Chisoxfn

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 14, 2014 -> 05:35 AM) You just have to wonder at what point the HC says "f*** it, its all worth it" and goes down the rabbit hole for a player like this. Chizik never really recovered after Cam left and isnt coaching anymore(at the moment, of course), and Cam didnt even get busted for anything like Winston has. College football is a strange beast Probably had more to do with the fact that Chizik wasn't a very good coach.

QUOTE (knightni @ Oct 14, 2014 -> 08:53 AM) 2-1 this week. Two 5-1 teams, one 3-3. I have no idea why my 3-3 team is failing. How can you lose with this roster? Jay Cutler Chi - QB Tony Romo Dal - QB Dez Bryant Dal - WR Percy Harvin Sea - WR Sammy Watkins Buf - WR Cordarrelle Patterson Min - WR Dwayne Bowe KC - WR C.J. Spiller Buf - RB Andre Ellington Ari - RB Ben Tate Cle - RB Zac Stacy StL - RB Trent Richardson Ind - RB Vernon Davis SF - TE Jared Cook StL - TE Nick Novak SD - K Buffalo - DEF To be frank, I really don't like that roster. 3-3 seems right, I wouldn't even be surprised if you were worse.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Oct 14, 2014 -> 07:57 AM) I have the most points in the league and I'm 3-3. Go figure. That is where I fall. I started 0-3 too and two of those weeks i had 2nd / 3rd most points in the week and lost. Nice to at least have battled back to 3-3 but still an uphill battle.

QUOTE (knightni @ Oct 13, 2014 -> 08:14 AM) With as bad as McClellin and Briggs can be, I wonder if the backups were really that much worse. Shea had possibly been the best LB on the team prior to his injury. Which tells you everything you need to know about the quality of our LB corp.

QUOTE (Brian @ Oct 13, 2014 -> 04:56 AM) Even if Conte is cleared, there is no way he belongs on the field over Mundy. Vereen seems a tad slow but would rather have him out there getting experience. Well...Mundy is the starter opposite Conte so we are talking about Vereen / Conte. Conte has played well when on the field but the consistent injuries are a reason he won't be our starter a year from now.

QUOTE (Jake @ Oct 12, 2014 -> 05:38 PM) Bears D played pretty damn well. They clearly entered the game with the strategy of trying to get into ATL's heads with hard hits, which makes sense given our safeties in particular. It worked like a charm. We also saw a lot of productivity out of the D line and general pass rush. With our best 4 LBs out, our best CB out, our starting FS out/hobbled, another starting CB missing some time, and a D line fully intact for the first time since the middle of game two, that's a really impressive performance from that group. The defense has exceeded expectations this year - not that that is saying much - and they are doing it without critical personnel every week. Great to see the offense do what we thought it could. Jay was still pretty frequently looking to the check-down, but he balanced that with picking some smart spots to be aggressive and delivering the ball. We dialed up some great run plays at perfect times as well. O-line play in general could have been better. ST was looking fine and then we had the obligatory giant f*** up In what world was the ST looking fine. We are penalized practically every time. It is pathetic. Abysmal. Between that and the offensive penalties we continue to have, it is just disgraceful how much we pigeon hole our field position and ultimately our offense. I think it is a large part of how we have so many yards, yet, haven't been all that efficient in terms of converting them to points. PS: Trestman must be sabotaging us in the two minute drill. Again, I noticed we wasted ample time at the end of the first half that caused us to dang near have a GB play all over again.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Oct 12, 2014 -> 04:02 PM) This And he's been very smart overall with the ball, not forcing it and making dumb decisions. Why he can't play this way all the time is puzzling. When something isn't there, don't force it, is that too much to ask? To be honest, his game in general has been much improved this year. He has had some bone head plays, with just a higher percentage going against us then in years past cause his bone head plays per attempt appears to be at an all time low. On the season, he's been good. His number are skewed by our wideouts not playing well, a half where Jeffrey / Marshall were out, and well some awful play calling in that Carolina game. Yes, he has his own things he did too, but team hasn't done a lot to help him. Oh and by the way, I think our average starting position, when not effected by turnover, has to be amongst the worst in the league.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Oct 12, 2014 -> 03:34 PM) Why the Bears don't do this more often is beyond me. I was yelling the whole 2nd half of the Panthers game where is the deep ball. Then again this week I was getting frustrated and was having a mini outburst when they finally threw that deep ball. It is just baffling. You know how hard this team is to D if you occasionally make the defense respect our down field passing attack (which we have...but have decided not to use all freaking season for some reason).

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Oct 12, 2014 -> 10:57 AM) How about that Lovie Smith defense? When the Bears hired Trestman I said it would be crucial to keep Marinelli and Toub. We haven't and while I give Tucker some excuse and defense has cleaned up its schtick in the run, they still have problems, but at least I see progress (and what they did against Atlanta, even with all of the Falcons drops, with no LB's was impressive). Then again, it tells me just how bad our starting LB's are But how Joey D hasn't been fired is just mind boggling. How many times do we need to start the ball inside the 20 and even inside the 10 after punts. We are consistently getting crushed in phase 3. Only nice thing I can say is sans that Panther TD return, the coverage unit has been solid.

I had no idea Briggs was even hurt. What happened?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 10, 2014 -> 10:10 AM) There is a Tribune article saying Cooper is making a rare appearance at the AFL, as the Sox try to accelerate the progress of their younger pitchers to use as bullpen pieces. The most interesting part was the quote from Bassit, who seems to WANT to be a reliever. When we did a story with Bassit maybe a year ago as part of FutureSox, he had hinted that he preferred coming out of the pen, etc.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Oct 9, 2014 -> 11:36 AM) Well the Yankees probably said that about Sabathia, too, in year two of the deal I think they would still tell you what they paid CC was worth it. If you put that 8 year deal over 5 years with the rest being dead money, you are talking about 36M per year and given the value he brought to the organization over his first 5 years, I don't think they'd have a major issue. Team got WAR of 22.1 over 5 years, with an average of 4.42. He also in certain years was one of the very best in the entire game. I'd say if they went back, they probably still make the deal (would they prefer less years, sure, but all things considered, I think they'd say what they got out of CC was worth it...especially when you factor in their payroll).

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Oct 9, 2014 -> 10:35 AM) And, every single time, they do regret it. One exception to date is Grienke.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Oct 9, 2014 -> 10:26 AM) If Sox do manage to get Tomas and stick him in LF, I think adding Cargo would be even more beneficial because it gives you another OF that could spell Garcia or Tomas to fill in at DH, and the lefty bat we are looking for. CF Eaton SS Ramirez 1B Abreu DH Gonzalez LF Tomas RF Garcia 3B Gillaspie 2B Semien C Flowers That's a pretty damn good line up. We aren't going to bring in Tomas and Cargo. Tomas is going to be expensive, we won't bring in two very expensive outfielders.

Not sure if anyone noticed but two straight weeks, Trestman has called out Marshall on Jay's picks. This time, Trestman back tracked a bit and talked about how he shouldn't have made the throw but it seems that B might be doing his own improvising and not following the playbook as much as Trestman would like. I wonder how much of this has to do with him finally practicing for first time last week vs. him maybe not being 100% bought in. I did also notice that Trestman/Jay were going to spend extra time trying to get B more involved, etc. Found that interesting.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Oct 9, 2014 -> 08:17 AM) LA with a new stadium is a no brainer for at least one team, and probably 2. They will generate some serious revenue. It wasn't like the Raiders didn't sell seats here. The issue was always the stadium deal. Now the Rams, sure they couldn't sell seats but that was a totally different market you were talking about (Orange County).

QUOTE (bigruss22 @ Oct 8, 2014 -> 04:18 PM) UIC is an option, it's not as convenient for me and I would probably be limited to their weekend program since it would be hard to get there after work for me (I work in Lake Forest, and live in Southport now). I could wait to do the weekend program (starts only in the fall) and that would save me a lot, that would be roughly $14k out of pocket. When it comes to MBA, my rule of thumb is the value is when your company pays, when you are going to an elite program, and when the program is offering differentiation in your skill-set that is viewed positively within your industry or more specifically by a company. I think the value for a business person lies in whether they want to get into Ibanking or wall street or various areas which statistically you need an MBA to get a gig. This differs for engineers / IT professionals who are moving outside of their typical technical area into more project management and overall business management and thus the skills obtained from an MBA (while often times, still common sense in my view) can be beneficial to someone who maybe has historically had a different viewpoint / skill-set as often times the skills of a project manager are much different then the skills of a design engineer with one having to be more focused on more general business concepts, etc. Not sure if that is helpful or not and obviously everything is industry specific but I'd also say that it won't hurt, as long as you aren't breaking the bank to do it, with them subsidizing over 50% of the costs, it makes the pay back opportunities more attractive. While I don't think that piece of paper makes you more qualified for a job, it often is one of the hurdles at certain companies to get into various levels (and other times it isn't) and I think that depends on the industry you play in and what your specialization is and understanding that (both at your company but more in general within your sector). The key is really understanding that.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 8, 2014 -> 02:14 PM) Wait a second, it was even you? You totally confused me here, I thought this was a blunt statement that the decision had been made an announced. Now I'm mad at you. Phooey. Haha, I said, Donny baseball will be fired. As in, I think the Dodgers will fire him. Not that the Dodgers have fired Donny baseball. Hahhaa.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 8, 2014 -> 02:10 PM) Don't ask me this, ask it to the person confused about why they extended him. For some reason I was thinking you were confused about the extension.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 8, 2014 -> 02:07 PM) Really, wait a second, didn't someone post in the NLDS thread that Mattingly was fired? D'Oh. And anyway, no 2014 is not the season Robin Ventura deserved to be fired for, 2013 was. Since that didn't happen when it should have, the next time he deserves to be fired is when the Sox spend money and the team fails. If they spend a boatload of money this offseason and they aren't a playoff team, then there better be a darn good excuse for why, because that would mean something went very wrong. You should be evaluated based upon the level of talent on the team and your individual performance. If you paid 150M on payroll and 80M of guys are out for season, you shouldn't fire them. There isn't some magical scorecard you can look at (there are a plethora of factors to consider) and a year ago, Robin was saved because he had one year where his team drastically overachieved and then 2013 happened. Even then, just because payroll was high, team was still saddled by players who while they may have made a lot of money, weren't necessarily worth that money.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 8, 2014 -> 01:49 PM) At least one of the managers of a postseason team was just fired. I assume you think that's a bad idea? That is a team that had talent and had a disasterous clubhouse and underplayed their level of talent. What part of coaching to the level of talent is missing in the concept. Firing a guy cause they don't make the playoffs because you have a bad roster is just foolish, unless there were things from a player development standpoint and grander scale which you have issues with. Reality is team played hard for Robin till the end, players got along, young guys got chances, some guys took step forward, etc. Bottom line this was never a playoff team and the team didn't underachieve drastically and if it did it was because our pen was terrible not because Robin was terrible. There is zero logical reason to fire Robin given his current contract, etc. And I don't know what manager you are referring to but I'm presuming you are assuming Donny baseball gets fired. Well, he made some poor baseball decisions and there were significant chemistry issues in the clubhouse, etc. Oh and this was a 2nd consecutive year with playoff disappointments. It also was a team loaded with talent, including arguably the best 3 man rotation in baseball with Kershaw, Grienke, Ryu.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 8, 2014 -> 11:10 AM) What do they have that they're actually trying to develop? They picked at the bottom of the first round each of the last couple years. Do they actually have some young player somewhere I don't know about who is key to their future, or wouldn't that instead be much more likely to occur in the 2015 draft? I mean, with George and Stephenson both gone, would anyone honestly be surprised if that was a mid-lottery team this year? Since when is the last year or two what matter? They have current players and they have developed guys like Lance Stephenson and Hill and even to an extent George who were not high high draft picks. George, being the highest of the pick. The reason they are where they are is because they have hit and drafted serviceable players and coached up and developed their picks, not because they have mad tons of FA signings or had the top pick in a stacked draft. And a lot of that development happened under their existing coaching staff.

QUOTE (Jake @ Oct 8, 2014 -> 11:03 AM) He's one of the few "turns chicken s*** into chicken dinner" coaches around. Might as well sign him up, especially considering the preponderance of chicken s*** they have over there You look at who they have developed and its pretty impressive. I think he's a good coach and one of the better ones in the league and if things go wrong, in the grand scheme of things, it isn't the end of the world to let him go. The idea of having a lame duck coach is usually a disaster in this league and is a pretty good bet at having more lockeroom issues as players often question the coaches authority a lot more in those situations. I always get a kick out of the people who tend to put heat on coaches who have generally gotten more out of their teams then expected.

This is the year that matters for Robin. We should have higher expectations and see development. If we don't, then this is the year we talk about whether Robin is the right guy. Past 2 years have been about player development, right attitude, etc. Yeah, you want to compete, but no one could have competed with the bullpen Robin had and well to be frank, he can't play defense and we have a lot of guys that are just bad defensive players. However, for those young ones who have the tools, his success is going to be very dependent on the player development side and the fundemental development side and whether these guys can take the next step. Robin isn't leading the Yankees, his staff is going to have to be good on the player development side as that is a large part of how we are going to succeed and while it starts in the minors, it continues at the major league level based upon how we are operating as a franchise.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 8, 2014 -> 10:47 AM) Basically, there's virtually zero chance that they'll fire him this season since George is rehabbing. If his contract ends at the end of this year, basically the question is whether they want him back in 2015 or they're going to let him be a free agent (some team, of course, would pay good money to sign a guy with a conference finals appearance in recent memory). Given the internal issues they had, I don't know how you can state that. If they aren't as good because of George but overachieve based upon their talent or show signs of development, etc, then I don't see the issue. You judge him based upon the current roster / expectations. You don't go, oh they won less games this year, we should fire him. Everything you do and how you judge it is based upon a variety of factors, most specifically, how he handles the roster this year, how players develop, how the team performs compared to internal expectations, etc. If they have internal issues again this year and thus it becomes more of a theme, then he should be fired, especially since they have lost both guys who were supposedly the primary guys who brought some of those lockerroom issues.