Balta1701

QUOTE (Feeky Magee @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 09:30 PM) It's nonsense for this team to even pretend to be still competing when they trot out Danks every 5th day. They have more than one player in the org who is a much better option. Brad Penny or Scott Carroll?

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 09:29 PM) This has to be it for Danks. He is just a waste of money. Please again stop thinking about how important it is to win every game. It's not any more. Beck is on the DL right now and Johnson will benefit from more time at AAA. Just suck it up and pitch him through the AS break.

Well that's that.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 09:23 PM) Not anymore.. I don't understand how Hahn and Williams can watch this s*** every day and not make any sort of move. And how Robin hasn't benched Alexei yet To do what, put Sanchez at SS? To play Beckham and Gillaspie every day?

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 09:19 PM) Been saying all winter (as well as another poster) that they needed to trade Alexei one year early before it's one year too late. He has pretty much proved my point all year. Has really regressed. Trading Alexei last year was committing to 2015 as a rebuilding year because that was one more position where they wouldn't have a veteran contributor. They weren't willing to make that commitment, as we saw with the extra $50 million spent this offseason.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 08:56 PM) It's not about saving the season, it's about having an extended look at him against major league hitters. We need to know what we have in him and the larger the sample the more confident we'll feel. We're clearly going to have to move some pitching this offseason to fix our offense, whether it's a major league piece or prospects, and I know I'd feel a lot better about moving pitching if I felt Johnson could hold the #4 spot quite effectively. Waiting until Samardzija is traded is not a bad thing in this case and I'd suggest that's what we should be thinking about with EJ. Get him used to dominating.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 08:51 PM) Honestly, just throw his ass in the bullpen. See if he gains a couple MPH on his fastball if used in short stints. If not, then you simply DFA him and eat the money. At this point, we have to accept the fact other teams will not view him as a major league starter. No reason to keep trotting him out there every 5 days when a better internal option is available IMO. I have no major issue with that, but note that we don't need to be rushing with EJ and suggest being patient with him is a particularly good idea.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 08:43 PM) It's not like we have a former top prospect who is dominating AAA once again and appears to be ready for another big league opportunity. As I said yesterday...give him time down there. Some of the things we have heard suggest that a big part of his struggles last year were mental-driven, so giving him time to fully have his confidence together is not a bad thing. It's not like EJ is going to "Save this season".

QUOTE (Real @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 08:24 PM) if the sox actually care about winning, they'd put danks on the 60 day and just let him collect dust for the rest of the year Just to say again...the MLBPA would never allow this.

QUOTE (Mike F. @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 07:04 PM) Robertson MIGHT have a chance if he starts to pitch well again. He was dominating for a long time until he hit a road bump a few weeks ago. Go take a look at how good some of the other relievers are. There are 5 different guys with ERAs under 1. That doesn't count the guy with 23 saves and 0 blown saves in the pen across the park from us tonight or Andrew Miller with a whopping 0.68 WHIP. Robertson is not even close. You could fill an entire AS staff with relievers out of the AL, ignoring the Starters, and Robertson still wouldn't belong on it.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 06:51 PM) If there are really people on the fence, I think outside pressure is more likely to result in people sympathetic to the flag, and not the reverse. This is the deep south we are talking about. Every major civil rights event results in a major boom in the Klan, and not people leaving it. Yankees pushing them to take down the flag isn't going win sympathy with people who already have leanings that way. Then don't be scared of the Klan and do it because it's the right thing to do.

Neither Robertson nor Abreu are anywhere close.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 05:17 PM) Wait, what? Are you serious? if you read through the subsequent posts at least it's a more muddled case than it appears at first glance.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 05:17 PM) The difference being freedom of speech here would actually prevent the banning of it. Considering that Nazi groups still operate in Germany, I think it is clear that banning a flag doesn't change racism. Should SC fly the flag, no. What I don't buy is that somehow the flag is somehow responsible for anything. It is a symbol of hatred, but it does not create hatred. Taking it down won't change any of that, and actually could have the opposite effect of giving a rallying cry for all of the racist idiots in the south. I could see it serving as a great recruiting tool for groups like the Klan by making these groups feel under attack in their demented way. The general problem with this logic is that it ignores the ability to create an environment where this stuff is ok. Sure it wasn't the flag on that day that did it, it wasn't any specific time someone called a black person a n***** around him, it wasn't any particular instance...but every one of those little insults, those little statements that African Americans aren't viewed as human in this part of the world...they build up together.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 04:46 PM) The only myth here is that Castro is owed 50+ million dollars. Bout $45 million if you prorate this season and assume option isn't picked up.

QUOTE (LDF @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 02:29 PM) thanks i understand that now.... it is kinda of simple.... jeez. but how bad is he defensively?? Without going too far into advanced stats, his range is below average and he commits an above average number of errors per year. He's not terrible but he's below average.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 02:26 PM) I don't know if his contract is bargain enough to consider him a huge piece of a trade at this point. If all we do is use fWAR at its most basic, his contract started in 2013. 2013-2015 he's been paid $16.8 million and unless he improves upon this season's early start, he will have been worth about 2fWAR. In other words, based on what he's done during this contract so far...he's actually been slightly overpaid. If we were sitting in a position where we were desperate for a SS to make a competitive run immediately I'd take the gamble on absorbing that contract and probably even give up something non-terrible for it. However, there's an equal chance that he keeps this performance level up and becomes even more overpaid as his contract increases. I just don't think I'd do it with where this White Sox team sits. It wouldn't outrage me, it might be a worthy gamble to take, but it's definitely a gamble.

QUOTE (LDF @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 02:10 PM) well i will give way to you and all on this point. i really don't follow the northsiders and i am looking at the only the stats for the last 2 yrs, i am way over my head on this stats that you use. Use the simple ones. Castro has a .658 OPS this year. Castro had a .631 OPS in 2013. Those numbers are really bad unless a guy is a plus defender which Castro is not. His OPS in 2014 was .777 which is a really solid number in this league even if he's not a great fielder, but 2 of the last 3 seasons he's been really rotten with the bat.

QUOTE (LDF @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 01:53 PM) the problem for me, is not knowing those advance stats. but for me, getting rid of danks and his salary vs who can help now and in the future at SS does that for me. it is a win - win situation. Not if Castro is performing like this. It actually would make us worse.

So far this year, Starlin Castro has been worth -0.4 fWAR, John Danks has been worth 0.6 fWAR. Castro was a solid player last year, 2.7 fWAR in 2014, but he was a negative player in 2013 as well. I'd probably still take his contract on since our SS position is a gaping hole, but this is closer than the immediate responses make it sound.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 01:11 PM) <!--quoteo(post=3184779:date=Jun 22, 2015 -> 11:27 AM:name=NorthSideSox72)-->QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 11:27 AM) <!--quotec-->Just curious, because I see this from a number of places (not just your post)... if this guy is evil, using some variety of racism/white power/KKK as a mask or banner to hide behind... would you say the same about extremist Islamic terrorists? That it isn't about religion, but about evil individuals? I would ask the same question of our more liberal posters. Every time a Muslim commits an evil act we are constantly reminded by media, politicians and so on how this was a 'lone wolf' and in no way represents Islam. However EVERY TIME a white guy does something, and double if he even remotely appears to be conservative, Republicans and conservatives are bombarded to distance themselves from him, apologize and so on. I have zero in common with this Dylan asshole other than he shares the same skin color as me. I feel no kinship or empathy with him because he happens to be white like me. QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Apr 27, 2015 -> 09:54 PM) The best way to change stereotypes is to perform the stereotypical act. Good job young black males of baltimore. Because there's the exact same standard being applied.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 12:32 PM) So it's wrong to be aggressive promoting players unless you are going to promote them into the pressures of a pennant race? For a similar comparison...typically I would not think it was advisable to jump a pitcher from 201 innings during a year up to 270 and that doing so was genuinely a risk to that pitcher's health. However, given the choice between letting Bumgarner destroy everyone he faced last postseason and shutting him down, letting him continue to pitch was a worth-while gamble. I would make a similar gamble with Chris Sale if I were the manager of the team he signs with when he leaves Chicago as a free agent.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 12:27 PM) One other thing people forget when these tragedies occur - rates of deadly crime in this country have, nearly across the board, been on a downward trend for a couple decades now. Some places saw a tick up the past few years, which is economic in basis. But overall, crime is headed down. It just seems there may be more of a certain KIND of crime, combined with the fact that we hear more about it now because of technology. Yet people jump to the conclusion that there is some sort of trend here - there isn't. Several studies have come out in recent years arguing that the rate of "Mass shootings" classified typically as 4 or more people shot in a single event is actually going up and in some cases fairly rapidly.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 12:32 PM) So it's wrong to be aggressive promoting players unless you are going to promote them into the pressures of a pennant race? It's certainly a gamble. Player comes up before they're ready, struggles a little bit, develops a bad habit to compensate, and the end result is that you could hurt the player's long term production. However, Minnesota's CF has been really bad this year, they've gotten a .573 OPS out of their center field slot this year, so if all Buxton can come up and do is put up a .675 OPS he'd still improve their lineup. It is a gamble, but it is a gamble that does have a solid potential reward.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jun 22, 2015 -> 12:20 PM) I agree - why are they calling him up now with only 1/2 a season in AA ball that was good, not great? Because they're actually in a pennant race, unexpectedly to boot, so he can actually help the team right now. I kinda get that.