Chisoxfn

Makes absolute sense. Privately funded deal. I understand why Chargers wanted Raiders though, public market studies indicate Chargers would be the preferred LA team in a scenario where you had Chargers / Raiders. Rams are top preferred team (by a pretty large margin) when they are here (no idea why this is the case cause the Rams were never talked about positively when I was a kid). Presuming economics work in favor of Chargers having 50/50 control with Kroenke, I would think that alleviates some of the concerns over revenue sharing. The funny part will be what happens to Spanos after Raiders eventually move to San Diego in future, LOL.

Lot of brainpower...curious how it will work together.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jan 12, 2016 -> 11:10 AM) That's pretty cool. How were you guys sure it was him? 100%. Talked with him in person on multiple occasions. I also love the time their were reports of his call up and when he was coming and Chicago media was reporting one thing and I am reporting another. Reason being, I was reporting facts from the horses mouth. Other interesting stories had as well (in terms of how process works, communication, clubhouse, ozzie, etc), that I won't go into, but he's a super intelligent guy and was a humble kid. His dad was also a great guy.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 12, 2016 -> 07:34 AM) Republicans in Congress appear to be trying to shield VW from any sort of consumer liability. It would also further gut class-action lawsuits on the whole. Good...the only people who really win those class action suits are attorneys. Everyone else gets screwed. Their has to be a better way to actually get the penalties into the right hands. I don't know what it is, but their has to be a way.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 12, 2016 -> 10:08 AM) That doesn't say we are interested, it is speculation that we could have interest. Nothing to see here. Honestly our starting SS is either going to be Saladino or Alexei. I see no other realistic options, including Desmond. Flores is the type of guy that would make sense though. Young, cost controlled, fits into the longer-term (that said you have to figure out what it means for Anderson). Flores isn't great, but I think he could profile into a slightly above average shortstop (without really having any significant impact on payroll). Real question is what it would take talent wise to give it up (and also what the Sox really think of Saladino).

I've always liked Wilmer but I presume Mets would want something pretty worthwhile for him (even with their surplus of shortstop options). Very young player who has been getting better. I see no reason why he couldn't continue to trend upward. And if you give up legit pieces, what does that mean for Anderson (unless you are dangling him for a younger outfielder option).

I presume Gavin will go with Orioles since he lives in Maryland (at least I think he does). That said, I'd welcome him back with open arms if he wanted to rehab here and work with Coop, Herm, etc. Odds aren't great, but he's a nice arm and I always liked him. He was really quite good with the Sox when they had him. No idea what his prognosis is, but when he came back from his first injury he looked good and even last year in September he seemed to pitch solid. I presume he's had a full, normal off-season and is healthy or am I incorrect and he got hurt again in September? Honestly, I see no reason why not to grab him on a minor league deal. Look at what Brett Anderson did for the Dodgers (after not pitching for a few years...yes he was better than Gavin, but Gavin also had a 5 year pre-injury stretch where he averaged around 3.5 WAR/yr). He's still just 33 (by no means too old).

QUOTE (Baron @ Jan 12, 2016 -> 09:48 AM) Just a quick little piece of info. In 5 years Fowler has given up 53 runs. 32 just in the last 2 seasons. Yep...his defensive metrics aren't that great in CF. The question is, if you move him, what does it do to his value.

QUOTE (3GamesToLove @ Jan 12, 2016 -> 09:32 AM) Gotta say, somehow I hadn't realized that Fowler's on-base skills were so good. Makes him much more palatable to me. His OBP is the best fit of any of the players. Provides good speed, etc. One question is how will his average trend playing in smaller parks, since he played most of his career at the hitter paradises like Coors and Minute Maid (or whatever it is called now). Average took a major beating going to Wrigley (small outfield...although power numbers popped). Given how much Sox have sucked at getting OBP guys, I am fully on board with the idea of Fowler if the price is right (somewhere in the neighborhood of Span).

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jan 11, 2016 -> 09:50 PM) Fowler + SS + SP is going to cost a decent amount more than just Cespedes. If you think we can't afford him then we can't afford that either. Honestly...I think it is an outfielder and Ramirez at the most this off-season. I don't think they are adding anything else (unless it is some vet that sits out their that they buy really low on...say Gavin Floyd to a minor league deal). I don't see them signing a lesser OF and than using more money on say Desmond or something along those lines. Now if they can't get the outfielder, than I could see them using some of that money elsewhere, but if they did, I think it would be short-term. I expect Fowler will be who the Sox sign.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jan 12, 2016 -> 08:42 AM) Fowler's defense isn't looked at as much of improvement from the current, "as of today", outfield. It looks like he could come at a major discount, but the cost of the draft pick is probably a bigger hurdle. My question is, how does his defense project in a corner spot (vs. CF). Maybe he is slightly below average in CF, but if you plug him into RF, does he all of a sudden turn into a plus defender (does he get worse...stay about the same)? What about if he plays in left?

I'm really glad the game was entertaining. And that was about the best surprise onside kick I've ever seen.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jan 10, 2016 -> 08:39 AM) To be clear, somewhere around 6% of the US adult electorate supports Trump, give or take. You are really surprised that 6% of the US is made up of people that are some combination of hateful, racist and/or stunningly ignorant? I'd say he's got more bandwidth still to eat up. How do you get the 6%? Are you factoring in for the large percentage who doesn't vote and thus aren't counting them? Either way, Huffpost poll (1st poll I came up with via google search) had Trump at 36.3. By and large, voting public is split 50/50 so I'll just half the Trump numbers for national poll and get to 18% (now you have votes for independents, etc, but presume that is an inconsequential percentage). So I guess my question is, where is the 6%? By my count that is ~18% of the voting public and could arguably be larger if Trump was truly the nominee (as right now that vote is split and I presume a lot of Cruz voters would vote Trump). http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollst...nal-gop-primary Also, no idea who Mercury polling are and for all I know they are a republican polling service, but thought this was an interesting stat in here on dems likely to vote for trump vs. repubs likely to vote for hillary (really small sample size too). http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/201...hillary-clinton

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 11, 2016 -> 02:55 PM) I used to want Dave Ragone to BE our QB. I too wanted him. He was a beast at the Ville.

The real question to me is will we bring in a QB coach and if so, who.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Jan 11, 2016 -> 01:24 PM) We need to stop using Bill Cosby as an example. He violated over 20 women. 20 vs 3...what do they have in common...both have multiple occurrences which means their is a lot more smoke.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jan 11, 2016 -> 11:54 AM) To give punishments to people for crimes people weren't charged for? I get there was a lot of smoke in Big Ben's case but the track record for all these public rape cases is horrible. By this logic, the NCAA should have expelled the Duke lacrosse kids. UVA should have expelled those kids because there was enough evidence for a Rolling Stone article. Look at what this type of thinking did at Occidental when there wasn't any evidence of foul play, possibly ruined a kids life. Rape has become a subjective term and we shouldn't give governing bodies more power to project these hoity-toity ideals from people entirely removed from the transgressions at hand. Hypothetically, lets say Bill Cosby was an NFL player...do you think Goodell shouldn't have the authority to hold him more accountable for his actions than whatever the court system has decided? Is your employer able to do so (that answer is, with the exception of certain protection, yes).

Is the Count showing up to join Abreu and roll out the red carpet for Cespedes? As good as Sale has been, that roll Count went on that one year (don't remember which year...but I want to say it was 2005 and again in 2006 until his back or whatever it was got the best of him) was just absurd. I went from being annoyed by Contreras to thinking we'd never lose when he was on the mound. So damn dominant. What a trade by Kenny to get Jose.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jan 11, 2016 -> 11:17 AM) I don't like a single qb in this draft. I really think a lot of Paxton Lynch. More I read about him, more I like him. If we were talking Goff or Cook in 1st, at this point, I say crazy talk.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jan 11, 2016 -> 11:11 AM) I have no issue with picking Jay's successor if the right guy is identified and available, but can you really justify picking a guy at 11 that you don't plan on starting right away? I can. The Packers did it with Rodgers. And if their was ever a time you could do it, while still ascending, now would be the time. Lets face reality...this is a team that has to get better, not worse, or the people leading the organization are gone anyway. So the reality is, unless the Bears advance to high level of success with Jay, they aren't going to get a chance to draft a future QB. Given White will already be an addition, this is one of those rare times, where you might have that luxury (I'd argue you can probably grab Wentz a little later in the 1st and it is super unlikely Lynch moves anywhere but up, although who knows), but if you see a guy you really like, why not get him now, knowing you can use Jay for another year or two, continue to develop this guy, and than potentially deal Jay for something else (and thus attempt to minimize any transitional downtime as you can focus on your defense, etc.)/ Not sure whether I'd ultimately do it, but if they think pretty highly of a guy (and that his talent is that of a higher pick and he's the right guy, given the importance of QB, you have to do it). Theoretically we are only going to be getting worse picks from here on out (at least if you are viewing this from Pace / Fox's perspective), so I could see the argument to be made (again assuming the scouting reports back up the fact that you think they are a potential All Pro / Above Avg QB).

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jan 11, 2016 -> 11:10 AM) Good comparison, except that Cosby isn't on a team. His fans don't have loyalty built up the way Steelers fans do. I don't see too many people saying they are still Cosby fans after all this has surfaced the way plenty of people are still fans of Ben. See, I don't know anyone that is a fan of Big Ben. I know plenty of Steeler fans and they might think Big Ben is a great QB, but they aren't necessarily Big Ben fans.

Oddly enough, given who and how much money we have in FA (along with fact we get White back, so essentially have 2 first round picks), I'm starting to think now might actually be the time to use a 1st rounder on a QB. Of course, I'll say that this purely assumes Fox, Pace & company are very high on said QB and I'd presume the QB would be Lynch or Wentz, guys who need a little more time and thus might be their at 11 because they don't offer teams the "quick fix" alternative. Of course Dallas could nab one of them as the predecessor to Romo (as could the Giants for Eli). They are the only two QB's (outside of Hackenberg) who have what I call those elite QB skills (from a pure physical perspective). Hackenberg is talented, but you have to ding him for the lack of production / improvements (poor coaching or not). Gabriel (former Bear front office man) has raved about both Wentz & Lynch.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jan 11, 2016 -> 10:57 AM) Neither myself not any of the people I was having my original discussion with are big enough hockey fans to know enough about Kane to compare him to Ben. Personally, if I were to throw out a comparison, I'm throwing out Cosby (not that Big Ben's is to that extent, but it seems pretty clear to me their is a lot of smoke around all of Ben's incidents vs. Kane with one incident).

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jan 11, 2016 -> 10:43 AM) Not same position. Not even close. Prince Shembo - what he was accused of, in the police statement, was not sexual assault, rape or even a felony. Prince even admitted that her statement was more or less accurate Ben Roethlisberger - what he was accused of, by multiple women, was sexual assault, and even though he wasn't charged the NFL thought it was serious enough to suspend him It's a very serious stretch to equate the two (again, consult a lawyer if this is over your head) just because both were labeled with the term "sexual assault" and both weren't charged. Imagine trying to make an argument like that in a courtroom? Then to add on a bunch of other things at ND that aren't even player-conduct related is pointless. I'm talking about, as a husband and father, having a very hard time supporting a team headed by a guy with Ben's history. I'm on the record now, if Ben were to somehow become a coach at ND after his career is over, I'd be furious about it. Ok - This discussion is over. Done. The ND element is no longer being discussed here (by you or Jenks or anyone else). If you guys want to keep talking about Ben, fine, but this ND spiel has been killed to death over the years here and is just a done argument. OVER. Capoot.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Jan 11, 2016 -> 10:41 AM) I think they'll probably add an ILB in FA. What does worry me a bit is I've heard them say good things about SMC even after the season. Fangio seems to like him for some reason. I'd rather see Timu be a starter next year over Shea. I would love them to get Wolfe & Trevethan or whatever his name is from the Bronco's. Both would be tremendous upgrades and are young (plus they are "known's" from the sense that Fox is very familiar with them and their work ethic. It also ensures that Pace has more flexibility to target best available (and I kind of am hoping that a tackle falls to them). I don't think Shea is breaking the bank so it is probably a depth move / protection move. Plus I'm not going to argue Fangio here (not yet) and I presume they might view SMC as a good secondary player (meaning...put him around better talent and he will be better / solid at a cost effective spot). So much crap all over the defense last year, hard to truly judge people. Plus...this was SMC's first year playing that position. But I really hope we see a couple new LB's and ideally a safety and corner.