greg775

QUOTE (Dunt @ Jun 26, 2015 -> 07:23 PM) We are all frustrated, but I think we can all agree we want this franchise to contend in the very near future. The franchise is at a critical juncture and I have a hard time seeing them blowing this up and doing an entire rebuild. So, in your opinions, what is the best way to make this team a playoff contender in 2016? If you were GM, how would you approach this trade deadline and offseason? IMO, the quickest fix for this team is to shore up the defense this offseason. Avi either needs to be moved to DH or moved permanently, Alexei needs to be replaced, Conor should not be a starting 3B in the MLB, and Tyler Flowers needs to be gone. I know the Sox will likely be tight for cash, but they are going to need to spend if they have any intentions of cleaning up this mess. I think either Matt Wieters or Alex Gordon needs to be a top priority on the FA market. While people criticized the Russell Martin contract originally, he would have made such an overwhelming difference for this team. Great 2 hole hitter, leader in the clubhouse, and an excellent catcher. I really hope the Sox dont make the same mistake in FA this year. Two way players cost a lot of money for a reason. This franchise cannot continue to ignore the value of defense like it has over the last decade. I think they stand a legitimate shot at making noise next season with largely the same rotation and shoring up their defense. What are your thoughts? I can't give you specific names but I am CONVINCED fully my plan of keeping Sale, Q, Rodon, and our new draftee pitcher to go with Abreu and A. Garcia (I guess he's a fine prospect still) and trading all the pieces Hahn acquired last offseason is our best bet for immediate success. Those are a lot of bodies to trade and I'll leave it to him to fix the problems with those bodies as trade bait. Our ONLY hope is to ride what could be a top of the line rotation to the top. It would help if we could get in another division though. Sox are patsies to division foes in Central.

I hear Kansas lawmakers again are going to screw Kansans out of health insurance declining all the provisions of Obamacare. Yet all these lawmake®s get ®e-elected ove® and ove®. Amazing.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Jun 25, 2015 -> 02:18 PM) When I was in 4th or 5th grade one of the kids that was a grade below me was killed by being hit by a car on his way to school. As far as knowing your neighbors, I know that we have a least 2 sex offenders within a few blocks of our house. My girls had a few friends in the neighborhood but they all moved away before they even hit 7th grade. Yes and fear of this kind of stuff will forever have our kids imprisoned in their own homes, putting on their uniforms for soccer and baseball and basketball when they are 5 years old. It is what it is. I'm just saying parents are way overprotective and that's OK because that's the way it is now. We had a nut on our block when I was a kid and the parents did say to NEVER go in the vicinity of that house. Nobody got knifed by that moron either.

I told you guys all our veteran "name" players will be sought after. Please Sox, dump LaRoche and Melky and Lexi and Robertson and Duke and Shark in a major "do-over" of the past offseason. I'm confident Hahn will get it right this time.

Any win is a great win for Chicago's Sox. I wonder what the team's record is when it draws five walks like today. I bet we're undefeated with four or more walks. The offense was pretty darn good today, like the front office and fans envisioned it in the preseason. Man, Rodon is off to a pedestrian start. I'm not complaining, he's young and doing OK, but not exactly Strausburg-ing it. What the hell is wrong with David R? Man, I guess no relievers are worth the $$$ nowadays. All we can ask is the Sox keep it going and win some series. I still am expecting 1-3 this series, but what the heck?

You've gotta be bleepin me. Now we go to Detroit?? For four games?? Geezus I hate baseball's schedule. Now we cure Detroit's ills. Sox take one if lucky. More likely Four game sweep coming considering our defense will kick it all over that big stadium. My gawd.

I "almost" feel sorry for Eaton on today's blunder. When you think a guy caught the ball u can go braindead. He took responsibility in his quotes. I think his hustle has been OK all year, he's just sucked big time.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 10:41 PM) Rank dead last in baseball per fangraphs (Padres are team ahead of us). Over the past 3 years, we rank 3rd from the end having given up an etxra 102 runs vs. a league average defense. The difference between the Sox defense during that span and the Royals defense is 301 runs. Yes, i said that right, 301 runs. Absolutely apalling. Consistent though cause we have ranked in bottom 3 spots past 2 seasons and now own the bottom spot this year. Tribe and Astros are only teams that rank worse. Wow. This is why we knew after six weeks of baseball that this team was crap and needed to start trading its pieces immediately. You can't win with defense like this.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 08:12 AM) http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/educat...4eb1_story.html As well as makes up a phone call from Mark Zuckerberg (supposedly while in Panama)...urging her to go to Harvard, where he of course didn't even graduate. This is the corollary to the participation trophy idea...it's the "tiger" parents who are unwilling to accept anything less than eight Ivy League acceptances, who force their kids into mastering multiple instruments, leadership in volunteer activities, sports year-round (captainship is a plus), clubs/extracurriculars, student newspaper editor, training center classes for SAT, arts/drawing/singing/dance in order to differentiate their son or daughter from all the other perfect SAT scorers who look virtually identical to admissions counselors. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/genius...d8e5_story.html Opinion piece on the situation. The evolution of parents/kids which has led to stuff like this is very sad.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 09:30 PM) From the geezers in my office, they'd argue the biggest difference between now and when they were kids is that neighborhoods used to be neighborhoods. You knew everyone on the block and all the kids on the block. Parents could rely on other parents to keep kids in line. Nowadays i'm not sure how much that happens. Certainly in some areas, but there's a ton of movement now. You don't buy a house and plan to live there until you die. The house you live in is just a stepping stone to the next one. I just think folks born at the end of the Baby Boomer generation decided it was unsafe for their kids to do anything unattended. And every generation to follow has copied that and only made it worse. Johnny and Julie must be taken care of and watched and protected at all times and also can do no wrong. Just ask teachers who get in trouble for giving bad grades to brats who deserve the bad grades.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 08:39 PM) I agree with the general point here, but I mean, if something happened, wouldn't you as a parent feel terrible? Given the availability of organized sports for kids from the time they're 3, call me crazy, but not letting them play on the street isn't some major sin as a parent. My son's K-5 school is 3 blocks from our house. I'm already dreading the day when we let him walk there by himself. I'm not sure it'll happen to be honest! I applaud those parents that want their kids to get out there and explore at a young age. And I 100% think it's bulls*** that some people/communities want to fine them for being bad parents/ But i'm also not going to judge other parents for not wanting to take the risk. Your post is great and understandable and 100 percent in line with how we as a society feel today. No way in hell kids are allowed to be kids and be alone EVER. I just want to say this. When I was a kid, from 10 years old on, in Mt. Greenwood, parents would allow kids to basically do whatever they wanted to do in the summer. Your bike was your friend. Unorganized sports with buddies was your friend! And nobody I ever know was hit by a car, kidnapped, abused, approached. Kids did play Little League from age 10 on. Drove their own bike to the games; parents rarely attended unless you made the playoffs or something. Great life. Nobody got killed or kidnapped or hit by cars. I'd make the bike ride from 103rd street to 115th Street where the fields were. Never a problem. We also got soft drinks if we won paid for by our coaches; we got nothing if we lost. For some reason people in my generation and ensuing generations refused to allow their own kids to have the same childhoods. We were too afraid of "something happening" to the kids. Can you imagine if coaches only bought soda for the kids if they WON nowadays? The horror. Buy those kids cokes win OR lose!!

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 05:19 PM) Maybe he meant Lester Munson, both have Chicago roots The difference in today's generation v prior are over active parental oversight and information access. Everyone knows everything now a days and situations become over aggrandized. The information age has its pitfalls. This is the post of the year. Worded like Shakespeare. "over active parental oversight." That is such a cool way to say parents have coddled their babies for a couple generations now. You can blame it on the rare mass murders and kidnappings or whatever you want, but parents took away the kids' right to be a kid. No more playing baseball on street corners (you might get hit by a car, you know) or riding bikes with friends to hang out wherever their bikes took them (you might get kidnapped you know) to play whatever sport they felt like playing that day (throw a football, play whiffle ball or rubber ball with a wall as a backstop), play street hockey, go skating at the park in the winter. Nope, parents put uniforms on their kids at age 6 and organized everything lest their little babies get kidnapped or killed by some imagined threat. My original thread was misstated by me I guess. I just wondered why college athletes are expected to win and fans get all hot and bothered when they don't win (football, basketball) when their generation has been taught just competing is OK. How do we expect these kids to be "gamers" when all their lives they've been taught the result doesn't matter?

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 08:08 PM) Will he hear boos during the 05 reunion ceremonies? I can't believe it's already time for an 05 reunion. It actually makes me sad. I'd never have thought this team would turn to complete s*** with so few highlights since the glorious WS crown.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 08:52 PM) Haha! Check out Sale's reaction to the question about the team's offense.... Hilarious. It's a historically bad offense. So boring it is beyond belief.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 08:48 PM) Abreu is a B. He's not getting as many pitches to drive and he's being forced to be more aggressive trying to carry the team on his back. But he's almost at .300, at least coming into today. B-, at worst. LaRoche C+ or B-. Cmon. LaRoche is a D like everybody not named Abreu and maybe Beckham C or C-.

QUOTE (Soxfest @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 08:42 PM) People are not going to pay to watch this.................I know people on Fathers Day game that left after the 4th inning they were so bored. Frankly, who cares? Let's face it. The Sox are at the point like the Orioles were all those years when they fielded teams that had no chance and were out of it in May. The Sox are at that point. We cheer for a horrible baseball team. If the fans don't want to come, who cares? There's really no danger of the team moving to another city. So who cares if the Sox make any more money on concessions/parking/souvenirs? You'd have rocks in your head to pay to see this team play. Free tickets? That's a different story. it's still baseball.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 08:38 PM) Well, we'll never know because of their fear of being disloyal to Ventura...especially if this terrible style of play continues into next year. It will remain one of those unanswered questions if the baseball equivalent of Brad Stevens could have turned the season around. True. The time to fire him was that series where we lost all four to Minnie. Or even before that. He's a joke, but no more than the players. Right now, you'd have to give a D or F to LaRoche, Gillaspie, Lexi, Sanchez, Micah, Flowers, Soto, Melky, Abreu, Bonifacio. For the most part the pitchers have been OK.

Bring up Davidson now and see who really won the trade. Season is lost. Might as well as see if Davidson is Josh Fields or Robin Ventura.

Stop the silliness. Keep Sale, Abreu, Q, Rodon and our new No. 1 draft pick and trade EVERYBODY else ASAP.

LOL, the Hitless Blunders turn around Minnesota's season again. Firesale, please Mr. Hahn?

I forgot if I told you the update on my friend who cheats on his wife. He's the late 30s guy who was "f***ing" that 24 year old waitress from Hooters. Well he finally got sloppy and got caught by his wife. I never ever thought he would get caught. I guess it does prove the old adage that if you cheat you will get caught. He ended up getting some free tickets to a baseball game and gave them to his 22 year old mistress. She gave them to four people she knew. Well the 4 people went to the game and said "How did we get these tickets?" One of the people said, "Shelly's boyfriend, XX XX, got the tickets." One of the people said, "XX is he the guy who works at Sprint? My wife knows HIS WIFE." So this p**** goes home and tells his wife and she calls my friend's wife and says, "Your husband is cheating on you." She calls her husband who is in New Orleans on a weekend getaway with his mistress and says, "I know all about you cheating on me. Don't deny it." My friend's wife did not ask for a divorce. They are still together. They have 2 kids, 6 and 4. My question is: If you cheat is it inevitable you get caught? I never thought he'd get caught. He was taking girls on dates in the town he lives in and still never got caught til the baseball game.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 04:24 AM) 3 straight games with 10 or more hits. Abreu with 4 to get back to .300. Eaton with 3 . Melky with 2 more. Soto with 2. 6 doubles . Still took 15 hits to get just 6 runs but baby steps in the right direction. The Sox 1st win at MN. this year. Good pitching and defense. Melky/Ramirez threw out a runner at home and Soto caught Buxton stealing. You touched on all the highlights and the weird-light. 15 hits and "only" six runs. QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Jun 24, 2015 -> 04:37 AM) Just start Soto, who knows, maybe he's good enough to earn a starting role for '16. Jettison flowers and bring up Smith. Move Nieto to AAA. Get it done. No on Soto next year. Happy he is making contact, though. Nice contribution tonight. I find it impossible to believe Sox beat Minnie in Minnie. One win in the series isn't good but it's better than the usual sweep. GO SOX!

I was thinking about something the other day. The current generation of 20 somethings to young 30 somethings are members of the generation that could do no wrong as kids. When they played competitive sports it was OK to suck and OK to lose. These are the same people who quit jobs after a year or so and move on to another firm or profession when the jobs aren't fun or what they expected. We've been told the current generation is seeking easy street ASAP and can't understand work ethic like previous generations. My psychological question is why hasn't this moved over to sports? We expect a ton from our young athletes. College football and basketball players get ripped in the press and by fans when they don't perform well. Guys in big league baseball from the Participation Trophy Generation get ripped and are expected to produce lest they get reamed by media and fans. My question is ... why do we expect this age group to perform like the Pete Rose age group? Is this a factor in baseball hitters not being as good nowadays or young NBA lottery picks of the last 3-4 years for the most part sucking? Has this filtered to professional sports? I just wondered why fans and media expect so much from young players nowadays when they are from a totally different generation, one not raised to excel and compete as hard as past generations. Also, how can a 20-something fan who was raised that losing is OK and just participating is enough ... how can that fan demand so much from players and even boo players when they were raised that failure is very OK? Please respond if you understand my point.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Jun 23, 2015 -> 01:01 AM) Davidson hasn't panned out but that trade you do 100/100. i hate posts like that because it's not true. The trade sucks because Davidson sucks. At some point the evaluation has to be correct on a player you acquire before you say you'd do that trade 100 of 100 times. They shouldn't have done the trade period. Davidson sucks. QUOTE (ptatc @ Jun 23, 2015 -> 03:55 PM) IMO it's because they try to throw too hard too often. Since they are out there for a short period of time, they throw as hard as they can. It's effective in the short term but adversely effects them in the long term. I think you are right. I was hearing Wade Davis say as a reliever you let it all loose cause you don't need to save anything. You are in one inning and that's it, maybe 2 on a rare occasion.

I like his harsh tone. He's just a writer so it means nothing, but it's nice to read negative stuff about this unlikeable team. He praised the only guys worth praising. I thought it was funny he said A. Garcia is awful. These guys need to start showing something or they deserve articles like that one.