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QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 23, 2014 -> 04:13 PM) See, my biggest disagreement is on the latter part. I think you're completely destroying your flexibility if you sign a >$10 million+ pitcher and you have to take on a separate bad contract to move Danks. You're stuck dealing with that bad contract and you're dealing with a pitcher probably on a multi-year deal on top of that. If we take on a $10 million+ pitcher to fill a rotation spot and move Danks for someone with equal salary, then we're talking about a salary commitment for the next 2 years of >$75 million+ just for those guys without solving the bullpen holes or the lineup holes. Unless they guy you're trading for under the bad contract for bad contract swap suddenly returns to whatever form earned him his contract, by going out and spending money on a veteran to replace Danks you're leaving yourself the same hole. It's a lateral move that to me removes flexibility by tying up additional money. 2 yrs is pretty short term in nature. You are talking about the season you are playing and one follow-up season. That is nothing to fill major positional holes on your team. The alternative, which is having below league average players at two positions, which are pretty crucial. Not when you are trying to contend. At some point, you will have some inefficiencies with the use of the cash if you are going to contend (unless you get extremely lucky). Nothing that is being discussed over a 2 year time frame is going to be an extreme detriment to the franchise. 4 years, sure, but 2 years, you aren't hindering yourself. Santana at the proposed 2 year deal is at a market friendly deal with minimized downside risk because if there was an injury you aren't looking at a huge capital outlay.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 23, 2014 -> 03:59 PM) There's the problem. Any of these 2-3 WAR pitchers are a tiny upgrade because you don't put them in the spot Rodon is going to take before next season ends, you need to put them in Danks's spot. So, we're paying $10 million+ a year for Santana and we're paying money to get rid of Danks, so we're paying $20 million+ per year for a 1-2 WAR upgrade in the rotation. Financially there's no way this makes sense unless Danks is swapped for a different position player at a similar cost, putting the sunk cost onto a different spot. And if you're doing that, why are you spending money on your starting pitching staff when you're just trying to run out the contract of someone like Upton in the OF? I presume you are doing it because you are trying to field a contending team sooner. You aren't replacing Rodon, rather you are replacing Danks with Santana and putting less pressure on Rodon. You are going with a rotation of Sale / Q / Santana / Noesi / Rodon. You then are running out a more capable outfielder that you got for Danks (say Ethier) and then moving guys like Bassit / Carroll to the bullpen and maybe making another bullpen signing. Plus you might be exploring other positional upgrades as well. Clearly you also have to figure out a way to add one more bat to the mix as well. A 1-2 WAR upgrade can be a pretty significant difference in the grand scheme of things, especially if who you got for Danks (while overpriced) is a 1-2 WAR upgrade as well over your existing starter in the outfield. Now you are talking 2-4 WAR upgrade, which doesn't amount to 2-4 wins and could actually have a much larger impact then that. Bottom line you are making your team better while not adding on any extremely long term deals so when guys like Ethier / Santana come off books, the timing goes well with other young guys on the existing roster who can get raises, etc, plus you also have flexibility to add new pieces to put you further over the top potentially. Note: Ethier has been a 3 WAR player in 5 of the past 7 years. Compare that to Viciedo who has been a

QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Sep 23, 2014 -> 12:15 PM) Are we talking about the same "good" Jets defense that gave up 426 yards and 31 points to the Packers? They have a great run defense but average to slightly above average defense as a whole IMO. The Lions defense has actually looked much better than the Jets Lions D has been phenomenal. Of course I'm the guy that picked the Lions to win the division with the thought that with a new coach they would play more disciplined football. Lions have looked excellent defensively.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Sep 23, 2014 -> 12:46 PM) I NEVER thought I'd say this even a few months ago but I think I'd stick with Flowers at catcher and use resources elsewhere. Yeah. I just have realized catchers suck and ours sucks just a little less then a lot of them, especially when you factor in the positives on the defensive side of the ball.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 23, 2014 -> 12:37 PM) I would. The last thing we need to do is waste our resources on a mediocre starting pitcher. Santana at that price is a good move. He's been a 2.5-3 war pitcher in 3 of the past 4 years all while throwing over 200 innings in 3 of the last 4 years (I guess technically he hasn't done it yet but I believe he has 2 starts left this season). Stuff is good as well and what he does struggle with from time to time would appear to be something our coaching staff excels at. I really like this idea, more so if you can find someway to get some form of cash savings for Danks.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Sep 23, 2014 -> 10:33 AM) The idea is it would be mostly a wash. The reality is that we need a LF, so it would make sense for us if the money was close to even. But why would the Dodgers do it? Maybe if they think they can turn Danks into an effective reliever? At some point you need innings eaters and he could fit that bill, especially with some of the injuries. Haren is a FA as well so he could slide in. They have had injury issues in back end of rotation and they clearly need to clean up the clubhouse a bit. Right now there are too many issues internally and a lot of it would appear to be tied to the logjam of outfielders and players not comfortable/happy in their current roles. I honestly don't know what else Dodgers could do? Danks seems more attractive then others but when giving up expensive players with big contracts you can't expect much in return. At least in this case, we get a solid play. Hell, if it is Ethier, you get a guy with a good OPS + every year but this year. Is he done, could be, but it could also be largely driven by his attitude issues. That said, you got to manage the personality. I don't know, maybe they'd rather have Crawford who is more of an injury risk. Either way, we need outfielders and left handed bats and both of these guys, while extremely overpaid, have a shot at still being productive players and filling needs.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 23, 2014 -> 11:07 AM) So a 33 year old SS won't be part of the next White Sox contender but the Sox should open the check book for a 32 year old catcher and be willing to go 4 years and $60 million. You have been saying Alexei will slip for at least 2 year. Why wouldn't that apply to Martin? I agree. Martin is a nice get but giving big money to an aging catcher coming off a career year would appear to be a very bad idea. He has a lot of innings and wear and tear on his knees. Is he AJ like durable, maybe, but that is a major risk over a 4 year window, imo. As much as I hate to say it, I think you stick with Flowers at catcher and focus all of your resources in other areas.

QUOTE (GoSox05 @ Sep 23, 2014 -> 11:33 AM) I think it's time to rethink the 49ers as a really good defense. At least right now. There defense is still above average, imo. From a YPG perspective, sixth best in the league. Jets are 2nd in the league. Buffalo ranks 15th. All three teams we played are in top half of league defensively. I will caveat this by saying from a PPG perspective, it becomes a little more skewed with Buffalo being top 10 and Jets / 49ers ranking below. However, part of that is driven by 49er / Jet turnovers.

QUOTE (Jake @ Sep 23, 2014 -> 11:09 AM) Looking through PFF's QB stuff, here are some knocks I see for Jay: -weak YPA -compared to other QBs, relatively un-victimized by drops -his accuracy % (completion percentage that counts drops as completions, doesn't count spikes or throwaways) ranks 21/31 -27 out of 35 QBs throw a higher portion of their throws under pressure, suggesting he's had a lower difficulty level -related: he's sacked a high portion of the time he is pressured, taking sacks counts against the QB's grade Worth noting that PFF's grades so far have league-wide QB play being pretty weak. Jay is 22 out of 35 QBs. Also worth noting that yesterday was possibly Jay's worst game so far. 23/38 (60%), 2 TD, fumble lost, 225 yards, sacked 4 times, 1 batted pass, 2 deflected passes. Anyway, this negative rating isn't all that negative. It's early in the season. He's one 300 yard/3 TD/65% completion game from being in the upper tier The sack statistic in the metric seems inherently flawed. I didn't see much Jay could do on the sacks that happened to him in the Jets game. That wasn't all that bad of a game as a whole, given the defense he played against. Where does opposition defense fall into the ranks? Also, I don't quite get how he is 22 out of 35 QB's when he is in the top 10 (I believe) in Yards, TD's, TD to Int Ratio, and QB Rating.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Sep 23, 2014 -> 10:34 AM) So Kyle Fuller is pretty good, eh? Got to love his instincts and his ability to be around the ball. Great that Tillman is traveling with the squad. I hope he is doing everything he can to mentor Fuller. Still, he is a rookie so we should expect some rookie mistakes but great to see. Also nice to see our young dlineman making an impact as well.

I can't really understand how Jay has a negative value. He has a good TD / INT ratio and is the league leader in TD's. He's also thrown for a good number of yards and largely went up against good defensive teams. He is also throwing the ball at a pretty good completion percentage as well (although this past week wasn't as high, but that was to be expected against the Jets).

I still see a potential matchup with Dodgers for one of their outfielders + cash coming to the Sox.

QUOTE (chw42 @ Sep 23, 2014 -> 10:00 AM) Lamarr Houston hasn't exactly played well either. I like his versatility a lot since we can have him, Young, and Allen in on the same play if we wanted to. But that 15 yard penalty he had yesterday was dumb as s*** and he didn't seem like a big factor in the pass rush. Not that anyone else really contributed that much on the line in that aspect anyways. Pass rush was very good at times, non existent at times, but that will happen. Key is to be in the QB's face more often then not as you get him rattled even when their isn't pressure. Jets oline is very good and we generated much more pass rush then we ever did last year (not that it says a lot) and generally did a good job maintaining contain against a pretty athletic QB. Personally I think if I were building a franchise, I'd be pretty excited to have Geno. He still has a lot to learn but there is some upside there. I like him more then quite a few other guys who were first round picks. After the Carolina game we will see some more standard QB's and then our pass rush will have a better shot at some sacks. Willie Young has been great and it has been nice to keep our D line fresh. Our inability to run the ball kills us though as I feel like our defense has been on the field way too much and that can bite you in the butt. Execution in red zone has been fantastic though. Hopefully getting Slauson back in a week or two will help the run. Plus, I recall Forte having a few different seasons where he started off slow on the ground only to take off. Hopefully we see that. Right now it seems that teams are playing pretty tight until our wideouts show they can really open up (since they are playing hobbled). I hope Jeffrey is getting closer to 100%. Must be feeling better given they ran some more screens and short passes his way, which is more standard.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Sep 23, 2014 -> 09:57 AM) He talked about that specific play in his post game and said that he was waiting for Alshon to make his move, and then threw the ball only where Alshon could get it. It looked like a panic heave, but it seems like that's what he wanted to do Oh it was beautiful. That is an extremely high percentage throw given the situation and coverage. Bears got beat early on the all out blitz (fumble at half) but made the Jets pay for it a couple times as well (2nd Bennett TD and that particular play, plus they had a nice screen to Forte late where Allen made a nice tackle to save a much bigger play...Forte busts that more often then not).

QUOTE (chw42 @ Sep 23, 2014 -> 09:55 AM) It still bugs me that we lost that first game. We could be sitting pretty at 3-0 right now playing with house money this week. Instead, we're likely looking at 2-2. Difference between winning and losing can be small. The thing that really irritates me is 3 games into the season and we are still making some crucial mistakes. Have to clean it up. We have been lucky it hasn't gotten us these past 2 weeks and that was mainly cause the other team made them too. Bills didn't and thus we weren't able to overcome our mistakes (although I still say we win the game with our wideouts in the game...but you have to play the game with who you have healthy). Despite giving up a lot of yards, I am happy with our defenses play, considering the injuries. Making a lot of strides and looking much quicker and more instinctual. Allen has stepped up in 2nd half last 2 games but still isn't finishing plays. Zone read qb's make it difficult to get as many sacks. Rush has been significantly better then past couple seasons though and tackles have been significantly better. Rush D had some holes but minimized big run and had some nice stops as well. The after whistle penalties are just brutal though.

QUOTE (bmags @ Sep 23, 2014 -> 09:51 AM) That was a terrible throw that thankfully worked out. It was an all out blitz and single coverage with Alshon. It was perfect and exactly what you should do given the situation. Jay read the defense and knew that was what you were supposed to do. Gruden was talking about how perfect it was as well. He did have one bad throw on his back foot, which was a floater that he underthrew. Had he made a better throw (I think the play was to Bennett), they had a shot at a big play. That and a slant to Jeffrey were his two worse throws of the game, imo (as the slant he missed to Jeffrey would have been a TD and the play to Bennett would have been a big play). He had a couple other that could have been better and he did throw a few into tight coverage but when he did, it was situations where either you were going to get a heck of a catch or an incompletion. Low pick percentage throws which is what matters. Only near picks were on plays where he was hit on the throw. And on one of them, even with the hit he threw what should have been a TD to Bennett (who dropped it...although trajectory was impacted).

Jay made some real nice plays against a tough defense. This is the type of game a few seasons ago that would have been a complete meltdown. We know we'll have some tough games out of Jay but major strides are being made. To do what he did despite having zero rushing attack and that much heat was solid. Great game, no, but it was a good game with few bad throws. We really need a 3rd wideout to step up given the health issues of Marshall / Jeffrey. Bennett has been awesome. The throw he made down field to Jeffrey and the TD pass to Bennett and the called back one to Marshall were things of beauty. Huge game this week, especially given how we are in our most difficult part of the schedule here (1st half of season).

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Sep 23, 2014 -> 06:25 AM) Hundreds of thousands marched in NYC this Sunday for the Peoples Climate movement. http://time.com/3415162/peoples-climate-ma...-demonstration/ I heard about it a few different times when I was in the subway last week (was there for work). People all around yelling and telling you to be at the demonstration. They did a good job getting the message out.

QUOTE (knightni @ Sep 23, 2014 -> 06:36 AM) 2-1 this past week. Got mowed down by Julio Jones in my PPR league on Thursday night and never recovered. 8-1 in three leagues so far, but I lose my Seahawks and Packers players this week to the first bye week. We'll see. Packers play the Bears this week.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 22, 2014 -> 06:54 PM) Yikes, that's a fumble. Cutler looks rattled tonight. Rattled. He took shot after shot and made good decisions. His only WTF throws were good reads where he got hit on the release or just balls that had low completion chances (but low pick percentages too). With all of that pressure, he played well. Missed a couple throws but by and large was accurate (given the scheme they were going against) and more importantly protected the ball (outside of that fumble which well, when you get picked up by your legs you are going to get a little taken a back). Bears made a lot of mistakes though to leave Jets in game. Special teams coverage unit looked good but again, stupid penalties bite special teams in the butt. Pathetic. Stupid defensive penalties too, extending drives, etc. The lack of discipline let Jets hang around. Hopefully Marshall will be alright.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Sep 22, 2014 -> 06:45 PM) Lack of a pass rush is becoming worrisome. Allen has been a waste of money through 2.5 games. Allen played good in the 2nd game and played good again last night.

Would be surprised if he didn't play in finale. Maybe Paulie doesn't want final game of season to take away from his teammates and thus they are doing day before?

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Sep 22, 2014 -> 11:32 AM) They can only deal with the talent given them. I don't think anyone's blaming Ventura for defense...except for the consistent lollygagging that was seen out of some players. Managers can make proper lineup decisions, bullpen decisions, strategic decisions, and handle the clubhouse properly so that the team plays hard. Manager is very important. One person wants to compare Ventura to Madden; the next to a 2X WS champion manager. For some reason people hold Ventura up as some White Sox icon above all critique. Saw a study in the wall street journal last week and it mentioned the Sox were amongst the league leaders in hits saved from the shift (and the actual % saved was also amongst league leaders...top 5 if I recall correctly). Found it interesting. Not sure if it was just luck or what, but Rays actually ranked amongst the worst teams in the league this year, which surprised me.

Like it. Much deeper bench then last year.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Sep 16, 2014 -> 01:28 PM) Hopefully the NFL steps in and saves the Vikings from themselves and that awful press conference. Oh, and as for Cutler, not only is that an improper way to treat their children, it's an improper way to treat EVERYONE'S children. I don't disagree...but at some point people are entitled to make decisions on how to treat their children. You could argue that is as bad or worse then what Peterson has done. I would argue it is an awful thing to do but I don't tend to put my personal beliefs in other people's faces but I know if my hypothetical daughter did that to her grand kids, I'd let them know that I thought they were fundamentally wrong and were doing a disservice to their child and ultimately to everyone else's child. However, in a parelell universe, you could argue two things are similar: Peterson's parenting style is based upon what is maybe more common from his childhood and what he is familiar with The Cutler's style / vision is based upon what is more common in the hollywood crowd. As far as I'm concerned, both are bad for the children and both are culturally accepted in certain circles.