Rowand44

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 11:26 AM) The only one I'd count on to be a contributor by 2016 is Rodon, and at the same time I can easily see other holes opening as Alexei, LaRoche age. That leaves me with zero confidence, frankly. After 2016 at least you clear several contracts, but "wait for 2016 when we have 0 money to spend" is the plan, it is a poor one. This team either will win this year or its going to circle 2017 for the next time it has money available. If they're close and the attendance takes a nice little hike which it already has, they'll spend more to get a piece or two to put them over the top.

And once again, the Sox are a team that is set up better for the playoffs than they are for the regular season. So if we can sneak into a Wild Card spot, we'll be extremely dangerous.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 10:44 AM) The Sox have a good, not great, bullpen. I wouldn't be shocked if the Sox have a great bullpen, I also wouldn't be surprised if their pen is completely underwhelming outside of Robertson. If the bullpen is great we easily could have one of the best pitching staffs in baseball so who knows.

Heyman going with Reigns makes sense on paper but I really, really don't think they're going to turn Roman heel so I doubt that happens.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 10:35 AM) BP loves Abreu. So... there goes that argument. He's likely to regress a LITTLE bit. That's just the way baseball works. They're simply not a 90 win team unless everything goes right, like in '05. Garcia, Gillaspie, Sanchez and Flowers are four HUGE issues (like I said, we don't know what we're gonna get from Avi) and the back end of the rotation is bad. Teams don't just improve 17 wins over a previous season. It doesn't happen except on very, very rare occasions. I also think everyone on this board overvalues Shark. I see him as a high 3s ERA guy, definitely our third best starter. I wouldn't completely be shocked with a very low 4s era in the AL in this park. Also, this is based on a lot of the projection systems out there and his past production. There are too many question marks to assume they'll win 90 games, but I'm still really excited about the season because they'll be competitive all year long, and if they can show they're competitive, they're more likely to keep Shark long term. Why would you want to sign Shark long term if you think he's overvalued?

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 10:23 AM) There's been a lot of "why didn't we go the the final couple pieces?" and "prospects are just prospects are bust rate Mitchell ahead of Trout blah blah" lately, and I think that both types of complaints are short-sighted; they don't take the RH master plan or the current competitive state of the MLB into perspective. I think they represent obsolete lines of thought that describe the environment ten or so years ago but are not relevant or useful in the climate today. But I haven't been able to communicate my argument very well, partially because I'm not sure I even UNDERSTOOD my argument very well. But with yesterday's release of Keith Law's system rankings, I think it all finally makes sense in a concrete way. Let me ask you this: When was the last time the Sox went into the season billed as a legitimate playoff contender AND had a top-half ranked farm system? THIS is what it's supposed to look like. This is the "sustainable competitiveness" model in its infancy. It doesn't matter if you think Law is too high or too low on the system or Sullivan is too low on the Sox 2015 chances, the point is that they are in the running and somehow still on the upswing, both in terms of the ML roster AND the farm system. This team has flaws, and we should admit it. If the team doesn't meet our expectations, I think it will be due to some combination of our lack of depth being exposed and the fact that we always assume that our superstars will never regress from exceptional performances for some reason. But there's no question that the team is a "contender." And unlike the previous KW-branded regime, it came without the cost of ruining the future. So next time you feel like JR is stingy or that RH values prospects too much, look how far RH has taken this ship in just two years, and look how much brighter things look from ALL angles than they have since October of 2005. It's about balance and patience. It'll probably mean we will always be able to find holes in our team and always wish they would have spent $20m more, but if they can avoid tipping the scales too much in either direction (present or future), we can look forward to going into every season with justified hopes for the playoffs. Rowand44 likes this post.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 09:27 AM) They're not my predictions, they're PECOTA. But yeah I'm sure you know better than the folks at baseball prospectus.... In the end their predictions are just predictions just like anyone else's.

Montas would have just missed the top 100 by what he posted yesterday. Adams will be a top 50 guy by this time next year.

QUOTE (Brian @ Jan 28, 2015 -> 06:53 PM) Ricky Williams had it. Impossible to forget him wearing his helmet during an interview.

Jose Contreras?

That's actually a pretty fun card overall. That Ziggler-Bryan match needs to happen. But what's that leave for our favorite lunatic?

LeBron is the best team in the East until proven otherwise.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Jan 28, 2015 -> 12:46 PM) ND is a very odd team. The best or nearly the best in the nation in offensive efficiency, FG %, low turnover rate, etc., but they absolutely can't stop anybody on defense. They will probably have to play zone to handle Okafor. If Duke runs cold from the outside and ND gets a hot shooting night, ND could win this game. Duke could also win by double digits. All the good ND teams in recent years have been the same way.

Pssh don't tell me we don't have enough quality MLB outfielders...HELLO, Brian Anderson!

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 28, 2015 -> 02:41 PM) Career splits are much more "meh" for Beckham vs. LHP. Question is, on film, were there adjustments made against LHP that we think are sustainable. Ya, he's just not going to do that again. Just like Bonifacio isn't going to do what he did last year against lefties but at least with Emilio he has a decent success rate in his career against lhp. There's surely nothing to be outraged about with this move, I just don't get it.

QUOTE (Sockin @ Jan 28, 2015 -> 02:34 PM) He was very good against LHP last year. .203/.242/.318 versus RH .293/.349/.431 versus LH Ya look at his career numbers. Last year looks like an aberration to me.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 28, 2015 -> 02:23 PM) I think it's a great move. It gives them two guys that can play a few positions and hit pretty well against LHP, which is something that LaRoche/Gillaspie/M. Johnson probably won't provide. He's just as crappy against lefties as he is against righties. If the Bonifacio move didn't happen then I could sort of see how this would make sense as he can play multiple positions but no thanks now.

Is AJ still a fa? Might as well sign him so we can really make Hawk happy. But ya, this is the first move all offseason that I really don't understand at all.

Crayons.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jan 28, 2015 -> 10:57 AM) Gotta be. The fourth COULD be Micah Johnson, but I don't think Law is high on him. He was drafted more than 2 years ago though. It's definitely Rodon, Anderson, Montas and Adams.

Zander Bogaerts should be spelled like this.

I think that blurb sums up everything pretty well. EDIT: and good call Wite, he's definitely talking about Rodon, Anderson, Montas and Adams there.

12 huh? I'm impressed.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 27, 2015 -> 07:00 PM) Get ready for a Bulls win!!! Do it boys! Hinrich puts up 16 tonight! 16 what?

QUOTE (Brian @ Jan 27, 2015 -> 05:07 PM) Network surpasses 1 million subscribers! #CancelWWENetwork my ass, marks! Those figures were before the rumble fyi.