whitesoxfan101

I don't think LeBron could shock anybody with what he does after how the playoffs went, it's all wide open at this point. The most surprising thing he could do I think is stay in Cleveland, but even that wouldn't be a complete shock. I think he's leaving though, the question is where. I'm not a big fan of hiring John Calipari, but if that's what it takes to get LeBron here, send a private jet with a blank check inside of it to Lexington, Kentucky as far as I'm concerned.

I'm not sure anybody really has any idea what LeBron (or any other free agent for that matter) is actually going to do. People are just kind of adding together circumstantial evidence and guessing what people will do based on that. The only thing we do know is that Chicago is an attractive destination for somebody if they do want to leave their current team, which is why this summer is going to be interesting.

I definitely agree it's hard to evaluate Kobe. Even the most unbiased observer would have a hard time separating his resume with his current level of play and skill. He probably only has 2 or 3 more truly outstanding seasons left in him, so his clock is ticking.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2010 -> 03:27 PM) So, in other words, yes, it's possible. The Reds have some reinforcement arms on the way then. Even if they just stick Volquez in the bullpen at the end of the year. They stay close early, and that could get interesting. The interesting thing about the Reds is they have made it pretty well known that they are willing to add help (aka add payroll) before the deadline if the team can stay in the race, which is a new stance for that organization.

I always want to say Deron Williams deserves more credit than he gets as a player, but I worry i'm just being biased since he went to Illinois. I also think Carmelo Anthony deserves more credit than he gets too. You can't hold his defense against him, and ignore the defense of Kevin Durant (although Durant could still improve on defense, and he did show some things against the Lakers, whereas I doubt Carmelo does.) Rajon Rondo is a guy that deserves more love now too IMO, as much as I hate Rondo and the old guys in Boston are playing well right now, Rondo is awesome.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 13, 2010 -> 03:21 PM) Is there any chance of a Volquez sighting this year? I believe he's allowed to serve his 50 game suspension while injured (which is a joke, but that's the rules) so that's not an issue. The earliest you could see him back in the majors is around the trade deadline, but odds are it might take longer than that. I'd be willing to bet you'll see him sometime in August if his rehab goes well and the Reds are anything resembling in the race.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ May 13, 2010 -> 03:15 PM) Yeah, you're right, my accurate posts included with all these FAIL posts doesn't seem to fit. Kevin Durant is the 2nd best player in the league? Chris Paul is better than Kobe Bryant? Dwyane Wade is as good as Kobe Bryant? Where is Carmelo Anthony? And Dwight Howard making 60 percent of his free throws doesn't change how good he is.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ May 13, 2010 -> 02:44 PM) The story I heard was that Hawk also turned around and told other people (even making Wimpy out to be the butt of jokes). Yep that's what I heard too. I could see Hawk being kind of a douche, same goes for Farmer re: fathon saying he heard he's extremely difficult to work with.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ May 13, 2010 -> 02:13 PM) My rankings 1. Lebron 2. Durant 3. Paul 4. Wade 4b. Kobe 5. Howard (too many ways to limit his effectiveness) Well, you have number 1 right at least, so I guess that's a start. You can't come into a thread, call it "full of FAIL", and then put together a top 5 list like this though.

The hot Reds moved within 1/2 game of the ice cold Cardinals today, and the two teams have a 3 game series this weekend in Cincinnati. I know I say it every year, but one of these days the Reds are going to put it together for a full season and be in the race all the way through September.

If Chicago fans can learn to love Dennis Rodman and A.J. Pierzynski and ignore the fact that they tend to be pricks during games, they sure as heck can learn to do the same with LeBron James. All of this talk about such issues would be gone and never heard again the day LeBron signs here if it somehow happens.

QUOTE (SHIPPS @ May 13, 2010 -> 11:50 AM) Facebook had the potential to get me in many troubles. Haha why?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ May 11, 2010 -> 10:40 PM) So you are going to quit eating at the restaraunt, but you are still going to waste your time b****ing about it? I'll never understand it. Well restaurants and baseball teams are a lot different, so that's why it's a loose analogy. Are you saying I should either stop following the team, or just smile and not complain anytime things go wrong?

Alright, the Hawks have now matched the performance of last season, and it was fun to crush the soul of Vancouver again. Now that they've done that and the boogeyman in Detroit is gone, it's time to take it to another level. San Jose is going to be a very fun series, but we know the Hawks can beat them. Hopefully, they pull it off.

QUOTE (Brian @ May 11, 2010 -> 11:11 PM) He not playing Game 6? Haha home game. I think there is a very real chance he leaves if Boston knocks them out. He knows he won't be taken seriously in the greatest of all time talk unless he wins multiple titles, and to still be at zero after this year would really have to make him think.

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ May 11, 2010 -> 04:28 PM) Don't forget the intangible in Ozzie. His lineup and bullpen decisions are bewildering at best. I think the secret is out in our fanbase, but it amazes me how few people outside of it realize how poor a manager he is. Maybe the fact that he's bat s*** crazy just covers it up to people who don't watch us play everyday.

QUOTE (flavum @ May 11, 2010 -> 04:18 PM) Their OBP is awful. I would like to point out that we're 10th in the majors in walks despite being 2nd to last in batting average. If our batting average was just respectable, we'd actually be a pretty good OBP team. So we're not so much a bad OBP team as we can't hit.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ May 10, 2010 -> 02:43 PM) I've said it on here before that while I support Weber, if they aren't a legit top 15 type team next year it is time for him to go. I'm not saying he has to make the Sweet 16 because you just never know what will happen come tourney time but they need to be a top 4 seed type team the entire season. Does the school even have the money to replace him if this season goes poorly? I know the basketball program at U of I makes a ton of money, but the school is broke right now, just like every other college in this state. And considering he's recruiting pretty well, they have an excuse to keep him around.

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 11, 2010 -> 04:09 PM) No, there isn't...there is a huge difference between how that shapes your impressions of the team. Think just how easily 3 losses could have gone differently and been wins....now if you think you can predict with THAT much certainty just how good or bad this team is, after just 32 games, you are on crack. I am sorry, but you just can't. I would say you are both right. The Sox could easily have the 3 extra wins they need to be .500 right now with as close as a lot of games have been. But what about the close games they've won, like in the sweep of Seattle? Additionally, even if we ignore those, the Sox would have to come up with a stretch of ball six games above .500 to get back to break even, so as easily as this team could be .500, the difference between that and 13-19 is still significant.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ May 11, 2010 -> 04:05 PM) Rios isn't going anywhere. We've finally found an above average CF after years of bad. Well that's the other side of it. Even if i'm misreading his value, would the Sox want to trade him? The only way I would say yes is if they feel his strong start is a mirage, and considering his talent level, I doubt they feel that way.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 11, 2010 -> 04:01 PM) The one guy missing from your list is Rios...who I think is the key guy if you're going to do the firesale. I don't think you'll get too much value for him even if he keeps producing like this when you consider his history of turning it on and off, along with him still have a huge contract.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ May 11, 2010 -> 03:56 PM) The Sox will be in serious trouble if the team collapses. You guys should know that. We haven't dedicated enough money to the farm system and don't have a lot of tradeable assets to the contracts in place and the fact that most of our tradeable assets are guys we don't want to trade (Floyd/Danks) as they would be key building blocks. So Peavy/Konerko/Buehrle are all key guys that we could move, but wouldn't get a lot for due to there contracts. Paulie might be the exception on this because he's putting up massive numbers and only has this year remaining on his deal. But his pending FA will reduce his value a bit. Danks/Floyd/Quentin/Beckham/Ramirez are all guys that are potential building blocks that we probably wouldn't move because we'd have to trade for prospects and push everything back a few years. Quentin/Ramirez might be guys we'd look into trading, but there production hasn't been as good recently and because of that I don't know how beneficial a trade would be. Andruw Jones would be a good piece to sell come July if we aren't in it and he is still hitting. His contract is a steal and plenty of teams could use a player like him at his price. Jenks - most likely to get non-tendered Thornton - s***loads of value with 1 year remaining. If we were going to go into a rebuilding mode, we'd probably have to move him cause there is little value holding him due to the fact we would be a few years away. But the thing that is the most scary, is that if we were to go through a complete rebuilding due to salary restrictions, we just don't have the prospects at hand to even be close to being competitive. It would take years to get to that point, imo, since we don't have the trade chips necessary to help restock the system. We'd basically be completely reliant on the draft in the upcoming years to rebuild the system (outside of Viciedo, Flowers, Huddy, Morel and a few other guys). That is where Kenny's lack of setting aside enough resources towards our minor league player development and acquisitions has really killed the squad. Now this I agree 100 percent with, and it's also very scary to think about. If the Sox are going to go into rebuilding mode, more resources have to be put into minor league development, and we'll probably have to trade some people we really don't want to just to get some young talent back. And even then, it'll take us minimum a few years to get good again.

QUOTE (chw42 @ May 11, 2010 -> 03:54 PM) That joke is starting to get old. What is WAR by the way? Wins about replacement? And how do you measure that?

QUOTE (iamshack @ May 11, 2010 -> 03:52 PM) Do you think the fans of THOSE teams thought it was likely at this point in those seasons? They would have said the same thing! Of course not, which is why you wait until July before taking action on a team. But I don't think the fans of those teams who assumed their teams sucked turned out to be dumb because their squad was one of the small minority who overcame absolutely sucking for the first several weeks. At some point, you are what you are. We're not quite at that point yet (I personally think the Memorial Day/June 1st region is a good time to first evaluate what your team is), but we're getting there quickly.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 11, 2010 -> 03:44 PM) Everytime I think I want the Sox to lose to better the organization, I remember that no one has been held responsible in a long time for the struggles on the field (ie: Greg Walker). Also, as others have accurately stated, the more this team loses now, the more we will lose in attendance and the result will be loser payroll in upcoming seasons. I root more for guys like Kotsay and Vizquel to perform poorly (if we're going to lose, of course) in order to provide more chances for Nix, etc. As much as I might state that I don't mind if we lose, I know that every game we win, my optimism for the next game and a possible win streak rises. That's the counter argument to us just completely falling flat helping the organization. Maybe in the vacuum of common sense it does, but people like Kenny, Ozzie, and Greg Walker seem to have lifetime contracts because of 2005 unfortunately. Even beyond that though, even if we assume any or all of those 3 could be fired this season (and who really knows), losses=less attendance=less payroll which you would assume=less talent on the field in the future. Additionally, such could lead to a sick cycle of low payrolls, bad teams, and poor attendance.