Balta1701

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Dec 4, 2014 -> 06:51 PM) How many years do you think Samardzija would get in his extension? Because Scherzer is only 6 months older than Samardzija, and his extension kicks in when he turns 31. I think Samardzija is a 5/$100 guy and I think Scherzer is probably around 8/$200.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Dec 4, 2014 -> 07:00 PM) Comparatively speaking, yes, Hamels' contract is a huge negative when compared in context with Jose Quintana, and then figure that Jose Quintana was an absolutely phenomenal pitcher and he continues to improve enternig his age 26 season while Cole Hamels will likely only go down from year entering his age 31 season, and it's clear to anyone that Jose Quintana is a far more valuable pitcher and likely a much safer bet moving forward. Here's a beauty of a stat. In his career, Cole Hamels has never put up a single season that produced as much fWAR as Quintana did last year. Quintana put up 5.3 fWAR, Cole Hamels's best season is 4.6 fWAR. At age 25, Jose Quintana outpitched any season in Cole Hamels's career.

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Dec 4, 2014 -> 12:30 PM) Butler and Mirotic were taken in the same draft. Really good picks. Bulls have a chance to do it again because they will probably have 2 1st rounders next year as well. Sacto still looking solid?

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Dec 4, 2014 -> 06:32 PM) Did they confirm how many appearances? The other day they said Avengers 3 and 4 will shoot back to back Here's all I gots:

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Dec 4, 2014 -> 06:34 PM) The point I am making is if we want to acquire Samardzija, it actually takes less to get rid of John Danks and use the money saved to upgrade to Scherzer than to acquire Shark, sign him for an extension for a similar AAV, or watch him walk away after 1 year. Samardzija schedules to make close to $10 mil in arb this year, John Danks makes $14 mil. I assume Scherzer make end up with $25 mil AAV. The difference with a contract like Scherzer isn't that they're not worth it in the first couple seasons, it's usually that the last 3-4 seasons destroy you. Think CC and the Yankees right now - they're paying him at least $53 million over the next 2 years with a $25 million vesting option for 2017 if he avoids specifically a "Left shoulder injury" in 2016. Imagine the White Sox paying $25 mil per year for Danks over the next 3 years - that's basically where the Yankees are with that contract. That's where these contracts hurt you, so you better **** well be sure you're 100% ready to win and have no other major holes the first year if you're signing one, because if you don't make your world series run that year you start worrying pretty quick.

Benedict Cumberbatch confirmed as Stephen Strange.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Dec 4, 2014 -> 06:03 PM) I can't imagine a situation where it makes sense for the above to happen. The Sox have cash, are building for the future, and therefore wouldn't want to give away top prospects. This suggests trying to give up what they want to keep (prospects) in order to get something they already have (cash/salary relief). The more likely scenarios for moving Danks are in a trade for someone similarly attached to a lot of salary (bad contract) or where the Sox eat a portion of the salary to get someone they want. John Danks is owed $29 million. That's the equivalent of ~5 fWAR. If you just assume "He'll do what he did last year" you'd say he's likely to put up just over 1 fWAR, so he's overpaid by about $20-$24 million. In other words, you need a prospect who is at least good enough to put up that amount, with some risk associated with it. I'd say you're talking about a guy at least in the top 10 of our system, probably top 5-6 given the risks associated, to get someone to do that.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Dec 4, 2014 -> 01:52 PM) I see him fighting and resisting until he is on the ground, and even then once they get one hand finally behind his back, he is still struggling. The knee someone had against his head may have had a contributing factor as well. Now there will be a few of you who will jump to the conclusion that I think he deserved to die for (allegedly) selling loosies. I didn't say or imply that anywhere, so you can just suck on that right now before you even begin. but once you resist arrest, YOU have elevated the situation to a point where anything can happen. Somewhat surprised there were no criminal charges of some kind, but pretty sure a civil case will be pending. He's struggling while he's on the ground while saying the phrase "I can't breathe" 10 or so times. You don't see what the difficulty might be?

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 4, 2014 -> 11:24 AM) If they're 67% of the population, elect their replacement. The prosecutor who made sure charges didn't happen is the County Prosecutor.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Dec 4, 2014 -> 11:13 AM) I'm telling you, we have more payroll and adding a REALLY good RHP to the rotation immediately makes us contenders IMO. I for one disagree with that - I think it doesn't make us contenders unless we get a lot of improvement from guys like Garcia, Semien, and the bullpen crew. But then again, you could be saying that because you think all those things are likely to happen.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Dec 4, 2014 -> 11:20 AM) This assumes that there aren't structural impediments to fair representation by local government for minority citizens deliberately put in place. Like, for example, a DA who doesn't want to bring charges in a case and uses the grand jury to make that happen?

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Dec 4, 2014 -> 11:08 AM) Exactly, which I'm fine with. At times I'd like the Sox to be a bit more agressive, but the I think the Scherzer deal is going to be nuts, so this one, I'm fine with them kicking the tires then moving on. Nice to hear they're exploring all options. Sox have payroll room, agents know it, they'll push the Sox out there to the press until the space is eaten up, only makes sense. If we got Scherzer for less than the Tigers offered last year I'm pretty sure I wouldn't complain.

It always makes sense for the White Sox to put in an offer for a guy like this just in case the big offer from the Yankees doesn't appear. We set a salary floor.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Dec 4, 2014 -> 11:02 AM) So now you are all for the second amendment? Cool! I do wonder how Ferguson would have looked different if there had been a bunch of people with lawfully licensed assault-style rifles standing in with the rioters.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Dec 4, 2014 -> 11:01 AM) Did you notice the word MORE in what I wrote? There obviously isn't enough, because every time something like this happens you hear the race-baiters talk about how the department doesn't mirror the communities. Ferguson is 67% African American, its police force is 6% African American.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 4, 2014 -> 10:58 AM) I don't think that's the canned response, but let's assume it is. You're advocating violence as a reasonable response, is that correct? Like Tex pointed out, our nation's existence follows from violence as a reasonable response to certain types of oppression. How many times have we heard about how "Second amendment solutions" are necessary to prevent the tyranny of government helping poor people see a doctor over the past few years? This cuts both ways.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Dec 4, 2014 -> 10:45 AM) So there's no other choice but rioting and violence? When the canned reaction is to say there's no issue?

QUOTE (chw42 @ Dec 4, 2014 -> 10:47 AM) So Mirotic is playing extremely well and McDermott is a benchwarmer. I think we all said at the beginning of the season that if just one of the 2 turns into something valuable, then we'd be fine. I really want to see McDermott succeed, but he really hasn't shown much outside of one or two games. But then again, someone who gets maybe 5-6 minutes a game will have a hard time truly showcasing his talent. To be fair, even though McDermott is old for being a rookie, we've seen rookies typically take their time when Thibs's system is thrown at them. Mirotic has a full year on him in age and has faced better competition before, plus the Bulls might well have been working with him for longer since they had his rights. Judge McDermott as a failure in 2-3 years, not now. If the Bulls hadn't traded those picks for him (and assuming that "trading them for Melo wasn't an option) would whomever they drafted with them be getting much PT right now?

I know it will bother the local fanbases and give ESPN something to rile people up about, but let's face it...as long as Florida State doesn't miss the playoffs as an undefeated team, I'm not going to be mad about the team missing it. Someone will always miss it. You know how to avoid missing the playoffs? Don't lose.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Dec 4, 2014 -> 10:18 AM) And it's not like the Sox don't get paid a lot for their TV rights for this specific reason. And as long as people continue to prefer to watch that way, the compensation the Sox receive will continue to rise. On the other hand...when the team is terrible, it also is much easier to change the channel.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Dec 3, 2014 -> 10:23 PM) It did happen with Fraisor. A team that already liked him and was willing to take him back at a higher price. Something tells me the Castros will not be offering a similar caliber deal for their former player. He also was a more valuable player than Viciedo was for us last year.

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Dec 3, 2014 -> 09:14 PM) I think you're way off-base here. Someone will take Viciedo off our hands for an insignificant prospect, because right-handed power is at a huge premium right now. I get he's been horrible for us the past couple years, but he's still young and has some very attractive tools. Right or wrong, it's really not that crazy to think another organization believes there is some chance they can fix him and turn him into an above-average hitter. In the meantime, he serves as OF depth until we acquire something better. Hahn isn't stupid, he wouldn't tender Viciedo a contact if he was unmovable. He's obviously talked to other GMs and determined there is some market for his services. I'm fairly certain that Hahn doesn't want Dayan as a starting OF unless all other plans fail to work out. IMO, the odds of Viciedo being on Opening Day roster are incredibly low. If Viciedo was going to be moved it should have happened by now. They did exactly the same thing with De Aza last year, people kept saying "Oh they'll trade him in January, oh they'll trade him in ST, he's a solid player and he doesn't fit where we are, oh they'll trade him at the end of ST" and then wham. No one wants a $4 million trash bill except us for some reason.

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JMO: the White Sox unwillingly declared that Viciedo is their starting corner OF when they offered him arbitration.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Dec 3, 2014 -> 08:44 PM) Balta, I'm sure would have done the research....but there's a ton out there about the utilitarianism of public stadium construction financing (see Miami/Loria) vs. tax increment financing for underserved/underdeveloped areas of metropolitan areas. I'm not sure how we can have this conversation without going into Filibuster territory, so I'll just leave it that getting taxes waived/TIF is still not the exact equivalent, although they are on the same range or spectrum. When you receive 100% public financing AND you're not in any way accountable to public shareholders, then, as Eminor mentioned, you SHOULD have even more of a responsibility to NOT abuse that trust and provide a quality product. In that sense, the team should "serve the community" not unlike policemen, firefighters or teachers. Basically the rule is that economically a publicly financed stadium is about the worst possible jobs/economic program a city could possibly imagine for itself, but it's always hard to put a price on the negative feelings that come from people when they lose a team. The team owners take full advantage of that effect.