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QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Oct 3, 2017 -> 02:52 PM) Agree with all of this and I'll go as far as to say that anyone who continues to fight against laws restricting background checks, limits on the mentally ill getting guns or bans on how powered rifles legitimately have blood on their hands. It is absurd how easy it is to get these types of weapons in this country and I'm sick of hearing we can't do anything about it. We have already made cuts that certain weapons cannot be held by citizens, we certainly have the ability to further restrict gun ownership but we choose not to because our politicians are bought by a bunch of terrible people from the NRA. We don't have a mental health issue that is unique to America. The unique American issue vs. other first world countries is our gun culture and how easy it is to obtain weapons here. Oh and let me also say that the 2nd amendment argument is bulls*** for allowing weapons like this to be in civilian's hands. We have grown and evolved as a society. The founders were ok with slavery, but we got rid of that. I'm sure the founders never envisioned people would have weapons that could kill 50+ people and injure hundreds in a matter of minutes. Good post. To those who say nothing can be done, well, we need to have some of the politicians respond to some of the things being said by people like Kimmel in his monologue yesterday. Not just saying him but a lot of reasonable people have solutions to this assault rifle issue. Cmon, folks, this madman in Vegas should never have had an arsenal of weapons in his possession. Like you said the second amendment argument is crap here. 500 people injured, 50 dead by one man?? My gawd that is unacceptable. And people are right. Somebody else is going to try to break the new record of deaths. One other thing: People need to be aware. Wouldn't it have been perfect if somebody in Vegas or somewhere had caught this guy before the incident? I kind of agree with the Vegas sheriff though. Not much could have been done if anything to prevent this.

QUOTE (bmags @ Oct 3, 2017 -> 04:07 PM) Right, and especially after so many of these. These people aren't interesting. They are failures that decided to take out their problems on wonderful people with a gun. There were no breaking points, there's no interesting back story. Just decided to do a terrible thing. That's a good post. Yeah, pretty much everything you said seems true to me.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Oct 3, 2017 -> 01:52 PM) I've got a lot of concerns about Giolito. I understand why the broadcasters are trying to sell that 2.38 ERA, but I'm finding it very hard to buy, as it comes next to a 4.94 FIP, .189 BABIP, and a staggering 92% LOB rate. The only positives I can see are the 2.38 BB/9 rate and the fact that his homerun rate looks about where it should be, or maybe a touch high even, which at least suggests he wasn't getting lucky there. That said, I had the opportunity to watch him live and up close when was in Lehigh shortly before his call-up, and from that look and what I saw on TV, I remain mystified that his stuff isn't leading to better results. The curveball, especially, is stunning up close -- but I guess that we've always known the problem is with the fastball, despite its velocity. He's an enigma; he scares me. I remember most all posts and here's one of the reasons I'm not a rebuild guy. In various threads I've read some concern about Lopez, Giolito and Rutherford and Burger. So far haven't seen anything much negative on Moncada and Eloy who are generally regarded as stars. We know Rodon is now iffy at best with the injury. Somebody was saying Polo now looks like the key piece in the Yankee trade. Folks, this is why I hate rebuilds. Reality sort of sets in saying some of these acquisitions may suck. Not trying to be a dick, these are posts from respected posters I'm quoting. QUOTE (hi8is @ Oct 3, 2017 -> 04:13 PM) Behind Greg's cold worn down negative Nancy exterior, there lies a sweetheart somewhere hidden. I'm not a bad guy in real life. Despite my dislike of many things the Sox do, I'm not the kind of guy who would ruin the game for you if you watched it with me. Any negative stuff coming out of my mouth at the game would be in a quiet voice and coupled with hope for an eventual W that particular game. In other words, fans sitting by me would not be saying, "Get an usher." And if we discussed the team in real life I don't think my concern about the rebuild would anger you in a real life conversation. I would listen to your points and in a pretty calm way express my concerns while saying I'm hoping for the best. You know you do lose something in the translation on message boards and social media, etc. In real life I would not come across as strongly opinionated and bossy. I just want to win even though we have won one in my lifetime.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Oct 2, 2017 -> 09:45 PM) In my opinion, depends on how you define it. You can have "mental illnesses" that create long-term issues, or you can (in my opinion), have events in your life that perhaps cause a drastic shift to your mental health which in my opinion could make you mentally ill. I separate conflicts of war from other scenarios because in that case, you are not being unique (presuming you are performing your act consistent with how a soldier should perform it). To just randomly murder other people is not a sane act and anyone that does such a thing clearly has a mental inbalance (at that point in time). A whole seperate question as to whether it should / could have been identified earlier and actions prevented. Lots of things unknown as it relates to this particular perpetrator. Nice post. Food for thought. QUOTE (RockRaines @ Oct 2, 2017 -> 10:47 PM) Greg, this is an excellent post. Thank u Mr. Raines. QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 2, 2017 -> 11:57 PM) Would you describe the 9/11 hijackers or the Paris attackers as mentally ill? (nonsarcastic question). Good question. I'd say they were more brainwashed.

QUOTE (hi8is @ Oct 2, 2017 -> 10:02 PM) Then I will be equally insulted and irritated by your enjoyment of the next winning teams we field who result from the progress made in the last 8 months. ? No, I already told you guys months ago that as a fan I have the right to cheer when we get good. Just cause I'm being a dick now about the losing doesn't mean I can't enjoy the winning. Look, you don't have to cheer during the sad days you just have to be there. Check it out, I said this before. I will be there cheering when we win. QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Oct 2, 2017 -> 10:33 PM) Seriously. The positives far outweigh the negatives. Complaining about Holland, Pelfrey etc is just looking for something to whine about. I guess some are just damn determined to stay in a negative mindset. I got no for that shiite. Negative mindset? Read my post. I think I was very complimentary toward what I saw as "bright spots." You guys don't even read my posts. Geez. I'd call my post "very fair." I had my highlights pointed out.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Oct 2, 2017 -> 08:22 PM) Technically at some point to do what he did, he had to be mentally ill. Is that true? I'm asking medical professionals. We are assuming because the act of killing is horrific you have to be mentally ill. There are bombers in war who kill thousands. Not trying to argue. I just think we are going to see more and more of this and I'm thinking in not all instances will the gunman be mentally ill. He might be pissed at the world, at the man (in his case the casino he sued for two years?) and as a complete selfish asshole he could take hundreds of people with him as he leaves the cruel world. I'll stop now as I know NOTHING about mental illness. I'm just wondering if some people are capable of s*** like this without being insane. I mean there are a lot of gang members who kill just for the sake of it. They are not considered insane, just ruthless. Were all those guys in the mob insane by the definition of insane? Oh well, my mind is al over the place as you all know these senseless mass murders make me get very angry, like at the Colorado asshole who killed so many in a theatre. Best wishes to all in Vegas.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Oct 2, 2017 -> 08:58 PM) This season is only "miserable" if you don't actually understand what's going on. So many positives this season. Sucks you can't enjoy it. How could ANYBODY enjoy one iota of Holland, Pelphrey, Shields, those relievers. Insulting to me as a fan. I listed many positives in my post BTW. That doesn't change the fact it was a horrible, embarassingly bad season, one of the worst I've had as a Sox fan, simply because I couldn't watch so many games cause of the rotten players dotting the roster.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Oct 2, 2017 -> 10:28 AM) Surprised there isn't a thread on this, I don't know where to put it, but there was a mass shooting on the Vegas strip. 20+ dead, 100+ injured. How sad. Totally sad. Once again, 58 people I think dead. They live their lives properly and many of them are in Vegas for a good time at a concert, and little did they know they'd be blown away and it would be their last night alive. The cliche is true. Live each day like it's your last. I know we can't do that in this harsh world but it's true. Go to a movie ... you can die. Go to a concert ... you can die. Go to a mall ... you can die. Go to church ... you can die. Live each day everybody.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Oct 2, 2017 -> 08:17 PM) Calling millions of Americans in Puerto Rico struggling to survive day to day ingrates and lazy for daring to ask for help when you're the President is pretty classless. I can't win this or make a dent in anybody's thought process regarding this, so I'll stifle now.

QUOTE (Quin @ Oct 2, 2017 -> 08:13 PM) Because that's what Trump does. Trump's a lousy guy but I thought he gave a nice speech today. Trump will find out the president has no control over s*** like this. Obama couldn't prevent this bulls***; neither can Trump. I disagree with your guys' harshness on a day like today. The world needs to be kinder, gentler.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 2, 2017 -> 04:32 PM) I have often wondered why he sends his prayers and condolences when some people are killed, but when they go down on the south side of Chicago and are a different color skin than him, it's "what the hell is going on in Chicago?" He's not the only one. Everybody, including the St. Louis protestors, ignore what's going on when people are killed in Chicago. I feel your point though. Trump is indeed a bad leader and a jerk, but I don't totally agree with your post.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 2, 2017 -> 04:34 PM) hopefully he can attend a golf tournament this weekend and dedicate a trophy (warmly) to all of the people in Las Vegas You seem like a good guy but that seemed to be a classless post on a day like this. Why post that? Trump is a prick and all that, but he doesn't want all those people killed by a gunman.

Two issues: Gun control, mental health. ... a.) Well, I don't really want to know more about this guy but I'd kind of like to know why he did it. From what I read I don't think he was mentally ill, he was just an asshole. He was gambling heavily, probably drinking heavily? There's a chance this 64 year old wasn't insane, just wanted to leave the earth in a splash, a blaze of glory so to speak. Shooting a gun from a window, he didn't have to actually see the blood and carnage. he could just kill, then kill himself. He may have just wanted to die and do it in a public way. Or maybe he hated people late in life. He had some beef with a casino I read. He may have just been an asshole. I seriously doubt he was mentally ill. b.) Gun control. I wouldn't give up. There is no reason 64 year old guys should have those kind of guns. I know it's our freedom to arm ourselves, but if we don't solve this issue non partisan (ha, good luck there) and keep assault rifles, etc., out of the hands of people, this indeed will be the new normal. I'm surprised we don't see hand grenades in these attacks as well. It's going to happen at a sporting event as well as concerts like this and it's very sad, tramatizing and heartbreaking. I realize I'm dreaming about keeping these guns off the streets, but if there ever was a cause to not give up the fight on, it's this. But it CANT be solved cause of partisan politics. I'd still try, though.

Tragic. Very sad about this.

I'm not a "rebuild guy" so I realize my post will be different from most. Please let's not start a big argument in respect for what's really important (the Vegas tragedy). But you asked. ... I thought it was a miserable season. As a fan I was insulted and irritated that we had to trot Pelphrey, Holland and Shields out there as three starting pitchers. They were disgustingly bad and insulted me as a fan. I mean if they were trying to tank, fine, but those guys were embarrassments to the uniform in terms of performance. As far as other negatives ... I feel like we had about 5 bullpen pieces "almost" as bad as the above mentioned starters. Disgusting bullpen. The positives for me are different from some of you. I appreciated some key hits this season from Avi, Davidson and Abreu. I especially enjoyed Avi's season, which was splendid. And I absolutely loved Abreu's season. Also as much as I hated Dunn, I did like Davidson. I felt like he did the uniform proud as a rookie. Some of his blasts were absolute bombs. I also liked watching Moncada and feel like Tim Anderson showed well the last six weeks. I disagree with some of his hitting approach but enjoyed his hitting the last month and a half. Enjoyed some of the performances of our young starters especially Rodon. In short, I loved Abreu, Davidson and Avi. Hated a bunch of things.

I wish him well. a.) he was a superstar player. b.) he seems to be an outstanding person. c.) I'm sure he learned from his miserable tenure in Chicago. Surely a smart guy like Robin (I'm assuming he's smart) learned a lot about managing after making so many mistakes in Chicago. One thing teams should be concerned about, however, is how he prepares a team for the season at spring training. His teams made a ton of mistakes on the simplest things making him appear to be a buffoon. He needs a GOOD bench coach to help him prepare his team for the season. You must admit his spring trainings must have reeked to have us screw up so many fundamentals.

QUOTE (fathom @ Oct 1, 2017 -> 02:07 AM) Shaping up to be a horrible, horrible win No offense to you guys but to me it was fantastic win. a.) I hate the Tribe. b.) Fulmer continues to look like he didn't give a flip about the minors and is doing VERY WELL in the bigs.

Cubs a lock to reach WS; ditto Cleveland. It's destined to be a rematch and Cleveland fans shouldn't assume revenge is complete. Cubs will be loose if they get that far and win it again. Then we'll be looking at a possible threepeat? My gawd. Bartman would finally come out of hibernation if Cubs win their second in a row. Who the hell would do anything but hug him then?

I like reading these posts that China could do something. Hopefully behind the scenes China is warning Kim that he's treading on hot water and could be killed if he keeps up this bulls***. China doesn't want the start of a nuclear war. Thing is ... if Kim Jong Un truly is insane or someday becomes insane, he just might launch the nukes before he dies. Some of these horrific "leaders" throughout history have killed themselves. Kim could fire off some nukes before he puts a gun to his own head if he thinks the chinese are coming to get him.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Sep 29, 2017 -> 10:25 PM) This is one theory. The problem with that is most pitchers back then didnt make it to the MLB. The got hurt in the minors. Only the pitchers that could tolerate that workload survived. That isnt an option today with more teams and more pitchers needed. I think its more that pitchees today focus too much on throwing too hard too often. There is no pacing themselves to gog deep in games. They burn themsleves out in 5-6 innings and put too much stress on the arm. Do you think baseball is destined to have pitchers go through lineups twice and that's it? They might have to expand rosters to carry up to 15 pitchers? Baseball in 10 years is going to be a deal where starters and all pitchers last about two innings max per night, right?

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Sep 30, 2017 -> 01:17 AM) I think Pelfrey has sealed his fate. I doubt he will back next year. It's already 7-0 Indians How could any GM pay that guy minimum wage next season? Only possible reason to put that guy on the mound is to make sure the tank is on. He and Shields and Holland in a rotation pretty much guarantee last place. You cannot overcome that 3/5s of a rotation. No way.

If Sox got this guy to go with this year's No. 2 draft pick and next year's No. 1 pick, that's a LOT of projected superstars. However, the fact Rodon and Fulmer do not look like locks to be superstars shows the tenuousness of the draft. But I digress. The Sox should try to get this guy IMO. I'd rather use him as an everday player, though. It goes back to the days of Babe Ruth. You are more valuable as an everday player than pitcher.

Man this is bad bad news. He could be out til summertime. It's sad how pitchers nowadays just can't avoid surgery. This game is brutal on the pitchers' arms. PTATC why all the injuries compared to the 60s and 70s and 80s?

QUOTE (Quin @ Sep 29, 2017 -> 02:04 AM) Hahn definitely reads SoxTalk I wonder if Greg drives him crazy with anti front office talk.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 27, 2017 -> 06:31 PM) There's also a really good chance you think the coach sucks at your favorite school if he is trying to recruit cleanly. Pretty good line. The wild thing is let's say out of the top 20 recruits according to ESPN.com and Rivals.com, 10 of them are big time players who came through the AAU system. Let's say they all 10 are getting money from shoe companies to go to a certain school and the coaches know about it. Yikes. If the investigation is thorough enough, all 10 of the college coaches probably committed crimes. Let's say 5 of the kids are from Mali or Nigeria. And they all have "mentors" who brought them over here, put them in academies and bartered deals with colleges. And accepted money from schools to funnel kids there. More crimes. This may sound dumb, but should the NCAA declare this upcoming season null and void? Have no games at all while conducting an all-out fact finding assault on college hoops? It seems to me like somebody posted here there could be a "majority" of top 20 programs guilty of something. Yikes. Just thinking out loud here.