chitownsportsfan

QUOTE (Knuckles @ Jan 31, 2017 -> 01:17 AM) Will be there Feb 28 to March 2. I will probably dedicate one full day to exploring the sights around the canyon. Hope to catch one home game, and the game @ Giants. I like that the area offers a little bit of everything. Plenty of great eating, clubs if you're into that, recreation, just relaxing, just a nice area. I've been to spring training in FL as well, albeit only in college for baseball training, and IMO as an adult I'd prefer Phoenix area over Ft. Myers 10/10. Beaches in Ft Myers sure but the overall experience of the Valley is better.

thanks for the writeup guys. The job seems to be taking a physical toll on Hahn based on some photos I've seen.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Jan 30, 2017 -> 01:20 PM) Those two are attached at the hip. No reason to move Jose right now given that Moncada is critical to the future and it would behoove the Sox to do everything possible to make sure he's in a great state of mind entering this season. Moncada either steps into the bigs this year, holds his own (say coming up in July for a good 250+ PA run) or he stalls and his status as a potential superstar takes a big hit.

QUOTE (Con te Giolito @ Jan 25, 2017 -> 04:28 PM) Yea I'm just trolling GOT YOU GUYS haha I was kidding all along. Can we trade you as part of the rebuild?

QUOTE (Con te Giolito @ Jan 25, 2017 -> 04:11 PM) Sox should have most of what wont be around in 3 years pretty much gone already, especially those are in their contract years and costing over $10m. This is not something ridiculous to ask for and it hardly means to the rebuild should all wrapped up by now. It shouldn't take a full calendar year to turn this ship around and embark on a new direction. haste makes waste. they've been bad for the better part of a decade. Now is not the time to rush. We aren't even close to a "full calendar year" if that's your own particular criteria. The rebuild officially started with the Sale trade, that wasn't even two months ago.

QUOTE (shipps @ Jan 18, 2017 -> 03:33 PM) For sure dude. This place is pretty cool, ton of great beer, lots of great looking coeds from ASU around...

glad to see so many posters headed down there. I can't wait.

QUOTE (joejoedairy @ Jan 18, 2017 -> 12:54 PM) Not going to be there for SXSW actually. Just have heard good things about Austin and have wanted to go for a while. austin is a lot of fun you'll enjoy it. Iron Works BBQ downtown is pretty solid. Check out the bat caves on the river at night if you can, seeing them all fly out is pretty intense.

QUOTE (joejoedairy @ Jan 17, 2017 -> 11:20 AM) I'm not going this year after going the last two years. Going to Austin instead. Camelback is great but it is pretty far away from the phoenix/tempe/scottsdale area. I think our cab was over an hour (traffic didnt help). Last year we went to a sox road game in an effort to see more of the stadiums and we'll probably continue that if we go back in the future. The angels stadium is probably in the best spot location wise but they are all within driving distance. SXSW? I went back in '09. Great time, not sure I'd go back now though from what I here it's not what it was, too many tech bros, not about the music and party anymore so much. Seems similar to Burning Man or Coachella once a festival gets too big it loses some of what made it unique. Austin in March is great as is the gulf coast. We drove from Houston to Galveston, stayed two nights on the beach in San Padre (the actual national seashore not the party beach) and then drove to Austin for SXSW. Gotta make a spring trip somewhere almost every year or I go stir crazy up North. The nice thing about Phoenix is it feels so nice and open and warm coming from Seattle where everything is gloomy that time of year.

With February only 2 weeks away why not start dreaming about the crack of the bat and smell of hot dogs under the warm Arizona sun?! I'll be in town from March 2-6 and will be looking to hit up at least a couple games that weekend at Camelback. Sox spring schedule is here. Please put any travel tips you have as well in this thread. Just some general tips: 1) Everything is pretty centralized and easy to get to in the Valley. Camelback is a bit "out there" by Phoenix standards (about a 20-30 minute drive depending on what part you're around) but there are shuttle services and rental cars are usually only about $20-30 a day. 2) Weather in late Feb/Early March is usually low 50s at night and mid 70s during the day. By the later stages of spring training day time highs are usually around 80 and the lows in the mid 50s. If you're looking for more of "tropical feel" go later in March, but if you're coming from Chicago you're in for a treat whenever you go. 3) Hotwire.com is my go to for great deals on Phoenix hotels. the "Mystery Hotels" by region are especially good because everything is so connected it really don't matter if you stay (for example) in Scottsdale or Tempe, just go where the best deal is is my advice. Even 2 and 3 star hotels in Phoenix usually have an out door pool. 4) Budget for food. I've found that the eats around Phoenix are about as good as it gets, especially if you like Mexican fusion and steakhouses, and who doesn't love that? In general drinks at bars are $5-8, pretty reasonable, and most high end dining comes in at around 20-$50 a head, which is quite a bit lower than Chicago or where I'm at in Seattle. 5) At most parks they just charge general admission and you can either walk up and buy tickets or purchase them online and print them out. At Camelback when I went two years ago both games weren't exactly packed and you had plenty of space to move around. I'm guessing if Chicago plays the Cubs it will be packed so maybe get to that one a bit early. If you go early that's usually when the players are signing. Have a good pen and plenty of memorabilia ready. I got an Abreu signed ball when I went took some persistence but he signed. Helps to have a kid or two on your arm! Hope to see some of you there!

QUOTE (ChiliIrishHammock24 @ Jan 13, 2017 -> 02:58 AM) Yeah, he could very well hit something like .260 with an OBP around .390 and 30 dingers. Moncada might be more of a .295 hitter with an OBP around .370 and 20 dingers. I guess it's kind of preference as to which of those statlines you'd prefer to have. At catcher and 2b?! Give me either statline and non butcher defense and you'll have a star.

QUOTE (JRL @ Jan 12, 2017 -> 10:52 PM) Speaking in broad generalizations like this is useless. It's certainly possible the market won't get any better for Quintana. There are ample reasons why that could occur. It's equally possible that it does get better. Based on the info we have, we don't know whether to read it one way or the other. Painting it unless it's a complete "BS offer" he should be traded is meaningless. These things work on a continuum of current offers vs potential future offers and the probability in the trading team's estimation that those future offers are likely to come about; not in 2 neat categories of "BS offers" and "non-BS offers" I'll be the first to say Kenny hasn't been the best baseball ops guy/GM, but he and Hahn are not a bunch of imbeciles who just happened to stumble upon a baseball team and have no clue how to read these situations. They may be making the wrong decision, but it's clear that they don't believe that they are foregoing better offers by having not traded him yet. Otherwise, they would have already traded him. To say that the best market for him is unequivocally right now just simply ignores a lot of possibilities, that are equally likely based on the lack of info we truly have about the situation, and possibilities those people running the Sox clearly currently consider as having a pretty strong likelihood with the much better info on the situation that they have at their disposal. post more.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Jan 11, 2017 -> 01:25 PM) Like who? Please don't say Moncada as he shouldn't be a factor until June or July at the earliest. sanchez, who is younger, and potentially a very good defender, and Sally. Even if Moncada doesn't show up until July, that's still only 80 games available at 2B. if you want to invite him to spring fine, but a MLB offer would be insane, and the 40 man is full right now, they'd have to cut someone.

QUOTE (2005thxfrthmmrs @ Jan 11, 2017 -> 12:57 AM) The team that DFA'd him is looking to win the World Series. We are in a place where we should take on a reclamation projects (I honestly think he's one of the best reclamation projects left in the market), playing guys like Sanchez or Leury who has not projections left is not going to help this franchise. If Micah flopped, then more L for us. If he turns it around offensively or defensively, we could get something out of him down the road. I know dreams die hard man but Micah...he sucks. He's almost 27 and just put up a resounding wRC+ of 82 in AAA. In 7 games at 2B for the Dodgers, he managed a wRC+ of 14 and the dodgers almost exclusively used him as a PR, they only gave him 4 innings at 2B. he hits like a s***ty SS and he fields like a s***ty 3B but can't actually play 3B, or any other position for that matter, other than 2B, where he has a decent arm and obviously range but zero natural baseball instinct or hands. His hands are brutal. Maybe you switch him to the OF but what does it even matter he can't hit for s*** anyways... He's too old to take a flyer on the Sox have better, younger options already on the 40 man.

QUOTE (2005thxfrthmmrs @ Jan 8, 2017 -> 01:54 PM) It sucks, but what's new? This franchise has been cursed in developing hitters. We have not developed one single position player in the last 16 years. It's really an incredible feat when you come to think about it and how many good hitters has played in the MLB in that time span, and none of those were developed by the Sox. It also hurts to see some of our mid tier prospects got traded away and found success with another org, guys like Chris Young, Chris Carter, and Paulo Orlando, maybe we'll even be sour with Tatis Jr. a few years down the road. well this isn't quite true. they developed semian and Tracye, but traded them.

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jan 7, 2017 -> 12:01 AM) Not seeing too much of Derek Fisher's name but he'd definitely be a name I'd be targeting. Projects as the #33 prospect in baseball per Fangraphs' KATOH statistical projection system (highest Astro aside from Bregman), in 2016 hit .245/.373/.431 at AA and .290/.347/.505 at AAA. Probably limited to left-field but a plus runner. yea but can he coach the triangle offense?

QUOTE (heirdog @ Jan 6, 2017 -> 08:14 PM) I love all of these "untouchables" on other teams. Quintana is an absolute stud and is beyond "untouchable"...but guess what, he is touchable. And so are these supposed untouchables from other teams. The stare downs will continue until someone breaks...and someone will break, it just won't be Hahn. right, it won't likely be on Hahn until sometime in the middle of July, there's little pressure on him to get a deal done right now. If a team that wants to contend in 2017 thinks Q is the answer, well, they probably want him now rather than in July and might get an itchy trigger finger.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jan 5, 2017 -> 08:29 PM) He is criminally underrated/undervalued on this site. He could definitely get a top-50 guy, plus one other top-150 guy. Not a chance in hell. He'd get you a B prospect (eg Basabe) and maybe a couple C+ types (eg "A" ball pitchers the Sox maybe have targeted) Jose doesn't have much surplus value and most teams aren't looking for a guy that is probably better as a full time DH assuming you have a halfway decent defensive 1B. His defense isn't "adequate" it's bad, at a fairly easy position to fill. He's projected for about 2.1 WAR by STEAMER and a wRC+ of 119. That's good, that's a solid starter, but the projections reflect his bad 1st half just as much as his hot August and they think overall has trending the wrong way. From the eye test he still has the massive pitch recognition flaws he did his rookie year, except now there's a book on him and nobody will challenge him middle in so he relies more on hitting mistakes. I like Jose, he's a class act, but as a trade asset he's middling. It might be better to hold onto him and see if he gets hot and is worth more in July.

QUOTE (Lip Man 1 @ Jan 5, 2017 -> 12:26 AM) As someone who is in the business and does play by play (and is also a White Sox fan / historian) I can certainly appreciate Hawk's passion and love for the team. However its clear at 75 he is no longer sharp, certainly not what he was even 10 years ago. That's not his fault, its the human condition. However Hawk's ego I think refuses to understand that time waits for no one. He needs to call it a well deserved day, appreciate what he's done for the franchise and step aside gracefully. Over and above the diminished skills, there's the long periods of silence when things are going bad (even though the game is still going on), the uneasy relationships with a number (not just Stone) of his broadcast partners over the years (let's not forget why Paciorek left), the haranguing of umpires (certainly deserved at times but very unprofessional. You can get the point across about bad calls, bad umpires without being petty and vindictive) Hawk can't or won't recognize these shortcoming. He won't even try to adjust and correct them. It comes down to ego and he's got a big one. And to be fair there are very few folks in the business who don't have some ego, that's one of the reasons they got into it in the first place. Bottom line though is that for good or bad, like him or not, as long as JR owns the team and as long as he wants to work, he'll have a job. I just hope that I've got the good sense to know when its my time, to face it honestly and admit I simply don't have it anymore on the level that I work. Mark I agree with this, most of it I just wrote earlier today

QUOTE (Big Hurtin @ Jan 4, 2017 -> 07:53 PM) I'd rather listen to the ambient sound of a public restroom in a village with a cholera outbreak, than listen to Hawk call another game. literal lol.

QUOTE (ChiSoxFanMike @ Jan 4, 2017 -> 05:52 PM) Cool. I have a hard time understanding how anybody that isn't 25-35ish can enjoy Hawk. I'm right in the middle of that demographic and while I have countless fond memories of Hawk called games they do nothing, absolutely nothing for me, when it's 8-1 Indians in the bottom of the 7th and Hawk is babbling on about whatever it is that he thinks is important other then calling the game. When his partner (who can blame him) then gets pouty, as Stone does, it's even worse. Does Benetti have areas to improve? Hell yea. Is it obvious he wouldn't know a banana turn from a banana boat? Yes. Is he at times overly defferintial to Stone? Sure. But those are all fixable flaws that will improve with experience. Hawk's flaws are not fixable, they are like a wart, on a pretty girl, sure, no big deal, but Hawk is no longer a pretty girl, he's aged. His calls are often inaccurate, he loses his voice or misses an inning because he's old and has to spend 20 minutes taking a piss or a point Stone makes goes completely over his head because mentally he's not nearly as sharp as he was even 5 year ago. Time waits for no man. Hawk's time is long ago gone. Vince Scully, who has had a few "senior moments" in the booth as well, knew it was time to retire because he has a self awareness completely foreign to the egotistical Hawk. Unfortunately, much like KW, Hawk appears to have a lifetime pass in Chicago. Great.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Jan 4, 2017 -> 01:21 PM) I'm pretty sure it's insight like this that is why Hawk is still around, right? He can tell you that hitting ahead in the count is better than behind. What a tremendous, rare insight into the game of baseball.

Hawk has been objectively bad at his job (like can't see what's going on, doesn't actually do any analysis) for years. 1995 Hawk isn't walking through that door and he's only going to get worse as his faculties (mental and physical) abandon him. Benetti is fine. It doesn't surprise me DA loves Hawk, of course he does...

QUOTE (Kalapse @ Jan 3, 2017 -> 05:11 PM) Today is the 8th anniversary of the Swisher trade. Man time flies. I'm getting older, the days go slower, the years faster.

QUOTE (miracleon35th @ Jan 3, 2017 -> 03:41 PM) The heart of the Cubs rebuild was 4 or 5 young star position players. Once those players came up, the Cubs signed numerous veteran position players - ( Montero, Ross, Lastella, Zobrist, Heyward, Dexter Fowler) and several veteran pitchers. They spent a lot of money to build that roster. Other teams have approached rebuilding by focusing even more on free agents. Whatever works. For the White Sox, I don't envision a long slog to rebuild. That is based on two basic factors. First, I do not think Sox fans will be as patient as some claim they will be. Second, Reinsdorf wants to win and will spend money once he sees a path forward. Those old enough may recall when Reinsdorf/Einhorn acquired Fisk and Luzinski. They built a pretty decent roster around them, even though they never won it. And the 2005 World Series champs were not a team built after a long rebuilding effort. Now, the Sox need to assemble a core of 4 or 5 excellent position players. They already have a pretty decent core of pitching prospects. So Moncada, Tim Anderson and hopefully Zack Collins and perhaps two more premier position players. One might come soon, in a trade for Quintana. Then perhaps get lucky by flipping Gonzo mid season for a prospect if he has a decent year or getting a top prospect for Abreu during the season if he returns to his earlier form. No long term slog will be tolerated by fans or the Sox ownership. We may not get much in the 2017 Draft at #12, and who knows where we will Draft in 2018. So, as soon as this team starts showing it can start to compete, it will be time to start signing players, including free agents to add to the young core. I don't see the Sox tanking the team in 2017. No way they will be as bad as 4 or 5 other teams, even if they try. Another Fulmer or Rodon is not worth tanking a season. The Sox will try to compete in 2017 to the extent they can. I will root for them to win every game they can. I'm not sitting back waiting to win. Field the best team possible and play the games to win. One of these is not like the other. One is completely worth tanking for, the other is not. I've showed the graph time and time again: expected WAR of the first 2-3 picks is much, much greater than the rest of the 1st round. You need to suck hard to get the potential superstars. Yes, they don't always pan out, but more often than not if you draft top 3 you get at least an average MLB player eventually.