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the only team the sox should assume they can beat are coming up (red sox) and Phillies. That we should assume we can beat a team ahead of us in rankings is ridiculous.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 10:45 AM) "No one has a right to grade a President—even poor James Buchanan—who has not sat in his chair, examined the mail and information that came across his desk, and learned why he made his decisions." - JFK That's such bullcrap. I understand presidents have difficult decisions to make, Buchanon had a country about to collapse, but ultimately he accommodated and appeased a side that enslaved other humans. Just because his decisions were hard doesn't mean they weren't morally awful. It just goes to show what a phenomenal president Lincoln was, and how courageous the Republican congress was that came from it.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 10:43 AM) Rodon does have a 3.62 FIP and 1.1 WAR this season, Danks in 07 had a 5.54 FIP. Rodon has been very impressive to me in his first stint so far, if he can keep his control at all similar to yesterday going forward he will dominate. Well, Danks also fell apart at the end and completely ran out of steam. He was uneven but provided some fantastic performances in may/june/july. We'll see how Rodon performs as he pushes past his previous innings workload.

QUOTE (Buehrlesque @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 10:37 AM) This is the key. There have been plenty of times before when the Sox have missed good opportunities to "sell" because they felt their underperforming, so-so team could get back in the race at any time. Those were frustrating, because the team's chances of competing were low and they could have restocked/reloaded for a better chance the following year. While their chances of seriously competing this year are very low, the chances any return on a rental of Samardzija being significant are also low. Not as much at stake here, I guess. I would agree that, if a good match doesn't present itself, there's very little point in just trading him for some low level lottery tickets. Agreed at this point. I do believe our drafting has improved recently, I'd like to see how we do with the additional budget from a comp pick.

Jonathan Strange was a really good series. I hope Susanna Clark pens more material.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 10:28 AM) I believe Rodon threw 21 change-ups. That is very exciting. Reminds me a lot of Danks 07 season this year. I think he comes back next year and dominates.

QUOTE (Iwritecode @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 10:08 AM) I enjoy the game of baseball. I’ve watched other teams on TV, I’ve watched minor league games in person. I’ve watched a ton of (fast-pitch and slow-pitch) softball both on TV and in person as well. From t-ball all the way up to professional. The difference is that when I’m watching those games, I’m not emotionally involved in who wins or loses. When I watch the Sox, I want them to win. When they don’t, I get upset and don’t want to watch anymore. I’m not going to punish myself by watching something that’s just going to make me mad. So I’ll simply turn off the TV and find something else to do. That’s just me personally. I’m sure there are still people out there that can watch the Sox and have a good time whether they win or lose. I don’t think that makes me a fair-weather fan either. I still follow the team and hope they do well. I still wear my t-shirts and hats. I still defend them to my Cub fan friends. I just have a really hard time watching them lose. Yes, all of this. I will say I enjoyed last years team even as they lost. They were very exciting in that it seemed they could hit their way back into the game those first 3 months.

QUOTE (OmarComing25 @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 09:55 AM) Even if we sweep Boston, I'm still on the fence as to whether we should trade Samardzija. We need to evaluate Erik Johnson for next season and if Jeff stays we lose that opportunity. But some guys on the offense are coming around. Last 30 days: Melky: 0.9 WAR (30th best in baseball) Sanchez: 0.5 WAR Eaton: 0.4 WAR Soto: 0.4 WAR (please play him more over Flowers) Alexei: 0.3 WAR However: Flowers: -0.2 WAR Avi: -0.4 WAR LaRoche: -1.1 WAR (if we could play him less, that'd be great) I would be happy if we could get rid of bonifacio and bring up EJ to take spot starts to give Danks extra rest. He has performed so well with extra rest there has to be something to it. Gives us a few more starts (5-6) from EJ to see including september.

QUOTE (JolietThunder @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 08:27 AM) This four game sweep was the worst thing that could have happen for our long term future. I hope FO doesn't start believing in this team like I did after seeing great pitching( which is norm for us), stellar defense (not use to seeing around here) and some timely hitting ( also not use to seeing). I want this team to take CUBS approach and suck for few year and stock pile our minor league roster. This sweep featured a 6 2/3 inning scoreless gem, with 0 walks, pitched by last years first round pick, multiple hits from our star 1b, and a hit spree from our young second and third basemen. This was absolutely not the worst thing that could have happened for our long term future. April, where it seemed that our cf of the future, rf of the future, 2b of the future, and rotation looked like garbage were much darker times.

Given the times Clinton inherited I have a hard time grading his presidency as anything but a huge failure. Given incredible popularity from merely being president during a great economic boom, he did so extraordinarily little during his time.

Obama's second term for me has been a dream. I was happy he won in 2012 largely because of defense, and he ended up delivering on so many more initiatives from 08. The libya/syria decisions were the dark days of that presidency, to me. Since then along with the Kerry as SOS era, I'm very happy.

I was listening to game on radio yesterday, and one thing that excited me was toward the end of the game it seemed like he was throwing his change consistently. Far from the beginning of year where he'd show it 8-10 times per game, there were at bats where he'd throw it 3-4 times. Did that seem to be the case? Was DJ just misidentifying the slider?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jul 27, 2015 -> 09:11 AM) And he went on quite the rant against the Saints and Sean Payton http://deadspin.com/junior-galettes-twitte...d-th-1720339378 If he really signs with TB, they really will have become the most awful franchise.

I am hoping we trade samardjiza, but I'm honestly very intrigued by this past weekend. This was such a breath of fresh air to see offense over multiple games (against a good rotation). To see power, man. That was great. So, if you guys could get a rental upgrade over one position, what would you choose/is there anyone you have in mind? I have to think RF would be top priority for me, moving laroche to a platoon and avi with him. Fully happy to let the saladino ride continue so we can have a better idea if we happened to stumble into a positive war 3rd baseman. Not sure there are many options for 3rd coming in FA for a while, and i've soured on FA after this year.

QUOTE (soxfan2014 @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 05:17 PM) He won't. By the time he is a free agent, he can command 30+ mill annually easy if he keeps this up. 30 mill is what he'd command this offseason, in 2018? Whew, can't imagine.

QUOTE (shipps @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 05:05 PM) This year trade winds have been confusing hasnt it? Every thread is basically about Samardjiza/Q/Sale but I can never tell who we are talking about.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 04:53 PM) I might have gotten the country wrong. I'll ask him again. He did research and the country he wants to move to has absolutely no murders. Probably Singapore.

QUOTE (Bigsoxhurt35 @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 05:02 PM) Dan Hayes replied to someone saying two sure fire prospects and more. Puig and Joc plus Seager and Urias for me. What? For who, Samardjiza?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 04:58 PM) Bryce Harper? Prince Fielder? On the white sox, not ever.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 01:26 PM) What is Jagielo's ETA? It says 2017 on mlb.com and he's 3 years older than Trey at the same level. Jagielo's stats .284/.347/.495/.842. 16 doubles, 2 triples, 9 HRs, 35 RBIs, 18 BBs, 58 Ks Trey's stats .270/.351/.411/.762 22 doubles, 3 triples, 6 HRs, 55 RBIs, 38 BBs, 72Ks Give me Trey every single day and twice on Sunday. Said this in the futuresox forum, but I think Trey's success at high-a was the biggest bright spot to our farm this year. Decent K rate, good BB rate, and I feel like I hear good things about defense.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 04:23 PM) How man children under the age of 12 or 14 die in accidental in-home shootings? One would have to follow the logic that without the presence of a deadly weapon that was accessible (for whatever reason), this category of deaths would be 98% preventable. If you remove gang members it's probably 0%. #baltalogic

Corey Zangari will defy odds and become first phenom HS with power to become a player since....I don't remember the last one.

QUOTE (QuickJones81 @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 03:56 PM) The thing about Q is that his value is high based on his performance relative to his contract. This holds a lot of weight for most teams...except the Dodgers. Since the Dodgers don't seem to be afraid of paying a lot is it really fair to say they value Q like other teams would? To that end, do we really think they would give up Max value for him in prospects? I actually think that does hold value with them. Look at how hard it is for yanks to deal with CC. Even knowing they can eat the cost, taking on albatross contracts for aging stars becomes difficult to deal with. They are not just DFA'ing these players. They still deal with them.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 04:09 PM) And one that would never happen Absolutely. I think I may be in the minority, but Seager + 2 b prospects + a c prospect I think is fair value for sale. You will never match true value for trading a superstar, it's like trading in a brand new car 4 months later, you have to accept some level of discounted services.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jul 24, 2015 -> 03:51 PM) I'm pretty surprised how much the tide has turned in regards to an openness by Soxtalk posters to moving Sale....seems like this was almost unfathomable to most last year at this time. To be honest, I know I'm underappreciating him because this team is so bad. I have less joy watching him constantly be forced to pitch a shut out or lose (though it perhaps has made him a better pitcher).