Chisoxfn

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 5, 2016 -> 11:25 AM) Munoz at one time was a pretty exciting prospect. A lot of people wanted him called up straight from A ball. His curve was supposed to be amazing. And IIRC, that game against the Expos was in the old dome. Montreal needs a team back...I miss those unis and those horrendous domes, haha.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 5, 2016 -> 11:22 AM) They blamed the slide on him, but that was ridiculous. The guy was horrible, faced 5 batters and 4 scored. The "it gave the Twins confidence" is silly, just an excuse. Where was the White Sox confidence when they battered around Hector Noesi when he was in Texas? But to this day, Paniaqua is still blamed by many to be the cause of the slide, and Manuel at the time, was considered an idiot for using him in an 8-2 game. If you cannot use him then, why was he on the roster? It was a bad pitcher getting lit up, and freaking out, thus ending his career, if it wasn't over anyway. Completely agree. I can't think of how a guy who is called up from the minors and pitches one game can possibly go down in lore as one of the worst to ever don a uniform. Same with Munoz. I also remember seeing that game, in fact, I think I was in New York at the time, and remember him getting whipped. But you know what, guys get whipped that come up from the minors all the time. The states are filled with guys who got a cup of coffee, stunk, and never saw the big leagues again. Jose was a jackass and it is memorable, but those Sox teams had just absurdly atrocious back ends of the rotation. If you want to blame those Sox teams for not living up to expectations, the blame was squarely on management for not giving Manuel a decent rotation. It was laughable how bad the Sox 4th /5th starters were for most of Manuel's tenure. If you gave those teams the 2005 White Sox rotation, holy hell, would that have been a team.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jan 5, 2016 -> 11:15 AM) Arnie Munoz gets my vote. So when given the list Munoz or Paniagua, you go with Munoz. Munoz to me is just a speck, same as Felix Diaz and a million of other guys who get a callup and give it a shot. Jose pitched 1/3rd of an inning in 1 game with the organization and is talked about in the same breadth (regularly) with Navarro.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 5, 2016 -> 11:15 AM) And the White Sox won the game. Yep, IIRC, the slide began the following day. Those Manuel teams were some frustrating teams. So much talent, yet so little post-season performances. Mainly due to injuries (Maggs & Frank that one year) and awful starting pitching.

So as I was thinking about random guys the Sox have had over the years and I thought about Jose Paniagua. Has their ever been a player in the history of the franchise (or even the game) to have such a negative opinion associated with him based upon such limited time (in his case, 1/3rd of an inning with an organization)? I mean, people on her still reference him as the worst player to wear a uniform (and he was signed to a minimum deal and only pitched 1/3rd an inning...by the way, deserving so...I will remember watching that game and just being astonished in disbelief (I could tell you where I was when I watched it and who I was with too). For those that might be too young to remember, below is an article talking a bit about his eventual release and what drove it: http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1613303

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 5, 2016 -> 10:35 AM) IIRC, Turner isn't on a minor league deal. He got a major league contract for $1.5 million. He is on a major league deal because he was out of options and Sox didn't want to expose him (after all, they claimed him on waivers to begin with). That said, you can still structure contracts many different ways and often times those details don't make it into the media.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 5, 2016 -> 10:27 AM) I do not remember the White Sox ever spending major league money on a kid as a safety net at AAA. Slightly different, but last year Sox signed Matt Albers to minor league deal which would guarantee 1.5M if he made the roster. Way back when the Sox signed Colon to a one year deal, he eventually went AWOL. IIRC, they had a ton of guys who were going to battle for those spots and if Colon was healthy, he'd surely get the spot. From what I remember, everyone sucked, Colon got a spot, sucked, and went missing. A few years later he resurfaced as a stud again. Sox also have cut guys in recent years who were owed money and didn't perform and I don't see how this differs that much. Plus, past motive is not always indicative of future motive.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 5, 2016 -> 10:06 AM) And Beckham was on the major league roster the entire season. As a role player. I do not think the Sox gave Turner 1.5M to be their 5th starter or even to think they can pencil him into the rotation. I think they gave him the money because they think he provides ability to be a potential swing-man / 6th starter in a pinch or get converted to a reliever. Now they might also think he is a bounce back candidate, but either way, a team that is intending to compete didn't make that move to hand him the 5th spot in the rotation. Just like the Sox didn't sign Beckham to be a starter last year (rather to be a role player).

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 5, 2016 -> 09:58 AM) Yes, they are rolling the dice on a not so long ago top 15 prospect, but reality is 2014 -6.13 ERA in the NL, and 2015 9 minor league innings pitched. It's not like they have worked with him either as he was claimed off waivers after the season ended. It's a lottery ticket. Agreed. I still think his best shot is potential in the bullpen. Seen plenty of failed starters pan out in the pen.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 5, 2016 -> 08:59 AM) How many pitchers the Sox have no interest in do they spend $1.5 million on? $1.5M is not much money in this era (baseball wise). That is less money than the Sox gave Beckham last year.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jan 5, 2016 -> 05:59 AM) Stoops is not on the hot seat at Kentucky. They love him. He won 5 games with really only one of his recruiting classes playing, and he's getting good classes at a school where it's pretty impossible to do that. At ND he could beat out SEC schools for the recruits he's losing to them at Kentucky. Well, that isn't what my google search of Stoops pulled out. He's in the top 10 on coacheshotseats.com rankings as well and even had some comments about how critical this upcoming season will be. If he doesn't take big steps forward, he's on his way out. Either way, what a loser hire that would be for Notre Dame.

I can't stand Tarantino movies. Just like I can't stand Will Ferrell movies (where he is the main character).

Evidently Pace indicated he wants to build around Jay. Part of me wonders if that isn't him propping up his trade value longer term (in case he sees another guy / piece open up). Either way, I see no better options for next year and agree with the general consensus to focus on the defense and oline. Forte evidently had a lot of nice things to say about Jay as well.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jan 4, 2016 -> 01:55 PM) Not sure if any of these would take the job, but: Jon Gruden, Mark Dantonio, Mark Stoops would be the top 3 on my list. So I have desire in only one of those names, Dantonio. He clealry is an oustanding football coach and on the same level as Kelly (possibly higher...although whatever the difference, in my humble opinion, not worthy of a shake-up...plus as I will go onto later, its not a realistic option anyway, imo). Gruden has been away from the game for a long time and in my personal opinion was largely overrated as a football coach for bringing the Raiders back from the dead. The Bucs disintegrated almost immediately upon his arrival their (yes he won a superbowl but that team was already uber talented and well coached previously...Dungy also eventually got his ring). I also have zero idea how he'd fit in college. I'm sure he could get recruits fired up, etc, but as a whole, I'm not ditching Kelly, a proven elite coach in the college game who consistently has ND in a position for the playoffs and beyond to go to Gruden (who is as unproven they get from a college perspective...its the cliche name cause people like him, but dude has been away from the game for a long time and coaching college is much different than the pro's...hour restrictions, etc). And Stoops...dude is on the hot seat at Kentucky. I realize he's been a really good assistant and Kentucky isn't that great of a program, but holy hell, what a disappointment that would be. Like I said...only guy I'd move Kelly for who I'd be fine with would be the Kelly that is a free agent (i.e., Chip). MSU's coach isn't leaving for ND right now. He's getting into the playoffs and has tons of job security. If ND were to dump Kelly, after his success, why in the hell would Mike D even be that intrigued to go their and deal with the fan base (which I presume is as delusional as you are and thinks that it is national championship or bust because they are living in the past). Dude is 55-23 @ ND and has been decimated with injuries quite a bit (last year and this year). I'm still convinced if it weren't for those injuries, they are a playoff team, but I might be wrong. And he has been in the top 10 in at least half of his six seasons (with a high finish of #4 after getting crushed by Bama in the NC game). Since 1994, ND has won double digit games 4 times...and two of those times were under Kelly. Since 1994, they have won at least 8 games, 13 times....6 of those times were under Kelly (i.e., in each of his six seasons they have won at least 8 games...where as during the previous regimes..which includes the final years of Holtz, they won 8 games or more in 7 out of 16 seasons.

Honestly...maybe I just don't care, but I kind of thought it was a joke at how politics work. Would anyone possibly think a candidate would be so stupid to say that seriously? I mean, come on now. I perceived it as her just making a joke / being sarcastic. I guess twitter needs Green like Soxtalk. Maybe I'm wrong...either way don't really care. She isn't winning the nomination and in the grand scheme of things, this is pretty high up on the scale of overreaction.

Colony is my kind of show. Have to make sure I record that one. Started watching black sails in December (when nothing else was on...thank you bowl games for sucking). Enjoyed it.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jan 4, 2016 -> 12:32 PM) I'm willing to take my chances. And as an ND fan, I keep hoping they ignore you. I've seen enough of Weiss / Willingham / Davies to understand that we have one of the best college football coaches in the country and one of these years, things are going to lineup right and they are going to get that playoff game and national championship. I am convinced of it. Unless they plan on hiring Chip, I don't see any other realistic option that I have any interest in.

QUOTE (DrunkBomber @ Jan 4, 2016 -> 10:56 AM) Sad to hear Peanut tore his acl and will miss the playoffs. Hopefully, if he decides to retire he signs a one day contract to retire as a Bear. Agree...only thing about this season that gets me angry is thinking about the money wasted on Ball (vs. having Peanut around). Peanut was awesome (on and off the field) and I'd have been okay (given the state of the franchise) had we just given him the $3M (even if he didn't warrant the spot) as a send off. Guy was awesome and you knew having him on the roster, regardless of on the field performance, would have been a benefit (from leadership to just mentorship / coaching). The Bears better sign him to a one day contract and I hope we celebrate him at a game next season. Easily my favorite Bear of the past 10 years (yes more than Urlacher and Briggs...who would rank #2 and #3 respectively).

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Jan 4, 2016 -> 09:47 AM) In all fairness I skipped season 3 (or most of it I should say). Dar has his own games going on, there hasn't been much trust between Carrie and him for awhile (especially after s4 with him and Haqqani). And it wasn't believing Carrie was the leaker but that she's involved in it, even if it's known that it was someone else at the foundation, she works for those guys so it's all the same to the CIA. A backstab from your company is a backstab from you. And yea, while Carrie has done phenomenal work for the CIA she is still known to have slept with a terrorist, had questionable decisions in Pakistan, known to be bipolar and hugely mentally unstable at times, and on top of all of that she's now on the outside working for a company that just leaked documents that f***ed up ongoing operations. Yea, going to be hard to trust her. Plus, they didn't cover it much, she evidently said some negative stuff on her way out (Saul alluded to it at one point).

Jimmy comes up huge. Nice win and comeback on the road. Made me nervous at the end with those free throws.

I could care less about he band. All I cared about was my teams pathetic and sorry performance. Oh well still a fun year as a whole.

Biggest heisman snub I could ever think of

Just brutal bowl season capped by Iowa getting embarrassed

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Dec 23, 2015 -> 10:44 AM) The Bulls remind of the recent Sox teams of the past few years in the respect that they feel internally that they're good enough to compete, but realistically, they're a good 2 or 3 pieces away from being a real contender. Yeah...no...it wasn't just the Bulls. Vegas, top analysts, etc, everyone had the Bulls as one of the top teams for most of the Thibbs era. Injuries and other issues might have cropped up, but they consistently made the playoffs. Performance may have faded but it is nothing like the White Sox (imo). I'd love if the White Sox had a string of success like the Bulls have recently had. Sure it hasn't been the ultimate goal, but outside of a few teams, they have been the best team in the league for the past 7 or 8 years. Unfortunately, they haven't won it all, but I don't think the solution is going all 76ers either. Lakers and 76ers both suck and barring anything drastic they might continue to suck for a long time. Look at the Spurs and how long they went in between titles for a while..they stuck with it and won. If I were to compare bulls to anyone is would probably be the Mavs and maybe they don't get lucky and win that title, but who knows. I certainly wouldn't bet on it, but the east is week. If they could legit upgrade, who knows. I don't know that they can be an upper echelon team without a significant improvement in Rose (or benching him and finding a league average PG). Rose's performance really really hurts the Bulls. He is so beyond bad (performance wise).

Bulls evidently dangling Taj / Noah to get a wing. Per WOJ. http://www.blogabull.com/2015/12/23/106588...-to-find-a-wing