Balta1701

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Oct 24, 2014 -> 02:10 AM) The Nazis preached Christianity. Eh, i'm iffy on this. They absorbed the churches into their organization to keep from having to fight them int he 1930s but they really didn't push Christian ideals in any way. They got people to tolerate them or look the other way but they really were a distinct philosophical strain from Christianity. Antisemitism of course does have a long history associated with the Christian church, but again, this strain was something different. You don't read the writings or speeches of that era and hear that many references to God. Hell, I'd say we hear more about God from our presidents in this country.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Oct 23, 2014 -> 11:30 PM) Exactly. Why would Toronto let him go? Apparently Torotno is close to or even above their spending limit with the big contracts they already have and would like to try keeping Melky on top of that, so if you're a team looking for a DH and able to take on salary there's at least a tentative fit. However, they're only going to be looking for pre-arb pieces in return.

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Oct 23, 2014 -> 06:00 PM) That's the thing though - he is 26 and is an All-Star caliber player who could easily improve into one of the most valuable players in the league. He could also continue putting up Markakis-esque numbers, but as long as it comes with elite defense, he's still incredibly valuable. If the Braves to make him available, there are going to be a lot of suitors. Sometimes you have to overpay to get the guy you want. But we'd also be overpaying to keep him.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Oct 23, 2014 -> 12:29 PM) I'd give up somethin like Sanchez or Viciedo and 1 of the 2 and few mid tier guys for Lind. He's always been able to hit RHP at a decent to well above average clip, even in his down years (Worst year was 2010 where he still had a .829 ops vs RHP.). If Torotno is looking to move salary they'd be unlikely to want Viciedo back.

QUOTE (SoxPride18 @ Oct 23, 2014 -> 11:57 AM) MLBtraderumors.com mentioned that Toronto has been getting calls for Adam Lind. Mentioned the Sox for one team that could be interested. Thoughts? From a baseball side only, it makes sense. Wouldn't pay a huge price for him but he's got 2 years under team control with options and fills the need of a LH hitting bat in the middle of the order. Plus, Toronto has a lot of money on the books this year and so might be willing to move him to clear some out. The downsides are, inconsistency, only played part of the year last year, was a below average bat from age 26-28. Open to consideration but would be hesitant to trade high ceiling guys at lower levels for him. Would not move a guy like Montas for him.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 23, 2014 -> 11:13 AM) Ha, of course, it's our fault! I guess we got what we deserved? And of course, the immediate response "how dare you suggest that anything we do is ever bad!".

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 23, 2014 -> 11:08 AM) Actually a much more recent example for Christianity, if you want to go there, is what the mostly-Spanish missionaries did in the New World in the 1500-1800AD period. In a larger sense to your point that its undeniable Islam is currently having a larger issue with this, it's also worth asking whether that is something inherent to the religion or it's the result of specific political situations (poverty, unemployment, the resource curse, corrupt governments, money used to finance extremists) taking place in those countries at present. Situations which, I might add, we encourage in many ways.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Oct 23, 2014 -> 10:54 AM) I'm not saying followers of other religions don't use violence, but non-Jews/Christians don't join the cause to kill non-believers of that religion. Nor do those religions really have a "jihad" component to their beliefs. Jihad isn't read by some to mean violence, but I think most agree it's linked to military involvement against "oppressors." They called it "crusades" and "inquisitions".

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Oct 23, 2014 -> 10:22 AM) It terms of arbitration, it won't be until years 5 and 6 that some pretty big numbers can be hit. Year 4 might not be worth opting out of. Can he opt out after every year or is it only one time? I don't know the exact setup so I tried to focus on the "He will not be a free agent if he opts out" part.

QUOTE (LDF @ Oct 23, 2014 -> 10:12 AM) with the good news, Jose A winning ROY, comes some uncertain news. in an article Abreu's performance could earn another big payday in 2017 mention that Jose A has an out clause. http://www.prosportsdaily.com/mlb/mlb-rumors.html I thought that to be the case. if I was with the sox management, buy out that clause. Jose's out clause is different from some in that it does not allow him to become a free agent. To qualify as a free agent you need 6 years of MLB service time. If Jose opts out after 3 years he would not have enough service time to qualify as a free agent. Therefore, the White Sox could hold onto him simply by offering him arbitration. If this happened repeatedly and the Sox went to arbitration with him, it'd probably be worth an additional $20-$30 million for him over the lifetime of the contract if he continued performing at this level, but doing that opt out would also carry risks in that he'd switch from $36 million guaranteed remaining on the contract to being on 1 year deals. If he hits like this he'll do that, but it's not by any means an easy decision. That is not made clear in that article and the only place it's implied is in Hahn's quote. The White Sox control Jose Abreu through the end of the 2019 season. That's what you need to focus on right now, the exact math isn't all that important from this point in 2014.

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 22, 2014 -> 09:55 PM) Spader is perfect. He sounds unbelievably twisted The background music I think is the same slowed down Pinocchio they used at comic con, it's just stellar.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 22, 2014 -> 09:46 PM) I don't know about massively. They'll each get $10-12 million or so, minimum. Massive would be if they were all at $7.5 million AAV or less. That's not going to happen with the dearth of quality starting pitchers on the market. Masterson, he probably will prefer a one year deal to re-establish value, but those other guys will all for sure be in that range, maybe it will end up being two year deals instead of three, that's also possible. Look at what Josh Johnson got with his spotty injury history. Nolasco, Hughes, Haren, Feldman and Kazmir, etc. We'll see. 1/$7.5 for Masterson is my guess, which is a helluva lot less than 3/$45. Peavy, my guess would be similar to his last deal, which might push 2/$25 or 2/$30, but I doubt anyone will be able to push 3 years for him. Santana and Volquez I could maybe see getting into that range, but Masterson? 1/5 of that money.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Oct 22, 2014 -> 09:09 PM) We gave that type of money basically to Buehrle, Danks and Peavy. But there's no way the AAV is $15 million for only three years. That's what guys like Masterson, Santana, Peavy and Volquez will be getting from some short-sighted GM. It's finally happened. Someone has massively overestimated the price of several free agents.

Post leak Marvel just gave up and posted it.

So here's a trailer for some movie that comes out next year, I feel like I've seen most of the cast before but I'm not 100% sure on that, I thought they were in movies with different names. Anyway, it looks pretty good. There's a talking robot. It's called something like the Age of Owltron? The Age of Eeltron? Am I spelling that right? Yeah, so you should go watch this now because pretty sure this file won't be up long. Alt link

QUOTE (KyYlE23 @ Oct 22, 2014 -> 06:13 PM) All I have heard is there was a measure designed to prevent teams from tanking, but I haven't read anything specific The bottom 4 records would each receive the same %age chance in the lottery so no longer an advantage to being worst. The vote was 17-13 in favor or something like that and IIRC it needed 22 or 23 to pass.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 22, 2014 -> 03:11 PM) It's actually a pretty spot-on picture of why this isn't about religion. Here's a guy who converted to Islam and immediately started in on the extremist stuff. What does that tell you? Because it tells me that he was already a broken mind, looking for an outlet (excuse, cause) for his violent tendencies. People have used religion as a justification for all manner of some of the worst kind of violence throughout history. Islam happens to be a current hotbed for it. QUOTE (LDF @ Oct 22, 2014 -> 05:41 PM) I agree. now for my rant. I can see the hatred that the Islam's has again the USA. USA is soo freaking evil that we even welcome women into the work force and give them the right to vote. but why Canada??? what did Canada do that was so wrong, win the Stanley Cup the most. come on. this stupid craze militant Islam's.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Oct 22, 2014 -> 05:11 PM) I agree, but it also gives you two years to come up with an alternative solution as well. If the Sox go after someone like Oscar Taveras this offseason - who is reportedly in Mike Matheny's doghouse - than Anderson would likely need to be included in the deal. In the mean time you can keep Sanchez at AAA playing short and deal for or draft another SS. If you're filling up a position where we have a hole with a long term, cost controlled talent, that'd be a move I could get behind.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Oct 22, 2014 -> 02:43 PM) But in reality, the public transportation in Southern California isn't that reliable, accessible nor is it as safe as mass transit in some of the other big cities, imo. I have no statistics to back this up, just my personal perception of the situation. I'd call that a completely accurate version of my statement and agree with it.

QUOTE (LDF @ Oct 22, 2014 -> 11:38 AM) yeah and somewhere I read that someone mention that sox was thinking of extending The Missle (I like the name) 2 more yrs esp if the sox sign another Cuban player. trading Conor and putting Anderson at 3b. Alexei's under contract until he's 34. I wouldn't be surprised if he hung around after that, but it'll be on shorter term deals and maybe not with the white sox. I certainly wouldn't want to be forced to sign Alexei to a multi year deal right after he turns 35 because we didn't have any other SS options.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ Oct 22, 2014 -> 12:41 PM) It happens for both sides. No reason to be partisan about it. One of our sides was begging for money and rules to fix voting machine issues in 2002-2003 and we wound up with more expensive crappy voting machines that didn't generate paper trails in districts that could afford them and no real improvement in districts that had a small tax base.

QUOTE (Jake @ Oct 22, 2014 -> 12:57 PM) Not knowing much about CA, I've always thought about what it might be like to live there. A big turn-off is that my impression is that not many of the metros in CA are at all walkable/easily navigated via public transit. One of the big things I've always wanted to have in a potential "dream destination" is the ability to liberate myself from the need to drive everywhere. San Fran is solid for public transit. LA is a car based city where you can sometimes get places on the bus/rail if you plan for it before you move there.

QUOTE (raBBit @ Oct 22, 2014 -> 12:34 PM) This isn't true. Reed's peripherals have and had been outstanding. Petricka doesn't come near Reed in that respect. People forget that Reed was BA's #66 prospect in 2012. Sure, they were more bullish on him than most but Reed DOMINATED the minor leagues in every respect and that's not debatable. I'd trade Petricka for Reed and wouldn't think twice about it. Petricka was never that high of prospect, but i actually found it interesting that their peripherals weren't all that far apart. Reed's were better this year overall, best peripheral year of his career, but Petricka in his rookie year was comparable to how Reed was at his best with the White Sox.

QUOTE (LDF @ Oct 22, 2014 -> 11:24 AM) that is a very good point. but all this, the performances of the players are all a risk. the worst gamble in injury. re Morales, he has had a up - down hitting career. it may be a good gamble, esp if he came with a low 1 yr salary. I don't disagree with it being a move the Sox could make, I disagree with it being a good gamble if we're spending $40 million elsewhere. We wouldn't just be risking the salary spent on Morales, we'd be risking the entire extra payroll boost. If we're spending $40 million/year this offseason, then spend an extra $5 million and bring in a DH who had a better year last year than Morales. Otherwise, don't bother spending it.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Oct 22, 2014 -> 11:12 AM) I am wondering at this point if Anderson will be the key piece in a Sox deal this off-season. RH has done a nice job of amassing some assets and he will start cashing some in to improve the ML roster at some point. Just idle speculation on my part, but I believe that will be the first name brought up in trade talks when the Sox look to upgrade their lineup. The problem with dealing him is that he's at about the perfect path to think he could take over from Alexei after 2016 when the missile hits FA. Maybe we could put our spectacular defensive Rondon on that path but it is nice having Anderson sitting there as an obvious heir-apparent.