Chisoxfn

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 24, 2016 -> 07:13 AM) Danks never threw huge gas. Maybe 92 or 93 on occasion. Even during his heyday, he always was susceptible to the beyond horrid outings. I don't know if he truly was tipping pitches or this is just coincidence. Hopefully he can put up a decent year. He will still have some good games, and some when he looks like a Soxtalk poster on the mound. While he certainly is impacted by lower velocity, I do agree with all of your points. I think a big part of Danks is his mechanics are not overly clean and easily repeatable, hence why when he doesn't have it, he has a hard time getting it back and is more susceptible to those higher scoring games. When his mechanics are off, his command is off and everything is up. When you don't throw much velocity and you are up in the zone, you are going to get hammered. It was a nice sign that we saw a bounce back in velocity last year (as it does give a bit more margin for error) but the bigger thing is if he can clean up some of his mechanical issues as it should allow him to be more consistent (hopefully consistently solid).

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Mar 24, 2016 -> 12:08 PM) Pace supposedly loves Wentz. He would take him at #11. He'll be gone though. This would shock some people but I think if Elliott is on the board, they'll probably take him depending on what else is there. I am not shocked at all. I think we go offense (QB / RB / OT), cb or trade down. I don't think we will like any of the pass rushers at the position (unless say a Buckner or Bosa fell and I don't see that happening) enough @ 11 (vs. other areas), plus with the depth on the line, you probably are better suited at that point waiting and selecting later.

QUOTE (knightni @ Mar 23, 2016 -> 12:05 PM) MLB is not a government job. They are required to stay in big cities and super-posh hotels and most have crazy hours and can't get out to eat places. One dinner meal in a downtown area can be $150+. Not really. Sure if they want to go to the fanciest steakhouse on the planet every day, but perdiem isn't supposed to cover those type of expenses. It is supposed to cover, relatively normal eating out. Basic breakfast, sandwich / salad, etc for lunch, and a sit down dinner with maybe a drink. Most companies per diems are like 35-50 bucks / day and yes, there is sometimes some flexibility when they travel to a bigger city, but nothing like $150 / day. That isn't to say when you travel, you might not have one nice dinner because you are hosting clients or celebrating a successful project. Baseball players probably get free spreads most everywhere they go so the per diem probably largely covers dinner as I presume they get free breakfast at the hotels as well as lunch at the stadium, etc.

I do hope Gasol goes. I think he's part of the culture problem, but man, everything about Hoiberg irks me, but I was a biased Thibs backer. As in, Thibs is one of my favorite coaches ever. I freaking loved Thibs. The note moving Gasol to Sacremento was such a joke. Boy would that pick look nice. At this point, I am in the camp of f*** it, miss the playoffs and let this truly be the disaster that hopefully forces real change. And I never thought I'd say that given I'm probably the biggest optimistic in this thread.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Mar 24, 2016 -> 10:35 AM) Browns will still draft Carson Wentz at #2 I am 100% convinced if Wentz / Goff are there when Bears are on the clock, we are picking. I also wouldn't be shocked if we ended up with Lynch. I think we are getting QB somewhere in first two rounds.

How has no one in the Chicago media blasted Hoiberg? Or have they and I am just ignorant?

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Mar 24, 2016 -> 08:59 AM) Thibs' refusal to hire an offensive assistant (which could be retaliation for Adams), but wasn't Ron Adams fired in response due to criticizing the FO? Also, Thibs messed up by having JVG go to war on national television. JR would have defended him otherwise. Thibs is way less to blame than Gar. Gar took things personal and created the mess. And in terms of Thibs not hiring an assistant, given personel, his offenses were far better than anyone gave him credit and his on-court performance gave every indication for him (not the front office) to be in charge of who he wanted to hire to be part of his staff (or not hire). I'm sure Thibs would have been more open to bringing someone in if the org hadn't tried to force his hand and at that point he decided he had to play strong back. Thibs wasn't innocent and he should have known better to leak to JVG...he should have worked with JR and maybe things could have worked out (as JR clearly had a lot of respect for him up until the end, where I don't quite know what Gar sold him, but clearly JR hates leaks and those leaks during the post-season were still right in the memory of JR, hence the comments when Thibs was let go). I'll be honest, I think the Bulls need to fire Hoiberg and Gar. I also know it will never happen. Maybe Gar goes but they won't be paying Thibs and Hoiberg that kind of money to not coach.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Mar 23, 2016 -> 06:59 PM) I liked the espn announcers saying how awful Hoiberg is without explicitly saying it. Honestly...he's the worst coach I can remember the Bulls having. Makes Del Negro look good. I just don't think he puts in the time and its purely on perception cause it isn't like I'm in the building but I don't think he's discipline enough to drill the message in. Boy did the Bulls/Thibs f*** up royally when they couldn't figure out how to co-exist.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Mar 23, 2016 -> 10:02 AM) Jon Heyman ‏@JonHeyman 22m22 minutes ago Gavin Floyd is impressive in Jays camp. Good shot to be No. 5 SP. Chavez ticketed for pen. Sanchez could make pen strong. Always liked Gavin and wanted to sign him.

I really liked the limited bit I saw of Davidson in person at spring training. Much more compact stroke. No idea if it will hold up, but it looked night and day from the Davidson I had seen over the past few years. I also should point out, he was clearly putting in work (spent a ton of time in the cages with one of the coaches and I wondered off and came back and he was still in the same spot while everyone else was long gone).

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Mar 22, 2016 -> 05:54 PM) I don't think you can really judge him yet. Getting excited about spring training homers and strikeouts just sounds phony, so I am glad he isn't trying to sell that. When the games count, and his feet are sufficiently wet will be when you see what he is. I think he will be pretty good, and no knock on him,but I am looking forward to a Hawkeroo sighting in less than 2 weeks. I also think the breaks throughout the season will re-energize Hawk a bit as well. Plus I'm really hoping the Sox are good this year and Hawk is a pretty fun guy to have announcing Sox games when the club is doing well.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Mar 22, 2016 -> 05:10 PM) Yep. Hill is a pretty good athlete as well and might have some untapped receiving skills as well. Saints spent some money on TE already this off-season, but $6M isn't a ton of cash grand scheme, so I'm curious if they end up matching or not. Given they are rebuilding, I would think they didn't want to let go of young players who they would presume have any shot at upside.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Mar 22, 2016 -> 03:44 PM) We have two weeks left and regardless of it's spring training or not I am not real impressed by the 5th or 6th starter possibilities. Position players on the other hand are rally pushing each other I'm not impressed with our 4th or 5th starters, let alone our 6th starter. Danks & Latos scare me and I've been pretty vocal that I don't buy Turner as a legit option as a #5 of a contender. I was hoping Johnson would be good and unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case (as I thought he was actually the best of the overall vote). Depth is good but if all of the depth is bad, well...than what do you do. That said, it is still spring and Latos is still working his way back. Of all the people, despite stinking last year, he has shown quite a bit of recent success so you can hope for a turnaround.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Mar 22, 2016 -> 01:10 PM) Jamie Dixon leaving Pitt for TCU. I get that it's his alma mater, but that's quite a step down. Pitt alum Sean Miller not interested in leaving Arizona. Who does Pitt go after? Archie Miller, Bryce Drew, King Rice, Gregg Marshal. Someone else? Ben Howland return?

QUOTE (shipps @ Mar 22, 2016 -> 02:40 PM) Do the Bears lose a pick if they dont match? No.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Mar 22, 2016 -> 10:19 AM) Trump's interview with the WaPo editorial board was...interesting. An in many cases totally contradictory to what he said at an earlier scripted event he had yesterday. Such a joke. Its time to stop blaming most of the republicans as it seems more and more that the real reason for the Trump force are non republicans / non voters coming out to vote for him. Most republicans do not view him favorably. Of course most never viewed Cruz favorably but now we are stuck with him as the secondary alternative.

Very sad to here about Sager. I hope he can win his next battle against that horrible disease.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Mar 21, 2016 -> 01:17 PM) Before the convention even? Wow, that's an interesting move. I assume that comes with an endorsement then, because that is the value Cruz gets from having them now instead of at (or right before) convention. Where did you see that? Read it on one of the news alerts that came across. Nothing official but evidently the two had met and talked pretty extensively about it. Nothing done yet and it would mean a formal endoresement from Cruz. I'm presuming Rubio is still thinking about it / delaying to let things play out, but it could mean Cruz has a better chance at winning outright prior to the election. I don't know how many of Rubio's delegates could actually switch vote on the first try at a convention (50% / 10% / 90%)?

Rubio might be reaching a deal to have some of his delegates (in states where it is allowed) to switch to Cruz.

Nevermind...I read the below post from DA which summed it up perfectly.

Once he retires, if he wanted to unretire, do the Sox have to allow it or can they prevent it and allow him to be a FA? The reason I ask is, theoritically, Sox could spend those resources elsewhere or even fill the position and thus LaRoche wouldn't even have a spot, he could than say he wanted to come back, get paid, and Sox would theoretically have to waive him or find a roster spot. Apologies if this was discussed in the mega thread, but this is more regarding what real flexibility we have vs. potential blow back from that flexibility. I ask because these implications could mean the Sox end up being a bit more "conservative" with that $13M in savings (and save it until next year or at least next year when they are more certain it truly exists).

Ignoring lats year, Loney had a better WAR in the previous 2 years than LaRoche did. Both were basically the same poor player a year ago (however, against RHP, Loney was still solid even in his down 2015). Loney is younger than LaRoche and is a solid defender (not that defense at 1B is a critical metric). If you were going to project a bounce back, I'd bet more on the younger player than the older player. Fact that Loney can hit for a solid average isn't a bad thing (might be a bit more empty, but still not a bad thing). I'm 100% okay with giving Loney a shot. He's played on plenty of winning teams and have never heard anything bad about him. Am also fine if they take another route. I'm guessing Loney wouldn't get much coin at all, so you are talking "Jimmy" Rollins money. Loney, last year, vs. RHP was .296 / .341 / .713...not the best, but not awful either. LaRoche, last year, vs. RHP was .221 / .318 / .697 Loney also doesn't strike out and handles a bat far better than LaRoche. Struck out 34 times in 104 games vs. LaRoche's 133 in 127 games. Given the roles we are talking about (platoon player getting AB's primarily vs. RHP), I don't see how Loney isn't an upgrade over LaRoche.

QUOTE (Tony @ Mar 21, 2016 -> 10:14 AM) I actually thought this one was very underwhelming, especially after 4-5 really strong episodes. I just feel like they rushed the Carol storyline so much, and just writers just get lost sometimes. Agree on the Carol part, but I thought the other stuff was solid. Like I said, there have been so few "filler" episodes this season that this one, which was kind of a filler, was still really really good. This season has been so action packed in general. I think they could have played the Carol stuff out a little longer (at least show another episode and really play the emotions, etc).

Interesting walking dead episode. Even a "normal" episode was pretty exciting. This really has been a tremendous season. Interested to see what comes of this and what is going to play out in the next two episodes. I love Daryl.

QUOTE (LDF @ Mar 21, 2016 -> 08:36 AM) which will never happen None of us will know what happens. This should have always stayed behind closed doors.