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QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ Feb 19, 2016 -> 09:17 AM) Only in a discussion about the White Sox outfield defense would Dexter Fowler's name ever even remotely be mentioned as a "defensive upgrade". We should keep this in context, as in, we'd be replacing really bad defense with bad defense if he were to join the team. I also don't even necessarily believe it. We all thought Melky would be a defensive upgrade. He had once been a center fielder! "Even an average fielder is a huge upgrade over viciedo".

Was the townhall televised last night? Also - did anyone watch the black panthers doc this week? I really thought black power mixtape doc was pretty weak, this doc was much better.

If there were betting markets on this, I would put my money on the bears retaining Jeffery either through re-signing/franchising.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 08:21 PM) that is a completely different thing, and nothing like being used. Which, is why we weren't used, we were outbid in a normal bidding of services for a free agent player. Your contention is we were used.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 04:45 PM) Our final offer didn't have to be better. All we had to do was force another team to improve their offer or offers. It doesn't matter how much our final offer was for. If Gordon was only interested in our offers to improve his KC offer, we were being used. It does matter. Because we were negotiating for a free agent who is allowed to choose the best offer. If we aren't prepared to give the best offer, we shouldn't rely on free agency to fill all of our holes every year. It tends to require money.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 04:39 PM) Likely scenario from the Royals was "tell us when you get a serious offer and we'll do our best to match it". Likely scenario from the Sox: "here's what we can offer if you get a better offer come back and we'll see what we can do". At that point the Royals outbid anything the Sox could put out and that was that. I agree it was a classic case of using other others to set your salary range and then eventually coming back to the place it made the most sense for both sides (for both the royals and gordon) to sign. White Sox probably shouldn't be relying on free agency to improve their team if this is their scenario with every free agent, especially when their signing price ends up lower than market expected.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 04:27 PM) Not really. If KC was only offering 3/50 at that point, but the White Sox offer came in and forced them to go higher, plus Gordon never really had interest in going where but KC if he could help it, then that is the textbook definition of leverage. Well, I disagree. The White Sox had a chance to exceed that offer and did not, and I've seen nothing that indicates our offer was better than Kansas City. I am sure Gordon did want to stay in KC, but offering him a better deal to play with you (your "could help it" scenario) I am confident would have swayed him.

QUOTE (southside hitman @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 03:27 PM) I agree with this. It sounded like Gordon and Cespedes just used the Sox/others as leverage to get the deal they wanted from their incumbent clubs. We would of been outbid by Mike Ilitch for Upton and perhaps the Sox don't see Fowler and his lackluster splits against RHP's as a worthy investment. The reality for a team like the White Sox that strongly values financial flexibility is any kind of major free agent signing is going to have to be a perfect fit. A good example is Jose Abreu. They acted aggressively and decisively in his pursuit, outbidding several other clubs. This whole "used as leverage" thing I think is weak rationalizing. If we knew the sox truly offered more, then they were used as leverage. If we were just offering "deals" that were comparable or less than what they received, than they chose us because we didn't offer the best deal, not because we were used. If Sox offered 3/90 for Cespedes, he would have signed here. If we offered 4/90 for Gordon (what we all thought he'd get pre-offseason), you'd have Gordon in LF. But just because they went back to their teams does not mean that their FA was an illusion like Lebron to MIA.

Finally.

I actually feel pretty good about our bench with Sanchez. I think he'll be much improved this year.

Why on earth would you sign Gasol to an extension?

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 02:17 PM) If I was Rick Hahn, I would have gone to JR early in the season and said, "I see paths to fill four huge holes (3B, 2B, SP, RF) at bargain level prices. If we fill all four, I think we're arguably the best team in the Central. The downside is that they're all relatively short-term solutions, so if we do one, we should do all four to ensure that we realize the benefits. Here's what I think it costs." And if I couldn't get JR to commit to even ONE significant free agent, even when that free agent was going to cost under $50m, I would not have sold my precious assets for the partial upgrade. Not for 2 seasons, anyway. This is how I felt in November and saw the fool's gold for 3 months before realizing where we're at.

The Bulls front office saw the sinking ship of a season, and thought "Shoot, we should save some money!"

1) The NBA trade deadline is almost always smoke 2) despite that, the Bulls are very disappointing as a franchise now 3) Thibsforever.

That sounds like sacramento ownership alright.

OK, fine, don't trade gasol, but why in hell would you extend him?

QUOTE (shipps @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 11:57 AM) If this team is bad it wont be because of Avi. He is not the key factor for this team. If he is bad I really dont think they are going to keep running him out there anyway. If this team doesn't make the playoffs solely because of Avi I will eat gregs shirt and sell his house that I have acquired in prior dealings. I just hate waiting on Avi because he downgrades the effectiveness of our strong pitching staff. It's one thing if he just sucks at hitting, but he's terrible in the outfield and baserunning.

bahahahahahahahahahahaha

shudders. Going to wait for when we aren't posting Clay Travis articles in here. Excited Chase Daniel may get a starting gig in Philly.

QUOTE (fathom @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 10:46 AM) And I respect that and hope for the best with him. Just startling to see all the Avi and/or Shuck talk lately on here. Only way that should have happened going into the season is if they were in rebuilding mode, IMO. Get ready for my Jerry Sands talk!

QUOTE (2005thxfrthmmrs @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 10:19 AM) Please no Okafor, just no. He's a volume player, empty carbs. Puts up numbers, but not gonna help you win, especially in today's NBA. I have to believe some of this is exasperated by being on PHI. That said, Okafor does not sound like the player that works in Hoiberg's offense.

QUOTE (shipps @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 09:54 AM) I ma behind the times but I am curious. I seen Kanye's performance on SNL and that was some of the dumbest s*** I have ever seen. I realize that hip hop doesnt always translate live but good god that was terrible. It was like a spoof and they were all high. There was no melody to the song that I could even make out. Yeah it wasn't good, but SNL often has really short amoutn of time and resources to pull together, vs what you would see at a Kanye concert. It's a show man, visuals, skits, and the energy is crazy. The songs that were played on SNL sound much better on the album. Some are rap live shows are bad shows of someone just screaming over their own track, but kind of depends who it is.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 09:52 AM) Why in the world would the Kings want Gasol? Am I missing something? I worry that even though Gasol plays 15 fee out often, it would still end up pushing Boogie farther out rather than give him more room.

That's crazy, I love the bulls. This year has killed me. For 5 years I had a frustrating team that had a talent for delivering giant-killing performances but was never good enough. And I was fatigued by that and thought it was annoying. This year taught me what annoying really was, being basically the 2000-2009 milwaukee bucks.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Feb 18, 2016 -> 09:22 AM) We all know nothing is going to happen. right, and "Bulls trade Gasol to avoid luxury tax penalty" isn't really making me tingle all over.