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QUOTE (DrunkBomber @ Jan 19, 2016 -> 02:06 PM) When I got my Chinese Visa in Chicago about 2-3 years ago they needed a copy of your round trip tickets and proof of where you were staying for the entire trip. They actually shot down most of the people who were there for a visa because they didnt have the right paperwork. We had everything we needed and it ended up being fairly painless, picked up the visa's in four days I believe. Yeah, this is where I'm worried about a screw up. We have 3-4 cities we are in in China. Some we are staying at a friends, so we booked a hotel we plan to cancel. It's a lot of paperwork to have, and we are also flying out from a diff airport we are flying into. I do NOT want to go 3-4 times due to missing paper work. It sounds like they have gotten much faster though, which is great.

Those that may complain about the contract are not the problem. After all, it was not their front office philosophy that mandated filling in all holes with FA/trades in a bid to be immediately competitive. But when that is your strategy, we can have opinions on how to best do that. Mainly because its infuriating to drive 3/4 way to a place and then say "Wellp, that's pretty far, let's tucker in for the night, I'm sure the festival will be there tomorrow"

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 19, 2016 -> 01:55 PM) Shark led the league in runs given up and hits allowed. Johnson is going to have to be pretty bad to be a downgrade. It could happen, but Shark, despite his WAR figure, was awful last year, and a decent portion of the defense they say killed him, was his defense. He was a terrible fielding pitcher last year. One of the worst. As for all the prospects have to be good, c'mon man. There will be other players acquired. There is a total turnover of position players between now and the deadline in 2013, and the Sox minor leaguers hitters haven't raided the roster yet guys like Abreu and Eaton and Frazier are around. That can continue. A lot of money coming off next year, and if you are willing to pick up money, players in trades don't cost as much as usual. It would make things easier if some of the prospects actually became ballplayers, but it's not an absolute they have to or else. While other players may well be acquired, that they will either a) be in the big leagues and producing in the next 2 years or b) be the all-star level dynamic player we need is going to be difficult. It also assumes that we can rely on the same production and health from our core.

I'm not going to support John Kraczinsky in an action role or any role actually. If Taylor Kitsch fails, he must fail too.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 19, 2016 -> 01:38 PM) I agree. However, it is posters asking to acquire Fowler, not the Sox FO. All of this is risk management. If the FO feels the chances of making the playoffs with Fowler out-weigh the chances of the comp pick being an impact player, they may make the deal. My whole point of this is protecting the future while trying to improve the team. So far I think they have done a good job. A deal for Cespedes that doesn't restrict the team in the future would be good as well. I'm just not convinced that he is the player to whom you give the long term contract. I don't trust his consistency. They will need to take that risk at some point, I just think he is the right player. Well, I disagree that they have done a good job. They have won 63, 72 and 75 games in 3 years. With big upgrades at 3b and possibly at 2b, and possible downgrade at rotation, we are looking at 78-79 wins. In 2 years, when all of these contracts expire, we have to hope that all: Tim Anderson Trey M Are in the big leagues and high level producers immediately while we win a lottery ticket with : Jacob May Adam Engel Courtney Hawkins Maybe Adolfo will be a beast and be close to majors in 2 years. Otherwise you are looking at another round of gauge and plug with FA/trades on the minor league front. In four years, the core of Sale/Q/Abreu/Eaton basically falls apart. In two years you are expecting all of our minor league work to pan out. That is doubtful. The best contribution we may see is if Sale/Q/Rodon find themselves supplemented by budding superstars Adams/Fullmer/Danish for one last run. This isn't a "well what's the point of even playing the games!" point. Its just if you really valued having a winner with your current core, and you do not want to give up future competitiveness, then paying the large sum for a player like cespedes is necessary. Otherwise, you will hit a ceiling from the teams that kill us in player development.

There is an embassy 2 blocks away. I have passport pictures and have printed out computer typed application.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 19, 2016 -> 01:26 PM) They need to base all of their decisions on what is going on in the minors. He may not make it and all prospects are suspects until they reach the MLB. However, unless the payroll projects to 200 million, they will need to reply on the minors and project when to give the players a chance. If they based all of their decisions on what was going on in the minors and also did not want to have a high payroll, we would be looking at an organization that valued acquiring top-level prospects and cost-controlled players. That is not how the white sox front office is operating. Case in point, those making the argument that Fowler is attractive to management because we would not have to pay another 1st round comp.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 19, 2016 -> 01:18 PM) He is also on a quick moving path. So? I like Trey a lot. I think the progress he made last year was great for his age. But what % of certainty would you put to Trey M. being on an MLB roster in his career? What % certainty would you put to him being a starter? What % would you put to him being above average starter? Our minors are improved, but they are still relying on every top prospect to hit. And if they are planning two years from now to just give to Trey M., that is really really presumptuous and risky.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 19, 2016 -> 01:05 PM) Isn't one of the White Sox better prospects a 3B who should be ready in a couple of years? The kid is 19/20 in high-A, I wouldn't make any decisions based on that assumption.

Need to get Visa at Chinese Embassy this week. Anyone been to do the same? Any tips?

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 19, 2016 -> 11:43 AM) I love Jo. His loss sucks, but it also creates new opportunity for Taj & Portis. I hope they do well with that and I wish Jo the best in his speedy recovery. I don't know whether his time in Chicago is done or not, in fact, who knows, the injury might mean its more likely he is back in Chicago a year from now. All I know is one thing...I don't know that I was ever so annoyed at a draft pick than when the Bulls took Jo and years later I look back and I think about how I love Jo. I respect how he went about his business on the court and how he was a constant pro (yes he had his issues when he was young, but he was never afraid to learn from his mistakes). Guy always left it all out on the court and off the court he's done a ton of good for the community, etc. Love you Jo!!! After all, my son's middle name is Noah for a reason As depressing as Rose was, Noah's career basically ending just as he hits 4th in MVP voting was more heartbreaking to me. THAT Noah would have made a huge difference last year.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 19, 2016 -> 11:11 AM) It happened in Anaheim. I can believe it could happen with Scoscia, LaRussa and maybe a Torre in NY. But Ausmus?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 19, 2016 -> 11:06 AM) What is the fascination with Lincecum? He has been horrible for 4 years in a big park in the NL, and he is coming off surgery. His hair.

Seriously. Elba's "Luther" is a total Eastwood character anyway. I don't know what book you are talking about. But Elba excels in broken down, "ends justify the means" heros.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Jan 19, 2016 -> 10:19 AM) I am not sure he was "sacked". I think he was probably having talks with Boston and Ilitch's statement was "I've decided to release Dave from his contract in order to afford him the time to pursue other career opportunities." Then Boston sat on it for a month to avoid tampering charges and give the appearance of a thorough hiring process. Have you heard this anywhere? I feel like a situation like that would leak, considering the teams involved and media around Boston.

Yeah waiting for the definitive piece. I do find it interesting how open the top players were to discussing (Nova)

QUOTE (bschmaranz @ Jan 19, 2016 -> 10:08 AM) Screw it, do 4 years, higher average than Upton got. 92/4, if that doesn't get it done, call Fowler/Jackson. Please Jackson over Fowler. I don't know that it makes us better, but I know it does not commit us to an outfield of low power for years (i.e., we know we need to upgrade it anyway, no need to commit to a stop gap).

Well...I have to say that I can't believe a GM would lose a battle vs. a Manager.

QUOTE (shipps @ Jan 19, 2016 -> 09:59 AM) Who is Mibelt Rodriguez again? I believe he was the teenager that broke some big red sox trade or signing. Forget which. Edit: crap, I don't think he's a teenager. But he was in on the panda signing with the teenager.

QUOTE (LDF @ Jan 19, 2016 -> 09:50 AM) guess what.......... everyone has an opinion, and many times it can be different from anyone and everyone else. just b/c opinions are different esp from the mods / admin should that constitute the mods / admin on jumping on them...... poster should not feel threaten if one posters opinions happens to be different!!!!! now if this difference brings out the lack of age of that person, why is it the other person fault. difference of opinion is what make the soxtalk board great. So if a mod has a different opinion than you, you feel threatened? That's your fault. Unless you are banned for no reason, this is the "difference of opinion that makes soxtalk so great"

One thing: I have to wonder why Dombrowski was sacked when this is still the behavior post DD.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Jan 19, 2016 -> 09:14 AM) In the long term they may regret that trade but Wiggins would not make them a better team right now. He is a bad 3 pt shooter and despite his athleticism he isn't a great defender yet. I think being on a bad defensive team makes it worse. I have no doubt if he had been next to James and on the Cavs he'd be very good defensively already.

Listen, it was not my (nor a lot of us criticizing since the upton/cespedes market news) strategy to plug all of our numerous holes with trades and free agency to build a playoff team around Sale/Q/Abreu/Eaton. But when that is your plan, I have a hard time swallowing that you refuse to engage in it because the market is higher than you would like. Then you should have done a different plan for your payroll. We did improve, I think we will be better. But we may be worse with 1 injury (sale) and poor performance by Danks/EJ. If everything goes right, perhaps we get 88 wins, but more likely we are looking at a .500 team. Did Cespedes/Gordon/Upton alone change that? Maybe not, but I think it would move us to a safe 84 win projection, which at mid season would allow us to gauge how close we are and use a trade to push us. Are we honestly closer to the playoffs than if we traded Q for Shelby Miller's package?

QUOTE (SouthSideSale @ Jan 18, 2016 -> 10:41 PM) Cabrera, Martinez, Martinez and Upton is nice. That's formidable. Now time for Hahn to answer that. We still have worst lineup in division. We have 2nd best rotation of no injuries. Who knows on bullpen. And probably 3rd best defense. Cespedes flips two of those a lot closer, and we have no idea how much our pitching staff may improve ahead of good defense.

We continue to pay market price for Major Leaguers. Paying cost controlled prices could let us buy our all stars, but wait! All stars are so expensive. Let's just continue to wait, but not rebuild, but not pay to finish the job either.