heyward deal? If you sign 3 free agents, the odds are one of them will be a LaRoche level bust. That's how the Free Agency market works. Yankees, Dodgers, Boston, Cubs, yes Cubs, have all done fine spending moolah and getting free agents. Not everybody doing the rebuild thing has won big. Cubs rebuilt, yes, but also bought some players. I personally think 3 starting pitchers we trotted out there last year were an embarrassment to baseball. QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Nov 30, 2017 -> 05:10 AM) I’m not going to justify this with an explanation since it doesn’t matter with you but no that’s my answer to your original question. Seriously? This isn't a pro-front office board? Hahn is beloved. KW for the most part is given the benefit of the doubt all the time. Meanwhile for some reason Ozzie is destroyed and some of my favorite players destroyed (I know I know Ozzie quit on the team). QUOTE (hi8is @ Nov 30, 2017 -> 06:05 AM) Seriously GreggiePoo, why are you still frequenting this site? I honestly can't recall a time when you've done anything other than complain. That's just not true. Again do some research on threads. I stand up for my favorite players for sure and I argue against some of the current vision of the front office, butI don't complain always. Did you read my long reply on the future lineup/roster? I listed players at each position gave my takes. Nobody responds to my normal reaction posts. Some people get me; most don't. I'm a great Sox fan IMO.

Q-What do you think of Burger? Now he played at a mid major school. Do you think the White Sox took him higher than he should reasonably have gone in the draft? Do you like his skill set offensively and defensively? Give me a realistic comparison to a big leaguer. Who is Burger? Thank u.

QUOTE (Scoots @ Nov 30, 2017 -> 03:18 AM) Anyone else feel like this Jose Abreu trade talk is way at overrated? Maybe because of the extremely slow off-season and this was the only remotely interesting thing that anyone could latch on to? No. When Dick Allen heard Hahn speak and Hahn wasn't enthused about Avi or Abreu, I knew both would be gone this winter. It will happen. Dick was there. He heard it.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Nov 29, 2017 -> 11:39 PM) Dude...just...I don't know anymore. You can't admit this board is EXTREMELY happy with anything the front office does? This is a pro front office message board. QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Nov 29, 2017 -> 11:44 PM) So why are you so insistent on the strategy of "Compete and win as much as you can" that we used from 2006-2016? Because we didn't execute it right. Sox have had miserable guys in Buddy Bell on the organizational level and Robin Ventura as manager. They've arguably made some of the most bonehead acquisitions ever in trying to bring in guys to win. The ONLY way to win is not trade everybody and rebuild. Some teams with cash have done just fine in adding guys to buy a pennant. I personally think our front office gets a free pass on almost everything on here.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Nov 29, 2017 -> 09:22 PM) I put in a thoughtful post with Jose's stats the last 4 seasons and still get blasted. Hard to go against the group and not get roasted. I wish you guys would be like most team's fans and rip the front office more. What have they done since 2005 to earn patience from our fan base? I am not of the opinion our young guys have to suck a year or two before we are competitive. Folks, baseball is full of mediocre to bad teams. Why not us sooner rather than later to ... win? Put some heat on the front office to develop a bullpen.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Nov 29, 2017 -> 08:12 PM) Greg, go read the comments on MLBTR and argue with them. The comments will infuriate you. I've lost my desire to. I don't want to read opinions of fans of other teams. I deduced long ago there are rabid Sox fans on here who are intelligent and I want to see what they are thinking about the team. I'm just stunned at some of the things I've read on here the past couple years. Hopefully Hahn is a genius and all these trades and future trades and acquisitions (bullpen, defense, catching, bullpen, bullpen) will result in multiple WS appearances and titles.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Nov 29, 2017 -> 05:47 PM) Can't wait for greg to see this lol Why. I fully expect Jose to be traded after reading Dick Allen's comments from the Hahn speech. Jose is gone as is Avi. QUOTE (ptatc @ Nov 29, 2017 -> 06:11 PM) Agreed. There is something to be said for having a veteran, talented, mature player in the clubhouse when they bring up a bunch of kids. Sox obviously don't care. Hahn is out to get that payroll down to the lowest imaginable then allegedly use that money when it's time. Modern baseball. The only time in history teams are glad to get rid of players who are beloved and has THIS KIND of proven production. It used to be you'd keep such stars til they decided to retire. Bye Jose and thanks for these numbers. 2014: .317, 36 HR, 107 RBI, .383 OBP, .581 SLG 2015: .290, 30 HR, 101 RBI, .347 OBP, .502 SLG 2016: .293. 25 HR, 100 RBI, .353 OBP, .468 SLG 2017: .304, 33 HR, 102 RBI, .354 OBP, .552 SLG. Should be interesting to see what positions they target in this deal and Avi deal. Seems to me they already have a lot of outfield candidates especially with Robert and Eloy occupying two slots for many years in theory. My guess is they go for catcher, shortstop (upgrade from Tim is possible), and pile up more pitching. Look for catchers, shortstops and pitchers in teams organizations and that's who Abreu and Avi will be dealt for. You could say 3B as well but if that's the case why did they draft Burger? I guess they could stockpile another there and eventually release or trade my man, Davidson.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 11:29 PM) The problem isn't with the Sox making offers, it is with them making the largest offer. As for the Albert Belle example, Eloy Jimenez was 7 days old when it happened. They haven't really shown a propensity to set the market for top level players for 21 years now. They have been #2 a lot of times. #1, not so much. I was gonna say Albert Belle was a while ago.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 09:12 PM) you want to be educated, yet you label people "draftniks" and completely shoot down their posts with things like "you draftniks slay me...." when they make reasonable and very educated posts about the matter. You reap what you sow, greg. People try and reason with you, and eventually they get so frustrated that they snap on you because they explain things to great lengths and you ignore them and keep on repeating yourself You are crazy. I don't always call them draftniks. I also use the word "stat people" and sabes people. I have used draftniks but not often. You can't imply I call people names a lot and get away with that. I contend I am normally polite. I'd say 90 percent of the time. Draftniks or draft people do slay me and frustrate me but I don't always call them draftniks. QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 09:38 PM) I know my plan had us spending like $450M on free agents next offseason, but maybe my handle doesn’t indicate clearly enough that I’m a Sox fan. 450 million would please me. What free agents, though. I stand by my point that we can forget about Manny and Harper.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 09:51 PM) Another missile launch earlier today, this time with an estimated 13,000km range. That's "anywhere in the continental US" distance. Calling on China to save the day. It's the world's only realistic hope. The U.S. isn't going to allow this madman to blow us off the map. I fully expect some kind of powerful strike at some point. We've been through it before what that means. The Korean nutjob will then blow up South Korea and Japan and Hawaii and probably try to hit our mainland as well.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 07:49 PM) Just acknowledge that Trump is the worst and move on. I think by now everybody realizes Trump is not such a good person. Three more years then we give someone else a shot like Bernie maybe.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 08:08 PM) Because we've been commenting on your position for almost a year now. We are kinda tired of it. It's not our fault you ignore what we say and continue to blindly post. Pitt asked for my position for gosh sakes. You guys are unreasonable regarding me at times. He asked! I delivered. What the heck u want from me?? I've been called a troll. Blindly post? I offered a response to an inquiry. Give me a break for once. QUOTE (hi8is @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 08:11 PM) I actually thought that his recently stated position showed some change. Seems to me that ( at least in that post ), he's on board with the same plan that management is executing. I've accepted the plan. I am a fan. I have no choice but to be on board. I am on board. My only other option is to drop the team from my interest list. Hard to do when you are a lifelong fan. I've accepted the plan. I'm observing it and ready to go with the rebuild. QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 08:13 PM) you dont read responses. You skim them, say "good post" if someone agrees with you, and then move on and repeat yourself without taking anything anyone has said to you into consideration. I dont even know why i wrote that to be honest he acknowledges the rebuild. He certainly doesnt support it or try to understand it Oh come on. I don't have to support it 100 percent especially when they are about to do something I deem very very counterproductive - getting rid of Avi and Abreu. There are a few on here who agree with me they'd like to keep both. You also are being unfair when you say I don't read responses and just say "good post." That is a huge huge assumption to make and just isn't true. You are assuming a lot in your last sentence or two and it happens to be untrue. I want to be educated. My "problem" or my trait is I won't accept what I consider to be rubbish takes without fighting back and offering my own take which you can consider rubbish as well. You guys are very unfair to me at times IMO. Do I support the rebuild in your words? Of course. I have no choice. It's here and I'm ready for all of them to succeed. I happen to think my takes will help the rebuild succeed or I woldn't post them. Avi and Abreu, of course keep them. What bugs me about you guys is you seem to think we couldn't win the other way. I say we couldn't because of inept manager (Robin) and bad scouts and bad advance scouts and idiotic decisions to sign stiffs like LaRoche rather than good players. Have a nice day all of you!

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 08:02 PM) not greg. certainly you arent speaking of greg of the 775 Why won't you guys comment on my position and my post? I really want to hear what out of all my position entails is wrong or not at least very logical.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 05:25 PM) I didn't say the Sox WILL sign Machado or Harper. I said that there has been plenty of talk by fans about guys like that. However, I do believe the Sox will pursue guys like that, and they will spend during next off season. I don't know if they will get one of those guys, but it's more possible now than ever with the rebuild going the way it is. So what do you want the Sox to do? What do you expect them to do? You say you want them to win, but you haven't suggested how they can do it. I'm surprised you are asking. My position has been deemed tired and boring and everybody knows it. What I preferred to do before? Keep Sale and Q and actually have a manager who can manage and instead of signing guys like LaRoche have scouts who can sign the right guys. I thought we had 2 great starters and should have been able to compete with a competent front office. ... But now that we've rebuilt? I want to let these young guys develop and come up as soon as possible and see if we can win with them while also signing the right free agents to build a bullpen. Of course I'd love to sign the guy from Japan but that's a dream. In short, now that we are rebuilding I'd like to keep Abreu and Avi, have somebody in charge of building a bullpen for when we are contenders and of course sign a veteran starting pitcher at that time to go with the young staff. I now want a mixture that includes Avi and Abreu. Ideally, I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody but for the future: 3B-Burger/Davidson. SS-Tim. 2B-Moncada. 1B-Abreu. OF-Avi, Robert, Rutherford, Eloy, Polo, et all. DH-one of the outfielders or Avi. C-free agent acquistiion or is his name Collins? I think so. P-The plethora of guys to pick from including of course all the big names we acquired including the guy from the Cubs. Put Coop in charge of figuring out which guys to put in the pen. Since we have done the rebuild I am ready to develop the guys and include Avi and Abreu while also realizing SOMEBODY must have a master plan involving the pen or we win nothing. Right now since we did do the rebuild, my only outrageous position (one that greg tends to rehash over and over and get upset about) is to NOT get rid of Avi or Abreu. Include them in the rebuild because greg feels you need a mixture and I feel those two guys are already in-house and actually from all indications are good intangible guys as well as players. They care and Abreu is good with teammates especially. I've heard nothing bad about Avi in that regard either. THAT IS MY STANCE. p.s.: I don't see how any logical intelligent Sox fan (and there are many on here) can a.) think I'm unreasonable. b.) think I'm insane. c.) think I'm a troll when I laid out what I consider a very reasonable viewpoint. I don't consider it a trollish viewpoint or viewpoint of anything but a concerned Sox fan. Notice I don't harp on anger at the rebuild. I presented my plan while accepting the rebuild. QUOTE (Jack Parkman @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 05:38 PM) Actually I'm against signing Free Agents to big deals in almost all cases except for the special ones like Harper/Machado or using past cases that I would have been ok with at the time, Manny Ramirez and A-Rod. The huge thing with those guys is that they are in their mid-20s and you don't get the decline years, and if you have to give them a few extra years at the end, you can make them like 12-15MM years, and balance it out by front loading it. For me, value shopping in FA only, 4 year or less contracts, build from within as best as you can. If the "window" is short, so be it. Better to have that flexibility than to have a bunch of money tied up in aging former stars, and be rebuilding anyway. See Detroit for a contrast. Big FA contracts almost always end up badly. In other words you proved my point. Sox fans don't want to spend money. Machado and Harper love doesn't count. We aint getting them.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Nov 28, 2017 -> 01:00 PM) So, you haven't read any of the posts regarding Sox fans wanting the Sox to pursue big free agents like Machado and Harper? Just about all fans on this board want the Sox to spend, and many are in touch enough to realize that they will. Machado and Harper? Cmon. The Sox do not sign guys to 10 year deals. They just don't. Wanting to sign those guys is dreamland. It's not based anywhere close to reality. Tell me names of guys Sox fans want to pay 15 mill a year to for 5 years or so. I'll point out flaws in those players. Hosmer? Not enuf power. Moustakas? Injury risk cause of conditioning. Cain? Too old. Those are just some examples. Abreu? Too old. Avi? Flash in the pan. He'll never repeat those stats.

Serious question amid Trump wanting to be Time's person of the year. ... Except for those who have broken the law and gained fame through horrible means, is Donald Trump the most despised person in U.S. history? I said we exclude anybody who has been arrested or infamous for horrible reasons. I think Donald Trump (think of all the tweets and daily rips of him on TV, Twitter, etc) is in the top five of all-time most despised individuals by Americans. Now I don't despise him as such and I'm still hopeful he gets some things done that are positive, but he is truly despised by people in the USA. Is he top five most despised in history??

Don't shoot the messenger. Discussion on Rush's show today (relax I listed for a total of about 3 minutes before another commercial annoyance drove me back to the safety of the Beatles channel) was that Bernie is gearing up for a presidential run. Rush said young kids are in love with socialism/communism and Bernie probably will win. HOWEVER, my gosh as much as I enjoyed Bernie last time, he is getting pretty darn old. He'd have to have a helluva good running mate cause time stands still for no one.