Balta1701

QUOTE (SCCWS @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 02:02 PM) If Salty is already one of the worst catchers in baseball throwing base-stealers out, what will he be by Year 3 Who knows? Sometimes guys can actually get better at throwing if they can work on their footwork or if the pitchers help them out. AJ was below average throwing people out his first 5 years with the white sox but has been average to even above average since 2010.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 02:01 PM) You pinned every other failure to spring training without even being there. Why can't this be blamed on that as well? And if he did field well at the beginning of the season even though he had a reputation of being a poor defender, wouldn't that hurt your theory that you have stated as fact at least 100 times that the White Sox problems were because they didn't work as hard during spring training. He had a reputation as a poor defender? Heck, he had a reputation prior to coming to the Sox as a fielder at all? I understood him as a "3b who didn't have big power and so couldn't break into the Giants rotation because of Sandoval but who might be useful to a team like the White Sox with no 3b incumbent". Can you back up his "reputation as a poor defender"?

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 01:53 PM) It had to be something in spring training. Because the one thing this actual discussion needed was someone to be an a**.

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 01:49 PM) I'm sorry. A guy with a .287 OBP will cost c. Quintana? I'll take him - if we pay the price one should for a .287 obp hitter. WE've got plenty of complements to that around. His career OBP is .319, the 2 previous seasons it was in the range of .320-.330, last year was the first year of his career below .319, and he posted a .247 BABIP (worst of his career by 0.025+). If you said he's a .320 OBP player I'd buy that.

QUOTE (IowaSoxFan @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 01:44 PM) We have had players (Danks) dump Boras before to sign an extension. Maybe a year in the clubhouse makes him amenable to such a deal. You can't project that in the event of a trade though. You have to trade for the guy assuming "he's a FA in 2 years and his agent is Mr. Boras". You make an offer based on that.

QUOTE (elrockinMT @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 01:39 PM) I think defensively Uribe would be an upgrade at 3B. Is he a starter though? People are too quick to say he has no role on this team. But, he sure did on the Giants and the Dodgers and they were winners. Uribe could be a super sub but he seems to always end up being a starter on good teams. I would not be so quick to dismiss the guy. Defensively Uribe might be an upgrade when you figure Keppinger in, but Gillaspie looked like one of the Sox's more reliable defenders last year to my eyes until he fell off a cliff at the end of the season (note the context in that he's getting compared to the rest of the team). I think he has room to grow into a decent defensive piece, but I have no idea what started happening to him around that 3 error game.

I'd be willing to take him if we can extend him and buy out 1-2 years of FA. I know that isn't Boras's style but I'd be willing to pay a slight premium price to do so. Given that we'd have to extend him I'm not sure I'd be willing to move Quintana in said deal.

QUOTE (scs787 @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 12:58 PM) And why is that? The problem with Weiters is, while yes, he is a switch hitter, but he is much better as a RH hitter vs LHP. Over the last 3 years he's hit just .225/.289/.382 against RHP, which we all know the Sox face a lot of. You sign Salty with the hopes that he continues to hit RHP like he did last year(.294/.350/.523). Just so it's said...if we're looking over the multi-year horizon, I don't think we should be projecting "how many RH/LH pitchers do we face". It was only a couple years ago that the division was lining up lefties like Liriano, Johan, and Captain Cheeseburger against us. Now it's right handed yes, but Scherzer is a FA after next year, Verlander might be starting to slightly get old we hope, Shields isn't on the Royals for that long, and the Twins are still rebuilding their rotation. Next offseason we might not think this is a RHP dominated division any more.

QUOTE (HickoryHuskers @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 12:43 PM) http://www.wlky.com/news/local-news/indian...lf/-/index.html About 6 miles from my house, a high school girl was sexually assaulted Tuesday morning while walking to the school bus. It happened at 7:00 am, and sunrise was at 7:21 am. Assaults and robberies of kids waiting for or walking to school buses seems to be happening more frequently in areas where it is dark in the morning. This particular location is at 85.7W longitude, but is in the Eastern Time Zone, while the natural boundary between Eastern and Central sits at 82.5W, which is just east of Columbus, OH. If we were on our natural time zone (Central), sunrise would have been at 6:21 instead of 7:21, this girl would have been walking to the bus stop in the light, and there is at least a chance that this wouldn't have happened. I know most of you live in Illinois and NW Indiana, which are on Central time, so you may not notice this problem. The natural boundary between Central and Mountain is 97.5W, which is roughly Wichita KS, Oklahoma City, and Fort Worth, so anybody in western TX, KS or ND might experience the same issue. Is there anybody else who lives near the western edge of a time zone? I think as adults we have decided that we like having more light in the evening to golf and do other stuff outside, but we've neglected to think about the ramifications on child safety. DST makes this even worse by moving the clocks forward another hour. Sunrise here on November 1 wasn't until 8:15 a.m. If I were a social scientist you just wrote a grant proposal for me. This would be testable - over the past decade, there have been 2 major changes in DST setups due to federal energy bills - the movement of the start of "normal time" back by about 2 weeks in October and the forced change of Indiana onto DST when they didn't want to. There are studies out there of the effect of these changes on energy use because the idea was that expanding DST was supposed to save energy. In both cases it didn't do so, it actually caused everyone to use more energy, but that didn't give us a reason to change it back because why not waste energy. I would bet you could compile data on child assaults and see if there's a similar correlation.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 09:24 AM) The environment? This is a tough one to compare. Huntsman did break ranks again by acknowledging anthropogenic climate change... but his way of addressing it was heavily market-based. Reagan also was more into environmental protection than his cohorts at the time, and he oversaw large amounts of new protected lands being added to the system and more regulation of pollution - both of which are now the more "liberal" methods. I still think a much better summation of Ronald Reagan's view on the environment is ripping the Carter-era solar installations out of the White House.

QUOTE (Y2HH @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 01:19 PM) When it comes to parents, and non tech savvy people alike, I don't care how envious they act, give them an iPhone and save yourself the headaches. As the solitary "IT guy" in my entire family, anyone I've switched to Apple has ceased calling me for help. Every last Android user/Windows user calls constantly with some "issue" that isn't even an issue, or it's something they caused and "don't know what they did". Android if fine for tech savvy people or people I don't have to help. This sums up my feelings on this entire thread incredibly well.

QUOTE (pittshoganerkoff @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 09:17 AM) I agree. And if injuries attributed to him dismal performance and he's healthy next year, maybe having him and Dunn split some time will improve the production from the DH spot. Maybe... I'd be mildly surprised if he comes back, though. Paul Konerko had 76 games at 1b last year and 50 games at DH. .660 OPS at 1b, .682 OPS at DH. Adam Dunn played 70 games at 1b, 74 at DH. .888 OPS when he played 1b, .655 OPS at DH.

QUOTE (SoxAce @ Nov 13, 2013 -> 08:46 AM) Without a doubt this has JR's move. He adores PK like a son. "Those who can't....coach".

QUOTE (Chicago White Sox @ Nov 12, 2013 -> 06:23 PM) When's the last time we went with a six man bullpen for an extended period of time? I honestly can't even remember. If they bring Konerko back, then I think they eat a big chunk of Keppinger's contract and straight up dump him. I can't remember that either, but I also can't remember the last time they had a RH hitting backup 1b on the bench.

QUOTE (Eminor3rd @ Nov 12, 2013 -> 06:22 PM) Don't they usually go with 3 lefties/3 righties in the pen? Very few teams typically have 3 lefties available for the bullpen. The Sox have generally gone with 2 the last few years but that was helped because Thornton was one of the best all around relievers in the game for years.

QUOTE (Vance Law @ Nov 12, 2013 -> 06:09 PM) I think that's one too many, right? If they were to bring Konerko back, either Kepp is dealt or Danks is AAA unless I'm counting wrong. They could go with a 6 man bullpen to keep him.

QUOTE (Jake @ Nov 12, 2013 -> 02:59 PM) The effective cap space is very low because we have so few players under contract. It is going to cost a huge chunk of that just to fill out the roster with minimum salaried guys Don't forget that there are tricks/exemptions that allow a team to maneuver slightly around/over the effective cap if they're signing veteran players. Emery used this technique to great effect this season - their LB corps and Slausson, IIRC, were among the guys signed in that way.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Nov 12, 2013 -> 01:10 PM) What? That can't be true. Everyone knows the Sox quit working on defense in September of 2012. Fielding drills = rookie hazing. It's like getting called a N*****, you have to put up with it until you're no longer on prospect lists, but veterans don't have to deal with stuff like that. (How many offensive bits did I weave into that line? wow).

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Nov 12, 2013 -> 10:30 AM) And you did not just call Saddam the world's most dangerous tyrant, did you? He wouldn't have made the Top 20 at that point in time. Eh, I think he would have made that list. Even with the no-fly zone he had a military strong enough to cause a lot of harm to his own people, that's something.

QUOTE (professa @ Nov 12, 2013 -> 10:28 AM) Good article on Salty...didn't realize he hit 40 doubles last year...If some of those turned into HR's at the cell...Really hope we sign this kid http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2013/11/...YauK/story.html Boston isn't exactly a pitcher's paradise.

QUOTE (Harry Chappas @ Nov 12, 2013 -> 09:47 AM) I thought the re-work prior to the season got them out of that? The Re-working this season actually increased that number. They reworked his deal to reduce the cap hit this season, but when you do that it increases the hit you take if you cut him the next year. They've been gradually moving his cap hit forward in time each of the last 2 offseasons.

QUOTE (Jake @ Nov 12, 2013 -> 10:14 AM) We owe him $8M if we cut him and $18M if he stays. Him staying will make retaining Cutler difficult and any other moves of note damn near impossible IIRC, even with Peppers's contract on the books fully...the Bears will have well over $30 million in cap space going into the offseason. If they want to retain Cutler they have plenty of room to do so and should be able to make a number of other decent additions as well.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Nov 12, 2013 -> 10:22 AM) Whatever. He was a solid defender who hit home runs. He also helped the team playing 3B in 2008 when Crede went down and Josh Fields wasn't the stud many thought. I got ripped plenty of times for defending him. That is just a fact. Now 5 years later, some want to bring him back. It's almost as funny as a thread where people want Greg Walker back. If Gordon Beckham left, struggled for several more years, was a part time player, and then had a 5 WAR season in his early 30's, I'd say very similar things about Gordon Beckham.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Nov 12, 2013 -> 09:44 AM) IIRC other European countries had similar intelligence about Saddam, but yes, it was still a weak claim. Frankly Bush should have said we're doing this to set up a base of operations in the region to kill AQ and other similar groups while also getting rid of the world's most dangerous tyrant and he would have had more support. And yeah, that worked spectacularly too.