greg775

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Oct 6, 2014 -> 02:54 PM) They are good. I've always hated Brother Rice. I was on the 2003 state championship team at Lockport and those fans at BR were the worst I ever heard in 4 years of HS football. Old Irish cops dropping f bombs and other expletives at opposing HS players. Real classy bunch back then. Whipping their ass was fun. Are u sure they we're br fans? Disappointing if so

They are protesting at Busch Stadium tonight. Some fans were yelling at the protestors. I'm all for free speech but I think they should not be protesting at a ballgame. You're just asking to piss people off. I mean, if you have to show up, fine, but don't do a lot of chanting and marching around the stadium. Again, it's just asking for trouble IMO. No big deal, but I think it's the wrong time for a protest. Most baseball fans have nothing to do with this and can't really do much about it.

Torii Hunter is old (39), a former White Sox killer, in other words it makes sense to bring him in on a one-year, 4 million dollar deal with a team option for a second year at 4.5 million. He can't be any worse than Viciedo and he might be the coach/player we need for the outfield and for the other positions that require good defense. Hunter might be this team's Jermaine Dye, so to speak. I'd go for bringing in Butler and Hunter. You can get both cheap and they fill two holes. Keep Viciedo around to learn under consummate pro Hunter. Viciedo can even steal 200 of Torii's at bats. There are worse outfields around than Hunter (lf), Eaton (cf), A. Garcia (rf) with Viciedo the fourth outfielder (learning under Torii how to play baseball). Then sign a starter and you fill a lot of holes at about 20-25 million on the payroll. I still haven't addressed the bullpen. Maybe a trade of prospects to get one stud reliever and sign a journeyman for another. GO SOX!

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 6, 2014 -> 03:51 PM) They could also spend $50 million+ this offseason and still have a good shot at the AL Central. Do you believe if the Sox spent 50 million this offseason they could contend?

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Oct 6, 2014 -> 05:58 PM) Pujols was robbed a couple times. Hamilton was atrocious and in his defense, hadn't played in like a month. Never though the Hamilton deal would turn into the albatross it did. 5 years didn't seem that terrible at the time but boy is it. Pujols deal was always terrible but he's healthier this year then he had been in a few (still not 100% and never will be) but he was actually pretty good. That said, the contract is an utter disaster. So two more contracts that are disasters. Have any of these long term deals actually benefited the team to where you'd say the player is worth the cash? A-Rod. No; Fielder, No. Dunn. No. On and on and on and yet teams will keep signing 'em up every year.

QUOTE (ChiSox59 @ Oct 6, 2014 -> 02:36 PM) Shields is going to get a lot more than 4 years $60M or 5 years and $72. I am thinking 5/$90 in the bare minimum. If the SOX could get him at 4 years and $60M, I'd do cartwheels. What do advanced stats say about Shields and his immediate future as he continues to age? I'm not being smart aleck I'm serious. Cause the eye test tells me he's not dominant and could be a huge free agent bust moving forward. I am right now listening to talk radio and the hosts are saying he's not worth the money and the Royals properly will let him walk. Granted they can't afford him but they also are saying good riddance because he's certain to be on the decline. Little surprised people on this board wanted to get rid of Buehrle and want Shields. Interesting considering the ages of said pitchers at times of signing.

The Royals fans haven't angered me too much, yet, so I am OK with them winning, at least at this moment. Their fans could annoy me at any second.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Oct 6, 2014 -> 05:15 AM) Go Orioles! DeAza is the one left standing. Beckham didn't play much in the ALDS as I recall. And Dunn didn't get a sniff of the lineup in the WC card.

QUOTE (Heads22 @ Oct 5, 2014 -> 01:31 AM) Ha, I'm getting results! 2015-2016 should be a stacked year for Iowa State. And yes, Niang will still be around. Hopefully we land one of our top targets as well. Still think a home and home would be a blast. Will Iowa State take two from Kansas this year?

How come U of I football is so bad year after year? I can see why Kansas would suck. Kansas State is the football school in this backward state. But U of I? It should dominate and it has sucked for so long. The Illini should be able to get beefy linemen out of the Catholic League and the best athletes out of the rest of the state and put together a dynamic team. No reason for Northwestern to outrecruit U of I. Why does U of I suck in football? Who will be the next coach to get the program rolling?

Brother Rice is trending upward, baby. Looking like a contender.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 4, 2014 -> 04:52 PM) Confidence has very little to do with it. Victor Martinez being less than super human or even not there next year, Miguel Cabrera being a year older, and perhaps most importantly Scherzer being gone are their worries for next year. On top of that, Nathan and Hunter are free agents and are quite old. Just to stay treading water will cost that team like $40 million+ next offseason. JD Martinez helps them a ton, Castellanos playing well in his 2nd year would help, but that is an old, expensive team with just about as many needs as us. Great post. Detroit is going to go crazy money wise trying to fix that bullpen. It'd be nice if their owner gave up and started selling off players like some other teams have done. Would be nice if Detroit became the new Minnie, cheapskates and losers.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 6, 2014 -> 03:50 AM) Kc has destiny on their side and more ways to beat you right now...but that long layoff could mess up the timing of those confident young hitters. That said speed never slumps. Nor does a bullpen like that...even nastier with finnegan added into the mix. Feels a lot like the white sox 2005 run right now....everything going their way. Scioscia now 10-22 since 2002 World Series...including 1-7 against chisox and royals. Great stat on Scioscia. I wonder if he gets the axe. Ditto Ausmus. Teams that spend money can't have happy owners when their teams bow out meekly.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 6, 2014 -> 03:43 AM) I would go with Duffy or Ventura but I haven't looked at the head to head numbers yet. Shields will undoubtedly get the ball though as he's earned the right and Duffy Ventura and finnegan will have plenty of opportunities in the future. The royals will really be interesting with victor Martinez...Sandoval...or Hanley in that lineup. Dyson can replace aoki and butlers numbers are easily replaceable. One would expect hosmer moustakas and Perez to all be better offensively. Like the 2005 sox pen you have to doubt that bullpen can put up another 72-1 with a lead going into the 9th. That's unreal. Butler will get $6-8 million per season...for two and possibly three years (option?). Getting older no defensive position power and RBI numbers way down...they would even be better off with willingham and Ibanez but they will have money to spend. Why would you not start Shields, Caulfield? Doesn't make sense to not pitch the ace on four days rest? That might be the final straw for Royals fans regarding Yost if he messes with successful rotation. I still think Butler will get more than that now that KC is one of the top two teams in the AL. s***, KC would gladly bring him back for 6 million instead of the 12 million he gets if they don't buy him out. He's still young. I think KC would love to have him at the money you suggest.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Oct 6, 2014 -> 02:05 AM) Big Game James Shields with six nice, albeit not dominant, innings. Couple questions ... 1.) Do you start Shields in Game One on Friday if you are Ned/Dayton Moore? 2.) What kind of contract has Shields earned with his postseason performance. Again, very beautiful pitching, but does it project to him being great in 3, 4 5 years? Would you say someone is gonna give him six years 25 mill a year? 3.) Butler has looked pretty good this postseason. Has he earned himself a 4-5 year deal from somebody for 15-20 million a year? Appears to me he's back from the dead. KC fans can say what they want on banners. They wanted to run him out of town a few weeks ago. Thanks in advance for the answers.

It really makes no sense to trade Sale. It would be about the players, not the money since he's affordable. The Sox would be figuring Rodon is as good as Sale and could replace him. It's a dumb trade though as the Sox would be shipping out a franchise player for prospects. Weird idea.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Oct 4, 2014 -> 11:55 PM) You're a joke, greg. I can't have an opinion that excessive force was used and that a life could and should have been spared? Take out heinous and call him "overaggressive" then. OK I fixed it and removed all adjectives.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Oct 4, 2014 -> 09:09 PM) I think his arm has lost its magic. Are you a Sabes guy? I'm telling you there are intangibles in sports like momentum and magic whether you guys believe it or not. The White Sox performance in 05 came out of nowhere in the playoffs/Series. Team has pretty much stunk since 05 and not been all that amazing before 05. Yes we make the playoffs every once in a while. I don't care what Sabes says about guys like Crede and Rowand and Pods. They are VITAL to teams.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 4, 2014 -> 07:53 PM) You're the one who keeps repeating the mantra that you don't care about Jerry Reinsdorf's pocket book, you just care about the team winning, right? That's exactly the attitude that drives those kind of contracts. People have to win now, they don't care about the owner's pocket book. True, but in the NFL you can sign a guy to a 6-year deal knowing you'll cut him after one or two years. In baseball ... what a rip off.

Another family made their plea to ISIS to let their son go. The family just should have resisted the urge to do this. This is what ISIS wants. More publicity. The family asking for mercy to a group like this just assures their son being beheaded IMO. I can understand why the family did this but you can't reason with individuals who are the scum of the earth. http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/04/world/isis-p....html?hpt=hp_t1

When it's finally announce no charges will be fired against the police officer, what's going to happen in Ferguson? Still there are disputes almost every night with the cops/protestors. I found it interesting the police chief apologized for keeping Mike Brown's body in the middle of the road for so long. It's disgusting that a few weeks after the fact they acknowledge how big and disgraceful a f***-up that was. So many cops should lose their jobs over this tragedy.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 4, 2014 -> 07:32 PM) Albert Pujols's team is also in the postseason. If baseball was like football, so many of these guys would be released year after year it'd be remarkable. True, football players get to keep the huge bonuses, but once they become average, they are released so teams don't have to pay the ridiculous contracts they sign the players to. I can't wait to see which team makes the huge blunder on Shields.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 4, 2014 -> 04:58 PM) @JeffPassan: Albert Pujols has seven years, $189M left on his deal. Josh Hamilton has three years, $83M. Pujols is in constant pain. Hamilton is a ghost. This is just impossible to believe. How can these teams keep signing these guys year after year? Baseball needs a salary cap so badly. Obviously they'll never get one. Baseball's players union is golden. If baseball owners like bears could hibernate in the winter the sport would have been so much better and people could actually afford to go to games. Owners just have to have these big name players even though about 5 percent are worth it. Oh well, just charge more for hot dogs and Cokes and parking. How in the hell can GMs keep their jobs? Bust after bust after bust with these huge contracts. And this offseason somebody's gonna give Shields 20 million a year for 5-6 years. Ha ha. That GM will regret it the day Shields shows up for spring training. What an awful sport. Too bad I'm hooked on it.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 4, 2014 -> 08:34 AM) Every manager will go his pen when it's finnegan Duffy Herrera Davis and holland. It's when the choice is Ventura vs. Collins/Fraser/Coleman/downs that it gets much trickier. I'm sure ausmus would have pitched anibal Sanchez an additional inning yesterday had he known the outcome in advance...Greg ur a big soria guy and he just doesn't have the crispness or movement after coming back from injury. It's not about sabes. It's about a managers intuition and decision-making ability. You are right about Soria. Looks like he's burned out the arm. He's no good anymore.

Do you think Detroit's latest choke job will bring them back to earth during the regular season? Are they going to finally turn into the Rangers? How many years can you fail in the postseason without it affecting players' confidence and regular season results?