greg775

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Nov 16, 2017 -> 05:36 AM) Chicago is the opposite of Detroit. Building more downtown then ever and rent is increasing every year. Nice. What is your opinion of say, the area starting at Midway Airport heading south to well past 115th Street; that's a huge chunk of chicago as well. I thought it was very old looking and dumpish.

Spent some time on the far South side this week and was not impressed. Hopefully we are not gonna become the new Detroit. Old old houses. What's up with construction on Cicero streets around 95th St this time of year? People that run cities need to realize upgrades are needed. Thought Mt. Greenwood/Oak Lawn area was very run down. It was kind of spooky seeing Brother Rice had the exact same dugouts as when I went there many moons ago. Their baseball field looked like a dump IMO. My old Q of M church was locked up on Monday what was up with that? Churches don't close. The 115th St. Little League fields where I played as a kid classify as a dump. Some guy was working on them so they must still be in use. And I found out Wonderburger has closed. I will say there was a nice new little shopping area with a nice new Mt. Greenwood sign over near 111th and Kedzie. I wanted to grab a hot dog at Pop's on 103rd and Kedzie. Too crowded so I went to Portillos by Christ Hospital area. I will say the Oak Lawn Hilton has the right idea. it's a nice building and good hotel. What are your takes on Chicago's south side. Kind of a dump I'm afraid.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 15, 2017 -> 07:52 PM) I thought he got rid of the nervousness. He was fine the past couple of years. I would imagine being mostly a writer and then getting regular on air gigs , takes some adjusting. I liked his content. It wasn't just all fluff pieces like we will now see. But that sells a little better I guess. I think if Dan had some more time on his contract, he wouldn't have been laid off. I wonder if Scotty Pods will be back in a part time pre and post game role. I don't know what he added. I don't watch the Cubs much but was Patrick Mooney used on their telecasts as much as Dan was on the White Sox? Maybe they are starting to prepare for the Cubs fleeing and like Gonzo with the Tribune only in reverse, Mooney will switch to the White Sox when they flee. Great post! Heaven forbid it take somebody time to adjust to something that was new to him. Some people who put thoughts on paper probably need adjustment time to formulating the words. You could say, "Then hire somebody who can speak in a camera!" Well that person might not write as well or have the contacts of this writer. Some people are so mean.

I hope we trade Avi to San Diego and are done with all the Avi talk regarding trades. He's one of my favorites and at least trading him to San Diego would make me forget about him. Let's face it. Sox are in a no win with Avi. Keep him and he does well and the money people will say, "Oh no. We can't afford him (as we save Jerry penny after penny)." Keep him and he reverts back, "See we should have traded high on Avi." I fully expect us to deal him at winter meetings or in that time frame. We'll probably get one good prospect, two fringe guys from somebody. I'd keep him and sign him to a nice deal but not earth shattering but like I said it'd be nice to not hear about trading Avi any more and if that means trading Avi, please do so.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Nov 15, 2017 -> 09:18 PM) You step out of the box, you get a strike. Really unnecessary to have to adjust your batting gloves after the pitch you just took. It's ridiculous superstition of the players. Habit. They do the batting club adjustment. I'll have to see these changes in place to believe them. The umpires won't cooperate. They don't give a s*** about baseball. Their union is so powerful they wink wink at the game by calling the strike zone they want to call not the strike zone in the rulebook. They aren't going to agree to any pitch clock and they'll let the hitters do whatever they want outside the box even though it's so boring. TV needs to step in unless they really want 4 hour games. It's ridiculous that it take an hour or more to play 3 innings on the average.

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Nov 11, 2017 -> 02:37 AM) Gregg likes to ignore the facts to make s*** up as he goes along to support his whiny narrative. Hahn and the front office think the Sox next window won't begin until 2020. That puts Abreu beyond his current contract and at age 33. Abreu could be a player that ages well, then again he may not. Honestly, I think it would be better for the Sox and Abreu to trade him to a contender now. Sox get a few more prospects and Abreu gets a shot at playing post season baseball in 2018/19. Yet some of the guys that you guys want us to sign will be just as old as Abreu. I just wonder why I've got to be the guy who is always defending our players. Nobody else as far as I can read here is as mad/passionate at me in defending players. Who else out there is incensed at the idea of not having Abreu around for our WS contending years? Let me know.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Nov 10, 2017 -> 10:29 PM) And that's the slippery slope. Personally, I don't see it as predatory to go out for drinks with a girl and end up back at one of your places to bang. It's never been that way until recently. They were called one night stands. Are these now a thing of the past in college? After reading this thread, sounds like the days of one night stands are over.

Forgive my rant ... just saw one of Jerry Lewis' sons on TV. I think there were 4-5 boys from his first marriage, maybe 3-4. He left them NO MONEY. He left everything to his second wife and his daughter from that marriage. I know Lewis probably has reasons to be pissed at his first wife, but that's just bulls*** for a celebrity dad to not at the very least toss each of his boys $1 million. He'd still make his point. I mean ... again, from all I've read the boys were just normal kids. Yes a couple have blasted Jerry in interviews while Jerry was alive, but isn't he a big boy who can take it? Very sad to give his own flesh and blood nothing. If I were the second wife and daughter I'd give each of them $1 million. It's only right.

Hasn't he hit 30 homers and driven in 100 the last 4 years? He should be worshiped by our fans instead modern baseball ... "trade him! He might not continue doing this well. Besides he's a bad defender and not that good!!" Hate to tell ya ... unless he's been lying about his age he still in theory will be productive during our 3-4 year window of possible WS titles.

So Lonzo Ball's brother and a couple other Bruins were arrested on suspicion of shoplifting and taken away by Chinese authorities. UCLA is there to play Ga. Tech on Saturday. Lot of speculation that they could spend 1-10 years in prison in China. Speculation that they won't be let go on bond and could be in jail 100 days before they even decide to try them. Any legal experts? Are these kids in trouble or will they get out of jail as good will by the Chinese government? My other comment is: If you were the coaches would you now refuse to play the game Saturday? I would not play the game. Get the teams the hell out of China and keep an administrator there working with the US Embassy to get these players home safely.

QUOTE (Quin @ Nov 7, 2017 -> 09:26 PM) If it's a white guy, the left calls for gun control. The right blames mental health and pretends it's a non-issue. If it's a Muslim, the left calls for gun control. The right starts blowing their racist dog whistle. Meanwhile, if there's a hurricane we all help each other. All races, all religions, no questions asked. Total assistance. Very weird non sequitirs.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 7, 2017 -> 06:38 PM) I will agree that it is very surprising the percentage of fans who think there is about a 0% failure rate on a rebuild. Hopefully it all works out. They do have a few really good looking prospects. Good take. I'm telling you fans who think this way. Please look inside and decide whether you are acting like a "wait til next year" fan. That's a dangerous way to be a fan cause you'll be waiting for decades. QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Nov 7, 2017 -> 07:43 PM) This is a great point. Posters are worried about spending $36MM for a closer but have illusions of "saving" money to make a big splash next offseason? Who exactly are they thinking the Sox will sign next year as a "big" free agent that will cost less than $75MM even? Even with all their prospects, there are a lot of holes on this roster now and in the coming years. I don't see management going all in on a Donaldson or Keuchel type let alone Machado or Harper. Even with all their savings, I think they will sign 4 or 5 guys in the $15-50MM range before they sign a single player in the $75-250MM range. Face facts. Sox won't be signing any big time free agents. If we're lucky, we'll sign some veterans for good but not great money and hope they fill a leadership role like a Zobrist has and like a Robertson did for the Yanks. Sox have a ton of work to do before they are serious contenders -- can you say bullpen anybody? I wish we'd get some more coaches the caliber of Coop? IMO he's the only one who is elite.

QUOTE (Brian @ Nov 7, 2017 -> 06:56 PM) When I said he misses the point, I meant that people aren't criticizing politicians for offering "thoughts and prayers", they are criticizing them because that is all they ever do and doesn't help anything. Rush is too close minded to see the big picture. Or he's on ludes. OK, that's a decent point IMO.

QUOTE (Quin @ Nov 7, 2017 -> 06:54 PM) Greg, Rush is a serial liar who is completely devoid of compassion. Maybe. I'm not sure he is evil.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Nov 7, 2017 -> 01:11 PM) Your first paragraph is so true and shows everything that's wrong with this country. When there is a mass shooting, one side of the country can't jump on their pedestal quick enough and gloat about their stances on guns. But when an Islamic terrorist attack occurs, they are quiet and the other side of the country can't stop screaming "close the borders!!". Everything gets so politicized, it really seems some people are happy when these events occur. Interesting post. QUOTE (Brian @ Nov 7, 2017 -> 01:13 PM) Not surprising that Rush misses the point on something. It’s finny Greg keeps quoting him as if he has any credibility. He has a lot of listeners and stations and advertisers. He has some clout. Not like I'm listening to some guy on youtube with 10,000 listeners. QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 7, 2017 -> 03:39 PM) Tis correct. Also, my POV on Greg's opinions never fails. What radio station you gonna listen to today? What's wrong with listening to different takes on radio when driving? I continue to be amazed at the cliche-ness of our country. If there's a hurricane we risk our lives to save people and keep on helping helping helping. When there's a mass shooting we take sides and help nobody, just offend the families of the victims. We look for no solutions. Show no compassion. I don't get it. Read this story and picture yourself in the church. Even if you are not a believer let's say you were there for a relative's kid's baptism or something. How could some guy shoot little kids like this and stalk each pew and keep killing people? And yet we care about the hurricane victims but don't care about this enough to do something about it?? http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/07/us/texas-chu...cene/index.html

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Nov 7, 2017 -> 02:39 PM) How do you STILL not get this? It's a matter of TIMING. TIMING, greg. Not being cheap. Spending money at the RIGHT TIME. No one gives a flying f*** about how rich Jerry Reinsdorf is. No one ever has. No one ever will. I hope your post is true. QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 7, 2017 -> 02:52 PM) Next year and/or the year after, JR will open the wallet. The Sox will have a better idea where their prospects are at, and what they are going to be. Hopefully, many will reach their potential. It's just fact some of these rebuilds are going to spectacularly fail. I hope that's true. Once a payroll is as low as the Sox and the money pours in, it'll be pretty easy for the owners to keep a tiny payroll and enjoy all the money rolling in. Especially if the young guys are good. Sox can claim rebuild is working while spending pennies. Hope they do what's right next offseason. Don't forget ... wait til next year is a sad saying in sports and it seems to me we have a lot of undemanding fans who love the idea of "wait til next year" or "wait til 2020 through 25."

I was driving in the car today and Rush had some good takes. He said twitter and all the leftists were blasting people who offered prayers for the victims. All the Bill Maher copiers were mocking Christians for offering mere prayer to what they deem is a waste of space as there is no God. Rush made a good point saying the leftist commentators never blast and mock people who are Islamic, etc. And all the other religions. Only Christians are fair game to be mocked. Don't blame the messenger. Rush brought it up. Secondly ... Rush said the left should be ashamed of itself for turning on Vin Scully. Scully was basically worshiped by the left and right alike for his excellent broadcasting work. However since he said he won't ever watch another NFL game because of the players kneeling during the anthem, he now has been turned on and attacked. Rush said the people criticizing Vin are misguided.

QUOTE (Jenksy Cat @ Nov 7, 2017 -> 06:20 AM) Cheap ass JR Only great post in this thread IMO. Sox fans on this board overwhelmingly want the owners to spend no money, get rid of any player making a buck in pursuit of the rebuild. I can't wait to see who fans on this board someday deem worthy of a fat contract. Most of you soxtalk fans go to games. I can't believe your patience and willingness to give JR and the partners so much of your money for nothing in return (since 05). The Sox front office loves this board if they read it. You know my desires: Spend, spend spend just as fans spend 15 for a burger and 11 for a brewski.

QUOTE (Tony @ Nov 5, 2017 -> 09:13 PM) That's the price of freedom. MexSox said it all. The new normal. So very sad what's become of my America and your America. Tony I disagree with your statement. Cmon. It's not the price of freedom. It's the price of stupidity. The founding fathers did not want this bulls*** to happen in the name of freedom. They'd have come up with a happy medium with the right to bear arms vs. this crap. This is going on in America more than anyplace else and I don't personally think it's cause we are land of the free. I'll tell u what: We all need to have meetings in our communities to discuss how we need to be alert now everywhere we go to mass shooters. I take a good long look around my church every Mass I go to to see if there's anything out of the ordinary going on. I also am close to saying we should stop covering the perpetrators. We've had so many of these shootings I'm to the point I don't care who the shooter is. Just tell us if it's a lone deranged troubled gunman or if it's Isis or some group like that. If it is, tell us a bit more, but I'm sick of glorifying the killers. In most of these cases we don't really need to know what set them off. Either they are doing it for a radical group, if so tell us which one, or they are doing it because they are deranged. Sorry I'm very emotional again about this shooting so I may have inadvertently angered some of you with my post. p.s. I just read there was a hero in Texas. Some man got out his own rifle and chased the gunman out of the church. Amazing person. Brave!

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Nov 2, 2017 -> 02:49 AM) McCullers actually pitched worse than Darvish, he just got super lucky. Excellent post. It's true. QUOTE (Sox-35th @ Nov 2, 2017 -> 04:35 AM) Here's the "Astros save Houston from flood" narrative Man you are cynical. It's a nice story. Houston was ravaged. Still is in many parts. I actually know a guy driving down there tomorrow from Wichita with friends, no lie, to do some volunteer rebuilding work. True story.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Nov 1, 2017 -> 10:11 PM) Greg, the issue is Avisail and Abreu's contracts. THey each have two years left. What Hahn needs to figure out is whether they should extend or trade either player. The worst case scenario would be to do nothing in this instance. My guess is that they try and trade Garcia this winter and lock up Abreu to a 4 year extension. That makes sense. I would think an NL team would want Avi as he's getting a bit better defensively and can hit. If we dump Avi, I hope our longterm RF replacement is well above average arm and glove. I'm telling you guys, defense and bullpens are BIG in trying to win multiple WS titles. If u butcher it defensively and have a bad pen, forget how well you can hit.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 1, 2017 -> 04:47 PM) He has always said everyone is available if the price is right, but he specifically questioned whether the timing with Abreu and Avi and their contracts fit the White Sox schedule. In the meeting I was at he talked about diminished returns in 1B/DH types Abreu's age and specifically mentioned that leadership is big, but it doesn't trump production. He made it seem an extension would have to be really team friendly. With Avi, he questioned whether selling him off now wasn't the most prudent. He either stays a really good player which would make him expensive and a risk to sign elsewhere, or he goes back to being what he was and it would be an opportunity lost. The thing is, trading these guys doesn't mean you can't bring them back when they become free agents if you want. You just miss their production when you really aren't playing to win. And it opens up opportunities for younger players. I'm amazed that Hahn apparently has bought into the philosophy that the only players you want on your team are young, young, young (judging from his Avi and Abreu comments as relayed by Dick Allen). At least young position players. We'll see if he adds any veteran pitchers for our contending teams. I contend you need at least a few veterans like Avi/Abreu but I guess I'm wrong. BTW let's see if Hahn can ever put together a complete team. Even if our young guys excel which I hope they do, we need some creativity in adding enough effective bullpen pieces and putting together a team at least average defensively to win anything of note. If I were GM ... I'd concede we have all star to superstar type players aboard in Eloy and Moncada, Avi and Abreu. I'd suggest we have enough pitching for Cooper to put together a WS starting rotation. We will not win anything though, without defense that rates a 7 out of 10 and bullpen that rates 8 of 10. And we could use a stellar catcher. Go to work, Mr. Hahn. Your work has just begun.

QUOTE (ron883 @ Oct 31, 2017 -> 10:10 PM) You're taking the whole "I'm a complete dolt" act to a whole new level. sorry mods, but 4 titles? Well, the Cubs had a shot at 2 this season. Most think they'll contend next year and the year after if they tweak a bit. I didn't say anything outlandish.

QUOTE (FloydBannister1983 @ Nov 1, 2017 -> 01:12 AM) Chicago itself is not an entry level job but managing the White Sox is. Why? ESPN can't remember they exist. They routinely have one of the lowest television ratings in the league. Every manager they've hired in the last 40 years has had no managing experience, except for the current guy who had a cup of coffee with the organization on the north side until a top tier manager became available. They are a small market team in the third largest market in the country. This is why managing the White Sox is an entry level position, for starters. But if you want to ignore all of history then I concede that Joe Girardi or Dusty Baker or Tony LaRussa or Joe Torre or Bob Brenley or any other top tier manager could end up here. I hope for your sake you get your wish. As far as 2, 3, 4 titles goes ... They've been to the postseason 5 times in the last 50 years and have advanced one single season. I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm but I'd wait for the crown jewel of your rebuild to average his weight before you have them winning four titles. Your posts are quite interesting and good.

QUOTE (FloydBannister1983 @ Oct 31, 2017 -> 08:38 PM) If Girardi were to stupidly take a job with the White Sox and then a desirable job opened next year the cost to him to be stuck here would be enormous. He doesn't need to take a stepping stone job at this point of his career. This isn't like college basketball ... a guy taking a job at Tulsa only to skip away to a Power Five conference job after two seasons. The Sox supposedly are the next great thing. Why is Chicago a stepping stone job? It's a great city and Cleveland got Francona to go there for gosh sakes. It's not like the south side job is trash with this young talent coming up. A good manager might win 2, 3, 4 titles in chicago.