Chisoxfn

To be honest...if we are competitive, I want Hawk calling the games. When we are good, he is fun to listen to. It is when we are incessantly bad that it gets more tiresome.

QUOTE (TheFutureIsNear @ Dec 15, 2014 -> 07:27 AM) Name me 2 AL teams that you can say without a doubt are better than the Sox right now....I'll wait. I think there are a lot of teams better than the Sox. We have two guys who are 5th starters in our rotation and not even good 5th starters at that. I don't mind Noesi cause of his price but current rotation, while strong at the top, has signifcant flaws in the back end. Bullpen has improved but is still going to need young players to step up and take greater roles and play better than they did a year ago. But most importantly...our team defense is atrocious. That is what really irks me about this whole thing...we have done nothing to improve our defense. PS: Micah Johnson will be starting by the mid-point of the season yet Leury is projected for WAR. Just want to point out that It would be stunning if Micah isn't contributing somewhere. I still think the Sox are going to look for an upgrade in the rotation and would agree with general sentiment that they aren't necessarily happy at 3B / C and would expect them to be looking and willing to deal young prospects if they can find a cost-controlled piece, preferably one who is a good defensive player as well.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 15, 2014 -> 08:31 AM) That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but I think the Bears would have to cut Cutler before the Bills did something like that, and that contract he just signed had a ton of guaranteed money in it. Unless the Bears felt there was absolutely no way of coming back from it and releasing him was the only option, it'd be damn near impossible. I'll say it once and I'll say it 100 times...if the Bears wanted to, they would be able to trade Cutler. Bills are just one of a handful of teams that with a league average QB would be playoff teams. Rams / Texans go along with them and then you have a team like the Titans who wouldn't be a playoff team, however, they have always been high on Jay and fan base would support him from his Vandy days. I think Jay ends up in one of those 4 places, if the Bears make a wholesale organizational change (top down) and the new team isn't interested in keeping Jay and would prefer to start from scratch. I'd even say a team like Arizona might be interested, depending on Palmer's long-term health. They can't just waste that defense.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Dec 15, 2014 -> 07:27 AM) Buffalo needs to figure out the QB spot soon. They are going waste a great defense if not. Cause they aren't going anywhere without a QB. Jay Cutler can be that guy.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 01:32 PM) "You throw me under the bus I throw you under the bus. Tell Aaron Kromer I said **** you"! Except that is the exact opposite of how he handled the press conference. He handled it with nothing but class.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 12:13 PM) Who do expect them to change to improve tbe defense? The only chnages would be 2B and left field. LF really won't help the defense much and 2B will be internal from either Johnson or Sanchez. What you see is what you get for defense. I have long thought we should be looking at 3B plus the OF. 2B will be taken care of internally. Viciedo & Gillespie are so bad defensively that adding even league average players is a major improvement defensively. At 2B I see no reason why Sanchez / Johnson can't be league avg defenders with time. Beckham was below average last year. To be frank our 2B defense was very poor.

Never thought that cutler would walk out of this situation looking like a pretty mature guy. All season long he has handled things very professionally from the media standpoint. Results have sucked for the team but he's remained extremely composed with the media and refused to throw anyone under the bus, even though privately, I am sure he is totally over this and fully on board of getting the heck out of Chicago.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 11:26 AM) I don't know for sure obviously, but I have a hard time believing that the OC hasn't at some point told Jay to play better, that he's not playing good enough and that he's making mistakes. If he's not having those private conversations, that's a bigger problem than saying something to a reporter. Bench him, blast him on the open mike, whatever. Just don't do it anonymous.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 11:22 AM) Yeah, we don't actually know that Kromer has confronted Jay this directly in private previously. If he hadn't, doing it anonymously through the media is pretty crappy. I wouldn't have had a problem if during a press conference after working significantly with jay and him not getting it, the coaches said we have a lot of problems, including x, y and z. Jay knows it and is working on it but we continue to do blah blah blah. Whatever...fine. But how this was handled was extremely dysfunctional and everyone around the league clearly sees it that way as well.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 11:13 AM) So you think a coach like Phil Jackson is pathetic? He and several other hall of fame caliber coaches/managers have used the media in this exact way. I honestly don't see a problem with anything that this guy did or said, except for apologizing for it. What did he say that was so awful? What did he say publicly that he hasn't told Jay privately 100 times? They openly said it to the media, not as an unnamed source. I don't really care if you decide you are going to use the media to help with your message...as long as you've already given said player the message enough times.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 03:35 AM) The Cubs want a YES network, I just don't know if that is possible. I honestly don't know why it isn't. They have a major national following on top of being in a large market. As big as Yes, no, but of all franchises, they are one of the few that could do it and do it successfully. OF course it would also require being consistently competitive which they obviously have had trouble figuring out. All that said, the org has been making a lot of good decisions. Big question is do they have the financial resources to do it.

Kromer is going to come on at 1:20 Chicago time, then Cutler, and then Tresman to talk to the press. Wonder what happens.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 10:27 AM) I do find fan outrage,and there is some, but not a lot, a little silly. Isn't this what they want, throwing players under the bus? How many times has someone said Lovie lacks the fire and put up with BS. Even Ventura, although non NFL. Maybe he shouldn't be off the record telling a reporter some of this, but if he does get canned, it is a guarantee one of the people who makes the decision to let him go has done the same thing. It's out there now. Hey Jay, your coach thinks you suck. Instead of making a stupid face, and getting the rest of the organization to stick up for your BS, why don't you show him he doesn't know what he's talking about. If you feel that way, tell that QB that, bench the QB, I don't really care. Have a press conference and say we need to get better QB play, better in-play reads, whatever. Yeah, you'll take some heat for it, but at least everyone is on the same page. Doing what he did was downright pathetic. This is the type of stuff that you see in only the most pathetic organizations. Ownership better figure out that this needs to change all the way at the top. It starts with bring in a football CEO who has total control. I hope it ends with Harbaugh as the head coach but right now I just want a legit guy running this organization from the top. Seems Polian isn't interested and I know Holmgren had his issues but I'd be looking at those type of people to see what can be done or try and throw a bunch of money at Ozzie Newsome in Baltimore for a promotion of sorts or other places around the league who have had long-term sustained success. Bottom line...massive changes in the organization are needed. Until than, I think things are so bad it is even hard to evaluate some of the players.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 08:55 AM) It would have been fun, for sure, but my god at some point this team has to stop getting worse defensively, right? It's really looking difficult to make that type of an upgrade right now. I'm still waiting for them to figure it out. It was our biggest flaw and we've done ZERO to fix it. Its pathetic. Without doing that, I'd rank this offseason as bad, with context of we made win now moves without being capable of winning now. That said, there is still plenty of time.

Pat Mannelly indicates that players believe Kromer's tears were forced / fake.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 09:44 AM) DeCamillis would be the guy, he is asst head coach along with Kromer and while he sucks he may be hte guy they keep around. News in Chicago/radio talking heads are that Trestman and Emery are safe. I think that is more because no one believes Bears will spend money to pay those guys and new people. However, I think this is most pressure org has ever felt to get rid of people. Making Joey D the guy would be the most laughable thing ever.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 09:15 AM) That's the thing. After the NE/GB debacles, people talked about firing Trestman and letting Kromer take over for the rest of the season. Can't do that anymore! Hoke or Pasq are the only guys that I would have ever let take over.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 09:08 AM) If you are gonna fire the whole cavalry, is there any benefit to doing it now instead of waiting until December 28 at 3:01 PM? You have to play these 3 games no matter what, somebody's gotta coach them. It's not like you will hire anybody before the regular season ends. (Unless you go the CFL route ) No...but Kromer can't stay around. I've long said, if they wanted to fire someone, it probably should have been Trestman to see if it was the captain or the entire issue that was sinking the ship. They chose not to and at this point, it is more for the players best interest that you get rid of Kromer, who they can no longer trust. I would be very surprised if he's coaching on Monday. Would expect to see a news conference pop up today with him resigning. Than again...this happened on MONDAY.

And seriously...what clowns. How has he not been fired / forced to resign. Seriously pathetic.

QUOTE (Ozzie Ball @ Dec 11, 2014 -> 09:13 PM) How exactly? I think you're focusing on the result rather than the process. He didn't really do anything better this year. He made a bit more contact, and doubled his HR output (from 1 to 2!), but the walk rate halved, to a pretty awful 4.8%, which is a major negative for a player whose value is tied to his ability reach base and utilise his speed. The big difference is that his average increased 50 points thanks to a rather high BABIP (.346). While you would expect a player with Gordon's skill-set (e.g. his bunt hit ability) to be able to register higher than average BABIP marks, this was still significantly above his career BABIP (.326). The problem with someone like Gordon is that, due to the fact that he doesn't walk, hit for power or make elite level contact, so much of his offensive value is tied to his BABIP. If he has a good year with balls in play, such as in 2014, then you can buy him as a league average hitter and a valuable player, but in the years when he will have bad or even neutral luck on balls in play, he's going to go back to being the awful Dee Gordon of 2012 and 2013. He's below average in the field too. The Dodgers sold high and got a nice return. I'm not saying that the Dodgers didn't rob the Marlins...they did. I thought it was a horrible trade for the Marlins, however, I don't understand doing all that to end up with Kendrick. That is all. I think the team that won the trade is the Angels. Marlins were stupid cause they weren't a Dee Gordon away from the playoffs.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 07:55 AM) Yea, I dont think they WANT to run less, but what he is saying is that Jay needed to recognize when a play was going to be busted and check out of it. Somehow I think at this point, Jay has heard enough from the coaching staff saying QB has been one of the reasons we aren't running and now is like, fine, I'll stop checking out. I think the offense has zero belief in the coaches.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Dec 12, 2014 -> 06:20 AM) So Kromer called out Cutler for refusing to check out of bad run plays? So he thinks they should have been running the ball even less? That was what I found hilarious. They blame him for checking into passing plays and now it is the opposite. At this point, I feel bad for all of the players. By and large they have kept things professional despite the fact that I have a pretty good feeling that internally they know our entire staff is a joke.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Dec 11, 2014 -> 10:53 PM) Well Emery brought this circus to Chicago, he needs to go with it. Thank you. One can only hope ownership sees this and realizes they all have to go.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Dec 11, 2014 -> 02:44 PM) If Lester gets that 7th year to vest, his contract is $170 million. I could see Scherzer getting $190 million, but the one problem is Boras is going to have to get some kind of bidding war going. If the Tigers are truly out, i think that may be a little difficult, lthough he usually pulls something out. DA, that is the one thing I keep wondering. Who the heck is in on Scherzer's services right now.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 11, 2014 -> 03:01 PM) I mean, at this point, you can just bank that if it's a game at home, it will be the bulls down like 10-2 or 12-4 within the first minute before adjusting. I think we are getting close to going on a nice run. Say a win 12 of the next 15/16 type of run.