Balta1701

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Feb 1, 2015 -> 01:35 AM) Jerome Bettis isn't close to a hall of famer in my opinion. Decent player who was decent for a long time. Should we put every running back in who rushes for 10,000 yards? A guy like Clinton Portis had a much better peak than Bettis, rushed for nearly 10,000 yards but didn't play as long. Should he be in? Give me Terrell Davis all day over Bettis as well. If you put in Bettis you might as well also put in Steven Jackson, Fred Taylor and Corey Dillon, Frank Gore, Warrick Dunn etc. since they were all superior players and rushed for over 10,000 yards. You don't see any difference between being #6 all time and being ~#25 all time (which is where 10,000 yards in a career comes in)?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Jan 31, 2015 -> 10:32 PM) And yet Jerome Bettis was elected. Ok then. Nothing screams Hall of Fame like 3.9 yards per carry. Come on man, #6 running back in NFL history total yards, tied at #10 in rushing touchdowns? Pace will get in within a couple years, the NFL does this annoying thing where there's not enough slots so they kinda put people in to make sure they get in, but Bettis was a HOF running back by my standards.

QUOTE (HBaines03 @ Jan 31, 2015 -> 08:46 PM) You also wonder if Chris Sale could have won the CY Young award with a better bullpen to add a few more wins and keep ERA down lower. May have cost him some bonus money. I'm not saying the Sox have these issues but I could easily see locker room issues with starters getting on bullpen guys for blowing games they should have won. No, Chris Sale did not lose the cy young award because of the bullpen. Chris Sale lost the Cy Young award in 2014 because he missed a month of the season. Per start he was the best pitcher, but people almost as good as him per pitch also threw 50+ more innings. That's huge, that's like 7 more 8 inning starts for those 3.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 31, 2015 -> 10:24 PM) Well, that and there was apparently a falling out between Hudson and Cooper of some sort. I'm not mad that we traded Hudson. I'm mad that we got so little in return for him. Same basic idea with the Santos trade. When you're holding something useful, trading him for a very low valued piece is a terrible use of your resources. Throwing in another lefty who went on to develop a lot of trade value himself just made that even worse.

QUOTE (ptatc @ Jan 31, 2015 -> 09:14 PM) This combined with your comment about the US stealing DNA covertly really made me laugh. Yeah, uh, that...actually happened. NYT Yeah, we actually did that. So yeah, that's your intelligence agency, doing things you would otherwise call crazy and inhuman in your name for decades.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jan 31, 2015 -> 05:56 PM) I never said either of those, you two took it to those extremes. but if you think it has zero to do with it, you are just living with your heads in the sand. You know, if "Americans can't be at fault, it's all the dirty mexicans" is "taking it to it an extreme", the original statement "no comment on all the immigrants bringing it in" seems to be pretty much on the exact same level to me. Both of them look like satire. One of them was said seemingly believing it.

One thing that leaves me somewhat hopeful...this happened before with Measles. Late 1980s there was a resurgence of the disease, in part associated with a increasing number of people who didn't get the vaccine. There were some changes in vaccine recommendations, but the reality is that watching kids with the Measles was enough to encourage people to actually do the vaccinations for literally 30 years.

QUOTE (fathom @ Jan 31, 2015 -> 12:55 PM) I have been shocked at how low Anderson is showing up on these lists. I was expecting in the 35-40 range. Few/no other franchises would be expecting him before the end of 2016. That raw + that far away pushes him down a bit, makes sense to me.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 01:20 PM) Washington's long man right now is Tanner freaking Roark. THAT'S a surefire postseason team. Their entire starting 5 could have sub-3 eras. Probably won't, but they could. The problem there is diminishing returns. They're going to make the postseason, but how much use do they get from their high cost 4 and 5 starters down the stretch and in the postseason?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 12:58 PM) You could have said the same thing about 2015 a few months ago. Unless something goes horribly wrong and there are a lot of major injuries, the White Sox are done "retooling" for a while. Hahn admitted they are not quite where they want to be yet, but expected to be closer in the near future. In fact I did say that, with the caveat that I didn't expect the White Sox to blow their payroll up to $120 million. Do you expect them to push $140+ million next offseason? Because that's what it takes to keep Samardzija and then add one other quality piece.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 12:39 PM) Believe me, I'm in the camp that Shark is overpriced and overrated, so moving him at the deadline to get a decent prospect or two wouldn't upset me, and if we don't resign him and use the money on someone else, great. But if we DO resign him, with Hahn at the helm, we're not going to resign him at the expense of our competitiveness. That just doesn't seem like Hahn's MO. Question though, you don't think we should dump Alexei for Anderson, but who will fill Shark's shoes? You truly feel like '15 is our only chance at competitiveness? What if we let both of them walk in '16 and go out and spend all that money, while Rodon and one of our other young pitchers move up and take Danks and Noesi's spots? That gives us a lot of flexibility, and a lot of room to build a solid team. Like you said, the best answer for who fills Samardzija's spot in 2016 would be Rodon if you want to be able to sign someone else. He ought to be getting a rotation spot anyway and Danks will remain hard to move. If Noesi falls flat this year that leaves us needing a starting pitcher for 2016, if Noesi steps up like Cooper seems to think, then Rodon is gonna have to fit somewhere. That's the one guy I'm clearing a spot for in 2016 somehow. Alexei - trading him or not picking up his option is still a step towards "retooling" in '16. Rodon in the rotation in 2016 IMO is not.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 12:34 PM) Honestly, projecting 2016 - based on what Hahn did this year - seems close to impossible. Haha Hahn had money to play with this year. For him to have money to play with next year = a major playoff run this year or getting rid of Alexei or Samardzija or someone else like that, leaving a hole in their place.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 12:32 PM) Or we can start to be optimistic that some of our prospects like Anderson and Hawkins will make an impact. Especially our young pitching prospects. Their development saves a LOT of money (see Sale/Quintana). Let's not forget, Danks eventually will be off the books, too. The worst-case scenario is we're muddling around .500 at the All-Star break and get something nice back for Samardzija. The reality is that nobody should be running away with the AL Central this year, and the Tigers and Royals have both taken a step back to the field, if not two steps. That's why I said 2017. If we don't win this year, 2016 looks like a "retooling" year because you get several contracts off the books at the end of the year and you start working extremely raw rookies into the lineup.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 12:31 PM) Alexei is just as likely to put up a 1.5 WAR as he is a 3 WAR. And he's only getting older. This is an argument for why the White Sox won't be competitive either of those years, not an argument for why they'll be in shape to compete in 2016 even if they miss in 2015.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 12:30 PM) 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. Just treading water (Keeping Shark) = "Already spending a little more than 2015".

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 12:27 PM) It doesn't. You subtract Ramirez's money (putting you around $105 million) and you still have $20-25 million to play with. That money shouldn't go to an overpriced 3rd starter...for the same reason $90 million hasn't gone to James Shields yet. HOWEVER, if Shark proves himself to be a 2 or better, then it starts to become more justifiable based on the lesser wear and tear on his arm. Of course, a LOT is also dependent on what happens with Noesi/Danks and then the development of Rodon/Montas/Danish/Beck and Adams might very well be a fast mover as well. And as I just said, subtracting one of the better SS in the league and replacing him with a raw rookie = I don't know why I'm spending a big contract on a pitcher after the 2015 season.

QUOTE (Reddy @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 12:26 PM) take Alexei off the books, add Shark, and he becomes much more "affordable" And Tim Anderson as an incredibly raw rookie is ready to replace >3 WAR in 2016 why? It's one way to do it, but its also a move for 2017. Tim Anderson is a guy we should expect to take several years to turn into a really good player if he reaches the bigs by 2016.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 12:24 PM) You have a lot of young players growing up in that time, plus the addition of the top prospects at various points. 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.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 11:28 AM) The idea has always been to view Samardjiza not as a one year thing. If this team is not a winning team in 2015, how does it become a winning team in 2016 with the team having to commit $130 million+ to keeping Samardzija?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 11:17 AM) It is not a rebuilding year, but is also not a division winning roster. Then trading for a starting pitcher 1 year away from FA and blowing all of our FA spending money this year ($110 million already on the books next year counting Alexei's option) was really silly.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 28, 2015 -> 02:26 PM) Sporting News ‏@sportingnews 31m31 minutes ago Phil Jackson admits the Knicks used to deflate basketballs to gain a competitive advantage. http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/story/2015...=SOC/Twi/SNMain … Did the teams swap out basketballs between each possession?

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Jan 29, 2015 -> 11:07 AM) Uh, offsides? Catcher's interference.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Jan 28, 2015 -> 06:45 PM) It also forces Soto onto the roster, because there's just not enough power with Viciedo gone coming from those other 3. I am so tired of hearing stuff like this. The Kansas City Royals hit 95 home runs last year. The Chicago White sox hit 155. The Chicago White Sox were 8th in the AL in runs scored. The Royals were 9th. We hit 60 more home runs than they did while scoring a total of 9 more runs than they did.

QUOTE (chitownsportsfan @ Jan 28, 2015 -> 04:48 PM) It is. WAR on the FA market is almost at 8 million per WAR. For a .5 WAR player like Beckham, 2 million is fair value. edit: when you are talking about the 25th man, there is little "opportunity cost". If the 25th man gets more than 150 PA, something went horribly wrong anyways. No team plans on having the 25th man as anything more than plan D. IMO we acutally ought to want Beckham and Bonifacio (assuming no RH hitting OF is brought in) to get >150 PA because they each ought to get a ton of PA platooning for LaRoche and Gillaspie. Even though Beckham isn't even decent with the bat, he's still a solid upgrade from where LaRoche and Gillaspie were against LH hitters last season. When there's a lefty on the mound those 2 should just be on the bench to start the game, figure it out from there.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Jan 28, 2015 -> 01:32 PM) Has Lynch had any run ins with the law? Don't think so, so in the grand scheme of things, I don't really care if he doesn't talk to the media. Lynch, historically, gets penalized more than guys who commit serious crimes, etc. Its pathetic. I always used to say the same thing about TO. Might have been an ass but he was better than a lot of other guys in the league who were disgusting pieces of trash. TO just had a big mouth. He had a misdemeanor gun possession charge in California in 2009 and was suspended 3 games. In 2008 his drivers license was revoked after a hit & run incident. Blew a 0.10 DUI in California in 2012.