CanOfCorn

Are we really discussing this? ARe we at the point that a team that hasn't clicked on all cylinders yet, but is still in second place in the Central and 2nd overall in the West has significant holes? Look, as LDF said, once you get to the playoffs, anything can happen. And the hawks are still built for playoff hockey BECAUSE of Toews, Kane, Hossa, Keith, Seabrook, Hjalmarsson, Shaw, etc. Toews earned every bit of that contract. Is he playing up to it right now? No. But as another poster said, it's 40 games into year 1. This team has looked much better in recent weeks. They are starting to score more 5 v 5, they're 3rd line is starting to look good. Sure, I want Mashinter and Bickell gone, but that's just not going to happen. Well, maybe Mashinter with the Panik for Morin trade. But Bickell is here for now, so let's not worry about it. No other team has sustained success this decade like the Blackhawks. You can argue the Kings, but they missed the playoffs last year. Toews line has absolutely underachieved on the scoreboard, but watching this current line of Shaw, Toews, Hossa is fun to watch cycling and backchecking. Goals aren't going in, yet, but they will. If Panik can have some net front presence (assuming they slot him in there), watch the goals start coming.

QUOTE (LDF @ Dec 23, 2015 -> 01:41 PM) ref saad, different story there. sharp was for the team harmony, saad wanted the money. well saad got his SC rings, now he wanted the money. can't blame him, that was his priorities. Sharp needed to go because he had value. Proof, you say? Bickell is still on this team. No value. Even if you don't like the trade Bowman made...as someone said earlier, he was under the thumb of the salary cap and had to move Sharp. Nobody's perfect people. Every GM has good and bad trades/signings. And one thing about the Stars... Playing well in December ≠ playing well in May/June.

QUOTE (bmags @ Dec 18, 2015 -> 11:14 AM) Enjoy AJ Ricker back, he was truly awful at Missouri. It may only be for one year. In fact it probably will.

Tim Banks out as co-defensive coordinator at Illinois. Ricker and Hecklinski in.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Dec 16, 2015 -> 05:03 PM) Kris Bryant as well Leury Garcia?

QUOTE (ChiSoxJon @ Dec 16, 2015 -> 05:02 PM) Aside from a luxury OF pick-up (Cespedes, Gordon, Upton), I think CWS needs to brings Alexei back, something like 3 years 15 M (still a useful backup in future), he wants to reitre on the South Side and still offers a plus glove and range with veteran leadership and a decent bat at best, hopefully when he returns from Cuba he returns in 2014 form and with an offer from CWS, Saladino offers more as utility... On a side note, CWS really is depleting the system to compete now, I'd say CWS's only top 100 prospects now are Anderson (playoff addition in '16/starter in '17) and Fulmer (Middle rotation starter/closer potential), I'm fine with this though as the high draft pick and 3 in the top 50 will help replenish a competing team A depth chart of: C: Navarro, Avila 1B: Abreu, LaRoche 2B: Lawrie 3B:Frazier SS: Alexei, Saladino OF: Eaton, Cabrera, Cespedes, Garcia, Shuck Rotation: Sale, Quintana, Rodon, Johnson, Danks 'Pen: Robertson, Duke, Jones, Jennings, Putnam, Webb, Petricka, Kahnle Looks WS ready to me Again, what part are the Sox depleting? There's still decent pitching prospects and 3 top 50 picks like you said. Position players? Yes, that's true, but look at the Cubs. They are currently the opposite. No pitchers in the minors but had a ton of position prospects. Maybe not as many now as most will be up with the team, but still....

I'm enjoying Richard Hahn as our GM.

Don't know if this has been posted earlier but if not...Todd Frazier says I don't need no stinkin' bats: http://mlb.mlb.com/cutfour/article.jsp?content_id=32446002

It's funny we are talking about rebuilding/building from within...I was just thinking about the Cubs. The way the White Sox are currently building their team is similar to the Cubs. Cubs: develop bats in the minors, sign free agent pitchers. White Sox: draft and develop starters, sign or trade for bats. Now, you can argue the draft process is different, and it is. Sox tend to like college pitchers and "toolsy" position players. Cubs sucked for so long they got the cream of the crop and have traded for some excellent position players like Russell and Rizzo. The White Sox starters, except for Danks, have all come through the system. Which we on this board tend to destroy. Granted, there haven't been really any position players, the only one I can think of would be Saladino and/or Sanchez currently on the team and that's not great, but Anderson is waiting in the wings. Cubs starters are all signees or trades. Not sure who their 4 and 5 starters will be, but Hammel, Hendricks and Wood were all signed or traded for. So really, what's the difference when it comes to how the team is built if the ultimate outcome is winning?

Greg...if we are going to talk about the three prospects shipped out and what they COULD be, then we should talk about who has been on this team and what they HAVE BEEN. Alexei is on the downside of his career and at least to my eyes, is declining rapidly. And with an infield of Abreu, Lawrie and Frazier, there is little need to bring him back. Saladino as your SS/#9 hitter is going to be just fine. OF defense is lacking, but if Melky and Eaton go back to career norms, the OF should be fine. Avi is still young and relatively cheap. May only cost between $2-$3 mil in arbitration. I hope the Sox can sign a free agent OF, but I'd be happy with Shuck and possibly an inexpensive late inning defensive OF.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 15, 2015 -> 06:18 PM) What is the difference between a nanny and an in home daycare provider Nanny was in our home. In home daycare provider was a small group of up to 8 kids in HER home. Basically, she was registered as a business with the state and used her home as the location.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Dec 16, 2015 -> 01:00 PM) It's OK to have mediocre catchers if the rest of the lineup is good. It's even OK to have a SS with limited offensive ability if the rest of the lineup is good. It's not OK to have a corner OF who can't do anything well, and another who needs roids to be an above-average player. You can't have all of the above, plus a DH who is just cashing a check before he goes back down south to live out his Duck Dynasty fantasy. The Sox are roughly the same team they were yesterday. Soooo...you think an infield of Abreu/Sanchez/Saladino/Lawrie is the same as Abreu/Lawrie/Saladino/Frazier? Mmm-hmm...tell me more about baseball.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Dec 16, 2015 -> 12:23 PM) Hate this deal for a lot of reasons. 1. Avi - Eaton - Melky OF is all but confirmed. Another year of negative WAR from both corners really make acquiring Lawrie and Frazier pointless. The only internal option that maybe makes a splash just got traded for... 2. The next player to come to the White Sox and collapse. Frazier is about to cross the 30 barrier and look at his 2nd half splits last year. Look at how bad he was. Hard time seeing him turning it around, especially with the Sox track record of aging sluggers. 3. We gave up 3 dynamic players. Thompson is a great defender, Micah has that speed, Montas has the big fastball. These guys were all set to the contribute in different, meaningful ways and instead the Sox dealt them for the same exact kind of player we've seen every offseason since 2005. 1. Can the season play out first? 2. Can the season play out first? 3. Can the season play out first?

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Dec 16, 2015 -> 12:18 PM) Sox address pitching and outfield holes with acquisitions of Samardzija, Robertson, and Cabrera. Sox address infield and outfield holes with acquisitions of Lawrie, Frazier, and (outfielder). Deja vu. Hope it goes better this time. At least the Cubs have basically already "won the offseason", since that usually results in a sub .500 season. The difference is money. The three from last year were FA. These are cost controlled trades. That's a big difference.

And somewhere in the US...Mike Olt and Matt Davidson are crying in their beers...

Rios, De Aza and Quentin are all available...jus' sayin'. I like the trade. Only holes now are OF defense and maybe SS. But I'm not too worried about that.

QUOTE (fathom @ Dec 16, 2015 -> 11:35 AM) 3 picks in top 50 should replenish that with ease. As for Montas, he seems like the type of guy who throws hard but isn't very deceptive with his fastball The Matt Anderson Syndrome

QUOTE (LDF @ Dec 15, 2015 -> 12:54 PM) over all, that idea is a nice dream.... i believe they called it the american dream. but that was a long time ago. now, and i mean no disrespect to parents, parents will have to take more of pro-active role in their children. that is if they can, if not, then they will need to find a place who can at least protect your children's. today, even in a remote area of no major crime life or gang life, CO. there was something that happen in school .... this was like plus or minus 3 weeks. chi again is leading the nation for, how do not know the numerical number of consecutive years, that violence will get to the school. believe me, school is a ripe area for recruitment. I'm sorry, but this is ignorant. Are there scary people out there...? Absolutely. But, I can't worry about that every second of every day that my children are at school. I pay my taxes in Oak Park (hi Rock!) and I can not only see where those dollars go, they are tangible. Whether it's the Park District, streets and san, or the schools. We moved here because of the schools. We moved here because we can walk to all three. But most importantly, we chose to forge good relationships with the day care provider/nanny/head mistress/principal/teachers of every place they've been. We still see our nanny. We still see our in-home day care provider. We still see our Montessori head mistress and teacher. We email regularly with both of my son's teachers (Boy #1 is related to his class. Boy #2 has a sensory processing disorder, so we email/talk to his teacher more often). It's just like our parents said to us when we were younger, you take out what you put in. We are in a time now when, even if we are in a good district, we as parents make more time to help with our kids education. The American Dream, at least the way I interpret it is: my kids will do better than me and I will do whatever it takes to get them there.

Chicago White Sox Press Release: It has been announced that Ozzie Guillen has been named as new PBP man for all games Ken "Hawk" Harrelson will not be calling this year. An interpreter will be provided free of charge.

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Oct 28, 2015 -> 01:29 PM) Groce needs to go period if we miss the tournament this year. We fire Weber for missing the tournament 3 times in 9 years (right move) then we have to fire Groce for missing 3 straight years too. You can recruit a top 25 class to Illinois with your eyes closed. Not if you keep firing coaches that aren't aggregiously horrible (I'm looking at you Tim Beckman). Recruits want the sense of stability, even if they aren't staying, they don't want to commit and then find out their coach is going to be fired. The best thing for Illinois would be to find a coach that wants to stay long-term, a la Lou Henson and can win, a la Lou Henson. Probably won't happen in todays NCAA, but that would be best for Illinois...and really for any school not in that top echelon.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Oct 26, 2015 -> 10:14 PM) So if the position is a do-nothing position, I think we should just give it to Carson. He's very intelligent. He's soft spoken and let him represent the USA. You know, personality does matter. There have been enough red-flags on Hillary's temper and rudeness to make Americans fear her being "in charge" of the nation. Greg's quick hits ... • Hillary: Too rude, too mean, too obnoxious to be allowed to be President for 8 years. Please America wise up. Plus her winning would precede 8 more years of Chelsea and do we want that?? • Trump: Too cocky, too intolerant of anybody but himself, too boastful to represent the USA for 4 years (he'd lose re-election). • Bernie: Too nutty with this socialism stuff to be given the office for 8 years. • Bush: Too incompetent in terms of garnering absolutely any support. • Carson: Smart, classy, calm, brilliant, yet not a politico. He'll hire good people in all the key positions and re-energize the country's faith in politics. Give him the office, baby! 8 years. • Florina: Too incompetent in terms of her past jobs. Has a bit of a mean edge like Hillary and is too much of a self-made corporate 'tool' if that's the word. She knows how to impress a room full of HR people. Can't let her rule the roost for 4 years (she'd lose re-election). I would encourage those of you who like politics and have been silent in defending my rants against Hillary or even trying to re-but them to give me your quick hits on the leading candidates. I'm open to changing my mind on Hilly, I really am. I just have a gut feeling from everything I've read and heard coming out of her mouth she is truly a disaster waiting to happen. Hillary: Politician to the core. Trump: TV Game show host Bernie: Good ideas, won't play in Peoria Bush: Whhhaaaaaa...? Carson: Let's just say, if he were my doctor, I'd find another doctor. Fiorina: Failed in business, fail in presidency. Rubio: Still don't understand how immigrants don't like other immigrants. Well, I do, but it just doesn't make sense. Kasich: Closest thing to a moderate up there. Still not a big fan. How's that? Also, I'm just glad I have a vote, because no matter who I vote for, it will offset one vote for Ben Carson. Any candidate that readily brings up Nazi Germany and compares it to the United States should never be handed the keys to the White House.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Oct 27, 2015 -> 12:04 PM) Dano? Kero.

QUOTE (LDF @ Oct 6, 2015 -> 04:23 PM) yes he can when, and remember when i said i wasn't here at the time, many in the hockey world thought his contract was an over payment. ref the bold, bowman has to be aware of all of that , he has the highest position in any hockey org outside president. a gm can not be taken unaware or if he is, he will be replaced. Of course, it was an overpayment, but they just came off of a Stanley Cup. Immediately, that puts your players, if you want to keep them, at a higher premium. There was no reason to believe that Bickell wouldn't improve the next season. In fact, most thought the playoffs were a jumping off point. AND, if I remember correctly, he even took a lower contract with the Hawks because he wanted to stay. I believe there were bigger contracts out there. So, who is a better GM? I can't answer that. There's really no such thing as the BEST GM. Even a blind squirrel sometimes gets a nut. But overall, Stan took a cap-strapped team from Tallon, re-made it TWICE, and won Stanley Cups. I'll even say the 2010 SC should be more on Tallon because they were mostly his players. I will agree, Stan is top 10. I would even say top 5. But he, just like every single person that has had the title GM, makes mistakes.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 6, 2015 -> 03:59 PM) Tracey Myers ‏@TramyersCSN 56m56 minutes ago #Blackhawks recall Ville Pokka, assign Viktor Svedberg to Rockford and place Michal Rozsival on LTIR. Showcase.

QUOTE (LDF @ Oct 6, 2015 -> 03:55 PM) whew is right and nice post. i made my bold as counters. now with ref to seabs... he deserve the money and i made my points on why i did not like the signing. again, bowman recoup what started as a lousy start of the off season. no one can dispute that. what bowman did and with a great effort, he recoup this with some nice players. these players are young replacement in which i am talking about .... employing new fresh young blood to keep the core fresh. i am stoke for the uncertainty of all these new moves. as a fan, does anyone really think i want the hawks to fail to prove a point??? Your comment on Bickell is exactly what I was talking about. You can't just look at a contract as where it stands right now. Of course Bickell hasn't played up to that contract. But, no one could have known that back then. You can't retroactively look at a contract and call for someone's head based on a players performance. It was market value AT THE TIME. If Bickell was playing better, no one would care. He might even be a deal. But Stan shouldn't be kicked in the crotch for that contract.