maggsmaggs

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 26, 2016 -> 11:02 PM) I would take that risk for him but we all know the Sox would never do this. The system is such a joke. Every Manfred interview I have seen makes it all but certain that an International Draft is coming very soon, so hopefully issues like this won't arise for much longer. But credit teams like the Cubs and Dodgers for using the system to their advantage unlike the Sox.

QUOTE (The Critic @ Jan 23, 2016 -> 05:33 PM) I did not expect to love Arizona as much as I did. I'd move there in a heartbeat. It is the MOST underrated state in the country. Flagstaff is awesome. Sedona is the most breathtaking city in the county in my opinion. Lots of nature, the Grand Caynon, etc.

All is not lost. There are still some solid options out there. For example, Desmond + Jackson/Fowler still is an upgrade from last year and probably better than just Cespedes. But, of course, we lose two drafts I believe by going this route, which is unacceptable when our farm system is bad. So it's a double-edged sword. And it's what happens when you cannot produce your own minor league talent, you become stuck between a rock and a hard place.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 19, 2016 -> 08:40 AM) Sun Valley/Ketchum, Idaho is a pretty sweet little town, with lots of outdoor activites, although it may range on the higher end of the price spectrum, depending what you can find. QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 19, 2016 -> 09:38 AM) We had a family reunion at a resort in SW Montana that was really fun. Cabins, but nice ones. Excellent food. Tons of activities - hiking, fly fishing, horseback, rafting, day trips to Yellowstone, etc. And shuttles to and from the Bozeman airport. Called Lone Mountain Guest Ranch, in Big Sky. Recommended. Adding to the list of places to check out. Much thanks!

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 18, 2016 -> 03:17 PM) Whitefish is a cool town, and it's right outside of Glacier National Park if that's your sort of thing (assuming it is, why else go to Wyoming and Montana for a honeymoon?) QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 18, 2016 -> 03:28 PM) Know it a lot (Geologist). Elaborate about what you want to do? Looking for non-traditional Honeymoon away from a hot beach where we can be outside, hike, check out national parks, horseback ride, etc. Tough part is how expensive the all-inclusive places are, which is what we ideally ant. We saw some from $1,000 a person per night, which we just cannot afford. Any ideas off of that? I'll look into Whitefish.

I am looking for honeymoon locations out west (Montana and Wyoming, ideally). Anyone have experience with any of the towns there?

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Jan 18, 2016 -> 08:26 AM) Do pigs like s***? I am amazed that the debate was on a Sunday. In fact, I didn't know a debate was even happening. This s*** is going to backfire so hard. Now a Sunday on a long weekend probably does not garner the same viewership, but the Sunday night idea is not terrible.

QUOTE (CWSpalehoseCWS @ Jan 9, 2016 -> 04:23 PM) Plus Upton costs a pick. A 1-yr deal is dumb. You would recoup it next year with a qualifying offer to Upton.

Who is describing the offer as "low ball"? Maybe that AAV is Upton's actual value, and his agent oversold to Upton what he would be worth on the free agent market. Maybe he has not receive an offer with the AAV he is looking for and years is because he simply is a 3-4 WAR player, not a superstar like he wants to think. Just like when Urlacher said the Bears gave him a low-ball offer before retiring and when he looked on the free agent market, no one was offering him anything more.

Saw Sicario last night. Excellent movie. The cinematography was tremendous and Benicio del Toro was excellent despite maybe speaking 100 words total.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jan 5, 2016 -> 01:53 PM) This is not true. Regardless of whether he did it or not, they didn't present enough evidence to convict him. That's the problem. But the prosecution did present sufficient evidence to convict. That's why his appeals were denied. I guarantee you he argued, among other things, that there was insufficient evidence to convict him. I decide criminal cases on appeal for a living and about 50% of them are sufficiency of the events cases. Without a doubt, there was sufficient evidence. You can't reverse a case like this under a sufficiency of the evidence review.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 3, 2016 -> 03:34 PM) Terrorism isn't the right description. This isn't an attempt to make the populace fearful for random attacks. This is specifically directed at government, and is an armed seizure of property. It is sedition. The FBI's definition of domestic terrorism: "Involve acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law; and Appear intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination. or kidnapping; and Occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S." https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/te...rism-definition Seems pretty much in line with the bolded.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jan 1, 2016 -> 12:07 PM) I think people would argue that most of the evidence you're talking about is beyond shady and not convincing at all, that's what makes this case so intriguing. The two things that make me lean Avery being the murderer more than anything is the non blood dna under the hood of the car and the fact that he was basically stalking her for a while. Still, none of this really adds up to me and I'm interested to see what comes out here in the next few months/years. I am talking legally. Legally, there was undoubtedly sufficient evidence. And 12 jurors, who heard all the evidence in its entirety, found that he was guilty. Not one juror who actually voted found reasonable doubt. That is pretty convincing to me.

QUOTE (The Gooch @ Dec 31, 2015 -> 12:29 PM) Anything particular that you read? I'm interested in seeing a view outside of the documentary's. Evidence-wise I don't think there should have been enough there to convict him, but there aren't any other suspects or even leads it seems (that could be because of shady cops too). I think a jury needs to see either scientific evidence that suggests you are not involved or at least have another suspect outside of your inner circle to have a chance. Some things that stuck out I am going to disagree with that. There was clearly sufficient evidence to convict, which is why the conviction was held up on appeal. Although the case was pretty much entirely circumstantial, that is often enough to convict. Because the jury did not buy the police-planting-evidence defense theory, what you had evidence wise was very damning. You had her key in Avery's home, you had her car on Avery's land, you had her bones burnt on Avery's land where her Palm Pilot and camera were also found, and you had his DNA in the car. There was also a lot of evidence the documentary, conveniently, left out that was in the article posted above. Now, many things in that article were excluded at trial as being unfairly prejudicial to Avery, but there was still significant evidence omitted by the documentary.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Dec 29, 2015 -> 02:08 PM) I'm not going to go to war for myself so I'll keep it short. I was on the Sox interest in Frazier during the season (when the conversations started) and I was on Lawrie before Slusser/Levine. I got bad intel that the Sox we're going to sign Alexei to a two year deal after they rejected his option. I've been following along with OFer market and have been saying all offseason the Sox have been willing to lose the QO for the right FA while every other beat said the opposite (although lately their tune has changed...) I tweeted on Sunday the mainstream media would pick up on this early this week, Rosenthal tweeted the interest this morning. Take my info with a grain of salt. I don't care. I don't have one "source" I'm just out here listening and talking to anyone with a track record/an ear in the know and bouncing what I've heard off of every "source." Dick Allen's synopsis above is pretty accurate. I don't claim to know everything but I believe in networking, I'm persistent and I can bulls*** a little bit to get people to talk to me. Whether it's sports fandom, politics, education or personal relationship I believe in putting all the information out there. If I can help my fellow Sox fans with that then this makes my love for this team and fandom a little more fun. I am not on this board as much as I was years ago, so my comment was a general be skeptical until proven otherwise. Most people on the board are coming to Rabbit's defense and saying his info predated the mainstream media. I will take those people's word for it (Rabbit's) over my limited knowledge of his timeline. But in general when I see people post tweets from random dudes who claim to have inside info, I think it is BS.

With all these non-big-name people with "sources" that you see on Twitter/message boards, I pretty much do not buy any of it. You have to ask yourself what purpose would it serve for someone who is on the inside of the knowledge (agent, team, etc.) to feed such information. If you cannot easily answer that question, then you should be extremely skeptical of any "sources." No offense to bucket or rabbit, but why would anyone give these guys inside info for no apparent benefit? Seems fishy.

I have to imagine an offer has already been made. How can the Sox be simultaneously serious suitors without an offer being made? The Sox have probably exchanged numbers with Gordon's agent and the general outline of their offer, but have not sent a firm contract proposal (w/ opt-out language, no-trade language, etc.). It is the difference in business between a term sheet and an initial contract.

QUOTE (SoCalSox @ Dec 24, 2015 -> 12:04 PM) That's not a bad lineup at all, IMO. Couple that with the pitching staff & they are in pretty good shape. Biggest worry I have is in 2017, what do they do at DH? Then again, I always jump too far ahead & that's not that topic at hand. Hope someone from the system has become ML-ready by then and move Melky to DH.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Dec 13, 2015 -> 06:59 AM) Am I the only person in this world that thinks Schwarber's declining stats through out the season and lack of position are bad omens? I don't think he is going to be a .330 hitter like he was early in the year. But the power is real, he has a good walk rate already, so if he settles in as a .280 hitter, he is going to be a top-10 offensive player in the league. Defense, ya, there is no getting around he is bad. But he is going to have multiple 40-plus HR seasons.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 12, 2015 -> 12:10 PM) No? Robertson's peak value is a 2.0 WAR closer, which is not bad at all, but Schwarber was worth that in half a season in his rookie year. So ya, Cubs ain't making that move.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 12, 2015 -> 09:14 AM) WAR would also say Heyward or Alex Gordon are far superior to Konerko, Abreu and post-1997 Frank Thomas. Would the White Sox have a better chance next year with Abreu gone, Heyward or Gordon in the outfield, LaRoche at 1b and Cabrera/Avi as the DH? Not seeing it... Both of those guys are closer to complementary pieces than superstars. WAR is not perfect, but I will trust its math. Konerko/Abreu were/are one-dimensional players. Baseball is a three-dimensional game.

Saw Brooklyn. Not a movie I would usually go see, but my fiancee wanted to go and it had great ratings. Terrific movie. I would recommend it to anyone. Great storyline, and a terrific time piece. The lead actress, Saoirse Ronan, was phenomenal. I could see her getting an Oscar nomination. She actually is the youngest to receive an Oscar nomination (She got one at 13 years old for Atonement).

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 12, 2015 -> 08:33 AM) 2008 Carlos Quentin says hello...yet another player whose career with the Sox didn't quite end up fulfilling its early promise. You could probably get quite an argument from Konerko fans on the Magglio point as well. Quentin's 2008 year was worth 4.7 WAR (granted he missed the last month). Heyward has equaled or surpassed that number in four years (2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015). Konerko's highest WAR season was 3.8, and he only had three seasons of 3-plus WAR.

QUOTE (Blackout Friday @ Dec 12, 2015 -> 07:14 AM) Heyward is a good player being paid like a great one. Fitting for the franchise he signed with. I would put it more like this: he is a great player being paid like one. Over the past four years, he is 7th overall in WAR among position players. He may not be an elite offensive player, but he is that defensively. This is just a great signing for the Cubs. If the Sox signed him, he'd instantly be the best player on the team, and probably the team's best overall player since Magglio. As a Sox fan, welcome to hell for the next decade.