Chisoxfn

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 15, 2014 -> 08:54 AM) I also feel this projection has been shortchanged due to a lack of representation for Rodon. I think he's probably a 2 WAR starter next year with the potential for more too. No offense Wite, but pass whatever you are sniffing. 2 WAR starter for a guy who was drafted last year is an incredibly unrealistic expectation for him, imo. Could he do it, certainly, but to do something like that, being drafted all of 6 months ago, is an extremely tough feat. I think for this year, we could look at Rodon as a guy who could hold is own in the 4th / 5th spot, while flashing some of that upside (and also getting hit at times).

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Dec 15, 2014 -> 08:56 AM) Darn, i wanted it to be Headley. He just signed a cheaper deal annually than Melky. I could make a lot of arguments that that was a much better deal than the Melky deal. The key to that is Headley's back. If it holds up, I have zero doubt that he'd have been a better signing, given our needs, specifically our defensive needs. That back is why I never was all that interested in signing him though. 4 years on a bad back at his age is a very risky proposition.

QUOTE (shipps @ Dec 15, 2014 -> 08:55 AM) Yeah I don't mind him. The older I get the more I find myself just watching the games now anyways. Not really paying to much attention to the broadcasts, Hawk is just whitenoise. And that goes for all sports. Not the Bulls...I flipping love hearing Stacey King and his homerisms when things are going good. He literally makes me LOL all the time.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Dec 15, 2014 -> 06:37 AM) By adding in a switch hitting RF, they've pretty much actually given Robin the materials he wants. He can balance lefties and righties throughout. They just need someone they have confidence in to take some PAs from LaRoche and Gillaspie from the RH side. Agreed. I wonder if that will be a vet FA signing or if it will be someone we acquire for Viciedo? At this point, we definitely have a very balanced lineup. A lot less easy outs than we had in years past. Defense is still suspect and back end of the rotation is iffy at best. This team should contend and be in the race come the trade deadline, which means, if there is an obvious flaw, they can potentially address it at that point, however, to truly be in a good spot, we need a bit more comfort in the rotation, imo. Who knows..maybe Danks is that much strong and surprises us all. I dont' want to mention Rodon because I think people have absurd expectations of him. I think everyone just assumes he can do what Sale did and well...they forget...Sale is a top 5 pitcher in the game...probably top 3 when healthy (Kershaw / King Felix / Sale).

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Dec 15, 2014 -> 08:38 AM) So after the long wait I finally got a firm offer and was able to accept it. I just officially put in my 2-week notice at my current job. Starting on January 5th my commute will drop from 2+ hours to about 10 minutes. I’ll be dropping a little in salary but the massive savings in gas, tolls and free time at home definitely makes up for it. Good deal...congrats! That time savings will be huge.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 15, 2014 -> 08:40 AM) would that be possible after giving Palmer all of that new paper three days before he tore up his knee? You would have to think their cap would be mangled next season if they brought cutler in too Probably true...I don't know all the nuances of the Palmer deal and how much was guarantee which ultimately will be a large driver of cap hit. Given his injury history, you would have thought they would have had some protection built in, but I don't know that for a fact. It is interesting, how, our organizational incompetence is making Jay look better and more mature, and that might actually allow us to truly start from scratch this off-season (if the franchise wanted to). By the way...I don't know if I endorse that or not. I think a lot of it comes down to where we are picking. It sickens me to say this, but I think Jameis is the franchise QB in this draft. But unless we brought in some real, powerful football people, to interview him and of course coach him and develop him (both as a person and a football player), I would be too worried about it turning into a disaster. Dude plays in an NFL system, massive pressure...yes he is an idiot, but Dilfer (in my opinion the best QB analyst in the game) just raves about him from his one on one's with him as well as watching film and just chatting with him. Say the guy just knows football and puts in the work. A lot of this comes down to that one case and what all the evidence was. If you throw that out (not saying you could...but if through interviews and everything, you felt comfortable he didn't do anything wrong)...than you could make a much bigger case that he is just a young guy who is growing up. Yes, his other actions were stupid...but they certainly weren't anything like the first allegation. More I type this...the more I don't know. Mariotta is obviously the safe bet, I just don't know that he is a pro QB. I have issues with him reading NFL defenses, etc. All I know is if we are going to go with a new QB, it is even more crucial to ensure we have a strong head coach and front office to hopefully make the right decision.

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.