Marty34

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 20, 2013 -> 12:25 PM) 1. Prove it. You cant. 2. Sox fans like winning more than anything else, and they've proven this time and time again. You are going to win more with Dunn than you are with Konerko at this point in their careers, point blank. 1. I think anyone who thinks the Sox are going to win 85-90 games next year is being delusional. 2. The difference between the amount of games Dunn wins the team versus the number of games Konerko wins them is not going to matter.

1. The Sox aren't winning anything with Dunn next year. 2. Keeping Dunn and letting Konerko go makes no sense marketing wise. Sox fans don't like Dunn.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 20, 2013 -> 10:52 AM) Compete, as in winning 85 games and being competitive. Please expound on this "clean start," because frankly it doesn't make sense to me. I could just as easily say letting go of Paul Konerko does that too, but that doesn't cost anything. Getting rid of Dunn creates dead money when there are no suitable replacements lined up. It's a bad idea. Winning 85 games gets you nothing. I'd prefer any goal to that of being "competitive" Don't saddle the fans that go to the park with one more year of Dunn striking out it's not aesthetically pleasing baseball to see a guy who is not part of your future plans swing-and-miss so often.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 20, 2013 -> 10:25 AM) So no one went under the 73-76 bracket, and there were only 3 in there. Only 5 of 74 picked anything below .500. Even Marty said 78 and Soxfest 81, two of the biggest negatives out there. I can't believe only 5 picked under 500.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Sep 20, 2013 -> 08:41 AM) If the Sox are going to attempt to compete next year - and they most certainly will - then you need Dunn on the roster. Even if he only adds 1-2 WAR, you simply aren't going to be able to reproduce what he does and what he means for the lineup. Personally, I'd prefer he hit 6th. How do you define "compete"? As far as Dunn is concerned, his going would represent a clean start which would be a good thing.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Sep 18, 2013 -> 03:06 PM) I don't have any numbers here - just an observation. I've heard more than one Sox fan recently complain about the pace of the game, with our pitchers. More than one have said that it feels like the pitchers are taking much longer between pitches. If this was true, that might put the defenders at a disadvantage. The starting pitchers haven't changed a ton, though there has been some change. One thing that has changed - the catcher. All are possibilities. So, do people see this as being the case? are pitchers really taking longer? I can't find game time by team data for 2013. Curious on people's thoughts on this. Could be nothing. I think that's a good theory. If MLB kept a time of possession stat the Sox would be among the worst in it. Too many 1-2-3 innings offensively has to wear on the defenders as well.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 16, 2013 -> 07:22 PM) He's 6 months older than BJ Upton. What's your point, B?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 16, 2013 -> 07:07 PM) Why don't you tell us. I thought your idea about not signing players over 30 years old to long contracts was stating the obvious.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Sep 16, 2013 -> 06:25 PM) I'm going to ask this question again, but what's going to allow us to compete by 2016? The prospect Marty wants us to buy for $60M? We don't have much offensively in the minors to get excited about or that we can honestly rely on to be ready at that time. The new CBA will definitely help us, but it could take 4 or 5 years before the system is fully replenished if all goes well. The good news is we aren't the Oakland A's and don't need to do a small-market rebuild. We can afford to go out into free agency and attempt to fill some of our offensive needs. Fixing this offense is likely a multi-year project unless some of the younger guys like Garcia, Viciedo, & Semien take that next step. If that happens, we can compete as soon as next year with the right offseason moves. If not, we at least have shored up a couple holes and make it easier to compete in 2015, while our minor league system continues to replenish. If you wait until 2016 to make any major moves, you risk having nothing to spend your money on in free agency and will be relying on a bunch of prospects that may or may not exist to fill the majority of the lineup. And even if those prospects are ready, they may not be productive right away, which means 2016 suddenly becomes 2017 or 2018. I just don't see the logic of throwing away 3 or 4 years of a young, talented, cost-controlled rotation when we have the ability to spend a decent amount of money in free agency. If that's the case, just blow the whole damn thing up. Teams with strong starting pitching should not be treading water, because that pitching likely won't last forever. You aren't going to win with the 2016 version of McCann if the team doesn't find young position players over the next two years. By the time 2016 rolls around what kind of numbers is McCann going to put up anyway?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Sep 16, 2013 -> 02:54 PM) If someone could guarantee you McCann would be your catcher for the next 4 years and put up a .766 OPS, I bet you would think signing him is a good idea. And Hunter's OBP the second half is cherry picking stats. I don't know how you say that's because he was 38. Don't 25 year olds have halfs like that? I could come up with stretches for every player where they aren't so good. Hunter signed as a FA with the Angels as a 32 year old. He had a higher OPS with the Angels than he did with the Twins. How many games is he going to play?

QUOTE (iamshack @ Sep 16, 2013 -> 10:36 AM) I really think that Hahn is going to be a bit ahead of the curve in terms of paying players for past performance. I am anticipating him trying to sign Abreu and trying to trade for some pre-arbitration guys who may be blocked or need a change of scenery. I hope you are right. A goal should be no deadwight contracts by 2016.

QUOTE (fathom @ Sep 15, 2013 -> 08:31 PM) I don't want to get rid of De Aza at all. He should be the left fielder for this team next year. However, I have a feeling he's the scapegoat for all of this team's execution issues. I don't think De Aza will be worth keeping around until 2016. At this point Viciedo should get until at leat the All-Star break next year unless there's a deal that makes sense of course.

QUOTE (flavum @ Sep 15, 2013 -> 08:14 PM) Outscored 90-39 in the 12 game losing streak to the Indians. Brian McCann to the rescue in 2014.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 15, 2013 -> 08:00 PM) Considering that the Twins and White Sox combined have 5 more wins than the Mariners and Astros, clearly you should be embarrassed by that post. But then, you're too busy celebrating white sox losses to actually know a thing about baseball. That's a personal attack.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 15, 2013 -> 07:54 PM) Yeah I know. It's totally unfair that the Indians get to pile up wins against crappy teams like the Twins and White Sox. They need to earn their playoff spots like the Athletics and Tigers are doing, by beating the Astros and the Mariners. Now that's how you earn a playoff spot! They should be proud. I can't tell if you are being sarcastic or not, but this is a solid point.

QUOTE (flavum @ Sep 15, 2013 -> 07:46 PM) What's lame is the unbalanced schedule. The Indians played the teams on their schedule and they've won enough to this point to contend. Nothing they should feel bad about. What's incredible is that they lost 15 games to the Tigers and are still in it for a playoff spot. Exactly.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 15, 2013 -> 07:39 PM) You're so desperate for the sox to lose that you just described being 1/2 game out of the wild card (after today) as "pretty lame" so that people can't compare the Sox and the tribe. Sorry Balta, it is pretty lame when you take 12 like that from the Sox.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 15, 2013 -> 07:34 PM) They're 1 game out of the wild card. 1 game. 1 game. I know, pretty lame after sweeping 3 four-game series from the Sox.

QUOTE (flavum @ Sep 15, 2013 -> 07:17 PM) This would be the first time the Indians have ever swept the same opponent in a 4-game series three times in the same season. That's probably rare for the Yankees. And with all that, they are still just "contending" for the consolation prize to the consolation prize.

QUOTE (flavum @ Sep 15, 2013 -> 07:01 PM) I'm thinking they'll try to trade Alexei and they won't be able to, so they trade Beckham. Probably the best way out of a bad situation unless somebody, anybody takes on Ramirez contract. You don't want to pay Beckham too because he looks like a finished product and it isn't good enough to be part of the core. On top of all that, the quicker they settle on Semien at one position the better.

QUOTE (flavum @ Sep 15, 2013 -> 06:42 PM) I'm going out on a limb, and say Semien will play 150+ games at 2B for the Sox next year, and we'll be happy with his season. I can see that as more than a possibility. Who do you think plays SS?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 15, 2013 -> 06:26 PM) And again. You disagree obviously.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Sep 15, 2013 -> 01:27 PM) Are the mods seriously going to tolerate this nonsense? If he wasn't clearly trolling before, he's obviously all-in now. I get that everyone has a right to an opinion, but this is becoming utterly ridiculous. If someone in baseball actually proposed this idea, they'd be blackballed from the game for life. It's blatant trolling and everyone here knows it. Please. I don't think there is a combination of available free agents that will turn this team around next year, but I don't see it as likely that the Sox will cut payroll either. Do you still want to owe McCann ~$40M from 2016-18 which is the window they should be shooting for to contend? No thanks. I don't want any deadweight contracts on the books at that time.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 15, 2013 -> 12:36 PM) And you'll continue trolling until the rest of the site gets completely tired of it. You and Dick Allen. Safety in numbers . . .

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Sep 15, 2013 -> 12:01 PM) And as far as I can tell the team forgot to hire any staff other than a pitching coach this season, that hurts too. Can't figure out what they were thinking going into the season with no manager or practice. With a real manager you would have still been 15-20 games off your 90+ wins prediction.