Balta1701

QUOTE (Brian @ Apr 25, 2014 -> 10:06 AM) I thought the first was ok, 2nd great, 3rd brutal. I agree with this setup, but I also note that they seem like they haven't held up as well with time as was noted previously.

So he's 29 and in AAA? So minor league roster vet guy.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 04:50 PM) I guess if Davidson is a George Brett phenom the pains of this year will be worth it. That's the whole ****ing point of this season.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 04:39 PM) What? The closer has been a role the Sox have struggled with for years. It seems like they get a good year out of one guy, then said guy comes in the next year and sucks. Reed was traded for a reason. The need for a long term fix at 3rd base was something that had to be taken care of. Time will tell with Davidson, but it was the right trade to make. What you write is simply not abnormal in baseball. There is literally 1 team in MLB who came into 2014 with the same projected closer as 2011. Only 8 teams have the same projected closer as 2012. And that's before injuries!

QUOTE (Buehrle>Wood @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 03:58 PM) I wish we pinch hit for Gordon. That would probably take not having a mascot on the bench though and not f***ing up our DL issue which is too much to ask I guess. I think the only way anyone would risk PHing for Gordon right now is if Konerko is ready to take over 2b. Leury could do it but he's literally the only backup for what, 6 positions right now?

QUOTE (fathom @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 03:45 PM) These are two terrible bullpens battling it out today. Can't wait to see the Tigers overpay for another reliever at the deadline. Did they do anything with their weak bullpen last year?

Well Caulfield there was a Viciedo single to the left side.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 02:53 PM) Gift triple. Wonder how many of Dayan's 25 hits have been up the middle and to the right side? 15-18? 16 RBI's already for Ramirez. Don't think he'll keep up that pace. Here's Viciedo's spray chart.

QUOTE (johndyce @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 02:22 PM) You guys remember this time last year PK was putting up more MVP numbers? Man it would be nice to have some of that back this year. A fully functional PK and this is a LOADED lineup. This time last year Paul Konerko was hitting just over .230 with a sub-.700 OPS. You're thinking of 2012. Paul Konerko was next to useless in 2013.

QUOTE (Tex @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 01:52 PM) ^^x2^^ Poo-holes hit his 500 this month / end of discussion ? I do believe that both Jose Abreu and Masahiro Tanaka have a better claim to the rookie of the month award than Albert Pujols.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 08:34 PM) The problem is that math above is already for a bare-bones roster. Look at the lack of depth up front and at PG in the math I did. A $5 million paycut for Melo wouldn't drastically change the math as that would still only leave about $3 million in cap space to fill multiple holes (and the two picks, but they'll be mid-round rookies). You still have to do it because a Rose/Melo/Noah core is something to work with, but the rest of the roster would be pretty weak. If we're talking sign and trade, then yeah, MUCH more room to work with. Right now they're projected to be almost $14 million under the tax line. That doesn't factor in picks/cap holds, but they also have to send out a ton of salary to make the trade work, so it'll even out. It'll cost assets, but they'd also have room for both Melo and Mirotic. It'd cost them most of their picks most likely, but adding those two would be worth it. The trick IMO for the Bulls is that they have to have legit leverage in order to make the Knickerbockers consider a sign and trade. If the Bulls can legitimately sit at a table and say they have an agreement in principle with Anthony as a free agent, then they can go to New York, offer up a couple draft picks and Boozer's deal as an expiring and say that they get the choice between taking that and getting nothing for Anthony walking. It'd be bigger than previous ones but we've seen this happen before. The Heat did exactly that with James - he announced he was taking his talents to Miami and then Miami and Cleveland worked out a sign and trade where Lebron got more money in a trade and Cleveland picked up like an extra draft pick. Because it was already happening, Cleveland went along with it to make their long term state better.

QUOTE (Jake @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 12:14 AM) The problem with replay has been implementation. There are constantly calls that are clear as day to TV viewers, but MLB won't pull the trigger. If they're going to be incredibly conservative, then just let the umpires talk it out on the field and take video out of it. Or just do it right like every other league. Worth remembering that this is the first time it's been deployed at a large scale, so it is entirely possible they will make improvements to the process as time goes on.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 11:45 AM) Why would we do that when we just drafted Anderson and have Semien, L. Garcia, Keppinger and Carlos Sanchez all capable of playing that position? Not to mention Saladino. Who the Hell cares?

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 12:55 PM) He hasn't done jack squat with the bat in 4 years, on any level. Nobody can even come with an argument for why he should be playing. GMAB. If you're going to reply end the rant and answer the question.

QUOTE (bmags @ Apr 24, 2014 -> 12:17 PM) Exactly, we should be prepared for an extended slump this year. Mentally, I'm guessing this year will be exhausting from the change and waiting for his parents to arrive. Hopefully it will only get better for hi.m You're probably right...but I can convince myself the other way. How many Cubans get off to good starts like this in April in particularly cold winters? How many come out and hit like they basically have no holes that pitchers can exploit? He's going up against good pitching in what should be the worst conditions for him and demolishing guys. Not only that, he's not overly aggressive, he's making every single pitcher throw the ball over the plate in order to get him out. Maybe that's just me being a fan, maybe he will tire out with the long season...but everything you'd hypothetically expect the guy to struggle with early...he's avoided.

Without getting into the Semien discussion, I'm genuinely surprised to see Beckham coming up since AFAIK he hadn't done jack squat with the bat at Birmingham. Has that changed the last couple days?

QUOTE (witesoxfan @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 05:05 PM) And this is why it's good the Sox didn't sign him. He's gotta be running out of ligaments at this point. Wonder if in a year this might be the thing that suddenly returns him to form.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 04:56 PM) Sham actually has a little under $46 total for Rose, Noah. Gibson, Dunleavy, Butler and Snell. I don't know why they're different, but I usually trust Sham. I just posted the draft picks in an edit, it will be more than $2.5 mil. This explains what counts in the team salary. If you look at the 3rd to last bullet point, you have holds at the rookie minimum up to 12 roster spots (I was wrong on the number). I'm too lazy to find the rookie minimum salary, but it's at least 400k. I think it's actually higher than that. So doing that math puts the Bulls at ~ $50.5 in cap holds. If the cap is $65 and they dump Gibson's $8 million for nothing, that leaves them ~$22.5 available.

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 04:40 PM) The math won't really work out that cleanly. They'd be at $48 million for 6 players without Boozer. Yes, that's about $15 million, but you have to subtract cap holds for the remaining roster spots and their two draft picks. They would probably have $10-12 million in space. If you send them Taj and Dunleavy you can get close, but he can still take more from New York. Wait, I've never seen "cap holds" for remaining roster spots in the NBA? I've seen it for the draft picks, but that's only about $2.5 million give or take. And the top 6 add up to $46.6 in the Hoopshype numbers, is there a performance bonus they're not counting?

QUOTE (ZoomSlowik @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 04:30 PM) He's going to have to take more than a "small" paycut to sign with the Bulls outright. Even with Boozer gone and Taj dumped with no salary coming back (not necessarily easy), they'd only be able to give him around $18 million as a starting salary. He can start around $23 million for the Knicks. Those numbers will vary slightly depending on where the cap actually sits and the amounts of the cap-holds and such, but the point is it won't be a small cut. The odds of that seem incredibly small to me, and even if it somehow does happen, the depth will suffer significantly the first year. Now the increased luxury tax gives them quite a bit of flexibility in a sign and trade, so that's there best bet. That would obviously require New York cooperating though. Obviously you have to do it if you can, but I'm not holding my breath. Things have to fall perfectly for the Bulls, which has only happened once in my time following the Bulls (the 1.3% miracle). How do you get to $18 million? using the Hoopshype numbers and zeroing out Boozer, I've got the Bulls at $46.6. Add in what, less than $3 million for 2 first round picks outside the lottery and then farther back, and the Bulls are still under $49. If the cap is in the range fo $65 mil, that's $16 million right there?

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 04:13 PM) With the cap increasing, if Melo tells NY he'd take a small paycut to be with the Bulls, or the Bulls can clear the space to sign him outright, the Knicks almost have to listen to Booz + Picks. And if you have Rose-Butler-Melo-Taj-Noah-Mirotic as your Top 6, you're in a damn good place, especially in the East. And that's with current Melo. He buys into Thibs' system? Lawdy we'd have a show to behold. Something I don't know for sure...if the Bulls say have $15 million to play with under the cap after cutting Boozer, could they do a Gibson for Anthony trade while giving Anthony the near-max of $15 million + Gibson's salary? Only asking because clearly Gibson would be a more valuable player than Boozer so I could see NY actually taking him. The alternative could be dumping Gibson on another team for a 2nd round pick if they have cap space, that would make it work without question if the Bulls were in the $15 million range.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 10:32 AM) But the alternatives weren't batting 1.000, making your math a bit off. The bottom line is, the results are in, dumb Robin was right. You don't need to win your bet every time. If you go to Vegas and put $100k on a 5 to 1 option and win 4 out of 6 times, you'd be pretty happy. Put your money where your mouth is and do it.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 10:29 AM) For a guy who seems to know so much about my thoughts, you really should realize I have been one of Viciedo's biggest backers. You were freaking out because he wasn't in the line up the first couple games of the season. As I told you back then, he will get his chance, and an injury got him a chance. If Garcia doesn't go down, De Aza's struggles would have given him an opportunity. I also think Jordan Danks is a stiff, but for a game or two, he can get on base a couple times. There aren't a lot of candidates vs. RHP if Eaton goes down. And then, De Aza being consigned to the bench because of early struggles would be a terrible result as well because that would make it even harder to trade him. Your defense is a terrible option as well!

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 10:29 AM) Better than Gillaspie. Again how do you come up with 5 to 1? Just explain that. I gave you 5 to 1 because Marcus Semien was, at the time, hitting below .200, so expecting him to win successfully 4 out of 6 times is a pretty low chance, but it seems like it's one you'd take.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Apr 23, 2014 -> 10:09 AM) Again, you are picking out odds randomly that even Caulfield couldn't come up with. They were facing a left handed pitcher. You wanted Gillaspie to lead off. Versus a left handed pitcher, how do you come up with 5 to 1 odds against that Semien would outperform Gillaspie? Conor Gillaspie vs. LHP .235/.263/.498. Sounds like the guy who wants to bet 100k on a 5 to 1 game a few times is you. Marcus Semien vs. LHP including that game (so he was much worse beforehand): .259/.286/.407/.693. If all 4 of his hits came against the lefty that day, he came into that game hitting no better than .143 against lefties.