LDF

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 03:55 PM) To be honest, I'm not sure that would have been enough to lure Fowler away from a playoff contender and world series favorite. I definitely think, in Fowler's case, it's about more than just money. If I were in his shoes, I would have wanted to return to the cubs too. you make an excellent point, however whether it is 1 mil or 5 mil on the table, i think most players will go for the money. now there are some who would rather go for the ability to go the playoff. but those players are long in the tooth and want one final go around with a team that will make the playoff. but think about it, 1 million+ dollars ????

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 03:23 PM) Only way a team was getting him is if they offered something like 3/45, in my opinion even a 2/30 with an opt clause will work, granted it means sacrificing the comp pick. is that comp pick that important over being in the running for a playoff berth .... in the playoff, this team has the horses in the pitching area to make it interesting.

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 05:25 AM) It's frustrating how good this team is at drafting pitchers when they can't, for the life of them, draft a fielding talent. Maybe Tim Anderson is the guy, but 10 years of futility in that department gets so old. and with me, mean spirited on the stupidity of the FO not to see this possibility of doing something special, all b/c of the profit margin.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 03:22 PM) In my neighborhood growing up as well as the surrounding ones, there were plenty of kids to form teams. We had 8 kids in our block that played against teams from areas easily walked to. Our local neighborhood city playground organized sandlot games in addition to our own pick-up games. Ironically now the schools are saying that the 60/70 boom is long gone and with smaller family size the schools are now operating at 60% capacity. Thyere are still empty lots, still recreation center ball fields but they mostly are empty. Basketball and soccer now seem to occupy the youth and both need much less equipment and even number of players. yeah the kids of today are missing a great part of what people like me had back in the 60's and 70's. (this is based on my age)

QUOTE (daggins @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 02:17 PM) There doesn't have to be segregation. That is actually not allowed, so its a really bad (and strange) example. Collins calling out Yo for something very benign may not be racially motivated (although it is easy to see how it would be), but it doesn't have to be for the point to stand. There are a lot of Terry Collins' in the baseball world. Some are coaches, some are players, some are scouts, and some are executives. All of them have a rigid idea of how to "play the game the right way" which is such a stupid notion I won't even get into it. The point is that a young, athletically talented black kid with options will probably prefer to play a sport where there are less Terry Collins' to tell him he is wrong to be himself. racial lines have been crossed, being a minority and working in Civil Rights, racial slurs are perception unless it is overt. ex, i played softball and in DC we had a team, i played SS and there is one guy who kept on calling the mexican jumping bean. i told him i was Apache and then said, that the buffalo solldiers mated with the buffaloes and that is how Native Indian came to be..... he thought it was clever on how it said that crap. the point is, unless it is overt, it is a perception, so unless it can be proven that there was racial intent, the way someone wheres their cloths is a fashion intent. i am going to stop here, this kind of discussion prob should be on another area of soxtalk peace

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 03:10 PM) According to Rosenthal, Venable is at the Indians camp today. maybe it is nothing or could be something. i am going to take this at face value and say, good for cle to allow Venable the area to get in shape until his contract is serrle.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 02:50 PM) Will Venable sucks. is he worst that Avi with ref to the defense????

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 01:17 PM) My favorite part of the Ladd deal is that there's a provision in it that if the Hawks win the Cup, the Jets get a 3rd rounder. Wish other teams in Chicago worked as well as the Hawks. $$ Bill passed away the rest of the family knew that investment and maybe several yrs of suckage, in order to get the right core, was necessary, regardless of the profit margin. the sox will not do that. now i wish the hawks will shopping at Van ..... yanik weber - dman would look great in a hawks jersey.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 01:20 PM) Kruger might be as well (RFA). He (or Shaw) is probably gone next year. Gonna need a new contract. and while you are correct, i can see, for salary cap reasons, the decision will be made based on what that player bring to the table and can the hawks find someone or in the minors who can replace him with those intangibles / skills . but i want a nother SC.....

ref the trade, i think that was a steep price to pay, but as i have also been saying, need to go out and pay the price for the run to the SC. is mark fraser a player that can help or was he a filler ??

QUOTE (Joshua Strong @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 07:39 AM) There has been progress, ever since the RBI program started we've seen more black players drafted than any time in recent memory. The lack of black fathers has something to do with it and another thing that contributes to it is that black people don't feel welcome when it comes to baseball, because the vast majority of us feel like our culture is not welcomed. Look at this: http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseba...-his-hat-around You're a black player and when you do something 'not white' you're told to stop. i really don't buy this, how a player wears his hat in not culture, it is wanting to be different... in baseball, it appears to me as all the managers and FO types are old traditionalist . now if you gave an example of 2 types of water fountains, one for minorities and one for white, or being late for practice. another will be like the post game or pregame meals, the FO does not condone different ethnic types of food. the point is, use something that really shows the difference or really explain your point.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 08:54 AM) I would hope Kruger gives him his number. This is different than Versteeg/Roszival since Ladd is the veteran guy here. (And more popular with the fan base) i wouldn't. while having Ladd back, and it is nice to have him back, he is still a rental.

QUOTE (Tony @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 02:55 AM) Haha, I'm not concerned. In fact, the ONE downside of this Cup run over the last 6 years has made the regular season basically meaningless as a fan. We've gotten so spoiled, but I almost miss having must watch regular season games. It's all about getting a decent seed for the playoffs and staying healthy. The every game ups and downs just don't matter. i agree with you, ref the bold. however being spoiled and a little over confident is what i have to watch out for. i just assume that the team will overcome any obstacles and win in the playoff. that is on me, esp now with the strength of the team.. now i can see the positiveness of doing really good in the regular season, 1. for some of the time off, 2. getting the right match up on teams 3. home ice advantage, mostly for the fans enjoyments.

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 03:50 AM) We're just used to being really bad. It's almost better than the delusion that this team is going to mean something. If you want less whining, petition management to put a real product on the field. everyone here should know my take on the owners and their miserly way... but but management did improve the product, so by default they did improve. but the main point is they did not finish.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 03:21 AM) I'm 25 and I'm saying that. All the way from when my friends and I were young through when we finished ollege we'd play as many games as we can all spring/summer/fall. If we didn't have enough guys we'd just do BP (sometimes we'd have 4 guys only). In college we'd have to wait for more people to be home from school. Not just our group too, anytime i was in the car with my parents I always noticed kids outside playing (not just baseball). Now, people have moved and have regular jobs so it's tough. I'd kill to consistently get pick up baseball games going again. You seriously don't see too many kids outside doing anything anymore. It's really sad. pick up games where the best.... when hs came around and in senior yr, softball. i was easily on several teams. the point is, these pickup game made the love for baseball as the #1 sports for me. then hockey, same thing as the baseball pickup games. but i really don't know much of this ACE program the the sox are part of, but again this is just another great feather in the owners hats to do this.

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Feb 26, 2016 -> 03:34 AM) Birth control. ok, i am laughing and i really don't know why most excellent post.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 09:31 PM) The lefty candidates would be Ethier, Reddick and Bruce. i don't know about bruce, i look at his stats and he seems to be not performing as he was 3 yrs ago. is he declining, injury too much, i just can't figure this out, but then again we are talking about cincy, the price to get him will be too much.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 09:50 PM) Wouldn't the Sox have had the shot to get the pick back in the following year (presuming they would be comfortable enough to make him a qualifying offer...albeit that means you are willing to give him a hefty pay raise over what you paid him in 16. i am with you on the strategy of this kind of scenario, a 2 or 3 yrs with options after every yr. like this, it will fix a major hole in the OF.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 09:37 PM) Agreed. I'm not saying the opt out would have been a good idea. It's just the notion that he only wanted to play for the Cubs and nowhere else is a fairytale. He's still betting on himself to score a big payday in the future, which is why took the Cubs one year deal instead of the Orioles offer. It's similar to the guaranteed money Heyward "passed up". excellent thought process and i can't help but to agree.

this is my opinion and i have been sitting on this for a while, but i recently came across something. Jordan Guerrero - sp, i really, really like this kid, lh-sp. young and i can see or expect to see him increase and improve in his pitches. i think his fb will grade out very good. and has great improvement on his overall pitches. Spencer Adams-sp, another yr of growth, experience and learning the position of pitching. my 2 super picks i can see adams as good as #3 and guerrero as #4.

so of all the weakness on positions, the sox are going with RF and DH not being fixed. those 2 have high hopes. but the dh position is really a valuable position that should have been improve, barring that, then the OF'er needed to be improve.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 09:22 PM) That's true. I grew up across the street from a long parkway. We "made" about 4 or 5 different fields, and every summer until HS would play from 9 AM until guys started getting yelled at to come in for dinner. Then we would go back out and play until it was too dark to see anything. My sister lives pretty close to there now, and says she hasn't seen anyone playing baseball on the parkway since I stopped playing. dang, i remember those kind of pickup games, i remember, in the 60's groups of kids from neighborhood blocks will play against each other there was about 4 or 5 different block team, those were great fun. DA why do you think the kids don't play block games anymore. i have a feeling, but i would like an opinion first.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 03:29 PM) Now, now - don't be too critical. We've actually had it pretty good these past 16 years. Consider what your parents and grandparents were treated to in the 39 years prior - just two playoff appearances! Two playoff appearances between 1960 and 1999. And some wonder why we don't have a larger, more blindly loyal fan base today!! but on the flip side, i can see how great a WS win is, and i want more....

QUOTE (BlackSox13 @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 08:58 PM) Definitely agree. Anderson will gain so much more from Rollins than just learning about SS position. Anderson is mature for his age and carries himself very well, much like Rollins so I think their personalities will mesh very well together. Rollins is literally the perfect mentor for Anderson and this move makes me wonder if the Sox expect to see Anderson sooner than we may think. I know the Sox signed Rollins to have more depth at SS but there seems to be an underlying theme behind the signing and that to me is Rollins mentoring Anderson and Saladino. Same here. Two reasons for this that I can think of is 1) going by the African American friends I have and the folks I've worked with through the years, many African Americans are into basketball and football. Not trying to generalize, just based on my own experience is all. 2) we are seeing more Latinos coming from the Caribbean, Central and South America now more than ever. i wonder, if Rollins does present himself in a very positive light, i see anderson comment of learning and wanting to learn from him, i wonder if he is a coach material for the sox??

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Feb 25, 2016 -> 08:52 PM) No one should be mad at the Sox. Fowler taking that deal 100% translates to he wanted to stay a Cubbie. by default one can look at it that way. i would look at it as what was the offer of the sox, if the sox ever made an offer. however if a 1 yr deal is on the table and all it would take is lets say 10 + mil to get this team to the running of the playoff. yeah it is a steep price to pay, that comp pick. but the state of this team is what it is b/c of mismanagement or poor management that goes back more than 2 or 3 yrs.