Balta1701

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 20, 2015 -> 10:47 AM) If you added Russell Martin and Nelson Cruz instead of Cabrera, where would we be? With a $140 million payroll this year and a mandate from ownership to cut spending, most likely.

QUOTE (bulokis @ Jun 20, 2015 -> 10:17 AM) I know he only pitches every 5 days, and we lose half of the games he pitches but I dont think trading Sale is the answer. His deal alone is so cheap, he buys as at least 2 years to change the make up of the offense. And when we are ready to compete, we still have a young ACE in the rotation. Fine...then there is 1 requirement. Give me a roadmap to fixing this offense in 2 years that actually works. It can't rely on magic, it can't rely on Abreu and Eaton becoming their 2014 selves because they might not, it can't rely on Garcia being much better than this, it can't rely on Tim Anderson, it has to be done using the stuff in our system and a handful of additional free agent signings but still bargain basement ones because we have so many different positions to fill for 2017. I for one would look at that and say "I can't do it", but then I'd end up fired as a GM, so I might as well trade Quintana and see if that fills a few of the holes.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jun 20, 2015 -> 10:21 AM) This is not true. KW drafted safe players such as Broadway and McCullough and people on this board comolained and wanted him to draft the high risk but high reward players to try to get a superstar. His draft phiosophy changed a d now people complain about it. The bottom line is that its just bad drafting with the wrong platers regardless of philosophy. Edit: sorry for the double post. And then the White Sox stopped drafting the safe looking pitcher and went with this left hander who threw 99 with a crazy motion who dropped to them in part because of injury concerns, in part because of signability, gave him an option to get to their slot, and then he did whatever the **** that was last night that I still can't figure out. They actually fixed their pitching drafting philosophy.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jun 20, 2015 -> 09:28 AM) They didn't like the way Phegley called games. Phegley was done with the White Sox. Semien is just a guy. His defense will always drag down his good hitting. Which is, to note, another indictment of the White Sox coaching and development. Other teams are ok with figuring out how to develop Phegley and Semien, we get them up quickly, decide we don't like them, declare them unteachable, and then move on.

QUOTE (dpd9189 @ Jun 20, 2015 -> 09:43 AM) I like Hahn and I think he knows what has to be done but the question is will the Sox let him do it. The Sox have always been very stubborn when it comes to the "R" word but what they've been doing is clearly not working. I said it this past week but this team needs to follow the Northsiders' lead and do a full scale rebuild. It won't be pretty but if you look at the Cubs now they're a team on the rise with bright future and money to spend. If the Sox start this asap they can maybe be competitive again before Sale hits Free Agency in 2020. They have some nice young arms to build around in Sale, Q, Rodon and Fulmer but they have nothing aside from Abreu as far as position players go and that needs to change. Do you really think Rick Hahn came in and said that spending $50 million+ per year over the next 2 years in order to win right now was a bad move and the White Sox told him "no you must"?

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Jun 20, 2015 -> 09:31 AM) The comp pick is actually real valuable. It allows you a ton of draft flexibility in this new system. I liken it to a cute toy. I went back 5 years to look at previous comp rounds to see what people got out of them. From the comp round 5 years ago, only a handful of players have made the big leagues at all and the total bWAR out of that comp round is negative. If you go back 6 or more years you find that about 50% of the players taken in the comp round make the big leagues and usually out of 20-30 picks you find 2 really solid, all star caliber players. Even given the salary flexibility...I would much, much rather have a single player who is performing at AAA than a comp pick. Far higher chances of them becoming a useful big leaguer overall and you don't have to wait 5+ years for them to arrive at the big league roster. "Comp pick in 2016 = 2020/2021 arrival for a normal team and 2022/2023 contributor, with a 50% chance they never make it to the bigs at all and an 80-90% chance of not being a contributor"

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jun 19, 2015 -> 11:24 PM) I don't know, but it's not Rick Hahn. It probably is the coaching staff, but that isn't his fault. By the way I think Hahn's plan was absolutely terrible and a set of terrible mistakes from top to bottom, but if people want to come out hard for "This would have been a winning roster if they had a decent coaching staff but instead they have the worst" I'm at least going to listen.

QUOTE (BigHurt3515 @ Jun 19, 2015 -> 11:21 PM) Yeah, not sure what else he is suppose to say. The sad thing is...that's become a completely fair question. Hell at least people are still asking questions enough to care. The end of the season they won't even bother.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jun 19, 2015 -> 11:01 PM) Look, I'm as frustrated as anyone with this team. But Rick Hahn did a tremendous job over the offseason of putting this roster together. Yes, he should be taking more action now, and I think we'll see some very soon, but coming into the year, I was pleased with his work. Before the season, the general concerns on this site were -Catcher -Second base -Back of rotation -Bullpen We were right, as these positions have not performed well for us. However, how could you fault Rick Hahn for the performance of proven veterans? Melky's .240 batting average could not have been predicted, given that he has excelled in recent seasons, even post-steroids. Samardzija is coming off a ~3.00 ERA season, Eaton is supposed to be a .300 hitter, Alexei has never hit this poorly in a season, etc. My point is, it seems as if almost everything has gone wrong this year, but it's not Hahn's fault, because our players are severely underperforming. That is out of his control. So, you're in for "Rick Hahn put together a solid roster but some mysterious effect has somehow managed to impact the entire roster". I assume you're in for "this is all on the team's management and coaching staff and they all need to be gone top to bottom" because that's where your logic leads. What other process could cause the entire roster to underperform so completely?

@paul_casella This is the fourth time that Sale has gone 8+ IP without allowing an ER and not gotten the win since 2012, most by any pitcher in that span.

QUOTE (AustinIllini @ Jun 19, 2015 -> 10:53 PM) What can you possibly get? If the Cubs came calling for Sale, what would you want in return? They have a ton of talent. The one guy they aren't going to give up. You know which name that is.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 19, 2015 -> 10:47 PM) Firing Kenny Williams wouldn't do anything positive and it would probably hurt. If you're going to fire front office people, you've got to clean house. How? How exactly do you make things worse? If Angels don't come back we will have worst winning %age in the AL after tonight. How do you make things worse than "worst team in the league"? I guess we could have a squirrel jump onto Sale in the dugout but I don't think the team Pres going would cause that.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 19, 2015 -> 10:44 PM) Thing is, Ventura might be the greatest manager in the world. However, it's not working with this team/organization. They've played horrible baseball ever since they collapsed down the stretch a few years ago. It's beyond time for a change. It's a lot easier to fire coaches than it is every player that isn't performing. I think we should try to fire both. All the players, GM, and coaching staff.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 19, 2015 -> 10:42 PM) Yes. Wait, read whole post, that was just replying to the headline.

Yes.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 19, 2015 -> 10:41 PM) Firing Robin isn't going to cure this team's ills. But when they are ready to identify a good manager I'm all for Robin retiring, of course. I hate signs like that. Classless fan. I mean you think Robin Ventura is to blame for this mess? True he's not meant to be a manager, but it's the fault of these lousy players, not Robin. Again, I want Robin gone, but I also want many many players gone. Hey I was waiting for you! You wanna repeat that whole thing about Robertson being best closer in baseball?

Red Sox up 6 runs in the 8th, Oakland up 4-1 with Gray on the mound but earlier. If both win we will have the worst winning %age in the AL after tonight.

Ohay 10 below .500.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Jun 19, 2015 -> 12:40 PM) If we don't win this one I don't know what we'll have to do to set up a win. I have no idea what will have to happen before we win another game.

QUOTE (Condor13 @ Jun 19, 2015 -> 10:35 PM) He deserves to pitch for Toronto. But I don't think they have enough to trade for him. Donaldson?

Dadgummit.

I saw Eaton get hit, hope rose, then Hawk excitedly said "and here comes Melky" and suddenly my heart dropped. Prove me wrong Melky, you've already got in as "automatic disappointment" in my ears.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jun 19, 2015 -> 10:25 PM) 111 pitches....he could have gone another inning, but then you don't have one of the highest paid closers in baseball for nothing. Robertson's cutter is very flat now, no depth...and he doesn't trust the knuckle curve as much for his strikeout pitch. 4 blown saves now...on a pace for 9-10. Don't think we'll be trading him, either. And Greg called him "The best closer in baseball" yesterday. I laughed.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jun 19, 2015 -> 10:25 PM) Flowers inability to block a pitch in the dirt killed the Sox that inning. They'd still have blown the save.

QUOTE (Jose Abreu @ Jun 19, 2015 -> 10:23 PM) Pitch count Didn't Chris throw like 125 last time out?