Chisoxfn

He will get some longer term offers, but I could easily see where he makes the decision to bet on himself and be able to make a lot more money. Then again, you put a 2nd poor year in and that longer term deal is gone. The sad thing is, it seems that a major driver for him not taking the offer is he had a lot of issues with the White Sox. All players are different, but given he didn't have a history of issues with two different organizations, it makes you wonder about the health of the Sox culture.

If I were Illinois, Pinkel would be the best hire. I realize he's older but he's a very good football coach and should be able to leverage existing recruiting channels. That is my one contribution to Illinois football.

Keith is Chelios reincarnated.

And open up PHT to really all kinds of baseball activity. I ask because their often is a lot of overlap between what is posted their regarding player movements vs. here and part of the depends on who different posters perceive are potential candidates for the Sox? We could also, I suppose, just have a separate off-season forum (kind of like we do at the trade deadline), however, purpose of that is more of during the season you can separate trade discussion vs. actual in season / team performance, but in the off-season that becomes a moot point. Unlike catch-all, where I am selfish to my own interests, I am curious what people think with this and am open to whatever the masses prefer.

Smart move by Wieters. He'd have been a good buy low candidate, but he's probably best off showing his health and restoring his value for a longer term contract.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Nov 13, 2015 -> 12:04 PM) I think you're the only one that complains about this lol. But as others have said, Wieters was a name a lot of guys wanted for the Sox. Yeah...I own the site so I'm allowed to complain about stuff (and can be selfish when need be), but I also receive numerous thank you's and the general sentiment is a preference to not have catch-all's. I'm not saying that it is 90% of the audience, but a majority yes (and their are certainly mods/admins who disagree with me) but its one of the few times that I really don't care. Fact that I've let this drag out this long just is really because thus far this off-season their has been no news so I'm not missing anything. But I come to this site to find out what is going on around the Sox and baseball and when conversations are buried in threads, well quite frankly, it is not good for overall discussion and my goal, among other things for this site, has always been for it to have the best Sox discussion on the web (and overall just great discussion in general as well). Oh and I don't want to have to read 100 posts that I missed while I was gone for a few hours to catch relevant news that may / may not interest me. For example, if I saw a post that said Wieters no longer an option and the news...I'd have known without having to filter through a ton of posts I wasn't that interested in. Whole point of separate threads is it does a better job of, a, seeing what the various discussion topics available are, and b, allows me to focus my time and attention on threads that I personally am interested in (just like it allows other members to focus on threads they personally are interested in). In a giant catch-all thread like the off-season, I might have to filter through 15 posts of 3 people's back and forth in a debate I'm not particularly interested in. And well, I'm a busy person and love this site, but time is money and I want to maximize my experience / knowledge gained from the site while dealing with the fact that I only have so much time a day to spend on the web.

Ok....if news like Weiters accepting a qualified offer is going to get burried in this thread, I'm going to close this thread. Real news shouldn't be embedded within here and this is turning into a gigantic catch all that is difficult to follow.

In terms of Cutler, we are going to know a whole lot after the Thanksgiving game. 2 straight games against elite d's (Rams & Broncos) and then a team who has historically given him fits in the Packers (on the road). If we see Jay continuing to stay poised and this offense continue to build, I think at that point, we can start to say he truly is part of a longer-term future. All this said, I think we go 1-2 / 0-3 during this stretch but to me it is more about how we play vs. the end result at this point.

In regards to Bulls cap space, I answered my own question. Evidently not that much. Noah and any other free agent leaves and you either trade Taj or Pau opts out. That gives you enough to go max (based upon where the cap is supposed to go). All that said, I don't really think Durant would want to come play here but him and Butler on the wing would be fantastic.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 13, 2015 -> 10:41 AM) Struggled? Not sure how winning 4-2 is a "struggle." Already this year they've beaten western playoffs teams by 20 (Rockets), 14 (Pelicans), Grizz (50!!!), Clips (4), and the Grizz again (16). Yes, it's early. Yes, they could still lose. But there's really no reason to think they've lost anything from last year and they seem to be even BETTER now. The reigning MVP also appears to be better. Not sure how they aren't the favorites. We can all keep saying "Lebron cuz Lebron" but statistically he's likely to get there and lose, not get there and win. I never said they weren't the favorites. I just said I'm not going to anoint them champions right now.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 13, 2015 -> 10:28 AM) Not sure why not. Last year wasn't a fluke. They beat everyone they played. They're a better team this year with Ezeli starting. Cavs, IMO, are worse with Love given his defensive issues. It'll be tougher to get out of the West, for sure. Spurs will eventually get it together. OKC is going to be tough. Though it looks like the Clips and Rockets are/were vastly overrated. Clips still have the same problems as last year, and Houston, I dunno what is going on there. They struggled against a completely run down Cavs team and had the rest of the west collapse from injuries. Yes, they won and yes they are a great team (and were a deserving champ) but the only team's I ever annoted pre-season were basically the Jordan era Bulls and the Shaq / Kobe Lakers (and that was a poor mans domination) and mistakenly the big three of the Heat.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Nov 13, 2015 -> 10:22 AM) Offensively? Yes. Defensively? He'd be an atrocity. He'd get pick and rolled to death and be forced to play defense in space. Shaq was too big for that. Hakeem and D-Rob would have no problems defensively today. That's fine, pick and roll all you want...Shaq would still be taking the higher percentage shot every single time.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Nov 13, 2015 -> 10:19 AM) The Warriors are definitely beatable, the Spurs and Cavs and maybe a healthy OKC team can get them, the Bulls not so much but I love your optimism, Gage. It all depends on the team, but I still think we match up well against the top teams in the league. If I look at the Warriors, they are deep, but so are we. We are more physical in the interior and have better interior defense, they are more skilled on the outside and better shooters with the biggest differential being Curry >>>> Rose. That said, the Rose that has played vs. elite point guards has been pretty good and I still think we are going to see the best version of post-injury Rose this year and Butler is a good match-up against Thompson. I certainly wouldn't favor the Bulls but I wouldn't call it the biggest upset in NBA history either (plus, you never know what each teams health will be at that point...I'd hope that the eastern conference team that makes it to the championship game would have really only had one true test...i.e., Cleveland).

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Nov 13, 2015 -> 09:20 AM) This. Saladino can be just as good as Aybar for the minimum salary. Some of you are delusional. Aybar has consistently been an above average shortstop and now you are saying Saladino can be as good. Please. Saladino is most likely a solid utility guy but to take the leap to being better then Aybar, one of the better shortstops in the game, come on. I am not saying we should trade for Aybar, but I'm also not delusional to think that Saladino is better. I think Aybar is a good player and would make the Sox a better team, that said, he's older and I am not sure strategically where the Sox are headed this year (contention vs. rebuild).

By the way, I'm still not annoting the Warriors. It is freaking November...you don't win championships in November. The Spurs are adjusting, the Cavs are hurt (but should get healthier), the Clips seem to be ascending, and of course I'm a homer whose always optimistic and the Bulls clearly are still in the early ages of a new system and have played well against the better teams in the league. Oh and Doug Mcdermott is looking like the most improved player in the league.

So if at the end of the year, the Bulls wanted to change direction and make a run at Durant, could they do it and if so, who would have to move? I know Noah expires but we obviously have other costs. Can it be done while keeping Rose/Butler on the roster or does Rose have to go? I am more asking for pure curiosity but I imagine if things don't work out this year, the Bulls will get aggressive to move Rose and this would be the right off-season to make a move. Or do the Bulls really not have a play until Rose's contract comes of the books (at which point I presume you hope Westbrook hasn't signed an extension and go that route).

I'm fairly certain, a player like Shaq could be an absolute monster against a team like the Warriors. Problem is, Shaq is one of a kind.

I bet Jeff turns into one of the better FA signings in all of baseball this year. In fact, I still say, I'd be thrilled if he somehow decided to take his qualifying offer with us and we can spin him at the deadline.

Why is this in the filabuster?

Braves should get something good for Aybar when they spin him.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 12, 2015 -> 02:53 PM) Does the lender even make money off of PMI? I'd imagine that's going to some 3rd party insurer. I don't know if they pocket any of the cost, but the PMI ultimately gets insured by a 3rd party insurer. AIG and Genworth are two large insurers who have a big Mortgage Insurance business.

And Greg, I am absolutely cheap, meaning I try to use a coupon when I can, live below my means, etc. That doesn't mean I don't tip and when I do use a coupon, I tip based upon my pre-coupon bill.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 12, 2015 -> 01:04 PM) Sure, in that my employer pays out a bonus on top of my salary/wages. I don't get a bonus from the customers. I pretty much tip a similar amount, unless someone goes above / sucks. If they suck I give zero tip. On average, probably tip 20%...only for dine in. I do not tip out takeout / carry-out. Delivery I do tip (obviously). I didn't realize that if someone no paid, the driver got stiffed. That seems downright illegal.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Nov 12, 2015 -> 04:06 AM) How does the rest of the world manage to survive without tipping? Both service sectors in other countries and people with non tipped jobs here. Does a tip differentiate from a bonus?

QUOTE (iamshack @ Nov 12, 2015 -> 09:04 AM) 1) If your sole purpose is to remove the PMI, contact your mortgage lender and explain this. They will explain to you what the process is for doing so. They will only use certain appraisals, so don't go get one on your own; ask them how the process works and follow it. Generally, if you agree to refinance your loan (and pay them closing costs) the process is more forgiving than if you simply want to remove the PMI. They are crooks. 2) If you'd like to refinance and take some cash out, sometimes the lender will actually pay for the appraisal themselves. We did this for our kitchen remodel. We went to US Bank, and they paid for not one, but two appraisals. They will ask you what renovations you have done since you bought the house. Make a list of anything you have done and give it to them when they arrive. You can also provide them comps, although they won't necessarily consider them. Yes...this, if you are going to do it with your bank, you need to go through their process (and just pay whomever they would use anyway). If you go with someone else, the lender is still going to have to do an appraisal and will not rely on yours. Basically put, just paying for your own appraisal is pretty worthless (unless you just generally want to know what the value of your house is for some reason or are trying to at least push something along). Not like it used to be. Unless somehow laws in California around appraisals differ from Illinois (could be...hell if I know...but I thought all lenders went to this standard / were required after the housing mess).