CaliSoxFanViaSWside

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Nov 9, 2015 -> 06:30 AM) Yeah, so those games get blacked even though I forked over like $200 for GCL Get a refund and get DirecTV . The hockey package isn't too expensive . Just not sure how popular DTV is in areas that have a lot of cloud cover during rain and snow storms that can affect the picture. Here in SoCal usually don't have to worry about it. But if you do decide to ever get DirecTV I can get you a small discount by giving you my account number.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Nov 8, 2015 -> 07:28 PM) What do you think makes them stop? OH OH I KNOW !! People not posting "when will this thread die" and "I can't wait for these threads to stop " in it.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Nov 8, 2015 -> 09:44 PM) Can't believe we haven't been ruled out yet... While it may make sense to some I don't see it. Would make more sense if the Sox dumped LaRoche . They get Park then LaRoche is the lamest of lame ducks and might as well be dumped without trying to get anything for him (partial salary). They missed the boat on Kang who is the one they needed. Now would get a guy at a position they really don't need help at ? Would be so Sox if they did that and this guy bombed. I don't see them spending the money . At least with Abreu they had WBC results of how he did against stronger competition. Do we have anything of that nature now with Park ?

QUOTE (winninguglyin83 @ Nov 9, 2015 -> 03:21 AM) olt, turner, renteria. Quite a trail of Cubs' cast offs. Who's next -- Corey Patterson? Maybe the pyrotechnicians can figure out how to shoot exploding W's out of the scoreboard when the Sox win.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Nov 8, 2015 -> 07:43 PM) Kane is doing next level s*** I was thinking he looked Gretsky-esque this game. Tied for scoring lead in the NHL now with the 4 point effort tonight. 4 straight games with a goal . 17 points in last 10 games.

Panarin with 2 goals. Kane 2 assists. The 2nd Panarin goal might have been offsides as Panarin made an extra move at the blue line but Edmonton didn't use the coach's challenge.

QUOTE (WhiteSoxLifer @ Nov 8, 2015 -> 05:43 PM) I'm guessing pirates Seems logical with Kang and problems at 1st base . Then it would be the Korean Konnection.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Nov 6, 2015 -> 10:52 AM) I disagree very strongly. Cameron is just an awkward dude who is accustomed to people calling his opinions s***. I used to think he was smug, but I've read/listened to a TON of his s*** over the years, and I think it's more of an unintentional lack of grace. Also -- in Cameron's defense (I know, I know, I sound like a fanboi), his self-appointed task was to force himself to choose a destination for every significant free agent. He wasn't claiming that this is what the Sox SHOULD do, rather matching up prices and players with perceived needs and front office tendencies. Cameron actually is FIRMLY in the camp that the Sox should blow it up and trade everyone. I don't agree with that opinion, but this article clearly doesn't reflect his RECOMMENDATIONS, instead they reflect his GUESSES. Edit: Wow typos His guesses last year for the Sox ( C. Rasmus , C. Young (0F) and K. Morales) turned out way better than who the Sox pay to make those decisions.Cheaper too.

Damn missed a crazy 1st period. Nice to see Dano score and Shaw on a penalty shot . Teuvo , Seabrook and Kane with the others.

QUOTE (Flash Tizzle @ Nov 4, 2015 -> 02:46 PM) I'd say 90% of Soxtalk did not see this coming. Sure as hell surprised me. I have read few, if any, offseason plans involving a restructured Alexi contract. If it's a restructured deal, I'm sure Hahn told Alexi the money saved would allow them to sign an additional FA. Of which would be geared towards 3B or 2B. If he leaves, I commend Hahn for atleast recognizing this collection of players isn't working and attempting something different. It's easy to sit back and say "alexi is the least of our problems" while accepting a below replacement level offensive and defensive player. I'm somewhat surprised . I made it known I didn't want the Sox to pick up his option. I'll guess right now he won't be back but if he is it'll be roughly a 4-5 million 1 year contract laced with incentives.

QUOTE (VAfan @ Nov 3, 2015 -> 12:11 PM) First off, I'm not for trading any of our current top 3 -- Sale, Quintana, or Rodon. Too much value there. Wouldn't get a fair return. And can't really replace any of them from our minor league depth or free agency. Second, I'm starting Erik Johnson. My offseason theme is for the Sox to do everything they can to increase the value of players they have, to either keep them or move them once they are more valuable. So, I wouldn't trade Johnson this offseason, because he only has AAA value. With a year in the majors, he's likely to be worth a lot more. (If he tanks, he could be worth less, but I think his September tryout showed he's unlikely to fail like he did before.) Third, I'm not wasting money or resources on any fill-in starters. It's okay if we get some major league minimum kind of guys for insurance in case of injury. But I would save all of our money to devote to the hitting side of the team. The Sox are really not going to be ready to compete next year. 2015 proved how many of us were deluded into thinking a few shiny new free agents and one new starting pitcher was going to vaunt us into the playoff hunt. We have far too many holes on this team. So, to increase value, I'm starting Johnson. Trading Robertson. Moving Montas into the pen to become a closer. I'm also keeping LaRoche and Alexei, and hoping they rebound and can be dealt at the trade deadline. Giving Avisail one more shot (as a platoon DH player), starting Thompson in the OF, and letting Sanchez and Micah see if one of them can be a legitimate 2B. Overall very sound thinking, however you talk about increasing value then devalue the future of Montas putting him in the pen and set him up for failure making him the closer when he isn't ready for the big leagues let alone a closer's role . Come on people where's your patience with the prospects ? The kid should have at least another 3 years to make it as a starter.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Nov 3, 2015 -> 08:28 PM) Subpar starter with the bat. And the difference between him and the 6 or 8 guys ahead of him is not that much. Catchers suck at hitting across the league. He's considered a top 2 pitch framer in MLB this year. Because you don't have an easy way to quantify and contextualize that extremely important part of catching, you undervalue it. He helps the pitchers be better and more effective. He's an overall averagely valuable catcher. Are you his mother ?

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Oct 29, 2015 -> 06:12 AM) They didn't just stick him in the bullpen though, he started a couple games. And it's still way too early to write off any future with him as a SP. He's clearly an unfinished product right now. I have a feeling Montas is going to surprise a lot of people who keep penciling him into the bullpen. The dude is 22 . He could spend 2-3 more years refining the things he needs to work on . His stuff is excellent . Just needs a little more movement on the fastball. But I really like his slider. He'll build up stamina and his command will get better. I see him as having a high ceiling and a high floor as a starter. If the Sox move him I'd hope it would be for some teams' #1 position prospect.

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Nov 2, 2015 -> 02:08 PM) Steve Lombardozzi - 2B - Diamondbacks Diamondbacks signed INF Steve Lombardozzi to a minor league contract. Lombardozzi went 0-for-10 with four strikeouts for the Pirates in 2015 and he also posted underwhelming numbers on the farm. The 27-year-old utilityman probably won't crack the Diamondbacks' 40-man roster. Source: Matt Eddy on TwitterNov 2 - 1:41 PM Ha so who signed him the D'bags or the Sox ?

Anisomov buries his breakaways when he gets them . Wish I could say the same for Hossa. I've seen Anisimov bury 3 and Hossa miss 3 . Kane's goal and his assist to Teravainen were both things of beauty.

QUOTE (reiks12 @ Nov 1, 2015 -> 09:08 AM) Just having fun, nobody believes that we are cursed. I have seen at least 10 such posts , probably 3 or 4 in this thread alone. I honestly think some people think the Sox have a black could hanging over their heads.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 1, 2015 -> 08:42 AM) I think there is a pretty good chance of a bounceback from LaRoche between that, and being his second year in the AL. I think it's more hope than actually thinking he will bounce back. He was pretty damn bad and 2 of his last 3 years haven't been good and he be 36 in a week . LaRoche couldn't hit anything but a fastball and sinkers last year and from July on he wasn't even very good at that. He ws miserable against anything off speed. http://beforeitsnews.com/sports/2015/10/ar...im-2630010.html He was terrible at home all season, terrible in the second half everywhere, terrible against LH's , terrible when behind in the count and terrible batting 5th. And when I say terrible I mean batting averages well below .200 . OBP's around .250 and OPS anywhere from .350-.550. The only way he can rebound is if he gets ahead in the count consistently.

At the July 31st trade deadline the Mets were 53-50. They acquired Cespedes, Uribe, Kelly Johnson and Tyler Clippard . Uribe and Johnson were pretty much non factors but Cespedes did so well he was mentioned as a possible MVP candidate . They finished the season 90-72. To be fair a few other Mets also had good 2nd halves of the season and David Wright returning was a major plus. But that just goes to show what I said in my initial post about how things snowball once a team starts to believe in itself.

QUOTE (reiks12 @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 11:36 PM) The Royals would have signed LaRoche and he would have put up Morales numbers. We would have signed Morales and he would have put up LaRoche numbers. I don't see why I see this kind of post so often. We are not a snake bit team or have a curse of anything of that nature. It just was an ill advised signing of a player who was too old and could not contribute every day . These kind of "eeyore" posts are kind of silly. Instead of putting the blame where it belongs it gets put on some kind of Sox karma thing.

All you guys make Charlie Brown seem like an optimist. For those saying we still would 've sucked , want to take a stab at how many more good position players , relievers, starting pitching it would take to be around 10 games over .500 ?

QUOTE (bear_brian @ Oct 31, 2015 -> 10:43 AM) Last winter I made a series of suggestions as to what the Sox should do. Among those was acquiring Kendry Morales. There were a group of regulars on this board who scoffed at that notion. He certainly would have been a major improvement over LaRoche, and would have given the lineup that much more flexibility as a switch hitter. Unfortunately, Hahn spent more money on LaRoche, and we now have to live for another year with that decision. The only possible silver lining is that LaRoche's hand was really sore all of last year, and he will bounce back this year. You do have to have a thick skin when giving your opinion. I get scoffed at often but you have to chalk it up to most people stick to their guns regardless of strength of argument. It's also very difficult to keep track of most things we say on here and saying I was right you were wrong comes off as arrogant and self serving. I think I'm right a lot of the time and will point it out but it takes a lot of time and effort to search for anything . I never gave my opinion on how the Sox would 've done with Morales instead of LaRoche but I'll just say they could've been 15 games better. I know that will get scoffed at too. My reasoning is KC probably isn't as good especially if they sign LaRoche instead. Sox, Cleveland ,Detroit were all pretty equal with Minnesota only slightly ahead of them. I think Morales would've propelled the Sox above everyone except the Royals. Maybe Abreu gets a little more selective at the plate and does better. Maybe Eaton's base running improves knowing he doesn't have to take as many risky chances with 2 good hitters behind him. Maybe Robertson gets 40-45 saves instead of 34. Baseball is a chain reaction sport. Playing well begets playing well. Hawk often phrases it as "its contagious " .Bad things and good things snowball then develops into either a winning or losing attitude. Getting on a roll and getting TWTW cannot be understated . L know I lose credibility quoting Hawk but not everything he says is nonsense .

We all know that hindsight is 20/20 but what I'm getting at is what difference does making the right decision instead of the wrong one mean in terms of wins and losses ? I will try to examine as many things as I can and let you draw your own conclusions. When the Sox signed LaRoche he had just turned 35 and the left handed hitter coming off a good year with the Nationals with a line of .259/.362/.455/.817 with 26 homers and 92 RBIs. He had 82 walks and 108 strikeouts over 140 games an OPS of .817 . His stats against LH pitching had been in a steady decline so the Sox had to know they were getting a guy who realistically could only be productive against RH's . He only had 19 doubles so if you had to make a comparison to a similar player Adam Dunn had to come to mind . NL player with high OBP with plus power and high K totals His 2014 was a bounce back year . In 2013 his line was .237 /.332 /.403 /.735 62 RBI's with more K's and less walks and even less production against LH's. His home and road splits also were radically different in 2014 . Home line was .305/.406/.510/.916 . Road line .212/.316/.400/.716 . So the Sox had to ask themselves could an aging player similiar to Adam Dunn feel at home in a new league surrounded by new team mates ? LaRoche was signed to a 2 year $25M contract and his 2015 line was .207/.293/.340/.634 When the Royals signed Morales he was 31 years old and would turn 32 during the season (June 20). The switch hitting Cuban born Morales signed in December so he was available when the Sox signed LaRoche . His whole career to that point was played in the AL. His 2014 was a disaster . With Scott Boras as his agent he held out looking for the big pay day which never came because teams did not want to give up a draft pick for a DH only player even though he had a good year in 2013 playing in a career high 156 games with a line of .277/.336/.449/.785. He ended up missing spring training and the 1st 60 games of the season after finally signing with the Twins in June . Since it was after the ML draft the Twins did not lose a draft pick. He never recovered from having missed so much time and between the Twins and Mariners his final line was .218/.274/.338/.612 . If the Sox looked at him as a possibility they would have to look at his years before 2014 and hope for a bounce back. Between 2009 and 2013 — not including a 2011 campaign lost to injury — Morales owned a cumulative .286/.339/.494 line while averaging over twenty home runs per season. That was good for a 128 OPS+ . As a switch hitter he could always hit both righties and lefties but was a better LH hitter when it came to HR's by a wide margin. He had also dumped Boras as his agent and is a countryman of the Sox most valuable position player , Jose Abreu. Morales agreed to a two-year, $17MM deal. He could earn an additional $750K per year through performance incentives. The contract included a mutual option for a third year. His final line : .290/.362/.485/.847 with 41 doubles , 22 HR's and 106 RBI . To be fair KC has a more spacious outfield than the Cell but his home/road splits were very similiar and his OPS+ was 128 at home and 140 on the road. Also the Sox lineup is certainly not as good as KC so RBI total would be worse most likely. How much better would the Sox have been having Morales over LaRoche ? A very consistent bat home and away who could hit from both sides of the plate in the middle of the lineup makes a huge difference. Abreu wouldn't have to swing at as much junk as he did knowing he had a professional hitter behind him in the lineup. Maybe the Sox take a lot more leads into late innings . It's something I find very difficult to figure out. I hope some of you don't just look at their respective WAR and see the difference is about 3.5 Wins and answer the Sox would be 3-4 games better with Morales having the same type of year in Chicago as he did in KC . I don't think baseball is an exact science like that. I know that answers will be hard to quantify but give it your best shot .

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ Oct 24, 2015 -> 06:53 PM) So is there any possibilities from the farm that we may see within 5 years? It's kinda sad when there were guys like Bench, Fisk, Munson and Simmons. They were household names. My how baseball has changed. Omar Narvaez, Winston-Salem (98 games): The 23-year-old backstop proved he could keep his mind centered between both parts of his game in a strong first full season in the White Sox system. Not only did Narvaez reach base at a .352 rate in his first taste of Class A Advanced, but he also threw out 35.4 percent of would-be basestealers. A little old for the level so to make it by age 25 he would have to be fast tracked and he still has a lot to prove but initially looking strong .

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Oct 24, 2015 -> 08:12 PM) Toews with the GWG 17 seconds into the OT Good power move with bad defense but it was pure Toews and totally awesome !

QUOTE (soxfan49 @ Oct 23, 2015 -> 07:30 PM) What two Russians? Only Panarin has that clause. Anisimov is an established pro & Tikhonov has done nothing to make me care if he goes to Rockford, Russia or the UC's press box. Dano hasn't exactly been good in Rockford. If he keeps that up he won't be up this year at all. He'll be back especially if Q can't find anyone to put with Toews and Hossa. The first few days of training camp Dano shined with Toews and Hossa and Q liked him right away but then the preseason games started and in the 1st game he took a hard hit to the head and after that he couldn't keep up with Toews and Hossa. Maybe I'm making excuses for the kid but on a playoff Columbus team he was physical and a good 2 way player . We often forget guys play through injuries. Once he gets his sea legs back under him he should spend at least half the year with the Hawks.