greg775

QUOTE (JenksIsMyHero @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 08:06 PM) Bernie should have gone independent. He's a sell out for backing a corporate/Wall Street puppet like Hillary, the exact type of politician/Washington insider he was campaigning against. Especially in an election like this, where the threat of Trump actually winning is incredibly low. Hillary doesn't need his support and he didn't need to give it to her. He probably should have gone independent. Had he gone independent though, would he have ever gained any traction at all? Would anybody have covered his campaign at all? In retrospect, the bulls*** superdelagate thing killed him. Also the media's refusal to pay ANY attention to that string of victories he had fairly late. He was rolling. Had they amped up the Bernie coverage before California and actually wrote about Bernie's popularity rather than "he has no chance" as he racked up win after win, he might have been the nominee. If he were an independent, none of that rigged bulls*** would have occurred. If the ballot boxes weren't rigged in November (and there's no reason to believe our elections are fixed), he might have actually had a chance as an independent. Instead of backing Hillary, he should have gone independent right after California saying, "I owe it to my supporters to have this play out. I am disappointed in how I've been treated by the superdelagates and am going to win the Presidency as an independent!" Ultimately I don't blame him for backing Hillary cause that's what you do when you "lose."

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 08:09 PM) I know you never let facts get in the way of a good arguement, but here's an article from 3 years ago talking about some announcers bringing in more advanced stats when they call the games. Link Robert Ford is the former Royals postgame show guy who is a big Sabes guy. I truly don't think other announcers dabble in Sabes at all. I mean they might mention SOME Sabes stat once a month. Royals announcers don't do it. Hawk would rather be slugged in the head with a bat than discuss Sabes stuff.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 09:56 PM) Great point. I would rather give up the Marcus Semiens and Trayce Thompsons of the world that bring back the types of players like Shark (already forgot how to spell his damn last name!) and Frazier, guys of a certain caliber who could presumably contribute to a contending team, than give up nobody but sign bottom of the barrel types like a 37 year-old Rollins or Mat Latos, who won't help get the team anywhere. It goes back to the old adage: you have to give up something to get something. We have a very forgiving fanbase. The Shark trade on paper is a disaster right now with Semien performing and Phegs serviceable. Didn't we give up a third piece as well? Shark was a monumental colossal disaster even if the trade may have "made sense." A lot of us don't like giving up our "name" prospects in deals. For example, if we were to trade Robertson and Frazier and Melky and Lawrie soon, I'd like to get back players just like Semien and Trayce plus more than that.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 09:13 PM) This definitely goes both ways on this site. There are people who are always going to jump to trash someone we traded away and there are always going to be plenty of people who are automatically going to love the players we traded away. There's also a third group of people: Ones who see how the players we trade away perform. If they perform like Semien and Trayce then of course we're going to be mad. You can't blindly support your team when they do something dumb. Hopefully the Semien deal won't be as bad as the worst deal in Chicago history: Lou Brock for Ernie Broglio. If Semien is a 30-40 HR guy every year, he's the next Ernie Banks (sorry for all the Cub references).

QUOTE (chisoxfan310 @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 08:57 PM) And those announcers are moronic and sound stupid. Not really. Also, they talk about batting average, homers and RBIs. Sometimes OBP is listed on the screen but you rarely if ever hear an announcer say what a guy's on base percentage is. Sabes people are still considered like Trekkies, cultish.

Very sad that nobody on staff wanted to deal with such a sexual predator. What a sick man. Glad he's rotting in jail.

QUOTE (Deadpool @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 02:43 PM) Pitching wins don't matter. Ever. Separate pitching performance from pitching wins. Sabes people can say that all they want. The baseball announcers and writers go by wins and losses and ERA and strikeout vs. walk totals.

I'd package Frazier and David Robertson in a blockbuster. Sox get 5-6 Bosox prospects or Dodger prospects or Yankee prospects?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 11:18 AM) Then don't say they will lose 8 out of 10 if you won't back it up. I still stand by the record I posted. You'll see. As far as betting, it may not be a smart move because of the "meaningless game factor." That's another Sox thing. Depending on how soon they fall out of the race, they actually then could beat those 3 Central teams as they did last year. They dominated the final 2 series versus KC when it mattered not.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 06:20 PM) That summarizes the Hahn regime quite well.... You're over .500 right now and you've got tradeable assets in Fulmer, Adams, and Rodon. Why do we have to trade THOSE guys. I prefer keeping those 3 and Anderson, Eaton and Abreu and Sale/Q and dumping the rest: Frazier, Robertson, Melky, Avila, Navarro, Duke, Avi, Lawrie will bring a NICE haul.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 02:40 PM) I get that people don't want sox to be burned by trading away thompson/montas/m.johnson, but the constant effort to trash anyone as terrible as soon as they leave. The constant refrain of how Semein will never make it (newsflash, his defense has improved and he is a good hitter) and oh, how terrible Trayce is. Trayce is better than Austin Jackson. If you would have asked what TT was last year, everyone pretty much would have been happy if he was a .740 OPS CF with dope defense. But on the Dodgers he's awful, terrible. I hope Trayce is great. He deserves time to develop. He may end up as someone who just had three hot ML months, or those three hot ML months show that he can play at this level. Give him time. Great post. I don't understand why people refuse to blast our front office for dumping Semien and Trayce. Look Semien ONCE was a shoddy defensive player. Now he's more than good at ss. He has perfect power for the Cell. Trayce is a good hitter and nice prospect. He's also blasted 11 homers which means he'd be a nice power guy at the Cell. We need home runs and left a lot on the table. Samardjia was horrific as a Sox pitcher.

QUOTE (Chi Town Sox @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 04:27 PM) I don't know who I am voting for or if I am voting for all but it wasn't going to be HRC or Bernie. But to see him roast her for as long as he has and then sit up there and talk about how fierce she is, wow. His facebook followers are absolutely roasting him. All those donations to help him fight to the convention and then to bow out and support everything that he had said was evil. That's pretty disappointing. What's he supposed to do? He obviously waited for the FBI guy to make his decision on Hillary before dropping out. Now that the rigged system has cleared Hillary, he knows it's over and he does what they always do: Back the nominee. He gave it his best shot against all odds (superdelate bulls***, FBI and attorney general fawning over Hillary), he really did. But with her not getting thrown in jail, he had no choice. I'd leave Bernie alone if I were his beloved supporters. He didn't sell out; he did what's always done. Back the winner.

How come nobody seems to care 21 police were injured in Minnie Saturday and Sunday? These are human beings. The protestors are making it easy on the cops to at least bag some arrests. Up to 50 charged with rioting Saturday night and a couple were charged with felonies for throwing stuff at cops. You throw a rock at a human being, you deserve to be charged with a crime. These protestors who shut down highways are gonna get arrested in droves. It's a direct affront to the law and they are responding.

QUOTE (3GamesToLove @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 03:55 AM) Yost has already said he plans to use five starters for the first five innings, with Quintana in the fifth slot. I'd let Sale go two innings if he gets through the first unscathed.

To be fair, yes I despise Hillary and reports of her mean-ness, but that doesn't mean I support Trump. For the record I will vote for neither. I was watching an internet film in which a man describes how he designed a clubhouse for a Trump golf course and Trump and his legions of ruffians basically refused to pay. They gave the guy about 1/3 of the amount agreed upon. The Trump attorney said if it went to court he'd make sure he got the case delayed for years so he better take the offer. This video was convincing; I am assuming it's true. I would think Trump would just say it's a lie, like Hillary would and does. f*** them both ... I want a name of a good write in candidate. I will not vote for Trump or equally despicable (to me) Hillary.

This is a great column. The FBI director outlined a great case in making Hillary stand trial, then inexplicably said no reasonable prosecutor would prosecute. Turns out his reasoning was quite simple. ... Comey simply didn't want to go down in history as the man who changed the 2016 election. Like the author states, what if a trial were held and Hillary was INNOCENT and Comey had caused her to lose the Presidency. He'd forever be remembered as the guy who prevented Hillary from being the first female U.S. President. By recommending no charges, Comey is right where he wants to be: Forgotten and a non factor in the election. Excellent column. This was a no brainer for Comey, who didn't have the guts to do the right thing lest she be declared innocent at a trial and he be blamed for costing the Democrats the election. Please READ IT. http://www.abqjournal.com/805161/fbi-chief...ke-history.html

I would agree with the author this is the baseball gods taking care of Q. Very nice he made the team despite his team's pathetic support of him. Hope he gets to pitch in the game. I doubt he will, though. It'd be nice to have Ned go with Sale, then a righty, then Q third.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 12:30 AM) First it was,8 out of 10 now you moved the bar higher. I will bet you $100 they go at least 11-22 vs. those teams the rest of the season. The problem is the record could be skewed as far as how the Sox fare against those teams once the Sox are eliminated. Last year they kicked butt once the games didn't matter.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 12, 2016 -> 04:35 AM) Thompson also had a lot of game-winning hits during that hot streak. Should we take all of those wins of the board, too...because they happened in one "hot stretch"? Couldn't we do that with 80-90% of pitchers and hitters? Let's just put it this way. The Dodgers are confident enough in him, Pederson, Kendrick and eventually Ethier to trade Puig now. Nice post. I'm 'just saying' that it's pretty sad that our organization, which has horrible minor leagues, could right now have younguns playing in Anderson, Thompson and Semien. They all could be in the lineup. That's three positions filled for quite some time to come. That goes with our homegrown pitchers who have made it.

QUOTE (lasttriptotulsa @ Jul 11, 2016 -> 07:16 PM) Have you looked at Trayce Thompson's stats lately. He is not very good. Other than a hot two week stretch in May he has been pretty horrible this year. Take out that hot stretch and he has an anemic .202/.283/.362 slash line. He is far from a stud and probably should not be an every day player. He's 25 years old and has 13 home runs. That screams 20 home runs at the break at the Cell! The power would be nice and we know he can play D. Soxtalk is hard on young playes. QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Jul 11, 2016 -> 10:00 PM) I agree. Semien was a butcher at SS Hey, Soxtalk is hard on the younguns. The A's fans LOVE his defense this year. He has 19 fricking home runs. We've left a ton of home runs on the table in Trayce and Semien for the Cell. We've got a guy with some pop in Saladino who we don't even play. Avi is useless and Saladino should be roaming right field for now if he can read a fly ball at all.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jul 11, 2016 -> 07:02 PM) 7-26 is actually slightly better than winning 2 out of 10. I will make you a wager the Sox go better than 7-26 vs. Cleveland, KC and Detroit the rest of the season. The Sox will go 10-23 vs those teams the rest of the season. Maybe 9-24 but I'd say 10-23. That means "sell" in my book. It's tough to say because of "meaningless" games late. Like I don't know who we play the final two weeks and if they are eliminated and we are eliminated yet, etc. Last year we rocked KC in some meaningless games late. I think the Sox won five of the last six vs. KC last year but when anything was on the line ... L after L after L for Chicago.

Man, I can't imagine the good Catholics in Mt. Greenwood allowing that to happen. The school and church have a ton of property, though. Maybe it's a sign of the times that people can't afford 5,000 bucks a semester or whatever it costs. Still I would think people would rally to keep that school open. It was a good school.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jul 11, 2016 -> 04:06 PM) Also posting this so that Greg can respond with "That's not a very good article, the author wasn't objective how come nobody is covering what a b**** she is?" http://www.vox.com/a/hillary-clinton-inter...dership-quality The problem with this article is again, it comes from a Chris Matthews type, that is, a Hillary worshiper.. This paragraph made me stop reading: "Obama administration officials, up to and including the president, badly want to see her win — there is something in the way she acted after the election, in the soldier she became and the colleague she showed herself to be, that has curdled the pride they felt in winning the 2008 primary into something close to guilt." Yes, we know, Hillary is so special, blah blah. She's a compulsive liar, power hungry, elitist and the FBI doesn't care.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jul 11, 2016 -> 07:28 PM) Of note, regarding Anderson's defense: Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) gives him a +3 thus far, on the strength of Runs on Plays Made (rPM) with 0s for Runs on Good Fielding Plays (rGFP) and Runs on Double Plays (rGDP). That's a good pace and matches my eye test that he's making most of the plays he should, doesn't look the best on double plays, and hasn't completed any real eye-popping plays. Revised Zone Rating which is computed a bit more transparently also likes him. It's simply a percentage of the time he makes the play on balls hit into the zones that a shortstop fields at least 50% of the time. He's .830 on this metric, which is 6th best among SS with at least 100 innings. UZR gives him an overall 0.6, which computes out to 3.7 over 150 games. Not "oh my god" good, but good. This is another stat that is relative to the average SS, so being above is a good sign. All of his value in UZR comes from not making errors, while he is slightly negative (-0.3) in both range and double plays. This is in basic agreement with DRS, though it's a hair more conservative. I think most of us like him from the eye test as well, it's definitely a far cry from the player that just a year ago many still wondered whether he would be good enough to spend any MLB time at the position. You can see some of the roughness around the edges, especially with footwork on double plays, but he exudes baseball talent on defense IMO. He's been surprisingly sure-handed on routine balls and you can see flashes of that big range and playmaking ability. I'm not sure whether he's truly an above average SS or is benefiting from the kinds of opportunities so far, but he looks like a real MLB SS and perhaps a good one in the long run. Just think if we had Anderson, Semien and Trayce! Wow we'd be excited and praising our system. Instead, two horrific trades letting Trayce and Semien go. As much as we rail on our system, we had 3 studs right there home grown and let two go.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jul 11, 2016 -> 06:29 PM) Literally what we do against the AL Central in the second half is the key to the season. Good post. And that's why I say "sell." The problems they have in the division won't be fixed this year. It's a scouting problem and Cleveland, Detroit and KC will win eight of every 10 vs the Sox the second half. Sell.