Marty34

QUOTE (nitetrain8601 @ Oct 1, 2011 -> 11:00 AM) My thing with Marty and a few others is that they continuously dodge facts or they ignore them with some tired saying, "He/They don't mean that." after all the evidence points to them saying, doing, and others confirming what they did and didn't mean. You can have your opinion, but at the same time, don't try to pass your opinion off as fact, especially when you have nothing, and I mean, literally nothing to backup the facts with. How do you pass an opinion off as fact?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 1, 2011 -> 10:51 AM) I think people have been writing that for a year or two now. Considering it actually happened with the Bulls, this isn't a big leap. Okay, so it proves nothing. There's nothing I can do to prove the validity of my source then.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Oct 1, 2011 -> 10:42 AM) For people to put any stock into those types of statements, you'll have to correctly predict a move from within the organization. Rock and a couple of other guys (names escape me at the moment) have done just that on a few occasions. Like it or not, when you say that you have a guy on the inside, nobody will believe it until you give us something of substance. Otherwise, people will just think you're trying to make yourself seem more important I wrote here back in August the scenario of Williams moving up or out has been discussed. Kaplan breaks the story after the season that Williams offered to take another position in the organization.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Oct 1, 2011 -> 10:14 AM) Didn't your guy tell us that Ozzie was staying? No.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Oct 1, 2011 -> 10:08 AM) No, it just seems your guy hasn't been right at all. Example?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 1, 2011 -> 10:04 AM) I tend to side more with on-field production than some fictional character. Your standard of "on-field production" isn't very high.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 1, 2011 -> 09:29 AM) You know, I could sit here and say "there is a person I know in the Yankees organization that tells me that Buddy Bells talent evaluation skills are pretty good. He has made mistakes, of course, but all scouts and minor league operations guys make mistakes on prospects." and use that as my reasoning that Bell is better than you think he is. You keep saying you have an opinion within the org, but never show or prove anything. so why should I believe any of it? "My guy on 35th st...." hasnt really shown or proved anything except that he approves of YOUR views I do not give one damn whether you believe any of it or not. If you don't like me, you don't believe me, or at least you don't WANT to believe me. Seems to be the way it goes around here.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 10:59 PM) So you are going to ignore all that the rookies have come up and done this year, for a guy who wasn't in the minors with Bell. Makes perfect sense to me... You talk as if this is a stellar crop of rookies. It isn't. I tend to put more weight on an opinion of someone within the organization. The body of Bell's work is not impressive.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 07:53 PM) Really, can you give examples of things he has done wrong? Because it seemed like most everyone who came up through our minors this year has had success. Input was crucial in trading for Teahen, vouched for his defensive ability at third base. A member of the organization told me he's a wonderful guy, but lacking in talent evaluation skills.

The more power Buddy Bell gets in this organization the longer it will be before they can dig out. Buddy Bell. Goodness there maybe less hope than I thought.

Yankees/Phillies is a hell of a match up.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 05:10 PM) Considering how long this team has sat at $100 million payrolls, basically 2006-2010 they averaged $105 million, it's hard for me to fathom them being forced to go back to $90 even with this attendance drop. It could happen, but if that's the case...then not selling more people at the deadline this year looks even more criminal. I'm not optimistic at all about ticket sales next year. For all the obvious reasons and there is something like 6 home games between July 3 and August 1st?? Will get a clue on their financial situation with who they hire as manager. If it's LaRussa I could foresee a payroll of $110M, if it's Alomar I think it's ~$90M.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 04:41 PM) Assume that M-56 resigns for somewhere in the $10 million range. Danks and Quentin are traded. Rotation: Mark! Peavy Sale Humber Floyd That is not bad at all...if Jake Peavy can pitch like a better than average starter. I can even bury Stewart or Axelrod at AAA and have them ready to go if Humber tires out again or Peavy gets hurt. I'm at $88 million on commits, probably $90 after signing Sergio today. $10 million for Mark Buehrle gives me 13 players under contract at $100 million. Filling up the rest of the roster with minimum salary guys takes me to $107 million or so. That's a $20 million salary cut from this season's payroll with that scenario. If Peavy, Dunn, and Rios struggle, then I'm playing De Aza, Viciedo, Beckham, Morel, Flowers, Sale, Reed, Santos, and Humber a lot to try to develop them, because the season is lost, and I can throw in the towel and try to move Floyd, Crain, Thornton and Ohman at the deadline. And all of that has assumed zero return on Danks and Quentin being moved. Now, we do have trader kenny as the GM still which means that the unexpected is somewhere between possible and likely...but this is a scenario that works, keeps starting pitching depth, gives us a bullpen as good or better than this year's (if Reed performs), and isn't a huge, obvious downgrade anywhere. I think that's the best rotation we can hope for. I wonder though if the payroll will be closer to the $90-$95M range and attendance projected to be around 1.75M-1.8M.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 04:29 PM) No, if Viciedo replaces Quentin in the OF, De Aza replaces Pierre, and we keep Buehrle around while going to a 5 man rotation instead of this lousy 6 man thing, the team is potentially competitive right there...but the big question is whether Dunn, Rios, Beckham, and Peavy will be black holes. Remember, Quentin only put up an .850 OPS this year, good but not irreplaceable, and he missed more than a month of the season. Danks was flat out bad for 2 months, hurt for another month, and I can count on what, 1 hand the number of truly dominant starts he had? De Aza is almost certainly an upgrade from Pierre, Morel Year 2 ought to be a substantial upgrade from Morel year 1, Flowers + AJ will at least hold down the fort at catcher, Konerko I'm getting sick of predicting a step back from him. Where are the downgrades? Viciedo to Quentin possibly/probably. AJ and Konerko another year older possibly. Alexei could have a terrible season. Crain or someone like that could get hurt, but now we're grasping at straws. 27 weak/below average starts from Danks removed from the staff isn't a big downgrade, especially if Humber can take on some of those innings. Mark might not be quite as strong next year. If you get good production out of the dead 4, that will easily overwhelm any downgrade from this year's stinkfest. Those 4 could each give you 3 or more WAR compared to this season, which on its own makes up 12 of those games that we fell behind this year. Hell, Dunn having a good year compared to this year would be an extra 6 WAR. What's the rotation and payroll estimate for this?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 03:52 PM) If those 3(4) actually perform next year, there's no real reason why this team can't compete for the Central. That's obviously an enormous "If", but it's clearly true. They can compete with what around them? Keep Danks, Quentin, Thornton et al? That's great on paper, however it's very likely that there will be a decline in attendance next year making a $125M payroll a pipe dream. If you keep Danks and Floyd in hopes of competing you devalue two of your most tradeable commodities.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 03:52 PM) We need to trade Santos to rebuild. /Marty34 You don't think so? This deal makes him more tradeable.

@nickcafardo Nick Cafardo The White Sox would have to know they can't get Tony LaRussa before turning to Terry Francona. Do they know that? That's the question.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 03:31 PM) Peavy is off of the books after 12. That is a large chunk of change right there. Rios is off after 14, though each year that goes by, it becomes easier to move or cut him. Right, but you can't sit still while you wait for these contracts to roll off. The goal has to be to have a cheap, solid core together by 2014 so that you can fill in the holes by spending.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 03:10 PM) If the Sox want to be competitive, the plan has to be recovery from the $50 million in dead weight space on their roster (plus Beckham). Everything has to be focused on making that happen. If it doesn't happen we're not getting anywhere. They have to build around those contracts which is going to be a daunting task and one that will require very difficult decisions. Even if every right move is made it still might not work out.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 02:48 PM) Marty is the biggest Monday morning quarterback ever. If we all had a crystal ball and could predict the future, would anyone in the their right mind sign Adam Dunn? *crickets* Anyone???????????????????????????????? *crickets* What's that old saying, the buck stops here? I don't care if everyone in the world heralded the Dunn signing at the time. The GM has to take responsibility. Hell, he's done that publicly and there are still those on this board who give him a pass.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 02:42 PM) I'd certainly agree with this assessment. Thanks, Squirt much appreciated. I'm tearing up here.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Sep 29, 2011 -> 11:15 PM) Since you joined in 2004, I was really hoping you could pull a post out of the hat suggesting your current deconstruction/rebuild-THINK but for the impending 2005 season. That would be most impressive. I don't think anyone honestly could have predicted the 2005 or 2008 seasons going in...just like no Red Sox fan possibly could have predicted September, 2011. Or a White Sox fan predicting 26-5 in 2010 or 4-18 in 2011. I don't see the '05 model as the plan. They can't get out from the Dunn contract to fill holes like they did with the Lee contract. Also, it looks like there is going to be a significant payroll reduction next year, perhaps 25% or more. Something that did not happen from 2004 to 2005.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 06:38 AM) Although I disagree with him a lot, Marty gets an unfair reputation here. And he's definitely no VictoryMC. That's an insult. Appreciate the kind words Milkman.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 02:27 PM) If KW made those decisions on his own I have no idea why he came back. There is absolutely zero evidence that Kenny was against signing Dunn.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 30, 2011 -> 02:18 PM) Whatever that means in reality, my interpretation is that the owner himself had a lot of say in the signing decisions last year, because really, those busts were definitely fireable offenses. I get tired of the myth that Kenny has such little say in this organization.