thedoctor

QUOTE (beck72 @ Jul 16, 2013 -> 02:19 PM) I'm on board for a Peavy trade, as teams should give a Garza like return if Jake shows he's healthy. but Danks is younger and can play a part of contending team come 2015. agreed. to me, trading jake comes down to the return. if someone is willing to blow you away with a deal, go for it. and i'm not sure anyone will blow you away, given his injury history and the fact that at best he'll have only three healthy starts under his belt at the deadline.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jul 15, 2013 -> 07:40 PM) The sharpness of play, particularly in the field and in basic fundamental moves (hitting the cutoff man, doing rundowns correctly, people calling for the ball correctly, people in the right position when a play needs to be backed up) that we saw in 2012 was the best compliment I could give him. That team did darn near every basic baseball move correctly for 5 months. for most of last year i felt that this was a strength. it was something i expected out of him before i saw him manage a game, and when it happened i felt it was truly part of what/who he is. we haven't been as sharp in that respect this year. is that his fault, or a result of poorly skilled players getting more PT than they deserve because of roster attrition/underperformance? in my mind it's somewhat of a chicken/egg conundrum.

i feel like i have zero idea of what kind of manager robin is. for most of last year i thought he was a capable, albeit green manager who had a lot to learn. after the collapse i moved my opinion back to neutral. this year has been awful, but the first half was a worst-case scenario type of thing, particularly in regards to injuries and player decline. is that on robin? i don't know. it's difficult to blame him. at the same time, i'm struggling to find one thing he's done during his tenure to use as an example of him being a good manager.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Apr 21, 2013 -> 11:40 PM) Cubs are absolutely doing it the right way. Whether it works or not who knows, but that's the way to do it. Simply discrediting it because it's the Cubs is silly, plus it's all new management anyway. that's not what i'm saying. i already credited the cubs for having a good approach to their rebuild in this thread. i'm saying the sox should consider their options independently of the state or expected state of the cubs org.

QUOTE (Elgin Slim @ Apr 22, 2013 -> 12:06 AM) IMO if they want to rebuild they have to start the process NOW. The last thing the Sox need is them to start a rebuilding program 2 years from now and have Theo's plan start to work on the North Side. That would be suicide. I honestly don't know what the Sox should do to move forward at this point, they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. I have been on the rebuild the team bandwagon since the 2009 offseason. The Sox are the Cubs of 2009-11 except for Chris Sale. An albatross contract, aging, underperforming players, lots of bad young players, nothing on the farm and no direction(that we know of) in the front office. The one thing the Sox have over the Cubs from that time is that they already have their ace in place, but that does them no good if they are lacking in so many other areas. It would be free agent suicide to trade Sale right now, however if the team is not competing in 2015 it has to be considered. It seems that they have missed the boat on the rebuild because it would have been better for them to do it when the Cubs seemed they had no direction. It also seems they have three choices:1) Rebuild immediately 2) Continue to try to build 78 to 85 win teams and hope that they catch some breaks and win 88-92 games, and win a wild card 3) throw money at the team and hope that it works. Given that Reinsdorf is not likely to give the green light to throw money at the team again, the sensible thing would be to start the rebuild now. However I don't think they are going to try to do that, I think they are going to continue to shove a square peg in a round hole and build 70-79 win teams and attempt to bulls*** the fans into thinking that they are going to compete for the division. IMO we are probably entering a lean period, and we have to hope that Theo's plan blows up in Ricketts' face and the Cubs not only not win a damn thing but stay really bad for a while otherwise it might be the end of the Chicago White Sox, like some others have said. If the Cubs ever win the WS, the Sox are toast in this town. The Sox have been built on being Chicago's winning baseball team, and when that is no longer possible, they are lost. They have to bring in a marketing expert and try to generate interest in a bad team. put me in the camp of not basing plans on what the cubs are doing.

there is no "right" way to rebuild. it will always be based on your team, existing talent, fanbase, and even then it requires catching a break or two. the cubs are taking a thoughtful and pragmatic approach to a rebuild, but it isn't an approach the sox could take and there's no guarantee it gets the cubs anything other than a few horrorawful seasons. the first key for the sox is just to be better at drafting and developing talent both nationally and internationally. the sox have addressed those areas which is good, but it's too early to tell if they've addressed it in a way that will work. at the big club level the sox are going to need to continue to spend, imo. not stupid money, mind you, but at least at or near the level they are currently spending at. it will help if they can jettison some of these contracts, because right now the roster is just jank.

we seriously need some real baseball to discuss because some of the ish here is getting painfully ridiculous.

QUOTE (Cali @ Feb 1, 2013 -> 11:59 PM) I want Lars to turn into a masher, so that Red Sox fans freak out at losing him. "I AHLWAYS KNEW LAAHS WAS A SUPAHSTAH!" lol

got it from my dad, who became a sox fan out of spite for his father, a cub fan. i guess my grandfather was really into sports and my dad only marginally so. growing up, my dad heard a ton about the cubs, and being a contrarian, became a sox fan which he passed down to me. two things really made it permanent. one was the 83 team. i was 10 and just getting into sports and the "winning ugly" season was great to follow. the next year, the 84 cubs made the playoffs. even though i was told you couldn't root for both, i supported the cubs until they lost. when they lost i took it as a sign that i should stick to one team. never rooted for another team since.

I'm just happy we have a rumor to discuss so we can take a break pointless board arguments over who is a troll and who isn't. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all at Soxtalk.

QUOTE (Marty34 @ Dec 23, 2012 -> 03:23 PM) If the point is to replace AJ's numbers better to take a flier om Hafner and play Dunn/Viciedo in left than trade for Kubel. both are poor options.

well, he hits lefties well. so there's that.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 23, 2012 -> 08:12 PM) Brick killed a guy did you throw a trident?

geez. that escalated quickly.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Oct 18, 2012 -> 07:03 PM) They should definitely start publicizing the lower prices now. Those couple of bucks here and there make a difference. The 2013 White Sox: We're a cheap date

not necessarily germain to the topic, but the cubs just announced they are cutting ticket prices by two percent next year. bleacher seats cut by 10 percent.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Oct 16, 2012 -> 06:55 PM) It's funny, everyone keeps blaming the economy and high ticket prices. Yet every other sports team in Chicago has relatively high ticket prices and seems to be enjoying tons of success at the gate. The Cubs did have a decrease, but even with a 100 loss team, they were still top 10 in attendance. Apparently, White Sox fans are the only ones affected by the economy. it should be noted that baseball attendance rose by about 2 percent across the board this year. mlb averaged 30,895 fans per game, the highest total since 2008. it rose in 2011 as well after three straight years of a drop.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 16, 2012 -> 05:56 PM) They spent 120 days in first place. evidently it's going to take more than that for people to come out to the ballpark. the sox have been a pretty successful team in terms of winning games over the past decade. but they haven't posted consistent playoff appearances and that hurts. i think if you can post a three- to four-year stretch where you make multiple playoff appearances, you'd see a gradual and consistent increase.

tricky question. to the sox's credit, they've tried a lot of things. retro-fitting the stadium, rolling out tons of game-day gimmickry, being involved and supporting the community more than the other team in the city, developing some (albeit lame) bar and event options, doing a great job of cultivating the latino fanbase, making splashy personnel moves, etc. none of that has really worked. if anything, things are getting worse. i think the stadium's location is always going to be an issue, unfortunately. it isn't going to become magically convenient to access nor is there likely to be development to the surrounding community that makes it a destination for people who are casual baseball fans. there is probably merit to the ticket/parking price stuff. at the same time, does that happen at the expense of a competitive team? does lower revenue equal less talent? although it was dismissed early on here (i haven't read all 11 pages) i do think there is something to the winning argument. yes, the sox have been a winning team. on the flipside, they've been unable to win one of baseball's most winnable divisions on a regular basis. rightly or wrongly, winning 83 games and missing the playoffs doesn't really feel like a winning season, even though it is.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Sep 2, 2012 -> 07:48 AM) I think I'm still pissed we let Buehrle go. Who do the Sox need right now??? Mark Buehrle, that's who. He's a legit big-game pitcher. He's just what this staff needed. Cheapskate ownership. buehrle is one of my all-time favorite sox but there is no way they should have paid what the marlins did.

lol at "horseplay." that word has a totally different meaning now. my first thought was, "wait, what? danks? no f**king way."

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 15, 2012 -> 09:28 PM) There is a great article on Kenny on ESPN Chicago too... ESPN Chicago good read. funny about his football mentality as it relates to torturing yourself through the ups and downs of a 162-game season. i picture him being the guy with ridiculous swings of emotion in game threads.

QUOTE (Brian @ Aug 5, 2012 -> 07:02 PM) I would rather they pick it up and risk it than have watch Morel out there. yes, this. morel can't be the option next year.

cbs sports

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Aug 1, 2012 -> 10:53 PM) Peavy is a #1 starter, not just some random rotation spot. None of the guys you listed are filling that void. you could make an argument that sale could. of course that's a could not a would.