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I wish we could upgrade over mariani, but not that dudes fault that his basic competence at every position is outshining the others. Says more about them and our inability to find a KR (I assume that's the main concern?)

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Sep 2, 2016 -> 08:20 AM) Hillary needs to abandon her current campaign slogan and immediately turn to "Taco Trucks on Every Corner" because i want that Thought the same last night. That would be my dream.

A fine jobs report. Low wage growth, but we must be nearing end of slack by looking at demographics. Good news is Teenage unemployment saw good hiring and is now at highest employment rate in 6 years. Not that big of a deal but considering min wage hikes in different states it is something to keep an eye on.

LOL

Q being off tonight made me more sad than any sale start.

Please be careful Kevan.

QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Sep 1, 2016 -> 01:53 PM) To be a great team they would likely need a top 5 total payroll. To be a good team next year I have already suggested signing Fowler, Moreland, Wieters, and a reliever. Also move Shields to mop up/middle relief to make room for Fulmer in the rotation. Hopefully Burdi comes up next season and pitches well from the onset combined with the healthy return of Putnam/Petricka and signing of one free agent the bullpen should be much improved. I don't think any of those moves are far fetched. Fowler - CF Eaton - RF Abreu - 1B Frazier - 3B Melky - LF Moreland - DH Lawrie/Saladino - 2B Wieters - C Anderson - SS Sale, Q, Rodon, Gonzalez, Fulmer I really don't think that is enough, it may get us to .500. Nice defensive upgrade at C, but likely no offensive upgrade at all, and a heavy white sox likelihood of a historically bad offensive season from Wieters. Moreland projects as worse than what we're getting from Morneau now. Hoping to keep a .780 OPS from DH? Likely it declines in age 31 season. Fowler - True upgrade, but decline risk in age 31 season. Add to that likely sophomore difficulties from Anderson and an almost certain decline from Melky, and that's the same team we have now: One that relies on average players to be above average and above average players to be extraordinary.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Sep 1, 2016 -> 01:39 PM) Even if the money was there, I wouldn't really want to "go for it" through free agency. Imagine all the hand-wringing if the Sox had signed one of Gordon/Heyward/Upton this past offseason and they played the same way here. Last offseason was considered a deep free agency and for the most part the big money free agents have been huge failures. It's less than ideal but if we are going to hold all of our assets I don't see another way. Do not have farm to acquire big upgrades in this market. Should be clear after 2 years in a row, planting "average" players into below average holes is not equaling much if any return.

QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Sep 1, 2016 -> 01:26 PM) The Cubs are already top 5 in total payroll. Remove Lester, Heyward, Zobrist, Fowler and Lackey from their team (free agents the Sox couldn't afford to sign with the exception of Fowler) and yes they are still a good team but no where near a great team. This part stands out to me. The white sox are nowhere near a great team. What is your plan to get them there?

QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Sep 1, 2016 -> 01:26 PM) The Cubs are already top 5 in total payroll. Remove Lester, Heyward, Zobrist, Fowler and Lackey from their team (free agents the Sox couldn't afford to sign with the exception of Fowler) and yes they are still a good team but no where near a great team. You don't need to remove all 5, tif you remove Heyward and Lackey, as I said earlier, they are at a payroll of the Royals. Because the cubs talent is so cheap, they were allowed to spend a lot on really good free agents. The White Sox are not at a disadvantage because of money. They are at a disadvantage because of the way they run their team.

QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Sep 1, 2016 -> 01:02 PM) isn't that what we are discussing here? building a playoff team that can be sustained over a 4-5 year stretch? Not really, your contention is they will be highest payroll when they have to keep their cheap talent, replying to my comment asking if we really think the reason cubs are a playoff contender is Jason Heyward and Jon Lester. They are 35 million of that salary, remove them and they are 13th in league. I say that, because they decided to splurge to make sure they were over the top. But their team could easily be playing Soler in OF and developing. They have an infield of rizzo, bryant, russel, baez and zobrist, did they NEED zobrist? No, but it's nice to have. All of the "acquire young talent moves" put them in a position to be a playoff team regardless. They had payroll to push them over top. If the sox got 5 years of playoff teams but couldn't afford the players before FA and needed to sell them, i'd feel in much better position than holding onto players, paying for average 30+ vets, failing, trying to sell them, getting little back because they are old, be in 4th place. The goal is to acquire as much talent as possible. The white sox have a good amount. How will they get what they need to compete with the top 10 teams in league? FA Trades Draft Draft is slow. FA is expensive. Trades we don't have minor league talent to acquire top talent. This is why people advocate for selling. If it turns out that we are going to get a 200 mill budget, then I say GO FOR IT. But we know we aren't, as seen by: Matt Latos Austin Jackson Jimmy Rollins Instead of Dexter Fowler We were great though letting the market "come to us"

I'm excited for Mizzou too. Have to hope the offense improves somewhat, can't be worse. The defense could be worse but I'm hopeful.

QUOTE (JUSTgottaBELIEVE @ Sep 1, 2016 -> 12:31 PM) http://www.spotrac.com/mlb/payroll/ Already #5 in total payroll and will be cracking the top 3 within the next couple years as guys like Bryant, Hendricks, Russell, etc. hit arbitration and if they plan on keeping their ace pitcher after next year. Yes it does make a difference. You are talking about sustaining an annual playoff team, not becoming one.

Do we feel the cubs are that much better because of Jason Heyward or Jon Lester? Even without them they'd be a great team, they have players like Soler being benched to play them.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Sep 1, 2016 -> 11:58 AM) While there are certainly exceptions, I feel like it is way more often we look back and rejoice that we didn't make deals like this. There are risks to everything, including holding onto assets too long. We've done the holding on too long a lot this decade.

Well if this doesn't thrill you:

I have 100% confidence that if we assume our budget can increase by no more than say, $130 million, we will make the playoffs faster selling Chris Sale and Nate Jones than if we kept our current roster and tried to wait for our current farm, trades and FA to get us there. For all the talk about how boston wasn't close in their proposed Q offer, I'm pretty sure we'll look back in 3 years and say "OMG we could have had Benintendi, Kopech and others!"

This continues to be true: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-na...m=.a7b7cb975f0b

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Sep 1, 2016 -> 06:32 AM) Figured this would be a good spot to post this. The Red Sox are calling up Yoan Moncada tomorrow. And Benintendi is hitting .325 with an .850 OPS. The need to get a young established MLB star is foolish to me.

Yeah but he hits far

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Sep 1, 2016 -> 09:33 AM) Shocker. Don't get your hopes up guys, it's going to be the same s***. No this is the time!

Encarnacion / Desmond / Puig Rzpzpezzincy and Ziegler pray.

My interest in spending big begins and ends with Encarnacion.

I had my draft last night and after a couple years of always having extra left over I finally got bit and lost out on a run of QBs. Ended up with Tyrod Taylor. Hope he stays healthy.

QUOTE (brett05 @ Sep 1, 2016 -> 06:40 AM) Actually Trump did not Lie. Trump and the President did not discuss. All that was said was the President of Mexico made a statement. Lots to hate upon Trump without making up lies. Sure, note that I wrote that as it was happening, not when we got the incredible clarification from Trump that EPN told him no paying for wall and trump...stared at him and left? Then went home and said "THEY ARE PAYING FOR IT".